Expression Of The Emotions In Man And Animals

Ill:

204

EXPRESSION OF JOY:

CHAP. VIII.

Mi

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.