Chap. VII. OBLIQUE EYEBROWS. 183 



The ancient Greek sculptors were familiar with the 

 expression, as shown in the statues of the Laocoon and 

 Arretino; but, as Duchenne remarks, they carried the 

 transverse furrows across the whole breadth of the fore- 

 head, and thus committed a great anatomical mistake: 

 this is likewise the case in some modern statues. It is, 

 however, more probable that these wonderfully accurate 

 observers intentionally sacrificed truth for the sake of 

 beauty, than that they made a mistake; for rectangular 

 furrows on the forehead would not have had a grand 

 appearance on the marble. The expression, in its fully 

 developed condition, is, as far as I can discover, not 

 often represented in pictures by the old masters, no 

 doubt owing to the same cause; but a lady who is per- 

 fectly familiar with this expression, informs me that in 

 Fra x\ngelico's ' Descent from the Cross/ in Florence, it 

 is clearly exhibited in one of the figures on the right- 

 hand; and I could add a few other instances. 



Dr. Crichton Browne, at my request, closely attended 

 to this expression in the numerous insane patients under 

 his care in the West Biding Asylum; and he is familiar 

 with Duchenne's photographs of the action of the grief- 

 muscles. He informs me that they may constantly be 

 seen in energetic action in cases of melancholia, and 

 especially of hypochondria; and that the persistent lines 

 or furrows, due to their habitual contraction, are char- 

 acteristic of the physiognomy of the insane belonging 

 to these two classes. Dr. Browne carefully observed for 

 me during a considerable period three cases of hypochon- 

 dria, in which the grief-muscles were persistently con- 

 tracted. In one of these, a widow, aged 51, fancied that 

 she had lost all her viscera, and that her whole body was 

 empty. She wore an expression of great distress, and 

 beat her semi-closed hands rhythmically together for 

 hours. The grief-muscles were permanently contracted, 



