202 EXPRESSION OF JOY: Chap. VIII. 



photograph to twenty-four persons, of whom three could 

 not in the least tell what was meant, whilst the others, 

 though they perceived that the expression was of the 

 nature of a smile, answered in such words as " a wicked 

 joke," " trying to laugh," " grinning laughter," " half- 

 amazed laughter," &c. Dr. Duchenne attributes the 

 falseness of the expression altogether to the orbicular 

 muscles of the lower eyelids not being sufficiently con- 

 tracted; for he justly lays great stress on their contrac- 

 tion in the expression of joy. No doubt there is much 

 truth in this view, but not, as it appears to me, the whole 

 truth. The contraction of the lower orbiculars is always 

 accompanied, as we have seen, by the drawing up of the 

 upper lip. Had the upper lip, in fig. 6, been thus acted 

 on to a slight extent, its curvature would have been less 

 rigid, the naso-labial furrow would have been slightly 

 different, and the whole expression would, as I believe, 

 have been more natural, independently of the more con- 

 spicuous effect from the stronger contraction of the 

 lower eyelids. The corrugator muscle, moreover, in fig. 

 6, is too much contracted, causing a frown; and this 

 muscle never acts under the influence of joy except dur- 

 ing strongly pronounced or violent laughter. 



By the drawing backwards and upwards of the cor- 

 ners of the mouth, through the contraction of the great 

 zygomatic muscles, and by the raising of the upper lip, 

 the cheeks are drawn upwards. Wrinkles are thus 

 formed under the eyes, and, with old people, at their 

 outer ends; and these are highly characteristic of laugh- 

 ter or smiling. As a gentle smile increases into a strong 

 one, or into a laugh, every one may feel and see, if he will 

 attend to his own sensations and look at himself in a 

 mirror, that as the upper lip is drawn up and the lower 

 orbiculars contract, the wrinkles in the lower eyelids 

 and those beneath the eyes are much strengthened or 



