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.
