184 EXPRESSION OP GRIEF : Chap. VII. 



and the upper eyelids arched. This condition lasted for 

 months; she then recovered, and her countenance re- 

 sumed its natural expression. A second case presented 

 nearly the same peculiarities, with the addition that the 

 corners of the mouth were depressed. 



Mr. Patrick Xicol has also kindly observed for me 

 several cases in the Sussex Lunatic Asylum, and has 

 communicated to me full details with respect to three 

 of them; but they need not here be given. From his 

 observations on melancholic patients, Mr. Xicol con- 

 cludes that the inner ends of the eyebrows are almost 

 always more or less raised, with the wrinkles on the fore- 

 head more or less plainly marked. In the case of one 

 young woman, these wrinkles were observed to be in 

 constant slight play or movement. In some cases the 

 corners of the mouth are depressed, but often only in 

 a slight degree. Some amount of difference in the ex- 

 pression of the several melancholic patients could almost 

 always be observed. The eyelids generally droop; and 

 the skin near their outer corners and beneath them is 

 wrinkled. The naso-labial fold, which runs from the 

 wings of the nostrils to the corners of the mouth, and 

 which is so conspicuous in blubbering children, is often 

 plainly marked in these patients. 



Although with the insane the grief -muscles often act 

 persistently; yet in ordinary cases they are sometimes 

 brought unconsciously into momentary action by ludi- 

 crously slight causes. A gentleman rewarded a young 

 lady by an absurdly small present; she pretended to be 

 offended, and as she upbraided him, her eyebrows be- 

 came extremely oblique, with the forehead properly 

 wrinkled. Another young lady and a youth, both in 

 the highest spirits, were eagerly talking together with 

 extraordinary rapidity; and I noticed that, as often as 

 the young lady was beaten, and could not get out her 



