224 REFLECTION. Chap. IX. 



As the habit of contracting the brows has been fol- 

 lowed by infants during innumerable generations, at the 

 commencement of every crying or screaming fit, it has 

 become firmly associated with the incipient sense of 

 something distressing or disagreeable. Hence under 

 similar circumstances it would be apt to be continued 

 during maturity, although never then developed into a 

 crying-fit. Screaming or weeping begins to be volun- 

 tarily restrained at an early period of life, whereas frown- 

 ing is hardly ever restrained at any age. It is perhaps 

 worth notice that with children much given to weeping, 

 anything which perplexes their minds, and which would 

 cause most other children merely to frown, readily 

 makes them weep. So with certain classes of the insane, 

 any effort of mind, however slight, which with an ha- 

 bitual frowner would cause a slight frown, leads to their 

 weeping in an unrestrained manner. It is not more sur- 

 prising that the habit of contracting the brows at the 

 first perception of something distressing, although 

 gained during infancy, should be retained during the 

 rest of our lives, than that many other associated habits 

 acquired at an early age should be permanently retained 

 both by man and the lower animals. For instance, full- 

 grown cats, when feeling warm and comfortable, often 

 retain the habit of alternately protruding their fore-feet 

 with extended toes, which habit they practised for a 

 definite purpose whilst sucking their mothers. 



Another and distinct cause has probably strengthened 

 the habit of frowning, whenever the mind is intent on 

 any subject and encounters some difficulty. Vision is 

 the most important of all the senses, and during prime- 

 val times the closest attention must have been incessantly 

 directed towards distant objects for the sake of obtain- 

 ing prey and avoiding danger. I remember being struck, 

 whilst travelling in parts of South America, which were 



