278 SURPRISE. Chap. XI. 



CHAPTEE XII. 



Surprise — Astonishment — Fear — Horror. 



Surprise, astonishment — Elevation of the eyebrows — Open- 

 ing the mouth — Protrusion of the lips — Gestures accom- 

 panying surprise — Admiration — Fear — Terror — Erection 

 of the hair — Contraction of the platysma muscle — Dila- 

 tation of the pupils — Horror — Conclusion. 



Attention, if sudden and close, graduates into sur- 

 prise; and this into astonishment; and this into stupe- 

 fied amazement. The latter frame of mind is closely 

 akin to terror. Attention is shown by the eyebrows being 

 slightly raised; and as this state increases into surprise, 

 they are raised to a much greater extent, with the eyes 

 and mouth widely open. The raising of the eyebrows 

 is necessary in order that the eyes should be opened 

 quickly and widely; and this movement produces trans- 

 verse wrinkles across the forehead. The degree to which 

 the eyes and mouth are opened corresponds with the de- 

 gree of surprise felt; but these movements must be co- 

 ordinated; for a widely opened mouth with eyebrows 

 only slightly raised results in a meaningless grimace, as 

 Dr. Duchenne has shown in one of his photographs. 1 

 On the other hand, a person may often be seen to pre- 

 tend surprise by merely raising his eyebrows. 



Dr. Duchenne has given a photograph of an old man 



i « 



Mecanisme de la Physionomie,' Album, 1862, p. 42. 



