The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-06-02
STUDY OF THE FACE.
Traits of Character Indicated by
the Features.
Pcculiaritics of Human Nature Easily HIS
ccrncd by Systematic Observation
Different Types Denoted by
Facial Indications.

itiieHoiOSy is an exploded Qclu-
sion," said an anthropologist to Wash
ington Star writer mo sensible per-
son any longer believes that it is posi-
bic to determine anybody's character or
mental faculties by bumps on the head.
But the study of the features of the face
is progressing SO far that before long it
will be regarded as science. Certain
traits. moral and intellectual, are plnin-
ly reflected in the countcnauce Thus
we are very commonly able to distin-
guish an ill-tempercd individual. Nee
essarily, the emotional nature is ex-
pressed most clearly by the mouth,
which is altered by the operation of the
muscles with every change of feeling
In the eye, on the other hand, is found
the expression of thought. The boxer
or fcncer looks not at the weapon of
his adversary, but at his opponents
eye, in order to see how the blow or
thrust is coming. One easily distin-
cuisines the crafty from the benevolent
eye.
u"Therc are only crude distinctions,
such as everyone perccives instructive
ly and without having made any study
of the subject But it is possible to go
very far beyond this by systematic OBJ
servation. There arc certain peculiari-
ties of physiognomy which stamp the
person who is not trustworthy, and these
you find exaggerated in the faces of
criminals Often they are accompanied
by marked abnorInalitics. 1t has al
ready been ascertaincd that criminals
usually have peculiarly shaped heads,
but that is a subject too complex to go
into briefly. Look over the photographs
i'll 'rogucs' gallery and you will dis
cover that, without any experience in
such matters, you are able to pick out
with accuracy the burglars and the
sneakthieves or picIpocllcts, dis
tinguishing one class from the other.
They represent palpably different crimi-
nal types.
The police detectives in city have
no difficulty on a fcstal day, when the
streets are throngcd, in going through
the crowds and picking out for arrest
crooks whom they have never seen be-
fore and who are present for predatory
purposes. The types I speak of are I'M
mistallable. They are difficult to
analyze, but certain brute lines are
characteristic of each. In the thief
there is a suggestion of the fox, in the
burglar something OF the wolf, and so
on. Composite photographs of crimi-
nails show these traits in the most pro-
nounced way. Strange to say, however,
such portraits taken from twenty
or thirty robbers Or murderers-obliter-
ate. the evil that is stamped upon the in
dividual face, and present simply types
of persons whose physiognomy indi-
Gates predisposition to commit crime.
Are individuals born with prcdis-
position for crime? Undoubtedly the
instinct exists in the infant unborn and
is transmitted by hercdity from genera
ton to generation. An instance is re-
ferred to by the celebrated Dr. Mauds-
ley, of England, where there were five
generations of criminals in one family.
The question naturally suggests itself:
How far are such individuals response
bic for their actions? No satisfactory
answer will ever be given, but for its
own protection society is compelled to
wage perpetual war against them. OBJ
viously the most humane method of re-
straining them is to keep them in prison,
where they can do no harm, and SO
there is only one crime at present which
we punish more overwhelmingly, de-
liberatc homicide. Only century ago
there were more than hundred differ
ent kinds of offenses which were pun
ished in England with death, and indi-
viduals convicted of no more serious
crimes than petty thieving were SEN
fenced to mutilation by cutting off their
hands or otherwise In this respect we
have certainly grown more civilized,
and the time is pretty sure to arise be-
fore long when no more serious punish
ment than life Imprisonment will be i'm
posed upon murderers.
Character being legible in the fea-
lures of the face there can hardly be n
more useful as we'll as interesting studv
than that of the human physiognomy.
How desirable it would be if we could
choose our friends for the qualities we
most admire, by the moral graces which
their countcnances express, viewed from
n reasonably exact scientific standpoint.
There are plenty of people even in the
higher walks of life who have criminal
impulses which they do not act upon
merely because there is no necessity
which calls them into action. For cX-
ample, there is young man of my nc
quaintance who is a born sneak thief.
can read it in his face as we'll rs IL it
were written across his forehead; but he
had the good fortune to be born in a
rich family and so he has never had any
occasion to steal anything. But should
not like to trust him ignorantly as a
friend. Every now and then you read
in the newspapers of rich women who
have been caught shoplifting. 1t SIM
ply means that their criminal impulses
have got the better of them. Take my
word for it, the noblest study of man
kind is man. as Pope says, and if we