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Show 15G EXPRESSION OF SUFFERING: CJ~Ar. vr. independently of any sorrowful idea. Putients su~ering from acnte 1nania likewise have paroxysms of violent crying or blubbering, in the midst of their incoherent ravings. We n1ust not, however, lay too m~ch stress on the copious shedding of tears by the In~ane, .a~ beino- due to the lack of all restraint; for certain braJndise: ses, as hemiplegia, brain-wasting, and senile decay, have a special tendency to induce weeping. Weeping i ~; common in the insane, even after a complete state of fatuity has been reached and the po.wer of speech lost. Persons born idiotic likewise weep ; 9 but it is said that this is not the case with cretins. Weeping seems to be the primary and natural expression, as we see in children, of suffering of any kind, whether bodily pain short of extreme agony, or mental distress. But the foregoing facts and common experience show us that a frequently repeated effort to restrain weeping, in association with certain states of the n1ind, does Intwh iu checking the habit. On the other hand, it appears that the power of weeping can be increased through habit; thus the Rev. R. Taylot-/0 who long resided in New Zealand, asserts that the women can voluntarily shed tears in abundance ; they meet for this purpose to 1nourn for the dead, and they take pride in crying '' in the most affecting manner." A single effort of repression brought to bear on the lacrymal glands does little, and indeed seems often to lead to an opposite result. An old and experienced physician told me that he had always found that tho only n1eans to check the occasional bitter weeping of ladies who consulted him, and who themselves wished 9 Sec, for instance, Mr. Marshall's account of an idi.ot in Philosoph. TransLtct. 1864, p. 52o. With respect to cretins, se~ Dr. riderit, ' Mimik und Physiognomik,' 1867, s. 61. 1o 'New Zealand and its Inhabitants,' 1855, p. 17n. CHAP. VI. WEEPING. 157 to desist, was earnestly to beg them not to try, and to assure them that nothing would relieve the1n so much as prolonged and copious crying. The screaming of infants consists of prolonged expirations, with short and rapid, almost spasmodic inspirations, followed at a omewhnt more advanced age by sobbing. According to Gratiolet., 11 the glottis is chieft y affected during the act of sobbing. This sound is heard "at the mom nt when the inspiration conqu t'R " the resistance of the glottis, and the air rushes into the " chest." But the whole act of respiration is likewise spasmodic and violent. The shoulders are at the same time generally raised, as by this movement respiration is rendered easier. With one of my infants, when s venty-seven days old, the inspirations were so rapi<l and strong that they approached in character to sobbing ; when 138 days old I first noticed distinct sobbino· O' which subsequently followed every ba.d crying- fit. The respiratory movements are partly voluntary and partly involuntary, and I apprehend that sobbing is at least in part due to children having some power to command after early infancy their vocal organs and to stop their screams, but from having less power over their respiratory tnuscles, these continue for a time to act in an involuntary or spasmodic manner, after having been brought into violent action. Sobbing seems to be pec.uliar to the human species ; for the keepers in the Zoological Gardens assure me that they have never heard a sob from any kind of monkey; though rnonkeys often scream loudly whilst being chased and caught, and then pant for a long ti1ne. 'VVe thus see that there is a close analogy between sohbing and the free shedding of tears ; for with children, 11 'De la Physionomie,' 1865, p. 12G. |