Muscle of aggression
Guillaume-Benjamin Duchenne (de Boulogne), 1862
The Mechanism of Human Physiognomy, or the Electro-Physiological Analysis of the Expression of Passions pub'd. by Vve. J. Renouard (Paris), figure 18
With an atlas composed of 74 electro-physiological photographs taken for the most part between 1852 and 1856 by Dr. Duchenne de Boulogne, with the assistance of Adrien Tournachon, a.k.a. "Nadar Jne" ("Nadar the Younger"). Albumen paper prints
BnF, rare book STORAGE, 4-TB52-20
© Bibliothèque nationale de France
“However feebly the pyramidalis nasi exerts its action on the tip of the eyebrows, and the glabella between them, it brings hardness to even the gentlest gaze, and announces aggression. […] Figure 18, in which both of a subject’s pyramidalis have been simultaneously galvanized into contracting, displays an expression of cruelty and hatred that inspires repulsion. One fears this gaze greatly; only a fierce and cruel nature could bestow such an expression. […] Is it possible to see a fouler gaze? It declares a fierce instinct; it is the eye of the tiger.” (p. 33-34)
© BnF, Éditions multimédias, 2018