trembling of all the muscles, or their complete relaxation. And now,
whenever the emotion of fear is strongly felt, though it may not lead
to any exertion, the same results tend to reappear, through the force
of inheritance and association.
Nevertheless, it is probable that many or most of the above symptoms of
terror, such as the beating of the heart, the trembling of the muscles,
cold perspiration, &c., are in large part directly due to the disturbed
or interrupted transmission of nerve-force from the cerebro-spinal
system to various parts of the body, owing to the mind being so
powerfully affected. We may confidently look to this cause,
independently of habit and association, in such cases as the modified
secretions of the intestinal canal, and the failure of certain glands
to act. With respect to the involuntary bristling of the hair, we have
good reason to believe that in the case of animals this action, however
it may have originated, serves, together with certain voluntary
movements, to make them appear terrible to their enemies; and as the
same involuntary and voluntary actions are performed by animals nearly
related to man, we are led to believe that man has retained through
inheritance a relic of them, now become useless. It is certainly a
remarkable fact, that the minute unstriped muscles, by which the hairs
thinly scattered over man s almost naked body are erected, should have
been preserved to the present day; and that they should still contract
under the same emotions, namely, terror and rage, which cause the hairs
to stand on end in the lower members of the Order to which man belongs.
CHAPTER XIII. SELF-ATTENTION SHAME SHYNESS MODESTY: BLUSHING.
Nature of a blush Inheritance The parts of the body most
affected Blushing in the various races of man Accompanying
gestures Confusion of mind Causes of blushing Self-attention, the
fundamental element Shyness Shame, from broken moral laws and
conventional rules Modesty Theory of blushing Recapitulation.
Blushing is the most peculiar and the most human of all expressions.
Monkeys redden from passion, but it would require an overwhelming
amount of evidence to make us believe that any animal could blush. The
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