William K. Vanderbilt, when he last visited Constantinople, one day
invited Coquelin the elder, so celebrated for his powers as a mimic, who
happened to be in the city at the time, to give a private recital on
board his yacht, lying in the Bosphorus. Coquelin spoke three of his
monologues. A few days afterwards Coquelin received the following
memorandum from the millionaire:--
"You have brought tears to our eyes and laughter to our hearts. Since
all philosophers are agreed that laughing is preferable to weeping, your
account with me stands thus:--
"For tears, six times . . . $600
"For laughter, twelve times . . 2,400
------
$3,000
"Kindly acknowledge receipt of enclosed check."
"I find nonsense singularly refreshing," said Talleyrand. There is good
philosophy in the saying, "Laugh and grow fat." If everybody knew the
power of laughter as a health tonic and life prolonger the tinge of
sadness which now clouds the American face would largely disappear, and
many physicians would find their occupation gone.
The power of laughter was given us to serve a wise purpose in our
economy. It is Nature's device for exercising the internal organs and
giving us pleasure at the same time.
Laughter begins in the lungs and diaphragm, setting the liver, stomach,
and other internal organs into a quick, jelly-like vibration, which
gives a pleasant sensation and exercise, almost equal to that of
horseback riding. During digestion, the movements of the stomach are
similar to churning. Every time you take a full breath, or when you
cachinnate well, the diaphragm descends and gives the stomach an extra
squeeze and shakes it. Frequent laughing sets the stomach to dancing,
hurrying up the digestive process. The heart beats faster, and sends the
blood bounding through the body. "There is not," says Dr. Green, "one
remotest corner or little inlet of the minute blood-vessels of the human
body that does not feel some wavelet from the convulsions occasioned by
a good hearty laugh." In medical terms, it stimulates the vasomotor
centers, and the spasmodic contraction of the blood-vessels causes the
blood to flow quickly. Laughter accelerates the respiration, and gives
warmth and glow to the whole system. It brightens the eye, increases the
perspiration, expands the chest, forces the poisoned air from the
least-used lung cells, and tends to restore that exquisite poise or
balance which we call health, which results from the harmonious action
of all the functions of the body. This delicate poise, which may be
destroyed by a sleepless night, a piece of bad news, by grief or
anxiety, is often wholly restored by a good hearty laugh.
There is, therefore, sound sense in the caption,--"Cheerfulness as a
Life Power,"--relating as it does to the physical life, as well as the
mental and moral; and what we may call