584 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



a lower degree by men, but has escaped registration as a masculine 

 trait. In his classification of the mental powers of the two sexes, Mr. 

 Darwin puts observation, reason, imagination, and invention as those 

 especially selected in man, and likeliest to be transmitted to male off- 

 spring. He also says : " It is generally admitted that with woman the 

 powers of intuition, of rapid perception, and perhaps of imitation, are 

 more strongly marked than in man ; but some, at least, of these fac- 

 ulties are characteristic of the lower races, and therefore of a past and 

 lower state of civilization." 



MUSCULAR EXPRESSION OF NERVOUS CONDI- 

 TIONS* 



By De. FEANCIS WAENEE. 



COARSE or extensive paralyses, such as involve one or both sides 

 of the body, and other profound disturbances of the muscular 

 system, have received much attention from clinical and pathological 

 observers, and by the accumulation of their joint observations much 

 knowledge has been gained as to the symptoms that result from lesions 

 of the brain. This should encourage us to observe in all cases the 

 conditions of the muscles, knowing that the movements correspond to 

 certain states of the moto-centers, and looking upon such nerve-condi- 

 tions as indications or expressions of the states of those centers. All 

 expression of feeling is effected by muscular action, whether it be by 

 words, by facial movement or gesture, movements effected by voluntary 

 muscles ; or expression may be produced by dilatation of the pupil, 

 erection of the hair, or disturbed action of the heart, these being due to 

 the conditions of inorganic muscular fibers. I have been accustomed to 

 regard the nerve-muscular condition of " nervous cases," when seeking 

 definite signs by which to describe them, in the light of the principle 

 that movements depend upon nerve-muscular stimuli originating in 

 nerve-centers. Examples may easily be given, showing how we com- 

 monly judge of the state of the nervous system by muscular conditions. 

 Note the stooping attitude and spiritless gait of a tired man as com- 

 pared with that of the same individual when rested and refreshed. 

 Incipient intoxication is indicated by a reeling gait, unsteady hand, 

 and muscular tremor. Expression may be indicated by the position 

 of the head, which is seen firmly upright in defiance, drooping in 

 shame ; is commonly held on one side in nervous women and girls 

 convalescent from chorea, the first example cited of an asymmetrical 

 gesture. The artist's brush or pencil, the sculptor's modeling-tool and 

 chisel, the pianist's and violinist's finger-touch, indicate the training 



* Abstract of articles published in " Brain." 



