Essays on physiognomy. ... for the promotion and the love of mankind / written in the German language by John Caspar Lavater ; tr. by Thomas Holcroft.
- Johann Kaspar Lavater
- Date:
- 1806
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Essays on physiognomy. ... for the promotion and the love of mankind / written in the German language by John Caspar Lavater ; tr. by Thomas Holcroft. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![pleasiire ami paiii, lovc and iiatied, all exhibit tlieinselves iindcr ibe saiue trails, thal is to sav, muler no traits whatever, un tlie exterior ul' inan. Yci such are the assertions of iliose v\ ho maintaiu lliat plijsiognoiny is a chimciical Science. 1 liey overturn all tliatordcr and coinbination by wliich ('ilcrnal \\ isdoiii so highly aslonislics and deligliis tlie understanding. ll cannol be too cmpliaticallv icpcated, thal blind cliance and arbitrarv disorder constilule the [)lulosophy ot tbols, and ibat tliev are the baue of natural knoHiedge, pliilosopliv. and religion. Entirely to banisli such u ^yslcm is the duty ot’ the truc inquircr, the sage, ai.-! the divine. It is indisputable, that all men, ab'olutely all men, estimate all things whatever by iheir physio- gnomy, their exterior teniporary supcrllcies. By yiewing thcsc on every occasion, they draw their concliisions concerning their interind properties. hat mcrchant, it’ he he nnacquainleil with tlte ])Crson ot’ whom he purthabcs, doe» not estimate his warcs by the physiognomy or appearanec of thosewares? it lie [turchase ol’ a distant cor- respoiulcnt, what other ineans docs he use in judging wlietln r thoy are or ;ire not cipial to his expectationr Is not his judgment dctcrinined by thecolour, the tineness, the superficies, the exte- rior, the physiognomy? 1 )oes he not judge money by its physiognomy.' hy does hc takeoneguinea, and reject tniother? A\’hy weigh a third in his liand ? Docs he not dcii riniiie according to its colour, (tr Impression, its outside, iis phvsiognoiny f It a slranger enter his sho[), as a buvi’f or seller, w di he not observe him \\ ill he not draw con- clusions trom his countenance \\ ill he not, ulmost belorc hc is out ot hearing, [ironounce ■B d some](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22029734_0017.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
