CHAPTER III. THE FIVE ORGAN SYSTEMS WHICH CREATE FORM AND CHARACTER. "The history of the evolution of form, which primarily occupies us, is at the same time the history of the evolution of functions, and this is equally true of the human and all other organisms."* “Habits and the use and disuse of organs are certainly of the greatest importance as efficient causes of organic form."t ICTOR COUSIN, in his admirable essay on the beautiful, remarks: "All is symbolic in Nature. Form is not form only; it unfolds something inward." This philosophy is scientifically correct, for it is a law of Nature that form indicates character; if this be so, then the form or shape of the individual must bear a strong relation to his actions. Not only is this true, but it is also true that if in attending to the detail of a man's physiognomy we observe with the eye of science, we shall be able to discern not alone his mental powers and his moral proclivities, but likewise his physical qualities and predispositions to health and disease. The natural shape, or the one with which one is born, can be modified, it is true, by attention to diet, rest, exercise, mental occupation, etc., but, as little attention is paid to modifying inherited forms, we can safely say that the majority of men attain manhood with the form which was inherited, unless disease, diet, or unavoidable circumstances have modified the inherited form. In investigating the laws and forms of organic life and their meanings, we must be governed by the methods of reasoning that are observed in all other departments of scientific research. We must first collect the facts as to forms and their related characters, then we must pursue a course of generalizing, as it is termed. This consists in collecting a certain number of facts relating to forms, together with the characteristics which accompany such forms, and then compare facts and forms, and if in the majority of instances the facts and forms agree we have sufficient evidence upon which to found a law. This is the method pursued by all scientists. The safest and surest way of discovering the laws and truths Haeckel's Evolution of Man, vol. i, p. 86. Philosophy of the Beautiful, Victor Cousin, p. 129. of Nature is to follow her indications, to use one's sense of observation and comparison, and to interpret Form according to its indications, assisted by the "basic laws of form." That all form indicates character is a principle so well estab lished throughout Nature as to need little testimony from me. In the study of the science before us, it is absolutely essential that this principle should be thoroughly comprehended, and the character of its various phases understood at first sight, in order to render the interpretation of character certain and beyond all doubt,-for upon the conformation of the physiognomy (and here I mean the entire body) are we mainly dependent for knowledge of the character of the entire man. It is true that size, color, texture of the skin and hair, health, etc., play their part in determining characteristics; still, Form is primarily the grand determining, dominating principle underlying all others. Its meanings should be completely mastered before proceeding to the consideration of other branches of our subject. The more advanced phrenologists, who commenced the investigations of phrenology on the basis of classification by color of the complexion, hair, and eyes, have gradually arrived at the conclusion that form is the most decisive factor in the interpretation of character. O. S. Fowler declares, in his work on "Human Science," that the correct way is to classify character by the forms of the body, and that these forms are produced by the predominance of one or the other of the five principal systems of functions included in the human organism. These systems and forms he designates the "Vital, Motive or Mechanical, and Mental Temperaments." I cannot comprehend how Mr. Fowler can consistently retain the word "Temperament" in his designation of forms. Temperament is the word used by Hippocrates to indicate the several colors of the complexion. It has no relation to Form, whatever it may have to color. If we wish to use language at once intelligent and comprehensive, it must be rejected, as well as the method of deciding character by so small a portion of the organism as the skull alone. Why should not the face (where the most active and expressive muscles are located) and the contour of the entire body be taken into account? It is certainly a great deal more difficult to feel the head (which has no active expression, and is not so practicable for every-day and instant observation as the face and the outlines of the body) than it is to scan the face. "A cat may look at a king," and so one may study the features of his fellow-men, without saying "By your leave." This system of physiognomy classifies upon the basis of the forms that are de rived from the development of the several organ systems which are comprised in the human body. It also shows the influence of color and health, as well as all the other conditions which determine character. In the human organism there are five different organ systems, which, in their development, produce different configurations of the body and corresponding differences of mental development. These systems are always found in combination, but in different degrees of power in every individual, and to these variations are we indebted for the infinite variety of the human race. These five systems are named the Vegetative, the Thoracic, the Muscular, the Osseous or Bony, and the Brain and Nervous Systems,-the last mentioned forming one system and producing one conformation. Each of these systems evolves and exhibits a different set of physical functions and mental faculties peculiar to itself, but they are so constituted that neither can exist without the action. and interaction of a certain proportion of each of the others. In order to create a normal and healthful condition of the organism, there must always be a due development of each of these systems, else incompetency, disease, and early decline will be the result. The system which is the first in the order of development of all organized life, and which is also the underlying or basilar system of man's organism, is the Vegetative, and it has, in common with the various growths of vegetable life, the functions of sustentation, imbibition from the air and water (through the pores, in plants, and the mouth, in man), of reproduction, assimilation, absorption, secretion, excretion, respiration, circulation, and growth; but the Vegetative System gives no power for the expression of the phenomena of either thought or volition. Every plant, tree, vegetable, and shrub has the power of absorbing, excreting, and reproducing, circulating its sap and juices through its cells and tubes (and this by hydrostatic law and the law of gravitation). All the lower animals have the same powers and functions. Not until other systems of functions are superadded do we discover any capacity for volition or conscious sensation. It is true that the lowest animal organisms, such as the Amoeba, give indications of possessing a certain form of sensation, yet these are all in the vegetative condition. No organs for the expression of sensation, as we find it illustrated in higher animal organisms, have yet been evolved, and until these organs or systems of functions are added,—such, for example, as bones, muscles, and brain,―volition, sensation, and thought, in their most complete sense, are not present. The intelligent reader, who has followed the course of the evolution of man from the lowest organisms, or from the primi tive human germ, will have observed the order in which the several systems of functions and their accompanying faculties of mind (as it is called) have evolved or developed. As Nature has indicated this order as her supreme law of progression, I shall endeavor, in the exposition of this system of physiognomy, to follow her methods, believing the laws of Nature to be divine and infallible. These laws, if allowed free scope, and not impeded by the ignorance or wilfulness of man, will always result in harmonious development and equilibrium. A study of the laws of natural progression shows that all organic life commences with the development of the functions of sustentation, reproduction, secretion, and excretion. Here, then, is the physical basis of organic as well as of mental life. In the first chapter I took for illustration the first developments of Form and Character as shown in the mineral kingdom. In this, I shall continue the study by taking up, first, the consideration of the form, character, and the earliest appearances of celllife in the organization of animal tissue or of animal bodies which have, like all vegetables and young animals, no object in life but to grow. It is probable that the first races of men were stomach men merely that is to say, they lived in the lowest range of functions and faculties, viz., those of sustentation and reproduction, just as do the lowest races at the present time-and that the powers which assist man in his architectural and mathematical efforts were not developed at that stage of evolution to any appreciable extent, but were merely rudimentary. In elaborating my theory that "mind inheres in the entire organism" I shall quote from an able writer in order to show that all the basic elements and principles of Mind are present in the lowest or earliest forms of cell-organisms. These organic elements are characterized by the same properties that are exhibited by the most developed organisms. These properties are those of nutrition, reproduction, growth, development, and sometimes of motion and irritability, all of which are present in the Amoeba, the most primitive of animal organisms. The extract hereto appended will explain the manner of development of primitive tissues which contribute to mental as well as to physiological power. It will also exhibit the dominance of the basic principles underlying all matter, viz., those of Chemistry, Architecture, and Mathematics : THE STRUCTURE OF ORGANIZED BODIES. Chemical analysis has shown that all organized bodies are capable of resolution into simple chemical elements which in themselves do not differ from the elements out of which all matter is composed; in other words, that the simple elements of which organized bodies are built up |