Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-04-10
Face-Reading
Philosophy
Carries On
Does Mans Appearance
Type Him for Job2
BY EDWIN c. HILL

BY EDWIN c. HILL
THE current eighty-frst birth
L day celebration Of DR..
Holmes w. Merton is a reminder
that there is still in wide circu-
lation in this country a lot of
home-brew philosophy I t
people in the big towns don't
know about.
Carrying on where the phre-
biologists left off, Doctor Merton
has, for so years or more. been
reading the STORY of man in
the face, devising means of fit
ting men into their Jobs, and
founding and directing the Mer-
ton Institute for Personnel
Guidance. with studies in ] 800
basic occupations.
As Doctor Merton has put il,
he found for each OF these vo-
cations IA different IS per cent
OF the face was propOrtlonately
the same in each successful man
or woman in the same vocation.
and the faces of unsuccessful
men and women were not in the
same proportion as those of sue
ceSSful people in the same oc-
cupatlon
II IS obvious that much Is
written clearly in the human
countenance. and shrewd men
who have much intercourse with
their fellows become quick and
accurate readers. We have chung
10 the idea that we may learn
10 appraise another man quickly
by noting certain specific lines
OF his features-the droop of an
eyelid. the set Of his mouth, the
flare of the noStrilS.
Around the turn OF the GEN.
fury, and for a few earlier
decades. rural America. as con-
traSted with the cities was deep
IN studies Of physiognomy. and
lectures on phrenoiogy were
runnerS-up 10 "Uncie Toms
Cabin" and "lngomar the Bar
barlan al the opera house.
Late in this era, these various
theories of face and head-read-
ing found high sanction in the
books OF Cesare Lomhroso.
Italian physician. cruminologist
and pSychlatriSt His findings
were too far over the zone OF
pathology 70 Eft into the hope
ful cndesVors OF the American
hight bringers. but for a decade
or more They gave scientific
validity Ia the theory that YOU
could reconstruct q mans char
acier from sornc revealing line
OF his face
/ OMBROSO- offered many
Il Stlgmata. principally OF Grim
NAL or degenerative trends. by
which one instantly could peg
another as a dependable citizen
or bad egg. His books carried
vivid illustrations OF the wicked
hit Of an ear lobe. or d preda-
tory outreach Of a lip or nostriL
II was diSquietng reading.
Not even the most dutiful
churchgoer could read them
without finding in his own
countenance some stigma of la
tent or lurking vfAainy. But
when the top-bracket medicos
got around to IL they routed the
LombroSo theories straight for
the aShcan. where they now rest
IN peace
ON the whole il seems that
the returns afcn Vet an IN
when u comes 10 finding an
entire life story aad'a revelation
OF mind and spirit. written in
the face. Tho modern pSycholo-
glSts have complicated the prob
lem lot by their discovery Of
dark recesSes Of the spirit be-
hind the seemly facade OF an
apparently untroubled counte-
nance And SO have the geneti-
cists who find Inherited traits
with no discoverable physical
basis whatever.
one Of George AIDES most in
" terestng fables has to do
with the fact that you cant
always read people from the
outside looking in. In a certain
law school there was straggly
youth who had chain-lightning
mind. but who. on all other
counts. would have been voted
the least likely 10 succeed. He
was scrubby and unkempt and
he had an unpleasant. raSping
voice But he knew more law
than the professors themselves.
There was another student
who would have batted 1000 on
any phySiognomy test. He was a
big. handsome chap. with a fine.
resonant voice. ingratiating
manners and tho general speci-
fications of a fedgling United
States senator. But he had he
come only slightly lndoctrinated
with law
Years passed The smart little
man was a wash-out. in a dingy
little fly-specked office with no
customers. His lack of a 'front.'
and related shortcomings had
lost every-caSe he ever tried in
court. although ne could write a
coppcr-plate brief. One day a
big. imposing Daniel Webster
chan came in 10 sell law hooks