THE PHYSIOGNOMY OF THE MOUTH. 



687 



Fig. 



15. Contemptuous Expres- 

 sion in the Mouth. 



former push the lower lip upward and the corners of the mouth 

 are depressed, the red edge of the lower lip is turned outward. 

 Under the influence of the levator muscles of the chin, wrinkles 

 characteristic of the lower lip are formed in the expression of 

 contempt as well as in that of stubborn- 

 ness ; but in the latter the wrinkles start 

 from the middle of the lower lip and are 

 directed in a straight line toward the 

 base and outward, like the sides of an 

 obtuse - angled triangle, while in the 

 former they form, by tension toward the 

 base of the triangulars of the chin, a 



curved line, the convexity of which is upward (Fig. 15). In both 

 expressions the chin is flat, because its skin, under the influence 

 of the levator muscles, is drawn upward and tightly stretched. 



If vertical wrinkles appear along with the expression of con- 

 tempt, and the arched eyebrows and horizontal wrinkles are 



wanting, we judge that the person 

 is under the influence of both anger 

 and contempt (Fig. 16). The ex- 

 pressions of contempt and bitter- 

 ness may be combined, as signs of 

 a corresponding complexity of feel- 

 ings. The expression of contempt 

 occurs physiognomically with pre- 

 tentious, arrogant men, who are ac- 

 customed to measure the conditions 

 and opinions of others by the scale 

 of their own imagined excellence, 

 and who are hard to satisfy. This 

 trait is manifested in the eye by 

 highly arched brows, horizontal 

 wrinkles, and depressed lids. In the mouth, we perceive that the 

 middle of the lower lip seems pressed up, and that under its red 

 border, which is slightly thrown out, an arched wrinkle is devel- 

 oped, the convexity of which is turned upward. Translated for 

 the Popular Science Monthly from the Revue Scientifique. 



Fig. 16. Contemptuous Expression, with 

 Vertical Wrinkles on the Forehead. 



In a work on the "Constitution of Celestial Space," M. Hirn deals with the 

 question of the existence of an ether and its possible tenuity. Among the curious 

 conclusions that he reaches is one that the density of a medium capable by its re- 

 sistance of causing a secular acceleration of half a second in the mean velocity of 

 the moon, would correspond with a kilogramme of matter uniformly distributed 

 throughout a space of about three hundred and ninety thousand square miles. 

 This is a density one million times rarer than that of the air reduced to one 

 millionth of its normal density in Mr. Crookes's apparatus. 



