Whether a more certain, more accurate, more extensive, and thereby, a more perfect knowledge of man, be, or be not profitable; whether it be, or be not, advantageous to gain a knowledge of internal qualities from external form and feature, is certainly a question deserving of inquiry. It may be asked, Is knowledge, its extension and increase, of consequence to man? This question, it is presumed, can receive but one answer from all unprejudiced persons: for, as certainly as man is possessed of corporeal strength, so certain is it that to exercise strength is necessary. As certainly as he has the faculties, power, and will, to love, so certain is it that it is necessary he should love. Equally certain is it, that if man has the faculties, power, and will, to obtain wisdom, that he should exercise those faculties for the attainment of wisdom. Mutual intercourse is the thing of most consequence to mankind, who are destined to live in society. The knowledge of man is the soul of this intercourse--that which imparts to it animation, pleasure, and profit. This knowledge is, in some degree, inseparable from, because necessary to, all men. And how shall we, with greater ease and certainty, acquire this knowledge than by the aid of physiognomy, understood in its most extensive sense, since, in so many of his actions, man is incomprehensible? Physiognomy unites hearts, and forms the most durable, the most divine friendships; nor can friendship discover a more solid foundation than in the fair outlines and noble features of certain countenances. Physiognomy is the very soul of wisdom, since it elevates the mutual pleasures of intercourse, and whispers to the heart when it is necessary to speak--when to be silent; when to forewarn--when to excite; when to console--when to reprehend. But to enumerate all the advantages that are derived from the study of physiognomy would require a volume. We shall, therefore, conclude these prefatory remarks by adding testimonies, from the highest authorities, in favour of that science, which Lavater, in his essay, introduces in the following manner: “To support the feeble among my readers, and to furnish the strong with such arguments as are most convenient to their disputes with the feeble, I shall produce witnesses, of more or less importance among the learned and wise, in the company of whom I shall deem it an honour to be despised. They will be few, and not conclusive; but, however, may to many appear of consequence, and be unexpected: “The countenance of the wise sheweth wisdom, but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth.”--PROV. xvii. 24. “Though the wicked man constrain his countenance, the wise can distinctly discern his purpose.”--PROV. xxi. 29. “The heart of man changeth his countenance, whether it be for good or evil; and a merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance.”--ECCL. xiii. 25.