It is supposed that the long nose indicates strength of character because it is essential to the develop ment of large lungs, which can be obtained only by such strenuous exercise as renders breathing deep. It is not so easy to find a hypothesis that will account for the popular notion that a square jaw is a mark of de termination. We simply know by our own experi ence that when we face a difficult or dangerous task with determination, our jaws are set hard; whereas if we shrink from it our muscles are relaxed.
But we need not devote more time to speculative matters of this sort. The subject is introduced here merely to give the reader a hint as to the evolutionary method of arriving at k-nowledge. It is a method that can be applied usefully in everyday life. Bad habits, for example, are products of evolution, and unfor tunately the evolutionary period need not be a long one. A man's method of conducting his business is usually an evolution from methods which were at the start much less complicated. The fundamental prin ciples of a man's character are an inheritance, but many of his traits are born of his environment and manner of living. They are products of an evolu tionary process which has taken place under his own eye.
5. Mental power.—Business calls for the exercise of various qualities. Some positions require careful attention to minute details, others a combination of tact and energy, others a love of system and order, others the ability to think quickly and straight. A business man engaging an employe should know what sort of ability the job demands, and then should try to pick the man who possesses this in high degree.
First of all, he must get an idea of the applicant's mental ability in general, for nobody wants in his employ a dull or stupid man. As I have said al ready, the full forehead rising fairly straight from the bridge of the nose is usually an indication of mental power, but we must not rely too much upon this bit of phrenology, for many very intelligent men have fairly low foreheads. But if the forehead is low and at the same time retreating so that a line drawn from the top of the forehead to the bridge of the nose slants a good deal from the perpendicular, the presumption is that the man lacks brain power. Idiots usually have such foreheads.
It is important to distinguish between the intense mind and the passive, indolent mind. One man may have a very fine intellect and be able under great pressure to do very clear thinking and yet be a less efficient worker than a man of smaller brain or weaker intellect who is everlastingly thinking. The one makes blunders because of his indolence, his distaste for activity; the other's mind is constantly on the alert in order that he may do things in the right way.
The alert, intense mind operates usually behind a forehead of medium height and not of great width, and the head usually rests upon a strong neck and a body with firm flesh, full chest and strong stomach. The constitutionally indolent mind, by which I mean the mind lazy not merely because of some temporary Ca11Se like indigestion or auto-intoxication, is quite commonly found under the very high forehead, espe cially if it is attached to a body with a contracted chest and weak diaphragm. When a narrow-chested student with a high, full forehead who has shown his intellectual ability by passing difficult examinations comes to me for advice as to his career, I prescribe chest and abdominal exercises. "Do not waste your leisure by readingr," I say to him, "but put in your time profitably by building up hard abdominal and chest muscles. You are like an engine which has a boiler several times too large for the fire-box." Just an ordinary mind with plenty of driving power back of it can accomplish wonders.
6. Practical tests.—The best way to get a positive line on a man's mental ability is by talking with him. If you find out what kind of books he has been read ing during recent years, you will know what sort of food his mind likes. If he has read periodicals and books of a thoughtful nature, you will give him one credit mark. Finding out what subjects he is in terested in you will get him to talk about them, and without his suspecting the purpose of the conversa tion, he will soon be giving you his opinions or con clusions with respect to matters concerning which you yourself have some information.
T'o get the best results each applicant for a posi tion should receive individual analysis, yet it is possi ble to learn a good deal about a man's mental ability by the intelligence Ile displays in answering a set of form questions prepared for general use with all ap plicants. Many large business firms, before they will even consider an applicant or grant him an inter view, make him first answer in writing numerous and varied questions about himself, his parents, his education, his tastes, his reading, his habits, his former places of employment and why he left them, his ambition, the salary he expects, etc. A man writ ing answers to such questions cannot fail now and then to show how bis mind works. Are the answers brief and to the point? Then the chances are that he thinks clearly and is not consumed with vanity. Are the answers vague and diffuse? Then his mental power is below the average.