Short View of the Craniognomic Svjlcm. 77 



They may be made to appear at plcafure by the aid of 

 heat, and ^- difappear very fpeedily by putting the writing 

 between the folds of paper fomewhat' moift : but I mult 

 here obfervr^ ihat it requires mucl- care to make the experi- 

 ment fuecccd completely, and that a certain degree of heat 

 muft nnt be exceeded ; otherwife, the paper being fcorched, 

 the writing can no longer difappear. 



XI v. AJhort View of the Cranlognomic Sjiflem of Dr. Gall, 

 of Vienna. _ By L. BojAxVUS, M. D. Member of the Me- 

 Jiail Societies of Jena and Paris, and of the Societji of tht 

 Ohfervers of Man*, 



x\T all periods, a defire to find in the exterior of man cer- 

 tain marks indicative of his interior faculties, his pallions, 

 his morals, Sec, has induced the learned to eftablifli fyftems 

 of phyfiognomy more or lefs fatisfadory. 1 he nioft (Irikinfr 

 of thefe fyllems are thofe of Bapiilla Porta and Lavater, the 

 theory of the facial angle, and the fyftem of Dr. Gall. 



In regard to the firlt, who employed himfelf in comparing 

 the contours of the human figure with thole of bcafts, oh- 

 fervers have determined its value, and confider his principiesJ 

 as the fruit of a difordered imagination, as too bold, too little 

 founded on rational obfervation, and abfolutely uncertain in 

 its application. 



The fyftem of Lavater has had more fuccefs ; but'while we 

 revere the genius of that celebrated man, who was truly a jvrcat 

 obferver, we cannot help acknowledging the inftability of the 

 bafis on which all the opinions he advances red; and the 

 mind is not fatisfied with truths which can be appreciated 

 only by an imagination equally exalted, and a touch fo deli- 

 cate as that of the author. 



The theory of the facial angle, which embraces a wider 

 field than the fyftem of Lavater, leaves us in uncertainly re- 

 fpeding the detail of the faculties, and gives us only sjcneral 

 points of view; but it prefents us with this truth, 'of the 

 greateft importance — that the facial angle incroafcs in fize in 

 proportion to the faculties of animals : and in tliis it coincides 



* From the Ma^az/n Enrydopediijue, No. 4, .MctFidor, an. 10. Dr. 

 Bojanuiin a note fays: «' Astliis hift(.rical cxplrinaiion is by no means in. 

 rcnHcd to prove the truth of Dr. Gall's fyftem, it can lead to no dtcifive 

 opinion on this fyfteir, v.-hich will be cftdiiiiflicd by its author on folid 

 rcafoning and convincing tcfVimony. Ft is ncccflary alio (fiys lie) to ol>- 

 fcrvc, that the pair;if;c3 marked v.ith ijivtrtcd commas Jo not reft on the 

 aiiihority of Dr. Gull." 



in 



