Produced by Turgut Dincer, RichardW, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) AN ESSAY ON LAUGHTER by JAMES SULLY _BY THE SAME AUTHOR._ THE HUMAN MIND: a Text-book of Psychology. 2 vols. 8vo, 21_s._ OUTLINES OF PSYCHOLOGY. Crown 8vo, 9_s._ THE TEACHER’S HANDBOOK OF PSYCHOLOGY. Crown 8vo, 6_s._ 6_d._ STUDIES OF CHILDHOOD. 8vo, 10_s._ 6_d._ CHILDREN’S WAYS: being Selections from “Studies of Childhood”. With 25 Illustrations. Crown 8vo, gilt top, 4_s._ 6_d._ LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO., LONDON, NEW YORK, AND BOMBAY. AN ESSAY ON LAUGHTER ITS FORMS, ITS CAUSES, ITS DEVELOPMENT AND ITS VALUE BY JAMES SULLY, M.A., LL.D. AUTHOR OF “THE HUMAN MIND,” “STUDIES OF CHILDHOOD,” ETC. LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON NEW YORK AND BOMBAY 1902 TO MY CHILDREN AND MY PUPILS IN THE HOPE THAT IF THEY CULTIVATE BOTH BRAIN AND HEART, AND HAVE A QUICK EAR FOR THE MUFFLED MOANINGS ALONG THE ROAD, THEY MAY HEAR ALSO, ABOVE THE DEEPER MUSIC, THE BLITHE NOTES OF LAUGHTER. PREFACE. The present work is, I believe, the first attempt to treat on a considerable scale the whole subject of Laughter, under its various aspects, and in its connections with our serious activities and interests. As such, it will, I feel sure, lay itself open to the criticism that it lacks completeness, or at least, proportion. A further criticism to which, I feel equally sure, it will expose itself, is that it clearly reflects the peculiarities of the experience of the writer. The anticipation of this objection does not, however, disturb me. It seems to me to be not only inevitable, but desirable—at least at the present stage of our knowledge of the subject—that one who attempts to understand an impulse, of which the intensities and the forms appear to vary greatly among men, of which the workings are often subtle, and of which the significance is by no means obvious, should, while making full use of others’ impressions, draw largely on his own experience. Portions of the volume have already appeared in Reviews. Chapter I. was published (under the title “Prolegomena to a Theory of Laughter”) in _The Philosophical Review_, 1900; Chapter V., in the _Revue Philosophique_, 1902; and Chapter VIII., in _The International Monthly_, 1901. The parts of Chapters III. and VI. which treat of the psychology of tickling appeared in the _Compte rendu_ of the Fourth International Congress of Psychology (_IV_^{me} _Congrès International de Psychologie_), Paris, 1901. Some of the ideas in Chapter X. are outlined in an article on “The Uses of Humour,” which appeared in _The National Review_, 1897.