Disgust would have been shown at a very early period by
movements round the mouth, like those of vomiting,--that is,
if the view which I have suggested respecting the source
of the expression is correct, namely, that our progenitors
had the power, and used it, of voluntarily and quickly
rejecting any food from their stomachs which they disliked.
But the more refined manner of showing contempt or disdain,
by lowering the eyelids, or turning away the eyes and face,
as if the despised person were not worth looking at, would not
probably have been acquired until a much later period.
Of all expressions, blushing seems to be the most strictly human;
yet it is common to all or nearly all the races of man, whether or
not any change of colour is visible in their skin. The relaxation
of the small arteries of the surface, on which blushing depends,
seems to have primarily resulted from earnest attention directed
to the appearance of our own persons, especially of our faces,
aided by habit, inheritance, and the ready flow of nerve-force along
accustomed channels; and afterwards to have been extended by the power
of association to self-attention directed to moral conduct.
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