MOVEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. 249 



Caught from nature by photography, physiological expres- 

 sion belongs to science, and is invaluable to it: but the artist, 

 like the poet, remembers that his task is to suggest only, 

 leaving that to be divined which could not be said or de- 

 lineated without revolting the spectator. 



The movements from which the physiognomy results are 

 always harmonious, and it is to their unity and concordance 

 that our impressions are due. The least negligence in this 

 respect shocks us in a picture like a false note in an orchestra, 

 while our admiration is unbounded for a work of art in which 

 nothing is forgotten. 



Lethiere paints Brutus at the execution of his sons; the face 

 and attitude of the consul express only merciless severity, the 

 folds of the toga are faultless, but the contracted hands 

 reveal the agony of the father under the inflexibility of the 

 judge. David represents him to us at the moment when the 

 bodies of his sons are brought to him. The expression of 

 the head is fierce, the feet, the left hand, and the whole body 

 are strongly contracted; the right hand alone is carelessly 

 bent, and takes no part in this convulsive state. 



Movements of expression. Gratiolet, in his treatise on 

 physiognomy, groups under this term all the modifications of 

 form, of colour, &c., which manifest themselves on the sur- 

 face of the body, under the influence of the most widely dif- 

 ferent causes. These movements are direct, sympathetic, or 

 symbolic. 



In looking at an object, the action of the eyes, and the 

 animation which they give to the expression, are direct move- 

 ments; but if we fix the attention, the body takes part in the 

 action of the eyes, inclines forward, and seems to wish to 

 move toward the object observed; these are sympathetic 

 movements, and when thinking of extreme cold we shiver, 

 this is a symbolic movement. 



The limbs, the trunk, and the head, that is to say, the 

 gestures and attitude, contribute greatly to complete the 

 physiognomy, as has already been remarked ; the cavities, on 

 the contrary, take no part in it, the seat of expression is in 

 the skin, the muscles, and the eyes. 



Colour of the integuments. The skin, parti cularlv on the 



