632 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and which makes their pulses throb and their flesh " creep," were 

 but the sham excitement of dreamland. As a rule, the same may 

 be said of the ecstatic feelings which accompany devotional exer- 

 cises. I do not allude to public prayers from the pulpit where 

 an earthly audience has to be borne in mind but to the silent 

 communings of private worship, when the soul feels that it has 

 entered the holy of holies, and stands naked before the Eternal 

 Powers. 



If it were possible to set apart certain individuals in whom all 

 emotional impulses reacted upon the features via the sympa- 

 thetic, to the exclusion of the motor nerves, we should expect to 

 find among them many strong points of resemblance in facial 

 expression. Although, happily, no such creatures exist among 

 healthy human beings, it is by no means difficult to indicate whole 

 classes of people whose pursuits, or mental habits, give the sym- 

 pathetic system a preponderating influence. 



Professional musicians, priests, and sensualists, all, as a rule, 

 bear distinct certificates on their countenances that they belong- 

 to such a category. 



But before we are in a position to discuss the special points of 

 resemblance among these very distinct classes, it will be neces- 

 sary to clear the ground of certain stumbling blocks. 



Since the facial changes in question are brought about by 

 means of the machinery of nutrition, it must be taken for granted 

 that this machinery is in good working order in every case, and 

 that it is reasonably well supplied with raw material in the 

 shape of victuals and drink. If one of our subjects should 

 chance to be an ascetic or a dyspeptic, it is plain that all trophic 

 processes, whether direct or indirect, will be so profoundly af- 

 fected that it would be unfair to compare him with people who 

 live well and have sound stomachs. Again, the possession of an 

 exceptionally alert intellect would vitiate results in any indi- 

 vidual, since this tends, as is well known, to develop a distinct 

 type of face. The candidate for sympathetic facial marks must 

 also maintain an aloofness from the turmoil and traffic of the 

 world about him ; although it does not much matter whether the 

 wall which shuts him off from his fellows consists of substantial 

 bricks and mortar, or of professional enthusiasm, or of mere 

 selfishness. 



It will be well, for the present, to confine our attention to 

 subjects of the male sex who are past their first youth, since 

 women and young people exhibit but few conspicuous traces of 

 emotional influence upon facial nutrition as compared with men 

 of mature age. Probably the reason of this difference is found 

 in the fact that both women and youths are normally more under 

 the sway of the feelings than are men, and therefore special emo- 



