The propensity to flatness observable in the prominent parts of the countenance of the persons under consideration, ex posed to the effects of cold, is accounted for by that very circumstance ; and it ap pears probable, that their high cheek bones, and small imperfect eyes, are so contrived, to preserve the latter from the piercing effects of the wind, and the of fensive brilliancy of the almost eternal snows. The Abbe Winkelman attributes the enormous and disgusting lips of the Negroes to the heat of the climate they inhabit ; others account for the blackness of their skin by supposing, " the surplus or the ferruginous, or iron particles, which have lately been discovered to exist in the blood of man, and which, by the evaporation of the phosphoric acidities, of which all Negroes smell so strong, being cast upon the retiform membrane, occasions the blackness which appears through the cuticle, and this strong re tention of the ferruginous particles seems to he necessary, in order to prevent the general relaxation of the parts." Professor Camper concludes, from long and attentive observation, applied to the skulls of the inhabitants of many different nations, which he had dissected in nu merous cases soon after death, that it is extremely difficult to draw any liead ac curately in profile, and to define the lines of the countenance, and their angles with the horizon ; but he thinks he has been thus led to the discovery of the maxi mum and minimum of this angle. Ile commenced his operations with the mon key, and proceeded with the Negro and European ; and, finally, lie examined the profiles of the most valuable statues of antiquity. With respect to the breadth of the cheek-bones, he found that the largest were amongst the Calmucs, and considerably smaller amongst the Asiatic Negroes. The Chinese, the natives of the Molucca and other Asiatic Islands, ap peared to him to have broad cheeks and projecting jaw bones, particularly the un der, which is very high and almost forms a right angle : on the contrary, those of Europeans are extremely obtuse, and of Negroes even more so. Succeeding thus far, the Professor acknowledges he was foiled in his attempts to discriminate the differences in the European nations ; nor was he more successful with the Jews, whose countenances are possessed of ma ny marked peculiarities ; and yet this gen tleman asserts, he never had been able to draw them with any tolerable accuracy ; and, in this particular, the Italian face was equally difficult.
Making due allowance for the aberra. tions of the imagination, the Professor ei ther had, or conceited he had, attained the faculty of distinguishing the heads of English, Scots, and Irish soldiers ; but he was incapable of describing the marks which announced their profession. More reliance may, however, be placed on his assertion, that the upper and under jaws of Europeans are less broad than the breadth of the skull, and that among the Asiatics they are much broader.
The most unequivocal proofs exist of family physiognomy, or, in other words, family resemblance. Buffon, Bonnet, Hailer, and many others, have endeavour ed to account for this circumstance, but, as may be supposed, without the least pro bable success ; we shall therefore pass this part of the subject in silence, as it must be evident that we have no kind of data on which to argue, nor can the secret operations of nature ever be penetrated which relate to the fbrmation of man.
Much of the general resemblance be tween members of a family depend upon a congeniality of sentiments and manners; each turn of thought gives a peculiar ex pression to the features, and as those are sufficiently strong to explain to what class they belong, to an indifferent spec tator it is by no means improbable that they assist at least in designating a family. Very intimate friends are sometimes thought to resemble each other, and a real or fancied resemblance often occurs be tween man and wife ; when it is consider, ed that connections of the above descrip tions are very often formed by persons who had never previously seen each other, it is impossible to doubt but that the similarity of mind thus generated influen ces the muscles, and disposing them into the same kind of expression, a muscular likeness occurs, which has no influence upon the bones, and would proably va nish were the connection dissolved, and the parties examined after long separa tion. Lavater indulged in many flights of fancy when treating on this part of the science of physiognomy ; he even imagi ned, that a person deeply enamoured of another, and thinking intensely on the form and position of their features, might assume a resemblance of the admired object, though miles of space intervened between them ; and pursuing his mental dream he adds, that it is equally proba ble an individual meditating revenge in secret may compose his countenance into a likeness of him who was to be its vic tim. The incorrectness of the latter fan cy may be exposed by merely observing that the person under the influence of the passion of revenge, must bear in his countenance the tines expressive of that restless affection; now as the object in tended to be injured is unconscious of the secret machinations against him, he may at the instant be engaged in some benevolent pursuit, or may feel some in ternal joy, which moulds his features into an expression directly opposite to that of his adversary, who may have generally seen him thus ; for revenge is often aim ed by the wicked, at the best of men ; consequently the countenance of a fiend grinning with malice cannot at the same time beam with a complacency arising from a set of features entirely unruffled.
Before we enter upon a description of the marks, which, according to Lavater, point out the character of the possessor, it may be proper to give one or two in stances of the fallacy, and of the truth, of the conclusions drawn from them, in order that our readers may form their own conclusions, as to the folly or pro priety of entertaining a propensity to form a judgment of mankind from the shapes of their noses, eyes, foreheads, and chins.
M. Sturtz declared to Lavater, that he " once happened to see a criminal con demned to the wheel, who, with satanic wickedness, had murdered his benefac tor, and who yet bad the benevolent and open countenance of an angel of Guido. It is not impossible, adds this gentleman, to discover the head of a Regulus among guilty criminals, or of a vestal in the house of correction." Lavater admits this assertion in its fullest extent, but his reasoning to reconcile it to his system is by no means conclusive.