618 Developmental Significance of Human Physiognomy. [June, 
THE DEVELOPMENTAL SIGNIFICANCE OF HUMAN 
PHYSIOGNOMY} 
BY E. D. COPE. 
"T'HE ability to read character in the form of the human face and 
“ figure, is a gift possessed by comparatively few persons, although 
most people interpret, more or less correctly, the salient points of 
human expression. The transient appearances of the face reveal 
temporary phases of feeling which are common to all men; 
but the constant qualities of the mind should be expressed, 
if at all, in the permanent forms of the executive instrument of 
the mind, the body. To detect the peculiarities of the mind by 
external marks, has been the aim of the physiognomist of all 
times ; but it is only in the light of modern evolutionary science 
that much progress in this direction can be made. The mind,as 
a function of part of the body, partakes of its perfections and its 
defects, and exhibits parallel types of development. Every pect- 
liarity of the body has probably some corresponding significance 
in the mind; and the causes of the former, are the remoter 
-causes of the latter. Hence, before a true physiognomy cal 
attempted, the origin of the features of the face and general form 
must be known. Not that a perfect physiognomy will ever be 
possible. A mental constitution so complex as that of man can- 
not be expected to exhibit more than its leading features ™ the 
body; but these include, after all, most of what it is important 
for us to be able to read, from a practical point of view. 
The present essay will consider the probable origin of the 
structural points which constitute the permanent expressio": 
These may be divided into three heads, viz: (1) Those fhe l 
:general form or figure ; (2) Those of the surface or inte 
of the body with its appendages ; and (3) Those of the forms no 
the head and face. The points to be considered under each ot — 
these heads are the following : 
I. The General Form. 
1. The size of the head. 
2. The squareness or slope of the shoulders. 
3. The length of the arms. 
4. The constriction of the waist. 
5. The width of the hips. 
a oe iladelphi® 
1 Abstract of a lecture delivered before the Franklin Institute ee Evolu- 
Jan. 20, 1881, in exposition of principles laid down in The Hypo 
tion, New Haven, 1870, p. 31. 
