neck should be especially affected by fear, I applied to my many
obliging correspondents for information about the contraction of this
muscle under other circumstances. It would be superfluous to give all
the answers which I have received. They show that this muscle acts,
often in a variable manner and degree, under many different conditions.
It is violently contracted in hydrophobia, and in a somewhat less
degree in lockjaw; sometimes in a marked manner during the
insensibility from chloroform. Dr. W. Ogle observed two male patients,
suffering from such difficulty in breathing, that the trachea had to be
opened, and in both the platysma was strongly contracted. One of these
men overheard the conversation of the surgeons surrounding him, and
when he was able to speak, declared that he had not been frightened. In
some other cases of extreme difficulty of respiration, though not
requiring tracheotomy, observed by Drs. Ogle and Langstaff, the
platysma was not contracted.
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
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