328 BLUSHING. Chap. XIII. 



itself will hardly account for these parts blushing much 

 more than the rest of the body; for it does not explain 

 the fact of the hands rarely blushing. With Europeans 

 the whole body tingles slightly when the face blushes 

 intensely; and with the races of men who habitually 

 go nearly naked, the blushes extend over a much larger 

 surface than with us. These facts are, to a certain ex- 

 tent, intelligible, as the self-attention of primeval man, 

 as well as of the existing races which still go naked, will 

 not have been so exclusively confined to their faces, as 

 is the case with the people who now go clothed. 



We have seen that in all parts of the world persons 

 who feel shame for some moral delinquency, are apt to 

 avert, bend down, or hide their faces, independently of 

 any thought about their personal appearance. The ob- 

 ject can hardly be to conceal their blushes, for the face 

 is thus averted or hidden under circumstances which 

 exclude any desire to conceal shame, as when guilt is 

 fully confessed and repented of. It is, however, probable 

 that primeval man before he had acquired much moral 

 sensitiveness would have been highly sensitive about his 

 personal appearance, at least in reference to the other 

 sex, and he would consequently have felt distress at any 

 depreciatory remarks about his appearance; and this 

 is one form of shame. And as the face is the part of the 

 body which is most regarded, it is intelligible that any 

 one ashamed of his personal appearance would desire 

 to conceal this part of his body. The habit having been 

 thus acquired, would naturally be carried on when shame 

 from strictly moral causes was felt; and it is not easy 

 otherwise to see why under these circumstances there 

 should be a desire to hide the face more than any other 

 part of the body. 



The habit, so general with every one who feels 

 ashamed, of turning away, or lowering his eyes, or rest- 



