From W. H. Hall 5 March 1873
5. Stanley Crescent. | Kensington Park. W.
March 5. 1873.
Sir,
Having read with much interest your “Expression of the Emotions” I take the liberty of asking you what is the reason for elevating the eyebrows as an expression of enquiry or interrogation.—whereas in meditation or self interrogation they are depressed into a frown.1
I find no mention of this in the present edition of your work. I have frequently noticed this expression accompanying the words IS it?”
Also the lifting of the hand when a person has at last remembered what he was trying to recollect & implying “I have it.”
yours faithfully | Honnywill Hall:
C. Darwin Esq. FRS etc.
CD annotations
CD note:
‘i Attention is always shown as Duchenne remarks by slightly-raised eyebrows;2 *& this arises, I presume, [added] from association with looking quickly [circled and transposed from after ‘us &’] all around us [added] &.— & [‘I presume therefore’ del] when a man asks a question, he naturally [below interl del ‘shows’] shows [‘his’ del] attention to the answer.
ii About lifting up the hand I know not *the cause [interl] unless it be that *the hands [interl] [‘are habitually [interl del] [2 words illeg]’ interl and del] were with such actions, & are habitually [brought] into play [interl] that as soon as he remembered some [above del ‘any’] forgotten thing, *which he wishes to remember [added], he unwittingly [interl][‘lifting into’ del] *that he is [interl] ready for action, whether or no any action is requisite, under the particular case; *On the same principle [interl above del ‘just like’] *that a man [added] looks all round in order to remember a forgotten thing, though [illeg] cannot [possibly aid]’ ink
Footnotes
Bibliography
Duchenne, Guillaume Benjamin Amand. 1862. Mécanisme de la physionomie humaine, ou analyse électro-physiologique de l’expression des passions. 1 vol. and ‘Atlas’ of plates. Paris: Ve Jules Renouard, Libraire.
Expression: The expression of the emotions in man and animals. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1872.
Marginalia: Charles Darwin’s marginalia. Edited by Mario A. Di Gregorio with the assistance of Nicholas W. Gill. Vol. 1. New York and London: Garland Publishing. 1990.
Summary
Asks CD about the origin of certain expressions in man.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-8800
- From
- William Honnywill Hall
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- London, Stanley Crescent, 5
- Source of text
- DAR 53.2: 123
- Physical description
- ALS 1p ††
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8800,” accessed on 1 June 2023, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-8800.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 21