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Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882

"The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals"

Brough Smyth
states that a native Australian "being on one occasion much frightened,
showed a complexion as nearly approaching to what we call paleness,
as can well be conceived in the case of a very black man." Mr. Dyson Lacy
has seen extreme fear shown in an Australian, by a nervous twitching of
the hands, feet, and lips; and by the perspiration standing on the skin.
Many savages do not repress the signs of fear so much as Europeans;
and they often tremble greatly. With the Kafir, Gaika says, in his
rather quaint English, the shaking "of the body is much experienced,
and the eyes are widely open." With savages, the sphincter muscles
are often relaxed, just as may be observed in much frightened dogs,
and as I have seen with monkeys when terrified by being caught.

_The erection of the hair_.--Some of the signs of fear
deserve a little further consideration. Poets continually
speak of the hair standing on end; Brutus says to the ghost
of Caesar, "that mak'st my blood cold, and my hair to stare."
And Cardinal Beaufort, after the murder of Gloucester exclaims,
"Comb down his hair; look, look, it stands upright."
As I did not feel sure whether writers of fiction might not have
applied to man what they had often observed in animals, I begged
for information from Dr.


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