Physiognomy

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1826 edition. Excerpt: ...from a character we have examined to another which we have not, and occasioned by some external resemblance? Feeling is the aegis 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 politeness 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 sup posed; yet I 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 the most unpractised observer. I believe it to be incorporated 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...