St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-06-04
WHY PEOPLE BLUSH.
Fear Is the TrEe Cause, and Old
People rarely Blush.

People Rnrely Blush.
Why do people blush? Certain EN- o.
tons cause a kind of syncope; the heart
stops Tor an instant. and. regaining.
strength immediately. it acts in a
stronger manner and sends the blood
racing into the arteries. So much toIs
the physiological portion of the question; ;
but we wish to know what causes these
emotions. =
Darwin explained this by saying that,
when we perceive or fancy that we are.
being criticised or closely observed our
whole attention is fOrcibly directed to-
ourselves, and is especially concentrated,
upon our countenance. When a par
ticular part OF the body becomes the OBJ
lect OF such concentrated attention its
working is greatly modified; we see a.
good example OF this in the immediate
effect produced upon the saliva by
thinking OF lemon. Our face reddenS
on the same principle; the veins relax
and are filled with arterlal blood.
The explanation is not quite SatiSfac-
tory, ana other theories have been put
forward with more Or less success. The
latest is that Of NJ. Melinard, which is
at least original. We blush through
modesty, tlmidity, bashfulness and con-
fuSiGn. Praise makes us blnSh-that is
modesty. Now, what takes place within
US? Something very simple; this praise
pleaSeS us, but we do not wish that fact
to be perceived. Take a case of timid-
ity. A school boy is asked question
which he cannot answer; he wishes to
hide his ignorance, which mpy expose
him to punishment or to the gibeS of his
fellow scholars; he turns red.
1t is the same with confusion; we
have done something which we wish to
hide, and we are afraid that it VIII be-
come known; in short. the moral stare
Is identical III all cases; we redden be-
cause we feel that people are finding
out something which we wish to hide.
NJ. Melinard endeavors to demonstrate
the correctness Of his theory by showing
that when the fear of being ''un-
masked" is removed there is no blush
ing. In the case of lovers. we find at
hrSt that they blush when they meet
because they are DESTROYS to hide their
sentiments; afterwards, there is no
sign OF blush-hecause each knows
that the other is aware of his or her
sentiments, and is no longer afraid of
their being known.
A child does not blush; that is be-
cause lie has no idea of hiding anything.
As soon as he becomes old enough to
uHOCi otttllu Lildt III may DC 10 HIS INFER.
est not to tell all that lie has done or all
That passes i'll mis- mind he begins to
redden. 1t is the same with idiots; the
fear OF being unmasked does not exist,
and there is no blushing.
Fear. then, is the cause of this change
OF countenance, according to NJ. Melin-
ard. We are more likely to turn red in
front OF number OF people than when
we are face to face with one or two only;
Old people blush very seldom. because
they are not troubled with the fear that
other people will find them out. This
Is novel theory, with some good
points, but there are several objections
to it. 1t is fact that we blush invol-
UNFAIRLY, we blush when we have noth-l
Ing at all to hide in the presence Of
other people concerning whom we are!
quite Indifferent.
Girls and boys will sometimes
turn red when some one in
quires about the health OF their father.
mother or little brother. That old
people do not blush much Is owing not
to the fact that they have nothing TO-
hide, but because they know better how
to diSSimulate.
According to nj. Melinard's theory.
all old people must be paragons of viz
tue and all young ones just the opposite,
which we beg leave TO doubt. Never,
theless, there is some truth In this new
theory. and study of this in connee-
ton with the Darwinian theory men,
toned above will lead to some positive
explanation of the psychology of blush
ing