Part 28

Eyebones with well-marked, firm arches I never saw but in noble and great men.

Square foreheads with extensive temples and firm eyebones show circumspection and steadiness of character.

Perpendicular wrinkles, if natural, denote application and power. Horizontal wrinkles and those broken in the middle or at the extremities generally denote negligence or want of power.

Perpendicular, deep indentings in the forehead between the eyebrows, I never met save in men of sound understanding and free and noble minds, unless there were some positively contradictory feature.

A blue frontal vein, 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 ardent and generous character.

The following are the traits of a perfectly beautiful, intelligent, and noble forehead.

In length it must equal the nose, or the under part of the face. In breadth it must be either oval at the top-like the foreheads of most of the great men of England--or nearly square. It must be free from unevenness and wrinkles, yet be able to wrinkle when deep in thought, afflicted by pain, or moved by indignation. It must retreat above and project beneath. The eyebones must be simple, horizontal, and, if seen from above, must present a simple curve. There should be a small cavity in the centre, from above to below, and traversing the forehead so as to separate it into four divisions perceptible in a clear descending light. The skin must be more clear on the forehead than in other parts of the countenance.

Foreheads short, wrinkled, and knotty, are incapable of durable friendship.

Be not discouraged though a friend, an enemy, a child, or a brother transgress, for so long as he have a good, well-proportioned, open forehead there is still hope of improvement.

THE EYES AND EYEBROWS. Blue eyes are generally more indicative of weakness and effeminacy than brown or black. Certainly there are many powerful men with blue eyes, but I find more strength, manhood, thought with brown.

Choleric men have eyes of every colour, but rather brown or greenish than blue. A propensity to green is an almost decisive token of ardour, fire, and courage.

Wide open eyes, with the white visible, I have often observed both in the timid and phlegmatic, and in the courageous and rash.

Meeting eyebrows were supposed to be the mark of craft, but I do not believe them to have this significance. Angular, strong, interrupted eyebrows denote fire and productive activity. The nearer the eyebrows to the eyes, the more earnest, deep, and firm the character. Eyebrows remote from each other denote warm, open, quick sensations. White eyebrows signify weakness; and dark brown, firmness. The motion of the eyebrows contains numerous expressions, especially of ignoble passions.

THE NOSE. I have generally considered the nose the foundation or abutment of the brain, for upon this the whole power of the arch of the forehead rests. A beautiful nose will never be found accompanying an ugly countenance. An ugly person may have fine eyes, but not a handsome nose.

I have never seen a nose with a broad back, whether arched or rectilinear, that did not belong to an extraordinary man. Such a nose was possessed by Swift, Cæsar Borgia, Titian, etc. Small nostrils are usually an indubitable sign of unenterprising timidity. The open, breathing nostril is as certain a token of sensibility.

THE MOUTH AND LIPS. The contents of the mind are communicated to the mouth. How full of character is the mouth! As are the lips, so is the character. Firm lips, firm character; weak lips, weak character. Well-defined, large, and proportionate lips, the middle line of which is equally serpentine on both sides, and easy to be drawn, are never seen in a bad, mean, common, false, vicious countenance. A lipless mouth, resembling a single line, denotes coldness, industry, a love of order, precision, house-wifery, and, if it be drawn upwards at the two ends, affectation, pretension, vanity, malice. Very fleshy lips have always to contend with sensuality and indolence. Calm lips, well closed, without constraint, and well delineated, certainly betoken consideration, discretion, and firmness. Openness of mouth speaks complaint, and closeness, endurance.

THE CHIN. From numerous experiments, I am 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 save in men of cool understanding, unless when something evidently contradictory appeared in the countenance. The soft, fat, double chin generally points out the epicure; and the angular chin is seldom found save in discreet, well-disposed, firm men. Flatness of chin speaks the cold and dry; smallness, fear; and roundness, with a dimple, benevolence.

SKULLS. HOW much may the anatomist see in the mere skull of man! How much more the physiognomist! And how much more still the anatomist who is a physiognomist! If shown the bald head of Cæsar, as painted by Rubens or Titian or Michael Angelo, what man would fail to notice the rocky capacity which characterises it, and to realise that more ardour and energy 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, after Holbein, and I doubt whether anyone would fail to guess which is the skull of the wicked betrayer and which the skull of the innocent betrayed. And who is unacquainted with the statement in Herodotus that it was possible on the field of battle to distinguish the skulls of the effeminate Medes from the skulls of the manly Persians? Each nation, indeed, has its own characteristic skull.

III.--Nation, Sex, and Family

NATIONAL PHYSIOGNOMY. It is undeniable that there is a national physiognomy as well as national character. Compare a negro and an Englishman, a native of Lapland and an Italian, a Frenchman and an inhabitant of Tierra del Fuego. Examine their forms, countenances, characters, and minds. This difference will be easily seen, though it will sometimes be very difficult to describe it scientifically.

The following infinitely little is what I have hitherto observed in the foreigners with whom I have conversed.

I am least able to characterise the French, They have no traits 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 foreheads and eyebrows. The Dutch by the rotundity of their heads and the weakness of the hair. The Germans by the angles and wrinkles round the eyes and in the cheeks. The Russians 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 seldom have pointed, usually round, full noses. Their lips are usually large, well defined, beautifully curved. Their chins are round and full. The outline of their faces is in general large, and they never have those numerous angles and wrinkles by which the Germans are so especially distinguished. Their complexion is fairer than that of the Germans.

All Englishwomen 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 PHYSIOGNOMICAL RELATION OF THE SEXES. Generally speaking, how much more pure, tender, delicate, irritable, affectionate, flexible, and patient is woman than man. The primary matter of which woman is constituted appears to account for this difference. All her organs are tender, yielding, easily wounded, sensible, and receptive; they are made for maternity and affection. Among a thousand women, there is hardly one without these feminine characteristics.

This tenderness and sensibility, the light texture of their fibres and organs, render them easy to tempt and to subdue, and yet their charms are more potent than the strength of man. Truly sensible of purity, beauty and symmetry, woman does not always take time to reflect on spiritual life, spiritual death, spiritual corruption.