176 PHYSICAL EXPRESSION. 



It seems desirable to give some further indication 

 of the knowledge that it is hoped to gain from the 

 systematic study of postures. I do not attempt to 

 indicate what special portions of the brain are con- 

 cerned in producing different postures, and do not 

 think such details can at present be given. I can- 

 not localize a motor centre for the " hand in fright; " 

 could we do so, it would afford some evidence as to 

 what portion of brain-mechanism is concerned in the 

 mental condition called fright. In the case of an 

 idiot, whose hands were usually in the convulsive 

 posture, I took casts of the hands, and subsequently 

 had the opportunity of examining the brain, which 

 showed marked defects in the posterior convolutions. 

 It is probable that difference in hand posture on the 

 two sides indicates a different action of the two hemi- 

 spheres of the brain, and of this I hope to give further 

 evidence on another occasion, founded upon the asso- 

 ciation of postures. When the hands are held free, a 

 difference in the posture on the two sides, or different 

 movements in the two hands, give evidence that 

 the two hemispheres are in a different condition. 

 These studies show that in many people the nerve- 

 centres are not strictly symmetrical in action, the 

 average postures of the face and hands being asym- 

 metrical, e.g. frequent occurrence of one-sided grin- 

 ning; the nervous hand is often seen on one side only, 

 usually the left; these observations may be conducted 

 in healthy people, and give evidence of the indi- 

 vidual's idiosynchronism. The study of postures 

 gives examples of the application of the " prin- 

 ciples," enunciated above, and, I think, affords some 



