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Show 198 E '"PRESSION OF ,TOY: CHAP. VITI. CHAPTEit VIII. T R FEELINGS DEVOTION. , JOY, HIGH SPIRITS, LovE, ENDE ' . f · _Ludicrous ideas -Move- Laurrhter primarily tho expressl_on ~ JO~ter- Nature of the sound ~ents of the features durmg augd . loud laucrhter- Gra- Th tion of tears urmg t) • • p,, ro. ducfe. d- e secre tle smilincr- High sp1nts- loud lauO'hter to gen 1':1 • uR.tlOn IOID 0 T der feelinO'S- DevotiOn. Tho expression of love- en o . leads to various purposeless move- JOY, when dmteir;:e, about, clapping the hands, sta_mpi~g, ments-dto alncd glaughter. Laughter seen1s prlmanly &c ., an to ou . f mere J.O Y or h appi·n ess. ·nr e n to be the expresslo~ o la who are almost inces-clearly see this in children at p y, h'ldh d . h' . With youna persons past c 1 oo ' santly laug Ing. . h' h . ;s there is always much when. they arle Inht Ig ~t:J l~ughte! of the goUs is 1nean1ngless aug er. f tl · 1 descn.b ed b y -~.:-:I otner as " the exuberance o 1e1r c. e es- " tial joy after their dai·l y ba nque t ." A. maIn •sm h1 t1e s-and smiling, as we shall see, graduates Into aug er-at meeting an old friend in the street, as he does at an~ 't riflino· pleasure, such as sme n·I ng a swe edt pde rfuf me . Laurat:> Bridgman, froln her blindness an eha ~es~, could not have acqu·u e d any expr•e S Sl.On thrO.U.D o ' lil'l l· tation, yet when a letter from a belo_ved f~:end ~:~ communicated to her by gesture-language, she lau~ t "and clapped her hands, and the colour mounte to " her cheeks.'' On other occasions she has been seen o stamp for joy ·2 1 Herbert Spencer, 'Essays Scientific,' &c., 1~8, p. 36~. S 'tl soninn 2 F. Lieber on tho vocal sounds of L, Bndgman, • JUl 1• Contributions; 1851, vol. ii. P· G, CHAP. VIII. LAUGHTER. 199 Idiots and i1nbecile persons likewise afford good evidence that laughter or smiling primarily expreises mere happiness or joy. Dr. Crichton Browne, to whom, as on so many oth r occasions, I am indebted for the l'esults of his wide experience, informs me that with idiots laughter is the most prevalent and frequent of all the emotional expressions. Many idiots are morose, passionate, restless, in a painful state of mind, or utterly stolid, and these never laugh. Others frequently ]augh in a quit senseless manner. Thus an idiot boy, incapable of speech, complained to Dr. Browne, by the aid of signs, that another boy in the asylum had given hi1n a black eye; atld this was accompanied by " explosions of laughter and with his face covered with " the broadest smiles." There is another large cla.gs of idiots who are persistently joyous and benign, and who are constantly laughing or smiling.3 Their countenances often exhibit a stereotyped smile; their joyousness is increased, and they grin, chuckle, or giggle, whenever food is placed before them, or when they are caressed, are shown bright colours, or hear music. Some of them laugh more than usual when they walk about, or attempt any muscular exertion. The joyousness of most of these idiots cannot possibly be as5ociated, as Dr. Browne remarks, with any distinct ideas: they simply feel pleasure, and express it by ]aughter o1· smiles. With imbeciles 1·ather higher in the scale, personal vanity seems to be the commonest cause of laughter, and next to this, pleasure arising from the approbation of their conduct. With grown-up persons laughter is excited by causes considerably different from those which suffice during childhood; but this remark hardly appli s to smiling. 3 See, also, 1\!1·. Marshall, in Phil. Transact, 18G±, p. 526. |