Expression Of The Emotions In Man And Animals

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EXPB.ESSIOH

JOY:

CHAP. VIM.

CHAPTEE VIII.

, HIGH SPIRITS, LOVE, TENDER PEELINGS, -
DEVOTION.

Laughter primarily the expression of joy — Ludicrous ideas
— Movements of the features during- laughter — Nature
of the sound produced — The secretion of tears during
loud laughter — Gradation from loud laughter to gentle
smiling — High spirits — The expression of love — Tender
feelings — Devotion.

JOY, when intense,' leads to various purposeless move-
ments — to dancing about, clapping the hands, stamping,
&c., and to loud laughter. Laughter seems primarily
to te the expression of mere joy or happiness. We
clearly see this in children at play, who are almost inces-
santly laughing. With young persons past childhood,
when they are in high spirits, there is always much
meaningless laughter. The laughter of the gods is de-
scribed by Homer as " the exuberance of their celestial
joy after their daily banquet. " A man smiles — and
smiling, as we shall see, graduates into laughter — at
meeting an old friend in the street, as he does at any
trifling pleasure, such as smelling a sweet perfume.1
Laura Bridgman, from her blindness and deafness, could
not have acquired any expression through imitation,
yet when a letter from a beloved friend was communi-
cated to her by gesture-language, she " laughed and

1 Herbert Spencer, * Essays Scientific,' &c., 1858, p. 360.