The Emotions. 775 



the excitement is stronger, furnish the purposive actions. When the 

 cerebral activity is at its lowest, the sensations are of the most subdued 

 kind, and we may be said to be in a sub-conscious condition. The ten- 

 sions and the currents are of the weakest kind ; yet the fact that there 

 is any muscular expression at all, is proof of their presence, and conse- 

 quently of the presence of those activities which constitute the revival 

 (in a very weak way) of the memories of the organs. In other words, 

 the state of consciousness which produces expression, is a state in which 

 there is gentle and general stimulation of the majority, or of a large 

 number of memory organs, and an overflow from them to the muscles. 

 This stimulation arises from the mere presence and pulsation of the 

 blood in the brain, and, as observed elsewhere, starts up as soon as the 

 circulation increases upon our waking in the morning, and continues 

 while we are awake. It does not entirely cease while we sleep, but is 

 greatly reduced. In this state of general consciousness, the subdued 

 excitement may be spread more or less evenly amongst the organs, and 

 no memory made more prominent than the rest. But this state of 

 equilibrium is disturbed the instant a new sensory stimulation is re- 

 ceived from the environment. New tensions and currents are formed, 

 and centers of attention are established. The sensations of these new 

 activities are of proportional intensity ; and the overflow currents which 

 may pass out to the muscles, throw them into contractions and tensions, 

 which constitute new modes of expression, and are, in fact, the true ex- 

 pressions of the state of the organs at the moment. We generally 

 speak of the former ordinary expressions as involuntary, and the latter 

 conditional ones as voluntary. But it is obvious that they both belong 

 to the same class, and are operated in the same mechanical wa} r . 



The average state of the organs of the cerebrum impresses itself upon 

 many of our muscles constantly, in giving them a subdued and moder- 

 ate tension, or more or less fixed position, which remains much the 

 same during life, except that it is subject to a slow modification corres- 

 ponding with the modification which takes place in the cerebral organs 

 themselves. This expression, as observed above, is especially marked 

 in the muscles of the face, although it is stamped upon the general 

 muscles of the body, giving peculiarities of attitude, posture and 

 gesture. As just observed it undergoes a gradual development or 

 change during life, as the cerebral organs change. If ph}-siognomy 

 were an exact science it would be possible, by comparing a fac simile of 

 the expression of a man at twenty with another of the same man at 

 forty, to tell what his habits of life and thought had been during the 

 interval. It is easy for any ordinary observer to distinguish the differ- 

 ence of expression between one who has cultivated his brain and another 

 whose occupation has been chiefly muscular, or between an abstemious 



