Page:Personal beauty how to cultivate and preserve it in accordance with the laws of health (1870).djvu/77



THE SHAPE OF THE HEAD.

The head is that part of the body which distinguishes the noble races and individuals from those which are ignoble. Its highest type is never seen except in the most civilized families of the white race, where, by its symmetrical proportions, it manifests the superiority of this over other varieties of our species.

It should appear as a perfect oval, whether looked at from above downward, or from in front. Its height should be a little less than one-eighth of the whole height of the person. The greatest diameter should extend from the forehead to the back of the skull above the neck, the shortest from one temple to the other. The two hemispheres should be perfectly alike, and the curve of the summit regular and even.

As the seat of the brain and the mental faculties, it has been supposed that by an examination of the outside of the head, some conclusion could be formed of