Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 August 1896 — Facial Expression of Emotion. [ARTICLE]

Facial Expression of Emotion.

emotions, if is almost unnecessary to state, are expressed mainly by the face. It is true that the heaving • a nd feminine bosom, in times of domestic storm and stress, 'sometimes lends effectual aid to their better expression. But with this exception emotions in their visible condition are chiefly of the face. Tliarts the! case at any rate with the comparatively immobile Anglo-Sax-on. Why is this an undoubted fact? ' The muscles of the human face are less massive than those of many animals; the powerful teeth of the carnivr ora need increased strength of muscle to bring them effectually into play. The diminutive size of the facial muscles in Bum brings them more readily into action, they respond more easily to a nervous excitation. This view is due to Herbert Spencer, who is»., quoted'"but not with entire appreciation, by Mosso. The latter physiologist thinks that other frictors enter into the matter. Among the most important causes are, he thinks, the nearness of the parts stimulated to the brain. Nervous impulses naturally travel along the lines of least resistance; lienee the facial muscles are moved before tlie hands are clenched or the arm shot out straight from the slioulder.-fLondon Chronicle