former case as if he did not or would not see it. I have noticed that
persons in describing a horrid sight often shut their eyes momentarily
and firmly, or shake their heads, as if not to see or to drive away
something disagreeable; and I have caught myself, when thinking in the
dark of a horrid spectacle, closing my eyes firmly. In looking suddenly
at any object, or in looking all around, everyone raises his eyebrows,
so that the eyes may be quickly and widely opened; and Duchenne remarks
that[107] a person in trying to remember something often raises his
eyebrows, as if to see it. A Hindoo gentleman made exactly the same
remark to Mr. Erskine in regard to his countrymen. I noticed a young
lady earnestly trying to recollect a painter s name, and she first
looked to one corner of the ceiling and then to the opposite corner,
arching the one eyebrow on that side; although, of course, there was
nothing to be seen there.
In most of the foregoing cases, we can understand how the associated
movements were acquired through habit; but with some individuals,
certain strange gestures or tricks have arisen in association with
certain states of the mind, owing to wholly inexplicable causes, and
are undoubtedly inherited. I have elsewhere given one instance from my
own observation of an extraordinary and complex gesture, associated
with pleasurable feelings, which was transmitted from a father to his
daughter, as well as some other analogous facts.[108] Another curious
instance of an odd inherited movement, associated with the wish to
obtain an object, will be given in the course of this volume.
There are other actions which are commonly performed under certain
circumstances, independently of habit, and which seem to be due to
imitation or some sort of sympathy. Thus persons cutting anything with
a pair of scissors may be seen to move their jaws simultaneously with
the blades of the scissors. Children learning to write often twist
about their tongues as their fingers move, in a ridiculous fashion.
When a public singer suddenly becomes a little hoarse, many of those
present may be heard, as I have been assured by a gentleman on whom I
can rely, to clear their throats; but here habit probably comes into
play, as we clear our own throats under similar circumstances. I have
also been told that at leaping matches, as the performer makes his
spring, many of the spectators, generally men and boys, move their
feet; but here again habit probably comes into play, for it is very
doubtful whether women would thus act.
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