LAUGHTER A LOST ART.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10574, 27 January 1906, Page 2 (Supplement)

LAUGHTER A LOST ART.

PROFESSOR'S PLAN TO RESTORE FRENCH GAIETY. • PARIS, December 6.

An association for the promotion of laughter has just been formed by a group of professors 'and students attached to the medical faculty of the university. The members have drafted a circular, which 'they propose to address to thV J various universities, colleges, and acad-* ernies of France, calling attention to tne fact that Frenchmen are gradually losing I the art of laughter and becoming a taciftnrn and morose people. The circulalr appeals to, them to, eficoui-age .the reimstallation of the "bright, sonorous, anp joyous i laugh of our ancestors.' ' ■ • ' | j The circular further enumerates fixcf different: classes of -laughter, each ol which gives the key to a man's characl ter. Those who laugh m "ah" are of c frank disposition, and love noise, action, and movement. 9

Laughter m "eh" denotes the melancholy temperament. To laugh m "ohF denotes a generous, hardy, and detel-' mined nature. J But those whose laugh gives the sound of the French "v" are misanthropes, hypocrites, and misers, while laughter [m "cc" is the property of children and simple minded persons.