The representative., 1899-11-23
THE USEFUL NOSE
Its Value Does Not Keep 1t Free From
Ridicule in Case 1t Is Abnormal.

While 1t is true that some people have
noses that looks as if they did not belong
to their wearers and seem >always trying
to get rid of them-witness Cyrano de Ber-
gerac-it is also true that there are innum-
erable instances where the feature assimi-
lates with character and harmonizes with
the whole form and physiognomy. History
teens with illustrations of this fact.
When Socrates was called a sOt ac
count of his nose, he acknowledged it's Ian
guage was true index to his natural char
acter. Space between the eyes, which is
filled by the upper nasal extremity, indi-
Gates the organ of form or power of cor
rectly judging local distance and conditions.
1t was remarkably wide in Washington S
head. Gouverneur Morris, one of the most
impressive elocutionists of our Revolution
ary era, had a prominent and expansive
nose which gave a sonorous emphasis to
his voice,
Franklin's nose was said by phrenolOgists
to illustrate the economical instinct en-
bodied SO famously in Poor Richard" The
chivalric temper of Henry Clay was evident
in his nose; was that of Alexander Ham
ilton. Tom Paine's grossness as well as
mental vigor was symbolized in this feat
ure; and were the strong but unrefined
prOclivities of Gilbert Stuart VOltaire'S S
nose would seem to be turned up at all
creation, and snufing paradox.
Lavater calls the nose the 'seat Of de-
rision." He says beautiful one is never
found in a countenance otherwise ugly, and
he considers it IAN abutment of the brain, -
AID, like the arch in Gothic buildings, the
essential feature. He declares:
Il have never seen nose with a broad
back that did not belong to an extraordinary
man, such as Swift, Caesar Borgia, Titan,
etc. Small nostrils are an indubitable sign
of unenterprising timidity; the open, breath
ing nOstrils, of sensibility'
A later and more analytic writer finds in
finite shades of meaning in the shape and
size OF the nose. The first ridge, Just above
the top for instance, according to his OBJ
servation, is the sign of self-defence, and is
large in controversial men. By the length
of the nose, from the root downward at a
right angle, he estimates the tendency to
suspicion.
Whether one acquiesces in such details of
nasal language, there is no doubt that
general force of character is associated with
a certain strength in this feature of the
face. The Roman aQuiline nose is identified
commonly with high birth or intellectual
vigor the snub with plebeians; the Bar
dolph with grOssness. the retrousse with
fun; the flexible nostril with feeling; the
broad with courage, and the Indicted with
sensitiveness
cinder in the eye or cut lip >excites
commiseration, but an accident to the nose
proyokes laugh Even common parlance
seems to have singled out the nose, of all
features, to treat with contempt, or, at
least, ridicule. Follow your nose!' is the
watchword to impertinent ciceroni; and to
be led by the nose" is a synonym for i'm
becility. Nose out of joint" is the ap-
proved phrase for discontinue. When a
man is too plebeian for a challenge and too
insignificant to be fogged the common meth
cd OF punishment is to tweak his nose.
TN slit the villains nose!' is the lowest
Of threats. To turn up the nose at an OBJ
ject suggests contempt too small for indig-
nation; to lay one finger on the nose or
gyrate all four with the thumb for a pivot
are vulgar comic gestures. Aud thus this
feature of the human face seems, by uni
versal consent, to be associated with the
ridiculous and mean phases and forms of
life. Why is this?
Partly because occupying the center of
the physiognomy, and being. the most prom
inent point therein, it's least singularity
breaks up the harmony of the whole;
partly because it is the most passive yet
ostentatious of the features, and, finally,
because its character being indicated by
form-without mobility like the mouth and
changes of tint and size like the ,eye-has
certain fixed emphasis which provokes
attention Hence they are fortunate whose
noses have an average type and no special
mold whereby they escape scrutiny.
II one turns from the form to the use
of the nose one will find somewhat of the
same deprecatory estimate. To smell out
a thing. for example, is a figure of speech
which savors Of ndignity; it has none of
the perspicacity of vision or the delicacy
Of touch. Smell is sense wheein the ami
mails are often our superiors, which may
in a degree account for this comparative
disrespect. 1t is the sense least vaunted
as a distinction of humanity. Even Shy
lock appeals to eyes and hands, but is silent
about nOses. .~..,+..-t.
However, the latent af1inities Of this sense
are far nearer to the mind and further re-
moved from the mere animal faculty than
the vulgar know. THE use of incense IN
churches" says Montaigne, 80 universally
received in all nations and religions, was
intended to cheer us and to purify the
senses, the better to fit us for contempla-
tiOn.' He also notes as an idiosyncrasy,
" 'Tis not to be believed how all sorts Of
odors cling to me-
Although it is the blind who perhaps ap-
preciate most fully the full significance of
scent, even those blessed with perfect Wis
ion, IL of sensitive temperament, have in
this sense a prompter to memory more in
stant than sight or touch. Sandalwood can
take one to the. Orient; lavender to the ru-
raj households Of Old England; franklin
cense to the temple and cathedral; pine bal
sam to the forest. What dreams OF youth
and love and sorrow come with the odor
of violet! What dreary remfniscence of
voyages with the smell of
bilge water! How diverse the sensation