If we speak of condensation we close the hand.  If we have to do with a granulated object, we test it with the thumb and index finger.

If it is carneous, we touch it with the thumb and middle finger.

If the object is fluid, delicate, impressionable, we express it by the third finger.

If it is pulverized, we touch it with the little finger.

We change the finger as the body is solid, humid, delicate, or powdery.

The orator who uses the fingers in gesticulation, gives proof of great delicacy of mind.

Of the Legs.

The legs have nine positions which we call base attitudes.

We shall give a detailed description, summing up in a chart of the criterion of the legs at the end of this section.

First Attitude.—­This consists in the equal balance of the body upon its two legs.  It is that of a child posed upon its feet, neither of which extends farther than the other.  This attitude is normal, and is the sign of weakness, of respect; for respect is a sort of weakness for the person we address.  It also characterizes infancy, decay.

[Illustration]

Second Attitude.—­In this attitude the strong leg is backward, the free one forward.  This is the attitude of reflection, of concentration, of the strong man.  It indicates the absence of passions, or of concentred passions.  It has something of intelligence;

[Illustration]

it is neither the position of the child nor of the uncultured man.  It indicates calmness, strength, independence, which are signs of intelligence.  It is the concentric state.

Third Attitude.—­Here the strong leg is forward, the free leg backward.  This is the type of vehemence.  It is the eccentric attitude.

[Illustration]

The orator who would appear passive, that is, as experiencing some emotion, or submitting to some action, must have a backward pose as in figure 2.

If, on the contrary, he would communicate to his audience the expression of his will or of his own thought, he must have a forward poise as in figure 3.

Fourth Attitude.—­Here the strong leg is behind, as in the second attitude, but far more apart from the other and more inflected.

This is very nearly the attitude of the fencing master, except the position of the foot, which is straight instead of being turned outward.

[Illustration]

This is a sign of the weakness which follows vehemence.

Natural weakness is portrayed in figure 1; sudden weakness in figure 4.

Fifth Attitude.—­This is necessitated by the inclination of the torso to one side or the other.  It is

[Illustration]

a third to one side.  It is a passive attitude, preparatory to all oblique steps.  It is passing or transitive, and ends all the angles formed by walking.  It is in frequent use combined with the second.