mained the same in color and in character; they are untamable and intractable, while other animals that have a variety of colors, such as the elephant, the camel, the horse, the dog, and the ox, are more teachable, and can be very much improved in intelligence and beauty by scientific breeding. They are also more amiable and docile, less fierce, and more useful than the stationary-colored animals. In fact, all races that retain one color or form for ages are non-progressive and not as adaptable nor as amiable as those which possess a diversity of form and color.

THE LAW OF PROPORTION, OR HARMONIOUS DEVELOPMENT.

A correct knowledge of the laws of proportion governing the human physiognomy and organism will not be found to accord with the laws of proportion as taught in the schools of art. Science has wrought a mighty change in nearly every department of knowledge. It is possible that a widespread understanding of the laws of physiognomy, as revealed by Nature, may also create a revolution in art. The Greek ideal of symmetry, to which the ages have given their assent, will be found to be based on mathematical calculation, and it is from this cold and mechanical idea of what constitutes beauty that the modern conceptions of beauty and proportion are taken.

A scientific comprehension of the law of proportion as shown in the human face will unfold more beauties than Greek art ever conceived. My understanding of beauty, as disclosed by physiognomy, is based on the idea that moral and intellectual beauty exhibited in the countenance and form constitute true beauty.

True greatness in the moral, mechanical, and mental constitution of man is not accompanied by any such law of proportion as the Greek or any other school of art has set forth. Nothing is more indicative of selfish will and heartless character than the socalled Greek profile. Lavater, the great intuitional physiognomist, savs, in discussing its signification:

Depraved is the taste which can call this graceful, and, therefore, it must be far from majestic. I should wish neither a wife, mother, sister, friend, relation, nor goddess to possess a countenance so cold, insipid, affected, stony, unimpassioned, or so perfectly a statue.*

A scientific interpretation of the face will reveal more beauties than the ordinary observer has any idea of; for when he comes to attach meanings to forms and expressions which indicate beauties of character, he will regard them quite differently than when in his ignorance they signified nothing to him; and when an intelli

* Lavater's Essays, p. 432.

gent observer looks with the eye of comprehensive understanding upon the countenances about him, his sense of the beautiful will be gratified beyond expression. A new world will open to him; and I predict that with a general diffusion of physiognomical knowledge a complete revolution in religion, art, hygiene, and government will be brought about.

Proportion is as potent a factor in determining character as are Form, Size, or Quality; and yet an arbitrary system based on mathematical measurement cannot be set up, for the reason that very great diversity of form and size exists in which symmetrical character is exhibited. If we were to form a standard of beauty, and take for the standard those faces in which the most moral goodness or power for usefulness was disclosed, we should then have a more elevating and intelligent model than those already observed, which teach that beauty consists in mathematical proportions mainly, and not in those proportions and expressions which reveal moral grandeur or useful talents of a high order.

It

As has been shown, each of the five systems of the body produces a form peculiar to itself, and every human being possesses an admixture of a certain proportion of each of these forms. will, therefore, be apparent to the observer that the law of Compensation is more potent in forming Proportion than any other factor. If these five systems were always blended in every form in exact proportions, we might then be able to realize the ideals of art in living forms, but this would not produce that differentiation of types which is needed to supply the varied wants of humanity. To carry out the idea of" diversity in unity," which is the ruling idea observed in progressive Nature, we must have constant modifications, which will, of course, produce ever-varying forms and countenances. This comprehensive differentiation results in higher development of species. It is a law throughout Nature that the greater the variety, the higher the power for development and progress.

The law of scientific proportion and beauty to be observed in the human face is illustrated in those countenances in which all of the features, taken together, express to the scientific reader of character a balanced condition of the mind, and consequently of the body.

The physiognomy of Washington is an illustration of good proportion. In his face and physique the five systems of functions are about equally exhibited, hence he was not great in any one given direction, but was great in any direction in which he chose to exercise his powers. He was a good farmer, an excellent surveyor, an able statesman and military leader; he was always

self-poised, cool, and resolute; his inherited quality was of a high order, and the proportionate action of all his functions assisted his general power for usefulness. Each of the systems of the body has a beauty peculiar to itself, but an excess of either one of them causes, by its disproportion, a lack of harmony; therefore, a lack of true beauty. Too much brain exhibits as little beauty as too much fat; too much bone makes the individual awkward, ungainly, inert-lazy; a predominance of muscle causes its possessor to be too forceful and too much like an animal; too great a thoracic development causes an excess of hopefulness, and a tendency to fly from one thing to another without finishing anything.

The most useful men have been those who were either the best proportioned, or those who were the best balanced. Now, there is a difference in these two conditions-for example, an individual may have, like Thomas H. Benton, a disproportionately small brain, but with disproportionately large lungs. Here a balance is struck, and he is hence enabled to be most useful because the lungs and brain stand in such close relation to each other as to favor this particular method of balancing functions. If, on the contrary, the individual should have a preponderance of fatty tissue and disproportionate bones, the usefulness of the person is very much impaired because there is here no compensation.

This kind of disproportion can often be remedied by reducing the bulk of fat by hygienic measures, by non-use of liquids, and more exercise, particularly of the lungs, by swinging clubs or rowing, or by anything which will accelerate the action of the lungs, thus increasing their power.

Too great size of the brain system can be improved by using the muscular system more, by toning up the nutritive powers, and by dispensing with study, and taking more sleep.

All of the longest-lived persons that I have seen or those whose portraits I have studied have shown in their faces and physiques singularly harmonious or well-proportioned contours, and which showed that they not only possessed bodies of high or good quality, but also that their organs were so well proportioned that they were able to resist pressure or strain upon every part equally.

The most common form of disproportion of organs in civilized races is found in the want of lung development. This is not a natural condition, but will become a permanent one if the modes of dressing which women have adopted are not changed for more healthful styles. This, added to the bad air which is inhaled by both men and women who sleep in ill-ventilated rooms, and who

sit for hours in churches, theatres, and public halls without any ventilation, is the main cause of the small, ill-developed lungs which are so common that consumption and other lung disorders are prevalent in all civilized countries. Indeed, large, well-developed lungs in women are so rare that I have heard dressmakers, who have a good opportunity for observing large numbers of women's forms, exclaim with astonishment upon seeing one whose chest was well-developed, and thought it certainly must be a malformation!

The way to reduce the disproportion between too great size of the head and too small lungs is by inhaling more pure air. The way to decrease the disproportion between too great fat and too small bones is to inhale pure air, drink lime-water, and exercise more. The way to decrease the disproportion between too weak a liver and too great an appetite is to inhale more pure air, use acid fruits, avoid sugar, and take more exercise.

It will be seen that fresh, pure air is the main reliance for the removal of all disproportions of form and functions, and that no amount of good, wholesome food can take the place of good, pure air.

People can live longer and be healthier on very indifferent food indeed, if the air which they inhale be pure and plentiful, and the water drunk of good quality, than they can if these conditions are reversed. Where the brain is used too much, and the muscles too little, a disproportionate action is set up which will, in time, destroy the usefulness of the mind. On the other hand, if the muscles are called into activity constantly, and the brain used but little, the individual becomes dull of thought and speech; his sensibilities obtuse, his whole sensitive system is rendered sluggish, and all power of mental enjoyment is destroyed in a few years. Physical drudgery impairs the health and shortens life sooner than the most arduous mental labors. The numbers of farmers and farmers' wives and sheep-herders in the insane asylums of California predominate over those of any other classes of laborers. I am told that this is the case in other States. Now, these kinds of labor are more arduous and monotonous than all others, and the constant routine of physical drudgery unrelieved by any mental labor or mental enjoyment soon begets disproportion between the mind and the body, and the result is an unbalanced mind. The longest-lived persons have been those who have used the mental faculties greatly, but with reasonable regard to health. Many of our most distinguished literary men and women have lived to advanced age, and have enjoyed good health under constant and prolonged mental labor. Miss Caroline Herschel, the astronomer, died at ninety-eight years of age, after a life of both physical and

mental labor. Harriet Martineau, an indefatigable English writer, lived to the age of seventy-four years.

Fontanelle lived to one hundred years of age. Joanna Bailly, a most industrious writer of prose dramas and poetry, lived to eighty-nine years. Humboldt, a writer, traveller, scientist and naturalist, after a life of most incessant mental labor and great attainments, died at ninety years of age. Sir William Herschel, a most eminent astronomer, lived to the age of eighty-three years. We seldom see a laborer who has pursued a vocation of purely physical drudgery live to an advanced age, and the reason of this is that too great an amount of physical labor establishes a disproportion between the physical and mental faculties, and an unbalanced condition being the result, life is shortened, or in many instances reason dethroned.

Where there are one or more faculties excessively developed, as, for example, Secretiveness, Cautiousness, Approbativeness, or Amativeness, or any other trait or traits in excess, they so completely dominate all others and color or shape the action of other faculties as to produce disproportionate action of some other faculties, and consequently of other physical functions. Too great Secretiveness induces a tendency to hold on to whatever the mind desires to keep secret; the glands and muscles both partake of this holding on and holding back principle, and the consequence is a constricted condition of the glands, as well as a similar condition of the muscles, particularly of the sphincters. As a consequence of this holding on and "keeping tight and close" feeling, the liver (the largest gland in the body) becomes inactive and sets up abnormal or torpid action, and the class of diseases called "bilious" are exhibited, and after awhile become permanent, and will cause death unless the disproportion between the two parts of the mind and body (for both mind and body are affected by this condition) is removed by cultivating a more open, frank, and communicative disposition, and at the same time using food and a regimen suited to this peculiarity of the glands and muscles. Herein is another proof of the unity or interaction of the mind and body—of mental faculties and physical functions.

In cases where Cautiousness is excessive, the character becomes timid, fearful, excessively watchful, filled with forebodings and apprehensions of the future, always looking for accidents, and prophesying poverty, calamities, etc. This condition of mind will in time produce such disturbances of the glandular and nervous systems as to cause insomnia, melancholia, suspicion and dementia, and will often end in suicide. Here again we note the effect of the mind upon the physical organs, and their functional