The anatomy and philosophy of expression

Front matter

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Preface

Turse Essays formed the earliest and the latest occupation of the lamented author’s leisure hours ; — and they now appear under the disadvantages which must attend a posthumous publication.

It was the habit of the author, in his literary compositions, to sketch his first ideas as they arose ; and parts of this work were found, evidently intended to be revised and corrected. They are faithfully added to the text of the last edition, where they bear upon the subject.

The following prefatory remarks are from the pen of the late Professor Bell,* to whom, in the warmth of brotherly affection, the second edition of the work had been inscribed.

The Essays which are now presented to the public in their enlarged form, were originally composed, as the

* George Joseph Bell, Professor of the Law of Scotland in the University of Edinburgh. He died September 23, 1843. :

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SSE I PIE LTB ER ere poli lv PREFACE.

author fondly said in his dedication, “‘ when we studied together before the serious pursuits of life began;” but were not published till the year 1806, after the author had left Edinburgh and fixed his residence in London. A second edition appeared in 1824; but he resisted every call for a new impression, until he should have had an opportunity of verifying in Italy the principles of criticism in art, by the study of the works of the great masters in painting and sculpture.

With this view he visited the Continent in 1840; - and on his return he recomposed the whole for a new edition, introducing occasional extracts from his journal, sometimes to enforce the text and sometimes to shew from what authority he drew his conclusions.

In a declining state of health he had taken advantage of a recess in his professorial duties in the University of Edinburgh to revisit his friends m England. He hoped in the leisure of the country to give this work a final revisal for the press; but before he had fulfilled his wishes in this respect, his life was terminated by an access of his illness at Hallow Park, in Worcestershire, on the 29th of April, 1842.

In the speculations of which this work is the result, and in the interesting imquiries to which they led, Sir Charles Bell was accustomed to seek relief from the wearing anxiety which, from his exquisite sensibility to human suffering, had ever attended the practice of his

PREFACE, profession: but a still greater effect was to follow. It was from these investigations that he was first led to make those discoveries in the system of the nerves, which are now acknowledged to be the most important contributions of modern times to the science of Physiology. Before Sir Charles Bell’s time, the nerves, which pervade every the minutest portion of our frame, seemed, in the studies of anatomists, a mass of inextricable confusion and a subject of hopeless obscurity; but he believed that in the works of the Creator there is nothing imperfect or unnecessarily complex, and that the solution of this apparent confusion was not beyond the reach of human inquiry. In tracing the causes of movements in ‘the countenance and in the frame of the body under the influence of passion or emotion, he engaged im a very careful inquiry into the origin, course, and destination of the nerves; and consequent investigations led him to those fundamental truths, hitherto unperceived, by which he, and those who have followed his course, have revealed to the medical world the beautiful simplicity of this part of the animal economy. To the phy- Slologist it will be particularly interesting to trace in this work the steps by which the author was led to the comprehension of that most intricate portion of the nervous system, the class of nerves which he has named respiratory; a subject so difficult, that it was long before his vlews were acknowledged by the medical profession.

PREFACE.

Meanwhile his labours and his anxiety were relieved by the variety of his pursuits. He was a true lover of nature, and to trace the proofs of perfection and design in all the works of the Creator was to him a source of ever new delight. Constantly he had some useful, some noble purpose in view, whether in following up scientific inquiry, or in enthusiastically pursuing nature or art. ‘Those who knew him best, and had seen him in the most trying circumstances of life, were most sensible that there never was a man whose mind was more uniformly attuned to grateful happiness.

CONTENTS,

PAGE Inrropuction.—Comparison of Ancient and Modern Art—

Studies of the Italian Masters Essay I. Theory of Beauty in the Countenance—Of the Form and Proportions of the Head and Face Essay II. Changes from Infancy to Age Of the Skull, as a Protection to the Brain

Characteristic Organs of Man Theories of Ideal Beauty National Peculiarities in the Form of the Head .... 71 Essay III. Of those Sources of Expression in the Countenance which cannot be explained on the idea of a direct Influence of the Mind upon the Features 82 Blushing Essay IV. Of the Muscles of the Face in Man Muscles of the Forehead and Eyebrow Expression of the Human Eye Muscles of the Nostrils

Expression in the Lips and Moustaches ....

Essay V, Of the Expression of Passion, illustrated by a Comparison of the Muscles of the Face in Man and in Animals; and of the Muscles peculiar to Man, and their effects in bestowing Human Expression

Expression in Animals

The Muscles of Animals

Vill CONTENTS.

Terror Despair Admiration

Jealousy Rage — Madness

Essay VIII. Of Expression in reference to the Body The Emotions modified by controlling Expression 199

Essay IX. The Study of Anatomy, as necessary to Design... 201 Of the Genius and Studies of Michael Angelo

Buonarotti

Essay X. Uses of Anatomy to the Painter

Faults mto which the Artist may be betrayed in Studying the Antique or in Drawing from the Academy Figure... .

Anatomy, as conducting to Truth of Expression and of Character

Appendix

Of the Nerves, by Alexander Shaw Explanation of the Plates

EXPRESSION,