Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 47.djvu/647

Rh of the sympathetic nerves upon the muscular coats of the smaller blood-vessels, and such visible changes are often confined to a small area. When, owing to some wave of emotion, the cheeks flush or turn pale, the same stimulus which effects such an alteration in outward expression will also disturb the existing conditions of nutrition in the regions affected. And it appears exceedingly probable that just as the faint currents continually flowing along the motor nerves are to a great extent responsible for the prevailing "muscular" expression of the countenance, so also slight but continuous emotional stimulation of the sympathetic fibers which supply any part of the face may influence its growth in a marked degree in the long run, although at any given moment the vascular consequences may be imperceptible.

Now it is within the knowledge of every one who has turned a curious inward eye upon his feelings that certain emotions which deeply stir the inner man, and which may make us glow or shudder to the finger tips, do not cause any facial changes, except, perhaps, a slight difference in the hue of the brow or cheeks, and a glistening or darkening of the eye. This is often the case when we are under the control of the deeper feelings. We do not laugh when filled with the most exalted joy, or distort our faces when overwhelmed with grief. The fierce emotion which seizes on man and beast alike when the grosser appetites hold full sway often produces many profound changes of an organic nature without provoking any activity in the expression muscles.

Even when certain forms of emotion tend to distort the features if provoked in a natural and direct manner, they fail to react upon the facial muscles when produced artificially, as they may be by a play, a novel, or a strain of music. During the silent perusal of a pathetic story many people confess to a "lump in the throat," but it is very seldom that the corners of the mouth are twitched downward.

These deliberately induced or artificial emotions offer an interesting field to the psychologist. They evidently differ from their elementary prototypes as much as polarized light differs from direct light. They tint what would else be both hideous and prosaic with all the colors of the rainbow, so that we are able to take pleasure in tragedy,

 And with an eager and suspended soul Woo terror, to delight us."

If we survey the faces of a crowd of people at a concert, we find that they offer scarcely a hint of the emotion evoked by the music. The features of the listeners remain as placid as if they were asleep, and as if the inward excitement which thrills them,