characteristic point in the appearance of the eyebrows when rendered
oblique, as may be seen in figs. 2 and 5, Plate II. The eyebrows are at
the same time somewhat roughened, owing to the hairs being made to
project. Dr. J. Crichton Browne has also often noticed in melancholic
patients who keep their eyebrows persistently oblique, a peculiar
acute arching of the upper eyelid. A trace of this may be observed by
comparing the right and left eyelids of the young man in the photograph
(fig. 2, Plate II.); for he was not able to act equally on both
eyebrows. This is also shown by the unequal furrows on the two sides of
his forehead. The acute arching of the eyelids depends, I believe, on
the inner end alone of the eyebrows being raised; for when the whole
eyebrow is elevated and arched, the upper eyelid follows in a slight
degree the same movement.
Obliquity of the Eyebrows. Plate II
But the most conspicuous result of the opposed contraction of the
above-named muscles, is exhibited by the peculiar furrows formed on the
forehead. These muscles, when thus in conjoint yet opposed action, may
be called, for the sake of brevity, the grief-muscles. When a person
elevates his eyebrows by the contraction of the whole frontal muscle,
transverse wrinkles extend across the whole breadth of the forehead;
but in the present case the middle fasciae alone are contracted;
consequently, transverse furrows are formed across the middle part
alone of the forehead. The skin over the exterior parts of both
eyebrows is at the same time drawn downwards and smooth, by the
contraction of the outer portions of the orbicular muscles. The
eyebrows are likewise brought together through the simultaneous
contraction of the corrugators;[703] and this latter action generates
vertical furrows, separating the exterior and lowered part of the skin
of the forehead from the central and raised part. The union of these
vertical furrows with the central and transverse furrows (see figs. 2
and 3) produces a mark on the forehead which has been compared to a
horse-shoe; but the furrows more strictly form three sides of a
quadrangle. They are often conspicuous on the foreheads of adult or
nearly adult persons, when their eyebrows are made oblique; but with
young children, owing to their skin not easily wrinkling, they are
rarely seen, or mere traces of them can be detected.
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