The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-01-20
READING THE HUMAN FACE.
The Character Generally Drawn Upon
1t in UnmisLakable Lines.
From the San Francisco Gail.

IL III - lLDlSbdAdDl6 LILIES.
From the San Francisco Call
An extract from an Eastern exchange
lately published in the Gail contained the
following sentence: Every vicious soul
marks the dwelling of its body with the
sign of its crime, to be read and understood
by a. men," This is a sound thought,
tersely expressed; it contains the germ of a
doctrine which is destined to figure largely
| in the penology of the future.
Every one knows that mems passions, pro-
pensities and peculiarities, as well as their
| calings, are reflected in their faces, but it
is only the few who have made the study of
physiognomy an especial pursuit who are
gifted with the power of reading those
faces. Judges who have served long terms
on the bench, lawyers in large practice and
doctors of eminence possess the power of
| interpreting physiognomieS more largely
| than other people. But any one can acquire
the rudiments of the art by dint of study
1t is as impossible to disguise face as a
handwriting. When the expert comes the
disguise is torn off, and the face tells the
true story of the spirit inside the body. One
only needs to visit the penitentiary to real
ize how undeniably vice writes its sign
manual on the features. 1t is not the
drunkard only whose red nose, flabby
cheeks and rheumy eyes betray him; it is
the Sensualist, whose vice is read in his lips
the knave, whose propensity is revealed by
the shape of his mouth the man of violence,
who is surrendered by his eyes. An expe-
rienced detective or a trained jailer seldom
needs to ask the crime of which his prisoner
was guilty. He can tell it by his face
1t is quite evident that in the future the
study of physiognomy is going to be pur-
sued more vigorously than it has been. AS
n If
invaluable. How constantly do we hear of
men failing from grace" as the phrase
goesl Yet these men must have carried
their crime in their face for a long time. If
any one had been able to read their fea-
lures the mischief might have been averted.
How often are we assured that this or that
criminal enjoyed the perfect confidence of
his employers and the public till the day of
his detection; an expert physiognomist
would probably have spotted him long be
fore. Again, face reading might be turned
to fine account in business. 1t is well
known that every mans face is more or less
stamped by the pursuit he follows An ex-
perienced observer can generally detect a
lawyer, or a doctor, or a merchant, or a
clerk, or mechanic, or clergyman, by
merely studying his face.
The study might be carried much further
The same rule which enables an observer to
distinguish lawyer from merchant will,
when followed out enable keen eyes to
separate able lawyers from lawyers who are
incompetent, merchants who are going to
make a rtune from merchants who are
going to fail Men often carry their
destinieS as well as their character in their
faces Indeed, the former depends so
largely upon the latter that it would be
singular if it were otherwise. Women, too,
will be able to discriminate among their
lovers and to pick out the man who will
make good husband from one who will
have to be dragged into a divorce court
All the advantages which Fowler mistakenly
told us we were going to derive frou the
study of phrenology we may possibly gain
from the older and more mysterious science
of face reading