doubt, that general inferences concerning the intellectual capacity, may be drawn with some confidence from the form and size of the scull, and from other circumstances connected with the original organization of that part of the body. No parent, for example, fails to feel some apprehension about the intellect of a child whose head is uncommonly large, or whose scull departs widely from the common form. In this last case, the observation is as old as the time of Homer, according to whose idea the head of Thersites (a person whom the Poet represents as of a very unsound understanding) seems to have somewhat resembled a cone.1 It has been imagined by some, that, corresponding to the varieties of intellectual and moral character, there are certain inequalities or prominencies on the surface of the scull and it certainly is a legitimate object of experimental inquiry to ascertain how far this opinion is agreeable to fact. Any conclusions on this point, cautiously obtained by induction, would undoubtedly form an interesting accession to what Bacon calls the Doctrina de Fodere. But, hitherto, the inquiry has produced nothing more than bold and gratuitous assertions; and the little we know with certainty of the indications of character as they are exhibited on the exterior of the head, has been inferred, not from the surface of the cranium, but from the forms which the face assumes from the play of the muscles. How far the particular rules on this subject, given by Lavater and others, have a solid foundation in experience, I do not pretend to decide. I confess, indeed, I strongly suspect that it is only very gross estimates which can be formed on those mathematical proportions which can be measured by a pair of compasses; and that the traces of the more delicate peculiarities of mind are too complicated and too fugitive to be comprehended. in the terms of any verbal description. On the other hand, I will not affirm, that these traces may not be distinctly visible to those who, by long practice, have acquired a sort of new sense, or rather a new perceptive faculty, analogous to what physicians acquire by long experience, for the more delicate αὐτὰρ ὕπερθε De Augmentis Scientiarum, lib. iv. 1 and evanescent symptoms of disease. It seems to be owing to this that so little satisfaction can be obtained from the writings of the ancients, concerning the principles on which their art of physiognomy proceeded, while we have complete evidence of the great success with which they cultivated the study. There is yet another class of signs which may be considered as natural, inasmuch as they have been found to present themselves to the common sense of mankind in a great variety of instances, as the most obvious and intelligible signs they could employ for particular purposes. Such, for example, is the universal practice of showing respect for another person, by stepping aside upon the road, in order to make way for him; of rising up when he enters, or when he leaves an apartment; of bending the head forward as a token of assent or approbation; of shaking the head as a sign of dissent or disapprobation; and many others of a similar kind. In general it may be remarked, that wherever a particular sign is in use among unconnected nations, however arbitrary and capricious it may at first appear, it must have some foundation in nature, or reason, or fancy; although perhaps we may be unable to give a satisfactory account of its origin. Thus the agreement, among so many different tribes, in various quarters of the globe, to employ a branch of a tree as an emblem of peace, has probably been suggested by the natural weapon of the savage-the club -the emblem exhibiting the materials, or the means of hostility, and, at the same time, a disposition to forbearance and accommodation. The practice of kissing the hand to a person at a distance, in token of courtesy and respect, seems to have been very general. Juvenal alludes to it as a habit carried to an extravagant excess by the Greek parasites, who, in his time, infested the streets of Rome: qui semper et omni Nocte dieque potest alienum sumere vultum, A facie jactare manus, &c. &c.1 In the book of Job the same gesture is mentioned as an exJuvenal, Sat. iii. 106. pression of religious adoration, employed by idolaters towards the starry firmament. "If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand: This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge; for I should have denied the God that is above." The practice probably originated in an idea that such a gesture was significant of a wish on the part of him who employed it, to convey, or fling by the hand, a salute to the person to whom it was addressed. In a great variety of cases it has been considered as a mark of rank, or of fashion, to allow the nails of one or of more fingers to grow to such a length as to disqualify the hand in a great measure for its proper function. The common account given of this, in the case of the Chinese Mandarins is, that they may show that they are not employed in any manual operations; and it is extremely likely, that some idea of the same kind has suggested the practice in other instances. The ornament which Laloubere saw among the female dancers of Siam,1 who wore long copper nails on their fingers, which made them appear like harpies, was, in all probability, the relic and memorial of some antiquated custom, similar to that of the Chinese, which had once prevailed in that country. It is amusing, among the endless caprices of our European modes, to observe an occasional coincidence with those of nations placed in a very different state of society. The following lines from the Misanthrope of Moliere are sufficient evidence, that the practice of which we have been speaking, was adopted in his days, at least in the case of one finger, by the men of fashion at Paris: "Mais au moins, dites moi, Madame, par quel sort, Qu'il s'est acquis chez vous l'estime où l'on le voit? 'Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Siam, chap. i. English Translation. London, 1693. Vous êtes-vous rendue avec tout le beau monde The stress which Lord Chesterfield lays in his Advices to his Son on this very trifling article of exterior appearance is founded on the same idea; the peculiar significancy of every thing connected with the hand, in indicating the ordinary habits and occupations of the individual.1 In general, wherever a distinction of rank takes place, the modes of the great may be expected, amidst all their caprices, to include some circumstance significant of the ease, and indolence, and luxury in which they live. In the extensive monarchies of modern Europe, which comprehend so great a diversity of pursuits and professions, there is a corresponding diversity of appearance and manners, insomuch, that most persons express by their look and gait the particular habits of life to which they have been accustomed. This professional look, whatever it is, whether it indicates the labour of the mind, or of the body, is always understood to derogate from the appearance and air of a man of fashion; an appearance which, if accurately examined, will perhaps be found to consist less in any thing positive or specific, than in a complete negation of everything which can be supposed, by the most remote association, to approximate the possessor to the laborious and useful classes of the community. The extravagant estimation in which the Chinese are said to hold diminutive feet in the female sex, has plainly arisen from an idea similar to that which has suggested the long nails of the Mandarins; that this deformity forms the most unequivocal mark of the indolent habits in which they have been brought up from infancy; and the vigilant care which has been taken in denying them the 1 An anecdote told by Madame de Staël has, I think, sufficient connexion with the present subject to deserve insertion in a note. "Je me rapelle qu'un membre de l'Institut, conseiller d'état, me dit sérieusement que les ongles de Bonaparte étoient parfaitement bien faits. Un autre s'écria: Les mains du Premier Consul sont charmantes.'-' Ah!' répondit un jeune seigneur de l'ancienne noblesse, qui alors n'étoit pas encore chambellan, de grace ne parlons pas politique.'"-Œuvres Inédites de Madame la Baronne de Staël, publiées par son fils. Tome i. p. 49. free and unconstrained exercise of their limbs. Nor is the taste of the Chinese, in this respect, (though certainly carried to an extreme,) altogether singular. It has probably prevailed to a certain extent among all civilized nations. Ovid, in counselling his pupil in the art of love, as to the flattery most likely to gain the ear of his mistress, begs him not to forget to praise her small foot and taper fingers; two points of female beauty which he manifestly combines together from their peculiar significance, as marks of a life spent in sedentary and effeminate indulgence: "Nec faciem, nec te pigeat laudare capillos: Nec teretes digitos, exiguumque pedem."1 The French taste, in this particular, may be inferred from an oriental tale told by Montesquieu, in one of his letters to his friend the Abbé de Guasco, of an old hermit, who, after having withstood, during a long life, all the temptations of the devil, was at last betrayed to his ruin by that subtle and malignant spirit, who appeared to him in the shape of a little slipper.2 The remarks now made may serve to suggest some general principles for explaining the agreement of different ages and nations in the employment of various signs which seem at first to be quite arbitrary; others, it is probable, might be traced up to certain natural signs of which they are abbreviations, in a manner analogous to that in which arbitrary written characters have been so ingeniously traced up by Dr. Warburton to pictures or hieroglyphics. I remember to have heard Mr. Braidwood remark, that his dumb pupils, from whatever part of the country they came, agreed, in most instances, in expressing assent by holding up the thumb, and dissent by holding up the little finger. Admitting this to be a fact, (which I would not be understood to state upon my own personal knowledge,) it can be explained only by supposing that these gestures are abbreviations of those signs by which assent and dissent are generally expressed in the language of nature; and, in truth, [Ars Amandi, i. 622.] Euvres de Montesquieu, tom. v. p. 315, edit. of Paris, 1788. |