The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1892-02-18
The Composition of Tears.

DR.. W. r. Richardson, in the Asclepiad
No subject has yielded more poetry
than that of tears. Adjectives the most /
various have been used to express the
qualities of tears. They have been
called ''hot, y ''cold, ''languid, n"briny,'
gushing, ''round, "glittering, dull,
SILENT "wearied," "wanton,n and |
know not what else They are waves OF
emotion, and as general expression
| they are said to spring always from the
heart-an expression slngularly truthful,
for no one ever wept from the head; that
is. no one ever reasoned himself or her
self into tears, except through an appeal
back to emotion.
The poets have dealt with what may
be considered, from their point of view,
chemistry of tears. They have written
about 'ssalt tears ''crystal tears" poi
sonous tears ''honeyed tears" and the
like. They are to some extent correct IN
their poetic guesses. Tears are saline,
for they carry trace of the chloride OF
sodium or common salt which exists in
the blood; they may be poisonous. for
in persons under the influence OF solu-
BILE poison, like a salt of anthony, they
NAV convey an intinitesimal part OF such
poisonous material; they may be honey
ed. for in diabetes the tears do sometimes
become saccharine, like the other fluid
secretions.
But this sort of thing is exceptional.
400 do n
pure water holding trace of saline mat
ter and nothing more; the glands which
secrete them are the purest wells of pure
water in the body. Tears are the result
of nervous storm in the central ner-
vous system, under which there is such
a change in the vascular terminals OF
the tear secreting glands that the excre-
tion of water from the glands is profuse.
Some excretion is always in progress, in
order that the surface of the eye may be
laved and cleared of foreign matters
which may come in contact with it, but
the controlling center is at distance.
AS the muscular power that extends or
flexes a finger is at distance from the
part moved, so the excitement to tears is
from an irritation in distant nervous
center. and is removed when the nervous
center is either soothed or exhausted.
The persons who weep say that tears
afford relief Nothing is more perfectly
true. nothing more clear when the facts
are understood The relief comes not
from the mere escape of tears, which is
only symptom but from the cessation
of the storm in the nervous chain.
If the storm be Gained by soothing
measures, as when we sooth a child that
: is weeping from fear, annoyance or in
inrv we quiet the nervous centers, upon
which the effect ceases. In children the
soothing method succeeds, and some
times in adults, although in adults the
cessation of tears is more commonly due
to actual exhaustion following period
of nervous activity.
In grief. the afflicted weep until they
S can weep no more; then they become
a calm, or. like children. cry themselves to
sleep Thus tears indicate relief. and
that the nervous system has fallen into
y the repose of WEAKNESS Persons sub
! iected to many and repeated griefs shed
Il in time fewer tears. and the age com
pared with the younger are almost tear
. less The poor insane patient who
Il ceases to weep becomes griefless; under
e the continued excitement the grief cen
ter fails or dies If this were not the
case tears would flow in such a person sc
long as life lasted.