Chap. VII. DEPRESSED CORNERS OF THE MOUTH. 195 



being gorged with blood, but this contraction was com- 

 pletely overmastered, and her brow remained unruffled. 

 Had the pyramidal, corrugator, and orbicular muscles 

 been as little obedient to the will, as they are in many 

 persons, they would have been slightly acted on; and 

 then the central fasciae of the frontal muscle would have 

 contracted in antagonism, and her eyebrows would have 

 become oblique, with rectangular furrows on her fore- 

 head. Her countenance would then have expressed still 

 more plainly than it did a state of dejection, or rather 

 one of grief. 



Through steps such as these we can understand how 

 it is, that as soon as some melancholy thought passes 

 through the brain, there occurs a just perceptible draw- 

 ing down of the corners of the mouth, or a slight raising 

 up of the inner ends of the eyebrows, or both movements 

 combined, and immediately afterwards a slight suffu- 

 sion of tears. A thrill of nerve-force is transmitted along 

 several habitual channels, and produces an effect on any 

 point where the will has not acquired through long 

 habit much power of interference. The above actions 

 may be considered as rudimental vestiges of the scream- 

 ing-fits, which are so frequent and prolonged during 

 infancy. In this case, as well as in many others, the 

 links are indeed wonderful which connect cause and 

 effect in giving rise to various expressions on the human 

 countenance; and they explain to us the meaning of 

 certain movements, which we involuntarily and uncon- 

 sciously perform, whenever certain transitory emotions 

 pass through our minds. 



