Mineral Point tribune. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1854-1858, 1857-01-06
~ istfi Iansons.
Phisiognomy Of the Human Form.
No. .. THE FozHEAD.

In the forehead, where the varieties OF
surface are most numerous and signItfi-
cant, five principally different symbols
are 10 be traced.
Certain foreheads are smooth, feature
! less, with one uniform arched surface
from the orbits upwards. Such a shape
always augrus badly for the intellect; but
| peculiarly Il does so when the forehead
becomes narrower as /. asCends. They
| who present foreheads Of this last sha pc
! may be only fe eble- minded vacant, :" emp
| ty-headed, or" they may only be child-hke
in Intellectual simplicity; but many of
them have too little of the higher mental
force to control their lower passions, and
the shape Is therefore frequent among
CRIMINALS. 1t IS no better augury when
! forehead, of whatever size, Is all fiat
= complete perpendicularity from the hair
! 10 the eyebrows IS, as Laverter says, = the
sign of total want of understanding.
Nor is it better when the forehead is
| bowed with one strong arch overhanging
| the face: Such foreheads," he says,
Z" belong to feeble and contracted minds.
and which will never attain to maturity"
Secondly, there are foreheads in which
| the chief elevations of the undulating
surface are on the medium line-most
marked, therefore, in the very profile.
! These elevations decidedly axalt the ex-
preston of objective force of intellect in d
/ forehead whose general dimensions are
| good. and provided the hollow between
the elevations be not TO deep (for all
such deep hollows bear the impress of
/ feebleness symbohzing vacuity within.
/ It is of the Well-rormed foreheadS of this
! kind that Lava!er says, " Always consid-
/ er as the sign Of clear and sound under
/ standing and of a good complexion, every
/ forehead which presents IN profile TWO
proportioned arches, of which the lower
advances" Such arches are the symbols
/ of acutenesS Of observation, of thought
/ fuIness, and the habit Of reflection They
! a e generally developed late, and are es-
/ pecially masculine forms. The childs
! forehead. in one of is most beautiful
/ shapes, has single prominent arch, ris-
+ ing up lis middle line, and reaching on
wards to the mid-reglon of the head.
/ Such an arch, IN the adult UNMARRIED BIZ
alternate curves, and extending to the
region Of the feelings, will indicate child
like mind, kind hearted, trusting, and am
liable it may be often seen IN gentle and
benevolent people, especially women.
A third variety of heads includes those
IN whose undulating surfaces there are
two chief lateral elevations, two we'll
marked frontal prominences. These
strengthen that expression of analytic
power already assigned TO the broad ex-
panded fereheads; they symbolic the
sharply discriminating, anything intellect.
They are much more frequently We'll
marked in the male than in the female
head-as indeed are all the strongly
marked undulating form Of the forehead
"a fact which may seem TO accord with
an ungallant sentence of Lavater, that he
does mot love 70 employ this term" tina.
of thinker, "'when speaking Of the fe-
male sex. The most rational women are
little, if at all, capable Of thinking"
In the fourth variety Of foreheads the
chief elevations of surface encompass the
upper borders of the orbits. These ele-
vatons correspond with the prominent
orbitai margins Of animals aud birds;
they indicate the degree of development
of the sense Of sight and the correspond
ing physical character. They are fre-
quent in the cIear-sighted Observers OF
nature in good painters from the life
in those generally whose organization is
especially fitted for the occupation IN the
world of light The deep-set eyes, over
hung and guarded by the prominent
brows. are as if that natural exression
were fixed with which, transclentIy, we
l1ni; the brow5, and feel as If we drew
back the eyes when we would see clearly
into anything and IN this likeness they
properly sybolize the mind that, with nat
ural power and inclination, looks out into
the visible world. Their opposite IS III
the less depth Of orbits, and less domi-
nance in the sense of sight, IN which the
eyes look large and prominent, gazing
but not fixed, and like the eyes of one
listening. In these, as Gall, in his first
cranioscopic essay, rightly discerned,
are the signs of verbal power, IN so much
as they are mark Of the mind naturally
directed TO the world of sound and speech.
And, lastly. we see foreheads chiefly
characterized by elevations at their sides,
tending towards the ears. some fore
heads, of whatever other shape or size,
are, in their temporal regions, and just
above them, nearly fiat; others here
swell out; an this prominence of the
FORE brain towards the ear symboliZes a
mind especially influenced by sound. 1t
is strongly marked in the heads Of List,
Mendelssohn, and Beethoven.
e-Tbera Is no sal fer nrotnCtion AGAINST