ESSAY VII.

OF BEAUTY IN THE HUMAN FACE, AS IT REGARDS THE PERMANENT FORMS, IN CONTRADISTINCTION TO EXPRESSION.

To connect the subject of the beauty of the human countenance with anatomy must be acknowledged a matter of some difficulty. Much has been written on the sources of beauty; the utmost perfection of language, adorned by classical allusions, and the imagery of rich and cultivated fancy, have made these essays valuable; yet I cannot help thinking that there has been an inattention to the philosophy or truth of the subject.

On the other hand, writers of my own profession have been misled, by what I must call a very superficial survey of the head of man and of brutes; and they have permitted themselves to be confined in the trammels of a false theory.

It has been assumed, I think without due examination, that if we compare the area of the cranium with the area of the face, the

proportions will vary with the degree in which the intellectual perfections are enjoyed-that the size of the brain case, in reference to the size of the bones of the face, will serve as a measure of the capacity of the mind.

It has been presumed also, that as the cranium contains the higher or more important organ, and the bones of the face relate to the inferior senses, the perfection and beauty of form will be greatest when the excess is on the part of the former.

It

appears that this notion has been first entertained on looking to the Negro's head; and on observing the retreating line of the forehead, a conclusion has been hastily drawn, that the area of the bones of the face bear a larger proportion to the size of the head than in the European. A comparison betwixt the skulls of man and of brutes has served to support this theory. But in the very groundwork there is an error; and it will be found insufficient to explain the nature of that perfection which we call beautiful, and which is equally observable in each part, in the individual features as well as in the proportions of the head generally.

METHODS HITHERTO EMPLOYED IN MEASURING THE PROPORTIONS OF THE SKULL.

In the sketches of Albert Durer we may find the rudiments of that method of measuring the head which was employed by Camper and others*.

In these outlines of his, we see the course of his cogitations on the subject of the antique and the negro countenance. countenance. Nor can we fail to observe how easy the transition was from these to the illustrations of the facial line by Camper.

But whilst this ingenious author and painter made such sketches, as seem to anticipate the system of the Dutch professor, I am bound to show that he had more just conceptions of his subject, and has gone far to destroy the originality of my own theory, and that which I had thought I was the first to express. He says,

"Questa certo è cosa certissima, che coloro, che intenderanno la Brutezza, e deformita facilmente intendera, che cosa egli deve schivare nell' opera incominciata per bellezza, e quanto alcuno

* See the subjoined plate of outlines of the head.

più si discostera dalla brutezza, tanto più si avvicinera alla bellezza."-Lib. iii. -84.

The facial line of Camper is proposed as a measurement of the relative size and perfection of the head and face. It is a line drawn from the prominence of the forehead to the most projecting part of the upper jaw at the sockets of the cutting teeth*. This method may assist the draughtsman, but it is not philosophically correct. To measure the perpendicular line there must be a horizontal line, and that which Camper has taken is subject to variation; and the inclination of this line will depend more on the prominence of the upper jaw and frontal sinuses than on the general form of the head, or the distinctive peculiarities of the bones of the face and cranium. Accordingly, it is found that the skulls of different nations, and of individuals of the same nation, agree in the facial line, while there are marked distinctions in the forms of the cranium and face, in the air and character of the whole head, as well as the particular features.

The linea occipitalis was a line used by Daubenton for the purpose of measuring the differences of the crania of man and brutes. One line was drawn from the posterior margin of the occipital foramen to the inferior margin of the orbit; another horizontally

* See Plate II. fig. 4 and 5.

through the condyles of the occipital bone. These two lines embraced the jawbones, and their angle was the measure of the comparative size of the cranium and face.

Blumenbach says, this method may be adopted to measure the degrees of comparison betwixt man and brutes, but certainly not the varieties existing in national character. For, says he, I find the occipital line differing in the skulls of two Turks and in three Ethiopians: and, he continues, the facial line of Camper is ineffectual from a contrary imperfection, since it is the same in skulls totally differing in character.

The Norma Verticalis of Blumenbach. Blumenbach was about to enter on a careful observation of the varieties in the national and individual character as discoverable in the skull, and he found, as was to be expected, that neither the systems of Daubenton, Camper, or Durer would answer his purpose. His method is to select two bones, the frontal bone from those of the cranium, and the superior maxillary bone from those of the face, and to compare them with each other. For this purpose he looks vertically on the head, and placing the great convexity of the cranium directly before him, he marks the projections of the maxillary bone beyond the arch of the forehead.

It is obvious that in this manner of comparing the bones of the cranium and face, we cannot see the depth of the bones of the face,