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Vol. II.
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rHYStOGNOMY AND craniology.

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acting, overcoming-, or destroying others; rectilinear arethe medium between the extremes above noticed, and areappropriated by nature to persons who act and sufl'er withequal power and patience.

Socrates , Larresse, aud Boerhaave, were great men, andhad ill shaped noses, and were distinguished lor meeknessand gentleness. Were it possible to attribute an universalprevalence of disposition to a general form of the nose,individuals of every nation would be found who wouldresemble the Tartars , who have flat and indented noses, theNegroes who have broad, the Jews who ha\e high archednoses: in their propensities it would follow, that whateverqualities the physiognomist may apply to these individuals,must also belong to the wdiole people whose noses bear aresemblance to them. Were this particular accurately ex-amined into, it would tend in a measure to prove the cor-rectness or detect the fallacy of the science, as hithertopractised.

Mouth .The admirers of this study attribute great powersto the mouth, in expressing the emanations of the mind ;and Lavater expatiates on it with enthusiastic fervour in-deed. Whoever, he exclaims, internally feels the worthof this member, so inseparable, so well delined, so simple, yetso various; whoever, 1 say,- feels this worth will speak andact with divine wisdom. lie then proceeds to call it, the chief seat of wisdom and folly, power and debility,virtue and vice, the seat of all love, all hatred, all sincerity,all falsehood, all humility, all pride, all dissimulation, andall truth. Granting the benevolent pastor full assent tothese observations on the mouth, it becomes the indispen-sable duty of all men to notice the physiognomy or indica-tions of that organ; in making those observations, it will benecessary to examine the lips separately, to ascertain whenthey are closed, during the moments of perfect tranquillity,whether that operation was performed without a forcibleexertion of the muscles, particularly of the middle of theupper and under lips, the bottom of the middle line at eachend, and finally the extent of the middle line on both sides.The character of the man is proclaimed in the lips, the morefirm the latter, the more fixed the former; the weak andirresolute man has weak lips, with rapidity in their motion;the vicious, cringing, mean, and vile, has a countenance,with lips and other members of the face, never well formedor justly proportioned to the other parts of his visage, and theline of which is equally serpentine on either side: such,