Chap. XL SHRUGGING THE SHOULDERS. 209 



panied in some cases by the other proper movements, is 

 a gesture natural to mankind. 



This gesture implies an unintentional or unavoidable 

 action on our own part, or one that we cannot perform; 

 or an action performed by another person which we 

 cannot prevent. It accompanies such speeches as, " It 

 was not my fault; " " It is impossible for me to grant 

 this favour; " " He must follow his own course, I can- 

 not stop him." Shrugging the shoulders likewise ex- 

 presses patience, or the absence of any intention to re- 

 sist. Hence the muscles which raise the shoulders are 

 sometimes called, as I have been informed by an artist, 

 " the patience muscles." Shylock the Jew, says, 



" Signor Antonio, many a time and oft 

 In the Rialto have you rated me 

 About my monies and usances; 

 Still have I borne it with a patient shrug." 



Merchant of Venice, act i. sc. 3. 



Sir C. Bell has given 14 a life-like figure of a man, 

 who is shrinking back from some terrible danger, and is 

 on the point of screaming out in abject terror. He is 

 represented with his shoulders lifted up almost to his 

 ears; and this at once declares that -there is no thought 

 of resistance. 



As shrugging the shoulders generally implies " I 

 cannot do this or that," so by a slight change, it some- 

 times implies " I won't do it." The movement then ex- 

 presses a dogged determination not to act. Olmsted 

 describes 15 an Indian in Texas as giving a great shrug 

 to his shoulders, when he was informed that a party of 

 men were Germans and not Americans, thus expressing 

 that he would have nothing to do with them. Sulky and 



14 ' Anatomy of Expression,' p. 166. 



15 ' Journey through Texas,' p. 352. 



