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cially attended to this subject. It is not unworthy of
being remarked, however, that the real sum of these
varieties, when examined separately, is not so great
as the apparent, when taken in at one view. In the
latter case, the eye, contemplating at a single glance,
not only the variety presented in each feature, but
the relations of that feature to every other, and to the
whole; and each new relation producing some mod-
ification in the appearance of the countenance, the
entire sum of these combinations surprizes us by its
magnitude.-For example, even a small change in
the eye, will produce a striking alteration in the ap-
pearance of the whole countenance; because it pre-
sents to us, not singly the difference which exists in
that feature alone, but all the differences arising from
the several combinations of that feature with every
other feature in the face. In like manner, a change
in the complexion presents, not its own difference
alone, but a much greater effect, the result of a simi-
lar combination. If both the eyes and the complex-
ion be changed in the same person, each variety
affecting the whole system of the features, the
union of the two results will be productive of a
third incomparably greater than either. If, in the
same way, we proceed to the lips, the nose, the

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cheeks, and to every single feature in the visage,
each produces a multiplied effect, by its separate re-
lations to the whole, and the entire result, like the
product of a geometrical series, is so much beyond
our first expectation that it confounds common ob-
servers, in their attempts to explain the cause, and
will sometimes embarrass the most discerning phi-
losophers till they turn their attention, in this man-
ner, to divide, and combine effects.
To treat this subject fully it would be necessary,
in the first place, to ascertain some general expression
of countenance which every where belongs to savage
life; and then, as there are degrees of more or less
rudeness in the state of savagism, as well as of re-
finement in civilized society, it would be necessary
to distinguish the several modifications which each
degree makes in the general aspect; and, in the last
place, to consider the varieties, almost innumerable,
which arise from combining these general features
with the effects of climate and of other causes already
mentioned. I shall endeavour merely to draw the gen-
eral outlines of the human countenance as it is form-
ed by the wildness and solitude which commonly pre-
vails in the savage state. And, in this portrait I
shall take my type chiefly from the American savage.