hearing are the chief mediums of humour, but the sense of touch might by
education be rendered exquisitely sensitive, and Dickens mentions the
case of a girl he met in Switzerland who was blind, deaf, and dumb, but
who was constantly laughing. Among infants, also, where very slight
complication is required, the sense of humour can be excited by touch.
Thus nurses will sing, "Brow brinky, eye winkey, nose noppy, cheek
cherry, mouth merry," and greatly increase the little one's appreciation
by, at the same time, touching the features named. Contact with other
bodies occasions a sensation, and might, by degrees, awaken an emotion;
and we might thus have such a sense of the ludicrous as that obtained
through eye and ear, which is sometimes almost intuitive, and but
slightly derived from reflection or experience. Of this kind is that
aroused by the rapid changes of form and colour of the kaleidoscope, and
those pantomimic representations which amuse the young and uneducated,
and others who live mostly in the senses.

We have now arrived at the emotional phase of laughter, that in which
emotion far exceeds intellectual action. At this stage, we have a kind
of laughter which we may call that of pleasure, inasmuch as it is the
first that deserves a distinct name. This laughter of pleasure required
very little complication of thought, contained no unamiable feeling, and
expressed the mildest sense of the ludicrous. At the same time, it did
not flow from any mere constitutional joyousness, but only arose upon
certain occasions, in consequence of some remarkable and unusual
occurrence--such as the reception of glad tidings, or the sudden
acquisition of some good fortune. This ancient laughter, now no longer
existing, is alluded to in early writings.

Thus we read in Gen. xxi. 6, that Sarah, on the birth of Isaac, said
"God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me,"