The various thoughts which arise in the mind, the different passions
which agitate the soul of man, are respectively connected with his
features and the external parts of his frame; and so intimate is their
correspondence, that the expression of the countenance, more rapid than
speech, betrays his sentiments and emotions, and gives to his utterance
energy and animation. The one was designed as a mirror in which we might
behold the other reflected; but the vicious study dissimulation; they
endeavour to lock their passions and vices within their own breasts,
and, by a virtuous exterior, to conceal the characteristic expression of
villany. In vain, however, does hypocrisy tender them her aid: the
outward figure and form of the man are forced to a resemblance of the
internal model, and the dispositions of the heart are almost invariably
depicted on the countenance. These facts were observed and verified, and
such was the origin of physiognomy.
Most persons are daily in the practice of this art, without a knowledge
of the principles upon which it is founded, but according to such crude
and uncertain notions as are supplied by custom and general opinion. A
man’s face displeases them: this is often a sufficient ground for
aversion. Prejudices of this nature ought to be exploded, and it
behooves the man of science and real philanthropy to remove them. Such
was the great design of Lavater, whose profound researches, guided by
the desire of being useful to his species, displayed to him the nature
of man, and taught him how far the moral character is capable of being
traced upon the visage. He has created a new art--he has traversed an
unbeaten path. Has he not, however, gone too far in attempting to
determine the character of a man by the form of his hands, ears, &c.--in
assigning to these parts an expression of which they are not
susceptible? His opinions are sometimes rash, especially when resting
upon such foundations; but these are venial faults, and the inquirer
after truth will always adopt Lavater as his guide.
This subject has already been handled by celebrated men of antiquity,
such as Galen, Aristotle, Polemo, Adamantius, and many others; but their
systems were bottomed upon very weak grounds; and they assumed as the
basis of their opinions, the shape of the limbs, and other vague
criteria. Their whole doctrine was like those old empirical recipes, in
which were absurdly compounded a thousand drugs, each destroying the
effect of the other: it would be just as safe to rely upon such remedies
for the cure of a patient, as to trust to the remarks of those authors;
at whose erroneous ideas we may justly be surprised, since they were
generally endowed with a spirit of observation.
The ancient physiological system has been superseded by another scheme,
no less ridiculous and visionary, which rests its decisions upon certain
projections and cavities of the cranium, invisible to every eye, and
existing nowhere but in the brain of the inventor of this whimsical
doctrine.
But let us return from this digression to a subject of greater utility.
We shall now proceed to an analysis of the various parts which compose
the human visage, and shall endeavour to lay down such positions only as
are supported by reasons deduced from physical science: there are,
however, physiological phenomena which are inexplicable; yet, having
been confirmed by a cautious and scrutinizing observation, they could
not be passed over in silence, without subjecting ourselves to the
reproach of skepticism.