The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-09-28
N I.I(sHT / ON CFiIlSs
By Frederic j Haskin

4
i Probably the most widely known and
4 accepted tenet of the ysiognoniists
70 tina. the7chin Is q reliable index to
power OF. Will. The indomitable hero
Iof the popular novel 4 Invariably en-
lowed with q prominent chin. In the
/ modern school of magazine illustra-
1 ton the chin Is the most important
ornament Of facial architecture. Every
! body knows that man with big,
1 atrong chin Is q man to loog out for.
Now along come several anthropolo-
| gists, OF the greatest weight and repu-
tation, who have spent their lives
ahalyzing the human physiognomy
and tracing It's evolution. to say that
this popular belief in the Importance
Of chins Is all bosh. For example. DR..
Ales Hrdlicka Of the national museum,
who aids Uncle Sans chief antnropolo-
sgist says the chin is useful as a lever
masticating food and talking; but that
4 proves absolutely nothing about
your ability or disposition.
/! DR.. Hrdlicka Is willing to acknowl-
edge the significance OF other features
yof the human head. The upper skull
ifor example. as 1t indicates the size and
shape of the brain Is really worth
studying; but the chin has no anatomi-
Ecal connections which give 1t any inn
portance as an index to character.
Joins the Assault.
Sir Ray Lancaster, London an
throp biologist. joins the American au-
thority in this assault upon the chin
as an indication Of will power, and
Henry Boileau, of France. adds his
voice to the now International dis
icussion, expressing the same opinion,
land explaining the evolution Of the
ichin In a way that leaves It quite an
insignificant feature.
The evolution OF the chin is. In
fact, the pemmican Of the whole ar
jgument. Prehistoric man. according
to all the remains that have ever
been found of him, had no chin at
Iall. He had powerful jaws, and had
lenough teeth for two modern men,
but the chin proper was lacking.
Tracing the descent Of man, ac-
cording to the Darwinian theory, we
find him GRADUALLY acquiring chin az
he evolved toward a higher type.
until finally the chin finds its idesl
development in the modern civilized
man. The widespread belief that the
chin Is an indication Of desirable
Qualities is und lou btsS'y founded upon
this scientific fact that 1t has grown
with the advance Of civilization.
But the modern anthropologist pro-
Iceeds to offer several explanations of
this chin development which rob it Of
jail real significance. The most in
Iteresting of these. put forward by
Henri Boileau, of France, is that the
human chin is secondary sexual
characteristic, evolved for its esthe-
tic value in the mating process.
Translated from Darwinian into plain
English, this means tina. woman, even
when she lived in cave and wore
q fg-leaf, had as strong a liking for
the broad and beautiful chin as she
has today. True, there were not
many chins to choose from back In
lpaleolithic times, but. nevertheless,
she always chose the cave man that
had the nearest thing to chin. Thus
were brought into the world many lit
tie cave jewellers with ru1imentary
chins, and the social advantage which
this conferred insured the propaga-
ton OF the most chinful type.
Needed for Talking.
Another purely physiological en-
PLANTATION Of the civilized chin, offered
by the anthropologists, is that a
greater chin was needed by civilized
man because of the great amount Of
talking that he has TODD. The genio
glossal mutcles, which are the motive
power Of speech. are largely located
GAL TWO HASINS PG@
between the lower jaws, and the chin
had to be showed out in front to make
room for them, as man had more and
more to say. It may be objected, In
"a not altogether facetious way, that
this theory would fail to explain the
fact that the male chin is generally
better developed than the female.
Finally, II you do not like either of
these theories, there is yet another
one that as man came to stand erect
and throw out his chest, his chin went
up and forward and grew, into a more
prominent position as natural CON
sequence.
DIR. Hrdlicka comes forward with
still another explanation. He points
out that civilized man has not nearly
as many teeth as the savage and the
prehistoric forms. AS the teeth
dwindled, the upper jaw naturally re-
coded. bringing the lower one into
prominence. Look at the profile Of
any aged person who has lost all of
the upper teeth, and you will see
exactly what DR.. Hrdlicka means.
So there are four explanations Of
the big chin, any one Of which will
deprive 1t al all significance as an
index to character, and make It about
as important an anatomical feature as
the third toe Of horse.
Classified Them.
The old sShool of physiognomfsts,