ford. James J3t*n Mullinger was charged \vithl 
 wounding Annie Haslam with intent to mur;l<!r 
 her ; as also with endeavouring to disfigure the | 
 prosecutrix, and to do h'er some grievous bodily 
 harm. Mrs. Haslamswas the wife of the prisoner's 
 
 stepbrother ; o 
 had some dis 
 in tho'4cft si 
 was old and 
 and ni**liann 
 but 
 
 ni** 
 MFQin 
 e eigh 
 
 flight at supper Mullinger 
 with her, and struck her 
 ith a knife. The instrument 
 the lady's dress was padded 
 done by the first blow ; 
 inger seized another knife, and inflicted 
 some eghteen wounds on the throat, face, and 
 hands of Mrs. Haslam. The injuries proved to be 
 very superficial, and the prosecutrix, who has nearly 
 recovered, was merciful enough to forego the graver 
 charges. The prisoner was therefore found guilty 
 of nothing more than unlawfully wounding. In 
 mitigation of punishment, evidence as to character 
 was called ; and it was shown that he was a graduate 
 of the University of Cambridge, who had distin- 
 guished himself during his collegiate career by his 
 literary and scholastic attainments, having carried 
 off, among other distinctions, the Le Bas and the 
 Hulsean prizes. The comparatively mild sentence 
 of twelve months' imprisonment without hard 
 labour was then passed upon James Bass Mullin- 
 ger ; and, while the ends of justice have been 
 adequately served by this decision, we may re- 
 mark, that it is better lor Mullinger to spend a 
 year in prison, than to have been ^acquitted 
 on the ground of insanity, and ordered to be 
 detained "during her Majesty's pleasure" an 
 issue which has before now entailed the life- 
 long imprisonment of a man who, perchance, was 
 only mad during five minutes at a time. The 
 dreadful case of Mary Lamb and her mother's 
 apprentice is dismally in point ; but, in the 
 case of Mullinger, the amentia or the dementia 
 exhibited might form a topic for close physio- 
 logical inquiry. Has intense literary application 
 any tendency to engender ferocity which may 
 be aggravated into homicidal mania? Burton, 
 the author of that wonderful collection of learning 
 and absurdity, the "Anatomy of Melancholy," 
 has, in more than one passage, hinted that 
 both Deniocritus his master, and he himself 
 " Democritus Junior," were often excited 
 earnest study to a very perilous frame ofc mim 
 of which the effects might have been deplorabl 
 unless judiciously counteracted. It was 
 custom of the Abderite philosopher, when he foi 
 his "melancholy" drifting into the^m 
 to walk down to the haven u< 
 -and there divert himself with t 
 talk of the fishermen. In like manner, 
 ton, when he deemed that>too 
 
 a mischief, wotil' > -tTe banks' o& a : lifij 
 
 IBM 
 
 m 
 
 1 
 
 to 
 to- 
 face, 
 nun's 
 
 MiS act 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND | 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
nual report on Newgate, by the Rev. P. E. 
 nes, M.A., the ordinary of the prison, to the 
 >-or and Court of Aldermen, has just been 
 Mr. Jones writes : "It may at ouce be con- 
 it the more thoroughly each rr bitua' criminal 
 
 to those whose duty it is to prevent and detect 
 the more precarious doea hia mode of living 
 
 Judging from the tj-pe of criminals who have 
 rough this prison during the past year there is 
 noticeable feature viz., that there has been a 
 in in the number of those who resort to acts 
 ay be described as belonging to crime of 
 ognised type, such an highway rob- 
 skiug pockets, burglary, dec.; whereas crimes 
 some skill and address and no violence 
 L more numerous, and have brought up the total 
 f those who have passed through the prison to 
 
 same as usual. These consist of two classes 
 have no regular employment, and those vfrho 
 
 on their wits. The lirst of these are for the 
 
 persons who have acquired a fair degree of 
 , but whose morality has proved of so inferior 
 ,er that society has refused to employ them. 
 e of that restless disposition which prefers any 
 3 mode of supplying its possessors' wants to that 
 f plodding along any of the beaten tracks of re- 
 >coupatious. When once the unlawful act has 
 tnittcd with success the few remnants of self- 
 e swept away ; the overt act is repeated until 
 .covery ensues. It is extraordinary how anxious 
 jns are to remove all imputations which can be 
 linst their criminality ; whereas their moral 
 lity does not appear in the least degree to be 
 
 Their tesi is success ; their only rule is what 
 oment they deem to be expedient. My endea- 
 
 load all these to adopt the most comprehensive 
 ,s for the future direction of their lives, and 
 L they have never before applied. I lay it down 
 lighest moral feeling is religious feeling, that 
 merely negative but positive in its require- 
 nt where it is in active force it puts a auestion 
 icfc c-f our lives not merely, is there no harm? 
 rong? but it requires us to know that what 
 tositively right. 
 
 second class, or those who live on their wits, 
 Ige that they are ready to take every advantage 
 
 inexperience of others offers them. They re- 
 he knavery which preys upon the folly and 
 
 of society . All these persons rely upon" their 
 se and tho powers they have acquired by edu- 
 
 carry out, their schemes. There 4iave been 
 Live indications shown by those who have been 
 ison during the past year of intellectual de- 
 t by education, and that integrity and high 
 e are not necessarily its accompaniments. If 
 s moral tone of a large portion of the community 
 ans uneducated, what effect can secular educa- 
 ? It will give a fresh power to unprincipled 
 ) act in an unprincipled \v&y, and will enable 
 irround themselves with expedients which will 
 i baffie discovery. Until detectives overtake 
 ety will prostrate itself at the shrine of Mam- 
 1 there will exist a hidden pestilence in the 
 us, which will be slowly but surely affecting 
 lal character. A low moral tone is essentially 
 ind selfishness may develop in many 
 of which need means for their grati- 
 \Ve have even had such an instance 
 if a young man of education robbing his master 
 
ICTOR HUGO ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. 
 
 Apropos of the coining execution pf Bradley the 
 
 rocious murderer, at Jersey, on v iith inst 
 
 ictor Hugo writes a letter from Bi py e - to ft friend ' 
 
 hich has been published in the Gazette de Guernsey. 
 
 he following is a translation of the remarks of the >- - A 
 
 :>et and philosopher on the impending event : , r ,, ., 
 
 I know absolutely nothing of this melanchofo IN M&SSA C 
 
 isiness of Bradley. And if I did, alas ! what could ,"j T " 7\ 
 
 say? Bradley is only a detail ; his agony is lost in * tte 
 le great universal agony. Civilisation is on a rock e;1 
 g-horse at present. England has re-established exe- 'v*> 
 ition by the musket, Russia has re-introduoed tor- 
 re, Germany banditism. At Paris there is crush- 
 gof the political conscience, the literary conscience, 
 e philosophical conscience. The French guillotine 
 working in a manner to pique the honour of th 
 iglish gibbet. Everywhere progress is adjourned 
 erywhere liberty is re-bound every where the ideal 
 insulted everywhere reaction prospers under ifo 
 nous names of good order, good taste, good sense, 
 od laws, &c. words which are lies. Jersey, the 
 tie island, was in advance of great nations. Sh 
 is free, honest, intelligent, and humane. It apnean 
 at Jersey, seeing that all the world is going back- 
 ird, thinks also of going back. Paris decapitated 
 nhppe, Jersey is going to hang Bradley- rivalry in 
 i3 mvorae sense of progress. Jersey coincided with 
 agress, Jersey is going to coincide with reaction, 
 fgust the llth-/^e day in the ialnml-thoy ar 
 ing to strangle a man ! Jersey maintains her rigM 
 have, like a king of Prussia or an emperor o! 
 issia, her fit of ferocity. O, poor little corner oi 
 ? earth ! What a belial of God who has done BO 
 ich for that charming land! What ingratitudi 
 vards that soft, serene, and bountiful nature ! A 
 lows at Jersey ! Alas, those who are happy should 
 merciful. I love Jersey; I am afflick-d." 
 

 

 wadir 
 
 
PHYSIOGNOMY; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE CORRESPONDING ANALOGY BETWEEN THE 
 CONFORMATION OF THE FEATURES 
 
 AND THE 
 
 RULING PASSIONS OF THE MIND : 
 
 BBDM 
 
 A COMPLETE EPITOME OF THE ORIGINAL WORK 
 or 
 
 J. G. LAVATEK. 
 
 iiion. JUusirulcb. 
 
 1 Physiognomy is reading the handwriting of nature upon the human 
 countenance." 
 
 LONDON: WILLIAM TEGG. 
 1866. 
 
 - 
 
, one of the u 
 
 auity.is the utte r 
 < tics. "" 
 
 s conspi' . 
 
 -Miif 
 
 ya 
 
 --I -. ..- 
 
 K'OOKQUODALE AND CO., PRINTEES, 
 TTOEKS, NBWIOIf . 
 
TO TKKVmTOK OF THE ECHO 
 
 -Under the head of << Ho* to H-ld Inam, 
 
 ave, in f ^ *$ 
 
 at of Fro-' alj 
 
 SIR 
 
 ou have 
 <ipoa that of 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 bk 
 
 Qi< 
 
 THERE is undoubtedly no subject in the science of 
 Natural History more curious, entertaining, and instruc- 
 tive to the human race in general, than that which 
 respects the variety of complexion and figure among 
 mankind. Though much has been written to point out 
 the sources from whence these varieties arise, and to 
 investigate the causes which certainly produce* them, yet 
 hitherto but little accurate information has been derived 
 from the most arduous and laborious researches of the- 
 first abstract philosophers of the age. 
 
 The same thing has happened to Physiognomy as to 
 Astronomy: they have both been degraded and disgraced 
 by the intrigues and artifices of interested knavery. The 
 first has been connected to palmistry by a notorious set 
 of dusky impostors, who, roving up and down in the 
 world, have made a prey of every credulous person they 
 could meet with ; and the other has been travestied in 
 the art of divining future events. Hence have arisen con- 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 jurers; the most notorious of which, combining the 
 whole together, have not only found admirers in the 
 less informed ages of the world, but are even daring 
 enough yet, at the latter end of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury, to hold up their arguments in defiance of experi- 
 mental philosophy. 
 
 Confused and sophisticated with falsehoods, termed 
 occult reasonings, the noble science of Physiognomy has 
 been neglected for near a century, and deemed by the 
 judicious a mere farcical contrivance to fleece the pockets 
 and disturb the brains of the unwary. Thus even those 
 who have suspected there might be some rational grounds 
 to build hypothesis upon, have been fearful of venturing 
 to appear even in the slender form of an essay. 
 
 From an accurate survey of all that has hitherto been 
 written upon this subject by the soberest authors of the 
 preceding age, it will appear that very little knowledge 
 of man has been derived ; and the falsehoods and errors 
 with which their writings abound, are daily becoming 
 more evident. Those systems which were established on 
 authorities so extremely weak, are now falling into that 
 contempt and neglect which must necessarily await 
 every mode of reasoning whose axioms are not founded 
 on obvious and derivative facts, and supported by phy- 
 sical causes. 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 The noble ardour for discovering and investigating the 
 connection between the inward and outward operations 
 of nature in man gave rise, in a neighbouring nation, to 
 a splendid and expensive work,* an epitome of which is 
 here offered to the public, arranged (the Editor hopes he 
 may say without presumption) with more order and 
 method, and divested of the numerous repetitions which 
 the worthy and amiable, but too often rhapsodical 
 LAVATER, in the warmth of a disinterested love of man- 
 kind, introduces at every turn. 
 
 In the present state of our knowledge, a systematical 
 view of the physiognomical science can hardly be ex- 
 pected : a collection of observations arranged but with 
 little attention to method, is all the industrious Lavater 
 promises, and all we can reasonably expect However, 
 he furnishes us with an instance how much may be 
 accomplished, even by an individual, in a subject replete 
 with difficulties, when genius and judgment are aided by 
 labour, and when the object is pursued with a steady 
 regard to truth and veracity. However, it is not the 
 Editor's intention to enter into any panegyric upon the 
 labours of M. Lavater : the public will ever judge for 
 themselves, and pay the tribute of applause where it is 
 due. 
 
 * Published by William Tegg. 
 
Vi PREFACE. 
 
 To preserve the spirit of Lavater's reasoning, inspire 
 the enthusiasm of his feelings, and the sublimity of his 
 conceptions, has been the endeavour of the Editor of the 
 present volume, within the small compass of which, he 
 flatters himself, he has concentrated, as in a focus, all the 
 discoveries and truths contained in the original work. 
 
 1865. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. I. INTRODUCTION.-- Physiognomy a Science. The Truth of 
 Physiognomy. The Advantages of Physiognomy. Its Disadvan- 
 tages The Ease and Difficulty of studying Physiognomy. A 
 
 Word concerning the Author 1 
 
 CHAP. II. On the Nature of Man, which is the Foundation of the 
 Science of Physiognomy. Difference between Physiognomy and 
 
 Pathognomy 21 
 
 CHAP. III. Signs of bodily Strength and Weakness. Of Health 
 
 and Sickness 27 
 
 CHAP. IV. The Congeniality of the Human Form .... 32 
 
 CHAP. V. Description of Plates I. and II 89 
 
 CHAP. VI. The universal Excellence of the Form of Man . . 42 
 
 CHAP. VII. Of the Forehead 46 
 
 CHAP. VHI.-Of the Eyes and Eyebrows . . . . . 50 
 
 CHAP. IX. Of the Nose- 57 
 
 CHAP. X.-Of the Mouth and Lips ....... 59 
 
 CHAP. XL Of the Teeth and Chin 62 
 
 CHAP. XIL OfSkulU 64 
 
 CHAP. XIII Suggestions to the Physiognomist concerning the 
 
 Skull 68 
 
 CHAP. XIV. Of the Difference of Skulls as they relate to Sex, and 
 particularly to Nations. Of the Skulls of Children ... 73 
 
 CHAP. XV.-Description of Plate in 78 
 
 CHAP. XVI. The Physiognomist 80 
 
 CHAP. XVIL Lavater'a own Remarks on National Physiognomy . 88 
 
 CHAP. XVIII Extracts from Buffon on National Physiognomy . 91 
 
 CHAP. XIX Some of the most remarkable Passages from an Ex- 
 cellent Essay on National Physiognomy, by Professor Kant of 
 Konigsberg 97 
 
 CHAP. XX. Extracts from other Writers on National Physiognomy. 
 From Winkelmann's History of Art From the Recherchea Philo- 
 sophiques sur lea Americains, by M. de Pauw. Observations by 
 Lintz. From a Letter written by M. Fuessli. From a Letter 
 
 written by Professor Camper 100 
 
 CHAP. XXI Extracts from the Manuscript of a Man of Literature 
 
 at Darmstadt, on National Physiognomy 107 
 
 CHAP. XXII. Description of Plate IV 113 
 
 CHAP. XX III. Resemblance between Parents and Children . . 116 
 CHAP. XXIV. Remarks on the Opinions of Buffon, Hallcr, and 
 Bonnet, concerning the Resemblance between Parents and Children 121 
 
V1U CONTENTS. 
 
 PAG* 
 
 CHAP. XXV. Observations on the New-born, the Dying, and the 
 
 Dead 126 
 
 CHAP. XXVI. Of the Influence of Countenance on Countenance . 128 
 CHAP. XXVII. Of the Influence of the Imagination on the Counte- 
 nance 131 
 
 CHAP. XXVIII. The Effects of the Imagination on the Human Form 133 
 CHAP. XXIX. Essay by a late learned Man of Oldenburg, M. Sturtz, 
 
 on Physiognomy, interspersed with short Remarks by the Author . 138 
 CHAP. XXX. Quotations from Huart, with Remarks thereon . . 149 
 CHAP. XXXI. Remarks on an Essay on Physiognomy, by Professor 
 
 Lichtenberg 154 
 
 CHAP. XXXIL Description of Plate V 176 
 
 CHAP. XXXIII. General Remarks on Women . . . .177 
 
 CHAP. XXXIV. General Remarks on Male and Female A Word 
 
 on the Physiognomical Relation of the Sexes 181 
 
 CHAP. XXXV On the Physiognomy of Youth . . . .185 
 CHAP. XXXVI. Physiognomical Extracts from an Essay inserted 
 
 in the Deutschen Museum, a German Journal or Review . . . 188 
 CHAP. XXXVII. Extracts from Maximus Tyrius . . . .198 
 
 CHAP. XXXVIII.-Extracts from a Manuscript by Th . . 200 
 
 CHAP. XXXIX. Extracts from Nicolai and Winkelmann . . 208 
 CHAP. XL. Extracts from Aristotle and other Authors concerning 
 
 Beasts 212 
 
 CHAP. XLL Of Birds, Fishes, Serpents, and Insects . . .225 
 
 CHAP. XLII. Of Shades 229 
 
 CHAP. XLIII. Description of Plate VI 232 
 
 CHAP. XLIV. A Word to Travellers 233 
 
 CHAP. XLV. A Word to Princes and Judges 238 
 
 CHAP. XLVL A Word to the Clergy 241 
 
 CHAP. XLVII. Physiognomical Elucidations of Countenances . 242 
 
 CHAP. XL VIII. Physiognomical Anecdotes 244 
 
 CHAP. XLIX. Miscellaneous Extracts from Keampfs Essay on 
 
 the Temperaments, with Remarks 246 
 
 CHAP. L Upon Portrait Painting 248 
 
 CHAP. LI. Description of Plate" VII. 256 
 
 CHAP. LIL Miscellaneous Quotations ...... 258 
 
 CHAP, LIII. Miscellaneous Thoughts 261 
 
 CHAP. LIV. Of the Union between the Knowledge of the Heart and ; 
 Philanthropy, Miscellaneous Physiognomical Thoughts from 
 
 Holy Writ 265 
 
 CHAP, LV. Of the apparently False Decisions of Physiognomy. Of 
 the General Objections made to Physiognomy. Particular Objec- 
 tions answered . . ...... 270 
 
PHYSIOGNOMY, 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Physiognomy a science The truth of Physiognomy The 
 advantages of Physiognomy Its disadvantages The 
 ease and difficulty of studying Physiognomy* A word 
 concerning the Author. 
 
 IT has been asserted by thousands, that " though there 
 may be some truth in physiognomy, still it never can be 
 a science." These assertions will be repeated, how 
 clearly soever their objections may be answered, and 
 however little they may have to reply. Physiognomy is 
 as capable of becoming a science as any one of the 
 sciences, mathematics excepted. It is a branch of the 
 physical art, and includes theology and the belles lettres. 
 Like these, it may to a certain extent be reduced to 
 rule, and acquire an appropriate character by which it 
 may be taught. 
 
 Whenever truth or knowledge is explained by fixed 
 principles, it becomes scientific, so far as it can be im- 
 parted by words, lines, rules, and definitions. The 
 question will stand simply thus : whether it be possible 
 to explain the undeniable striking differences which 
 exist between human faces and forms, not by obscure 
 and confused conceptions, but by certain characters, 
 signs, and expressions ? ' Whether these signs can 
 
 B 
 
LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 communicate the strength and weakness, health and 
 sickness, of the body ; the folly and wisdom, the magna- 
 nimity and meanness, the virtue and vice, of the mind ? 
 This is the only thing to be decided ; and he who, instead 
 of investigating the question, should continue to declaim 
 against it, must either be deficient in the love of truth, 
 or in logical reasoning. 
 
 The experimental philosopher can only proceed with 
 his discoveries to a certain extent ; only can communi- 
 cate them by words ; can only say, " Such and such are 
 my experiments, such my remarks, such is the number 
 of them, and such are the inferences I draw : pursue the 
 track that I have explored." Yet will he not be unable, 
 sometimes, to say thus much ? Will not his active mind 
 make a thousand remarks which he will want the power 
 to communicate ? Will not his eye penetrate recesses 
 which he shall be unable to discover to that feebler 
 vision that cannot discover for itself? Is any science 
 brought to perfection at the moment of its birth ? Does 
 not genius continually, with eagle eye and flight, antici- 
 pate centuries ? How long did the world wait for Wolf ? 
 Who, among the moderns, is more scientific than 
 Bonnet ? Who more accurately distinguishes falsehood 
 from truth ? Yet to whom would he be able to com- 
 municate his sudden perception of the truth ; the result 
 or resources of those numerous, small, indescribable, 
 rapid, profound remarks ? To whom could he impart 
 these by signs, tones, images, and rules ? Is it not the 
 same with physic, theology, and all the arts and sciences ? 
 Is it not the same with painting, at once the mother 
 and daughter of physiognomy ? 
 
 How infinitely does he, who is painter or poet born, 
 soar beyond all written rule ! But must he who pos- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 sesses feelings and power -which are not to be reduced 
 to rule, be pronounced unscientific ? So, physiognomical 
 truth may, to a certain degree, be defined, communicated 
 by signs and words, as a science. This is the look of 
 contempt, this of innocence. Where such signs are, such 
 and such properties reside. 
 
 There can be no doubt of the truth of physiognomy. 
 All countenances, all forms, all created beings, are not 
 only different from each other in their classes, races, and 
 kinds, but are also individually distinct. Each being 
 differs from every other being of its species. However 
 generally known, it is a truth the most important to our 
 purpose, and necessary to repeat, that " there is no rose 
 perfectly similar to another rose, no egg to an egg, no 
 eel to an eel, no lion to a lion, no eagle to an eagle, no 
 man to a man." 
 
 Confining this proposition to man only, it is the first, 
 the most profound, most secure and unshaken founda- 
 tion-stone of physiognomy, that, however intimate the 
 analogy and similarity of the innumerable forms of men, 
 no two men can be found who, brought together and 
 accurately compared, will not appear to be very remark- 
 ably different. Nor is it less incontrovertible that it is 
 equally impossible to find two minds, as two counte- 
 nances, which perfectly resemble each other. 
 
 Considerations like these will be sufficient to make 
 it received as a truth not requiring farther demonstra- 
 tion, that there must be a certain native analogy between 
 the external varieties of the countenance and form, 
 and the internal varieties of the mind. Anger renders 
 the muscles protuberant; and shall not, therefore, an 
 angry mind and protuberant muscles be considered as 
 cause and effect? 
 
4 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 After repeated observation, that an active and vivid 
 eye, and an active and acute wit, are frequently found 
 in the same person, shall it be supposed that there is no 
 relation between the active eye and the active mind ? 
 Is this the effect of accident? Ought it not rather to be 
 considered as sympathy, an interchangeable and instan- 
 taneous effect, when we perceive that, at the very moment 
 the understanding is most acute and penetrating, and 
 the wit the most lively, the motion and fire of the eye 
 undergo, at that moment, the most visible alteration ? 
 
 But all this is denied by those who oppose the truth of 
 the science of physiognomy. Truth, according to them, 
 is ever at variance with herself; eternal order is degraded 
 to a juggler, whose purpose it is to deceive. 
 
 Calm reason revolts when it is asserted that the strong 
 man may appear perfectly like the weak, the man in full 
 health like another in the last stage of a consumption, or 
 that the rash and irascible resemble the cold and phleg- 
 matic. It revolts to hear it affirmed that joy and grief, 
 pleasure and pain, love and hatred, all exhibit themselves 
 under the same traits that is to say, under no traits 
 whatever on the exterior of man. Yet such are the 
 assertions of those who maintain that physiognomy is a 
 chimerical science. They overturn all that order and 
 combination by which Eternal Wisdom so highly 
 astonishes and delights the understanding. It cannot 
 be too emphatically repeated, that blind chance and 
 arbitrary disorder constitute the philosophy of fools, and 
 that they are the bane of natural knowledge, philosophy, 
 and religion. Entirely to banish such a system is the 
 duty of the true inquirer, the sage, and the divine. 
 
 It is indisputable that all men, absolutely all men, 
 estimate all things whatever by their physiognomy, 
 
INTRODUCTION. D 
 
 their exterior temporary superficies. By viewing these 
 on every occasion, they draw their conclusions concern- 
 ing their internal properties. What merchant, if he be 
 unacquainted with the person of whom he purchases, 
 does not estimate his wares by the physiognomy or 
 appearance of those wares ? If he purchase of a distant 
 correspondent, what other means does he use in judging 
 whether they are or are not equal to his expectation ? Is 
 not his judgment determined by the colour, the fineness, 
 the superficies, the exterior, the physiognomy ? Does he 
 not judge money by its physiognomy? Why does he 
 take one guinea and reject another ? Why weigh a third 
 in his hand ? Does he not determine according to its 
 colour, or impression, its outside, its physiognomy ? If 
 a stranger enter his shop as a buyer or seller, will he 
 not observe him ? Will he not draw conclusions from 
 his countenance ? Will he not, almost before he is out 
 of hearing, pronounce some opinion of him, and say, 
 " This man has an honest look this man has a pleasing 
 or forbidding countenance ? " Wljat is it to the purpose 
 whether his judgment be right or wrong ? He judges ; 
 and though not wholly, he depends, in part, upon the 
 exteriot form, and thence draws inferences concerning 
 the mind. 
 
 The farmer, walking through his grounds, regulates 
 his future expectations by the colour, the size, the 
 growth, the exterior ; that is to say, by the physiognomy 
 of the bloom, the stalk, or the ear of his corn, the stem 
 and shoots of his vine-tree. " This eat of corn is blighted 
 that wood is full of sap this will grow, that not," 
 affirms he at the first or second glance. " Though these 
 vine-shoots look well, they will bear but few grapes." 
 And wherefore? He remarks in their appearance, as 
 
6 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 the physiognomist in the countenances of shallow men, 
 the want of native energy. Does he not judge by the 
 exterior ? 
 
 Does not the physician pay more attention to the 
 physiognomy of the sick than to all the accounts that 
 are brought him concerning his patient? Zimmerman, 
 among the living, may be brought as a proof of the great 
 perfection at which this kind of judgment is arrived ; 
 and, among the dead, Kempf, whose son has written a 
 treatise on temperament. 
 
 I will say nothing of the painter, as his art too evi- 
 dently reproves the childish and arrogant prejudices 
 of those who pretend to disbelieve physiognomy. The 
 traveller, the philanthropist, the misanthropist, the 
 lover, (and who not ?) all act according to their feelings 
 and decisions, true or false, confused or clear, concerning 
 physiognomy. These feelings, these decisions, excite 
 compassion, disgust, joy, love, hatred, suspicion, con- 
 fidence, reserve, or benevolence. 
 
 By what rule do we judge of the sky but by its 
 physiognomy? No food, not a glass of wine or beer, 
 nor a cup of coffee or tea, comes to table, which is not 
 judged by its physiognomy, its exterior, and of which 
 we do not then deduce some conclusion respecting its 
 interior good or bad properties. Is not all nature 
 physiognomy, superficies and contents, body and spirit, 
 exterior effect and internal power, invisible beginning 
 and visible ending ? 
 
 Physiognomy, whether understood in its most exten- 
 sive or confined signification, is the origin of all human 
 decisions, efforts, actions, expectations, fears, and hopes; 
 of all pleasing and unpleasing sensations, which are 
 occasioned by external objects. From the cradle to the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 grave, in all conditions and ages, throughout all 
 nations, from Adam to the last existing man, from the 
 worm we tread on to the most sublime of philosophers, 
 physiognomy is the origin of all we do and suffer. 
 
 Every insect is acquainted with its friend and its foe ; 
 each child loves and fears, although it knows not why. 
 Physiognomy is the cause : nor is there a man to be 
 found on earth who is not daily influenced by physio- 
 gnomy; not a man who cannot figure to himself a 
 countenance which shall to him appear exceedingly 
 lovely or exceedingly hateful ; not a man who does not, 
 more or less, the first time he is in company with a 
 stranger, observe, estimate, compare, and judge of him 
 according to appearances, although he might never have 
 heard of the word or thing called physiognomy ; not a 
 man who does not judge of all things that pass through 
 his hands by their physiognomy, that is, their internal 
 worth by their external appearance. 
 
 The act of dissimulation itself, which is adduced as so 
 insuperable an objection to the truth of physiognomy, 
 is founded upon physiognomy. Why does the hypocrite 
 assume the appearance of an honest man, but because 
 that he is convinced, though not perhaps from any 
 systematic reflection, that all eyes are acquainted with] 
 the characteristic mark of honesty ? 
 
 What judge, wise or unwise, whether the criminal 
 confess or deny the fact, does not sometimes in this 
 sense decide from appearances ? Who can, is, or ought 
 to be absolutely indifferent to the exterior of persons 
 brought before him to be judged? What king would 
 choose a minister without examining his exterior, secretly 
 at least, and to a certain extent ? An officer will not 
 enlist a soldier without thus examining his appearance, 
 
8 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 putting his height out of the question. What master or 
 mistress of a family will choose a servant without con- 
 sidering the exterior ? No matter that their judgment 
 may or may not be just, or that it may be exercised 
 unconsciously. 
 
 I am weary of citing such numerous instances, which 
 are so continually before our eyes, to prove that men, 
 tacitly and unanimously, confess the influence which 
 physiognomy has over their sensations and actions. I 
 feel disgust at being obliged to write thus, in order to 
 convince the learned of truths which lie within the reach 
 of every child. 
 
 Let him see who has eyes to see ; but should the light, 
 by being brought too close to his eyes, produce frenzy, he 
 may burn himself by endeavouring to extinguish the 
 torch of truth. I am not fond of using such expressions ; 
 but I dare to do my duty, and my duty is boldly to 
 declare that I believe myself certain of what I now and 
 hereafter shall affirm ; and that I think myself capable 
 of convincing all lovers of truth, by principles which 
 are in themselves incontrovertible. It is also necessary 
 to confute the pretensions of certain literary despots, and 
 to compel them to be more cautious in their decisions. 
 It is therefore proved, it being an eternal and manifest 
 truth, that, whether they are or are not sensible of it, all 
 men are daily influenced by physiognomy ; nay, there is 
 not a living being which does not, at least after its 
 manner, draw some inferences from the external to the 
 internal ; which does not judge concerning that which 
 is not, by that which is apparent to the senses. 
 
 This universal though tacit confession, that the 
 exterior, the visible, the superficies of objects, indicate 
 their nature, their properties, and that every outward 
 
INTRODUCTION. U 
 
 sign is the symbol of some inherent quality, I hold to 
 be equally certain and important to the science of 
 physiognomy. 
 
 When each apple, each apricot, has a physiognomy 
 peculiar to itself, shall man, the lord of the earth, have 
 none ? The most simple and inanimate object has its 
 characteristic exterior, by which it is not only distin- 
 guished as a species, but individually ; and shall the 
 first, noblest, best harmonized, and most beautiful being, 
 be denied all characteristic ? 
 
 Whatever may be objected against the truth and cer- 
 tainty of the science of physiognomy by the most 
 illiterate or the most learned ; how much soever he, who 
 openly professes faith in this science, may be subject to 
 ridicule, to philosophic pity and contempt ; it still cannot 
 be contested, that there is no subject, thus considered, 
 more important, more worthy of observation, more inte- 
 resting than man, nor any occupation superior to that of 
 disclosing the beauties and perfections of human nature. 
 
 I shall now proceed to inquire into the advantages of 
 physiognomy. Whether a more certain, more accurate, 
 more extensive, and thereby a more perfect knowledge 
 of man, be or be not profitable ; whether it be or be not 
 advantageous to gain a knowledge of internal qualities 
 from external form and feature, is a question most de- 
 serving of inquiry. This may be classed first as a general 
 question, Whether knowledge, its extension and increase, 
 be of consequence to man ? 
 
 Certain it is, that if a man has the power, faculties, and 
 will to obtain wisdom, that he should exercise those 
 faculties for the attainment of wisdom. How paradoxical 
 are those proofs, that science and knowledge are detri- 
 mental to man, and that a rude state of ignorance is to 
 
10 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 be preferred to all that wisdom can teach ! I here dare 
 assert, that physiognomy has at least as many claims of 
 essential advantage as are granted by men in general to 
 other sciences. 
 
 With how much justice may we not grant precedency 
 to that science which teaches the knowledge of men ! 
 What object is so important to man as man himself? 
 What knowledge can more influence his happiness than 
 the knowledge of himself? This advantageous know- 
 ledge is the peculiar province of physiognomy. 
 
 Whoever would wish perfect conviction of the advan- 
 tages of physiognomy, let him imagine, but for a moment, 
 that all physiognomical knowledge and sensation were 
 lost to the world. What confusion, what uncertainty 
 and absurdity must take place, in millions of instances, 
 among the actions of men ! How perpetual must be the 
 vexation of the eternal uncertainty in all which we 
 should have to transact with each other ; and how in- 
 finitely would probability, which depends upon a multi- 
 tude of circumstances more or less distinctly perceived, 
 be weakened by this privation! From how vast a 
 number of actions, by which men are honoured and 
 benefited, must they then desist ! 
 
 Mutual intercourse is the thing of most consequence 
 to mankind who are destined to live in society. The 
 knowledge of man is the soul of this intercourse, that 
 which imparts animation to it, pleasure, and profit. Let 
 the physiognomist observe varieties, make minute dis- 
 . tinctions, establish signs, and invent words, to express 
 these his remarks ; form general abstract propositions ; 
 extend and improve physiognomical knowledge, language, 
 and sensation ; and thus will the uses and advantages of 
 physiognomy progressively increase. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 11 
 
 Physiognomy is a source of the purest, the most ex- 
 alted sensations ; an additional eye, wherewith to view 
 the manifold proofs of Divine wisdom and goodness in 
 the creation, and, while thus viewing unspeakable har- 
 mony and truth, to excite more ecstatic love for their 
 adorable Author. Where the dark, inattentive sight of 
 the inexperienced perceives nothing, there the practical 
 view of the physiognomist discovers inexhaustible foun- 
 tains of delight, endearing, moral, and spiritual. With 
 secret delight, the philanthropic physiognomist discerns 
 those internal motives which would otherwise be first 
 revealed in the world to come. He distinguishes what 
 is permanent in the character from what is habitual, 
 and what is habitual from what is accidental. He, 
 therefore, who reads man in this language, reads him 
 most accurately. 
 
 To enumerate all the advantages of physiognomy 
 would require a large treatise. The most indisputable, 
 though the most important of these, its advantages, are 
 those the painter acquires, who, if he be not a physiog- 
 nomist, is nothing. The greatest is that of forming, 
 conducting, and improving the human heart. 
 
 I shall now say something with respect to the dis- 
 advantages of physiognomy. 
 
 Methinks I hear some worthy man exclaim : " thou, 
 who hast ever hitherto lived the friend of religion and 
 virtue ! what is thy present purpose ? What mischief 
 shall not be wrought by this thy physiognomy ? Wilt 
 thou teach man the unblessed art of judging his brother 
 by the ambiguous expressions of his countenance ? Are 
 there not already sufficient of censoriousness, scandal, 
 and inspection into the failings of others ? Wilt thou 
 teach man to read the secrets of the heart, the latent 
 feelings, and the various errors of thought ? 
 
12 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 " Thou dwellest upon the advantages of the science ; 
 sayest thou shalt teach men to contemplate the beauty. 
 of virtue, the hatefulness of vice, and by these means 
 make them virtuous ; and that thou inspirest us with an 
 abhorrence ojf vice by obliging us to feel its external 
 deformity. And what shall be the consequence ? Shall 
 it not be, that for the appearance, and not the reality of 
 goodness, man shall wish to be good ? that, vain as he 
 already is, acting from the desire of praise, and wishing 
 only to appear what he ought determinately to be, he 
 will yet become more vain, and will court the praise of 
 men, not by words and deeds alone, but by assumed 
 looks and counterfeited forms? Oughtest thou not 
 rather to weaken this already too powerful motive for 
 human actions, and to strengthen a better ; to turn the 
 eyes inward, to teach actual improvement and silent 
 innocence, instead of inducing him to reason on the out- 
 ward fair expressions of goodness, or the hateful ones of 
 wickedness ? " 
 
 This is a heavy accusation, and with great appearance 
 of truth. Yet how easy is defence to me, and how 
 pleasant, when my opponent accuses me from motives 
 of philanthropy, and not of splenetic dispute ! The 
 charge is twofold, censoriousness and vanity. I will 
 answer these charges separately; and now proceed to 
 reply to the first objection. 
 
 I teach no black art ; no nostrum, the secret of which 
 I might have concealed, which is a thousand times in- 
 jurious for once that it is profitable, the discovery of 
 which is therefore so difficult. I do but teach a science, 
 the most general, the most palpable, with which all men 
 are acquainted ; and state rny feelings, observations, and 
 their consequences. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 It ought never to be forgotten, that the very purport 
 of outward expression is to teach what passes in the 
 mind, and that to deprive man of this source of know- 
 ledge were to reduce him to utter ignorance ; that every 
 man is born with a certain portion of physiognomical 
 sensation, as certainly as that every man who is not 
 deformed is born with two eyes ; that all men, in their 
 intercourse with each other, form physiognomical deci- 
 sions according as their judgment is more or less clear ; 
 that it is well known, though physiognomy were never 
 to be reduced to a science, most men, in proportion as they 
 have mingled with the world, derive some profit from 
 their knowledge of mankind, even at the first glance, 
 and that the same effects were produced long before this 
 question was in agitation. Whether, therefore, to teach 
 men to decide with more perspicuity and certainty, 
 instead of confusedly ; to judge clearly with refined sen- 
 sations, instead of rudely and erroneously with sensations 
 more gross ; and, instead of suffering them to wander in 
 the dark, and venture abortive and injurious judgments, 
 to learn them by physiognomical experiments, by the 
 rules of prudence and caution, and the sublime voice of 
 philanthrophy, to mistrust, to be diffident and slow to 
 pronounce, where they imagine they discover evil : 
 whether this, I say, can be injurious, I leave the world 
 to determine. 
 
 I think I may venture to affirm, that very few persons 
 will, in consequence of this work, begin to judge ill of 
 others who had not before been guilty of the practice. 
 
 The second objection to physiognomy is, that "it 
 renders men vain, and teaches them to assume a plausible 
 appearance." The men thou wouldst reform are not 
 children who are good, and know that they are so ; but 
 
H 
 
 men who must, from experience, learn to distinguish 
 between good and evil; men who, to become perfect, 
 must necessarily be taught their own various, and con- 
 sequently their own beneficent, qualities. Let, therefore, 
 the desire of obtaining approbation from the good, act in 
 concert with the impulse to goodness. Let this be the 
 ladder, or, if you please, the crutch, to support tottering 
 virtue. Suffer men to feel that God has ever branded 
 vice with deformity, and adorned virtue with inimitable 
 beauty. Allow man to rejoice when he perceives that 
 his countenance improves in proportion as his heart is 
 ennobled; Inform him only that to be good from vain 
 motives is not actual good, but vanity ; that the orna- 
 ments of vanity will ever be inferior and ignoble ; and 
 that the dignified mien of virtue never can be truly 
 attained but by the actual possession of virtue, unsullied 
 by the leaven, of vanity. 
 
 Let me now say a word or two as to the ease and 
 difficulties attending the study of physiognomy. To 
 learn the lowest, the least difficult of sciences, at first 
 appears an arduous undertaking, when taught by words 
 or books, and not reduced to actual practice. What 
 numerous dangers and difficulties might be started 
 against all the daily enterprises of men, were it not 
 undeniable that they are performed with facility. How 
 might not the possibility of making a watch, and still 
 more a watch worn in a ring, or of sailing over the vast 
 ocean, and of numberless other arts and inventions, be 
 disputed, did we not behold them constantly practised ? 
 How many arguments might be urged against the 
 practice of physic ? and, though some of them be unan- 
 swerable, how many are the reverse? 
 
 It is not just too hastily to decide on the possible ease 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 or difficulty of any subject which we have not yet exa- 
 mined. The simplest may abound with difficulties to 
 him who has not made frequent experiments ; and, by 
 frequent experiments, the most difficult may become 
 easy. 
 
 Whoever possesses the slightest capacity for, and has 
 once acquired the habit of, observation and comparison, 
 should he see himself daily and incessantly surrounded 
 by hosts of difficulties, yet he will certainly be able to 
 make a progress. There is no study, however difficult, 
 which may not be attained by perseverance and reso- 
 lution. 
 
 We have men constantly before us. In the very 
 smallest towns there is a continual influx and reflux of 
 persons of various and opposite characters : among these, 
 many are known to us without consulting physiognomy; 
 and that they are patient or choleric, credulous or suspi- 
 cious, wise or foolish, of moderate or weak capacity, we 
 are convinced past contradiction. Their countenances 
 are as widely various as their characters, and these varie- 
 ties of countenances may each be as accurately drawn as 
 their varieties of character may be described. 
 
 There are men with whom we have daily intercourse, 
 and whose interests and ours are connected; be their 
 dissimulation what it may, passion will frequently for a 
 moment snatch off" the mask, and give us a glance, at 
 least a side-view, of their true form. 
 
 Has Nature bestowed on man the eye and ear, and yet 
 made her language so difficult, or so entirely unintelli- 
 gible? And not the eye and ear alone, but feeling, 
 nerves, internal sensations, and yet has rendered the 
 language of the superficies so confused, so obscure ? She 
 who has adapted sound to the ear, and the ear to sound ; 
 
16 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 she who has created light for the eye, and the eye for 
 light ; she who has taught man so soon to speak, and to 
 understand speech ; shall she have imparted innumerable 
 traits and marks of secret inclinations, powers, and pas- 
 sions, accompanied by perception, sensation, and an im- 
 pulse to interpret them to his advantage; and, after 
 bestowing such strong incitements, shall she have denied 
 him the possibility of quenching this his thirst of know- 
 ledge ? She who has given him penetration to discover 
 sciences still more profound, though of much inferior 
 utility; who has taught him to trace out the paths and 
 measure the curves of comets ; who has put a telescope 
 into his hand, that he may view the satellites of the 
 planets, and has endowed him with the capability of cal- 
 culating their eclipses through revolving ages ; shall so 
 kind a mother have denied her children her truth - 
 seeking pupils, her noble philanthropic offspring, who 
 are so willing to admire and rejoice in the majesty of the 
 Most High, viewing man his masterpiece the power of 
 reading the ever-present, ever-open book of the human 
 countenance ; of reading man, the most beautiful of all 
 her works, the compendium of all things, the mirror of 
 the Deity ? 
 
 Awake ! view man in all his infinite forms ! Look, 
 for thou mayest eternally learn ; shake off thy sloth, and 
 behold ! Meditate on its importance ; take, resolution to 
 thyself, and the most difficult shall become easy. 
 
 Let me now mention the difficulties attending this 
 study. There is a peculiar circumstance attending the 
 starting of difficulties. There are some who possess the 
 particular gift of discovering and inventing difficulties, 
 without number or limits, on the most common and easy 
 subjects. I shall be brief en the innumerable difficulties 
 
INTRODUCTION 17 
 
 of physiognomy ; because, it not being my intention to 
 cite them all in this place, the most important will occa- 
 sionally be noticed and answered in the course of the 
 work. I have an additional motive to be brief, which 
 is, that most of these difficulties are included in the in- 
 describable minuteness of innumerable traits of character, 
 or the impossibility of seizing, expressing, and analyzing 
 certain sensations and observations. 
 
 Nothing can be more certain than that the smallest 
 shades, which are scarcely discernible to an inexperiened 
 eye, frequently denote total opposition of character. How 
 wonderfully may the expression of countenance and 
 character be altered by a small inflexion or diminishing, 
 lengthening or sharpening, even though but of a hair's 
 breadth ! 
 
 How difficult, how impossible, must this variety of 
 the same countenance, even in the most accurate of the 
 arts of imitation, render precision ! How often does it 
 happen that the seat of character is so hidden, so envel- 
 oped, so masked, that it can only be caught in certain, 
 and perhaps uncommon, positions of the countenance ; 
 which will again be changed, and the signs all disappear, 
 before they have made any durable impression ! or, sup- 
 posing the impression made, these distinguishing traits 
 may be so difficult to seize, that it shall be impossible to 
 paint, much less to engrave, or describe them by language. 
 
 It is with physiognomy as with all other objects of 
 taste, literal or figurative, of sense or of spirit. How 
 many thousand accidents, great and small, physical and 
 moral ; how many secret incidents, alterations, passions ; 
 how often will dress, position, light and shade, and innu- 
 merable discordant circumstances, show the countenance 
 so disadvantageously, or, to speak more properly, betray 
 
 c 
 
18 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 the physiognomist into a false judgment on the true 
 qualities of the countenance and character ! How easily 
 may these occasion him to overlook the essential traits 
 of character, and form his judgment on what is wholly 
 accidental ! How surprisingly may the small-pox, during 
 life, disfigure the countenance ! How may it destroy, 
 confuse, or render the most decisive traits imperceptible ! 
 
 We will therefore grant the opposer of physiognomy 
 all he can ask, although we do not live without hope 
 that many of the difficulties shall be resolved, which at 
 first appeared to the reader and to the author inexpli- 
 cable.* 
 
 It is highly incumbent upon me that I should not 
 lead my readers to expect more from me than I am able 
 to perform. Whoever publishes a considerable work on 
 physiognomy, gives his readers apparently to understand 
 that he is much better acquainted with the subject than 
 any of his contemporaries. Should an error escape him, 
 he exposes himself to the severest ridicule ; he is con- 
 temned, at least by those who do not read him, for pre- 
 tensions which probably they suppose him to make, but 
 which in reality he does not make. 
 
 The God of truth, and all who know me, will bear 
 testimony, that from my whole soul I despise deceit, as 
 I do all silly claims to superior wisdom and infallibility, 
 which so many writers, by a thousand artifices, endeavour 
 to make their readers imagine they possess. 
 
 First, therefore, I declare, what I have uniformly 
 declared on all occasions, although the persons who 
 speak of me and my works endeavour to conceal it from 
 themselves and others, that I understand but little of 
 
 * The following lines, to the end of the Introduction, contain Mr. 
 Lavater's own remarks on himself. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 physiognomy ; that I have been, and continue daily to 
 be, mistaken in my judgment ; but these errors are the 
 most natural and most certain means of correcting, con- 
 firming, and extending my knowledge. 
 
 It will probably not be disagreeable to many of my 
 readers to be informed, in part, of the progress of my 
 mind in this study. 
 
 Before I reached the twenty-fifth year of my age, there 
 was nothing I should have supposed more improbable 
 than that I should make the smallest inquiries concern- 
 ing, much less that I should write a book on, physio- 
 gnomy. I was neither inclined to read nor make the 
 slightest observations on the subject. The extreme sen- 
 sibility of my nerves occasioned me, however, to feel 
 certain emotions at beholding certain countenances. I 
 sometimes instinctively formed a judgment according to 
 these first impressions, and was laughed at, ashamed, 
 and became cautious. Years passed away before I again 
 dared, impelled by similar impressions, to venture similar 
 opinions. In the meantime I occasionally sketched the 
 countenance of a friend, whom by chance I had lately 
 been observing. I had, from my earliest youth, a pro- 
 pensity to drawing, and especially to drawing of por- 
 traits, although I had but little genius or perseverance. 
 By this practice my latent feelings began partly to un- 
 fold themselves. The various proportions, similitudes, 
 and varieties of the human countenance became more 
 apparent. It has happened that, on two successive 
 days, I have drawn two faces, the features of which had 
 a remarkable resemblance. This awakened my atten- 
 tion ; and my astonishment increased when I received 
 certain proofs that these persons were as similar in 
 character as ID feature. 
 
20 LA.VATEU'8 PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 I was afterwards induced by M. Zimmerman, physi- 
 cian to the court of Hanover, to write my thoughts on 
 this subject. I met with many opponents; and this 
 opposition obliged me to make deeper and more laborious 
 researches, till at length the present work on physio- 
 gnomy was produced. 
 
 Here I must repeat the full conviction I feel, that my 
 whole life would be insufficient to form any approach 
 towards a perfect and consistent whole. It is a field too 
 vast for me singly to till. I shall find various opportu- 
 nities of confessing my deficiency in various branches of 
 science, without which it is impossible to study physio- 
 gnomy with that firmness and certainty which are requi- 
 site. I shall conclude by declaring, with unreserved 
 candour, and wholly committing myself to the reader 
 who is the friend of truth, 
 
 That I have heard, from the weakest men, remarks on 
 the human countenance more acute than those I had 
 made ; remarks which made mine appear trifling. 
 
 That I believe, were various other people to sketch 
 countenances and write their observations, those I have 
 hitherto made would soon become of little importance. 
 
 That I daily meet an hundred faces concerning which 
 I am unable to pronounce any certain opinion. 
 
 That no man has any thing to fear from my inspection, 
 as it is my endeavour to find good in man ; nor are there 
 any men in whom good is not to be found. 
 
 That since I have begun thus to observe mankind, my 
 philanthropy is not diminished, but, I will venture to 
 say, increased. 
 
 And that now (January, 1783), after ten years' daily 
 study, I am not more convinced of the certainty of my 
 own existence than of the truth of the science of physio- 
 
THE NATURE OF MAX. 21 
 
 gnomy, or than that this truth may be demonstrated ; 
 and that I hold him to be a weak and simple person 
 who shall affirm that j;he effects of the impressions made 
 upon him by all possible human countenances are equal. 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 On the nature of Man, which is the foundation of the 
 science of Physiognomy Difference between Physio- 
 gnomy and Pathognomy. 
 
 MAN is the most perfect of all earthly creatures, the 
 most imbued with the principles of life. Each particle 
 of matter is an immensity, each leaf a world, each insect 
 an inexplicable compendium. Who, then, shall enume- 
 rate the gradations between insect and man ? In him 
 all the powers of nature are united. He is the essence 
 of creation. The son of earth, he is the earth's lord ; the 
 summary and central point of all existence, of all powers, 
 and of all life, on that earth which he inhabits. 
 
 There are no organized beings with which we are 
 acquainted, man alone excepted, in which are so won- 
 derfully united these different kinds of life, the animal, 
 the intellectual, and the moral Each of these lives is 
 the compendium of various faculties most wonderfully 
 compounded and harmonized. 
 
 To know, to desire, to act, or accurately to observe 
 and meditate, to perceive and to wish, to possess the 
 power of motion and resistance these, combined, con- 
 stitute man an animal, intellectual, and moral being. 
 
 Endowed with these faculties, and with this triple 
 life, man is in himself the most worthy subject of obser- 
 vation, as he likewise is himself tb most worthy observer 
 
22 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 In him each species of life is conspicuous ; yet never can 
 his properties be wholly known except by the aid of his 
 external form, his body, his superficies. How spiritual, 
 how incorporeal soever his internal essence may be, still 
 is he only visible and conceivable from the harmony of 
 his constituent parts. From these he is inseparable. 
 He exists and moves in the body he inhabits as in his 
 element. This threefold life, which man cannot be 
 denied to possess, necessarily first becomes the subject 
 of disquisition and research as it presents itself in the 
 form of body, and in such of his faculties as are apparent 
 to sense. 
 
 By such external appearances as affect the senses, 
 all things are characterised ; they are the foundations of 
 all human knowledge. Man must wander in the darkest 
 ignorance, equally with respect to himself and the 
 objects that surround him, did he not become acquainted 
 with their properties and powers by the aid of their 
 externals ; and had not each object a character peculiar 
 to its nature and essence, which acquaints us with what 
 it is, and enables us to distinguish it from what it is not. 
 
 We survey all bodies that appear to sight under a 
 certain form and superficies ; we behold those outlines 
 traced which are the result of their organization. I 
 hope I shall be pardoned the repetition of common-place 
 truths, since on these is built the science of physio- 
 gnomy, or the proper study of man. 
 
 The organization of man peculiarly distinguishes him 
 from all other earthly beings; and his physiognomy, 
 that is to say, his superficies and outlines of this organi- 
 zation, show him to be infinitely superior to all those 
 visible beings by which he is surrounded. We are un- 
 acquainted with any form equally noble, equally 
 
THE NATURE OF MAX. 23 
 
 majestic, with that of man ; and in which so many kinds 
 of life, so many powers, so many virtues of action and 
 motion, unite as in a central point. With firm step he 
 advances over the earth's surface, and with erect body 
 he raises his head to heaven. He looks forward to 
 infinitude; he acts with facility and swiftness incon- 
 ceivable, and his motions are the most immediate and 
 the most varied. By whom may their varieties be 
 enumerated ? He can at once both suffer and perform 
 infinitely more than any other creature. He unites 
 flexibility and fortitude, strength and dexterity, activity 
 and rest. Of all creatures he can the soonest yield, and 
 the longest resist. None resemble him in the variety 
 and harmony of his powers. His faculties, like his form, 
 are peculiar to himself. 
 
 The make and proportion of man, his superior height, 
 capable of so many changes and such variety of motion, 
 prove to the unprejudiced observer his superior emi- 
 nent strength, and astonishing facility of action. The 
 high excellence and physiological unity of human nature, 
 are visible at the first glance. The head, especially the 
 face and the formation of the firm parts, compared to 
 the firm parts of other animals, convince the accurate 
 observer who is capable of investigating truth, of the 
 greatness and superiority of his intellectual qualities. 
 The eye, the look, the cheeks, the mouth, the forehead, 
 whether considered in a state of entire rest, or during 
 their innumerable varieties of motion in fine, whatever 
 is understood by physiognomy are the most expressive, 
 the most convincing picture of interior sensation, desires, 
 passions, will, and of all those properties which so much 
 exalt moral above animal life. 
 
 Although the physiological, intellectual, and moral 
 
24 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 life of man, with all their subordinate powers and their 
 constituent parts, so eminently unite in one being ; al- 
 though these three kinds of life do not, like three 
 distinct families, reside in separate parts or stories of 
 the body, but coexist in one point, and by their com- 
 bination form one whole ; yet it is plain that each of 
 these powers of life has its peculiar station where it 
 more especially unfolds itself and acts. 
 
 It is beyond contradiction evident, that, though phy- 
 siological or animal life displays itself through all the 
 body, and especially through all the animal parts, yet it 
 acts more conspicuously in the arm, from the shoulder 
 to the ends of the fingers. 
 
 It is not less evident that intellectual life, or the 
 power of the understanding and the mind, make them- 
 selves most apparent in the circumference and form of 
 the solid parts of the head, especially the forehead; 
 though they will discover themselves to an attentive 
 and accurate eye in every part and point of the human 
 body, by the congeniality and harmony of the various 
 parts. Is there any occasion to prove that the power 
 of thinking resides neither in the foot, in the hand, 
 nor in the back, but in the head and in its internal 
 parts ? 
 
 The moral life of man particularly reveals itself in the 
 lines, marks, and transitions of the countenance. His 
 moral powers and desires; his irritability, sympathy, 
 and antipathy ; his facility of attracting or repelling the 
 objects that surround him : these are all summed up in, 
 and painted upon his countenance when at rest. When 
 any passion is called into action, such passion is depicted 
 by the motion of the muscles, and these motions are 
 accompanied by a strong palpitation of the heart. If the 
 
THE NATURE OF MAN. 25 
 
 countenance be tranquil, it always denotes tranquillity 
 in the region of the heart and breast. 
 
 This threefold life of man, so intimately interwoven 
 through his frame, is still capable of being studied in 
 its different appropriate parts ; and, did we live in a less 
 depraved world, we should find sufficient data for the 
 science of physiognomy. 
 
 The animal life, the lowest and most earthly, would 
 discover itself from the rim of the belly to the organs of 
 generation, which would become its central or focal 
 point. The middle or moral life would be seated in the 
 breast, and the heart would be its central point. The 
 intellectual life, which of the three is supreme, would 
 reside in the head, and have the eye for its centre. If 
 we take the countenance as the representative and epi- 
 tome of the three divisions, then will the forehead to 
 the eyebrows be the mirror or image of the understand- 
 ing ; the nose and cheeks, the image of the moral and 
 sensitive life ; and the mouth and chin, the image of the 
 animal life ; while the eye will be to the whole as its 
 summary and centre. 
 
 All that has been hitherto advanced is so clear, so 
 well known, so universal, that we should blush to insist 
 upon such common-place truths, were they not, first, the 
 foundation on which we must build all we have to pro- 
 pose ; and, again, had not these truths (can it be believed 
 by futurity ?) in this our age been so many thousand 
 times mistaken and contested with the most inconceiv- 
 able affectation. 
 
 The science of physiognomy, whether understood in 
 the most enlarged or most confined sense, indubitably 
 depends on these general and incontrovertible principles; 
 yet, incontrovertible as they are, they have not been 
 
26 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 without their opponents. Men pretend to doubt of the 
 most striking, the most convincing, the most self-evident 
 truths ; although, were these destroyed, neither truth nor 
 knowledge would remain. They do not profess to doubt 
 concerning the physiognomy of other natural objects; 
 yet do they doubt the physiognomy of human nature 
 the first object the most worthy of contemplation, and 
 the most animated the realms of nature contain. 
 
 We have already hinted to our readers, that they are 
 to expect only fragments on physiognomy from us, and 
 not a perfect system. However, what has been said 
 may serve as a sketch for such a system. We shall 
 conclude this chapter with showing the difference be- 
 tween Physiognomy and Pathognomy. 
 
 Physiognomy is the science or knowledge of the cor- 
 respondence between the external and internal man, the 
 visible superficies and the invisible contents. Physio- 
 gnomy, opposed to pathognomy, is the knowledge of the 
 signs of the powers and inclinations of men pathognomy 
 is the knowledge of the signs of the passions. Physio- 
 gnomy therefore teaches the knowledge of character at 
 rest, and pathognomy of character in motion. Character 
 at rest, is taught by the form of the solid and the appear- 
 ance of the moveable parts while at rest. Character 
 impassioned, is manifested by the moveable parts in 
 motion. 
 
 Physiognomy may be compared to the sum-total of 
 the mind ; pathognomy, to the interest which is the pro- 
 duct of this sum-total. The former shows what man is 
 in general, the latter what he becomes at particular 
 moments ; or, the one what he might be, the other what 
 he is. The first is the root and stem of the second, the 
 soil in which it is planted. Whoever believes the latter 
 
SIGNS OF STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS. 27 
 
 and not the former, believes in fruit without a tree, in 
 corn without land. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Signs of Bodily Strength and Weakness Of Health 
 and Sickness. 
 
 WE call that human body strong which can easily 
 alter other bodies without being easily altered itself. 
 The more immediately it can act, and the less immedi- 
 ately it can be acted upon, the greater is its strength ; and 
 the weaker, the less it can act or withstand the action of 
 others. There is a tranquil strength, the essence of 
 which is immobility; and there is an active strength, 
 the essence of which is motion. The one has motion, 
 the other stability, in an extraordinary degree. There 
 is the strength of the rock and the elasticity of the 
 spring. 
 
 There is the Herculean strength of bones and' sinews ; 
 thick, firm, compact, and immoveable as a pillar. 
 
 There are heroes less Herculean, less firm, sinewy, 
 large ; less set, less rocky ; who yet, when roused, when 
 opposed in their activity, will meet oppression with so 
 much strength, will resist weight with such elastic force, 
 as scarcely to be equalled by the most muscular strength. 
 
 The elephant has native, bony strength. Irritated or 
 not, he bears prodigious burdens, and crushes all on 
 which he treads. An irritated wasp has strength of a 
 totally different kind; but both have compactness for 
 their foundation, and especially the firmness of con- 
 struction. All porosity destroys strength. 
 
 The strength, like the understanding of a man, is 
 
28 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 discovered by its being more or less compact. The 
 elasticity of a body has signs so remarkable, that they 
 will not permit us to confound such body with one that 
 is not elastic. How manifest are the varieties of strength 
 between the foot of an elephant and a stag, a wasp and 
 a fly! 
 
 Tranquil, firm strength, is shown in the proportions 
 of the form, which ought rather to be short than long. 
 In the thick neck, the broad shoulders, and the counte- 
 nance, which, in a state of health, is rather bony than 
 fleshy. In the short, compact, and knotty forehead; 
 and especially when the sinus frontales are visible, but 
 not too far projecting ; flat in the middle, or suddenly 
 indented, but not in smooth cavities. In horizontal eye- 
 brows, situated near the eye. Deep eyes and steadfast 
 look. In the broad, firm nose, bony near the forehead, 
 especially in its straight angular outlines. In short, 
 thick, curly hair of the head and beard ; broad teeth, 
 standing close to each other. In compact lips, of which 
 the under rather projects than retreats. In the strong, 
 prominent, broad chin. In the strong, projecting os 
 occipitis. In the bass voice, the firm step, and in sitting 
 still. 
 
 Elastic strength, the living power of irritability, must 
 be discovered in the moment of action; and the firm 
 signs must afterwards be abstracted when the irritated 
 power is once more at rest. " This body, therefore, which 
 at rest was capable of so little, acted and resisted so 
 weakly, can, thus irritated, and with this degree of 
 tension, become thus powerful." We shall find on 
 inquiry that this strength, awakened by irritation, 
 generally resides in thin, tall, but not very tall, and 
 bony rather than muscular bodies ; in bodies of dark or 
 
SIGNS OF STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS. 29 
 
 pale complexions ; of rapid motion, joined with a certain 
 kind of stiffness ; of hasty and firm walk ; of fixed pene- 
 trating look ; and with open lips, but easily and accu- 
 rately to be closed. 
 
 Signs of weakness are, disproportionate length of body ; 
 much flesh; little bone; extension; a tottering frame; 
 a loose skin ; round, obtuse, and particularly hollow out- 
 lines of the forehead and nose ; smallness of nose and 
 chin ; little nostrils ; the retreating chin ; long, cylindri- 
 cal neck; the walk very hasty or languid, without 
 firmness of step; the timid aspect; closing eyelids; 
 open mouth ; long teeth ; the jawbone long, but bent 
 towards the ear ; whiteness of complexion ; teeth inclined 
 to be yellow or green ; fair, long, and tender hair ; shrill 
 voice. 
 
 I shall now proceed to consider Medicinal Semeiotics, 
 or the signs of health and sickness. Not I, but an experi- 
 enced physician, ought to write on the physiognomical 
 and pathognomical semeiotica of health and sickness, 
 and describe the physiological character of the body, 
 and its propensities to this or that disorder. I am beyond 
 description ignorant with respect to the nature of dis- 
 orders and their signs : still may I, in consequence of 
 the few observations I have made, declare with some 
 certainty, by repeatedly examining the firm parts and 
 outlines of the bodies and countenances of the sick, that 
 it is not difficult to predict what are the diseases to 
 which the man in health is most liable. 
 
 Of what infinite importance would such physiognomi- 
 cal semeiotics, or prognostics of possible or probable 
 disorders, be, founded on the nature and form of the 
 body ! How essential were it, could the physician say to 
 the healthy, "You naturally have, some time in your life, 
 
30 
 
 to expect this or that disorder. Take the necessary pre- 
 cautions against such or such a disease. The virus of 
 the small-pox slumbers in your body, and may thus or 
 thus be put in motion : thus the hectic, thus the inter- 
 mittent, and thus the putrid fever." Oh, how worthy, 
 Zimmerman, would a treatise on physiognomical dicetetice 
 (or regimen) be of thee ! 
 
 Whoever shall read this author's work on experience, 
 will see how characteristically he describes various dis- 
 eases which originate in the passions. Some quotations 
 from this work, which will justify my wish, and contain 
 the most valuable semeiotical remarks, cannot be unac- 
 ceptable to the reader : 
 
 " The observing mind examines the physiognomy of 
 the sick, the signs of which extend over the whole body ; 
 but the progress and change of the disease is principally 
 to be found in the countenance and its parts. Some- 
 times the patient carries the marks of his disease ; in 
 burning, bilious, and hectic fevers ; in the chlorosis ; the 
 common and black jaundice ; in worm cases." I, who 
 know so little of physic, have several times discovered 
 the disease of the tape- worm in the countenance. 
 
 " In the furor uterinus the least observant can read 
 the disease. The more the countenance is changed in 
 burning fevers, the greater is the danger. A man whose 
 natural aspect is mild and calm, but who stares at me, 
 with a florid complexion, and wildness in his eyes, prog- 
 nosticates an approaching delirium. I have likewise 
 seen a look indescribably wild, accompanied by paleness, 
 when nature, in an inflammation of the lungs, was com- 
 ing to a crisis, and the patient was becoming excessively 
 cold and frantic. The countenance relaxed, the lips 
 pale and hanging, in burning fevers, are bad symptoms, 
 
SIGNS OF HEALTH AND SICKNESS. 31 
 
 as they denote great debility ; and if the change and 
 decay of the countenance be sudden, the danger is great. 
 When the nose is pointed, the face of a lead colour, and 
 the lips livid, inflammation has produced gangrene. 
 
 "There is frequently something dangerous to be 
 observed in the countenance, which cannot be known 
 from other symptoms, and which yet is very significant. 
 Much is to be observed in the eyes. Boerhaave 
 examined the eyes of the patient with a magnifying glass, 
 that he might see if the blood entered the smaller 
 vessels. Hippocrates held that the avoiding of light, 
 involuntary tears, squinting, one eye less than the other, 
 the white of the eye inflamed, the small veins inclined 
 to be black, too much swelled, or too much sunken, 
 were each and all bad symptoms. 
 
 " The motion of the patient, and his position in bed, 
 ought likewise to be enumerated among the particular 
 symptoms of disease. The hand carried to the forehead, 
 waved, or groping in the air, scratching on the wall, and 
 pulling up the bed-clothes, are of this kind. The 
 position in bed is a very significant sign of the internal 
 situation of the patient, and therefore deserves every 
 attention. The more unusual the position is in any 
 inflammatory disease, the more certainly we may con- 
 clude that the anguish is great, and consequently the 
 danger. Hippocrates has described the position of the 
 sick in such cases with an accuracy that leaves nothing 
 to be desired. The best position in sickness is the usual 
 position in health." 
 
 I shall add some other remarks from this physician 
 and physiognomist, whose abilities are superior to envy, 
 ignorance, and quackery. " Swift was lean while he was 
 the prey of ambition, chagrin, and ill-temper ; but, after 
 
32 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 the loss of his understanding, he became fat." His de- 
 scription of envy, and its effects on the body, is incompa- 
 rable : " The effects of envy are visible, even in children. 
 They become thin, and easily fall into consumptions. 
 Envy takes away the appetite and sleep, and causes 
 feverish motion ; it produces gloom, shortness of breath, 
 impatience, restlessness, and a narrow chest. The good 
 name of others, on which it seeks to avenge itself by 
 slander, and feigned but not real contempt, hangs like 
 the sword suspended by a hair over the head of envy, 
 that continually wishes to torture others, and is itself 
 continually on the rack. The laughing simpleton be- 
 comes disturbed as soon as envy, that worst of fiends, 
 takes possession of him, and he perceives that he vainly 
 labours to debase that merit which he cannot rival. His 
 eyes roll, he knits his forehead, he becomes morose, 
 peevish, and hangs his lips. There is, it is true, a kind 
 of envy that arrives at old age. Envy in her dark cave, 
 possessed by toothless furies, there hoards her poison, 
 which, with infernal wickedness, she endeavours to eject 
 over each worthy person and honourable act. She de- 
 fends the cause of vice, endeavours to confound right 
 and wrong, and vitally wounds the purest innocence." 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Of ike Congeniality of the Human Form. 
 
 THE same vital powers that make the heart beat, give 
 motion to the finger ; that which roofs the skull, arches 
 the finger-nail. Art is at variance with herself : not so 
 Nature. Her creation is progressive. From the head 
 to the back, from the shoulder to the arm, from the arm 
 
CONGENIALITY OF THE HUMAN FORM. 33 
 
 to the hand, and from the hand to the finger ; from the 
 root to the stem, the stem to the branch, the branch to 
 the twig, the twig to the blossom and fruit, each depends 
 on the other, and all on the root : each is similar in 
 nature and form. There is a determinate effect of a 
 determinate power. Through all nature each deter- 
 minate power is productive only of such and such 
 determinate effects. The finger of one body is not 
 adapted to the hand of another body. Each part of an 
 organized body is an image of the whole. The blood in 
 the extremity of the finger has the character of the blood 
 in the heart. The same congeniality is found in the 
 nerves, in the bones. One spirit lives in all. Each 
 member of the body is in proportion to that whole of 
 which it is a part. As from the length of the smallest 
 member, the smallest joint of the finger, the proportion 
 of the whole, the length and breadth of the body, may 
 be found ; so also may the form of the whole from the 
 form of each single part. When the head is long all is 
 long, or round when the head is round, or square when 
 it is square. One form, one mind, one root, appertain to 
 all : therefore is each organized body so much a whole, 
 that, without discord, destruction, or deformity, nothing 
 can be added or diminished. 
 
 Every thing in man is progressive ; every thing con- 
 genial; form, stature, complexion, hair, skin, veins, 
 nerves, bones, voice, walk, manner, style, passion, love, 
 hatred. One and the same spirit is manifest in alL He 
 has ' a determinate sphere in which his powers and 
 sensations are allowed, within which they may be freely 
 exercised, but beyond which he cannot pass. Each 
 countenance is indeed subject to momentary change, 
 though not perceptible, even in its solid parts; but 
 
 D 
 
34 LAVATEB'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 these changes are ail proportionate : each is measured, 
 each proper and peculiar to the countenance in which it 
 takes place. The capability of change is limited. Even 
 that which is affected, assumed, imitated, heterogeneous, 
 still has the properties of the individual originating in 
 the nature of the whole, and is so definite that it is only 
 possible in this, but in no other being. 
 
 I almost blush to repeat this in the present age. 
 What, Posterity, wilt thou suppose, thus to see me so 
 often obliged to demonstrate to pretended sages that 
 nature makes no emendation ? She labours from one 
 to all Hers is not disjointed organization nor mosaic 
 work. The more there is of the mosaic in the works of 
 artists, orators, or poets, the less are they natural ; the 
 less do they resemble the copious streams of the foun- 
 tain ; the stem extending itself to the remotest branch. 
 
 The more there is of progression, the more there is of 
 truth, power, and nature ; the more extensive, general, 
 durable, and noble is the effect. The designs of nature 
 are the designs of a moment ; one form, one spirit, appear 
 through the whole. Thus nature forms her least plant, 
 and thus her most exalted man. I shall have effected 
 nothing by my physiognomical labours, if I am not able 
 to destroy that opinion, so tasteless, so unworthy of the 
 age, so opposite to all sound philosophy, that nature 
 patches up the features of various countenances, in order 
 to make one perfect countenance; and I shall think 
 them well rewarded, if the congeniality, uniformity, and 
 agreement of human organization be so demonstrated, 
 that he who shall deny it will be declared to deny the 
 light of the sun at noonday. 
 
 The human body is a plant, each part of which has 
 the character of the stem. Suffer me to repeat this con- 
 

 CONGENIALITY OF THE HUMAN FOR3I. 35 
 
 tinually, since this most evident of all things is continu- 
 ally controverted, among all ranks of men, in words, 
 deeds, books, end works of art. I, therefore, mid the 
 greatest incongruities in the heads of the greatest masters. 
 I know no painter of whom I can say he has thoroughly 
 studied the harmony of the human outline, not evi-n 
 Poussin no, not even Eaphael himself. Let any one 
 class the forms of their countenances, and compare them 
 with the forms of nature. Let him, for instance, draw 
 the outlines of their foreheads, and endeavour to lind 
 similar outlines in nature, and he will find incongruities 
 which could not have been expected in such great 
 masters. 
 
 Chodowiecki, excepting the too great length and 
 extent, particularly of his human figures, perhaps had 
 the most exact feeling of congeniality in caricature ; that 
 is to say, of the relative propriety of the deformed, tin; 
 humorous, or other characteristical members and features. 
 For as there is conformity and congeniality in the beau- 
 tiful, so is there also in the deformed. Every cripple 
 has the distortion peculiar to himself, the effects of which 
 are extended to his whole body. In like manner, the 
 evil actions of the evil, and the good actions of the good, 
 have a conformity of character; at least they are all 
 tinged with this conformity of character. 
 
 Little as this seems to be remarked by poets and 
 painters, still is it the foundation of their art ; for wher- 
 ever emendation is visible, there admiration is at an end. 
 Why has no painter yet been pleased to place the blue 
 eye beside the brown one ? Yet, absurd as this would 
 be, no less absurd are the incongruities continually en- 
 countered by the physiognomical eye the nose of Venus 
 on the head of Madona. I have been assured by a man 
 
36 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 of fashion, that at a masquerade, with only the aid of an 
 artificial nose, he entirely concealed himself from the 
 knowledge of all his acquaintance. So much does nature 
 reject what does not appertain to herself. 
 
 I have never yet met with one Eoman nose among a 
 hundred circular foreheads in profile. In a hundred 
 other square foreheads, I have scarcely found one in 
 which there were not cavities and prominences. I never 
 yet saw a perpendicular forehead with strongly arched 
 features in the lower part of the countenance, the double 
 chin excepted. 
 
 I meet no strong-bowed eyebrows combined with 
 bony perpendicular countenances. 
 
 Wherever the forehead is projecting, so in general are 
 the under lips, children excepted. 
 
 I have never seen gently arched, yet much retreating 
 foreheads, combined with a short snub nose, which in 
 profile is sharp and sunken. 
 
 A visible nearness of the nose to the eye, is always 
 attended by a visible wideness between the nose and 
 mouth. 
 
 A long covering of the teeth, or, in other words, a long 
 space between the nose and mouth, always indicates 
 small upper lips. Length of form and face is generally 
 attended by well-drawn fleshy lips. 
 
 I shall at present produce but one more example, 
 which will convince all who possess acute physiognomi- 
 cal sensation, how great is the harmony of all nature's 
 forms, and how much she hates the incongruous. 
 
 Take two, three, or four shades of men remarkable for 
 understanding ; join the features so artificially that no 
 defect shall appear as far as relates to the act of joining ; 
 that is, take the forehead of one, add the nose of a 
 
CONGENIALITY OF THE HUMAN FORM. 37 
 
 second, the mouth of a third, the chin of a fourth, and 
 the result of this combination of the signs of wisdom 
 shall be folly. Folly is, perhaps, nothing more than the 
 emendation of some heterogeneous addition. " But let 
 these four wise countenances be supposed congruous." 
 Let them so be supposed, or as nearly so as possible, still 
 their combination will produce the signs of folly. 
 
 Those, therefore, who maintain that conclusion can- 
 not be drawn from a part, from a single section of the 
 profile, to the whole, would be perfectly right if un- 
 arbitrary nature patched up countenances like arbitrary 
 art; but so she does not. Indeed, when a man, being 
 born with understanding, becomes a fool, there expression 
 of heterogeneousness is the consequence. Either the 
 lower part of the countenance extends itself, or the eyes 
 acquire a direction not conformable to the forehead, the 
 mouth cannot remain closed, or the features of the 
 countenance, in some other manner, lose their consistency : 
 all becomes discord ; and folly, in such a countenance, is 
 very manifest. Let him who would study physiognomy 
 study the relation of the. constituent parts of the coun- 
 tenance : not having studied these, he has studied 
 nothing. 
 
 He only is an accurate physiognomist, and has the 
 true spirit of physiognomy, who possesses sense, feeling, 
 and sympathetic proportion of the congeniality and 
 harmony of nature ; and who hath a similar sense and 
 feeling for all emendations and additions of art and 
 constraint. He is no physiognomist who doubts of the 
 propriety, simplicity, and harmony of nature, or who 
 has not this physiognomical essential ; who supposes 
 nature selects members to form a whole, as a compositor 
 in a printing-office does letters to make up a word ; who 
 
38 LAYATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 can suppose the works of nature are the patchwork of a 
 harlequin jacket. Not the most insignificant of insects 
 is so compounded, much less man, the most perfect of 
 organized beings. He respires not the breath of wisdom 
 who doubts of this progression, continuity, and simplicity 
 of the structure of nature. He wants a general feeling 
 for the works of nature ; consequently of art, the imita- 
 tor of nature. I shall be pardoned this warmth. It is 
 necessary. The consequences are infinite, and extend to 
 all things. He has the master-key of truth who has 
 this sensation of the congeniality of nature, and, by 
 necessary induction, of the human form. 
 
 All imperfection in works of art, productions of the 
 mind, moral actions, errors in judgment ; all scepticism, 
 infidelity, and ridicule of religion, naturally originate in 
 the want of this knowledge and sensation. He soars 
 above all doubt of the Divinity and Christ who hath 
 them, and who is conscious of this congeniality. He also 
 who, at first sight, thoroughly understands and feels the 
 congeniality of the human form, and that from the want 
 of this congeniality arises the difference observed between 
 the works of nature and of art, is superior to all doubt 
 concerning the truth and divinity of the human coun- 
 tenance. 
 
 Those who have this sense, this feeling, call it which 
 you please, will attribute that only, and nothing more, 
 to each countenance which it is capable of receiving. 
 They will consider each according to its kind, and will 
 as little seek to add a heterogeneous character as a 
 heterogeneous nose to the face. Such will only unfold 
 what nature is desirous of unfolding, give what nature 
 is capable of receiving, and take away that with which 
 nature would not be encumbered. They will perceive in 
 

DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 39 
 
 the child, pupil, friend, or wife, when any discordant 
 trait of character makes its appearance; and will 
 endeavour to restore the original congeniality, the 
 equilibrium of character and impulse, by acting upon 
 the still remaining harmony, by co-operating with the 
 yet unimpaired essential powers. They will consider 
 each sin, each vice, as destructive of this harmony; 
 will feel how much each departure from truth in the 
 human form, at least to eyes more penetrating than 
 human eyes are, must be manifest, must distort, and 
 must become displeasing to the Creator, by rendering it 
 unlike his image. Who, therefore, can judge better of 
 the works and actions of man ; who less offend or be 
 offended; who more clearly develop cause and effect, 
 than the physiognomist, possessed of a full portion of 
 this knowledge and sensation ? 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Description of Plates I. and II. 
 
 WE shall occasionally introduce some figures, in order 
 to support and elucidate those opinions and propositions 
 which may be advanced. These plates refer to objects 
 that have been already alluded to in the preceding 
 pages. 
 
 Description of Plate I. Number I. 
 This is a boldly sketched portrait of ALBERT DUKER. 
 Whoever examines this countenance cannot but perceive 
 in it the traits of fortitude, deep penetration, determined 
 perseverance, and inventive genius. At least, every one 
 will acknowledge the truth of these observations when 
 made. 
 
40 LAYATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 Number 2. FAP. MONCRIF. 
 
 There are few men capable of observation who will 
 class this visage with the stupid. In the aspect, the eye, 
 the nose especially, and the mouth, are proofs, not to be 
 mistaken, of the accomplished gentleman and the man 
 of taste. 
 
 Number 3. DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON. 
 The most unpractised eye will easily discover in this 
 sketch of Johnson, the acute, the comprehensive, the 
 capacious mind, not easily deceived, and rather inclined 
 to suspicion than credulity. 
 
 Number 4. W. SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 How deficient must all outlines be ! Among ten 
 thousand can one be found that is exact ? Where is the 
 outline that can portray genius? Yet, who does not 
 read in this outline, imperfect as it is, from pure physio- 
 gnomical sensation, the clear, the capacious, the rapid 
 mind, all conceiving, all embracing that, with equal 
 swiftness and facility, imagines, creates, produces ? 
 
 Number 5. L. STERNE. 
 
 The most unpractised reader in physiognomy will not 
 deny to this countenance all the keen, the searching 
 penetration of wit, the most original fancy, full of fire, 
 and the powers of invention. "Who is so dull as not to 
 view in this countenance somewhat 6f the spirit of poor 
 Yorick ? 
 
 Number 6. S. CLARKE. 
 
 Perspicuity, benevolence, dignity, serenity, dispas- 
 sionate meditation, the powers of conception and perse- 
 verance, are the most apparent characteristics of this 
 
1 'la i,- 11. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 41 
 
 countenance. He who can hate such a face, must labo- 
 riously counteract all those physiognomical sensations 
 with which he was born. 
 
 Description of Plate II. 
 
 Hitherto we have beheld nature in the most perfect 
 of her productions : we must now view the reverse : we 
 must proceed to contemplate her in her deformity. In 
 this also, how intelligibly does she speak to the eyes of 
 all at the first glance ! 
 
 Number 1. 
 
 Who does not here read reason debased, and stupidity 
 almost sunken to brutality ? This eye, these wrinkles 
 of a lowering forehead, this projecting mouth, the whole 
 position of the head, do they not all denote manifest 
 dulness and debility ? 
 
 Number 2. A Fool. 
 
 From the small eyes in this figure, the open mouth, 
 particularly from the under part of the countenance, no 
 man whatever will expect penetration, reasoning, or 
 wisdom. 
 
 Number 3. 
 
 True or false, nature or caricature, this countenance 
 will, to the common sensations of all men, depict an 
 inhuman and brutal character. It is impossible that 
 brutality should be overlooked in the nose and mouth, 
 or in the eye, though still it deserves to be called a 
 human eye. 
 
 Number 4. 
 
 Let us proceed to the characters of passion, which are 
 intelligible to every child; so that concerning these 
 
42 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 there can be no dispute, if we are in any degree ac- 
 quainted with their language. The more violent th(? 
 passion is, the more apparent are its signs. The effect 
 of the stiller passions is to contract, and of -the violent 
 to distend the muscles. Every one will perceive in this 
 countenance fear mingled with abhorrence. 
 
 Number 5. 
 
 No man will expect cheerfulness, tranquillity, content, 
 strength of mind, and magnanimity, from this counte- 
 nance. Fear and terror are here strongly marked. 
 
 Number 6. 
 
 Terror, heightened by native indocility of character, 
 is here strongly marked. 
 
 Such examples might be produced without end ; but 
 to adduce some of the most decisive of the various 
 classes is sufficient. We shall give some farther speci- 
 mens hereafter. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The universal Excellence of the Form of Man. 
 
 EACH creature is indispensable in the immensity of 
 God's creation ; but each creature does not know it is 
 thus indispensable. Of all earth's creatures, man alone 
 rejoices in his indispensability. No man can render any 
 other man dispensable. The place of no man can be 
 supplied by another. 
 
 This belief of the indispensability and individuality 
 of all men, and in our own metaphysical indispensability 
 and individuality, is one of the unacknowledged, the 
 noble fruits of physiognomy; a fruit pregnant with most 
 
EXCELLENCE OF THE HUMAN FOR1T. 43 
 
 precious seed, whence shall spring lenity and love. Oh, 
 may posterity behold them nourish ! may future ages 
 repose under their shade ! The most deformed, the most 
 corrupt of men, is still indispensable in this world of 
 God, and is more or less capable of knowing his own 
 individuality and unsuppliable indispensability. The 
 wickedest, the most deformed of men, is still more noble 
 than the most beauteous and perfect animal. Contem- 
 plate, man ! what thy nature is, not what it might be, 
 not what is wanting. Humanity, amid all its distortions, 
 will ever remain wondrous humanity ! 
 
 Incessantly might I repeat doctrines like this. Art 
 thou better, more beauteous, nobler, than many others 
 of thy fellow-creatures ? If so, rejoice, and ascribe it 
 not to thyself, but to Him who, from the same clay, 
 formed one vessel for honour, another for dishonour; 
 to Him who, without thy advice, without thy prayer, 
 without any desert of thine, caused thee to be what 
 thou art. 
 
 Yea, to Him ! " for what hast thou, man ! that thou 
 didst not receive ? Now, if thou didst receive, why dost 
 thou glory as if thou hadst not received?" "Can the 
 eye say to the hand, I have no need of thee ? " " He 
 that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker." " God 
 hath made of one blood all nations of men." Who more 
 deeply, more internally, feels all these divine truths than 
 the physiognomist ? the true physiognomist, who is not 
 merely a man of literature, a reader, a reviewer, an author, 
 but a man ! 
 
 I am ready to acknowledge that the most humane 
 physiognomist, he who so eagerly searches whatever is 
 good, beautiful, and noble in nature; who delights in 
 the ideal; who duly exercises, nourishes, refines his 
 
44 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 taste, with humanity more improved, more perfect, more 
 holy; even he is in frequent danger, at least is fre- 
 quently tempted, to turn from the common herd of 
 depraved men from the deformed, the foolish, the apes, 
 the hypocrites, the vulgar of mankind ; in danger of for- 
 getting that these misshapen forms, these apes, these 
 hypocrites, also are men ; and that, notwithstanding all 
 his imagined or his real excellence, all his noble feelings, 
 the purity of his views, (and who has cause to boast of 
 these ?) all the firmness, the soundness of his reason, the 
 feelings of his heart, the powers with which he is en- 
 dowed, still he is very probably, from his own moral 
 defects, in the eyes of his superior beings, in the eyes of 
 his much more righteous brother, as distorted as the 
 most ridiculous, most depraved moral or physical mon- 
 ster appears to be in his eyes. 
 
 Liable as we are to forget this, reminding is necessary 
 both to the writer and reader of this work. Forget not 
 that even the wisest of men are men. Forget not how 
 much *positve good may be found even in the worst, and 
 that they are as necessary, as good in their place, as thou 
 art. Are they not equally indispensable, equally un- 
 suppliable ? They possess not, either in mind or body, 
 the smallest thing exactly as thou dost. Each is wholly, 
 and in every part as individual as thou art. Consider 
 each as if he were single in the universe ; then wilt thou 
 discover powers and excellences in him which, abstract- 
 edly of comparision, deserve all attention and admiration. 
 Compare him afterwards with others, his similarity, his 
 dissimilarity to so many of his fellow-creatures. How 
 must this incite thy amazement ! How wilt thou value 
 the individuality, the indispensability of his being! 
 How wilt thou wonder at the harmony of his parts, each 
 
EXCELLENCE OF THE HUMAN FORM. 45 
 
 contributing to form one whole ; at their relation, the 
 relation of his million-fold individuality, to such mul- 
 titudes of other individuals ! Yes, we wonder at and 
 adore the so simple, yet so infinitely varied expression 
 of Almighty power inconceivable, so especially and so 
 gloriously revealed in the nature of man. 
 
 No man ceases to be a man, how low soever he may sink 
 beneath the dignity of human nature. Not being beast, 
 he still is capable of amendment, of approaching perfec- 
 tion. The worst of faces still is a human face. Humanity 
 ever continues the honour and ornament of man. 
 
 It is as impossible for a brute animal to become man, 
 although he may in many actions approach, or almost 
 surpass him, as for man to become a brute ; although 
 many men indulge themselves in actions which we can- 
 not view in brutes without abhorrence. 
 
 But the very capacity of voluntarily debasing him- 
 self in appearance even below brutality, is the honour 
 and privilege of man. This very capacity of imitating 
 all things by an act of his will and the powers of his 
 understanding, this very capacity man only has, beasts 
 have not. The countenances of beasts are not suscep- 
 tible of any remarkable deterioration, nor are they 
 capable of any remarkable amelioration or beautifying. 
 The worst of the countenances of men may be still more 
 debased; but they may also, to a certain degree, be 
 improved and ennobled. 
 
 The degree of perfection or degradation of which 
 man is capable, cannot be described. For this reason 
 the worst countenance has a well-founded claim to the 
 notice, esteem, and hope of all good men. Again, in 
 every human countenance, however debased, humanity 
 is still visible ; that is, the image of the Deity. 
 
46 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 I have seen the worst of men in their worst of 
 moments ; yet could not all their vice, blasphemy, and 
 oppression of guilt, extinguish the light of good that 
 shone in their countenances, the spirit of humanity, the 
 ineffaceable traits of internal, external perfectibility. 
 The sinner we would exterminate, the man we must 
 embrace. 0, physiognomy, what a pledge art thou of 
 the everlasting clemency of God towards man ! 0, man, 
 rejoice with whatever rejoices in its existence, and 
 condemn no being whom God doth not condemn ! 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 Of the Forehead. 
 
 I SHALL appropriate this and some of the following 
 chapters to remarks on certain individual parts of the 
 human body. The following are my own remarks on 
 foreheads : 
 
 The form, height, arching, proportion, obliquity, and 
 position of the skull or bone of the forehead, show the 
 propensity, degree of power, thought, and sensibility of 
 man ; the covering or skin of the forehead, its position, 
 colour, wrinkles, and tension, denote the passions and 
 present state of the mind. The bones give the internal 
 quantity, and their covering the application of power. 
 
 Though the skin be wrinkled, the forehead bones 
 remain unaltered ; but this wrinking varies according to 
 the various forms of the bones. A certain degree of 
 flatness produces certain wrinkles ; a certain arching is 
 attended by certain other wrinkles ; so that the wrinkles, 
 separately considered will give the arching; and this, 
 
THE FOREHEAD. 47 
 
 vice versa, will give the wrinkles. Certain foreheads 
 can only have perpendicular, others horizontal, others 
 curved, and others mixed and confused, wrinkles. Cup- 
 formed (smooth) cornerless foreheads, when they are 
 in motion, commonly have the simplest and least per- 
 plexed wrinkles. 
 
 I consider the peculiar delineation of the outline and 
 position of the forehead, which has been left unattempted 
 by ancient and modern physiognomists, to be the most 
 important of all the things presented to physiognomical 
 observation. Wo may divide foreheads, considered in 
 profile, into three principal classes, the retreating, the 
 perpendicular, and the projecting. Each of these classes 
 has a multitude of variations, which may easily again be 
 classed, and the chief of which are rectilinear; half 
 round, half rectilinear, flowing into each other; half 
 round, half rectilinear, interrupted ; curve-lined, simple ; 
 the curve-lined, double and triple. 
 
 I shall add some more particular remarks, which I 
 apprehend will not be unacceptable to my readers : 
 
 1. The longer the forehead, the more comprehension 
 and less activity. 
 
 2. The more compressed, short, and firm the forehead, 
 the more compression, firmness, and less volatility in 
 the man. 
 
 3. The more curved and cornerless the outline, the 
 more tender and flexible the character ; the more rectili- 
 near, the more pertinacity and severity. 
 
 4. Perfect perpendicularity, from the hair to the eye- 
 brows, want of understanding. 
 
 5. Perfect perpendicularity, gently arched at the top, 
 denotes excellent propensities of cold, tranquil, profound 
 thinking. 
 
48 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 6. Projecting imbecility, immaturity, weakness, stu- 
 pidity. 
 
 7. Ketreating, in general, denotes superiority of ima- 
 gination, wit, and acuteness. 
 
 8. The round and prominent forehead above, straight 
 lined below, and on the whole perpendicular, shows much 
 understanding, life, sensibility, ardour, and icy coldness. 
 
 9. The oblique, rectilinear forehead, is also very 
 ardent and vigorous. 
 
 10. Arched foreheads appear properly to be feminine. 
 
 11. A happy union of straight and curved lines, with 
 a happy position of the forehead, express the most 
 perfect character 'of wisdom. By happy union, I mean 
 when the lines insensibly flow into each other ; and by 
 happy position, when the forehead is neither too per- 
 pendicular nor too retreating. 
 
 12. I might almost establish it as an axiom, that right 
 lines considered as such, and curves considered as such, 
 are related, as power and weakness, obstinacy and flexi- 
 bility, understanding and sensation. 
 
 13. I have hitherto seen no man with sharp projecting 
 eye-bones who had not great propensity to an acute 
 exercise of the understanding, and to wise plans. 
 
 14. Yet there are many excellent heads which have 
 not this sharpness, and which have the more solidity, if 
 the forehead, like a perpendicular wall, sink upon the 
 horizontal eyebrows, and be greatly rounded on each 
 side towards the temples. 
 
 15. Perpendicular foreheads, projecting so as not im- 
 mediately to rest upon the nose, which are small, 
 wrinkly, short, and shining, are certain signs of weak- 
 ness, little understanding, little imagination, little 
 sensation. 
 
THE FOREHEAD. 49 
 
 16. Foreheads with many angular, knotty protube- 
 rances, ever denote much vigorous, firm, harsh, oppressive, 
 ardent activity, and perseverance. 
 
 17. It is a sure sign of a clear, sound understanding, 
 and a good temperament, when the profile of the forehead 
 has two proportionate arches, the lower of which projects. 
 
 18. Eye-bones with defined, marked, easily delineated, 
 firm arches, I never saw but in noble and in great men. 
 All the ideal antiques have these arches. 
 
 19. Square foreheads, that is to say, with extensive 
 temples and firm eye-bones, show circumspection and 
 certainty of character. 
 
 20. Perpendicular wrinkles, if natural to the forehead, 
 denote application anjl power ; horizontal wrinkles, and 
 those broken in the middle or at the extremities, in 
 general, negligence or want of power. 
 
 21. Perpendicular deep indentings in the bones of the 
 forehead, between the eyebrows, I never met with but in 
 men of sound understanding, and free and noble minds, 
 unless there were some positively contradictory feature. 
 
 22. A blue vena frontalis in the form of a Y, when 
 in an open, smooth, well-arched forehead, I have only 
 found in men of extraordinary talents, and of an ardent 
 and generous character. 
 
 23. The following are the most indubitable signs of 
 an excellent, a perfectly beautiful and significant, intel- 
 ligent, and noble forehead : 
 
 An exact proportion to the other parts of the counte- 
 nance. It must equal the nose or the under part of the 
 face in length, that is, one-third 
 
 In breadth, it must either be oval at the top (like the 
 foreheads of most of the great men of England) or nearly 
 square. 
 
50 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 A freedom from unevenness and wrinkles, yet with 
 the power of wrinkling when deep in thought, afflicted 
 by pain, or from just indignation. 
 
 Above it must retreat, project beneath. 
 
 The eye-bones must be simple, horizontal, and, if seen 
 from above, must present a pure curve. 
 
 There should be a small cavity in the centre from 
 above to below, and traversing the forehead so as to 
 separate into four divisions, which can only be percep- 
 tible by a clear descending light. 
 
 The skin must be more clear in the forehead than in 
 the other parts of the countenance. 
 
 The forehead must every where be composed of such 
 outlines as, if the section of one-tMrd only be viewed, it 
 can scarcely be determined whether the lines are straight 
 or circular. 
 
 24. Short, wrinkled, knotty, regular, pressed in one 
 side, and sawcut foreheads, with intersecting wrinkles, 
 are incapable of durable friendship. 
 
 25. Be not discouraged so long as a friend, an enemy, 
 a child, or a brother, though a transgressor, has a good, 
 well-proportioned, open forehead; there is still much 
 certainty of improvement, much cause of hope. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Of the Eyes and Eyebrows. 
 
 BLUE eyes are generally more significant of weakness, 
 effeminacy, and yielding, than brown and black. True 
 it is there are many powerful men with blue eyes ; but 
 I find more strength, manhood, and thought, combined 
 with brown than with blue. Wherefore does it happen 
 
THE EYES AND EYEBROWS. 51 
 
 that the Chinese, or the people of the Philippine Islands^ 
 are very seldom blue-eyed ; and that Europeans only, or 
 the descendants of Europeans, have blue eyes in those 
 countries ? This is the more worthy of inquiry because 
 there are no people more effeminate, luxurious, peaceable, 
 or indolent than the Chinese. 
 
 Choleric men have eyes of every colour, but more 
 brown, and inclined to green, than blue. This propen- 
 sity to green is almost *a decisive token of ardour, fire, 
 and courage. 
 
 I have never met with clear blue eyes in the melan- 
 cholic, seldom in the choleric ; but most in the phleg- 
 matic temperament, which, however, had much activity. 
 
 When the under arch described by the upper eyelid is 
 perfectly circular, it always denotes goodness and ten- 
 derness, but also fear, timidity, and weakness. 
 
 The open eye, not compressed, forming a long acute 
 angle with the nose, I have but seldom seen except in 
 acute and understanding persons. 
 
 Hitherto I have seen no eye where the eyelid formed 
 a horizontal line over the pupil, that did not appertain 
 to a very acute, able, subtle man ; but be it understood 
 that I have met with this eye in very worthy men, but 
 men of great penetration and simulation. 
 
 Wide, open eyes, with the white seen under the apple, 
 I have often observed in the timid and phlegmatic, and 
 also in the courageous and rash. When compared, how- 
 ever, the fiery and the feeble, the determined and the 
 undetermined, will easily be distinguished. The former 
 are more firm, more strongly delineated, have less obli- 
 quity, have thicker, better cut, but less skinny eyelids. 
 
52 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 ADDITION. 
 
 From the Qoiha Court Calendar, 1771, or rather from 
 Buffon. 
 
 "The colours most common to the eyes are, the 
 orange, yellow, green, blue, grey, and grey mixed with 
 white. The blue and orange are most predominant, and 
 are often found in the same eye. Eyes supposed to be 
 black are only yellow, brown, or a deep orange; to 
 convince ourselves of which, we need but look at them 
 closely ; for when seen at a distance, or turned towards 
 the light, they appear to be black, because the yellow- 
 brown colour is so contrasted to the white of the eye, 
 that the opposition makes it supposed black. Eyes also 
 of a less dark colour pass for black eyes, but are not 
 esteemed so fine as the other, because the contrast is not 
 so great. There are also yellow and light yellow eyes, 
 which do not appear black, because the colours are not 
 deep enough to be overpowered by the shade. 
 
 "It is not uncommon to perceive shades of orange, 
 yellow, grey, and blue, in the same eye ; and whenever 
 blue appears, however small the tincture, it becomes the 
 predominant colour, and appears in streaks over the 
 whole iris. The orange is in flakes, round, and at some 
 little distance from the pupil; but it is so strongly 
 effaced by the blue that the eye appears wholly blue, 
 and the mixture of orange is only perceived when closely 
 inspected. 
 
 " The finest eyes are those which we imagine to be 
 black or blue. Vivacity and fire, which are the princi- 
 pal characteristics of the eyes, are the more emitted 
 when the colours are deep and contrasted, rather than 
 
THE EYES AND EYEBROWS. 53 
 
 when slightly shaded. Black eyes have most strength 
 of expression, and most vivacity; but the blue have 
 most mildness, and perhaps are more arch. In the 
 former there is an ardour uninterruptedly bright, because 
 the colour, which appears to us uniform, every way 
 emits similar reflections. But modifications are distin- 
 guished in the light which animates blue eyes, because 
 there are various tints of colour which produce various 
 reflections. 
 
 "There are eyes which are remarkable for having 
 what may be said to be no colour. They appear to be 
 differently constituted from others. The iris has only 
 some shades of blue or grey, so feeble that they are in 
 some parts almost white; and the shades of orange 
 which intervene are so small that they scarcely can be 
 distinguished from grey or white, notwithstanding the 
 contrast of these colours. The black of the pupil is 
 then too marking, because the colour of the iris is not 
 deep enough, and, as I may say, we see only the pupil 
 in the centre of the eye. These eyes are unmeaning, and 
 appear to be fixed and aghast 
 
 " There are also eyes the colour of the iris of which 
 is almost green ; but these are more uncommon than the 
 blue, the grey, the yellow, and the yellow-brown. There 
 are also people whose eyes are not both of the same 
 colour. 
 
 " The images of our secret agitations are particularly 
 painted in the eyes. The eye appertains more to the 
 soul than any other organ ; seems affected by, and to 
 participate in, all its motions ; expresses sensations the 
 most lively, passions the most tumultuous, feelings the 
 most delightful, and sentiments the most delicate. It 
 explains them in all their force, in all their purity, as 
 
54 LAVATERS PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 they take birth ; and transmits them by traits so rapid 
 as to infuse into other minds the fire, the activity, the 
 very image with which themselves are inspired. The 
 eye at once receives and reflects the intelligence of 
 thought, and the warmth of sensibility. It is the sense 
 of the mind, the tongue of the understanding." 
 
 Again, "As in nature, so in art, the eyes are differently 
 formed in the statues of the gods, and in heads of ideal 
 beauty; so that the eye itself is the distinguishing token. 
 Jupiter, Juno, and Apollo, have large, round, well-arched 
 eyes, shortened in length, in order that the arch may be 
 the higher. Pallas, in like manner, has large eyes ; but 
 the upper eyelid, which is drawn up, is expressive of 
 attraction and languishment. Such an eye distinguishes 
 the heavenly Venus Urania from Juno ; yet the statue 
 of this Venus bearing a diadem, has for that reason often 
 been mistaken, by those who have not made this obser- 
 vation, for the statue of Juno. Many of the modern 
 artists appear to have been desirous of excelling the 
 ancients, and to give what Homer calls the ox-eye, by 
 making the pupil project, and seem to start from the 
 socket. Such an eye has the modern head of the erro- 
 neously supposed Cleopatra, in the Medicean villa, and 
 which presents the idea of a person strangled. The 
 same kind of eye a young artist has given to the statue 
 of the Holy Virgin, in the church St. Carlo al Torso." 
 
 I shall quote one more passage from Paracelsus, who, 
 though an astrological enthusiast, was a man of pro- 
 digious genius : 
 
 " To come to the practical part, and give proper signs 
 with some of their significations, it is to be remarked 
 that blackness in the eyes generally denotes health, a 
 firm mind not wavering, but courageous, true, and 
 
THE EYES AND EYEBROWS. 55 
 
 honourable. Grey eyes generally denote deceit, insta- 
 bility, and indecision. Short sight denotes an able pro- 
 jector, crafty, and intriguing in action. The squinting 
 or false-sighted, who see on both sides, or over and 
 under, certainly denotes a deceitful crafty person, not ... 
 easily deceived, mistrustful, and not always to be 
 trusted ; one who willingly avoids labour when he can, 
 indulging in idleness, play, usury, and pilfering. Small 
 and deep sunken eyes are bold in opposition ; not dis- 
 couraged, intriguing, and active in wickedness ; capable 
 of suffering much. Large eyes denote a covetous greedy 
 man, and especially when they are prominent. Eyes in 
 continual motion signify short or weak sight, fear, and 
 care. The winking eye denotes an amorous disposition 
 and foresight, and quickness in projection. The down- 
 cast eye shows shame and modesty. Ked eyes signify 
 courage and strength. Bright eyes, slow of motion, 
 bespeak the hero, great acts, audacious, cheerful, one 
 feared by his enemies." 
 
 It will not be expected I should subscribe to all 
 these opinions, they being most of them ill-founded, 
 at least ill-defined. 
 
 The Eyebrows. 
 
 Eyebrows regularly arched are characteristic of 
 feminine youth ; rectilinear and horizontal, are mascu- 
 line; arched and the horizontal combined, denote 
 masculine understanding and feminine kindness. 
 
 Wild and complexed, denote a corresponding mind, 
 unless the hair be soft, and they then signify gentle 
 ardour. 
 
 Compressed, firm, with the hair running parallel 
 as if cut, are one of the most decisive signs of a firm, 
 
56 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 manly, mature understanding, profound wisdom, and 
 a true and unerring perception. 
 
 Meeting eyebrows, held so beautiful by the Arabs, 
 and by the old physiognomists supposed to be the 
 mark of craft, I can neither believe to be beautiful 
 nor characteristic of such a quality. They are found 
 iii the most open, honest, and worthy countenances. 
 It is true they give the face a gloomy appearance, 
 and perhaps denote trouble of mind and heart. 
 
 Sunken eyebrows, says Winkelmann, impart some- 
 thing of the severe and melancholy to the head of 
 Antinous. 
 
 I never yet saw a profound thinker, or even a man 
 of fortitude and prudence, with weak, high eyebrows, 
 which in some measure equally divide the forehead. 
 
 Weak eyebrows denote phlegm and debility, though 
 there are choleric and powerful men who have them; 
 but this weakness of eyebrows is always a deduction 
 from power and ardour. 
 
 Angular, strong, interrupted eyebrows, ever denote 
 fire and productive activity. 
 
 The nearer the eyebrows are to the eyes, the more 
 earnest, deep, and firm the character. 
 
 The more remote from the eyes, the more volatile, 
 easily moved, and less enterprising. 
 
 Eemote from each other, warm, open, quick sensation. 
 
 White eyebrows signify weakness; and dark brown 
 firmness. 
 
 The motion of the eyebrows contains numerous ex- 
 pressions, especially of ignoble passions, pride, anger, 
 and contempt. 
 
THE NOSE. 57 
 
 CHAPTEK IX. 
 
 Of the Nose. 
 
 I HAVE generally considered the nose as the founda- 
 tion or abutment of the brain. Whoever is acquainted 
 with the Gothic arch, will perfectly understand what 
 I mean by this abutment : for upon this the whole 
 power of the arch of the forehead rests, and without 
 it the mouth and cheeks would be oppressed by 
 miserable ruins. 
 
 A beautiful nose will never be found accompanying 
 an ugly countenance. An ugly person may have fine 
 eyes, but not a handsome nose. I meet with thousands 
 of beautiful eyes before one such nose ; and wherever I 
 find the latter it denotes an extraordinary character. 
 The following is requisite to the perfectly beautiful 
 nose : 
 
 Its length should equal the length of the forehead. 
 At the top should be a gentle indenting. Viewed in 
 front, the back should be broad, and nearly parallel, yet 
 above the centre something broader. The button or end 
 of the nose must be neither hard nor fleshy, and its 
 under outline must be remarkably definite, well deline- 
 ated, neither pointed nor very broad. The sides seen 
 in front must be well defined, and the descending 
 nostrils gently shortened. Viewed in profile, the bottom 
 of the nose should not have more than one-third of its 
 length. The nostrils above must be pointed; below, 
 round, and have in general a gentle curve, and be 
 divided into two equal parts by the profile of the upper 
 lip. The sides or arch of the nose must be a kind of 
 wall Above, it' must close well with the arch of the 
 
58 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 eye-bone, and near the eye must be at least half an inch 
 in breadth. Such a nose is of more worth than a king- 
 dom. There are, indeed, innumerable excellent men 
 with defective noses, but their excellence is of a very 
 different kind. I have seen the purest, most capable, 
 and noblest persons, with small noses, and hollow in 
 profile ; but their worth most consisted in suffering, 
 listening, learning, and enjoying the beautiful influences 
 of imagination ; provided the other parts of the form 
 were well organized. Noses, on the contrary, which are 
 arched near the forehead, are capable of command, can 
 rule, act, overcome, destroy. Rectilinear noses may be 
 called the keystone between the two extremes. They 
 equally act and suffer with power and tranquillity. 
 
 Boerhaave, Socrates, Lairesse, had, more or less, ugly 
 noses, and yet were great men ; but their character was 
 that of gentleness and patience. 
 
 I have never yet seen a nose with a broad back, 
 whether arched or rectilinear, that did not appertain to 
 an extraordinary man. We may examine thousands of 
 countenances, and numbers of portraits of superior men, 
 before we find such a one. 
 
 These noses were possessed, more or less, by Eaynal, 
 Faustus Socinus, Swift, Caesar Borgia, Clepzecker, An- 
 thony Pagi, John Charles von Enkenberg (a man of 
 Herculean strength), Paul Sarpi, Peter de Medicis, 
 Francis Caracci, Casini, Lucas van Leyden, Titian. 
 
 There are also noses that are not broad backed, but 
 small near the forehead, of extraordinary power; but 
 their power is rather elastic and momentary than 
 productive. 
 
 The Tartars generally have flat indented noses ; the 
 negroes broad, and the Jews hawk noses. The noses of 
 
THE MOUTH AND LIPS. 59 
 
 Englishmen are seldom pointed, but generally round. 
 The Dutch, if we may judge from their portraits, seldom 
 have handsome or significant noses. The nose of the 
 Italian is large and energetic. The great men of France, 
 in my opinion, have the characteristic of their greatness 
 generally in the nose : to prove which, examine the col- 
 lection of portraits by Perrault and Morin. 
 
 Small nostrils are usually an indubitable sign of un- 
 enterprising timidity. The. open breathing nostril is as 
 certain a token of sensibility, which may easily degene- 
 rate into sensuality. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Of the Mouth and Lips. 
 
 THE contents of the mind are communicated to the 
 mouth. How full of character is the mouth, whether at 
 rest or speaking, by its infinite powers ! 
 
 Whoever internally feels the worth of this member, so 
 different from every other member, so inseparable, so not 
 to be defined, so simple, yet so various ; whoever, I say, 
 knows and feels this worth, will speak and act with 
 divine wisdom. Oh ! wherefore can I only imperfectly 
 and tremblingly declare all the honours of the mouth 
 the chief seat of wisdom and folly, power and debility, 
 virtue and vice, beauty and deformity, of the human 
 mind the seat of all love, all hatred, all sincerity, all 
 falsehood, all humility, all pride, all dissimulation, and 
 all truth ? 
 
 Oh ! with what adoration would I speak, and be silent, 
 were I a more perfect man ! Oh ! discordant, degraded 
 humanity ! Oh ! mournful secret of my misinformed 
 
60 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 youth ! When, Omniscience, shalt thou stand revealed ? 
 Unworthy as I am, yet do I adore. Yet worthy I shall 
 be ; worthy as the nature of man will permit : for he 
 who created me gave a mouth to glorify Him I 
 
 Painters and designers, what shall I say that may in- 
 duce you to study this sacred organ, in all its beauteous 
 expressions, all its harmony and proportion ? 
 
 Take plaster impressions of characteristic mouths of 
 the living and the dead ; draw after, pore over them 
 learn, observe, continue day after day to study one only; 
 and, having perfectly studied that, you will have studied 
 many. Oh ! pardon me ; my heart is oppressed^ Among 
 ten or twenty draughtsmen, to whom for three years I 
 have preached, whom I have instructed, have drawn ex- 
 amples for, not one have I found who felt as he ought to 
 feel, saw what was to be seen, or could represent that 
 which was evident. What can I hope ? 
 
 Every thing may be expected from a collection of 
 characteristic plaster impressions, which might so easily 
 be made were such a collection only once formed. But 
 who can say whether such observations might not declare 
 too much ? The human machine may be incapable of 
 suffering to be thus analyzed. Man, perhaps, might not 
 endure such close inspection ; and therefore, having eyes, 
 he sees not. I speak it with tears ; and why I weep, 
 thou knowest, who with me inquirest into the worth of 
 man. And you weaker yet candid, though on this occa- 
 sion unfeeling, readers, pardon me ! 
 
 Observe the following rules : Distinguish in each 
 mouth the upper lip singly; the under lip the same; 
 the line formed by the union of both when tranquilly 
 closed, if they can be closed without constraint ; the 
 middle of the upper lip, in particular, and of the under 
 
THE MOUTH AXD LIPS. Cl 
 
 lip ; the bottom of the middle line at each end ; and, 
 lastly, the extending of the middle line on both sides. 
 For, unless you thus distinguish, you will not be able 
 to delineate the mouth accurately. 
 
 As are the lips, so is the character. Firm lips, firm 
 character; weak lips and quick in motion, weak and 
 wavering character. 
 
 Well defined, large, and proportionate lips, the middle 
 line of which is equally serpentine on both sides, and 
 easy to be drawn, though they may denote an inclination 
 to pleasure, are never seen in a bad, mean, common, false, 
 crouching, vicious countenance. 
 
 A lipless mouth, resembling a single line, denotes cold- 
 ness, industry, a love of order, precision, housewifery; 
 and, if it be drawn upwards at the two ends, affectation, 
 pretension, vanity, and, which may ever be the pro- 
 duction of cool vanity, malice. 
 
 Very fleshy lips must ever have to contend with sen- 
 suality and indolence : the cut-through, sharp-drawn lip, 
 with anxiety and avarice. 
 
 Calm lips, well closed without constraint, and well 
 delineated, certainly betoken consideration, discretion, 
 and firmness. 
 
 A mild overhanging upper lip generally signifies 
 goodness. There are innumerable good persons also with 
 projecting under lips; but the goodness of the latter is 
 rather cold fidelity and well-meaning, than warm active 
 friendship. 
 
 The under lip, hollowed in the middle, denotes a fanci- 
 ful character. Let the moment be remarked when the 
 conceit of the jocular man descends to the lip, and it 
 will be seen to be a little hollow in the middle. 
 
 A closed mouth, not sharpened, not affected, always 
 
62 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 denotes courage and fortitude; and the open mouth 
 always closes where courage is indispensable. Openness 
 of mouth speaks complaint; and closeness, endurance. 
 
 Though physiognomists have as yet but little noticed, 
 yet much might be said concerning the lip improper, or 
 the fleshy covering of the upper teeth, on which anatomists 
 have not, to my knowledge, yet bestowed any name, and 
 which may be called the curtain, or pallium, extending 
 from, the beginning of the nose to the red upper lip 
 proper. 
 
 If the upper lip improper be long, the proper is always 
 short ; if it be short and hollow, the proper will be large 
 and curved another certain demonstration of the con- 
 formity of the human countenance. Hollow upper lips 
 are much less common than flat and perpendicular ; the 
 character they denote is equally uncommon. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Of the Teeth and Chin. 
 
 NOTHING is more striking, or continually visible, than 
 the characteristics of the teeth, and the manner in which 
 they display themselves. The following are the obser- 
 vations I have made thereon : 
 
 Small short teeth, which have generally been held by 
 the old physiognomists to denote weakness, I have 
 remarked in adults of extraordinary strength ; but they 
 seldom were of a pure white. 
 
 Long teeth are certain signs of weakness and pusilla 
 nimity. White, clean, well-arranged teeth, visible as 
 soon as the mouth opens, but not projecting, nor always 
 
 I 
 
THE TEETH AND CHIN. 63 
 
 entirely seen, I have never met with in adults, except 
 in good, acute, honest, candid, faithful men. 
 
 I have also met foul, uneven, and ugly teeth, in per- 
 sons of the above good character; but it was always 
 either sickness, or some mental imperfection, which gave 
 this deformity. 
 
 Whoever leaves his teeth foul, and does not attempt 
 to clean them, certainly betrays much of the negligence 
 of his character, which does him no honour. 
 
 As are the teeth of man, that is to say, their form, 
 position, and cleanliness, (so far as the latter depends 
 on himself,) so is his taste. 
 
 Wherever the upper gum is very visible at the first 
 opening of the lips, there is generally much cold and 
 phlegm. 
 
 Much, indeed, might be written upon the teeth, though 
 they are generally neglected in all historical paintings. 
 To be convinced of this, we need but observe the teeth 
 of an individual during the course of a single day, or 
 contemplate an apartment crowded with fools. We 
 should not then, for a moment, deny that the teeth, in 
 conjunction with the lips, are very characteristic ; or 
 that physiognomy has gained another token which 
 triumphs over all the arts of dissimulation. 
 
 The Chin. 
 
 I am, from numerous experiments, convinced that the 
 projecting chin ever denotes something positive, and the 
 retreating something negative. The presence or absence 
 of strength in man is often signified by the chin. 
 
 I have never seen sharp indentings in the middle of 
 the chin but in men of cool understanding, unless when 
 something evidently contradictory appeared in the 
 countenance. 
 
64 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 The pointed chin is generally held to be a sign of 
 acuteness and craft, though I know very worthy persons 
 with such chins. Their craft is the craft of the best 
 dramatic poetry. 
 
 The soft, fat, double chin generally points out the 
 epicure ; and the angular chin is seldom found but in 
 discreet, well-disposed, firm men. 
 
 Flatness of chin speaks the cold and dry ; smallness, 
 fear ; and roundness, with a dimple, benevolence. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Of Skulls. 
 
 How much may the anatomist see in the mere skull 
 of man ! How much more the physiognomist ! And 
 how much the most the anatomist who is a physiogno- 
 mist ! I blush when I think how much I ought to 
 know, and of how much I am ignorant, while writing on 
 a part of the body of man which is so superior to all 
 that science has yet discovered to all belief, to all con- 
 ception ! 
 
 I consider the system of the bones as the great out- 
 line of man, and the skull as the principal part of that 
 system. I pay more attention to the form and arching 
 of the skull, as far as I am acquainted with it, than all 
 my predecessors ; and I have considered this most firm, 
 least changeable, and far best defined part of the human 
 body, as the foundation of the science of physiognomy. 
 I shall therefore be permitted to be particular in my 
 observations on this member of the human body. 
 
 I confess, that I scarcely know where to begin, where 
 to end, what to say, or what to omit. I think it advis- 
 
SKULLS. 65 
 
 able to premise a few words concerning the generation 
 and formation of human bones. 
 
 The whole of the human foetus is at first supposed to 
 be only a soft mucilaginous substance, homogeneous in 
 all its parts ; and that the bones themselves are but a 
 kind of coagulated fluid, which afterwards becomes 
 membraneous, then cartilaginous, and at last hard bone. 
 
 As this viscous congelation, originally so transparent 
 and tender, increases, it becomes thicker and more 
 opaque, and a dark point makes its appearance different 
 from the cartilage, and of the nature of bone, but not yet 
 perfectly hard. This point may be called the kernel of 
 the future bone, the centre round which the ossification 
 extends. 
 
 We must, however, consider the coagulation attached 
 to the cartilage as a mass without shape, and only with 
 a proper propensity for assuming its future form. In 
 its earliest, tenderest state, the traces of it are expressed 
 upon the cartilage, though very imperfectly. 
 
 With respect to the bony kernels, we find differences 
 which seem to determine the form of the future bones. 
 The simple and smaller bones have each only one kernel; 
 but in the more gross, thick, and angular, there are 
 several in different parts of the original cartilage ; and 
 it must be remarked that the number of the joining 
 bones is equivalent to the number of the kernels. 
 
 In the bones of the skull the round kernel first is 
 apparent in the centre of each piece ; and the ossifica- 
 tion extends itself, like radii from the centre, in filaments, 
 which increase in length, thickness, and solidity, and are 
 interwoven with each other like network. Hence these 
 delicate, indented features of the skull, when its various 
 parts are at length joined. 
 
 F 
 
66 LAVATEKS PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 We have hitherto only spoken of the first stage of 
 ossification. The second begins about the fourth or 
 fifth month, when the bones, together with the rest of 
 the parts, are more perfectly formed, and, in the progress 
 of ossification, include the whole cartilage, according to 
 the more or less life of the creature, and the original 
 different impulse and power of motion in the being. 
 
 Agreeable to their original formation through each 
 succeeding period of age, they will continue to increase 
 in thickness and hardness. But on this subject anato- 
 mists disagree so let them. Future physiognomists 
 may consider this more at large. I retreat from contest, 
 and will travel in the high-road of certainty, and confine 
 myself to what is visible. 
 
 Thus much is certain, that the activity of the muscles, 
 vessels, and other parts which surround the bones, 
 contributes much to their formation, and gradual in- 
 crease in hardness. 
 
 The remains of the cartilaginous in the young bones 
 will, in the sixth and seventh month, decrease in 
 quantity, harden, and whiten, as the bony parts ap- 
 proach perfection. Some bones obtain a certain degree 
 of firmness in much less time than others; as, for 
 example, the skull bones, and the small bones within 
 the ear. Not only whole bones, but parts of a single 
 bone, are of various degrees of hardness. They will be 
 hardest at the place where the kernel of ossification 
 began, and the parts adjacent; and the rigidity increases 
 more slowly and insensibly the harder the bones are, 
 and the older the man is. What was cartilage will 
 become bone ; parts that were separate will grow toge- 
 ther, and the whole bones be deprived of moisture. 
 
 Anatomists divide the form into the natural or the 
 
SKULLS. 67 
 
 essential, which is generally the same in all bones in the 
 human body, how different soever it may be to other 
 bodies; and into the accidental, which is subject to 
 various changes in the same individual, according to the 
 influence of external objects, or, especially, of the 
 gradations of age. 
 
 The first is founded in the universality of the nature 
 of parents, and the circumstances which naturally and 
 invariably attend propagation. Anatomists consider 
 only the designation of the bones individually ; on this, 
 at least, is grounded the agreement of what they call the 
 essential form in distinct subjects. This, therefore, only 
 speaks to the agreement of human countenances, so tar 
 as they have each two eyes, one nose, one mouth, and 
 other features thus or thus disposed. 
 
 This natural formation is certainly as different as 
 human countenances afterwards are; which difference is 
 the work of nature, the original destination of the Lord 
 and Creator of all things. The physiognomist dis- 
 tinguishes between original form and deviations. 
 
 Each bone hath its original form, its individual 
 capacity of form. It may, it does continually alter; but 
 it never acquires the peculiar form of another bone, 
 which was originally different. The accidental changes 
 of bones, however great, or different from the original 
 form, are yet ever governed by the nature of this original 
 individual form; nor can any power of pressure ever so 
 change the original form, but that, if compared to an- 
 other system of bones that has suffered an equal 
 pressure, it will be perfectly distinct. As little as the 
 Ethiopian can change his skin, or the leopard his spots, 
 whatever be the changes to which they may be subject, 
 
68 LAYATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 as little can the original form of any bone be changed 
 into the original form of any other bone. 
 
 Vessels every where penetrate the bones, supplying 
 them with juices and marrow. The younger the bone 
 is the more are there of these vessels; consequently the 
 more porous and flexible are the bones, and the reverse. 
 The period when such or such changes take place in the 
 bones cannot easily be defined; it differs according to 
 the nature of men in accidental circumstances. 
 
 Large and long and multiform bones, in order to 
 facilitate their ossification and growth, at first consist of 
 several pieces, the smaller of which are called supple- 
 mental. The bone remains imperfect till these become 
 incorporated. Hence their possible distortion in children 
 by the rickets, and other diseases. 
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 Suggestions to the Physiognomist concerning the Skull. 
 
 THE scientific physiognomist ought to direct his at- 
 tention to the distortion of the bones, especially those of 
 the head. He ought to learn accurately to remark, 
 compare, and define, the first form of children, and the 
 numerous relative deviations. He ought to have attained 
 that precision that should enable him to say, at behold- 
 ing the head of a new-born infant of half a year, a year, 
 or two years old, "Such and such will be the form of the 
 system of the bones, under such and such limitations;" 
 and on viewing the skull at ten, twelve, twenty, or 
 twenty-four years of age, "Such or such was the form, 
 eight, ten, or twenty years ago; and such or such will be 
 the form, eight, ten, or twenty years hence, violence 
 
SUGGESTIONS CONCERNING THE SKULL. 69 
 
 excepted." He ought to be able to see the youth in the 
 boy, and the man in the youth; and, on the reverse, the 
 youth in the man, the boy in the youth, the infant in the 
 boy, and, lastly, the embryo in its proper individual form. 
 
 Let us, ye who adore that Wisdom which has 
 framed all things ! contemplate a moment longer the 
 human skull There are, in the bare skull of man, the 
 same varieties as are to be found in the whole external 
 form of the living man. 
 
 As the infinite variety of the external form of man is 
 one of the indestructible pillars of physiognomy, no less 
 so, in my opinion, must the infinite varieties of the skull 
 itself be. What I have hereafter to remark will, in part, 
 show that we ought particularly to begin by that, if, 
 instead of a subject of curiosity and amusement, we 
 would wish to make the science of physiognomy univer- 
 sally useful. 
 
 I shall show that from the structure, form, outline, 
 and properties of the bones, not all indeed, but much 
 may be discovered, and probably more than from all the 
 other parts. 
 
 Objection and Answer. 
 
 What answer shall I make to that objection, with 
 which a certain anti-physiognomist has made himself so 
 merry? 
 
 " In the catacombs near Kome," says he, " a number 
 of skeletons were found, which were supposed to be the 
 relics of saints, and as such were honoured. After 
 some time, several learned men began to doubt whether 
 these had really been the sepulchres of the first Chris- 
 tians and martyrs, and even to suspect that malefactors 
 and banditti might have been buried there. The piety 
 
70 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 of the faithful was thus much puzzled; but if the science 
 of physiognomy be so certain, they might have removed 
 all their doubts by sending for Lavater, who with very 
 little trouble, by merely examining and touching them, 
 might have distinguished the bones of the saints from 
 the bones of the banditti, aud thus have restored the 
 true relics to their just and original pre-eminence." 
 
 " The conceit is whimsical enough," answers a cold 
 and phlegmatic friend of physiognomy ; " but, having 
 tired ourselves with laughing, let us examine what 
 would have been the consequence had this story been 
 fact. According to our opinion, the physiognomist 
 would aave remarked great differences in a number of 
 bones, particularly in the skulls, which to the ignorant 
 would have appeared perfectly similar; and having 
 classed his heads, and shown their immediate gradations, 
 and the contrast of the two extremes, we may presume 
 the attentive spectator would have been inclined to pay 
 some respect to his conjectures on the qualities and 
 activity of brain which each formerly contained. 
 
 " Besides, when we reflect how certain it is that many 
 malefactors have been possessed of extraordinary abili- 
 ties and energy, and how uncertain it is whether many 
 of the saints who are honoured with red-letter days in 
 the calendar ever possessed such qualities, we find the 
 question so intricate that we should be inclined to par- 
 don the poor physiognomist were he to refuse an answer, 
 and leave the decision to the great infallible Judge." 
 
 Further Reply. 
 
 Let us endeavour further to investigate the question ; 
 for, though this answer is good, it is insufficient. Who 
 
SUGGESTIONS CONCERNING THE SKULL. 71 
 
 ever yet pretended absolutely to distinguish saints from 
 banditti, by inspecting only the skull. 
 
 To me it appears that justice requires we should, in 
 all our decisions concerning books, men, and opinions, 
 judge each according to their pretensions, and not ascribe 
 pretensions which have not been made to any man. 
 
 I have heard of no physiognomist who has had, and I 
 am certain that I myself never have had, any such pre- 
 sumption. Notwithstanding which, I maintain as a 
 truth most demonstrable, that by the mere form, pro- 
 portion, hardness, or weakness of the skull, the strength 
 or weakness of the general character may be known witli 
 the greatest certainty. But, as hath been often repeated, 
 strength and weakness are neither virtue nor vice, sainf 
 nor malefactor. 
 
 Power, like riches, may be employed to the advantage 
 or detriment of society, the same as wealth may be in 
 the possession of a saint or a demon ; and as it is with 
 wealth or arbitrary positive power, so is it with natural 
 innate power. As in an hundred rich men there are 
 ninety-nine who are not saints, so will there scarcely 
 be one saint among an hundred men born with this 
 power. 
 
 When, therefore, we remark in a skull great original 
 and percussive power, we cannot indeed say this man 
 was a malefactor; but we may affirm there was this 
 excess of power which, if it were not qualified and tem- 
 pered during life, there is the highest probability it 
 would have been agitated by the spirit of conquest, 
 would have become a general, a conqueror, a Csesar, a 
 Cartouch. Under certain circumstances he would pro- 
 bably have acted in a certain manner, and his actions 
 would have varied according to the variation of circum- 
 
72 
 
 stances ; but lie would always have acted with ardour, 
 tempestuously always as a ruler and a conqueror. 
 
 Thus, also, we may affirm of certain other skulls 
 which in their whole structure and form discover ten 
 derness, and resemblance to parchment, that they denote 
 weakness ; a mere capability of perceptive without per- 
 cussive, without creative power. Therefore, under 
 certain circumstances, such persons would have acted 
 weakly. They would not have had the native power of 
 withstanding this or that temptation, of engaging in this 
 or that enterprise. In the fashionable world they would 
 have acted the fop, the libertine in a more confined 
 circle, and the enthusiastic saint in a convent. 
 
 Oh ! how differently may the same power, the same 
 sensibility, the same capacity, act, feel, and conceive 
 under different circumstances ! And hence we may, in 
 part, comprehend the possibility of predestination and 
 liberty in one and the same subject. 
 
 Take a man of the commonest understanding to a 
 charnel-house, and make him attentive to the differences 
 of skulls; in a short time he will either perceive of 
 himself, or understand when told, here is strength, there 
 weakness ; here obstinacy, and there indecision. 
 
 If shown the bald head of Caesar as painted by 
 Rubens or Titian, or that of Michael Angelo, what man 
 would be dull enough not to discover that impulsive 
 power, that rocky comprehension, by which they were 
 peculiarly characterised; and that more ardour, more 
 action, must be expected than from a smooth, round, 
 flat head? 
 
 How characteristic is the skull of Charles XII.! 
 How different from the skull of his biographer, Voltaire ! 
 Compare the skull of Judas with the skull of Christ 
 
THE DIFFERENCE OF SKULLS. 73 
 
 after Holbein, discarding the muscular parts, and I 
 doubt, if asked which was the wicked betrayer, which 
 the innocent betrayed, whether any one would hesitate. 
 
 I will acknowledge that" when two determinate heads 
 are presented to us with such striking differences, the 
 one of which is known to be that of a malefactor, the 
 other that of a saint, it is infinitely more easy to decide; 
 but he who can distinguish between them, should not 
 therefore affirm he can distinguish the skulls of saints 
 from the skulls of malefactors. 
 
 To conclude this chapter. "Who is unacquainted with 
 the anecdote of Herodotus, that it was possible many 
 years afterwards, on the field of battle, to distinguish the 
 skulls of the effeminate Medes from those of the manly 
 Persians? I think I have heard the same remark made 
 of the Swiss and the Burgundians. This at least proves 
 it is granted that we may perceive, in the skull only, 
 a difference of strength and manners as well as of 
 nations. 
 
 CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 Of the Difference of Skulls as they relate to Sex, and 
 particularly to Nations. Of the Skulls of Children. 
 
 AN Essay on the difference of bones, as they relat 
 to sex, and particularly to nations, has been published 
 by M. Fischer, which is well deserving of attention. 
 The following are some thoughts on the subject, concern- 
 ing which nothing will be expected from me, but very 
 much from M. Kamper. 
 
 Consideration and comparison of the external and 
 internal make of the body, in male and female, teaches 
 
74 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 us that the one is destined for labour and strength, ana 
 the other for beauty and propagation. The bones 
 particularly denote masculine strength in the former; 
 and, so far as the stronger and the prominent are more 
 easy to describe than the less prominent and the weaker, 
 so far is the male skeleton and the skull the easier to 
 define. 
 
 The general structure of the bones in the male, and of 
 the skull in particular, is evidently of stronger formation 
 than in the female. The body of the male increases, 
 from the hip to the shoulder, in breath and thickness ; 
 hence the broad shoulders and square form of the strong : 
 whereas the female skeleton gradually grows thinner and 
 weaker from the hip upwards, and by degrees appears as 
 if it were rounded. 
 
 Even single bones in the female are more tender, 
 smooth, and round ; have fewer sharp edges, cutting and 
 prominent corners. 
 
 We may here properly cite the remark of Santorinus 
 concerning the difference of skulls as they relate to sex. 
 " The aperture of the mouth, the palate, and in general 
 the parts which form the voice, are less in the female ; 
 and the more small and round chin, consequently the 
 under part of the mouth, correspond." 
 
 The round or angular form of the skull may be very 
 powerfully and essentially turned to the advantage of 
 the physiognomist, and becomes a source of innumerable 
 individual judgments. Of this the whole work abounds 
 with proofs and examples. 
 
 No man is perfectly like another, either in external 
 construction or 'internal parts, whether great or small, 
 or in the system of the bones. I find this difference not 
 only between nations, but between persons of the nearest 
 
THE DIFFERENCE OF SKULLS. 75 
 
 kindred ; but not so great between these, and between 
 persons of the same nation, as between nations remote 
 from each other, whose manners and food are very dif- 
 ferent. The more confidently men converse with, the 
 more they resemble each other, as well in the formation 
 of the parts of the body, as in language, manners, and 
 food ; that is, so far as the formation of the body can be 
 influenced by external accidents. Those nations, in a 
 certain degree, will resemble each other that have com- 
 mercial intercourse, they being acted upon by the effect 
 of climate, imitation, and habit, which have so great an 
 influence in forming the body and mind that is to say, 
 the visible and invisible powers of man; although 
 national character still remains, and which character, in 
 reality, is much easier to remark than to describe. 
 
 We shall leave more extensive inquiries and observa- 
 tions concerning this subject to some such person as 
 Kamper, and refrain, as becomes us ; not having obtained 
 sufficient knowledge of the subject to make remarks of 
 our own of sufficient importance. 
 
 Differences with respect to strength, firmness, struc- 
 ture, and proportion of the parts, are certainly visible in 
 all the bones of the skeletons of the different nations ; 
 but most in the formation of the countenance, which 
 every where contains the peculiar expression of nature, 
 of the mind. 
 
 The skull of a Dutchman, for example, is in general 
 rounder, with broader bones, curved, and arched in all 
 its parts, and with the sides less flat and compressed. 
 
 A Calinuc skull will be more rude and gross ; flat on 
 the top, prominent at the sides ; the parts firm and com- 
 pressed, the face broad and flat. 
 
 The skull of the Ethiopian is steep, suddenly elevated ; 
 
76 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 as suddenly small, sharp above the eyes; beneath 
 strongly projecting ; circular and high behind. 
 
 In proportion as the forehead of the Calmuc is flat 
 and low, that of the Ethiopian is high and narrow; 
 while the back part of an European head has a much 
 more protuberant arch, and spherical form behind, than 
 that of a negro. 
 
 Of the Skulls of Children. 
 
 The skull or head of a child, drawn upon paper, 
 without additional circumstance, will be generally 
 known, and seldom confounded with the head of an 
 adult. But, to keep them distinct, it is necessary the 
 painter should not be too hasty and incorrect in his 
 observations of what is peculiar, or so frequently gene- 
 ralize the particular, which is the eternal error of painters, 
 and of so many pretended physiognomists. 
 
 Notwithstanding individual variety, there are certain 
 constant signs proper to the head of a child, which as 
 much consist in the combination and form of the whole, 
 as in the single parts. 
 
 It is well known that the head is larger in proportion 
 to the rest of the body, the younger the person is ; and 
 it seems to me, from comparing the skull of the embryo, 
 the child, and the man, that the part of the skull which 
 contains the brain is proportionably larger than the 
 parts that compose the jaw and the countenance. Hence 
 it happens that the forehead in children, especially the 
 upper part, is generally so prominent. 
 
 The bones of the upper and under jaw, with the teeth 
 they contain, are later in their growth, and more slowly 
 attain perfect formation. The under part of the head 
 generally increases more than the upper, till it has 
 
THE DIFFERENCE OF SKULLS. 77 
 
 attained full growth. Several processes of the bones, as 
 the processes mamillares, which lie behind and under 
 the ears, form themselves after the birth ; as do also, in a 
 great measure, various hidden sinuses or cavities in 
 these bones. The quill form of these bones, with their 
 various points, ends, and protuberances, and the nume- 
 rous muscles which are annexed to them, and continually 
 in action, make the greater increase and change more 
 possible and easy than can happen in the spherical bony 
 covering of the brain, when once the sutures are entirely 
 become solid. 
 
 This unequal growth of the two principal parts of the 
 skull must necessarily produce an essential difference 
 in the whole, without enumerating the obtuse extremities, 
 the edges, sharp corners, and single protuberances, which 
 are chiefly occasioned by the action of the muscles. 
 
 As the man grows, the countenance below the fore- 
 head becomes more protuberant ; and as the sides of the 
 face, that is to say, the temple bones, which are also slow 
 in coming to perfection, continually remove further from 
 each other, the skull gradually loses that pear form 
 which it appears to me to have had in embryo. 
 
 The sinus frontales first form themselves after birth. 
 The prominence at the bottom of the forehead, between 
 the eyebrows, is likewise wanting in children. The 
 forehead joins the nose without any remarkable curve. 
 This latter circumstance may also be observed in some 
 grown persons, when the sinus frontales are either want- 
 ing or very small; for these cavities are found very 
 different in different subjects. 
 
 The nose, during growth, alters exceedingly; but I am 
 unable to explain in what manner the bones contribute 
 to this alteration, it being chiefly cartilaginous. Ac- 
 
78 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 curately to determine this, many experiments on the 
 heads and skulls of children, and grown persons, would 
 be necessary; or, rather, if we could compare the same 
 head with itself at different ages, which might be done 
 by the means of shades, such gradation of the head or 
 heads would be of great utility to the physiognomist. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Description of Plate III. 
 Number 1. 
 
 THIS outline, from a bust of Cicero, appears to me an 
 almost perfect model of congeniality; the whole has the 
 character of penetrating acuteness, an extraordinary 
 though not a great profile. All is acute; all is sharp: 
 discerning, searching, less benevolent than satirical, 
 elegant, conspicuous, subtle. 
 
 Number 2. 
 
 Another congenial countenance. Too evidently nature 
 for it to be mistaken for ideal, or the invention and 
 emendation of art. Such a forehead does not betoken 
 the rectilinear, but the nose thus bent. Such an upper 
 lip, such an open, eloquent mouth ! The forehead does 
 not lead us to expect high poetical genius; but acute 
 punctuality, and the stability of retentive memory. It 
 is impossible to suppose this a common countenance. 
 
 Number 3. 
 
 The forehead and nose not congenial. The nose shows 
 the very acute thinker. The lower part of the forehead, 
 
. 
 
 
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE III. 79 
 
 on the contrary, especially the distance between the eye- 
 brow and eye, do not betoken this high degree of mental 
 power. The stiff position of the whole is much at vari- 
 ance with the eye and mouth, but particularly with the 
 nose. The whole, the eyebrow excepted, speaks a calm, 
 peaceable, mild character. 
 
 Number 4. 
 
 The harmony of the mouth and nose is self-evident. 
 The forehead is too good, too comprehensive, for this very 
 limited under part of the countenance. The whole be- 
 speaks a harmless character; nothing delicate nor severe. 
 
 Number 5. 
 
 We have here a high bold forehead, with a short- 
 seeming blunt nose, and a fat double chin. How do 
 these harmonize ! It is almost a general law of nature, 
 that where the eyes are strong drawn, and the eyebrows 
 near, the eyebrows must also be strong. This counte- 
 nance, merely by its harmony, its prominent congenial 
 traits, is expressive of sound, clear understanding ; the 
 countenance of reason. 
 
 Number 6. 
 
 The perfect countenance of a politician. Faces which 
 are thus pointed from the eyes to the chin always have 
 lengthened noses, and never possess large, open, power- 
 ful, and piercing eyes. Their firmness partakes of 
 obstinacy, and they rather follow intricate plans than 
 the dictates of common-sense. 
 
80 
 
 CHAPTEE XVI. 
 
 The Physiognomist. 
 
 ALL men have talents for all things; yet we may 
 venture to assert that very few have the determinate and 
 essential talents. All men have talents for drawing : 
 they can all learn to write, well or ill; yet not an excel- 
 lent draftsman will be produced in ten thousand. The 
 same may be affirmed of eloquence, poetry, and physio- 
 gnomy. All men who have eyes and ears have talents 
 to become physiognomists ; yet not one in ten thousand 
 can become an excellent physiognomist. 
 
 It may therefore be of use to sketch the character of 
 the true physiognomist, that those who are deficient of 
 the requisite talents may be deterred from the study of 
 physiognomy. The pretended physiognomist, with a 
 foolish head and a wicked heart, is certainly one of the 
 most contemptible and mischievous creatures that crawls 
 on the face of the earth. 
 
 No one whose person is not well formed can become 
 a good physiognomist. Those painters were the best 
 whose persons were the handsomest. Kubens, Vandyke, 
 and Raphael, possessing three gradations of beauty, 
 possessed three gradations of the genius of painting. 
 The physiognomists of the greatest symmetry are the 
 best. As the most virtuous can best determine on 
 virtue, and the just on justice, so can the most handsome 
 countenances on the goodness, beauty, and noble traits of 
 the human countenance, and consequently on its defects 
 and ignoble properties. The scarcity of human beauty 
 is the reason why physiognomy is so much decried, and 
 finds so many opponents. 
 
THE PHYSIOGNOMIST. 81 
 
 No person, therefore, ought to enter the sanctuary of 
 physiognomy 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 
 single, thy whole body shall be full of light; but if thine 
 eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness : 
 if, therefore, the light that is in thee be darkness, how 
 great is that darkness!" 
 
 Any one who would become a physiognomist cannot 
 meditate too much on this text. single eye! that 
 beholdest all things as they are, seest nothing falsely, 
 with glance oblique, nothing overlookest ! most perfect 
 image of reason and wisdom ! why do I say image ? 
 thou art reason and wisdom themselves! Without thy 
 resplendent light would all that appertains to physio- 
 gnomy become dark ! 
 
 He who does not, at the first aspect of any man, feel a 
 certain emotion of affection or dislike, attraction or 
 repulsion, never can become a physiognomist. 
 
 He who studies art more than nature, and prefers 
 what the painters call manner to the truth of drawing 
 he who does not feel himself moved almost to tears, at 
 beholding the ancient ideal beauty, and the present 
 depravity of men and imitative art ; he who views 
 antique gems, and does not discover enlarged intelligence 
 in Cicero, enterprising resolution in Caesar, profound 
 thought in Solon, invincible fortitude in Brutus, in 
 Plato godlike wisdom ; or, in modern medals, the height 
 of human sagacity in Montesquieu, in Haller the ener- 
 getic contemplative look, and the most refined taste ; the 
 deep reasoner in Locke, and the witty satirist in Voltaire, 
 even at the first glance, never can become a physio- 
 gnomist. 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 He who does not dwell with fixed rapture on the aspect 
 of benevolence in action, supposing itself unobserved ; 
 he who remains unmoved by the voice of innocence, the 
 guiltless look of unviolated chastity, the mother 
 contemplating her beauteous sleeping infant ; the warm 
 pressure of the hand of a friend, or his eye swimming in 
 tears ; he who can lightly tear himself from scenes like 
 these, and turn them to ridicule, might much easier com- 
 mit the crime of parricide than become a physiognomist. 
 
 If such be the case, what then is required of the 
 physiognomist? What should his inclination, talents, 
 qualities, and capabilities be ? 
 
 In the first place, as hath been in part already 
 remarked, his first of requisites should be a body well 
 proportioned and finely organized ; accuracy of sensation, 
 capable of receiving the most minute outward impres- 
 sions, and easily transmitting them faithfully to memory, 
 or, as I ought rather to say, impressing them upon the 
 imagination and the fibres of the brain. His eye, in 
 particular, must be excellent, clear, acute, rapid, and 
 firm. 
 
 The very soul of physiognomy is precision in obser- 
 vation. The physiognomist must possess a most delicate, 
 swift, certain, most extensive spirit of observation. To 
 observe is to be attentive, so as to fix the mind on a 
 particular object, which it selects, or may select, for 
 consideration, from a number of surrounding objects. 
 To be attentive is to consider some one particular object, 
 exclusively of all others, and to analyze ; consequently, 
 to distinguish what is similar, what dissimilar; to discover 
 proportion and disproportion, is the office of the under- 
 standing. 
 
 If the physiognomist has not an accurate, superior, 
 
THE PHYSIOGNOMIST. 
 
 and extended understanding, he will neither be able 
 rightly to observe, nor to compare and class his obser- 
 vations, much less to draw the necessary conclusions. 
 Physiognomy is the highest exercise of the understand- 
 ing the logic of corporeal varieties. 
 
 To the clearest and profoundest understanding, the 
 true physiognomist unites the most lively, strong, com- 
 prehensive imagination, and a fine and rapid wit. 
 Imagination is necessary to impress the traits with 
 exactness, so that they may be renewed at pleasure ; and 
 to range the pictures in the mind as perfectly as if they 
 still were visible, and with all possible order. 
 
 A keen penetration is indispensable to the physio- 
 gnomist, that he may easily perceive the resemblance 
 that exists between objects. Thus, for example, he sees 
 a head or forehead possessed of certain characteristic 
 marks : these marks present themselves to his imagina- 
 tion, and a keen penetration discovers to what they are 
 similar. Hence greater precision, certainty, and expres- 
 sion, are imparted to his images. He must have the ca- 
 pacity of uniting the approximation of each trait that he 
 remarks, and be able to define the degree of this approx- 
 imation. Ho one, who is not inexhaustibly copious in 
 language, can become a physiognomist ; and the highest 
 possible copiousness is poor, comparatively with the 
 wants of physiognomy. All that language can express 
 the physiognomist must be able to express. He must 
 be the creator of a new language, which must be equally 
 precise and alluring, natural and intelligible. 
 
 Every production of art, taste, and mind ; all vocabu- 
 laries of all nations ; all the kingdoms of nature, must 
 obey his command, must supply his necessities. 
 
 The art of drawing is indispensable, if he would be 
 
84 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 precise in his definitions and accurate in his decisions. 
 I Drawing is the first, most natural, and unequivocal 
 language of physiognomy ; the best aid of the imagina- 
 tion, the only means of preserving and communicating 
 numberless peculiarities, shades, and expressions, which 
 are not by words or any other mode to be described. 
 The physiognomist who cannot draw hastily, accurately, 
 and characteristically, will be unable to make, much less 
 to retain or communicate, innumerable observations. 
 
 The knowledge of anatomy is indispensable to him ; 
 as also is physiology, or the science of the human body 
 in health ; not only that he may be able to remark any 
 disproportion, as well in the solids as in the muscular 
 parts, but that he may likewise be capable of naming 
 these parts in his physiognomical language. He must 
 also be acquainted with the temperament of the human 
 body ; not only its different colours and appearances, 
 occasioned by the mixture of the blood, but also the 
 constituent parts of the blood itself, and their different 
 proportions. Still more especially must be understood 
 the external symptoms of the constitution, relative to 
 the nervous system; for on this depends more than 
 even on the knowledge of the blood. 
 
 "What an extensive knowledge ought he to have of 
 the human heart and the manners of the world ! How 
 thoroughly ought he to inspect, to feel himself ! That 
 most essential, yet most difficult of all knowledge, to the 
 physiognomist, ought to be possessed by him in all 
 possible perfection. In proportion only as he knows 
 himself will he be enabled to know others. 
 
 Not only is this self-knowledge, this studying of man, 
 by the study of his own heart, with the genealogy and 
 cpnsanguinity of inclinations and passions, their various 
 

 THE PHYSIOGNOMIST. 85 
 
 symptoms and changes, necessary to the physiognomist 
 for the foregoing causes, but also for an additional 
 reason. 
 
 " The peculiar shades, " I here cite the words of one 
 of the critics on my first essay, " the peculiar shades of 
 feeling, which most affect the observer of any object, 
 frequently have relation to his own mind, and will be 
 soonest remarked by him in proportion as they sym- 
 'pathize with his own powers. They will affect him most, 
 according to the manner in which he is accustomed to 
 survey the physical and moral world. Many, therefore, 
 of his observations are applicable only to the observer 
 himself ; and, however strongly they may be conceived 
 by him, he cannot easily impart them to others. Yet* 
 these minute observations influence his judgment. For 
 this reason the physiognomist must, if he knows 
 himself, which he in justice ought to do before he 
 attempts to know others, once more compare; his remarks 
 with his own peculiar mode of thinking, and separate 
 those which are general from those which are individual, 
 and appertain to himself. " I shall make no commen- 
 tary on this important precept. I shall here only repeat, 
 that an accurate and profound knowledge of his own 
 heart is one of the most essential qualities in the 
 , character of the physiognomist. 
 
 Reader, if thou hast not often blushed at thyself, even 
 though thou shouldest be the best of men, for the best 
 of men is but man ; if thou hast not often stood with 
 downcast eyes in presence of thyself and others ; if thou 
 hast not dared to confess to thyself, and to confide to 
 thy friend, that thou art conscious the seeds of every 
 vice are latent in thy heart ; if, in the gloomy calm of 
 solitude, having no witness but God and thy own con- 
 
86 
 
 science, tliou hast not a thousand times sighed and 
 sorrowed for thyself; if thou wantest the power to 
 observe the progress of the passions from their very 
 commencement ; to examine what the impulse was 
 which determined thee to good or ill, and to avow the 
 motive to God and thy friend, to whom thou mayest 
 thus confess thyself, and who also may disclose the 
 recesses of his soul to thee ; a friend who shall stand 
 before thee the representative of man and God, and in 
 whose estimation thou also shalt be invested with the 
 same sacred character ; a friend in whom thou mayest see 
 thy very soul, and who shall reciprocally behold him- 
 self in thee : if, in a word, thou art not a man of worth, 
 thou never canst learn to observe or know men well ; 
 thou never canst be, never wilt be, worthy of being a 
 good physiognomist. If thou wishest not that the 
 talent of observation should be a torment to thyself, 
 and an evil to thy brother, how good, how pure, how 
 affectionate, how expanded ought thy heart to be ! How 
 mayest thou ever discover the marks of benevolence 
 and mild forgiveness, if thou thyself art destitute of 
 such gifts ? How, if philanthropy does not make thine 
 eye active, how mayest thou discern the impressions of 
 virtue, and the marks of the sublimest sensations ? 
 How often wilt thou overlook them in a countenance 
 disfigured by accident ! Surrounded thyself by mean 
 passions, how often will such false observers bring false 
 intelligence ! Put far from thee self-interest, pride, and 
 envy, otherwise " thine eye will be evil, and thy whole 
 body full of darkness." Thou wilt read vices on the 
 forehead whereon virtue is written, and wilt accuse 
 others of those errors and failings of which thy own 
 heart accuses thee. Whoever bears any resemblance to 
 
THE PHYSIOGNOMIST. 87 
 
 thine enemy, will by thee be accused of all those failings 
 and vices with which thy enemy is loaded by thy own 
 partiality and self-love. Thine eye will overlook the 
 beauteous traits and magnify the discordant. Thou wilt 
 behold nothing but caricature and disproportion. 
 
 But, to draw to a conclusion: the physiognomist 
 should know the world; he should have intercourse with 
 all manner of men, in all various ranks and conditions ; 
 he should have travelled, should possess extensive know- 
 ledge, a thorough acquaintance with artists, mankind, 
 vice, and virtue, the wise and the foolish, and particu- 
 larly with children ; together with a love of literature, 
 and a taste for painting and the other imitative arts. I 
 say, can it need demonstration that all those and much 
 more are to him indispensable ? To sum up the whole : 
 to a well-formed, well-organized body, the perfect phy- 
 siognomist must unite an acute spirit of observation, a 
 lively fancy, an excellent judgment, and, with numerous 
 propensities to the arts and sciences, a strong, benevolent, 
 enthusiastic, innocent heart; a heart confident in itself, 
 and free from the passions inimical to man. No one, 
 certainly, can read the traits of magnanimity, and the 
 high qualities of the mind, who is not himself capable 
 of magnanimity, honourable thoughts, and sublime 
 actions. 
 
 Thus have I pronounced judgment against myself in 
 writing these characteristics of the physiognomist. Not 
 false modesty, but conscious feeling, impels me to say, 
 that I am as distant from the true physiognomist as 
 heaven is from earth. I am but the fragment of a phy- 
 siognomist, as this work is but the fragment of a system 
 of physiognomy. 
 
88 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 CHAPTEE XVII. 
 
 Lavaters own Remarks on National Physiognomy. 
 
 IT is undeniable that there is national physiognomy 
 as well as national character. Whoever doubts of this 
 can never have observed men of different nations, nor 
 have compared the inhabitants of the extreme confines 
 of any two. Compare a Negro and an Englishman, a 
 native of Lapland and an Italian, a Frenchman and an 
 inhabitant of Terra del Fuego. Examine their forms, 
 countenances, characters, and minds. Their difference 
 will be easily seen, though it will sometimes be very 
 difficult to describe it scientifically. 
 
 It seems to me probable that we shall discover what 
 is national in the countenance better from the sight of 
 an individual at first than of a whole people ; at least, 
 so it appears to me from my own experience. Individual 
 countenances discover more the characteristic of a whole 
 nation, than a whole nation does that which is national 
 in individuals. The following infinitely little is what I 
 have hitherto observed from the foreigners with whom I 
 have conversed, and whom I have noticed, concerning 
 national character. 
 
 I am least able to characterise the French. They 
 have no trait so bold as the English, nor so minute as 
 the Germans. I know them chiefly by their teeth and 
 their laugh. The Italians I discover by the nose, small 
 eyes, and projecting chin. The English by their fore- 
 heads and eyebrows. The Dutch by the rotundity of 
 the head, and the weakness of the hair. The Germans 
 by the angles and wrinkles round the eyes and in the 
 
NATIONAL PHYSIOGNOMY. 89 
 
 cheeks. The Eussians by the snub nose, and their 
 light-coloured or black hair. 
 
 I shall now say a word concerning Englishmen in 
 particular. Englishmen have the shortest and best 
 arched foreheads ; that is to say, they are arched only 
 upwards, and, towards the eyebrows, either gently recline 
 or are rectilinear. They very seldom have pointed, but 
 often round, full, medullary noses; the Quakers and 
 Moravians excepted, who, wherever they are found, are 
 generally thin-lipped. Englishmen have large, well- 
 defined, beautifully curved lips. They have also a round 
 full chin ; but they are peculiarly distinguished by the 
 eyebrows and eyes, which are strong, open, liberal, and 
 steadfast. The outline of their countenance is in general 
 great, and they never have those numerous, infinitely 
 minute traits, angles, and wrinkles, by which the Ger- 
 mans are so especially distinguished. Their complexion 
 is fairer than that of the Germans. 
 
 All English women, whom I have known personally 
 or by portrait, appear to be composed of marrow and 
 nerve. They are inclined to be tall, slender, soft, and 
 as distant from all that is harsh, rigorous, or stubborn, 
 as heaven is from earth. 
 
 The Swiss have generally no common physiognomy, 
 or national character, the aspect of fidelity excepted. 
 They are as different from each other as nations the 
 most remote. The French Swiss peasant is as distinct 
 as possible from the peasant of Appenzel. It may be 
 that the eye of a foreigner would better discover the 
 general character of the nation, and in what it differs 
 from the French or German than that of the native. 
 
 I find characteristic varieties in each canton of Swit- 
 zerland. The inhabitants of Zurich, for instance, are 
 
90 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 middle-sized, more frequently meagre than corpulent, 
 but usually one or the other. They seldom have ardent 
 eyes, and the outline is not often grand or minute. The 
 men are seldom handsome, though the youth are incom- 
 parably so ; but they soon alter. The people of Bern 
 are tall, straight, fair, pliable, and firm, and are most 
 distinguished by their upper teeth, which are white, 
 regular, and easily to be seen. The inhabitants of Basle, 
 or Basil, are more rotund, full, and tense of countenance, 
 the complexion tinged with yellow, and the lips open 
 and flaccid. Those of Schafhausen are hard-boned. 
 Their eyes are seldom sunken, but are generally pro- 
 minent. The sides of the forehead diverge over the 
 temples, the cheeks fleshy, and the mouth wide and 
 open. They are commonly stronger built than the peo- 
 ple of Zurich, though in the canton of Zurich there is 
 scarcely a village in which the inhabitants do not differ 
 from those of the neighbouring village, without attending 
 to dress, which, notwithstanding, is also physiognomic. 
 
 I have seen many handsome, broad-shouldered, strong, 
 burden-bearing men, round Wadenschweil and Oberreid. 
 At Weiningen, two leagues from Zurich, I met a company 
 of well-formed men, who were distinguished for their 
 cleanliness, circumspection, and gravity of deportment. 
 
 An extremely interesting and instructing book might 
 be written on the physiognomic character of the peasants 
 of Switzerland. There are considerable districts where 
 the countenances, the nose not excepted, are most of 
 them broad, as if pressed flat with a board. This dis- 
 agreeable form, wherever found, is consistent with the 
 character of the people. What could be more instruc- 
 tive than a physiognomic and characteristic description of 
 such villages, their mode of living, food, and occupation ? 
 
NATIONAL PHYSIOGNOMY. 91 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Extracts from Buffon on National Physiognomy. 
 
 TRAVERSING the surface of the earth, and beginning 
 in the north, we find in Lapland, and on the northern 
 coast of Tartary, a race of men small of stature, singular 
 of form, and with countenances as savage as their 
 manners. 
 
 These people have large flat faces, the nose broad, the 
 pupil of the eye of a yellow-brown inclining to a black, 
 the eyelids retiring towards the temples, the cheeks 
 extremely high, the mouth very large, the lower part of 
 the face narrow, the lips full and high, the voice shrill, 
 the head large, the hair black and sleek, and the com- 
 plexion brown or tanned. They are very small and 
 squat, though meagre. Most of them are not above four 
 feet, and hardly any exceed four feet and a half. The 
 Borandians are still smaller than the Laplanders. The 
 Samoiedes more squat, with large heads and noses, and 
 darker complexions. Their legs are shorter, their knees 
 more turned outwards, their hair is longer, and they 
 have less beard. The complexion of the Greenlanders 
 is darker still, and of a deep olive colour. 
 
 The women, among all these nations, are as ugly as 
 the men ; and not only do these people resemble each 
 other in ugliness, size, and the colour of their eyes and 
 hair, but they have similar inclinations and manners, 
 and are all equally gross, superstitious, and stupid. 
 Most of them are idolaters; they are more rude than 
 savage, wanting courage, self-respect, and modesty. 
 
 If we examine the neighbouring people of the long 
 slip of land which the Laplanders inhabit, we shall find 
 
92 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 they have no relation whatever with that race, excepting 
 only the Ostiachs and Tongusians. The Samoiedes and 
 the Borandians have no resemblance with the Russians ; 
 nor have the Laplanders with the Finlanders, the Goths, 
 Danes, or Norwegians. The Greenlanders are alike 
 different from the savages of Canada. The latter are 
 tall and well made ; and, though they differ very much 
 from each other, yet they are still more infinitely 
 different from the Laplanders. The Ostiachs seem to be 
 Samoiedes, something less ugly and dwarfish, for they 
 are small and ill-formed. 
 
 All the Tartars have the upper part of the countenance 
 very large and wrinkled, even in youth ; the nose short 
 and gross, the eyes small and sunken, the cheeks very 
 high, the lower part of the face narrow, the chin long 
 and prominent, the upper jaw sunken, the teeth long 
 and separated, the eyebrows large, covering the eyes, 
 the eyelids thick, the face flat, their skin of an olive 
 colour, and their hair black. They are of a middle 
 stature, but very strong and robust ; have little beard, 
 which grows in small tufts like that of the Chinese, 
 thick thighs, and short legs. 
 
 The Little or Nogais Tartars have lost a part of their 
 ugliness by having intermingled with the Circassians. 
 As we proceed eastward into free or independent 
 Tartary, the features of the Tartars become something 
 less hard, but the essential characteristics of their race 
 ever remain. The Mogul Tartars, who conquered China, 
 and who were the most polished of these nations, are 
 at present the least ugly and ill-made ; yet have they, 
 like the others, small eyes, the face large and flat, little 
 beard, but always black or red, and the nose short and 
 compressed. 
 
BUFFON ON NATIONAL PHYSIOGNOMY. 93 
 
 Among the Kergisi and Teheremisi Tartars there is a 
 whole nation or tribe, among whom are very singularly 
 beautiful men and women. The manners of the Chinese 
 and Tartars are wholly opposite, more so than are their 
 countenances and forms. The limbs of the Chinese are 
 well proportioned, large, and fat. Their faces are round 
 and capacious, their eyes small, their eyebrows large, 
 their eyelids raised, and their noses little and compressed. 
 They only Jiave seven or eight tufts of black hair on 
 each lip, and very little on the chin. 
 
 The natives of the coast of New Holland, which lies 
 in sixteen degrees fifteen minutes of south latitude, and 
 to the south of the isle of Timor, are perhaps the most 
 miserable people on earth, and of all the human race 
 most approach the brute animal They are tall, upright, 
 and slender. Their limbs are long and supple, their 
 heads great, their forehead round, their eyebrows thick, 
 and their eyelids half shut. This they acquire by habit 
 in their infancy, to preserve their eyes from the gnats, 
 by which they are greatly incommoded ; and, as they 
 never much open their eyes, they cannot see at a 
 distance, at least and unless they raise the head as if 
 they wished to look at something above them. They 
 have large noses, thick lips, and wide mouths. It 
 should seem that they draw the two upper fore teeth, 
 for neither man nor woman, young nor old, have these 
 teeth. They have no beard; their faces are long and 
 very disagreeable, without a single pleasing feature ; 
 their hair not long and sleek, like that of most of the 
 Indians, but short, black, and curly, like the hair of the 
 Negroes. Their skin is black, and resembles that of the 
 Indians of the coast of Guinea. 
 
 Let us now examine the natives inhabiting a more 
 
94 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 temperate climate, and we shall find that the people 
 of the northern provinces of the Mogul empire, Persia, 
 the Armenians, Turks, Georgians, Mingrelians, Circas- 
 sians, Greeks, and all the inhabitants of Europe, are the 
 handsomest, wisest, and the best formed of any on earth ; 
 and that, though the distance between Cachemire and 
 Spain, or Circassia and France, is very great, there is still 
 a very singular resemblance between people so far from 
 each other, but situated in nearly the same latitude. The 
 people of Cachemire are renowned for beauty, are as 
 well formed as the Europeans, and have nothing of the 
 Tartar countenance, the flat nose, and the small pig's 
 eyes, which are so universal among their neighbours. 
 
 The complexion of the Georgians is still more beau- 
 tiful than that of Cachemire ; no ugly face is found in 
 the country, and nature has endowed most of the women 
 with graces which are nowhere else to be discovered. 
 The men also are very handsome, have natural understand- 
 ing, and would be capable of arts and sciences, did not 
 their bad education render them exceedingly ignorant and 
 vicious ; yet with all their vices the Georgians are civil, 
 humane, grave, and moderate; they seldom are under 
 the influence of anger, though they become irreconcilable 
 enemies having once entertained hatred. 
 
 The Circassians and Mingrelians are equally beautiful 
 and well formed. The larne and the crooked are seldom 
 seen among the Turks. The Spaniards are meagre, and 
 rather small; they are well shaped, have fine heads, 
 regular features, good eyes, and well-arranged teeth ; but 
 their complexions are dark, and inclined to yellow. It 
 has been remarked that in some provinces of Spain, as 
 near the banks of the river Bidassoa, the people have 
 exceedingly large ears. 
 
BUFFON ON NATIONAL PHYSIOGNOMY. 95 
 
 M. Lavater here makes this digression : Can large 
 ears hear better than small ? I know one person with 
 large rude ears, whose sense of hearing is acute, and 
 who has a good understanding ; but, him excepted, I have 
 particularly remarked large ears to betoken folly ; and 
 that, on the contrary, ears inordinately small appertain 
 to very weak, effeminate characters, or persons of too 
 great sensibility. Thus far Lavater, let us now return 
 to Buffon. 
 
 Men with black or dark-brown hair begin to be rather 
 uncommon in England, Flanders, Holland, and the 
 northern provinces of Germany ; and few such are to be 
 found in Denmark, Sweden, and Poland. According to 
 Linnaeus the Goths are very tall, have sleek, light- 
 coloured, silver hair, and blue eyes. The Finlanders are 
 muscular and fleshy, with long and light yellow hair, 
 the iris of the eye a deep yellow. 
 
 If we collect the accounts of travellers, it will appear 
 that there are as many varieties among the race of 
 negroes as the whites. They also have their Tartars 
 and their Circassians. The blacks on the coast of 
 Guinea are extremely ugly, and emit an insufferable 
 scent. Those of Sofala and Mozambique are handsome, 
 and have no ill smell. These two species of negroes 
 resemble each other rather in colour than features. 
 Their hair, skin, the odour of their bodies, their manners 
 and propensities, are exceedingly different. Those of 
 Cape Verd have by no means so disagreeable a smell as 
 the natives of Angola. Their skin also is more smooth 
 and black, their body better made, their features less 
 hard, their tempers more mild, and their shape better. 
 
 The negroes of Senegal are the best formed, and best 
 receive instruction. The Nagos are the most humane, 
 
9G LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 the Mondongos the most cruel, the Mimes the most 
 resolute, capricious, and subject to despair. 
 
 The Guinea negroes are extremely limited in their 
 capacities. Many of them appear to be wholly stupid ; 
 or, never capable of counting more than three, remain in 
 a thoughtless state if not acted upon, and have no 
 memory ; yet, bounded as is their understanding, they 
 have much feeling, have good hearts, and the seeds of 
 all virtue. 
 
 The Hottentots have all very flat and broad noses; 
 but these they would not have, did not their mothers 
 suppose it their duty to flatten the nose shortly after 
 birth. They have also very thick lips, especially the 
 upper; the teeth white, the eyebrows thick, the head 
 heavy, the body meagre, and the limbs slender. 
 
 The inhabitants of Canada and all these confines, are 
 rather tall, robust, strong, and tolerably well made, have 
 black hair and eyes, very white teeth, tawny complexion, 
 little beard, and no hair, or almost none, on any other 
 part of the body. They are hardy and indefatigable in 
 marching, swift of foot, alike support the extremes of 
 hunger or excess in feeding; are daring, courageous, 
 haughty, grave, and moderate. So strongly do they 
 resemble the eastern Tartars in complexion, hair, eyes, 
 the almost want of beard and hair, as well as in their 
 inclinations and manners, that we should suppose them 
 the descendants of that nation, did we not see the two 
 people separated from each other by a vast ocean. They 
 also are under the same latitude, which is an additional 
 proof of the influence of climate on the colour, and 
 even on the form of man. 
 
KANT ON NATIONAL PHYSIOGNOMY. 97 
 
 CHAPTEE XIX. 
 
 Some of the most remarkable Passages from an excellent 
 Essay on National Physiognomy, by Professor Kant 
 of Konigsberg. 
 
 THE supposition of Maupertuis, that a race of men 
 might be established in any province, in whom under- 
 standing, probity, and strength should be hereditary, 
 could only be realized by the possibility of separating 
 the degenerate from the conformable births; a project 
 which, in my opinion, might be practicable, but which, 
 in the present order of things, is prevented by the wiser 
 dispositions of nature, according to which the wicked 
 and the good are intermingled, that, by the irregularities 
 and vices of the former, the latent powers of the latter 
 may be put in motion, and impelled to approach perfec- 
 tion. If nature, without transplantation or foreign 
 mixture, be left undisturbed, she will, after many gene- 
 rations, produce a lasting race that shall ever remain 
 distinct. 
 
 If we divide the human race into four princi- 
 pal classes, it is probable that the intermediate ones, 
 however perpetuating and conspicuous, may be imme- 
 diately reduced to one of these : 1. The race of Whites. 
 2. The Negroes. 3. The Huns (Monguls or Calmucs). 
 4. The Hindoos, or people of Hindostan. 
 
 External things may well be the accidental, but not 
 the primary causes of what is inherited or assimilated 
 As little as chance, or physico-mechanical causes, can 
 produce an organized body, as little can they add any 
 thing to its power or propagation; that is to say, produce 
 
 H 
 
98 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 a thing which shall propagate itself by having a peculiar 
 form or proportion of parts. 
 
 Man was undoubtedly intended to be the inhabitant 
 of all climates and all soils. Hence the seeds of many 
 internal propensities must be latent in him, which shall 
 remain inactive or be put in motion according to his 
 situation on the earth. So that, in progressive genera- 
 tions, he shall appear as if born for that particular soil 
 in which he seems planted. 
 
 The air and the sun appear to be those causes which 
 most influence the powers of propagation, and effect a 
 durable development of germ and propensities ; that is 
 to say, the air and the sun may be the origin of a distinct 
 race. The variations which food may produce must 
 soon disappear on transplantation. That which affects 
 the propagating powers must not act upon the support 
 of life, but upon its original source, its first principle, 
 animal conformation, and motion. 
 
 A man transplanted to the frigid zone must decrease 
 in stature, since, if the power or momentum of the heart 
 continues the same, the circulation must be performed 
 in a shorter time, the pulse become more rapid, and the 
 heat of the blood increased. Thus Crantz found the 
 Greenlanders not only inferior in stature to the Euro- 
 peans, but also that they had a remarkably greater heat 
 of body. The very disproportion between the length of 
 the body and the shortness of the legs, in the northern 
 people, is suitable to their climate; since the extremes of 
 the body, by their distance from the heart, are more 
 subject to the attacks of cold. 
 
 The prominent parts of the countenance, which can 
 less be guarded from cold, by the care of nature for 
 their preservation, have a propensity to become more 
 
KANT ON NATIONAL PHYSIOGNOMY. 99 
 
 flat. The rising cheek-bone, the half-closed blinking 
 eye, appear to be intended for the preservation of sight 
 against the dry cold air, and the effusions of light from 
 the snow, (to guard against which the Esquimaux use 
 snow spectacles,) though they may be the natural effect 
 of the climate, since they are found only in a smaller 
 degree in milder latitudes. Thus gradually are produced 
 the beardless chin, the flattened nose, thin lips, blinking 
 eyes, flat countenances, red-brown complexion, black 
 hair, and, in a word, the face of the Calmuc. Such 
 properties, by continued propagation, at length form a 
 distinct race, which continues to remain distinct even 
 when transplanted into warmer climates. 
 
 The copper colour, or red-brown, appears to be as 
 natural an effect of the aridity of the air, in cold 
 climates, as the olive-brown of the alkaline and bilious 
 juices in warm ; without taking the native disposition 
 of the American into the estimate, who appears to have 
 lost half the powers of life, which may be regarded as 
 the effect of cold. 
 
 The growth of the porous parts of the body must 
 increase in the hot and moist climates. Hence the thick 
 short nose and projecting lips. The skin must be oiled, 
 not only to prevent excessive perspiration, but also 
 imbibing the putrescent particles of the moist air. The 
 surplus of the ferruginous or iron particles, which have 
 lately been discovered to exist in the blood of man, and 
 which, by the evaporation of the phosphoric acidities, 
 of which all negroes smell so strong, being cast upon the 
 retiform membrane, occasions the blackness which 
 appears through the cuticle ; and this strong retention of 
 the ferruginous particles seems to be necessary in order 
 to prevent the general relaxation of the parts. Moist/- 
 
100 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 warmth is peculiarly favourable to the growth of 
 animals, and produces the negro, who, by the providence 
 of nature, perfectly adapted to his climate, is strong, 
 muscular, agile ; but dirty, indolent, and trifling. 
 
 The trunk or stem of the root may degenerate ; but 
 this having once taken root, and stifled other germs, 
 resists any future change of form, the character of the 
 race having once gained a preponderance in the propa- 
 gating powers. 
 
 CHAPTEK XX. 
 
 Extracts from other Writers on National Physiognomy. 
 From WinJcelmann's History of Art. From the 
 Recherches Philosophises sur les Americains, by M. de 
 Pauw. Observations byLintz. From a Letter writtenlty 
 M. Fuessli. From a Letter written ty Professor Camper. 
 
 From Winkelmann's History of Art. 
 
 WITH respect to the form of man, our eyes convince 
 us that the character of nation as well as of mind is 
 visible in the countenance. As nature has separated 
 large districts by mountains and seas, so likewise has 
 she distinguished the inhabitants by peculiarity of 
 features. In countries far remote from each other, 
 the difference is likewise visible in other parts of the 
 body, and in stature. Animals are not more varied, 
 according to the properties of the countries they inhabit, 
 than men are ; and some have pretended to remark that 
 animals even partake of the propensities of the men. 
 
 The formation of the countenance is as various as 
 language nay, indeed, as dialects which are thus or 
 
NATIONAL PHYSIOGNOMY. 101 
 
 thus various in consequence of the organs of speech. In 
 cold countries the fibres of the tongue must be less 
 flexible and rapid than in warm. The natives of Green- 
 land, and certain tribes of America, are observed to want 
 some letters of the alphabet, which must originate in 
 the same cause. Hence it happens that the northern 
 languages have more monosyllables, and are more clogged 
 with consonants, the connecting and pronouncing of 
 which is difficult, and sometimes impossible, to other 
 nations. 
 
 A celebrated writer has endeavoured to account for 
 the varieties of the Italian dialects, from the formation 
 of the organs of speech. "For this reason," says he, 
 "the people of Lombardy, inhabiting a cold country, 
 have a more rough and concise pronunciation; the 
 inhabitants of Florence and Rome speak in a more 
 measured tone; and the Neapolitans, under a still 
 warmer sky, pronounce the vowels more open, and speak 
 with more fulness." 
 
 Persons well acquainted with various nations, can 
 distinguish them as justly from the form of their coun- 
 tenance as from their speech. Therefore, since man has 
 ever been the object of art and artists, the latter have 
 constantly given the forms of face of their respective 
 nations ; and that art among the ancients gave the form 
 and countenance of man, is proved by the same effect 
 having taken place among the moderns. German, Dutch, 
 or French, when the artists neither travel nor study 
 foreign forms, can be known by their pictures as perfect- 
 ly as Chinese or Tartars. After residing many years in 
 Italy, Eubens continued to draw his figures as if he had 
 never left his native land. 
 
102 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 Another passage from Winkclmann. 
 
 The projecting mouths of the negroes, which they 
 have in common with their monkeys, is an excess of 
 growth, a swelling occasioned by the heat of the climate ; 
 like as our lips are swelled by heat or sharp saline 
 moisture, and also in some men by violent passion. 
 The small eyes of the distant northern and eastern 
 nations, are in consequence of the imperfection of their 
 growth. They are short and slender. Nature produces 
 such forms the more she approaches extremes, where 
 she has to encounter heat or cold. In the one she is 
 prompter and exhausted, and in the other crude, never 
 arriving at maturity. The flower withers in excessive 
 heat, and, deprived of sun, is deprived of colour. All 
 plants degenerate in dark and confined places. 
 
 Nature forms with greater regularity the more she 
 approaches her centre, and in more moderate climates. 
 Hence the Grecian and our own idea of beauty, being 
 derived from more perfect symmetry, must be more 
 accurate than the idea of those in whom, to use the 
 expression of a modern poet, the image of the Creator 
 is half defaced. 
 
 From the Recherches Philosophiques sur les Americains, 
 ly M. de Pauw. 
 
 The Americans are most remarkable, because that many 
 of them have no eyebrows, and none have beards; yet 
 we must not infer that they are enfeebled in the organs of 
 generation, since the Tartars and Chinese have almost 
 the same characteristics. They are far, however, from 
 being very fruitful, or much addicted to love. True 
 it is, the Chinese and Tartars are not absolutely 
 
NATIONAL PHYSIOGNOMY. 103 
 
 beardless. When they are about thirty a small penciled 
 kind of whisker grows on the upper lip, and some 
 scattered hairs at the end of the chin. 
 
 Exclusive of the Esquimaux, who differ in gait, form, 
 features, and manners, from other savages of North 
 America, we may likewise call the Arkansans a variety, 
 whom the French have generally named the handsome 
 men. They are all tall and straight, have good features, 
 without the least appearance of beards ; have regular 
 eyelids, blue eyes, and fine fair hair ; while the neighbour- 
 ing people are low of stature, have abject countenances, 
 black eyes, the hair of the head black as ebony, and 
 of the body thick and rough. 
 
 Though the Peruvians are not very tall, and generally 
 thick set, yet they are tolerably well made. There are 
 many, it is true, who by being diminutive are monstrous. 
 Some are deaf, dumb, blind, and idiots ; and others want 
 a limb when born. In all probability, the excessive 
 labour to which they have been subjected by the barbarity 
 of the Spaniards, has produced such numbers of defective 
 men. Tyranny has an influence on the very physical 
 temperament of slaves. Their nose is aquiline, their 
 forehead narrow, their hair black, strong, smooth, and 
 plentiful; their complexion an olive-red, the apple of 
 the eye black, and the white not very clear. They never 
 have any beard, for we cannot bestow that name on some 
 short straggling hairs which sprout in old age ; nor have 
 either men or women the downy hair which generally 
 appears after the age of puberty. In this they are 
 distinguished from all people on earth, even from the 
 Tartars and Chinese. As in eunuchs, it is the character 
 of their degeneracy. 
 
 Judging by the rage which the Americans have to 
 
'104 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 mutilate and disfigure themselves, we should suppose 
 they were all discontented with the proportions of their 
 limbs and bodies. Not a single nation has been dis- 
 covered in this fourth quarter of the globe, which has 
 not adopted the custom of artificially changing either 
 the form of the lips, the hollow of the ear, or the shape 
 of the head, by forcing it to assume an extraordinary 
 and ridiculous figure. 
 
 There are savages whose heads are pyramidal or 
 conical, with the top terminating in a point. Others 
 have flat heads with large foreheads, and the back part 
 flattened. This caprice seems to have been the most 
 fashionable, at least it was the most common. Some 
 Canadians had their heads perfectly spherical. Though 
 the natural form of the head really approaches the 
 circular, these savages who, by being thus distorted, 
 acquired the appellation of bowl or bullet-head, do not 
 appear less disgusting for having made the head too 
 round, and perverted the original purpose of nature, to 
 which nothing can be added, from which nothing can 
 be taken away, without some essential error being the 
 result, which is destructive to the animal. 
 
 In short, we have seen, on the banks of the Maragnon, 
 Americans with square or cubical heads ; that is to say, 
 flattened on the face, the top, the temples, and the 
 occiput, which appears to be the last stage of human 
 extravagance. 
 
 It is not easy to conceive how it was possible to com- 
 press and mould the bones of the skull into so many 
 various forms, without most essentially injuring the 
 seat of sense and the organs of reason, or occasioning 
 either madness or idiotism; since we so often have 
 examples, that violent contusions in the region of the 
 
NATIONAL PHYSIOGNOMY. 105 
 
 temples have occasioned lunacy, and deprived the suf- 
 ferers of intellectual capacity. For it is not true, as 
 ancient narratives have affirmed, that all Indians with 
 flat or sugar-loaf heads were really idiots. Had this 
 been the case there must have been whole nations in 
 America either foolish or frantic, which is impossible 
 even in supposition. 
 
 Observation Try Lintz. 
 
 To me it appears very remarkable that the Jews 
 should have taken with them the marks of their country 
 and race to all parts of the world ; I mean their short, 
 black, curly hair, and brown complexion. Their quick- 
 ness of speech, haste and abruptness in all their actions, 
 appear to proceed from the same causes. I imagine the 
 Jews have more gall than other men. 
 
 Extract from a Letter written by M. Fuessli, dated 
 at Presburg. 
 
 My observations have been directed (says this great 
 designer and physiognomist) not to the countenance 
 of nations only; being convinced from numberless 
 experiments that the general form of the human body, 
 its attitude and manner, the sunken or raised posi- 
 tion of the head between or above the shoulders, the 
 firm, the tottering, the hasty, or slow walk, may 
 frequently be less deceitful signs of this or that cha- 
 racter, than the countenance separately considered. I 
 believe it possible so accurately to characterize man, 
 from the calmest state of rest to the highest gradation 
 of rage, terror, and pain, that from the carriage of 
 the body, the turn of the head, and gestures in general, 
 we shall be able to distinguish the Hungarian, the 
 
A 
 
 106 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 Sclavonian, the Illyrian, the Wallachian ; and to obtain 
 a full and clear conception of the actual, and in 
 general the prominent, characteristics of this or that 
 nation. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Professor Camper. 
 
 It would be very difficult, if not impossible, to give 
 you my particular rules for delineating various nations 
 and ages with mathematical certainty, especially if I 
 would add all that I have had occasion to remark 
 concerning the beauty of the antiques. These rules I 
 have obtained by constant observations on the skulls 
 of different nations, of which I have a large collection, 
 and by a long study of the antiques. 
 
 To draw any head accurately in profile takes me 
 much time. I have dissected the skulls of people 
 lately dead, that I might be able to define the lines 
 of the countenance, and the angle of these lines with 
 the horizon. I was thus led to the discovery of the 
 maximum and minimum of this angle. I began with 
 the monkey, proceeded to the Negro and the European, 
 till I ascended to the countenances of antiquity, and 
 examined a Medusa, an Apollo, or a Venus de Medicis. 
 This concerns only the profile. There is another 
 difference in the breadth of the cheeks, which I have 
 found to be the largest among the Calmucs, and much 
 smaller among the Asiatic Negroes. The Chinese, 
 and inhabitants of the Molucca and other Asiatic 
 islands, appear to me to have broad cheeks with 
 projecting jawbones ; the under jawbone in particular 
 very high, and almost forming a right angle, which 
 among Europeans is very obtuse, and still more so 
 among the African Negroes. 
 
NATIONAL PHYSIOGNOMY. 107 
 
 I have not hitherto been able to procure a real skull 
 of an American, and therefore cannot say any thing 
 on that subject. 
 
 I am almost ashamed to confess that I have not yet 
 been able accurately to draw the countenance of a 
 Tew, although they are so very remarkable in their fea- 
 tures ; nor have I yet obtained precision in delineating 
 the Italian face. It is generally true that the upper and 
 under jaw of the European is less broad than the 
 breadth of the skull, and that among the Asiatics 
 they are much broader; but I have not been able to 
 determine the specific differences between European 
 nations. 
 
 By physiognomical sensations I have very frequently 
 been able to distinguish the soldiers of different nations 
 the Scotchman, the Irishman, and the native of 
 England; yet I have never been able to delineate 
 the distinguishing traits. The people of our provinces 
 are a mixture of all nations ; but in the remote and 
 separated cantons I find the countenance to be more 
 flat, and extraordinarily high from the eyes upward. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Extracts from the Manuscript of a Man of Literature 
 at Darmstadt, on National Physiognomy. 
 
 ALL tribes of people who live in uncultivated coun- 
 tries, and consequently are pastoral, not assimilated in 
 towns, would never be capable of an equal degree of 
 cultivation with Europeans, though they did not live 
 thus scattered. Were the shackles of slavery taken 
 off, still their minds would eternally slumber ; therefore 
 
108 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 whatever remarks we can make upon them must be 
 pathognomonical (or physiognomical), and we must 
 confine ourselves to their respective powers of mind, 
 not being able to say much of their expression. 
 
 Such people as do not bear our badges of servitude, 
 are not so miserable as we suspect. Their species of 
 slavery is more supportable in their mode of existence. 
 They are incomparably better fed than German 
 peasants, and have neither to contend with the cares 
 of providing, nor the excesses of labour. As their 
 race of horses exceeds ours in strength and size, so 
 do their people those among us who have, or suppose 
 they have, property. Their wants are few, and their 
 understanding sufficient to supply the wants they have. 
 The Eussian or Polish peasant is of necessity carpenter, 
 tailor, shoemaker, mason, thatcher, &c. ; and when we 
 examine their performances we may easily judge of 
 their capacities. Hence their aptitude at mechanical 
 and handicraft professions, as soon as they are taught 
 their principles. Invention of what is great they have 
 no pretensions to; their mind, like a machine, is at 
 rest when the necessity that sets it in motion no 
 longer impels. 
 
 Of the numerous nations subject to the Russian 
 sceptre, I shall omit those of the extensive Siberian 
 districts, and confine myself to the Russians properly 
 so called, whose countries are bounded by Finland, 
 Eastland, Livonia, and the borders of Asia. These 
 are distinguishable by prodigious strength, firm sinews, 
 broad breast, and colossal neck, which in a whole ship's 
 crew will be the same, resembling the Farnesian 
 Hercules; by their black, broad, thick, rough, strong 
 Jiair, head and beard ; their sunken eyes, black as pitch; 
 
NATIONAL PHYSIOGNOMY. 1 09 
 
 their short forehead, compressed to the nose, with an 
 arch. We often find thin lips, though in general they are 
 pouting, wide, and thick. The women have high cheek 
 bones, hollow temples, snub noses, and retreating arched 
 foreheads, with very few traits of ideal beauty. Their 
 power of propagation exceeds belief, and at a certain 
 period of life both sexes become frequently corpulent. 
 
 The Ukranians, of whom most of the regiments of 
 Cossacks are formed, dwell in the centre. They are 
 distinguished among the Eussians almost as the Jews 
 are among Europeans. They generally have aquiline 
 noses, and are nobly formed ; amorous, yielding, crafty, 
 and without strong passions; probably because, for 
 some thousands of years, they have followed agriculture, 
 have lived in society, had a form of government, and 
 inhabit a fruitful country, in a moderate climate re- 
 sembling that of France. Among all these people the 
 greatest activity and strength of body are united. They 
 are as different from the German boor as quicksilver is 
 from lead ; and how our ancestors could suppose them 
 to be stupid is inconceivable. 
 
 Thus, too, the Turks resemble the Kussians. They are 
 a mixture of the noblest blood of Asia Minor with the 
 more material and gross Tartar. The Natolian, of a 
 spiritual nature, feeds on meditation : he will for days 
 contemplate a single object, seat himself at the chess- 
 board, or wrap himself up in the mantle of taciturnity. 
 The eye, void of passion or great enterprise, abounds in 
 all the penetration of benevolent cunning ; the mouth 
 eloquent ; the hair of the head and beard, and the small 
 neck, declare the flexibility of the man. 
 
 The Englishman is erect in his gait, and generally 
 stands as if a stake were driven through his body. His 
 
110 
 
 nerves are strong, and he is the best runner. He is dis- 
 tinguished from all other men by the roundness and 
 smoothness of his face. If he neither speak nor move, 
 he seldom declares the capability and mind he possesses 
 in so superior a degree. His silent eye seeks not to 
 please. His hair, coat, and character, are alike smooth. 
 Not cunning, but on his guard ; and, perhaps, but little 
 colouring is necessary to deceive him on any occasion. 
 Like the bull-dog, he does not bark; but, if irritated, 
 rages. As he wishes not for more esteem than he merits, 
 so he detests the false pretensions of his neighbours, who 
 would arrogate excellence they do not possess. Desirous 
 of private happiness, he disregards public opinion, and 
 obtains a character of singularity. His imagination, like 
 a seacoal fire, is not the splendour that enlightens a 
 region, but expands genial warmth. Perseverance in 
 study, and pertinacity for centuries in fixed principles, 
 have raised and maintained the British spirit, as well as 
 the British government, trade, manufactures, and marine. 
 He has punctuality and probity, not trifling away his 
 time to establish false principles, or making a parade 
 with a vicious hypothesis. 
 
 In the temperament of nations the French class is 
 that of the sanguine. Frivolous, benevolent, and osten- 
 tatious, the Frenchman forgets not his inoffensive 
 parade till old age has made him wise. At all times 
 disposed to enjoy life, he is the best of companions. He 
 pardons himself much ; and therefore pardons others if 
 they will but grant that they are foreigners, and he is a 
 Frenchman. His gait is dancing, his speech without 
 accent, and his ear incurable. His imagination pursues 
 the consequences of small things with the rapidity of 
 the second-hand of a stop-watch, but seldom gives those 
 
NATIONAL PHYSIOGNOMY. Ill 
 
 loud, strong, reverberating strokes which proclaim new 
 discoveries to the world. Wit is his inheritance. His 
 countenance is open, and at first sight speaks a thousand 
 pleasant, amiable things. Silent he cannot be, either 
 with eye, tongue, or feature. His eloquence is often 
 deafening ; but his good-humour casts a veil over all his 
 failings. His form is equally distinct from that of other 
 nations, and difficult to describe in words. No other man 
 has so little of the firm or deep traits, or so much motion. 
 He is all appearance, all gesture; therefore the first 
 impression seldom deceives, but declares who and what 
 he is. His imagination is incapable of high flights, and 
 the sublime in all arts is to him offence. Hence his 
 dislike to whatever is antique in art or literature, his 
 deafness to true music, his blindness to the higher 
 beauties of painting. His last most marking trait is, 
 that he is astonished at every thing, and cannot 
 comprehend how it is possible men should be other 
 than they are at Paris. 
 
 The countenance of the Italian is soul, his speech 
 exclamation, his motion gesticulation. His form is the 
 noblest, and his country the true seat of beauty. His 
 short forehead, his strong marked eyebones, the fine 
 contour of his mouth, give a kindred claim to the 
 antiquities of Greece. The ardour of his eyes denotes 
 that the beneficent sun brings forth fruit more perfect in 
 Italy than beyond the Alps. His imagination is ever in 
 motion, ever sympathizing with surrounding objects, and 
 as in the poem of Ariosto the whole works of creation 
 are reflected, so are they generally in the national spirit. 
 That power which could bring forth such a work, 
 appears to me the general representative of genius. It 
 sings all, and from it all things are sung. The sublime 
 
112 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 in arts is the birthright of the Italian. Modern religion 
 and politics may have degraded and falsified his charac- 
 ter, may have rendered the vulgar faithless and crafty, 
 but the superior part of the nation abounds in the 
 noblest and best of men. 
 
 The Dutchman is tranquil, patient, confined, and 
 appears to will nothing. His walk and eye are long 
 silent, and an hour of his company will scarcely produce 
 a thought. He is little troubled by the tide of passions, 
 and he will contemplate unmoved the parading streamers 
 of all nations sailing before his eyes. Quiet and com- 
 petence are his gods ; therefore those arts alone which 
 can procure these blessings employ his faculties. His 
 laws, political and commercial, have originated in that 
 spirit of security which maintains him in the possession 
 of what he has gained. He is tolerant in all that relates 
 to opinion, if he be but left peaceably to enjoy his 
 property, and to assemble at the meeting-house of his 
 sect. The character of the ant is so applicable to the 
 Dutch, that to this literature itself conforms in Holland. 
 All poetical powers, exerted in great works or small, are 
 foreign to this nation. They endure pleasure from the 
 perusal of poetry, but produce none. I speak of the 
 United Provinces, and not of the Flemings, whose jovial 
 character is in the midway between the Italian and 
 French. A high forehead, half-open eyes, full nose, 
 hanging cheeks, wide open mouth, fleshy lips, broad 
 chin and large ears, I believe to be characteristic of 
 the Dutchman. 
 
 A German thinks it disgraceful not to know every 
 thing, and dreads nothing so much as to be thought a 
 fool. Probity often makes him appear a blockhead. Of 
 nothing is he so proud as of honest moral under- 
 
Plate jy. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE IV. 113 
 
 standing. According to modern tactics he is certainly 
 the best soldier, and the teacher of all Europe. 
 He is allowed to be the greatest inventor, and often 
 with so little ostentation, that foreigners have for 
 centuries, unknown to him, robbed him of his glory. 
 From the age of Tacitus, a willing dependent, he has 
 exerted faculties for the service of his masters which 
 others only exert for freedom and property. His counte- 
 nance does not, like a painting in fresco, speak at a 
 distance ; but he must be sought and studied. His good 
 nature and benevolence are often concealed under ap- 
 parent moroseness, and a third person is always neces- 
 sary to draw off the veil, and show him as he is. He is 
 difficult to move, and without the aid of old wine is 
 silent. He does not suspect his own worth, and wonders 
 when it is discovered by others. Fidelity, industry, and 
 secresy, are his principal characteristics. Not having 
 wit, he indulges his sensibility. Moral good is the 
 colouring which he requires in all acts. His epic and 
 lyric spirit walk in unfrequented paths. Hence his 
 great, and frequently gigantic sense, which seldom per- 
 mits him the clear aspect of enthusisam, or the glow 
 of splendour. Moderate in the use of this world's 
 delights, he has little propensity to sensuality and extra- 
 vagance ; but he is therefore formal, and less social than 
 his neighbour. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXII. 
 
 Description of Plate TV. 
 
 Number 1. 
 
 WE may certainly call noses arched and pointed like 
 this, witty ; but the wit is restrained and moderated by 
 
 I 
 
114 
 
 the acute understanding of the forehead, the sincere 
 religion of the eye, and the phlegm of the chin. 
 
 Number 2. 
 
 The descent from the nose to the lips in the phleg- 
 matic countenance is unphlegmatic and heterogeneous ; 
 nor does the curvature of the upper eyelids sufficiently 
 agree with the temperament. The outlines of the 
 phlegmatic are relaxed, obtuse, and hanging ; the outline 
 of the eye oblique. Be it understood there are other 
 tokens, and that all phlegmatic persons have not these 
 signs, although whoever has them is certainly phleg- 
 matic. If the projecting under lip, which is itself a 
 sign of phlegm, since it is evidently a superabundance 
 and not a want of matter, be angular, and sharply 
 delineated, then it is a sign of choleric phlegm ; that is 
 to say, of the ebullition of humidity. If it be flexible, 
 obtuse, powerless, and drooping, it is then pure phlegm. 
 The forehead, nose, chin, and hair, are here very phleg- 
 matic. 
 
 Number 3. 
 
 The choleric ought to have a more angularly pointed 
 nose, and lips more sharply delineated. The character 
 of choler is much contained in the drawing of the eyes, 
 either when the pupil projects, and much of the under 
 part of the white is visible, or when the upper eyelid 
 retreats, so that it scarcely can be perceived ; when the 
 eyes open, or when the eye is sunken, and the outlines 
 are very definite and firm, without much curvature. In 
 this example, the forehead, eyebrows, nose, chin, and 
 hair, are very choleric ; but the upper part of the coun- 
 tenance more so than the under. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE IV. 115 
 
 Number 4. 
 
 The sanguine needs but little correction, except that 
 the nose ought to be a little farther from the mouth, and 
 the eye not so choleric. The levity of the sanguine 
 temperament waves, flutters upon the lip, which, how- 
 ever, at the bottom is too phlegmatic. 
 
 Number 5. 
 
 There ought to be a deeper cavity above the nose, 
 and also of the jawbone, beside the ear, in this melan- 
 cholic countenance. I have observed in many melan- 
 cholic persons, that the nose declines towards the lips ; 
 nor have I seen this in any who were not sometimes 
 inclined to the melancholic, who likewise have projecting 
 under lips, and small, but not very round nor very 
 fleshy chins. 
 
 There are melancholy persons with very sanguine 
 temperaments ; men of fine irritability and moral feel- 
 ings, who are hurried into vices which they deeply 
 abhor, and which they have not the power to withstand. 
 The gloomy and dispirited character of such is percep- 
 tible in the eye that shuns examination, and the wrinkles 
 of the forehead standing opposite to each other. Persons 
 of a real melancholic temperament generally have their 
 mouths shut, but the lips are always somewhat open in 
 the middle. Many melancholy persons have small 
 nostrils, and seldom well-arranged, clean, white teeth. 
 
 Number 6. 
 
 Strength and ardour, enterprise, courage, contempt of 
 danger, fortitude of the irritated and irritable. This 
 strength is rather oppressive than patient and enduring ; 
 
116 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 it proclaims its own qualities, respectable in a state of 
 rest, terrible when roused. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIII. 
 
 Resemblance between Parents and Children. 
 
 THE resemblance between parents and children is 
 very commonly remarkable. Family physiognomy is as 
 undeniable as national. To doubt this is to doubt what 
 is self-evident ; to wish to interpret it is to wish to ex- 
 plore the inexplicable secret of existence. Striking and 
 frequent as the resemblance between parents and 
 children is, yet have the relations between the characters 
 and countenances of families never been inquired into. 
 No one has, to my knowledge, made any regular obser- 
 vations on this subject. I must also confess that I 
 myself have made but few with that circumstantial 
 attention which is necessary. All I have to remark is 
 as follows : 
 
 When the father is considerably stupid, and the 
 mother exceedingly the reverse, then will most of the 
 children be endured with extraordinary understanding. 
 
 When the father is good, truly good, the children will 
 in general be well-disposed ; at least most of them will 
 be benevolent. 
 
 The son generally appears to inherit moral goodness 
 from the good father, and intelligence from the intelli- 
 gent mother ; the daughter partakes of the character 
 of the mother. 
 
 If we wish to find the most certain marks of re- 
 semblance between parents and children, they should be 
 observed within an hour or two after birth. We may 
 then perceive whom the child most resembles in its 
 
FAMILY PHYSIOGNOMY. 117 
 
 formation. The most essential resemblance is usually 
 afterwards lost, and does not perhaps appear again for 
 many years ; or not till after death. 
 
 When children, as they increase in years, visibly 
 increase in the resemblance of form and features to their 
 parents, we cannot doubt but there is an increasing resem- 
 blance of character. How much soever the characters 
 of children may appear unlike that of the parents they 
 resemble, yet will this dissimilarity be found to origi- 
 nate in external circumstances ; and the variety of these 
 must be great indeed, if the difference of character is 
 not at length overpowered by the resemblance of form. 
 
 I believe that from the strongly delineated father the 
 firmness and the kind (I do not say the form, but the 
 kind) of bones and muscles are derived ; and from the 
 strongly delineated mother the kind of nerves and form 
 of countenance, if the imagination and love of the 
 mother have not fixed themselves too deeply in the 
 countenance of the man. 
 
 Certain forms of countenance, in children, appear for 
 a time undecided whether they shall take the resem- 
 blance of the father or the mother ; in which case I will 
 grant that external circumstances, preponderating love 
 for the father or mother, or a greater degree of inter- 
 course with either, may influence the form. 
 
 We sometimes see children who long retain a remark- 
 able resemblance to the father, but at length change, and 
 become more like the mother. I undertake not to 
 expound the least of the difficulties that occur on this 
 subject; but the most modest philosophy may be per- 
 mitted to compare uncommon cases with those which 
 are known, even though they were inexplicable ; and this, 
 I believe, is all that philosophy can and ought to do. 
 
118 LA VATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 We know that all longings or mother's marks, and 
 whatever may be considered as of the same nature, do 
 iot proceed from the father, but from the imagination of 
 the mother. We also know that children most resemble 
 the father only when the mother has a very lively imagi- 
 nation, and love for or fear of the husband. Therefore, 
 as has before been observed, it appears that the matter 
 and quantum of the power and of the life proceed from 
 the father; and from the imagination of the mother, 
 sensibility, the kind of nerves, the form, and the appear- 
 ance. 
 
 There are certain forms and features of countenance 
 which are long propagated, and others which as suddenly 
 disappear. The beautiful and the deformed (I do not 
 say forms of countenances, but what is generally sup- 
 posed to be beauty and deformity) are not the most 
 easily propagated ; neither are the middling and insig- 
 nificant; but the great and the minute are easily 
 inherited, and of long duration. 
 
 Parents with small noses may have children with the 
 largest and strongest defined ; but the father or mother 
 seldom, on the contrary, have a very strong, that is to 
 say, large-boned nose, which is not communicated at 
 least to one of their children, and which does not remain 
 in the family, especially when it is in the female line. 
 It may seem to have been lost for many years, but soon 
 or late will again make its appearance, and its resem- 
 blance to the original will be particularly visible a day 
 or two after death. 
 
 Where any extraordinary vivacity appears in the eyes 
 of the mother, there is almost a certainty that these eyes 
 will become hereditary ; for the imagination of the mother 
 is delighted with nothing so much as with the beauty 
 
FAMILY PHYSIOGNOMY. 119 
 
 of her own eyes. Physiognomical sensation has been 
 hitherto much more generally directed to the eye than 
 to the nose and form of the face ; but if women should 
 once be induced to examine the nose and form of the 
 face, as assiduously as they have done their eyes, it is 
 to be expected that the former will be no less strikingly 
 hereditary than the latter. 
 
 Well-arched and short foreheads are easy of inheri- 
 tance, but not of long duration ; and here the proverb is 
 applicable, Quod citb fit, vitb perit. (Soon got, soon gone.) 
 
 It is equally certain and inexplicable, that some 
 remarkable physiognomies of the most fruitful persons 
 have been wholly lost to their posterity; and it is as 
 certain and inexplicable that others are never lost. Nor 
 is it less remarkable that certain strong countenances of 
 the father or mother disappear in the children, and per- 
 fectly revive in the grandchildren. 
 
 As a proof of the powers of the imagination of the 
 mother, we sometimes see that a woman shall have 
 children by the second husband, which shall resemble 
 the first at least in the general appearance. The Italians, 
 however, are manifestly too extravagant when they sup- 
 pose children who strongly resemble their father are 
 base-born. They say that the mother, during the com- 
 mission of a crime so shameful, wholly employs her 
 imagination concerning the possibility of surprise b}; 
 and the image of, her husband. But were this fear so 
 to act, the form of the children must not only have the 
 very image of the husband, but also his appearance of 
 rage and revenge, without which the adulterous wife 
 could not imagine the being surprised by, or image of, 
 her husband. It is this appearance, this rage that she 
 fears, and not the man. 
 
120 LAVATEK'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 Natural children generally resemble one of their 
 parents more than the legitimate. 
 
 The more there is of individual love, of pure, faithful, 
 mild affection, the more is this love reciprocal and 
 unconstrained between the father and mother which 
 reciprocal love and affection imply a certain degree of 
 imagination, and the capacity of receiving impressions 
 the more will the countenances of the children appear 
 to be composed of the features of the parents. 
 
 The sanguine, of all the temperaments, is the most 
 easily inherited, and with it volatility ; and, being once 
 introduced, much industry and suffering will be necessary 
 to exterminate this volatility. 
 
 The natural timidity of the mother may easily com- 
 municate the melancholy temperament of the father. 
 Be it understood that this is easy if, in the decisive 
 moment, the mother be suddenly seized by some pre- 
 dominant fear ; and that it is less communicable when 
 the fear is less hasty and more reflective. Thus we find 
 those mothers who, during the whole time of their preg- 
 nancy, are most in dread of producing monstrous or 
 marked children, because they remember to have seen 
 objects that excited abhorrence, generally have the best 
 formed and freest from marks ; for the fear, though real, 
 was the fear of reason, and not the sudden effect of an 
 object exciting abhorrence rising instantaneously to sight. 
 
 When both parents have given a deep root to the 
 choleric temperament in a family, it may probably be 
 some centuries before it be again moderated. Phlegm 
 is not so easily inherited, even though both father and 
 mother should be phlegmatic; for there are certain 
 moments of life when the phlegmatic acts with its whole 
 power, though it acts thus but rarely, and these moments 
 
FAMILY PHYSIOGNOMY. 121 
 
 may and must have their effects ; but nothing appears 
 more easy of inheritance than activity and industry, 
 when these have their origin in organization, and the 
 necessity of producing alteration. It will be long before 
 an industrious couple, to whom not only a livelihood, 
 but business, is in itself necessary, shall not have a 
 single descendant with the like qualities, as such mothers 
 are generally prolific. 
 
 CHAPTEK XXIV. 
 
 Remarks on the Opinions of Buffon, Halter, and Bonnet, 
 
 concerning the Eesemllance between Parents 
 
 and Children. 
 
 THE theory or hypothesis of Buffon, concerning 
 the cause of the human form, is well known, which 
 Haller has abridged and more clearly explained in the 
 following manner : 
 
 " Both sexes have their semen, in which are active 
 particles of a certain form. From the union of these the 
 fruit of the womb arises. These particles contain the 
 resemblance of all the parts of the father or mother. 
 They are by nature separated from the rude and un- 
 formed particles of the human juices, and are impressed 
 with the form of all the parts of the body of the father 
 or mother. Hence arises the resemblance of children to 
 their parents. This will account for the mixture of the 
 features of father and mother in the children; for 
 the spots of animals, when the male and female are of 
 different colours ; for the Mulatto produced by a Negro 
 and a White ; and for many other phenomena difficult 
 to be resolved. 
 
122 LA VATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 " Should it be asked how these particles can assume 
 the internal structure of the body of the father, since 
 they can properly be only the images of the hollow 
 vessels, it may be answered that we know not all the 
 powers of nature, and that she may have preserved to 
 herself, though she has concealed it from her scholar, 
 man, the art of making internally models and impres- 
 sions which shall express the whole solidity of the 
 model." 
 
 Haller, in his preface to Buffon's Natural History, has 
 in my opinion indisputably confuted this system. But 
 he has not only forborne to elucidate the resemblance 
 between fathers and children, but while opposing Buffon, 
 he has spoken so much on the natural physiological 
 dissimilarity of the human body, that he appears to have 
 denied this resemblance. Buffon's hypothesis offended 
 all philosophy ; and though we cannot entirely approve 
 the theory of Bonnet, yet he has very effectually 
 opposed the incongruities of Buffon, to which Buffon 
 himself could scarcely give any serious faith. But he, 
 as we shall soon see, has either avoided the question of 
 resemblance between parents and children, or, in order 
 to strengthen his own system, has rather sought to 
 palliate than to answer difficulties. 
 
 BONNET, concerning organized Bodies. 
 
 "Are the germs of one and the same species of 
 organized bodies perfectly like each other, or individu- 
 ally distinct ? Are they only distinct in the organs 
 which characterize sex, or have they a resembling 
 difference to each other, such as we observe in indi- 
 vidual substances of the same species of plants or 
 animals ? " 
 
FAMILY PHYSIOGNOMY. 123 
 
 ANSWER. " If we consider the infinite variety to be 
 observed in all the products of nature, the latter will 
 appear most probable. The differences which are to be 
 observed in the individuals of the same species, probably 
 depend more on the primitive form of the germs than 
 in the connexion of the sexes." 
 
 On the resemblance between Children and their Parents. 
 
 " I must own that, by the foregoing hypothesis, I 
 have not been successful in explaining the resemblance 
 of features found between parents and children. But 
 are not these features very ambiguous? Do we not 
 suppose that to be the cause which probably is not so ? 
 The father is deformed, the son is deformed after the 
 same manner, and it is therefore concluded that defor- 
 mity is inherited. This may be true, but it may be 
 false. The deformity of each may arise from very 
 different causes, and these causes may be infinitely 
 varied. 
 
 " It is not so difficult to explain hereditary diseases. 
 "We can easily conceive that defective juices may pro- 
 duce defective germs ; and, when the same parts of the 
 body are affected by disease in father or mother, and 
 in child, this arises from the similar conformation of 
 the parts, by which they are subject to like inconve- 
 niences. Besides, the misshapen body often originates 
 in diseases being hereditary, which much diminishes 
 the first difficulty. For, since the juices conducted to 
 those parts are of a bad quality, the parts must be more 
 or less ill formed, according as they are more or less 
 capable of being affected by these juices/' 
 
124 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 REFLECTION. 
 
 Bonnet cannot find the origin of family likeness in his 
 system. Let us, however, take this his system in the part 
 where he finds the origin of hereditary disease. Shall the 
 defective juices of father or mother very much alter the 
 germ, and produce, in the very parts where the father or 
 mother is injured, important changes of bad formation, 
 more or less, according to the capability of the germ, and 
 its power of resistance ? And shall the healthy juices 
 of the parent in no manner affect the germ? Why 
 should not the healthy juices be as active as the un- 
 healthy? "Why should they not introduce the same 
 qualities in miniature which the father and mother 
 have in the gross ; since the father and mother assimilate 
 the nutriment they receive to their own nature, and 
 since the seminal juices are the spiritual extract of all 
 their juices and powers, as we have just reason to con- 
 clude from the most continued and accurate observations? 
 Why should they not as naturally, and as powerfully, 
 act upon the germ, to produce all possible resemblance ? 
 But which resemblance is infinitely varied, by different- 
 ly changeable and changed circumstances ; so that the 
 germ continually preserves sufficient of its own original 
 nature and properties, yet is always very distinct from 
 the parents, and sometimes even seems to have derived 
 very little from them, which may happen from a thou- 
 sand accidental causes or changes. 
 
 Hence family resemblance and dissimilarity being 
 summarily considered, we shall find that nature, wholly 
 employed to propagate, appears to be entirely directed 
 to produce an equilibrium between the individual power 
 of the germ in its first formation, and the resembling 
 
FAMILY PHYSIOGNOMY. 125 
 
 power of the parents ; but the originality of the first 
 form of the germ may not wholly disappear before 
 the too great power of resemblance to the parents, but 
 that they may mutually concur, and both be subject to 
 numberless circumstances, which may increase or di- 
 minish their respective powers, in order that the riches 
 of variety, and the utility of the creature, and its de- 
 pendence on the whole and the general Creator, may be 
 the greater and more predominant. 
 
 Every observation on the resemblance between parents 
 and children, which I have been enabled to make, con- 
 vinces me that neither the theories of Bonnet nor Buffbn 
 give any systematic explanation of phenomena, the 
 existence of which cannot be denied by the sophistry of 
 hypothesis. Diminish the difficulties as much as we 
 will, facts will still stare us in the face. If the germ 
 exist preformed in the mother, can this germ, at that 
 time, have physiognomy ? Can it, at that time, resemble , 
 the future, promiscuous, first, or second father ? Is it 
 not perfectly indifferent to either ? or, if the physiogno- 
 mical germ exist in the father, how can it sometimes 
 resemble the mother, sometimes the father, often both, 
 and often neither ? 
 
 I am of opinion that something germ-like, or a whole 
 capable of receiving the human form, must previously 
 exist in the mother ; but which is nothing more than the 
 foundation of the future fatherly or motherly I know 
 not what, and is the efficient cause of the future living 
 fruit. This germ-like something, which, most especially 
 constituted agreeable to the human form, is analogous to 
 the nature and temperature of the mother, receives a 
 peculiar individual personal physiognomy, according to 
 the propensities of the father or mother, the disposition 
 
126 
 
 of the moment of conception, and probably of many 
 other future decisive moments. 
 
 Still much remains to the freedom and predisposition 
 of man. He may deprave or improve his state of the 
 juices, he may oalm or agitate his mind, may awaken 
 every sensation of love, and by various modes increase 
 or relax them. Yet I think that neither the nature of 
 the bones, nor the muscles and nerves, consequently the 
 character, depends on the physiognomical preformation 
 preceding generation ; at least they are far from de- 
 pending on these alone, though I allow the organizable, 
 the primitive form, always has a peculiar individuality, 
 which is only capable of receiving certain subtile in- 
 fluences, and which must reject others. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXV. 
 
 Observations on the New-lorn, the Dying, and the Dead. 
 
 I HAVE had opportunities of remarking in some 
 children, about an hour after a birth attended with no 
 difficulties, a striking though infantine resemblance in 
 the profile to the profile of the father; and that in a 
 few days this resemblance had nearly disappeared. The 
 impression of the open air, nutriment, and perhaps of 
 position, had so far altered the outlines that the child 
 seemed entirely different. 
 
 Of these children I saw two dead, the one about six 
 weeks, and the other about four years old ; and, nearly 
 twelve hours after death, I observed the same profile 
 which I had before remarked an hour after birth ; with 
 this difference, that the profile of the dead child, as is 
 natural, was something more tense and fixed than the 
 
THE NEW-BORN, DYING, AND DEAD. 127 
 
 living. A part of this resemblance, however, on v the 
 third day was remarkably gone. 
 
 One man of fifty, and another of seventy years of age, 
 who fell under my observation while they were living 
 and after death, appeared while living not to have the 
 least resemblance to their sons, and whose countenance? 
 seemed to be of a quite different class ; yet, the second 
 day after death, the profile of the one had a striking 
 resemblance to that of his eldest, and of the other to 
 the profile of his third son, as much so as the profile of 
 the dead children before mentioned resembled the living 
 profile an hour after birth, stronger indeed, and, as a 
 painter would say, harder. On the third day here also 
 a part of the resemblance vanished. 
 
 I have uniformly observed, among the many dead 
 persons I have seen, that sixteen, eighteen, or twenty- 
 four hours after death, according to the disease, they 
 have had a more beautiful form, better defined, more 
 proportionate, harmonized, homogeneous, more noble, 
 more exalted, than they ever had during life. 
 
 It occurred to me that there might be in all men an 
 original physiognomy, subject to be disturbed by the 
 ebb and flow of accident and passion; and is not this 
 restored by the calm of death, like as troubled waters, 
 being again left at rest, become clear 1 
 
 I have observed some among the dying who had been 
 the reverse of noble or great during life, and who 
 some hours before their death, or perhaps some moments, 
 (one was in a delirium,) have had an inexpressible 
 ennobling of the countenance. Every body saw a new 
 man ; colouring, drawing, and grace all was new, all 
 bright as the morning; beyond expression noble and 
 .exalted ; the most inattentive must see, the most insert- 
 
128 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 sible feel, the image of God. I saw it break forth and 
 shine through the ruins of corruption, was obliged to 
 turn aside and adore in silence. Yes, glorious God; 
 still art thou there, in the weakest, most fallible men ! 
 
 CHAPTEE XXVI. 
 
 Of the Influence of Countenance on Countenance. 
 
 As the gestures of our friends and intimates become 
 our own, so in like manner does their appearance. 
 Whatever we love we would assimilate to ourselves; 
 and whatever in the circle of affection does not change 
 us into itself, that we change, as far as may be, into 
 ourselves. 
 
 All things act upon us, and we act upon all things, 
 but nothing has so much influence as what we love ; 
 and, among all objects of affection, nothing acts so 
 forcibly as the countenance of man. Its conformity to 
 our countenance makes it most worthy our affection. 
 How might it act upon, how attract our attention, had it 
 iiot some marks, discoverable or undiscoverable, similar 
 to, at least of the same kind, with the form and feature 
 of our own countenance ! 
 
 Without, however, wishing farther to penetrate into 
 what is impenetrable, or to define what is inscrutable, 
 the fact is indubitable, that countenances attract 
 countenances, and also that countenances repel coun- 
 tenances; that similarity of features between two 
 sympathetic and affectionate men, increase with the de- 
 velopment and mutual communication of their peculiar 
 individual sensations. The reflection, if I may so say, 
 
INFLUENCE OF COUNTENANCE. 129 
 
 of the person beloved remains upon the countenance of 
 the affectionate. 
 
 The resemblance frequently exists only in a single 
 point in the character of mind and countenance. A 
 resemblance in the system of the bones presupposes a 
 resemblance of the nerves and muscles. 
 
 Dissimilar education may affect the latter so much, 
 that the point of attraction may be invisible to the 
 unphysiognomical eye. Suffer the two resembling forms 
 to approach, and they will reciprocally attract and repel 
 each other; remove every intervening obstacle, and 
 nature will soon prevail. They will recognize each 
 other; and rejoice in the flesh of their flesh, and the 
 bone of their bone : with hasty steps will proceed to 
 assimilate. Such countenances also, which are very 
 different from each other, may communicate, attract, and 
 acquire resemblance; nay, their likeness may become 
 more striking than that of the former, if they happen to 
 be more flexible, more capable, and to have greater 
 sensibility. 
 
 This resemblance of features, in consequence of 
 mutual affection, is ever the result of internal nature 
 and organization, and, therefore, of the character of the 
 persons. It ever has its foundation in a preceding, 
 perhaps imperceptible resemblance, which might never 
 have been animated or suspected, had it not been set in 
 motion by the presence of the sympathetic being. 
 
 To give the character of those countenances which 
 most easily receive and communicate resemblance, would 
 be of infinite importance. It cannot but be known that 
 there are countenances that attract all, others that repel 
 all, and a third kind which are indifferent. The all- 
 repelling render the ignoble countenances, over which 
 
 K 
 
1 30 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 they have continued influence, more ignoble. The in- 
 different allows no change. The all-attracting either 
 receive, give, or reciprocally give and receive. The first 
 change a little, the second more, the third most. " These 
 are the souls (says Hemsterhuys the younger) which, 
 happily or unhappily, add the most exquisite discern- 
 ment to that excessive internal elasticity which occa- 
 sions them to wish and feel immoderately; that is to 
 say, the souls which are so modified, or situated, that 
 their attractive force meets the fewest obstacles in its 
 progress." 
 
 To study the influence of countenance, this intercourse 
 of mind would be of the utmost importance. I have 
 found the progress of resemblance most remarkable 
 when two persons, the one richly communicative, the 
 other apt to receive, have lived a considerable time to- 
 gether without foreign intervention; when he who 
 gave had given all, or he who received could receive no 
 more, physiognomical resemblance had attained its 
 grand point. 
 
 Youth, irritable, and easy to be won, let me here say 
 a word to thee. Oh ! pause, consider, throw not thyself 
 too hastily into the arms of an untried friend. A gleam 
 of sympathy and resemblance may easily deceive thee. 
 If the man who is thy second self have not yet appeared, 
 be not rash, thou shalt find him at the appointed hour. 
 Being found, he will attract thee to himself, will give and 
 receive whatever is communicable. The ardour of his 
 eyes will nurture thine, and the gentleness of his voice 
 temper thy too piercing tones. His love will shine in 
 thy countenance, and his image will appear in thee. 
 Thou wilt become what he is, and yet remain what thou 
 art. Affection will make qualities in him visible to thee, 
 
INFLUENCE OF COUNTENANCE. 131 
 
 which never could be seen by an uninterested eye. This 
 capability of remarking, of feeling what there is of 
 divine in him, is a power which will make thy counte- 
 nance assume his resemblance. - 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 On the Influence of the Imagination on the Countenance. 
 
 I MUST not leave this subject wholly in silence ; but 
 must content myself with saying only a few words, on 
 which volumes might be written. The little, the nothing 
 I have to say upon it, can only act as an inducement to 
 deeper meditations on a theme so profound. 
 
 Our own countenance is actuated by imagination, 
 rendering it in some measure resembling the beloved or 
 hated image which is living, present, and fleeting before 
 us, and is within the circle of our immediate activity. 
 If a man deeply in love, and supposing himself alone, 
 were ruminating on his beloved mistress, to whom his 
 imagination might lend some charms which, if present, 
 he would be unable to discover; were such a person 
 observed by a man of penetration, it is probable that 
 traits of the mistress might be seen in the countenance 
 of this meditating lover. So might, in the cruel 
 features of revenge, the features of the enemy be read, 
 whom imagination represents as present. And thus is 
 the countenance a picture of the characteristic features 
 of all persons exceedingly loved or hated. 
 
 It is possible that an eye less penetrating than that 
 of an angel, may read the image of the Creator in the 
 countenance of a truly pious person. He who languishes 
 after Christ, the more lively, the more distinctly, the 
 
132 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 more sublimely, he represents to himself the very pre- 
 sence and image of Christ, the greater resemblance will 
 his own countenance take of this image. The image of 
 imagination often acts more effectually than the real 
 presence; and whoever has seen him of whom we speak, 
 the great HIM, though it were but an instantaneous 
 glimpse, oh ! how incessantly will the imagination repro- 
 duce his image in the countenance ! 
 
 Our imagination also acts upon other countenances. 
 The imagination of the mother acts upon the child ; and 
 hence men long have attempted to influence the imagi- 
 nation for the production of beautiful children. In my 
 opinion, however, it is not so much the beauty of 
 surrounding forms as the interest taken concerning 
 forms in certain moments : and here, again, it is not so 
 much the imagination that acts as the spirit, that being 
 only the organ of the spirit. Thus, it is true that it is 
 the spirit that quickeneth the flesh, and the image of the 
 flesh (merely considered as such) profiteth nothing. 
 
 A look of love from the sanctuary of the soul, has 
 certainly greater forming power than hours of deliberate 
 contemplation of the most beautiful images. This form- 
 ing look, if so I may call it, can as little be premedi- 
 tatedly given, as any other naturally beautiful form can 
 be imparted by a studious contemplation in the looking- 
 glass. All that creates and is profoundly active in the 
 inner man, must be internal, and be communicated from 
 above ; as I believe it suffers itself not to be occasioned, 
 at least not by forethought, circumspection, or wisdom 
 in the agent, to produce such effects. Beautiful forms 
 or abortions are neither of them the work of art or 
 study, but of intervening causes, of the quick-guiding 
 providence, the pre-determining God. 
 
EFFECTS OF IMAGINATION ON THE FORM. 133 
 
 Endeavour to act upon affection instead of the senses. 
 If thou canst but incite love, it will of itself seek and 
 find the powers of creation ; but this very love must 
 itself be innate before it can be awakened. Perhaps, 
 however, the moment of this awakening is not in our 
 power ; and therefore to those who would, by plan and 
 method, effect that which is in itself so extraordinary, and 
 imagine they have had I know not what wise and phy- 
 siological circumspection when they first awaken love, I 
 might exclaim in the words of the enraptured songster : 
 " I charge you, ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes 
 and the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up nor awake 
 my love till he please." Here behold the forming 
 genius "Behold he cometh, leaping upon the moun- 
 tains, skipping upon the hills, like a young hart." 
 
 Unforeseen moments, rapid as the lightning, in my 
 opinion form and deform. Creation of every kind is 
 momentaneous ; the development, nutriment, change, 
 improving, injuring, is the work of time, art, industry, 
 and education. Creative power suffers itself not to be 
 studied ; creation cannot be premeditated. Marks may 
 be moulded, but living essence, within and without re- 
 sembling itself, the image of God, must be created, 
 born, " not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, 
 but of God." 
 
 CHAPTEE XXVIII. 
 
 The Effects of the Imagination on the Human Form. 
 
 THAT by the strength of imagination there are marks 
 communicated by mothers to children during pregnancy, 
 is equally tiue and comprehensible; that there are 
 
134 
 
 images, animals, fruit, or other substances, on the body 
 of the child ; marks of the hand on the very parts where 
 the pregnant person has been suddenly touched; 
 aversion to things which have occasioned disgust in the 
 mother ; and a continued scurvy communicated to the 
 child by the unexpected sight of a putrid animal. So 
 many marks on the bodies of children, arising not from 
 imaginary but real accidents, must oblige us to own that 
 there is truth in that which is inconceivable. There- 
 fore the imagination of the mother acts upon the child. 
 
 Of the innumerable examples that might be produced, 
 I shall cite the two following : 
 
 A woman during the time of her pregnancy was en- 
 gaged in a card party, and only wanted the ace of spades 
 to win all that was staked. It so happened, in the 
 change of cards, that the so-much- wished-for ace was 
 given her. Her joy at this success had such an effect 
 upon her imagination, that the child of which she was 
 pregnant, when born, had the ace of spades depicted in 
 the apple of the eye, and without injury to the organ of 
 sight. 
 
 The following anecdote is certainly true, and still 
 more astonishing : 
 
 A lady of Eeinthal had, during her pregnancy, a 
 desire to see the execution of a man who was sentenced 
 to have his right hand cut off before he was beheaded. 
 She saw the hand severed from the body, and instantly 
 turned away and went home, without waiting to see the 
 death that was to follow. This lady bore a daughter, 
 who was living at the time this fragment was written, 
 and who had only one hand. The right hand came 
 away with the after-birth. 
 
 Moral marks as well as physical are perhaps possible. 
 
EFFECTS OF IMAGINATION ON THE FORM. 135 
 
 I have heard of a physician who never failed to steal 
 something from all the chambers through which he 
 passed, which he would afterwards forget ; and in the 
 evening his wife, who searched his pockets, would find 
 keys, snuff-boxes, tois-cases, scissors, thimbles, spec- 
 tacles, buckles, spoons, and other trinkets, which she 
 restored to the owners. I have been likewise told of a 
 child who, at two years of age, was adopted when beg- 
 ging at the door of a noble family, received an excellent 
 education, and became a most worthy man except that 
 he could not forbear to steal. The mothers of these 
 two extraordinary thieves must, during pregnancy, have 
 had an extraordinary desire to pilfer. It will be self- 
 evident that, however insufferable such men are in a 
 state of society, they are rather unfortunate than 
 wicked. Their actions may be as involuntary as 
 mechanical, and, in the sight of God, probably as 
 innocent as the customary motions of our fingers when 
 we tear bits of paper, or do any other indifferent, 
 thoughtless action. 
 
 The moral worth of an action must be estimated by 
 its intention, as the political worth must by its con- 
 sequences. As little injury as the ace of spades, if the 
 story be true, did to the countenance of the child, as 
 little probably did this thievish propensity to the heart. 
 Such a person certainly had no roguish look, no 
 avaricious, downcast, sly, pilfering aspect, like one who 
 is both soul and body a thief. I have not yet seen any 
 man of such an extraordinary character, and therefore 
 cannot judge of his physiognomy by experience ; yet we 
 have reason previously to conclude, that men so uncom- 
 mon must bear some marks in their countenance of such 
 deviation of character. 
 
136 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 Those extraordinary large or small persons, by us 
 called giants and dwarfs, should perhaps be classed 
 among these active and passive effects of the imagi- 
 nation. Though giants and dwarfs are not properly 
 born such, yet it is possible, however incomprehensible, 
 that nature may first, at a certain age, suddenly enlarge 
 or contract herself. 
 
 We have a variety of examples that the imagination 
 appears not only to act upon the present, but on absence, 
 distance, and futurity. Perhaps apparitions of the dying 
 and the dead may be attributed to this kind of effect. 
 Be it granted that these facts, which are so numerous, 
 are true, and including not only the apparitions of the 
 dead, but of the living, who have appeared to distant 
 friends; after collecting such anecdotes, and adding 
 others on the subject of presage and prediction, many 
 philosophical conjectures will thence arise, which may 
 probably confirm my following proposition. 
 
 The imagination, incited by the desire and languish- 
 ing of love, or inflamed by passion, may act in distant 
 places and times. The sick or dying person, for example, 
 sighs after an absent friend who knows not of his 
 sickness, or thinks of him at the time. The pining of 
 the imagination penetrates, as I may say, walls, and 
 appears in the form of the dying person, or gives signs 
 of his presence similar to those which his actual presence 
 gives. Is there any real corporeal appearances? No. 
 The sick or dying person is languishing in his bed, and 
 has never been a moment absent; therefore there is no 
 actual appearance of him whose form has appeared. 
 What, then, has produced this appearance ? What is it 
 that has acted thus at a distance on another's senses or 
 imagination? Imagination; but the imagination through 
 
EFFECTS OF IMAGINATION OX THE FORM. 137 
 
 the focus of passion. How? It is inexplicable. But 
 who can doubt such facts who does not mean to laugh 
 at all historical facts ? 
 
 Is there any improbability that there may be similar 
 moments of mind when the imagination shall act alike 
 inexplicably on the unborn child ? That the inexplicable 
 disgusts, I will grant ; I feel it perfectly. But is it not 
 the same in the foregoing examples, and in every example 
 of the kind? Like as cripples first become so many 
 years after birth, which daily experience proves, may 
 not, after the same inconceivable manner, the seeds of 
 what is gigantic or dwarfish be the effects of the imagi- 
 nation on the fruit, which does not make its appearance 
 till years after the child is born ? 
 
 \\Vre it possible to persuade a woman to keep an 
 accurate register of what happened, in all the powerful 
 moments of imagination during her state of pregnancy, 
 she then might probably be able to foretell the chief 
 incidents, philosophical, moral, intellectual, and physio- 
 gnomical, which would happen to her child. Imagination, 
 actuated by desire, love, or hatred, may, with more than 
 lightning swiftness, kill or enliven, enlarge, diminish, 
 or impregnate, the organized foetus with the germ of 
 enlarging or diminishing wisdom or folly, death or life, 
 which shall first be unfolded at a certain time, and under 
 certain circumstances. This hitherto unexplored, but 
 sometimes decisive and revealed, creative and changing 
 power of the soul, may be in its essence identically the 
 same with what is called faith- working miracles, which 
 latter may be developed and increased by external 
 causes, wherever it exists, but cannot be communicated 
 where it is not. A closer examination of the foregoing 
 conjectures, which I wish not to be held for any thing 
 
138 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 more than conjectures, may perhaps lead to the pro- 
 foundest secrets of physiognomy. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIX. 
 
 Essay by a late Learned Man of Oldenburg, M. Sturtz, 
 on Physiognomy, interspersed with short Remarks by 
 the Author. 
 
 " LIKE Lavater, I am perfectly convinced of the truth 
 of physiognomy, and of the all significance of each limb 
 and feature. Certain it is that the mind may be read 
 in the lineaments of the body, and its motion in its 
 features and their shades. 
 
 "Cause and effect, connection and harmony, exist 
 through all nature ; therefore between the external and 
 internal of man. Our form is influenced by our parents, 
 by the earth on which we walk, the sun that warms us 
 with his rays, the food that assimilates itself with our 
 substance, the incidents that determine the fortune of 
 our lives. These all modify, repair, and chisel forth the 
 body, and the marks of the tool are apparent both in 
 body and in mind. Each arching, each sinuosity of the 
 externals, adapts itself to the individuality of the 
 internal. It is adherent and pliable, like wet drapery. 
 Were the nose but a little altered, Caesar would not be 
 the Caesar with whom we are acquainted. 
 
 " The soul being in motion, it shines through the body 
 as the moon through the ghosts of Ossian, each passion 
 throughout the human race has ever the same language." 
 
 From * east and to west, envy nowhere looks with the 
 
 * Those passages which are not marked with inverted commas are 
 the observations of M. Lavater on the different parts of M. Sturtz's 
 Essay. 
 
STURTZ OX PHYSIOGNOMY. 139 
 
 satisfied air of magnanimity, nor will discontent appear 
 like patience. Wherever patience is, there is it expressed 
 by the same signs, as likewise are anger, envy, and every 
 other passion. 
 
 " Pliiloctetes certainly expresses not the sensation of 
 pain like a scourged slave. The angels of Raphael must 
 smile more nobly than the angels of Rembrandt ; but 
 joy and pain still have each their peculiar expression : 
 they act according to peculiar laws upon peculiar 
 muscles and nerves, however various may be the shades 
 of their expression; and the oftener the passion is 
 repeated or set in motion, the more it becomes a pro- 
 pensity, a favourite habit, the deeper will be the furrows 
 it ploughs. 
 
 " But inclination, capacity, modes and gradations of ca- 
 pacity, talents, and an ability for business, lie much more 
 concealed. A good observer will discover the wrathful, 
 the voluptuous, the proud, the discontented, the malig- 
 nant, the benevolent, and the compassionate with little 
 difficulty ; but the philosopher, the poet, the artist, and 
 their various partitions of genius, he will be unable to 
 determine with equal accuracy. And it will be still 
 more difficult to assign the feature or trait in which the 
 token of each quality is seated, whether understanding 
 be in the eyebone, wit in the chin, and poetical genius 
 in the mouth." 
 
 Yet I hope, I believe nay, I know that the pre- 
 sent century will render this possible. The penetrating 
 author of this essay would not only have found it 
 possible, but would have performed it himself, had he 
 only set apart a single day to compare and examine a 
 well-arranged collection of characters, either in nature 
 or well-painted portraits. 
 
140 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 "Whenever we meet with a remarkable man, our 
 attention is always excited, and we are more or less 
 empirical physiognomists. We perceive in the aspect, 
 the mien, the smile, the mechanism of the forehead, 
 sometimes wit, at others penetration. We expect and 
 presage, from the impulse of latent sensation, very deter- 
 mined qualities from the form of each new acquaintance ; 
 and when this faculty of judging is improved by an 
 intercourse with the world, we often suceed to admiration 
 in our judgment on strangers. 
 
 "Can we call this feeling, internal unacquired 
 sensation, which is inexplicable; or is it comparison, 
 indication, conclusion from a character we have examined 
 to another which we have not, and occasioned by some 
 external resemblance ? Feeling is the segis of enthusiasts 
 and fools, and, though it may often be conformable to 
 truth, is still neither demonstration nor confirmation of 
 truth ; but induction is judgment founded on experience, 
 and this way only will I study physiognomy. 
 
 "With an air of friendship I meet many strangers, 
 with cool politness I recede from others, though there is 
 no expression of passion to attract or to disgust. On 
 farther examination, I always found that I have seen in 
 them some trait either of a worthy or a worthless person 
 with whom I was before acquainted. 
 
 " A child, in my opinion, acts from like motives when 
 he evades, or is pleased with, the caresses of strangers, 
 except that he is actuated by more trifling signs ; perhaps 
 by the colour of the clothes, the tone of the voice, or 
 often by some motion which he has observed in the 
 parent, the nurse, or the acquaintance." 
 
 This cannot be denied to be often the case, and indeed 
 much more often than is commonly supposed; yet I 
 
STUUTZ ON PHYSIOGNOMY. 341 
 
 make no doubt of being able to prove that there are, 
 in nature and art, a multitude of traits, especially of the 
 extremes of passionate as well as dispassionate faculties, 
 which of themselves, and without comparison with 
 former experiments, are with certainty intelligible to 
 P the most unpractised observer. I believe it to be incor- 
 porated in the nature of man, in the organization of our 
 eyes and ears, that he should be actuated or repulsed by 
 certain countenances as well as by certain tones. Let a 
 child who has seen but a few men, view but the open jaws 
 of a lion or a tiger, and the smile of a benevolent person, 
 and his nature will infallibly shrink from the one, and 
 meet the smile of benevolence with a smile ; not from 
 reason and comparison, but from the original feelings of 
 nature. For the same reason we listen with pleasure to 
 a delightful melody, and shudder at discordant shrieks. 
 As little as there is of comparison or consideration on 
 such an occasion, so is there equally little on the first of 
 an extremely pleasing, or an extremely disgusting 
 countenance. 
 
 " Mere sensation, therefore, is not the cause, since I 
 have good reason, when I meet a person who resembles 
 Turenne, to expect sagacity, cool resolution, and ardent 
 enterprise. If, in three men, I find one possessed of the 
 eyes of Turenne and the same marks of prudence; 
 another with his nose and high courage ; the third with 
 his mouth and activity; I then have ascertained the 
 seat where each quality expresses itself, and am justified 
 in expecting similar qualities wherever I meet similar 
 features. 
 
 "Had we, for centuries past, examined the human 
 form, arranged characteristic features, compared traits, 
 and exemplified inflections, lines, and proportions, and 
 
142 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 had we added explanations to each, then would our 
 Chinese alphabet of the race of man be complete, and 
 we need but open it to find the interpretation of any 
 countenance. Whenever I indulge the supposition that 
 such an elementary work is not absolutely impossible, 
 I expect more from it than even Lavater. I imagine 
 we may obtain a language so rich and so determinate, 
 that it shall be possible, from description only, to restore 
 the living figure; and that an accurate description of 
 the mind shall give the outline of the body, so that the 
 physiognomist, studying some future Plutarch, shall 
 regenerate great men, and ideal form shall, with facility, 
 take birth from the given definition." 
 
 This is excellent ; and, be the author in jest or ear- 
 nest, this is what I entirely, without dreaming and most 
 absolutely, expect from the following century; for which 
 purpose, with God's good pleasure, I will hereafter hazard 
 some essays. 
 
 " With these ideal forms shall the chambers of future 
 princes be hung, and he who comes to solicit employ- 
 ment shall retire without murmuring, when it is proved 
 to him that he is excluded by his nose." 
 
 Laugh or laugh not, friends or enemies of truth, this 
 will, this must happen. 
 
 " By degrees, I imagine to myself a new and another 
 world, where error and deceit shall be banished." 
 
 Banished they would be were physiognomy the 
 universal religion, were all men accurate observers, and 
 were not dissimulation obliged to recur to new arts, by 
 which physiognomy, at least for a time, may be rendered 
 erroneous. 
 
 " We have to inquire whether we should therefore be 
 happier ? " 
 
STURTZ ON PHYSIOGNOMY. 143 
 
 We should certainly be happier, though the present 
 contest between virtue and vice, sincerity and dissimu- 
 lation, which so contributes to the development of the 
 grand faculties of man, renders, as I may say, human 
 virtue divine, exalting it to heaven. 
 
 " Truth is ever found in the medium : we will not 
 hope too little from physiognomy, nor will we expect 
 too much. Here torrents of objections break in upon 
 me, some of which I am unable to answer. Do so many 
 men in reality resemble each other ? Is not the re- 
 semblance general ; and, when particularly examined, 
 does it not vanish, especially if the resembling persons 
 be compared feature by feature ? Does it not happen 
 that one feature is in direct contradiction to another ; 
 that a fearful nose is placed between eyes which betoken 
 courage ? " 
 
 In the firm parts, or those capable of sharp outlines, 
 accidents excepted, I have never yet found contradictory 
 features, but often have between the firm and the 
 flexible, or the ground-form of the flexible and their 
 apparent situation. By ground-form I mean to say that 
 which is preserved after death, unless distorted by 
 violent disease. 
 
 " It is by no means proved that resemblance of form 
 universally denotes resemblance of mind. In families 
 where there is most resemblance, there are often the 
 greatest varieties of mind. I have known twins not to 
 be distinguished from each other, between whose minds 
 there was not the least similarity." 
 
 If this be literally true, I will renounce physiognomy, 
 and whoever shall convince me of it, I will give him 
 my copy of these fragments, and an hundred physiogno- 
 mical drawings. Nor will I be my own judge : I leave 
 
144 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 
 
 it to the worthy author of this remark to choose three 
 arbiters. Let them examine the fact accurately, and, 
 if they confirm it, I will own my error. Shades, how- 
 ever, of these twin brothers will first be necessary. In 
 all the experiments I have made, I declare, upon my 
 honour, I have never made any such remark. 
 
 " In what manner shall we be able to explain the in- 
 numerable exceptions which almost Overwhelm rule ? I 
 will only produce some from my own observation. Dr. 
 Johnson had the appearance of a porter ; not the glance 
 of the eye, not any trait of the mouth, speak the man of 
 penetration or of science." 
 
 When a person of our author's penetration and judg- 
 ment thus affirms, I must hesitate, and say He has 
 observed this, I have not. But how does it happen that, 
 in, more than ten years' observation, I have never met 
 any such example ? I have seen many men, especially 
 in the beginning of my physiognomical studies, whom I 
 supposed to be men of sense, and who were not so ; but 
 never, to the best of my knowledge, did I meet a wise 
 man whom I supposed a fool In the frontispiece is an 
 engraving of Johnson. Can a countenance more tran- 
 quilly fine be imagined, one that more possesses the 
 sensibility of understanding, planning, scrutinizing ? In 
 the eyebrows only, and their horizontal position, how 
 great is the expression of profound, exquisite, pene- 
 trating understanding ? 
 
 "The countenance of Hume was that of a common 
 man." 
 
 So says common report. I have no answer but that 
 I suspect the aspect, or flexible features, on which most 
 observers found their physiognomical judgment, have, 
 as I may say, effaced the physiognomy of the bones ; as, 
 
STURTZ ON PHYSIOGNOMY. 145 
 
 for example, the outline and arching of the forehead, to 
 which scarcely one in a hundred direct their attention. 
 
 " Churchill had the look of a drover ; Goldsmith of a 
 simpleton ; and the cold eyes of Strange do not betray 
 the artist." 
 
 The greatest artists have often the coldest eyes. The 
 man of genius and the artist are two persons. Phlegm 
 is the inheritance of the mere artist. 
 
 " Who would say that the apparent ardour of Wille 
 speaks the man who passed his life in drawing parallel 
 lines ?" 
 
 Ardour and phlegm are not incompatible : the most 
 ardent men are the coolest Scarcely any observation 
 has been so much verified as this : it appears contradic- 
 tory, but it is not. Ardent, quickly determining, 
 resolute, laborious, and boldly enterprising men, the 
 moment of ardour excepted, have the coolest of minds. 
 The style and countenance of Wille, if the profile portrait 
 of him in my possession be a likeness, have this character 
 in perfection. 
 
 " It appears to me that Boucher, the painter of the 
 graces, has the aspect of an executioner." 
 
 Truly so. Such was the portrait I received. But 
 then, my good M. Sturtz, let us understand what is 
 meant by these painters of the graces. I find as little 
 in his works as in his countenance. None of the paint- 
 ings of Boucher were at all to my taste. I could not 
 contemplate one of them with pleasure, and his counte- 
 nance had the same effect. I can now comprehend, said 
 I, on the first sight of his portrait, why I have never 
 been pleased with the works of Boucher. 
 
 " I once happened to see a criminal condemned to the 
 wheel, who with satanic wickedness had murdered his 
 
 L 
 
146 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 benefactor, and who yet had the benevolent and open 
 countenance of an angel of Guido. It is not impossible 
 to discover the head of a Eegulus among guilty crimi- 
 nals, or of a vestal in the house of correction." 
 
 I can confirm, this from experience. Far be contra- 
 diction from me on this subject. But such vicious 
 persons, however hateful with respect to the appearance 
 and effect of their actions, or even to their internal 
 motives, were not originally wicked. Where is the 
 pure, the noble, finely-formed, easily-irritated man, with 
 angelic sensibility, who has not his devilish moments, 
 in which, were not opportunity happily wanting, he 
 might, in one hour, be guilty of some two or three vices 
 which would exhibit him, apparently at least, as the 
 most detestable of men ? Yet may he be a thousand 
 times better and nobler than numerous men of subaltern 
 minds, held to be good, who never were capable of com- 
 mitting acts so wicked, for the commission of which 
 they so loudly condemn him, and, for the good of society, 
 are bound to condemn. 
 
 "Lavater will answer, 'Show me these men, and I 
 will comment upon them, as I have done upon Socrates. 
 Some small, often unremarked trait, will probably 
 explain what appears to you so enigmatical/ But will 
 not something creep into the commentary which never 
 was in the text ? " 
 
 Though this may be, yet it ought not to be the case. 
 I will also grant that a man with a good countenance 
 may act like a rogue ; but, in the first place, at such a 
 moment his countenance will not appear good ; and, in 
 the next, he will infinitely oftener act like a man of 
 \\oifh. 
 
 " Have we any right, from a known character, to draw 
 
STURTZ ON PHYSIOGNOMY. 147 
 
 conclusions concerning one unknown ? or, is it easy to 
 discover what that being is, who wanders in darkness, 
 and dwells in the house of contradiction; who is one 
 creature to-day, and to-morrow the reverse ? " 
 
 How true, how important is this ! How necessary a 
 beacon to warn and terrify the physiognomist ! 
 
 "What judgment could we form of Augustus, if we 
 were only acquainted with his conduct to Cinna ? or of 
 Cicero, if we knew him only from his consulate ? How 
 gigantic rises Elizabeth among queens ; yet how little, 
 how mean was the superannuated coquette ! James II., a 
 bold general and a cowardly king ! Monk, the revenger 
 of monarchs, the slave of his wife ! Algernon Sydney 
 and Eussell, patriots worthy of Koine, sold to France ! 
 Bacon, the father of wisdom, a bribed judge ! Such dis- 
 coveries make us shudder at the aspect of man, and 
 shake off friends and intimates like coals of fire from 
 the hand. When such cameleon minds can be one 
 moment great; at another contemptible, and alter their 
 form, what can that form say ? " 
 
 Their form shows what they may, what they ought to 
 be, and their aspect in the moment of action what they 
 are. Their countenance shows their power, and their 
 aspect the application of their power. The expression 
 of their littleness may probably be like the spots of the 
 sun, invisible to the naked eye. 
 
 " Does not that medium through which we are accus- 
 tomed to look tinge our judgment ? Smellfuugus views 
 all objects through a blackened glass ; another through 
 a prism. Many contemplate virtue through a diminish- 
 ing, and vice through a magnifying, medium." 
 
 How excellently expressed ! 
 
 "A book written by Swift on physiognomy would 
 
148 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 certainly have been very different from that of Lavater. 
 National physiognomy is still a large uncultivated field. 
 The families of the fair classes of the race of Adam, from 
 the Esquimaux to the Greeks in Europe, and in Ger- 
 many alone what varieties are there which can escape 
 no observer ? Heads bearing the stamp of the form of 
 government, which ever will influence education; repub- 
 lican haughtiness, proud of its laws; the pride of the 
 slave, who feels pride because he has the power of 
 inflicting the scourges he has received; Greeks, under 
 Pericles and under Hassan Pacha ; Romans in a state 
 of freedom, governed by emperors and governed by 
 popes ; Englishmen under Henry the Eighth and Crom- 
 well. How have I been struck by the portraits of 
 Hampden, Pym, and Yane ! All produce varieties of 
 beauty, according to the different nations." 
 
 It is impossible for me to express how much I think 
 myself indebted to the author of this spirited and 
 energetic essay. How worthy an act was it in him, 
 whom I had unintentionally offended, concerning whom 
 I had published a judgment far from sufficiently noble, 
 to send me this essay, with liberty to make what use of 
 it I pleased ! In such a manner, in such a spirit, may 
 informations, corrections, or doubts be ever conveyed to 
 me ! Shall I need to apologize for having inserted it * 
 or rather, will not most of my readers say, Give us more 
 such. 
 
QUOTATIONS FROM HUART. 149 
 
 CHAPTEK XXX. 
 
 Quotations from Huart, with Remarks thereon. 
 
 1. . 
 
 " MANY, who are really wise, often appear not to be 
 so ; and others who appear to be wise, are the reverse. 
 Some, again, neither are nor appear to be wise, while 
 others have the possession and appearance of wisdom." 
 
 A touchstone for many countenances. 
 
 2. 
 
 "Tho son is often brought in debtor to the great 
 understanding of the father." 
 
 3. 
 
 " "Wisdom in infancy denotes folly in manhood." 
 
 4. 
 
 "No aid can make those bring forth who are not 
 pregnant" 
 
 We must not expect fruit where seed has not been 
 sown. How advantageous, how important, would physio- 
 gnomy become, were it, by being acquainted with every 
 sign of intellectual and moral pregnancy, enabled to 
 render aid to all the pregnant ! 
 
 5. 
 
 " The external form of the head is what it ought to 
 be, when it resembles a hollow globe slightly compressed 
 at the sides, with a small protuberance -at the forehead 
 and back of the head. A very flat forehead, or a sudden 
 descent at the back of the head, are no good tokens of 
 un derstanding. " 
 
 The profile of such a head, notwithstanding the com- 
 
150 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 pressure, would be more circular than oval. The profile 
 of a good head ought to form a circle only when 
 combined with the nose ; therefore, without the nose it 
 approaches much more to the oval than the circular. 
 " A very flat forehead (says our author) is no good sign 
 of understanding." True, if the flatness resembles that of 
 the ox ; but I have seen perfectly fiat foreheads let me 
 be rightly understood, I mean flat only between and 
 above the eyebrows in men of great wisdom. Much, 
 indeed, depends upon the position and curves of the 
 outlines of the forehead. 
 
 6. 
 
 "Man has more brain than any animal. Were the 
 quantity of the brain in two of the largest oxen compared 
 to the quantity found in the smallest man, it would 
 prove to be less." 
 
 7. 
 
 "Large oranges have thick skins and little juice. 
 Heads of much bone and flesh have little brain. Large 
 bones, with abundance of flesh and fat, are impediments 
 to the mind." 
 
 8. 
 
 " The heads of wise persons are very weak, and sus- 
 ceptible of the most minute impressions." 
 
 Often, not always. And how wise ? Wise to plan, 
 but not to execute. Active wisdom must have harder 
 bones. One of .the greatest of this earth's wonders is a 
 man in whom the two qualities are united, who has 
 sensibility even to painful excess, and colossal courage 
 to resist the impetuous torrent, the whirlpool, by whicli 
 he shall be assailed. Such characters possess sensibility 
 
QUOTATIONS FROM HUABT. 151 
 
 from the tenderness of bodily feeling ; and strength not 
 not so much in the bones as in the nerves. 
 
 9. 
 
 " A thick belly," says Galen, " a thick understanding." 
 With equal truth or falsehood, I may add, a thin 
 belly a thin understanding. Remarks so general, which 
 would prove so many able and wise men to be fools, I 
 value but little. A thick belly certainly is no positive 
 token of understanding, it is rather positive for sen- 
 suality, which is detrimental to the understanding ; but 
 abstractedly, and unconnected with other indubitable 
 marks, I cannot receive this as a general proposition. 
 
 10. 
 
 " Aristotle holds the smallest heads to be the wisest." 
 But this, with all reverence for so great a man, I 
 think was spoken without reflection. Let a small head 
 be imagined on a great body, or a great head on a small 
 body, each of which may be found in consequence of 
 accidents that excite or retard growth ; and it will be 
 perceived that, without some more definite distinction, 
 neither the large nor the small head is, in itself, wise or 
 foolish. It is true that large heads with short trian- 
 gular foreheads are foolish, as are those large heads 
 which are fat, and incumbered with flesh ; but small, 
 particularly round heads, with the like incumbrance, are 
 intolerably foolish, and generally possess that which 
 renders their intolerable folly more intolerable, a preten- 
 sion to wisdom. 
 
 11. 
 
 " It is a good sign when a small person has a head 
 somewhat large, and a large person has the head some- 
 what small" 
 
152 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 Provided this extend no farther than somewhat, it 
 may be supportable; but it is certainly for the best 
 when the head is in such proportion to the body, that 
 it is not remarkable either for its largeness or smallness. 
 
 12. 
 
 " Memory and imagination resemble the understand- 
 ing, as a monkey does a man." 
 
 13. 
 
 "Whether the flesh be hard or tender, it is of no 
 consequence to the genius, if the brain do not partake of 
 the same quality; for experience tells us that the latter 
 is very often of a different temperament to the other 
 parts of the body. But when both the brain and the 
 flesh are tender, they betoken ill to the understanding, 
 and equally ill to the imagination." 
 
 14. 
 
 " Phlegm and blood are the fluids which render the 
 flesh tender ; and those being moist, according to Galen, 
 render men simple and stupid. The fluids, on the con- 
 trary, which harden the flesh, are choler and melancholy, 
 (or bile,) and these generate wisdom and understanding. 
 It is, therefore, a much worse sign to have tender flesh 
 than rough ; and tender signifies a bad memory, with 
 weakness of understanding and imagination." 
 
 It occurs to me that there is an intelligent tenderness 
 of flesh, which announces much more understanding 
 than do the opposite qualities of rough and hard. I can 
 no more class coriaceous flesh as the characteristic of 
 understanding, than I can tenderness of flesh, without 
 being more accurately defined, as the characteristic of 
 folly. It will be proper to distinguish between tender 
 
QUOTATIONS FROM HUABT. 153 
 
 and porous or spongy, and between rough and firm 
 without hardness. 
 
 15. 
 
 " We must examine the hair, if we wish to discover 
 whether the quality of the brain corresponds with the 
 flesh. If the hair be black, strong, rough, and thick, it 
 betokens strength of imagination and understanding." 
 
 I am of a different opinion. Let not this be expressed 
 in such general terms. At this moment I recollect a 
 very weak man, by nature weak, with exactly such hair. 
 This roughness (sprodiyheif) is a fatal word, which, taken 
 in what sense it will, never signifies any good. 
 
 " But if the hair be tender and weak, it denotes 
 nothing more than goodness of memory." 
 
 Once more too little ; it denotes a fine organization, 
 which receives the impression of images at least as 
 strongly as the signs of images. 
 
 16. 
 
 " When the hair is of the first quality, and we would 
 farther distinguish whether it betokens goodness of 
 understanding or imagination, we must pay attention 
 to the laugh. Laughter betrays the quality of the ima- 
 gination." 
 
 I may venture to add, of the understanding, of the 
 heart, of power, love, hatred, pride, humility, truth, and 
 falsehood. Would I had artists who would watch for 
 and design the outlines of laughter ! The physiognomy 
 of laughter would be the best of elementary books for 
 the knowledge of man. If the laugh be good, so is the 
 person. It is said of Christ that he never laughed. I 
 believe it ; bat, had he never smiled, he would not have 
 
154 LAVATERS PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 been human. The smile of Christ must have contained 
 the precise outline of brotherly love. 
 
 17. 
 " Heraclitus says, A dry eye, a wise mind." 
 
 18. 
 
 " We shall discover few men of great understanding 
 
 who write a fine hand." 
 i 
 
 It might have been said, with more accuracy, a school- 
 master's hand. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 Remarks on an Essay on Physiognomy by Professor 
 Lichteriberg. 
 
 MUCH intelligence, much ornament, and a mild dif- 
 fusive eloquence, are blended in this essay. It is the 
 work of a learned, penetrating, and, in many respects, 
 highly meritorious person, who appears to possess much 
 knowledge of men, and a large portion of the prompt 
 spirit of 'observation. This essay merits the utmost 
 attention and investigation. It is so interesting, so com- 
 prehensive, affords so much opportunity of remark for 
 the physiognomist, and of remarks which I have yet to 
 make, that I cannot avoid citing the most important 
 passages, and submitting them to an unprejudiced and 
 accurate examination. 
 
 It is far from my intention or wish to compare myself 
 with the excellent author, to make any pretensions to 
 his fanciful and brilliant wit, and still less to his learn- 
 ing and penetration. It is perhaps my wish, though I 
 
REMARKS ON LICHTENBERO. 155 
 
 dare not hope, to meet and answer him with the same 
 elegance as his polished mind and fine taste seem to 
 demand. I am sensible of those wants which are 
 peculiar to myself, and which must remain mine even 
 when I have truth on my side. Yet, worthy sir, be 
 assured that I shall never be unjust, and that, even 
 where I cannot assent to your observations, I shall never 
 forget the esteem I owe your talents, learning, and 
 merits. 
 
 We will now, in supposition, sit down in friendship 
 with your essay before us, and with that benevolence 
 which is most becoming men, philosophers in particu- 
 lar, explain our mutual sentiments concerning nature 
 and truth. 
 
 ON PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 " Certainly," says our author, " the freedom of thought, 
 and the very recesses of the heart, were never more 
 severely scrutinized than in the present age." 
 
 I cannot help thinking that, at the very beginning, 
 an improper point of view is taken, which may probably 
 lead the author and reader astray through the whole 
 essay. For my own part, at least, I know of no attacks 
 on the freedom of thought, or the secret recesses of the 
 heart. It is universally known that my labours have 
 been less directed to this than to the knowledge of pre- 
 dominant character, capacities, talents, powers, inclina- 
 tions, activity, genius, religion, sensibility, irritability, 
 and elasticity of men in general, and not to the discovery 
 of actual and present thought. As far as I am con 
 cerned, the soul may and can, in our witty author's own 
 words, " brood as secretly over its treasures as it might 
 have done centuries ago ; may as tranquilly smile at the 
 
150 LAVATEU'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 progress of all Babylonian works, at all proud assailants 
 of heaven, convinced that, long before the completion of 
 their work, there shall be a confusion of tongues, and 
 the master and the labourers shall be scattered." 
 
 I should enjoy the laugh as much as any one, at the 
 arrogance of that physiognomist who should pretend to 
 read in the countenance the most secret thoughts and 
 motions of the soul at any given moment, although 
 there are moments in which they are legible to the most 
 unpractised physiognomist. 
 
 I am also of opinion that the secrets of the heart 
 belong to pathognomy, to which* I direct my attention 
 much less than to physiognomy ; of which the author 
 says, more wittily than truly, " it is as unnecessary to 
 write as on the art of love." 
 
 The author is very right in reminding us, " that we 
 ought to seek physiognomical instruction from known 
 characters with great caution, and even diffidence." 
 
 Our author then says, " Whether physiognomy, in its 
 utmost perfection, would promote philanthropy, is at 
 least questionable." 
 
 I confidently answer unquestionable, and I hope 
 immediately to induce the reasonable and philanthropic 
 author to say the same. Physiognomy, in its utmost 
 perfection, must mean the knowledge of men in its 
 utmost perfection. And shall not this promote the love 
 of man ? or, in other words, shall it not discover innu- 
 merable perfections which the half physiognomist, or 
 the unphysiognomist, are unable to discover? Noble 
 and penetrating friend of man, while writing this you 
 had forgotten what you had so truly, so beautifully said, 
 " that the most hateful deformity might, by the aid of 
 virtue, acquire irresistible charms :" and to whom more 
 
REMARKS ON LICHTENBERG. 157 
 
 irresistible, more legible, than to the perfect physio- 
 gnomist? Irresistible charms certainly promote not 
 hatred, but love. From my own experience, I can 
 sincerely declare that the improvement of my physio- 
 gnomical knowledge has extended and increased the 
 power of love in my heart. 
 
 Though this knowledge may sometimes be the author 
 of affliction, still it is ever true that the affliction occa- 
 sioned by certain countenances, endears, sanctifies, and 
 renders enchanting whatever is noble and lovely, which 
 often glows in the human countenance like embers 
 among ashes. My attention to the discovery of this 
 secret goodness is increased, and the object of my labours 
 is its increase and improvement; and how do esteem 
 and love extend themselves wherever I perceive a pre- 
 ponderance of goodness ! On a more accurate observation, 
 the very countenances that afflict me, and which for 
 some moments incense me against humanity, do but 
 increase a tolerant and benevolent spirit; for I then 
 discern the load and the nature of that sensuality against 
 which they have to combat. 
 
 All truth, all knowledge of what is, of what acts 
 upon us, and on which we act, promotes general and 
 individual happiness. "Whoever denies this is incapable 
 of investigation. The more perfect this knowledge is, 
 the greater are its advantages. Whatever profits, 
 whatever promotes happiness, promotes philanthropy. 
 Where are happy men to be found without philanthropy ? 
 Are such beings possible ? Were happiness and philan- 
 thropy to be destroyed or lessened by any perfect 
 science, truth would war with truth, and eternal wisdom 
 with itself. 
 
 He who can seriously maintain that a perfect science 
 
158 LATATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 may be detrimental to human society, or may not promote 
 philanthropy, (without which happiness among men 
 cannot be supposed,) is certainly not a man in whose 
 company our author would wish to philosophize, as he 
 certainly will, with me, assume it as an axiom that 
 " the nearer truth the nearer happiness." The more our 
 knowledge and judgment resemble the knowledge and 
 judgment of the Deity, the more will our philanthropy 
 resemble the philanthropy of the Deity. He who knows 
 how man is formed, who remembers that he is but dust, 
 is the most tolerant friend of man. 
 
 I believe angels to be better physiognomists and more 
 philanthropic than men, though they may perceive in 
 us a thousand failings and imperfections which may 
 escape the most penetrating eye of man. God, having 
 the most knowledge of spirit, is the most tolerant of 
 spirits. And who was more tolerant, more affectionate, 
 more lenient, more merciful than thou, who needest not 
 that any should testify of man, for thou knewest what was 
 in man ? 
 
 "It is certain that the industrious, the insinuating 
 and active blockheads in physiognomy, may do much 
 injury to society." 
 
 Be assured, my worthy sir, it is my earnest desire, my 
 known endeavour, to deter such blockheads from study- 
 ing physiognomy. This evil can be prevented only by 
 accurate observation. True it is that every science may 
 become dangerous when studied by the superficial and 
 the foolish, and the very reverse when studied by the 
 accurate and the wise. According to your own princi- 
 ples, therefore, we must agree in this, that none but the 
 superficial, the blockhead, the fanatical enemy of know- 
 ledge and learning in general can wish to prevent " all 
 
REMARKS ON LICHTENBERG. 159 
 
 investigation of physiognomical principles;" none but 
 such a person "can oppose physiognomical labours; 
 none but a blockhead will suppose it unworthy and 
 impracticable in these degenerate days to awaken sensi- 
 bility and the spirit of observation, or to improve the 
 arts and the knowledge of men." To grant all this as 
 you, sir, do, and yet to speak with bitterness against 
 physiognomy and physiognomists, I call sowing tares 
 among the good seed. 
 
 Our author next proceeds to distinguish between 
 physiognomy and pathognomy. "Physiognomy (he 
 defines to be) a capability of discovering the qualities of 
 the mind and heart from the form and qualities of tho 
 external parts of the body, especially the countenance, 
 exclusive of all transitory signs of the motion of the 
 mind; and pathognomy, the whole semeiotica of the 
 passions, or the knowledge of the natural signs of the 
 motions of the mind, according to all their gradations 
 and combinations." 
 
 I entirely agree with this distinction, and likewise 
 subscribe to these given definitions. 
 
 It is in the next place asked, Is there physiognomy ? 
 is there pathognomy? To the latter the author justly 
 replies, " This no man ever yet denied ; for what would 
 all theatrical representations be without it? The 
 language of all ages and nations abounds with pathogno- 
 niical remarks, and with which they are inseparably 
 interwoven." 
 
 However, after reading the work several times, I can- 
 not discover whether the author does or does not grant 
 the reality of physiognomy. In one passage the author 
 very excellently says, " No one will deny that in a world 
 where all thing are cause and effect, and where miracles 
 
100 LAVATERS PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 are not to be found, each part is a mirror of the whole. 
 We are often able to conclude from what is near to what 
 is distant, from what is visible to what is invisible, from 
 the present to the past and the future. Thus the history 
 of the earth is written, in nature's characters, in the form 
 of each tract of country, of its sands, hills, and rocks. 
 Thus each shell of the seashore proclaims the once 
 included mind, connected, like the mind of man, with 
 this shell. Thus also might the internal of man be 
 expressed by the external on the countenance, concern- 
 ing which we particularly mean to speak. Signs and 
 traces of thought, inclination, and capacity, must be 
 perceptible. How visible are the tokens impressed upon 
 the body by trade and climate ! yet what are trade and 
 climate compared to the ever-active soul, creative in 
 every fibre, of whose absolute legibility from all and to 
 all no one doubts?" 
 
 The writer of the above excellent passage is the last 
 person from whom I should have expected the follow- 
 ing : " What ! the physiognomist will exclaim, can the 
 soul of Newton reside in the head of a Negro, or an 
 angelic mind in a fiendlike form?" 
 
 As little could I have expected this passage : 
 
 " Talents, and the endowments of the mind in general, 
 are not expressed by any signs in the firm parts of the 
 head." 
 
 I have never in my life met with any thing more con- 
 tradictory to nature, and to each other, than the foregoing 
 and the following paragraphs : 
 
 " If a pea were thrown into the Mediterranean, an eye 
 more piercing than ours, though infinitely less pene- 
 trating than the eye of Him who sees all things, might 
 perceive the effects produced on the coast of China." 
 These are our author's very words. 
 
REMARKS ON LICHTENBERG. 1C1 
 
 And shall the whole living powers of the soul, 
 " creative in every fibre," have no determinate influence 
 on the firm parts, those boundaries of its activity, which 
 first were yielding, and, acted upon, impressed by every 
 muscle ; which resemble each other in no human body, 
 which are so various as characters and talents, and are 
 as certainly different as the most flexible parts of man ? 
 Shall the whole powers of the soul, I say, have no de- 
 terminate influence on these, or not by these be defined ? 
 
 In order to avoid the future imputation of indulging 
 the shallow stream of youthful declamation, instead of 
 producing facts and principles deduced from experience, 
 let us oppose experience to declamation, and facts to 
 subtleties. But first a word, that we may perfectly re- 
 move a degree of ambiguity which I should not have 
 expected from the accuracy of a mathematician. 
 
 " Why not," says our author " why not the soul of 
 Newton in the head of a Negro ? Why not an angel 
 mind in a fiend-like form ? Who, reptile, empowered 
 thee to judge of the works of God ? " 
 
 Let us represent things in their proper light. We do 
 not speak here of what God can do, but of what is to be 
 expected from the knowledge we have of his works. 
 We ask what the Author of order actually does, and not 
 whether the soul of Newton can exist in the body of a 
 Negro, or an angelic soul in a fiendlike form. The 
 physiognomical question is, Can an angel's soul act the 
 same in a fiendlike body as in the angelic body ? or, in 
 other words, Could the mind of Newton have invented 
 the theory of light, residing in the head of a Negro, 
 thus and thus defined ? Such is the question. 
 
 Will you, sir, who are the friend of truth will you 
 answer, It might? You who have previously said of 
 
 M 
 
162 LA ^ATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 the world, " All things in it are cause and effect, and 
 miracles are not to be found ?" 
 
 " I should indeed be a reptile judging the works of 
 God, did I maintain its impossibility by miracle ; but 
 the question at present is not concerning miracles ; it is 
 concerning natural cause and effect." 
 
 After having thus stated the argument, permit me, sir, 
 to decide it by quoting your own words : " Judas 
 scarcely could be that dirty, deformed mendicant painted 
 by Holbein. No hypocrite who associates with the 
 good, betrays with a kiss, and afterwards hangs himself, 
 has the look of Holbein's Judas. My experience leads 
 me to suppose Judas must have been distinguished by 
 an insinuating countenance and an ever-ready smile." 
 
 How true ! how excellent ! Yet what if I were to 
 exclaim, " Who empowered thee, reptile, to judge of the 
 works of God ? " What if I were to retort the following 
 just remark, " Tell me first, why a virtuous mind is so 
 often doomed to exist in an infirm body ? Might not 
 also, were it God's good pleasure,, a virtuous man have a 
 countenance like the beggarly Jew of Holbein, or any 
 other that can be imagined?" 
 
 Can this, however, be called wise or manly reasoning ? 
 How wide is the difference between suffering and dis- 
 gusting virtue ! or, is it logical to deduce that, because 
 virtue may suffer, virtue may be disgustful? Is not 
 suffering essential to virtue ! To ask why virtue must 
 suffer, is equivalent to asking why God has decreed that 
 virtue should exist. Is it alike incongruous to admit 
 that virtue suffers, and that virtue looks like vice? 
 Virtue void of conflict, of suffering, or of self-denial, is 
 not virtue accurately considered ; therefore it is folly to 
 ask, why must the virtuous suffer ? It is in the nature 
 

 REMARKS OX LICHTEXBERG. 163 
 
 of things ; but it is not in the nature of things, not in the 
 relation of cause and effect, that virtue should look like 
 vice, or wisdom like foolishness. How, good sir, could 
 you forget what you have so expressively said, " There 
 is no durable beauty without virtue; and the most hate- 
 ful deformity may, by the aid of virtue, acquire the 
 most irresistible charms? The author is acquainted 
 with several women whose example might inspire the 
 most ugly with hope." 
 
 What may be the infirmities of the virtuous we do 
 not inquire, nor whether a man of genius may become a 
 fool; we ask whether virtue, while existing, can look 
 like present vice, or actual folly like actual wisdom? 
 You, sir, who are so profound an inquirer into the 
 nature of man, will certainly never grant (who, indeed, 
 will?) that the soul of the beloved disciple of Christ 
 could, without a miracle, reside in the dirty, deformed 
 mendicant, the beggarly Jew of Holbein, and act as freely 
 in that as in any other body. Will you, sir, continue to 
 rank yourself, in your philosophical researches, with 
 those who, having maintained such senseless proposi- 
 tions, rid themselves of all difficulties by asking. " Who 
 empowered thee, reptile, to judge of the works of God ?* 
 
 Let us proceed to examine a few more passages. 
 
 "Our senses acquaint us only with the superficies, 
 from which all deductions are made. This is not very 
 favourable to physiognomy, for which something more 
 definite is requisite, since this reading of the superficies 
 is the source of all our errors, and frequently of our 
 ignorance." 
 
 So it is with us in nature : we absolutely can read 
 nothing more than the superficies. In a world devoid 
 of miracles, the external ever must have a relation to 
 
164 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 the internal ; and, could we prove all reading of the 
 superficies to be false, what should we effect but the 
 destruction of all human knowledge ? All our inquiries 
 produce only new superficies ; all our truth must be the 
 truth of the superficies. It is not the reading of the 
 superficies that is the source of all our error ; for, if so, 
 we should have no truth ; but the not reading, or, which 
 is the same in effect, the not rightly reading. 
 
 If " a pea thrown into the Mediterranean Sea would 
 effect a change in the superficies which should extend 
 to the coast of China," any error that we might commit 
 in our conclusions concerning the action of this pea, 
 would not be because we read only the superficies, but 
 because we cannot read the superficies. 
 
 "That we can only read the superficies is not very 
 favourable to physiognomy, for which something more 
 definite is requisite." Something more definite we have 
 endeavoured to give, and wish to hear the objections 
 of acute inquirers. But let facts be opposed to facts. 
 Does not our author, by the expression "since the internal 
 is impressed upon the external," seem to grant the 
 possibility of this impression ? And if so, does not the 
 superficies become the index of the internal ? Does he 
 not thereby grant the physiognomy of the firm parts ? 
 
 He proceeds to ask, "If the internal be impressed upon 
 the external, is the impression to be discovered by the 
 eyes of men ? " Dare I trust my eyes that I have read 
 such a passage in the writings of a philosopher ? 
 
 We certainly see what we see. Be the object there or 
 be it not, the question ever must be, Do we or do we not 
 see? That we do see, and that the author, whenever 
 he pleases, sees also, his essay is a proof, as are his other 
 works, Be this as it may, I know not what would 
 
REMARKS ON LICHTEXBERG. 1(>J 
 
 )me of all our philosophers and philosophy, were we, 
 
 every new discovery of things, or the relations of things, 
 to ask, Was this thing placed there to be discovered ? 
 With what degree of ridicule would our witty author 
 treat the man who should endeavour to render astronomy 
 contemptible by asking, " Though the wisdom of God is 
 manifest in the stars, were the stars placed there to be 
 discovered ? 
 
 " Must not signs and effects which we do not seek, 
 conceal and render those erroneous of which we are in 
 search ? " 
 
 The signs we seek are manifest, and may be known : 
 they are the terminations of causes, therefore effects, 
 therefore physiognomical expessions. The philosopher is 
 an observer, an observer of that which is sought or not 
 sought. He sees and must see that which presents 
 itself to his eyes ; and that which presents itself is the 
 symbol of something that does not present itself. What 
 he sees can only mislead him when he does not see 
 rightly. If the conclusion be true, "that signs and 
 effects which we do not seek, must conceal and render 
 erroneous those of which we are in search," then ought 
 we to seek no signs and effects, and thus all sciences 
 vanish. 
 
 I have reason to hope that a person of so much learn- 
 ing as is our author, would not sacrifice all human 
 sciences for the sole purpose of heaping physiognomy on 
 a pile. I grant the possibility and facility of error is 
 there ; and this should teach us circumspection, should 
 teach us to see the thing that is, without the addition 
 of any thing that is not. But to wish, by any pretence, 
 to divert us from seeing and observing, and to render 
 inquiry contemptible, whether with rude or refined wit, 
 
166 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 would be the most ridiculous of all fanaticism. Such 
 ridicule, in the mouth of a professed enemy of false 
 philosophers, would be as vapid as false. I am indeed 
 persuaded that my antagonist is not serious, and in 
 earnest. 
 
 " Were the growth of the body (says the author) in 
 the most pure of atmospheres, and modified only by the 
 emotions of the mind, undisturbed by any external 
 power, the ruling passion and the prevailing talent, I 
 allow, might produce, according to their different gra- 
 dations, different forms of countenance, like as different 
 salts crystallize in different forms, when obstructed by 
 no impediment. But is the body influenced by the 
 mind alone, or is it not rather exposed to all the 
 impulses of various contradictory powers, the laws of 
 which it is obliged to obey ? Thus each mineral, in its 
 purest state, has its peculiar form; but the anomalies 
 which its combination with others occasions, and the 
 accidents to which it is subjected, often cause the most 
 experienced to err when they would distinguish it by 
 its form." 
 
 How strange is this simile ! Salts and minerals 
 compared to an organized body, internally animate ! A 
 grain of salt, which the least particle of water will 
 instantaneously melt, to the human skull, which has 
 defied misfortune and millions of external impressions 
 for centuries ! Dost thou not blush, Philosophy ? Not 
 to confine ourselves to the organization or the skulls of 
 men and other animals, do we find that even plants, 
 which have not the internal resistance, the elasticity of 
 man, and which are exposed to millions of counteracting 
 impressions from light, air, and other bodies, ever change 
 their form in consequence of such causes ? Which of 
 
REMARKS ON LICHTENBERG. 167 
 
 iem is ever mistaken for another by the botanist? 
 most violent accidents scarcely could effect such a 
 change, so long as they should preserve their organiza- 
 tion. 
 
 " Thus is the body mutually acted upon by the mind 
 and external causes, and manifests not only our inclina- 
 tions and capacities, but also the effects of misfortune, 
 climate, diseases, food, and thousands of inconveniences 
 to which we are subjected, not always in consequence of 
 our vice, but often by accidents, and sometimes by our 
 virtues." 
 
 Nobody can or will attempt to deny this. But is the 
 foregoing question hereby answered ? We are to attend 
 to that. Does not our essayist himself say, " The body is 
 acted upon by the mind and external causes ? " There- 
 fore not by external causes alone. May it not equally 
 be affected by the internal energy or inactivity of the 
 mind ? What are we contending for ? Has it not (if in- 
 deed the author be in earnest) the appearance of sophistry 
 to oppose external to internal effects, and yet own 
 the body is acted upon by both? And will you, sir, 
 acute and wise as you are, maintain that misfortune can 
 change a wise, a round, and an arched, into a cylindrical 
 forehead; one that is lengthened into one that is square; 
 or the projecting into the short retreating chin ? Who 
 can seriously believe and affirm that Charles XII., 
 Henry IV., and Charles V., men who were undoubtedly 
 subject to misfortunes if ever men were, thereby acquired 
 another form of countenance, (we speak of the firm parts, 
 not of scars,) and which forms denoted a different charac- 
 ter to what each possessed previous to such misfortunes ? 
 Who will maintain that the noses of Charles XII. or 
 Henry IV., denoting power of mind previous to their 
 
168 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 reverse of fortune, the one at Pultowa, the other by the 
 hand of Ravaillac, suffered any change, and were debased 
 to the insignificant pointed nose of a girl ? Nature acts 
 from within upon the bones ; accident and suffering act 
 on the nerves, muscles, and skin. If any accident 
 attack the bones, who is so blind as not to remark such 
 physical violence ? The signs of misfortune are either 
 strong or feeble : when they are feeble, they are effaced 
 by the superior strength and power of nature ; when 
 strong, they are too visible to deceive, and by their 
 strength and visibility warn the physiognomist not to 
 suppose them the features of nature. By the physiogno- 
 mist I mean the unprejudiced observer, who alone is the 
 real physiognomist, and has the right to decide ; not the 
 man of subtlety, who is wilfully blind to experience. 
 
 " Are the defects which I remark in an image of wax 
 always the defects of the artist, or are they not the 
 consequences of unskilful handling, the sun's heat, or 
 the warmth of the room ? " 
 
 Nothing, dear friend of truth, is more easy to observe, 
 in an image of wax, than the original hand of the master, 
 although it should, by improper handling, accidental 
 pressure, or melting, be injured. This example, sir, 
 militates against yourself. If the hand of the master be 
 visible in an image of wax, where it is so easily defaced, 
 how much more perceptible must accident be in an 
 organized body, so individually permanent ? Instead 
 of an image of wax, the simile, in my opinion, would be 
 improved were we to substitute a statue ; and in this 
 every connoisseur can distinguish what has been broken, 
 chopped, or filed off, as well as what has been added by 
 a later hand. And why should not this be known in 
 man? Why should not the original form of man be 
 
REMARKS ON LICHTENBERG. 1 69 
 
 more distinguishable, in despite of accident, than the 
 beauty and workmanship of an excellent statue which 
 has been defaced ? 
 
 " Does the mind, like an elastic fluid, always assume 
 the form of the body ? And if a flat nose were the sign 
 of envy, must a man, whose nose by accident should be 
 flattened, consequently become envious ? " 
 
 The inquirer will gain but little, be this question 
 answered in the negative or affirmative. What is gained 
 were we to answer, "Yes ; the soul is an elastic fluid, 
 which always takes the form of the body?" Would it 
 thence follow that the flattened nose has lost so much 
 of its elasticity as would be necessary to propel the 
 nose ? or where would be the advantage should we reply, 
 " No ; all such comparisons are insignificant except to 
 elucidate certain cases ; we must appeal only to facts ? " 
 
 But what would be answered to a less subtle and 
 more simple question, Is there no example of the mind 
 being injured by the maiming of the body ? Has not a 
 fractured skull, by compressing the brain, injured the 
 understanding? Does not castration render the male 
 half female ? But to answer wit with reason, says a 
 witty writer, is like endeavouring to hold an eel by the 
 tail. 
 
 We wholly subscribe to the affirmation, that "it is 
 absurd to suppose the most beautiful mind is to be fount 1 
 in the most beautiful body, and the most deformed mind 
 in the most deformed body." 
 
 We have already explained ourselves so amply on 
 this subject, that being supposed to hold a contrary 
 opinion appears incomprehensible. We only say there 
 is a proportion and beauty of body which is more 
 capable of superior virtue, sensibility, and action, than 
 
170 LAVATER S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 the disproportionate. We say with the author, " Virtue 
 beautifies, vice deforms." We must cordially grant that 
 honesty may be found in the most ugly, and vice in 
 men of the most beautiful forms. 
 
 We cannot, however, help differing from him concern- 
 ing the following assertion : " Our languages are ex- 
 ceedingly barren of physiognomical terms. Were it a 
 true science, the language of the vulgar would have 
 been proverbially rich in its terms. The nose occurs in 
 a hundred proverbs and phrases, but always pathogno- 
 mically, denoting past action, but never physiognomically, 
 betokening character or disposition." 
 
 Instead of a hundred, I am acquainted with only one 
 such phrase, nasen rumfe, to turn up the nose. Homo 
 obesce, obtusce naris, said the ancients ; and, had they not 
 said it, what could thence have been adduced, since we 
 can prove a posteriori that the nose is a physiognomical 
 sign of character ? 
 
 I have not learning sufficient, nor have I the inclina- 
 tion to cite .sufficient proofs of the contrary from Homer, 
 Suetonius, Martial, and an hundred others. That which 
 is is, whether perceived by the ancients or not. Such 
 dust might blind a school-boy, but not the eyes of a sage, 
 who sees for himself, and who knows that each age has 
 its measure of discovery, and that there are those who 
 fail not to exclaim against all discoveries which were 
 made by the ancients. 
 
 " I should be glad to know, (says our author,) not what 
 man may become, but what he is." 
 
 I must confess that I wish to know both. Many 
 vicious men resemble valuable paintings, which have 
 been destroyed by varnish. Would you pay no atten- 
 tion to such a painting ? Is it wholly unworthy of you, 
 
REMARKS ON LICHTENBERG. 171 
 
 though a connoisseur should assure you the picture is 
 damaged, but there is a possibility of clearing away the 
 varnish, as this master's colours are so strongly laid on, 
 and so essentially good, that no varnish can penetrate 
 deep enough, if we are but careful in bringing it away 
 not to injure the picture ? Is this of no importance ? 
 You observe the smallest change of position in the polar 
 star. Days are dedicated to examine how many ages 
 shall elapse before it will arrive at the nearest point of 
 approach. I do not despise your labours. But is it of 
 no importance to you, to fathers, mothers, guardians, 
 teachers, friends, and statesmen, to inquire what a man 
 may become, or what must be expected from this or that 
 youth, thus and thus formed and educated? Many 
 foolish people are like excellent watches, which would 
 go well were the regulator but rectified. 
 
 Is the goodness of the mechanism of no consequence 
 to you, although a skilful watchmaker should tell you, 
 this was and is an excellent piece of workmanship, 
 infinitely better than that which you see set with 
 brilliants, which, I grant, will go well for a quarter of a 
 year, but will then stop? Clean this, repair it, and 
 straighten the teeth of this small wheel. Is this advice 
 of no importance ? Will you not be informed what it 
 might have been, what it may yet probably be ? Will 
 you not hear of a treasure that lies buried, and, wliile 
 buried, I own useless ; but will you content yourself 
 with the trifling interest arising from this or that small 
 sum? 
 
 Is your attention paid only to the fruit of the present 
 year, and which is perhaps forced ? And do you 
 neglect the goodness of a tree which, with attention, 
 may bring forth a thousandfold, though under certain 
 
172 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 circumstances it may have brought forth none ? Have 
 the hot blasts of the south parched up its black leaves, 
 or has the storm blown down its half-ripened fruit, and 
 will you therefore not inquire whether the root does not 
 still nourish ? 
 
 I find I grow weary, and perhaps weary others, 
 especially as I am more and more convinced that our 
 pleasant author, at least hitherto, meant only to amuse 
 himself. I shall therefore only produce two more con- 
 tradictions which ought not to have escaped the author, 
 and scarcely can escape any thinking reader. 
 
 He very properly says in one place, " pathognomical 
 signs, often repeated, are not always entirely effaced, but 
 leave physiognomical impressions. Hence originate the 
 lines of folly, ever gaping, ever admiring, nothing under- 
 standing; hence the traits of hypocrisy ; hence the hollowed 
 cheek, the wrinkles of obstinacy, and heaven knows how 
 many other wrinkles. Pathognomical distortion, which 
 accompanies the practice of vice, will likewise, in con- 
 sequence of the disease it produces, become more distorted 
 and hateful. Thus may the pathognomical expression 
 of friendship, compassion, sincerity, piety, and other 
 moral beauties, become bodily beauty to such as can 
 perceive and admire these qualities. On this is founded 
 the physiognomy of Gallert, which is the only true part 
 of physiognomy. This is of infinite advantage to virtue, 
 and is comprehended in a few words virtue beautifies, 
 vice deforms." 
 
 The branch therefore hath effect, the root none ; the 
 fruit has physiognomy, the tree none; the laugh of 
 self-sufficient vanity may therefore arise from the most 
 humble of hearts, and the appearance of folly from the 
 perfection of wisdom. The wrinkles of hypocrisy, 
 
REMARKS ON LICHTENBERG. 173 
 
 therefore, are not the result of any internal power or 
 weakness. The author will always fix our attention on 
 the dial-plate, and will never speak of the power of the 
 watch itself. But take away the dial-plate, and still the 
 hand will go. Take away those pathognomical traits 
 which dissimulation sometimes can effect, and the 
 internal power of impulse will remain. How contra- 
 dictory therefore is it to say, the traits of folly are there, 
 but not the character of folly; the drop of water is 
 visible, but the fountain, the ocean, is not ! 
 
 Again. It is certainly incongruous to say, " There is 
 pathognomy, but this is as unnecessary (to be written) 
 as an act of love. It chiefly consists in the motion of 
 the muscles of the countenance and the eyes, and is 
 learned by all men. To teach this would be like an 
 attempt to number the sands of the sea !" 
 
 Yet the author in the very next page, with great 
 acuteness begins to teach pathognomy, by explaining 
 twelve of the countenances of Chodowiecki, in which how 
 much is there included of the science of physiognomy ! 
 
 Give me now leave, my worthy antagonist yet no 
 longer antagonist, but friend convinced by truth, and 
 the love of truth I say, give me leave to transcribe, in 
 one continued quotation, some of your excellent thoughts 
 and remarks from your essay, and elucidations on the 
 countenances of Chodowiecki, part of which have 
 been already cited in this fragment, and part not. I am 
 convinced they will be agreeable to my readers. 
 
 "Our judgment concerning countenances frequently 
 acquires certainty, not from physiognomical nor patho- 
 gnomical signs, but from the traces of recent actions, 
 which men cannot shake off. Debauchery, avarice, 
 beggary, have each their livery, by which they are as 
 
174 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 well known as the soldier by his uniform, or the chimney- 
 sweeper by his sooty jacket. The addition of a trifling 
 expletive in discourse will betray the badness of educa- 
 tion ; and the manner of putting on the hat what is the 
 company we keep, and what the degree of our folly." 
 
 Suffer me here to add, Shall not then the whole form of 
 man discover any thing of his talents and dispositions ? 
 Can the most milky candour here forget the straining at 
 a gnat and swallowing a camel ? 
 
 "Maniacs will often not be known to be disordered 
 in their senses, if not in action. More will often be 
 discovered concerning what a man really is, by his dress, 
 behaviour, and mode of paying his compliments, at his 
 first visit and introduction, in a single quarter of an 
 hour, than in all the time he shall remain. Cleanliness 
 and simplicity of manner will often conceal passions. 
 
 " No satisfactory conclusions can often be drawn from 
 the countenances of the most dangerous men. Their 
 thoughts are all concealed under an appearance of 
 melancholy. Whoever has not remarked this, is un- 
 acquainted with mankind. The heart of the vicious 
 man is always less easy to be read the better his 
 education has been, the more ambition he has, and the 
 better the company he has been accustomed to keep. 
 
 " Cowardice and vanity, governed by an inclination to 
 pleasure and indolence, are not marked with strength 
 equivalent to the mischief they occasion ; while, on the 
 contrary, fortitude in defence of justice, against all 
 opponents whatever, be their rank and influence what it 
 may, and the conscious feeling of real self-worth, often 
 look very dangerous, especially when unaccompanied by 
 a smiling mouth. 
 
 " Specious as the objections brought by the sophistry 
 
REMARKS ON LICHTENBERG. 175 
 
 of the sensual may be, it is notwithstanding certain, that 
 there is no possible durable beauty wiihout virtue, and 
 the most hateful deformity may, by the aid of virtue, 
 acquire irresistible charms. Examples of such perfection, 
 among persons of both sexes, I own are uncommon, but 
 not more so than heavenly sincerity, modest compliance 
 without self-degradation, universal philanthropy without 
 busy intrusion, a love of order without being minute, or 
 neatness without foppery, which "are the virtues that 
 produce such irresistible charms. 
 
 "Vice, in like manner, in persons yielding to its 
 influence, may highly deform ; especially when, in conse- 
 quence of bad education, and want of knowledge of the 
 traits of moral beauty, or of will to assume them, the 
 vicious may find no day, no hour, in which to repair the 
 depredations of vice. 
 
 "Where is the person who will not listen to the 
 mouth, in which no trait, no shade of falsehood, is dis- 
 coverable? Let it preach the experience of what 
 wisdom, what science it may, comfort will ever be the 
 harbinger of such a physician, and confidence hasten to 
 welcome his approach. 
 
 " One of the most hateful objects in the creation, says 
 a certain writer, is a vicious and deformed old woman. 
 We may also say that the virtuous matron, in whose 
 countenance goodness and the ardour of benevolence 
 are conspicuous, is an object most worthy our reverence. 
 Age never deforms the countenance when the mind 
 dares appear unmasked; it only wears off the fresh 
 varnish, under which coquetry, vanity, and vice were 
 concealed. Wherever age is exceedingly deformed, the 
 same deformity would have been visible in youth to the 
 attentive observer. 
 
176 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 " This is no difficult matter, and were men to act from 
 conviction, instead of flattering themselves with the 
 hope of fortunate accidents, happy marriages would be 
 more frequent; and, as Shakspeare says, the bonds 
 which should unite hearts would not so often strangle 
 temporal happiness." 
 
 This certainly is the language of the heart. Oh ! that 
 I could have written my fragments in company with 
 such an observer! Who could have rendered greater 
 services to physiognomy than the man who, with the 
 genius of a mathematician, possesses so accurate a spirit 
 of observation ? 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIL 
 Description of Plate V. 
 
 Number 1. 
 
 WILLIAM HONDIUS, a Dutch engraver, after Vandyck. 
 We here see mild, languid, slow industry, with enter- 
 prising, daring, conscious heroism. This forehead is 
 rounded, not indeed common nor ignoble. The eyebrows 
 are curved, the eyes languid and sinking, and the whole 
 countenance oval, ductile, and maidenly. 
 
 Number 2. 
 
 This head, if not stupid, is at least common ; if not 
 rude, clumsy. I grant it is a caricature ; yet, however, 
 there is something sharp and line in the eye and mouth, 
 which a connoisseur will discover. 
 
 Number 3. 
 
 This is manifestly a Turk, by the arching and position 
 of the forehead, the hind part of the head, the eyebrows, 
 

 REMARKS OX WOMEN. 177 
 
 and particularly the nose. The aspect is that of obser- 
 vation, with a degree of curiosity : the open mouth 
 denotes remarking, with some reflection. 
 
 Number 4. 
 
 It must be a depraved taste which can call this grace- 
 ful, and therefore it must be far from majestic. I should 
 neither wish a wife, mother, sister, friend, relation, nor god- 
 dess, to possess a countenance so cold, insipid, affected, 
 stony, unimpassioned, or so perfectly a statue. 
 
 Number 5. 
 
 The strong grimace of an important madman, who 
 distorts himself without meaning. In the ey.e is neither 
 attention, fury, littleness, nor greatness. 
 
 Number 6. 
 
 The eyes in this head are benevolently stupid. 
 Wherever so much white is seen as in the left eye, if in 
 company with such a mouth, there is seldom much 
 wisdom. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIIL 
 General Remarks on Women. 
 
 IT may be necessary for me to say, that I am but 
 little acquainted with the female part of the human 
 race. Any man of the world must know more of them 
 than I can pretend to know. My opportunities of 
 seeing them at the theatre, at balls, or at the card-table, 
 where they best may be studied, have been exceedingly 
 few. In my youth I almost avoided women, and was 
 never in love. 
 
 H 
 
178 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 Perhaps I ought, for this very reason, to have left this 
 very important part of physiognomy to one much better 
 informed, having myself so little knowledge of the fair 
 sex. Yet might not such neglect have been dangerous ? 
 Might another have treated the subject in a manner 
 which I could wish ? or, would he have said the little I 
 have to say, and which, though little, I esteem to be 
 necessary and important ? 
 
 I cannot help shuddering when I think how ex- 
 cessively, how contrary to my intention, the study of 
 physiognomy may be abused when applied to women. 
 Physiognomy will perhaps fare no better than philosophy, 
 poetry, physic, or whatever may be termed art or science. 
 A little philosophy leads to atheism, and much to Chris- 
 tianity. Thus must it be with physiognomy ; but I will 
 not be discouraged ; the half precedes the whole. "We 
 learn to walk by falling, and shall we forbear to walk 
 lest we should fall ? 
 
 I can with certainty say, that true pure physiogno- 
 mical sensation, in respect to the female sex, best can 
 season and improve life, and is the most effectual pre- 
 servative against the degradation of ourselves and others. 
 
 Best can season and improve human life. What better 
 can temper manly rudeness, or strengthen and support- 
 the weakness of man, what so soon can assuage the rapid 
 blaze of wrath, what more charm masculine power, what 
 so quickly dissipate peevishness and ill-temper, what so 
 well can while away the insipid tedious hours of life, as 
 the near and affectionate look of a noble, beautiful 
 woman ? What is so strong as her soft delicate hand ? 
 What so persuasive as her tears restrained ? Who but 
 beholding her must cease to sin ? How can the spirit 
 of God act more omnipotently upon the heart, than by 
 
I 
 
 REMARKS ON WOMEN. 1 79 
 
 the extending and increasing physiognomical sensation 
 for such an eloquent countenance ? "What so well can 
 season daily insipidity ? I scarcely can conceive a gift 
 of more paternal and divine benevolence. 
 
 This has sweetened every bitter of my life ; this alone 
 has supported me under the most corroding cares, when 
 the sorrows of a bursting heart wanted vent, my eyes 
 swam in tears, and my spirit groaned with anguish. 
 Then, when men have daily asked, " Where is now thy 
 God?" when they rejected the sympathy, the affection of 
 my soul, with rude contemptuous scorn ; when acts of 
 honest simplicity were calumniated, and the sacred im- 
 pulse of conscious truth was ridiculed, hissed at, and 
 despised; in those burning moments, when the world 
 afforded no comfort, even then did the Almighty open 
 mine eyes even then did he give me an unfailing 
 source of joy, contained in a gentle, tender, but internally 
 firm, female mind ; an aspect like, that of unpractised, 
 cloistered virginity, which felt and was able to efface each 
 emotion, each passion in the most concealed feature of 
 her husband's countenance, and who by those means, 
 without any thing of what the world calls beauty, shone 
 forth beauteous as an angel. Can there be a more noble 
 or important practice than that of physiognomical sensa- 
 tion for beauties so captivating, so excellent as these ? 
 
 This physiognomical sensation is the most effectual 
 preservative against the degradation of ourselves and others. 
 What can more readily discover the boundary between 
 appetite and affection, or cunning under the mask of 
 sensibility? What sooner can distinguish desire from 
 love, or love from friendship ? WTiat can more reverently, 
 internally, and profoundly feel the sanctity of innocence, 
 the divinity of maiden purity, or sooner detect coquetry 
 
180 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 unblessed, with wiles affecting every look of modesty ? 
 How often will such a physiognomist turn contemptuous 
 from the beauties most adored, from the wretched pride 
 of their silence, their measured affectation of speech, the 
 insipidity of their eyes, arrogantly overlooking misery 
 and poverty; their authoritative nose, their languid, 
 unmeaning lips, relaxed by contempt, blue with envy, 
 and half-bitten through by artifice and malice ! The 
 obviousness of these and many others will preserve him 
 who can see, from the dangerous charms of their shame- 
 less bosoms ! How fully convinced is the man of pure 
 physiognomical sensation, that he cannot be more 
 degraded than by suffering himself to be ensnared by 
 such a countenance! Be this one proof among a 
 thousand. 
 
 But if a noble, spotless maiden but appear; all 
 innocence, and all soul ; all love, and of love all worthy, 
 which must as suddenly be felt as she manifestly feels ; 
 if in her large arched forehead all the capacity of im- 
 measurable intelligence which wisdom can communicate, 
 be visible ; if her compressed but not frowning eyebrows 
 speak an unexplored mine of understanding, or her gentle 
 outlined or sharpened nose, refined taste, with sympa- 
 thetic goodness of heart, which flows through the clear 
 teeth over her pure and efficient lips ; if she breathe 
 humility and complacency ; if condescension and mild- 
 ness be in each motion of her mouth, dignified wisdom 
 in each tone of her voice ; if her eyes, neither too open 
 nor too close, but looking straight forward, or gently 
 turned, speak the soul that seeks a sisterly embrace; 
 is she be superior to all the powers of description ; if all 
 the glories of her angelic form be imbibed like the mild 
 and golden rays of an autumnal evening sun ; may not 
 
BEMARKS ON MALE AND FEMALE. 181 
 
 then this so highly-prized, physiognomical sensation be a 
 destructive snare or sin, or both ? 
 
 " If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full 
 of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give 
 thee light." And what is physiognomical sensation but 
 this singleness of eye ? The soul is not to be seen with- 
 out the body, but in the body ; and the more it is thus 
 seen, the more sacred to thee will the body be. What ! 
 man, having this sensation, which God has bestowed, 
 wouldst thou violate the sanctuary of God? "VVouldst 
 thou degrade, defame, debilitate, and deprive it of sen- 
 sibility ? Shall he, whom a good or great countenance 
 does not inspire with reverence and love, incapable of 
 offence, speak of physiognomical sensation ; of that 
 which is the revelation of the spirit ? Nothing main- 
 tains chastity so entire, nothing so truly preserves the 
 thoughts from brutal passion, nothing so reciprocally 
 exalts souls, as when they are mutually held in sacred 
 purity. The contemplation of power awakens reverence, 
 and the picture of love inspires love ; not selfish grati- 
 fication, but that pure passion with which spirits of 
 heaven embrace. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 General Remarks on Male and Female. A Word on the 
 Physiognomical Relation of tlie Sexes. 
 
 GENERALLY speaking, how much more, pure, tender, 
 delicate, irritable, affectionate, flexible, and patient, is 
 woman than man ! The primary matter of which they 
 are constituted appears to be more flexible, irritable, and 
 elastic than that of man. They are formed to maternal 
 
182 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 mildness and affection. All their organs are tender, 
 yielding, easily wounded, sensible, and receptible. 
 
 Among a thousand females there is scarcely one with- 
 out the generic feminine signs, the flexible, the circular, 
 and the irritable. They are the counterpart of man, 
 taken out of man, to be subject to man ; to comfort him 
 like angels, and to lighten his cares. " She shall be safe 
 in child-bearing, if they continue in faith, and charity, 
 and holiness, with sobriety." (1 Tim. ii. 15.) 
 
 This tenderness and sensibility, this light texture of 
 their fibres and organs, this volatility of feeling, render 
 them so easy to conduct and to tempt; so ready of 
 submission to the enterprise and power of the man ; but 
 more powerful through the aid of their charms than 
 man, with all his strength. The man was not first 
 tempted, but the woman, afterwards the man by the 
 woman. And not only easily to be tempted, she is 
 capable of being formed to the purest, noblest, most 
 seraphic virtue ; to every thing which can deserve praise 
 or affection. 
 
 Truly sensible of purity, beauty, and symmetry, she 
 does not always take time to reflect on internal life, 
 internal death, internal corruption. " The woman saw 
 that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant 
 to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, 
 and she took of the fruit thereof/' 
 
 The female thinks not profoundly ; profound thought 
 is the power of the man. Women feel more : sensibility 
 is the power of women. They often rule more effec- 
 tually, more sovereignly, than man. They rule with 
 tender looks, tears, and sighs, but not with passion and 
 threats ; for if they so rule, they are no longer women, 
 but abortions. 
 
REMARKS ON MALE AND FEMALE. 183 
 
 They are capable of the sweetest sensibility, the most 
 profound emotion, the utmost humility, and the excess 
 of enthusiasm. In the countenance are the signs of 
 sanctity and inviolability, which every feeling man 
 honours, and the effects of which are often miraculous. 
 Therefore, by the irritability of their nerves, their in- 
 capacity for deep inquiry and firm decision, they may 
 easily, from their extreme sensibility, become the most 
 irreclaimable, the most rapturous enthusiasts. 
 
 The love of woman, strong and rooted as it is, is very 
 changeable ; their hatred almost incurable, and only to 
 be effaced by continued and artful flattery. Men are 
 most profound, women are more sublime. Men most 
 embrace the whole; women remark individually, and 
 take more delight in selecting the minutice which form 
 the whole. Man hears the bursting thunders, views the 
 destructive bolt with serene aspect, and stands erect 
 amidst the fearful majesty of the streaming clouds. 
 Woman trembles at the lightning and the voice of 
 distant thunder, and shrinks into herself, or sinks into 
 the arms of man. 
 
 A ray of light is singly received by man ; woman 
 delights to view it through a prism, in all its dazzling 
 colours. She contemplates the rainbow as the promise 
 of peace ; he extends his inquiring eye over the whole 
 horizon. 
 
 Woman laughs, man smiles ; woman weeps, man 
 remains silent. Woman is in anguish when man weeps, 
 and in despair when man is in anguish; yet has she 
 often more faith than man. Without religion, man is a 
 diseased creature, who would persuade himself he is 
 well, and needs not a physician : but woman, without 
 religion, is raging and monstrous A woman with a 
 
184 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 beard is not so disgusting as a woman who acts the free- 
 thinker ; her sex is formed to pity and religion. To 
 them Christ first appeared; but he was obliged to 
 prevent them from too ardently and too hastily embra- 
 cing him Touch me not. They are prompt to receive 
 and seize novelty, and become its enthusiasts. 
 
 In the presence and proximity of him they love, the 
 whole world is forgotten. They sink into the most 
 incurable melancholy, as they rise to the most 
 enraptured heights. 
 
 There is more imagination in male sensation, in the 
 female more heart. When communicative, they are 
 more communicative than man; when secret, more 
 secret. In general they are more patient, long-suffering, 
 credulous, benevolent, and modest. 
 
 Woman is not a foundation on which to build. She 
 is the gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, 
 (1 Cor. iii. 12 ;) the materials for building on the male 
 foundation. She is the leaven, or, more expressively, 
 the oil to the vinegar of man ; the second part to the 
 book of man. Man singly is but half a man, at least 
 but half human ; a king without a kingdom. Woman, 
 who feels properly what she is, whether still or in 
 motion, rests upon the man ; nor is man what he may 
 and ought to be but in conjunction with woman. 
 Therefore " It is not good that man should be alone, but 
 that he should leave father and mother, and cleave to 
 his wife, and that they two shall be one flesh." 
 
 A Word on the Physiognomical Relation of the Sexes. 
 
 Man is the most firm, woman the most flexible. 
 Man is the straightest, woman the most bending. 
 Man stands steadfast, woman gently retreats. 
 
PHYSIOGNOMY OF YOUTH. 185 
 
 Man surveys and observes, woman glances and feels. 
 
 Man is serious, woman is gay. 
 
 Man is the tallest and broadest, woman the smallest 
 and weakest. 
 
 Man is rough and hard, woman is smooth and soft. 
 
 Man is brown, woman is fair. 
 
 Man is wrinkly, woman is not. 
 
 The hair of man is strong and short, of woman more 
 long and pliant. 
 
 The eyebrows of man are compressed, of woman less 
 frowning. 
 
 Man has most convex lines, woman most concave. 
 
 Man has most straight lines, woman most curved. 
 
 The countenance of man, taken in profile, is not so 
 often perpendicular as that of the woman. 
 
 Man is the most angular, woman most round. 
 
 CHAPTEK XXXV. 
 
 On the Physiognomy of Youth. 
 Extracts from Zimmerman's Life of Haller. 
 
 " THE first years of the youth include the history of 
 the man. They develop the qualities of the soul, the 
 materials of future conduct, and the true features of 
 temperament. In riper years dissimulation prevails, or, 
 at least, that modification of our thoughts which is the 
 consequence of experience and knowledge. 
 
 "The characteristics of the passions, which are 
 undeniably discovered to us by the peculiar art 
 denominated physiognomy, are effaced in the counte- 
 nance by age ; while, on the contrary, their true signs 
 
186 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 are visible in youth. The original materials of man 
 are unchangeable ; he is drawn in colours that have no 
 deceit. The boy is the work of nature, the man of art." 
 
 My worthy Zimmerman, how much of the true, how 
 much of the false, at least of the indefinite, is there in 
 this passage ! According to my conception, I see the 
 clay, the mass, in the youthful countenance ; but not 
 the form of the future man. There are passions and 
 powers of youth, and passions and powers of age. These 
 often are contradictory in the same man, yet are they 
 contained one within the other. Time produces the 
 expression of latent traits. A man is but a boy seen 
 through a magnifying-glass ; I always, therefore, per- 
 ceive more in the countenance of a man than of a boy. 
 Dissimulation may indeed conceal the moral materials, 
 but not alter their form. The growth of powers and 
 passions imparts, to the first undefined sketch of what is 
 called a boy's countenance, the firm traits, shading, and 
 colouring of manhood. 
 
 There are youthful countenances which declare 
 whether they ever shall, or shall not, ripen into man. 
 This they declare, but they only declare it to the great 
 physiognomist. I will acknowledge when, which seldom 
 happens, the form of the head is beautiful, conspicuous, 
 proportionate, greatly featured, well defined, and not 
 too feebly coloured, it will be difficult that the result 
 should be common or vulgar. I likewise know that 
 where the form is distorted, especially when it is trans- 
 verse, extended, undefined, or too harshly defined, much 
 can rarely be expected. But how much do the forms of 
 youthful countenances change, even in the system of 
 the bones ! 
 
 A great deal has been said of the openness, undegene- 
 
PHYSIOGNOMY OF YOUTH. 187 
 
 racy, simplicity, and ingenuousness of a childish and 
 youthful countenance. It may be so ; but, for my own 
 part, I must own I am not so fortunate as to be able 
 to read a youthful countenance with the same degree of 
 quickness and precision, however small that degree, as 
 one that is manly. The more I converse with and 
 consider children, the more difficult do I find it to 
 pronounce, with certainty, concerning their character. 
 Not that I do not meet countenances, among children 
 and boys, most strikingly and positively significant ; yet 
 seldom is the great outline of the youth so definite as for 
 us to be able to read in it the man. The most remark- 
 ably advantageous young countenances may easily, 
 through accident, terror, hurt, or severity in parents or 
 tutors, be internally injured, without any apparent injury 
 to the whole. The beautiful, the eloquent form, the 
 firm forehead, the deep sharp eye, the cheerful, open, 
 free, quick-moving mouth remain ; there will only be a 
 drop of troubled water in what else appears so clear; only 
 an uncommon, scarcely remarkable, perhaps convulsive 
 motion of the mouth. Thus is hope overthrown, and 
 beauty rendered indistinct. 
 
 As simplicity is the soil of variety, so is innocence for 
 the products of vice. Simplicity, not of a youth, but of 
 a child, in thee the Omniscient only views the progress 
 of sleeping passion ; the gentle wrinkles of youth, the 
 deep of manhood, and the manifold and relaxed of age. 
 Oh ! how different was my infantine countenance to the 
 present, in form and speech! But, as transgression 
 follows innocence, so doth virtue transgression. 
 
 Doth the vessel say to the potter, "Wherefore hast 
 thou made me thus ? / am little, but I am I." He 
 who created me, did not create me to be a child, but a 
 
188 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 man. Wherefore should I ruminate on the pleasures of 
 childhood, unburthened with cares ? I am what I am. 
 I will forget the past, nor weep that I am no longer a 
 child, when I contemplate children in all their loveliness. 
 To join the powers of man with the simplicity of the 
 child, is the height of all my hopes. God grant they 
 may "be accomplished ! 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXVI. 
 
 Physiognomical Extracts from an Essay inserted in tJie 
 Deutschen Museum, a German Journal or Review. 
 
 FROM this essay I shall extract only select thoughts, 
 and none but such as I suppose importantly true, false, 
 or ill defined. 
 
 " Men with arched and pointed noses are said to be 
 witty, and that the blunt noses are not so." 
 
 A more accurate definition is necessary, which, 
 without drawing, is almost impossible. Is it meant by 
 arched noses, arched in length or in breadth? How 
 arched ? This is almost as indeterminate as when we 
 speak of arched foreheads. ALL foreheads are arched. 
 Innumerable noses are arched, the most witty and the 
 most stupid. Where is the highest point of arching? 
 Where does it begin? What is its extent? What is 
 its strength ? 
 
 It must be allowed that people with tender, thin, 
 sharply- defined, angular noses, pointed below, and some- 
 thing inclined towards the lip, are witty, when no other 
 features contradict these tokens ; but that people with 
 
PHYSIOGNOMICAL EXTRACTS. 189 
 
 blunt noses are not so, is not entirely true. It can only 
 be said of certain blunt noses; for there are others of this 
 kind extremely witty, though their wit is certainly of a 
 different kind to that of the pointed nose. 
 
 " It is asked, (supposing for a moment that the arched 
 and the blunt nose denote the presence or absence of 
 wit,) Is the arched nose the mere sign that a man is witty, 
 which supposes his wit to originate in some occult 
 cause, or is the nose itself the cause of wit ? " 
 
 I answer, sign, cause, and effect combined Sign ; for 
 it betokens the wit, and is an involuntary expression 
 of wit. Cause ; at least cause that the wit is not greater, 
 less, or of a different quality, boundary cause. Effect ; 
 produced by the quantity, measure, or activity of the 
 mind, which suffers not the nose to alter its form, to be 
 greater or Jess. We are not only to consider the form 
 as form, but the matter of which it is moulded, the 
 conformability of which is determined by the nature and 
 ingredients of this matter, which is probably the origin 
 of the form. 
 
 True indeed it is, that there are blunt noses which 
 are incapable of receiving a certain quantity of wit; 
 therefore it may be said, with more subtlety than 
 philosophy, they form an insuperable barrier. 
 
 3. 
 
 " The correspondence of external figures with internal 
 qualities is not the consequence of external circumstances, 
 but rather of physical combination. They are related 
 like cause and effect; or, in other words, physiognomy is 
 not the mere image of internal man, but the efficient 
 
190 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 cause. The form and arrangement of the muscles deter- 
 mine the mode of thought and sensibility of the man." 
 I add, these are also determined by the mind of man. 
 
 "A broad conspicuous forehead is^eaid to denote 
 penetration. This is natural. The muscle of the fore- 
 head is necessary to deep thought. If it be narrow and 
 contracted, it cannot render the same service as if spread 
 out like a sail." 
 
 I shall here, without contradicting the general pro- 
 position of the author, more definitely add It is, if you 
 please, generally true, that the more brain the more 
 mind and capacity. The most stupid animals are those 
 with least brain, and those with most the wisest. Man, 
 generally wiser, has more brain than other animals ; 
 and it appears just to conclude from analogy, that wise 
 men have more brain than the foolish. But accurate 
 observation teaches, that this proposition, to be true, 
 requires much definition and limitation. 
 
 Where the matter and form of the brain are similar, 
 there the greater space for the residence of the brain is, 
 certainly the sign, cause, and effect of more and deeper 
 impression ; therefore, cceteris paribus, a larger quantity 
 of brain, and consequently a spacious forehead, is more 
 intelligent than the reverse. But as we frequently live 
 more conveniently in a small well-contrived chamber 
 than in more magnificent apartments, so do we find that 
 in many small, short foreheads, with less, or apparently 
 less brain than others, the wise mind resides at its ease. 
 
 I have known many short, oblique, straight-lined 
 (when compared with others apparently arched, or really 
 well arched) foreheads, which were much wiser, more 
 
PHYSIOGNOMICAL EXTRACTS. 191 
 
 intelligent, and penetrating, than the most broad and 
 conspicuous ; many of which latter I have seen in 
 extremely weak men. It seems to me, indeed, a much 
 more general proposition, that short compressed foreheads 
 are wise and understanding; though this, likewise, 
 without being more accurately defined, is far from being 
 generally true. 
 
 But it is true that large spacious foreheads, which, if 
 I do not mistake, Galen, and after him Huart, have 
 supposed the most propitious to deep thinking, which 
 form a half sphere, are usually the most stupid. The 
 more any forehead (I do not speak of the whole skull) 
 approaches a semi-spherical form, the more is it weak, 
 effeminate, and incapable of reflection, and this I speak 
 from repeated experience. 
 
 The more straight lines a forehead has, the less capa- 
 cious it must be ; for the more it is arched the more 
 must it be roomy, and the more straight lines it has the 
 more must it be contracted. This greater quantity of 
 straight lines, when the forehead is not flat like a board, 
 for such flatness takes away all understanding, denotes an 
 increase of judgment, but a diminution of sensibility. 
 There undoubtedly are, however, broad capacious fore- 
 heads, without straight lines, particularly adapted to 
 profound thinking ; but these are conspicuous by their 
 oblique outlines. 
 
 5. 
 
 What the author has said concerning enthusiasts 
 requires much greater precision before it ought to be 
 adopted as true. 
 
 " Enthusiasts are said commonly to have flat perpen- 
 dicular foreheads." 
 
192 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 Oval, cylindrical, or pointed at top, should have been 
 said of those enthusiasts who are calm, cold-blooded, 
 and always continue the same. Other enthusiasts, that 
 is to say, such as are subject to a variety of sensation, 
 illusion, and sensual experience, seldom have cylindrical 
 or sugar-loaf heads. The latter when enthusiasts, heat 
 their imagination concerning words and types, the 
 signification of which they do not understand, and are 
 philosophical, unpoetical enthusiasts. Enthusiasts of 
 imagination or of sensibility seldom, have flat forms of 
 the countenance. 
 
 "Obstinate, like enthusiastic, persons have perpen- 
 dicular foreheads." 
 
 The perpendicular always denotes coldness, inactivity, 
 narrowness ; hence firmness, fortitude, pertinacity, obsti- 
 nacy, and enthusiasm may be there. Absolute perpen- 
 dicularity and absolute folly are the same. 
 
 7. 
 
 " Such disposition of mind is accompanied by a certain 
 appearance or motion of the muscles ; consequently the 
 appearance of man, which is natural to, and ever present 
 with him, will be accompanied by, and denote his 
 natural disposition of mind. Countenances are so 
 formed originally, that to one this, and to another that 
 appearance is the easiest. It is absolutely impossible 
 for folly to assume the appearance of wisdom, otherwise 
 it would no longer be folly. The worthy man cannot 
 assume the appearance of dishonesty, or he would be 
 dishonest." 
 
 This is all excellent, the last excepted. No man is so 
 
PHYSIOGNOMICAL EXTRACTS. 193 
 
 good as not, under certain circumstances, to be liable to 
 become dishonest. He is so organized that he may be 
 so overtaken by the pleasure of stealing, when ac- 
 companied by the temptation. The possibility of the 
 appearance must be there, as well as the possibility of 
 the act. He must also be able to assume the appear- 
 ance of dishonesty when he observes it in a thief, 
 without ne'cessarily becoming a thief. The possibility 
 of assuming the appearance of goodness is, in my 
 opinion, very different. The appearance of vice is 
 always more easily assumed by the virtuous, than the 
 appearance of virtue by the vicious ; as it is evidently 
 much easier to become bad when we are good, than 
 good when we are bad. Understanding, sensibility, 
 talents, genius, virtue, or religion, may with much 
 greater facility be lost than acquired. The bSst may 
 descend as low as they please, but the worst cannot 
 ascend to the height they might wish. The wise man 
 may physically, without a miracle, become a fool, and 
 the most virtuous vicious; but the idiot-born cannot, 
 without a miracle, become a philosopher, nor the 
 distorted villain noble and pure of heart. The most 
 beautiful complexion may become jaundiced, may be 
 lost ; but the Negro cannot be washed white. I shall 
 not become a Negro because, to imitate him, I blacken 
 my face, nor a thief because I assume the appearance 
 of one. 
 
 8. 
 
 "It is the business of a physiognomist to inquire 
 what is the appearance the countenance can most easily 
 assume, and he will thence learn what is the disposition 
 of mind ; not that physiognomy is therefore an easy 
 
 
 
194 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 science. On the contrary, this rather shows how much 
 ability, imagination, and genius, are necessary to the 
 physiognomist. Attention must not only be paid to 
 what is visible, but what would be visible under various 
 other circumstances." 
 
 This is excellent ; and I add, that as a physician can 
 presage what alteration of colour, appearance, or form, 
 shall be the consequence of a known disease, of the 
 existence of which he is certain, so can the accurate 
 physiognomist what appearances or expressions are easy 
 or difficult to each kind of muscle and form of forehead, 
 what action is or is not permitted, and what wrinkles 
 may or may not take place, under any given circum- 
 stances. 
 
 9. 
 
 "When a learner draws a countenance, we shall 
 commonly find it is foolish, and never malicious, satirical, 
 and the like. May not the essence of a foolish counte- 
 nance hence be abstracted ? Certainly ; for what is the 
 cause of this appearance ? The learner is incapable of 
 preserving proportion, and the strokes are unconnected. 
 What is the stupid countenance ? It is one, the parts 
 of which are defectively connected, and the muscles im- 
 properly formed and arranged. Thought and sensation, 
 therefore, of which these are the inseparable instruments, 
 must be alike feeble and dormant. 
 
 10. 
 
 " There is another substance in the body, exclusive of 
 the muscles ; that is to say, the skull, or bones in gene- 
 ral, to which the physiognomist attends. The position 
 of the muscles depends on these. How might the 
 
PHYSIOGNOMICAL EXTRACTS. 195 
 
 muscle of the forehead have the position proper for 
 thought, if the forehead bones, over which it is extended, 
 had not the necessary arch and superficies ? The figure 
 of the skull, therefore, defines the figure and position of 
 the muscles which define thought and sensation." 
 
 11. 
 
 " The hair affords us the same observation, as from 
 the parts and position of the hair conclusions may be 
 drawn. Why has the Negro woolly hair ? Tho thick- 
 ness of the skin prevents the escape of certain of the 
 particles of perspiration, and these render the skin 
 opaque and black. Hence the hair shoots with diffi- 
 culty, and scarcely has it penetrated before it curls, and 
 its growth ceases. The hair spreads according to the 
 form of the skull and the position of the muscles, and 
 gives occasion to the physiognomist to draw conclusions 
 from the hair to the position of the muscles, and to 
 deduce other consequences." 
 
 It is clearly my opinion that our author is in the 
 right road. He is the first who, to my knowledge, has 
 perceived and felt the totality, the combination, the 
 uniformity, of the various parts of the human body. 
 What he has affirmed, especially concerning the hair, 
 that we may from that make deductions concerning the 
 nature of the body, and still farther of the mind, the least 
 accurate observer may convince himself is truth, by 
 daily experience. White, tender, clear, weak hair, always 
 denotes weak, delicate, irritable, or rather a timid and 
 easily oppressed organization. The black and curly will 
 never be found on the delicate, tender, medullary head. 
 
 As is the hair, so the muscles ; as the muscles, so the 
 nerves ; as the nerves, so the bones : their powers are 
 
196 
 
 mutual, and the powers of the mind to act, suffer, 
 receive, and give, proportionate. Least irritability 
 always accompanies short, hard, curly, black hair, and 
 the most the flaxen and the tender; that is to say, 
 irritability without elasticity. The one is oppressive 
 without elasticity, and the other oppressed without 
 resistance. 
 
 Much hair, much fat; therefore, no part of the 
 human body is more conspicuously covered with hair 
 than the head and armpits. From the elasticity of the 
 hair, deductions may with certainty be made to the 
 elasticity of the character. The hair naturally betokens 
 moisture, and may properly determine the quantity of 
 moisture. The inhabitants of cold countries have hair 
 more white, and, on the contrary, those of hot countries, 
 black. Lionel Wafer observes, that the inhabitants of 
 the isthmus of Darien have milkwhite hair. Few, if 
 any, have green hair, except those who work in copper 
 mines. We seldom find white hair betokening dis- 
 honesty, but often dark brown or black, with light- 
 coloured eyebrows. Women have longer hair than men. 
 Men with long hair are always rather effeminate than 
 manly. Dark hair is harsher than light, as is the hair 
 of a man than that of a boy. 
 
 12. 
 
 " As all depends on the quality of the muscles, it is 
 evident that in these muscles which are employed for 
 certain modes of thought and sensation, ought to be 
 sought the expression of similar thoughts and sen- 
 sations." 
 
 The search should not be neglected, though perhaps 
 it will be difficult to find them; and they certainly 
 
PHYSIOGNOMICAL EXTRACTS. 197 
 
 there be defined with greater difficulty than in the 
 forehead. 
 
 13. 
 
 "The most important instrument to the abstract 
 thinker is the muscle of the forehead ; for which reason 
 we always seek for abstract thought in the forehead." 
 
 Rather near and between the eyebrows. It is of con- 
 sequence to remark the particular moment when the 
 thinker is listening, or when he is preparing some acute 
 answer. Seize the moment, and another of the im- 
 portant tokens of physiognomy is obtained. 
 
 14 
 
 "Among people who do not abstract, and whose 
 powers of mind are all in action, men of wit, exquisite 
 taste, and genius, all the muscles must be advanta- 
 geously formed and arranged. Expression therefore, in 
 such, must be sought in the whole countenance. 
 
 Yet may it be found in the forehead alone, which is 
 less sharp, straight-lined, perpendicular, and forked. 
 The skin is less rigid, more easily moved, more flexible. 
 
 15. 
 
 "How laborious has been the trouble to convince 
 people that physiognomy is only generally useful ! " 
 
 It is at this very moment disputed by men of the 
 strongest minds. How long shall it continue so to be ? 
 Yet I should suppose that he who curses the sun while 
 exposed to its scorching rays, would, when in the shade, 
 acknowledge its universal utility. 
 
 "How afflicting is it to hear, from persons of the 
 greatest learning, and who might be expected to enlarge 
 
198 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 the boundaries of human understanding, the most 
 superficial judgments ! How much is that great era to 
 be wished, when the knowledge of man shall become a 
 part of natural history; when psychology, physiology, 
 and physiognomy, shall go hand in hand, and lead us 
 towards the confines of more general, more sublime 
 illumination ! " 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 Extracts from Maximus Tyrius. 
 
 " As the soul of man is the nearest approach to the 
 Deity, it was not proper that God should clothe that 
 which most resembled himself in dishonourable gar- 
 ments; but with a body befitting a mortal mind, and 
 endowed with a proper capability of motion. This is 
 the only body on earth that stands erect. It is 
 magnificent, superb, and formed according to the best 
 proportion of its most delicate parts. Its stature is not 
 terrific, nor is its strength formidable. The coldness of 
 its juices occasions it not to creep, nor their heat to fly. 
 Man eats not raw flesh from the savageness of his 
 nature, nor does he graze like the ox ; but he is framed 
 and adapted for the execution of his functions. To the 
 wicked he is formidable, mild and friendly to the good. 
 By nature he walks the earth, swims by art, and flies by 
 imagination. He tills the earth, and enjoys its fruits. 
 His complexion is beautiful, his limbs firm, his counte- 
 nance is comely, and beard ornamental. By imitating 
 his body, the Greeks have thought proper to honour 
 their deities." 
 
 Why am I not able to speak with sufficient force? 
 
PHYSIOGNOMICAL EXTRACTS. 199 
 
 Oh ! that I could find faith enough with my readers, to 
 convince them how frequently my soul seems exalted 
 above itself, while I contemplate the unspeakably 
 miraculous nature of the human body ! Oh ! that all 
 the languages of the earth would lend me words, that I 
 might turn the thoughts of men, not only to the 
 contemplation of others, but, by the aid of these, to 'the 
 contemplation of themselves ! No anti-physiognomist 
 can more despise my work than I myself shall, if I am 
 unable to accomplish this purpose. How might I 
 conscientiously write such a work, were not such my 
 views ? If this be not impulse, no writer has impulse. 
 I cannot behold the smallest trait, nor the inflection of 
 any outline, without reading wisdom and benevolence, 
 or without waking as if from a sweet dream into 
 rapturous and actual existence, and congratulating 
 myself that I also am a man. 
 
 In each, the smallest outline of the human body, and 
 how much more in all together in each member sepa- 
 rately, and how much more in the whole body, however 
 old and ruinous the building may appear how much 
 is there contained of the study of God, the genius of 
 God, the poetry of God ? My trembling and agitated 
 breast frequently pants after leisure to look into the 
 revelations of God. 
 
 " Imagine to thyself the most translucent water flow- 
 ing over a surface on which grow beauteous flowers,, 
 whose bloom, though beneath, is seen through the pellu- 
 cid waves ; even so it is with the fair flower of the soul, 
 planted in a beauteous body, through which its beau- 
 teous bloom is seen. The good formation of a youthful 
 
200 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 body is no other than the bloom of ripening virtue, and, 
 as I may say, the presage of far higher perfection ; for, 
 as before the rising of the sun, the mountain-tops are 
 gilded by his rays, enlivening the pleasing prospects, 
 and promising the full approach of day, so also the future 
 maturity of an illustrious soul shines through the body, 
 and is to the philosopher the pleasing sign of approach- 
 ing happiness." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 Extracts from a Manuscript ly Tl 
 
 " THE relation between the male and female counte- 
 nance is similar to that between youth and manhood. 
 Our experience, that the deep or scarcely visible outline 
 is in proportion to the depth or shallowness of thought, 
 is one of the many proofs that Nature has impressed 
 such forms upon her creatures as shall testify their 
 qualities. That these forms or signs are legible to the 
 highly perceptive soul is visible in children, who cannot 
 endure the deceitful, the tell-tale, or the revengeful ; but 
 run with open arms to the benevolent stranger. 
 
 " We may properly divide our remarks on this subject 
 into complexion, lines, and pantomime. That white, 
 generally speaking, is cheerful, and black gloomy and 
 terrific, is the consequence of our love of light, which 
 acts so degenerately, as it were, upon some animals, that 
 they will throw themselves into the fire; and of our 
 abhorrence of darkness. The reason of this our love of 
 light is, that it makes us acquainted with things, provides 
 for the soul hungry after knowledge, and enables us to 
 find what is necessary, and avoid what is dangerous. I 
 
EXTRACTS FROM A MANUSCRIPT. 201 
 
 only mention this to intimate, that this our love of 
 light originates in our inclination for every thing that is 
 perspicuous. Certain colours are, to certain animals, 
 particularly agreeable or disagreeable." 
 
 What is the reason of this ? Because they are the 
 expression of something which has a relation to their 
 character, that harmonizes with it or is discordant. 
 Colours are the effect of certain qualities of object and 
 subject ; they are therefore characteristic in each, and 
 become more so by the manner in which they are mu- 
 tually received and repelled. This would be another 
 immense field of inquiry, another ray of the sun of 
 truth. All is physiognomy ! 
 
 " Our dislike is no less for every thing which is 
 clothed in dark colours ; and nature has warned animals, 
 not only against feeding on earth, but also on dark-green 
 plants ; for the one is as detrimental as the other. Thus 
 the man of a dark complexion terrifies an infant that is 
 incapable of judging of his character. 
 
 " So strikingly significant are the members of the 
 body, that the aspect of the whole attacks our feelings, 
 and induces judgments as sudden as they are just. 
 Thus, to mention two extremes, all will acknowledge at 
 the first aspect the elephant to be the wisest, and the 
 fish the most stupid of creatures. 
 
 " The upper part of the countenance, to the root of 
 the nose, is the seat of internal labour, thought, and re- 
 solution ; the under, of these in action. Animals with 
 very retreating foreheads have little brain, and the reverse. 
 
 " Projecting nose and mouth betoken persuasion, self- 
 confidence, rashness, shamelessness, want of thought, 
 dishonesty, and all such feelings as are assembled in 
 hasty expression." 
 
202 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 This is a decision after the manner of the old physio- 
 gnomists, condemning and indefinite. 
 
 " The nose is the seat of derision ; its wrinkles con- 
 temn. The upper lip, when projecting, speaks arrogance, 
 threats, and want of shame ; the parting under lip, 
 ostentation and folly. These signs are confirmed by the 
 manner and attitude of the head when drawn back, 
 tossed, or turned round. The first expresses contempt, 
 during which the nose is active ; the latter is a proof of 
 extreme arrogance, during which the projection of the 
 under lip is the strongest. 
 
 " The in-drawn lower parts of the countenance, on 
 the contrary, denote discretion, modesty, seriousness, 
 diffidence, and its failings are those of malice and 
 obstinacy." 
 
 Not so positive. The projecting chin is much oftener 
 the sign of craft than the retreating. The latter is 
 seldom scheming and enterprising. 
 
 " The straight formation of the nose betokens gravity ; 
 inbent and crooked, noble thoughts. The flat, pouting 
 upper lip, when it does not close well with the under, 
 signifies timidity ; the lips resembling each other, cir- 
 cumspection of speech." 
 
 "We may divide the face into two principal kinds. 
 The first is that in which the cheeks present a flat sur- 
 face, the nose projecting like a hill, and the mouth has 
 the appearance of a sabre wound prolonged on an even 
 surface, while the line of the jawbone has but little in- 
 flection. Such a form makes the countenance more 
 broad than long, and exceedingly rude, inexpressive, 
 stupid, and in every sense confined. The principal 
 characteristics are obstinacy and inflexibility. 
 
 " The second kind is, when the nose has a sharp ridge, 
 
EXTRACTS FROM A MANUSCRIPT. 
 
 and the parts on both sides make acute angles with each 
 other. The cheekbones are not seen, consequently the 
 muscular parts between them and the nose are full and 
 prominent. The lips retreat on each side of the mouth, 
 assume or open into an oval, and the jawbones come to 
 a point at the chin." 
 
 This face denotes a mind more subtle, active, and 
 intelligent. 
 
 " The better to explain myself, I must here employ 
 the si mil P. of two ships. The first, a merchant vessel 
 built for deep loading, has a broad bottom, and her ribs 
 long and flat. This resembles the broad, flat counte- 
 nance. The frigate, built for swift sailing, has a sharp 
 keel or bottom, her ribs forming acute angles. Such is 
 the second countenance. Of these two extremes, the 
 first presents to me the image of the meanest, most con- 
 tracted, self-love ; the second of the most zealous, the 
 noblest philanthropy. 
 
 " I am sensible that nature does not delight in ex- 
 tremes. Still the understanding must take its departure 
 from these as from a lighthouse, especially when sailing 
 in unknown seas. The defects and excesses which are 
 in all works of nature will then be discovered, and one 
 or both the boundaries ascertained. 
 
 " If we proceed to a farther examination and appli- 
 cation of the above hypothesis, it will perhaps extend 
 through all nature. A broad countenance is accom- 
 panied by a short neck, broad shoulders and back, and 
 their known character is selfishness and obtuse sen- 
 sation. The long small countenance has a long neck, 
 small or low shoulders, and small back. From such I 
 should expect more justice, disinterestedness, and a 
 general superiority of social feelings. 
 
204 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 "The features and character of men are essentially 
 altered by education, situation, intercourse, and inci- 
 dents; therefore we are justified in maintaining, that 
 physiognomy cannot look back to the origin of the 
 features, nor presage the changes of futurity; but from 
 the countenance only, abstracted from all external acci- 
 dents by which it may be affected, it may read what any 
 given man may be, with the following addition at most : 
 such shall be the empire of reason, or such the power of 
 sensuality. This man is too stubborn to be instructed : 
 that so flexible, he may be led to good or ill 
 
 "From this formation we may in part explain why 
 so many men appear to be born for certain situations, 
 although they may have rather been placed in them by 
 accident than by choice. Why the prince, the nobleman, 
 the overseer of the poor, have a lordly, a stern, or a pe- 
 dantic manner ; why the subject, the servant, the slave, 
 are pusillanimous and spiritless; or the courtesan affect- 
 ed, constrained, or insipid. The constant influence of 
 circumstances on the mind far exceeds the influence of 
 nature." Far the contrary. 
 
 " Although it is certain that innate servility is very 
 distinct from the servility of one whom misfortune has 
 rendered a servant ; like as he whom chance has made 
 a ruler over his brother, is very different from one who 
 is by nature superior to vulgar souls." 
 
 There is no such thing as innate servility. It is true 
 that, under certain circumstances, some are much more 
 disposed than others to become servile. 
 
 " The unfeeling mind of the slave has vacuity more 
 complete, or, if a master, more self-complacency and 
 arrogance, in the open mouth, the- projecting lip, and 
 the turned-up nose. The noble mind rules by the com- 
 
EXTRACTS FROM A MANUSCRIPT. 205 
 
 prehensive aspect, while in the closed lips moderation 
 is expressed. He will serve with sullenness, with down- 
 cast eye, and his shut mouth will disdain to complain. 
 
 "These causes will undoubtedly make durable 
 impressions, so will the adventitious occasion transitory 
 ones, while their power remains. The latter are more 
 apparent than the signs of the countenance at rest, but 
 may be well denned by the principal characteristics of 
 the agitated features ; and, by comparison with counte- 
 nances subject to similar agitations, the nature of the 
 mind may be fully displayed. Anger in the unreason- 
 able, ridiculously struggles ; in the self-conceited, it is 
 fearful rage; in the noble-minded it yields, and brings 
 opponents to shame ; in the benevolent, it has a mix- 
 ture of compassion for the offender, moving him to 
 repentance. 
 
 " The affliction of the ignorant is outrageous, and of 
 the vain ridiculous ; of the compassionate, abundance in 
 tears and communicative ; of the resolute serious, internal, 
 the muscles of the cheeks scarcely drawn upwards, the 
 forehead little wrinkled. 
 
 " Violent and eager is the love of the ignorant ; of the 
 vain, disgusting, which is seen in the sparkling eyes, and 
 the forced smile of the forked cheeks, and the indrawn 
 mouth ; of the tender, languishing, with the mouth con- 
 tracted to entreat ; of the man of sense, serious, stead- 
 fastly surveying the object, the forehead open, and the 
 mouth prepared to plead. 
 
 " On the whole, the sensations of a man of fortitude 
 are restrained, while those of the ignorant degenerate 
 into grimace. The latter, therefore, are not the proper 
 study of the artist, though they are of the physiogno- 
 mist and the moral teacher, that youth may be warned 
 
206 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 against too strong an expression of the emotions of tho 
 mind, and of their ridiculous effects. 
 
 " In this manner do the communicative and moving 
 sensations of the benevolent inspire reverence ; but those 
 of the vicious, fear, hatred, or contempt. 
 
 "The repetition of passions engraves their signs so 
 deeply, that they resemble the original stamp of nature. 
 Hence certainly may be deduced, that the mind is 
 addicted to such passions. Thus are poetry and the 
 dramatic art highly beneficial, and thus may be seen 
 the advantage of conducting youth to scenes of misery 
 and of death. 
 
 " Such a similarity is formed by frequent intercourse 
 between men, that they not only assume a mental 
 likeness, but frequently contract some resemblance of 
 voice and features. Of this I know several examples. 
 
 "Each man has his favourite gesture, which might 
 decipher his whole character, might he be observed with 
 sufficient accuracy to be drawn in that precise posture. 
 The collection of such portraits would be excellent for 
 the first studies of the physiognomist, and increase the 
 utility of the fragments of Lavater tenfold. 
 
 "A series of drawings of the motions peculiar to 
 individuals, would be of equal utility. The number of 
 them in lively men is great, and they are transitory. In 
 the more sedate, they are less numerous and more grave. 
 
 "As a collection of idealized individuals would 
 promote an extensive knowledge of various kinds of 
 men, so would a collection of the motions of a single 
 countenance promote a history of the human heart, and 
 demonstrate what an arrogant, yet pusillanimous thing 
 the unformed heart is, and the perfection it is capable of, 
 from the efforts of reason and experience. 
 
EXTRACTS FROM A MANVSCRIPT. 207 
 
 "It would be an excellent school for youth to see 
 Christ teaching in the Temple, asking, Whom seek you ? 
 agonizing in the Garden, expiring on the Cross. Ever 
 the same God-man ! Ever displaying, in these various 
 situations, the same miraculous mind, the same steadfast 
 reason, the same gentle benevolence. Ccesar jesting 
 with the pirates when their prisoner, weeping over the 
 head of Pompey, sinking beneath his assassins, and 
 casting an expiring look of affliction and reproach while 
 he exclaims, Et tu, Brute? Belshazzar, feasting with 
 his nobles, turning pale at the handwriting on the wall 
 The tyrant enraged, butchering his slaves, and surrounded 
 by condemned wretches entreating mercy from the 
 uplifted sword. 
 
 " Sensation having a relative influence on the voice, 
 must not there be one principal tone or key by which 
 all the others are governed ; and will not this be the key 
 in which he speaks when unimpassioned, like as the 
 countenance at rest contains the propensities to all such 
 traits as it is capable of receiving ? These keys of voice 
 a good musician with a fine ear should collect, class, 
 and learn to define, so that he might place the key of 
 the voice beside any given countenance, making proper 
 allowances for changes occasioned by the form of the 
 lungs, exclusive of disease. Tall people, with a flatness 
 of breast, have weak voices. 
 
 "This idea, which is more difficult to execute than 
 conceive, was inspired by the various tones in which I 
 have heard yes and no pronounced. The various 
 emotions under which these words are uttered, whether 
 of assurance, decision, joy, grief, ridicule, or laughter, 
 will give birth to tones as various. Yet each man has 
 his peculiar manner, respondent to his character, of 
 
208 L,AVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 saying yes, no, or any other word. It will be open, 
 hesitating, grave, trifling, sympathizing, cold, peevish, 
 mild, fearless, or timid. What a guide for the man of 
 the world, and how do such tones display or betray the 
 mind ! 
 
 " Since we are taught by experience, that at certain 
 times the man of understanding appears foolish, the 
 courageous cowardly, the benevolent perverse, and the 
 cheerful discontented, we might, by the assistance of 
 these accidental traits, draw an idea of each motion; 
 and this would be a most valuable addition, and an 
 important step in the progress of physiognomy." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 Extracts from Nicolai and Wirikelmann. 
 Extracts from Nicolai. 
 
 1. 
 
 "THE distorted or disfigured form may originate as 
 well from external as from internal causes ; but the 
 consistency of the whole is the consequence of con- 
 formity between internal and external causes ; for which 
 reason moral goodness is much more visible in the 
 countenance than moral evil" 
 
 This is true, those moments excepted when moral 
 evil is in act. 
 
 "The end of physiognomy ought to be, not con- 
 jectures on individual, but the discovery of general 
 character." 
 
EXTRACTS FROM NICOLAI. 209 
 
 The meaning of which is, the discovery of general 
 Mi:ns of powers and sensations, which certainly are 
 useless unless they can be individually applied, since 
 our intercourse is with individuals. 
 
 3. 
 
 "It would be of great utility to physiognomy were 
 numerous portraits of the same man annually drawn, 
 and the original by that means well known." 
 
 It is possible, and perhaps only possible, to procure 
 accurate shades or plaster casts. Minute changes are 
 seldom accurately enough attended to by the painter, 
 tor the purpose of physiognomy. 
 
 " The most important pursuit of the physiognomist in 
 his researches will ever be, in what manner is a man 
 considered capable of the impressions of sense ? Through 
 what kind of perspective does he view the world? 
 What can he give ? What receive ? 
 
 " That very vivacity of imagination, that quickness of 
 conception, without which no man can be a physiogno- 
 mist, is probably almost inseparable from other qualities, 
 which render the highest caution necessary if the result 
 of his observations is to be applied to living persons." 
 
 This I readily grant ; but the danger will be much 
 less if he endeavour to employ his quick sensations in 
 determinate signs ; if he be able to portray the general 
 tokens of certain powers, sensations, and passions, and 
 if his rapid imagination be only busied to discover and 
 draw resemblances. 
 
 p 
 
210 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 Extracts from WinJcelmann. 
 
 1. 
 
 " The characteristic of truth is internal sensation, and 
 the designer who would present such natural sensation 
 to his academy, would not obtain a shade of the true, 
 without a peculiar addition of something, which an 
 ordinary and unimpassioned mind cannot read in any 
 model, being ignorant of the action peculiar to each 
 sensation and passion. 
 
 " The physiognomist is formed by internal sensation, 
 which, if the designer be not, he will give but the 
 shadow, and only an indefinite and confused shadow, of 
 the true character of nature." 
 
 " The forehead and nose of the Greek gods and god- 
 desses form almost a straight line. The heads of famous 
 women on Greek coins have similar profiles, where the 
 fancy might not be indulged in ideal beauties. Hence 
 we may conjecture that this form was as common to the 
 ancient Greeks as the flat nose to the Calmuc, or the 
 small eye to the Chinese. The large eyes of Grecian 
 heads in gems and coins support this conjecture." 
 
 This ought not to be absolutely general, and probably 
 was not, since numerous medals show the contrary, 
 though in certain ages and countries such might have 
 been the most common form. Had only one such 
 countenance, however, presented itself to the genius of 
 art, it would have been sufficient for its propagation and 
 continuance. This is less our concern than the signi- 
 fication of such a form. The nearer the approach to the 
 
EXTRACTS FROM WIXKELMAXN. 211 
 
 perpendicular, the less is there characteristic of the wise 
 and graceful; and the higher the character of worth 
 and greatness, the more obliquely the lines retreat. 
 The more straight and perpendicular the profile of the 
 forehead and nose is, the more does the profile of the 
 upper part of the head approach a right angle, from 
 which wisdom and beauty will fly with equally rapid 
 steps. In the usual copies of these famous ancient lines 
 of beauty, I generally find the expression of meanness, 
 and, if I dare say, of vague insipidity. I repeat, in the 
 copies ; in the Sophonisba of Angelica Kauffman, for 
 instance, where probably the shading under the hair has 
 been neglected, and where the gentle arching of the line 
 apparently were scarcely attainable. 
 
 3. 
 
 "The line which separates the repletion from the 
 excess of nature, is very small." 
 
 Not to be measured by industry or instrument, yet 
 all powerful, as every thing unattainable is. 
 
 "A mind as beautiful as was that of Kaphael, in an 
 equally beautiful body, is necessary, first to feel, and 
 afterwards to display, in these modern times, the true 
 character of the ancients. 
 
 5. 
 
 " Constraint is unnatural, and violence disorder." 
 Where constraint is remarked, there let secret, pro- 
 found, slowly destructive passion be feared; where 
 violence, there open and quick destroying. 
 
212 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 6. 
 
 "Greatness will be expressed by the straight and 
 replete, and tenderness by the gently curving." 
 
 All greatness has something of straight and replete ; 
 but all the straight and replete is not greatness. The 
 straight and replete must be in a certain position, and 
 must have a determinate relation to the horizontal, on 
 which the observer stands to view it. 
 
 " It may be proved that no principle of beauty exists 
 in this profile ; for the stronger the arching of the nose 
 is, the less does it contain of the beautiful ; and if any 
 countenance seen in profile is bad, any search after 
 beauty will there be to no purpose." 
 
 The noblest, purest, wisest, most spiritual and benevo- 
 lent countenance, may be beautiful to the physiognomist, 
 who, in the extended sense of the word beauty, under- 
 stands all moral expressions of good as beautiful; yet 
 the form may not therefore, accurately speaking, deserve 
 the appellation of beautiful. 
 
 7. 
 
 "Nothing is more difficult than to demonstrate a 
 self-evident truth." 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 Extracts from Aristotle and other Authors concerning 
 Beasts. 
 
 THE writings of the great Aristotle on physiognomy 
 appear to me very superficial, useless, and often self- 
 contradictory, especially his general reasoning. Still, 
 
EXTRACTS FROM ARISTOTLE, ETC. 213 
 
 however, we sometimes meet an occasional thought 
 which deserves to be selected. The following are some 
 of these : 
 
 "A monster has never been seen which had the form of 
 another creature, and, at the same time, totally different 
 powers of thinking and acting. Thus, for example, the 
 groom judges from the mere appearance of the horse ; 
 the huntsman, from the appearance of the hound. We 
 find no man entirely like a beast, although there are 
 some features in man which remind us of beasts. 
 
 " Those who would endeavour to discover the signs of 
 bravery in man, would act wisely to collect all the signs 
 of bravery in animated nature, by which courageous 
 animals are distinguished from others. The physiogno- 
 mist should then examine all such animated beings, 
 which are the reverse of the former with respect to 
 internal character, and, from the comparison of these 
 opposites, the expressions or signs of courage would be 
 manifest. 
 
 " As weak hair is a mark of fear, so is strong hair of 
 courage. This observation is applicable not only to men 
 but to beasts. The most fearful of beasts are the deer, 
 the hare, and the sheep, and the hair of these is weaker 
 than that of other beasts. The lion and wild-boar, on 
 the contrary, are the most courageous, which property 
 is conspicuous in their extremely strong hair. The same 
 also may be remarked of birds ; for, in general, those 
 among them which have coarse feathers are courageous, 
 and those that have soft and weak feathers are fearful. 
 
 " This may easily be applied to men. The people of 
 the north are generally courageous, and have strong 
 hair ; while those of the west are more fearful, and have 
 more flexible hair. 
 
214 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 "Such beasts as are remarkable for their courage 
 simply give their voices vent, without any great con- 
 straint, while fearful beasts utter vehement sounds. 
 Compare the lion, ox, the barking dog, and cock, which 
 are courageous, to the deer and the hare. The lion 
 appears to have a more masculine character than any 
 other beast. He has a large mouth, a four-cornered not 
 too bony visage. The upper-jaw does not project, but 
 exactly fits the under ; the nose is rather hard than soft, 
 the eyes are neither sunken nor prominent, the forehead 
 is square, and sometimes flattened in the middle. 
 
 " Those who have thick and firm lips, with the upper 
 hung over the under, are simple persons, according to 
 the analogy of the ape and monkey." 
 
 This is most indeterminately spoken. He would have 
 been much more true and accurate had he said, those 
 whose under-lips are weak, extended, and projecting 
 beyond the upper, are simple people. 
 
 " Those who have the tip of the nose hard and firm, 
 love to employ themselves on subjects that give them 
 little trouble, similar to the cow and the ox." 
 
 Insupportable ! The few men, who have the tip of 
 the nose firm, are the most unwearied in their researches. 
 I shall transcribe no farther. His physiognomical re- 
 marks, and his similarities to beasts, are generally 
 unfounded in experience. 
 
 Porta, next to Aristotle, has most observed the re- 
 semblance between the countenances of men and beasts, 
 and has extended this inquiry the farthest. He, as far 
 as I know, was the first to render this similarity apparent, 
 by placing the countenances of men and beasts beside 
 each other. Nothing can be more true than this fact ; 
 and, while we continue to follow nature, and do not 
 
EXTRACTS FROM ARISTOTLE, ETC. 215 
 
 endeavour to make such similarities greater than they 
 are, it is a subject that cannot be too accurately exa- 
 mined. But in this respect the fanciful Porta appears 
 to me to have been often misled, and to have found 
 resemblances which the eye of truth never could dis- 
 cover. I could find no resemblance between the hound 
 and Plato, at least from which cool reason could draw 
 any conclusions. It is singular enough that he has also 
 compared the heads of men and birds. He might more 
 effectually have examined the excessive dissimilarity 
 than the very small and almost imperceptible resem- 
 blance which can exist. He speaks little concerning 
 the horse, elephant, and monkey, though it is certain 
 that these animals have most resemblance to man. 
 
 A generic difference between man and beast is par- 
 ticularly conspicuous in the structure of the bones. 
 The head of man is placed erect on the spinal bone. 
 His whole form is as the foundation pillar for that arch 
 in which heaven should be reflected, supporting that 
 skull by which, like the firmament, it is encircled. 
 This cavity for the brain constitutes the greater part of 
 the head. All our sensations, as I may say, ascend 
 and descend above the jawbone, and collect themselves 
 upon the lips. How does the eye, that most eloquent of 
 organs, stand in need, if not of words, at least of the 
 angry constraint of the cheeks, and all the intervening 
 shades, to express the strong internal sensation of man ! 
 
 The formation of beasts is directly the reverse of this. 
 The head is only attached to the spine. The brain, the 
 extremity of the spinal marrow, has no greater extent 
 than is necessary for animal life, and the conducting of 
 a creature wholly sensual, and formed but for temporary 
 existence. For although we cannot deny that beasts 
 
216 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 have the faculty of memory, and act from reflection ; yet 
 the former, as I may say, is the effect of primary sensa- 
 tion, and the latter originates in the constraint of the 
 moment, and the preponderance of this or that object. 
 
 We may perceive in the most convincing manner, in 
 the difference of the skull, which defines the character 
 of animals, how the bones determine the form, and 
 denote the properties of the creature. 
 
 As the character of animals are distinct, so are their 
 forms, bones, and outlines. From the smallest winged 
 insect to the eagle that soars and gazes at the sun ; from 
 the^weakest worm impotently crawling beneath our feet, 
 to the elephant or the majestic lion, the gradations of 
 physiognomical expression cannot be mistaken. It 
 would be more than ridiculous to expect from the worm, 
 the butterfly, and the lamb, the power of the rattlesnake, 
 the eagle, and the lion. Were the lion and lamb, for the 
 first time, placed before us, had we never known such 
 animals, never heard their names, still we could not 
 resist the impression of the courage and strength of the 
 one, or of the weakness and sufferance of the other. 
 
 Let me ask the question, Which are, in general, the 
 weakest animals, and the most remote from humanity, 
 the most incapable of human ideas and sensations ? 
 Beyond all doubt, those which in their form least 
 resemble man. To prove this, let us, in imagination, 
 consider the various degrees of animal life, from the 
 smallest animalcule to the ape, lion, and elephant ; and, 
 the more to simplify and give facility to such compari- 
 son, let us only compare head to head ; as, for example, 
 the lobster to the elephant, the elephant to the man. 
 
 Permit me here just to observe, how worthy would 
 such a work be of the united abilities of a Buffon, a 
 
EXTRACTS FROM ARISTOTLE, ETC. 2 1 7 
 
 Kamper, and a Euler, could they be found united, that 
 the forms of heads might be enumerated and described 
 philosophically and mathematically; that it might be 
 demonstrated that universal brutality, in all its various 
 kinds, is circumscribed by a determinate line ; and that, 
 among the innumerable lines of brutality, there is not 
 one which is not internally and essentially different from 
 the line of humanity, which is peculiar and unique. 
 
 Thoughts of a Friend on Brutal and Human 
 Physiognomy. 
 
 " Every brute animal is distinguished from all others 
 by some principal quality. As the make of each is 
 distinct from all others, so also is the character. This 
 principal character is denoted by a peculiar and visible 
 form. Each species of beast has certainly a peculiar 
 character, as it has a peculiar form. May we not hence 
 by analogy infer, that predominant qualities of the 
 mind are certainly expressed by predominant forms of 
 the body, as that the peculiar qualities of a species are 
 expressed in the general form of that species ? 
 
 "The principal character of the species in animals 
 remain such as it was given by nature ; it neither can 
 be obscured by accessory qualities, nor concealed by 
 art. The essential of the character can as little be 
 changed as the peculiarity of the form. May we not 
 therefore, with the greatest degree of certainty, affirm 
 such a form is only expressive of such a character ? 
 
 "Let us now inquire whether this be applicable to 
 man, and whether the form, which denotes individual 
 character in a beast, is significant of similar character 
 in man, granting that in man it may continually be 
 more delicate, hidden, and complicated. If. on exami- 
 
218 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 nation, this question be definitely answered in the 
 affirmative, how much is thereby gained ! But it is 
 conspicuously evident that in man the mind is not one 
 character or quality, but a world of qualities interwoven 
 with and obscuring each other. If each quality be ex- 
 pressed by its peculiar from, then must variety of 
 qualities be attended with variety of forms ; and these 
 forms, combining and harmonizing together, must be- 
 come more difficult to select and decipher. 
 
 " May not souls differ from each other merely accord- 
 ing to their relative connection with bodies ? May not 
 souls also have a determinate capacity, proportionate to 
 the form and organization of the body ? Hence, each 
 object may make a different impression on each 
 individual ; hence one may bear greater burthens and 
 more misfortunes than another. May not the body be 
 considered as a vessel with various compartments, 
 cavities, pipes, into which the soul is poured, and, in 
 consequence of which, motion and sensation begin to 
 act? And thus may not the form of the body 
 define the capacity of the mind ? " 
 
 My unknown friend, thus far have I followed you. 
 Figurative language is dangerous when discoursing on 
 the soul; yet how can we discourse on it otherwise? 
 I pronounce no judgment, but rely on sensation and 
 experience, not on words and metaphors. What is is, 
 be your language what it will Whether effects all act 
 from the external to the internal, or the reverse, I know 
 not, cannot, need not know. Experience convinces us 
 that, both in man and beast, power and form are un- 
 changeable, harmonized proportion ; but whether the form 
 be determined by the power, or the power by the form, 
 is a question wholly insignificant to the physiognomist. 
 
EXTRACTS FROM ARISTOTLE, ETC. TlO 
 
 Observations on some Animals, and particularly of ike 
 Horse. 
 
 The dog lias more forehead above the eyes than most 
 other beasts ; but as much as he appears to gain in the 
 forehead he loses in the excess of brutal nose, which has 
 every token of acute scent. Man too, in the act of 
 smelling, elevates the nostrils. The dog is also defective 
 in the distance of the mouth from the nose, and in the 
 meanness or rather nullity of the chin. 
 
 Whether the hanging ears of a dog are characteristic 
 of slavish subjection, as Buifon has affirmed, who has 
 written much more reasonably on brute than on human 
 physiognomy, I cannot determine to my own satisfaction. 
 
 The camel and the dromedary are a mixture of the 
 horse, sheep, and ass, without what is noble in the first. 
 They also appear to have something of the monkey, at 
 least in the nose. Not made to suffer the bit in the 
 mouth, the power of jaw is wanting. The determining 
 marks concerning the bit are found between the eyes 
 and the nose. No traces of courage or daring are found 
 in these parts. The threatening snort of the ox and 
 horse is not perceptible in these ape-like nostrils ; none 
 of the powers of plunder and prey in the feeble upper 
 and under jaw. Nothing but burthen-bearing patience 
 in the eyes. 
 
 Wild cruelty, the menacing power of rending, appear 
 in the bear, abhorring man, the friend of ancient savage 
 nature. 
 
 The most indolent, helpless, wretched creature, and of 
 the most imperfect formation, is the eunau ai, or sloth. 
 How extraordinary is the feebleness of the outline of the 
 head, body, and feet ! no sole of the feet, no toes small 
 
220 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 or great, which move independently, having but two or 
 three long inbent claws, which can only move together. 
 Its sluggishness, stupidity, and self-neglect are inde- 
 scribable. 
 
 In the wild-boar every one may read ferocity, a want 
 of all that is noble, greediness, stupidity, blunt feeling, 
 gross appetite; and in the badger, ignoble, faithless, 
 malignant, savage gluttony. 
 
 Eemarkable is the profile of the lion, especially the 
 outline of the forehead and nose. A man whose profile 
 of forehead and nose should resemble that of the lion, 
 would certainly be no common man ; but such I have 
 never seen. I own, the nose of the lion is much less 
 prominent than that of man, but much more than that 
 of any other quadruped. Royal, brutal strength, and 
 arrogant usurpation, are evident ; partly in the arching 
 of the nose, partly in its breadth and parallel lines, and 
 especially in the almost right angle, which the outline 
 of the eyelid forms with the side of the nose. 
 
 In the eye and snout of the tiger, what bloodthirsty 
 cruelty, what insidious craft ! Can the laugh of Satan 
 himself, at a fallen saint, be more fiend-like than the 
 head of the triumphant tiger ? Cats are tigers in minia- 
 ture, with the advantage of domestic education. Little 
 better in character, inferior in power. Unmerciful to 
 birds and mice, as the tiger to the lamb. They delight 
 in prolonging torture before they devour, and in this 
 they exceed the tiger. 
 
 The more violent qualities of the elephant are dis- 
 coverable in the number and size of his bones; his 
 intelligence in the roundness of his form, and his docility 
 in the massiness of his muscles ; his art and discretion 
 in the flexibility of his trunk ; his retentive memory in 
 
EXTRACTS FROM ARISTOTLE, ETC. 221 
 
 the size and arching of his forehead, which approaches 
 nearer to the outline of the human forehead than that of 
 any other beast. Yet how essentially different is it from 
 the human forehead, in the position of the eye and 
 mouth, since the latter generally makes nearly a right 
 angle with the axis of the eye and the middle line of 
 the mouth. 
 
 The crocodile proves how very physiognomical teeth 
 are. This, like other creatures, but more visibly and in- 
 fallibly than others, in all its parts, outlines, and points, 
 has physiognomy that cannot be mistaken. Thus de- 
 based, thus despicable, thus knotty, obstinate, and wicked, 
 thus sunken below the noble horse, terrific, and void of 
 all love and affection, is this fiend incarnate. 
 
 Little acquainted as I am with horses, yet it seems to 
 me indubitable, that there is as great a difference in the 
 physiognomy of horses as in that of men. The horse 
 deserves to be particularly considered by the physio- 
 gnomist, because it is one of those animals whose physio- 
 gnomy, at least in profile, is so much more prominent, 
 sharp, and characteristic than that of most other beasts. 
 
 Of all animals the horse is that which, to largeness of 
 size, unites most proportion and elegance in the parts of 
 his body ; for, comparing him to those which are imme- 
 diately above or below him, we shall perceive that the 
 ass is ill made, the head of the lion is too large, the legs 
 of the ox too small, the camel is deformed, and the 
 rhinoceros and elephant too unwieldy. There is scarcely 
 any beast has so various, so generally marking, so speak- 
 ing a countenance, as a beautiful horse. 
 
 " The upper part of the neck from which the mane 
 flows, in a well-made horse, ought to rise at first in a 
 right line; and, as it approaches the head, to form a 
 
222 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 curve somewhat similar to the neck of the swan. The 
 lower part of the neck ought to be rectilinear in its 
 direction from the chest to the nether jaw, but a little 
 inclined forward ; for, were it perpendicular, the shape 
 of the neck would be defective. The upper part of the 
 neck should be thin and not fleshy; nor the mane, 
 which ought to be tolerably full, and the hair long and 
 straight. A fine neck ought to be long and elevated, 
 yet proportionate to the size of the horse. If too long 
 and small, the horse would strike the rider with his 
 head ; if too short and heavy, he would bear heavy on 
 the hand. The head is advantageously placed when the 
 forehead is perpendicular to the horizon. The head 
 ought to be bony and small, not too long ; the ears near 
 each other, small, erect, firm, straight, free, and situated 
 on the top of the head. The forehead should be narrow 
 and somewhat convex, the hollows filled up ; the eyelids 
 thin ; the eyes clear, penetrating, full of ardour, tolerably 
 large as I may say, and projecting from the head, the 
 pupil large, the under jaw bony, and rather thick ; the 
 nose somewhat arched, the nostrils open and well slit, 
 the partition thin; the lips fine, the mouth tolerably 
 large, the withers high and sharp." I must beg pardon 
 for this quotation from the Encycloptdie, and for insert- 
 ing thus much of the description of a beautiful horse, in 
 a physiognomical essay intended to promote the know- 
 ledge and the love of man. 
 
 The more accurately we observe horses, the more shall 
 we be convinced that a separate treatise of physiognomy 
 might be written on them. I have somewhere heard a 
 general remark, that horses are divided into three 
 classes, the swan-necked, the stag-necked, and the hog- 
 necked. Each of these classes has its peculiar counte- 
 
EXTRACTS FROM ARISTOTLE, ETC. 223 
 
 nance and character, and from the blending of which 
 various others originate. 
 
 The heads of the swan-necked horses are commonly 
 even, the forehead small, and almost flat ; the nose 
 extends, arching, from the eyes to the mouth; the 
 nostrils are wide and open ; the mouth small ; the ears 
 little, pointed, and projecting ; the eyes large and round ; 
 the jaw below small; above, something broader; the 
 whole body well proportioned, and the horse beautiful. 
 This kind is cheerful, tractable, and high-spirited. They 
 are very sensible of pain, which when dressing they 
 sometimes express by the voice. Flattery greatly excites 
 their joy, and they will express their pride of heart by 
 parading and prancing. I will venture to assert that a 
 man with a swan-neck, or, what is much more deter- 
 minate, with a smooth projecting profile, and flaxen 
 hair, would have similar sensibility and pride. 
 
 The stag-necked has something, in the make of his 
 body, much resembling the stag itself. The neck is 
 small, large, and scarcely bowed in the middle. He 
 carries his head high. I have seen none of these. They 
 are racers and hunters, being particularly adapted for 
 swiftness by the make of the body. 
 
 The hog-necked. The neck above and below is alike 
 broad; the head hanging downwards; the middle of 
 the nose is concave in profile ; the ears are long, thick, 
 and hanging; the eyes small and ugly; the nostrils 
 small, the mouth large, the whole body round, and the 
 coat long and rough. These horses are intractable, slow, 
 and vicious, and will run the rider against a wall, stone, or 
 tree. When held in they rear, and endeavour to throw 
 the rider. Blows or coaxing are frequently alike ineffec- 
 tual ; they continue obstinate and restive. 
 
224 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 If we examine the different heads of horses, we shall 
 find that all cheerful, high-spirited, capricious, courageous 
 horses, have the nosebone of the profile convex; and 
 that most of the vicious, restive, and idle, have the same 
 bone flat or concave. In the eyes, mouth, and especially 
 in the nostrils and jawbones, are remarkable varieties, 
 concerning which I shall say nothing. I shall here add 
 some -remarks on the horse, communicated by a friend. 
 
 The grey is the tenderest of horses, and we may here 
 add that people with light hair, if not effeminate, are 
 yet, it is well known, of tender formation and constitu- 
 tion. The chestnut and iron grey, the black and bay, are 
 hardy ; the sorrel are the most hardy, and yet the most 
 subject to disease. The sorrel, whether well or ill 
 formed, is treacherous. All treacherous horses lay their 
 ears on their neck. They stare and stop, and lay down 
 their ears alternately. 
 
 The following passage, on the same subject, is cited 
 I from another writer : " "When a horse has broad, long, 
 widely separated, hanging ears, we are well assured he 
 is bad and sluggish. If he lays down his ears alternately, 
 he is fearful, and apt to start. Thin, pointed, and pro- 
 jecting ears, on the contrary, denote a horse of good 
 disposition." 
 
 We never find that the thick, hog-necked horse is 
 sufficiently tractable for the riding-house, or that he is 
 of a strong nature when the tail shakes like the tail of 
 a dog. We may be certain that a horse with large 
 cheerful eyes, and a fine shining coat, if we have no other 
 tokens, is of a good constitution and understanding. 
 
 These remarks are equally applicable to oxen and 
 sheep, and probably to all other animals. The white ox 
 is not so long serviceable for draught or labour as the 
 
OF BIRDS, ETC. 225 
 
 black or red ; he is more weak and silly than these. A 
 sheep with short legs, strong neck, broad back, and cheer- 
 ful eyes, is a good breeder, and remains peaceably with 
 the flock. I am clearly of opinion that, if we may judge 
 of the internal by the external of beasts, men may be 
 judged of in the same manner. 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 Of Birds, Fishes, Serpents, and Insects. 
 
 BIRDS. 
 
 BIRDS, whether compared to each other, or to other 
 creatures, have their distinct characters. The structure 
 of birds throughout is lighter than that of quadrupeds. 
 Nature, ever steadfast to truth, thus manifests herself in 
 the form of birds. Their necks are more pliant, their 
 heads smaller, their mouths more pointed, and their garb 
 more light and strong, than those of quadrupeds. 
 
 Their distinction of character, or gradation of passive 
 and active power, is expressed by the following physio- 
 gnomical varieties. 
 
 1. By the form of the skull. The more flat the skull 
 the more weak, flexible, tender, and sensible is the 
 character of the animal. This flatness contains less, 
 and resists less. 
 
 2. By the length, breadth, and arching, or obliquity 
 of their beaks. And here again we find, when there is 
 arching, there is a greater extent of docility and capacity. 
 
 3. By the eyes, which appear to have an exact cor- 
 respondence with the arching of the beak. 
 
 4. Particularly by the middle line, I cannot say of 
 the mouth, but what is analogous to the mouth, the 
 
 Q 
 
226 
 
 beak ; the obliquity of which is ever in a remarkable 
 proportion with the outline of the profile of the head. 
 
 Who can behold the eagle hovering in the air, the 
 powerful lord of so many creatures, without perceiving 
 the seal, the native star of royalty, in his piercing round 
 eye, the form of his head, his strong wings, his talons of 
 brass, and in his whole form his victorious strength, his 
 contemptuous arrogance, his fearful cruelty, and his 
 ravenous propensity ? 
 
 Consider the eyes of all living creatures, from the 
 eagle to the mole ; where else can be found that light- 
 ning glance which defies the rays of the sun ? where 
 that capacity for the reception of light? How truly, 
 how emphatically, to all who will hear and understand, 
 is the majesty of his kingly character visible, not alone 
 in his burning eye, but in the outline of what is ana- 
 logous to the eyebone, and in the skin of the head, 
 where anger and courage are seated ? But throughout 
 his whole form where are they not ? 
 
 Compare the vulture with the eagle, and who does 
 not observe in his lengthened neck and beak, and in his 
 more extended form, less power and nobility than in the 
 eagle ? In the head of the owl, the ignoble greedy prey ; 
 in the . dove, mild, humble timidity ; and in the swan, 
 more nobility than in the goose, with less power than 
 in the eagle, and tenderness than in the dove ; more 
 pliability than in the ostrich ; and, in the wild-duck, 
 a more savage animal than in the swan, without the 
 force of the eagle ? 
 
 Fish. 
 
 How different is the profile of a fish from that of a 
 man ? how much the reverse of human perpendicu- 
 
OF FISH. 227 
 
 larity ! How little is there of countenance when com- 
 pared to the lion ! How visible is the want of mind, 
 reflection, and cunning ! What little or no analogy to 
 forehead ! What an impossibility of covering or entirely 
 closing the eyes ! The eye itself is merely circular and 
 prominent, has nothing of the lengthened form of the 
 eye of the fox or elephant. 
 
 Serpents. 
 
 I will allow physiognomy, when applied to man, to 
 be a false science, if any being throughout nature can 
 be discovered void of physiognomy, or a countenance 
 which does not express its character. What has less, 
 yet more, physiognomy than the serpent ? May we not 
 perceive in it tokens of cunning and treachery ? Cer- 
 tainly not a trace of understanding or deliberate plan. 
 No memory, no comprehension, but the most unbounded 
 craft and falsehood. How are these reprobate qualities 
 distinguished in their forms? The very play of their 
 colours, and wonderful meandering of their spots, appear 
 to announce and to warn us of their deceit. 
 
 All men possessed of real power are upright and 
 honest ; craft is but the substitute of power. I do not 
 here speak of the power contained in the folds of a 
 serpent ; they all want the power to act immediately, 
 without the aid of cunning. They are formed to " bruise 
 the heel, and to have the head bruised." The judgment 
 which God has pronounced against them is written on 
 their flat, impotent forehead, mouth, and eyes. 
 
 Insects. 
 
 How inexpressibly various are the characteristics im- 
 pressed by the eternal Creator on all living beings ! 
 
228 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 How has lie stamped on each its legible and peculiar 
 properties ! How especially visible is this in the lowest 
 classes of animal life ! The world of insects is a world 
 of itself. The distance between this and the world ot 
 men, I own, is great ; yet were it sufficiently known, 
 how useful would it be to human physiognomy ! What 
 certain proofs of the physiognomy of men must be ob- 
 tained from insect physiognomy ! 
 
 How visible are their powers of destruction, of suffer- 
 ing and resisting, of sensibility and insensibility, through 
 all their forms and gradations ! Are not all the compact, 
 hard-winged insects physiognomically and characteris- 
 tically more capable and retentive than the various light 
 and tender species of the butterfly ? Is not the softest 
 flesh the weakest, the most suffering, the easiest to de- 
 stroy ? Are not the insects of least brains the beings 
 most removed from man, who has the most brain ? Is 
 it not perceptible in each species whether it be warlike, 
 defensive, enduring, weak, enjoying, destructive, easy to 
 be crushed, or crushing ? How distinct in the external 
 character are their degrees of strength, of defence, of 
 stinging, or of appetite ! 
 
 The great dragon fly shows its agility and swiftness, 
 in the structure of its wings; perpetually on flight in 
 search of small flies. How sluggish, on the contrary, is 
 the crawling caterpillar ! How carefully does he set his 
 feet as he ascends a leaf ! How yielding his substance,- 
 incapable of resistance ! How peaceable, harmless, and 
 indolent is the moth ! How full of motion, bravery, and 
 hardiness is the industrious ant ! How loath to remove 
 on the contrary, is the harnessed lady-bird ! 
 
ON SHADES. 229 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 On Shades, f/icxd:^ 
 
 THOUGH shades are the weakest and most vapid, yet 
 they are at the same time, when the light is at a proper 
 distance, and falls properly on the countenance, to take 
 the profile accurately, the truest representation that can 
 be given of man. The weakest, for it is not positive; it is 
 only something negative, only the boundary line of half 
 the countenance. The truest, because it is the imme- 
 diate expression of nature, such as not the ablest painter 
 is capable of drawing by hand after nature. What can 
 be less the image of a living man than a shade ? Yet 
 how full of speech ? Little gold, but the purest. 
 
 The shade contains but one line; no motion, light, 
 colour, height, or depth; no eye, ear, nostril, or cheek; 
 but a very small part of the lip ; yet how decisively it 
 is significant! Drawing and painting, it is probable, 
 originated in shades. They express, as I have said, but 
 little ; but the little they do express is exact. No art 
 can attain to the truth of the shade taken with precision. 
 Let a shade be taken after nature with the greatest 
 accuracy, and with equal accuracy be afterwards reduced 
 upon tine transparent oil-paper. Let a profile of the 
 same size be taken by the greatest master in his happiest 
 moment, then let the two be laid upon each other, and 
 the difference will be immediately evident. 
 
 I never found, after repeated experiments, that the 
 best efforts of art could equal nature either in freedom 
 or in precision, but that there was always something 
 more or less than nature. Nature is sharp and free ; 
 whoever studies sharpness more than freedom, will be 
 hard, and whoever studies freedom more than sharpness 
 
230 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 will become diffuse and indeterminate. I can admire 
 him only who, equally studious of her sharpness and 
 freedom, acquires equal certainty and impartiality. 
 
 To attain this, artist, imitator of humanity ! first ex- 
 ercise yourself in drawing shades ; afterwards copy 
 them by hand, and next compare and correct. Without 
 this you will with difficulty discover the grand secret of 
 uniting precision and freedom. 
 
 I have collected more physiognomical knowledge from 
 shades alone than from every other kind of portrait ; 
 have improved physiognomical sensation more by the 
 sight of them than by the contemplation of ever mutable 
 nature. Shades collect the distracted attention, confine 
 it to an outline, and thus render the observation more 
 simple, easy, and precise. Physiognomy has no greater, 
 more incontrovertible certainty of the truth of its object, 
 than that imparted by shade. If the shade, according 
 to the general sense and decision of all men, can decide 
 so much concerning character, how much more must the 
 living body, the whole appearance, and^action of the 
 man ! If the shade be oracular, the voice of truth, the 
 word of God, what must the living original be, illumi- 
 nated by the spirit of God ! 
 
 Hundreds have asked, and hundreds will continue to 
 ask, " What can be expected from mere shades ?" Yet 
 no shade can be viewed by any one of these hundred, 
 who will not form some judgment on it, often accu- 
 rately, more accurately than I could have judged. 
 
 In order to make the astonishing significance of 
 shades conspicuous, we ought either to compare opposite 
 characters of men taken in shade, or, which may be 
 more convincing, to cut out of black paper, or draw, 
 imaginary countenances widely dissimilar. Or, again, 
 
ON SHADES. 231 
 
 when we have acquired some proficiency in observation, 
 to double black paper, and cut two countenances ; and 
 afterwards, by cutting with the scissors, to make slight 
 alterations, appealing to our eye, or physiognomical 
 feeling, at each alteration; or, lastly, only to take 
 various shades of the same countenance, and compare 
 them together. Such experiments would' astonish us, 
 to perceive what great effects are produced by slight 
 alterations. 
 
 The common method of taking shades is accompanied 
 with many inconveniences. It is hardly possible the 
 person drawn should sit sufficiently still ; the designer 
 is obliged to change his place; he must approach so 
 near to the person that motion is almost inevitable, and 
 the designer is in the most inconvenient position; 
 neither are the preparatory steps every where possible, 
 nor simple enough. A seat purposely contrived would 
 be more convenient. The shade should be taken on post 
 paper, or rather on thin oil-paper, well dried. Let the 
 head and back be supported by a chair, and the shade 
 fall on the oil-paper behind a clear, flat, polished glass. 
 Let the drawer sit behind the glass, holding the frame 
 with his left hand, and, having a sharp black-lead 
 pencil, draw with the right. The glass, in a detached 
 sliding frame, may be raised or lowered, according to the 
 height of the person. The bottom of the glass frame, 
 being thin, will be best of iron, and should be raised so 
 as to rest steadily upon the shoulder. In the centre, 
 upon the glass, should be a small piece of wood or iron, 
 to which fasten a small round cushion, supported by a 
 short pin, scarcely half an inch long, which also may be 
 raised or lowered, and against which the person drawn 
 may lean. 
 
232 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 CHAPTEE XLIII. 
 
 Description of Plate VI. 
 
 Number I. MENDELSSOHN. 
 
 IN the forehead and nose, penetration and sound un- 
 derstanding are evident. The mouth is much more deli- 
 cate than the mouth of 2. 
 
 Number II. J. SPALDING. 
 
 Clear ideas, love of elegance, purity, accuracy of 
 thought and action ; does not easily admit the unnatural. 
 The forehead not sufficiently characteristic, but fine taste 
 in the nose. 
 
 Number III. EOCHOW. 
 
 Has more good sense ; prompt, accurate perception of 
 truth and delicacy, than 4; but I suspect less acuteness. 
 
 Number IV. P. NICOLAI. 
 
 Whoever hesitates concerning the character of this 
 head, never can have observed the forehead. This arch, 
 abstractedly considered, especially in the upper part, has 
 more capacity than Nos. 2 and 3. In the upper outline, 
 also, of the under part, understanding and exquisite 
 penetration cannot be overlooked. 
 
 Number V. 
 
 One of those masculine profiles which generally please. 
 Conceal the under chin, and an approach to greatness is 
 perceptible ; except that greater variation in the out- 
 line is wanting, especially in the nose and forehead. 
 The choleric phlegmatic man is visible in the whole ; 
 especially in the eyebrows, nose, and bottom part of the 
 
A WORD TO TRAVELLERS. 233 
 
 chin ; as likewise are integrity, fidelity, goodness, and 
 complaisance. 
 
 Number VI. J. C. LAVATER. 
 
 This shade, though imperfect, may easily be known. 
 It must pass without comment, or rather the commentary 
 is before the world is in this book. Let that speak ; 
 I am silent. 
 
 ~7 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 A Ward to Travellers. 
 
 THERE appear to me to be three things indispensable 
 to travellers health, money, and physiognomy. There- 
 fore a physiognomical word to travellers. I could wish 
 indeed, that, instead of a word, a traveller's physiognomical 
 companion were written ; but this must be done by an 
 experienced traveller. In the mean time I shall bid him 
 farewell, with the following short advice : 
 
 What do you seek, travellers ? what is your wish ? 
 "What would you see more remarkable, more singular, 
 more rare, more worthy to be examined, than the varieties 
 of humanity ? This indeed is fashionable. You inquire 
 after men ; you seek the wisest, best, and greatest men, 
 especially the most famous. Why is your curiosity 
 limited to seeing only ? Would it not be better you 
 should illuminate your own minds by the light of others, 
 and animate yourselves by their ardour ? 
 
 His curiosity is childish which is merely confined to 
 seeing, whose ambition desires only to say, I have be- 
 held that man. He who would disregard views so con- 
 fined, must study such men physiognomically ; if he 
 would learn wisdom, he must be able to compare and 
 
234 nAVATEIl's PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 judge of the relation between their works, their fame, 
 and their form. By this only may much be learned. 
 By this may the stream be compared to the fountain, 
 the quality of the waters examined, their course, their 
 gentle murmurs, or more boisterous war. The inquirer 
 may ask, what is the degree of originality of those men, 
 what is borrowed, what is internal, what external? 
 This forehead and these eyebrows will thus versify, thus 
 translate, thus criticise ; therefore on this eye depends 
 the fate of the writer, the blockhead, or the man of genius. 
 This nose thus estimates the mortal and the immortal 
 in the human performances. As are the features so will 
 be the mind. 
 
 Yes, scholars of nature, you have much to learn from 
 the countenances of famous men. In them you will 
 read that the wasp will dare to alight on the nose of 
 the hero. To me it will be pleasure when you have 
 acquired this physiognomical sensation ; for, without 
 this, you will but travel in the dark ; you will but be 
 led through a picture-gallery blindfold, only that you 
 might say, I too have been in that gallery. 
 
 Could I travel unknown, I would also visit artists, 
 men of learning, and philosophers, men famous in their 
 respective countries ; but it should either be my adieu, 
 as the thing least important, or as a recreation on 
 my arrival. Pardon me, men of renown ; I have been 
 credulous in your favour, but I daily become more cir- 
 cumspect. Far be it from me to depreciate your worth. 
 I know many whose presence does not diminish but in- 
 crease fame ; yet will I be careful that remorse shall 
 neither dazzle nor cloud my reason. 
 
 It would be much more agreeable to me to mix un- 
 known with the multitude, visit churches, public walks, 
 
A WORD TO TRAVELLERS. 235 
 
 hospitals, orphan-houses, and assemblies of ecclesiastics 
 and men of the law. I would first consider the general 
 form of the inhabitants, their height, proportion, strength, 
 weakness, motion, complexion, attitude, gesture, and gait. 
 I would observe them individually, see, compare, close 
 my eyes, trace in imagination all I have seen, open them 
 again, correct my memory, and close and open them 
 alternately. I would study for words, write, and draw, 
 with a few determinate traits, the general form, so easy 
 to be discovered. I would compare my drawings with 
 the known general form of the people. How easily 
 might a summary, an index of the people, be obtained ! 
 
 Having made these familiar to me, I would descend 
 to the particular, would search for the general form of 
 the head, would ask, Is it most confined to the cylindri- 
 cal, the spherical, the square, the convex, or the concave ? 
 Is the countenance open, is it writhed, is it free, or 
 forked ? I would next examine the forehead, then the 
 eyebrows, the outline and colour of the eyes, the nose, 
 and especially the mouth when it is open ; and the teeth, 
 with their appearances, to discover the national charac- 
 teristic. 
 
 Could I but define the line of the opening of the lips 
 in seven promiscuous countenances, I imagine I should 
 have found the general physiognomical character of the 
 nation or place. I almost dare to establish it as an 
 axiom, that what is common to six or seven persons of 
 any place, taken promiscuously, is more or less common 
 to the whole. Exceptions there may be, but they will 
 be rare. 
 
 In the next place, I would plant myself in a public 
 walk, or at the crossing of streets. There I would wait 
 patiently for the unknown noble countenance, uncor- 
 
236 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 rupted by fame and adulation, which certainly, most 
 certainly, I should find : for, in all countries on earth 
 wherever a hundred common men are assembled, one 
 not common may be found ; and out of a thousand, ten. 
 
 I must have indeed little eye, little sensibility for 
 noble humanity, little faith in Providence, which seeks 
 its adorers, if I did not find this one in a hundred, or at 
 least in the ten among a thousand. He that seeketh 
 shall find. I waited not in vain. He came, I found 
 him, he passed by me. And what were the tokens by 
 which I discovered him in every town, in every nation, 
 under every cope of heaven, and among all people, 
 kindred, and tongues ? By the general combination of 
 the countenance, by the upper outline of the forehead, the 
 eyebrows, the basis of the nose, and the mouth, so con- 
 formable to each other, so parallel and horizontal, at the 
 first glance. By the wrinkless, compressed yet open 
 forehead, the powerful eyebrows ; the easily discerned, 
 easily delineated space between the eyebrows, which 
 extends itself to the back of the nose, like the great 
 street from the market-place to the chief gate of a 
 city. By the shut but freely breathing mouth ; the 
 chin neither haggard nor fleshy; the deep and shining 
 attraction of the eye ; which all, incautiously and unin- 
 tentionally, betrayed themselves to my research ; or, I 
 discovered him even in his foreign and distorted form, 
 from which the arrogant, self-supposed handsome, would 
 turn with contempt. I see through his disguise, as I 
 should the hand of a great master through the smear of 
 varnish. 
 
 I approach the favourite of heaven. I question him 
 concerning what I do, and what I do not wish to know, 
 that I may hear the voice of the soul proceeding from 
 
A WORD TO TRAVELLERS. 237 
 
 the mouth ; and, viewing him nearer, I see all the obli- 
 quities of distortion vanish. I ask him concerning his 
 occupation, his family, his place of residence. I inquire 
 the road thither. I come unexpectedly upon him into 
 his house, into his workshop ; he rises, I oblige him to 
 be seated, to continue his labour. I see his children, his 
 wife, and am delighted. He knows not what I want, 
 nor do I know myself, yet am I pleased with him, and 
 he with me. I purchase something or nothing, as it 
 happens. I inquire particularly after his friends. " You 
 have but few, but those few are faithful." He stands 
 astonished, smiles or weeps, in the innocence and good- 
 ness of his heart, which he wishes to conceal, but which 
 is open as day. He gains my affection; our emotions 
 are reciprocally expanded and strengthened ; we separate 
 reluctantly, and I know I have entered a house which is 
 entered by the angels of God. 
 
 Oh ! how gratefully, how highly is he rewarded for 
 his labours who travels, interested in behalf of humanity, 
 and, with the eyes of a man, to collect in the spirit 
 the children of God, who are scattered over the world ! 
 This appears to me to be the supreme bliss of man, as it 
 must be of angels. 
 
 If I do not meet him, I have no resource but in 
 society. Here I hear him most who speaks least, mild- 
 est, and most unaffectedly. Wherever I meet the smile 
 of self-sufficiency, or the oblique look of envy, I turn 
 away, and seek him who remains oppressed by the loud 
 voice of confidence. I set myself rather beside the 
 answerer than the man of clamorous loquacity; and still 
 rather beside the humble inquirer than the voluble 
 solver of all difficulties. 
 
 He who hastens too fast, or lags behind, is no com- 
 
238 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 panion of mine. I rather seek him who walks with a 
 free, firm, and even step ; who looks but little about 
 him ; who neither carries his head aloft, nor contemplates 
 his legs and feet. If the hand of affliction be heavy on 
 him, I set myself by his side, take his hand, and, with a 
 glance, infuse conviction to his soul, that God is love. 
 
 In my memory I retain the simple outlines of the 
 loud and the violent, the laughter and the smiles, 
 of him who gives the key, and him who takes. I then 
 commit them to paper; my collection increases. I 
 compare, arrange, judge, and am astonished. I every 
 where find similarity of traits, similarity of character ; 
 the same humanity every where, and every where the 
 same tokens. 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 A Word to Princes and Judges. 
 
 FOR your use, most important of men, how willingly 
 would I write a treatise ! Who, so much as you, need a 
 perfect knowledge of man, free from cabal or the inter- 
 vention of self-interest? Suffer me to approach your 
 throne, and present my address. 
 
 In your most secret commonplace-book keep an index 
 to each class of character among men, taken from at 
 least ten of the most accurate proofs ; not at a distance, 
 not among foreigners, but seek at home for the wisest 
 and best of your own subjects. Wherever a wise and 
 good prince governs, there are excellent subjects. Such 
 a prince believes that he has such subjects, although .at 
 the moment he should be unacquainted with them ; or, 
 at least, that he has subjects capable of wisdom and 
 goodness. Wherever one good person is, there certainly 
 
A WORD TO PRINCES AND JUDGES. 239 
 
 are two, as certainly as where the female is there will 
 the male be. 
 
 Suffer me, princes, consecrated as you are among 
 men, to entreat you, for the honour of humanity, prin- 
 cipally to study, to seek for, and to seize on excellence. 
 Judge not too suddenly, nor by mere appearances. 
 That which a prince once approves, it may afterwards 
 be difficult or dangerous to reject. Depend not on the 
 testimony of others, which, to princes especially, is ever 
 exaggerated either in praise or blame ; but examine the 
 countenance, which, though it may dissemble to a prince, 
 or rather to the dignity of a prince, cannot deceive him 
 as a man. Having once discovered wisdom and good- 
 ness in a subject, honour such a subject as the best 
 blessing which Heaven can in this world bestow upon 
 its favourites. Seek features that are strong, but not 
 forbidding ; gentle, yet not effeminate ; positive, without 
 turbulence ; natural, not arrogant ; with open eyes, clear 
 aspects ; strong noses near the forehead, and with such 
 let your thrones be surrounded. 
 
 Intrust your secrets to proportionate and parallel 
 drawn countenances ; to horizontal, firm, compressed 
 eyebrows; channelled, not too rigorously closed, red, 
 active, but not relaxed or withered lips. Yet I will for- 
 bear to delineate, and again only entreat that the coun- 
 tenance may be sacred to you for the sake of goodness 
 and wisdom. 
 
 As to you, judges, judge not indeed by appearances, 
 but examine according to appearances. Justice blind- 
 fold without physiognomy, is as unnatural as blindfold 
 love. There are countenances which cannot have com- 
 mitted a multitude of vices. Study the traits of each 
 vice, and the forms in which vice naturally or unwill- 
 
240 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 ingly resides. There are capabilities and incapabilities 
 in the countenance, things which it can will, others 
 which it cannot. Each passion, open or concealed, has its 
 peculiar language. The appearance of innocence is as 
 determinate to the experienced eye as the appearance 
 of health. 
 
 Bring guilt and innocence face to face, and examine 
 them in your presence, and when they suppose you do 
 not observe them in the presence and in the absence of 
 witnesses ; with justice see, with justice hear and obey, 
 the determined voice of unprejudiced conviction. Ke- 
 mark their walk when they enter, and when they leave 
 the judgment-hall. Let the light fall upon their coun- 
 tenances ; be yourself in the shade. Physiognomy will 
 render the torture unnecessary,* will deliver innocence, 
 will make the most obdurate vice turn pale, will teach 
 us how we may act upon the most hardened. Every 
 thing human must be imperfect ; yet will it be evident that 
 the torture, more disgraceful to man than the halter, the 
 axe, and the wheel, is infinitely more uncertain and dan- 
 gerous than physiognomy. The pain of torture is more 
 horrible even than the succeeding death, yet it is only 
 to prove, to discover truth. Physiognomy shall not exe- 
 cute, and yet it shall prove ; and by its proof vice alone, 
 and not innocence, shall suffer. ye judges of men, be 
 men, and humanity shall teach you, with more open 
 eyes, to see and abhor all that is inhuman I 
 
 * A few years since one philosopher wrote to another, The torture will 
 soon be abolished in Austria. It was asked, What shall be its substitute? 
 The penetrating look of the judge, replied Sonnenfels. Physiognomy will, in 
 twenty-five years, become a part of jurisprudence instead of torture, and 
 lectures will be read in the universities on the Physiognomice forense instead of 
 the Mfdicina forensis. 
 
A WORD TO THE CLERGY. 241 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 A Word to the Clergy. 
 
 You also, my brethren, need a certain degree of phy- 
 siognomy, and perhaps, princes excepted, no men more. 
 You ought to know whom you have before you, that 
 you may discern spirits, and portion out the word of 
 truth to each, according to his need and capacity. To 
 whom can a knowledge of the degree of actual and pos- 
 sible virtue, in all who appear before you, be more ad- 
 vantageous than to you ? 
 
 To me physiognomy is more indispensable than the 
 liturgy. It is to me alike profitable for doctrine, exhor- 
 tation, comfort, correction, examination ; with the healthy, 
 with the sick, the dying, the malefactor ; in judicial ex- 
 aminations, and the education of youth. Without it, I 
 should be as the blind leading the blind. 
 
 I might be robbed of my ardour or inspired with en- 
 thusiasm by a single countenance. Whenever I preach, 
 I generally seek the most noble countenance, on which 
 I endeavour to act, and the weakest when teaching 
 children. It is generally our own fault if our hearers 
 are inattentive, if they do not themselves give the key 
 in which it is necessary they should be addressed. 
 
 Every teacher possessed of physiognomical sensation 
 will easily discern and arrange the principal classes 
 among his hearers, and what each class can and cannot 
 receive. Let six or seven classes, of various capacities, 
 be selected ; let a chief, a representative, a characteristic 
 countenance of each class be chosen : let these counte- 
 nances be fixed in the memory, and let the preacher 
 accommodate himself to each ; speaking thus to one, and 
 thus to another, and in such a manner to a third. 
 
242 
 
 I.AVATER S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 There cannot be a more natural, effective, or definite 
 incitement to eloquence, than supposing some characte- 
 ristic countenance present, of the capacity of which almost 
 mathematical certainty may be obtained. Having six 
 or seven, I have nearly my whole audience before me. 
 I do not then speak to the winds. God teaches us by 
 physiognomy to act upon the best of men according to 
 the best of means. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 Physiognomical Elucidations of Countenances. 
 
 A regular well-formed countenance is where all the 
 parts are remarkable for their symmetry ; the principal 
 features, as the eyes, nose, and mouth, neither small nor 
 bloated. In which the position of the parts, taken to- 
 gether and viewed at a distance, appears nearly horizon- 
 tal and parallel. 
 
 A beautiful countenance, is that in which, besides the 
 proportion and position of the parts, harmony, uniformity, 
 and mind are visible ; in which nothing is superfluous, 
 nothing deficient, nothing disproportionate, nothing 
 super-added, but all is conformity and concord. 
 
 A pleasant countenance does not necessarily require 
 perfect symmetry and harmony ; yet nothing must be 
 wanting, nothing burdensome. Its pleasantry will princi- 
 pally exist in the eye and lips, which must have nothing 
 commanding, arrogant, contemptuous, but must generally 
 speak complacency, affability, and benevolence. 
 
 A gracious countenance arises out of the pleasant; 
 when, far from any thing assuming, to the mildest bene- 
 volence are added affability and purity. 
 
 A charming countenance must not simply consist 
 
PHYSIOGNOMICAL ELUCIDATIONS. 243 
 
 either of the beautiful, the pleasant, or the gracious ; but 
 when to these is added a rapid propriety of motion, which 
 renders it charming. 
 
 An insinuating countenance leaves no power to active 
 or passive suspicion. It has something more than the 
 pleasant, by infusing that into the heart which the 
 pleasant only manifests. 
 
 Other species of these delightful countenances are, the 
 attracting, the winning, the irresistible. 
 
 Very distinct from all these are the amusing, the 
 divertingly loquacious, the merely mild, and also the 
 tender and delicate. 
 
 Superior, and more lovely still, is the purely innocent, 
 where no distorted oblique muscle, whether in motion 
 or at rest, is ever seen. 
 
 This is still more exalted when it is full of soul, of 
 natural symapthy, and power to excite sympathy. 
 
 When in a pure countenance good power is accom- 
 panied by a spirit of order, I may call it an Attic 
 countenance. 
 
 Spiritually beautiful may be said of a countenance 
 where nothing thoughtless, inconsiderate, rude, or severe, 
 is to be expected ; and the aspect of which immediately 
 and mildly incites emotion in the principal powers of 
 the mind. 
 
 Noble is when we have not the least indiscretion to 
 fear, and when the countenance is exalted above us, 
 without a possibility of envy ; while it is less sensible of 
 its own superiority than of the pleasure we receive in 
 its presence. 
 
 A great countenance will have few small secondary 
 traits; will be in grand divisions, without wrinkles; 
 must exalt, must affect us, in sleep, in plaster of Paris, 
 
244 
 
 in every kind of caricatures ; as, for example, that of 
 Philip de Comines. 
 
 A sublime countenance can neither be painted nor de- 
 scribed ; that by which it is distinguished from all others 
 can only be felt. It must not only move, it must exalt 
 the spectator. We must at once feel ourselves greater 
 and less in its presence than in the presence of all others. 
 
 Whoever is conscious of its excellence, and can 
 despise or offend it, may, as hath been before said, 
 blaspheme against the great Author of his existence. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 Physiognomical Anecdotes. 
 
 1. 
 
 I HAVE nothing to require of you, said a father to his 
 innocent son, when bidding him farewell, but that you 
 bring me back your present countenance. 
 
 2. 
 
 A noble, amiable, and innocent young lady, who had 
 been educated principally in the country, saw her face 
 in the glass as she passed it with a candle in her hand, 
 retiring from evening prayers, and having just laid 
 down her Bible. Her eyes were cast to the ground with 
 inexpressible modesty at the sight of her own image. 
 She passed the winter in town, surrounded by adorers, 
 hurried away by dissipation, and plunged in trifling 
 amusements. She forgot her Bible and her devotion. 
 In the beginning of spring she returned to her country 
 seat, her chamber, and the table on which the Bible lay. 
 Again she had the candle in her hand, and again saw 
 herself in the glass. She turned pale, put down the 
 
PHYSIOGNOMICAL ELUCIDATIONS. 245 
 
 candle, retreated to a sofa, and fell on her knees: 
 " God ! I no longer know my own face. How am I 
 degraded ! My follies and vanities are all written in 
 my countenance. Wherefore have they been neglected, 
 illegible, to this instant ? come and expel, come and 
 utterly efface them, mild tranquillity, sweet devotion, 
 and ye gentle cares of benevolent love ! " 
 
 3. 
 
 " I will forfeit my life," said Titus of the priest Taci- 
 tus, " if this man be not an arch knave. I have three 
 times observed him sigh and weep without cause ; and 
 ten times turn aside to conceal a laugh he could not 
 restrain, when vice or misfortune were mentioned." 
 
 4. 
 
 A stranger said to a physiognomist, "How many 
 dollars is my face worth ? " " It is hard to determine," 
 replied the latter. " It is worth fifteen hundred," con- 
 tinued the questioner, " for so many has a person lent 
 me upon it, to whom I was a total stranger." 
 
 5. 
 
 A poor man asked alms, " How much do you want ? " 
 said the person of whom he asked, astonished at the 
 peculiar honesty of his countenance. "How shall I 
 dare to fix a sum ? " answered the needy person. " Give 
 me what you please, sir, I shall be contented and thank- 
 ful." " Not so," replied the physiognomist ; " as God 
 lives, I will give you what you want, be it little 01 
 much." " Then, sir, be pleased to give me eight shil- 
 lings." "Here they are; had you asked a hundred 
 guineas you should have had them." 
 
246 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 CHAPTEE XLIX. 
 
 Miscellaneous Extracts from Kcempfs Essay on the 
 Temperaments, with Remarks. 
 
 1. 
 
 " WILL not physiognomy be to man what the looking- 
 glass is to an ugly woman ? " 
 
 Let me also add, to the handsome woman. The wise 
 looks in the glass, and washes away spots; the fool 
 looks, turns back, and remains as he was. 
 
 2. 
 
 " Each temperament, each character, has its good and 
 bad. The one has inclinations of which the other is 
 incapable. The one has more than the other. The ingot 
 is of more worth than the guineas individually into 
 which it is coined ; yet the latter are most useful. The 
 tulip delights by its beauty, the carnation by its smell. 
 The unseemly wormwood displeases both taste and smell, 
 yet in medical virtue is superior to both. There it is 
 that each contributes to the perfection of the whole." 
 
 The carnation should not wish to be a tulip, the finger 
 an eye, nor the weak desire to act within the circle of 
 the strong. Each has its peculiar circle, as it has its 
 peculiar form. To wish to depart from this circle is 
 like wishing to be transported into another 1 body. 
 
 3, 
 
 " Within the course of a year we are assured that the 
 activity of nature changes the body, yet we are sensible 
 of no change of mind, although our body has been sub- 
 jected to the greatest changes, in consequence of meat, 
 drink, air, and other accidents ; the difference of air and 
 manner of life does not change the temperament." 
 
EXTRACTS FROM K.EilPF. 247 
 
 The foundation of character lies deeper, and is, in a 
 certain degree, independent of all accidents. It is pro- 
 bably the spiritual and immortal texture into which all 
 that is visible, corruptible, and transitory is interwoven. 
 
 4. 
 
 " A block of wood may be carved by a statuary into 
 what form he shall please ; he may make it an ^Esop or 
 an Antinous, but he will never change the inherent 
 nature of the wood." 
 
 To know and distinguish the materials and form of 
 men, so far as knowledge contributes to their proper 
 application, is the highest and most effectual wisdom of 
 which human nature is capable. 
 
 5. 
 
 "In the eyes of certain persons there is something 
 sublime, which beams and exacts reverence. This subli- 
 mity is the concealed power of raising themselves above 
 others, which is not the wretched effect of constraint, but 
 primitive essence. Each finds himself obliged to submit 
 to this secret power without knowing why, as soon as he 
 perceives that look, implanted by nature to inspire 
 reverence, shining in the eyes. Those who possess this 
 natural, sovereign essence, rule as lords or lions among 
 men by native privilege, with heart and tongue conquer- 
 ing all." 
 
 6. 
 
 "There are only four different aspects, all different 
 from each other, the ardent, the dull, the fixed, and the 
 fluctuating." 
 
 The application is the proof of all general propositions. 
 Let physiognomical axioms be applied to known indi- 
 viduals, friends or enemies, and their truth or falsehood, 
 
248 LAVATER S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 precision or inaccuracy, will easily be determined. Let 
 us make the experiment with the above, and we shall 
 certainly find there are numerous aspects which are not 
 included within these four; such as the luminous aspect, 
 very different from the ardent, and neither fixed like the 
 melancholic, nor fluctuating like the sanguine. 
 
 There is the look or aspect which is at once rapid 
 and fixed, and, as I may say, penetrates and attaches at 
 the same moment. There is the tranquilly active look, 
 neither choleric nor phlegmatic. I think it would be 
 better to arrange them into the giving, receiving, and 
 the giving and receiving combined; or, into intensive 
 and extensive ; or, into the attracting, repelling, and 
 unparticipating ; into the contracted, the relaxed, the 
 strained, the attaining, the unattaining, the tranquil, the 
 steady, the slow, the open, the closed, the cold, the 
 amorous, &c. 
 
 CHAPTEE L. 
 
 Upon Portrait Painting. 
 
 PORTRAIT painting, the most natural, manly, useful, 
 noble, and, however apparently easy, is the most difficult 
 of the arts. Love first discovered this heavenly art. 
 Without love, what could it perform ? 
 
 As on this art depends a great part of this present 
 work, and the science on which it treats, it is proper 
 that something should be said on the subject. Some- 
 thing; for how new, how important, and great a 
 work might be written on this art ! For the honour of 
 man, and of the art, I hope such a work will be written. 
 I do not think it ought to be the work of a painter, 
 however great in his profession, but of the understanding 
 
PORTRAIT PAINTING. 249 
 
 friend of physiognomy, the man of taste, the daily con- 
 fidential observer of the great portrait painter. 
 
 Sultzer, that philosopher of taste and discernment, has 
 an excellent article in his dictionary on this subject, 
 under the word Portrait. But what can be said, in a 
 work so confined, on a subject so extensive? Again, 
 whoever will employ his thoughts on this art, will find 
 that it is sufficient to exercise all the searching, all the 
 active powers of man; that it never can be entirely 
 learned, nor ever can arrive at ideal perfection. 
 
 I shall now attempt to recapitulate some of the avoid- 
 able and unavoidable difficulties attendant on this art ; 
 the knowledge of which, in my opinion, is as necessary 
 to the painter as to the physiognomist. 
 
 Let us first inquire, What is portrait painting ? It is 
 the communication, the preservation of the image of 
 some individual ; the art of suddenly depicting all that 
 can be depicted of that half of man which is rendered 
 apparent, and which never can be conveyed in words. 
 If what Goethe has somewhere said be true, and in my 
 opinion nothing can be more true, that the best text for 
 a commentary on man is his presence, his countenance, 
 his form ; how important, then, is the art of portrait 
 painting ! 
 
 To this observation of Goethe's, I will add a passage on 
 the subject from Sultzer's excellent dictionary : " Since 
 no object of knowledge whatever can be more important 
 to us than a thinking and feeling soul, it cannot be 
 denied but that man, considered according to his form, 
 even though we should neglect what is wonderful in 
 him, is the most important of visible objects." 
 
 The portrait painter should know, feel, and be pene- 
 trated with this: penetrated with reverence for the 
 
250 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 greatest works of the greatest masters. Were such the 
 subject of his meditation, not from constraint, but native 
 sensation ; were it as natural to him as the love of 
 life, how important, how sacred to him, would this art 
 become! Sacred to him should be the living counte- 
 nance as the text of holy scripture to the translator. As 
 careful should the one be not to falsify the work, as 
 should be the other not to falsify the word of God. 
 
 Great is the contempt which an excellent translator 
 of an excellent work deserves, whose mind is wholly 
 inferior to the mind of his original. And is it not the 
 same with the portrait painter? The countenance is 
 the theatre on which the soul exhibits itself : here must 
 its emanations be studied and caught. Whoever cannot 
 seize these emanations cannot paint ; and whoever can- 
 not paint these is no portrait painter. 
 
 Each perfect portrait is an important painting, since 
 it displays the human mind with the peculiarities of 
 personal character. In such we contemplate a being 
 where understanding, inclinations, sensations, passions, 
 good and bad qualities of mind and heart, are mingled 
 in a manner peculiar to itself. We here frequently see 
 them better than in nature herself, since in nature no- 
 thing is fixed, all is swift, all is transient. In nature, 
 also, we seldom behold the features under that propi- 
 tious aspect in which they will be transmitted by the 
 able painter. 
 
 If we could, indeed, seize the fleeting transitions of 
 nature, or had she her moments of stability, it would then 
 be much more advantageous to contemplate nature than 
 her likeness ; but this being impossible, and since, like- 
 wise, few people will suffer themselves to be observed 
 sufficiently to deserve the name of observation, it is to 
 
PORTRAIT PAINTING. 251 
 
 me indisputable, that a better knowledge of man may be 
 obtained from portraits than from nature, she being thus 
 'uncertain, thus fugitive. 
 
 The rank of the portrait painter may hence be easily 
 determined; he stands next to the historical painter 
 Nay, history painting itself derives a part of its value 
 from its portraits ; for expression, one of the most im- 
 portant requisites in historical painting, will be the more 
 estimable, natural, and strong, the more of natural 
 physiognomy is expressed in the countenances, and 
 copied after nature. A collection of excellent portraits 
 is highly advantageous to the historical painter for the 
 study of expression. 
 
 Where shall we find the historical painter who can 
 represent real beings with all the decorations of fiction ? 
 Do we not see them all copying copies ? True it is 
 they frequently copy from imagination ; but this imagi- 
 nation is only stored with the fashionable figures of their 
 own or former times. 
 
 Having presumed thus far, let us now enumerate some 
 of the surmountable difficulties of portrait painting. I 
 am conscious the freedom with which I shall speak my 
 thoughts will offend, yet to give offence is far from my 
 intention. I wish to aid, to teach that art, which is 
 the imitation of the works of God : I wish improve- 
 ment. And how is improvement possible without a 
 frank and undisguised discovery of defects ! 
 
 In all the works of portrait painters which I have 
 seen, I have remarked the want of a more philosophical, 
 that is to say, a more just, intelligible, and universal 
 knowledge of men. The insect painter, who has no 
 accurate knowledge of insects, the form, the general, the 
 particular, which is appropriated to each insect, however 
 
252 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 good a copyist he may be, will certaiuly be a bad painter 
 of insects. The portrait painter, however excellent a 
 copyist, (a thing much less general than is imagined by 
 connoisseurs,) will paint portraits ill if he have not the 
 most accurate knowledge of the form, proportion, con- 
 nection, and dependence of the great and minute parts of 
 the human body, as far as they have a remarkable in- 
 fluence on the superficies ; if he has not most accurately 
 investigated each individual member and feature. For 
 my own part, be my knowledge what it may, it is far 
 from accurate in what relates to the minute specific 
 traits of each sensation, each member, each feature ; yet 
 I daily remark that this acute, this indispensable know- 
 ledge, is at present every where uncultivated, unknown, 
 and difficult to convey to the most intelligent painters. 
 
 Those who will be at the trouble of considering a 
 number of men promiscuously taken, feature by feature, 
 will find that each ear, each mouth, notwithstanding 
 their infinite diversity, have yet their small curves, 
 corners, characters, which are common to all, and which 
 are found stronger or weaker, more or less marking, in all 
 men who are not monsters born, at least in these parts. 
 
 Of what advantage is all our knowledge of the great 
 proportions of the body and countenance ? (Yet even 
 that part of knowledge is, by far, not sufficiently studied, 
 not sufficiently accurate. Some future physiognomical 
 painter will justify this assertion, till when, be it con- 
 sidered as nothing more than cavil.) Of what advan- 
 tage, I say, is all our knowledge of the great proportions, 
 when the knowledge of the finer traits, which are equally 
 true, general, determinate, and no less significant, is 
 wanting ? And this want is so great, that I appeal to 
 those who are best informed, whether many of the ablest 
 
PORTRAIT PAINTING. 253 
 
 painters, who have painted numerous portraits, have any 
 tolerably accurate or general theory of the mouth only. 
 I do not mean the anatomical mouth, hut the mouth of 
 the painter, which he ought to see, and may see, without 
 any anatomical knowledge. 
 
 I have examined volume after volume of engravings 
 of portraits after the greatest masters, and am therefore 
 entitled to speak. But let us confine observations 
 to the mouth. Having previously studied infants, boys, 
 youth, manhood, old age, maidens, wives, matrons, with 
 respect to the general properties of the mouth; and 
 having discovered these, let us compare, and we shall 
 find that almost all painters have failed in the general 
 theory of the mouth ; that it seldom happens, and seems 
 only to happen by accident, that any master has under- 
 stood these general properties. Yet how indescribably 
 much depends on them ! What is the particular, what 
 the characteristic, but shades of the general ! As it is 
 with the mouth, so it is with the eyes, eyebrows, nose, 
 and each part of the countenance. 
 
 The same proportion exists between the great features 
 of the face ; and as there is this general proportion in / 
 all countenances, however various, so is there a similar 
 proportion between the small traits of these parts. 
 Infinitely varied are the great features in their general 
 combination and proportion. As infinitely varied are 
 the shades of the small traits in these features, however 
 great their general resemblance. Without an accurate 
 knowledge of the proportion of the principal features, 
 as, for example, of the eyes and mouth, to each other, it 
 must ever be mere accident, an accident that indeed 
 rarely happens, when such proportion exists in the 
 works of the painter Without an accurate knowledge 
 
254 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 of the particular constituent parts and traits of each 
 principal feature, I once again repeat, it must be acci- 
 dent, miraculous accident, should any one of them be 
 justly delineated. 
 
 The reflecting artist may be induced from this remark 
 to study nature intimately by principle, and to show 
 him, if he be in search of permanent fame, that, though 
 he ought to behold and study the works of the greatest 
 masters with esteem and reverence, he yet ought to ex- 
 amine and judge for himself. Let him not make the 
 virtue modesty his plea, for under this does omnipresent 
 mediocrity shelter itself. Modesty, indeed, is not so 
 properly virtue as the garb and ornament of virtue, and 
 of existing positive power. Let him, I say, examine for 
 himself, and study nature in whole and in part, as if no 
 man ever had observed, or ever should observe, but him- 
 self. Deprived of this, young artist, thy glory will but 
 resemble a meteor's blaze ; it will only be founded on 
 the ignorance of your contemporaries. 
 
 By far the greater part of the best portrait painters, 
 when most successful, like the majority of physiogno- 
 mists, content themselves with expressing the character 
 of the passions in the moveable, the muscular features 
 of the face. They do not understand, they laugh at, 
 rules which prescribe the grand outline of the counte- 
 nance as indispensable to portrait painting, independent 
 of the effects produced by the action of the muscles. 
 
 Till institutions shall be formed for the improvement 
 of portrait painting, perhaps till a physiognomical- 
 society or academy shall produce physiognomical por- 
 trait painters, we shall at best but creep in the regions 
 of physiognomy, where we might otherwise soar. One 
 of the greatest obstacles to physiognomy is the actual, 
 
PORTRAIT PAINTING. 255 
 
 incredible imperfection of this art. There is generally a 
 defect of eye or hand of the painter, or the object is 
 defective which is to be delineated, or perhaps all three. 
 The artist cannot discover what is, or cannot draw it 
 when he discovers it. The object continually alters its 
 position, which ought to be so exact, so continually the 
 same ; or should it not, and should the painter be en- 
 dowed with an all-observing eye, an all-imitative hand, 
 still there is the last insuperable difficulty, that of the 
 position of the body, which can but be momentary, 
 which is constrained, false, and unnatural, when more 
 than momentary. 
 
 Trifling, indeed, is what I have said to what might be 
 said. According to the knowledge I have of it, this is 
 yet uncultivated ground. How little has Sultzer him- 
 self said on the subject ! But what could he say in a 
 dictionary ? A work wholly dedicated to this is neces- 
 sary to examine and decide on the works of the best 
 portrait painters, and to insert all the cautions and 
 rules necessary for the young artist, in consequence of 
 the infinite variety, yet incredible uniformity, of the 
 human countenance. 
 
 The artist who wishes to paint portraits perfectly, 
 must so paint that each spectator may with truth exclaim, 
 " This is indeed to paint ! this is true, living likeness ; 
 perfect nature ; it is not painting ! Outline, form, pro- 
 portion, position, attitude, complexion, light and shade, 
 freedom, ease, nature ! Nature in every characteristic 
 disposition ! Nature in the complexion, in each trait, in 
 her most beauteous, happiest moments, her most select, 
 most propitious state of mind ; near at a distance, on 
 every side Truth and Nature ! Evident to all men, all 
 ages, the ignorant and the connoisseur ; most conspicuous 
 
256 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 to him who has most knowledge ; no suspicion of art ; 
 a countenance in a mirror, to which we would speak ; that 
 speaks to us ; that contemplates more than it is contem- 
 plated ; we rush to it, we embrace it, we are enchanted !" 
 
 Young artist ! emulate such excellence, and the least 
 of your attainments in this age will be riches and honour, 
 and fame in futurity. With tears you will receive the 
 thanks of father, friend, and husband, and your work 
 will honour that Being whose creation is the noblest 
 gift of man to imitate ! 
 
 CHAPTER LI. 
 
 Description of Plate VII. 
 
 Number 1. FREDERICK OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 How much yet how little is there of the royal counte- 
 nance in this copy ! The covered forehead may be sus- 
 pected from this nose, this sovereign feature. The forked, 
 descending wrinkles of the nose are expressive of killing 
 contempt. The great eyes, with a nose so bony, denote 
 a firmness and fire not easily to be withstood. Wit and 
 satirical fancy are apparent in the mouth, though de- 
 fectively drawn. There is something minute seen in the 
 chin, which cannot well be in nature. 
 
 Number 2. CATHERINE, EMPRESS OF RUSSIA. 
 
 Except the smallness of the nostril, and the distance 
 of the eyebrow from the outline of the forehead, no one 
 can mistake the princely, the superior, the masculine 
 firmness of this, nevertheless feminine, but fortunate 
 and kind countenance. 
 

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE VII. 257 
 
 Number 3. VOLTAIRE. 
 
 Precision is wanting to the outline of the eye, power 
 to the eyebrows, the sting, the scourge of satire to the 
 forehead. The under part of the profile, on the contrary, 
 speaks a flow of wit, acute, exuberant, exalted, ironical, 
 never deficient in reply. 
 
 Number 4. F. DE MALHERBE. 
 
 Here is a high, comprehensive, powerful, firm, reten- 
 tive French forehead, that appears to want the open, free, 
 noble essence of the former ; has something rude and 
 productive ; is more choleric ; and its firmness appears 
 to border on harshness. 
 
 Number 5. J. DE VOISIN. 
 
 The delicate construction of the forehead, the aspect 
 of the man of the world, the beauty of the nose, in 
 particular, the somewhat rash, satirical mouth, the plea- 
 sure-loving chin, all show the Frenchman of a superior 
 class. The excellent companion, the fanciful wit, the 
 supple courtier, are every where apparent. 
 
 Number 6. J. C. LAVATER. 
 
 A bad likeness of the author of these fragments, yet 
 not to be absolutely mistaken. The whole aspect, especi- 
 ally the mouth, speaks inoffensive tranquillity, and 
 benevolence bordering on weakness ; more understand- 
 ing and less sensibility in the nose than the author 
 supposes himself to possess some talent for observation 
 in the eye and eyebrows. 
 
 S 
 
258 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY; 
 
 CHAPTER LII. 
 
 Miscellaneous Quotations. 
 
 1. 
 
 " CAMPANELLA has not only made very accurate obser- 
 vations on human faces, but was very expert in mimick- 
 ing such as were any way remarkable. Whenever he 
 thought proper to penetrate into the inclinations of those 
 he had to deal with, he composed his face, his gestures, 
 and his whole body, as nearly as he could, into the exact 
 similitude of the person he intended to examine, and 
 then carefully observed what turn of mind he seemed to 
 acquire by this change. So that, says my author, he 
 was able to enter into the disposition and thoughts of 
 people, as effectually as if he had been changed into the 
 very man. I have often observed that, on mimicking 
 the gestures and looks of angry, or placid, or frightened, 
 or daring men, I have involuntarily found my mind 
 turned to that passion whose appearance I endeavour to 
 imitate. Nay, I am convinced it is hard to avoid it, 
 though one strove to separate the passion from its corre- 
 spondent gestures. Our minds and bodies are so closely 
 and intimately connected, that one is incapable of pain 
 or pleasure without the other. Campanella, of whom 
 we have been speaking, could so abstract his attention 
 from any sufferings of his body, that he was able to 
 endure the rack itself without much pain ; and in lesser 
 pains every body must have observed that, when we can 
 employ our attention on any thing else, the pain has 
 been for a time suspended. On the other hand, if by 
 any means the body is indisposed to perform such 
 gestures, or to be stimulated into such emotions as any 
 passion usually produces in it, that passion itself never 
 
MISCELLANEOUS QUOTATIONS. 259 
 
 can arise, though its cause should be never so strongly 
 in action, though it should be merely mental, and im- 
 mediately affecting none of the senses. As an opiate or 
 spirituous liquor shall suspend the operation of grief, 
 fear, or anger, in spite of all our efforts to the contrary ; 
 suid this by inducing in the body a disposition contrary 
 to that which it receives from these passions." This 
 passage is extracted from Burke on the Sublime and 
 Beautiful. 
 
 2. 
 
 " Who can explain wherein consists the difference of 
 organization between an idiot and another man ? " 
 
 The naturalist, whether Buffon or any other, who is 
 become famous, and who can ask this question, will 
 never be satisfied with any given answer, even though it 
 were the most formal demonstration. 
 
 3. 
 
 " Diet and exercise would be of no use when recom- 
 mended to the dying." 
 
 No human wisdom or power can rectify; but that 
 which is impossible to man is not so to God. 
 
 4. 
 
 "The appearance without must be deformity and 
 shame, when the worm gnaws within." 
 
 Let the hypocrite, devoured by conscience, assume 
 whatever artful appearance lie will, of severity, tran- 
 quillity, or vague solemnity, his distortion will ever be 
 apparent to the physiognomist. 
 
 5. 
 
 "Take a tree from its native soil, its free air, and 
 mountainous situation, and plant it in the confined cir- 
 
260 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 dilation of a hothouse : there it may vegetate, but in 
 a weak and sickly condition. Feed this foreign animal 
 in a den ; you will find it in vain. It starves in the 
 midst of plenty, or grows fat and feeble." 
 
 This, I am sorry to say, is the mournful history of 
 many a man. 
 
 6. 
 
 " A portrait is the ideal of an individual, not of men 
 in general." 
 
 A perfect portrait is neither more nor- less than the 
 circular form of a man reduced to a flat surface, and 
 which shall have the exact appearance of the person for 
 whom it was painted seen in a camera obscura. 
 
 7. 
 
 I once asked a friend, " How does it happen that art- 
 ful and subtle people always have one or both eyes 
 rather closed ?" "Because they are feeble," answered 
 he. "Who ever saw strength and subtlety united? 
 The mistrust of others is meanness towards ourselves." 
 
 This same friend, who to me is a man of ten thousand 
 for whatever relates to mind, wrote two valuable letters 
 on physiognomy to me, from which I am allowed to 
 make the following extracts : 
 
 " It appears to me to be an eternal law, that the first 
 is the only true impression. Of this I offer no proof 
 except by asserting such as my belief, and by appealing 
 to the sensations of others. .The stranger affects me by 
 his appearance, and is to my sensitive being what the 
 sun would be to a man born blind restored to sight. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS. 261 
 
 9. 
 
 " Rousseau was right when he said of D., That man 
 does not please me, though he has never done me 
 any injury ; but I must break with him before it comes 
 to that." 
 
 10. 
 
 " Physiognomy is as necessary to man as language.*' 
 I may add, as natural. 
 
 CHAPTER LIII. 
 
 Miscellaneous Thoughts, 
 
 1. 
 
 EVERY thing is good. Every thing may, and must be 
 misused. Physiognomical sensation is in itself as truly 
 good, as godlike, as expressive of the exalted worth of 
 human nature, as moral sensation ; perhaps they are 
 both the same. The suppressing, the destroying a sen- 
 sation so deserving of honour, where it begins to act, is 
 sinning against ourselves, and in reality equal to resist- 
 ing the good spirit Indeed, good impulses and actions 
 must have their limits, in order that they may not 
 impede other good impulses and actions. 
 
 2. 
 
 Each man is a man of genius in his large or small 
 sphere. He has a certain circle in which he can act 
 with inconceivable force. The less his kingdom, the 
 more concentrated is his power ; consequently the more 
 irresistible is his form of government. Thus the bee is 
 the greatest of mathematicians as far as its wants ex- 
 tend. Having discovered the genius of a man, how 
 
202 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 inconsiderable soever the circle of his activity may be, 
 having caught him in the moment when his genius is in 
 its highest exertion, the characteristic token of that 
 genius will also be easily discovered. 
 
 3. 
 
 The approach of the Godhead cannot be nearer in the 
 visible world, and in what we denominate nature, than 
 in the countenance of a great and noble man. Christ 
 could not but truly say, " He who seeth Me seeth Him 
 that sent me." God cannot, without a miracle, be seen 
 any where so fully as in the countenance of a good man. 
 Thus the essence of any man is more present, more 
 certain to me, by having obtained his shade. 
 
 4. 
 
 Great countenances awaken and stimulate each other, 
 excite all that can be excited. Any nation, having 
 once produced a Spenser, a Shakspeare, and a Milton, 
 may be certain that a Steele, a Pope, and an Addison 
 will follow. A great countenance has the credentials of 
 its high original in itself. With calm reverence and 
 simplicity nourish the mind with the presence of a great 
 countenance; its emanations shall attract and exalt 
 thee. A great countenance, in a state of rest, acts more 
 powerfully than a common countenance impassioned; 
 its effects, though unresembling, are general. The fortu- 
 nate disciples, though they knew Him not, yet did their 
 hearts burn within them while He talked with them by 
 the way, and opened to them the scriptures. The buyers 
 and sellers, whom he drove out of the Temple, durst not 
 oppose Him. 
 
 It may from hence be conceived how certain persons, 
 by their mere persons, have brought a seditious multi- 
 
MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS. 263 
 
 tude back to their duty, although the latter had acquired 
 the full power. That natural, unborrowed, indwelling 
 power, which is consequently superior to any which can 
 be assumed, is as evident to all eyes as the thunder of 
 heaven is to all ears. 
 
 5. 
 
 Great physiognomical wisdom not only consists in 
 discovering the general character of, and being highly 
 affected by the present countenance, or this or that 
 particular propensity, but in discriminating the indi- 
 vidual character of each kind of mind, and its capacity, 
 and being able to define the circle beyond which it 
 cannot pass ; to say what sensations, actions, and judg- 
 ments are, or are not to be expected from the man under 
 consideration, that we may not idly waste power, but 
 dispense just sufficient to actuate and put him in motion. 
 
 No man is more liable to the error of thoughtless 
 haste than I was. Four or five years of physiognomical 
 observation were requisite to cure me of this too hasty 
 waste of power. It is a part of benevolence to give, in- 
 trust, and participate ; but physiognomy teaches when, 
 how, and to whom to give. It therefore teaches true 
 benevolence, to assist where assistance is wanted, and 
 will be accepted. Oh ! that I could call at the proper 
 moment, and with proper effect, to the feeling and 
 benevolent heart. Waste not, cast not thy seed upon the 
 waters, or upon a rock. Speak only to the hearer ; un- 
 bosom thyself but to those who can understand thee ; 
 philosophize with none but philosophers ; spiritualize 
 only with the spiritual It requires greater power to 
 bridle strength than to give it the rein. To withhold is 
 often better than to give. What is not enjoyed will be 
 
264 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 cast back with acrimony or trodden to waste, and thus 
 will become useless to all. 
 
 To the good be good ; resist not the irresistible coun- 
 tenance. Give the eye that asks, that comes recom- 
 mended to thee by Providence, or by God himself, and 
 which to reject is to reject God, who cannot ask thee 
 more powerfully than when entreating in a cheerful, 
 open, innocent countenance. Thou canst not more im- 
 mediately glorify God than by wishing and acting well 
 to a countenance replete with the spirit of God, nor more 
 certainly and abhorrently offend and wound the majesty 
 of God, than by despising, ridiculing, and turning from 
 such a countenance. God cannot more effectually move 
 man than by man. Whoever rejects the man of God 
 rejects God. To discover the radiance of the Creator in 
 the visage of man, is the pre-eminent quality of man ; it is 
 the summit of wisdom and benevolence to feel how much 
 of this radiance is there, to discern this ray of Divinity 
 through the clouds of the most debased countenances, 
 and dig out this small gem of heaven from amid the 
 ruins and rubbish by which it is encumbered. 
 
 7. 
 
 Shouldest thou, friend of man, esteem physiognomy 
 as highly as I do, to whom it daily becomes of greater 
 worth the more I discover its truth ; if thou hast an eye 
 to select the few noble, or that which is noble in the 
 ignoble, that which is divine in all men, the immortal in 
 what is mortal, then speak little, but observe much ; 
 dispute not, but exercise thy sensation, for thou wilt 
 convince no one to whom this sensation is wanting. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS. 265 
 
 When noble poverty presents to you a face in which 
 humility, -patience, faith, and love, shine conspicuously, 
 how superior will thy joy be in his words who has told 
 thee, " Inasmuch as thou hast done it unto one of the 
 least of these my brethren, thou hast done it unto me ! " 
 
 With a sigh of hope you will exclaim, when youth 
 and dissipation present themselves, This forehead was 
 delineated by God for the search and the discovery of 
 truth. In this eye rests unripened wisdom. 
 
 CHAPTER LIV. 
 
 Of the Union between the Knowledge of the Heart and 
 Philanthropy. Miscellaneous Physiognomical Thoughts 
 from Holy Writ. 
 
 MAY the union between the knowledge of the heart 
 and philanthropy be obtained by the same means? 
 Does not a knowledge of the heart destroy or weaken 
 philanthropy ? Does not our good opinion of any man 
 diminish when he is perfectly known ? And if so, how 
 may philanthropy be increased by this knowledge ? 
 
 What is here alleged is truth ; but it is partial truth. 
 And how fruitful a source of error is partial truth ! It 
 is a certain truth that the majority of men are losers by 
 being accurately known ; but it is no less true that the 
 majority of men gain as much on one side as they lose 
 on the other by being thus accurately known. Who is 
 so wise as never to act foolishly ? Where is the virtue 
 wholly unpolluted by vice; with thoughts at all 
 moments simple, direct, and pure ? I dare undertake to 
 maintain that all men, with some very rare exceptions, 
 lose by being known. But it may also be proved by 
 
2G6 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 the most irrefragable arguments, that all men gain by 
 being known ; consequently a knowledge of the heart is 
 not detrimental to the love of mankind, but promotes it. 
 
 Physiognomy discovers actual and possible perfec- 
 tions which, without its aid, must ever have remained 
 hidden. The more man is studied, the more power and 
 positive goodness will he be discovered to possess. As 
 the experienced eye of the painter perceives a thousand 
 small shades and colours which are unremarked by 
 common spectators ; so the physiognomist views a multi- 
 tude of actual or possible perfections, which escape the 
 general eye of the despiser, the slanderer, or even the 
 more benevolent judge of mankind. 
 
 The good which I, as a physiognomist, have observed 
 in people round me, has more than compensated that 
 mass of evil which, though I appeared blind, I could not 
 avoid seeing. The more I have studied man the more 
 have I been convinced of the general influence of his 
 faculties ; the more have I remarked that the origin of 
 all evil is good; that those very powers which made him 
 evil those abilities, forces, irritability, elasticity, were 
 all in themselves actual, positive good. The absence of 
 these, indeed, would have occasioned the absence of an 
 infinity of evil, but so would they likewise of an infinity 
 of good. The essence of good has given birth to much 
 evil ; but it contained in itself the possibility of a still 
 infinite increase of good. 
 
 The least failing of an individual incites a general out- 
 cry, and his character is at once darkened, trampled on, 
 and destroyed. The physiognomist views and praises 
 the man whom the whole world condemns. What ! 
 does he praise vice ? Does he excuse the vicious ? No ; 
 lie whispers, or kudly affirms, "Treat this man after 
 
MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS. 267 
 
 such a manner, and you will be astonished at what he 
 is able, what he may be made willing to perform. 
 He is not so wicked as he appears ; his countenance is 
 better than his actions. His actions, it is true, are legible 
 in his countenance, but not more legible than his great 
 powers, his sensibility, the pliability of that heart which 
 has had an improper bent. Give but these powers 
 which have rendered him vicious another direction and 
 other objects, and he will perform miracles of virtue." 
 
 The physiognomist will pardon where the most 
 benevolent philanthropist must condemn. For myself, 
 since I have become a physiognomist, I have gained 
 knowledge so much more accurate of so many excellent 
 men, and have had such frequent occasions to rejoice 
 my heart in the discoveries I made concerning such 
 men, that this, as I may say, has reconciled me to the 
 whole human race. What I here mention as having 
 happened to myself, each physiognomist, being himself 
 a man, must have undoubtedly felt. 
 Miscellaneous Physiognomical Thoughts from Holy Writ. 
 
 " Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret 
 sins in the light of thy countenance," Psalm xc. 8. 
 No man believes in the omniscience, or has so strong 
 a conviction of the presence of God and his angels, or 
 reads the hand of Heaven so visible in the human 
 countenance, as the physiognomist. 
 
 " Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit 
 unto his stature ? And why take ye thought for rai- 
 ment? Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his 
 righteousness ; and all these things shall be added unto 
 you," Matt. vi. 27, 28, 33. No man,. therefore, can alter 
 his form. The improvement of the internal will also 
 be the improvement of the external Let men take care 
 
268 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 of the internal, and a sufficient care of the external will 
 be the result. 
 
 " When ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad 
 countenance; for they disfigure their faces, that they 
 may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, 
 They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, 
 anoint thine head and wash thy face ; that thou appear 
 not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in 
 secret : and thy Father which seeth in secret, shall re- 
 ward thee openly," Matt. vi. 16 18. Virtue, like vice, 
 may be concealed from men, but not from the Father in 
 secret, nor from him in whom his spirit is, who fathoms 
 not only the depths of humanity but of divinity. He is 
 rewarded who means that the good he has should be 
 seen in his countenance. 
 
 "Some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls 
 came and devoured them up ; some fell upon stony 
 places, where they had not much earth : and forthwith 
 they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth ; 
 and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and 
 because they had no root, they withered away; and 
 some fell among thorns ; and the thorns sprung up, and 
 choked them; but others fell into good ground, and 
 brought forth fruit, some a hundred-fold, some sixty- 
 fold, some thirty-fold," Matt, xiii 4 8. There are 
 many men, many countenances, in whom nothing can be 
 planted, each fowl devours the seed ; or, they are hard 
 like stone, with little earth, (or flesh,) have habits which 
 stifle all that is good. There are others that have good 
 bones, good flesh, with a happy proportion of each, and 
 no stifling habits. 
 
 " For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he 
 shall have more abundance; but whosoever hath 
 
MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS. 269 
 
 not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath/' 
 Matt. xiii. 12. True again of the good and bad counte- 
 nance. He who is faithful to the propensities of nature, 
 he hath, he enjoys, he will manifestly be ennobled. The 
 bad will lose even the good traits he hath received. 
 
 "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little 
 ones ; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do 
 always behold the face, of my Father which is in 
 heaven," Matt, xviii. 10. Probably the angels see the 
 countenance of the father in the countenance of the 
 children. 
 
 " If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. Do ye 
 not perceive, that whatever thing from without entereth 
 into the man, it cannot defile him ; because it entereth 
 not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into 
 the draught, purging all meats? And he said, That 
 which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man," 
 Mark vii. 17 20. This is physiognomically true. Not 
 external accidents, not spots which may be washed 
 away, not wounds which may be healed, not even scars 
 which remain, will defile the countenance in the eye of 
 the physiognomist, neither can paint beautify it to him. 
 
 " A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump," GaL v. 9. 
 A little vice often deforms the whole countenance. One 
 single false trait makes the whole a caricature. 
 
 " Ye are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and 
 read of all men. Forasmuch as ye are manifestly 
 declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, 
 written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living 
 God," 2 Cor. iii. 2, 3. What need have the good of 
 letters of recommendation to the good ? The open 
 countenance recommends itself to the open countenance. 
 No letters of recommendation can recommend the per- 
 
270 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 fictions countenance, nor can any slanderer deprive the 
 countenance, beaming with the divine spirit, of its letters 
 of recommendation. A good countenance is the best 
 letter of recommendation. 
 
 I shall conclude with the important passage from the 
 eleventh of the Eomans : 
 
 "God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he 
 might have mercy upon all. the depth of the riches 
 both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! How un- 
 searchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding 
 out ! For who hath known the mind of the Lord ? or 
 who hath been his counsellor ? or who hath first given 
 to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? 
 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. 
 To whom be glory for ever. Amen." 
 
 CHAPTER LV. 
 
 Of the apparently false, Decisions of Physiognomy Of the 
 general Objections made to Physiognomy Particular 
 Objections answered. 
 
 ONE of the strongest objections to the certainty of 
 physiognomy is, that the best physiognomists often 
 judge very erroneously. 
 
 It may be proper to make some remarks on this ob- 
 jection, 
 
 Be it granted that the physiognomist often errs ; that 
 is to say his discernment errs, not the countenance. But 
 to conclude there is no such science as physiognomy, 
 because physiognomists err, is the same thing as to con- 
 clude there is no reason, because there is much false 
 reasoning. 
 
OF FALSE DECISIONS. 271 
 
 To suppose that, because the physiognomist has made 
 some false decisions, he has no physiognomical discern- 
 ment, is equal to supposing that a man who has com- 
 mitted some mistakes of memory, has no memory ; or, 
 at best, that his memory is very weak. We must be 
 less hasty. We must first inquire in what proportion 
 his memory is faithful, how often it has failed, how 
 often been accurate. The miser may perform ten acts 
 of charity ; must we therefore affirm he is charitable ? 
 Should we not rather inquire how much he might have 
 given, and how often it has been his duty to give ? The 
 virtuous man may have ten times been guilty ; but before 
 lie is condemned it ought to be asked, in how many hun- 
 dred instances he has acted uprightly. He who games 
 must oftener lose than he who refrains from gaming. 
 He who slides or skates upon the ice is in danger 
 of many a fall, and of being laughed at by the less 
 adventurous spectator. Whoever frequently gives alms 
 is liable occasionally to distribute his bounties to the 
 unworthy. He indeed who never gives cannot com- 
 mit the same mistake, and may truly vaunt of his 
 prudence, since he never furnishes opportunities for 
 deceit. In like manner, he who never judges can never 
 judge safely. The physiognomist judges oftener than 
 the man who ridicules physiognomy ; consequently 
 must oftener err than he who never risks a physiogno- 
 mical decision. 
 
 Which of the favourable judgments of the benevolent 
 physiognomists may not be decried as false ? Is he not 
 himself a mere man, however circumspect, upright, 
 honourable, and exalted he may be ; a man who has in 
 himself the root of all evil, the germ of every vice ; or, 
 in other words, a man whose most worthy propensities, 
 
2 i 2 LAVATER S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 qualities, and inclinations, may occasionally be over- 
 strained, wrested, and warped ? 
 
 You behold a meek man who, after repeated and con- 
 tinued provocations to wrath, persists in silence ; who 
 probably never is overtaken by anger when he himself 
 alone is injured. The physiognomist can read his heart, 
 fortified to bear and forbear, and immediately exclaims, 
 Behold the most amiable, the most unconquerable gentle- 
 ness ! You are silent you laugh you leave the place 
 and say, " Fie on such a physiognomist ! How full of 
 wrath have I seen this man !" When was it that you 
 saw him in wrath ? Was it not when some one had mis- 
 treated his friend ? " Yes, and he behaved like a frantic 
 man in defence of his friend, which is proof sufficient 
 that the science of physiognomy is a dream, and the 
 physiognomist a dreamer." But who is in an error, the 
 physiognomist or his censurer? The wise man may 
 sometimes utter folly. This the physiognomist knows, 
 but, regarding it not, reverses, and pronounces him a wise 
 man. You ridicule the decision, for you have heard this 
 wise man say a foolish thing. Once more, who is in an 
 error ? The physiognomist does not judge from a single 
 incident, and often not from several combining incidents. 
 Nor does he, as a physiognomist, judge only by actions. 
 He observes the propensities, the character, the essential 
 qualities and powers, which often are apparently con- 
 tradicted by individual actions. 
 
 Again ; he who seems stupid or vicious may yet pro- 
 bably possess indications of a good understanding, and 
 propensities to every virtue. Should the beneficent eye 
 of the physiognomist, who is in search of good, perceive 
 these qualities and announce them ; should he not pro- 
 nounce a decided judgment against the man, he .im- 
 
OF FALSE DECISIONS. 273 
 
 mediately becomes a subject of laughter. Yet how often 
 may dispositions to the most heroic virtue be there 
 buried! How often may the fire of genius lie deeply 
 smothered beneath the embers ? Wherefore do you so 
 anxiously, so attentively, rake among these ashes ? Be- 
 cause here is warmth, notwithstanding that at the first, 
 second, third, fourth raking, dust only will fly in the 
 eyes of the physiognomist and spectator. The latter 
 retires laughing, relates the attempt, and makes others 
 laugh also. The former may, perhaps, patiently wait 
 and warm himself by the flame he has excited. Innume- 
 rable are the instances where the most excellent qualities 
 are overgrown and stifled by the weeds of error. Futurity 
 shall discover why, and the discovery shall not be in 
 vain. The common unpractised eye beholds only a de- 
 solate wilderness. Education, circumstances, necessities, 
 stifle every effort towards perfection. The physiognomist 
 inspects, becomes attentive, and waits. He sees and ob- 
 serves a thousand contending contradictory qualities ; 
 he hears a multitude of voices exclaiming, What a man ! 
 But he hears too the voice of the Deity exclaim, What 
 a man ! He prays, while those revile who cannot com- 
 prehend, or, if they can, will not, that in the countenance, 
 under the form they view, lie concealed beauty, power, 
 wisdom, and a divine nature. 
 
 Still further, the physiognomist, or observer of man, 
 who is a man, a Christian that is to say, a wise and 
 good man will a thousand times act contrary to his 
 own physiognomical sensation ; I do not express my- 
 self accurately he appears to act contrary to his 
 internal judgment of the man. He speaks not all he 
 thinks. This is an additional reason why the physio- 
 gnomist so often appears to err; and why the true 
 
 T 
 
274 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 observer (observation and truth are in him) is so often 
 mistaken and ridiculed. He reads the villain in the 
 countenance of the beggar at his door, yet does not turn 
 away, but speaks friendly to him, searches his heart, 
 and discovers God, what does he discover! An 
 immeasurable abyss, a chaos of vice ! But does he 
 discover nothing more, nothing good ? Be it granted he 
 finds nothing good, yet he there contemplates clay which 
 must not say to the potter, " Why hast thou made me 
 thus?" He sees, prays, turns away his face, and hides 
 a tear which speaks with eloquence inexpressible, not to 
 man, but to God alone. He stretches out his friendly 
 hand, not only in pity to a hapless wife whom he has 
 rendered unfortunate, not only for the sake of his 
 helpless, innocent children, but in compassion to him- 
 self, for the sake of God, who has made all things, even 
 the wicked themselves, for his own glory. He gives, 
 perhaps to kindle a spark which he yet perceives, and 
 this is what is called in Scripture giving his heart. 
 Whether the unworthy man misuses the gift, or misuses 
 it not, the judgment of the donor will alike be arraigned. 
 Whoever hears of the gift will say, How has this good 
 man again suffered himself to be deceived ! 
 
 Man is not to be the judge of man ; and who feels this 
 truth more coercively than the physiognomist? The 
 mightiest of men, the Euler of man, came not to judge 
 the world, but to save. Not that he did not see the 
 vices of the vicious, nor that he concealed them from 
 himself or others, when philanthropy required they 
 should be remarked and detected; yet he judged not, 
 punished not ; he forgave " Go thy way, and sin no 
 more." Judas he received as one of his disciples, pro- 
 tected him, embraced him him in whom he beheld his 
 future betrayer. 
 
OF GENERAL OBJECTIONS. 275 
 
 Good men are most happy to discover good. Thine 
 eye cannot be Christian if thou givest me not thine 
 heart. Wisdom without goodness is folly ; I will judge 
 justly and act benevolently. 
 
 Once more. A profligate man, an abandoned woman, 
 who have ten times been to blame when they affirmed 
 they were not, on the eleventh are condemned when 
 they are not to blame. They apply to the physio- 
 gnomist. He inquires, and finds that this time they are 
 innocent. Discretion loudly tells him he will be 
 censured should he suffer it to be known that he 
 believes them innocent; but his heart more loudly 
 commands him to speak, to bear witness for the present 
 'innocence of such rejected persons. A word escapes 
 him, and a multitude of reviling voices at once are heard 
 " Such a judgment ought not to have been made by a 
 physiognomist !" Yet who has decided erroneously ? 
 
 The above are a few hints and reasons to the discern- 
 ing, to induce them to judge cautiously concerning the 
 physiognomist, as they would wish him to judge con- 
 cerning themselves or others. 
 
 Of the General Objections made to Physiognomy. 
 
 Innumerable are the objections which may be raised 
 against the certainty of judgments drawn from the lines 
 and features of the human countenance. Many of these 
 appear to me to be easy, many difficult, and some im- 
 possible to be answered. 
 
 Before I select any of them, I will first state some 
 general remarks, the accurate consideration and proof of 
 which will remove many difficulties. 
 
 It appears to me that, in all researches, we ought first 
 to inquire what can be said in defence of any proposi- 
 
276 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 tion. One irrefragable proof of the actual existence and 
 certainty of a thing, will overbalance ten thousand 
 objections. One positive witness, who has all possible 
 certainty that knowledge and reason can give, will pre- 
 ponderate against innumerable others who are only 
 negative. All objections against a certain truth are in 
 reality only negative evidence. "We never observed 
 this : we never experienced that/' Though ten thousand 
 should make this assertion, what would it prove against 
 one man of understanding and sound reason who should 
 answer, " But I have observed, and you also may ob- 
 serve if you please." No well-founded objection can be 
 made against the existence of a thing visible to sense. 
 Argument cannot disprove facts. No two opposing 
 positive facts can be adduced ; all objections to a fact, 
 therefore, must be negative. 
 
 Let this be applied to physiognomy. Positive proofs 
 of the true and acknowledged signification of the face 
 and its features, against the clearness and certainty of 
 which nothing can be alleged, render innumerable ob- 
 jections, although they cannot probably be answered, 
 perfectly insignificant. Let us therefore endeavour to 
 inform ourselves of those positive arguments which 
 physiognomy affords. Let us first make ourselves stead- 
 fast in what is certainly true, and we shall soon be 
 enabled to answer many objections, or to reject them as 
 unworthy any answer. 
 
 It appears to me, that in the same proportion as a 
 man remarks and adheres to the positive, will be the 
 strength and perseverance of his mind. He whose 
 talents do not surpass mediocrity, is accustomed to 
 overlook the positive, and to maintain the negative with 
 invincible obstinacy. 
 
OF GENERAL OBJECTIONS. 277 
 
 Thou shouldest first consider what thou art, what is 
 thy knowledge, and what are thy qualities and powers, 
 before thou inquirest what thou art not, knowest not, 
 and what the qualities and powers are that thou hast 
 not. This is a rule which every man who wishes to be 
 wise, virtuous, and happy, ought not only to prescribe 
 to himself, but, if I may use so bold a figure, to incorpo- 
 rate with, and make a part of his very soul. The truly 
 wise always first directs his inquiries concerning what 
 is ; the man of weak intellect, the pedant, first searches 
 for that which is wanting. The true philosopher looks 
 first for the positive proofs of the proposition. I say, 
 first I am very desirous that my meaning should not 
 be misunderstood, and therefore repeat, first, The super- 
 ficial mind first examines the negative objections. This 
 has been the method pursued by infidels, the opponents 
 of Christianity. Were it granted that Christianity 
 were false, still this method would neither be logical, 
 true, nor conclusive. Therefore such modes of reason- 
 ing must be set aside as neither logical nor conclusive, 
 before we can proceed to answer objections. 
 
 To return once more to physiognomy, the question 
 will be reduced to this " Whether there are any proofs 
 sufficiently positive and decisive, in favour of physio- 
 gnomy, to induce us to disregard the most plausible 
 objections ? " Of this I am as much convinced as I am of 
 my own existence ; and every unprejudiced reader will 
 be the same who shall read this work through, if he 
 only possesses so much discernment and knowledge as 
 not to deny that eyes are given us to see ; although 
 there are innumerable eyes in the world that look and do 
 not see. 
 
 It may happen that learned men of a certain descrip- 
 
278 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 tion will endeavour to perplex me by argument. They, 
 for example, may cite the female butterfly of Ke'aumur, 
 and the large- winged ant, in order to prove how much 
 we may be mistaken with respect to final causes in the 
 products of nature. They may assert, " Wings undoubt- 
 edly appear to be given for the purpose of flight, yet 
 these insects never fly; therefore wings are not given 
 for that purpose. And, by a parity of reasoning, since 
 there are wise men who probably do not see, eyes are 
 not given for the purposes of sight." To such objections 
 I shall make no reply, for never in my whole life have 
 I been able to answer -a sophism. I appeal only to 
 common sense. I view a certain number of men, who 
 all have the gift of sight when they open their eyes and 
 there is light, and who do not see when their eyes are 
 shut. As this certain number are not select, but taken 
 promiscuously among millions of existing men, it is the 
 highest possible degree of probability that all men whose 
 formation is similar, that have lived, do live, or shall 
 live, being alike provided with those organs we call eyes, 
 must see. This, at least, has been the mode of arguing 
 and concluding among all nations, and in all ages. In 
 the same degree as this mode of reasoning is convincing, 
 when applied to other subjects, so it is when applied 
 to physiognomy, and is equally applicable; and, if untrue 
 in physiognomy, it is equally untrue in every other 
 instance. 
 
 I am therefore of opinion that the defender of physio- 
 gnomy may rest the truth of the science on this proposi- 
 tion, " That it is universally confessed that among ten, 
 twenty, or thirty men, indiscriminately selected, there 
 as certainly exists a physiognomical expression, or 
 demonstrable correspondence of internal power and sen- 
 
OF GENERAL OBJECTIONS. 279 
 
 sation, with external form and figure, as that among the 
 like number of men, in the like manner selected, they 
 have eyes and can see." Having proved this, he has 
 as sufficiently proved the universality and truth of phy- 
 siognomy as the universality of sight by the aid of eyes, 
 having shown that ten, twenty, or thirty men, by the aid 
 of eyes, are all capable of seeing. From a part I draw 
 a conclusion to the whole ; whether those I have seen or 
 those I have not. 
 
 But it will be answered, though this may be proved 
 of certain features, does it therefore follow that it may 
 be proved of all ? I am persuaded it may ; if I am 
 wrong, show me my error. 
 
 Having remarked that men who have eyes and ears 
 see and hear, and being convinced that eyes were given 
 him for the purpose of sight, and ears for that of hear- 
 ing ; being unable longer to doubt that eyes and ears 
 have their destined office I think I draw no improper 
 conclusion, when I suppose that every other sense and 
 member of this same human body, which so wonder- 
 fully form a whole, has each a particular purpose ; 
 although it should happen that I am unable to discover 
 what the particular purposes of so many senses, members, 
 and integuments may be. Thus do I reason, also, concern- 
 ing the signification of the countenance of man, the for- 
 mation of his body, and the disposition of his members. 
 
 If it can be proved that any two or three features have 
 a certain determinate signification, as determinate as that 
 the eye is the expression of the countenance, is it not 
 accurate to conclude, according to the mode of reasoning 
 above cited, universally acknowledged to be just, that 
 those features are also significant, with the signification 
 of which I am unacquainted I think myself able to 
 
280 
 
 prove, to every person of the commonest understanding, 
 that all men without exception, at least under certain 
 circumstances and in some particular feature, may 
 indeed have more than one feature of a certain deter- 
 minate signification, as surely as I can render it compre- 
 hensible to the simplest person, that certain determinate 
 members of the human body are to answer certain 
 determinate purposes. 
 
 Twenty or thirty men taken promiscuously, when 
 they laugh or weep, will, in the expression of their joy 
 or grief, possess something in common with or similar 
 to each other. Certain features will bear a greater 
 resemblance to each other among them than they other- 
 wise do, when not in the like sympathetic state of mind. 
 
 To me it appears evident, that since excessive joy and 
 grief are universally acknowledged to have their peculiar 
 expressions, and that the expression of each is as diffe- 
 rent as the different passions of joy and grief, it must 
 therefore be allowed that the state of rest, the medium 
 between joy and grief, shall likewise have its peculiar 
 expression ; or, in other words, that the muscles which 
 surround the eyes and lips will indubitably be found 
 to be in a different state. 
 
 If this be granted concerning the state of the mind in 
 joy, grief, or tranquillity, why should not the same be 
 true concerning pride, humility, patience, magnanimity, 
 and other affections ? 
 
 According to certain laws, the stone flies upward when 
 thrown with sufficient force ; by other laws equally 
 certain, it afterwards falls to the earth ; and will it not 
 remain unmoved according to laws equally fixed, if suf- 
 fered to be at rest ? Joy, according to certain laws, is 
 expressed in one manner, grief in another, and tranquil- 
 
OF GENERAL OBJECTIONS. 281 
 
 lity in a third. Wherefore then shall not anger, gentle- 
 ness, pride, humility, and other passions, be subject to 
 certain laws ; that is, to certain fixed laws ? 
 
 All things in nature are or are not subjected to certain 
 laws. There is a cause for all things, or there is not. All 
 things are cause and effect, or are not. Ought we not 
 hence to derive one of the first axioms of philosophy ? 
 And, if this be granted, how immediately is physiognomy 
 relieved from all objections, even from those which wo 
 know not how to answer ; that is, as soon as it shall be 
 granted there are certain characteristic features in all 
 men, as characteristic as the eyes are to the countenace ! 
 
 But, it will be said, how different are the expressions 
 of joy and grief, of the thoughtful and the thoughtless ! 
 And how may these expressions be reduced to rule ? 
 
 How different from each other are the eyes of men 
 and of all creatures the eye of an eagle from the eye of 
 a mole, an elephant, and a fly ! and yet we believe of all 
 who have no evident signs of infirmity or death, that 
 they see. 
 
 The feet and ears are as various as are the eyes ; yet 
 we universally conclude of them all, they were given us 
 for the purposes of hearing and walking. 
 
 These varieties by no means prevent our believing that 
 the eyes, ears, and feet, are the expressions, the organs of 
 seeing, hearing, and walking ; and why should we not 
 draw the same conclusions concerning all features and 
 lineaments of the human body? The expressions of 
 similiar dispositions of mind cannot have greater variety 
 than have the eyes, ears, and feet of all beings that see, 
 hear, and walk ; yet may we as easily observe and deter- 
 mine what they have in common, as we can observe and 
 determine what the eyes, ears, and feet, which are so vari- 
 
282 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 ous among all beings that see, hear, and walk, have also in 
 common. This well considered, how many objections 
 will be answered, or become insignificant ! 
 
 Various Objections to Physiognomy answered. 
 
 Objection 1. 
 
 " It is said we find persons who from youth to old age, 
 without sickness, without debauchery, have continually 
 a pale, death-like aspect; who, nevertheless, enjoy an 
 uninterrupted and confirmed state of health." 
 
 Answer. 
 
 These are uncommon cases. A thousand men will 
 show their state of health by the complexion and round- 
 ness of the countenance, to one in whom these appear- 
 ances will differ from .the truth. I suspect that these 
 uncommon cases are the effect of impressions made on 
 the mother during her state of pregnancy. Such cases 
 may be considered as exceptions, the accidental causes 
 of which may, perhaps, not be difficult to discover. 
 
 To me it seems we have as little just cause hence to 
 draw conclusions against the science of physiognomy, 
 as we have against the proportion of the human body, 
 because there are dwarfs, giants, and monstrous births. 
 
 ^\ 
 
 Objection 2. 
 
 A friend writes me word, " He is acquainted with a 
 man of prodigious strength, who, the hands excepted, 
 has every appearance of weakness, and would be sup- 
 posed weak by all to whom he should be unknown." 
 
PARTICULAK OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 283 
 
 Answer. 
 
 I could wish to see this man. I much doubt whether 
 his strength be only expressed in his hands, or, if it were, 
 still it is expressed in the hands ; and, were no exterior 
 signs of strength to be found, still he must be considered 
 as an exception, an example unexampled. But, as I have 
 said, I much doubt the fact. I have never yet seen a 
 strong man whose strength was not discoverable in 
 various parts. 
 
 Objection 3. 
 
 " We perceive the signs of bravery and heroism in the 
 countenances of men, who are, notwithstanding, the first 
 to run away." 
 
 Answer. 
 
 The less the man is, the greater he wishes to appear. 
 
 But what were these signs of heroism? Did they 
 resemble those found in the Farnesian Hercules ? Of 
 this I doubt : let them be drawn, let them be produced ; 
 the physiognomist will probably say, at the second, if not 
 at the first glance, quanta species ! Sickness, accident, 
 melancholy, likewise deprive the bravest men of courage. 
 This contradiction, however, ought to be apparent to the 
 physiognomist. 
 
 Objection 4. 
 
 "We find persons whose exterior appearance denotes 
 extreme pride, and who in their actions never betray the 
 least symptom of pride." 
 
284 LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 Answer. 
 
 A man may be proud and affect humility. 
 
 Education and habit may give an appearance of pride, 
 although the heart be humble; but this humility of 
 heart will shine through an appearance of pride, as sun- 
 beams through transparent clouds. It is true that this 
 apparently proud man would have more humility had he 
 less the appearance of pride. 
 
 Objection 5. 
 
 '* We see mechanics who, with incredible ingenuity, 
 produce the most curious works of art, and bring them 
 to the greatest perfection ; yet who, in their hands and 
 bodies, resemble the rudest peasants and woodcutters ; 
 while the hands of fine ladies are totally incapable of 
 such minute and curious performances/' 
 
 Answer. 
 
 I should desire these rude and delicate frames to be 
 brought together and compared. Most naturalists de- 
 scribe the elephant as gross and stupid in appearance; 
 and according to this apparent stupidity, or rather 
 according to that stupidity which they ascribe to him, 
 wonder at his address. Let the elephant and the tender 
 lamb be placed side by side, and the superiority of 
 address will be visible from the formation and flexibility 
 of the body, without further trial. 
 
 Ingenuity and address do not so much depend upon 
 the mass as upon the nature, mobility, internal sensation, 
 nerves, construction, and suppleness of the body and its 
 parts. 
 
 Delicacy is not power; power is not minuteness. 
 
PARTICULAR OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 285 
 
 Apelles would have drawn better with charcoal than 
 'many miniature painters with the finest pencil. The 
 tools of a mechanic may be rude, and his mind the very 
 reverse. Genius will work better with a clumsy hand 
 than stupidity with a hand the most pliable. I will, 
 indeed, allow your objection to be well-founded, if 
 nothing of the character of an artist is discoverable in 
 his countenance ; but, before you come to a decision, it 
 is necessary you should be acquainted with the various 
 marks that denote mechanical genius in the face. Have 
 you considered the lustre, the acuteness, the penetration 
 of his eyes ; his rapid, his decisive, his firm aspect ; the 
 projecting bones of his brow, his arched forehead, the 
 suppleness, the delicacy, or the massiness of his limbs ? 
 Have you well considered these particulars ? "I could 
 not see it in him," is easily said. More consideration is 
 requisite to discover the character of the man. 
 
 Objection 6. 
 
 " There are persons of peculiar penetration who have 
 very unmeaning countenances." 
 
 Answer. 
 
 The assertion requires proof. 
 
 For my own part, after many hundred mistakes, I 
 have continually found the fault was in my want of 
 proper observation. At first, for example, I looked for 
 the tokens of any particular quality too much in one 
 place ; I sought and found it not, although I knew the 
 person possessed extraordinary powers. I have been 
 long before I could discover the seat of character. I was 
 deceived, sometimes by seeking too partially, at others 
 too generally. To this I was particularly liable in ex- 
 
28 C LAVATER'S PHYSIOGNOMY. 
 
 amining those who had only distinguished themselves 
 in some particular pursuit; and, in other respects, 
 appeared to be persons of very common abilities, men 
 whose powers were all concentrated to a point, to the 
 examination of one subject ; or men whose powers were 
 very indeterminate : I express myself improperly, 
 powers which had never been excited, brought into 
 action. Many years ago I was acquainted with a great 
 mathematician, the astonishment of Europe ; who at the 
 first sight, and even long after, appeared to have a very 
 common countenance. I drew a good likeness of him, 
 which obliged me to pay a more minute attention, and 
 found a particular trait which was very marking and 
 decisive. A similar trait to this I, many years afterward, 
 discovered in another person who, though widely diffe- 
 rent, was also a man of great talents ; and who, this trait 
 excepted, had an unmeaning countenance, which seemed 
 to prove the science of physiognomy all erroneous. 
 Never since this time have I discovered that particular 
 trait in any man who did not possess some peculiar 
 merit, however simple his appearance might be. 
 
 This proves how true and false, at once, the objection 
 may be which states, " Such a person appears to be a 
 weak man, yet has great powers of mind." 
 
 I have been written to concerning D'Alembert, whose 
 countenance, contrary to all physiognomical science, was 
 one of the most common. To this I can make no an- 
 swer unless I had seen D'Alembert. This much is 
 certain, that his profile by Cochin, which yet must be 
 very inferior to the original, not to mention other less 
 obvious traits, has a forehead, and in part a nose, which 
 were never seen in the countenance of any person of 
 moderate, not to say mean, abilities. 
 
PARTICULAR OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 287 
 
 Objection 7. 
 
 "We find very silly people with very expressive 
 countenances." 
 
 Who does not daily make this remark? My only 
 answer, which I have repeatedly given, and which I 
 think perfectly satisfactory, is, that the endowments of 
 nature may be excellent; and yet by want of use, or 
 abuse, may be destroyed. Power is there, but it is 
 power misapplied; the fire wasted in the pursuit of 
 pleasure can no longer be applied to the discovery and 
 display of truth it is fire without light, fire that in- 
 effectually burns. 
 
 I have the happiness to be acquainted with some of 
 the greatest men in Germany and Switzerland ; and I 
 can upon my honour assert, that of all the men of 
 genius with whom I am acquainted, there is not one who 
 does not express the degree of invention and powers of 
 mind he possesses in the features of his countenance, 
 and particularly in the form of his head. 
 
 I shall only select the following names from an 
 innumerable multitude. Charles XII., Louis XIV., 
 Turenne, Sully, Polignac, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, 
 Newton, Clarke, Maupertuis, Pope, Locke, Swift, Lessing, 
 Bodmer, Sultzer, Haller. I believe the character of 
 greatness in these heads is visible in every well-drawn 
 outline. I could produce numerous specimens, among 
 which an experienced eye would scarcely ever be 
 mistaken. 
 
 M'COBQUODALE AND CO., PBINTEKS, LONDON WOBXS, NEWTON. 
 
rash statements hazarded by the'fanatica of 
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-~~ - --.in tne early part of October last- 
 
 tnere died atRome, with choleraic symptoms Si^nora 
 Arnalia Earbieri, wife of Count Bennicelli. After \ 
 the funeral solemnities the body was deposited in 
 the Campo Santo until it could be transferred to the 
 church of the Maddalena when the tomb which was 
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 finished a few days since, the corpse was uncovered 
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 4 ,fc: STATISTICS. The 
 
 opolitan police, juet issued, 
 
 .1 there were 71,9C1 persons 
 
 '") females) taken into custody, of 
 
 arged by the magistrates ; 45,608 
 
 held to ba-" 1 
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 BERKELEY LIBRARIES 
 
 J. ue uuuiuci. uj. ^.jL.owt... ^.^. 
 
 J'Locn year since 1$31 has not materially 
 
 nding a considerable extension of the 
 
 " ''). The highest number was in 1857, 
 
 'prehended, and the lowest in 
 
 -In the power of the police. 
 
THE YOITNCr LADIES' JOURNAL 
 
 'K 
 
 GRAINS OF GOLD. 
 
 GREAT is the power of eloquence ; but never 
 is it so great as when it pleads along with 
 nature, and the culprit is a child strayed from 
 his duty and returned to it again with tears. 
 dl | Sterne. 
 
 mi\ Wa have employments assigned to us for 
 
 L a \ery circumstance in life. When we are alone, 
 
 tha \? tave our thoughts to watch ; in the family, 
 
 r tempers ; and in company, our tongues. 
 
 \NVY is an ill-natured vice, and is made up of 
 undc" /nness and malice. It wishes the force of 
 ? if /Iness to bo strained, and the measure of hap- 
 ' /ass abated. It laments over prosperity, and 
 i (na /tens at the sight of health. It oftentimes 5 
 vf /nts spirit as well as good nature. Jeremy & 
 ' 1J lllier. 
 
 bett /EQUALITY is one of tho most consummate 
 side /oUi^iols that ever crept from the brain of a 
 po political jugglor : a follow who thrusts his hand 
 th; into the pocket of honest industry or enterprising 
 di? talent, and iquanders their hard-earned profits 
 ale on profligate idleness or indolent stupidity. 
 
 sin EVASIONS are the common shelter of tho hard- 
 or hearted, the false, and impotent, when called 
 del upon to assist ; the real great alone plan instan- 
 be taneous help, even when their looks or words 
 fj n; presage difficulties. Lavater. 
 
 A BEAUTIFUL eye makes silence eloquent; a 
 tha kind eye makes contradiction an assent ; an cn- 
 j wb raged eye makes beauty deformed. This little 
 ' tho member gives life to every other part about us ; 
 C on aad I believe the story of Argus implies no 
 san more than that tho eye is in every part that is 
 to say, every other part would bo mutilated were 
 1 ( not its force represented more by tho eye than 
 even by itself. Addlson. 
 
 Inner cbaracte of in en and women has a I 
 great effect in moulding their features, which, 
 though rather a hard doctrine for plain people 
 'fit no doubt to a certain extent true. Wol 
 may transfer the theory to state build-l 
 
 so far as to bopo that 
 opinion has seen tho trcawi. 
 
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to bin 
 
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 at Tyrftijjii Thfl aGHHB^^B 
 
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