The Origin of Tears

128. The origin of Tears

Just as laughter is never caused by extreme joy, tears do not come from extreme sadness, but only from that which is moderate and accompanied or followed by some feeling of love or even joy.

Vapors continually emanate from all parts of our body. But none of them exit as much as from the eyes, due to:

• the size of the optic nerves and
• the multitude of small arteries through which they enter.

Just as sweat consists only of vapors that, exiting from other parts, convert into water on their surface, tears form from vapors that exit from the eyes.

129. How Vapors Turn into Water

My work “The Meteors” explained how air vapors transform into rain.

This happens when they are less agitated or more abundant than usual.

When those leaving the body are much less agitated than usual.

They still convert into water even if they are not necessarily more abundant.

This causes cold sweats that sometimes arise from weakness when one is ill.

Similarly, when they are much more abundant, provided they are not more agitated, they also convert into water, which causes sweat during exercise.

However, the eyes do not sweat during exercise because during physical exertion, most of the spirits move towards the muscles used for movement, and less through the optic nerve towards the eyes.

It is the same substance that composes blood while in veins or arteries, spirits when in the brain, nerves, or muscles, vapors when they exit in the form of air, and finally sweat or tears when they thicken into water on the surface of the body or eyes.

130. How Pain to the Eye Induces Tears

The vapors exiting the eyes turn into tears due to 2 causes:

1. When the structure of the pores through which they pass is altered by some accident.

This alteration slows the movement of these vapors and changes their order, causing them to convert into water. Hence, even a speck falling into the eye can elicit tears, because it induces pain, altering the disposition of its pores.

Some pores narrow, causing the vapors’ tiny particles to pass more slowly. Previously evenly spaced, they now collide due to the disruption of pore order, thereby combining and turning into tears.

131. How Sadness Leads to Crying

2. Sadness, accompanied by love, joy, or generally by some factor

This causes the heart to push a lot of blood through the arteries.

Sadness is necessary because it cools the blood, narrowing the eye’s pores.

However, as it constricts the eye’s pores, it also reduces the amount of vapors needing passage. These are insufficient to produce tears unless the amount of these vapors is concurrently increased by some other cause.

The blood sent to the heart in the passion of love increases them the most.

Those who are sad do not continually shed tears, only intermittently when they reflect anew on the objects they cherish.

132. Moans Accompanying Tears

Sometimes, the lungs suddenly swell due to an abundance of blood entering and displacing the air they contain.

This air, escaping through the windpipe, generates moans and cries typically accompanying tears.

These cries are usually sharper than those accompanying laughter, although produced in a similar manner.

There are nerves that govern the expansion or contraction of voice organs, making it deeper or higher-pitched.

These are linked with the nerves opening the heart’s openings during joy and constricting them during sadness. This simultaneously expands or contracts these organs.

133. Why Children and Elderly Cry Easily

Children and the elderly are more prone to crying than those in middle age, but for different reasons.

The elderly often cry from affection and joy because these 2 emotions together send a lot of blood to their hearts and hence a lot of vapors to their eyes.

These vapors’ agitation is sufficiently delayed by their cool temperament, easily converting them into tears, even without preceding sadness.

If some elderly cry readily out of annoyance, it’s more a reflection of their spirit than their body’s temperament, showing they are so weak that small sources of grief, fear, or pity can entirely overwhelm them.

The same applies to children, who rarely cry from joy but more often from sadness, even without accompanying love. They always have enough blood to produce many vapors, the movement of which sadness delays, converting them into tears.

134. Why Some Children Pale Instead of Crying.

However, some children pale instead of crying when upset, which may indicate exceptional judgment and courage in them.

This occurs when they consider the magnitude of the trouble and prepare for strong resistance, much like older individuals.

Yet, it’s more often a sign of bad temperament when they incline toward hatred or fear, as these emotions reduce tear production.

Conversely, those who cry easily are inclined toward love and pity.

135. Sighs

The cause of sighs differs greatly from that of tears, though both presuppose sadness.

Tears are prompted when the lungs are full of blood.

Sighs are prompted when the lungs are nearly empty, and some hope or joy prompts the opening of the veinous artery that sadness has narrowed.

Then, the little blood remaining in the lungs suddenly falls into the heart’s left side through this veinous artery, pushed by the desire to attain this joy, which simultaneously agitates all the muscles of the diaphragm and chest.

Air is quickly pushed through the mouth into the lungs, filling the space left by this blood.