iSyi.] EXPRESSION. 321 



it is quite a complete little essay. It is pretty clear that the 

 mouth is not opened under surprise merely to improve the 

 hearing. Yet why do deaf men generally keep their mouths 

 open ? The other day a man here was mimicking a deaf 

 friend, leaning his head forward and sideways to the speaker, 

 with his mouth well open ; it was a lifelike representation of 

 a deaf man. Shakespeare somewhere says : '' Hold your 

 breath, listen" or "hark," I forget which. Surprise hurries 

 the breath, and it seems to me one can breathe, at least hur- 

 riedly, much quieter through the open mouth than through 

 the nose. I saw the other day you doubted this. As objec- 

 tion is your province at present, I think breathing through 

 the nose ought to come within it likewise, so do pray consider 

 this point, and let me hear your judgment. Consider the 

 nose to be a flower to be fertilised, and then you will make 

 out all about it.* I have had to allude to your paper on 

 * Sense of Smell ; 't is the paging right, namely, i, 2, 3 ? If 

 not, I protest by all the gods against the plan followed by 

 some, of having presentation copies falsely paged ; and so 

 does RoUeston, as he wrote to me the other day. In haste. 



Yours very sincerely, 



C. Darwin. 



C. Darwin to W. Ogle. 



Down, March 25 [1S71]. 



My dear Dr. Ogle, — You will think me a horrid bore, 

 but I beg you, in relation to a new point for observatiofi^ to 

 imagine as well as you can that you suddenly come across 

 some dreadful object, and act with a sudden little start, a 

 shudder of horror j please do this once or twice, and observe 

 yourself as well as you can, and afterwards read the rest of 

 this note, which I have consequently pinned down. I find, 

 to my surprise, whenever I act thus my platysma contracts. 



* Dr. Ogle had corresponded with my father on his own observations 

 on the fertilisation of flowers, 

 f Medico-chirurg. Trans, liii. 



