their country and race to all parts of the world; I mean their short, black, curly hair, and brown complexion. Their quickness of speech, haste and abruptness in all their actions, appear to proceed from the same causes. I imagine the Jews have more gall than other men.

Extract from a Letter written by M. Fuessli, dated at Presburg.

My observations have been directed (says this great designer and physiognomist) not to the countenance of nations only; being convinced, from numberless experiments, that the general form of the human body, its attitude and manner, the sunken or raised position of the head between or above the shoulders, the firm, the tottering, the hasty, or slow walk, may frequently be less deceitful signs of this or that character, than the countenance separately considered. I believe it possible so accurately to characterize man, from the calmest state of rest, to the highest gradation of rage, terror, and pain, that, from the carriage of the body, the turn of the head, and gestures in general, we shall be able to distinguish the Hungarian, the Sclavonian, the Illyrian, the Wallachian; and to obtain a full and clear conception of the actual, and, in general, the prominent characteristics of this or that nation.

Extract of a Letter from Professor Camper. It would be very difficult, if not impossible,

to give you my particular rules for delineating varions nations and ages with mathematical certainty, especially if I would add all that I have had occasion to remark concerning the beauty of the antiques. These rules I have obtained by constant observations on the sculls of dif ferent nations, of which I have a large collection, and by a long study of the antiques.

To draw any head accurately in profile, takes me much time. I have dissected the sculls of people lately dead, that I might be able to define the lines of the countenance, and the angle of these lines with the horizon. I was thus led to the discovery of the maximum and minimum of this angle. I began with the monkey, proceeded to the Negro and the European, till! ascended to the countenances of antiquity, and examined a Medusa, an Apollo, or a Venus de Medicis. This concerns only the profile. There is another difference, in the breadth of the cheeks, which I have found to be the largest among the Calmucs, and much smaller among the Asiatic Negroes. The Chinese, and inhabitants of the Molucca and other Asiatic islands, appear to me to have broad cheeks, with projecting jaw-bones; the under jaw-bone, in particular, very high, and almost forming a right angle, which, among Europeans, is very tuse, and still more so among the African Negroes.

ob

I have not hitherto been able to procure a real

scull of an American, and therefore cannot say any thing on that subject.

I am almost ashamed to confess, that I have not yet been able accurately to draw the countenance of a Jew, although they are so very remarkable in their features; nor have I yet obtained precision in delineating the Italian face. It is generally true, that the upper and under jaw of the European is less broad than the breadth of the scull; and that among the Asiatics they are much broader; but I have not been able to determine the specific differences between European nations.

By physiognomonical sensations, I have very frequently been able to distinguish the soldiers of different nations-the Scotchman, the Irishman, and the native of England; yet I have never been able to delineate the distinguishing traits. The people of our provinces are a mixture of all nations; but, in the remote and separated cantons, I find the countenance to be more flat, and extraordinarily high from the eyes upward.

CHAP. XXI.

Extracts from the Manuscript of a Man of Literature at Darmstadt, on National Physiognomy.

ALL tribes of people, who live in uncultivated countries, and consequently are pastoral, not assimilated in towns, would never be capable of an

equal degree of cultivation with Europeans, though they did not live thus scattered. Were the shackles of slavery taken off, still their minds would eternally slumber; therefore whatever remarks we can make upon them must be pathognomonical (or physiognomonical), and we must confine ourselves to their receptive powers of mind, not being able to say much of their expression.

Such people as do not bear our badges of ser vitude are not so miserable as we suspect. Their species of slavery is more supportable in their mode of existence. They are incompara bly better fed than German peasants, and have neither to contend with the cares of providing, nor the excesses of labour. As their race of horses exceeds ours in strength and size, so de their people those among us who have, or sup pose they have, property. Their wants are few, and their understanding sufficient to supply the wants they have. The Russian or Polish pea sant is, of necessity, carpenter, tailor, shoemaker, mason, thatcher, &c. and, when we examine their performances, we may easily judge of their capacities. Hence their aptitude at mechanical and handicraft professions, as soon as they are taught their principles. Invention of what is great they have no pretensions to; their mind, like a machine, is at rest when the necessity that sets it in motion no longer impels.

Of the numerous nations subject to the Russian sceptre, I shall omit those of the extensive Siberian districts, and confine myself to the Rus

sians properly so called, whose countries are bounded by Finland, Eastland, Livonia, and the borders of Asia. These are distinguishable by prodigious strength, firm sinews, broad breast, and colossal neck, which, in a whole ship's crew, will be the same, resembling the Farnesian Hercules; by their black, broad, thick, rough, strong hair, head and beard; their sunken eyes, black as pitch; their short forehead, compressed to the nose, with an arch. We often find thin lips, though in general they are pouting, wide, and thick. The women have high cheek bones, hollow temples, snub noses, and retreating arched foreheads, with very few traits of ideal beauty. Their power of propagation exceeds belief, and at a certain period of life, both sexes become frequently corpulent.

The Ukranians, of whom most of the regiments of Cossacks are formed, dwell in the centre, They are distinguished among the Russians almost as the Jews are among Europeans. They generally have aquiline noses, and are nobly formed; amorous, yielding, crafty, and without strong passions; probably because, for some thousands of years, they have followed agriculture, have lived in society, had a form of government, and inhabit a fruitful country, in a moderate climate, resembling that of France. Among all these people, the greatest activity and strength of body are united. They are as different from the German boor, as quicksilver