The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-01-04
PHYSIOLOGY OF TEARS.
Different Emotions Result IN the Flow OF
the Briny DroD

Different Emotions Result III the Flow OF
the Briny Drop.
Fear, grief and JOY. to say nothing of
| pathos and anger, bring tears to the
eyes They are said to come from the
heart, and this IS true, for no one ever
reasoned himself into weeping without
first appeal through the imagination
to some emotion. Tears are the natural
outlet of emotional tension They are
the result OF a storm in the central
nervous system, giving rise TO changes
IN the vascular terminals OF the tear
secreting glands These changes in
duce profuse excretion of water and
weeping results In mild degree some
excretion is always in process, to battle
the eye and clear It of foreign matter
The controlling center is at distance,
though the secretion may be kept up
by the small trace OF saline substance
that Is present in the tears themselves
The lachryInal glands lie between the
nervous center and the mucous surface
OF the eyebalL Tears afford good IL
lustratioa OF the way in which nervous
fbers are capable OF conveying to Sc
GREETING organ exciting impulses from
both sides OF a gland lying in their
course. AHerent and efferent com
munlcations bring about a similar re-
suit Internal nervous vibrations and
external excitation or reflex action
causes flow OF tears In both instances
the exciting impulse is a vibration.
Nlobe, AL tears" and the unfortu-
nate pedestrian with minute particle
of steel from the rail of an elevated
road IN his eve are unwilling ex-
ponents of a similar process. They
weep the same kind of briny fluid. in
exactly the same way, though from
widely different causes. Imagination is
at times sufficient TO excite the nervous
system into the production of tears
without external aid or reflex Writer'S
and readers of good fiction weep over it
alike, and the actor loses himself so en-
tirely in the exigencies of dranati art
that he sheds real tears and the audi
ence sheds tears with him. OF truth,
the man who never weeps has hard
heart, and the quality of his intellect
may also be questioned.
Emotion, then affection, grief.
anxiety, incite to tears; not pain or dis
comfort The pangs of maternity are
fearless, though the influence of ether
or chloroform may cause some emotional
dream that results in weeping. In the
earlier days of surgery patients might
scream and utter such pitiful cries as to
sichen the bystanders, might even faint
with pain, yet there were seldom any
tears These being pure waves of emo
ton, and relief to the heart, are al
most powerless to mitigate pain. Per-
haps one who weeps from pain does so
from unconscious though selfish pity
in other words from emotion For the
fearful, change of scene, mental diver
sion and outdoor life are the best RENE /.
dies. The author quoted objects to .
alcohol as fearfully injurious. 1t dis
turbs and unbalances the nervous svs-
tenn, keeps up maudlin and pitiful .
sentimentality and sustains the evil
Alcohol is the mother of sorrow An .
Opiate, however, prescribed at night, ,
SOOthcs and controls and really disci- I
pines rebelLlOus nerve centcrs. Sleep /
cures tears. And SO does time, the re-
stOrer Persons subject to many and re-
Deated griefs forget how TO weep, and
The old as compared to the young are
almost fearless. Tears have their value
n the life of humanity. not as tears
but as signs. They show that grief cen
.ers are being relieved OF their sensi-
oility. and that the nervous organiza-
ion is learning how to bear up against
Orrow.-Asclepiad