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. He
knows a family, in which one member, the present head of the family,
could, when a youth, pitch several heavy books from his head by the
movement of the scalp alone; and he won wagers by performing this
feat. His father, uncle, grandfather, and his three children possess
the same power to the same unusual degree. This family became
divided eight generations ago into two branches; so that the head of
the above-mentioned branch is cousin in the seventh degree to the head
of the other branch. This distant cousin resides in another part of
France; and on being asked whether he possessed the same faculty,
immediately exhibited his power. This case offers a good
illustration how persistent may be the transmission of an absolutely
useless faculty, probably derived from our remote semi-human
progenitors; since many monkeys have, and frequently use the power, of
largely moving their scalps up and down.*
* See my Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, 1872, p.
144.
The extrinsic muscles which serve to move the external ear, and
the intrinsic muscles which move the different parts, are in a
rudimentary condition in man, and they all belong to the system of the
panniculus; they are also variable in development, or at least in
function. I have seen one man who could draw the whole ear forwards;
other men can draw it upwards; another who could draw it backwards;*
and from what one of these persons told me, it is probable that most
of us, by often touching our ears, and thus directing our attention
towards them, could recover some power of movement by repeated trials
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