260 DISGUST. Chap. XI. 



approached close to some defiling object. Mr. Bridges 

 says that the Fuegians " express contempt by shooting 

 out the lips and hissing through them, and by turning 

 up the nose." The tendency either to snort through 

 the nose, or to make a noise expressed by ugh or ach, is 

 noticed by several of my correspondents. 



Spitting seems an almost universal sign of contempt 

 or disgust; and spitting obviously represents the rejec- 

 tion of anything offensive from the mouth. Shakspeare 

 makes the Duke of Xorfolk say, " I spit at him — call 

 him a slanderous coward and a villain." So, again, Fal- 

 staff says, " Tell thee what, Hal, — if I tell thee a lie, 

 spit in my face." Leichhardt remarks that the Aus- 

 tralians " interrupted their speeches by spitting, and ut- 

 tering a noise like pooh! pooh! apparently expressive of 

 their disgust." And Captain Burton speaks of certain 

 negroes " spitting with disgust upon the ground." 10 

 Captain Speedy informs me that this is likewise the case 

 with the Abyssinians. Mr. Geach says that with the 

 Malays of Malacca the expression of disgust " answers 

 to spitting from the mouth; ' and with the Fuegians, 

 according to Mr. Bridges " to spit at one is the highest 

 mark of contempt." 



I never saw disgust more plainly expressed than on 

 the face of one of my infants at the age of five months, 

 when, for the first time, some cold water, and again a 

 month afterwards, when a piece of ripe cherry was put 

 into his mouth. This was shown by the lips and whole 

 mouth assuming a shape which allowed the contents to 

 run or fall quickly out; the tongue being likewise pro- 

 truded. These movements were accompanied by a little 

 shudder. It was all the more comical, as I doubt whether 



10 Both these quotations are given by Mr. H. Wedg- 

 wood, ' On the Origin of Language,' 1866, p. 75. 



