MEANS or THE EXPRESSION OF TEE EMOTIONS. 281 



diaphragm. Hence we hear of " laughter holding both 

 his sides." From the shaking of the body, the head 

 nods to and fro. The lower jaw often quivers up and 

 down, as is likewise the case with some species of baboons, 

 when they are much pleased. 



During laughter the mouth is opened more or less 

 widely, with the comers drawn much backward, as well 

 as a little upward ; and the upper lip is somewhat raised. 

 The drawing back of the comers is best seen in moderate 

 laughter, and especially in a broad smile — the latter epi- 

 thet showing how the mouth is widened. 



Although we can hardly account for the 

 shape of the mouth during laughter, which 

 leads to wrinkles being formed beneath the eyes, nor for 

 the peculiar reiterated sound of laughter, nor for the 

 quivering of the jaws, nevertheless we may infer that all 

 these effects are due to some common cause ; for they are 

 all characteristic and expressive of a pleased state of mind 

 in various kinds of monkeys. 



It is scarcely possible to point out any difference be- 

 tween the tear-stained face of a person after a paroxysm 

 of excessive laughter and after a bitter crying-fit. It is 

 probably due to the close similarity of the spasmodic 

 movements caused by these widely different emotions 

 that hysteric patients alternately cry and laugh with vio- 

 lence, and that young children sometimes pass suddenly 

 from the one to the other state. Mr. Swinhoe informs 

 me that he has often seen the Chinese, when suffering 

 from deep grief, burst out into hysterical fits of laughter. 



I was anxious to know whether tears are freely shed 

 during excessive laughter by most of the races of men, 

 and I hear from my correspondents that this is the case. 



