2 INTRODUCTION. 



1844 the third edition of his ' Anatomy and Philosophy 

 of Expression/ 4 He may with justice be said, not only 

 to have laid the foundations of the subject as a branch 

 of science, but to have built up a noble structure. His 

 work is in every way deeply interesting; it includes 

 graphic descriptions of the various emotions, and is ad- 

 mirably illustrated. It is generally admitted that his 

 service consists chiefly in having shown the intimate rela- 

 tion which exists between the movements of expression 

 and those of respiration. One of the most important 

 points, small as it may at first appear, is that the muscles 

 round the eyes are involuntarily contracted during violent 

 expiratory efforts, in order to protect these delicate or- 

 gans from the pressure of the blood. This fact, which 

 has been fully investigated for me with the greatest kind- 

 ness by Professors Donders of Utrecht, throws, as we shall 

 hereafter see, a flood of light on several of the most im- 

 portant expressions of the human countenance. The 

 merits of Sir C. Bell's work have been undervalued or 

 quite ignored by several foreign writers, but have been 

 fully admitted by some, for instance by M. Lemoine, 6 

 who with great justice says: — " Le livre de Ch. Bell 

 devrait etre medite par quiconque essaye de faire parler 

 le visage de l'homme, par les philosophes aussi bien que 

 par les artistes, car, sous une apparence plus legere et 

 sous le pretexte de l'esthetique, c'est un des plus beaux 

 monuments de la science des rapports du physique et 

 du moral." 



From reasons which will presently be assigned, Sir 



4 I always quote from the third edition, 1844, which 

 was published after the death of Sir C. Bell, and contains 

 his latest corrections. The first edition of 1806 is much 

 inferior in merit, and does not include some of his more 

 important views. 



6 « De la Physionomie et de la Parole,' par Albert Le- 

 moine, 1865, p. 101. 



