Weeping seems to be the primary and natural expression, as we
see in children, of suffering of any kind, whether bodily pain
short of extreme agony, or mental distress. But the foregoing
facts and common experience show us that a frequently repeated
effort to restrain weeping, in association with certain states
of the mind, does much in checking the habit. On the other hand,
it appears that the power of weeping can be increased through habit;
thus the Rev. R. Taylor,[10] who long resided in New Zealand,
asserts that the women can voluntarily shed tears in abundance;
they meet for this purpose to mourn for the dead, and they take
pride in crying "in the most affecting manner."

A single effort of repression brought to bear on the lacrymal glands
does little, and indeed seems often to lead to an opposite result.
An old and experienced physician told me that he had always found
that the only means to check the occasional bitter weeping of ladies
who consulted him, and who themselves wished to desist, was earnestly
to beg them not to try, and to assure them that nothing would relieve
them so much as prolonged and copious crying.


[9] See, for instance, Mr. Marshall's account of an idiot
in Philosoph. Transact. 1864, p. 526. With respect to cretins,
see Dr. Piderit, `Mimik und Physiognomik,' 1867, s. 61.

[10] `New Zealand and its Inhabitants,' 1855, p. 175.

The screaming of infants consists of prolonged expirations,
with short and rapid, almost spasmodic inspirations, followed at
a somewhat more advanced age by sobbing. According to Gratiolet,[11]