212 



♦ KNO\VLEDGE ♦ 



[March 13, 1885. 



The untutored savage and the child are alike led to 

 attribute fossession of mind to inauimate things, -when, 

 owing to extraneous and unknown causes, they see appa- 

 rently voluntary action take place in the^e. The child or 

 the man overcome -with passion, having accidentally struck 

 himself against a chair or a table, gives the iuuocent piece 

 of furniture a hearty kick by way of revenge, and when 

 Euch accidents happen it is not an uncommon thing to hear 

 the sufferer condemn a footstool or the corner of a sideboard 

 to everlasting tortures in the lowest depths of Hades. This 

 is apparently a survival of the animistic theory, a return to 

 that stage of mental evolution when every thing was 

 supposed to have a soul, on the grounds of some general 

 resemblance to the life of the individual. 



The same phase of mind seems to have been observed in 

 the lower animals, 



M. Comte once saw a large dog playing with a stick, and 

 accidentally thrust one end of it atiainst the roof of his 

 mouth. He immediately dropped the stick, and rushed 

 away in a state of abject terror, ridiculous in so large an 

 aiiimal, and which apparently arose from his thinking that 

 hi.-i whileome plaything had suddenly come to life." An 

 analogous case is related by INIr. Herbert Spencer, who had 

 a Skye terrier, which, like" others of his kind, was in the 

 habit of playing with bones, worrying tliem, and pretending 

 they were alive. On one occasion, Sjjencer tied a fine 

 thread to one of the bones, and dragijed it along ; the Ao" 

 was evidently astonished, and looked about to find a cause 

 for the movement ; seeing none, his astonishment developed 

 into dread, and he ran and hid himself, '^ to behold at a 

 distance the 'uncanny' spectacle of a dry bone coming to 

 life." In the " Descent of ]Man," Darwin spi-abs of a fine 

 dog which he observed barking at a parasol that was being 

 moved by the wind along the lawn, and behaving exactly 

 as if he thought it was alive. 



In my last article, I classified gestures under three heads, 

 the first of which includes the expression of feelings— that 

 is to say, sensations and emotions. These are distinguished 

 from the other two classes in that they are not intentionally 

 performed for the purpose of impressing the onlooker ; but 

 are instinctive, and take place equally when no observer is 

 present. Those, however, who witness them may, none 

 the less, endow them with a meaning in relation to their 

 own feelings. Thus, one may laugh, or sigh, or blush, in 

 the seclusion of one's own room, but if another were jaesent 

 he might interpret such as a sign of merriment, grief, or 

 shame. 



In his interesting work on the expression of the emotions 

 Darwin formulates three general principles in regard to the 

 causation of the various expressions : — 



I. The principle of serviceable associated habits. Actions 

 which have been of service under certain states of mind, 

 tend to recur when the same state of mind is induced, 

 however feebly, and although they may then be of no use. 



II. The principle of antithesis. Opposite states of mind 

 lead to actions directly opposed to those included under the 

 first class. 



III. The principle of actions due to the constitution of 

 the nervous system independently of the will, and, to a 

 certain extent, of habit. In considering the first of these 

 principles, Darwin quotes the excellent statement of the 

 law of association, which is given by Bain,* that "actions, 

 sensations, and states of fei-lLng occurring together or in 

 close succession, tend to grow together or cohere, in such a 

 way that, when any one of them is afterwards presented to 

 the mind, the others are apt to be brought up in idea." 



Spencer, in his " Principles of Psychology," points out 



* " Senses and the Intellect," 2nd Ed. p. 332. 



that fear is expressed by just those "manifestations that 

 would accompany an actual experience of the evil feared." 

 The destructive passions are expressed by actions which are 

 weaker forms of those that accompany the killing of 

 prey. Animals in mad anger tear, break, and bite what- 

 ever comes in their way, and the same remark is true of 

 some people. The foaming at the mouth observed in rage 

 may, perhaps, have its origin in the increased secretion of 

 saliva caused by the prospect of food which the prey 

 affords. Persons in anger have still a desire to strike, the 

 fists are clenched, and there is a general tension of their 

 muscles similar to that of animals preparing for an attack. 



The contraction of the brows, concomitant with great 

 mental concentration, and which we interpret as the frown 

 of thought, may be traced to the shielding of the eyes, to 

 protect them from too much light, whUe an enemy or prey 

 was being intently watched ; and this theory of the origin 

 of the expression finds support in the fact that during 

 concentrated thought the pupils of the eyes contract as 

 they do in strong light. 



Darwin maintains* that all those expressions included 

 under his first principle " were at first voluntarily per- 

 formed for a definite object ; namely, to escape some 

 danger, to relieve some distress, or to gratify some desire. 

 For instance," he says, " there can hardly be a doubt that 

 the animals which fight with their teeth have acquired the 

 habit of drawing back their ears closely to their heads 

 when feeling savage, from their progenitors having volun- 

 tarily acted in this manner in order to protect their ears 

 from being torn by their antagonists ; for those animals 

 which do not fight with their teeth do not thus express a 

 savage state of mind." 



Other such expressions are those of disgust, which have 

 their origin in the endeavours to stop the nose against, or 

 turn away from, a bad smell, and in the actions which take 

 place in spitting out a nauseous morsel and in vomiting. 

 The characteristic expression of disdain, what we call 

 turning up the nose, is, Darwin suggests, derived from the 

 habit of exposing the canine tooth when animals snarl at 

 one another. 



Darwin's second principle, that of antithesis, is less 

 important than the two others. The chief example which 

 he gives under this head is that of a dog, who, seeing a 

 man approaching, prepares, with savage growl, exposed 

 teeth, ruffled hair, and ears pressed back, to spring on an 

 enemy ; but discovering that the approaching person is his 

 master, his whole bearing is instantly reversed. " Instead 

 of walking upright, the body sinks downwards, or even 

 crouches, and is thrown into flexuous movements ; his tail, 

 instead of being held stiff and upright, is lowered and 

 wagged from side to side ; his hair instantly becomes 

 smooth ; his ears are depressed and drawn backwards, but 

 not closely to the head ; and his lips hang lousely."t The 

 majority of expressions which might be classed under this 

 head are probably referable to the third principle, which is 

 in reality the most important, and largely influences both 

 the others. 



As Spencer has shown. i feeling which passes a certain 

 pitch habitually vents itself in bodily action ; and further, 

 " an overflow of nerve force undirected by any motive . . . 

 will take first the most habitual routes; and if these do not 

 suffice, will next overflow into the less habitual ones." 



Under this third principle, that of the direct action of 

 the nervous system, may be classed all those expressions 

 where under excitement nerve-force is generated in excess 



* '• Expression of the Emotions," ed. 1S72, pp. 353-4. 

 t '' Exj). of Emotions," p. 51. 



J '■ Essays, Scientific, Political, and Speculative." Second 

 scries. 1863. p. 111. 



