Chap. I. SERVICEABLE ASSOCIATED HABITS. 33 



latter case as if he clearly saw the thing, and in the 

 former case as if he did not or would not see it. I 

 have noticed that persons in describing a horrid sight 

 often shut their eyes momentarily and firmly, or shake 

 their heads, as if not to see or to drive away some- 

 thing disagreeable; and I have caught myself, when 

 thinking in the dark of a horrid spectacle, closing 

 my eyes firmly. In looking suddenly at any object, 

 or in looking all around, evervone raises his evebrows. 

 so that the eyes may be quickly and widely ojiened; 

 and Duchenne remarks that 7 a person in trying to re- 

 member something often raises his eyebrows, as if to 

 see it. A Hindoo gentleman made exactly the same 

 remark to Mr. Erskine in regard to his countrymen. 

 I noticed a young lady earnestly trying to recollect a 

 painter's name, and she first looked to one corner of 

 the ceiling and then to the opposite corner, arching 

 the one eyebrow on that side; although, of course, there 

 was nothing to be seen there. 



In most of the foregoing cases, we can understand 

 how the associated movements were acquired through 

 habit; but with some individuals, certain strange gestures 

 or tricks have arisen in association with certain states of 

 the mind, owing to wholly inexplicable causes, and are 

 undoubtedly inherited. I have elsewhere given one 

 instance from my own observation of an extraordinary 

 and complex gesture, associated with pleasurable feel- 

 ings, which was transmitted from a father to his 

 daughter, as well as some other analogous facts. 8 



7 ' Mecanisme de la Physionomie Humaine,' 18G2. p. 17. 



8 ' The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domesti- 

 cation,' vol. ii. p. 6. The inheritance of habitual gestures 

 is so important for lis, that I gladly avail myself of Mr. 

 F. Galton's permission to give in his own words the follow- 

 ing - remarkable case: — "The following account of a habit 

 occurring in individuals of three consecutive generations 



