American's is nasal, for in comparison with other nations we find that the majority of our countrymen and women pitch the voice so as to speak either in head tones or nasal tones; rarely do they use the chest tones. I am convinced the majority could develop fine chest tones were they trained to use them in childhood. The English are very muscular, and their lungs are relatively broad, and herein is the basis of a powerful and sonorous voice. In accordance with this broad, muscular build, the larynx must also be large and strong, and thus we have the foundation for those rich and beautifully-modulated voices heard in the conversation of most English people. The Englishman's voice reveals his sturdy, hearty, positive, sincere mind, as well as his compact, healthy, hardy body. The French speech is truly Celtic; unlike the Englishmen, they use the least energetic manner of speaking, i.e., with the forward part of the mouth, and the lips, and also nasal tones. This method is more indicative of surface feeling; it is not as interior, vital, and positive as that of the English. It is for this reason that the French supplement their language with such an infinity of gestures, and the effect of gestures is to call attention away from the body, hence speech which requires many gestures to assist its explanation is never as solid, positive, vital, and sincere as a language that contains in its essence all these qualities. Now, the language of a race belongs to and is in harmony with the grade of development to which the race has attained. And the English language, in its construction, is like the Anglo-Saxon races in their bodily build, and its peculiar grade of development harmonizes with their intellectual and moral status as well; and in a certain degree the language suits the mind and bodily conformation of the Anglo-American people, who should endeavor to harmonize more completely with the genius of the English tongue by cultivating the chest tones.

The American method of using the voice is in harmony with their use of the language, for, unlike the English, they use the adjective portion most, whereas the English use more the Saxon part, or noun element; but the subtleties of this subject are, perhaps, too complex for a work intended for popular reading. The science of physiognomy has its occult and esoteric department, like all things in Nature, but this I have endeavored to hold in abeyance in writing this work, for that which is most interior, hidden, and abstruse would seem to many who do not think profoundly to be fanciful, superstitious, or the effect of mere impractical imagination. I should wish never to have my ideas classified upon either of those bases, yet the fact remains that Nature has a secret arcana into which only those who have mastered her external phenomena

can hope to penetrate.

The voice comes from the interior of the body, and is, therefore, one of the guides to its most interior meanings, and this is why it is so prolific and many-sided in its revelations of the most interior, vital, moral, and mental states. In the translation of these subtle tones, as in the recognition of all of Nature's finer manifestations, the greatest degree of sensitiveness is required. Gross beings would fail entirely in comprehending them.

Let the reader by all means study voices, compare tones with the shape of the forehead, the nose, mouth, lips, and ear. He will observe that the faces of all who emit powerful tones, either in speaking or singing, have the lower third of the face relatively long and the cheeks round and the lips full. The forehead, too, of those who possess sonorous voices is different in shape from those whose voices are faint and low. The frontal sinus in all great speakers is large, thus giving the required size of this cavity for producing sonorous reverberations. In order to attain the greatest effects from any instrument the mechanism involved must be the most perfect; hence, in deciding upon one's ability as a speaker we must have in consideration the form of the nose, forehead, chin, cheeks, and lips, and the line of closure of the mouth. The eyes assist in this quest, for where they are large and full the voice, is more apt to be strong and rich, and the owner inclined to excessive and fluent use of the faculty of Language.

THE MOUTH.

THE LINE OF CLOSURE.

The line of closure of the mouth is highly significant of character, taken either in combination with the shape of the lips or without reference to them. The line of closure, like all of the

features, has its foundation in the curve. This is its primitive form. A feature which is intended for so many purposes as is the mouth must have the ability to execute curves, to form a circle, when necessary; hence, it is a most flexible feature. Now, in the

most perfected mouths we find that the line of closure describes straight, or nearly straight forms, for the mouth, like the larynx, "must be able to construct every gradation of form from the line of fissure to the complete circle."

In the upper edge of the red portion of the upper lip, we find three well-defined curves (see Fig. 181, normal outline of margin), and in the lower edge of the colored portion of the lower lip there are generally in artistic mouths three slight curves or undulations (Fig. 182), and in the lower lip of profound thinkers this lower line is, as a rule, formed by a single curve extending from one corner of the mouth to the other. (See Figs. 186 and 187.)

In analyzing a mouth there are certain indications which must be examined if we wish to gain an accurate knowledge of that department of character which is represented by the mouth. Lavater has given several rules for this purpose, and I cannot do better than to translate and insert them. He remarks on this point:—

Examine carefully in every mouth:

(a) The two lips properly so-called, i.e., the upper lip and the lower

lip separately;

(b) The line which is the result of their junction;

(c) The centre of the upper lip;

(d) The centre of the lower lip, each of these parts in particular; (e) The base of the middle line;

(f) Finally, the corners which terminate that line, and where they leave off at each side, and by which it is shaded off. Without these distinctions it is impossible either to draw a mouth well or to form a correct judgment of it.*

What Lavater terms "the base of the middle line" is the scallop shape formed by the downward projection of the upper lip at the place where I have located signs for Love of Young; for this scallop-shaped line he had no name, as he gave no specific names for facial signs.

In infancy the line of closure is more curved than in the adult stage. In the mouths of orators and in those of profound thinkers, the line of junction is usually straight, or nearly so. The curved form accords well with the soft flexibility of immaturity, and when the line of junction presents three slight curves or undulations in the adult stage we find that the artistic sense is the dominant one, and, as the artistic is not so highly a developed sense as the scientific, so in the most developed scientists and inventors the line of closure is the more nearly straight. These are subtle distinctions which will grow upon the discriminating observer, and will by continued observation prove (although the indications are minute)

* L'Art de Connaitre les Hommes par la Physiognomie, p. 190.

that the distinctions are great, and the signification in entire accord with the basic laws of Form.

Infancy is the age of curves.

We shall, therefore, find in the artistic classes (who are not so highly developed as the scientific and mechanical classes) an abundance of curves in and about the mouth and lips.

THE GRAMINIVOROUS MOUTH.

The mouths and faces of those whose taste inclines more to a grain and fruit diet than to meat-eating are usually of the form observed in the grain-eating animals. Their mouths are small, with delicately-formed lips, relatively narrow lower jaw, and thin cheeks. The disposition of this class is peaceable, and their passions are not easily aroused. They are lacking in physical courage and expend all their energies upon useful industries. They are never leaders and commanders, but follow where others with more force lead the way.

The sheep, the horse, the deer, and other grain-eating animals present the same facial form and similar mental and moral characteristics.

THE SINGING MOUTH.

The line of closure of the singing mouth is characterized generally by the straight form, with full, red, protrusive lips. Almost all singers possess a tolerably wide mouth. Rarely is it very small; some even being quite wide, as is the case with Madame Christine Nilsson, Frau Materna, Sofia Scalchi, Emma Thursby, Annie Louise Cary, Albani, Valleria, Geistinger, Madame SaintonDolby, Campanini, Gatty, Huntley, and

others. One great point of difference between the singing mouth and the meditative mouth is that the latter discloses less of the red portion of the lips, which are not usually so full as the former. It is impossible to do justice to the singing mouth without at the same time giving a description of the accessory physiognomical signs, as the mouth alone forms only a portion of the mechanism concerned in the production of musical sounds. In order to exhibit any form of art the mechanism suited to the purpose must first be had in the bodily organization. Painters must possess flexible muscles and a fine endowment of color. Sculptors must have a good mechanical mind, along with artistic tastes and imagination. The actor must, like the

singer, possess flexibility and an excessively emotional and sensitive organism. The singer, in order to produce volume, must have space-area-in the construction of the larger mouth, nose, cheeks, and frontal sinuses.

The most decided facial signs of a singer are, then, a short, round, muscular nose, full cheeks, length of the face from the nostril to the point of the chin, length downward and forward of the chin, and height of the roof of the mouth. This formation gives the right construction for the production of loud, sonorous

tones.

The quality of the sound depends upon the quality of the muscles and cartilages of the vocal cords and larynx, and of the sensitiveness of the auditory nerves. The ears of all good singers are rounding, and exhibit width and depth of the cavity of the auricle or shell of the external ear, together "with a large pendent lobule." For further descriptions see the faculty of "Music," in Chapter II.

THE ARTISTIC MOUTH.

There are manifold forms and sizes found among artistic mouths; yet all without exception are conspicuously curved in both lips, and with a serpentine line of closure. As a rule, the lips are full and more or less protrusive, showing a bright-red color.

As under the term "artistic" I include a great variety of callings which all demand the supremacy of muscle for their exer

cise, so it may be well to state that the above form of mouth with many variations can be found in the physiognomies of painters, poets, singers, athletes, actors, etc. Each of these classes of artists have, however, some slight differences which will be examined seriatim, yet all possess more or less of the domestic, sentimental, emotional, and sympathetic faculties, for these are the bases of their arts, and must have their signs in and about the mouth and lips. Of course, one expects to find individual peculiarities of structure in the singing mouth that are not essential to the poet or painter; yet all have many of the emotional traits in common.

FIG. 184. ROSA BONHEUR.

THE CONVERSATIONAL MOUTH.

All good conversationists exhibit in the formation of the lips and mouth several signs in common. The line of closure is wide, or at least moderately so; straight, also, with full, red, moist lips, in which the colored part is quite distinct. These lips abound in