656 Sir James Cricliton-Browne [May 27, 



opposite to those in wliich the movements of which they are them- 

 selves the opposites arise. The dog, approaching a supposed enemy, 

 in a hostile or savage mood, holds itself erect, has a straight back, 

 rigid tail, ears pricked forward, eyes set in a fixed stare and lips 

 retracted so as to show the teeth, and all these attitudes and move- 

 ments can be explained as serviceable, being calculated to intimidate 

 the enemy, or to facilitate attack ; but when the dog suddenly finds 

 that it is a friend and not an enemy it is approaching, these move- 

 ments and attitudes are instantly replaced by their opposites. It 

 crouches, its back is curved, its tail is wagged, its ears droop, its 

 eyes are turned upwards, its lips hang loosely, and these movements, 

 Darwin says, can never have been of any service, but are simply the 

 opposites of the movements expressive of anger, and so have come to 

 be expressive of affection. A man who is indignant, or resents an 

 injury, holds his head up, squares his shoulders, expands his chest 

 and clenches his fists, and these movements are serviceable ; but a 

 man who manifests helplessness, bends his head, shrugs his shoulders, 

 contracts his chest, opens his hands — exhibits, in short, movements 

 not serviceable but opposite to the movements of indignation or 

 self-assertion, and which have therefore come to be recognised as 

 expressive of the opposite emotion, that of helplessness and self- 

 depreciation. This is Darwin's principle of Antithesis. 



But movements, Darwin still further argues, which are inde- 

 pendent of the will, which cannot have been acquired by habit, but 

 which are expressive of emotional states, are the direct result of the 

 constitution of the nervous system, and are to be ascribed to its 

 mechanism, or the existence in it of connections between its several 

 parts, and of definite channels through which nerve energy flows. An 

 animal thrown into a state of fear, trembles violently, and this 

 general quivering of the muscles can have been of no service, but is 

 indeed of much dis-service to it, by weakening its power of flight or 

 resistance, and cannot have been voluntarily assumed, as it is not 

 under voluntary control, but must be attributed to a profuse genera- 

 tion of force in the excited nerve-centres, and to the overflow of this 

 through the ordinary outlets. In a woman under a sense of shame 

 the blood-vessels of the face dilate, and a blush suffuses the counte- 

 nance, and this movement is certainly not serviceable, is not 

 voluntary, for the muscles of the blood-vessels are beyond the control 

 of the will and can only be explained by the existence of a connec- 

 tion between the nerves regulating the calibre of these blood-vessels 

 and the part of the nervous system stimulated in this particular emo- 

 tion. This is Darwin's principle of the Action of the Nervous System. 

 Now, as regards these three principles of Darwin, I venture, with 

 the utmost deference, to think that the time has come when they may 

 be subjected to criticism and revision. They have been eminently 

 useful ; have let in a flood of light on a very obscure subject ; have 

 guided to further elucidative researches ; but the very illumination of 

 which they have been themselves the cause, has revealed flaws in 



