The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1882-11-17
The Chin as an Index of Character.

If the experience of mankind is COM
petent to interpret facial indications,
some of the ''propensities' and per
ccptives," which Spurzheim lodges in
the back rooms of his pan-sensorium,
must have a penchant for changing
their quarters. ~'.Firmness," for in
stance, which he locates in the pOsterior
part of the upper head, undoubtedly
manifcsts itself in the prominence OF
the chin. .'Driw a face in profile"
says Winckelmann, and observe how
timidity or its opposite n he express
ed by the shape of the lower jaw. Let
the chin be rcceding, and your profile
can be made to express ~pusillanlmity
and f~eeblencss of character, even TO the
degree of imbccility. Then, without
changing any upper line of the profile
combine it with n prominent chin, and
il will exhibit firmness. Exaggerate
the prominence, and yon can intensity
that expression to one of obstinacy and
~ferocity. That such contrasts are less
striking in living faces is owing to the
circumstances that we take in the ex-
preston of all features at a single
glance, without analysing the complex
effect"
Have we not here a positive criterion,
q rule without an exception Does 1t
not occur to us, on after-thoughts, that
all warlike, aggressive nations have
such projecting chins. while the weak or
degenerate ones are more or less chin
less? In their classification of the North
American aborigines the Spaniards dis
tins uish between IndiOS n,dnSOS and In
dios 6raUos (tame and savage Indians).
The former comprise the different ag-
ricultural tribes Of Central and South
America, ignorant but harmless Great
ures. who subsist on a vegetable diet;
the latter the carnivorOus savages OF
the North, who divided their time be-
tween hunting and warfare. In their
physical characteristics these various
tribes of the American a%utochthoncs
could hardly be distinguished, if it were
not for a slight variation in the color OF
their skins and a very marked differ
encc in the shape of their chins. Our
redskins hace chins, though they can
not emulate those of the Indo-G German
ic C the Indians of Mexico and
South America have n In the pro-
file of q vegetarian Indio from the
neighborhood of Vera Cruz, the lower
jaw recedcs in a sharp line from the
mouth to the throat, so that his nose,
though not excessive in size, becomes
r~idieulously prominent. Obstinacy with
q projecting chin, ard shrinking timidi-
ty with a receding one, are here strong
ly contrasted, and the study of individ-
ual faces proves Winckelmann's rule to
be almost, if not altogether, infallible.
Can Professor Fowler point out q cor.
responding difference in the shape OF
the posterior skull? "Amativeness,"
too, may or may not affect the bones
above the nape, but T~heophrastus,
Galen, Della Porta, Lavater, DIR. Red
field, and all portrait painters, agree
that it is disclosed by the eyelids, es-
pecially the lower ones.
Lavater and other critical students OF
the human face have shown the fallacy
of some popular notions-fo instance,
the connection of a high forehead with
superior inteliigence-but also that gem
orally received opinions differ less in
different nations and ages than should
be supposed; and it is surprising OF
what minute symptoms even the an
cicnt nations have taken c~ognizance.-
DIR. Feh1 j.. Oswatd, in Popular SCI.
encc Monthly for October.