PHYSIOGNOMY, derived from 5%715, nature, and 7,vwc-zed, to know, is that science which teaches to judge of the temper, dispositions, habits, and intellectual endow ments, by the conformation of the body, but particularly by the lineaments and expressions of the countenance. This is thc precise sense in which the term was originally used, and is now understood ; but, for some time in the middle ages, it was applied in a more extensive significa tion, and denoted that knowledge of the internal proper ties of any material substance, which could be obtained from the external appearances which they severally exhi bited.
This science, whether we regard the principles on which it is founded as fanciful or otherwise, has, we must allow, .occupied from a very early period, the attention of the learned; and has formed the subject of many an elaborate production. Its warmest supporters assert that it was cul tivated in Egypt and India; that a knowledge of it was introduced into Greece by Pythagoras ; and that, in the time of Socrates, it had been elevated to the dignity of a distinct profession. These opinions are not unsupported by evidence; but it is certain, at least, that physiognomy engaged much of the attention of Aristotle, who lived scarcely a century posterior to Socrates, and whose inge nious theory on this subject is known to all scholars; and that, after his time, it was zealously studied by Theophras tus, Polemon, and other Greek philosophers. Physiog nomy was also regarded as an important branch of erudi tion by the Romans, but it shared the fate of other sciences on the overthrow of that ingenious people, and continued neglected or unknown till the revival of learning in the beginning of the sixteenth century. From this period it has, on the contincrit in particular, been most assiduously cultivated, though it was considered very much in con junction with the occult sciences ; and it can exhibit in the list of its supporters, many illustrious names, such as Baptista Porta, Cardan, Spontanus, &c. Nor was it en tirely overlooked in this country ; for Dr. Guy ther, Dr. Parsons, and others, have given it the sanction of their authority, and have promoted it by their learning. But whatever degree of importance had been previously at tached to this science, and bow numerous and ingenious socver its advocates had been, it may yet he regarded as in its infancy, till the appearance, in 1775, of the celebrat ed publication of \I. Lavater of Zurich—a work which
forms an era in the history of physiognomical science. Lavater had, from his earliest years, been in the habit, not only of observing with extreme attention the endless va riety and expression of the human countenance. hut of taking drawings of such as appeared peculiar and strik ing. Ile at length discovered, or thought he discovered, a correspondent relation between the form and lineaments of the body, particularly of the face, or rather of the nose and forehead, and the qualities of the mind ; and that, not only the transient passions, but the permanent principles of action, might, in this way, be clearly ascertained. He thus became a firm believer in physiognomy, and felt con vinced that the data on which it was founded were so in variable and demonstrable, that it was fully entitled to be considered as a science. His work, written under this im pression, was read with uncommon avidity. It is. indeed, more fanciful and lively than solid and scientific ; yet it displays so intimate a knowledge of the human heart, so much discrimination, so much delicate feeling, and its il lustrations arc so happy and so striking, that it gained pro selytes wherever it was read, and physiognomy soon formed the fashionable study of Europe. This effect, however, was far from being permanent ; and Lavater had thc mor tification, before his death in 1801, of seeing his favourite opinions, and the work in which they were so beautifully illustrated, notwithstanding the labours of Hunter, Hol croft, and others, fast verging into neglect or forgetfulness.
That the system, however, which this celebrated writer endeavoured to establish, is totally fanciful or absurd, no man will venture to declare. On the contrary, there is no one, ho, in his intercourse with the world, does not fiructise it in a greater or less degree. But our estimate of the character of a stranger, from his physiognomical indications, we often find to be the very reverse of the truth.
Lavater's first publication on the subject of physiogno my was a small pamphlet in 1772. The first volume of his great work appeared three years afterwards, under the name of Fragments, and was soon followed by three other