[2] `The Polyglot News Letter,' Melbourne, Dec. 1858, p. 2.
With adult persons, when the eyebrows are raised,
the whole forehead becomes much wrinkled in transverse lines;
but with children this occurs only to a slight degree.
The wrinkles run in lines concentric with each eyebrow,
and are partially confluent in the middle. They are highly
characteristic of the expression of surprise or astonishment.
Each eyebrow, when raised, becomes also, as Duchenne remarks,[4]
more arched than it was before.
[3] `The Anatomy of Expression,' p. 106.
The cause of the mouth being opened when astonishment is felt,
is a much more complex affair; and several causes apparently concur
in leading to this movement. It has often been supposed[5] that
the sense of hearing is thus rendered more acute; but I have watched
persons listening intently to a slight noise, the nature and source
of which they knew perfectly, and they did not open their mouths.
Therefore I at one time imagined that the open mouth might aid
in distinguishing the direction whence a sound proceeded,
by giving another channel for its entrance into the ear through
the eustachian tube, But Dr.
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