[Do women cry more than men, and why?].

Abstract

Where do tears come from? Do women weep more than men, and why? Ijsbrand van Diemerbroeck (1609-1674), a physician at Utrecht in the 17th century, tries to find an answer to these questions in a dissertation of about fifteen pages in his book Anatome corporis humani. Acccording to tradition, he thinks that tears are produced by the brain, he gives a mechanical explanation of their origin, but he persists in thinking that their main function is the purgation of the brain. On the other hand, this exocrin secretion causes moralizing or aesthetic interpretations in the literature and arts contemporaneous with van Diemerbroeck's work.