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Show 184 EXPRESSION OF GRIEF : CnAP. vn. havin(Y' produced an extraordinary number of great actorsb and actresses and who can hersel f gi.v e tho IS • 0 ' expr ssion " w1th singular precios i·o n, " t ol d Dr· Crichton 0 Browne that all her family had possessed the power In _a remarkable degree. The same hereditary tendency 1s said to have extended as I likewise hear from De. Browne, to the last descendant of the family, whicl~ gave rise to Sir Walter Scott's novel of.' Redo Gauntlet; but the hero is described as contracting h1s forehead into a horse-shoe mark from any strong e1notion. I have also seen a young woman whose forehead seemed almost habitually thus contracted, ·independently of any emotion being at the time felt. The grief-muscles are not very frequently brought into play; and as the action is often momentary, it easily escapes observation. Although the expression, when observed, is universally and instantly reco( Y'nized as that of grief or anxiety, yet not one person out of a thousand who has never studied the subject, is able to say precisely what change passes · over the sufferer's face. Hence probably it is that this expression is not even alluded to, as far as I have noticed, in any work of fiction, with the exception of 'Red Gauntlet' and of one other novel; and the authoress of the latter, as I am informed, belongs to the famous family of actors just alluded to; so that her attention may have been specially called to the subject. The ancient Greek sculptors were familiar with the expression, as shown in the statues of the Laocoon and Arrotino ; but, as Duchenne remarks, they carried the transverse furrows across the whole breadth of the forehead, and thus coinmitted a great anatomical mistake : this is likewise the case in some modern statues. It is, however, more probable that these wonderfully accurate observers intentionally sacrificed truth for the CHAP. VII. OBLIQ.UE EYEBRO,VS. 185 S;lke of beauty, than that they made a 1nistake ; for rectangular furrows on the forehead would not have ~ad ~ g~·an~ appearance on the marble. The expressi. on, In Its fully developed condition, is, as far as I can discover, not often represented in pictures by the old masters, no doubt owing to the same cause; bnt a ~ady who is per~ectly familiar with this expression, 1nforms me that 111 Fra Angelico's 'Descent from the Cross,' in Florence, it is clearly exhibited in one of the figures on the right-hand; and I could add a few other iw~tances. Dr .. Crichton !3rowno, at my request., closely attended to tlns .expressi?n in the numerous insane patients ~uc~er . ~1s ca.re 111 the West Riding Asylum; and he JS fam1ha~· w1th Duchenne's photographs of the action of the gnef-muscl~s. He informs me that they may cons~antly be seen In energetic action in cases of melanchol~ a, and. especially of hypochondria; and that tho pers1~tent hnes or furrows, due to their habitual con~ r~ction, are c!1aracteristic of the physiognmny of the Insane belonging to these two classes. Dr. Browne carefully observed for me during a considerable period three case.s of hypochondria, in which the grief-muscles were persistently contracted. In one of these a widow aged 51, fancied that she had lost all her vi;cera, and t~w,t her whole ?ody was empty. She wore an expresSIOn of _great distress, and beat her semi-closed hands rhythn11cally together for hours. The grief-muscles were p1eromanen~l! contracted, and the upper eyelids arched. lhis condition lasted for n1onths; she then recovered, and her countenance resu1ned its natural expression. A. second case presented nearly the same peculiarities, With the addition that the corners of the mouth were depressed. Mr. Patrick Nicol has also kindly observed for 1ne |