272 SIGNS OF AFFIRMATION Chap. XI. 



pressed in many parts of the world by merely shrugging 

 the shoulders, without turning inwards the elbows and 

 opening the hands. The man or child who is obstinate, 

 or one who is resigned to some great misfortune, has 

 in neither case any idea of resistance by active means; 

 and he expresses this state of mind, by simply keeping 

 his shoulders raised; or he may possibly fold his arms 

 across his breast. 



Signs of affirmation or approval, and of negation or 

 disapproval: nodding and shaking the head. — I was 

 curious to ascertain how far the common signs used by 

 us in affirmation and negation were general throughout 

 the world. These signs are indeed to a certain extent 

 expressive of our feelings, as we give a vertical nod of 

 approval with a smile to our children, when we approve 

 of their conduct; and shake our heads laterally with a 

 frown, when we disapprove. With infants, the first act 

 of denial consists in refusing food; and I repeatedly 

 noticed with my own infants, that they did so by with- 

 drawing their heads laterally from the breast, or from 

 anything offered them in a spoon. In accepting food 

 and taking it into their mouths, they incline their heads 

 forwards. Since making these observations I have been 

 informed that the same idea had occurred to Charma. 17 

 It deserves notice that in accepting or taking food, there 

 is only a single movement forward, and a single nod im- 

 plies an affirmation. On the other hand, in refusing 

 food, especially if it be pressed on them, children fre- 

 quently move their heads several times from side to side, 

 as we do in shaking our heads in negation. Moreover, 

 in the case of refusal, the head is not rarely thrown back- 

 wards, or the mouth is closed, so that these movements 



17 ' Essai sur le Lang-ag-e,' 2nd edit. 1846. I am much in- 

 debted to Miss Wedgwood for having- given me this in- 

 formation, with an extract from the work. 



