396 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



a Comanche that, " seizing me in his brawny arms while we were yet 

 in the saddle, and laying his greasy head upon my shoulder, he in- 

 flicted upon me a most bruin-like squeeze, which I endured with a 

 degree of patient fortitude worthy of the occasion." So, too, Snow 

 says the Fuegian " friendly mode of salutation was anything but 

 agreeable. The men came and hugged me, very much like the grip 

 of a bear." 



Discharging itself in muscular actions which, in cases like the 

 foregoing, are directed to an end, feeling in other cases discharges 

 itself in undirected muscular actions. The resulting changes are 

 habitually rhythmical. Each considerable movement of a limb brings 

 it to a position at which a counter-movement is easy ; both because 

 the muscles producing the counter-movement are then in the best 

 positions for contraction, and because they have had a brief rest. 

 Hence the naturalness of striking the hands together or against other 

 parts. We see this as a spontaneous manifestation of pleasure among 

 children ; and we find it giving origin to a ceremony among the un- 

 civilized. Clapping of the hands is " the highest mark of respect " in 

 Loango ; and it occurs with kindred meaning among the Coast Ne- 

 groes, the East Africans, the Dahomans. Joined with other acts ex- 

 pressing welcome, the people of Batoka " slap the outsides of their 

 thighs ; " the Balonda people, besides clapping their hands, sometimes 

 " in saluting drum their ribs with their elbows ; " while among the 

 Coast Negroes and in Dahomey, snapping the fingers is one of the 

 salutes. Rhythmical muscular motions of the arms and hands, thus 

 expressing pleasure, real or pretended, in presence of another person, 

 are not the only motions of this class : the legs come into play. 

 Children often "jump for joy," and occasionally adults may be seen 

 to do the like. Saltatory movements are therefore apt to grow into 

 compliments. In Loango " many of the nobility salute the king by 

 leaping with great strides backward and forward two or three times 

 and swinging their arms." The Fuegians also, as the United States 

 explorers tell us, show friendship " by jumping up and down." ' 



Feeling, discharging itself, contracts the muscles of the vocal or- 

 gans, as well as other muscles ; so that, along with bodily motions 

 signifying pleasure, there go sounds, loud in proportion as the pleas- 

 ure is great. Hence shouts, indicating joy in general, indicate the 

 joy produced by meeting one who is beloved, and serve to give the 

 appearance of joy before one whose go/xl-will is sought. Among the 



1 In his " Early History of Mankind" (second edition, pp. 51, 52), Mr. Tylor thus com- 

 ments on such observances : " The lowest class of salutations, which merely aim at giv- 

 ing pleasant bodily sensations, merge into the civilities which we see exchanged among 

 the lower animals. Such are patting, stroking, kissing, pressing noses, blowing, sniffing, 

 and so forth. . . . Natural expressions of joy, such as clapping hands in Africa, and 

 jumping up and down in Tierra del Fuego, are made to do duty as signs of friendship or 

 greeting." Mr. Tylor does not, however, indicate the physio-psychological sources of 

 these actions. 



