TWENTY-FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING. 123 



of course, far in advance of our animal and savage ancestors, and are vastly re- 

 moved from them, so that, mentally at least, civilized man bears but little resem- 

 blance to his lowly ancestry, and is quite another creature. 



These high mental qualities are, however, resident in a body that is distinctly 

 animal, although in its highest development the mind has had great influence in re- 

 fining and beautifying the place of its residence. Especially has it refined and 

 beautified the face, as the special seat of the outward expression of the mind and 

 he emotions. 



As the various parts of the face have, by the progress of gradual evolution of 

 mind and body together, become the seat of special expression, we wish to notice 

 some of the varieties presented by the features of the human face and their various 

 expressions, and trace some of them back to their animal origin. This will, we 

 trust, aid in the explanation, in a degree, of the extensive variation found in the 

 faces and features of men, and of the endless dififerences that exist between faces, 

 their forms and expressions, as between races of men and between individuals of 

 the same race. We wish at the outset, however, to declare that this investigation is 

 without any wish or even latent desire to detract from the dignity of our common 

 humanity; bub that the study is pursued only in a humble philosophic and scientific 

 spirit. It is mainly with an earnest desire to contribute something toward the 

 finding of a scientific basis for the study of physiognomy and expression, of which 

 it at present stands so much in need, that such an effort is made. 



We therefore submit our first postulate, that all human faces are but composites, 

 more or less complete, of inherited characteristics that have been accumulating dur- 

 ing the slow lapse of the ages. All the animal and human elements of the individ- 

 ual are but the legacies of his ancestry. Faces vary so infinitely; but when we 

 consider that pure races are now unknown, and that intermixture has been the rule 

 since long before the dawn of history, we cannot wonder at the facial variation 

 that exists everywhere. All nations are more or less mixed, and so faces are more 

 or less mixed, being composed of many racial elements. Variations and incongru- 

 ity of features are mainly due to unequal development, induced by the conflict of 

 different racial tendencies, and the omnipresent power of atavism, causing the re- 

 appearance of long-absent peculiarities of feature. This conflict brings about re- 

 tardation in some features and acceleration m others, just as in various organs and 

 parts of the body, which develop under the influence of the forces directing the 

 evolution of the species. Some features remain more or less embryonic or infantile, 

 and others bear a decided resemblance to primary animal types, especially with the 

 quadrumanous and anthropoid forms. Others again are accelerated and much de- 

 veloped in man, and other features are much reduced, as compared with the lower 

 primates. The quadrumana furnish many suggestions as to the origin of the human 

 features — suggestions which, if followed up carefully, will furnish clues to many 

 intricate problems of human physiognomy. We will therefore try to trace some of 

 the human facial features and expressions back to earlier sources than even the pure 

 races of mankind — back to their shadowy beginnings, their animal origin. To do 

 this we will need to make comparisons with the contemporaneous quadrumana and 

 embryonic facial forms, which show the features in their immaturity, and thereby 

 study the embryology of expression and its descent. 



Prof. E. D. Cope has brought this out to some extent in his chapter on '"The 

 Developmental Significance of Human Physiognomy." He says : " Many persons 

 possess at least one quadrumanous or embryonic character, and the possession of 

 quadrumanous characteristics by man approximates his form to that class, so far 

 as the evidence goes. He may retain features which have been obliterated in other 

 forms in the process of evolution. Then again, persons whose features possess any 



