ATTITUDE AND TOUCH EXPRESSIVE. 293 



Examples may easily be given showing how we 

 commonly judge of the state of a man by muscular 

 conditions. Note the stooping attitude and spirit- 

 less gait of a tired man as compared with that of 

 the same individual when rested and refreshed. 

 Incipient intoxication is indicated by a reeling gait, 

 unsteady hand, and muscular tremor. Expression 

 may be indicated by the position of the head : it is 

 seen firmly upright in defiance, drooping in shame ; 

 it is commonly held on one side in nervous women, 

 and girls convalescent from chorea, a good example 

 of an asymmetrical gesture. The artist's brush 

 or pencil, the sculptor's modelling tool and chisel, 

 the pianist's and violinist's finger-touch, indicate 

 the training and actual condition of the working 

 of his brain. The educated and refined singer 

 trains and refines his whole mind, i.e. his brain, 

 and is well aware that his " whole soul," as he 

 may express it, comes out in the action of the 

 muscles concerned in producing his song and 

 musical notes. 



In the infant the condition of the nerve-system 

 is best recorded in terms of nerve-muscular phe- 

 nomena. It laughs and is playful; reflex action 

 is well marked when a finger is placed in the 

 child's hand or mouth; the eyes are moved and 

 directed towards any object looked at ; these are 

 conditions of healthy action. It is well known 

 that in the convulsive state the fists are often 

 closed with the thumbs turned in. 



All these examples of expression are nerve- 

 muscular conditions; the movement, the attitude, 



