denote, his natural disposition of mind. Countenances are so formed originally that to one this, and to another that, appearance is the easiest. It is absolutely impossible for folly to assume the appearance of wisdom, otherwise it would no longer be folly. The worthy man cannot assume the appearance of dishonesty, or he would be dishonest.

All excellent; except the last. No man is so good as not, under certain circumstances, to be liable to become dishonest. At least there is no physical impossibility that he should. He is so organized that he may be overpowered by a temptation sufficiently strong. The possibility of the appearance must be there as well as the possibility of the act. He must, also, be able to assume the appearance of dishonesty, when he observes it in a thief, without necessarily becoming a thief. The possibility of assuming the appearance of goodness is, in my opinion, very different. The appearance of vice is always more easily assumed, by the virtuous, than the appearance of virtue by the vicious; as it is evidently much easier to become bad, when we are good, than good, when we are bad. Understanding, sensibility, talents, genius, virtue, or religion, may with much greater

facility be lost than acquired. The best may descend as low as they please, but the worst cannot ascend to the height they might wish. The wise man may, physically, without a miracle, become a fool; and the most virtuous vicious; but the idiot-born cannot, without a miracle, become a philosopher; nor the distorted villain noble and pure of heart. The most beautiful complexion may become jaundiced, may be lost; but the negro cannot be washed white. I shall not become a negro because, to imitate him, I blacken my face; nor a thief because I assume the appearance of a thief.

8.

"The physiognomist ought to enquire what is the appearance the countenance can most easily assume, and he will thence learn what is the disposition of the mind. Not that physiognomy is, therefore, an easy science. On the contrary, this rather shows how much ability, imagination, and genius, are necessary to the physiognomist. Attention must not only be paid to what is visible, but what would be visible, under various other circumstances."

Excellent! and I add that as a physician can presage what alteration of colour, appearance, or form, shall be the consequence

of a known disease, of the existence of which he is certain; so can the accurate physiognomist what appearances, or expressions, are easy or difficult to each kind of muscle, and form of forehead; what action is, or is not, permitted; and what wrinkles may, or may not, take place, under any given cir

cumstances.

9,

"When a learner draws a countenancé we shall commonly find it is foolish, and never malicious, satirical, or the like."-(Important remark.)" May not the essence of a foolish countenance, hence, be abstracted?"—Certainly; for what is the cause of this appearance? The learner is incapable of preserving proportion; the strokes are unconnected- And what is the stupid countenance? It is one"-(among others)"the parts of which are defectively connected, and the muscles improperly formed and arranged: thought and sensation, therefore, of which these are the inseparable instruments, must be alike feeble and dor mant.

10.

"Exclusive of the muscles, there is ano→ ther substance in the body; that is to say, the scull, or bones, in general, to which the physiognomist attends. The position of the

muscles depends on these. How may the muscle of the forehead have the position proper for thought, if the forehead bones, over which it is extended, have not the necessary arch and superficies? The figure of the scull, therefore, defines the figure and position of the muscles, which define thought and sensation.

11.

"The same may be observed of the hair, from the parts and position of which conclusions may be drawn. Why has the negro woolly hair? The thickness of the skin prevents the escape of certain of the particles of perspiration, and these render the skin opaque and black; hence the hair shoots with difficulty, and scarcely has it penetrated before it curls, and its growth ceases. The hair spreads according to the form of the scull, and the position of the muscles, and gives occasion to the physiognomist to draw conclusions from the hair to the position of the muscles, and to deduce other consequences."

In my opinion our author is in the right road. He is the first, who, to my knowledge, has perceived and felt the totality, the combination, the uniformity, of the various parts of the human body. What he

has affirmed, especially concerning the hair, that we may from that make deductions concerning the nature of the body, and still farther of the mind, the least accurate observer may convince himself is truth, by daily experience. White, tender, clear, weak, hair always denotes weak, delicate, irritable, or rather a timid and easily oppressed, organization. The black and curly will never be found on the delicate, tender, medullary head. As is the hair so are the muscles, as muscles so the nerves, as the nerves so the the bones; as some or all of these so the powers of the mind to act, suffer, receive, and give. Least irritability always accompanies short, hard, curly, black hair; and most the flaxen and the tender; that is to say, irritability without elasticity. The one is oppressive without elasticity, and the other oppressed without resistance.

"Much hair much fat, therefore no part of the human body is more conspicuously covered with hair than the head and armpits. Withof remarks (Allgemeines Magazin. IV. Theil) that, in these parts, there are numerous small cells (cellulæ adiposa) and where these are not there is no hair.

"From the elasticity of the hair deductions may, with certainty, be made to the elasticity of the character.