Chap. XIIT. BLUSHING. 313 



extended below the upper part of the chest. He has also 

 noticed that blushes sometimes die away downwards, 

 not gradually and insensibly, but by irregular ruddy 

 blotches. Dr. Langstaff has likewise observed for me 

 several women whose bodies did not in the least redden 

 while their faces were crimsoned with blushes. With 

 the insane, some of whom appear to be particularly liable 

 to blushing, Dr. J. Crichton Browne has several times 

 seen the blush extend as far down as the collar-bones, 

 and in two instances to the breasts. He gives me the 

 case of a married woman, aged twenty-seven, who suf- 

 fered from epilepsy. On the morning after her arrival 

 in the Asylum, Dr. Browne, together with his assistants, 

 visited her whilst she was in bed. The moment that he 

 approached, she blushed deeply over her cheeks and 

 temples; and the blush spread quickly to her ears. She 

 was much agitated and tremulous. He unfastened the 

 collar of her chemise in order to examine the state of 

 her lungs; and then a brilliant blush rushed over her 

 chest, in an arched line over the upper third of each 

 breast, and extended downwards between the breasts 

 nearly to the ensiform cartilage of the sternum. This 

 case is interesting, as the blush did not thus extend 

 downwards until it became intense by her attention being 

 drawn to this part of her person. As the examination 

 proceeded she became composed, and the blush disap- 

 peared; but on several subsequent occasions the same 

 phenomena were observed. 



The foregoing facts show that, as a general rule, 

 with English women, blushing does not extend beneath 

 the neck and upper part of the chest. Nevertheless Sir 

 J. Paget informs me that he has lately heard of a case, 

 on which he can fully rely, in which a little girl, shocked 

 by what she imagined to be an act of indelicacy, blushed 

 all over her abdomen and the upper parts of her legs. 

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