point merely to definite objects; it points to open possibilities. What is uppermost in the mind of the first man at the left of the Christ in Fig. 36, page 231, is to ask a question, "What shall be done in view of that to which I point?" What is uppermost in the mind of the man pointing upward at the right of Fig. 37, page 233, is to indicate a source from which one can receive inspiration ; and he is beckoning-asking others to consider it. The motive is thus that of the opening gesture. A few sentences more will embody all that needs to be added with reference to the meanings of the movements of the hand while being conveyed by the arm to the place towards which the gesture is aimed. All these movements, of course, as follows from what has been said, whether suggesting forms of curves, straight lines, or angles, give expression, in a general way, to the motive or emotive nature; the degrees of vitality entering into this being best indicated by the action of the shoulders; the degrees of interpretive intent, by the adjustments of the wrist and the hand and fingers below it; and the degrees of the operating motive pure and simple by the action of the elbows. Notice that a hint is usually conveyed by their nudge. These movements, moreover, by which are meant now, those that are preparatory to the gesture, irrespective of the place to which the hand is conveyed, may be made with a general direction away from the body, toward the body, or both away from it and also toward it. When used descriptively, they refer, respectively, to other things than self, to self, or to both; i. e., to the relations between other things and self. Used mainly for emphasis, the hands, when moving away from the body, represent a full, unembarrassed, and, in this sense, instinctive expression of the actuating motive. They indicate, like the falling inflection of the voice, that the mind has come to a positive and decisive conclusion. When the hands move toward the body, the gestures are reflective; they represent something in thought that checks the expression of the motive, something physical in phase, if they end near the abdomen (Fig. 46, page 241), mental if near the head (Fig. 39, page 235), and emotional or moral if near the heart (Fig. 36, page 231); they indicate, like the rising inflec FIG. 46.-AN ATTACK FIG. 47.-BOY SURPRISED. See pages 241, 242, 243. tion of the voice, that the mind is thinking, but has come to no conclusion; that it is asking a question; that it is influenced by doubt, perhaps, or surprise (notice the representation of this in Fig. 47, page 241); the mood is, at least, anticipative and indecisive. When the hands move both from the body and also toward it as in Fig. 47, or, as is the case in the most common emphatic oratorical gesture, both toward it and from it, they represent a combination of the two conceptions already mentioned. The effect then is exactly parallel to that of the double meaning in the circumflex inflection (see the author's "Orator's Manual," pp. 56 to 59). If the gestures begin with the movement toward the body, this indicates that the man has asked a question; and if they end with the movement away from it, that then in his own mind, as a result of deliberate and careful consideration of arguments pro and con, he has answered the question. The first direction shows that there has been indecision, the second that he has come to a conclusion; the first that he has investigated, the second that he has reached a definite result. The suggestion of both facts in this gesture causes it to convey an impression of breadth of thought as well as of intensity. If the order of the movements be reversed, as often in dramatic gestures (Fig. 47, page 241), of course their meaning is reversed. But whatever be their order, it is evident that movements preparatory to starting the final stroke of a gesture, in the degree in which they are continued through a long time or cover a large space, enhance the representative effect, inasmuch as they indicate thus the degree in which the mind has reached the opinions. which it expresses as a result of weighing the possibilities both in favour of them and against them. So much with reference to the direction of the movements. A few words more now with reference to their character. Concerning this a little observation will reveal that movements which are spontaneous and unconscious, because uninfluenced or unimpeded by interruptions that come from without, all tend to assume the forms of free, large, graceful curves. See Figs. 9, page 97; 23, page 170; 26, page 217;45, page 239; 54, page 289. But in the degree in which a man's expression is a result of mental calculation, made to meet emergencies from without, especially in the degree in which these conditions check, impede, and embarrass him, and make him conscious of this fact, or self-conscious, as we say,—his bearing is stiff, constrained, and awkward, imparting to all his movements a tendency to assume the forms of straight lines and angles. See the woman in Fig. 43, page 238; also the positions in Fig. 37, page 233. But sharp angles and short curves will give way to straighter lines and longer curves in the degree in which outside conditions do not wholly overcome one's spontaneity, as in exerting the moral influence of confident assertion (Fig. 23, page 170), or enthusiastic persua. sion (Fig. 44, page 239). But in the degree in which he is conscious of opposition, whether this be mental, as in Fig. 18, page 122, or material, as in Fig. 47, page 241, or both together, as in the two figures at the front of Fig. 37, page 233, or as in fighting (Fig. 46, page 241), this consciousness will double up his frame and throw his neck, elbows, knees, and hips into shapes that will make his form the best possible representation of what can be described by only the term angularity; yet from this appearance in such cases curves are never entirely absent. So much for the meanings of outlines, whether produced by the hand or assumed by the body. Now let us notice their meanings as manifested not in the human form but in the inanimate appearances of nature surrounding it. The curve has been ascribed to the physically normal action of the human form. Is there any truth in the supposition that the same in natural scenery may be ascribed to physically normal action? Why should there not be? The eye itself is circular, and the field of vision which it views, at any one moment, always appears to be circular. So does the horizon and the zenith, and so, too, do most of the objects that they contain-the heaving hill, the rising smoke or vapour, the rolling wave, the gushing fountain, the rippling stream, even the bubbles of its water and the pebbles of its channel, and every tree, plant, and animal, whether at rest or in motion. For this reason, curves, wherever seen, necessarily suggest more or less of that which is normal. See the forms at the right of Fig. 48, page 245. The straight line with its accompanying angles we have found to be produced by a man chiefly as a result of mental action. How is it with similar effects in the appearances surrounding him? Do not rectangles with their straight, parallel sides and necessitated angles, as in buildings and in so many other objects made by a man, invariably suggest results of his constructive, and, therefore, of his mental action? Nor are such suggestions confined to objects revealing that a man has really interfered with the action of nature. By way of association, the horizontal hilltop, the sharply perpendicular cliff, the pointed peak, cause us to think and often to say that they look precisely as if a man had been at work upon them, levelling or blasting. Few natural objects have outlines. absolutely straight or angular. For this reason, in the degree in which they are so, the impression naturally produced by curves, which is that of a growth outward from normal vitality within, is lessened. We feel that life has in some way been literally blasted. See the forms at the left of Fig. 48, page 245. As a rule, it is the great convulsions of nature, whether produced by fire, frost, wind, or earthquake, that leave behind them, if their progress can be traced at all, such results of crystallising, cracking, and rending as are manifested in outlines of this character. Again, when lines drawn by men are broken, and also curved and crossed, they necessarily suggest |