EXPRESSION OF THE EYE. 253 



as the real sensations. When these latter are acute they 

 govern the expression almost as completely as the most 

 violent passions, and may, like them, impress upon the 

 features the sign of an infirmity, a fault, or a vice. 



Our senses, as has been already stated, are united by the 

 constant relations of complementary or sympathetic functions, 

 as the sight and the touch, the sight and the hearing, the 

 taste and the smell frequently control or complete each other 

 by their simultaneous action, and often all the senses are in 

 action at once. This coincidence of the sensations reflected 

 by the physiognomy is a source of varied and complex expres- 

 sions, as much so as the nervous impressions transmitted to 

 the brain can be, and to describe the physiognomy of any 

 one sense it is necessary almost to draw all the features of 

 each of the other senses. 



The eye gives an expression of intelligence to the physiog- 

 nomy, and reflects the thought more than any other organ of 

 the senses. It is especially through the eye that the passions 

 reveal themselves that joy or sorrow, courage or fear, envy, 

 love, or hate, frankness or duplicity, are expressed on the 

 features; therefore, says one, if you would know a man's 

 sentiments, read them in his eyes. 



The movements of the globe of the eye, its fixity, and the 

 contraction or dilatation of the pupil, infinitely vary the ex- 

 pression of the face, and give to the whole of the features a 

 decided meaning; but to the mimic language of the globe 

 the eyelids bring an important and often decisive addition. 



When sight is good, attention is expressed without effort: 

 the face is calm; the eyelids, moderately open, show the globe 

 of the eye, which fixes itself on the object, follows it in space, 

 and acts, in short, as do all the organs in a normal condi- 

 tion, without any consciousness; but if, on the contrary, it 

 is necessary to distinguish an object which is perceived with 

 difficulty, the eyelids approach each other, the eyes twinkle, 

 and the immobility of the body, the suspended respiration", 

 denote more marked attention; the brow contracts, and the 

 features wear an expression of pain, which sometimes gives 

 short-sighted persons a forbidding character. 



The face of a blind man is rarely sad, but the immobility 



