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The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals

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




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. 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, checks, 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 corners 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.[1] 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.[2]


[1] The above descriptive remarks are taken in part from my own observations,
but chiefly from Gratiolet (`De la Physionomie,' pp. 53, 337; on Sighing,
232), who has well treated this whole subject. See, also, Huschke. `Mimices
et Physiognomices, Fragmentum Physiologicitim,' 1821, p. 21. On the dulness
of the eyes, Dr. Piderit, `Mimik und Physiognomik,' 1867, s. 65.

[2] On the action of grief on the organs of respiration,

_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 checked by the more powerful action of the central
fascim of the frontal muscle. These latter fasciae 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



see more especially Sir C. Bell, `Anatomy of Expression,' 3rd edit.
1844, p. 151. 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;[3] 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 4 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



[3] In the foregoing remarks on the manner in which the eyebrows
are made oblique, I have followed what seems to be the universal
opinion of all the anatomists, whose works I have consulted on
the action of the above-named muscles, or with whom I have conversed.
Hence throughout this work I shall take a similar view of the action
of the _corrugator supercilii_, _orbicularis, pyramidalis nasi_,
and _frontalis_ muscles. Dr. Duchenne, however, believes, and every
conclusion at which he arrives deserves serious consideration, that it
is the corrugator, called by him the _sourcilier_, which raises the inner
corner of the eyebrows and is antagonistic to the upper and inner
part of the orbicular muscle, as well as to the _pyramidalis nasi_
(see Mecanisme de la Phys. Humaine, 1862, folio, art.
v., text and figures 19 to 29: octavo edit. 1862, p. 43 text).
He admits, however, that the corrugator draws together the eyebrows,
causing vertical furrows above the base of the nose, or a frown.
He further believes that towards the outer two-thirds of the eyebrow
the corrugator acts in conjunction with the upper orbicular muscle;
both here standing in antagonism to the frontal muscle.
I am unable to understand, judging from Henle's drawings (woodcut, fig.
3), how the corrugator can act in the manner described
by Duchenue. See, also, oil this subject, Prof. Donders' remarks in
the `Archives of Medicine,' 1870, vol. v. p. 34. Mr. J. Wood,
who is so well known for his careful study of the muscles
of the human frame, informs me that he believes the account
which I have given of the action of the corrugator to be correct.
But this is not a point of any importance with respect to
the expression which is caused by the obliquity of the eyebrows,
nor of much importance to the theory of its origin.

`I am greatly indebted to Dr. Duchenne for permission to have
these two photographs (figs. 1 and 2) reproduced by the heliotype
process from his work in folio. Many of the foregoing remarks on
the furrowing of the skin, when the eyebrows are rendered oblique,
are taken from his excellent discussion on this subject.
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 corners 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 corners
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 corners and beneath them is wrinkled.
The naso-labial fold, which runs from the wings of the nostrils to the
corners of the mouth, and which is so conspicuous in blubbering children,
is often plainly marked in these patients.

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