The nose is often slightly contracted, so as partly to close the passage;[3]
and this is commonly accompanied by a slight snort or expiration.
All these actions are the same with those which we employ when we
perceive an offensive odour, and wish to exclude or expel it.
In extreme cases, as Dr. Piderit remarks,[4] we protrude and raise
both lips, or the upper lip alone, so as to close the nostrils
as by a valve, the nose being thus turned up. We seem thus to say
to the despised person that he smells offensively,[5] in nearly
the same manner as we express to him by half-closing our eyelids,
or turning away our faces, that he is not worth looking at.
It must not, however, be supposed that such ideas actually pass
through the mind when we exhibit our contempt; but as whenever we
have perceived a disagreeable odour or seen a disagreeable sight,
actions of this kind have been performed, they have become habitual
or fixed, and are now employed under any analogous state of mind.
[1] `De In Physionomie et la Parole,' 1865, p. 89.
[2] `Physionomie Humaine,' Album, Legende viii. p. 35.
Gratiolet also speaks (De la Phys. 1865, p.
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