14 ATAVISM IN HEAD-MUSCLES 



out, and their correlatives, big hands and feet. I 

 dare say the Palaeolithic man's auricle was about the 

 bigness of a tea-cup half-saucer, and being hinged, 

 it could lie back flat against his head when listening 

 to sounds from the sides or the rear, or as in other 

 mammals to express anger. The other movement 

 was forward; it could stand out, as in the elephant, 

 at right angles to the head to catch sounds coming 

 from the front. Judging from the position of the 

 ears in new-born babies, one might suppose that the 

 ears ordinarily stood out from the head like the two 

 opposite handles of a round pot. 



No doubt there have been instances of atavism in 

 the human ear observed from time to time, just as 

 in the case of the twitching-muscle. There are those 

 who have this twitching power all over the head 

 instead of in the forehead and muscles of the face 

 only; so vigorous is it in some instances that the man 

 is able to throw or shake off his hat by a sudden 

 violent movement of the head-muscles, like that of 

 a dog shaking himself. I also suppose that primitive 

 man had the teeth-gnashing faculty, as I have known 

 one man who had it as powerfully as it exists in the 

 dog, in peccaries and pigs of all kinds, and other 

 fierce mammals. This man was a Spanish Basque, 

 a workman, and as he was musically inclined he 

 had utilised his wonderfully strong teeth and teeth- 

 gnashing faculty by turning his mouth into a musical 

 instrument. Planting an elbow on the table and 

 resting his chin on his hand, he would start the per- 

 formance and go through a number of marches and 



