PHYSIO GNOMY AND . GENIUS i 6 1 



The lines of the mouth we never neglect. We naturally scrutinize 

 the lips for impressions of power or weakness, coldness or affection, 

 sensuality or delicacy. Our data here are less full than could be wished. 

 We have no means of trying by the testimony of biography the dislike 

 we feel for lips that are excessively full or which, when smiling, turn 

 upward at the corners, nor can we verify the impression of extreme 

 narrowness and obstinacy which we gain from feminine lips that are 

 thin and bloodless and drawn downward at the end. We seem, how- 

 ever, to discern a marked austerity in the meager lips of Eufus Choate, 

 Farragut, Stonewall Jackson, Frederick the Great, Ibsen, Eobespierre, 

 Thaddeus Stevens ("thin upper lip"), TJ. S. Grant and Paul Jones, 

 whereas in the ampler labia of Coleridge, Cromwell (" strict yet 

 copious" — Carlyle), Nathaniel Hawthorne (full under lip), Oliver 

 Wendell Holmes (protruding under lip), Julian (full lower lip), Peter 

 the Great, Savonarola (full under lip), Beethoven (protruding under 

 lip) and Schubert we might suspect a proneness to self-indulgence. 

 The long upper lip of Landor gives a suggestion of assertiveness and 

 tenacity which seems unmistakable. 



Quite disappointing are our data with reference to the chin. That 

 feature would seem entitled to greater weight in any estimate of char- 

 acter than biography appears to warrant. Thus, the chin of long, 

 square, shovel-like structure always drives in upon us a vague shrink- 

 ing, as from something fanatical, and so a thin and pointed or reced- 

 ing chin carries a suggestion of weakness which moves our pity or 

 contempt; yet such inferences seem unjustified when applied to the 

 distinguished individuals of history, though even our scant data are not 

 without a testimony to general characteristics of disposition as asso- 

 ciated with set types of chin. 



The chin of Oliver Wendell Holmes, as we find, was decidedly re- 

 treating, that of Hawthorne is pronounced " weak " ; Defoe and Eobes- 

 pierre had sharp chins, while that of Fielding is described as " unusually 

 long," that of Napoleon " projecting " and that of Parkman as " of 

 unusual prominence." As round or full — a contour pleasing to the 

 eye — we have those of Captain Cook, Charles XII. of Sweden, Eugene 

 Field, Washington Irving, Sidney Smith and Thoreau, which last is 

 described as " strong." 



The nose we seem instinctively to look upon as a decisive index to 

 character. We never think highly of the character or capacity of 

 persons with small pinched noses. Pug noses, moreover, we associate 

 with pertness, and long, pointed noses with inquisitiveness. So, the 

 hawk-nose, to most observers, is a sign of an aggressive, self-sufficient 

 nature, not troubled overmuch with moral scruple. We never look 

 for a placid temper among persons whose noses roughen easily into 

 wrinkles, and in those whose noses wrap into long folds down the 



