THE HAND FREE AND IMPRESSIVE. 315 



weakness, but is inappropriate to sternness and 

 defiance. 



A not uncommon hand posture is the closed fist, 

 or some modification of the convulsive hand, but 

 this is inappropriate to the expression of rest. A 

 slight modification of the convulsive hand is ex- 

 pressive of slight " shock " or terror, as in the piece 

 of sculpture called "You Dirty Boy;" but "the 

 hand in fright " is, I think, the outcome of terror. 



It is to the free or disengaged hand that we must 

 look for examples illustrating the condition of the 

 brain which governs it. If the muscles be employed 

 in some definite work, such as holding an object, or 

 in an act of manipulation such as sewing, then the 

 movements are directed to accomplish the aim 

 attempted, and are not simply indicative of the 

 condition of the brain, as may be the case with the 

 free hand when unconsciously expressing the mental 

 condition by gesticulation. When, on the contrary, 

 the hands are left free and disengaged, as the hands 

 of the orator, which unconsciously express by their 

 position, or movements, the general mental state of 

 the speaker, we have in these muscular movements 

 an expression of the man's mind. It is as reasonable 

 to look for the state of the mind to be expressed in 

 the position and action of the hand engaged in 

 definite voluntary, purposive acts, as to look for 

 expression in the face when the sun is shining full 

 in the eyes, or the lips are engaged in eating, or 

 moved with the other movements of dyspnoea. Still 

 it is true that in either case the manner of perform- 

 ing the act may be indicative of the mental state, 



