Of the above instances, Voltaire is the most decidedly deficient in the
Cogitative, which is always essential to indicate a capacity for the
deep, close and serious thought requisite to constitute a truly great
and philosophic mind. The angle at which his nose stood from his face
was quite 45°, and therefore much too great to exhibit faithfully the
higher characteristics of the Greek. It was, moreover, exceedingly
deficient in the broadening property of Class III; and we presume that
no one will assert that Voltaire possessed “a truly great and
philosophic mind.” Surely no man, who ever wrote so much, and on such
varied subjects, ever devoted less time to close intense thought. He did
not even stop to examine his facts; but, having a brilliant wit and “the
pen of a ready writer,” he rapidly evolved some fanciful theory, or
started some fallacious argument from such unauthenticated data as he
happened to be possessed of. All this was indicated by his sharp Greek
Nose; for it was acuteness, not depth; readiness, not thought; careless,
unprincipled wit, not study; attractive style, not sound matter, which
earned him his short-lived fame. Hence, Voltaire, though striving all
his life to gain the title of philosopher, never succeeded even in the
most unphilosophic age and country since the revival of learning, and is
now, we believe, wholly excluded from the dignity. It has been truly and
wittily said of Voltaire, that “he _half_ knew everything, ‘from the
cedar tree that is in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth out
of the wall,’ and he wrote of them all, and laughed at them all.”
It will be noticed that the foregoing list contains the name of “Milton,
_in youth_.” It is inserted thus, because his portrait, taken _ætat._
XXIII, shows that his Nose was not then developed into the Cogitative
form which it assumed in later years, when troublous times and anxious
cares caused him to reflect profoundly on events around him. Then it
expanded at the base and became, like the Noses of all the great men of
those stirring times, largely compounded with the Cogitative; under the
compounds of which class it will again, at a later period of his life,
appear. From this corresponding change in feature with change in
character, we might, if we thought proper, demand the same proof for our
system which the phrenologists demand for theirs, from the gradual
alteration in the skull of the boy Bidder; and though (as our system is,
we conceive, better based than theirs) it is unnecessary to lay as much
stress upon a single fact as they are compelled to do, yet we think it
right not to let this proof pass wholly without observation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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