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124 of the muscles about the head produced by the infinitely diversified actions of thought and passion will, in time, leave certain impressions affecting the exterior form of the skull. At the same time, the brain, the immediate organ of all the emotions of the soul, will, by its dilatations and contractions, contribute, in some degree, to mould the interior cavity in which it is embraced. On the other hand, the original figure of this receptacle of the brain, in different men, by giving it scope in some for a more ample expansion, and a freerer action; or, in others by compressing it in some parts of its orb, and thereby restricting the regularity, or freedom of its motions, may affect the operations of the mind, and thus lay a foundation in the organization or structure of the head for the existence and display of particular intellectual or moral excellencies, or defects. The original figure of the skull, therefore, may have an influence, not inconsiderable, on the developement and exercise of certain passions and affections of the mind, and on its peculiar powers of intellect or imagination ; and, on the contrary, the habitual exertion of these powers, or indulgence of these passions, especially in the early periods of life, may reciprocally affect the figure even of that solid cell in 125 which the brain, the immediate organ of the mental actions, is contained. The physiognomonical science, indeed, with which these remarks are connected, may, probably, never be susceptible of very great accuracy, or extent, through our incapacity of disentangling perfectly the infinitely complicated, or of discriminating with nicety the infinitely fine lineaments, either in the form of the head, or the expression of the countenance, which indicate the character of the mind. Perhaps its pretensions have in some instances been already carried too far. Some great outlines, however, there are which cannot easily be mistaken, and which, to an attentive observer of nature, may furnish general principles, that may often be applied with considerable certainty in judging of the qualities of the understanding and the heart. From the preceding observations, if they are founded in nature and fact, we are fairly entitled to infer, that some climates, and some states of society, and modes of living, by varying, in a less or greater degree, the form of the head, that organ which, by its figure, necessarily affects the operations of thought, are more or less favorable than others to certain exertions of the mental powers. And
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Reopened for Editing 2023-06-05 14:39:32