position, for monkeys do not frown when exposed to a glaring light. Our
early progenitors, when enraged, would probably have exposed their
teeth more freely than does man, even when giving full vent to his
rage, as with the insane. We may, also, feel almost certain that they
would have protruded their lips, when sulky or disappointed, in a
greater degree than is the case with our own children, or even with the
children of existing savage races.
Our early progenitors, when indignant or moderately angry, would not
have held their heads erect, opened their chests, squared their
shoulders, and clenched their fists, until they had acquired the
ordinary carriage and upright attitude of man, and had learnt to fight
with their fists or clubs. Until this period had arrived the
antithetical gesture of shrugging the shoulders, as a sign of impotence
or of patience, would not have been developed. From the same reason
astonishment would not then have been expressed by raising the arms
with open hands and extended fingers. Nor, judging from the actions of
monkeys, would astonishment have been exhibited by a widely opened
mouth; but the eyes would have been opened and the eyebrows arched.
Disgust would have been shown at a very early period by movements round
the mouth, like those of vomiting, that is, if the view which I have
suggested respecting the source of the expression is correct, namely,
that our progenitors had the power, and used it, of voluntarily and
quickly rejecting any food from their stomachs which they disliked. But
the more refined manner of showing contempt or disdain, by lowering the
eyelids, or turning away the eyes and face, as if the despised person
were not worth looking at, would not probably have been acquired until
a much later period.
Of all expressions, blushing seems to be the most strictly human; yet
it is common to all or nearly all the races of man, whether or not any
change of colour is visible in their skin. The relaxation of the small
arteries of the surface, on which blushing depends, seems to have
primarily resulted from earnest attention directed to the appearance of
our own persons, especially of our faces, aided by habit, inheritance,
and the ready flow of nerve-force along accustomed channels; and
afterwards to have been extended by the power of association to
self-attention directed to moral conduct. It can hardly be doubted that
many animals are capable of appreciating beautiful colours and even
forms, as is shown by the pains which the individuals of one sex take
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