GREEK VASES. 299 



doing anything, but its posture is the representa- 

 tion of the outcome of brain action only. As to the 

 posture of this free hand under the influence of that 

 condition of brain which makes a woman energetic, 

 it is that described in chap. ix. as "the energetic 

 hand ; " it is often seen in children eager to answer a 

 lesson in class and holding out their hands, or in 

 a child running to a friend ; it is commonly seen in 

 an orator or preacher. The wrist is extended back- 

 wards, the fingers and thumb are all in moderate 

 flexion. I believe this posture of the hand is com- 

 mon as the outcome of an active, energetic condition 

 of the mind, and that the brain condition, which 

 causes " an energetic condition of the mind," causes 

 also at the same time, in many cases, the energetic 

 hand. If the artist had so composed his figure 

 that the left hand, as well as the right, had been 

 represented engaged in holding some object, we 

 should have had less expression of the woman's 

 mental energy. The artist's skill appears in the 

 composition in thus indicating by the right hand 

 the physical strength, in the left hand the state 

 of mental energy. 



Fig. 35 is the photographic copy of an engraving 

 by Mr. Kirk, in his work, " Outlines from Figures 

 upon Greek Vases, etc., of the late Sir William 

 Hamilton, MDCCCXIY." 



" Plate I. represents a festival in honour of Bac- 

 chus, and consists of both sexes, who seldom or 

 never were together except in these feasts." As 

 already noticed, all the hands of the seated figures, 

 where they are not engaged in holding some object> 



