OCR Text |
Show 278 HURPRIBE. CHAP. Xll. CHAPTER XII. SuRPRISE - AsToNISHMENT- FEAR - HonRon. Surpri::;c, astonishment -Elevation of tho eyebrows - Opcn~ng the mouth- Protrusion of the lips- Gestures accompanying surprise -Admiration- Fear-- Terror- Ere~tion. of the hair -Contraction of the platysma muscle- D1latatwn of the pupils- Horror- Conclusion. ATTENTION, if sudden and close, graduates into surprise ; and this into astonishment ; and thi~ in~o stupefied amazement. The latter frame of mind 1s closely akin to terror. Attention is shown by the eyebrows being slightly raised·; and as this state increases into surprise, they are raised to a 1nuch greater extent, with tho eyes and mouth widely open. The raising of the eyebrows is necessary in order that the eyes should. be opened quickly and widely; and this Inovement produces transverse wrinkles across the forehead. The degree to which the eyes and mouth are opened corresponds with the degree of surprise felt ; but these movements must be co-ordinated; for a widely opened mouth with eyebrows only slightly raised results in a meaningless grimace, as Dr. Duchenne has shown in one of his photographs.1 On the other hand, a person n1ay often be seen to pretend surprise by merely raising his eyebrows. Dr. Duchenne has given a photograph of an old man with his eyebrows well elevated and arched by the galvanization of the frontal muscle ; and with his 1 '1\iccanisme ue Ia Phyk!ionomic,' Album, 18G2, p. 42. CHAP. Xli. UHPlU ·~. 279 m~uth :oluutarily opened. This figure expresses surpnse w1th mu h truth. I showed it to twenty-four persons without a word of explanation, and one alone did not at all understand what was intended. A second person answ red terror, which is not far wrong; some of th~ others, however, added to the words surprise or aston1shment, the epith ts horrified, woful, painful, ot· uisgusted. . The ?yes and mouth being widely open is an expres~ Jon universally recognised as one of surprise or astonJshment. Thus Shakspeare says, "I saw a smith stand " with open mouth swallowing a tailor's news." ('King John,' act iv. scene ii.) And again, ''They seemed " almost, with staring on on another, to tear the cases " of their eyes; there was speech in their du1nbness, " language in their v ry gesture ; they looked as they "had heard of a world destroyed." (' vVinter's Tale,' act v. scene ii.) lV[y informants answer with remarkable uniformity to the same effect, with respect to the various races of 1uan; the above movements of the features beinO' oft -n a ·compani~d by certain gestures and sounds, pt~sently to be d~scr~bed. Twel~e observers in different parts of Australia agree on th1s head. lV(r. Winwood Reade has observed this expression with the negroes on the i uinea coast. . The chief Gaika and others answer yes to my query w1th respect to the Kafirs of South Africa; and so do others emphatically with reference to tho A?yssinians, Ceylonese, Chines , Fuegians, various tnbes of North America, and New Zealanders. With the latter, Mr. Stack states that the expre sion is more plainly shown by certain individuals than by others, though all endeavour as much as possible to conceal the!r feelings. The Dyaks of Borneo are said by the RaJah Brooke to open their eyes widely, ,vhen aston- |