go POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Hycena have some movements that resemble the smile, but can 

 not be really compared with it. Below the mammalian animals 

 there is no longer mobility in the face, and consequently no 

 longer a possible smile." * 



Darwin also admits a sort of smile in dogs,f but regards it as 

 a simple grimace : " A pleasurable and excitable state of mind, 

 associated with affection, is exhibited by some dogs in a very 

 peculiar manner ; namely, by grinning. This was noticed long 

 ago by Somerville, who says : 



'And with a courtly grin tbe fawning hound 

 Salutes thee cow'ring, his wide op'uing' nose 

 Upward he curls, and his large sloe-black eyes 

 Melt iu soft blandishments and humble joy. 



The Chase, Book I. 



Sir W. Scott's famous Scotch greyhound, Maida, had this habit, 

 and it is common with terriers. I have also seen it in a 

 Spitz and in a sheep dog. Mr. Riviere, who has particularly 

 attended to this expression, informs me that it is rarely dis- 

 played in a perfect manner, but is quite common in a lesser 

 degree. The upper lip during the act of grinning is retracted as 

 in snarling, so that the canines are exposed, and the ears are 

 drawn backwards ; but the general appearance of the animal 

 clearly shows that anger is not felt. Sir Charles Bell J remarks : 

 ' Dogs, in their expression of fondness, have a slight eversion of 

 the lips, and grin and sniff amid their gambols in a way that 

 resembles laughter.' Some persons speak of this grin as a smile, 

 but if it had been really a smile we should see a similar though 

 more pronounced movement of the lips and ears when dogs utter 

 their bark of joy ; but this is not the case, although the bark of 

 joy often follows a grin." 



Notwithstanding my profound respect for the names of Dar- 

 win and the other authors from whom I have quoted, I take the 

 liberty of remarking that it is hard to laugh and bark at the same 

 time, and that some dogs employ laughter to express their joy 

 while at the same time wagging their tails and exhibiting all the 

 other signs peculiar to their kind. 



We must not push the analysis too far, for fear of going be- 

 yond the truth. Laughter to everybody is nothing else than a 

 joyous expression of the face given by the movement of the 

 mouth. No one certainly would take the trouble to find, in order 

 to know it, by what muscles it is produced. 



* Gratiolet. De la Physionomie, p. 169. 



f The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, p. ] 20. 



I The Anatomy of Expression, 1844, p. 140. 



