Chap. VI. WEEPING. 161 



not unfrequently see the hand involuntarily laid upon 

 the eyelids, as if the better to support and defend the 

 eyeball. 



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 re- 

 corded. 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, safelv conclude from Sir C. Bell's 

 observations, and more especially from the more careful 

 investigations by Professor Donders, that the firm clo- 

 sure 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 



a) 



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 draw- 

 ing up of the upper lip. Thus all the chief expressive 

 movements of the face during crying apparently result 



17 Donders, ibid. p. 36. 



