630 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



this is very markedly so in the case of those cranial nerves which 

 supply the face with common sensation. Probably he will have 

 observed that in the neighborhood of the heart, stomach, and liver, 

 as well as in certain other parts, there are extraordinary aggre- 

 gations of sympathetic fibers. Each of these dense networks of 

 nerves and ganglia is called a >?ecws, arid primarily, no doubt, 

 each plexus is busily engaged in superintending the purely 

 organic duties of the viscera in its neighborhood. But this is 

 not its only function. It is a very curious fact that when we 

 try to localize any deeply felt emotion, it seems to appeal to the 

 consciousness from one or other of these very regions. The least 

 analytical mind is aware that we do not love, or hate, or fear, with 

 our heads, but that, in each case, the feeling takes its rise some- 

 where in the body cavity. Hence the conventional phrases, 

 " warm-hearted/' " bowels of compassion," and many others of 

 like nature, which are only approximately correct from an ana- 

 tomical point of view, since it is demonstrable that the organs 

 named are only affected secondarily, and do not indicate the ex- 

 act spot where the emotion is felt. 



It is not possible to discuss this subject fully on the present 

 occasion ; but enough has been said to show that, in their incep- 

 tion as well as in their expression, the feelings which accompany 

 the passions are referable to parts of the sympathetic nervous 

 system. 



Now the question might very naturally be asked, What has 

 all this to do with physiognomy ? I hope to show, if my readers 

 will follow me in an argument involving a few more technical 

 details, that in these complex functions of the sympathetic nerv- 

 ous system we may find an explanation of certain curious points 

 of facial resemblance among people whose pursuits and mental 

 habits, at first sight, put them as far as the poles asunder. 



We will take, as examples, the common facial traits seen in 

 professional musicians, religious devotees, of the priestly class, 

 and sensual " men about town." 



To show how the fibers from the sympathetic ganglia affect 

 growth and nutrition in certain localities, let me instance the 

 different results which follow the division of the fifth cranial 

 nerve in two different parts of its course from the brain to the 

 face. If it is cut after it has received its accessory fibers from 

 the synqjathetic system, a destructive inflammation at once arises 

 in the eye, owing to defective or perverted nutrition ; but if the 

 division takes place on the cranial side of the ganglion through 

 which the nerve passes, so as to leave the sympathetic fibers 

 intact, no such consequences follow, although the part supplied 

 by the nerves is entirely cut off from the brain. 



Redness or pallor of the skin is the direct result of the influ- 



