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Charles Darwin - "The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex"

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The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals

C >> Charles Darwin >> The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals




Mr. J. Wood, who has studied with such care the muscles of the human body,
as shown by his various publications, has often seen the platysma
contracted in vomiting, nausea, and disgust; also in children and
adults under the influence of rage,--for instance, in Irishwomen,
quarrelling and brawling together with angry gesticulations.
This may possibly have been due to their high and angry tones;
for I know a lady, an excellent musician, who, in singing certain
high notes, always contracts her platysma. So does a young man,
as I have observed, in sounding certain notes on the flute.
Mr. J. Wood informs me that he has found the platysma best
developed in persons with thick necks and broad shoulders;
and that in families inheriting these peculiarities, its development
is usually associated with much voluntary power over the homologous
occipito-frontalis muscle, by which the scalp can be moved.

None of the foregoing cases appear to throw any light on
the contraction of the platysma from fear; but it is different,
I think, with the following cases. The gentleman before referred to,
who can voluntarily act on this muscle only on one side of his neck,
is positive that it contracts on both sides whenever he is startled.
Evidence has already been given showing that this muscle
sometimes contracts, perhaps for the sake of opening the mouth widely,
when the breathing is rendered difficult by disease, and during
the deep inspirations of crying-fits before an operation.
Now, whenever a person starts at any sudden sight or sound,
he instantaneously draws a deep breath; and thus the contraction
of the platysma may possibly have become associated with the sense
of fear. But there is, I believe, a more efficient relation.
The first sensation of fear, or the imagination of something dreadful,
commonly excites a shudder. I have caught myself giving
a little involuntary shudder at a painful thought, and I
distinctly perceived that my platysma contracted; so it does if I
simulate a shudder. I have asked others to act in this manner;
and in some the muscle contracted, but not in others.
One of my sons, whilst getting out of bed, shuddered from
the cold, and, as he happened to have his hand on his neck,
he plainly felt that this muscle strongly contracted.
He then voluntarily shuddered, as he had done on former occasions,
but the platysma was not then affected. Mr. J. Wood has also
several times observed this muscle contracting in patients,
when stripped for examination, and who were not frightened,
but shivered slightly from the cold. Unfortunately I have not
been able to ascertain whether, when the whole body shakes,
as in the cold stage of an ague fit, the platysma contracts.
But as it certainly often contracts during a shudder; and as a
shudder or shiver often accompanies the first sensation of fear,
we have, I think, a clue to its action in this latter case.[23]
Its contraction, however, is not an invariable concomitant
of fear; for it probably never acts under the influence
of extreme, prostrating terror.


[23] Ducheinne takes, in fact, this view (ibid. p. 45), as he
attributes the contraction of the platysma to the shivering of fear
(_frisson de la peur_); but he elsewhere compares the action with
that which causes the hair of frightened quadrupeds to stand erect;
and this can hardly be considered as quite correct.


_Dilatation of the Pupils_.--Gratiolet repeatedly insists[24]
that the pupils are enormously dilated whenever terror is felt.
I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of this statement,
but have failed to obtain confirmatory evidence, excepting in the one
instance before given of an insane woman suffering from great fear.
When writers of fiction speak of the eyes being widely dilated,
I presume that they refer to the eyelids. Munro's statement,"
that with parrots the iris is affected by the passions,
independently of the amount of light, seems to bear on this question;
but Professor Donders informs me, that he has often seen movements
in the pupils of these birds which he thinks may be related to their
power of accommodation to distance, in nearly the same manner
as our own pupils contract when our eyes converge for near vision.
Gratiolet remarks that the dilated pupils appear as if they were
gazing into profound darkness. No doubt the fears of man have often
been excited in the dark; but hardly so often or so exclusively,
as to account for a fixed and associated habit having thus arisen.
It seems more probable, assuming that Gratiolet's statement
is correct, that the brain is directly affected by the powerful
emotion of fear and reacts on the pupils; but Professor Donders
informs me that this is an extremely complicated subject.
I may add, as possibly throwing light on the subject, that Dr. Fyffe,
of Netley Hospital, has observed in two patients that the pupils
were distinctly dilated during the cold stage of an ague fit.
Professor Donders has also often seen dilatation of the pupils
in incipient faintness.


[24] `De la Physionomie,' pp. 51, 256, 346.

[25] As quoted in White's `Gradation in Man,' p. 57.

_Horror_.--The state of mind expressed by this term implies terror,
and is in some, cases almost synonymous with it. Many a man
must have felt, before the blessed discovery of chloroform,
great horror at the thought of an impending surgical operation.
He who dreads, as well as hates a man, will feel, as Milton uses
the word, a horror of him. We feel horror if we see any one,
for instance a child, exposed to some instant and crushing danger.
Almost every one would experience the same feeling in the highest
degree in witnessing a man being tortured or going to be tortured.
In these cases there is no danger to ourselves; but from the power
of the imagination and of sympathy we put ourselves in the position
of the sufferer, and feel something akin to fear.

Sir C. Bell remarks,[26] that "horror is full of energy;
the body is in the utmost tension, not unnerved by fear."
It is, therefore, probable that horror would generally be
accompanied by the strong contraction of the brows; but as fear
is one of the elements, the eyes and mouth would be opened,
and the eyebrows would be raised, as far as the antagonistic
action of the corrugators permitted this movement. Duchenne has
given a photograph[27] (fig. 21) of the same old man as before,
with his eyes somewhat staring, the eyebrows partially raised,
and at the same time strongly contracted, the mouth opened,
and the platysma in action, all effected by the means of galvanism.
He considers that the expression thus produced shows extreme
terror with horrible pain or torture. A tortured man, as long
as his sufferings allowed him to feel any dread for the future,
would probably exhibit horror in an extreme degree.
I have shown the original of this photograph to twenty-three
persons of both sexes and various ages; and thirteen
immediately answered horror, great pain, torture, or agony;
three answered extreme fright; so that sixteen answered nearly
in accordance with Duchenne's belief. Six, however, said anger,
guided no doubt, by the strongly contracted brows,
and overlooking the peculiarly opened mouth. One said disgust.
On the whole, the evidence indicates that we have here a fairly
good representation of horror and agony. The photograph
before referred to (Pl. VII. fig. 2) likewise exhibits horror;
but in this the oblique eyebrows indicate great mental distress
in place of energy.


[26] `Anatomy of Expression,' p. 169.

[27] `Mecanisme de la Physionomie,' Album, pl. 65, pp. 44, 45.

Horror is generally accompanied by various gestures,
which differ in different individuals. Judging from pictures,
the whole body is often turned away or shrinks; or the arms are
violently protruded as if to push away some dreadful object.
The most frequent gesture, as far as can be inferred from
the action of persons who endeavour to express a vividly-imagined
scene of horror, is the raising of both shoulders,
with the bent arms pressed closely against the sides or chest.
These movements are nearly the same with those commonly made when we
feel very cold; and they are generally accompanied by a shudder,
as well as by a deep expiration or inspiration, according as
the chest happens at the time to be expanded or contracted.
The sounds thus made are expressed by words like _uh_ or _ugh_.[28]
It is not, however, obvious why, when we feel cold or express
a sense of horror, we press our bent arms against our bodies,
raise our shoulders, and shudder.


[28] See remarks to this effect by Mr. Wedgwood, in the Introduction to his
`Dictionary of English Etymology,' 2nd edit. 1872, p. xxxvii. He shows
by intermediate forms that the sounds here referred to have probably given
rise to many words, such as _ugly, huge_, &c. _Conclusion_.--I have now
endeavoured to describe the diversified expressions of fear, in its gradations
from mere attention to a start of surprise, into extreme terror and horror.
Some of the signs may be accounted for through the principles of habit,
association, and inheritance,--such as the wide opening of the mouth and eyes,
with upraised eyebrows, so as to see as quickly as possible all around us,
and to hear distinctly whatever sound may reach our ears. For we have
thus habitually prepared ourselves to discover and encounter any danger.
Some of the other signs of fear may likewise be accounted for, at least
in part, through these same principles. Men, during numberless generations,
have endeavoured to escape from their enemies or danger by headlong flight,
or by violently struggling with them; and such great exertions will have
caused the heart to beat rapidly, the breathing to be hurried, the chest
to heave, and the nostrils to be dilated. As these exertions have often
been prolonged to the last extremity, the final result will have been
utter prostration, pallor, perspiration, trembling of all the muscles,
or their complete relaxation. And now, whenever the emotion of fear is
strongly felt, though it may not lead to any exertion, the same results
tend to reappear, through the force of inheritance and association.

Nevertheless, it is probable that many or most of the above
symptoms of terror, such as the beating of the heart,
the trembling of the muscles, cold perspiration, &c., are in large
part directly due to the disturbed or interrupted transmission
of nerve-force from the cerebro-spinal system to various parts
of the body, owing to the mind being so powerfully affected.
We may confidently look to this cause, independently of habit
and association, in such cases as the modified secretions of
the intestinal canal, and the failure of certain glands to act.
With respect to the involuntary bristling of the hair, we have
good reason to believe that in the case of animals this action,
however it may have originated, serves, together with certain
voluntary movements, to make them appear terrible to their enemies;
and as the same involuntary and voluntary actions are performed
by animals nearly related to man, we are led to believe that man has
retained through inheritance a relic of them, now become useless.
It is certainly a remarkable fact, that the minute unstriped muscles,
by which the hairs thinly scattered over man's almost naked body
are erected, should have been preserved to the present day;
and that they should still contract under the same emotions, namely,
terror and rage, which cause the hairs to stand on end in the lower
members of the Order to which man belongs. CHAPTER XIII.

SELF-ATTENTION--SHAME--SHYNESS--MODESTY: BLUSHING.

Nature of a blush--Inheritance--The parts of the body most affected--
Blushing in the various races of man--Accompanying gestures--
Confusion of mind--Causes of blushing--Self-attention, the
fundamental element--Shyness--Shame, from broken moral laws and
conventional rules--Modesty--Theory of blushing--Recapitulation.


BLUSHING is the most peculiar and the most human of all expressions.
Monkeys redden from passion, but it would require an overwhelming
amount of evidence to make us believe that any animal could blush.
The reddening of the face from a blush is due to the relaxation
of the muscular coats of the small arteries, by which the capillaries
become filled with blood; and this depends on the proper vaso-motor
centre being affected. No doubt if there be at the same time much
mental agitation, the general circulation will be affected; but it is
not due to the action of the heart that the network of minute vessels
covering the face becomes under a sense of shame gorged with blood.
We can cause laughing by tickling the skin, weeping or frowning by a blow,
trembling from the fear of pain, and so forth; but we cannot cause
a blush, as Dr. Burgess remarks,[1] by any physical means,--that is
by any action on the body. It is the mind which must be affected.
Blushing is not only involuntary; but the wish to restrain it,
by leading to self-attention actually increases the tendency.


[1] `The Physiology or Mechanism of Blushing,' 1839, p. 156. I shall
have occasion often to quote this work in the present chapter.

The young blush much more freely than the old, but not during infancy,[2]
which is remarkable, as we know that infants at a very early age redden
from passion. I have received authentic accounts of two little girls blushing
at the ages of between two and three years; and of another sensitive child,
a year older, blushing, when reproved for a fault. Many children,
at a somewhat more advanced age blush in a strongly marked manner.
It appears that the mental powers of infants are not as yet sufficiently
developed to allow of their blushing. Hence, also, it is that idiots
rarely blush. Dr. Crichton Browne observed for me those under his care,
but never saw a genuine blush, though he has seen their faces flash,
apparently from joy, when food was placed before them, and from anger.
Nevertheless some, if not utterly degraded, are capable of blushing.
A microcephalous idiot, for instance, thirteen years old, whose eyes
brightened a little when he was pleased or amused, has been described
by Dr. Behn,[3] as blushing and turning to one side, when undressed
for medical examination.

Women blush much more than men. It is rare to see an old man, but not
nearly so rare to see an old woman blushing. The blind do not escape.
Laura Bridgman, born in this condition, as well as completely deaf,
blushes.[4] The Rev. R. H. Blair, Principal of the Worcester College,
informs me that three children born blind, out of seven or eight then
in the Asylum, are great blushers. The blind are not at first conscious
that they are observed, and it is a most important part of their education,
as Mr. Blair informs me, to impress this knowledge on their minds;
and the impression thus gained would greatly strengthen the tendency
to blush, by increasing the habit of self-attention.


[2] Dr. Burgess, ibid. p. 56. At p. 33 he also remarks on women
blushing more freely than men, as stated below.

[3] Quoted by Vogt, `Memoire sur les Microcephales,'
1867, p. 20. Dr. Burgess (ibid. p. 56) doubts whether
idiots ever blush.

The tendency to blush is inherited. Dr. Burgess gives the case[5] of a
family consisting of a father, mother, and ten children, all of whom,
without exception, were prone to blush to a most painful degree.
The children were grown up; "and some of them were sent to travel in order to
wear away this diseased sensibility, but nothing was of the slightest avail."
Even peculiarities in blushing seem to be inherited. Sir James Paget,
whilst examining the spine of a girl, was struck at her singular
manner of blushing; a big splash of red appeared first on one cheek,
and then other splashes, variously scattered over the face and neck.
He subsequently asked the mother whether her daughter always blushed
in this peculiar manner; and was answered, "Yes, she takes after me."
Sir J. Paget then perceived that by asking this question he had caused
the mother to blush; and she exhibited the same peculiarity as her daughter.

In most cases the face, ears and neck are the sole parts which redden;
but many persons, whilst blushing intensely, feel that their whole
bodies grow hot and tingle; and this shows that the entire surface must
be in some manner affected. Blushes are said sometimes to commence
on the forehead, but more commonly on the cheeks, afterwards spreading
to the ears and neck.[6] In two Albinos examined by Dr. Burgess,
the blushes commenced by a small circumscribed spot on the cheeks,
over the parotidean plexus of nerves, and then increased into a circle;
between this blushing circle and the blush on the neck there was
an evident line of demarcation; although both arose simultaneously.
The retina, which is naturally red in the Albino, invariably increased
at the same time in redness.[7] Every one must have noticed how easily
after one blush fresh blushes chase each other over the face.
Blushing is preceded by a peculiar sensation in the skin.
According to Dr. Burgess the reddening of the skin is generally
succeeded by a slight pallor, which shows that the capillary vessels
contract after dilating. In some rare cases paleness instead of redness
is caused under conditions which would naturally induce a blush.
For instance, a young lady told me that in a large and crowded party
she caught her hair so firmly on the button of a passing servant,
that it took some time before she could be extricated; from her
sensations she imagined that she had blushed crimson; but was assured
by a friend that she had turned extremely pale.


[4] Lieber `On the Vocal Sounds,' &c.; Smithsonian Contributions,
1851, vol. ii. p. 6.

[5] Ibid. p. 182.

I was desirous to learn how far down the body blushes extend;
and Sir J. Paget, who necessarily has frequent opportunities for observation,
has kindly attended to this point for me during two or three years.
He finds that with women who blush intensely on the face, ears, and nape
of neck, the blush does not commonly extend any lower down the body.
It is rare to see it as low down as the collar-bones and shoulder-blades;
and he has never himself seen a single instance in which it extended below
the upper part of the chest. He has also noticed that blushes sometimes
die away downwards, not gradually and insensibly, but by irregular
ruddy blotches. Dr. Langstaff has likewise observed for me several women
whose bodies did not in the least redden while their faces were crimsoned
with blushes. With. the insane, some of whom appear to be particularly
liable to blushing, Dr. J. Crichton Browne has several times seen the blush
extend as far down as the collar-bones, and in two instances to the breasts.
He gives me the case of a married woman, aged twenty-seven, who suffered
from epilepsy. On the morning after her arrival in the Asylum, Dr. Browne,
together with his assistants, visited her whilst she was in bed.
The moment that he approached, she blushed deeply over her cheeks and temples;
and the blush spread quickly to her ears. She was much agitated
and tremulous. He unfastened the collar of her chemise in order to examine
the state of her lungs; and then a brilliant blush rushed over her chest,
in an arched line over the upper third of each breast, and extended downwards
between the breasts nearly to the ensiform cartilage of the sternum.
This case is interesting, as the blush did not thus extend downwards until
it became intense by her attention being drawn to this part of her person.
As the examination proceeded she became composed, and the blush disappeared;
but on several subsequent occasions the same phenomena were observed.


[6] Moreau, in edit. of 1820 of Lavater, vol. iv. p. 303.

[7] Burgess. ibid. p. 38, on paleness after blushing, p. 177.

The foregoing facts show that, as a general rule, with English women,
blushing does not extend beneath the neck and upper part of the chest.
Nevertheless Sir J. Paget informs me that he has lately heard
of a case, on which he can fully rely, in which a little girl,
shocked by what she imagined to be an act of indelicacy,
blushed all over her abdomen and the upper parts of her legs.
Moreau also[8] relates, on the authority of a celebrated painter,
that the chest, shoulders, arms, and whole body of a girl,
who unwillingly consented to serve as a model, reddened when she
was first divested of her clothes.

It is a rather curious question why, in most cases the face, ears, and neck
alone redden, inasmuch as the whole surface of the body often tingles
and grows hot. This seems to depend, chiefly, on the face and adjoining
parts of the skin having been habitually exposed to the air, light,
and alternations of temperature, by which the small arteries not only
have acquired the habit of readily dilating and contracting, but appear
to have become unusually developed in comparison with other parts
of the surface.[9] It is probably owing to this same cause, as M. Moreau
and Dr. Burgess have remarked, that the face is so liable to redden under
various circumstances, such as a fever-fit. ordinary heat, violent exertion,
anger, a slight blow, &c.; and on the other hand that it is liable
to grow pale from cold and fear, and to be discoloured during pregnancy.
The face is also particularly liable to be affected by cutaneous complaints,
by small-pox, erysipelas, &c. This view is likewise supported by
the fact that the men of certain races, who habitually go nearly naked,
often blush over their arms and chests and even down to their waists.
A lady, who is a great blusher, informs Dr. Crichton Browne, that when she
feels ashamed or is agitated, she blushes over her face, neck, wrists,
and hands,--that is, over all the exposed portions of her skin.
Nevertheless it may be doubted whether the habitual exposure of the skin
of the face and neck, and its consequent power of reaction under stimulants
of all kinds, is by itself sufficient to account for the much greater tendency
in English women of these parts than of others to blush; for the hands
are well supplied with nerves and small vessels, and have been as much
exposed to the air as the face or neck, and yet the hands rarely blush.
We shall presently see that the attention of the mind having been directed
much more frequently and earnestly to the face than to any other part
of the body, probably affords a sufficient explanation.


[8] See Lavater, edit. of 1820, vol. iv. p. 303.

[9] Burgess, ibid. pp. 114, 122. Moreau in Lavater, ibid.
vol. iv. p. 293.


_Blushing in the various races of man_.--The small vessels
of the face become filled with blood, from the emotion of shame,
in almost all the races of man, though in the very dark
races no distinct change of colour can be perceived.
Blushing is evident in all the Aryan nations of Europe, and to a
certain extent with those of India. But Mr. Erskine has never
noticed that the necks of the Hindoos are decidedly affected.
With the Lepchas of Sikhim, Mr. Scott has often observed
a faint blush on the cheeks, base of the ears, and sides
of the neck, accompanied by sunken eyes and lowered head.
This has occurred when he has detected them in a falsehood,
or has accused them of ingratitude. The pale, sallow complexions
of these men render a blush much more conspicuous than in most
of the other natives of India. With the latter, shame, or it
may be in part fear, is expressed, according to Mr. Scott,
much more plainly by the head being averted or bent down,
with the eyes wavering or turned askant, than by any change
of colour in the skin.

The Semitic races blush freely, as might have been expected,
from their general similitude to the Aryans. Thus with
the Jews, it is said in the Book of Jeremiah (chap. vi.
15), "Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush."
Mrs. Asa Gray saw an Arab managing his boat clumsily on the Nile,
and when laughed at by his companions, "he blushed quite to
the back of his neck." Lady Duff Gordon remarks that a young
Arab blushed on coming into her presence.[10]

Mr. Swinhoe has seen the Chinese blushing, but he thinks it is rare;
yet they have the expression "to redden with shame." Mr. Geach
informs me that the Chinese settled in Malacca and the native Malays
of the interior both blush. Some of these people go nearly naked,
and he particularly attended to the downward extension of the blush.
Omitting the cases in which the face alone was seen to blush, Mr. Geach
observed that the face, arms, and breast of a Chinaman, aged 24 years,
reddened from shame; and with another Chinese, when asked why he had not
done his work in better style, the whole body was similarly affected.
In two Malays[11] he saw the face, neck, breast, and arms blushing;
and in a third Malay (a Bugis) the blush extended down to the waist.

The Polynesians blush freely. The Rev. Mr. Stack has seen
hundreds of instances with the New Zealanders. The following case
is worth giving, as it relates to an old man who was unusually
dark-coloured and partly tattooed. After having let his land
to an Englishman for a small yearly rental, a strong passion
seized him to buy a gig, which had lately become the fashion with
the Maoris. He consequently wished to draw all the rent for four years
from his tenant, and consulted Mr. Stack whether he could do so.
The man was old, clumsy, poor, and ragged, and the idea of his
driving himself about in his carriage for display amused Mr. Stack
so much that he could not help bursting out into a laugh;
and then "the old man blushed up to the roots of his hair."
Forster says that "you may easily distinguish a spreading blush"
on the cheeks of the fairest women in Tahiti.[12] The natives
also of several of the other archipelagoes in the Pacific have
been seen to blush.

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