A Conflict of Forces.

If the eyebrows are studied in the light of the three muscles displayed in Fig. [20] it is seen to contain an interesting congeries of small forces in conflict. (1) The frontalis moves the eyebrow directly upwards. I had a friend once about seventy years old who was a very vigorous, strong-willed man and he spoke with decision and energy. It was most interesting to watch how his frontalis muscle strongly and frequently contracted as he spoke and drew up his eyebrows so that one might, as it were, measure the strength of his expressed convictions by the rate of action of his frontalis muscle! (2) The corrugator draws the skin of the eyebrow inwards to the middle line thus acting at a right angle to the line of the frontalis. (3) The orbicularis in the upper part directly opposes the action of the frontalis and in the lower acts “on its own” in closing the lower lid. This little spot is a Hill 60, destroyed at the battle of Messines, and has been the scene of much fighting throughout life, and it bears abiding witness in the twists and curves of the long hairs to the severity of the struggles. These actions of the three contending muscles are involuntary and of a reflex character, and much employed in such habits as those of knitting the brows or in elevating or depressing them, all this being set going and controlled by cerebral action. Incidentally then the preponderance of one or more of these actions over others, as shown in the hair, is evidence, as far as it goes, of the disposi­tion and character of the possessor. So that between the wrinkles and the twisted hairs of his brow the elderly man, and less so the woman, carries about an engraved statement, for his friends or enemies to read, of his natural disposi­tion and his acquired habits, in a limited field—his written character!

Fig. 20.

Muscles surrounding orbit with lines of action. Left—muscles con­cerned in move­ments of parts round orbits. Right—lines of ac­tion of these muscles in­di­cated by arrows.

Fig. 21.—C. B. æt 81.

Hairs: Thick and bushy eyebrows. At junc­tion of outer and middle third of each side the thick hairs turn abruptly down­wards in a tuft and cover the upper lid.

Wrinkles: Arched and lateral fairly well-marked, one very deep, cen­tral and ver­ti­cal wrinkle.

Fig. 22.—G. W. æt 79.

Hairs: On each side at junction of outer and middle thirds a de­fin­ite wisp of hair turn­ing up­wards.

Wrinkles: Arched and orbital well-marked, cen­tral wrin­kles hard­ly visi­ble.

Fig. 23.—F. F. æt 57.

Hairs: Left side two long hairs from 1 to 1 1/2 inches long, turned sharp­ly up at outer end of eye­brow. Right side short hairs turned up­wards.

Wrinkles: Strongly marked, curved, or­bit­al wrin­kles round outer half of each orbit. No other wrin­kles.

Fig. 24.—B. W. æt 69.

Hairs: on both sides, projecting tufts at junc­tion of the mid­dle and outer thirds of eye­brows, hairs an inch long. The outer fourth of sur­face bare of hair.

Wrinkles: Vertical hardly visible. Arched wrin­kles nu­mer­ous and es­pe­cial­ly deep towards the tem­poral region.

Fig. 25.—T. R. æt 57. Voluble talker, twitches eyebrows in talking.

Hairs: Thick and stand out stiffly from eyebrows, turning slightly upwards in outer third—almost absent from inner third of surface.

Wrinkles: Vertical faint; arched deep and long, equal on the two sides, orbital, on each side two groups of deep radiating wrinkles, beside many small lines.

Fig. 26.—A. P. æt 63.

Hairs: On each eyebrow at about the junction of the middle and outer third, there is a re­mark­able tuft measur­ing 1 to 1 1/2 inch pro­ject­ing from plane of eye­brow some­what up­wards, scanty hair on outer third.

Wrinkles: Smooth open forehead, with moderate-sized arched and or­bit­al wrin­kles. Ver­ti­cal wrin­kles hardly visible.

Fig. 27.—G. G. æt 54.

Hairs: Right eyebrow upward twist of hairs on outer half, left eye­brow hairs lie straight; project, on both sides, well away from plane of eyebrow.

Wrinkles: Arched on right side more numerous and extending higher than on left. No vertical wrinkles.

Fig. 28.—R. N. æt 65.

Hairs: On right side hairs long and pro­ject­ing nearly in hori­zon­tal direc­tion, on left sharply turned up at inner end and rather less so at outer.

Wrinkles: on right sides, three faint arched wrin­kles, one ver­ti­cal, short and small. On left, three deep arched wrin­kles, one ver­ti­cal, deep and long.