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Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882

"The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals"


The various muscles of the face which have been strongly contracted,
still twitch a little, and the upper lip is still slightly drawn up or
everted,[7] with the corners of the mouth still a little drawn downwards.
I have myself felt, and have observed in other grown-up persons,
that when tears are restrained with difficulty, as in reading a
pathetic story, it is almost impossible to prevent the various muscles.
which with young children are brought into strong action during their
screaming-fits, from slightly twitching or trembling.

[6] `Mimik und Physiognomik,' 1867, s. 102. Duchenne, Mecanisme de
la Phys. Humaine, Album, p. 34.
Infants whilst young do not shed tears or weep, as is well known
to nurses and medical men. This circumstance is not exclusively due
to the lacrymal glands being as yet incapable of secreting tears.
I first noticed this fact from having accidentally brushed with the cuff
of my coat the open eye of one of my infants, when seventy-seven days old,
causing this eye to water freely; and though the child screamed violently,
the other eye remained dry, or was only slightly suffused with tears.
A similar slight effusion occurred ten days previously in both eyes
during a screaming-fit.


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