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Edward P. Roe - "He Fell In Love With His Wife"

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The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals

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





[4] Mr. Tylor (`Primitive Culture,' 1871, vol. i. p. 166), in his
discussion on this subject, alludes to the whining of the dog.

[5] `Naturgeschichte der Saugethiere von Paraguay,' 1830, s. 46.

[6] Quoted by Gratiolet, `De la Physionomie,' 1865, p. 115.

"It is on this RELATIVE association of the sounds that all the
essentially characteristic effects which are summed up in the phrase
`musical expression,' depend. But why certain associations of
sounds have such-and-such effects, is a problem which yet remains
to be solved. These effects must indeed, in some way or other,
be connected with the well-known arithmetical relations between
the rates of vibration of the sounds which form a musical scale.
And it is possible--but this is merely a suggestion--that the greater
or less mechanical facility with which the vibrating apparatus
of the human larynx passes from one state of vibration to another,
may have been a primary cause of the greater or less pleasure
produced by various sequences of sounds."

But leaving aside these complex questions and confining ourselves
to the simpler sounds, we can, at least, see some reasons for the
association of certain kinds of sounds with certain states of mind.
A scream, for instance, uttered by a young animal, or by one of
the members of a community, as a call for assistance, will naturally
be loud, prolonged, and high, so as to penetrate to a distance.
For Helmholtz has shown[7] that, owing to the shape of the internal
cavity of the human ear and its consequent power of resonance,
high notes produce a particularly strong impression. When male
animals utter sounds in order to please the females, they would
naturally employ those which are sweet to the ears of the species;
and it appears that the same sounds are often pleasing to widely
different animals, owing to the similarity of their nervous systems,
as we ourselves perceive in the singing of birds and even
in the chirping of certain tree-frogs giving us pleasure.
On the other hand, sounds produced in order to strike terror
into an enemy, would naturally be harsh or displeasing.

Whether the principle of antithesis has come into play
with sounds, as might perhaps have been expected, is doubtful.
The interrupted, laughing or tittering sounds made by man and by
various kinds of monkeys when pleased, are as different as possible
from the prolonged screams of these animals when distressed.
The deep grunt of satisfaction uttered by a pig, when pleased with
its food, is widely different from its harsh scream of pain or terror.
But with the dog, as lately remarked, the bark of anger and that of
joy are sounds which by no means stand in opposition to each other;
and so it is in some other cases.

There is another obscure point, namely, whether the sounds which are
produced under various states of the mind determine the shape of the mouth,
or whether its shape is not determined by independent causes, and the sound
thus modified. When young infants cry they open their mouths widely,
and this, no doubt, is necessary for pouring forth a full volume of sound;
but the mouth then assumes, from a quite distinct cause, an almost
quadrangular shape, depending, as will hereafter be explained, on the firm
closing of the eyelids, and consequent drawing up of the upper lip.
How far this square shape of the mouth modifies the wailing or crying sound,
I am not prepared to say; but we know from the researches of Helmholtz
and others that the form of the cavity of the mouth and lips determines
the nature and pitch of the vowel sounds which are produced.


[7] `Theorie Physiologique de la Musique,' Paris, 1868, P. 146.
Helmholtz has also fully discussed in this profound work the relation
of the form of the cavity of the mouth to the production of vowel-sounds.

It will also be shown in a future chapter that, under the feeling
of contempt or disgust, there is a tendency, from intelligible causes,
to blow out of the mouth or nostrils, and this produces sounds
like pooh or pish. When any one is startled or suddenly astonished,
there is an instantaneous tendency, likewise from an intelligible cause,
namely, to be ready for prolonged exertion, to open the mouth widely,
so as to draw a deep and rapid inspiration. When the next full
expiration follows, the mouth is slightly closed, and the lips,
from causes hereafter to be discussed, are somewhat protruded;
and this form of the mouth, if the voice be at all exerted, produces,
according to Helmholtz, the sound of the vowel _O_. Certainly a
deep sound of a prolonged _Oh!_ may be heard from a whole crowd
of people immediately after witnessing any astonishing spectacle.
If, together with surprise, pain be felt, there is a tendency to
contract all the muscles of the body, including those of the face,
and the lips will then be drawn back; and this will perhaps account
for the sound becoming higher and assuming the character of _Ah!_
or _Ach!_ As fear causes all the muscles of the body to tremble,
the voice naturally becomes tremulous, and at the same time husky
from the dryness of the mouth, owing to the salivary glands failing
to act. Why the laughter of man and the tittering of monkeys
should be a rapidly reiterated sound, cannot be explained.
During the utterance of these sounds, the mouth is transversely
elongated by the corners being drawn backwards and upwards;
and of this fact an explanation will be attempted in a future chapter.
But the whole subject of the differences of the sounds produced under
different states of the mind is so obscure, that I have succeeded
in throwing hardly any light on it; and the remarks which I have made,
have but little significance.


All the sounds hitherto noticed depend on the respiratory organs;
but sounds produced by wholly different means are likewise expressive.
Rabbits stamp loudly on the ground as a signal to their comrades;
and if a man knows how to do so properly, he may on a quiet
evening hear the rabbits answering him all around. These animals,
as well as some others, also stamp on the ground when made angry.
Porcupines rattle their quills and vibrate their tails when angered; and one
behaved in this manner when a live snake was placed in its compartment.
The tail of the quills on the tail are very different from those on the body:
they are short, hollow, thin like a goose-quill, with their ends
transversely truncated, so that they are open; they are supported
on long, thin, elastic foot-stalks. Now, when the tail is rapidly shaken,
these hollow quills strike against each other and produce, as I heard in
the presence of Mr. Bartlett, a peculiar continuous sound. We can, I think,
understand why porcupines have been provided, through the modification
of their protective spines, with this special sound-producing instrument.
They are nocturnal animals, and if they scented or heard a prowling
beast of prey, it would be a great advantage to them in the dark to give
warning to their enemy what they were, and that they were furnished
with dangerous spines. They would thus escape being attacked.
They are, as I may add, so fully conscious of the power of their weapons,
that when enraged they will charge backwards with their spines erected,
yet still inclined backwards.

Many birds during their courtship produce diversified sounds
by means of specially adapted feathers. Storks, when excited,
make a loud clattering noise with their beaks. Some snakes produce
a grating or rattling noise. Many insects stridulate by rubbing
together specially modified parts of their hard integuments.
This stridulation generally serves as a sexual charm or call; but it
is likewise used to express different emotions.[8] Every one who has
attended to bees knows that their humming changes when they are angry;
and this serves as a warning that there is danger of being stung.
I have made these few remarks because some writers have laid so much
stress on the vocal and respiratory organs as having been specially
adapted for expression, that it was advisable to show that sounds
otherwise produced serve equally well for the same purpose.

_Erection of the dermal appendages_.--Hardly any expressive
movement is so general as the involuntary erection of the hairs,
feathers and other dermal appendages; for it is common throughout
three of the great vertebrate classes. These appendages are
erected under the excitement of anger or terror; more especially
when these emotions are combined, or quickly succeed each other.
The action serves to make the animal appear larger and more
frightful to its enemies or rivals, and is generally accompanied
by various voluntary movements adapted for the same purpose,
and by the utterance of savage sounds. Mr. Bartlett,
who has had such wide experience with animals of all kinds,
does not doubt that this is the case; but it is a different
question whether the power of erection was primarily acquired
for this special purpose.


[8] I have given some details on this subject in my `Descent
of Man,' vol. i. pp. 352, 384.

I will first give a considerable body of facts showing
how general this action is with mammals, birds and reptiles;
retaining what I have to say in regard to man for a future chapter.
Mr. Sutton, the intelligent keeper in the Zoological Gardens,
carefully observed for me the Chimpanzee and Orang; and he states
that when they are suddenly frightened, as by a thunderstorm, or when
they are made angry, as by being teased, their hair becomes erect.
I saw a chimpanzee who was alarmed at the sight of a black coalheaver,
and the hair rose all over his body; he made little starts forward
as if to attack the man, without any real intention of doing so,
but with the hope, as the keeper remarked, of frightening him.
The Gorilla, when enraged, is described by Mr. Ford[9]
as having his crest of hair "erect and projecting forward,
his nostrils dilated, and his under lip thrown down; at the same
time uttering his characteristic yell, designed, it would seem,
to terrify his antagonists." I saw the hair on the Anubis baboon,
when angered bristling along the back, from the neck to
the loins, but not on the rump or other parts of the body.
I took a stuffed snake into the monkey-house, and the hair on several
of the species instantly became erect; especially on their tails,
as I particularly noticed with the _Cereopithecus nictitans_.
Brehm states[10] that the _Midas aedipus_ (belonging to
the American division) when excited erects its mane, in order,
as he adds, to make itself as frightful as possible.


[9] As quoted in Huxley's `Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature,'
1863, p. 52.

With the Carnivora the erection of the hair seems to be
almost universal, often accompanied by threatening movements,
the uncovering of the teeth and the utterance of savage growls.
In the Herpestes, I have seen the hair on end over nearly the whole body,
including the tail; and the dorsal crest is erected in a conspicuous
manner by the Hyaena and Proteles. The enraged lion erects his mane.
The bristling of the hair along the neck and back of the dog,
and over the whole body of the cat, especially on the tail,
is familiar to every one. With the cat it apparently occurs
only under fear; with the dog, under anger and fear; but not,
as far as I have observed, under abject fear, as when a dog
is going to be flogged by a severe gamekeeper. If, however,
the dog shows fight, as sometimes happens, up goes his hair.
I have often noticed that the hair of a dog is particularly liable
to rise, if he is half angry and half afraid, as on beholding
some object only indistinctly seen in the dusk.

I have been assured by a veterinary surgeon that he has often seen the hair
erected on horses and cattle, on which he had operated and was again going
to operate. When I showed a stuffed snake to a Peccary, the hair rose in a
wonderful manner along its back; and so it does with the boar when enraged.
An Elk which gored a man to death in the United States, is described
as first brandishing his antlers, squealing with rage and stamping
on the ground; "at length his hair was seen to rise and stand on end,"
and then he plunged forward to the attack.[11] The hair likewise becomes
erect on goats, and, as I hear from Mr. Blyth, on some Indian antelopes.
I have seen it erected on the hairy Ant-eater; and on the Agouti, one of
the Rodents. A female Bat,[12] which reared her young under confinement,
when any one looked into the cage "erected the fur on her back, and bit
viciously at intruding fingers."


[10] Illust. Thierleben, 1864, B. i. s. 130.

Birds belonging to all the chief Orders ruffle their feathers
when angry or frightened. Every one must have seen two cocks,
even quite young birds, preparing to fight with erected neck-hackles;
nor can these feathers when erected serve as a means of defence,
for cock-fighters have found by experience that it is
advantageous to trim them. The male Ruff (_Machetes pugnax_)
likewise erects its collar of feathers when fighting.
When a dog approaches a common hen with her chickens, she spreads
out her wings, raises her tail, ruffles all her feathers,
and looking as ferocious as possible, dashes at the intruder.
The tail is not always held in exactly the same position;
it is sometimes so much erected, that the central feathers, as in
the accompanying drawing, almost touch the back. Swans, when angered,
likewise raise their wings and tail, and erect their feathers.
They open their beaks, and make by paddling little rapid starts forwards,
against any one who approaches the water's edge too closely.
Tropic birds[13] when disturbed on their nests are said not to
fly away, but "merely to stick out their feathers and scream."
The Barn-owl, when approached "instantly swells out its plumage,
extends its wings and tail, hisses and clacks its mandibles
with force and rapidity."[14] So do other kinds of owls.
Hawks, as I am


[11] The Hon. J. Caton, Ottawa Acad. of Nat. Sciences, May, 1868, pp.
36, 40. For the _Capra, AEgagrus_, `Land and Water,' 1867, p. 37.

[12] `Land and Water,' July 20, 1867, p. 659.

[13] _Phaeton rubricauda_: `Ibis,' vol. iii. 1861, p. 180.


{illust. caption = FIG. 12--Hen driving away a dog from her chickens.
Drawn from life by Mr. Wood. informed by Mr. Jenner Weir,
likewise ruffle their feathers, and spread out their wings and tail
under similar circumstances. Some kinds of parrots erect their feathers;
and I have seen this action in the Cassowary, when angered at the sight
of an Ant-eater. Young cuckoos in the nest, raise their feathers,
open their mouths widely, and make themselves as frightful as possible.
[14] On the _Strix flammea_, Audubon, `Ornithological Biography,'
1864, vol. ii. p. 407. I have observed other cases in the
Zoological Gardens.Small birds, also, as I hear from Mr. Weir,
such as various finches, buntings and warblers, when angry,
{illust. caption = FIG. 13.--Swan driving away an intruder.
Drawn from life by Mr. Wood.}


ruffle all their feathers, or only those round the neck; or they spread
out their wings and tail-feathers. With their plumage in this state,
they rush at each other with open beaks and threatening gestures.
Mr. Weir concludes from his large experience that the erection
of the feathers is caused much more by anger than by fear.
He gives as an instance a hybrid goldfinch of a most irascible
disposition, which when approached too closely by a servant,
instantly assumes the appearance of a ball of ruffled feathers.
He believes that birds when frightened, as a general rule,
closely adpress all their feathers, and their consequently diminished
size is often astonishing. As soon as they recover from their fear
or surprise, the first thing which they do is to shake out their feathers.
The best instances of this adpression of the feathers and apparent
shrinking of the body from fear, which Mr. Weir has noticed, has been
in the quail and grass-parrakeet.[15] The habit is intelligible
in these birds from their being accustomed, when in danger,
either to squat on the ground or to sit motionless on a branch,
so as to escape detection. Though, with birds, anger may be the chief
and commonest cause of the erection of the feathers, it is probable
that young cuckoos when looked at in the nest, and a hen with her
chickens when approached by a dog, feel at least some terror.
Mr. Tegetmeier informs me that with game-cocks, the erection of
the feathers on the head has long been recognized in the cock-pit
as a sign of cowardice.

The males of some lizards, when fighting together during their courtship,
expand their throat pouches or frills, and erect their dorsal crests.[16]
But Dr. Gunther does not believe that they can erect their separate
spines or scales.

We thus see how generally throughout the two higher vertebrate
classes, and with some reptiles, the dermal appendages are
erected under the influence of anger and fear. The movement
is effected, as we know from Kolliker's interesting discovery,
by the contraction of minute, unstriped, involuntary muscles,[17]
often called _arrectores pili_, which are attached to the capsules
of the separate hairs, feathers, &c. By the contraction of these
muscles the hairs can be instantly erected, as we see in a dog,
being at the same time drawn a little out of their sockets;
they are afterwards quickly depressed. The vast number of these minute
muscles over the whole body of a hairy quadruped is astonishing.
The erection of the hair is, however, aided in some cases,
as with that on the head of a man, by the striped and voluntary
muscles of the underlying _panniculus carnosus_. It is by the action
of these latter muscles, that the hedgehog erects its spines.
It appears, also, from the researches of Leydig[18] and others,
that striped fibres extend from the panniculus to some of
the larger hairs, such as the vibrissae of certain quadrupeds.
The _arrectores pili_ contract not only under the above emotions,
but from the application of cold to the surface. I remember
that my mules and dogs, brought from a lower and warmer country,
after spending a night on the bleak Cordillera, had the hair
all over their bodies as erect as under the greatest terror.
We see the same action in our own _goose-skin_ during the chill
before a fever-fit. Mr. Lister has also found,[19] that tickling
a neighbouring part of the skin causes the erection and protrusion
of the hairs.


[15] _Melopsittacus undulatus_. See an account of its habits
by Gould, `Handbook of Birds of Australia,' 1865, vol. ii. p. 82.

[16] See, for instance, the account which I have given
(`Descent of Man,' vol. ii. p. 32) of an Anolis and Draco.

[17] These muscles are described in his well-known works.
I am greatly indebted to this distinguished observer for having
given me in a letter information on this same subject.

From these facts it is manifest that the erection of the dermal
appendages is a reflex action, independent of the will;
and this action must be looked at, when, occurring under
the influence of anger or fear, not as a power acquired
for the sake of some advantage, but as an incidental result,
at least to a large extent, of the sensorium being affected.
The result, in as far as it is incidental, may be compared
with the profuse sweating from an agony of pain or terror.
Nevertheless, it is remarkable how slight an excitement
often suffices to cause the hair to become erect;
as when two dogs pretend to fight together in play.
We have, also, seen in a large number of animals, belonging to
widely distinct classes, that the erection of the hair or feathers
is almost always accompanied by various voluntary movements--
by threatening gestures, opening the mouth, uncovering the teeth,
spreading out of the wings and tail by birds, and by the
utterance of harsh sounds; and the purpose of these voluntary
movements is unmistakable. Therefore it seems hardly credible
that the co-ordinated erection of the dermal appendages,
by which the animal is made to appear larger and more terrible
to its enemies or rivals, should be altogether an incidental
and purposeless result of the disturbance of the sensorium.
This seems almost as incredible as that the erection by
the hedgehog of its spines, or of the quills by the porcupine,
or of the ornamental plumes by many birds during their courtship.
should all be purposeless actions.


[18] `Lehrbuch der Histologie des Menschen,' 1857, s. 82. I owe
to Prof. W. Turner's kindness an extract from this work.

[19] `Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science,' 1853, vol. i. p. 262.

We here encounter a great difficulty. How can the contraction of
the unstriped and involuntary _arrectores pili_ have been co-ordinated
with that of various voluntary muscles for the same special purpose?
If we could believe that the arrectores primordially had been
voluntary muscles, and had since lost their stripes and become involuntary,
the case would be comparatively simple. I am not, however, aware that
there is any evidence in favour of this view; although the reversed
transition would not have presented any great difficulty,
as the voluntary muscles are in an unstriped condition in the embryos
of the higher animals, and in the larvae of some crustaceans.
Moreover in the deeper layers of the skin of adult birds, the muscular
network is, according to Leydig,[20] in a transitional condition;
the fibres exhibiting only indications of transverse striation.

Another explanation seems possible. We may admit that originally
the _arrectores pili_ were slightly acted on in a direct manner,
under the influence of rage and terror, by the disturbance
of the nervous system; as is undoubtedly the case with our
so-called _goose-skin_ before a fever-fit. Animals have been
repeatedly excited by rage and terror during many generations;
and consequently the direct effects of the disturbed nervous
system on the dermal appendages will almost certainly
have been increased through habit and through the tendency
of nerve-force to pass readily along accustomed channels.
We shall find this view of the force of habit strikingly
confirmed in a future chapter, where it will be shown that
the hair of the insane is affected in an extraordinary manner,
owing to their repeated accesses of fury and terror.
As soon as with animals the power of erection had thus been
strengthened or increased, they must often have seen the hairs
or feathers erected in rival and enraged males, and the bulk
of their bodies thus increased. In this case it appears possible
that they might have wished to make themselves appear larger
and more terrible to their enemies, by voluntarily assuming
a threatening attitude and uttering harsh cries; such attitudes
and utterances after a time becoming through habit instinctive.
In this manner actions performed by the contraction
of voluntary muscles might have been combined for the same
special purpose with those effected by involuntary muscles.
It is even possible that animals, when excited and dimly
conscious of some change in the state of their hair, might act
on it by repeated exertions of their attention and will;
for we have reason to believe that the will is able to
influence in an obscure manner the action of some unstriped
or involuntary muscles, as in the period of the peristaltic
movements of the intestines, and in the contraction of the bladder.
Nor must we overlook the part which variation and natural
selection may have played; for the males which succeeded
in making themselves appear the most terrible to their rivals,
or to their other enemies, if not of overwhelming power,
will on an average have left more offspring to inherit their
characteristic qualities, whatever these may be and however
first acquired, than have other males.


[20] `Lehrbuch der Histologie,' 1857, s. 82.

_The inflation of the body, and other means of exciting fear
in an enemy_.--Certain Amphibians and Reptiles, which either have
no spines to erect, or no muscles by which they can be erected,
enlarge themselves when alarmed or angry by inhaling air.
This is well known to be the case with toads and frogs.
The latter animal is made, in AEsop's fable of the `Ox and the Frog,'
to blow itself up from vanity and envy until it burst.
This action must have been observed during the most ancient times, as,
according to Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood,[21] the word _toad_ expresses
in all the languages of Europe the habit of swelling. It has been
observed with some of the exotic species in the Zoological Gardens;
and Dr. Gunther believes that it is general throughout the group.
Judging from analogy, the primary purpose probably was to make the body
appear as large and frightful as possible to an enemy; but another,
and perhaps more important secondary advantage is thus gained.
When frogs are seized by snakes, which are their chief enemies,
they enlarge themselves wonderfully; so that if the snake be of
small size, as Dr. Gunther informs me, it cannot swallow the frog,
which thus escapes being devoured.

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