NERVO-MUSCULAR EXPRESSION. 587 



move the eyeballs. The action of the muscles about the angles of the 

 mouth is affected by a very moderate amount of brain disturbance. 

 The value of the study of the nerve-muscular conditions of the face is 

 finely illustrated in the case of the passive, expressionless face which 

 may be woke up, " lighted up," made to express the whole soul in the 

 face simply by conditions of the tension of the facial muscles resulting 

 from the mental state. Thus, often, great and pleasing beauty is seen 

 in faces unattractive when at rest. Conversely, some faces are beau- 

 tiful in their passive condition, but lack exjn'ession and interest when 

 in action from mental work ; women having such faces talk but little. 

 Surely from these two conditions it is suggested that the passive form 

 and color of a face are qualities not so great, not so mind-indicating, 

 as the mobile expressions produced by muscular tension. 



Probably the most expressive of the muscles of the upper extrem- 

 ity are those that move the fingers, or which produce the " finer move- 

 ments," motions in small arcs, as distinguished from the " coarser move- 

 ments," or those that are made from the shoulder or the elbow. It is, 

 of course, in the free or disengaged hand that we must look for ex- 

 amples illustrating the condition of the brain which governs it. If the 

 muscles be employed in some definite act, such as holding an object, 

 or in an act of manipulation, such as sewing, then the movements are 

 directed to accomplish the aim attempted, and are not simply indica- 

 tive of the condition of the brain, as may be the case with the free 

 hand when unconsciously expressing the mental condition by gesticu- 

 lation. When, on the contrary, the hands are left free and disengaged, 

 as the hand of the orator, which unconsciously expresses by its posi- 

 tion or movement the general mental state of the speaker, we have in 

 this muscular movement an expression of the man's mind. It is as 

 unreasonable to look for the state of the mind to be expressed in the 

 position and action of the hand engaged in definite, voluntary, pur- 

 posive acts, as to look in the face when the sun is shining full in the 

 eyes, or the lips are engaged in eating, or other movements affecting 

 the regularity of the breathing. Still it is true that in either case the 

 manner of performing the act may be indicative of the mental state, 

 but the muscles of the face or hand are not engaged in expressing the 

 mental state. 



In art of the present day we but seldom see the hands represented 

 as disengaged ; usually they are painted or sculptured holding some 

 object, or resting on some part of the figure ; such are hands engaged 

 or resting from labor, or performing some act of toil, not engaged in 

 expressing some action of the mind. 



"When a very nervous child, or one convalescent from chorea, holds 

 out its hands in front on a level with the shoulder, and with its fingers 

 spread out, we commonly see the nervous hand. As the palms are 

 turned down, the wrist droops slightly. The metacarpo-phalangeal 

 joints are moderately extended, the first and second internodes being 



