72 KANSAS Academy of Science. 



pearance of former conditions. Such reappearances are due entirely to hereditary 

 causes, and are in no case sporadic or accidental. Nature always works by law. 



When we reflect that it is but a very few generations since our ancestors were 

 savages, and that the length of that savage life was incalculably long, as compared 

 with the brief span covered by the civilized and historical era — during which count- 

 less impressions, physical and mental, were stored up and made permanent and 

 transmissible — it is small wonder that low and animal instincts and tastes are so 

 paramount in our lives. It is these impulses, inherited from that long and dreary 

 savage life, that we have to combat continually as we strive after a higher life. It 

 was during that period that the mind of man was evolved and differentiated from 

 the mental organism of the mere brute. With the evolution of the mind, the face 

 was developed and humanized, and, as it receded from the animal face and approached 

 a higher form, it became the index of the human soul. The face of the lowest savage 

 man is little above that of animals in expression (except of superior mental power), 

 because the higher mental qualities and emotions are yet dormant. As he emerges 

 from savagery into barbarism, he begins to feel somewhat for others, acknowledges 

 that others have some rights, and from this stage the emotions are developed, and 

 his subsequent refinement and elevation are assured. The mind was more or less 

 fully grown in savagery, and what it has advanced since then is merely by means of 

 the artificial culture which has been superadded. So it is that the face has under- 

 gone but little physical change in historic ages, but has changed only in refinement, 

 by reason of the cultivation of the mind. If the child of any of the civilized races 

 of men should be reared in savagery, without education, he would be but a savage; 

 showing how near we yet are to our savage ancestry, and how easy is reversion. 



With the birth of the emotions a great step forward was taken in the develop- 

 ment of the face, for the emotions have much to do with facial beauty. A high in- 

 tellectuality alone will not make a refined and beautiful face. Such a mind must be 

 wedded to a warm heart to sanctify its mere strength. The noble impulses of great 

 minds come from good hearts that prompt them to say and do great things for 

 mankind. Lincoln's great deeds and sayings were due as much to goodness of heart, 

 as to natural strength of mind. Napoleon was great intellectually in one direction, 

 and by the brutal strength of his mind plowed his way through men and left death 

 and misery in his path. He was so heartless and selfish that the world de- 

 spises him as a man, and scarcely cares to admire his unquestioned genius. With 

 the greatest of the world, as well as in ordinary life, it is the man who is kindest and 

 best hearted, that has the most influence with his fellows. Good emotions are, in 

 fact, the main factors of spiritual beauty; for the growth of the elevating emotions 

 has a refining effect upon the face, and measurably atones for the absence of edu- 

 cation or mental strength, which sometimes weakens a face. Thus the religious feel- 

 ings have a perceptible effect on the face. Being the ally and messenger of the 

 heart, and the emotions, it is but natural that the face should partake of the relig- 

 ious emotions and reflect them. Pure religion has a beautifying effect upon the 

 face, and spiritualizes it. A highly spiritual life by the devotees of any creed, in 

 which all selfishness and sordid things are excluded and forgotten, and the passions, 

 which so distort the features, are completely restrained, has this ennobling effect 

 upon the face, richly. This is always noted in the priests and disciples of any 

 creed, whose faces have a peaceful and pure expression which nothing else can give. 

 It argues that the passions and selfish feelings have the most degrading and disturb- 

 ing influence upon facial expression, and that unselfishness and the contemplation 

 of lofty themes have the most elevating and refining effect. But as the animal self- 

 ishness, which we have inherited from our savage ancestors, is yet the mainspring 



