Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/13

of light in different media, (c) Prismatic analysis of light, spectroscopy, radiant heat, visible radiance, ultra-violet rays, calorescence, &c., fluorescence, &c. (d) Colours of thin plates, diffraction, &c. (d′) Proof of the existence of wave-lengths and wave-periods (preparation for dynamical theory), (e) Polarized light, radiant heat, &c. (e′) The disturbance is transverse to the ray. (f) Quantity of energy in the total radiation from a hot body; Prévost's theory of exchanges, &c. (g] Theory of three primary colours.

(4) Electricity and magnetism, (a) Electrostatics, or distribution and effects of electricity in equilibrium. (b) Electrokinematics, or distribution of currents in conductors. (c) Magnetism and magnetic induction (diamagnetism, &c.). (d) Electromagnetism, or the effects of an electric current at a distance. Under (b) we may discuss electrochemistry, or the theory of electrolysis; under (c) terrestrial magnetism and ship's magnetism; and after (d) comes electrokinetics, or electromagnetic phenomena considered with reference to the fundamental science of dynamics. There is also Faraday's discovery of the effect of magnetism on light and the electromagnetic theory of light.

Chemistry is not included in this list, because, though dynamical science is continually reclaiming large tracts of good ground from the one side of chemistry, chemistry is extending with still greater rapidity on the other side into regions where the dynamics of the present day must put her hand upon her mouth. Chemistry, however, is a physical science, and a physical science which occupies a very high rank. (j. c. m.)

PHYSIOGNOMY.By the Act of Parliament 17 George II. c. 5 all persons pretending to have skill in physiognomy were deemed rogues and vagabonds, and were liable to be publicly whipped, or sent to the house of correction until next sessions.^[1] The pursuit thus stigmatized as unlawful is one of great antiquity, and one which in ancient and mediæval times had an extensive though now almost forgotten literature. Physiognomy was regarded by those who cultivated it as a twofold science—(1) a mode of discriminating character by the outward appearance and (2) a method of divination from form and feature. It was very early noticed that the good and evil passions by their continual exercise stamp their impress on the face, and that each particular passion has its own expression. Thus far physiognomy is a branch of physiology, and from a very early age of human thought it attracted philosophic attention. But in its second aspect it touched astrology, of which Galen^[2] says that the physiognomical part is the greater, and this aspect of the subject bulked largely in the fanciful literature of the Middle Ages.

The name originated with the Greeks, who called it φυσιογνωμία, φυσιογνωμονία, or φυσιογνωμοsύνη. According to Principal Blackwell^[3] of Aberdeen, Homer wrote upon the lines of the hand; but this is not supported by classical authority. That Homer was a close observer of appearance as correlated with character is shown in his description of Thersites^[4] and elsewhere. Hippocrates, writing about 450 B.C., refers to this subject, but not in detail.^[5] He believed in the influence of environment in determining disposition, and in the reaction of these upon feature, a view in which he is supported later by Trogus. Galen speaks of it at more length in his work Hepi TWV TT}S / ^x^ 9?/$wv, in which, having discussed the nature and immortality of the soul, he proceeds in chapter vii. to a brief study of physiognomy (ed. Kühn, iv. 795). However, at the end of the chapter he passes over the current physiognomical speculations, saying that he might criticize them but feared to waste time, and become tedious over them. In the eighth chapter he quotes with approbation the Hippocratic doctrine referred to above; and in a later work, Ilepi Kara^Ac crews TrpoyvaxrriKa, he speaks of its relations to medicine thus: " Hippocrates igitur, et vetustate admodum notus et scientia admirandus, inquit, quocunque exercentes medicinam, physiognomoniae sunt expertes, horum mens in tenebras devoluta torpida senescit, " &c. 6 We learn both from lamblichus 7 and Porphyry 8 that Pythagoras was in the habit of diagnos ing the characters of candidates for pupilage before ad mitting them. However, he seems to have discredited the current physiognomy of the schools, as he rejected Cylo the Crotonian from his discipleship on account of his professing these doctrines, and thereby was brought into considerable trouble. 9 Plato also tells us that Socrates predicted the promotion of Alcibiades from his appearance; and Apuleius 10 speaks of Socrates recognizing the abilities of Plato at first view. On the other hand, it has been recorded by Cicero 11 that a certain physiognomist, Zopyrus, who professed to know the habits and manners of men from their bodies, eyes, face, and forehead, characterized Socrates as stupid, sensual, and dull (bardvs), " in quo Alcibiades cachinnum dicitur sustulisse." Alexander Aphrodisiensis 12 adds that, when his disciples laughed at the judgment, Socrates said it was true, for such had been his nature before the study of philosophy had modified it. Zopyrus is also referred to by Maximus Tyrius 1:3 as making his recognitions "intuitu solo."

That one's occupation stamps its impress on the out ward appearance was also noticed at an early period. In the curious poem in praise of literature found in the Sallier papyrus (II.) in the British Museum this is ex patiated on, and the effects of divers handicrafts on the workmen are compared with the elevating influences of a. literary life by an Egyptian scribe of the XHth Dynasty,, perhaps 2000 years B.C. 14 Josephus tells us that Caesar detected the pretence of the spurious Alexander by his rough hands and surface. 15

The first systematic treatise which has come down to us is that attributed to Aristotle, 16 in which he devotes six chapters to the consideration of the method of study, the general signs of character, the particular appearances characteristic of the dispositions, of strength and weakness,

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1. The Act 39 Elizabeth c. 4 declared "all persons fayning to have knowledge of Phisiognomie or like Fantasticall Ymaginacions" liable to "be stripped naked from the middle upwards and openly whipped until his body be bloudye." This was modified by 13 Anne c. 26, still further by 17 George II. c. 5, which was re-enacted by 5 George IV. c. 83. This last Act only specifies palmistry.
2. Galen, Περἱ κατακλίσεως προγνωστικά (ed. Kuhn, xix. 530).
3. Proofs of the Inquiry into the Life and Writings of Homer, London, 1747.
4. Il., ii. 214. See also Blackwell's Inquiry, 2d ed., 1736, p. 330. A physiognomical study of the Homeric heroes is given by Malalas, Chronogr., ed. Dindorf, v. p. 105.
5. Περἱ ἀέρων, ύδάτων, τόπων (ed. Kühn, i. 547).
6. Op. cit., xix. p. 530.
7. 7 llepl fSiov IlvdayopiKou yos, i. 17, Amsterdam, 1707, p. 59.
8. 8 De vita Pythagoras, Amsterdam, 1707, p. 16. This author tells us that he applied the same rule to his friends. See also Aulus Gellius, i. ix.
9. 9 lamblichus, p. 49.
10. 10 Philosophi Platonid, i., "De dogmate," Leyden, 1714, p. 34.
11. 11 Defato, Geneva, 1684, iii. p. 303, 1. 25.
12. 12 Ilepi ei/j.apfj.f vT)s, 6, London, 1658.
13. 13 Diss., xv., Cambridge, 1703, p. 157.
14. 14 Select Papyri, pi. xv., xix., and (Anastasi) ibid., cxxviii.-cxxxiii.
15. 15 Ant., xvii. 12, 2.
16. 16 Authors differ in their views as to its authenticity, but Diogenes Laertius (v. 22) and Stobaeus (Serm., clxxxix.) both believe it to be genuine. The chief difficulty is the reference to a certain sophist, Dionysius, but this is probably an interpolation. There are physio gnomic references in other writings of Aristotle (cf. Anal, pr., ii. c. 30; Hist, anim., i. 8, &c.) sufficient to justify the attribution of the treatise to him. On this, see Franz, Preface, p. vi. s q., of his Scriptores physiognomies vcteres, Leipsic, 1780.