PHt 



PHY 



on the head. There are four species, P. 

 macrocephalus, or the spermaceti whale, 

 is sixty feet in length, and the head is 

 nearly one-third of the hulk of the whole 

 animal It is found in the European seas, 

 and on the coasts of New England ; swims 

 with extreme swiftness, and persecutes 

 the white shark with violent and fatal en- 

 mity. The lump fish, also, it pursues 

 with great avidity. It is one of the most 

 difficult of all whales to he taken, and sur- 

 vives for several days, the deepest wounds 

 given it by the harpoon. Its skin, oil, and 

 tendons are all converted by the Green- 

 landers to some valuable purpose, and its 

 flesh is not altogether rejected by them. 

 The spermaceti is found in a vast hollow 

 in the head of this animal, and, when 

 warm, is nearly fluid, but dries by expo- 

 sure to the air into fl ;ky masses. Am- 

 bergris, also, is produced by this species, 

 and consists, in fact, of the fxces of the 

 animal. The origin of this substance had 

 long baffled the curiosity of the enquirer, 

 but is at length unquestionably ascer- 

 tained. 



PHYSICIANS. By statute 3 Hen. 

 VIII. c. 11, no person within London, nor 

 within seven miles of the same, shall prac- 

 tice as a physician or surgeon, except he 

 be examined and approved by the Bishop 

 of London, or by the Dean, of St. Paul's, 

 assisted by four persons of the faculty, 

 under a penalty of 5/. per month, half to 

 the King, and half to the informer. A 

 doctor of physic of the Universities must 

 still have a licence from the College of 

 physicians to enable him to practice in 

 London, and within seven miles of the 

 same. In the country such a doctor of 

 physic may practice, but no other, with- 

 out licence from the College. It has been 

 said, it is murder if a person die under 

 the care of a medical practitioner not 

 qualified; but although it might be pun- 

 ishable as a misdemeanour, yet it certain- 

 ly cannot be murder. 

 ' PHYSICS, a term made use of by Dr. 

 Keil and others, for natural philosophy, 

 explains the doctrines of natural bodies, 

 their phenomena, causes and effects, with 

 the various affections, motions, and ope- 

 rations. Experimental physics inquire 

 into the reasons and nature of things by 

 experiments, as in hydrostatics, pneuma- 

 tics, optics, &c. but more particularly in 

 chemistry, in which more has been done 

 the last thirty years than could possibly 

 have been conceived by the imagination. 

 Mechanical ph\sics explain the appearan- 

 ces of nature from the matter, motion, 

 structure, and figures of bodies, and their 



parts, according to the settled laws of 

 nature. See MECHANICS. 



PHYSIOGNOMY, is the peculiar com- 

 bination of features, which designates the 

 feelings and dispositions of the mind. 

 That every individual ol the human race 

 possesses a set of distinctive marks, in 

 the form of the head and the outlines of 

 the countenance, is visible to the most 

 inattentive observer ; and it is well known, 

 that those marks insensibly lead us to 

 form conclusions as to the nature and in- 

 clinations of persons to whom we are in- 

 troduced for the first time, which may 

 sometimes be correct, but are frequently 

 erroneous. 



Every man is unconsciously a physiog- 

 nomist, he feels a partiality or dislike, 

 which partakes exceedingly of the sense 

 of the lines in one of Richardson's novels, 

 " I do not like thee, Dr. Fell, 

 The reason why 1 cannot tell ; 

 But 1 do not like thee, Dr. Fell." 



Admitting this fact, as to mankind in 

 general, it will be proper to observe, that 

 however the study of physiognomy may 

 be commended and recommended, it 

 should be exercised with great discretion 

 and judgment, or very fatal, or, at least, 

 very disagreeable consequences may be 

 the result ; for it must be remembered, 

 that numerous causes exist to derange 

 and discompose the human frame during 

 infancy, and even before the birth, which 

 may impress a character or expression on 

 the features, descriptive of evil passions 

 that never existed in the mind of the un- 

 fortunate person so situated ; for instance, 

 it would be inhuman to judge of the soul 

 of one who has had the vertebrae of his 

 back doubled, from the expression of his 

 face, which is uniformly that of peevish- 

 ness .and confirmed ill-nature ; nor would 

 it be just, to think a man capable of eve- 

 ry kind of wickedness, whose head and 

 face bear the marks of malice, through 

 a deformity existing perhaps before his 

 birth. We're the bones incompressible 

 from the instant they are formed, and the 

 muscles incapable of being moulded to 

 their shape, in short, did mankind receive 

 a decided and unalterable outline from 

 the Creator, we should then make correct 

 conclusions from the beauty or irregula- 

 rity of his face. 



Having thus hinted at the impropriety of 

 forming hasty conclusions, we shall give 

 a sketch of what has been advanced on 

 this subject by a person of great observa- 

 tion, and extremely capable of drawing 

 just inferences, but who was rather tine- 



