Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1881-01-08
Noses Classified.


Francis Gross, in his appendix to llo-
oarth's Elements Of Beauty" deliDeates
eight typical noses There is the angular;
the acqnlne or Roman the parrot'- beak
the strait or Grecian the bulfous or bot
tied the tnrned-up or snub: and the
mixed or broken. OF the latter, by the
way, the noses Of at least two illustrious
men NAV be taken As ilustrations-Tycho
Brahc and Michael Angelo. the latter OF
whom owed his ungraceful appendix to
blow from companion with whom he
was at variance. who thus disfigured the
great artist for life and then fled. 70
these NAV be added the orator Cicero, up
on whom Nature seems he have bestowed
Il nasal organ of n type decidedly mixed
if not broken. Plutarch. in his life OF the
querelou- Roman. says that he had a Hat
excresencc on the top OF his nose III the
shape Of a vetch- cicer in Latin-irom
which he took his surname. Pliny SAYS,
with more probability. that name origi-
mated in an extensive cultivation ofvetches,
Just as others had previously been sur
named from crops of other kinds. How
ever this may be. the fact of Cicero : snub
nose may no doubt be accepted, and 1t ac-
cords with the traditional belief that this
description of nose is usually indicative
of a fiery. quick. impetuous temper.
Cicero having possessed this characteristic
in marked degree. Horace seems to re-
gard the short nose, with little turn up
at the end, rs the mark OF n person giving
n good deal to iibing and jeering. Mar
tial calls it the rhinocerous nose, and says
that it was higly fashionable in his day.
everybody affecting this kind OF
proboscis as an indication of
IA satiricaI humor. The angular" nose.
rs Gross calls it. is the long. clearly -out,
pointed organ. and was. no doubt, the
type to which Horace alludes when he
says that it is indicative of Satirical wit.
The parrot beak'' is the nose with which
Mr. Punch usually adorns his caricature
of the Sultan or khedive. and Is akin to
the typical Jewish nose al, over the world.
The eight types given embrace every de-
scripton of the features. and students of
caricaturc are strongly recommended in
the treatise alluded to to make themselves
perfectly familiar with the simple lines
Ivy which these curiously comprehensive
sketches are affected.
A very singular fact has been observed
with regard not so much as to the shape
Of the nose rs To the setting of it in the
face. so to speak. To be strictly correct
from the artists point of view. the nose
should be accurately in the middle of the
face and at right angles with Il line from
the pupil of one eye To that of the other.
As matter of fact, it is rarely or never
found thus placed. It's almost invariably
II little out of 1.-The square," and the fact
of is being 50 is often that which lends a
peculiar expression and piquancy to the
face. A medical writer points out that
there are anatomical reasons why a slight
deviation from the true central line may
be expected. and that the nose which is
thus accurately straight between the two
eyes may be considered an abnormal one,
and that the only absolutely correct organ
is that which thus devlates 4 little to the
RICH. or left.