[16] Dr. Piderit has come to the same conclusion, ibid. s. 99.
Whether we look at laughter as the full development of
a smile, or, as is more probable, at a gentle smile as the last
trace of a habit, firmly fixed during many generations,
of laughing whenever we are joyful, we can follow in our
infants the gradual passage of the one into the other.
It is well known to those who have the charge of young infants,
that it is difficult to feel sure when certain movements about their
mouths are really expressive; that is, when they really smile.
Hence I carefully watched my own infants. One of them at the age
of forty-five days, and being at the time in a happy frame
of mind, smiled; that is, the corners of the mouth were retracted,
and simultaneously the eyes became decidedly bright.
I observed the same thing on the following day; but on the third
day the child was not quite well and there was no trace of a smile,
and this renders it probable that the previous smiles were real.
Eight days subsequently and during the next succeeding week,
it was remarkable how his eyes brightened whenever he smiled,
and his nose became at the same time transversely wrinkled.
Pages:
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313