One of my sons, whilst getting out of bed, shuddered from
the cold, and, as he happened to have his hand on his neck,
he plainly felt that this muscle strongly contracted.
He then voluntarily shuddered, as he had done on former occasions,
but the platysma was not then affected. Mr. J. Wood has also
several times observed this muscle contracting in patients,
when stripped for examination, and who were not frightened,
but shivered slightly from the cold. Unfortunately I have not
been able to ascertain whether, when the whole body shakes,
as in the cold stage of an ague fit, the platysma contracts.
But as it certainly often contracts during a shudder; and as a
shudder or shiver often accompanies the first sensation of fear,
we have, I think, a clue to its action in this latter case.[23]
Its contraction, however, is not an invariable concomitant
of fear; for it probably never acts under the influence
of extreme, prostrating terror.
[23] Ducheinne takes, in fact, this view (ibid. p. 45), as he
attributes the contraction of the platysma to the shivering of fear
(_frisson de la peur_); but he elsewhere compares the action with
that which causes the hair of frightened quadrupeds to stand erect;
and this can hardly be considered as quite correct.
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