himself. His skin perspired; and his eyelids and head drooped so much
that it was impossible to catch even a glimpse of his eyes. His lower
jaw hung down. There was no contraction of any facial muscle, and Dr.
Ogle is almost certain that the hair did not stand on end, for he
observed it narrowly, as it had been dyed for the sake of concealment.
With respect to fear, as exhibited by the various races of man, my
informants agree that the signs are the same as with Europeans. They
are displayed in an exaggerated degree with the Hindoos and natives of
Ceylon. Mr. Geach has seen Malays when terrified turn pale and shake;
and Mr. Brough Smyth states that a native Australian being on one
occasion much frightened, showed a complexion as nearly approaching to
what we call paleness, as can well be conceived in the case of a very
black man. Mr. Dyson Lacy has seen extreme fear shown in an
Australian, by a nervous twitching of the hands, feet, and lips; and by
the perspiration standing on the skin. Many savages do not repress the
signs of fear so much as Europeans; and they often tremble greatly.
With the Kafir, Gaika says, in his rather quaint English, the shaking
of the body is much experienced, and the eyes are widely open. With
savages, the sphincter muscles are often relaxed, just as may be
observed in much frightened dogs, and as I have seen with monkeys when
terrified by being caught.
_The erection of the hair_. Some of the signs of fear deserve a little
further consideration. Poets continually speak of the hair standing on
end; Brutus says to the ghost of Caesar, that mak st my blood cold,
and my hair to stare. And Cardinal Beaufort, after the murder of
Gloucester exclaims, Comb down his hair; look, look, it stands
upright. As I did not feel sure whether writers of fiction might not
have applied to man what they had often observed in animals, I begged
for information from Dr. Crichton Browne with respect to the insane. He
states in answer that he has repeatedly seen their hair erected under
the influence of sudden and extreme terror. For instance, it is
occasionally necessary to inject morphia, under the skin of an insane
woman, who dreads the operation extremely, though it causes very little
pain; for she believes that poison is being introduced into her system,
and that her bones will be softened, and her flesh turned into dust.
She becomes deadly pale; her limbs are stiffened by a sort of tetanic
spasm, and her hair is partially erected on the front of the head.
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