Chap. IX. MEDITATION. 227 



with some savages, as by Mr. Dyson Lacy with the Aus- 

 tralians of Queensland, and several times by Mr. Geach 

 with the Malays of the interior of Malacca. What the 

 meaning or cause of this action may be, cannot at pres- 

 ent be explained; but here we have another instance of 

 movement round the eyes in relation to the state of the 

 mind. 



The vacant expression of the eyes is very peculiar, and 

 at once shows when a man is completely lost in thought. 

 Professor Donders has, with his usual kindness, investi- 

 gated this subject for me. He has observed others in 

 this condition, and has been himself observed by Pro- 

 fessor Engelmann. The eyes are not then fixed on any 

 object, and therefore not, as I had imagined, on some 

 distant object. The lines of vision of the two eyes even 

 often become slightly divergent; the divergence, if the 

 head be held vertically, with the plane of vision hori- 

 zontal, amounting to an angle of 2° as a maximum. 

 This was ascertained by observing the crossed double 

 image of a distant object. When the head droops for- 

 ward, as often occurs with a man absorbed in thought, 

 owing to the general relaxation of his muscles, if the 

 plane of vision be still horizontal, the eyes are necessarily 

 a little turned upwards, and then the divergence is as 

 much as 3°, or 3° 5': if the eyes are turned still more 

 upwards, it amounts to between 6° and 7°. Professor 

 Donders attributes this divergence to the almost com- 

 plete relaxation of certain muscles of the eyes, which 

 would be apt to follow from the mind being wholly ab- 

 sorbed. 6 The active condition of the muscles of the eyes 



6 Gratiolet remarks (De la Phys. p. 35), " Quand l'atten- 

 tion est fixee sur quelque image interieure, l'ceil regarde 

 dans le vide et s'associe automatiqnement a la contem- 

 plation de l'esprit." But this view hardly deserves to be 

 called an explanation. 



