PHYSIOGNOMY. 



Making clue allowance for the aberra- 

 tions of the imagination, the Professor ei- 

 ther had, or conceited lie had, attained 

 the faculty of distinguishing the heads 

 of English, Scots, and Irish soldiers ; but 

 he was incapable of describing the marks 

 which announced their profession. More 

 reliance may, however, be placed on his 

 assertion, that ihe upper and under jaws 

 of Europeans are less broad than the 

 breadth of the skull, and that among the 

 Asiatics they are much broader. 



The most unequivocal proofs exist of 

 family physiognomy, or, in other words, 

 family resemolance, Buffon, Bonnet, 

 Haller, and many others, have endeavour- 

 ed to account for this circumstance, but, as 

 may be supposed, without the least pro- 

 bable success ; we shall therefore pass 

 this part of the subject in silence, as it 

 must be evident that we have no kind of 

 data on which to argue, nor can the secret 

 operations of nature ever be penetrated 

 which relate to the formation of man. 

 Much of the general resemblance be- 

 tween members of a family depend upon 

 a congeniality of sentiments and manners; 

 each turn of thought gives a peculiar ex- 

 pression to the features, and as those are 

 sufficiently strong to explain to what 

 class they belong, to an indifferent spec- 

 tator it is by no means improbable that 

 they assist at least in designating a family. 

 Very intimate friends are sometimes 

 thought to resemble each other, and a real 

 or fancied resemblance often occurs be- 

 tween man and wife ; when it is consider- 

 ed that connections of the above descrip- 

 tions are very often formed by persons 

 who had never previously seen each 

 other, it is impossible to doubt but that the 

 similarity of mind thus generated influen- 

 ces the muscles, and disposing them into 

 the same kind of expression, a muscular 

 likeness occurs, which has no influence 

 upon the bones, and would proably va- 

 nish were the connection dissolved, and 

 the parties examined after long separa- 

 tion. Lavater indulged in many flights 

 of fancy when treating on this part of the 

 science of physiognomy ; he even imagi- 

 ned, that a person deeply enamoured of 

 another, and thinking intensely on the 

 form and position of their features, might 

 assume a resemblance of the admired 

 object, though miles of space intervened 

 between them ; and pursuing his mental 

 dream he adds, that it is equally proba 

 ble an individual meditating revenge in 

 secret may compose his countenance into 

 a likeness of him who was to be its vic- 

 tim. The incorrectness of the latter fan- 

 cy may be exposed by merely observing 



that the person under the influence of the 

 passion of revenge, must bear in his 

 countenance the lines expressive of that 

 restless affection; now as the object in- 

 tended to be injured is unconscious of 

 the secret machinations against him, lie 

 may at the instant be engaged in some 

 benevolent pursuit, or may feel some in- 

 ternal joy, which moulds his features into 

 an expression directly opposite to that of 

 his adversary, who may have generally 

 seen him thus ; for revenge is often aim- 

 ed by the wicked, at the best of men ; 

 consequently the countenance of a fiend 

 grinning with malice cannot at the same 

 time beam with a complacency arising 

 from a set of features entirely unruffled. 



Before we enter upon a description of 

 the marks, which, according to Lavater, 

 point out the character of the possessor, 

 it may be proper to give one or two in- 

 stances of the fallacy, and of the truth, 

 of the conclusions drawn from them, in 

 order that our readers may form their 

 own conclusions, as to the folly or pro- 

 priety of entertaining a propensity to form 

 a judgment of mankind from the shapes 

 of their noses, eyes, foreheads, and chins. 



M. Sturtz declared to Lavater, thai he 

 " once happened to see a criminal con- 

 demned to the wheel, who, with satanic 

 wickedness, had murdered his benefac- 

 tor, and who yet had the benevolent and 

 open countenance of an angel of Guido. 

 It is not impossible, adds this gentleman, 

 to discover the head of a Regulus among 

 guilty criminals, or of a vestal in the 

 house of correction." Lavater admits 

 this assertion in its fullest extent, but his 

 reasoning to reconcile it to his system is 

 by no means conclusive. 



When we hear of any atrocious act, 

 the natural abhorrence of vice and cruel- 

 ty implanted in us, leads the imagination 

 to form a portrait of the perpetrator, 

 suited to the deformity of the mind capa- 

 ble of committing it ; without reflecting, 

 that had such an index existed in the 

 countenance of the abhorred object, it is 

 most probable, his murderous and horri- 

 ble exterior would have placed mankind 

 so far on their guard as to detect his in- 

 tentions. Upon viewing the culprit we 

 are perhaps surprized to find that there 

 is nothing particularly indicative of cruel- 

 ty in the outlines of his face, and we in- 

 dustriously endeavour to force each into 

 the immediate form of our pre-conceived 

 portrait. This occasions us to read lurking 

 villainy in his eyes, and converts the 

 wrinkles of disease, or approaching age, 

 into the frown of a dxmon ; and we de- 

 part, exclaiming against the striking con- 



