THE SECRET OF FACIAL EXPRESSION.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 10240, 1 September 1909, Page 1

THE SECRET OF FACIAL EXPRESSION.

In an interesting article on The Scientific and Artistic' Study of Facial Mimicry," contributed to the Revue Seientifique (Paris) by Dr Nathalie Fedoroff, the author traces the history of the study of expression and states her conclusion that facial movements may be brought entirely under the control of the will, so that not only may an actor imitate motion exactly, but faults of expression may be corrected by those who have the necessary patience and application. VY e read: "The face is like a book on which are printed, more or less temporarily, the feelings that agitate our minds, tiie thoughts that pass through our heads or dwell within us, the passions that lead us. Merely to glance at a person, merely to examine his features gives us information, rarely deceitful, about his mental state; we thus judge of his intelligence, his good-will, his moral qualities. We are all physiognomists in different degrees: that is to. say, we are capable of forming an opinion of our fellows before we have exchanged with them the slightest word "On what does this, marvellous faculty of facial expression depend ? On very simple phenomena, which only anatomy and physiology are able to explain; they are caused, in fact, by the working of the nerves and muscles. The latter act and contract under the influence of the orders transmitted by the former from the brain. In the last analysis, it is therefore the brain, the seat of the mind and intellectual faculties, which holds under its immediate control the play of the facial muscles, that is to say, of the physiognomy. We may thus understand, without other preliminary examination, the close relationship between the latter and the divers impressions received by the nerve centres. "The child, before he knows our language and is able himself to articulate a single word, understands very well the facial movements, which, in spite of ourselves, accompany our conversation. This fact is interesting from more than one standpoint; it makes us think that facial expression was the sole means of communication between primitive men, before the invention of language; our present facial movement, whose role is of course secondary, compared with that of articulate speech, is thus only the survival of an ancient stage. . . . which is reproduced in every child before he is able to talk. ' 'Expression is determined by the play of the facial muscles . . . which

constitute a very special system. They are small, flat, and are attached to the skin, which is displaced by their contraction, sliding, changing its surface, folding or wrinkling in one place and smoothing out in another. Such changes, momentary though they may be, modify the expression deeply. The ingenious investigations of Duchenne, of Boulogne, give us information regarding the physiologic mechanism of these modifications. . . His method, then new to science, consisted in provoking the contraction of various muscles separately by exciting them electrically and then photographing the resulting expression. "Every expression—attention, astonishment, reflection, laughter, grief, anger, goodwill, malice, etc.—is thus found to be determined by the play of special muscles. Most often, the contraction of a single muscle is sufficient to express a state of mind, a feeling, an emotion, or a passion; it is not necessary to modify all the features to give to the face the appearance of grief, gaiety, attention, etc. Each of these sentiments or psychologic states is painted on the visage by a slight modification of the eye or the lip alone. Each expression has its note—exact, precise, unique, produced by a single local modification, which seems to be reflected over the whole physiognomy.

"Experience shows that grief is expressed chiefly by a special muscle that raises and wrinkles the eyebrow; to these displacements seem to be added changes in the lower part of the face, but this is only apparent. On certain photographs in Duchenne's atlas, which express grief, the mouth would appear to be contracted as well as tlie eyebrow, but if the upper part of the face be covered it will be seen that the mouth is in perfect rest. This optical illustration is comparable to that obtained in the simultaneous contrast of colors ... . the neighborhood of a region modified by an expression of any kind seems to give another aspect to the w-hole physiognomy." Duchenne, we are told, remained quite unknown, even in France, until Darwin published his remarkable work on "The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals," taking Duchenne's work as a basis. Duchenne had shown how the face expresses grief; Darwin sought to ascertain why—the reason for the phenomenon. He concluded that movements of expression on the face are gestures corresponding to the accomplishment of certain functions of use to the organism. A third step was taken by Joso Frappa, a French artist, in his book on "Human Physiognomy," where lie analyses very closely the modifications undergone by the face under the influence of sensations and passions, relying on observation of the countenance in a state of mobility. Says the writer:

"Frappa insists on the fact that our muscles of expression may become absolutely dependent on our will, and that it is possible to simulate with exactness all the expressive varieties of gaiety, sadness, indignation, good-will, or tenderness. Duchenne, on the contrary, held that, one could not simulate laughter, for instance, with perfect exactness."

Dr Fedoroff is of Frappa's opinio] and she tells us, therefore, that fault of expression, pronunciation; movement etc., are easy to cure, provided one wil give the matter the necessary amoun .of attention and work. —Translatioi made for The Literary Digest.