River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1889-01-10
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WHAT CAUSES MtRTH.
All MirthCausing Agents Are Of on
Kind aud Differ Only In Degree.

All Mirth-Causing Agents Are OF one
Kind aud Differ Only In Degree.
Sydney Smith gave the true answer
when he said that the form of mental
pleasure we call mirth was due to the
discovery of a congruity in a seeming
lncongruity or the reverse. This is
best illustrated by an example. Boileau
/ had brother who was "a nJGuCiGs Sujet,
I failed in life and came TO ask for help.
Boileau upbraided him with his mis-
conduct pointed out how they had
both started in life under equally IA
I yOrable conditions and with equal
chances. and yet how differently they
/ had got on. "Ah! bat just think" ex-
claimed the brother. what an i'm
mense advantage you had over me in
brothers, The discovery OF the point,
/ the seeing of the joke, is, says Sydney
Smith. analogous to the pleasant men
4 tai feeling in discovering something
/ quite new, or in suddenly understand
| ing something dark TO us before. This
sensation is always pleasant, but in a
| joke the discovery, since ii is carefully
/ prepared for, is momentary. unexpect-
ed, and without toll, and therefore far
more highly pleasurable than the ordi.
nary mental discovery. To take an
other example. that of the wooden pave
ment before st. Paul's: IF the Dean
and Chapter would only lay their heads
together. the thing would be done"
said Sydney Smith. Here very clearly
the fun is in the pleasure occasioned
/ by the instant mental discovery of the
connection. Notwithstanding the APP
parent complete incongruity, between
the heads of the Dean and Chapter and
the wood pavement Now, the slower
a mind works. the more difficulty II
has in quickly following out the con-
grulty through the apparent incongru.
/ titles, or the incOngruity through the
| apparent cOngruities, and so in seeing
| the Joke. Men with slow minds. then.
prefer the plainest form of discovery
such as the mere noticing that some
I thing out OF the ordinary is going
on, as when a man clowns it by
/ putting on an enormous hat. 8 carroty
! wig, and sea-green coat Thus, all
stupid and dull-witted people are most
easily amused by caricature and horse
! play. and those minds which though
I they are powerful are also sluggish
| find il 100 hard WORK 20 follow men.
I tally the lightning flash in finely.
! wrought verbal epigram. No doubt
such theory as this postulates that
/ the man who likes Lamb and Sydney
! Smith. but says he sees no joke at all
( In buffoonery, really means that he
only sees a very little joke, and that
! he does not care for il because he can
see so much more in other things.
| This. however. agrees with common
| experience. The man fond of the
| highest kind of wit is never really
unable 70 see the fun of the clown,
| though il may bore him by its small
ness; and x he is scientifically minded
| he no more refuses 70 call il a kind OF
VIE. humor or fun than he does to call
rim ordiRaire wine. though, rs a mat.
\ ter OF fact. what he really considers
wine is LATTE. In truth. all the
mirth-csusing agents are of one kind
ami differ ouly in degree, though the
degrees are often intense Spectator.