Part 27

Man is the most perfect of all earthly creatures. In no other creature are so wonderfully united the animal, the intellectual, and the moral. And man's organisation peculiarly distinguishes him from all other beings, and shows him to be infinitely superior to all those other visible organisms by which he is surrounded. His head, especially his face, convinces the accurate observer, who is capable of investigating truth, of the greatness and superiority of his intellectual qualities. The eye, the expression, 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 sensations, desires, passions, will, and of all those properties which so much exalt moral above animal life.

Although the physiological, intellectual, and moral are united in man, yet it is plain that each of these has its peculiar station where it more especially unfolds itself and acts.

It is, beyond contradiction, evident that, though physiological 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 powers of the understanding and the mind, make themselves most apparent in the circumference and form of the solid parts of the head, especially the forehead; though they will discover themselves to the 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 not in the foot, nor in the hand, nor in the back, but in the head and 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.

Not only do mental and moral traits evince themselves in the physiognomy, but also health and sickness; and I believe that by repeatedly examining the firm parts and outlines of the bodies and countenances of the sick, disease might be diagnosed, and even that liability to disease might be predicted in particular cases.

The same vital powers that make the heart beat and the fingers move, roof the skull and arch the finger-nails. From the head to the back, from the shoulder to the arm, from the arm to the hand, from the hand to the finger, each depends on the other, and all on a determinate effect of a determinate power. Through all nature each determinate power is productive of only such and such determinate effects. The finger of one body is not adapted to the hand of another body. 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 and in the bones. One spirit lives in all. Each member of the body, too, is in proportion to the 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 be found from the form of each single part. When the head is long, all is long; when the head is round, all is round; when the head is square, all is square.

One form, one mind, one root appertain to all. Each organised body is so much a whole that, without discord, destruction, or deformity, nothing can be added or subtracted. Those, therefore, who maintain that conclusion cannot be drawn from a part to the whole labour under error, failing to comprehend the harmony of nature.

II.--Physiognomy and the Features

The Forehead. The form, height, arching, proportion, obliquity, and position of the skull, or bone of the forehead, show the propensity of thought, power of thought, and sensibility of man. The position, colour, wrinkles, tension of the skin of the forehead, show the passions and present state of the mind. The bones indicate the power, the skin the application of power.

I consider the outline and position of the forehead to be the most important feature in physiognomy. We may divide foreheads into three principal classes--the retreating, the perpendicular, and the projecting, and each of these classes has a multitude of variations.

A few facts with respect to foreheads may now be given.

The higher the forehead, the more comprehension and the less activity.

The more compressed, short, and firm the forehead, the more compression and firmness, and the less volatility in the man.

The more curved and cornerless the outline, the more tender and flexible the character; and the more rectilinear, the more pertinacious and severe the character.

Perfect perpendicularity implies lack of understanding, but gently arched at top, capacity for cold, tranquil, profound thought.

A projecting forehead indicates imbecility, immaturity, weakness, stupidity.

A retreating forehead, in general, denotes superior imagination, wit, acuteness.

A forehead round and prominent above, straight below, and, on the whole, perpendicular, shows much understanding, life, sensibility, ardour.

An oblique, rectilinear forehead is ardent and vigorous.

Arched foreheads appear properly to be feminine.

A forehead neither too perpendicular nor too retreating, but a happy mean, indicates the post-perfect character of wisdom.

I might also state it as an axiom that straight lines considered as such, and curves considered as such, are related as power and weakness, obstinacy and flexibility, understanding and sensation.

I have seen no man with sharp, projecting eyebones who was not inclined to vigorous thinking and wise planning.

Yet, even lacking sharpness, a head may be excellent if the forehead sink like a perpendicular wall upon horizontal eyebrows, and be greatly rounded towards the temples.

Perpendicular foreheads, projecting so as not to rest immediately upon the nose, and small, wrinkled, short, and shining, indicate little imagination, little understanding, little sensation.

Foreheads with many angular, knotty protuberances denote perseverance and much vigorous, firm, harsh, oppressive, ardent activity.

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.