322 LAUGHTER AND WEEPING. 



7. Miss Cobbe describes the cackling, screeching or 

 screaming, and yelling, in delight or exultation, of a flock 

 of geese as ' almost indistinguishable from human laughter.' 



It must be evident that in animals so different in struc- 

 ture and habits not only must the various forms of 'laughter' 

 so called differ materially in their character even as 

 mere sounds, but must also be the vocal expressions of very 

 different feelings. In certain birds the laughterlike sound 

 is either the ordinary note or call, or one of the ordinary or 

 extraordinary notes or calls, intended to intimate their pre- 

 sence, solicit the society of their mates, issue warning of 

 danger, or give expression to some other want or feeling. 

 In the hysena, and probably other animals, the sound 

 emitted is more of the nature of a cry of annoyance or 

 irritation. Only in the case of the geese is there any 

 provable association of a sense and enjoyment of fun. 



On the other hand, humour may be exuberant and yet 

 not express itself in laughter, or in voice-sounds of any 

 kind. The dog, for instance, shows his appreciation of fun 

 in his sparkling, merry eye, in his facial features as a 

 whole, in his rolling over and over, running about wildly or 

 round and round, in his whole aspect and demeanour, look 

 and manner. 



Just as it has been shown that various animals possess 

 the physical apparatus necessary for laughter while they 

 are actuated by those feelings or ideas that in man give rise 

 to it so it can be equally shown that certain animals are 

 not only gifted with the physical apparatus necessary for 

 the production and effusion of tears, and for the actions or 

 phenomena of weeping and sobbing, but also with the 

 emotions or conceptions that in man give rise to tears and 

 weeping. 



What have been described as true tears are shed 

 especially under the emotion of grief by a considerable 

 number and variety of animals, including the dog, horse, 

 elephant, bear, rat, donkey, mule, various deer, soko, chim- 

 panzee, mandrill, orang, titi or other monkeys or apes, 

 cattle, camel, giraffe ; while there are other animals such 

 as the parrot (Watson) in which, though tears are not 



