Curious Observations.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 295, 12 December 1891, Page 4 (Supplement)

Curious Observations.

Mhn generally cross their legs when there is least pressure on their minds. Yon will not very of con find a mtin actually i.nj:ag*;d iv business With his crossed. The limbs at those times «re «trnighter than at any other, because the mind and body work together. A m»in engaged in auditing accounts will seldom eras? his legs ; neither will a man who is writing an article, or who is employed io tiny manner where his brain is actively engaged. When at work in a sitting Dosture the limbs nabu---i.illy extend to the floor in a perfectly straight l:ne._ A man may cross his legs if he is sitting in an office chair discussing some proposition with another man, bub the instant he becomes thoroughly in earnest and perceives something to be gained his limbs uncross, he bend's forward toward his neighbour, and begins to use his hands. But these observations are made of mankind in general. There are particular cases that are otherwise. There are certain men of distinguished talents who, when engaged in literary work twist their legs in to intricate coils. One of the most eminent dramatists in America never abandons himself to deep thought without contorting his limbs, which are long and slender, into a kind of angular scrollwork under the table. Another man, whose poems appear most frequently in the magazines, seems actually to wring his emotions out of his legs as if they were sponges dipped in the divine afflatus. However/those are exceptional cases of mannerisms by which certain men of brains are insensibly affected. Some men twist their beards when they are in deep thought, others scratch their heads abstractedly, while others again chew their finger nails. To this absent - minded genius belongs 1 now and then a man who cannot ponder i severely without making his legs express all the emotions of thought.