60 THE PRINCIPLE OP ANTITHESIS. Chap. II. 



known to every member of the family, and was called 

 his hot-house face. This consisted in the head drooping 

 much, the whole body sinking a little and remaining 

 motionless; the ears and tail falling suddenly down, 

 but the tail was by no means wagged. With the fall- 

 ing of the ears and of his great chaps, the eyes became 

 much changed in appearance, and I fancied that they 

 looked less bright. His aspect was that of piteous, 

 hopeless dejection; and it was, as I have said, laugh- 

 able, as the cause was so slight. Every detail in his 

 attitude was in complete opposition to his former joy- 

 ful yet dignified bearing; and can be explained, as it 

 appears to me, in no other way, except through the 

 principle of antithesis. Had not the change been so 

 instantaneous, I should have attributed it to his lowered 

 spirits affecting, as in the case of man, the nervous sys- 

 tem and circulation, and consequently the tone of his 

 whole muscular frame; and this may have been in part 

 the cause. 



We will now consider how the principle of antithesis 

 in expression has arisen. With social animals, the power 

 of intercommunication between the members of the 

 Sc.me community, — and with other species, between the 

 opposite sexes, as well as between the young and the 

 old, — is of the highest importance to them. This is 

 generally effected by means of the voice, but it is cer- 

 tain that gestures and expressions are to a certain ex- 

 tent mutually intelligible. Man not only uses inar- 

 ticulate cries, gestures, and expressions, but has in- 

 vented articulate language; if, indeed, the word in- 

 vented can be applied to a process, completed by in- 

 numerable steps, half-consciously made. Any one who 

 has watched monkeys will not doubt that they perfectly 

 understand each other's gestures and expression, and 



