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Show 266 HELPLESSNESS : CHAP XT. shrugs his sl1oulders, especially when argui~g with any one ; but it is extremely improbable that lns daughter should hav imitated him at so early an age; for, as he rc1narks, she could not possibly have often seen this g , ·ture in him. Moreover, if tho habit had been a~quirod through imitation, it is not pr~bable_ that 1t would so soon have been spont~neously d1scontinuecl by this hild, and, as we shall immediately sec, by a second child thouo-h the father still lived with his fa111ily. ' b p .. 'rhis little girl, it may be added, resembles her tU'lSian aranclfather in countenance to an almost absurd degree. She also presents another and very curious resemblance to him, namely, by practising a singular trick. When she impatiently wants something, she holds out her little hand, and rapidly rubs the thu1nb against the index and middle finger: now this same trick was frequently performed under the same circumstances by her grandfather. This gentleman's second daughter also shrugged her shoulders before the age of eighteen months, and afterwards discontinued the habit. . It is of course possible that she may have imitated her elder sister; but she continued it after her sister had lost the habit. ~he at first resembled her Parisian grandfather in a less degree than did her sister at the same age, but now in a greater degree. She likewise practises to the present time the peculiar habit of rubbing together, when im· patient, her thumb and two of her fore-fingers. In this latter case we have a good instance, like those given in a former chapter, of the inheritance of a trick or gesture; for no one, I presume, will attribute to mere coincidence so peculiar a habit as this, which was conl· 1non to the grandfather and his two grandchildren who had never seen him. Considering all the circumstances with reference to CnAP. xr. SHRUGGING TilE SHOULDERS. 267 those children shruO'ginO' th ir should rs, it can hardly be doubt cl that they hav , inherit d th haLit fr 111 1.h ir Fr nch pr g nitor , alth ugh th y have only no qnarter Fr n h bl d in th ir v in , and alth ugh th ir grandfather c[jd not oft 'll ·hruo- his sl1 uld r . rJ h r is n thing very unu ual, though th fact is int r . tinp;, in th , e hilchon having rr in d by inl1 ritnnc a habit dnring arly youtl1, ancl th n di • ntinui11g it; f r it i, f fr qu nt urren with many kind," of nnin1als that rortain chant t rs arc r tain cl £ r a p riocl by tho yonng, and arc th n I .·t. At; it appeared to 1no at one time iinprobablc in a high d gr e that n1pl x a g turo as shrugging th shoulder , t g ·thcr with tho accompanying mov - ment , should bo innate, I was anxious to a 'C rtain whether the blind and d af Laura ridgman, who coull not have learnt the habit by imitation, pr cti ed it. And I have heard, through Dr. Innes, from a lady who has lately had charge of her, that she does shrug h r sh ulders, turn in her elbows, and raise her eyebrows in the same manner as other people, and under the smn circumstances. I was also anxious to learn whether thi gesture was practised by the various races of man, e pe-ially by those who never have had much intercour e with Europeans. vV e shall see that they act in tbiR manner ; but it appears · that the gesture is sometim s confined to merely rai ·ing or shrugging the shoulder , without the other movements. Mr. Scott has frequently seen this gesture in the Bengalees and Dhangars (the latter constituting a di - tinct race) who are employed in the otanic Garden t Calcutta; when, for instance, they have declar d that they could not do so:r:1e work, ~uch as lifting a h avy weight. He ord red a Bengal e to climb a lofty tr hut the man, with a hrug of his shoulder. and a lat l'al |