432 On Phyjiognomyt 



influence any particular kind of knowledge 

 will have upon the manners and charafters of 

 mankind. In the mean time it is reafonablc 

 to conclude from the analogy of every fa6l 

 refpefting human fcience, that the refult upon 

 the whole, of attaining any portion of know- 

 ledge heretofore unknown, will not be other- 

 wife than beneficial. Nor is it likely, that 

 mankind will be permitted to attain any branch 

 of knowledge, not ultimately conducive to the 

 happinefs of the fpecies. Indeed the fame 

 queftions might have been agitated as prelimi- 

 naries to every fcience already known : and 

 if the affirmative in fimilar cafes, muft be 

 clearly eftablifhed, before we proceed to the 

 inveftigation of the fcience itfelf, the courfe of 

 human improvement might be ftopt for ever. 



During this controverfy, M. Pernetty laid 

 it down as a principle, that no man can be 

 a phyfiognomift, unlefs he receives a know- 

 ledge of the fcience originally as a gift from 

 the Deity : and that the faculty of phyfiogno- 

 mizing, is not acquired, but innate. It is 

 obvious to remark, that if M. Pernetty's opi- 

 nion be well founded, it was mere wafte of 

 time to difcufs either the queftions before 

 tr.entioned or any others relating to the fubjeft j 

 for, which ever way they iiiight be determined, 

 the exiftence or non-exiftence of phyfiognomy 

 as a fpecies of knowledge, not being optional 



to 



