The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1891-04-16
THE FACE AS AN INDEX.
Influence Of the Emotions on It's
Appearance.
i!rtve Men Sometimes Turn Pale in the
face of Danger as Well as Cowards
Views OF Learned Individuals
on the Subject.

.''N popular fallacies that unthinking
..c pie cling to with all the tenacity of
:Gorance. BY many persons the man
who ra!es and trembles under great eX-
element is called white-livered-what-
ever that may mean--and is looked
upon as a coward. In fact, there are
but few people who do not hold that ex-
cessive pallor is one of the distinguish
ing marIs of a mean, dastardly spirit.
An egregious error this, and one that
should have been dispelled along with
the belief in witches, the divine right of
kings and similar popular monstrosities.
Wen grounded in this belief, q reporter
of the San Francisco Chronicle set out
to secure data on the subject from re-
liable sources.
do the brave turn pale?"
''Of course they do" said DR.. j. F.
Gibbon, of that city, to whom the in
Guiry was propounded, land red, too,
for that matter"
1T is not, then, only the towards who
turn pale and trcmble in the face of
danger?"
by no means" said the doctor; II
have seen the bravest men get as white
as death when laboring under intense
excitement. | have seen men pale and
trcmble under the excitement caused by
intense pain, and they were men, too,
who showed their braveness by refus-
ing to be put under the influence of an
an9sthetic, and who did not utter n
single cry when the knife was int'icting
the most cXcruciating tortures. Under
the same circumstances l have seen
ether men turn red, the blood seeming
to burst through their skin. The
truth is that the various eX-
pressions of emotions shown by
men can not be made guide
as to his inner thoughts and feel
ings. The only things these express
.ions do show is that the individual is
undergoing intense excitement, but
whether of fear, ange.' valor or pleas
ure, can only be determined by the indi-
viiuals actions"
Dr. $. B. Clevenger, the famous writer
- nervous diseases, in recent publica-
T says: :.
Tie matter of blushing or paling is
wholly beyond the control of the indi-
Tdual, and differs with the individual.
The condition of the heart has much to
do with these manifestations, ns has the
irritability of the brain. Rage, fright
pleasure or pain, or excessive emotion OF
any kind, often produces pallor in per
SONS healthy or unhealthy. Again, these
same emotions, or any one of them
may he hnbitually displayed by great
rcdness or flushing of the face. Or, n.
II to make matters still more complex
person may pale at one time and blush
at another from identically the samt
cause. So extreme in some persons are
these exhibitions of their emotions as t
be positive sources of misery. Bu
neither the blushing nor the paling, a
q rule, has any thing to do with the brav
cry or cowardice of the individual. Dur
ing the war remember the remarkable
effect Of q cannon ball passing within
an inch of my Colonels head while hi
was on horseback in the field. Iii
whole head and neck became as rcd a
a boiled lobster As broad rule |
might he said that pallor is more apt t.
accompany intense emotion and blush
in. the milder emotion, but there cal
-, 10 cast-iron rule in the matter. AS
ruic | have observed that men goin
l.to action for the first time usual
oNhihit great pailor. On the othe
hand, though, | have seen coward
shrink away from the fields in morta
terror with faces red as beets or with
,,.t exhibiting any signs of emotio
whatever As the soldier sees NOR
,cryice and becomes more used to tn
DANGER. the bloodshed and carnage c
the battlefield these scenes arouse i
I4.m less intense emotions"
Herbert Spencer, in his principles c
Psychology sums up these emotionf
expressions a.s the "undirected overtlo'
Di nerve force
Syhije it is thus seen that psycholot
lists and physiognomists and men of sc
attic research are agreed that the e!
,rcssions of emotions do not NANTES
themselves the same way in the SAN
,.diviapalS the question as to the origi
4 these forms of expressions and the
various causes has not been SO detinitel
.ctt!ed or SO clearly defines In the di
,n..s..5D OF this subject Charles Darwi
fac great cvolutionist gives some vel
Interesting data. In his Expression
.f lmotions in Man and Animals"
;lys:
The most striking case, though
rare and abnormal one, which can
Auced of the direct influence OF Il
~yous system when strongly atfecte
"a the body, is the loss of color in Il
~. which has occasionally been o
ycd after extreme terror or grie
D3.e authentic case has been recorded
e case of man brought out for eS
,.a,ou. in which the change of color
fNc nair was so rapid as to be pcrcep
~ % the eye,
Another good case is that OF t
<,yribl.nm of the muscles.
emotions fear notoriously is the me
t, to produce trembling, but so
..,en Elp.. joy and anger. rememt
tr1c seeing ii boy who had shot his III
go nn the wing. and his hands tire
led 10 such a degree from delight IL
la eould not for some time reload
tun."
A Foul Sea.
Sounding in the Black sea shows Il
Beyond depth of six hundred feot
water is so impregnated with sulph