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The World's Greatest Books [Volumes 1-15, 17-20]
- Автор: Gutenberg
- Год: 1910
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: Культурология
Электронная книга - «The World's Greatest Books [Volumes 1-15, 17-20]». Краткое содержание книги:
The World's Greatest Books — Volume 01 — Fiction от Неизвестный
The World's Greatest Books — Volume 02 — Fiction от Неизвестный
The World's Greatest Books — Volume 03 — Fiction от Неизвестный
The World's Greatest Books — Volume 04 — Fiction от Неизвестный
The World's Greatest Books — Volume 05 — Fiction от Неизвестный
The World's Greatest Books — Volume 06 — Fiction от Неизвестный
The World's Greatest Books — Volume 07 — Fiction от Неизвестный
The World's Greatest Books — Volume 08 — Fiction от Неизвестный
The World's Greatest Books — Volume 09 — Lives and Letters от Неизвестный
The World's Greatest Books — Volume 10 — Lives and Letters от Неизвестный
The World's Greatest Books — Volume 11 — Ancient and Mediæval History от Неизвестный
The World's Greatest Books — Volume 12 — Modern History от Неизвестный
The World's Greatest Books — Volume 13 — Religion and Philosophy от Неизвестный
The World's Greatest Books — Volume 14 — Philosophy and Economics от Неизвестный
The World's Greatest Books — Volume 15 — Science от Неизвестный
The World's Greatest Books — Volume 17 — Poetry and Drama от Неизвестный
The world's greatest books от Mee, Arthur, 1875-1943, joint editor & Hammerton, John Alexander, Sir, 1871-1949, joint editor & McClure, S. S. (Samuel Sidney), 1857-1949, joint editor
The World's Greatest Books — Volume 19 — Travel and Adventure от Неизвестный
The World's Greatest Books — Volume 20 — Miscellaneous Literature and Index от Неизвестный
Now, a single fact which establishes that an animal, after a long period of domestication, differs from the wild stock from which it derives, and that among the various domesticated members of a species may be found differences no less marked between individuals which, have been subjected to one use and those which have been subjected to another, makes it certain that the former conclusion is not consistent with the laws of nature, and that the second is.
Everything, therefore, concurs to prove my assertion, to wit—that it is not form, whether of the body or of the parts, which gives rise to the habits of animals and their manner of life; but that, on the contrary, in the habits, the manner of living, and all the other circumstances of environment, we have those things which in the course of time have built up animal bodies with all their members. With new forms new faculties have been acquired, and little by little nature has come to shape animals and all living things in their present forms.
JOHANN LAVATER
Physiognomical Fragments
Johann Caspar Lavater, the Swiss theologian, poet, and physiognomist, was born at Zürich on November 15, 1741. He began his public life at the age of twenty-one as a political reformer. Five years later he appeared as a poet, and published a volume of poetry which was very favourably received. During the next five years he produced a religious work, which was considered heretical, although its mystic, religious enthusiasm appealed to a considerable audience. His fame, however, rests neither on his poetry nor on his theology, but on his physiognomical studies, published in four volumes between 1775–78 under the title "Physiognomical Fragments for the Advancement of Human Knowledge and Human Life" ("Physiognomische Fragmente zur Beförderung des Menschenkenntniss und Menschenliebe"). The book is diffuse and inconsequent, but it contains many shrewd observations with respect to physiognomy and has had no little influence on popular opinion in this matter. Lavater died on January 2, 1801.
I.—The Truth of Physiognomy
There can be no doubt of the truth of physiognomy. All countenances, all forms, all created beings, are not only different from each other in their classes, races, kinds, but are also individually distinct. It is indisputable that all men estimate all things whatever by their external temporary superficies—that is to say, by their physiognomy. Is not all nature physiognomy, superficies and contents, body and spirit, external effect and internal power? There is not a man who does not judge of all things that pass through his hands by their physiognomy—there is not a man who does not more or less, the first time he is in company with a stranger, observe, estimate, compare, judge him according to appearances. When each apple, each apricot, has a physiognomy peculiar to itself, shall man, the lord of the earth, have none?
Man is the most perfect of all earthly creatures. In no other creature are so wonderfully united the animal, the intellectual, and the moral. And man's organisation peculiarly distinguishes him from all other beings, and shows him to be infinitely superior to all those other visible organisms by which he is surrounded. His head, especially his face, convinces the accurate observer, who is capable of investigating truth, of the greatness and superiority of his intellectual qualities. The eye, the expression, the cheeks, the mouth, the forehead, whether considered in a state of entire rest, or during their innumerable varieties of motion—in fine, whatever is understood by physiognomy—are the most expressive, the most convincing picture of interior sensations, desires, passions, will, and of all those properties which so much exalt moral above animal life.
Although the physiological, intellectual, and moral are united in man, yet it is plain that each of these has its peculiar station where it more especially unfolds itself and acts.
It is, beyond contradiction, evident that, though physiological or animal life displays itself through all the body, and especially through all the animal parts, yet it acts more conspicuously in the arm, from the shoulder to the ends of the fingers.
It is not less evident that intellectual life, or the powers of the understanding and the mind, make themselves most apparent in the circumference and form of the solid parts of the head, especially the forehead; though they will discover themselves to the attentive and accurate eye in every part and point of the human body, by the congeniality and harmony of the various parts. Is there any occasion to prove that the power of thinking resides not in the foot, nor in the hand, nor in the back, but in the head and its internal parts?
The moral life of man particularly reveals itself in the lines, marks, and transitions of the countenance. His moral powers and desires, his irritability, sympathy, and antipathy, his facility of attracting or repelling the objects that surround him—these are all summed up in, and painted upon, his countenance when at rest.
Not only do mental and moral traits evince themselves in the physiognomy, but also health and sickness; and I believe that by repeatedly examining the firm parts and outlines of the bodies and countenances of the sick, disease might be diagnosed, and even that liability to disease might be predicted in particular cases.
The same vital powers that make the heart beat and the fingers move, roof the skull and arch the finger-nails. From the head to the back, from the shoulder to the arm, from the arm to the hand, from the hand to the finger, each depends on the other, and all on a determinate effect of a determinate power. Through all nature each determinate power is productive of only such and such determinate effects. The finger of one body is not adapted to the hand of another body. The blood in the extremity of the finger has the character of the blood in the heart. The same congeniality is found in the nerves and in the bones. One spirit lives in all. Each member of the body, too, is in proportion to the whole of which it is a part. As from the length of the smallest member, the smallest joint of the finger, the proportion of the whole, the length and breadth of the body may be found; so also may the form of the whole be found from the form of each single part. When the head is long, all is long; when the head is round, all is round; when the head is square, all is square.
One form, one mind, one root appertain to all. Each organised body is so much a whole that, without discord, destruction, or deformity, nothing can be added or subtracted. Those, therefore, who maintain that conclusion cannot be drawn from a part to the whole labour under error, failing to comprehend the harmony of nature.
II.—Physiognomy and the Features
The Forehead. The form, height, arching, proportion, obliquity, and position of the skull, or bone of the forehead, show the propensity of thought, power of thought, and sensibility of man. The position, colour, wrinkles, tension of the skin of the forehead, show the passions and present state of the mind. The bones indicate the power, the skin the application of power.
I consider the outline and position of the forehead to be the most important feature in physiognomy. We may divide foreheads into three principal classes—the retreating, the perpendicular, and the projecting, and each of these classes has a multitude of variations.
A few facts with respect to foreheads may now be given.
The higher the forehead, the more comprehension and the less activity.
The more compressed, short, and firm the forehead, the more compression and firmness, and the less volatility in the man.
The more curved and cornerless the outline, the more tender and flexible the character; and the more rectilinear, the more pertinacious and severe the character.
Perfect perpendicularity implies lack of understanding, but gently arched at top, capacity for cold, tranquil, profound thought.