Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The physiology of laughter. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
5/8 page 399
![sec, that in their ensemble they conform to those general principles :—that feeling excites to muscular action ; that when the muscular action is unguided by a purpose, the muscles lirst alfected are those which feeling most habitually stimulates ; and that as the feeling to be expended increases in quantity, it excites an increasing number of muscles, in a succession determined by the rela- tive frequency with which they respond to the regulated dictates of feeling. There still, however, remains the question with which we set out. The explanation here given applies only to the laughter produced by acute pleasure or pain : it does not apply to the laugh- ter that follows certain perceptions of incongruity. It is an insufficient expla- nation, that in these cases laughter is a result of the pleasure we take in escap- ing from the restraint of grave feelings. That this is a part-cause is true. Doubtless very often, as Mr. Bain says, “ it is the coerced form of serious- “ ness and solemnity without the reality that gives ns that stiff position from “ which a contact with triviality or vul- ^‘garity relieves ns, to our uproarious ‘‘ delight. And in so far as laughter is caused by the gush of agreeable feeling that follows the cessation of mental strain, it further illustrates the general principle above set forth. But no ex- planation is thus afforded of the burst of laughter which ensues when the short silence between the andante and allegro in one of Beethoven’s sympho- nies, is broken by a loud sneeze. In this, and hosts of like cases, the men- tal tension is not coerced but spon- taneous—not disagreeable but agreeable; and the coming impressions to which the attention is directed, promise a gra- tification that few, if any, desire to escape. Hence, when the unlucky sneeze occurs, it cannot be that the mirth of the audience is due simply to the release from an irksome attitude of mind: some other cause must be sought. This cause we shall quickly arrive at by carrying our analysis a step further. We have but to consider the quantity of feeling that exists under such circum- stances, and then to ask what are the conditions that determine tlie direction of its disdiarge, to at once reach a solu- tion. Take a case. You are sitting in a theatre, absorbed in the ])rogress of an interesting drama. Some climax lias been reached Avhich has aroused your sympathies—say, a reconciliation be- tween the hero aiul heroine, after long and painful misunderstanding. The feel- ings excited by this scene are not of a kind from which you seek relief j but are, on the contrary, a ^n-ateful relief from the more or less painful feelings with which you have witnessed the pre- vious estrangement. Add to which, that the sentiments these fictitious per- sonages have for the moment inspired you with, are certainly not such as would lead you to rejoice in any indig- nity offered to them ; but rather, such as would make you resent the indignity. And now, while you are contemplating the reconciliation with a pleasurable sympathy, there appears from behind the scenes a tame goat, whicli, having stared round at the audience, walks up to the lovers and sniffs at them. You cannot help joining in the laughter which greets this contretemps. Inexpli- cable as is this irresistible burst on the hypothesis of a pleasure in escaping from a mental restraint, or on the hypo- thesis of a pleasure from relative in- crease of self-importance when witness- ing the humiliation of others, it is readily explicable if we consider Avhat, in such a case, must become of the feel- ing that existed at the moment the incongruity arose. A large mass of emotion had been produced ; or, to speak in physiological language, a large portion of the nervous system was in a state of tension. There was also great expectation with respect to the further evolution of the scene—a quantity of vague, nascent thought and emotion into which the existing thought and emotion was about to pass. Had there been no interruption, the body of new ideas and feelings next excitecl, would have suf- ficed to absorb the whole of the existing nervous energy. But now, this large quantity of nervous energy, instead of](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2246797x_0007.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
