^SUB ON THE CONNECTION BETWEEN 



of the selfish propensities ; 3rd. It serves by negative evidence to 

 mark the moral sentiments, unless in extreme cases of Benevolence, 

 &c.* 



Before proceeding further in the evidence I shall subsequently 

 submit in confirmation of these statements, I may remark that I use 

 the term Physiognomy in its popular and generally received sense, 

 and not in its literal meaning.t but as indicating certain general ob- 

 servations on the form of the forehead, nose, mouth, chin, &c. 

 Now, the hard bony outline of the features are modified by the dif- 

 ferent action imparted to the muscles that give to the face its varied 

 expression ; and the instruments which set the muscles into their 

 simple and complex action, are the nerves of the face (those of the 

 eyes, mouth, &c.), which also receive their impulse by the mind act- 

 ing through the organs of the brain. 



The child at its birth possesses the mental faculties which will 

 one day give to the character of the man his individuality. These 

 faculties are not called into simultaneous action, but are developed 

 at the periods when they become important ; and in harmony with 

 this arrangement are the changes which occur to the countenance. 

 What a difierence in the expression of the child ! how rounded and 

 smooth are the muscles ! how these same features undergo an alte- 

 ration in adolescence ! and how much more so in manhood ! At 

 this period, there is an angularity, a sharpness, modified by the 

 amount of anxiety or passion which have influenced the metamor- 

 phosis. But all such changes are owing to the cerebral organs act- 

 ing directly on the muscles of the face, which, like obedient ser- 

 vants, merely take their expression from the mental faculties, and 

 that with rapid punctuality, when they are called upon. 



Suppose we offer an illustration of these statements ; let it be 

 the organ of Secretiveness. Every one of the mental faculties gives 

 some specific action to the muscles of the face generally, but to one 

 or more in particular. Thus it (Secretiveness) acts very much on 

 the muscles which depress the eye-lids, giving the eye a half-con- 

 cealed appearance ; whilst another muscle pulls the eye-ball rather 

 on one side, and, in the language of Burns, gives the power to 



" Keek through ev'ry other man 

 Wi* sharpen'd, slee, inspection." 



• Those who have read the celebrated Characters of Theophrastus, will 

 recognise them as mere descriptions of extreme cases, 

 t Study of Nature. 



