158 EXPRESSION OF SUFFERING: Chap. VI. 



guarding it against the rush of blood then occurring, 

 the conjunctiva becomes suddenly filled with blood, and 

 the eyelids everted." 



Not only are the muscles round the eyes strongly 

 contracted, as Sir C. Bell states and as I have often ob- 

 served, 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 repeat- 

 edly, 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 contrac- 

 tion 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 mus- 

 cles now contract strongly upon the stomach, its proper 

 muscles likewise contracting, and the contents are thus 

 ejected. During each effort of vomiting " the head be- 

 comes greatly congested, so that the features are red and 

 swollen, and the large veins of the face and temples visi- 

 bly dilated." At the same time, as I know from observa- 

 tion, the muscles round the eyes are strongly contracted. 

 This is likewise the case when the abdominal muscles 



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. 



