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Jerome K. Jerome - ""

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Charles Darwin - "On the Origin of Species, 6th Edition"

The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals

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






CHAPTER I.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF EXPRESSION.

The three chief principles stated--The first principle--Serviceable actions
become habitual in association with certain states of the mind,
and are performed whether or not of service in each particular case--
The force of habit--Inheritance--Associated habitual movements in man--
Reflex actions--Passage of habits into reflex actions--Associated habitual
movements in the lower animals--Concluding remarks.


I WILL begin by giving the three Principles, which appear to me
to account for most of the expressions and gestures involuntarily used
by man and the lower animals, under the influence of various emotions
and sensations.[1] I arrived, however, at these three Principles
only at the close of my observations. They will be discussed
in the present and two following chapters in a general manner.
Facts observed both with man and the lower animals will here be made use of;
but the latter facts are preferable, as less likely to deceive us.
In the fourth and fifth chapters, I will describe the special
expressions of some of the lower animals; and in the succeeding chapters
those of man. Everyone will thus be able to judge for himself,
how far my three principles throw light on the theory of the subject.
It appears to me that so many expressions are thus explained
in a fairly satisfactory manner, that probably all will hereafter
be found to come under the same or closely analogous heads.
I need hardly premise that movements or changes in any part of the body,--
as the wagging of a dog's tail, the drawing back of a horse's ears,
the shrugging of a man's shoulders, or the dilatation of the capillary
vessels of the skin,--may all equally well serve for expression.
The three Principles are as follows.

[1] Mr. Herbert Spencer (`Essays,' Second Series, 1863, p.
138) has drawn a clear distinction between emotions and sensations,
the latter being "generated in our corporeal framework."
He classes as Feelings both emotions and-sensations.

I. _The principle of serviceable associated Habits_.--Certain complex
actions are of direct or indirect service under certain states of the mind,
in order to relieve or gratify certain sensations, desires, &c.; and whenever
the same state of mind is induced, however feebly, there is a tendency through
the force of habit and association for the same movements to be performed,
though they may not then be of the least use. Some actions ordinarily
associated through habit with certain states of the mind may be partially
repressed through the will, and in such cases the muscles which are least
under the separate control of the will are the most liable still to act,
causing movements which we recognize as expressive. In certain other cases
the checking of one habitual movement requires other slight movements;
and these are likewise expressive.

II. _The principle of Antithesis_.--Certain states of the mind lead to certain
habitual actions, which are of service, as under our first principle.
Now when a directly opposite state of mind is induced, there is a strong
and involuntary tendency to the performance of movements of a directly
opposite nature, though these are of no use; and such movements are in some
cases highly expressive.

III. _The principle of actions due to the constitution of
the Nervous System, independently from the first of the Will,
and independently to a certain extent of Habit_.--- When the sensorium
is strongly excited, nerve-force is generated in excess,
and is transmitted in certain definite directions, depending on
the connection of the nerve-cells, and partly on habit:
or the supply of nerve-force may, as it appears, be interrupted.
Effects are thus produced which we recognize as expressive.
This third principle may, for the sake of brevity, be called
that of the direct action of the nervous system.


With respect to our _first Principle_, it is notorious how
powerful is the force of habit. The most complex and difficult
movements can in time be performed without the least effort
or consciousness. It is not positively known how it comes
that habit is so efficient in facilitating complex movements;
but physiologists admit[2] "that the conducting power of the nervous
fibres increases with the frequency of their excitement."
This applies to the nerves of motion and sensation,
as well as to those connected with the act of thinking.
That some physical change is produced in the nerve-cells
or nerves which are habitually used can hardly be doubted,
for otherwise it is impossible to understand how the tendency
to certain acquired movements is inherited. That they are
inherited we see with horses in certain transmitted paces,
such as cantering and ambling, which are not natural to them,--
in the pointing of young pointers and the setting of young setters--
in the peculiar manner of flight of certain breeds of the pigeon,
&c. We have analogous cases with mankind in the inheritance
of tricks or unusual gestures, to which we shall presently recur.
To those who admit the gradual evolution of species,
a most striking instance of the perfection with which the most
difficult consensual movements can be transmitted, is afforded
by the humming-bird Sphinx-moth (_Macroglossa_); for this moth,
shortly after its emergence from the cocoon, as shown by the bloom
on its unruffled scales, may be seen poised stationary in the air,
with its long hair-like proboscis uncurled and inserted
into the minute orifices of flowers; and no one, I believe,
has ever seen this moth learning to perform its difficult task,
which requires such unerring aim.


[2] Muller, `Elements of Physiology,' Eng. translat. vol. ii. p. 939.
See also Mr. H. Spencer's interesting speculations on the
same subject, and on the genesis of nerves, in his `Principles
of Biology,' vol. ii. p. 346; and in his `Principles of Psychology,'
2nd edit. pp. 511-557.

When there exists an inherited or instinctive tendency to the performance
of an action, or an inherited taste for certain kinds of food,
some degree of habit in the individual is often or generally requisite.
We find this in the paces of the horse, and to a certain extent
in the pointing of dogs; although some young dogs point excellently
the first time they are taken out, yet they often associate the proper
inherited attitude with a wrong odour, and even with eyesight.
I have heard it asserted that if a calf be allowed to suck its mother
only once, it is much more difficult afterwards to rear it by hand.[3]
Caterpillars which have been fed on the leaves of one kind of tree,
have been known to perish from hunger rather than to eat the leaves
of another tree, although this afforded them their proper food,
under a state of nature;[4] and so it is in many other cases.


[3] A remark to much the same effect was made long ago by Hippocrates
and by the illustrious Harvey; for both assert that a young animal
forgets in the course of a few days the art of sucking, and cannot
without some difficulty again acquire it. I give these assertions
on the authority of Dr. Darwin, `Zoonomia,' 1794, vol. i. p. 140.

The power of Association is admitted by everyone. Mr. Bain remarks,
that "actions, sensations and states of feeling, occurring together
or in close succession, tend to grow together, or cohere, in such a way
that when any one of them is afterwards presented to the mind, the others
are apt to be brought up in idea."[5] It is so important for our purpose
fully to recognize that actions readily become associated with other actions
and with various states of the mind, that I will give a good many instances,
in the first place relating to man, and afterwards to the lower animals.
Some of the instances are of a very trifling nature, but they are as
good for our purpose as more important habits. It is known to everyone
how difficult, or even impossible it is, without repeated trials, to move
the limbs in certain opposed directions which have never been practised.
Analogous cases occur with sensations, as in the common experiment
of rolling a marble beneath the tips of two crossed fingers, when it
feels exactly like two marbles. Everyone protects himself when falling
to the ground by extending his arms, and as Professor Alison has remarked,
few can resist acting thus, when voluntarily falling on a soft bed.
A man when going out of doors puts on his gloves quite unconsciously;
and this may seem an extremely simple operation, but he who has taught
a child to put on gloves, knows that this is by no means the case.


[4] See for my authorities, and for various analogous facts,
`The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication,'
1868, vol. ii. p. 304.

[5] `The Senses and the Intellect,' 2nd edit. 1864, p. 332. Prof. Huxley
remarks (`Elementary Lessons in Physiology,' 5th edit. 1872, p.
306), "It may be laid down as a rule, that, if any two mental states be
called up together, or in succession, with due frequency and vividness,
the subsequent production of the one of them will suffice to call up
the other, and that whether we desire it or not."

When our minds are much affected, so are the movements of our bodies;
but here another principle besides habit, namely the undirected overflow
of nerve-force, partially comes into play. Norfolk, in speaking
of Cardinal Wolsey, says--

"Some strange commotion
Is in his brain; he bites his lip and starts;
Stops on a sudden, looks upon the ground,
Then, lays his finger on his temple: straight,
Springs out into fast gait; then, stops again,
Strikes his breast hard; and anon, he casts
His eye against the moon: in most strange postures
We have seen him set himself."--_Hen. VIII_., act 3, sc. 2.


A vulgar man often scratches his head when perplexed in mind; and I
believe that he acts thus from habit, as if he experienced a slightly
uncomfortable bodily sensation, namely, the itching of his head,
to which he is particularly liable, and which he thus relieves.
Another man rubs his eyes when perplexed, or gives a little cough
when embarrassed, acting in either case as if he felt a slightly
uncomfortable sensation in his eyes or windpipe.[6]

From the continued use of the eyes, these organs are especially
liable to be acted on through association under various states
of the mind, although there is manifestly nothing to be seen.
A man, as Gratiolet remarks, who vehemently rejects
a proposition, will almost certainly shut his eyes or turn
away his face; but if he accepts the proposition, he will
nod his head in affirmation and open his eyes widely.
The man acts in this latter case as if he clearly saw the thing,
and in the former case as if he did not or would not see it.
I have noticed that persons in describing a horrid sight often
shut their eyes momentarily and firmly, or shake their heads,
as if not to see or to drive away something disagreeable;
and I have caught myself, when thinking in the dark of a
horrid spectacle, closing my eyes firmly. In looking suddenly
at any object, or in looking all around, everyone raises
his eyebrows, so that the eyes may be quickly and widely opened;
and Duchenne remarks that[7] a person in trying to remember
something often raises his eyebrows, as if to see it.
A Hindoo gentleman made exactly the same remark to Mr. Erskine
in regard to his countrymen. I noticed a young lady earnestly
trying to recollect a painter's name, and she first looked
to one corner of the ceiling and then to the opposite corner,
arching the one eyebrow on that side; although, of course,
there was nothing to be seen there.


[6] Gratiolet (`De la Physionomie,' p. 324), in his
discussion on this subject, gives many analogous instances.
See p. 42, on the opening and shutting of the eyes.
Engel is quoted (p. 323) on the changed paces of a man,
as his thoughts change.

In most of the foregoing cases, we can understand how the associated
movements were acquired through habit; but with some individuals,
certain strange gestures or tricks have arisen in association with
certain states of the mind, owing to wholly inexplicable causes,
and are undoubtedly inherited. I have elsewhere given one instance
from my own observation of an extraordinary and complex gesture,
associated with pleasurable feelings, which was transmitted from
a father to his daughter, as well as some other analogous facts.[8]


[7] `Mecanisme de la Physionomie Humaine,' 1862, p. 17.

[8] `The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication,'
vol. ii. p. 6. The inheritance of habitual gestures is so important
for us, that I gladly avail myself of Mr. F. Galton's permission
to give in his own words the following remarkable case:--"The
following account of a habit occurring in individuals of three
consecutive generations {footnote continues:} is of peculiar interest,
because it occurs only during sound sleep, and therefore
cannot be due to imitation, but must be altogether natural.
The particulars are perfectly trustworthy, for I have enquired
fully into them, and speak from abundant and independent evidence.
A gentleman of considerable position was found by his wife to have
the curious trick, when he lay fast asleep on his back in bed,
of raising his right arm slowly in front of his face, up to his forehead,
and then dropping it with a jerk, so that the wrist fell heavily
on the bridge of his nose. The trick did not occur every night,
but occasionally, and was independent of any ascertained cause.
Sometimes it was repeated incessantly for an hour or more.
The gentleman's nose was prominent, and its bridge often became
sore from the blows which it received. At one time an awkward sore
was produced, that was long in healing, on account of the recurrence,
night after night, of the blows which first caused it.
His wife had to remove the button from the wrist of his night-gown
as it made severe scratches, and some means were attempted
of tying his arm.

"Many years after his death, his son married a lady who had never
heard of the family incident. She, however, observed precisely
the same peculiarity in her husband; but his nose, from not being
particularly prominent, has never as yet suffered from the blows.
The trick does not occur when he is half-asleep, as, for example, when dozing
in his arm-chair, but the moment he is fast asleep it is apt to begin.
It is, as with his father, intermittent; sometimes ceasing for many nights,
and sometimes almost incessant during a part of every night.
It is performed, as it was by his father, with his right hand.

"One of his children, a girl, has inherited the same trick.
She performs it, likewise, with the right hand, but in a slightly
modified form; for, after raising the arm, she does not allow the wrist
to drop upon the bridge of the nose, but the palm of the half-closed
hand falls over and down the nose, striking it rather rapidly.
It is also very intermittent with this child, not occurring for
periods of some months, but sometimes occurring almost incessantly."
{end of long footnote}


Another curious instance of an odd inherited movement,
associated with the wish to obtain an object, will be given
in the course of this volume.

There are other actions which are commonly performed
under certain circumstances, independently of habit,
and which seem to be due to imitation or some sort of sympathy.
Thus persons cutting anything with a pair of scissors may be seen
to move their jaws simultaneously with the blades of the scissors.
Children learning to write often twist about their tongues
as their fingers move, in a ridiculous fashion. When a public
singer suddenly becomes a little hoarse, many of those present may
be heard, as I have been assured by a gentleman on whom I can rely,
to clear their throats; but here habit probably comes into play,
as we clear our own throats under similar circumstances.
I have also been told that at leaping matches, as the performer
makes his spring, many of the spectators, generally men and boys,
move their feet; but here again habit probably comes into play,
for it is very doubtful whether women would thus act.

_Reflex actions_--Reflex actions, in the strict sense of the term,
are due to the excitement of a peripheral nerve, which transmits
its influence to certain nerve-cells, and these in their turn excite
certain muscles or glands into action; and all this may take place
without any sensation or consciousness on our part, though often
thus accompanied. As many reflex actions are highly expressive,
the subject must here be noticed at some little length.
We shall also see that some of them graduate into, and can hardly
be distinguished from actions which have arisen through habit?
Coughing and sneezing are familiar instances of reflex actions.
With infants the first act of respiration is often a sneeze,
although this requires the co-ordinated movement of numerous muscles.
Respiration is partly voluntary, but mainly reflex, and is performed
in the most natural and best manner without the interference of the will.
A vast number of complex movements are reflex. As good an instance
as can be given is the often-quoted one of a decapitated frog,
which cannot of course feel, and cannot consciously perform, any movement.
Yet if a drop of acid be placed on the lower surface of the thigh
of a frog in this state, it will rub off the drop with the upper
surface of the foot of the same leg. If this foot be cut off,
it cannot thus act. "After some fruitless efforts, therefore, it gives
up trying in that way, seems restless, as though, says Pfluger,
it was seeking some other way, and at last it makes use of
the foot of the other leg and succeeds in rubbing off the acid.
Notably we have here not merely contractions of muscles, but combined
and harmonized contractions in due sequence for a special purpose.
These are actions that have all the appearance of being guided
by intelligence and instigated by will in an animal, the recognized
organ of whose intelligence and will has been removed."[10]


[9] Prof. Huxley remarks (`Elementary Physiology,'
5th edit. p. 305) that reflex actions proper to the spinal cord
are NATURAL; but, by the help of the brain, that is through habit,
an infinity of ARTIFICIAL reflex actions may be acquired.
Virchow admits (`Sammlung wissenschaft. Vortrage,' &c., "Ueber
das Ruckeninark," 1871, ss. 24, 31) that some reflex actions
can hardly be distinguished from instincts; and, of the latter,
it may be added, some cannot be distinguished from inherited habits.

We see the difference between reflex and voluntary movements in
very young children not being able to perform, as I am informed by
Sir Henry Holland, certain acts somewhat analogous to those of sneezing
and coughing, namely, in their not being able to blow their noses (i. e.
to compress the nose and blow violently through the passage),
and in their not being able to clear their throats of phlegm.
They have to learn to perform these acts, yet they are performed
by us, when a little older, almost as easily as reflex actions.
Sneezing and coughing, however, can be controlled by the will only
partially or not at all; whilst the clearing the throat and blowing
the nose are completely under our command.


[10] "Dr. Maudsley, `Body and Mind,' 1870, p. 8.

When we are conscious of the presence of an irritating particle
in our nostrils or windpipe--that is, when the same sensory
nerve-cells are excited, as in the case of sneezing and coughing--
we can voluntarily expel the particle by forcibly driving air
through these passages; but we cannot do this with nearly
the same force, rapidity, and precision, as by a reflex action.
In this latter case the sensory nerve-cells apparently excite
the motor nerve-cells without any waste of power by first
communicating with the cerebral hemispheres--the seat of our
consciousness and volition. In all cases there seems to exist
a profound antagonism between the same movements, as directed
by the will and by a reflex stimulant, in the force with which they
are performed and in the facility with which they are excited.
As Claude Bernard asserts, "L'influence du cerveau tend donc
a entraver les mouvements reflexes, a limiter leur force
et leur etendue."[11]

The conscious wish to perform a reflex action sometimes stops or interrupts
its performance, though the proper sensory nerves may be stimulated.
For instance, many years ago I laid a small wager with a dozen young
men that they would not sneeze if they took snuff, although they all
declared that they invariably did so; accordingly they all took a pinch,
but from wishing much to succeed, not one sneezed, though their
eyes watered, and all, without exception, had to pay me the wager.
Sir H. Holland remarks[12] that attention paid to the act of swallowing
interferes with the proper movements; from which it probably follows,
at least in part, that some persons find it so difficult to swallow a pill.


[11] "See the very interesting discussion on the whole subject
by Claude Bernard, `Tissus Vivants,' 1866, p. 353-356.

[12] `Chapters on Mental Physiology,' 1858, p. 85.

Another familiar instance of a reflex action is the involuntary
closing of the eyelids when the surface of the eye is touched.
A similar winking movement is caused when a blow is directed
towards the face; but this is an habitual and not a strictly
reflex action, as the stimulus is conveyed through the mind
and not by the excitement of a peripheral nerve. The whole body
and head are generally at the same time drawn suddenly backwards.
These latter movements, however, can be prevented,
if the danger does not appear to the imagination imminent;
but our reason telling us that there is no danger does not suffice.
I may mention a trifling fact, illustrating this point, and which at
the time amused me. I put my face close to the thick glass-plate
in front of a puff-adder in the Zoological Gardens, with the firm
determination of not starting back if the snake struck at me;
but, as soon as the blow was struck, my resolution went for nothing,
and I jumped a yard or two backwards with astonishing rapidity.
My will and reason were powerless against the imagination of a
danger which had never been experienced.

The violence of a start seems to depend partly on the
vividness of the imagination, and partly on the condition,
either habitual or temporary, of the nervous system.
He who will attend to the starting of his horse, when tired and fresh,
will perceive how perfect is the gradation from a mere glance
at some unexpected object, with a momentary doubt whether it
is dangerous, to a jump so rapid and violent, that the animal
probably could not voluntarily whirl round in so rapid a manner.
The nervous system of a fresh and highly-fed horse sends its
order to the motory system so quickly, that no time is allowed
for him to consider whether or not the danger is real.
After one violent start, when he is excited and the blood
flows freely through his brain, he is very apt to start again;
and so it is, as I have noticed, with young infants.

A start from a sudden noise, when the stimulus is conveyed through the
auditory nerves, is always accompanied in grown-up persons by the winking
of the eyelids.[13] I observed, however, that though my infants started
at sudden sounds, when under a fortnight old, they certainly did not always
wink their eyes, and I believe never did so. The start of an older infant
apparently represents a vague catching hold of something to prevent falling.
I shook a pasteboard box close before the eyes of one of my infants, when 114
days old, and it did not in the least wink; but when I put a few comfits
into the box, holding it in the same position as before, and rattled them,
the child blinked its eyes violently every time, and started a little.
It was obviously impossible that a carefully-guarded infant could have learnt
by experience that a rattling sound near its eyes indicated danger to them.
But such experience will have been slowly gained at a later age during
a long series of generations; and from what we know of inheritance,
there is nothing improbable in the transmission of a habit to the offspring
at an earlier age than that at which it was first acquired by the parents.

From the foregoing remarks it seems probable that some actions,
which were at first performed consciously, have become
through habit and association converted into reflex actions,
and are now so firmly fixed and inherited, that they
are performed, even when not of the least use,[14] as often
as the same causes arise, which originally excited them in us
through the volition. In such cases the sensory nerve-cells
excite the motor cells, without first communicating with
those cells on which our consciousness and volition depend.
It is probable that sneezing and coughing were originally
acquired by the habit of expelling, as violently as possible,
any irritating particle from the sensitive air-passages. As far
as time is concerned, there has been more than enough for these
habits to have become innate or converted into reflex actions;
for they are common to most or all of the higher quadrupeds,
and must therefore have been first acquired at a very remote period.
Why the act of clearing the throat is not a reflex action,
and has to be learnt by our children, I cannot pretend to say;
but we can see why blowing the nose on a handkerchief has
to be learnt.

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