[12] Under extreme laughter the eyes are too much suffused
with tears to sparkle; but the moisture squeezed out of the glands
during moderate laughter or smiling may aid in giving them lustre;
though this must be of altogether subordinate importance,
as they become dull from grief, though they are then often moist.
Their brightness seems to be chiefly due to their tenseness,[13]
owing to the contraction of the orbicular muscles and to the
pressure of the raised cheeks. But, according to Dr. Piderit,
who has discussed this point more fully than any other writer,[14]
the tenseness may be largely attributed to the eyeballs becoming
filled with blood and other fluids, from the acceleration
of the circulation, consequent on the excitement of pleasure.
He remarks on the contrast in the appearance of the eyes of a hectic
patient with a rapid circulation, and of a man suffering from
cholera with almost all the fluids of his body drained from him.
Any cause which lowers the circulation deadens the eye.
I remember seeing a man utterly prostrated by prolonged and severe
exertion during a very hot day, and a bystander compared his eyes
to those of a boiled codfish.
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