New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-04-04
WHY WE LAUGH.
REFLECTIONS on THE PSYCHOLOGY OF
MIRTH.

From The London Times.
Darwin in his Expression of the Emotions
notes that during the siege of Paris the German
soldiers, after alarm or near shave, were
given to loud bursts Of laughter over the most
paitry jokes. The same physical conditions no
doubt explain the Laughter in court" over
trivialites which the newspaper reader not IN
court finds dull enough. In that aspect, says
Balm, the comic is the reaction from the serious
That is why the idea of the dignitary IN an
undignifed posture is at the bottom OF neeiiS
every farce. Further, as the essence OF laugh
ter physiologicaIly considered, is the sudden
liberation of nervous energy, we see why SUI
prise must be of its elements, and why we
do not laugh at stale jokes The recollection oil
'Tartarin de Tarascon" is nearly fata 10
s'Tartarfn sur les Alpes." and the TRADE on the
nose in -'Cyrano de Bergerac" TO the speech
with the refrain pas prisonnier mals IN
"I,Aiglon' So Mr.. C1llberts topsyturVydom "a
naval captain obsequious TO his crew; KINGS
backing their own boots: dukes two penny
or Oscar Wilde's inverted commonplaces { the
old fashioned respect for the young Is gTaduaIH
diving out'D so soon as the trick ceases TO cause
surprise cease to amuse. 1t Is the suudcIi
surprise created by the linking OF dissmiIar
ideas under similarity of sound which causes
laughter over puns even simple assonanceS
(e e. yoltaire's farewell TO Naturalization
canaux. canards. canaille'D. To the element OF
surprise must be added the element OF social
imitation vogue" There is a fashion IN nun
as we all know! Puns dixie practical jokes
are now hopeessiy out Of date-archeologlcdl
curiosities Of the early and middle Victorian
period. They quilted the stage with Mr. j. L.
Toole If they linser in Punch il is merely
out of Difference 10 historical tradition. They
like the little slips of paper Inscribed with
facetise which Chinese gentlemen are SAID 10
exchange solemnly in the intervals Of a con
Versation. designed not to provoke laughlef' pul
TO comply with long established etiquette
Laughter implies both sympathy and anup-
athy. We laugh with some people and at
others But there is a middle term-laughing
over other people. as. for example, over Uncle
Toby. Mr. PickWick, or NJ. BergeTet In
other words. there is the laughter of satire or
irony, and the laughter OF the purely comic
spirit. Mr.. Meredith draws the distinction
You may estimate your capacity for comic
perception by being able to detect the r1dlcule
of them you love without loving them less.
If you detect the ridicule and your kind
illness is chilled by IL, You are slipping into the
grasp Of Satire If instead Of falling foul of the
ridiculous person with satiric rod. to make
him writhe and shrek aloud, you prefer to
sting him under a semi-caress by which he shall
I'm his anguish he rendered dubious whether in
deed anything has hunt him. you are an engine
OF Irony.
MoIiare is Nj Meredith's great exemplar Of
the comic spirit. But Stendhal preferred Reg
nard: and there is something to be said for
his heresy. when one considers the lnV2rlabie
bitterness Of Moliere's laughter. Moiere must
ALWAYS have butt Shakespeare seldom makes
q dov-nr;ghr nl;tt of his ridiculous characters.
The FalstaT Of The Merry Wives is the one
notorious exception. Falstah at his best gen
orally contrives to get the laughter on his side;
Polonus. and even Malvolio, are treated. in the
long run. with some conjunction
II is the element OF surprise IN laughter that
prompts the natural man to find the ludicrous
in everything strange. The yokel laughs at a
Frenchman because he is such fool to say
nous for we Herein laughter must have
acted as a binding force in early societies. con-
tributinE TO what Walter Basehot called the
cake Of custom The advance OF civilization
might be measured by the Improvement in the
quality Of its laughter. Primitive laughter goes
with absence OF sympathy and imagination.
Children laugh the village idiot Tant Sannie,
the Boer woman in The Story of African
Farm when boy to be thrashed. felt
half sorry for the lad; but she could not help
laughing, il always funny when any
one going to have whipping. In pas
sages of the SrotesQue- athletic the stage,
while Madam in the stalls takes out her pocket
handkerchief. Sally in the pit bursts into loud
suffaW. II sheer ugliness reYolts the modern
world il merely amused the Greeks: and Aris-
totle classified the ridiculous a species of
-urptude Even Cicero thought that bodily
ieformities were salts bella materies ad jo-
-andum.' The Eliza bethans laughed at the
madness Of Hamlet and the contortions of
'aliban. X is significant that Shylock was con-
.idered a comic character until the middle of
The eighteenth century. when -sensibility'' be-
anne Fashionable To Moliares public Tartuffe
and Alceste ard George Dandn were comic
characters Who laughs nowadays AT the clowns
mockery OF the imprisoned Malvoo? A modern
audience is disconnected by Charles Surfaces
laughter in the screen scene" The boisterous
jocuiarity of the ''Noctes Ambrosiane" now
crates on nerves AS for the Jolly Vic
torian fun-Mr. Wrinkle with his fowling piece
ar. Pickwfck in the pound-it has now become
irnost tedious Rs belais.