Laughter primarily the expression of joy Ludicrous ideas Movements of
the features during laughter Nature of the sound produced The secretion
of tears during loud laughter Gradation from loud laughter to gentle
smiling High spirits The expression of love Tender feelings Devotion.
Joy, when intense, leads to various purposeless movements to dancing
about, clapping the hands, stamping, &c., and to loud laughter.
Laughter seems primarily to be the expression of mere joy or happiness.
We clearly see this in children at play, who are almost incessantly
laughing. With young persons past childhood, when they are in high
spirits, there is always much meaningless laughter. The laughter of the
gods is described by Homer as the exuberance of their celestial joy
after their daily banquet. A man smiles and smiling, as we shall see,
graduates into laughter at meeting an old friend in the street, as he
does at any trifling pleasure, such as smelling a sweet perfume.[801]
Laura Bridgman, from her blindness and deafness, could not have
acquired any expression through imitation, yet when a letter from a
beloved friend was communicated to her by gesture-language, she
laughed and clapped her hands, and the colour mounted to her cheeks.
On other occasions she has been seen to stamp for joy.[802]
Idiots and imbecile persons likewise afford good evidence that laughter
or smiling primarily expresses mere happiness or joy. Dr. Crichton
Browne, to whom, as on so many other occasions, I am indebted for the
results of his wide experience, informs me that with idiots laughter is
the most prevalent and frequent of all the emotional expressions. Many
idiots are morose, passionate, restless, in a painful state of mind, or
utterly stolid, and these never laugh. Others frequently laugh in a
quite senseless manner. Thus an idiot boy, incapable of speech,
complained to Dr. Browne, by the aid of signs, that another boy in the
asylum had given him a black eye; and this was accompanied by
explosions of laughter and with his face covered with the broadest
smiles. There is another large class of idiots who are persistently
joyous and benign, and who are constantly laughing or smiling.[803]
Their countenances often exhibit a stereotyped smile; their joyousness
is increased, and they grin, chuckle, or giggle, whenever food is
placed before them, or when they are caressed, are shown bright
colours, or hear music. Some of them laugh more than usual when they
walk about, or attempt any muscular exertion. The joyousness of most of
these idiots cannot possibly be associated, as Dr. Browne remarks, with
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