EXPRESSION. 43 



such an influence ; therefore their action, instead 

 of affording an explanation of the chin, rather 

 exhibits a parallel problem in expression. 



Another very striking illustration of the sugges- 

 tion of mental character by permanent bodily form 

 is to be obtained thus : Taking a profile sketch, 

 leave the features unaltered, but make additions or 

 subtractions from the occipital region and back of 

 the neck by changing the line descending from the 

 position where the occipital and parietals meet, or 

 from a lower point. Grave subtractions from the 

 part so bounded become incompatible with the 

 expression of mental stability long before they are 

 carried to such an extent as to be anatomically 

 improbable ; but it must not be forgotten that the 

 change so simply sketched implies the gravest 

 alteration in the form of the brain and skull in 

 their whole extent. Here, then, we have an in- 

 stance of change of expression produced by the 

 altered form of parts whose primary function is 

 certainly not one of expression, and thus contrast- 

 ing in a marked way with the changes producible 

 by form of chin. 



In the present day, however, the theory of Gall 

 and Spurzheim is justly exploded ; and I make 

 bold to repeat what I have already stated else- 

 where, that the vague and helpless notions of 



