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Show 194 EXPRESSION or GlU~F : CHAP. VH. to the contraction of this muscle has been noticed by every one who has wr·i tten on the su bJi ect • To say th• at a person " I.S down I· n t h e mou th ," I·s synonymous. with. ~a in that he is out of spirits. The. depression of thYe cgo rners mayof ten b e seen, as already state. d on t.h e authority of Dr. Crichton Browne and ~r .. Nic?l, with the melancholic insane, and was well exhibited In some photographs sent to me by the former ?~ntleman, of patients with a strong tendenc~ to suicid~. I~ has been observed with men belonging to .various 1ac~s, namely with Hindoos, the dark hill-tribes of India, Malays, and, as the Rev. Mr .. Hagenauer informs Ine, with the aborigines of Australia. When infants scream they firmly contract the muscles round their eyes, and this draws up the upper lip; and as they hav~ to keep their mouths widely op~n, t~e depressor muscles running to the corners are likewise brought into strong action. This genera.lly, but not invariably, causes a slight angular bend In the lower lip on both sides, near the corners· of the mouth. The result of the upper and lower lip being thus acted on, is that the mouth assumes a squarish outline. The contraction of the depressor muscle is best see~ in infants when not screaming violently, and especially just before they begin, or when they cease to sc:eain. Their little faces then acquire an extremely piteous expression, as I continually observed with my own infants between the ages of about six weeks and ~wo or three months. Sometimes, when they are struggling a()'ainst a crying-fit, the outline of the mouth is curved i:; so exaggerated a manner as to be like a horse.shoe; and. the expression of misery then becomes a ludicrous caricature. The explanation of the contraction of this muscle, under the influence of low spirits or dejection, appa· CHAr. 'li. DEPRESSED CO!tNERS OF TIIE MOUTH. 195 rently follows from the same general1n·inciples as in the case of the obliquity of the eyebrows. Dr. Duchenne informs me that he concludes from his observations, uow prolonged during many years, that this is one of the facial muscles which is least under the control of the will. This fact may indeed be inferred from what has just been stated with respect to infants when do~btfully beginning to cry, or endeavouring to stop crying ; for they then generally command all the other facial muscles more effectually than they do the depressors of the corners of the mouth. ~Pwo excellent observers who had no theory on the subject, one of them a surgeon, carefully watched for me some older children and women as with some opposed struggling they. very gradually approached the point of bursting out Into tears; and both observers felt sure that the depressors began to act before any of the other muscles .. Now as the de~ressors have been repeatedly brought .Into strong action during infancy in many g.enerations, nerve~force will tend to :flow, on the prin· e1ple of long associated habit, to these muscles as well as to various other facial muscles, whenever in after life even a slight feeling of distress is experienced. But as the depressors are somewhat less under tl1e control of the will than most of the other mHscles, we might expect that they would often slightly contract, whilst the others remained passive. It is remarkable how small a depression of the corners of the mouth gives t? the countenance an expression of low spirits or dejec• t1on, so that an extremely slight contraction of these muscles would be sufficient to betray this state of mind. I may here mention a trifling observation, as it will se;ve to sum up our present subject. An old lady With a comfortable but absorbed expression sat nearly 0 2 |