PA IN , ANGUISH, AND DEATH.
Pain first rouses the faculties both of the body and of the mind,
and from a dormant state gives us consciousness and real existence.
It is bestowed upon us as a perpetual guard, forcing us to watch
continually for the safety of the body and the preservation of life.
From the expression of pain as a centre we may trace the indications
of many of the mixed passions.
In bodily pain the jaws are fixed and the teeth grind; the lips
are drawn laterally, so as to expose the teeth and gums; the nostrils
are distended to the utmost, and at the same time drawn up; the
eyes are largely uncovered, and the eyebrows elevated; the face is
turgid with blood, and the veins of the forehead and temples
distended, the breath being suspended, and the descent of the
blood from the head impeded. Much of the expression results
from the strong action of the muscles closing the jaws, and the
strong action and consequent stringiness of the cutaneous muscles
of the neck r , plate II., which at the same time draws down the
corner of the mouth.
In anguish mingling with bodily suffering the character approaches
near to this of the marginal plate: the jaw falls; the
tongue is seen, and instead of the lateral retraction of the lips, the
lower lip falls; the eyebrows are knit, while their inner extremities
are elevated; the pupils of the eyes are in part concealed by the
upper eyelids, and the nostrils are agitated. The agony of mind is
now added to the bodily suffering, which is most particularly indicated
by the change on the eyebrow and forehead.
In the marginal plate we have a man forcibly subdued in all
his strength. The brows are more violently knit, (which I conceive
indicate somewhat of rage and hatred unsubdued), and they
are less elevated towards the centre of the forehead; the nostril is
inflated; the mouth open, but not stretched wide: it is as if in