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Guillaume Benjamin Amand Duchenne (1806–75)

Charles Darwin to James Crichton-Browne (22nd May, 1869)

Darwin discussed Duchenne’s work in correspondence with the psychiatrist and amateur photographer James Crichton-Browne who became another collaborator to Expression.

Guillaume Benjamin Amand Duchenne,  Mécanisme de la physionomie humaine, ou, Analyse électro-physiologique de l'expression des passions (Paris, 1862)

In 1862, the French physiologist Guillaume-Benjamin Duchenne published a photographically illustrated study of facial expression. By applying an electric current, Duchenne was able to mechanically produce expressions, and to sustain them long enough to take photographs of several seconds exposure. With Duchenne’s permission, Darwin used eight of his illustrations in Expression – the correspondence shows that Duchenne refused payment on the grounds of his admiration for Darwin’s research.