The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-01-31
HEADS OF BICYcLISTs

inuicateu Dy the SScilsts Manner or Riding.
 (From the Washington Morning Tlmes)
 The bicycle face is becoming almost as notorious fact among wheelmen and people who observe wheelmen as the bicycle hump,
 Both the bicycle face and the bicycle back have done much to prejudice many men and more women against riding the silent steed, There is vast number of those who would buy wheels to-day and learn to ride tomorrow if they had not become disgusted with the wheel from seeing people suffer all sorts of ugly deformtties of back and face from its use,
 It is argued by those who do not al- low such things to prejudice them, but who yet do not believe in riding so as to deform ones self, that those riders are only trying to ape the professionals in bending themselves double and scorching for dear life. They want people to think that they are old riders, and so they lean over their handle bar as if they were monkeys engaged in wild race for supremacy among the members of their kind.
 But there are others" who believe that the tendency to bend over ones wheel is not entirely due to a desire to initiate. These persons undertake to show that a persons innate personal characteristics are manifested in the position he assumes while riding the bi- cycle In other words, some of the phrenologists who claim to have made a study of the subject assert that it is possible to read character by this means.
 One old phrenologist, who has ob- served hundreds of wheelmen and has made careful notes of the results of his observations, has this to say on the subject:
 Tt is a mistake to look for a perfect rider in every man and woman who mounts the wheel. For much the same reason that blacksmith is apt to be awkward and ungainly behind a pulpit, many persons fail in the attempt to be 1.-the and graceful on bicycle. If ones head is wide at the ears in pro- portion to it's height and diameter from the center of the ear forward, showing in other things more force and execu- tion than polish and propriety, he will never give a thought to how he should sit his saddle or propel his wheel; his one aim is to get there. This head on a delicate body often forms disastrous combination for cycling, for the wheel mans ambition is likely to run away l,;e a,1J, o1>i tv ha will persist in riding after his muscles are exhausted.
 "To tell an habitual scorcher, 'tis only necessary to size up his head and body. A head of the broad sort just de- scribed, that slopes abruptly at about where the hat touches above the ears, is pretty certain to belong to scorsh- CT; and if in addition the person is dark complexioned and in good physi- cal form, the evidence is conclusive. He will scorch regardless. of every thing, and a fall that would make the average person discard the wheel alto gether will apparently give him new impetus The slope mentioned indi- cates an absence of caution, and the recklessness of the wheelman depends largely on the size of that organ. If it slopes gradually the disposition to scorch may still be active, but he will avoid scorching in dangerous places. The heads of women as a rule, seem to be better filled out at cautiousness than those of the man"
 The phrenologist then proceeds to de- scribe another intere sting type of the wheelman. This is the rider who is ssstuck on himself,'' and shows in all alis movements a desire to show himself an expert in riding.
 ITO tell a whealman who always thinks himself strictly correct in riding and faultless on his wheel, observe the back part of his top head. At this point the head will rise upward and backward from the ear, showing self esteem. When this part is prominent you may be sure it's owner will not seek advice from anybody. He will have his own ideas on the way to dress and the way to ride, and what suits him will have to be tolerated by others. He will mount his wheel with an air of being the only bicyclist on earth, and he might as we'll be- so far as his ever de- irving any benefit from the methods and experiences of other whee1men
 Among the people generally in this country self-esteem is found to be poor ly developed, notably among women. A cyclist who will wheel on a hot sum- rner day and wear derby hat and starched shirt, with high collar and cuffs, is victim of large self-esteem, and the woman who opposes comforta ble bicycle dress and clings to a long walking skirt, is apt to be of the same class. Such a person usually avoids bi- cycle clubs, and has few companions when riding.
 When a man or a woman says, Oh, I like to ride wheel because so-and-so does, and because, you know, it's just the thing, you may depend on finding that persons hat wider behind than in front. There will be a noticeable breadth to the upper and back part of the head, where is located approbative- ness, the faculty that strives to please everybody under all circumstances. Il is easily found, and it's strength is usu- ally not hard to determine. A bicyclist who burdens his wheel with every new attachment the minute it comes out. in- sists on having the latest thing in dress and the newest machine on the market is influenced by approbativensss. He will spend as much time cleaning and polishing his bicycle as in riding 1t, and