unconsciously, race to circumstance; and that his unused powers in
the latter direction are more considerable than might have been
thought.

It is with the innate moral and intellectual faculties that the book
is chiefly concerned, but they are so closely bound up with the
physical ones that these must be considered as well. It is, moreover,
convenient to take them the first, so I will begin with the features.




FEATURES.

The differences in human features must be reckoned great, inasmuch
as they enable us to distinguish a single known face among those of
thousands of strangers, though they are mostly too minute for
measurement. At the same time, they are exceedingly numerous. The
general expression of a face is the sum of a multitude of small
details, which are viewed in such rapid succession that we seem to
perceive them all at a single glance. If any one of them disagrees
with the recollected traits of a known face, the eye is quick at
observing it, and it dwells upon the difference. One small
discordance overweighs a multitude of similarities and suggests a
general unlikeness; just as a single syllable in a sentence
pronounced with a foreign accent makes one cease to look upon the
speaker as a countryman. If the first rough sketch of a portrait be
correct so far as it goes, it may be pronounced an excellent likeness;
but a rough sketch does not go far; it contains but few traits for
comparison with the original. It is a suggestion, not a likeness; it