Notes on noses / [by Eden Warwick [pseud.]].

  • Warwick, Eden, pseud.
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes on noses / [by Eden Warwick [pseud.]]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    world-supports, and the clitiiri of connection breaks at the last link. It is, therefore, in vain to deny physiognomy because we can demonstrate no material connection between the mind and the featm-es, nor would any sane objector insist on such demonstration; yet such demon- stration has been insisted on, and the absence of it adduced as a fundamental objection both to physiognomy and phrenology by critics at a loss for valid objections. And here we might descant, at considerable length, and with much show of learning, on the influence of the Mind over the Body. We might impugn the wisdom of those who, undertaking to ciu-e cither, have forgotten that they were so intimately united and mutually dependent, that they could not be treated separately with success. Wo might show that the first step of the physician towards curing mental disorder, is to free the body from disease; and that of him who would cure the body, is, ofttimes, to apply his remedies to the derangement of the mind. But, though by so doing we might swell our pages and eke out an additional cliapter—an important consideration if we were a mere book-maker—wo shall uot, as we have some qualms of conscience whether it would be quite germane to the matter in hand. It might not, however, be out of place to remind the reader that physiognomy, or the form Avhich mind gives to the features, is universally recognised. A pleasant mouth, a merry eye, a sour visage, a stern aspect, are some of the common phrases by which we daily acknowledge ourselves to be physiognomists ; for by these expressions we mean, not that tlie mouth is pleasant or the Aasage sour, but that such is the mind which shines out from them. If it were the face alone which we thus in- tended, we should never trouble or concern ourselves aboxit a human countenance, nor be attracted, nor repulsed by one, any more than if it were a carved head on a gothic waterspout, or a citizen's door-knocker. We all acknow- ledge the impression given by the mind to the mouth and the eyes because they e.xprcss Temper and the Passions— those feelings which more immediately interest us in our mutual intercourse—and because they change with the feelings ; now flashing with anger, or sparkling with plea- sure, compressing with rage, or smiling with delight.
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