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Trembling March 11/72/

Mr J Wood says positively that he has several times observed the platysma contracting in a patient when stripped many for examination, & shivering, without fear.—

He has seen many persons excessively afraid or terror stricken before an operation & the Platysma has not contracted. —

[Expression, p. 302: "Mr. J. Wood, who has studied with such care the muscles of the human body, as shown by his various publications, has often seen the platysma contracted in vomiting, nausea, and disgust; also in children and adults under the influence of rage,—for instance, in Irishwomen, quarrelling and brawling together with angry gesticulations. This may possibly have been due to their high and angry tones; for I know a lady, an excellent musician, who, in singing certain high notes, always contracts her platysma. So does a young man, as I have observed, in sounding certain notes on the flute. Mr. J. Wood informs me that he has found the platysma best developed in persons with thick necks and broad shoulders; and that in families inheriting these peculiarities, its development is usually associated with much voluntary power over the homologous occipito-frontalis muscle, by which the scalp can be moved. None of the foregoing cases appear to throw any light on the contraction of the platysma from fear; but it is different, I think, with the following cases."]