CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. Objections to serious study of laughter • 1 Previous treatment of subject by philosophers • 4 Their way of dealing with facts • 6 Examination of an illustration given by Dr. Lipps • 9 Common defects of theories • 17 Difficulties of attempt to treat subject scientifically • 19 Scope of inquiry • 20

CHAPTER II. THE SMILE AND THE LAUGH. Need of studying the bodily process in laughter • 25 Characteristics of the movements of the smile • 26 Expressive function of the smile • 27 Continuity of processes of smiling and laughing • 27 Characteristics of the movements of laughter • 30 Concomitant organic changes during laughter • 33 Physiological benefits of laughing • 34 Effects of excessive laughter • 37 The laugh as expression • 39 Relation of expression to feeling in laughter • 40 Interactions of joyous feeling and organic concomitants • 44 Deviations from the normal type of laugh • 48

CHAPTER III. OCCASIONS AND CAUSES OF LAUGHTER. 1. Laughter as provoked by sense-stimulus: tickling • 50 Ticklish areas • 52 Characteristics of the sensations of tickling • 53 Motor reactions provoked by tickling • 56 How far attributes of sensation determine laughter of tickling • 57 The mental factor in effect of tickling • 59 Objective conditions of successful tickling • 60 Tickling as appealing to a particular mood • 62 2. Other quasi-reflex forms of laughter • 64 Varieties of automatic or “nervous” laughter • 65 Common element in these varieties: relief from strain • 67 3. Varieties of joyous laughter • 70 Prolonged laughing fit • 73 The essential element in joyous laughter • 75 Occasions of joyous laughter • 76 (a) Play • 76 (b) Teasing as provocative situation • 77 (c) Practical joking and laughter • 78 (d) Laughter as an accompaniment of contest • 78 (e) Occasions of unusual solemnity as provoking laughter • 79 Physiological basis of laughing habit • 80

CHAPTER IV. VARIETIES OF THE LAUGHABLE. The objective reference in laughter • 82 Universal element in the laughable • 83 Groups of laughable things • 87 (1) Novelty and oddity • 87 (2) Bodily deformities • 88 (3) Moral deformities and vices • 91 (4) Breaches of order and rule • 94 (5) Small misfortunes • 96 (6) References to the indecent • 98 (7) Pretences • 101 (8) Want of knowledge or skill • 102 (9) Relations of contrariety and incongruity • 107 (10) Verbal play and witticism • 111 Co-operation of different laughable features • 114 (11) Manifestations of playfulness in objects • 116 (12) Spectacle of successful combat • 117

CHAPTER V. THEORIES OF THE LUDICROUS. 1. The Theory of Degradation • 119 Aristotle’s theory • 120 Theory of Hobbes • 120 Prof. Bain’s theory • 121 Criticism of theory of degradation • 122 2. Theory of Contrariety or Incongruity • 125 Kant’s theory of nullified expectation • 126 Criticism of Kant’s theory • 126 Function of surprise in effect of the ludicrous • 129 Schopenhauer’s theory of incongruity • 130 Criticism of Schopenhauer’s theory • 132 Different forms of the incongruous • 134 Summary of criticism of theories • 135 Attempts to unify the two principles • 136 The laughable as failure to comply with a social requirement • 139 How primitive laughter comes into effect of the ludicrous • 140 Relation of sudden gladness to release from constraint • 141 Element of contempt in effect of the ludicrous • 142 Laughter and the play-mood • 145 The play-mood in the effects of the ludicrous • 149 Summary of results of inquiry into theories • 153

CHAPTER VI. THE ORIGIN OF LAUGHTER. Problem of the origin of laughter in the race • 155 Supposed rudiments of mirth in animals • 156 The dog’s manifestations of a sense of fun • 159 The mirthful displays of the ape • 162 First appearance of laughter in child: date of the first smile • 164 Date of the first laugh • 166 The laugh as following the smile • 168 Order of the two in the evolution of the race • 170 Conjecture as to genesis of the human smile • 171 How the primitive smile may have grown into the laugh • 173 Problem of the evolution of the laughter of tickling • 176 Effects of tickling in animals • 177 Date of first response to tickling in the child • 177 Tickling as inheritance from remote ancestors • 178 Value of evolutional theories of tickling • 181 How laughter may have come into tickling • 183

CHAPTER VII. DEVELOPMENT OF LAUGHTER DURING THE FIRST THREE YEARS OF LIFE. Problem of the early development of laughter in the individual • 186 Development of smile and laugh as movements • 188 The general process of emotional development • 189 Relation of laughter of joy to that of play • 194 Development of laughter of joy • 195 Emergence of laughter of surprise • 197 First laughter of release from strain • 197 Crude form of laughter of jubilation • 198 Development of laughter as accompaniment of play • 198 Early forms of laughing impishness • 201 First manifestations of rowdyish laughter • 203 Germs of roguish laughter • 205 First crude perceptions of the laughable • 207 The mirthful greeting of sounds • 209 Early responses to the funny in the visible world • 212 First enjoyment of pretences • 214 Early laughter at the improper • 215 Dim perceptions of the incongruous and the absurd • 216 Early sense of verbal fun • 217 Summary of results • 218

CHAPTER VIII. THE LAUGHTER OF SAVAGES. Sources of our knowledge of savage laughter • 220 Different views of travellers on the subject • 220 Laughter as a salient characteristic of savages • 223 Descriptions of their movements of laughter • 227 Abundance of good spirits • 228 Laughter as accompaniment of shyness • 228 Laughter and fondness for teasing • 229 Rough practical jokes • 230 The way in which laughter is accepted • 232 Laughter of superiority and contempt • 233 Indecent character of jocosity • 234 Appreciation of the laughably odd • 235 Ridicule of foreign ways • 237 Laughter at the doings of the white man • 238 Laughter of the expert at the ignoramus • 240 Savage society and the white man’s gaucherie • 241 Germ of sense of the absurd • 242 The ridiculing of fellow-tribesmen • 244 Reciprocal laughter of the men and the women • 245 Example of dry humour • 246 Organisation of laughter as entertainment • 247 Germs of the mimetic art • 247 Differentiation of professional jesters, etc. • 249 Amusing songs and stories • 250 Co-existence of different levels of laughter • 251 How to manage the savage by laughter • 252

CHAPTER IX. LAUGHTER IN SOCIAL EVOLUTION. Connection between laughter and social life • 254 Contagiousness of mirth as social quality • 255 Social uses of laughter • 256 Class-differentiation as condition of laughter • 258 How social grouping widens the field of the laughable • 259 Utility of reciprocal group-laughter • 261 Screwing up members of other groups • 261 Laughter of superiors at inferiors • 263 Quizzing of authorities by subjects • 264 Mirthful turning on task-masters • 265 Woman’s laughing retort • 267 Corrective function of laughter of inferiors • 268 Conciliatory service of group-laughter • 269 Summary of social utilities of laughter • 271 Laughter of other groups as corrective of self-importance • 272 Social movements as influencing laughter • 272 Changes of fashion • 273 Fashion and custom • 275 Merry aspects of movements of fashion • 276 Droll side of descent of fashion to lower ranks • 277 Laughter at the old-fashioned • 279 The movement of progress • 279 Mirthful greeting of new ideas and practices • 280 Laughing away effete customs • 281 Influence of mirthful spirit on social changes • 283 Effect of evolution of culture groups • 283 Effect of minuter subdivision of sets • 285 Effect of progress in breaking down group-barriers • 286 Droll aspects of transition of society to a plutocratic form • 287 Refining effect of culture-movement on hilarity • 288 Decline of older voluminous merriment • 290 Conflict between popular mirth and authority • 291 Combination of standards in popular estimate of laughable • 293 Preparation for individual laughter • 295

CHAPTER X. LAUGHTER OF THE INDIVIDUAL: HUMOUR. Definition of humour • 297 Characteristics of humour • 298 Intellectual basis of humorous sentiment • 300 Humorous contemplation as binocular • 301 The field of the laughable for the humorist • 302 Modification of the conative attitude in humour • 304 Complexity of humour as feeling • 305 Problem of fusion of dissimilar feelings • 307 Facts explained by our analysis of humour • 310 Variations of humour with race and nationality • 311 Temperament and individuality in humour • 313 Humour as enlarging range of laughing activity • 315 The finer detection of the amusing in character • 315 The appreciation of unfitness of men to circumstances • 317 Character-study as a pastime • 318 Laughter as permeating sphere of serious • 319 Effect of kindliness in extending range of laughter • 320 Scope for amusing form of self-scrutiny • 321 Laughter as mode of self-correction • 322 How humour aids a man in dealing with others • 325 Laughing away the smaller troubles • 326 Service of humour in the greater troubles • 328 Humorous contemplation of social scene • 330 Amusing aspects of the fine world • 331 The journal as medium of amusing self-display • 334 The social spectacle of the past and of the present • 337 Humour in contemplation of social scene in seasons of stress • 337 The manifestations of war-temper as humorous spectacle • 338

CHAPTER XI. THE LAUGHABLE IN ART: COMEDY. Source of impulse of comic art • 343 Scope for laughter in art as a whole • 345 Origin of jocose literature • 346 The dawn of comedy • 346 Comic incidents as development of child’s play • 347 Comic value of repetitions • 348 Elements of trickery and dupery • 349 Comedy as reflecting movements of social laughter • 351 Comic dialogue as display of wit • 353 Theories of wit • 354 Wit as intellect at play • 354 Wit and word-play • 356 Character as comic material • 357 Mode of representation of character in comedy • 358 Comic character as type • 359 Development of character-drawing in classic comedy • 359 Treatment of character in early English comedy • 361 Molière as comic portrayer • 364 His art of constructing character • 364 Contrast of the anti-social person and the social world • 365 The abstract and the concrete in Molière’s characters • 365 The comic dénouement in Molière’s plays • 368 Molière’s point of view • 368 Characteristics of Comedy of Restoration • 370 Lamb and Macaulay on moral aspect of comedy • 371 Justification of Lamb’s view of Restoration Comedy • 373 The social as distinct from the moral point of view • 373 Slackening of social restraints by comedy • 376 Limitations of field of comic presentation • 377 The comic point of view in fiction • 378 Laughter of mixed tone in literature: satire • 380 Different degrees of seriousness in satire • 381 Method of virulent satire • 382 Wit in satire • 383 Contrast of satirical and humorous literature • 384 The relation of wit to humour • 385 Boundaries of satire and humorous literature • 386 Humour as ingredient of prose fiction • 387 The boundaries of humour of fiction and of philosophy • 390 Humour in other species of literature • 390

CHAPTER XII. ULTIMATE VALUE AND LIMITATIONS OF LAUGHTER. Need of bringing in philosophic point of view • 392 Philosophy as completion of individual criticism of life • 398 Room for laughter in philosophic contemplation • 393 Philosophy as belittling our everyday world • 394 Reasons why philosophers are not commonly humorists • 395 Speculative Idealism as robbing our common world of interest • 396 Relation of Optimism and of Pessimism to laughter • 397 Possibilities of laughter in philosophic Scepticism • 399 Conditions of development of philosophic humour • 401 Humour in the final evaluation of life • 402 Service of philosophic humour • 403 Justification of the individual point of view • 405 Legitimacy of an amused contemplation of one’s world • 405 Amused contemplation as favouring the survival of the unfit • 408 The philosopher’s preference for retirement • 408 Point of view of contemplation of things by philosophic humorist • 409 The contemplator as held by his social world • 409 Points of view of humorist, comedian and satirist • 410 Question of total value of laughter • 411 Alleged purifying function of comedy • 411 Corrective function of social laughter to-day • 413 Ridicule as a test of truth • 414 Estimate of helpfulness of private laughter • 415 Place of laughter among human qualities • 416 Relation of laughter to social affections • 417 Restraint of laughter by society • 418 Control of laughter as part of moral self-regulation • 420 Prudential reasons for controlling laughter • 422 The promotion of a love of laughter in others • 423 The claims of the agelast to be let alone • 424 The cultivation of laughter in the young • 426 The status of laughter to-day • 427 Causes of decline of popular mirth • 428 Characteristics of laughter of the hour • 430 Possibility of death of laughter • 431 How its conservation may be effected • 432