PHY 



PHY 



standings, unless attended by marks of a 

 contrary tendency. When the chin is 

 pointed, those so formed are supposed to 

 be penetrating- and cunning 1 , though it 

 seems there are people with pointed 

 chins who are different at least in the lat- 

 ter particular; and here again the chin 

 offers a certain criterion for the physiog- 

 nomist, who may securely pronounce a 

 large fat double chin an appendage of 

 gluttony. " Flatness of chin speaks the 

 cold and dry ; smallness, fear ; and round- 

 ness, with a dimple, benevolence." 



After all, it will be admitted, that this 

 science, if such it can fairly be denomi- 

 nated, must be precarious, and, in some 

 respects, delusive. It cannot, however, 

 be doubted, that there is an apparent 

 correspondence between the face and the 

 mind : the features and lineaments of the 

 one are directed by the motions and af- 

 fections of the other ; there is, perhaps, 

 even a peculiar arrangement of the mem- 

 bers of the face, and a peculiar disposi- 

 tion of the countenance to each particu- 

 lar affection of the mind. Some, indeed, 

 have asserted, that the language of the 

 face is as copious, and as distinct and in- 

 telligible as that of the tongue : to this, 

 however, we must beg leave to object ; 

 it may be as sincere, but certainly not so 

 intelligible. The face has been said to 

 act the part of a dial-plate, and the wheels 

 and springs within the machine actuating 

 its muscles, shew what is next to be ex- 

 pected from the striking part. But if, by 

 repeated acts, or the frequent entertain- 

 ing of a favorite* passion or vice, the face 

 is often put into that posture which at- 

 tends such acts, it may, in some "measure, 

 become fixed, and almost unalterable, in 

 that posture, unless some present object 

 distort it therefrom, or some dissimulation 

 hide it ; and hence it has been assumed 

 that much accuracy would enable one to 

 distinguish, not only habits and tempers, 

 but also professions. 



We have asserted that all men are in- 

 voluntarily physiognomists, but the im- 

 pression made by the first sight of a 

 person, is generally too slight to leave an 

 injurious bias upon the mind of the ob- 

 server ; and it is fortunate for man that 

 this is the case, otherwise prejudices 

 would be generated which might set half 

 the world at variance with the remain- 

 der. We have thought it necessary to 

 explain the nature of the science under 

 consideration, but we by no means re- 

 commend its study, as nothing can be 

 more dangerous to the existing harmony 

 of society ; besides, every person is not 

 VOL. V. 



prepared for this pursuit, which requires 

 a sound judgment, a good education, a 

 perfect knowledge of what human fea- 

 tures are in their pristine shape, and of 

 the numerous causes which occasion their 

 derangement. For instance, it is very 

 evident that a peevish habit, and a me- 

 lancholy countenance, may be produced 

 by a series of misfortunes ; besides, the 

 writer of this article has had an oppor- 

 tunity of observing two persons who have 

 been the victims of excessive anxiety, 

 whose faces now possess a character to- 

 tally foreign to that which they possessed a 

 few years past, one a handsome man with 

 perfectly regular features, passingthrough 

 the streets under the influence of deep 

 thought and perplexity, suddenly per- 

 ceived that every object changed its 

 place ; in short, the eyes were turned in- 

 wards towards the nose, in which posi- 

 tion they remain, and he will squint, as 

 the term is, to the last moment of his 

 life : a physiognomist, a stranger to this 

 fact, must conceive a very different cha- 

 racter of the man from the truth: the 

 other person, enduring the same species 

 of mental perturbation, experienced a 

 slight paralytic affection, and from that 

 moment the right corner of his mouth has 

 been drawn downwards, producing an 

 appearance of immoderate griefj even 

 when the rest of his features are enliven- 

 ed with pleasure. "No one," says La- 

 vater, " whose person is not well-formed, 

 can become a good physiognomist. Those 

 painters were the best whose persons 

 were the handsomest. Reubens, Nan- 

 dyke, and Raphael, possessing three gra- 

 dations of beauty, possessed three grada- 

 tions of the genius of painting. The 

 physiognomists of the greatest symmetry 

 are the best. As the most virtuous can 

 best determine on virtue, so can the most 

 handsome countenances on the goodness, 

 beauty, and noble traits of the human 

 countenance, and consequently on its de- 

 fects and ignoble properties. The scar- 

 city of human beauty is the reason why 

 physiognomy is so much desired, and finds 

 so many opponents. No person, there- 

 fore, ought to enter the sanctuary of phy- 

 siognomy, who has a debased mind, an 

 ill-formed forehead, a blinking eye, or a 

 distorted mouth. "The light of the body 

 is the eye ; if therefore thine eye be sin- 

 gle, thy whole body shall be full of light ! 

 but if thine eye be evil, thy whole body 

 shall be full of darkness : if therefore that 

 light that is in thee be darkness, how 

 great is that darkness ?" 

 PHYSIOLOGY is, according to the de- 

 Uu 



