REFLECTED IMPULSES 73 







We must, however, admit that the pleasure 

 and pain that spring from our sensations, the 

 emotions that accompany the liberation of im- 

 pulses, and the happiness or unhappiness of 

 satisfaction or the reverse, play the part of im- 

 pulses in so far that they produce very decided 

 muscular reactions may, perhaps, be regarded 

 as reflected impulses. These expressions of feeling 

 most commonly show themselves in the muscles 

 of the face, but they may stir certain glands, 

 and not infrequently extend to the whole of the 

 body. Smiles and laughter are evoked by pleasure 

 of sight or hearing, by happiness of mind, and by 

 the satisfying changes of mood which are brought 

 about by the perception of the ludicrous. Little 

 children round a Christmas tree show their delight 

 by ecstatic jumping. Some of the expressions of 

 pleasure and pain are equivocal, and may arise 

 from either of these feelings. Tears, trembling, 

 and blushes are generally associated with pain: 

 but they may also be caused by overpowering 

 happiness. The emotions, on the other hand, 

 provoke each a peculiar facial expression of its 

 own. The gamut of emotions may accordingly 

 be illustrated pictorially ; we easily identify 

 facial expressions of greed and curiosity, vanity 

 and shame, love and hatred, ecstasy and self- 

 restraint. We may hardly believe that all expres- 

 sions of feeling have been of practical usefulness 

 in the evolution of man ; indeed, many of them 

 appear more likely to have impeded than to have 

 assisted him in the struggle for life. But we are 

 by no means obliged to assume that they owe 

 their existence to any utility. If they are neutral 

 neither advantageous nor injurious they will 

 resemble multitudes of other capacities which we 

 may observe in the living creatures around us. 



