West Riding Asylum | Wakefield
June. 1st. | 1869.
Dear Sir
Permit me to thank you very sincerely for your gratifying
letter of the 22nd ultimo, & to assure you that it gives me
sincere pleasure to afford any little assistance in my power
to so distinguished & revered a naturalist as yourself. I only
wish that the numerous & harassing duties of my office
here allowed me a little more leisure for such congenial pursuits
so that I might collect & utilize the mass of interesting
material which is as it were going to waste around me in this huge
hospital for want of accurate observation & which might be
of immense value if submitted to a judgement like yours. My
limited opportunities however such as they are are
diligently employed & the fruits of my researches are very much at
your service, if you care to avail yourself of them. You will
confer a real favour upon me by making me of use so that you
need not hesitate to command my assistance.
Tomorrow I start for Scotland where I shall remain a few
days, but immediately on my return home I shall send you
some information upon the points adverted to in your letter &
printed slip. Just touching upon one or two of these in the
meantime I may say—
1st. With reference to the erection of the hair in acute
melancholia & hypochondriasis. There is in both these
conditions, a persistent state of painful emotion (either
terror or anxiety) varied by paroxysms of more intense suffering.
It is in these paroxysms that the bristling of the hair is most
frequently noticed, although in the intervals it is also
occasionally present. It is attributable, I think when seen in
the intervals, partly to the sub-acute emotional perturbation
then present & partly to that influence of habit to which
you refer, (derived from the acute paroxysms), which creates a
tendency to certain actions & modes of action, & which is
operative I am satisfied even upon the hairs. The wife of a
medical man, with whom, a patient of mine a lady suffering
from acute melancholia, (characterized by convictions of
unpardonable sin, fear of death for herself her husband &
her children), said to me the other day, without the faintest
suggestion on my part,—``I think Mrs. H. is going to
begin to improve because her hair is beginning to get smoother. I
always notice that our patients'' (a considerable number
of lunatics have resided with the speaker) ``begin to get better
whenever their hair ceases to be rough & untidy &
unmanageable'' This is a curious empirical observation.
There can be no doubt that when convalescence sets in muscular
spasm is relaxed, the balance of the capillary circulation is
restored, while the cutaneous secretions are re-established.
2nd. With reference to the action of the platysma
myoides I have frequently remarked transverse wrinkles on the neck,
such as you mention, under excitement but under what sort of
excitement, I am not just now prepared to say. The matter
shall be carefully considered. The wrinkles to which I refer are
very peculiar & quite different from the ordinary folds of the
skin of the neck seen in stout people. They are small, parallel,
close together, have a direction downwards & forwards & are
restless or unstable having sometimes a sort of vibratory or vermicular
movement. I am almost sure that I have seen them in terror. I remarked
them last, in a man now under my care, labouring under
General Paralysis, (in which there is imperfect co-ordination of
muscular action, some feebleness, loss of all precision & a
loss of all power of directing the diffusions of nervous
energy). In this man, to whom I allude the action of the
platysma myoides is singularly well marked. Whenever he
is asked to show his tongue, & opens his mouth & protrudes
that organ the platysma contracts & seems to rise as it were
under the skin. It draws up the skin from the lower part of the
neck & the upper part of the chest that from the latter situation
being visibly drawn up over the clavicle, while the posterior
edge or border of the muscle forms a prominent ridge—
extending from the clavicle to the angle of the lower jaw.
The skin over the neck anteriorly is puckered presenting
numerous small transverse wrinkles & a few small longitudinal ones
at the anterior & posterior margins of the muscle. The
movements of the muscle are all distinctly upwards, it must be
remembered however that the lower jaw is already depressed.
3rd. With reference to the grief muscles. They do act
frequently & in a prolonged manner amongst the insane & I
shall be able to send you many cases illustrative of this. I now
return the photograph of the girl who could voluntarily
induce the expression of grief which you were good enough to
enclose in your letter. It is exceedngly good. Along with it I send 5
photographs of an idiot girl under my care who has many
singular ways of expressing her emotions. When pleased
she flaps her hands in front of her like little wings, & when
displeased, throws the head back in the most extraordinary
manner (shown in photograph 5) so that the occiput rests
upon the dorsal vertebræ between the scapulæ. It is an
anatomical puzzle to me how this is accomplished. May I beg your
acceptance of these photographs of this little Yorkshire
Cretin.
Will you also look over another packet of photographs
which I send you, & let me know if there are any that you would
like to possess. I must ask you to return these as they are out of my
album, but of most of them I believe I can procure copies.
They are all patients of my own.
I have not seen Duchenne's photographs & would much
wish to have an opportunity of studying them. If you will be good
enough to forward them by mail, as you suggest, I shall take
great care of them & return them punctually.
I shall thank you most cordially for the promised copy of
the new edition of your book. It will be an old friend endeared
by many new & excellent qualities.
Excuse this most hurried note & Believe me to be | With
profound respect, | yours faithfully | J. Crichton Browne
Charles Darwin Esq | &c &c
