260 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF. 



From the continued use of the eyes, these organs are 

 especially liable to be acted on through association under 

 various states of the mind, although there is manifestly 

 nothing to be seen. A man, as Gratiolet remarks, who 

 vehemently rejects a proposition, will almost certainly 

 shut his eyes or turn away his face ; but, if he accepts the 

 proposition, he will nod his head in affirmation and open 

 his eyes widely. The man acts in this latter case as if he 

 clearly saw the thing, and in the former case as if he did 

 not, or would not, see it. I have noticed that persons in 

 describing a horrid sight often shut their eyes moment- 

 arily and firmly, or shake their heads, as if not to see or 

 to drive away something disagreeable ; and I have caught 

 myself, when thinking in the dark of a horrid spectacle, 

 closing my eyes firmly. 



' _. There are other actions which are corn- 



Page 34. 



monly performed under certain circumstances, 



independently of habit, and which seem to be due to imi- 

 tation or some sort of sympathy. Thus persons cutting 

 anything with a pair of scissors may be seen to move 

 their jaws simultaneously with the blades of the scissors. 

 Children learning to write often twist about their tongues 

 as their fingers move, in a ridiculous fashion. When a 

 public singer suddenly becomes a little hoarse, many of 

 those present may be heard, as I have been assured by a 

 gentleman on whom I can rely, to clear their throats ; 

 but here habit probably comes into play, as we clear our 

 own throats under similar circumstances. 



p Keflex actions, in the strict sense of the 



term, are due to the excitement of a peripheral 



nerve, which transmits its influence to certain nerve-cells, 



and these, in their turn, excite certain muscles or glands 



