1873.] (H3) 



NOTICES OF BOOKS 



The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. By 

 Charles Darwin, M. A., F.R.S.,&c. London: Murray. 1872. 



An insatiable longing to discover the causes of the varied and 

 complex phenomena presented by living things seems to be the 

 prominent characteristic of Mr. Darwin's mind. Nothing is so 

 insignificant as to escape his notice or so common as not to 

 demand of him an explanation. The restless curiosity of the 

 child to know the " what for," the "why," and the "how" of 

 everything (a wholesome curiosity which our educational system 

 represses, and which rarely survives to manhood) seems with 

 him never to have abated its force ; but he is by no means 

 satisfied, as the child is, with mere verbal explanations which 

 really explain nothing, or, as many writers on this particular 

 subject have been, with purely speculative explanations which 

 are wholly unsupported by evidence. 



The present work exhibits these characteristics of the author's 

 mind in an eminent degree, since we here find systematised and 

 explained by means of acknowledged physiological and psycho- 

 logical facts all the immense variety of complex movements and 

 minute muscular contractions, by the observation of which we 

 unconsciously interpret, with more or less certainty, the almost 

 infinitely varied passions and emotions of men and animals. 

 How few of us have ever thought of asking for a reason why 

 infants shut their eyes tightly while screaming ; why we shrug 

 our shoulders or stand erect, blush or grow pale under different 

 emotions ; why a dog crouches and a cat arches its back when 

 affectionate ; or have even imagined that satisfactory reasons for 

 these things could be given ? Yet we can hardly help being in- 

 terested in so novel an enquiry, and one which throws so much 

 light on actions and movements which constitute a kind of 

 universal language, but which have hitherto appeared arbitrary 

 and inexplicable to us. 



The result of Mr. Darwin's study of this subject is the establish- 

 ment of three general principles, which explain and give a 

 meaning to almost all those involuntary gestures and movements 

 by which men and animals express their emotions. The first of 

 these principles is that of Serviceable Associated Habits. When 

 any action has been useful or necessary under a certain state of 

 mind, it will from association continue to be performed whenever 

 the same state of mind recurs, even if of no use. As an instance 

 we may take the case of dogs turning round several times before 

 they lay down to sleep even on a carpet or floor, and sometimes 

 giving a few scratches, a practice which was no doubt useful when 

 the wild animal slept among herbage out of doors, and which 



VOL. III. (N.S.) Q 



