176 EXPRESSION OF GRIEF : Chap. VII. 



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 ob- 

 liquity of the eyebrows — On the depression of the 

 corners of the mouth. 



After the mind has suffered from an acute parox- 

 ysm 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 re- 

 lief by violent and almost frantic movements, as de- 

 scribed 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 circula- 

 tion becomes languid; the face pale; the muscles flaccid; 

 the eyelids droop; the head hangs on the contracted 

 chest; the lips, cheeks, and lower jaw all sink down- 

 wards 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, 



