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 



