304 PHYSICAL EXPRESSION. 



the heaving chest. If he have at that moment the 

 sympathy and aid of a friend, he will cling to him, 

 half raising himself, and twisting his chest with 

 the utmost exertion; and while every muscle of 

 the trunk stands out abrupt and prominent, those 

 of the neck and throat, nostrils and mouth, will 

 partake the excitement. In this condition he will 

 remain fixed, and then fall exhausted with the 

 exertion ; it is in the moment of the chest sinking 

 that the voice of suffering may be heard. If he 

 have fallen on the turf, it is not from pain, but 

 from that indescribable agony of want and instinc- 

 tive struggling, that the grass around the lifeless 

 body is lodged and torn." 



In the figure of " Hercules at Rest " the position 

 of the limbs is mainly determined by gravity ; the 

 figure presents in its build the signs of gigantic 

 strength, but there is little or no expression of 

 mentation. 



The significance of the action of muscles as 

 indicating brain conditions has long been dwelt 

 upon by writers. Camper, who wrote in 1821, has 

 shown how the Laocoon presents evidence as to 

 how deeply the ancients had investigated the 

 influence of pain as expressed in the figure and 

 the muscles. In this group, " not merely does the 

 face, but the arms, legs in short, all the muscles 

 of the body indicate anguish." Further on he 

 quotes from the words of Paulo Somazzo's work, 

 " Dell' Arte della Pittura," published 1531, in which 

 he describes the influence of the passions upon the 

 muscles of the face, and still more minutely the 



