The face of a healthy, sleeping child wears an expression of absolute repose. The eyelids are completely closed, the lips very slightly parted, and, though a faint sound of rhythmical breathing may be heard, there is no visible movement of the nostrils. When awake and undisturbed, the healthy infant's face has a look of wondering observation. As age advances, intelligence gradually supplants the wondering gaze, and all are familiar with the bright, round, happy face of perfect childhood, so indicative of careless contentment, and so mobile in response to emotions.

Examples of Variations in Disease. - Incomplete closure of the eyelids, rendering the whites of the eyes visible during sleep, is a symptom in all acute and chronic diseases of a severe type; it is also to be observed when rest is rendered unsound by pain, wherever seated. Twitching of the eyelids, associated with oscillation of the eyeballs or squinting, heralds the visit of convulsions. Widening of the orifices of the nose, with movements of the nostrils to and fro, points to embarrassed breathing from diseases of the lungs or their pleural investment. Contraction of the brows indicates pain in the head; sharpness of the nostrils, pain in the chest; and a drawn upper lip, pain in the abdomen. To make a general rule, it may be stated that the upper third of the face is altered in expression in affections of the brain; the middle third in diseases of the chest, and the lower third in diseases of the organs contained in the abdominal cavity.