for shame. A lady informs me that she found in the Lock Hospital a
girl whom she had formerly known, and who had become a wretched
castaway, and the poor creature, when approached, hid her face under
the bed-clothes, and could not be persuaded to uncover it. We often see
little children, when shy or ashamed, turn away, and still standing up,
bury their faces in their mother s gown; or they throw themselves face
downwards on her lap.
_Confusion of mind_. Most persons, whilst blushing intensely, have
their mental powers confused. This is recognized in such common
expressions as she was covered with confusion. Persons in this
condition lose their presence of mind, and utter singularly
inappropriate remarks. They are often much distressed, stammer, and
make awkward movements or strange grimaces. In certain cases
involuntary twitchings of some of the facial muscles may be observed. I
have been informed by a young lady, who blushes excessively, that at
such times she does not even know what she is saying. When it was
suggested to her that this might be due to her distress from the
consciousness that her blushing was noticed, she answered that this
could not be the case, as she had sometimes felt quite as stupid when
blushing at a thought in her own room.
I will give an instance of the extreme disturbance of mind to which
some sensitive men are liable. A gentleman, on whom I can rely, assured
me that he had been an eye-witness of the following scene: A small
dinner-party was given in honour of an extremely shy man, who, when he
rose to return thanks, rehearsed the speech, which he had evidently
learnt by heart, in absolute silence, and did not utter a single word;
but he acted as if he were speaking with much emphasis. His friends,
perceiving how the case stood, loudly applauded the imaginary bursts of
eloquence, whenever his gestures indicated a pause, and the man never
discovered that he had remained the whole time completely silent. On
the contrary, he afterwards remarked to my friend, with much
satisfaction, that he thought he had succeeded uncommonly well.
When a person is much ashamed or very shy, and blushes intensely, his
heart beats rapidly and his breathing is disturbed. This can hardly
fail to affect the circulation of the blood within the brain, and
perhaps the mental powers. It seems however doubtful, judging from the
still more powerful influence of anger and fear on the circulation,
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