CONCLUSION. 127 



It may be well to remind the reader once more of 

 the necessity of securing characteristic pictures of his 

 sitters. Movements or attitudes characteristic of 

 different animals have become so familiar in many 

 cases as to have passed into proverbs. To " creep like 

 a mouse," to " stare like an owl," to "grin like a dog," 

 are a few of the expressions which immediately occur 

 to one, and the list is a much longer one than might be 

 supposed. A slight consideration will suffice to show 

 that such expressions are originally the result of close 

 observation. All animals, including man, adopt 

 certain definite postures and expressions more 

 frequently than others. These, from constant 

 repetition, gradually come to be regarded as 

 characteristic. They are more lasting in point of 

 time than other postures and expressions, and create 

 a more lasting impression. When we speak of a 

 portrait being characteristic, we mean that the artist 

 has portrayed a particular posture or expression, which 

 is so familiar to us as to have become part and parcel 

 of our mental connotation of the sitter. This 

 familiarity springs from two distinct causes in the first 

 place, constant repetition ; in the second place, appre- 

 ciable duration. A characteristic expression is 

 necessarily one which the facial muscles are constantly 

 called upon to adopt. The mere fact of constant 

 repetition ensures the possibility, and even the 

 likelihood, of duration in point of time. That con- 

 stant repetition is the secret of all muscle control can 

 be seen in the case of an infant learning to walk. In 



