Beauty Part 33

H.

The effect of alcoholic drinks upon beauty, has not been over-estimated by Mr. Walker, though he is doubtless mistaken in supposing that none but those who reside amid the artificial customs of city life, experience the deleterious influence of such beverages. Not only alcoholic stimulants, but tea and coffee, and especially opium, which has of late come into very extensive use as a subst.i.tute for the former, tend to produce an unhealthy action of the skin, from their influence upon the secerent system, causing blotches, pimples, and discolorations, in a greater or less degree. Where used moderately, they produce either an unnatural paleness, deadness, or duskiness of complexion, or a bloated appearance, far removed from the fresh roseate hue of health. Such is the effect of wine, cordials, and malt liquors, which are extensively employed by ladies, particularly in cities, during the period of nursing, under a mistaken impression that they cause a greater flow of milk, and tend to invigorate the system.

Whoever desires to attain health, strength, and beauty, should not seek them through the agency of bitters, tonics, and cordials, or distilled, or fermented liquors, which only inflame the blood, but from free exercise in the open air, regular occupations, tranquillity of mind, a mild diet, and a proper allotment of time for sleep.

It has been remarked that the lower cla.s.ses of females in cities, consume as much, and probably more intoxicating drinks, than men of the same cla.s.s, and this is no doubt true. But to the honor of our countrywomen, a great change has been brought about within last few years, with respect to the use of alcoholic liquors, not only in this, but in other countries, with a corresponding improvement in health, happiness, and beauty. In advancing this blessed reform, the ladies have borne a conspicuous part--as they have in every other philanthropic work--and their _combined_ influence is only needed, to banish such drinks entirely from civilized society.

THE FACIAL LINE OF CAMPER.

In order to determine the cerebral ma.s.s, and, consequently, the intellectual faculties, Camper draws a base line from the roots of the upper incisors, to the external auditory pa.s.sage; then another straight line, from the upper incisors to the most elevated point of the forehead: according to him, the intellectual faculties of the man or animal, are in direct proportion to the magnitude of the angle, made by those two lines.

Lavater, with this idea for a basis, constructed a scale of perfection from the frog to the Apollo Belvidere. As nature really furnishes many proofs in support of this opinion, it has been generally received, even by anatomists and physiologists; and, notwithstanding the arguments by which it is victoriously opposed, the learned cannot resolve to abandon it.

Cuvier himself furnishes a list of men and animals, in support of this doctrine; few naturalists oppose it, but almost all give it their support.[61]

Camper's attempt necessarily failed; for his manner of drawing the lines and measuring the facial angle, enabled him to take into consideration the anterior parts only of the brain situated near the forehead: he entirely neglects the posterior, lateral, and inferior cerebral parts. This method, then, at most, could decide upon those faculties only, whose organs are placed near the forehead.

Cuvier estimates the facial angle of the new-born infant at ninety degrees; that of the adult, at eighty-five; that of decrepit old age, at fifty.

From this statement it appears, that, at different ages, changes take place in the form, either of the brain or the cranium; hereafter I shall prove that such changes really occur.

The forehead of the newborn infant is flattened; on the contrary, that of a child some months old, and until the age of eight or ten years, especially in the case of boys possessed of superior talents, it is projecting, and forms, notwithstanding the approximation to the age of p.u.b.erty, a larger facial angle than in the adult; this angle, therefore, does not diminish in the inverse ratio of the age. In like manner we find decrepit old men, whose facial angle is as great as it was in the vigor of manhood; for, although in decrepitude the brain is subject to atrophy, there are old men, the exterior contour of whose crania undergoes no change. The angle, as stated by Cuvier, for different ages, were measured upon different individuals; if it were estimated upon the same persons at different epochs of his life, the result would be entirely different.

In general, the proportion between the forehead and the face, is different in different individuals. No conclusion can be drawn from the proportions, which exist in one person, relative to those of another; among a hundred individuals of the same s.e.x and age, no two can be found, in whom the same proportion exists between the forehead and the face; it necessarily follows, then, that no two will have the same facial angle.

Physiologists seem to admit, that the proportion between the brain and the bones of the face, is different in different species of animals: but they appear to think that, in all the individuals of the same species, all the young, all the adults, all the old, there exists a constant proportion between the cerebral ma.s.s and the face.

The researches of Blumenbach show that threefourths of the animals known, have nearly the same facial angle; and yet what a disparity between their instincts and faculties! What information, then, do we derive from Camper's facial angle?

Moreover, as Cuvier himself observes, the cerebral ma.s.s is by no means placed in all animals, immediately behind or beneath what is called the forehead. In a great many species of animals, on the contrary, the external table of the frontal is at a considerable distance from the internal, and this distance increases with the age of the animal. The brain of the swine is placed an inch lower than the frontal bones seem to indicate; that of the ox, in some parts three inches; that of the elephant, from six to thirteen. In other animals, the measurement is generally commenced at the frontal sinus instead of the cerebrum. From these considerations, Cuvier was induced to draw a tangent to the internal instead of the external surface of the cranium. The cerebrum of the wolf and many species of dogs, especially when the individuals are very old, is placed directly behind the frontal sinuses. In the wolf, especially the large and most ferocious variety, it is depressed as in the hyena; in the dog it is situated higher or lower, according to the species; but, notwithstanding this difference in the situation of the brain, the facial angle, as it is commonly measured, must be the same; from this the inference would be, that the dog, the wolf, and the hyena, have the same qualities, and each in the same degree. In the greater part of the rodentia, the morse, &c., the brain is so depressed and so placed behind the frontal sinuses, that the facial line cannot be drawn. The facial line of the cetacea, on account of the singular conformation of the head, would lead to results absolutely false.

I know many negroes, who, with very prominent jaws, are quite distinguished for their intellectual faculties; yet the projection of the jaws renders the facial angle much more acute, than it would be with the usual conformation of Europeans. In order that the same angle should exist in a European, the forehead must be flattened and retreating. But the foreheads of the negroes in question, on the contrary, are very projecting. Who, under these circ.u.mstances, would expect to find the same amount of intellect corresponding to the same facial angle?

The facial line cannot be applied to birds, as many naturalists have already observed.

From what has been said, we should expect that naturalists would at length renounce the facial angle of Camper; but the most ignorant are generally the most conceited.

In spite of this complete refutation of Camper's facial line, Delpit extols it in the following terms:--

"If ever a relation of this kind presented characters of generality and fixedness, adequate to excite a reasonable confidence in matters belonging to the domain of empiricism, rather than that of science, it is the relation or proportion of magnitude, which Camper first perceived and revealed, by comparing the brain of man with that of the different species of animals. We here see a successive decrease of intelligence, proportionate to the acuteness of the facial angle and the consequent diminution of the cerebral cavity. This affords a constant and fixed relation. It can be appreciated with a sufficient degree of exactness by the direct light of comparative anatomy, and by observation of the habits and intelligence of the different cla.s.ses of animals; it can also be verified by the comparison of men very unequally endowed with intellectual faculties, in whom the contraction of the cerebral cavity and the magnitude of the facial angle exhibit the most remarkable diversities.

Here the physiognomical sign has, if I may be allowed the expression, a wide extent of acceptation; it rests upon a broad basis, upon a definite division, and one of easy comprehension and verification; for, if there is some discrepancy of opinion, in regard to the number and nomenclature of the faculties of the mind, the sentiments of the soul, the modifications or shades of character which give birth to particular pa.s.sions, moral dispositions, habits, whether virtuous or vicious; if these cla.s.sifications are, in a great measure, arbitrary, and the language used somewhat vague; if, in short, the greater part of these nominal faculties are mere abstractions of the mind, purely imaginary existences, and therefore cannot be actually located in any part of the brain; the case is quite different, when we merely seek to establish a general relation between a constant sign manifested in the organization, and the degree of reason, mind, or intellect, attributed to different men, or the degrees of sagacity attributed to different species of animals. Here, no one is at a loss, because there is ample lat.i.tude for comparing and judging; in the system of Gall, on the contrary, the comparisons rest upon minute points, which are subject to discussion, exceptions, a thousand uncertainties in the signs and various applications."[62]

If the reader will review what I have said against Camper's facial line, he will find a refutation of all this reasoning of Delpit; a proof that he defends it merely because it is in vogue. It is this very generality and fixedness, which render it, in almost all cases, inapplicable; this is the inherent defect in the supposed importance of Camper's facial angle. It is implicitly supposed, that no difference but that of degree, exists between the capacities of the different species and individuals of the human race, and the different species and individuals of the animal kingdom. Thus the intelligence of men and other animals would always be proportioned to the magnitude of the facial angle. This being premised, I ask, which, out of two, three, four, &c., has the most intelligence, the dog, ape, beaver, the ant, or the bee? Ants and bees live in an admirable republic, and form astonis.h.i.+ng constructions, which they know how to modify according to circ.u.mstances. The beaver and penduline build with equally marvellous skill, and with a foresight which seldom errs; the dog and the ape have very little foresight, and are incapable of the most insignificant construction. Which has the greater intelligence, Voltaire or Descartes?

Could the former have been a mathematician and the latter a poet? Which has the higher degree of intellect, Mozart or Lessing, who, with all his genius, detested music? In short, which has the most intelligence, my dog who retraces his steps through the most complicated routes, or myself, who am always going astray? Measure now the facial angle of the ant, bee, beaver, penduline, ape, my dog, and of myself, and estimate the result.

Acknowledge, then, that your division, so definite, so easy to be apprehended, is absolutely useless, and that you are obliged to advert to divers instincts, propensities, faculties, and their different degrees of energy, to which your facial angle is wholly inapplicable. Your intelligence, instinct, address, are in reality mere abstractions, imaginary existences. Do you consider the propensity to procreation, the love of offspring, the carnivorous instinct, the talent for music, poetry, &c., as imaginary existences? You see, then, that it is more convenient to tread the beaten path, than to verify observations.--_Gall on the Functions of the Brain_, page 195.

Footnotes:

[1] Utopia, Book II., chap. viii.

[2] I do not wish to be forced into any discussion of this last point.

But, if necessary, I shall not decline it.

[3] We fear that Mr. Walker's a.n.a.logical reasoning here is not very conclusive. To reason from a living to a dead subject may be very logical but it is not altogether satisfactory.

[4] "The Magazine of The Fine Arts," No. VI, for October 1833.

[5] I am not here called upon to vindicate the errors and absurdities which poets and others introduced into mythology.

[6] Appendix A.

[7] George IV., though the "first gentleman" in England, was guilty of cheating at a horserace.--ED.

[8] The above remark is true of the same cla.s.s of females in this country.--ED.

[9] Appendix B.

[10] Appendix C.

[11] To the reader unaccustomed to inquiries of this kind, it may save trouble to peruse first the brief Summary of the contents of this important chapter, beginning in page 120.

[12] Regularity expresses the similarity of parts considered as const.i.tuting a whole; and uniformity, the similarity of parts considered separately.

[13] Appendix D

[14] The common character of these arts has been overlooked.

[15] Proportion is here employed, not as expressing an intrinsic relation, as in the beauty of inanimate beings, but as expressing an extrinsic relation to fitness for ends.

[16] "The Nervous System, Anatomical and Physiological: in which the Functions of the various Parts of the Brain are, for the first time, a.s.signed."

[17] Communicated by the writer to the "Magazine of the Fine Arts," No.

11, for June, 1833.

[18] "Human Nature," chap, ix., sec. 13.

[19] "Reflexions Critiques sur la Poesie et sur la Peinture."

[20] "Reflexions sur la Poetique."

[21] "Adventurer," No. 110.

[22] Essay on Tragedy.

[23] To some it may appear, that the organs and functions of digestion, respiration, and generation, are not involved by this arrangement; but such a notion can originate only in superficial observation.

Digestion is a compound function easily reducible to some of the simple ones which have been enumerated. It consists of the motion of the stomach and contiguous parts, of the secretion of a liquid from its internal surface, and of that heat, which is the common result of all action, whether mechanical, vital, or mental, and which is better explained by such motion, than by chymical theories. Similarly compound are respiration and generation.