120 PHYSICAL EXPRESSION. 



point was the look of depression, and heaviness and 

 fullness about the eyes, especially the under eyelid. 

 If a paper were held so as to cover either half of the 

 face, the expression observed still remained, proving 

 the condition of the face bilateral ; if the forehead 

 above the eyebrows were covered, or the face below 

 the lower margin of the orbit, in each case the 

 expression seemed still apparent; while, if the 

 paper were held so as to cover that portion of 

 the face which lies between the eyebrows and the 

 lower margin of the orbit, it seemed impossible to 

 recognize the peculiar fades under consideration. 

 It appears that this expression must be due prin- 

 cipally to the condition of the orbicularis palpe- 

 brarum. Specially observing this muscle and the 

 parts adjacent, there seemed to be a loss of tone in 

 the muscle ; there was an appearance of fullness and 

 flabbiness about the lower eyelid; the skin hung 

 too loose, with an increase in the number of folds ; 

 and, in place of falling against the lower eyelid 

 neatly, as a convex surface, it fell more or less in a 

 plane from the ciliary margin to the lower margin 

 of the orbit, a condition that is often best seen by 

 looking at the patient's face in profile. This condi- 

 tion of the parts about the eye was unaccompanied 

 by any general change in the skin of the face, such 

 as the flabbiness seen in emphysema, and the loose 

 inelastic skin of senile decay; further, the facial 

 expression is not at all necessarily permanent, but 

 may disappear with improving health, and it is 

 removed if the patient can be made to laugh. It 

 is not suggested that this muscular condition only 



