3()4 DISPOSITION OF ANIMALS. 



words of all authors," which the ignorant compile 

 for the confirmation of the idle. 



It is the same with the dispositions and habits 

 of the animals, as with those instantly perceptible 

 characters, which, though we cannot explain them 

 in cases where there is much resemblance, yet 

 strike us at first sight. Similarity of disposition 

 and habits, always accompanies similarity of ap- 

 pearance, when we take the whole particulars of 

 the appearance into the account. A skilful jockey 

 or sportsman, who has noticed the appearances and 

 characters of many horses or dogs, can tell then- 

 leading good or bad qualities at a glance ; and so 

 can one who has been very observant of human 

 character, come very near the character of an 

 individual even before he opens his mouth, or any 

 one action of his is known. All the blandishments 

 which a treacherous person can put on will not 

 hide the villain. That is his main purpose, and as 

 such it takes possession of his whole frame ; and 

 probably nobody, at all in the habit of studying 

 character, ever saw and examined his man, and 

 was subsequently deceived, without having a pre- 

 vious suspicion that such would be the event. 



To reduce that to any thing like a science which 

 one man can communicate to another in words is 

 another and a far more difficult matter ; and it is 

 almost as hopeless to expect that a man can be 

 able to tell how he sees those fine shades of dis- 

 tinctions, as that he shall be able to tell how he sees 

 objects at all ; it is not in the form of the head, or 

 in that of the features, so that physiognomy and 

 craniology are but scraps of the science, resem- 

 bling indeterminate problems in calculation, be- 

 cause all the conditions for determining the answer 



