EMPIRICAL EXPRESSION. 21 



founded on the observation of the uniform occur- 

 rence of the objective sign and the intrinsic pro- 

 perty, although the two are not related as cause and 

 effect, as in cases of " direct expression." Of course, 

 it may be argued that in this empirical expression 

 the intrinsic property, and the observed objective 

 sign, are both results of a common antecedent cause ; 

 thus both may be inherited alike. It is a matter of 

 great importance to our subject that the difference, 

 and relative value, of empirical and direct expression 

 should be thoroughly understood and appreciated, 

 because it is only the modes of direct expression 

 that can be looked upon as direct evidence of the 

 possession of certain properties. 



When we look at a living human face totally 

 devoid of movement, or special expression as the 

 result of movement, or even if we look at a 

 plaster cast of the face, it may indicate to us 

 something of the character of the subject. In 

 looking at the impassive face, and the plaster 

 cast, the expression seen is not the direct outcome 

 of brain action, or the condition of the mind. 

 We are speaking here of the more permanent and 

 fixed conditions of the expression, not of fleeting, 

 transient, mobile conditions. Still, there is the 

 fact that the two things the average action of the 

 brain in marking the average of the man's mind, 

 and the form and contour of the face coincide 

 empirically; this subject will be more fully con- 

 sidered further on ; * it is the foundation of the 

 scientific study of "Physiognomy." Examples of 



* See chap. xvi. 



