Chapter VII — LOW SPIRITS, ANXIETY, GRIEF, DEJECTION, DESPAIR

General effect of grief on the system—Obliquity of the eyebrows
under suffering—On the cause of the obliquity of the eyebrows—On
the depression of the corners of the mouth.

After the mind has suffered from an acute paroxysm of grief, and the cause
still continues, we fall into a state of low spirits; or we may be utterly
cast down and dejected. Prolonged bodily pain, if not amounting to an
agony, generally leads to the same state of mind. If we expect to suffer,
we are anxious; if we have no hope of relief, we despair.

Persons suffering from excessive grief often seek relief by violent and
almost frantic movements, as described in a former chapter; but when their
suffering is somewhat mitigated, yet prolonged, they no longer wish for
action, but remain motionless and passive, or may occasionally rock
themselves to and fro. The circulation becomes languid; the face pale; the
muscles flaccid; the eyelids droop; the head hangs on the contracted
chest; the lips, cheeks, and lower jaw all sink downwards from their own
weight. Hence all the features are lengthened; and the face of a person
who hears bad news is said to fall. A party of natives in Tierra del Fuego
endeavoured to explain to us that their friend, the captain of a sealing
vessel, was out of spirits, by pulling down their cheeks with both hands,
so as to make their faces as long as possible. Mr. Bunnet informs me that
the Australian aborigines when out of spirits have a chop-fallen
appearance. After prolonged suffering the eyes become dull and lack
expression, and are often slightly suffused with tears. The eyebrows not
rarely are rendered oblique, which is due to their inner ends being
raised. This produces peculiarly-formed wrinkles on the forehead, which
are very different from those of a simple frown; though in some cases a
frown alone may be present. The comers of the mouth are drawn downwards,
which is so universally recognized as a sign of being out of spirits, that
it is almost proverbial.

The breathing becomes slow and feeble, and is often interrupted by deep
sighs. As Gratiolet remarks, whenever our attention is long concentrated
on any subject, we forget to breathe, and then relieve ourselves by a deep
inspiration; but the sighs of a sorrowful person, owing to his slow
respiration and languid circulation, are eminently characteristic.[701]
As the grief of a person in this state occasionally recurs and increases
into a paroxysm, spasms affect the respiratory muscles, and he feels as if
something, the so-called globus hystericus, was rising in his
throat. These spasmodic movements are clearly allied to the sobbing of
children, and are remnants of those severer spasms which occur when a
person is said to choke from excessive grief.[702]

Obliquity of the eyebrows.—Two points alone in the above
description require further elucidation, and these are very curious ones;
namely, the raising of the inner ends of the eyebrows, and the drawing
down of the corners of the mouth. With respect to the eyebrows, they may
occasionally be seen to assume an oblique position in persons suffering
from deep dejection or anxiety; for instance, I have observed this
movement in a mother whilst speaking about her sick son; and it is
sometimes excited by quite trifling or momentary causes of real or
pretended distress. The eyebrows assume this position owing to the
contraction of certain muscles (namely, the orbiculars, corrugators, and
pyramidals of the nose, which together tend to lower and contract the
eyebrows) being partially cheeked by the more powerful action of the
central fasciæ of the frontal muscle. These latter fasciæ by their
contraction raise the inner ends alone of the eyebrows; and as the
corrugators at the same time draw the eyebrows together, their inner ends
become puckered into a fold or lump. This fold is a highly characteristic
point in the appearance of the eyebrows when rendered oblique, as may be
seen in figs. 2 and 5, Plate II. The eyebrows are at the same time
somewhat roughened, owing to the hairs being made to project. Dr. J.
Crichton Browne has also often noticed in melancholic patients who keep
their eyebrows persistently oblique, “a peculiar acute arching of the
upper eyelid.” A trace of this may be observed by comparing the right and
left eyelids of the young man in the photograph (fig. 2, Plate II.); for
he was not able to act equally on both eyebrows. This is also shown by the
unequal furrows on the two sides of his forehead. The acute arching of the
eyelids depends, I believe, on the inner end alone of the eyebrows being
raised; for when the whole eyebrow is elevated and arched, the upper
eyelid follows in a slight degree the same movement.

But the most conspicuous result of the opposed contraction of the
above-named muscles, is exhibited by the peculiar furrows formed on the
forehead. These muscles, when thus in conjoint yet opposed action, may be
called, for the sake of brevity, the grief-muscles. When a person elevates
his eyebrows by the contraction of the whole frontal muscle, transverse
wrinkles extend across the whole breadth of the forehead; but in the
present case the middle fasciae alone are contracted; consequently,
transverse furrows are formed across the middle part alone of the
forehead. The skin over the exterior parts of both eyebrows is at the same
time drawn downwards and smooth, by the contraction of the outer portions
of the orbicular muscles. The eyebrows are likewise brought together
through the simultaneous contraction of the corrugators;[703]
and this latter action generates vertical furrows, separating the exterior
and lowered part of the skin of the forehead from the central and raised
part. The union of these vertical furrows with the central and transverse
furrows (see figs. 2 and 3) produces a mark on the forehead which has been
compared to a horse-shoe; but the furrows more strictly form three sides
of a quadrangle. They are often conspicuous on the foreheads of adult or
nearly adult persons, when their eyebrows are made oblique; but with young
children, owing to their skin not easily wrinkling, they are rarely seen,
or mere traces of them can be detected.

These peculiar furrows are best represented in fig. 3, Plate II., on the
forehead of a young lady who has the power in an unusual degree of
voluntarily acting on the requisite muscles. As she was absorbed in the
attempt, whilst being photographed, her expression was not at all one of
grief; I have therefore given the forehead alone. Fig. 1 on the same
plate, copied from Dr. Duchenne’s work,[704] represents, on a
reduced scale, the face, in its natural state, of a young man who was a
good actor. In fig. 2 he is shown simulating grief, but the two eyebrows,
as before remarked, are not equally acted on. That the expression is true,
may be inferred from the fact that out of fifteen persons, to whom the
original photograph was shown, without any clue to what was intended being
given them, fourteen immediately answered, “despairing sorrow,” “suffering
endurance,” “melancholy,” and so forth. The history of fig. 5 is rather
curious: I saw the photograph in a shop-window, and took it to Mr.
Rejlander for the sake of finding out by whom it had been made; remarking
to him how pathetic the expression was. He answered, “I made it, and it
was likely to be pathetic, for the boy in a few minutes burst out crying.”
He then showed me a photograph of the same boy in a placid state, which I
have had (fig. 4) reproduced. In fig. 6, a trace of obliquity in the
eyebrows may be detected; but this figure, as well as fig. 7, is given to
show the depression of the corners of the mouth, to which subject I shall
presently refer.

Few persons, without some practice, can voluntarily act on their
grief-muscles; but after repeated trials a considerable number succeed,
whilst others never can. The degree of obliquity in the eyebrows, whether
assumed voluntarily or unconsciously, differs much in different persons.
With some who apparently have unusually strong pyramidal muscles, the
contraction of the central fasciae of the frontal muscle, although it may
be energetic, as shown by the quadrangular furrows on the forehead, does
not raise the inner ends of the eyebrows, but only prevents their being so
much lowered as they otherwise would have been. As far as I have been able
to observe, the grief-muscles are brought into action much more frequently
by children and women than by men. They are rarely acted on, at least with
grown-up persons, from bodily pain, but almost exclusively from mental
distress. Two persons who, after some practice, succeeded in acting on
their grief-muscles, found by looking at a mirror that when they made
their eyebrows oblique, they unintentionally at the same time depressed
the corners of their mouths; and this is often the case when the
expression is naturally assumed.

The power to bring the grief-muscles freely into play appears to be
hereditary, like almost every other human faculty. A lady belonging to a
family famous for having produced an extraordinary number of great actors
and actresses, and who can herself give this expression “with singular
precision,” told Dr. Crichton Browne that all her family had possessed the
power in a remarkable degree. The same hereditary tendency is said to have
extended, as I likewise hear from Dr. Browne, to the last descendant of
the family, which gave rise to Sir Walter Scott’s novel of ‘Red Gauntlet;’
but the hero is described as contracting his forehead into a horseshoe
mark from any strong emotion. I have also seen a young woman whose
forehead seemed almost habitually thus contracted, independently of any
emotion being at the time felt.

The grief-muscles are not very frequently brought into play; and as the
action is often momentary, it easily escapes observation. Although the
expression, when observed, is universally and instantly recognized as that
of grief or anxiety, yet not one person out of a thousand who has never
studied the subject, is able to say precisely what change passes over the
sufferer’s face. Hence probably it is that this expression is not even
alluded to, as far as I have noticed, in any work of fiction, with the
exception of ‘Red Gauntlet’ and of one other novel; and the authoress of
the latter, as I am informed, belongs to the famous family of actors just
alluded to; so that her attention may have been specially called to the
subject.

The ancient Greek sculptors were familiar with the expression, as shown in
the statues of the Laocoon and Arretino; but, as Duchenne remarks, they
carried the transverse furrows across the whole breadth of the forehead,
and thus committed a great anatomical mistake: this is likewise the case
in some modern statues. It is, however, more probable that these
wonderfully accurate observers intentionally sacrificed truth for the sake
of beauty, than that they made a mistake; for rectangular furrows on the
forehead would not have had a grand appearance on the marble. The
expression, in its fully developed condition, is, as far as I can
discover, not often represented in pictures by the old masters, no doubt
owing to the same cause; but a lady who is perfectly familiar with this
expression, informs me that in Fra Angelico’s ‘Descent from the Cross’ in
Florence, it is clearly exhibited in one of the figures on the right-hand;
and I could add a few other instances.

Dr. Crichton Browne, at my request, closely attended to this expression in
the numerous insane patients under his care in the West Riding Asylum; and
he is familiar with Duchenne’s photographs of the action of the
grief-muscles. He informs me that they may constantly be seen in energetic
action in cases of melancholia, and especially of hypochondria; and that
the persistent lines or furrows, due to their habitual contraction, are
characteristic of the physiognomy of the insane belonging to these two
classes. Dr. Browne carefully observed for me during a considerable period
three cases of hypochondria, in which the grief-muscles were persistently
contracted. In one of these, a widow, aged 51, fancied that she had lost
all her viscera, and that her whole body was empty. She wore an expression
of great distress, and beat her semi-closed hands rhythmically together
for hours. The grief-muscles were permanently contracted, and the upper
eyelids arched. This condition lasted for months; she then recovered, and
her countenance resumed its natural expression. A second case presented
nearly the same peculiarities, with the addition that the comers of the
mouth were depressed.

Mr. Patrick Nicol has also kindly observed for me several cases in the
Sussex Lunatic Asylum, and has communicated to me full details with
respect to three of them; but they need not here be given. From his
observations on melancholic patients, Mr. Nicol concludes that the inner
ends of the eyebrows are almost always more or less raised, with the
wrinkles on the forehead more or less plainly marked. In the case of one
young woman, these wrinkles were observed to be in constant slight play or
movement. In some cases the comers of the mouth are depressed, but often
only in a slight degree. Some amount of difference in the expression of
the several melancholic patients could almost always be observed. The
eyelids generally droop; and the skin near their outer comers and beneath
them is wrinkled. The naso-labial fold, which runs from the wings of the
nostrils to the comers of the mouth, and which is so conspicuous in
blubbering children, is often plainly marked in these patients.

Although with the insane the grief-muscles often act persistently; yet in
ordinary cases they are sometimes brought unconsciously into momentary
action by ludicrously slight causes. A gentleman rewarded a young lady by
an absurdly small present; she pretended to be offended, and as she
upbraided him, her eyebrows became extremely oblique, with the forehead
properly wrinkled. Another young lady and a youth, both in the highest
spirits, were eagerly talking together with extraordinary rapidity; and I
noticed that, as often as the young lady was beaten, and could not get out
her words fast enough, her eyebrows went obliquely upwards, and
rectangular furrows were formed on her forehead. She thus each time
hoisted a flag of distress; and this she did half-a-dozen times in the
course of a few minutes. I made no remark on the subject, but on a
subsequent occasion I asked her to act on her grief-muscles; another girl
who was present, and who could do so voluntarily, showing her what was
intended. She tried repeatedly, but utterly failed; yet so slight a cause
of distress as not being able to talk quickly enough, sufficed to bring
these muscles over and over again into energetic action.

The expression of grief, due to the contraction of the grief-muscles, is
by no means confined to Europeans, but appears to be common to all the
races of mankind. I have, at least, received trustworthy accounts in
regard to Hindoos, Dhangars (one of the aboriginal hill-tribes of India,
and therefore belonging to a quite distinct race from the Hindoos),
Malays, Negroes and Australians. With respect to the latter, two observers
answer my query in the affirmative, but enter into no details. Mr. Taplin,
however, appends to my descriptive remarks the words “this is exact.” With
respect to negroes, the lady who told me of Fra Angelico’s picture, saw a
negro towing a boat on the Nile, and as he encountered an obstruction, she
observed his grief-muscles in strong action, with the middle of the
forehead well wrinkled. Mr. Geach watched a Malay man in Malacca, with the
comers of his mouth much depressed, the eyebrows oblique, with deep short
grooves on the forehead. This expression lasted for a very short time; and
Mr. Geach remarks it “was a strange one, very much like a person about to
cry at some great loss.”

In India Mr. H. Erskine found that the natives were familiar with this
expression; and Mr. J. Scott, of the Botanic Gardens, Calcutta, has
obligingly sent me a full description of two cases. He observed during
some time, himself unseen, a very young Dhangar woman from Nagpore, the
wife of one of the gardeners, nursing her baby who was at the point of
death; and he distinctly saw the eyebrows raised at the inner comers, the
eyelids drooping, the forehead wrinkled in the middle, the mouth slightly
open, with the comers much depressed. He then came from behind a screen of
plants and spoke to the poor woman, who started, burst into a bitter flood
of tears, and besought him to cure her baby. The second case was that of a
Hindustani man, who from illness and poverty was compelled to sell his
favourite goat. After receiving the money, he repeatedly looked at the
money in his hand and then at the goat, as if doubting whether he would
not return it. He went to the goat, which was tied up ready to be led
away, and the animal reared up and licked his hands. His eyes then wavered
from side to side; his “mouth was partially closed, with the corners very
decidedly depressed.” At last the poor man seemed to make up his mind that
he must part with his goat, and then, as Mr. Scott saw, the eyebrows
became slightly oblique, with the characteristic puckering or swelling at
the inner ends, but the wrinkles on the forehead were not present. The man
stood thus for a minute, then heaving a deep sigh, burst into tears,
raised up his two hands, blessed the goat, turned round, and without
looking again, went away.

On the cause of the obliquity of the eyebrows under suffering.—During
several years no expression seemed to me so utterly perplexing as this
which we are here considering. Why should grief or anxiety cause the
central fasciae alone of the frontal muscle together with those round the
eyes, to contract? Here we seem to have a complex movement for the sole
purpose of expressing grief; and yet it is a comparatively rare
expression, and often overlooked. I believe the explanation is not so
difficult as it at first appears. Dr. Duchenne gives a photograph of the
young man before referred to, who, when looking upwards at a strongly
illuminated surface, involuntarily contracted his grief-muscles in an
exaggerated manner. I had entirely forgotten this photograph, when on a
very bright day with the sun behind me, I met, whilst on horseback, a girl
whose eyebrows, as she looked up at me, became extremely oblique, with the
proper furrows on her forehead. I have observed the same movement under
similar circumstances on several subsequent occasions. On my return home I
made three of my children, without giving them any clue to my object, look
as long and as attentively as they could, at the summit of a tall tree
standing against an extremely bright sky. With all three, the orbicular,
corrugator, and pyramidal muscles were energetically contracted, through
reflex action, from the excitement of the retina, so that their eyes might
be protected from the bright light. But they tried their utmost to look
upwards; and now a curious struggle, with spasmodic twitchings, could be
observed between the whole or only the central portion of the frontal
muscle, and the several muscles which serve to lower the eyebrows and
close the eyelids. The involuntary contraction of the pyramidal caused the
basal part of their noses to be transversely and deeply wrinkled. In one
of the three children, the whole eyebrows were momentarily raised and
lowered by the alternate contraction of the whole frontal muscle and of
the muscles surrounding the eyes, so that the whole breadth of the
forehead was alternately wrinkled and smoothed. In the other two children
the forehead became wrinkled in the middle part alone, rectangular furrows
being thus produced; and the eyebrows were rendered oblique, with their
inner extremities puckered and swollen,—in the one child in a slight
degree, in the other in a strongly marked manner. This difference in the
obliquity of the eyebrows apparently depended on a difference in their
general mobility, and in the strength of the pyramidal muscles. In both
these cases the eyebrows and forehead were acted on under the influence of
a strong light, in precisely the same manner, in every characteristic
detail, as under the influence of grief or anxiety.

Duchenne states that the pyramidal muscle of the nose is less under the
control of the will than are the other muscles round the eyes. He remarks
that the young man who could so well act on his grief-muscles, as well as
on most of his other facial muscles, could not contract the pyramidals.[705]
This power, however, no doubt differs in different persons. The pyramidal
muscle serves to draw down the skin of the forehead between the eyebrows,
together with their inner extremities. The central fasciae of the frontal
are the antagonists of the pyramidal; and if the action of the latter is
to be specially checked, these central fasciae must be contracted. So that
with persons having powerful pyramidal muscles, if there is under the
influence of a bright light an unconscious desire to prevent the lowering
of the eyebrows, the central fasciae of the frontal muscle must be brought
into play; and their contraction, if sufficiently strong to overmaster the
pyramidals, together with the contraction of the corrugator and orbicular
muscles, will act in the manner just described on the eyebrows and
forehead.

When children scream or cry out, they contract, as we know, the orbicular,
corrugator, and pyramidal muscles, primarily for the sake of compressing
their eyes, and thus protecting them from being gorged with blood, and
secondarily through habit. I therefore expected to find with children,
that when they endeavoured either to prevent a crying-fit from coming on,
or to stop crying, they would cheek the contraction of the above-named
muscles, in the same manner as when looking upwards at a bright light; and
consequently that the central fasciae of the frontal muscle would often be
brought into play. Accordingly, I began myself to observe children at such
times, and asked others, including some medical men, to do the same. It is
necessary to observe carefully, as the peculiar opposed action of these
muscles is not nearly so plain in children, owing to their foreheads not
easily wrinkling, as in adults. But I soon found that the grief-muscles
were very frequently brought into distinct action on these occasions. It
would be superfluous to give all the cases which have been observed; and I
will specify only a few. A little girl, a year and a half old, was teased
by some other children, and before bursting into tears her eyebrows became
decidedly oblique. With an older girl the same obliquity was observed,
with the inner ends of the eyebrows plainly puckered; and at the same time
the corners of the mouth were drawn downwards. As soon as she burst into
tears, the features all changed and this peculiar expression vanished.
Again, after a little boy had been vaccinated, which made him scream and
cry violently, the surgeon gave him an orange brought for the purpose, and
this pleased the child much; as he stopped crying all the characteristic
movements were observed, including the formation of rectangular wrinkles
in the middle of the forehead. Lastly, I met on the road a little girl
three or four years old, who had been frightened by a dog, and when I
asked her what was the matter, she stopped whimpering, and her eyebrows
instantly became oblique to an extraordinary degree.

Here then, as I cannot doubt, we have the key to the problem why the
central fasciae of the frontal muscle and the muscles round the eyes
contract in opposition to each other under the influence of grief;—whether
their contraction be prolonged, as with the melancholic insane, or
momentary, from some trifling cause of distress. We have all of us, as
infants, repeatedly contracted our orbicular, corrugator, and pyramidal
muscles, in order to protect our eyes whilst screaming; our progenitors
before us have done the same during many generations; and though with
advancing years we easily prevent, when feeling distressed, the utterance
of screams, we cannot from long habit always prevent a slight contraction
of the above-named muscles; nor indeed do we observe their contraction in
ourselves, or attempt to stop it, if slight. But the pyramidal muscles
seem to be less under the command of the will than the other related
muscles; and if they be well developed, their contraction can be checked
only by the antagonistic contraction of the central fasciae of the frontal
muscle. The result which necessarily follows, if these fasciae contract
energetically, is the oblique drawing up of the eyebrows, the puckering of
their inner ends, and the formation of rectangular furrows on the middle
of the forehead. As children and women cry much more freely than men, and
as grown-up persons of both sexes rarely weep except from mental distress,
we can understand why the grief-muscles are more frequently seen in
action, as I believe to be the case, with children and women than with
men; and with adults of both sexes from mental distress alone. In some of
the cases before recorded, as in that of the poor Dhangar woman and of the
Hindustani man, the action of the grief-muscles was quickly followed by
bitter weeping. In all cases of distress, whether great or small, our
brains tend through long habit to send an order to certain muscles to
contract, as if we were still infants on the point of screaming out; but
this order we, by the wondrous power of the will, and through habit, are
able partially to counteract; although this is effected unconsciously, as
far as the means of counteraction are concerned.

On the depression of the corners of the mouth.—This action is
effected by the depressores anguili oris (see letter K in figs. 1
and 2). The fibres of this muscle diverge downwards, with the upper
convergent ends attached round the angles of the mouth, and to the lower
lip a little way within the angles.[706] Some of the fibres
appear to be antagonistic to the great zygomatic muscle, and others to the
several muscles running to the outer part of the upper lip. The
contraction of this muscle draws downwards and outwards the corners of the
mouth, including the outer part of the upper lip, and even in a slight
degree the wings of the nostrils. When the mouth is closed and this muscle
acts, the commissure or line of junction of the two lips forms a curved
line with the concavity downwards,[707] and the lips
themselves are generally somewhat protruded, especially the lower one. The
mouth in this state is well represented in the two photographs (Plate II.,
figs. 6 and 7) by Mr. Rejlander. The upper boy (fig. 6) had just stopped
crying, after receiving a slap on the face from another boy; and the right
moment was seized for photographing him.

The expression of low spirits, grief or dejection, due to the contraction
of this muscle has been noticed by every one who has written on the
subject. To say that a person “is down in the mouth,” is synonymous with
saying that he is out of spirits. The depression of the corners may often
be seen, as already stated on the authority of Dr. Crichton Browne and Mr.
Nicol, with the melancholic insane, and was well exhibited in some
photographs sent to me by the former gentleman, of patients with a strong
tendency to suicide. It has been observed with men belonging to various
races, namely with Hindoos, the dark hill-tribes of India, Malays, and, as
the Rev. Mr. Hagenauer informs me, with the aborigines of Australia.

When infants scream they firmly contract the muscles round their eyes, and
this draws up the upper lip; and as they have to keep their mouths widely
open, the depressor muscles running to the corners are likewise brought
into strong action. This generally, but not invariably, causes a slight
angular bend in the lower lip on both sides, near the corners of the
mouth. The result of the upper and lower lip being thus acted on is that
the mouth assumes a squarish outline. The contraction of the depressor
muscle is best seen in infants when not screaming violently, and
especially just before they begin, or when they cease to scream. Their
little faces then acquire an extremely piteous expression, as I
continually observed with my own infants between the ages of about six
weeks and two or three months. Sometimes, when they are struggling against
a crying-fit, the outline of the mouth is curved in so exaggerated a
manner as to be like a horseshoe; and the expression of misery then
becomes a ludicrous caricature.

The explanation of the contraction of this muscle, under the influence of
low spirits or dejection, apparently follows from the same general
principles as in the case of the obliquity of the eyebrows. Dr. Duchenne
informs me that he concludes from his observations, now prolonged during
many years, that this is one of the facial muscles which is least under
the control of the will. This fact may indeed be inferred from what has
just been stated with respect to infants when doubtfully beginning to cry,
or endeavouring to stop crying; for they then generally command all the
other facial muscles more effectually than they do the depressors of the
corners of the mouth. Two excellent observers who had no theory on the
subject, one of them a surgeon, carefully watched for me some older
children and women as with some opposed struggling they very gradually
approached the point of bursting out into tears; and both observers felt
sure that the depressors began to act before any of the other muscles. Now
as the depressors have been repeatedly brought into strong action during
infancy in many generations, nerve-force will tend to flow, on the
principle of long associated habit, to these muscles as well as to various
other facial muscles, whenever in after life even a slight feeling of
distress is experienced. But as the depressors are somewhat less under the
control of the will than most of the other muscles, we might expect that
they would often slightly contract, whilst the others remained passive. It
is remarkable how small a depression of the corners of the mouth gives to
the countenance an expression of low spirits or dejection, so that an
extremely slight contraction of these muscles would be sufficient to
betray this state of mind.

I may here mention a trifling observation, as it will serve to sum up our
present subject. An old lady with a comfortable but absorbed expression
sat nearly opposite to me in a railway carriage. Whilst I was looking at
her, I saw that her depressores anguli oris became very slightly,
yet decidedly, contracted; but as her countenance remained as placid as
ever, I reflected how meaningless was this contraction, and how easily one
might be deceived. The thought had hardly occurred to me when I saw that
her eyes suddenly became suffused with tears almost to overflowing, and
her whole countenance fell. There could now be no doubt that some painful
recollection, perhaps that of a long-lost child, was passing through her
mind. As soon as her sensorium was thus affected, certain nerve-cells from
long habit instantly transmitted an order to all the respiratory muscles,
and to those round the mouth, to prepare for a fit of crying. But the
order was countermanded by the will, or rather by a later acquired habit,
and all the muscles were obedient, excepting in a slight degree the depressores
anguli oris. The mouth was not even opened; the respiration was not
hurried; and no muscle was affected except those which draw down the
corners of the mouth.

As soon as the mouth of this lady began, involuntarily and unconsciously
on her part, to assume the proper form for a crying-fit, we may feel
almost sure that some nerve-influence would have been transmitted through
the long accustomed channels to the various respiratory muscles, as well
as to those round the eyes, and to the vaso-motor centre which governs the
supply of blood sent to the lacrymal glands. Of this latter fact we have
indeed clear evidence in her eyes becoming slightly suffused with tears;
and we can understand this, as the lacrymal glands are less under the
control of the will than the facial muscles. No doubt there existed at the
same time some tendency in the muscles round the eyes at contract, as if
for the sake of protecting them from being gorged with blood, but this
contraction was completely overmastered, and her brow remained unruffled.
Had the pyramidal, corrugator, and orbicular muscles been as little
obedient to the will, as they are in many persons, they would have been
slightly acted on; and then the central fasciae of the frontal muscle
would have contracted in antagonism, and her eyebrows would have become
oblique, with rectangular furrows on her forehead. Her countenance would
then have expressed still more plainly than it did a state of dejection,
or rather one of grief.

Through steps such as these we can understand how it is, that as soon as
some melancholy thought passes through the brain, there occurs a just
perceptible drawing down of the corners of the mouth, or a slight raising
up of the inner ends of the eyebrows, or both movements combined, and
immediately afterwards a slight suffusion of tears. A thrill of
nerve-force is transmitted along several habitual channels, and produces
an effect on any point where the will has not acquired through long habit
much power of interference. The above actions may be considered as
rudimental vestiges of the screaming-fits, which are so frequent and
prolonged during infancy. In this case, as well as in many others, the
links are indeed wonderful which connect cause and effect in giving rise
to various expressions on the human countenance; and they explain to us
the meaning of certain movements, which we involuntarily and unconsciously
perform, whenever certain transitory emotions pass through our minds.