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 CHAPTER XI. 



PHYSIOGNOMY. 



Physiognomy, considered with respect to 



the feelings, and the experience of mankind, has 

 been an object of attention in all ages. The coun- 

 tenance and general exterior have always been re- 

 garded as furnishing some indication both of the 

 intellectual and moral character. Every one who 

 goes into society, and w^ho observes at all, must 

 receive impressions of this kind involuntarily and 

 without design. It may even be said, that the 

 first dawnings of perception and reasoning in chil- 

 dren exhibit abundant proof, that some relation 

 betw^een the dispositions of the mind, and the 

 features of the countenance, is recognized and un- 

 derstood by them. So far, then. Physiognomy has 

 been an object of attention, and of some inquiry 

 in all stages of human knowledge. 



The first time w^e hear of this subject being 

 studied as a science, is about the time of Pytha- 

 goras. It is said to have been much cultivated in 

 Egypt and India when that philosopher visited 

 those countries, and to have been brought by him 

 into Greece. In the time of Socrates physi- 

 ognomy was studied and adopted as a profession.^ 

 Plato speaks of it as attended to by the students 

 of nature in his day. But the first distinct and 

 formal treatise on the subject is by Aristotle, 

 whose work, as it displays the power of his great 

 mind, so it may be considered as the guide to all 

 subsequent inquiries, and the basis ot every phy- 



b The story of Zopiiyrus, who undertook to decide on ihc character 

 pf Socrates, by inspecting hi» countenance, is well known. 



