The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-06-14
MANS FATE IN His FACE.
INDICATIONS OF CHARACTER AND
THEIR ORIGIN.

Mental and Physical characteristics.
The Red-Haired Type-StOry Told
by the Brow, the Eye and the
Jnv-The Nose Declared Not to he
Sign of Character, as II Has Been
Held to he.
From the New York Sun.
In the May number Of Blackwood's
Edinburgh Magazine Mr.. Louis Robinson
has an article on the correspondence be-
tween personality and physical character
istics. under the title Fate in the Face"
This title does not cover the entire scope
of the discussion, since the writer express
ly declares that "a definite correspondence
of certain outward features with mental
peculiarities is by no means confined to
the face A friend who is most shrewd
judge OF mankind recently remarked to
me that he could recognize a Jew by his
gait and bodily contour quite as certain
ly as by his features. Nor" he contin-
ues, need we conhne ourselves TO our
own species alone in seeking evidence OF
this kind Of relationship"
That chestnut horses are proverblally
high strung; that In most cases OF dog
bite the guilty CANNES are black animals
with short curly hair that white cows
with red ears are more eXcitable than 9TH
ers; that brown ferrets are more coura-
geous than the lght-colored ones, are
instances which he cites as proof Of this,
and he tells of a family Of mice which he
had. descended from a cross between a
white mouse and a black African mouse
where the individual type Of the one or
the other persisted both in the matter of
color and contour and in a correlation OF
disposition and constitution. This, says
DR.. Robinson, was a racial difference. In
similar way he traces many typical
physical characteristics IN the higher ami
lie writes:
Mental characteristics are without
doubt as much a product OF environment
as the texture and color OF the skin and
the shape Of the bones and sinews A
race Of mice, or OF men, becomes nodded
psychically as well as physically to 1T
the conditions under which II lives Under
some conditions OF life fierce and COM
6ative disposition Is sine qua non Of ex-
lstence; under others meekness Is the
saving virtue. Hence the difference in
character between Bengalee and Hin
man, between poodle and a wolf be-
tween a coster's donkey and an onager."
The correspondence between certain
marked physical features and mental Pc
culiariues, the writer traces back to first
principles by reason that IN the days Of
tribal savagery any individual breaking
away from his tribe, thus forming a clan
or his own, would probably be q man of
strongly marked personal characteristics
ana force, which, he states, usually 90
with physical peculiarites equally mark
e. and such a type, perslstins, would
nnally become national type. Or as
barbarlans are intolerant Of any physical
popularity, an individual OF strange as
pect would have been driven forth from
the tribe, and would either have lived
and died an outcast from his race or
have founded a clan of his own. For in
stance, hairy man was not tolerated
by the aborig!nes of Central America and
in Western and Southwestern Africa an
albino was an outcast SO new races,
with their peculiar physical Characters
tics and the accompanying psychical
traits. may have arisen from such acci-
dents.
"Our red-hared Brlton," says DR.. Rob
lnson, from whatever source his pecu-
liarities arose, is a descendent Of some
branch Of great Aryan family, which
found peppery temper useful in the
far removed from his original habitat and
kindred, he retains the ancestral qualities
in such an admirable state Of preserva-
ton, is owing to the law of the persist
ence of types so striklngly exemplihed IN
our horses mice and ferrets. Like these
animals also he Is found to differ from
! his blood relation In constitution as well
as in complexion, for il is well known
! that many red-haired people enjoy a
! special Immunity from some forms OF
Dr. Robinson takes the position that not
4 only is there a definite correspondence be-
| tween the complexion and the general cast
/ OF the features, but that type shows Itself
/ also in the bones, muscle, and viscera,
/ and that there IS good reason for believ-
/ ing that every tissue and cell in the or
| ganism shares In the distinction The bond
1 between outward appearances and mental
/ attributes has been maintained through
| the thousands of generations since It's
/ formation, because 1.-THE mental attributes
| are as much an integral part Of the type
/ as Is the pigment IN the skin and hair -
While the union Of diverse races of strong
/ Individuality viii account in part for con-
| formity between expression and mental
/ habit It viii not explain, for instance
/ why the dark man with fine straight
/ hair is melancholy and sentimental OF
| the man with red and carly hair is cheer.
/ ful and choleric, except by declaring thai
/ probably each Is descended from some an.
| cient tribe In which these same char
] acteriStlcS were uniformly associated"
The writer postulates the rejection OF
! such expressions as come merely from
/ the habit Of thought or action OF the in
! dividual, and gives certain characteristics
! Of face and temperament which are fairly
/ general and are traceable to some deeper
cause than individual and temporal at
"All the world over large and vel
/ formed fore head is a fairly good sign OF
| intelligence. Here the link between the
| face and the character is Of the simplest
! description. In the frontal part Of the
1 brain the more elaborate mental processes
/ seem to be performed. Here, also, proba.
| bly,, is the seat Of the inhibltory centers
| which give our power Of self control 4
| high and fun forehead, therefore means
| good accommodation for the higher men.
tai machinery. The interior furnishing
may not in all cases be on par with thS
| outside appearance, and, on the Other
| hand, unusually efficient apparatus mas
| be packed IN very unpretending cham
/ ber."
The eye is the surest index OF the mind
| DIR. Robinson thinks, but nearly all tn,
| characteristics Of ocular expression arr
| secondary. Those which are innate depend
| more upon the surrounding structures fhal
| upon the organ itself Eyes placed ,
| good distance apart are, all the worl,