Another young lady and a youth, both in the highest spirits,
were eagerly talking together with extraordinary rapidity;
and I noticed that, as often as the young lady was beaten,
and could not get out her words fast enough, her eyebrows
went obliquely upwards, and rectangular furrows were formed
on her forehead. She thus each time hoisted a flag of distress;
and this she did half-a-dozen times in the course of a few minutes.
I made no remark on the subject, but on a subsequent occasion I
asked her to act on her grief-muscles; another girl who was present,
and who could do so voluntarily, showing her what was intended.
She tried repeatedly, but utterly failed; yet so slight a cause
of distress as not being able to talk quickly enough, sufficed to
bring these muscles over and over again into energetic action.
The expression of grief, due to the contraction of the grief-muscles,
is by no means confined to Europeans, but appears to be common to all
the races of mankind. I have, at least, received trustworthy accounts
in regard to Hindoos, Dhangars (one of the aboriginal hill-tribes
of India, and therefore belonging to a quite distinct race from the
Hindoos), Malays, Negroes and Australians.
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