VOLUME 1 | ISSUE 3
AMPERS&MONTHLY
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A M P E R S
Food Glorious Food 3 Getting into Hot Water 6 For the Love of Language 9
Kappa 10 Biomass Fuel 12 The Signals of Tears 14
MO N T H LY
Matthieu Watson Santerre Meaghan Shevell Zach Berge-Becker Gillian McGovern Theresa Lee Carly Langlois
The goal of The Ampersand Journal is to spread the merits of integration through the McGill University campus, change how students perceive the world, and challenge the average McGillian to muse, create, and imagine. Arts and science are born of each other, part of a continuous whole; only by peering through their combined lenses can we reach true insight and understanding. Elena Ponte, Editor-in-Chief
theampersandjournal.com
FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD Mealtimes and Eating Habits in 18th Century Britain
by Matthieu Watson Santerre
What did Nelson and Wellington eat during those defining moments of British history? Perhaps
Nelson’s advantage over the enemy was that he had a dinner of lamb washed down with port and they hadn’t, their stomachs grumbling in the winds off Gibraltar. Perhaps Wellington defeated Napoleon because he had enjoyed a good beef pie for supper to revive himself while the Emperor didn’t take the time to eat and suffered a hunger cramp at an inopportune moment.
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The study of food and meals is not a subject of his-
to dine between three and five in the afternoon or six to eight hours after his breakfast. He remained within the time gap of the fashionable dinnertime of the gentry. Dinner was often expected to take place between two and four in the afternoon in the 1760s. By the 1770s, it was expected that the upper classes dined at five o’clock in London. Dinner did tend to be the most fickle of mealtimes as it increasingly moved about depending on the day or the event. Having a midday meal at three or four o’clock was more of a guideline than a steadfast rule. It was proper to invite one for dinner at sixteen hundred hours by 1763. Yet one could partake in an afternoon meal anytime between two o’clock and five o’clock in the afternoon. However throughout the 18th century in England dinner tended to move farther and farther away from breakfast. Indeed dinnertime reached five o’clock for the gentry by the early 1800s. It was expected that one often needed a quick midmorning snack to sustain oneself from the breakfast table to the dinner table. Boswell doesn’t mention if he had any snacks, but one can presume that as he went into a coffehouse, such as Child’s, in the morning or early afternoon he must have at least had a warm drink to revive himself. After dinner sometimes came tea. Tea was served in late afternoon often with bread and butter in what can be defined as an event half way between a snack and a meal. It was meant to tide one over until supper. Boswell often partook in tea in the afternoon although never specifying the time. All we know is that it was after dinner. Let’s finish off the day with some supper. Through the 1760s and 1770s, the gentry took supper between
tory from above. To fully understand these themes one must understand the stories of ordinary people’s lives, examining their diaries or letters. Let us take a look at James Boswell’s London journal spanning the years 1762-1763. The idea that one eats when one is hungry is half true. Hopefully hungry individuals on the verge of death by starvation wouldn’t wait until it is suppertime to have something to eat. Yet, in general, one eats when it is the proper time to eat. We are expected to eat in allotted mealtimes: breakfast, dinner and supper. The odd snack usually tides us over in the interim. This practice of regularly defined mealtimes finds itself entrenched in the 18th century in Britain. Let’s start with the most important meal of the day and, incidentally, the first one: breakfast. In nearly every single entry of his journal the first words Boswell inserts in his heading are ‘breakfasted at’ or ‘breakfast’. When he woke up on New Year’s Day his thoughts were not about Auld Lang Syne, but breakfasting on a few muffins. He breakfasts at nine o’clock every morning. One can assume that this was the customary time for a gentleman of the upper-middle classes to have food in the morning. Breakfast was taken not more than a couple of hours after one woke up. It was taken between nine and eleven in the morning for the more fashionable individuals. The second meal of the day is dinner. To clarify, ‘dinner’ is what we now refer to as lunch. In the British Isles lunch can still be referred to as dinner, especially in the northern parts of England. The term ‘lunch’ was developed later in the early 19th century. Boswell tended 4
nine and ten o’clock in the evening. Should the occasion warrant, such as when one went to a late evening theatre show or a ball, it could well be taken as late (or as early, depending on the point of view) as two in the morning. In his diary, Boswell tended to pay closer attention to his company than the time at which he ate his evening meal in his diary. He often ate his supper with the gentry or upper classes so one can assume that he followed the fashion. Of course there were times when Boswell took a little something before bed to make it through the night avoiding hunger. This habit of late night snacks is probably what led him to have only bread and tea for his meals by January 29th 1763. He had to fit into his new stockings. After all they cost him almost ten pounds. Diets are not a new invention. From the age of Enlightenment we have also inherited what kind foods we eat at these times. For this, let us study Boswell’s eating habits through food consumption. Boswell tended to eat his breakfast after he had gotten dressed for the day. Like a proper gentleman, he didn’t have his muffins in his pyjamas or worse, his underwear. This does mean that he had to be alert as he indulged in his first meal, for if he wasn’t careful he might drop a bit of food on his day’s outfit. The danger was limited with muffins of which he often had three for breakfast. Marmalade was another issue all to itself when it came to the risk of staining one’s clothes. Indeed he did indulge in marmalade for breakfast on at least one occasion. Luckily for him, there was no wardrobe malfunction. On this occasion danger was averted, perhaps by the judicious positioning of a napkin or tablecloath. He did sometimes have the leisure to take breakfast in bed. Whether he got out of bed, dressed and hopped back in under his covers looking his best is not mentioned. One can presume that when he ate in bed he had not yet dressed. What did Boswell have for his dinner? One can establish that as a general rule dinner involved some kind of meat being consumed with a little something
on the side to accompany it and gives it substance. After all, one had to make it until supper, which could be up to six or more hours later. Dinner was usually composed of two to three dishes. It was proper to serve them all at once à la française, as opposed to the cureent pattern where one serves different dishes one at a time, or service à la ruse, in rapid succession if one wants to get rid of guest. Evidently, Boswell engaged in the practice of service à la française. Whether he had a bite of each dish in rotating succession or finished one dish before proceeding to the other one can only speculate. The meal was accompanied by an alcoholic drink. Tea was certainly one of Boswell’s favourite drinks and the time of day to indulge in it must have been a highlight. So much so that he bought it by the quarter pound. Boswell’s love for tea might be explained by the setting in which he engaged in its consumption. He usually drank tea in the company of women. One should therefore see his love of tea in parallel to his love for ladies. What of supper? Here one must speculate as Boswell paid more attention to his supper’s company in his diary than the actual content of his meal. Had a few suppers been disgusting, carbonized or had he had a fly in his soup, he probably would have mentioned it in his diary. The same goes for an exceptional meal. One can reasonably assume that his suppers were a normal event for the time. Supper was very much in the same format as dinner for the gentry. As mentioned before, food was served all at once à la française and the meal usually was comprised of a dish of meat and a side dish with perhaps some dessert. However Boswell did mention the instances when he had too much to drink with his supper as when he overindulged in port and woke up with a hangover on July 15th, 1763. Luckily for us his was lucid enough to report the event to us by way of his diary. The next time you sit down to have some veal and tart at supper, pause and think. Had Boswell not done the same a few centuries ago, would I be eating this meal? Then go out to have a burger and a diet coke.
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Getting into Hot Water: by Meaghan Shevell
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D
evelopment is neither a unitary nor objective concept. Development can be conceptualized as the process of evolving to a more advanced and effective state, ultimately maximizing inherent potential. Using the term ‘evolving’ in its definition suggests that development is a natural process, when in fact it is highly culturally contextualized. Development often involves the transfer of knowledge and technologies between radically different cultures (i.e. from an urban individualistic culture to a rural collectivist culture). Altruistically, development projects aim to improve various aspects of human endeavors. However, the specific developmental aspect targeted for improvement varies tremendously according to individual, cultural or organizational goals. The complexity of such multifaceted subjectivity provides additional challenges to the takeoff and sustainability of development projects. A primary focus in development initiatives has often been to ameliorate local health conditions. In developing countries, this developmental aspect has proven to be a major challenge. Poor sanitation and a lack of access to potable water result in frequent waterborne illnesses, contributing to significant morbidity and mortality. Economic conditions in Los Molinos, Peru in the 1950’s precluded the establishment of an adequate, sanitary water system. In an attempt to address this developmental challenge, the Rural Hygiene Project initiated an effort for local residents to boil their water before consumption. Altering local practices regarding water consumption was attempted over a two-year period. Western respected authority figures were brought in to edify Peruvian housewives. This educational effort was provided in a traditional lecture format. In order to assess takeoff, a quantitative comparison was undertaken before and after the project’s two-year duration. Variables measured included the number of houses boiling water and the frequency of waterborne illnesses. The project was deemed a failure as it was observed that of the 200 households included in the effort, there was only a 5% increase in the number of those boiling water. The reasons for the failure of this development project are manifold. One single reason cannot unanimously account for the lack of takeoff, and for most households, multiple reasons are apparent. The identified
challenges include: a local, cultural system regarding health which contradicts that of Western health professionals, an inappropriate method of knowledge transfer, and economic disparities. Upon analysis, it was revealed that the local conceptualization of health lied in direct opposition with that of the Western health workers. Specifically, the local inhabitants had developed a highly complex belief system of ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ distinctions in which ‘hot’ water (i.e. boiled) is in fact associated with illness. This distinction was historically based and provided locals with culturally plausible explanations. By proposing something directly antithetical to local norms, it was highly unlikely that the recommendation to boil water would be socially accepted. To depart from cultural standards is problematic and can create internal personal conflicts regarding allegiance. A second explanation for lack of takeoff relates to both the method and content of knowledge transfer. A lecture format setting recreates the power disparity of a colonial situation. By ‘educating’ the local population there was an explicit implication of superiority and ethnocentric bias. Western hegemony was reaffirmed and local beliefs were undermined. Furthermore, the material used to justify boiling water was biomedically based. An emphasis on the dangers of intangible microbes was unfathomable for its audience. The locals could not conceive of a threat they cannot physically perceive.
A Rural Hygiene Project in Los Molinos, Peru
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It is apparent through the failures of this water-boiling program that empirical science alone is insufficient. The final pitfall of the Rural Hygiene Project related to economic factors. There was an inability to mobilize resources in a setting of scarcity in order to obtain and boil water. Specifically, this concerned both time and fuel efficiency. Housewives had numerous tasks to attend to and limited funds to purchase wood, thus socioeconomic status was a major contributing factor for determining takeoff. Upon analysis, several potential solutions to the challenges mentioned above were apparent. Most problematic was the locally entrenched, holistic cultural system of ‘hot’ and ‘cold’. As this system was so all-encompassing, not merely limited to health alone but intricately involved in all aspects of local life, effecting change was especially challenging. Therefore, instead of imposing an external change in beliefs, local values and ideals should have been incorporated into developmental planning. It is integral that development projects emphasize equal partnership involvement between donors and recipients. Grassroots participation would have enabled local standards and needs to be met and encouraged local leadership. Local leadership places the community as the reference group for its component members, thus making shifts in practices more socially acceptable. Grassroots participation facilitates the use of local mediators in the transfer of knowledge. Utilizing local hygiene workers of similar ethnicity and socioeconomic background would have ensured greater inter-relatedness among initiators and participants. Furthermore, a more culturally specific content and method of information dissemination would have been more persuasive and ultimately more effective. With respect to economic barriers, potential solutions should have included the use of vouchers for the specific purchase of firewood and the establishment of communal waterboiling stations. The vouchers guarantee that the economic subsidy is used specifically as intended. The communal boiling stations would have provided greater accessibility, and as an additional benefit increased local employment. Much time and effort can be wasted in the debate over who is more effective: the qualified Western health worker or the local adjuvant who is experienced in cultural particularities. Emphasis instead should be placed on a complementary team-approach, where the strengths of both work in conjunction. It is apparent through the failures of this water-boiling program that empirical science alone is insufficient. There is a compelling need for contextual knowledge of cultural, situational and individual factors in order for effectual change to take place. Using a one-size-fits-all approach for the takeoff and sustainability of development projects ignores individual differences within a community and the dynamic interplay between problems. By using surveys and careful analysis of in-depth case studies, development projects can specifically tailor interventions to individual needs, therefore enhancing the potential for success.
Nota Bene: For further reading about the ‘Los Molinos Rural Hygiene Project’ case study see Health, Culture and Community,Case Studies of Public Reactions to Health Programs, Edited by Benjamin D. Paul, (Russel Sage Foundation, 1955) 8
For th* lov* of Languag* by Zach B*rg*-B*ck*r
Our voluminous vocabulary is a wondrous thing, which grants us a fantastic ability to say a myriad
things in a myriad ways. A ramification of this is our capability to play with words, turning basic and simplistic writing into an art form. Many an author opts for simplicity with this goal in mind, but playing with words is also an amazing tool for avoiding apathy. A popular way to avoid apathy is placing constraints on writing, which is a form of writing in which an author must avoid using particular scriptsigns. Its final product is usually grounds for dissatisfaction, as an author in this situation can mostly only put down plain words, and discuss stark thoughts too basic to hold any particular fascination. Still, placing constraints on writing is thought of by many authors as a fun and amusing approach to writing.
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Wright, author of “Gadsby”, was cognisant of this approach to writing. “Gadsby” is a fifty thousand word book containing an intriguing protagonist and plot, but it is no ordinary book. It is a lipogram - a lipogram which I look upon with much admiration.
A lipogram is a kind of writing with constraints; it consists of writing books, paragraphs, or similar things, without a particular symbol and/or script-sign.
In many lipograms, this particular symbol is found amidst “d” and “f ”, and is commonly known as our fifth script-sign. Know what it is? Stop for an instant, and think about how unusual and odd a paragraph must look with such a common thing missing from it! At first, you might think that it is absurd to say that such a paragraph could possibly flow naturally, but, in fact, it can. As tricky as it may sound to try and avoid using such a popular script-sign in any form of communication, it is shocking to fathom how writing in this way can still impart information, such as a plot. It is a difficult form of communication, without any doubt, but that also adds a bit of fun and sport to writing. And you can always obtain aid from a dictionary, or your trusty book of synonyms. Many critics find lipograms ugly and ridiculous, but writing with constraints can actually amplify your linguistic and writing skills. Sadly, math is an impossibility in this form of writing - math, biology, physics… and two thirds of our total vocabulary. Luckily, most profanity is still intact. Naturally, I want to both plug and discuss various lipogram books with you, but I cannot do that in this column (I trust you could work out that this column is a lipogram by now.) All I can do is fill you all in about this form of writing, and now it is up to you to go and find out as much as you can about lipograms, and how much fun writing lipograms can bring - a lot.
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by Gillian Mcgovern
B
efore the establishment of written language and scientific explanation, the assumed causes of mysterious phenomena were orally transmitted between generations in the form stories. Such tales rationalized curious occurrences as the clandestine doings of another world, one outside the scope of human perception. These fantastic conceptions made unseen and hard to understand events fit together in a comprehendible manner for the premodern mind. As the early forms of modernity started disseminating around the globe these once perplexing phenomena began to be explained in empirical and rational terms. The ghouls and goblins that were once thought to wander amongst the mortal realm slowly began to disappear from the modern landscape, only to survive in folktales.
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The kappa is about the size of a child, loves both sumo wrestling and cucumbers, and resides in grasses along the sides of streams.
In post-WWII era Japan, a revived fascination with archaic traditions began as a means for the people to
connect with their ancestors and obtain a better understanding of their Japanese heritage. However, this search for the confirmation that there once existed a simpler time in Japan, and in the world, was provided not with authentic lore and tradition but with a transformed folk superstition and the yokai (monster, spirit, goblin, ghost, or demon) that inhabit it through a process known as folklorism. The aforementioned transformation is here exemplified by one folk object in particular: the Japanese yokai commonly known as the kappa. Associated with water and fertility, this mythical creature is one of the most well known phantoms in the Japanese archipelago and appears in a plethora of folklore and ritual, each with their own regional variation. The kappa is about the size of a child, loves both sumo wrestling and cucumbers, and resides in grasses along the sides of streams. Despite these benign sounding characteristics, the kappa is a historic trouble maker with a mischievous reputation. It’s known to pull young children and livestock into rivers, fondle women’s genitals, and steal people’s shirikodama -a fictitious organ located in the anus. But, its nefarious deeds are tempered by the fact it is often easy to trick and consistently true to its word.
The nationalistic tourism campaign, The Discover Japan (Jisukabā Japan), ran through the 1970s and beseeched the Japanese citizen to rediscover his or herself by visiting and interacting with the “native” culture of their homeland. The primitive and “pure” countryside, and its remaining inhabitants, became more accessible to the urban dweller by means of a newly constructed railroad system. A once arduous journey became a short, pleasant train ride away from the newly constructed sprawling metropolises. The kappa was adopted as the mascot of the countryside because of its roots in the natural environment and its long history of agricultural involvement. Based on this logic, the kappa’s status as a symbol of the countryside inevitably also made it a symbol of national identity. However, this was not the archetypal kappa on tourism posters and folk goods, but its kawaii (cute) doppelganger. The kappa lost its grotesque features and began to be used as a way to generate revenue from visitors searching for a constructed past. As the kappa descended to become a modern symbol it was stripped of the power it once held as a deity and became a means to commodify the Japanese heritage. The traditions of folklore have always served to comfort premodern man because if a phenomenon can be explained then it suggests a power to predict and control it. Thousands of years later the protagonists of these local legends still provide a form of comfort only to a much larger audience searching for different explanations of the hectic world surrounding them. The populace accepts the myth of a unique Japanese identity because it entails a shared history and connection a community that preceded them. Experiencing (constructed) rural life eases worried minds that the world was not always so fast paced and at one point, they too were a part of a simple, magical community. In a world of modernity and science, fictitious deities themselves cannot be something the nation can pride itself on, but it can be proud of the generations preceding them who created and elaborated (even if through folkloric means) such complex tales filled with magic and imagination. These creative minds came from Japan and their spirits still remain there and continue on through the propagation of lore and legend. 11
Biomass Fuels by Theresa Lee
Growing energy demands have become a critical factor driving resource exploitation and environmen-
tal change. For billions of people in developing nations, domestic energy needs are met by the burning of biomass fuels, such as wood, charcoal, crop residues, and animal waste. Biomass fuels have adverse health consequences to the end-users in direct and indirect manners. Direct health consequences result from indoor air pollution produced by the burning of biomass fuels. The smoke thus generated contains a large number of health-damaging pollutants and particulate matter. These include carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur oxides, formaldehyde and polycyclic organic matter among others. The majority of those exposed are women, who are normally responsible for food preparation and cooking, and infants and young children who are usually with their mothers near the cooking area. Half of the energy from biomass fuels goes to the heating of food. The majority of the cooking devices used are traditional stoves set up with three-stones around the fire. These traditional stoves are made of mud, metal, cement or brick, often with no operating chimneys or hoods. They have high fuel consumption rates and high risk of uncontrolled fires. In addition the high moisture content of the biomass resources used and the low efficiency of the combustion process produce dangerous level of smoke, 12
particularly if the food is cooked indoors. As a consequence of the pollutants emitted by these devices, pollution levels inside the households cooking with biomass are often many times higher than typical outdoor levels, even that of highly polluted cities. Epidemiological studies have linked exposure to air pollution due to the burning of biomass fuels to acute respiratory infections in children and chronic obstructive lung disease in adults. There is growing evidence linking biomass fuel and indoor air pollution to increased risk of tuberculosis, cardiovascular diseases, low birth weight, cataracts, blindness, nausea and long-term chronic health effects (WHO 2011). Burning of biomass fuels also increases the risk of accident and serious injuries from burning. The use of biomass fuels indirectly affects health as it is closely tied to social and environmental health risks. Use of biomass fuels leads to degradation of the environment, most notably deforestation, soil erosion, climate change and loss in biodiversity. When mismanaged deforestation exacerbates the scarcity adequate for fuel, it also increases the opportunity cost of women and children who must spend hours collecting fuel-wood. When trees are scarce, further distance must be travelled and women and children risk sustaining injuries from fuel-wood collection as well as from assault during their travel to and from the fuel source. The time taken to harvest, store, and prepare fuels are all additional opportunity costs; time potentially deducted from other pursuits that are associated with health benefits such as child care, education obtainment or the generation of household income. Families maximize their utility by choosing more convenient and ‘prestigious’ fuel subject to the budget constraint. Families prefer electricity, however it may be more financially feasible to use fuelwood, for example, if a family member is sick and resources must be used for medical care. The poor spend a higher proportion of income on fuel for cooking and heating than those who are wealthier. Climbing the fuel ladder generally means stepping up from animal wastes to crop residues, fuel-wood, kerosene, biogas, liquid petroleum gas and ultimately to electricity. Moving to higher rungs on the ladder means better respiratory health of the family members due to lower emissions of harmful particulates. Consumption of fuel-woods is influenced by climate, household size, availability and reliability of fuel supply, the appliances required for utilization and culture and tradition. Studies suggests that over time the cost of using cleaner fuels is not necessarily
higher, but that poverty prevents people from investing in appliances needed for using kerosene, gas or electricity, or to buy the fuel in sufficient quantity to benefit from lower unit prices. Poverty is linked to use of fuels of poorer quality, and use of poor quality fuels to poverty. This leads to a poverty trap for biomass fuel users in low resource or environmental degraded settings, and reduces health. Biomass fuel will continue to be used as a major source of fuel in developing countries, and thus will remain a significant contributor to the global burden of disease. To mitigate its negative health effects and promote environmental sustainability a few things should be taken into consideration. An active approach to forest management can play a part in protecting the supply of fuel and environment and help place biomass on a firmer footing as a sustainable renewable energy source. Increase in knowledge about the issues involved with biomass fuels should be disseminated more broadly especially among biomass fuel-using populations and for governments who want to implement policies for sustainable economical growth. New research and development should be encouraged to reduce negative health consequences of biomass fuels. For example, technological interventions such as improved stoves with chimneys can increase fuel efficiency of biomass and reduce consumption. Improved access to household energy is a key issue. It can lead to better standards of living by increasing the number of hot meals per day and improving food safety. It can facilitate water boiling and help reduce incidence of waterborne diseases. It can reduce a significant burden of disease and better the livelihoods of millions of people. Tackling the issues of biomass fuels will have positive implications not only in improvement of health and livelihood but also environmental sustainability, gender issues and economic development. 13
Humans are the only species known to lacri-
THE SIGNAL of
TEARS
by Carly Langlois
mate due to emotions. Knowledge of the biological foundations of tear secretion is a necessary starting point for a deeper understanding of lacrimation. Oren Hasson presents the physical explanation of the difference between modern criers and their non-crying ancestors. He writes, …the human eye’s physiology is somehow different from eyes of other mammals, such that it requires an excessive production of tears at circumstances other than physical or physiological stress. At least some support for the latter is the possibility that emotional tears are a byproduct of the unique evolution, in Homo sapiens, of a substantial cranial reduction in subnasal prognathism, and increased encephalization. Hypothetically, these developments may have constrained and sensitized the human tear ducts and sinuses when certain emotions are high. (Hasson 364) Though he presents this information in a manner arguing against its significance, the significance resonates nonetheless. Encephalization resulted in more mass on top the head. “Cranial reduction in subnasal prognathism”, however, meant less bone mass in the lower half of the human head. A bigger brain exerting force on a smaller, inferior hemisphere likely altered facial framework. This anatomical constriction could aid in sensitizing the tear ducts, causing tearing. While other animals have the ability to shed tears, this sensitization theoretically could force humans to lacrimate for reasons other than eye irritation. Clearly, though, this physical evolution has not caused modern humans to lacrimate constantly. Thus, the acute constriction that results in tears must come from particular facial movements; experimental data support the idea that facial expressions bolster tear production. The works of Paul Ekman and William Frey offer answers to dissolve the incongruity presented in the previous paragraph. A look at Ekman’s findings on facial expressions provides insight into their tie to specific emotions. He states, Voluntarily performing certain facial muscular actions generated involuntary changes in autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity. We did not ask subjects to pose emotions, but instead to follow muscle-by-muscle instructions to create 14
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on their faces one of the expressions which had been found to be universal…Different patterns of ANS activity occurred when subjects made the muscular movements which had been found universally for the emotions of anger, fear, sadness, and disgust… It appears that the specific patterns of ANS activity that were generated by making the different facial expressions are not unique to this task, but are the same as are found in more conventional emotion-arousing tasks. (Ekman 35) Ekman’s findings demonstrate the biological relationship between the physical act of creating a facial expression and the particular emotion an individual attempts to convey with said expression. While his own experiment involved no emotions, the artificial expressions the subjects were asked to create produced ANS activity analogous to the ANS activity induced by genuine emotions. Ekman, thus, presents evidence for the universality of emotions expressed facially and the association with the physiological effects of those emotions. Sadness, remains the principal emotion associated with tearing. Frey gives an additional example of the physiological response to the emotion of sadness and rejoins this and tear secretion. His studies tested the levels of certain chemicals in the human lacrimal gland and emotional tears. The hormone prolactin was shown to exhibit a noteworthy presence. In addition to various other functions, prolactin is released when an individual is under much stress. Frey and Langseth suggest, “…prolactin may in fact stimulate tear production and excretion.” (49) They then venture, “If the prolactin is of pituitary origin, perhaps release from the pituitary in response to stress increases the prolactin level in the lacrimal gland and thus reduces our crying
hormone levels back to a non-stressed state, one, perhaps, lacrimates.
threshold.” (51) He submits a reasonable hypothesis when he reveals that the presence of this hormone has the ability to act as a tearing enabler. The discovery of prolactin’s presence in tears opens the door to the possibility that emotional tearing has a homeostatic benefit. As a means of returning one’s blood hormone levels back to a non-stressed state, one, perhaps, lacrimates. Unfortunately, it is here where one encounters a want of research. Frey and Langseth’s book Crying: The Mystery of Tears references a few trials that strengthen this hypothesis. These include work done with a drug that reduces prolactin secretion, case studies of people with dry eye syndrome and people with profuse tear production, and an experiment on glandular secretion in ducks. (Frey and Langseth 50-52) Compiling the findings of Hasson, Ekman, and Frey reveals a viable elucidation into the origin of human emotional tearing. In a stressful situation, if an individual generates the universal expression of sadness while in fact sad, a specific ANS reaction takes place. In addition to alterations in nervous system activity, stress triggers particular hormone excretion. Prolactin has proven to be one such hormone. Its presence in the lacrimal glands, in addition to glandular sensitization due to the physical constraints of the unambiguous expression on a uniquely evolved face, make possible the secretion of that watery substance. Therefore, while tears are associated with sadness (among other emotions), the fact that humans secrete them while sad could be explained by our specific anatomy in conjunction with a homeostatic process.
Ekman, Paul. “Facial Expressions of Emotions: New Findings, New Questions.” Psychological Science. Vol 3 No 1 (1992): 34-38. Frey, William H., and Muriel Langseth. Crying: The Mystery of Tears. Minneapolis: Winston P, 1985. Print. Hasson, Oren. “Emotional Tears as Biological Signals.” Evolutionary Psychology. Vol 7 Issue 3 (2009): 363-370. Web. 21 Oct. 2010.
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