thus expressed pleasure.
A little gesture made by sulky children may here be noticed, namely,
their showing a cold shoulder. This has a different meaning, as, I
believe, from the keeping both shoulders raised. A cross child, sitting
on its parent s knee, will lift up the near shoulder, then jerk it
away, as if from a caress, and afterwards give a backward push with it,
as if to push away the offender. I have seen a child, standing at some
distance from any one, clearly express its feelings by raising one
shoulder, giving it a little backward movement, and then turning away
its whole body.
_Decision or determination_. The firm closure of the mouth tends to
give an expression of determination or decision to the countenance. No
determined man probably ever had an habitually gaping mouth. Hence,
also, a small and weak lower jaw, which seems to indicate that the
mouth is not habitually and firmly closed, is commonly thought to be
characteristic of feebleness of character. A prolonged effort of any
kind, whether of body or mind, implies previous determination; and if
it can be shown that the mouth is generally closed with firmness before
and during a great and continued exertion of the muscular system, then,
through the principle of association, the mouth would almost certainly
be closed as soon as any determined resolution was taken. Now several
observers have noticed that a man, in commencing any violent muscular
effort, invariably first distends his lungs with air, and then
compresses it by the strong contraction of the muscles of the chest;
and to effect this the mouth must be firmly closed. Moreover, as soon
as the man is compelled to draw breath, he still keeps his chest as
much distended as possible.
Various causes have been assigned for this manner of acting. Sir C.
Bell maintains[913] that the chest is distended with air, and is kept
distended at such times, in order to give a fixed support to the
muscles which are thereto attached. Hence, as he remarks, when two men
are engaged in a deadly contest, a terrible silence prevails, broken
only by hard stifled breathing. There is silence, because to expel the
air in the utterance of any sound would be to relax the support for the
muscles of the arms. If an outcry is heard, supposing the struggle to
take place in the dark, we at once know that one of the two has given
up in despair.
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