A	>>	B	>>	C	>>	D	>>	E
F	>>	G	>>	H	>>	I	>>	J
K	>>	L	>>	M	>>	N	>>	O
P	>>	R	>>	S	>>	T	>>	U
V	>>	W	>>			X	>>	Z

Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen - "Boyhood in Norway"

Lucy Larcom - "A New England Girlhood"

Edouard le Roy - "Henri Bergson"

Olive Schreiner - "Dreams "

The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals

C >> Charles Darwin >> The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals





[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.

Copyright (c) 2007. fullstories.net. All rights reserved.