108 SUPPLEMENTAL HISTORY OF MAN. 



ment, therefore, is of much less accuracy, extent, 

 and importance than its inventor Professor Camper 

 seems to have imagined. It affords a striking ge- 

 neral view of the 2Teat characteristic difference 

 between man and some other animals, but beyond 

 this its utility is more than questionable. 



It is evident that the ancient Greeks understood 

 this theory of the facial line and angle, as appears 

 by the valuable remains of the sculpture of this 

 extraordinary people. In their representations of 

 legislators, sages, and poets, upon whom they 

 wished to bestow an august character, they have 

 extended the facial angle to 90°; but they have 

 increased these dimensions still more in their sta- 

 tues of heroes and gods, pushing the facial line 

 even beyond the perpendicular, and making the 

 angle 100°. 



In the human subject the facial angle varies from 

 65° to 85° in adults; in children it reaches to 90°, a 

 sufficient proof perhaps, if we had no other of its 

 inadequacy as a standard for the measurement of 

 intellect. The first extreme of these proportions 

 forms a near approximation to the monkey race, 

 many of which have, in fact, as good a facial line as 

 the generality of the negroes. Beyond the second, 

 it has been extended in the beau ideal of the 

 Greeks; 100°, however, appear to be the " ne plus 

 ultra.'" According to Camper this measurement 

 constitutes the most beautiful countenance, if indeed, 

 proportions which, by his own confession, never 

 yet existed in nature, can, with any propriety, be 



