The Emotions. 783 



and is presented to and addressed by others. Thus, receiving the great- 

 est attention from the environment, it likewise receives the greatest at- 

 tention from our internal senses, and the impact of the external stimu- 

 lations of various kinds upon the face and its belongings, passing up 

 the afferent nerves to the internal sense organs, provokes from them the 

 return stimulation of attention, purposive or automatic, which sends the 

 blood into the numerous capillaries of some part of the face or its mus- 

 cles. The face having thus, first, for a long time been the outlet for 

 overflow or return stimulations provoked by the action of environing 

 stimuli upon itself, at last, through the facilit} r thus attained, has be- 

 come an outlet for the overflow of excitation from many organs of in- 

 ternal sensation, which receive their original stimulation from the senses 

 of hearing or touch. In other words, through use or habit, the direc- 

 tion towards the face is one of the routes from the brain, of least re- 

 sistance for the flow of superfluous excitation, so that the action which 

 it sets up there indicates which cerebral organs are under excitement. 

 Among the many indications impressed upon the face is the flushing or 

 reddening which follows various kinds of cerebral emotion. The direct 

 physiological antecedent of the reddening of the face, is the expansion 

 of the arterial capillaries under nervous stimulation from the internal 

 sense organs, by which the quantity of blood directly under the epi- 

 dermis is increased, or it may be increased by the increase in the rapid- 

 ity of the general circulation through muscular activity and increased 

 waste of tissue, or from waste occasioned by disease. The reddening 

 of the face, more than other parts of the body, from so many different 

 causes, shows it to be, as stated above, a ready waste-gate of excitation. 

 The faces of monkeys redden from passion, showing that the differen- 

 tiation of the face, as an index of cerebral states, began before our race. 

 In man the face is reddened by the erection of organs, which produce 

 rage, fury, anger, puzzled vexation, injured pride, shame, modesty, mor- 

 tification, self consciousness, disappointment, joy, hilarity, amusement, 

 triumph, and many other forms of emotional demonstrations. But the 

 principle is the same in all. The easy overflow of stimulation toward 

 the face would not have become so much the rule had not the face have 

 become so much a center of attention, first, by the environment, and 

 second, by the organs of internal sensation. The different causes which 

 produce the reddening of the face, are usually betrayed by accompany- 

 ing circumstances. We can generally tell whether a person is red from 

 fever or anger, mortification or shame, &c. The reddening from self- 

 attention and shame is called blushing. As a rule, with civilized races, 

 blushing is confined to the face, unless the emotion is strong, when it 

 may overflow to the ears and neck, and sometimes even to the hands 

 and wrists. * ' When the sympathetic nerve is divided on the side of the 



