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Chapter VI
SPECIAL EXPRESSIONS OF MAN: SUFFERING AND WEEPING.
The screaming and weeping Of infants--Forms of features--
Age at which weeping commences--The effects of habitual restraint
on weeping--Sobbing--Cause of the contraction of the muscles round
the eyes during screaming--Cause of the secretion of tears.
IN this and the following chapters the expressions exhibited by Man
under various states of the mind will be described and explained,
as far as lies in my power. My observations will be arranged
according to the order which I have found the most convenient;
and this will generally lead to opposite emotions and sensations
succeeding each other.
_Suffering of the body and mind: weeping_.--I have already
described in sufficient detail, in the third chapter, the signs
of extreme pain, as shown by screams or groans, with the writhing
of the whole body and the teeth clenched or ground together.
These signs are often accompanied or followed by profuse
sweating, pallor, trembling, utter prostration, or faintness.
No suffering is greater than that from extreme fear or horror,
but here a distinct emotion comes into play, and will be
elsewhere considered. Prolonged suffering, especially of the mind,
passes into low spirits, grief, dejection, and despair,
and these states will be the subject of the following chapter.
Here I shall almost confine myself to weeping or crying,
more especially in children.
Infants, when suffering even slight pain, moderate hunger,
or discomfort, utter violent and prolonged screams.
Whilst thus screaming their eyes are firmly closed, so that the skin
round them is wrinkled, and the forehead contracted into a frown.
The mouth is widely opened with the lips retracted in a
peculiar manner, which causes it to assume a squarish form;
the gums or teeth being more or less exposed. The breath is inhaled
almost spasmodically. It is easy to observe infants whilst screaming;
but I have found photographs made by the instantaneous process
the best means for observation, as allowing more deliberation.
I have collected twelve, most of them made purposely for me;
and they all exhibit the same general characteristics.
I have, therefore, had six of them[1] (Plate I.) reproduced by
the heliotype process.
The firm closing of the eyelids and consequent compression
of the eyeball,--and this is a most important element in
various expressions,--serves to protect the eyes from becoming too
much gorged with blood, as will presently be explained in detail.
With respect to the order in which the several muscles contract
in firmly compressing the eyes, I am indebted to Dr. Langstaff,
of Southampton, for some observations, which I have since repeated.
The best plan for observing the order is to make a person
first raise his eyebrows, and this produces transverse wrinkles
across the forehead; and then very gradually to contract all
the muscles round the elves with as much force as possible.
The reader who is unacquainted with the anatomy of the face,
ought to refer to p. 24, and look at the woodcuts 1 to 3.
The corrugators of the brow (_corrugator supercilii_) seem to be
the first muscles to contract; and these draw the eyebrows downwards
and inwards towards the base of the nose, causing vertical furrows,
that is a frown, to appear between the eyebrows; at the same time
they cause the disappearance of the transverse wrinkles across
the forehead. The orbicular muscles contract almost simultaneously
with the corrugators, and produce wrinkles all round the eyes;
they appear, however, to be enabled to contract with greater force,
as soon as the contraction of the corrugators has given them
some support. Lastly, the pyramidal muscles of the nose contract;
and these draw the eyebrows and the skin of the forehead still
lower down, producing short transverse wrinkles across the base
of the nose.[2] For the sake of brevity these muscles will generally
be spoken of as the orbiculars, or as those surrounding the eyes.
[1] The best photographs in my collection are by Mr. Rejlander,
of Victoria Street, London, and by Herr Kindermann,
of Hamburg. Figs. 1, 3, 4, and 6 are by the former; and figs.
2 and 5, by the latter gentleman. Fig. 6 is given to show
moderate crying in an older child.
When these muscles are strongly contracted, those running
to the upper lip[3] likewise contract and raise the upper lip.
This might have been expected from the manner in which at least
one of them, the _malaris_, is connected with the orbiculars.
Any one who will gradually contract the muscles round his eyes,
will feel, as he increases the force, that his upper lip
and the wings of his nose (which are partly acted on by one
of the same muscles) are almost always a little drawn up.
If he keeps his mouth firmly shut whilst contracting the muscles
round the eyes, and then suddenly relaxes his lips, he will
feel that the pressure on his eyes immediately increases.
So again when a person on a bright, glaring day wishes to look at
a distant object, but is compelled partially to close his eyelids,
the upper lip may almost always be observed to be somewhat raised.
The mouths of some very short-sighted persons, who are forced
habitually to reduce the aperture of their eyes, wear from this
same reason a grinning expression.
[2] Henle (`Handbuch d. Syst. Anat. 1858, B. i. s. 139) agrees with
Duchenne that this is the effect of the contraction of the _pyramidalis nasi_.
[3] These consist of the _levator labii superioris alaeque nasi_,
the _levator labii proprius_, the _malaris_, and the _zygomaticus minor_,
or little zygomatic. This latter muscle runs parallel to and above
the great zygomatic, and is attached to the outer part of the upper lip.
It is represented in fig. 2 (I. p. 24), but not in figs.
1 and 3. Dr. Duchenne first showed (`Mecanisme de la
Physionomie Humaine,' Album, 1862, p. 39) the importance of the contraction
of this muscle in the shape assumed by the features in crying.
Henle considers the above-named muscles (excepting the _malaris_)
as subdivisions of the q_uadratus labii superioris_.
The raising of the upper lip draws upwards the flesh of the upper
parts of the cheeks, and produces a strongly marked fold on
each cheek,--the naso-labial fold,--which runs from near the wings
of the nostrils to the corners of the mouth and below them.
This fold or furrow may be seen in all the photographs,
and is very characteristic of the expression of a crying child;
though a nearly similar fold is produced in the act of
laughing or Smiling.[4]
[4] Although Dr. Duchenne has so carefully studied the contraction
of the different muscles during the act of crying, and the
furrows on the face thus produced, there seems to be something
incomplete in his account; but what this is I cannot say.
He has given a figure (Album, fig. 48) in which one half of
the face is made, by galvanizing the proper muscles, to smile;
whilst the other half is similarly made to begin crying.
Almost all those (viz. nineteen out of twenty-one persons)
to whom I showed the smiling half of the face instantly
recognized the expression; but, with respect to the other half,
only six persons out of twenty-one recognized it,--that is,
if we accept such terms as "grief," "misery," "annoyance,"
as correct;--whereas, fifteen persons were ludicrously mistaken;
some of them saying the face expressed "fun," "satisfaction,"
"cunning," "disgust," &c. We may infer from this that there
is something wrong in the expression. Some of the fifteen
persons may, however, have been partly misled by not expecting
to see an old man crying, and by tears not being secreted.
With respect to another figure by Dr. Duchenne (fig. 49), in which
the muscles of half the face are galvanized in order to represent
a man beginning to cry, with the eyebrow on the same side
rendered oblique, which is characteristic of misery, the expression
was recognized by a greater proportional number of persons.
Out of twenty-three persons, fourteen answered correctly,
"sorrow," "distress," "grief," "just going to cry,"
"endurance of pain," &c. On the other hand, nine persons either
could form no opinion or were entirely wrong, answering,
"cunning leer," "jocund," "looking at an intense light,"
"looking at a distant object," &c.
As the upper lip is much drawn up during the act of screaming, in the
manner just explained, the depressor muscles of the angles of the mouth
(see K in woodcuts 1 and 2) are strongly contracted in order to keep
the mouth widely open, so that a full volume of sound may be poured forth.
The action of these opposed muscles, above and below, tends to give
to the mouth an oblong, almost squarish outline, as may be seen
in the accompanying photographs. An excellent observer,[5] in
describing a baby crying whilst being fed, says, "it made its mouth
like a square, and let the porridge run out at all four corners."
I believe, but we shall return to this point in a future chapter,
that the depressor muscles of the angles of the mouth are less
under the separate control of the will than the adjoining muscles;
so that if a young child is only doubtfully inclined to cry, this muscle
is generally the first to contract, and is the last to cease contracting.
When older children commence crying, the muscles which run to the upper
lip are often the first to contract; and this may perhaps be due
to older children not having so strong a tendency to scream loudly,
and consequently to keep their mouths widely open; so that the above-named
depressor muscles are not brought into such strong action.
[5] Mrs. Gaskell, `Mary Barton,' new edit. p. 84.
With one of my own infants, from his eighth day and for some time afterwards,
I often observed that the first sign of a screaming-fit, when it could be
observed coming on gradually, was a little frown, owing to the contraction
of the corrugators of the brows; the capillaries of the naked head and face
becoming at the same time reddened with blood. As soon as the screaming-fit
actually began, all the muscles round the eyes were strongly contracted,
and the mouth widely opened in the manlier above described; so that at this
early period the features assumed the same form as at a more advanced age.
Dr. Piderit[6] lays great stress on the contraction of certain
muscles which draw down the nose and narrow the nostrils,
as eminently characteristic of a crying expression.
The _depressores anguli oris_, as we have just seen, are usually
contracted at the same time, and they indirectly tend,
according to Dr. Duchenne, to act in this same manner on the nose.
With children having bad colds a similar pinched appearance
of the nose may be noticed, which is at least partly due,
as remarked to me by Dr. Langstaff, to their constant snuffling,
and the consequent pressure of the atmosphere on the two sides.
The purpose of this contraction of the nostrils by children having
bad colds, or whilst crying, seems to be to cheek the downward
flow of the mucus and tears, and to prevent these fluids
spreading over the upper lip.
After a prolonged and severe screaming-fit, the scalp, face, and eyes
are reddened, owing to the return of the blood from the head having
been impeded by the violent expiratory efforts; but the redness of
the stimulated eyes is chiefly due to the copious effusion of tears.
The various muscles of the face which have been strongly contracted,
still twitch a little, and the upper lip is still slightly drawn up or
everted,[7] with the corners of the mouth still a little drawn downwards.
I have myself felt, and have observed in other grown-up persons,
that when tears are restrained with difficulty, as in reading a
pathetic story, it is almost impossible to prevent the various muscles.
which with young children are brought into strong action during their
screaming-fits, from slightly twitching or trembling.
[6] `Mimik und Physiognomik,' 1867, s. 102. Duchenne, Mecanisme de
la Phys. Humaine, Album, p. 34.
Infants whilst young do not shed tears or weep, as is well known
to nurses and medical men. This circumstance is not exclusively due
to the lacrymal glands being as yet incapable of secreting tears.
I first noticed this fact from having accidentally brushed with the cuff
of my coat the open eye of one of my infants, when seventy-seven days old,
causing this eye to water freely; and though the child screamed violently,
the other eye remained dry, or was only slightly suffused with tears.
A similar slight effusion occurred ten days previously in both eyes
during a screaming-fit. The tears did not run over the eyelids and roll
down the cheeks of this child, whilst screaming badly, when 122 days old.
This first happened 17 days later, at the age of 139 days.
A few other children have been observed for me, and the period of free
weeping appears to be very variable. In one case, the eyes became
slightly suffused at the age of only 20 days; in another, at 62 days.
With two other children, the tears did NOT run down the face at the ages of 84
and 110 days; but in a third child they did run down at the age of 104 days.
In one instance, as I was positively assured, tears ran down at the unusually
early age of 42 days. It would appear as if the lacrymal glands required
some practice in the individual before they are easily excited into action,
in somewhat the same manner as various inherited consensual movements
and tastes require some exercise before they are fixed and perfected.
This is all the more likely with a habit like weeping, which must have been
acquired since the period when man branched off from the common progenitor
of the genus Homo and of the non-weeping anthropomorphous apes.
[7] Dr. Duchenne makes this remark, ibid. p. 39.
The fact of tears not being shed at a very early age from pain
or any mental emotion is remarkable, as, later in life, no expression
is more general or more strongly marked than weeping. When the habit
has once been acquired by an infant, it expresses in the clearest
manner suffering of all kinds, both bodily pain and mental distress,
even though accompanied by other emotions, such as fear or rage.
The character of the crying, however, changes at a very early age, as I
noticed in my own infants,--the passionate cry differing from that of grief.
A lady informs me that her child, nine months old, when in a passion
screams loudly, but does not weep; tears, however, are shed when she
is punished by her chair being turned with its back to the table.
This difference may perhaps be attributed to weeping being restrained,
as we shall immediately see, at a more advanced age, under most
circumstances excepting grief; and to the influence of such restraint
being transmitted to an earlier period of life, than that at which it
was first practised.
With adults, especially of the male sex, weeping soon ceases
to be caused by, or to express, bodily pain. This may be accounted
for by its being thought weak and unmanly by men, both of civilized
and barbarous races, to exhibit bodily pain by any outward sign.
With this exception, savages weep copiously from very slight causes,
of which fact Sir J. Lubbock[8] has collected instances.
A New Zealand chief "cried like a child because the sailors
spoilt his favourite cloak by powdering it with flour."
I saw in Tierra del Fuego a native who had lately lost a brother,
and who alternately cried with hysterical violence, and laughed
heartily at anything which amused him. With the civilized nations
of Europe there is also much difference in the frequency of weeping.
Englishmen rarely cry, except under the pressure of the acutest grief;
whereas in some parts of the Continent the men shed tears much
more readily and freely.
The insane notoriously give way to all their emotions with little or
no restraint; and I am informed by Dr. J. Crichton Browne, that nothing
is more characteristic of simple melancholia, even in the male sex,
than a tendency to weep on the slightest occasions, or from no cause.
They also weep disproportionately on the occurrence of any real
cause of grief. The length of time during which some patients weep
is astonishing, as well as the amount of tears which they shed.
One melancholic girl wept for a whole day, and afterwards confessed
to Dr. Browne, that it was because she remembered that she had once
shaved off her eyebrows to promote their growth. Many patients
in the asylum sit for a long time rocking themselves backwards
and forwards; "and if spoken to, they stop their movements, purse up
their eyes, depress the corners of the mouth, and burst out crying."
In some of these cases, the being spoken to or kindly greeted appears
to suggest some fanciful and sorrowful notion; but in other cases an effort
of any kind excites weeping, independently of any sorrowful idea.
Patients suffering from acute mania likewise have paroxysms of violent
crying or blubbering, in the midst of their incoherent ravings.
We must not, however, lay too much stress on the copious shedding
of tears by the insane, as being due to the lack of all restraint;
for certain brain-diseases, as hemiplegia, brain-wasting, and
senile decay, have a special tendency to induce weeping.
Weeping is common in the insane, even after a complete state
of fatuity has been reached and the power of speech lost.
Persons born idiotic likewise weep;[9] but it is said that this
is not the case with cretins.
[8] `The Origin of Civilization,' 1870, p. 355.
Weeping seems to be the primary and natural expression, as we
see in children, of suffering of any kind, whether bodily pain
short of extreme agony, or mental distress. But the foregoing
facts and common experience show us that a frequently repeated
effort to restrain weeping, in association with certain states
of the mind, does much in checking the habit. On the other hand,
it appears that the power of weeping can be increased through habit;
thus the Rev. R. Taylor,[10] who long resided in New Zealand,
asserts that the women can voluntarily shed tears in abundance;
they meet for this purpose to mourn for the dead, and they take
pride in crying "in the most affecting manner."
A single effort of repression brought to bear on the lacrymal glands
does little, and indeed seems often to lead to an opposite result.
An old and experienced physician told me that he had always found
that the only means to check the occasional bitter weeping of ladies
who consulted him, and who themselves wished to desist, was earnestly
to beg them not to try, and to assure them that nothing would relieve
them so much as prolonged and copious crying.
[9] See, for instance, Mr. Marshall's account of an idiot
in Philosoph. Transact. 1864, p. 526. With respect to cretins,
see Dr. Piderit, `Mimik und Physiognomik,' 1867, s. 61.
[10] `New Zealand and its Inhabitants,' 1855, p. 175.
The screaming of infants consists of prolonged expirations,
with short and rapid, almost spasmodic inspirations, followed at
a somewhat more advanced age by sobbing. According to Gratiolet,[11]
the glottis is chiefly affected during the act of sobbing.
This sound is heard "at the moment when the inspiration conquers
the resistance of the glottis, and the air rushes into the chest."
But the whole act of respiration is likewise spasmodic and violent.
The shoulders are at the same time generally raised, as by this
movement respiration is rendered easier. With one of my infants,
when seventy-seven days old, the inspirations were so rapid
and strong that they approached in character to sobbing; when 138
days old I first noticed distinct sobbing, which subsequently
followed every bad crying-fit. The respiratory movements are partly
voluntary and partly involuntary, and I apprehend that sobbing
is at least in part due to children having some power to command
after early infancy their vocal organs and to stop their screams,
but from having less power over their respiratory muscles,
these continue for a time to act in an involuntary or
spasmodic manner, after having been brought into violent action.
Sobbing seems to be peculiar to the human species; for the keepers
in the Zoological Gardens assure me that they have never heard
a sob from any kind of monkey; though monkeys often scream loudly
whilst being chased and caught, and then pant for a long time.
We thus see that there is a close analogy between sobbing
and the free shedding of tears; for with children, sobbing does
not commence during early infancy, but afterwards comes on rather
suddenly and then follows every bad crying-fit, until the habit
is checked with advancing years.
[11] `De la Physionomie,' 1865, p. 126.
_On the cause of the contraction of the muscles round the eyes
during screaming_.--We have seen that infants and young children,
whilst screaming, invariably close their eyes firmly, by the contraction
of the surrounding muscles, so that the skin becomes wrinkled all around.
With older children, and even with adults, whenever there is violent
and unrestrained crying, a tendency to the contraction of these same
muscles may be observed; though this is often checked in order not
to interfere with vision.
Sir C. Bell explains[12] this action in the following
manner:--"During every violent act of expiration, whether in
hearty laughter, weeping, coughing, or sneezing, the eyeball
is firmly compressed by the fibres of the orbicularis;
and this is a provision for supporting and defending the vascular
system of the interior of the eye from a retrograde impulse
communicated to the blood in the veins at that time.
When we contract the chest and expel the air, there is a
retardation of the blood in the veins of the neck and head;
and in the more powerful acts of expulsion, the blood not only distends
the vessels, but is even regurgitated into the minute branches.
Were the eye not properly compressed at that time, and a
resistance given to the shock, irreparable injury might be
inflicted on the delicate textures of the interior of the eye."
He further adds, "If we separate the eyelids of a child
to examine the eye, while it cries and struggles with passion,
by taking off the natural support to the vascular system
of the eye, and means of guarding it against the rush of blood
then occurring, the conjunctiva becomes suddenly filled with blood,
and the eyelids everted."
[12] `The Anatomy of Expression,' 1844, p. 106. See also his paper
in the `Philosophical Transactions,' 1822, p. 284, ibid. 1823, pp.
166 and 289. Also `The Nervous System of the Human Body,' 3rd edit.
1836, p. 175.
Not only are the muscles round the eyes strongly contracted, as Sir C. Bell
states and as I have often observed, during screaming, loud laughter,
coughing, and sneezing, but during several other analogous actions.
A man contracts these muscles when he violently blows his nose.
I asked one of my boys to shout as loudly as he possibly could,
and as soon as he began, he firmly contracted his orbicular muscles;
I observed this repeatedly, and on asking him why he had every time
so firmly closed his eyes, I found that he was quite unaware of the fact:
he had acted instinctively or unconsciously.
It is not necessary, in order to lead to the contraction of
these muscles, that air should actually be expelled from the chest;
it suffices that the muscles of the chest and abdomen should contract
with great force, whilst by the closure of the glottis no air escapes.
In violent vomiting or retching the diaphragm is made to descend
by the chest being filled with air; it is then held in this position
by the closure of the glottis, "as well as by the contraction of its own
fibres."[13] The abdominal muscles now contract strongly upon the stomach,
its proper muscles likewise contracting, and the contents are thus ejected.
During each effort of vomiting "the head becomes greatly congested,
so that the features are red and swollen, and the large veins of
the face and temples visibly dilated." At the same time, as I know
from observation, the muscles round the eyes are strongly contracted.
This is likewise the case when the abdominal muscles act downwards
with unusual force in expelling the contents of the intestinal canal.
[13] See Dr. Brinton's account of the act of vomiting, in Todd's Cyclop.
of Anatomy and Physiology, 1859, vol. v. Supplement, p. 318.
The greatest exertion of the muscles of the body, if those of the chest are
not brought into strong action in expelling or compressing the air within
the lungs, does not lead to the contraction of the muscles round the eyes.
I have observed my sons using great force in gymnastic exercises,
as in repeatedly raising their suspended bodies by their arms alone,
and in lifting heavy weights from the ground, but there was hardly any
trace of contraction in the muscles round the eyes.
As the contraction of these muscles for the protection
of the eyes during violent expiration is indirectly,
as we shall hereafter see, a fundamental element in several
of our most important expressions, I was extremely anxious
to ascertain how far Sir C. Bell's view could be substantiated.
Professor Donders, of Utrecht,[14] well known as one of the highest
authorities in Europe on vision and on the structure of the eye,
has most kindly undertaken for me this investigation with
the aid of the many ingenious mechanisms of modern science,
and has published the results.[15] He shows that during
violent expiration the external, the intra-ocular, and the
retro-ocular vessels of the eye are all affected in two ways,
namely by the increased pressure of the blood in the arteries,
and by the return of the blood in the veins being impeded.
It is, therefore, certain that both the arteries and the veins
of the eye are more or less distended during violent expiration.
The evidence in detail may be found in Professor Donders'
valuable memoir. We see the effects on the veins of the head,
in their prominence, and in the purple colour of the face
of a man who coughs violently from being half choked.
I may mention, on the same authority, that the whole eye
certainly advances a little during each violent expiration.
This is due to the dilatation of the retro-ocular vessels,
and might have been expected from the intimate connection of
the eye and brain; the brain being known to rise and fall with
each respiration, when a portion of the skull has been removed;
and as may be seen along the unclosed sutures of infants' heads.
This also, I presume, is the reason that the eyes of a strangled
man appear as if they were starting from their sockets.
[14] I am greatly indebted to Mr. Bowman for having introduced
me to Prof. Donders, and for his aid in persuading this great
physiologist to undertake the investigation of the present subject.
I am likewise much indebted to Mr. Bowman for having given me,
with the utmost kindness, information on many points.
[15] This memoir first appeared in the `Nederlandsch Archief voor Genees
en Natuurkiinde,' Deel 5, 1870. It has been translated by Dr. W. D. Moore,
under the title of "On the Action of the Eyelids in determination of Blood
from expiratory effort," in `Archives of Medicine,' edited by Dr. L. S. Beale,
1870, vol. v. p. 20.
With respect to the protection of the eye during violent expiratory
efforts by the pressure of the eyelids, Professor Donders concludes from
his various observations that this action certainly limits or entirely
removes the dilatation of the vessels.[16] At such times, he adds,
we not unfrequently see the hand involuntarily laid upon the eyelids,
as if the better to support and defend the eyeball.
[16] Prof. Donders remarks (ibid. p. 28), that, "After injury to the eye,
after operations, and in some forms of internal inflammation,
we attach great value to the uniform support of the closed eyelids,
and we increase this in many instances by the application of a bandage.
In both cases we carefully endeavour to avoid great expiratory pressure,
the disadvantage of which is well known." Mr. Bowman informs me that in
the excessive photophobia, accompanying what is called scrofulous ophthalmia
in children, when the light is so very painful that during weeks or months
it is constantly excluded by the most forcible closure of the lids,
he has often been struck on opening the lids by the paleness of the eye,--
not an unnatural paleness, but an absence of the redness that might have been
expected when the surface is somewhat inflamed, as is then usually the case;
and this paleness he is inclined to attribute to the forcible closure
of the eyelids.
Nevertheless much evidence cannot at present be advanced
to prove that the eye actually suffers injury from the want
of support during violent expiration; but there is some.
It is "a fact that forcible expiratory efforts in violent
coughing or vomiting, and especially in sneezing,
sometimes give rise to ruptures of the little (external) vessels"
of the eye.[17] With respect to the internal vessels,
Dr. Gunning has lately recorded a case of exophthalmos in
consequence of whooping-cough, which in his opinion depended
on the rupture of the deeper vessels; and another analogous
case has been recorded. But a mere sense of discomfort would
probably suffice to lead to the associated habit of protecting
the eyeball by the contraction of the surrounding muscles.
Even the expectation or chance of injury would probably
be sufficient, in the same manner as an object moving too
near the eye induces involuntary winking of the eyelids.
We may, therefore, safely conclude from Sir C. Bell's observations,
and more especially from the more careful investigations
by Professor Donders, that the firm closure of the eyelids
during the screaming of children is an action full of meaning
and of real service.
We have already seen that the contraction of the orbicular muscles
leads to the drawing up of the upper lip, and consequently,
if the mouth is kept widely open, to the drawing down of
the corners by the contraction of the depressor muscles.
The formation of the naso-labial fold on the cheeks likewise
follows from the drawing up of the upper lip. Thus all the chief
expressive movements of the face during crying apparently
result from the contraction of the muscles round the eyes.
We shall also find that the shedding of tears depends on,
or at least stands in some connection with, the contraction
of these same muscles.
[17] Donders, ibid. p. 36.
In some of the foregoing cases, especially in those of sneezing and coughing,
it is possible that the contraction of the orbicular muscles may serve
in addition to protect the eyes from too severe a jar or vibration.
I think so, because dogs and cats, in crunching hard bones, always close
their eyelids, and at least sometimes in sneezing; though dogs do not
do so whilst barking loudly. Mr. Sutton carefully observed for me
a young orang and chimpanzee, and he found that both always closed
their eyes in sneezing and coughing, but not whilst screaming violently.
I gave a small pinch of snuff to a monkey of the American division,
namely, a Cebus, and it closed its eyelids whilst sneezing; but not on
a subsequent occasion whilst uttering loud cries.
_Cause of the secretion of tears_.--It is an important fact which
must be considered in any theory of the secretion of tears from
the mind being affected, that whenever the muscles round the eyes
are strongly and involuntarily contracted in order to compress
the blood-vessels and thus to protect the eyes, tears are secreted,
often in sufficient abundance to roll down the cheeks.
This occurs under the most opposite emotions, and under no emotion
at all. The sole exception, and this is only a partial one,
to the existence of a relation between the involuntary and
strong contraction of these muscles and the secretion of tears
is that of young infants, who, whilst screaming violently
with their eyelids firmly closed, do not commonly weep until
they have attained the age of from two to three or four months.
Their eyes, however, become suffused with tears at a much earlier age.
It would appear, as already remarked, that the lacrymal
glands do not, from the want of practice or some other cause,
come to full functional activity at a very early period of life.
With children at a somewhat later age, crying out or wailing from
any distress is so regularly accompanied by the shedding of tears,
that weeping and crying are synonymous terms.[18]
Under the opposite emotion of great joy or amusement, as long as laughter
is moderate there is hardly any contraction of the muscles round the eyes,
so that there is no frowning; but when peals of loud laughter are uttered,
with rapid and violent spasmodic expirations, tears stream down the face.
I have more than once noticed the face of a person, after a paroxysm
of violent laughter, and I could see that the orbicular muscles and those
running to the upper lip were still partially contracted, which together
with the tear-stained cheeks gave to the upper half of the face an expression
not to be distinguished from that of a child still blubbering from grief.
The fact of tears streaming down the face during violent laughter is common
to all the races of mankind, as we shall see in a future chapter.
In violent coughing especially when a person is half-choked,
the face becomes purple, the veins distended, the orbicular muscles
strongly contracted, and tears run down the cheeks. Even after
a fit of ordinary coughing, almost every one has to wipe his eyes.
In violent vomiting or retching, as I have myself experienced
and seen in others, the orbicular muscles are strongly contracted,
and tears sometimes flow freely down the cheeks. It has been suggested
to me that this may be due to irritating matter being injected into
the nostrils, and causing by reflex action the secretion of tears.
Accordingly I asked one of my informants, a surgeon, to attend to
the effects of retching when nothing was thrown up from the stomach;
and, by an odd coincidence, he himself suffered the next morning
from an attack of retching, and three days subsequently observed
a lady under a similar attack; and he is certain that in neither case
an atom of matter was ejected from the stomach; yet the orbicular
muscles were strongly contracted, and tears freely secreted.
I can also speak positively to the energetic contraction of these same
muscles round the eyes, and to the coincident free secretion of tears,
when the abdominal muscles act with unusual force in a downward
direction on the intestinal canal.
[18] Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood (Dict. of English Etymology,
1859, vol. i. p. 410) says, "the verb to weep comes from
Anglo-Saxon _wop_, the primary meaning of which is simply outcry."
Yawning commences with a deep inspiration, followed by a long
and forcible expiration; and at the same time almost all the muscles
of the body are strongly contracted, including those round the eyes.
During this act tears are often secreted, and I have seen them
even rolling down the cheeks.
I have frequently observed that when persons scratch some point which
itches intolerably, they forcibly close their eyelids; but they do not,
as I believe, first draw a deep breath and then expel it with force;
and I have never noticed that the eyes then become filled with tears;
but I am not prepared to assert that this does not occur.
The forcible closure of the eyelids is, perhaps, merely a part of that
general action by which almost all the muscles of the body are at
the same time rendered rigid. It is quite different from the gentle
closure of the eyes which often accompanies, as Gratiolet remarks,[19]
the smelling a delicious odour, or the tasting a delicious morsel,
and which probably originates in the desire to shut out any disturbing
impression through the eyes.
[19] `De la Physionomie,' 1865, p. 217.
Professor Donders writes to me to the following effect:
"I have observed some cases of a very curious affection when,
after a slight rub (_attouchement_), for example, from the friction
of a coat, which caused neither a wound nor a contusion,
spasms of the orbicular muscles occurred, with a very profuse flow
of tears, lasting about one hour. Subsequently, sometimes after
an interval of several weeks, violent spasms of the same
muscles re-occurred, accompanied by the secretion of tears,
together with primary or secondary redness of the eye."
Mr. Bowman informs me that be has occasionally observed closely
analogous cases, and that, in some of these, there was no redness
or inflammation of the eyes.
I was anxious to ascertain whether there existed in any of the lower
animals a similar relation between the contraction of the orbicular
muscles during violent expiration and the secretion of tears;
but there are very few animals which contract these muscles
in a prolonged manner, or which shed tears. _The Macacus maurus_,
which formerly wept so copiously in the Zoological Gardens, would have
been a fine case for observation; but the two monkeys now there,
and which are believed to belong to the same species, do not weep.
Nevertheless they were carefully observed by Mr. Bartlett and myself,
whilst screaming loudly, and they seemed to contract these muscles;
but they moved about their cages so rapidly, that it was difficult
to observe with certainty. No other monkey, as far as I have been
able to ascertain, contracts its orbicular muscles whilst screaming.
The Indian elephant is known sometimes to weep. Sir E. Tennent,
in describing these which he saw captured and bound in Ceylon, says,
some "lay motionless on the ground, with no other indication of suffering
than the tears which suffused their eyes and flowed incessantly."
Speaking of another elephant he says, "When overpowered and made fast,
his grief was most affecting; his violence sank to utter prostration,
and he lay on the ground, uttering choking cries, with tears trickling
down his cheeks."[20] In the Zoological Gardens the keeper of the Indian
elephants positively asserts that he has several times seen tears
rolling down the face of the old female, when distressed by the removal
of the young one. Hence I was extremely anxious to ascertain,
as an extension of the relation between the contraction of the orbicular
muscles and the shedding of tears in man, whether elephants when screaming
or trumpeting loudly contract these muscles. At Mr. Bartlett's
desire the keeper ordered the old and the young elephant to trumpet;
and we repeatedly saw in both animals that, just as the trumpeting began,
the orbicular muscles, especially the lower ones, were distinctly contracted.
On a subsequent occasion the keeper made the old elephant trumpet
much more loudly, and invariably both the upper and lower orbicular
muscles were strongly contracted, and now in an equal degree.
It is a singular fact that the African elephant, which, however, is so
different from the Indian species that it is placed by some naturalists
in a distinct sub-genus, when made on two occasions to trumpet loudly,
exhibited no trace of the contraction of the orbicular muscles.
[20] `Ceylon,' 3rd edit. 1859, vol. ii. pp. 364, 376.
I applied to Mr. Thwaites, in Ceylon, for further information
with respect to the weeping of the elephant; and in consequence
received a letter from the Rev. Mr Glenie, who, with others,
kindly observed for me a herd of recently captured elephants.
These, when irritated, screamed violently; but it is remarkable that they
never when thus screaming contracted the muscles round the eyes.
Nor did they shed tears; and the native hunters asserted that they
had never observed elephants weeping. Nevertheless, it appears
to me impossible to doubt Sir E. Tennent's distinct details
about their weeping, supported as they are by the positive
assertion of the keeper in the Zoological Gardens. It is
certain that the two elephants in the Gardens, when they began
to trumpet loudly, invariably contracted their orbicular muscles.
I can reconcile these conflicting statements only by supposing
that the recently captured elephants in Ceylon, from being
enraged or frightened, desired to observe their persecutors,
and consequently did not contract their orbicular muscles,
so that their vision might not be impeded. Those seen weeping by
Sir E. Tennent were prostrate, and had given up the contest in despair.
The elephants which trumpeted in the Zoological Gardens at the word
of command, were, of course, neither alarmed nor enraged.
From the several foregoing cases with respect to Man, there can,
I think, be no doubt that the contraction of the muscles round
the eyes, during violent expiration or when the expanded chest
is forcibly compressed, is, in some manner, intimately connected
with the secretion of tears. This holds good under widely
different emotions, and independently of any emotion. It is not,
of course, meant that tears cannot be secreted without the contraction
of these muscles; for it is notorious that they are often freely
shed with the eyelids not closed, and with the brows unwrinkled.
The contraction must be both involuntary and prolonged,
as during a choking fit, or energetic, as during a sneeze.
The mere involuntary winking of the eyelids, though often repeated,
does not bring tears into the eyes. Nor does the voluntary and
prolonged contraction of the several surrounding muscles suffice.
As the lacrymal glands of children are easily excited, I persuaded
my own and several other children of different ages to contract
these muscles repeatedly with their utmost force, and to continue
doing so as long as they possibly could; but this produced hardly
any effect. There was sometimes a little moisture in the eyes,
but not more than apparently could be accounted for by the squeezing
out of the already secreted tears within the glands.
The nature of the relation between the involuntary and energetic
contraction of the muscles round the eyes, and the secretion of tears,
cannot be positively ascertained, but a probable view may be suggested.
The primary function of the secretion of tears, together with some mucus,
is to lubricate the surface of the eye; and a secondary one,
as some believe, is to keep the nostrils damp, so that the inhaled
air may be moist,[21] and likewise to favour the power of smelling.
But another, and at least equally important function of tears, is to wash
out particles of dust or other minute objects which may get into the eyes.
That this is of great importance is clear from the cases in which the cornea
has been rendered opaque through inflammation, caused by particles
of dust not being removed, in consequence of the eye and eyelid becoming
immovable.[22] The secretion of tears from the irritation of any foreign
body in the eye is a reflex action;--that is, the body irritates a
peripheral nerve which sends an impression to certain sensory nerve-cells;
these transmit an influence to other cells, and these again to the
lacrymal glands. The influence transmitted to these glands causes,
as there is good reason to believe, the relaxation of the muscular
coats of the smaller arteries; this allows more blood to permeate
the glandular tissue, and this induces a free secretion of tears.
When the small arteries of the face, including those of the retina,
are relaxed under very different circumstances, namely, during an
intense blush, the lacrymal glands are sometimes affected in a like manner,
for the eyes become suffused with tears.
It is difficult to conjecture how many reflex actions have originated,
but, in relation to the present case of the affection of the lacrymal
glands through irritation of the surface of the eye, it may be worth
remarking that, as soon as some primordial form became semi-terrestrial
in its habits, and was liable to get particles of dust into its eyes,
if these were not washed out they would cause much irritation;
and on the principle of the radiation of nerve-force to adjoining
nerve-cells, the lacrymal glands would be stimulated to secretion.
As this would often recur, and as nerve-force readily passes along
accustomed channels, a slight irritation would ultimately suffice
to cause a free secretion of tears.
[21] Bergeon, as quoted in the `Journal of Anatomy
and Physiology,' Nov. 1871, p. 235.
[22] See, for instance, a case given by Sir Charles Bell,
`Philosophical Transactions,' 1823, p. 177.
As soon as by this, or by some other means, a reflex action
of this nature had been established and rendered easy,
other stimulants applied to the surface of the eye--such as a
cold wind, slow inflammatory action, or a blow on the eyelids--
would cause a copious secretion of tears, as we know to be the case.
The glands are also excited into action through the irritation
of adjoining parts. Thus when the nostrils are irritated by
pungent vapours, though the eyelids may be kept firmly closed,
tears are copiously secreted; and this likewise follows from
a blow on the nose, for instance from a boxing-glove. A stinging
switch on the face produces, as I have seen, the same effect.
In these latter cases the secretion of tears is an incidental result,
and of no direct service. As all these parts of the face,
including the lacrymal glands, are supplied with branches
of the same nerve, namely, the fifth, it is in some degree
intelligible that the effects of the excitement of any one branch
should spread to the nerve-cells or roots of the other branches.
The internal parts of the eye likewise act, under certain conditions,
in a reflex manner on the lacrymal glands. The following statements
have been kindly communicated to me by Mr. Bowman; but the subject
is a very intricate one, as all the parts of the eye are so intimately
related together, and are so sensitive to various stimulants.
A strong light acting on the retina, when in a normal condition,
has very little tendency to cause lacrymation; but with unhealthy
children having small, old-standing ulcers on the cornea, the retina
becomes excessively sensitive to light, and exposure even to common
daylight causes forcible and sustained closure of the lids,
and a profuse flow of tears. When persons who ought to begin
the use of convex glasses habitually strain the waning power
of accommodation, an undue secretion of tears very often follows,
and the retina is liable to become unduly sensitive to light.
In general, morbid affections of the surface of the eye,
and of the ciliary structures concerned in the accommodative act,
are prone to be accompanied with excessive secretion of tears.
Hardness of the eyeball, not rising to inflammation, but implying
a want of balance between the fluids poured out and again taken up by
the intra-ocular vessels, is not usually attended with any lacrymation.
When the balance is on the other side, and the eye becomes too soft,
there is a greater tendency to lacrymation. Finally, there are
numerous morbid states and structural alterations of the eyes,
and even terrible inflammations, which may be attended with little
or no secretion of tears.
It also deserves notice, as indirectly bearing on our subject,
that the eye and adjoining parts are subject to an extraordinary
number of reflex and associated movements, sensations, and actions,
besides those relating to the lacrymal glands. When a bright
light strikes the retina of one eye alone, the iris contracts,
but the iris of the other eye moves after a measurable interval of time.
The iris likewise moves in accommodation to near or distant vision,
and when the two eyes are made to converge.[23] Every one knows how
irresistibly the eyebrows are drawn down under an intensely bright light.
The eyelids also involuntarily wink when an object is moved near the eyes,
or a sound is suddenly heard. The well-known case of a bright light
causing some persons to sneeze is even more curious; for nerve-force
here radiates from certain nerve-cells in connection with the retina,
to the sensory nerve-cells of the nose, causing it to tickle;
and from these, to the cells which command the various respiratory muscles
(the orbiculars included) which expel the air in so peculiar a manner
that it rushes through the nostrils alone.
To return to our point: why are tears secreted during
a screaming-fit or other violent expiratory efforts?
As a slight blow on the eyelids causes a copious secretion
of tears, it is at least possible that the spasmodic contraction
of the eyelids, by pressing strongly on the eyeball, should in
a similar manner cause some secretion. This seems possible,
although the voluntary contraction of the same muscles does not
produce any such effect. We know that a man cannot voluntarily
sneeze or cough with nearly the same force as he does automatically;
and so it is with the contraction of the orbicular muscles:
Sir C. Bell experimented on them, and found that by suddenly
and forcibly closing the eyelids in the dark, sparks of light
are seen, like those caused by tapping the eyelids with
the fingers; "but in sneezing the compression is both more
rapid and more forcible, and the sparks are more brilliant."
That these sparks are due to the contraction of the eyelids
is clear, because if they "are held open during the act
of sneezing, no sensation of light will be experienced."
In the peculiar cases referred to by Professor Donders and
Mr. Bowman, we have seen that some weeks after the eye has been
very slightly injured, spasmodic contractions of the eyelids ensue,
and these are accompanied by a profuse flow of tears.
In the act of yawning, the tears are apparently due solely
to the spasmodic contraction of the muscles round the eyes.
Notwithstanding these latter cases, it seems hardly credible
that the pressure of the eyelids on the surface of the eye,
although effected spasmodically and therefore with much greater
force than can be done voluntarily, should be sufficient to cause
by reflex action the secretion of tears in the many cases
in which this occurs during violent expiratory efforts.
[23] See, on these several points, Prof. Donders `On the Anomalies
of Accommodation and Refraction of the Eye,' 1864, p. 573.
Another cause may come conjointly into play.
We have seen that the internal parts of the eye, under certain
conditions act in a reflex manner on the lacrymal glands.
We know that during violent expiratory efforts the pressure
of the arterial blood within the vessels of the eye is increased,
and that the return of the venous blood is impeded.
It seems, therefore, not improbable that the distension
of the ocular vessels, thus induced, might act by reflection
on the lacrymal glands--the effects due to the spasmodic pressure
of the eyelids on the surface of the eye being thus increased.
In considering how far this view is probable, we should bear
in mind that the eyes of infants have been acted on in this
double manner during numberless generations, whenever they
have screamed; and on the principle of nerve-force readily
passing along accustomed channels, even a moderate compression
of the eyeballs and a moderate distension of the ocular vessels
would ultimately come, through habit, to act on the glands.
We have an analogous case in the orbicular muscles being almost
always contracted in some slight degree, even during a gentle
crying-fit, when there can be no distension of the vessels
and no uncomfortable sensation excited within the eyes.
Moreover, when complex actions or movements have long been performed
in strict association together, and these are from any cause at first
voluntarily and afterwards habitually checked, then if the proper exciting
conditions occur, any part of the action or movement which is least under
the control of the will, will often still be involuntarily performed.
The secretion by a gland is remarkably free from the influence of
the will; therefore, when with the advancing age of the individual,
or with the advancing culture of the race, the habit of crying out
or screaming is restrained, and there is consequently no distension
of the blood-vessels of the eye, it may nevertheless well happen
that tears should still be secreted. We may see, as lately remarked,
the muscles round the eyes of a person who reads a pathetic story,
twitching or trembling in so slight a degree as hardly to be detected.
In this case there has been no screaming and no distension of the
blood-vessels, yet through habit certain nerve-cells send a small amount
of nerve-force to the cells commanding the muscles round the eyes;
and they likewise send some to the cells commanding the lacrymal glands,
for the eyes often become at the same time just moistened with tears.
If the twitching of the muscles round the eyes and the secretion
of tears had been completely prevented, nevertheless it is almost
certain that there would have been some tendency to transmit nerve-force
in these same directions; and as the lacrymal glands are remarkably
free from the control of the will, they would be eminently liable still
to act, thus betraying, though there were no other outward signs,
the pathetic thoughts which were passing through the person's mind.
As a further illustration of the view here advanced,
I may remark that if, during an early period of life,
when habits of all kinds are readily established, our infants,
when pleased, had been accustomed to utter loud peals of laughter
(during which the vessels of their eyes are distended)
as often and as continuously as they have yielded when
distressed to screaming-fits, then it is probable that in after
life tears would have been as copiously and as regularly
secreted under the one state of mind as under the other.
Gentle laughter, or a smile, or even a pleasing thought,
would have sufficed to cause a moderate secretion of tears.
There does indeed exist an evident tendency in this direction, as will
be seen in a future chapter, when we treat of the tender feelings.
With the Sandwich Islanders, according to Freycinet,[24] tears are
actually recognized as a sign of happiness; but we should require
better evidence on this head than that of a passing voyager.
So again if our infants, during many generations, and each
of them during several years, had almost daily suffered from
prolonged choking-fits, during which the vessels of the eye
are distended and tears copiously secreted, then it is probable,
such is the force of associated habit, that during after life
the mere thought of a choke, without any distress of mind,
would have sufficed to bring tears into our eyes.
To sum up this chapter, weeping is probably the result of some such chain
of events as follows. Children, when wanting food or suffering in any way,
cry out loudly, like the young of most other animals, partly as a call
to their parents for aid, and partly from any great exertion serving relief.
Prolonged screaming inevitably leads to the gorging of the blood-vessels of
the eye; and this will have led, at first consciously and at last habitually,
to the contraction of the muscles round the eyes in order to protect them.
At the same time the spasmodic pressure on the surface of the eye,
and the distension of the vessels within the eye, without necessarily
entailing any conscious sensation, will have affected, through reflex action,
the lacrymal glands. Finally, through the three principles of nerve-force
readily passing along accustomed channels--of association, which is so
widely extended in its power--and of certain actions, being more under
the control of the will than others--it has come to pass that suffering
readily causes the secretion of tears, without being necessarily accompanied
by any other action.
[24] Quoted by Sir J. Lubbock, `Prehistoric Times,' 1865, p. 458.
Although in accordance with this view we must look at weeping
as an incidental result, as purposeless as the secretion of tears
from a blow outside the eye, or as a sneeze from the retina
being affected by a bright light, yet this does not present any
difficulty in our understanding how the secretion of tears serves
as a relief to suffering. And by as much as the weeping is more
violent or hysterical, by so much will the relief be greater,--
on the same principle that the writhing of the whole body,
the grinding of the teeth, and the uttering of piercing shrieks,
all give relief under an agony of pain.
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