The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-08-25
THE GATE OF THE SOUL.
THE FOREHEAD as AN INDEX TO
TIE CHARACTER.
Popular Blunders in Face Reading
The Real and the Hidden Brownie
Advantage of Being 5ald-The Value
of q Forehead.
fCopuri0ht1

Advantage of Being 5ald-The Value
of a Forehead.
fCopvrf0ht)
New YORK, Aug. 23.-Everybody is
more or less of physiognomist. We all
fatter ourselves that we can read character
in the features, though most of US would
1 find it hard to write down the rules we
/ think guide US The fact is we don't 60 by
any set of rules. We judge from the
general contour of the face, and not SO
much by the formation of the features
as by the predominant express on
of the whole. Two faces may be
modelled exactly alike, same shape and size
of nose, same kind Of eye and lips, same
foreheads and hair. and yet we can see at a
glance that the characters are quite oppo-
site. How is this! Training, cultivation,
the influence of circumstances, greater
power of will, have operated TO give max
imum of what we call expression to the
one, while the other has grown anyhow,
like an INTENDED garden.
Many students of character make big
blunders by accepting what certain pseudo
scientific book writers lay down as infalli-
bic signs or laws. They read that such a
nose indicates so and 50, this one denotes
something else, and thus with each feature
in turn. The student goes into the street,
aud whenever he sees nose OF
such AMI such pattern he
calmly assumes that it must
always accompany the characteristics laid
down in the book. The absurdiey of this
sort of character mis-readIng sooner or later
leads him to drop the whole business as a
delus on and sIare. All piecemeal judg-
ments are misleading, but the face as a
whole is rarely other than a truthful dial
whereon you may read the records of the
life within.
4 Features alter. Eyes, nose and mouth
may change their aspect from thousand
causes. accident may main them, pain dis
tort them, odd habits frequently give them
some popularity Of form or expression. All
these things battle the student of features
They are like the hands on the clock dial
they move and change with wear or external
influences. But the forehead is like the dial
itself. more of a picture, calm, open, less
mobile. The skin upon it may wrinkle and
dlscolor, but in the main the forehead re-
mains substantially the same throughout
life Some ancient philosopher prettily
called it the gate of the soul, because
through it you can enter the temple OF the
owners inner being.
Without pressing this idea too far, it is
certain that great deal is to be learnt by
correctly noting a mans forehead, and
womau's, of course. There is also a good
deal to be unlearnt, such as some of the
stupid jargon about high" and low fore
heads, lofty brows," etc. The owner of
the conventional high forehead is popularity
supposed to be a saint, or at least has
a mighty intellect. The criminal in
handouts is supposed always to be dis
tinguished by his vlllainously low beetling
brows. And these superstitions survive
and flourish among US despite the fact that
the ablest aud the noblest men have their
full share of low foreheads just as the big
gest rascals often own the most angelic
''arched brows" Let us look into this a
little further.
When we hear people talk about high and
low in foreheads let US reflect (Which is more
than they do that they speak only of what
meets their careless eye. They 90 by the
look Of the thing, the superficial aspect of
Uranium largely hidden by hair. If the
mans hair grows down in front they jump
to the unjust conclusion that he
has a low forehead. II he happens to
be short of front hair, owing to bald
ness or being born with less extensive wig
than usual, they glorify him as a genius
because of his lofty forehead. The idea
that there may be several ounces more brain
under the low-haired brow than In the bald
AiObs hooo hcNoh OCCuEb ~ Uuoul. Inc QalT
is the great thing, the tize and shape OF the
head nothing at all.
lake the profiles Of Emerson and Glad
| stone and notice how the growth Of the hair
| makes the forehsads into 'low" CUES, So
called. II these men had been raised in low
life and graduated In jail, they would have
served TO illustrate many popular" lee
ture on character reading as specimens Of
| low-browed inferiors But their lines were
| in hannier nj vwsfh hA bot
one became the American Emerson, the
osher the English Gladstone. Now look at an
| eminenGy respectable gentleman, whose
very noble, high-arched forehead bet6kens a
magnificent intellect and great beuevoence,
with the bumps of music, poetry and moral
sentiment highly developed Then look at
| his profile and you will sometimes perceive
that If his hair had remained on his sloping
| forehead there would not be more than an
inch or two visible. The gentleman does
not happen to be famous as an author or
| philanthropist. He runs a saloon on the
Bowery and has dwelt at Sing Sing as
harborer Of thieves and a "fence."
To get at the quality OF forehead, and,
approximately, at the quantity of brains
| inside 1t, you must take profile view and
| ascertain the facial angle. The shape of a
vertical line drawn so as to touch the fore
head and the lips indicates the difference in
| the forehead capacity of monkey, az
African savage and highly developed eau
casian. The fuller the frontal bone the
greater are the observing faculties, and for
this reason, among Others, the man who
wants to see ahead most clearly, will
shade his eyes with his hands So in
follows that he whose forehead projects
more than usual over his eyes has them
shaded already, and, consequently, has
more accurate perceptions than those whose
eyes seem to project beyond the line IF their
eyebrows. A long nose, as 10 Gladstone's
case, may accompany a forehead apparently
low, because Of the low growth of the hair
on it, but the length of the nose will be
found to correspond with the hight of the
forehead bone, despite the hair. A
forehead may slope gracefully back
ward and still be a high one. In such
a case the type is generally that of mark ed
intellectual beauty aud repose. A cor
rugated brow, from skin wriskles or mob
by formation Of bone, generally indicates
strongly marked temperament, not
always happy one. Tbs perfect forehead
should be smooth, clear, white and spacious,
no matter how low the hair grows. 1t
should retain its youthful placidity to the
last, and be the index 20 a self possessed
and lofty soul.
Here is gallery of slow foreheads" war
ranted TO astonlso the knowing ones who
never see virtue except in bald fronts.
Look up the portraits Of Grant, Mcclellan,
Logan and Sheridan among soldiers
Holmes, Stedman, Howells, Grant White.
Curtis, Parton, Twain and Warner among