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Show 2()(1 t;~ PR~SSION OF JOY ! CuAP. Vlil. common Iy expose d. A Well -marked naso-labial fo.l d is formed which runs from the wing of each nostril to the col:ner of the mouth; and this fold is often double in old persons. · · f A bright and sparkling eye is as characteristic o. a p1e ased or. am used state of mind, as is the rer tracti"otnh of the corners of the mouth and upper Ip WI • the wrinkles thus produced. Even the eyes of IDI· crocephalous idiots, who are so _degraded that they never learn to speak, brighten slightly when they are ple ased .1 2 Under extreme laughter the e1ye s ar·e t too much suffused with tears to sparkle; butt 1e mo1s ure s ueezed out of the glands during moderate laught~r 0~ smiling may aid in giving them lustre; though th1s must be of altogether subordinate importance, as they become dull from grief, though they are then often moist. Their brightness seems to be chiefly due t? their tenseness 13 owing to the contraction of the orbicular muscles ~nd to the pressure of the raised cheek~. But according to Dr. Piderit, who has discussed this poin' t .m ore fully than a.ny other wn•t er, 14 tl1 e t ensen_ess may be largely attributed to ~he eyeballs becom1~g filled with blood and other fluids, from the a?celeration of the circulation, consequent on the excitement of pleasure. He remarks on the contrast in t}~e appearance of the eyes of a hectic patient with a ra~1d circulation, and of a man suffering from cholera w:th almost all the fluids of his body drained from lnm. Any cause which lowers the circulation deadens the eye. I remember seeing a man utterly prostrated by prolonged and severe exertion during a very hot day, 12 C. Vogt, • Memoire sur les Microcephales,' 1867, P• 21. 13 Sir. C. Bell, ' Anatomy of Expression,' p. 133. u ' I\.iimik nnd Physiognomik,' 1807, s. G3-67, UIIAP. YlH. tAUGIIT~R. ~01 and a bystander compared his eyes to those of a boileu eodfish. To return to the sounds produced during laughter. We can see in a vague manner how the utterance of sounds of some kind would naturally become associated with a pleasurable state of mind; for throughout a large part of the animal kingdom vocal or instrumental sounds are employed either as a call or as a charm by one sex for the other. They are also employed as the means for a joyful meeting between the parents and their offspring, and between the attached members of the same social community. But why the sound~ which man utters when he is pleased have the peculiar reiterated character of laughter we do not know. Nevertheless we can see that they would naturally be as different as possible from the screams or cries of distress ; and as in the production of the latter, the expirations are prolonged and continuous, with the inspirations short and interrupted, so it might perhaps have been expected with the sounds uttered from joy, that the expirations would have been short and broken with the inspirations prolonged; and this is the case. It is an equally obscure point why the corners of the 1nouth are retracted and the upper lip raised during ordinary laughter. The mouth must not be opened to its utmost extent, for when this occurs during a paroxysm of excessive laughter hardly any sound is emitted; or it changes its tone and seems to come from deep down in the throat. The respiratory muscles, and even those of the limbs, are at the same time thrown into rapid vibratory movements. The lower jaw often partakes of this movement, and this would tend to prevent the mouth from being widely opened. But as a full volume of sound has to be poured forth, the orifice of the month must be la1·ge; nnd it is perhaps to gain |
