PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT AND MENTAL STRUCTURE.

Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4784, 9 May 1884, Page 2

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT AND MENTAL STRUCTURE.

The following is an interesting physio- ;. v logical summary :—There are fivevlead-.^" ing forms of development in the human body, indicating so many classes of character. Ascending from the lower to the higher, they are—(l) the abdominal; (2) the thoracic; (3) the muscular fibrous ; (4) the osseous or bony; (5) the brain and nerve. 1. The abdomen is the part of the body which contains the stomach, bowels, liver, and other organs necessary for digesting and assimilating food. Where it is largely developed, ' there is generally a broad' mouth, full cheeks, a double chin, round nose; and sleepy-looking eyes. Wo expect to find persons of this make good-natured, social, and indolent; selfish, fond of good eating and drinking, and liable to dropsy, inflammatory rheumatism, gout, apoplexy, and other similar complaints. 2. The thoracic appears in a fully-developed chest, connected with which we generally find large nostrils and prominent cheek>bonea. Persons so formed are stirring and active; of changeful temper, liable to acute inflammatory diseases, but not to pulmonary consumption. Mountaineers are generally more thoracic in their develop* ment than those who live on low and flats lands. 3. The muscular form appears in general breadth of body rather than length. The head is round and wide, ears short, the eyes small, theL,nose broad at the base, the shoulders heavy, the foot short and broad. Muscular people are active, vigorous, proud, and daring. 4. The bony structure gives firmness and reliability of character. It depends much on a limy soil, impregnate ing the food and water with the chief material of bone ; much also on the influence of sunlight and proper exercise. Bony men are usually dark complexioned, have long limbs, square should* ers, and lank hair. The combination of large brain with bony structure is favorable to intellectual greatness, giving the power of performing much mental labour without exhaustion. 5. The development of brain and nerve is the most important, and demands the most attention. Its extreme appears in a spare habit of body, a forehead wider than the cheeks, the features sharp, the lips and nostrils thin, the neck and chest Small. Persons of this form are rapid in their motions, keenly sensitive, and apt to be irritable and dyspeptic. They require much sleep and wholesome food to repair the waste which their excitability produces.