Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-07-07
WHAT IS LAUGHTER?
Defined as a convulsive Action Of the
Diaphraunn.

Diaphragm.
Laughter" says Prof. Sir Charles
Bell, "is a convulsive action Of the dia-
phragm. In this state the person
draws a full breath and throws it out
in interrupted, short and audible
cachinations. This convulsion Of the
diaphragm is the principal part Of the
physical manifestation of laughter;
but there are several accessories, es-
pecially the sharp vocal utterance
arising from the violent tension Of the
larynx and the expression Of the feat
ures, this being more intense form
of the smile. In extreme cases the eyes
are moistened by the effusion from the
lachrymal glands"
There you have a scientific defini-
ton. But 1t is clear that mankind
would hardly take the trouble to go
through that experience IL that Is all
that laughter consisted Of. They
would not regard Dickens or Mark
Twain as a benefactor merely because
perusal of their writings produced
that. No; even the philosophers know
that laughter Is something-better
than that-something internal-that
there Is such a thing as silent laugh
ter. Hobbies calls laughter "a sudden
glory arising from sudden conception
of some eminency in ourselves by COM
parison with the inflrmity Of others, or
with our own formerly"
II laugh Is a benefaction and the
provoker Of laugh benefactor, why
are there more statues to dull people
than to witty ones? Who was the
greatest laugh promoter in history? 1t
was said Of Sydney Smith that he was
the father Of ten million laughs.
Laughter" said Lord Roseberry, re-
Gently, "is a physical necessity. We
live under q sunless sky, surrounded
by melancholy ocean, and II Is
physical necessity for the English ma
tion-even for the Scotch nation, and
the Welsh nation-to laugh. It exhil-
arates all social relations. WAS not"
his lordship added, "the laugh Of Sir
Frederick Lockwood something thai
would make stued bird rejoice? And
those who listened to the splendor or
merriment which he could impart by
that laugh realize the intense value
Of that emotional exercise"
Laughter in church would seem to
be good thing out Of place, but there
are thousands Of instances Of II, even
amongst Scottish congregations. In
England the chief clerical humorist for
many years was the late Rev. II. p.
Haweis, who once announced from the
pulpit: II see some one has been crit
icizing laughter In church. Let me tell
him that would far rather see laugh
ter in the house Of God than envy and
covetousness and worldliness and un-
charitableness. Laughter, innocent
laughter, cheers and cleanses the heart
and prepares 1t to receive the lessons
Of Christianity"
In the same way d. L. Moody In
America and Mr. Spurgeon In England
were no friends of a sad, sour reli-
gion. Don't tell me-" said the former,
THAT Christ never laughed. He was
man as we are; and there were times
when even His soul broke into pure
laughter and 1t issued from His lips
even as the laughter of a little child"
Yet to the Puritans laughter was said
to have been "one Of the deadly SINS"
and, according to Sydney Smith, even
for a Methodist to have laughed a
century ago was to have forfeited his
claim to salvation.-The Strand.