GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF EXPRESSION--_continued_.

The Principle of Antithesis--Instances in the dog and cat--
Origin of the principle--Conventional signs--The principle
of antithesis has not arisen from opposite actions being
consciously performed under opposite impulses.


WE will now consider our second Principle, that of Antithesis. Certain states
of the mind lead, as we have seen in the last chapter, to certain
habitual movements which were primarily, or may still be, of service;
and we shall find that when a directly opposite state of mind is induced,
there is a strong and involuntary tendency to the performance of movements
of a directly opposite nature, though these have never been of any service.
A few striking instances of antithesis will be given, when we treat of
the special expressions of man; but as, in these cases, we are particularly
liable to confound conventional or artificial gestures and expressions
with those which are innate or universal, and which alone deserve to rank
as true expressions, I will in the present chapter almost confine myself
to the lower animals.

When a dog approaches a strange dog or man in a savage or hostile frame
of mind be walks upright and very stiffly; his head is slightly raised,
or not much lowered; the tail is held erect, and quite rigid;
the hairs bristle, especially along the neck and back; the pricked ears
are directed forwards, and the eyes have a fixed stare: (see figs.
5 and 7). These actions, as will hereafter be explained, follow from the dog's
intention to attack his enemy, and are thus to a large extent intelligible.
As he prepares to spring with a savage growl on his enemy, the canine
teeth are uncovered, and the ears are pressed close backwards on