RECORD: Darwin, C. R. & G. H. Darwin. [1870-1872]. Quotation from Bell, The Anatomy of Expression, p. 106. Quoted in Expression, pp. 158-9. CUL-DAR53.2.131. (John van Wyhe ed., 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online, http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed and edited by John van Wyhe 11.2025. RN1
NOTE: See record in the Darwin Online manuscript catalogue, enter its Identifier here. Reproduced with permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library and William Huxley Darwin. The volume CUL-DAR53.2 contains drafts, notes & clippings for Darwin's book The expression of the emotions (1872) and notes to correct a further edition.
131
"During every violent act of expiration whether in hearty laughter weeping coughing or sneezing, the eye-ball is firmly compressed by the fibres of the orbicularis; and this is a provision for supporting and defending the vascular system of the interior of the eye from a retrograde impulse communicated to the blood in the veins at that time. When we contract the chest and expel the air, there is a retardation of the blood in the veins of the neck and head; and in the more powerful acts of expulsion
Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
File last updated 28 November, 2025