Ill:

204
Mi

 
chap. VIII.
EXPRESSION OF JOY:
ened, and the skin on the bridge becomes finely wrin-
kled in transverse lines, with other oblique longitudinal
lines on the sides. The upper front teeth are commonly
exposed. A well-marked naso-labial fold is formed,
which runs from the wing of each nostril to the corner
of the mouth; and this fold is often double in old per-
sons.
A bright and sparkling eye is as characteristic of a
pleased or amused state of mind, as is the retraction
of the corners of the mouth and upper lip with the
wrinkles thus produced. Even the eyes of microcepha-
lous idiots, who are so degraded that they never learn
to speak, brighten slightly when they are pleased.^12
Under extreme laughter the eyes are too much suffused
with tears to sparkle; but the moisture squeezed out of
the glands during moderate laughter or smiling may
aid in giving them lustre^ though this must be of alto-
gether subordinate importance, as they become dull from
.grief, though they are then often moist. Their bright-
ness seems to be chiefly due to their tenseness,^13 owing
to the contraction of the orbicular muscles and to the
pressure of the raised cheeks.- But, according to Dr.
Piderit, who has discussed this point more fully than
any other writer,^14 the tenseness may be largely attrib-
uted to the eyeballs becoming filled with blood and other
fluids, from the acceleration of the circulation, conse-
quent on the excitement of pleasure. He remarks on the
contrast in the appearance of the eyes of a hectic pa-
tient with a rapid circulation, and of a man suffering
from cholera with almost all the fluids of his body
drained from him. Any cause which lowers the circula-
tion deadens the eye. I remember seeing a man utterly
^12	C. Vogt, ' Memoire sur les Microc6phales,' 1867, p. 21.
^13	Sir C. Bell, ' Anatomy of Expression,' p. 133.
Physiognomik,' 1867, s. 63-67.