COMPARATIVE FACIAL MEASUREMENTS OBTAINED FROM THE BRIGHTEST AND THE MOST BACKWARD PUPILS IN THE SCHOOLS OF ROME (MONTESSORI)
| Measurements and indices in millimetres | Brightest pupils | Backward pupils | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Height of mandible | 34 mm. | 36 mm. | 2 mm. |
| Length of nose | 47 mm. | 45 mm. | 2 mm. |
| Width of nose | 28 mm. | 29 mm. | 1 mm. |
| Nasal index | 59 mm. | 64 mm. | 5 mm. |
These results would seem to prove that there are high and low infantile types of face, analogous, let us say, to types of social caste; and in school life they correspond to the castes of the intelligent and the backward pupils.
Intelligent children tend to preserve the infantile form of face more intact (broad and short) or rather, if we extend our researches to pupils who have reached the prepuberal age, we may conclude that intelligent pupils develop according to the normal laws—the growth is confined to the nose; backward children invert the order of growth—the lower jaw is already enlarged before the nose has even begun the acceleration of puberal growth. This difference remains permanent in the adult, and we have in consequence low types of face characterised by a flat nose and heavy lower jaw.
Facial Expression.—The study of the human face cannot be limited to a consideration of the form alone; because what gives character to it is the expression. Internal thought, sensory impressions and all the various emotions produce responsive movements of the facial muscles, whose contractions determine those visible phenomena corresponding to the inner state of mind.
The teacher ought to understand facial expression, just as a physician must train himself to recognise the facies corresponding to various diseases and states of suffering. The study of expression ought to form a part of the study of psychology, but it also comes within the province of anthropology, because the habitual, life-long expressions of the face determine the wrinkles of old age, which are distinctly an anthropological characteristic.
The facial muscles may be divided into two zones: one of which comprises the frontal and ocular region, and the other the buccal region; corresponding to which are the two upper and lower branches of the frontal nerve.
Accordingly we may speak of a frontal or higher zone of expression and of an oral or lower zone.
The expressions of pure thought (attention, reflection) group themselves around the forehead; those of emotion, on the contrary, call forth a combined action of both zones, and frequently irradiate over the entire body. But as a general rule the man of higher intelligence has a greater intensity of frontal expression, and the man of low intelligence (uneducated men, peasants, and to a much greater degree, imbeciles, idiots, etc.) have a predominance of oral expression.
In children the frontal zone has slight mobility, and the oral zone has a preponderance of expression; infantile expression, however, is diffuse and exaggerated and is characterised by grimaces. Undoubtedly there are certain restraining powers, which develop in the course of time and serve to limit and definitely determine the facial expressions.