Essays on physiognomy : for the promotion of the knowledge and the love of mankind / written in the German language by J. C. Lavatar, abridged from Mr. Holcrofts translation.

  • Lavater, Johann Caspar, 1741-1801.
Date:
[1794]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Essays on physiognomy : for the promotion of the knowledge and the love of mankind / written in the German language by J. C. Lavatar, abridged from Mr. Holcrofts translation. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    uncertainty in all which we fhould have to tranfac! with each other ! and how infinitely would proba- bility, which depends upon a multitude of circum- ftances, more or lefs diftinctly perceived, be we ened by this privation ! From how vail a number of actions, by which men are honoured and bene, t- ed, muft they then defift ! Mutual intercourse is- the thing of mod confe-' quence to mankind, who are deftined to live in fo- ciety. The knowledge of man is the foul of this intercourfe, that which imparts animation to it, pleafure and profit. Let the phyfiognomift ob- ferve varieties, make minute diftinctions, eftablilh iigns, and invent words, to exprefs thefe his re- marks ; form general abftra<St propofitions ; extend and improve phyfiognomical knowledge, language,, and fenfation ; and thus will the ufes and advan- tages of phyfiognomy progreffively increafe. Phyfiognomy is a fource of the pureft, the moft- exalted fenfations ; an additional eye, wherewith to view the manifold proofs of Divine wifdom and goodnefs in the creation, and, while thus viewing unfpeakable harmony and truth, to excite more ecftatic love for their adorable Author. Where the dark, inattentive fight of the unexperienced perceives nothing, there the practical view of the phyfiognomift difcovers inexhaudible fountains of delight—endearing, moral, and fpiritual. With fecret delight, the philanthropic phyfiognomift dif- cerns thofe internal motives which would other- wife be firft revealed in the world to come. He diftinguifhes what is permanent in the character from what is habitual, and what is habitual from what is accidental. He, thererefore, who reads man in this language, reads him moft accurately. To enumerate all the advantages of phfiogno- my, would require a large treatife. The moft indif- putable, though the moft important of thefe its advantages, are thofe the painter acquires, who, if he be not a phyfiognomift, is nothing. The great-