496 



ON PHYSIOGNOMY 



to the passions of fear aild joy, in which the body universally displays the 

 affections of the mind. 



As the result of this principle and illustration, he argues, and no mo- 

 dern writer upon the subject has ever argued more clearly, that whenever 

 among mankind a certain bodily character appears, which by prior expe- 

 rience and observation has been found uniformly accompanied by a certain 

 mental disposition, we have a right to infer that it is necessarily connected 

 with it ; and we may fairly and legitimately ascribe it to the individual that 

 exhibits such character. And^ pursuing this line of application, he tells 

 us further, that our observations may be drawn from other animals as well as 

 from men ; for, as a lion possesses one bodily form and mental character, 

 and a hare another, the corporeal characteristics of the lion, such as strong 

 hair, deep voice, large extremities, when discernible in a human being, 

 cannot fail to raise in the mind an idea of the strength and courage of 

 that noble animal ; while the slender limbs, soft down, and other features 

 of the hare, whenever visible or approximated among mankind, betray 

 the mental character of that pusillanimous quadruped. 



It is impossible to refuse our assent to sentiments so just and obvious ; 

 and to this extent almost every one is a physiognomist by nature ; for no 

 man can walk the streets without noticing, in the first place, a marked 

 and striking difference between one face and another face, one form and 

 another form ; and, in the second place, without ascribing, in consequence 

 of such difference, the possession of vigour to one poxson that passes by, 

 wisdom to a second, magnanimity to a third, folly to a fourth, debihty to 

 a fifth, and meanness to a sixth. 



Physiognomy, therefore, as to its general principles, has perhaps never 

 been altogether neglected ; it seeing in almost every age to have influ- 

 enced men's opinion and conduct in first associating with strangers ; and 

 has not unfrequently excited a favourable or an unfavourable prepossession 

 before a word has been spoken or an action performed. \ As a science, 

 though an imperfect one, it was pursued upon the general doctrines of 

 Aristotle, among the Greeks and Romans, till the downfal of all the sci- 

 ences upon the eruption of the northern barbarians into Europe, towards 

 the close of the fifth century ; and was for a long time so systematically 

 cultivated at Rome, that Cicero was in the habit of publicly avaihng himself 

 of its force v/henever, by employing it so as to excite contempt or hatred, 

 it could be turned to the advantage of his client ; of which we have striking 

 examples in his orations against Piso, and in favour of Roscius ; while 

 we learn from Suetonius, that the emperor Titus engaged a professed phy- 

 siognomist, of the name of Narcissus, to examine the features of Britan- 

 nicus as to his character and chance of success in his claims upon the 

 empire against himself; who, it appears, gave an opinion in favour of 

 Titus, and declared, and according to the event, declared truly, that Brit- 

 tanicus would never live to assume the imperial purple. 



In this curious fact of history we find Physiognomy united at an early 

 period of the Roman empire, with magic or judicial astrology ; and we 

 also find, that upon its revival, on the general resurrection of science, 

 about the middle of the fifteenth century, one of its first and most unfortu- 

 nate occurrences was a connexion of the same kind ; from which it only 

 separated to form other and successive alliances with metaphysical theo- 

 logy, alchemy, the doctrine of signatures and sympathies, and thetheosophy 

 of the Mystics and Rosicrucians. So that it again fell into contempt with 

 the most liberal and enlightened part of mankind : who, however, did 



