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,[610] 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. 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,[611] the glottis is chiefly affected during the act of sobbing. This sound is heard “at the moment when the inspiration conquers the resistance of the glottis, and the air rushes into the chest.” But the whole act of respiration is likewise spasmodic and violent. The shoulders are at the same time generally raised, as by this movement respiration is rendered easier. With one of my infants, when seventy-seven days old, the inspirations were so rapid and strong that they approached in character to sobbing; when 138 days old I first noticed distinct sobbing, which subsequently followed every bad crying-fit. The respiratory movements are partly voluntary and partly involuntary, and I apprehend that sobbing is at least in part due to children having some power to command after early infancy their vocal organs and to stop their screams, but from having less power over their respiratory muscles, these continue for a time to act in an involuntary or spasmodic manner, after having been brought into violent action. Sobbing seems to be peculiar to the human species; for the keepers in the Zoological Gardens assure me that they have never heard a sob from any kind of monkey; though monkeys often scream loudly whilst being chased and caught, and then pant for a long time. We thus see that there is a close analogy between sobbing and the free shedding of tears; for with children, sobbing does not commence during early infancy, but afterwards comes on rather suddenly and then follows every bad crying-fit, until the habit is checked with advancing years.