Twenty- THiBD Annual meeting. 71 



to associate the two that leads to theorizing, upon the assnmption that nature asso- 

 ciates desirable internal characteristics with attractive features, and disagreeable 

 dispositions with repulsive features; but, in reality, she does not do this at all, but 

 gets them sadly mixed. In fact, it is impossible to bring character-reading down 

 to a rational basis, and to classify expressions into a system. Lavater and his 

 followers tried it, and failed. We can only judge of faces by our inherited instincts 

 and intuitions. We can do little more than the child does — judge by the conscious 

 effect expressions produce upon our feelings. In fact, expression is a thing of the 

 feelings, and of the emotions. It is not of the mind, and therefore defies analysis, 

 as do all phenomena of the feelings. 



It is a matter of common observation that education, refined associations, and 

 intellectual occupations, by elevating the mind, refine and spiritualize the face, in 

 token of the refinement of the soul behind it. Thus the faces of persons with truly 

 great minds — authors, artists, orators, statesmen, etc. — betray their greatness, and 

 are an attractive study to persons of sympathetic intelligence. The faces, for 

 instance, of Cardinal Newman, Savanarola, Gladstone, Lincoln, are beautiful even 

 in their homeliness, because of the great souls which have stamped them with the 

 seal of superiority. In ordinary life we recognize a "good face" as betokening a 

 good heart, and are instinctively drawn towards it. When such a one possesses a 

 high intelligence also, we look for a perfect man — one to trust and obey; for of 

 such are they that lead men and move the world. 



Of course there are exceptions to this rule. Refined faces are sometimes found 

 among people of low intelligence and brutal- tastes; but these are only erratic, and 

 only indicate minds which by proper development amid favorable environments 

 might have grown to something superior. They merely mean native superiority, 

 latent and undeveloped. Or again, persons of education and refined associations 

 sometimes have brutal faces; but these are only examples of misplaced education, 

 the natural instincts not being of the high order that give the best results by train- 

 ing. But these are only exceptions to the general rule that a refined and spiritual 

 face indicates either inherited or cultivated superiority, or both together. 



It has been observed that faces grow in refinement as the mind develops. This 

 is especially noticeable in schools and colleges, when the coarse, animal features of 

 the child unfold and bloom into refinement and beauty as the education progresses. 

 The face refines as the mind develops. And the person devoted to an intellectual 

 or spiritual life reflects that life in his face, which grows more and more refined and 

 beautiful as he pursues his elevating occupation and develops therein. The best 

 examples of this development are found, of course, in those in whom the natural 

 bent of the mind is favorable to such influences. Where it is unfavorable, the best 

 of influences make but little impression. 



Heredity has much to do, of course, with facial beauty and refinement. Genera- 

 tions of cultured associations and education will naturally produce faces of innate 

 refinement and spirituality. If the course of such a life in a family is uninterrupted, 

 it will lead more and more to beauty and refinement of features. But it is, unfor- 

 tunately, rarely uninterrupted. There is degeneration in nearly every generation, 

 either through crossing with coarser stock, or lack of education or moral influences 

 or cultured associations, or the demoralizing effects of dissipation or low pursuits. 

 So it comes about that coarse and refined faces occur side by side in the best of 

 families, and often, also, in the worst. A refined face may appear in a coarse family, 

 or a coarse face in a cultured family, through the workings of the law of atavism. 

 That law will account for a low and brutal mind, a "black sheep," in the best of 

 families, or of a refined individual in an uneducated and coarse family — the reiip- 

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