THE HUMAN HEAD. 143 



important assemblage of organs — including the chief means 

 by which we are connected, actively or passively, with the 

 external world — must exhibit corresponding varieties. A 

 situation is required, combining firmness of support with 

 freedom of motion, a ready communication of the senses 

 with their appropriate external objects, and a corresponding 

 arrangement of the entrances to the respiratory, digestive, 

 and vocal cavities. The mode in which the entire mass is 

 articulated and supported must therefore be varied according 

 to the predominance or contraction of the various particular 

 organs, as well as in conformity to the attitude of the animal, 

 and the distribution of other parts, particularly the upper 

 limbs. As the proportions of its parts in the human subject 

 indicate a predominance of the organ of thought and re- 

 flection over the instruments employed in external sensation 

 and the supply of merely animal wants, which places man at 

 the top of the intellectual scale ; so the position of the whole, 

 and the arrangements for its support and motion, are calcu- 

 lated, like all the details of organization hitherto examined, 

 in reference to his peculiar distinction of the erect attitude. 

 A very striking difference between man and all other 

 animals consists in the relative proportions of the cranium 

 and face ; which are indicated in a general, but not very 

 accurate manner, by the facial line. 



The organs which occupy most of the face are those of 

 vision, smelling, and tasting, together with the instruments 

 of mastication and deglutition. In proportion as these are 

 more developed, the size of the face, compared to that of the 

 cranium, is augmented. On the contrary, when the brain 

 is large, the volume of the cranium is increased in propor- 

 tion to that of the face. The nature and character of each 

 living being must depend on the relative energy of its animal 

 propensities and functions, its feelings and mental powers : 

 its leading traits will be derived from those which are most 

 predominant. This is sufficiently evinced in the human 

 species; but the differences observable between one man 

 and another are fewer and less strongly marked than those 

 which occur between animals of different species. 



