The ancient Greek sculptors were familiar with the expression, as shown
in the statues of the Laocoon and Arretino; but, as Duchenne remarks,
they carried the transverse furrows across the whole breadth of the
forehead, and thus committed a great anatomical mistake: this is
likewise the case in some modern statues. It is, however, more probable
that these wonderfully accurate observers intentionally sacrificed
truth for the sake of beauty, than that they made a mistake; for
rectangular furrows on the forehead would not have had a grand
appearance on the marble. The expression, in its fully developed
condition, is, as far as I can discover, not often represented in
pictures by the old masters, no doubt owing to the same cause; but a
lady who is perfectly familiar with this expression, informs me that in
Fra Angelico’s ‘Descent from the Cross’ in Florence, it is clearly
exhibited in one of the figures on the right-hand; and I could add a
few other instances.
Dr. Crichton Browne, at my request, closely attended to this expression
in the numerous insane patients under his care in the West Riding
Asylum; and he is familiar with Duchenne’s photographs of the action of
the grief-muscles. He informs me that they may constantly be seen in
energetic action in cases of melancholia, and especially of
hypochondria; and that the persistent lines or furrows, due to their
habitual contraction, are characteristic of the physiognomy of the
insane belonging to these two classes. Dr. Browne carefully observed
for me during a considerable period three cases of hypochondria, in
which the grief-muscles were persistently contracted. In one of these,
a widow, aged 51, fancied that she had lost all her viscera, and that
her whole body was empty. She wore an expression of great distress, and
beat her semi-closed hands rhythmically together for hours. The
grief-muscles were permanently contracted, and the upper eyelids
arched. This condition lasted for months; she then recovered, and her
countenance resumed its natural expression. A second case presented
nearly the same peculiarities, with the addition that the comers of the
mouth were depressed.
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