Page images
PDF
EPUB
[graphic][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

THE

ECLECTIC MAGAZINE

OF

FOREIGN LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART.

JULY, 1844.

[blocks in formation]

dith, standing by his bed, said in her heart, O Lord God of all power, look at this present upon the works of my hands for the exaltation of Jerusalem. For now is the time to help thine inheritance, and to execute mine enterprises to the destruction of the enemies which are risen up against us.

"Then she came to the pillar of the bed which was at Holofernes's head, and took down his falchion from thence, and approached to his bed, and took hold of the hair of his head, and said, Strengthen me, O Lord God of Israel, this day. And she smote twice upon his neck with all her might, and she took away his head from him."

SIR CHARLES BELL'S ESSAYS ON EX- higher branches of the subject, that they

PRESSION.

From the British and Foreign Review.

The Anatomy and Philosophy of Expression, as connected with the Fine Arts. By the late Sir CHARLES BELL. Third edition, enlarged. London: Murray, 1844.

must be considered as a new work. They formed, indeed, the earliest and latest object of their lamented author's tasteful solicitude. They were originally composed, chiefly perhaps with reference to the very striking designs of his own ingenious pencil, before the serious pursuits of life began, and before his subsequent experience and reflection had THESE Essays have long been prized by given him the key to those phenomena those who are so fortunate as to possess which in art he illustrated, and explained in even the former editions of them, as one of science. The first edition of the work apthe most valuable contributions of English peared nearly forty years ago, in 1806, when literature to the arts, and one of the most Sir Charles Bell left Edinburgh to fix his pleasing volumes of an English library. We professional residence in London. During gladly therefore announce their re-appear- the most active years of a life which was ance in an entirely new form, re-written, unceasingly devoted to the arduous duties rather than revised, and with such copious of the medical profession, and to the proadditions, especially with reference to the motion of the highest branches of medical JULY, 1844.

19

science, the revisal and illustration of this knowledge and to perfect the truth of art; volume was his habitual recreation. In whilst either gift was used alike to simplify 1824 a second edition was produced, with our understanding of the works of the Creconsiderable additions; but from that time ator, and to raise our conceptions of natural Sir Charles Bell resisted the demand of the beauty. public for a farther issue of this book, until It has sometimes been asserted that the he should have had an opportunity of veri- pursuits and practices of the medical profying his principles of criticism in art, by fession tend to deaden sensibility, and to the study of the greatest works of the Italian bring the loftiest and noblest powers of the masters. With this especial object, he vis-human mind into too close a subjection to ited the continent in 1840; a brief but ex- the conclusions of material science. The tensive excursion enabled him to refresh philosophy of Broussais and the heartlessand to corroborate those impressions and ness of Roux or Dupuytren, may have givconvictions which had been the delight and en a color to such imputations; but a host the study of his life; and upon his return of names crowd upon the memory from the he recomposed the whole work for a third records of all nations, and from none more edition. Materials were collected in abun- than our own, to repel the charge. The dance, and for the most part they had been proper function of medical science in its already adapted to the purposes and subjects highest sense, is not to degrade the spirituof these Essays. The text had already been al inmate of the human frame to the level prepared for the press; and the care of the of the machinery so admirably adapted to editor appears to have surmounted most of his service, but rather to pursue through the the disadvantages inseparable from post- intricacies of contrivance the purposes of humous publication. Some of the more fu- life, to acknowledge the energy of being in gitive notes from the author's journals have those functions to which it imparts activity, been subjoined, which record with the rap- and to trace in the mysterious sympathies id grace of an artist's pencil the vivid plea- and expressions of the body the higher laws sures of an Italian journey to a man endow- of that vital power which the body obeys. ed with so simple a love of nature, and so To such objects as these no man ever ascultivated a comprehension of art. These pired more constantly, and we will add, remarks bear with singular originality and more devoutly, than Sir Charles Bell. His acuteness on the style and the works of the sensibility was of the most delicate kind; great masters and if they sometimes wear and his mind seemed to turn with predilecthe shape of a sudden conception, rather tion from the distressing studies of patholothan of mature thought, they are not the gy to the observation of the phenomena of less characteristic of that ingenuity and en- health. It is related of him, that in the thusiasm which Sir Charles Bell carried as course of his great discoveries in the nervfar in the practice of the fine arts as in the ous system, which it was absolutely neces more profound researches of science. It sary to carry on upon a living animal, he deserves, indeed, to be recorded that his was arrested on the very verge of demonearly studies on the subject of expression stration by a degree of compassion for an in painting, and his observation of the ass, which he could not surmount; and he effects of passion and emotion on the face declared that he had rather abandon the disand frame of man, first engaged this emi- covery on which his fame was to rest, than nent surgeon in those investigations of the put that animal to torture. An abler hand, nature of the nerves and of their influence however, in a contemporary journal, has on the muscles, which led to his important traced the course of his professional life and discoveries in the nervous system; still, as his scientific discoveries, and we are most he advanced in the demonstration of those happy to perceive that the services rendertruths which he detected in the animal ed by Sir Charles Bell to the course of scieconomy, he derived from his more extend-ence have since been acknowledged by a ed knowledge of the physiology of man, a pension to his widow, out of that most inadmore complete theory of art and a more solid equate fund which the parsimony of Parlia foundation for those principles of criticism, ment has placed at the disposal of the Crown, which no one had before applied with equal for the reward, or rather the bare recogniprecision to the productions of the great tion, of the most important benefits which artists. Thus he tended, by a noble sym- can be rendered to the nation and to hupathy between his habitual and favorite manity. The appearance of the volume bepursuits, at once to increase the sphere of fore us suggests a different view of the pur

suits of its distinguished author, and to that we shall exclusively confine ourselves.

pulsive associations of medical literature, and with all the charm they derive from a graceful pencil and an original pen.

The following extract contains the fundamental principle on which these speculations rest :

"We have learned enough to know that the impressions communicated by the external organs of sense belong really to the mind; and there can be no doubt that there is a muon each other. This is not asserted on the

the organs of the breast are to the development of our affections; and that without them we might see, hear and smell, but we should walk the earth coldly indifferent to all emotions which may be said in an especial manner to animate us, and give interest and grace to human thoughts and actions.

*

*

*

"The heart has an appropriate sensibility, by which it is held united in the closest connection and sympathy with the other vital organs; so that it participates in all the changes of the general system of the body.

Sir Charles Bell presents, we believe, a solitary instance of an extraordinary proficiency in medical science, amounting even to the genius of discovery, combined with a cultivated and profound acquaintance with the principles and practice of art. If, on the one hand, his name has been placed by a high authority in medical criticism by the side of that of Harvey, and if his investiga-tual influence exercised by the mind and frame tions of the nervous system are the greatest additions to animal physiology which have mere grounds that each affection which is been made since the discovery of the circu- deeply felt, is accompanied by a disturbance in our breast; nor on the language of mankind, lation of the blood; on the other hand, we which gives universal assent to this proposiventure to affirm that, as a manual to the tion; but it may be proved by circumstances young artist, or as a canon of sound criti-of expression, in which we cannot be deceived. cism to the general reader, these Essays de- I shall make it manifest that what the eye, the serve to find a place by the side of the Dis-ear, or the finger, is to the mind, as exciting courses of Sir Joshua Reynolds. It does those ideas which have been appointed to cornot, indeed, necessarily follow that a know-respond with the qualities of the material world, ledge of anatomy must extend the sphere, er improve the productions of the arts. The Greeks, whose studies of the human frame were confined to the observations of the external muscles, exceeded in their statues all the performances of more scientific artists. But there is a point at which the observation of nature, the truths of science, and the perfection of art, seem to meet. Under various forms and accidents the same thought is expressed-the same emo"But connected with the heart, and dependtion conveyed; the mind acts visibly; the sympathy of the spectator is excited; in a there is an extensive apparatus which demands ing on its peculiar and excessive sensibility, word, the idea assumes its form. That it our attention. This is the organ of breathing: is so, no one has ever doubted, and all crit- a part known obviously as the instrument of icism and precept has recommended the speech; but which I shall show to be more. study of expression to the artist, as the be- The organ of breathing, in its association with ginning and the end of that language which the heart, is the instrument of expression, and he lends to life. But expression in the fine is the part of the frame, by the action of which arts, as it is commonly understood, is the the emotions are developed and made visible to us. Certain strong feelings of the mind mere imitation of the natural phenomena produce a disturbed condition of the heart; which accompany emotion: Sir Charles and through that corporeal influence, directly Bell for the first time analyzed and explain- from the heart, indirectly from the mind, the ed the causes of these phenomena; he has extensive apparatus constituting the organ of shown what the physical effects of the emo- breathing is put in motion, and gives us the tions of the mind really are, and how they outward signs which we call expression. The man was wrong who found fault with nature act upon the organs of life; he has brought for not placing a window before the heart, in us within another circle of these concen-order to render visible human thoughts and tric laws which include the creation-a intentions. There is, in truth, provision made circle nearer to the centre of life and truth. in the countenance and outward bearing for In a word, in exploring the most hidden cells such discoveries.* of our physical structure, he has brought to light truths to which the proper name of philosophy pre-eminently belongs. In other forms, the records of these discoveries will invite the scrutiny of the man of science; but in this volume, they may be studied in their application, without a trace of the re

* This observation appears to have been borrowed by Sir C. Bell from a small treatise by the French physician La Chambre, entitled 'l'Art de connaître l'homme.' The passage may be found quoted by Lavater, in the first volume of his ' Essays on Physiognomy,' p. 56. Most of the principal authorities on the science are collected in the same place. The passage from Haller'

"One, ignorant of the grounds on which these opinions are founded, has said, 'Every strong emotion is directed towards the heart: the heart experiences various kinds of sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, over which it has no control; and from thence the agitated spir-powers of the frame, the body is no more reits are diffused over the body.' The fact is certainly so, although the language be figurative. How are these spirits diffused, and what are their effects?

"We find that the influence of the heart upon the extended organ of respiration has sway at so early a period of our existence, that we must acknowledge that the operation or play of the instrument of expression precedes the mental emotions with which they are to be joined, accompanies them in their first dawn, strengthens them, and directs them. So that it is not, perhaps, too much to conclude that, from these organs moving in sympathy with the mind, the same uniformity is produced among men, in their internal feelings, emotions, or passions, as there exists in their ideas of external nature from the uniform operations of the organs of sense.

"Let us place examples before us, and then try whether the received doctrines of the passions will furnish us with an explanation of the phenomena, or whether we must go deeper, and seek the assistance of anatomy.

"In the expression of the passions, there is a compound influence in operation. Let us contemplate the appearance of terror. We can readily conceive why a man stands with eyes intently fixed on the object of his fears, the eyebrows elevated to the utmost, and the eye largely uncovered; or why, with hesitating and bewildered steps, his eyes are rapidly and wildly in search of something. In this, we only perceive the intent application of his mind to the object of his apprehensionsits direct influence on the outward organ. But observe him further: there is a spasm on his breast, he cannot breathe freely, the chest is elevated, the muscles of his neck and shoulders are in action, his breathing is short and rapid, there is a gasping and a convulsive motion of his lips, a tremor on his hollow cheek, a gulping and catching of his throat; and why does his heart knock at his ribs, while yet there is no force of circulation?-for his lips and cheeks are ashy pale.

"So in grief, if we attend to the same class of phenomena, we shall be able to draw an exact picture. Let us imagine to ourselves the overwhelming influence of grief on woman. The object in her mind has absorbed all the garded, the spirits have left it, it reclines, and the limbs gravitate; they are nerveless and relaxed, and she scarcely breathes; but why comes at intervals the long-drawn sigh? why are the neck and throat convulsed?— what causes the swelling and quivering of the lips, and the deadly paleness of the face?-or why is the hand so pale and earthy cold?— and why, at intervals, as the agony returns, does the convulsion spread over the frame like a paroxysm of suffocation?

"It must, I think, be acknowledged, when we come to arrange these phenomena, these outward signs of the passions, that they cannot proceed from the direct influence of the mind alone. However strange it may sound to unaccustomed ears, it is to the heart and lungs, and all the extended instrument of breathing, that we are to trace these effects.

"Over such motions of the body the mind has an unequal control. By a strong effort the outward tokens may be restrained, at least in regard to the general bearing of the body; but who, while suffering, can retain the natural fulness of his features, or the healthful color of his cheek, the unembarrassed respiration and clearness of the natural voice? The villain may command his voice, and mask his purpose with light and libertine words, or carry an habitual sneer of contempt of all softer passions; but his unnatural paleness, and the sinking of his features, will betray that he suffers. Clarence says to his murderers,

"How deadly dost thou speak!

Your eyes do menace me: Why look you pale?'

"But the just feelings of mankind demand respect; men will not have the violence of grief obtruded on them. To preserve the dig ity of his character, the actor must permit those uncontrollable signs of suffering alone to how much he restrains. escape, which betray how much he feels, and

"Even while asleep, these interior organs of feeling will prevail, and disclose the source * Elementa Physiologiæ,' tom. v. p. 590, is well of expression. Has my reader seen Mrs. Sidworthy of notice, for it contains a careful investi- dons in Queen Katherine during that solemn gation of the effects of passion on the counten- scene where the sad note was played which ance. Lavater himself applies the term physiog- she named her knell? Who taught the crowd nomy to the science of the features in a state of sitting at a play, an audience differing in age, repose; and he calls the science of expression habits and education, to believe those quiverpathognomy, as it concerns the features under the ing motions, and that gentle smile, and those influence of passion. But all these writers treated of the movements or form of the features as if slight convulsive twitchings to be true to nathey were directly affected by the disposition or ture? To see every one hushed to the softest emotions of the mind. Sir Charles Bell was the breathing of sympathy with the silent expresfirst physiologist who showed that the affections sion of the actress, exhibits all mankind held of the mind first acted upon the heart, and that, together by one universal feeling: and that by means of the respiratory nerves, they then feeling, excited by expression, so deeply laid produced a certain re-action, which we call ex-in our nature, as to have influence, without pression, in the countenance being obvious to reason."

« PreviousContinue »