The old English physician, Charles Bell,[72] is of the opinion, in his
cautious way, that what is called the external sign of passion is only
the accompanying phenomenon of that spontaneous movement required by the
structure, or better, by the situation of the body. Later this was
demonstrated by Darwin and his friends to be the indubitable starting
point of all gesticulation:--so, for example, the defensive action upon
hearing something disgusting, the clenching of the fists in anger; or
among wild animals, the baring of the teeth, or the bull’s dropping of
the head, etc. In the course of time the various forms of action became
largely unintelligible and significatory only after long experience. It
became, moreover, differently differentiated with each individual, and
hence still more difficult to understand. How far this differentiation
may go when it has endured generation after generation and is at last
crystallized into a set type, is well known; just as by training the
muscles of porters, tumblers or fencers develop in each individual, so
the muscles develop in those portions of our body most animated by the
mind--in our face and hands, especially, have there occurred through the
centuries fixed expressions or types of movement. This has led to the
observations of common-sense which speak of raw, animal, passionate or
modest faces, and of ordinary, nervous, or spiritual hands; but it has
also led to the scientific interpretation of these phenomena which
afterwards went shipwreck in the form of Lombroso’s “criminal stigmata,”
inasmuch as an overhasty theory has been built on barren, unexperienced,
and unstudied material. The notion of criminal stigmata is, however, in
no sense new, and Lombroso has not invented it; according to an
incidental remark of Kant in his “Menschenkunde,” the first who tried
scientifically to interpret these otherwise ancient observations was the
German J. B. Friedreich,[73] who says expressly that determinate somatic
pathological phenomena may be shown to occur with certain moral
perversions. It has been observed with approximate clearness in several
types of cases. So, for example, incendiarism occurs in the case of
abnormal sexual conditions; poisoning also springs from abnormal sexual
impulses; drowning is the consequence of oversatiated drink mania, etc.
Modern psychopathology knows nothing additional concerning these
marvels; and similar matters which are spoken of nowadays again, have
shown themselves incapable of demonstration. But that there are
phenomena so related, and that their number is continually increasing
under exact observations, is not open to doubt.[74] If we stop with the
phenomena of daily life and keep in mind the ever-cited fact that
everybody recognizes at a glance the old hunter, the retired officer,
the actor, the aristocratic lady, etc., we may go still further: the
more trained observers can recognize the merchant, the official, the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account