relaxation of the arteries of the skin in blushing, and the increased
action of the heart in anger. We may see children, only two or three
years old, and even those born blind, blushing from shame; and the
naked scalp of a very young infant reddens from passion. Infants scream
from pain directly after birth, and all their features then assume the
same form as during subsequent years. These facts alone suffice to show
that many of our most important expressions have not been learnt; but
it is remarkable that some, which are certainly innate, require
practice in the individual, before they are performed in a full and
perfect manner; for instance, weeping and laughing. The inheritance of
most of our expressive actions explains the fact that those born blind
display them, as I hear from the Rev. R. H. Blair, equally well with
those gifted with eyesight. We can thus also understand the fact that
the young and the old of widely different races, both with man and
animals, express the same state of mind by the same movements.
We are so familiar with the fact of young and old animals displaying
their feelings in the same manner, that we hardly perceive how
remarkable it is that a young puppy should wag its tail when pleased,
depress its ears and uncover its canine teeth when pretending to be
savage, just like an old dog; or that a kitten should arch its little
back and erect its hair when frightened and angry, like an old cat.
When, however, we turn to less common gestures in ourselves, which we
are accustomed to look at as artificial or conventional, such as
shrugging the shoulders, as a sign of impotence, or the raising the
arms with open hands and extended fingers, as a sign of wonder, we feel
perhaps too much surprise at finding that they are innate. That these
and some other gestures are inherited, we may infer from their being
performed by very young children, by those born blind, and by the most
widely distinct races of man. We should also bear in mind that new and
highly peculiar tricks, in association with certain states of the mind,
are known to have arisen in certain individuals, and to have been
afterwards transmitted to their offspring, in some cases, for more than
one generation.
Certain other gestures, which seem to us so natural that we might
easily imagine that they were innate, apparently have been learnt like
the words of a language. This seems to be the case with the joining of
the uplifted hands, and the turning up of the eyes, in prayer. So it is
with kissing as a mark of affection; but this is innate, in so far as
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