Part III.
PHYSIOGNOMY
"La fisonomia è lo specchio dell' anima."—Finetta.
CHAPTER XXVI.
PHYSIOGNOMY
"The face is the mirror of the soul," says Finetta, a mediæval Italian writer on the subject of physiognomy; and, to those who take the trouble to study the matter, the intelligence, the sentiments and the instincts of a person are all clearly manifested by the form of the head and features and their relative proportions, by the colouring of the skin, eyes and hair, by the fugitive expressions which, to an attentive observer, are seen to pass over even the most impassable faces, and "last, but certainly not least," by the lines left by the habitual passage of the expression of strong feeling, which, to the physiognomist, are visible even when the face is in repose.
We are in the habit of applying the term physiognomy to the face only, but the word has really a much wider signification. All things animate and inanimate have their physiognomy and, when judging of the character by the form of the features of the face, it would be impossible to ignore that given by the shape of the head, for, without altogether believing that the brain is mapped out in the manner described by phrenologists, there is no doubt that a good development of the front of the head shows intelligence, whilst a head which is inordinately protuberant at the back indicates the dominance of animal instincts in the organisation. If the back of the head is quite flat, it indicates coldness—want of passion in the nature. A head which is large just above the ears shows a tendency to anger and if the signs of benevolence on the brow and lips are entirely wanting it would mean cruelty; but in physiognomy the signs on both the head and face must be considered as a whole, and the qualities shown by both must be weighed one against another, before any right judgment can be arrived at. In this study, as in that of graphology and chiromancy, a deductive power of mind is required. Among twenty persons who may be sufficiently interested in physiognomy to study it, there will be scarcely more than one who will become a good physiognomist. One among the countless objections which have been urged against physiognomy is that many physiognomists make erroneous judgments; but, granted that they do so, it is their want of discernment, or more probably their want of deductivity—not the science—which fails.
There is a certain sort of instinctive power of judging character by the face, possessed by children and animals, which is in harmony with the theories of those who have thought and written most upon this interesting subject.
We are all of us—women, perhaps, more than men—daily influenced by this sort of instinctive physiognomy: for there are few people who do not, when they first see a stranger, form a judgment of him, in which they are, of course, only swayed by his outward appearance, although they may never have even heard the word physiognomy.
The temperament has an immense amount of influence over the character and this temperament is shown more especially by the colour and texture of the skin and hair. It is temperament which precipitates, or retards, the effects of illness and age and temperament is the result of the astral influence which presided at our birth.