The physiognomy of mental diseases and degeneracy / by James Shaw.

  • Shaw, James.
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The physiognomy of mental diseases and degeneracy / by James Shaw. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    especially affects the orbicular muscles, so that the mouth is partly open with pendulous lower lip {Fig. 2) ; and the depressor anguli oris, being less under the control of the will than the elevator mus- cles, acts more strongly than the latter when volun- tary power is diminished, and causes the angle of the mouth to droop more or less {Figs. 1 and 2). The forehead is nearly always wrinkled horizon- tally, owing to the action of the occipito-frontalis muscle being inadequately opposed by that of the orbicularis palpebrarum. (See case of stupor, Fig. 4). Though in some cases the whole face is smooth and pale with immobile features and sad eyes or drooping eyelids, in many cases there are vertical wrinkles extending a little way above the nose, and caused by the contraction of the corrugatores superciliorum. Further, in some cases the central fibres of the frontal muscle seem to overcome the pyramidalis nasi and draw up the inner end of the eyebrow {Fig. 2) ; compare this with Fig. 1 of same patient), the outer part of the forehead remaining smooth ; this latter phenomenon (lateral frontal smoothness) has been attributed to the action of the orbicularis by some observers, to that of the corrugator by others; but having seen persons sane and insane, in whom the centre of the forehead remained smooth except for vertical furrows just above the nose, whilst the outer parts became wrinkled transversely, it seemed to me that the whole so-called grief muscle action might be owing to the associated contraction