Section 20. (7) Physiognomy and Related Subjects.
The science of physiognomy belongs to those disciplines which
show a decided variability in their value. In classical times it
was set much store by, and Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Pythagoras
were keenly interested in its doctrines. Later on it was forgotten,
was studied in passing when Baptista Porta wrote a book
about human physiognomy, and finally, when the works of Lavater
and the closely related ones of Gall appeared, the science came for
a short time into the foreground. Lavater's well known
monograph
[1]
excited great attention in his day and brought its author
enthusiastic admiration. How much Goethe was interested in it is
indicated in the popular book by Von der Hellen and the exchange
of letters between Goethe and Lavater. If Lavater had not brought
the matter into relation with his mystical and apodictic manner, if
he had made more observations and fewer assertions, his fame would
have endured longer and he would have been of some use to the
science; as it was it soon slipped from people's minds and they
turned to the notorious phrenology of Gall. Gall, who to some
degree had worked with his friend Spurzheim, committed the same
error in his works
[2] as
Lavater, inasmuch as he lost himself in theories
without scientific basis, so that much that was indubitably correct
and indicative in his teaching was simply overlooked. His meaning
was twice validated, once when B. v.
Cotta
[3] and R. R.
Noel
[4]
studied it intensively and justly assigned him a considerable worth;
the second time when Lombroso and his school invented the doctrine
of criminal stigmata, the best of which rests on the postulates
of the much-scorned and only now studied Dr. Gall. The great
physiologist J. Müller declared: "Concerning the general possibility
of the principles of Gall's system no a priori objections can
be made." Only recently were the important problems of physiognomy,
if we except the remarkable work by
Schack,
[5] scientifically
dealt with. The most important and significant book is
Darwin's,
[6]
then the system of
Piderit
[7] and
Carus's "Symbolik,"
[8] all of them
being based upon the earlier fundamental work of the excellent
English anatomist and surgeon,
Bell.
[9] Other works of importance
are those of LeBrun, Reich, Mantegazza, Dr. Duchenne, Skraup,
Magnus, Gessmann, Schebest, Engel, Schneider, K. Michel, Wundt,
C. Lange, Giraudet, A. Mosso, A. Baer, Wiener, Lotze, Waitz,
Lelut, Monro, Heusinger, Herbart, Comte, Meynert, Goltz, Hughes,
Borée,
[10] etc.
The present status of physiognomies is, we must say, a
very subordinate one. Phrenology is related to physiognomies as
the bony support of the skull to its softer ones, and as a man's
physiognomy depends especially upon the conformation of his
skull, so physiognomies must deal with the forms of the skull. The
doctrine of the movement of physiognomy is mimicry. But physiognomics
concerns itself with the features of the face taken in themselves
and with the changes which accompany the alterations of consciousness,
whereas mimicry deals with the voluntary alterations of
expression and gesture which are supposed to externalize internal
conditions. Hence, mimicry interests primarily actors, orators,
and the ordinary comedians of life. Phrenology remains the research
of physicians, anthropologists and psychologists, so that
the science of physiognomy as important in itself is left to us lawyers.
Its value as a discipline is variously set. Generally it is asserted
that much, indeed, fails to be expressed by the face; that what
does show, shows according to no fixed rules; that hence, whatever
may be read in a face is derivable either instinctively by oneself
or not at all. Or, it may be urged, the matter can not be learned.
Such statements, as ways of disposing of things, occur regularly
wherever there is a good deal of work to do; people do not like to
bother with troublesome problems and therefore call them worthless.
But whoever is in earnest and is not averse to a little study
will get much benefit from intensive application to this discipline
in relation to his profession.
The right of physiognomies to the status of an independent science
is to some degree established in the oft-repeated dictum that whatever
is valid in its simplest outline must be capable of extension
and development. No man doubts that there are intelligent faces
and foolish ones, kind ones and cruel ones, and if this assertion is
admitted as it stands it must follow that still other faces may be
distinguished so that it is possible to read a certain number of spiritual
qualities from the face. And inasmuch as nobody can indicate the
point at which this reading of features must cease, the door is opened
to examination, observation and the collection of material. Then,
if one bewares of voluntary mistakes, of exaggeration and unfounded
assertion, if one builds only upon actual and carefully observed
facts, an important and well-grounded discipline must ensue.
The exceptionally acute psychiatrist Meynert
shows[11] how physiognomics
depends on irradiation and parallel images. He shows
what a large amount of material having physiognomical contents
we keep in mind. Completely valueless as are the fixed forms by
which mankind judges the voluntary acts of its individual members,
they point to the universal conclusion that it is proper to infer from
the voluntary acts of a person whose features correspond to those of
another the voluntary acts of the other. One of Hans Virchow's very
detailed physiognomical observations concerning the expression of
interest in the eyes by means of the pupil, has very considerable
physiognomical value. The pupil, he believes, is the gate through
which our glance passes into the inner life of our neighbor; the
psychical is already close at hand with the word "inner." How this
occurs, why rather this and not another muscle is innervated in the
development of a certain process, we do not know, but our ignorance
does not matter, since ultimately a man might split his head thinking
why we do not hear with our eyes and see with our ears. But to some
extent we have made observable progress in this matter. As far
back as 1840 J. Müller[12]
wrote: "The reasons are unknown why
various psychoses make use of different groups of nerves or why
certain facial muscles are related to certain passions."
Gratiolet
[13]
thought it necessary forty years ago to deny that muscles were
developed merely for the purpose of expression. Almost
contemporaneously Piderit knew that expressive muscular movements
refer partly to imaginary objects and partly to imaginary sense impressions.
In this fact lies the key to the meaning of all expressive
muscular movements. Darwin's epoch-making book on the expressions
of the emotions finally established the matter so completely
and firmly, that we may declare ourselves in possession of enough
material for our purpose to make it possible to carry our studies
further. The study of this book of Darwin's I believe absolutely
necessary to each criminalist—for he meets in every direction,
expositions and explanations that are related to cases he has already
experienced in practice or is sure to experience. I present here
only a few of Darwin's most important notes and observations in
order to demonstrate their utility for our purpose.
As subjects for study he recommends children because they
permit forms of expression to appear vigorously and without constraint;
lunatics, because they are subject to strong passions without
control; galvanized persons, in order to facilitate the muscles involved,
and finally, to establish the identity of expression among all
races of men and beasts. Of these objects only children are important
for our purpose. The others either are far removed from our
sphere of activity, or have only theoretic value. I should, however,
like to add to the subjects of observation another, viz., the simple
unstudied persons, peasants and such otherwise unspoiled individuals
whom we may believe innocent of all intention to play a comedy
with us. We can learn much from such people and from children.
And it is to be believed that in studying them we are studying not
a special class but are establishing a generally valid paradigm of
the whole of mankind. Children have the same features as adults
only clearer and simpler. For, suppose we consider any one of
Darwin's dicta,—e. g., that in the expression of anger and indignation
the eyes shine, respiration becomes more rapid and intense,
the nostrils are somewhat raised, the look misses the opponent,—
these so intensely characteristic indices occur equally in the child
and the adult. Neither shows more or fewer, and once we have
defined them in the child we have done it for the adult also. Once
the physiognomy of children and simple people has been studied,
the further study of different kinds of people is no longer difficult;
there is only the intentional and customary masking of expression
to look out for; for the rest, the already acquired principles, mutandis
mutatis, are to be used.
Darwin posits three general principles on which most expressions
and gestures are to be explained. They are briefly:
I. The principle of purposeful associated habits.
II. The principle of contradication.
III. The principle of the direct activity of the nervous system.
With regard to the first. When, in the course of a long series of
generations, any desire, experience, or disinclination, etc., has led
to some voluntary action, then, as often as the same or any analogous
associated experience is undergone, there will arise a tendency to
the realization of a similar action. This action may no longer have
any use but is inherited and generally becomes a mere reflex.
This becomes clearer when one notices how often habit facilitates
very complex action:—the habits of animals; the high steps of
horses; the pointing of pointers; the sucking of calves, etc. It is
difficult for us in falling to make opposite movements to stretching
out the arms, even in bed; we draw on our gloves unconsciously.
Gratiolet says: "Whoever energetically denies some point, etc.,
shuts his eyes; if he assents he nods and opens his eyes wide. Whoever
describes a terrible thing shuts his eyes and shakes his head;
whoever looks closely raises his eye-brows. In the attempt to
think the same thing is done or the eye-brows are contracted—
both make the glance keener. Thence follows the reflex
activity."
With regard to the second. Dogs who are quarrelling with cats assume
the appearance of battle—if they are kindly-minded they
do the opposite, although this serves no purpose. M.
Taylor[14] says,
that the gesture language of the Cistercians depends considerably on
antithesis; e. g., shrugging the shoulders is the opposite of firmness,
immovability.
With regard to the direct activity of the nervous system, examples
are paling, trembling (fear, terror, pain, cold, fever, horror,
joy), palpitation of the heart, blushing, perspiring, exertion of
strength, tears, pulling the hair, urinating, etc. With these subdivisions
it will be possible to find some thoroughfare and to classify
every phenomenon.
We want to discuss a few more particulars in the light of Darwin's
examples. He warns us, first of all, against
seeing
[15] certain muscle
movements as the result of emotional excitement, because they were
looked for. There are countless habits, especially among the movements
of the features, which happen accidentally or as the result
of some passing pain and which have no significance. Such movements
are often of the greatest clearness, and do not permit the
unexperienced observer to doubt that they have important meanings,
although they have no relation whatever to any emotional condition.
Even if it is agreed only to depend on changes of the whole face;
already established as having a definite meaning, there is still danger
of making mistakes, because well accredited facial conditions may
occur in another way (as matters of habit, nervous disturbances,
wounds, etc.). Hence in this matter, too, care and attention are
required; for if we make use of any one of the Darwinian norms, as,
for example, that the eyes are closed when we do not want to see a
thing or when we dislike it, we still must grant that there are people
to whom it has become habitual to close their eyes under other and
even opposed conditions.
We must grant that, with the exception of such cases, the phenomena
are significant during examinations, as when we show the
accused a very effective piece of evidence, (e. g.: a comparison of
hand-writings which is evidential,) and he closes his eyes. The
act is then characteristic and of importance, particularly when
his words are intended to contest the meaning of the object in question.
The contradiction between the movement of his eyes and
his words is then suggestive enough. The same occurs when the
accused is shown the various possibilities that lie before him—the
movement of the examination, the correlations and consequences.
If he finds them dangerous, he closes his eyes. So with witnesses
also; when one of them, e. g., deposes to more, and more harmfully,
than according to our own notion he can explain, he will close his
eyes, though perhaps for an instant only, if the inevitable consequences
of his deposition are expounded to him. If he closes his eyes
he has probably said too much, and the proper moment must not
be missed to appeal to his conscience and to prevent more exaggerated
and irresponsible assertions.
This form of closing the eyes is not to be confused with the
performances of persons who want to understand the importance of
their depositions and to collect their senses, or who desire to review
the story mentally and consider its certainty. These two forms of
closing the eyes are different: the first, which wants to shut out the
consequences of testimony, is much shorter; the latter longer,
because it requires a good deal of time to collect one's senses and
to consider a problem. The first, moreover, is accompanied by
a perceivable expression of fear, while the latter is manifest only by
its duration; what is most important is a characteristic contemporary
and perceivable defensive movement of the hand, and this
occurs only in the cases where the desire is to exclude. This movement
occurs even among very phlegmatic persons, and hence is
comparatively reliable; it is not made by people who want
undisturbedly to study a question and to that end shut their
eyes.
In a similar way there is significance in the sudden closing of the
mouth by either the accused or the witness. Resolution and the
shutting of the mouth are inseparable; it is as impossible to imagine
a vacillating, doubting person with lips closely pressed together,
as a firm and resolute person with open mouth. The reason implies
Darwin's first law: that of purposeful associated habits. When a
man firmly resolves upon some deed the resolution begins immediately
to express itself in movements which are closely dependent upon
bodily actions. Even when I suddenly resolve to face some
correctly-supposed disagreeable matter, or to think about some joyless thing,
a bodily movement, and indeed quite an energetic one, will ensue
upon the resolution—I may push my chair back, raise my elbows,
perhaps put my head quickly between my hands, push the chair
back again, and then begin to look or to think. Such actions, however,
require comparatively little bodily exertion; much more follows
on different types of resolutions—in short, a firm resolution requires
a series of movements immediately to follow its being made. And
if we are to move the muscles must be contracted. And it is, of
course, obvious that only those muscles can be set in action which
are, according to the immediate situation of the body, free to move.
If we are sitting down, for example, we can not easily make our feet
conform to the movement of a march forward; nor can we do much
with the thighs, hence the only muscles we can use are those of the
face and of the upper limbs. So then, the mouth is closed because
its muscles are contracted, and with equal significance the arms are
thrust outward sharply, the fist clenched, and the fore-arm bent.
Anybody may try the experiment for himself by going through the
actions enumerated and seeing whether he does not become filled
with a sense of resolution. It is to be especially observed, as has
already been indicated, that not only are mental states succeeded by
external movements, but imitated external movements of any
kind awaken, or at least plainly suggest, their correlated mental
states.
If, then, we observe in any person before us the signs of resolution
we may certainly suppose that they indicate a turn in what
he has said and what he is going to say. If they be observed in the
accused, then he has certainly resolved to pass from denial to confession,
or to stick to his denial, or to confess or keep back the names
of his accomplices, the rendezvous, etc. Inasmuch as in action
there is no other alternative than saying or not saying so, it
might be supposed that there is nothing important in the foregoing
statement; the point of importance lies, however, in the fact that
a definite resolution has been reached of which
the court is aware
and from which a departure will hardly be made. Therefore, what
follows upon the resolution so betrayed, we cannot properly perceive;
we know only that it in all likelihood consists of what succeeds
it, i. e. the accused either confesses to something, or has resolved
to say nothing. And that observation saves us additional
labor, for he will not easily depart from his resolution.
The case is analogous with regard to the witness who tells no
truth or only a part of the truth. He reveals the marks of resolution
upon deciding finally to tell the truth or to persist in his lying,
and so, whatever he does after the marks of resolution are noted,
we are saved unnecessary effort to make the man speak one way or
another.
It is particularly interesting to watch for such expressions of
resolution in jurymen, especially when the decision of guilt or innocence
is as difficult as it is full of serious consequences. This happens
not rarely and means that the juryman observed is clear in his
own mind as to how he is going to vote. Whatever testimony may
succeed this resolution is then indifferent. The resolved juryman
is so much the less to be converted, as he usually either pays no
more attention to the subsequent testimony, or hears it in such
prejudiced fashion that he sees everything in his own way. In
this case, however, it is not difficult to tell what the person in
question has decided upon. If the action we now know follows a very
damaging piece of testimony, the defendant is condemned thereby;
if it follows excusive testimony he is declared innocent. Anybody
who studies the matter may observe that these manifestations are
made by a very large number of jurymen with sufficient clearness
to make it possible to count the votes and predict the verdict. I
remember vividly in this regard a case that occurred many years
ago. Three men, a peasant and his two sons, were accused of having
killed an imbecile who was supposed to have boarded in their house.
The jury unanimously declared them guiltless, really because of
failure, in spite of much effort, to find the body of the victim. Later
a new witness appeared, the case was taken up again, and about a
year after the first trial, a second took place. The trial consumed
a good many days, in which the three defendants received a flood of
anonymous letters which called attention mostly to the fact that
there was in such and such a place an unknown imbecile woman
who might be identical with the ostensible murdered person. For
that reason the defendant appealed for a postponement of the trial
or immediate liberation. The prosecutor of the time fought the
appeal but held that so far as the case went (and it was pretty bad
for the prosecution), the action taken with regard to the appeal was
indifferent. "The mills of the gods grind slowly," he concluded
in his oration; "a year from now I shall appear before the jury."
The expression of this rock-bound conviction that the defendants
were guilty, on the part of a man who, because of his great talent,
had tremendous influence on juries, caused an astounding impression.
The instant he said it one could see in most of the jurymen
clearest signs of absolute resolution and the defendants were condemned
from that moment.
Correlated with the signs of resolution are those of astonishment.
"The hands are raised in the air," says Darwin, "and the palm is
laid on the mouth." In addition the eyebrows are regularly raised,
and people of not too great refinement beat their foreheads and
in many cases there occurs a slight, winding movement of the trunk,
generally toward the left. The reason is not difficult to find. We
are astonished when we learn something which causes an inevitable
change in the familiar course of events. When this occurs the hearer
finds it necessary, if events are simple, properly to get hold of it.
When I hear that a new Niebelungen manuscript has been discovered,
or a cure for leprosy, or that the South Pole has been
reached, I am astonished, but immediate conception on my part
is altogether superfluous. But that ancient time in which our
habitual movements came into being, and which has endured longer,
incomparably longer than our present civilization, knew nothing
whatever of these interests of the modern civilized human being.
What astonished people in those days were simple, external, and
absolutely direct novelties: that a flood was coming, that game was
near the camp, that inimical tribes had been observed, etc.—in
short, events that required immediate action. From this fact
spring our significant movements which must hence be perceivably
related to the beginning of some necessary action. We raise our
hands when we want to jump up; we elevate our eyebrows when we
look up, to see further into the distance; we slap our foreheads in
order to stimulate the muscles of our legs, dormant because of long
sitting; we lay the palms of our hands on our mouths and turn the
trunk because we discover in the course of life rather more disagreeable
than pleasant things and hence we try to keep them out and
to turn away from them. And astonishment is expressed by any
and all of these contradictory movements.
In law these stigmata are significant when the person under
examination ought to be astonished at what is told him but for one
reason or another does not want to show his astonishment. This
he may hide in words, but at least one significant gesture will
betray him and therefore be of considerable importance in the
case. So, suppose that we present some piece of evidence from
which we expect great results; if they do not come we may perhaps
have to take quite another view of the whole case. It is hence
important not to be fooled about the effect, and that can be
accomplished only through the observation of the witnesses' gestures,
these being much more rarely deceptive than words.
Scorn manifests itself in certain nasal and oral movements. The
nose is contracted and shows creases. In addition you may count
the so-called sniffing, spitting, blowing as if to drive something
away; folding the arms, and raising the shoulders. The action
seems to be related to the fact that among savage people, at least,
the representation of a worthless, low and despicable person is
brought into relation with the spread of a nasty odor: the Hindoo
still says of a man he scorns, "He is malodorous." That our ancestors
thought similarly, the movement of the nose, especially raising
it and blowing and sniffing, makes evident. In addition there is the
raising of the shoulders as if one wanted to carry the whole body
out of a disgusting atmosphere—the conduct, here, is briefly
the conduct of the proud. If something of the sort is observable
in the behavior of a witness it will, as a rule, imply something good
about him: the accused denies thereby his identity with the criminal,
or he has no other way of indicating the testimony of some damaging
witness as slander, or he marks the whole body of testimony, with
this gesture, as a web of lies.
The case is similar when a witness so conducts himself and expresses
scorn. He will do the latter when the defendant or a false
witness for the defense accuses him of slander, when indelicate motives
are ascribed to him, or earlier complicity with the criminal, etc.
The situations which give a man opportunity to show that he despises
anybody are generally such as are to the advantage of the scorner.
They are important legally because they not only show the scorner
in a good light but also indicate that the scorn must be studied
more closely. It is, of course, naturally true that scorn is to a great
degree simulated, and for that reason the gestures in question must
be attentively observed. Real scorn is to be distinguished from
artificial scorn almost always by the fact that the latter is attended
by unnecessary smiling. It is popularly and correctly held that
the smile is the weapon of the silent. That kind of smile appears,
however, only as defense against the less serious accusations, or
perhaps even more serious ones, but obviously never when evil
consequences attendant on serious accusations are involved. If
indubitable evil is in question, no really innocent person smiles,
for he scorns the person he knows to be lying and manifests other
gestures than the smile. Even the most confused individual who
is trying to conceal his stupidity behind a flat sort of laughter gives
this up when he is so slandered that he is compelled to scorn the
liar; only the simulator continues to smile. If, however, anybody
has practiced the manifestation of scorn he knows that he is not
to smile, but then his pose becomes theatrical and betrays itself
through its exaggeration.
Not far from scorn are defiance and spite. They are characterized
by baring the canine teeth and drawing together the face in a frown
when turning toward the person upon whom the defiance or spite is
directed. I believe that this image has got to be variously filled
out by the additional fact that the mouth is closed and the breath
several times forced sharply through the nostrils. This arises from
the combination of resolution and scorn, these being the probable
sources of defiance and spite. As was explained in the discussion
of resolution, the mouth is bound to close; spite and defiance are
not thinkable with open mouth. Scorn, moreover, demands, as we
have shown, this blowing, and if the blowing is to be done while
the mouth is closed it must be done through the nose.
Derision and depreciation show the same expressions as defiance
and spite, but in a lesser degree. They all give the penologist a
good deal to do, and those defendants who show defiance and spite
are not unjustly counted as the most difficult we have to deal with.
They require, above all, conscientious care and patience, just indeed
because not rarely there are innocents among them. This is
especially so when a person many times punished is accused another
time, perhaps principally because of his record. Then the bitterest
defiance and almost childish spite takes possession of him against
"persecuting" mankind, particularly if, for the nonce, he is innocent.
Such persons turn their spite upon the judge as the representative
of this injustice and believe they are doing their best by conducting
themselves in an insulting manner and speaking only a few
defiant words with the grimmest spite. Under such circumstances
it is not surprising that the inexperienced judge considers these
expressions as the consequences of a guilty conscience, and that the
spiteful person may blame himself for the results of his defiant
conduct. He therefore pays no more attention to the unfortunate.
How this situation may lead to an unjust sentence is obvious.
But whether the person in question is guilty or not guilty, it is the
undeniable duty of the judge to make especial efforts with such
persons, for defiance and spite are in most cases the result of
embitterment, and this again comes from the disgusting treatment
received at the hands of one's fellows. And it is the judge's duty
at least not to increase this guilt if he can not wipe it away. The
only, and apparently the simplest, way of dealing with such people
is the patient and earnest discussion of the case, the demonstration
that the judge is ready carefully to study all damaging facts, and
even a tendency to refer to evidence of innocence in hand, and a
not over-energetic discussion of the man's possible guilt. In most
cases this will not be useful at the beginning. The man must have
time to think the thing over, to conceive in the lonely night that it
is not altogether the world's plan to ruin him. Then when he begins
to recognize that he will only hurt himself by his spiteful silence
if he is again and again examined he will finally be amenable. Once
the ice is broken, even those accused who at the beginning showed
only spite and defiance, show themselves the most tractable and
honest. The thing needful above all is patience.
Real rage, unfortunately, is frequent. The body is carried erect
or thrown forward, the limbs become stiff, mouth and teeth closely
press together, the voice becomes very loud or dies away or grows
hoarse, the forehead is wrinkled and the pupil of the eye contracted;
in addition one should count the change of color, the flush or deep
pallor. An opportunity to simulate real rage is rare, and anyway
the characteristics are so significant that a mistake in recognition
can hardly be made. Darwin says that the conviction of one's own
guilt is from time to time expressed through a sparkling of the eyes,
and through an undefinable affectation. The last is well known
to every penologist and explicable in general psychological terms.
Whoever knows himself to be guiltless behaves according to his
condition, naturally and without constraint: hence the notion that
naïve people are such as represent matters as they are. They do
not find anything suspicious in them because they do not know
about suspicious matters. But persons who know themselves guilty
and try not to show it, must attain their end through artifice and
imitation, and when this is not well done the affectation is
obvious.
There is also something in the guilty sparkle of the eye. The
sparkle in the eyes of beauty, the glance of joy, of enthusiasm, of
rapture, is not so poetical as it seems, inasmuch as it is no more
than intensified secretion of tears. The latter gets its increase
through nervous excitation, so that the guilty sparkle should also
be of the same nature. This may be considered as in some degree
a flow of tears in its first stages.
An important gesture is that of resignation, which expresses
itself especially as folding the hands in one's lap. This is one of
the most obvious gestures, for "folding the hands in the lap" is
proverbial and means there is no more to be done. The gesture
signifies, therefore, "I'm not going to do any more, I can't, I won't."
Hence it must be granted that the condition of resignation and its
gesture can have no significance for our own important problem,
the problem of guilt, inasmuch as the innocent as well as the guilty
may become resigned, or may reach the limit at which he permits
everything to pass without his interference. In the essence and
expression of resignation there is the abandonment of everything
or of some particular thing, and in court, what is abandoned is the
hope to show innocence, and as the latter may be real as well as
merely pleaded, this gesture is a definite sign in certain cases. It
is to be noted among the relations and friends of a defendant who,
having done everything to save him, recognize that the evidence
of guilt is irrefutable. It is again to be noticed among courageous
lawyers who, having exerted all their art to save their clients, perceive
the failure of their efforts. And finally, the defendants show it, who
have clearly recognized the danger of their case. I believe that it is
not an empirical accident that the gesture of resignation is made
regularly by innocent persons. The guilty man who finds himself
caught catches at his head perhaps, looks toward heaven gritting
his teeth, rages against himself, or sinks into a dull apathy, but
the essential in resignation and all its accompanying movements
is foreign to him. Only that conforms to the idea of resignation
which indicates a surrender, the cession of some value that one
has a claim on—if a man has no claim to any given thing he can
not resign it. In the same way, a person without right to guiltlessness
and recognition, will instinctively not surrender it with
the emotion of resignation, but at most with despair or anger or
rage. And it is for this reason that the guilty do not exhibit gestures
of resignation.
The contraction of the brow occurs in other cases besides those
mentioned. Before all it occurs when anything is dealt with intensively,
increasing with the increase of the difficulty of the subject.
The aboriginal source of this gesture lies in the fact that
intensive activities involve the need of acuter vision, and this is
in some degree acquired by the contraction of the skin of the forehead
above the eyebrows; for vision is clarified in this way. Intensive
consideration on the part of a defendant or a witness, and
the establishment of its reality or simulation, are significant in
determining whether he himself believes the truth of what is about
to be explained. Let us suppose that the issue involves proving an
alibi on a certain definite, rather remote day, and the defendant
is required to think over his whereabouts on that day. If he is in
earnest with regard to the establishment of his alibi, i. e. if he really
was not there and did not do the thing, it will be important for
him to remember the day in question and to be able to name the
witnesses of his whereabouts then. Hence he will think intensively.
But if he has claimed an alibi dishonestly, as is frequent with criminals,
in order to make people conclude that nobody has the right
to demand where and for how long a time he was on such and such
a day, then there is no need of thinking closely about something
that has not happened. He exhibits in such cases a kind of thoughtfulness,
which is not, however, earnest and profound: and these
two adjectives describe real consideration. The
same observations
are to be made in regard to dishonest witnesses who, when pressed
to think hard, only simulate doing so. One is compelled at the very
least to look closely after the witness who simply imitates intensive
thinking without showing the signs proper to it. The suspicion of
false testimony is then justifiable.
A rather different matter is that blank expression of the eyes
which only shows that its possessor is completely lost in his thoughts
—this has nothing to do with sharp recollection and demands above
all things being let alone or the belief of being so. In this case no
distinguishing gestures are made, though the forehead, mouth or
chin may be handled, only, however, when embarrassment occurs—
i. e. when the man observes that he is being watched, or when he
discovers that he has forgotten the presence of other people. It is
supposed that this does not occur in court, but it does happen not
infrequently when, for example, the judge, after some long discussion
with the accused, is about to dictate what has been said. If
this takes rather a long time, it may chance that the witness is no
longer listening but is staring vacantly into the distance. He is
then reviewing his whole life or the development and consequences
of his deed. He is absorbed in a so-called intuitive thought, in the
reproduction of events. Intensive consideration requires the combination
of particulars and the making of inferences; hence the form
of thinking we have just been speaking of is merely spiritual sightseeing.
It is when this takes place that confessions are most easy
to get, if only the judge keeps his eyes properly open.
That contraction of the brow signifies a condition of disgust is
well known, but there is yet, as I believe, a still other use of this
contraction—i. e. its combination with a smile, indicating disbelief.
How this union occurred seems comparatively undiscoverable—
perhaps it results from the combination of the smile of
denial with the frown of sharp observation. But the gesture is,
in any event, reliable, and may not easily stand for anything but
disbelief and doubt. Hence it is always a mistake to believe that
anybody who makes that expression believes what he has heard.
If you test it experimentally you will find that when you make it
you say involuntarily to yourself: "Well now, that can't be true,"
or "Look here, that's a whopper!" or something like that. The
expression occurs most frequently in confronting witnesses with
defendants and especially witnesses with each other.
The close relation of the contraction of the brow with its early
stage, a slight elevation of the eyebrows, is manifest in the fact that
it occurs under embarrassment—not very regularly but almost
always upon the perception of something foreign and inexplicable,
or upon getting twisted in one's talk; in fact, upon all such conditions
which require greater physical and psychical clearness of vision,
and hence the shutting out of superfluous light. The expression
may be important on the face of a defendant who asserts,—e. g.—
that he does not understand an argument intended to prove his
guilt. If he is guilty he obviously knows what happened in the
commission of the crime and thereby the argument which reproduces
it, and even if he assures the court a hundred times that he does
not understand it, he is either trying to show himself innocent or
wants to gain time for his answer. If he is innocent it may be that
he really does not understand the argument because he is unaware
of the actual situation. Hence he will frown and listen attentively
at the very beginning of the argument. The guilty person perhaps
also aims to appear enormously attentive, but he does not contract
his brow, because he does not need to sharpen his glance; he knows
the facts accurately enough without it. It is important for the
penologist to know whether a man has in the course of his life undergone
much anxiety and trouble, or whether he has lived through it
carelessly. Concerning these matters Darwin points out that when
the inner ends of the eyebrows are raised certain muscles have to
be contracted (i. e. the circular ones which contract the eyebrows
and the pyramidal muscle of the nose, which serve both to pull
down and contract the eyelids). The contraction is accomplished
through the vigorous drawing together of the central bundle of
muscles at the brow. These muscles, by contracting, raise the inner
ends of the brow, and since the muscles which contract the eyebrows
bring them together at the same time, their inner ends are folded
in great lumpy creases. In this way short oblique, and short
perpendicular furrows are made. Now this, few people can do without
practice; many can never perform it voluntarily, and it is more
frequent among women and children than among men. It is important
to note that it is always a sign of spiritual pain, not physical.
And curiously enough it is as a rule related with drawing down the
corners of the mouth.
Further to study the movements of the features will require an
examination into the reasons for the action of these, and not other
muscles, as accompaniments of the psychical states. Piderit holds
it is due to the fact that the motor nerves which supply these muscles
rise right next to the purely psychical centers and hence these muscles
are the supports of the organs of sense. The latter is no doubt
correct, but the first statement is rather doubtful. In any event
it is evident that the features contain an exceptionally large number
of fine muscles with especially rich motor capacity, and hence move
together and in accordance with the psychical conditions. It may
be that the other muscles of the body have also a share in this but
that we fail to perceive the fact. Such movements, however, have
not been essential.
We may take it as a general rule that all joyous and uplifting emotions
(even astonishment) are succeeded by the raising of the skin
of the forehead, the nostrils, the eyes, the eyelids, while sad
and oppressing emotions have the contrary effect. This simple
and easy rule renders immediately intelligible many an otherwise
obscure expression which we find important but concerning the
meaning of which we are in doubt. The development of a movement
in any face goes, according to
Harless,[16] in this fashion: "The
superior motor nerve is the oculomotorius. The stimulation reaches
this one first—the mildest alteration of emotion betrays itself
most rapidly in the look, the movement and condition of the pupil
of the eye. If the impulse is stronger it strikes the roots of the
motor end of the trigeminus and the movement of the muscles of
mastication occur; then the intensified affection spreads through
the other features." Nobody will, of course, assert that even a
completely developed physiognomical science will help us over
all our difficulties, but with a little attention it can help us to a
considerable degree. This help we do need, as La Rochefoucauld
points out, with even contemporary correctness, "It is easier to
know men than to know a particular man."
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