150 EXPRESSION OP SUFFERING: Chap. VI. 



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 accom- 

 panying photographs. An excellent observer, 5 in de- 

 scribing 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 con- 

 trol of the will than the adjoining muscles; so that if a 

 young child is only doubtfully inclined to cry, this mus- 

 cle is generally the first to contract, and is the last to 

 cease contracting. "When older children commence cry- 

 ing, 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 



pressed " fun," " satisfaction," " cunning-," " disgust," &c. 

 We may infer from this that there is something" wrong in 

 the expression. Some of the fifteen persons may, how- 

 ever, 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 eye- 

 brow on the same side rendered oblique, which is charac- 

 teristic 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, answer- 

 ing, " cunning leer," " jocund," " looking at an intense 

 light," " looking at a distant object," &c. 



Mrs. Gaskell, ' Mary Barton,' new edit. p. 84. 



