Women blush much more than men. It is rare to see an old man, but not
nearly so rare to see an old woman blushing. The blind do not escape.
Laura Bridgman, born in this condition, as well as completely deaf,
blushes.[4] The Rev. R. H. Blair, Principal of the Worcester College,
informs me that three children born blind, out of seven or eight then
in the Asylum, are great blushers. The blind are not at first conscious
that they are observed, and it is a most important part of their education,
as Mr. Blair informs me, to impress this knowledge on their minds;
and the impression thus gained would greatly strengthen the tendency
to blush, by increasing the habit of self-attention.
[2] Dr. Burgess, ibid. p. 56. At p. 33 he also remarks on women
blushing more freely than men, as stated below.
[3] Quoted by Vogt, `Memoire sur les Microcephales,'
1867, p. 20. Dr. Burgess (ibid. p. 56) doubts whether
idiots ever blush.
The tendency to blush is inherited. Dr. Burgess gives the case[5] of a
family consisting of a father, mother, and ten children, all of whom,
without exception, were prone to blush to a most painful degree.
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