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As the effort of viewing with care under a bright light a distant
object is both difficult and irksome, and as this effort has
been habitually accompanied, during numberless generations,
by the contraction of the eyebrows, the habit of frowning will
thus have been much strengthened; although it was originally
practised during infancy from a quite independent cause, namely as
the first step in the protection of the eyes during screaming.
There is, indeed, much analogy, as far as the state
of the mind is concerned, between intently scrutinizing
a distant object, and following out an obscure train of thought,
or performing some little and troublesome mechanical work.
The belief that the habit of contracting the brows is continued
when there is no need whatever to exclude too much light,
receives support from the cases formerly alluded to,
in which the eyebrows or eyelids are acted on under certain
circumstances in a useless manner, from having been similarly used,
under analogous circumstances, for a serviceable purpose.
For instance, we voluntarily close our eyes when we do not
wish to see any object, and we are apt to close them, when we
reject a proposition, as if we could not or would not see it;
or when we think about something horrible.
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