44 ON THE INTELLECT OF INFANTS. 



and moral habits are so far formed, that a physiognomist 

 would find no difficulty in writing the character of an in- 

 fant an hour old. 



This incident led me to make a fuller register of the 



manners and progress of my ninth infant ; which, how- 



ever, upon review, I find to be much less precise than I 



now wish. Such as it is, I shall, however, make it the 



basis of my present communication. 



First eflForts of The circumstances of parturition had so far exhausted 



an infant as ac-^jjgjjjfg^j^l- (a female) that instead of immediate respira- 



tually observed i • i^ i . 



tion and crying, as commonly happens, the time of thirty 



seconds elapsed before she breathed; during which she 

 occasionally opened her mouth to the utmost. The re-, 

 spiration commenced with a convulsion of the thorax, or 

 single hiccup; soon after which the funis was divided, 

 and she was delivered to me*. During the following 

 seven or eight minutes, her respiration was several times 

 suspended for an instant; at the end of which, the sys- 

 tem was enough recovered to obey the repeated voluntary 

 exertions she made, and she cried freely. Before this 

 time the head had assumed its regular figure, and had en- 

 tirely lost the elongation produced by the act of partu- 

 rition. 



The following are the observations of physiognomy f 



made on the day of birth, and abundantly confirmed, as 



far as the present age of the subject (three years) can 



show. 



Estimate of her The general figure of the head is capacious, regularly 



character, &c. oblong, nearly circular behind, and narrowed above the 

 from her figure °-^ '' 



* It is not the custom of this country for the father to be pre- 

 sent at events of this nature; but I am well convinced that his pre- 

 sence, if he possess firmness, good sense, and affection, is calcu- 

 lated to produce the happiest effects. 



f I am very little disposed to apologise for observations of phy- 

 siognomy. Those who deride them the most, are perpetually 

 making them. That an individual has an intelligent, a stupid, a 

 malignant, a ferocious, a timid, a courageous, &c. look: — that his 

 manner is spirited, dignified, generous, or mean, contemptible, base, 

 sneakii;g; — these are terms as familiar as any in our language; 

 they are applicable to paintings equally as to men, and conse- 

 quently indicate lines and shades capable of being copied and sys- 

 tematised. The physiognomist is he who doc3 thia with more pre- 

 cision than common observers. 



forehead. 



i 



