Darwinism stated by Darwin himself: Characteristic passages from the writings of Charles DarwinDarwin, Charles
Science
Darwinism stated by Darwin himself: Characteristic passages from the writings of Charles Darwin
Darwin, Charles
Evolution (Biology)
It is not the sense of guilt, but the thought that others think or know
us to be guilty, which crimsons the face. A man may feel thoroughly
ashamed at having told a small falsehood, without blushing; but if he
even suspects that he is detected he will instantly blush, especially
if detected by one whom he reveres.
On the other hand, a man may be convinced that God witnesses all his
actions, and he may feel deeply conscious of some fault and pray for
forgiveness; but this will not, as a lady who is a great blusher
believes, ever excite a blush. The explanation of this difference
between the knowledge by God and man of our actions lies, I presume,
in man’s disapprobation of immoral conduct being somewhat akin in
nature to his depreciation of our personal appearance, so that through
association both lead to similar results; whereas the disapprobation of
God brings up no such association.
Many a person has blushed intensely when accused of some crime, though
completely innocent of it.
* * * * *
[Page 334.]
An action may be meritorious or of an indifferent nature, but a
sensitive person, if he suspects that others take a different view of
it, will blush. For instance, a lady by herself may give money to a
beggar without a trace of a blush, but if others are present, and she
doubts whether they approve, or suspects that they think her influenced
by display, she will blush. So it will be, if she offers to relieve the
distress of a decayed gentlewoman, more particularly of one whom she
had previously known under better circumstances, as she can not then
feel sure how her conduct will be viewed. But such cases as these blend
into shyness.
* * * * *
[Page 338.]
The belief that blushing was _specially_ designed by the Creator is
opposed to the general theory of evolution, which is now so largely
accepted; but it forms no part of my duty here to argue on the general
question. Those who believe in design will find it difficult to
account for shyness being the most frequent and efficient of all the
causes of blushing, as it makes the blusher to suffer and the beholder
uncomfortable, without being of the least service to either of them.
They will also find it difficult to account for negroes and other
dark-colored races blushing, in whom a change of color in the skin is
scarcely or not at all visible.
BLUSHING ACCOUNTED FOR.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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