i6 2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



uncovering the head has become an expression of respect due even to a 

 laborer on entering his cottage. 



These last facts suggest a needful addition to the argument. Some- 

 thing more must be said respecting the way in which all kinds of obei- 

 sances between equals have thus resulted by diffusion from obeisances 

 which originally expressed surrender to a conqueror and submission to 

 a ruler. 



Proof has been given that rhythmical muscular movements, natural- 

 ly signifying joy, such as jumping, clapping the hands, and even drum- 

 ming the ribs with the elbows, become simulated signs of joy used to 

 propitiate a king, when joined with attitudes expressing subjection. 

 These simulated signs of joy become civilities where there is no differ- 

 ence of rank. According to Grant, " when a birth took place in the 

 Toorkee camp .... women assembled to rejoice at the door of the 

 mother, by clapping their hands, dancing, and shouting. Their dance 

 consisted in jumping in the air, throwing out their legs in the most un- 

 couth manner, and flapping their sides with their elbows." And then, 

 where circumstances permit, such marks of consideration become mu- 

 tual. Bosman tells us that on the Slave Coast, " when two persons of 

 equal condition meet each other, they fall both down on their knees 

 together, clap hands, and mutually salute, by wishing each other a good- 

 day." And cases occur where, between friends, there is reciprocity of 

 compliment even by prostration. Among the Mosquitos, says Bancroft, 

 " one will throw himself at the feet of another, who helps him up, em- 

 braces him, and falls down in his turn to be assisted up and comforted 

 with a pressure." Such extreme instances yield verifications, if there 

 need any, of the conclusion that the mutual bows, and courtesies, and 

 unhattings, among ourselves, are remnants of the original prostrations 

 and strippings of the captive. 



But I give these instances chiefly as introducing the interpretation 

 of a still more familiar observance. Already I have named the fact 

 that between polite Arabs the offer of an inferior to kiss a superior's 

 hand is resisted by the superior if he is condescending, and that the 

 conflict ends by the inferior kissing his own hand to the other; and 

 here, from Niebuhr, is an account of a nearly-allied usage : 



" Two Arabs of the desert meeting, shake hands more than ten times. Each 

 kisses his own hand, and still repeats the question, 'How art thou?' .... In 

 Yemen, each does as if he wished the other's hand, and draws back his own to 

 avoid receiving the same honor. At length, to end the contest, the eldest of the 

 two suffers the other to kiss his fingers." 



Have we not here, then, the origin of shaking hands ? If of two per- 

 sons each wishes to make an obeisance to the other by kissing his hand, 

 and each refuses out of compliment to have his own hand kissed, what 

 will happen ? Just as when leaving a room, each of two persons, pro- 



