FIRMNESS.

This faculty has one of its most striking indications in the size and strength of the cervical vertebræ, or bones of the neck, and in the perpendicularity of

the neck itself, as shown in figs. 367 and 369. It will be seen that the conformation here indicated throws the head, face, and neck into the line of the phrenological organ of the faculty, and translates its natural language, as it were, into another dialect. With the sign of Firmness

large in the

neck, you

Fig. 369.

will generally find the "stiff upper lip" spoken of in Chapter XI., and a character that can no more be moved than a granite mountain.

SELF-ESTEEM.

While Firmness inclines us to hold up the head perpendicularly and makes us "stiff-necked," Self-Esteem throws it back in the direction of its phrenological organ in

Fig. 370.

Fig. 872. AUTHORITY.

great mutual influence. Firmness says, "Stand your ground!

Let them come!

never yield it."

You were put here to hold this position

"This rock shall fly

From its firm base as soon as I!"

"I am a man!" said Black Hawk, when introduced to General Jackson-then President. This is the language of Self-Esteem. It says, "Respect yourself!" "Carry your head high!" "Be ndependent!" "Have opinions of your own, and pin your faith on no man's sleeve!" "Be jealous of your liberty!"

THE EAR-TUNE.

The size of the ear, other things being equal, is no doubt the measure of its power or capacity as the organ of the sense of hearing, and an indication of the development of those mental traits which are dependent upon sensations received through it; but here, as elsewhere, the law of quantity or size is greatly modified by both

quality and configuration. The susceptibility of the ear to impressions seems also to depend

some measure upon its thinss since we find that animals wt very acute hearing have Par not only large but thin, the deer, the gazelle, the , the rat, the cat, the

Sars which are flattened and lie close to the head are more titul and higher in their indications than those that proci, sunce the latter more nearly resemble those of quadru

and are adapted to receive sounds principally from re; while, unlike those of quadrupeds, they are incapable arning in any other direction,

man, a large ear goes with large features, large hands, feet, and large heart, and may be said to correspond he democratic element of character; while a small ear ponds with small hands and feet, and is in keeping with stocratic sentiment.

So far as observed, we have found the ears of the leading reformers and benefactors-such as Father Mathew, Peter Cooper, Josiah Mason, Wm. Lloyd Garrison, Isaac T. Hopper, Thomas Garrett, Horace Greeley, Abraham Lincoln, etc.-to be large rather than small, and in striking contrast with those of such men as Girard, Astor, the Rothschilds, and other mere money-getters, who do little or nothing for charity or for the improvement of society.

An ear which is long between its upper margin and its lobe, is best adapted to judge of the elevation, depression, and intensity of sound; while an ear of considerable breadth, on the contrary, will be able to appreciate more diffused and less decided sounds. It is a remarkable physiological fact that these forms of ear generally accompany corresponding forms of the organs of the voice; and as such forms of the organs of the voice always produce elevated and depressed in the one case, and broader tones in the other, the ear is thus adapted to receive such sounds as the voice emits. An admirable provision, since, while we may in a measure avoid hearing other voices that are disagreeable or unpleasant to us, we are necessarily compelled to hear our own, or to remain silent.

An ear presenting numerous elevations and depressions, and finely elaborate, Alexander Walker says, is always more delicate a circumstance which presents its own explication. An ear which is

Fig. 874. unelaborate, or presents rather one gen- Fig. 375. eral concavity than many well-defined elevations and depressions, is rarely possessed of delicacy. This is well illustrated by the difference between animals and men.

The general rule, with regard to character, which may be drawn from these facts, is conformable with the old observation -that persons destitute of a musical ear seldom possess great sensibility of any kind. Shakspeare was doubtless correct in declaring that

"The man that hath no music in himself,

Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treason, strategem, and spoils."

XVII.

THE HAIR AND BEARD.

Her hair down gushing in an armful flows,

And floods her ivory neck, and glitters as she goes."-CUNNINGHAM. "Now Jove, in his next commodity of hair, give thee a beard."-SHAKSPEARE

Fig. 376.-FREDERICK BARBAROSSA.

E purpose to show that the hair has a meaning as well as the cranium which it covers and adorns; but before we proceed to speak of its physiognomical indications, it may be interesting to take a brief view of it in its physiological, esthetic, and historical aspects.

FORM AND STRUCTURE.

A microscopic examination reveals the fact that the human hair is not, as is popularly supposed, perfectly cylindrical. In all cases it is more or less flattened, so that a transverse section presents an elliptical form, or sometimes, from one side being grooved, has the shape of a bean. The beard, and all short curly hairs, are most flattened, and in general the flatness and curliness are in direct proportion. Both attain their maximum

in the hair of the negro, which is not wool, the fibers of the latter being round and wavy, and not spirally curled. The broad, flat surfaces are turned toward the middle of the curl.

Except at the base, into which the conical pulp enters to a variable distance, the hairs are shown by the latest microscopic investigations to be perfectly solid. The surfaces of the hairs are not smooth, but laminated, the laminæ being placed over each other in a slanting direction from the root toward the point, like the scales of a fish. Draw a hair between your fingers from the base toward the tip, and it will move smoothly and silently; but reverse it, and not only will the roughness be apparent to the sense of feeling, but there will be a slight sound caused by the friction of the serrated surfaces.

Hair is soluble in alkalies and alkaline earths, therefore depilatories are chiefly composed of quicklime. They remove the hair, but injure the skin, and are unsafe in use. It is also soluble in water at a very high temperature. Its products, when thus dissolved, are oil, sulphuret of iron, and sulphuret of hydrogen. Dark hair is found to contain more iron than light hair. It is almost indestructible, by ordinary agencies, and has been found unaltered on mummies more than twenty centuries old.

HOW THE HAIR GROWS.

The ancients held that the hair is a kind of excrescence, fed only with excrementitious matters, and no proper part of the living body. They added, that the hair does not grow by means of a juice circulating within it, as in other parts of the body, but, like the nails, by juxtaposition. The hair does truly live, however, though it must be admitted that its growth is of a different kind from that of the rest of the body, and is not immediately derived therefrom, or reciprocated therewith. It derives its food from juices in the body, but not from the same juices which nourish the body, whence it may live and thrive though the body be starved.

Wulferus, in his "Philosophical Collections," gives an account of a woman buried at Norrimburg, whose grave was opened forty-three years after her death, when hair was found