The new science of analyzing character

Preface

The purpose of the author in writing the following work has been to present the general public with a standard text book on the subject of Scientific Character Analysis. With this object in mind every source of information has been carefully investigated and more than one hundred authoritative documents have been scrutinized and their statements put to practical tests.

The matter contained includes much that has been published before, but the author feels sure that he has introduced enough new ideas to justify the appearance of this volume.

The author has studied the writings and methods of Dr. Gall, Dr. Spurzheim, Dr. Combe, Mr. Fowler, Mr. Sizer, Dr. Blackford, Dr. Windsor, and has undertaken research work which has carried him twice around the world. For many years it has been part of his work to tell employers about their applicants and employees, and to tell individuals about themselves.

While credit is given in the text for direct quotations, he feels this special mention is due to the above

6 PREFACE

named writers, for the great help they have afforded him in formulating the ideas of this work and in reaching the conclusions herein expressed.

His sincere desire — his most earnest hope — is that the perusal of this volume will promote intellectual discussion, careful investigation, a judicial application of the knowledge herein contained, and that it will tend to promote the highest interests of the human family.

H. H. B.

Boston, Massachusetts.

Contents

Chapter

I. Heredity and Environment

II. Color or Complexion . .

Chapter I

Character Analysis is the bedrock upon which all human relationship is founded. It is the foundation of the vast credit system upon which our gigantic commercial structure is organized. It is the basis of understanding between man and his fellow men; between husband and wife; between parents and their children; between the employer and the employee; between the salesman and his customers; the doctor and his patients; the lawyer and his clients; the preacher and his congregation; the politician and his constituents ; the writer and his readers ; and so forth. There is hardly a human combination possible without the aid of character analysis. Therefore, it is important that we study this subject.

When we build a house we start with a secure foundation, and then place one stone on top of another. The stronger the base, the stronger proportionately will be the building. And so it must be with all forms of reasoning. We must first establish a common basis of fact or a strong foundation, and then we can logically advance our conclusions step by step, defying all contradiction, provided we build truth upon truth. In all forms of induction, we must first secure a strong groundwork before we attempt to enter the realm of scientific research.

In order to secure this firm foundation we will define our terms prior to entering into a discussion of man. Then we shall find how to analyze him and how to determine the effect of environment upon a man's mind and character.

What do we mean by Man? What do we mean by Man's environment? And how do we analyze these two important factors?

In attempting to answer these questions, we must look for initiative data upon which to raise the superstructure of character analysis. The navigator who steers his vessel for the open sea traces his course from some lighthouse, cape, or other well-defined point, the exact latitude and longitude of which are already known. We too, are setting out on a voyage into the open sea, the sea of unknown and unexplored ideas. Where is the first point from which we can take our departure?

Man is body and mind. This is a proven and established fact, and the latitude and longitude of that body and mind are easily determined. It is generally admitted that the brain, the organ of the intellect, is the headquarters of the mind. The human brain is our point of departure. It is tangible and its location is fixed. About its internal processes we need not trouble ourselves for the present. We will refer to that phase later on. The brain and its location are definitely known quantities, and are also closely interwoven with other parts of the human body. It is, for instance, directly connected with the central nerve system, and through this system with the heart, lungs, liver, pneumogastric nerve, stomach, muscles, connective tissues, and the bony skeleton, and indirectly through the bones and muscles, it provides the motive force for the whole system.

The intimate relationship between the body and the mind is well known to everyone who has given the subject a cursory thought. Many scientific investigators hold that this connection is so marked that thought and feeling are merely physical states, instead of mental.

Every thought and emotion has its accompanying vibration in the brain cells, and every vibration in turn induces muscular action! Professor George Trumbull Ladd of Yale, says, "All facts too obviously impress upon us the conclusion, how pervasive, intimate, varied, and profound, are the mutual relations

— the co-relation, of the physical mechanism and the phenomena of consciousness."

Says Professor William James, "The causes of the emotions are indubitably physiological."

In his book, "The Principled of Character Making," Arthur Holmes says, "Emotions are never the cause of actions but are the result of actions. That is why when a man makes up his mind to an appalling task he must take a deep breath, shut his teeth, set his jaw, clench his fist and stiffen every muscle about his body." The psycho-physical parallelism herein presented is very apparent to every reader. We could recite dozens of instances of this close co-ordination between the brain and the body, and Holmes explains this more fully. He says, "The body and the mind, or consciousness, are concerned as one with two different aspects, and we talk about the mind or about the body according as we are looking at the same thing from different points of view. The working principle that emerges is thus popularly stated. Whatever affects the body affects the mind, whatever affects the mind affects the body."

Upon this principle nearly all recent innovations in the industrial world have been directly or indirectly based. Modernized buildings, play grounds, manual training, school hygiene, medical inspection for dental, visual, auditory, nutritional, and constitutional defects — and a host of other pedagogical activities — have sprung from this prolific principle. How much moral education is really physiological education is just beginning to be understood. In olden times when a boy was bad they said, "He hath a devil/' Now they say, "He hath an adenoid," and hail him not before the disciplinarian, but before the surgeon.

Holmes again says, "Generally speaking, all the physiological processes can be illustrated in almost any daily experience. Say I carelessly drop my hand upon a hot stove. A message immediately runs from my hand up to my brain. In the cortical cells or grey matter of the brain great commotion ensues. Certain vibrations, or certain chemical reactions, are set up, and these excitations are hurried forward by transmissive fibres in the brain to what are called motor centres. Here again vigorous excitations are aroused and these again are sent skimming along by outgoing fibres to the muscles. The muscles contract and the hand is jerked from the stove."

Throughout the ages there has been this constant and corresponding co-relation between man's physical and psychical characteristics, each profoundly affecting the other every step of the way to his present development. This theory is well stated by Professor James Mark Baldwin in "Development and Evolution" as follows :

"Furthermore, we may say that no physical character which has mental co-relation is completely understood until these latter are exhaustively determined, and also that no mental character escapes physical co-relation. Recent research in the psychological and physiological laboratories is establishing many such psycho-physiological co-relations."

Dr. Blackford says, "Men differ in two ways.

"First, in physical appearance, such as height, weight, color, etc.

"Second, in mental aptitude in the way they reason, think, feel, etc."

These differences are not accidental. They are due to the effect of heredity and environment upon the individual. Evolution teaches us that individuals with certain physical and mental characteristics will survive in a given environment and others who lack these attributes will perish.

Thus the antelope whose ears could detect the slightest movement in the underbrush, heard the lion crouching for his spring and fled. The antelope with duller hearing perished and thus was evolved a species with keen auditory nerves, or sensitive nerves of hearing.

So it has come about that every bone, every muscle, every feature of the body as well as the mental and physical traits of men are the result of this ages long process of selection and survival.

Men differ physically in just nine fundamental ways — called the nine fundamental physical variables.

These are: color, form, size, structure, texture, consistency, proportion, expression, and condition. The variations of these in individuals indicate variations in physical, mental, and emotional traits, because both physical variations and mental variations are the result of racial and family environment. Anthropologists and physiological psychologists have recognized a correspondence between certain physical traits and certain mental traits.

The whole science of character analysis must stand or fall by these facts. If the relationship between the body and the mind is as close as is evidenced by the investigations of these scientists the obvious law assumes itself : Namely, that there is a close and subtle correspondence between man's physical and man's mental characteristics. By studying one we can readily determine the status or condition of the other.

Thus we have worked out one of the foundation pillars upon which the science of analyzing character rests. There is a reason for blue eyes, for brown eyes, for a high nose, a wide nose, a weak chin, full mouth, sloping forehead, long head, high head, broad head, square hands, fine hair, coarse skin, manner of walking, harsh voice, handwriting — in short every single thing about a man or woman.

The laws of success demand that we know ourselves, that we know our proposition, our work, and that we know others.

Man can only become successful when he begins to realize that mentally and physically he must be able to harness the evolutionary forces about him and subject them to his will. It is not a particle of use blaming our circumstances. We carry the circle of our horizon with us, and we change it at our pleasure ; but we are always in the center of it. Our whole outlook depends upon the attitude we take up, not upon the objects in the circle. It is only by applying our intellectual faculties to the human beings and natural resources all about us that we can rise superior to our environment and produce the most desirable results.

Now what is the environment that man has to conquer ? In explaining this, we have to understand a few seemingly trivial yet vital matters. Every minutia in a man's environment has a far greater influence upon him and plays a far more important part in his life than we perhaps realize.

Man's environment consists of many things, the clothes that cover him, the house in which he lives, its furniture and fittings, the food that sustains him, and most important to him, the men, women and children that live around him. In short, environment consists of all that is about us.

In turn our brain is a part of the environment of any or all these things. Each part belongs to the environment of all of these other parts of the universe, and one would not be complete without all of the others.

From the highest mountain to the smallest, most delicate petal of a rose, nothing in the universe is ever still. Motion is the law of being, and everything in motion vibrates and radiates its particles of matter. In a broader sense we term these tremendous forces evolution and environment.

These vibrations affect each and every one of us. In turn the radiations emanating from ourselves affect all those about us. Our particles of matter impinge themselves on the sensory nerves of those about us, and create impressions favorable or unfavorable according to the quality of these radiations of matter and their source of origination.

Certain radical schools of thought hold the opinion that environment is the most powerful factor we have to contend with and that any abnormal conditions such as disease, vice, pauperism, and so forth, can be eradicated by changing the environment. Other commentators, however, particularly eugenists, hold to the belief that the all important factor in man is his inherited potentialities and the progress of the individual depends upon the quality of his ancestral strain.

The author believes that both of these forces have their degree of importance; it is difficult, however, to make any dogmatic assertions upon the relative merits of either one or the other.

Is it not reasonable to believe that our environment is just as important a factor as our inherited qualities? Clean, healthy environment helps to produce clean, healthy thought, while debased, sordid surroundings tend to depress our mentality. On the other hand, pleasant thoughts stimulate us physically and morbid thoughts produce debilitating effects upon our physical well-being.

Walter Dill Scott, the psychologist, in his excellent book, "Increasing Human Efficiency in Business," says, "A successful day is likely to be a restful one, and an unsuccessful day an exhausting one. The man who is greatly interested in his work and who finds delight in overcoming the difficulties of his calling is not likely to become so tired as the man for whom the work is a burden." And again he says, "Intellectual work which is pleasant is stimulating and does not fag one, while intellectual work which is uninteresting or displeasing, is depressing and exhausting."

Many of us find ourselves in splendid surroundings, have many opportunities, but fail to take advantage of them through lack of concentration of brain force, or deficient knowledge of ourselves and our capabilities. It is the purpose of this work that we may learn to rise above our environment, whatever it may be. Before doing so we must train our minds to overcome the obstacles of our immediate surroundings, should they be adverse.

The science of analyzing human nature deals with the most serious problems of life, which are: first, choice of vocation; second, health; third, selection of a partner in marriage; fourth, choice of associates; fifth, self-control and self- improvement. The study of this wonderful science will teach us our shortcomings and enable us to cultivate our ideals. Mental and physical energy will then help to form these ideals into realities.

The first essential is logical reasoning, as explained at the beginning of this chapter. Inductive methods should be applied to all forms of thinking and we should always reason from the concrete to the abstract, from the materialistic to the metaphysical, in short, from the simple to the complex.

Truth is truth all over the world, and if we forge our philosophy link by link we may readily overcome the apparently insurmountable obstacles of ignorance and unreasoning prejudice. Always test every proposition and every statement pro and con by asking the why and wherefore, and lastly as a final resort make it prove itself by a practical test. Studying character is a judicial process and judgment must be based on close observation and unprejudiced reasoning.

"And it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."

Character analysis, the acme science of sciences dealing with the evolution of man, the most potent factor of the universe, must conform to these laws of scientific reasoning, and the closer we adhere to these principles, the nearer we arrive at the desired haven of truth.

Man is body and mind. There is a close and intimate relationship between the two and whatever affects one will materially affect the other. Heredity and environment are the forces that mold the individual.

Starting with these basic axioms as our foundation we will endeaver in concise, yet comprehensive statements, to build the towering philosophy of character study until its brightness will pierce the clouds of ignorance and then the sceptics of today will be the followers of tomorrow. The initiation of any new dogma invariably has its assailants. However, throughout all history the apparent dream of today is the accepted truth of tomorrow. Martyrs have been persecuted in all times, in all lands and by all peoples, yet they have persisted until their assertions were proven. Harvey nearly died in trying to prove his theory of the circulation of the blood, the same being true of other scientists such as Galileo, Socrates, Newton, Gall, and Darwin. The Wright brothers built the first successful heavier than air flying machine despite the fact that so great a mathematician and scientist as Professor Simon Newcomb made the assertion that it was an absurd dream and could never be realized.

The great engineer, Stephenson, to whom the civilized world owes so much, was branded an impudent quack. Copernicus stood alone when he declared his immortal system. His bold speculations were kept secret for many years before he dared to publish them. Bruno was burnt at the stake as a heretic for declaring his adhesion to the Copernican doctrine regarding the construction of the universe.

Robert Fulton, who built the first practical steamboat, had been driven nearly crazy by his unavailing efforts to convert the wise and the unwise to faith in his powers.

The beginner in the study of character analysis will meet with similar rebuffs and people will doubtless point out many apparent contradictions and exceptions to the rules in this study, but careful investigation invariably discloses the fact that these exceptions and contradictions are only superficial and easily explained.

The student must avoid examining character in public until he thoroughly masters all the principles of the science and carefully weighs all the variables of complexion, form, structure, quality, proportion, health, and so forth. The child who attempts to read after studying only half of the letters of the alphabet and the physician who attempts to practise after studying blood circulation or chemistry only, would be sadly handicapped. The character analyst who attempts to judge character by color or form alone, or by head shapes only, would be in a similar position.

This was one of the common errors of the old phrenologists. They carefully studied the shape of the brain and pronounced a man as adapted to follow this or that career without taking into consideration the fact that a man may have deficient energy or a poor digestion, either of which would practically disqualify him from pursuing the branch of work the shape of his head indicates. Everything about a man speaks volumes about him. The student should be neither discouraged nor confused until he has painstakingly secured and verified all the facts. Then and then only can he form logical conclusions.

Chapter II. COLOR OR COMPLEXION

We will begin with the subject of color or complexion of the human species. Ernst Haeckel divides the human race into two great classes, and appropriately calls them the dark whites and the light whites. Nearly all the other anthropologists divide mankind into two similar classes, the whites or blacks, Caucasians or Negroes, blondes or brunettes. Popularly described, the blonde is a person with extremely light hair, blue eyes, and a pink- and- white skin ; a brunette a person of the white race with dark hair, black or brown eyes, and a very light olive skin. The meaning of the terms as we use them here designates ALL races of mankind as members of these two great classes — the white skinned and the dark skinned.

The albino is the most extreme blonde; the black negro the most extreme brunette. In classifying people as blonde or brunette, we strike an imaginary line halfway between these two extremes. Those fairer than half way are blonde ; those darker, brunette. According to this system many who would ordinarily term themselves brunettes are in reality blond.

Darkness or brunetteness is due to the relative amount of pigmentation contained in the hair, skin, and the eyes, and this pigmentation is the immediate cause of the differences in color among human beings. Discoverers of the chemistry of light have proven that the blue violet or the ultra-violet rays of the sun influence the skin. In 1895 Joseph von Schmaedel read a paper before the Anthropological Society of Munich, announcing his theory that darkness of the skin was evolved for the purpose of excluding actinic or short rays of sun light which destroy living protoplasm.

It was maintained by Flourens that the negro must be specifically distinct from the European since the former possesses between the two layers of his skin, a dark pigment or coloring matter, thus different not only in hue, but in structure also from the skin of the white man. Flourens afterward abandoned his view and finally accepted the common one, that the black pigment in the negro is deposited in the same layer of the skin as it is in the dark races of India who, ethnologically viewed, are quite distinct from the African races. The fact was brought out that the same layer receives the coloring matter when a white man is bronzed by exposure to a tropical sun.

In 1905, Major Woodruff, A. M. M. D., Surgeon U. S. Army, published his book, "The Effects of Tropical Light on White Men." In this valuable work, he champions the theory of Von Schmaedel and presents the results of years of study, observation and countless investigations. He submits a mass of data and proves to us almost beyond doubt that where the rays of light are short and strong we find races who are heavily pigmented or brunette in color. Excessive sunlight first stimulates, then exhausts, and finally destroys the living periphery capillaries which lie directly under the surface of the skin. The darkness of both the brunette and the negro has been evolved by nature for the purpose of protecting the delicate tissues of this natural envelope, the skin, from the terrible effects of the concentrated or actinic rays of the sun. Blonde people are not endowed with this equal protection against the ultra-violet rays, consequently, after any undue exposure to the sun, they suffer from sunburn, nerve exhaustion, neurasthenia, sunstroke, and similar ailments, results which, from their very blondeness, such people cannot avert.

The writer has observed many cases of nerve trouble due to the fact that extremely blonde people are living in very sunny portions of the earth. This is especially true of such countries he has just visited as Australia, New Zealand, and many of the southern portions of the United States.

In places where there is little sunshine, sombre foggy conditions are often prevailing, and we find races of people, blonde in color with less pigmentation than the inhabitants of sunnier climes. Confirmation of this theory is found in the evolution of extreme blondeness amongst the Germans, Finns, Norwegians, Scotch, Irish, Danes, and other races in Northwestern Europe, especially in the region of the North, Irish, and Baltic Seas. This territory is well known for its cloudiness and darkness.

Italian soldiers use grease, lamp-black, and dark glasses to protect their eyes and faces against the glare of the sun in the Alpine fights. This is also true of Arctic explorers. Students of medicine readily understand the influence these actinic rays have upon living protoplasm. It is a well known fact that sunlight has a most destructive effect on living bacteria, tubercular and other germs. The student will note that we lay particular emphasis on the idea that it is the light and not the heat which affects the organisms. Albinos, while not more sensitive to heat than others of the blonde type, are virtually blind in bright sunshine and extremely sensitive to its effects. According to Major Woodruff, decidedly blonde races have been discovered in the heart of Africa and this is explained by the fact that they live in the heavily forested regions where the light of the sun rarely penetrates.

The effect of light is also responsible for the darkness of the Esquimaux, in that its rays reflected from the snow and ice have evolved a race with dark pigmentation. The plains of North America and

Fig. 2.

PRESIDENT WILSON,

The Philosophic Statesman.

Northern Asia, while cold, are also largely free from fog and cloud, so here again we find more evidence of the law of color. The brunetteness of the North American Indian and the pigmentation of the Turk and Tartar are essential in these regions as a protection against excessive light. The blonde races throughout the world inhabit those parts of the earth which are usually dark, cold, and cloudy. People of the brunette type inhabit those regions where the rays of light are shorter and stronger, for example the French, Italian, Spanish, Arabian, and Negro, as well as the Polynesian.

Anthropologists agree that primeval man inhabited the tropics and was of the dark or brunette type. Driven by evolutionary forces such as overcrowding, the introduction of sailing and other forms of navigation and travel, the primitive brunette became a roamer, a pioneer, and explorer. Emotional characteristics such as love of adventure, desire to conquer, restlessness, dissatisfaction with routine life, and other similar causes may also have played an important part in causing these ancient wanderers to leave their original surroundings.

Conditions of living in the northern colder climates are harsher and more rigorous than in the milder, warm, tropical regions, and it was only the strongest, most virile and aggressive of these travelers who could survive in this severe environment. In the colder countries too, the struggle for existence was keener, and it was only the individual who possessed a strong and robust constitution who was able to survive these harsh conditions. He had to use intelligence, resourcefulness and reason to guide him in storing food and devise bodily covering if he were to evade starvation and death. Therefore, the normal blonde is inclined to be large and robust, with a superabundance of buoyant health, strength, and vigor. In this connection permit me to instance the Viking, the Norseman, and the Aryan of past history who are typical examples of these early roamers.

The blonde is distinguished by his relative large size, healthy positive physical processes, vigorous constitution, warm, moist skin, ruddy complexion, blue eyes, and light colored hair and beard. Since his race was evolved in a cold, dark, harsh environment, only those survived who were most vigorous, most hopeful, most intelligent, most domineering, most aggressive and most capable of adapting themselves to extremes of heat and cold, feast and famine.

In order to maintain heat it was necessary for his ancestors to eat and digest large quantities of food, and breathe in a great deal of oxygen, and for these reasons the blonde seldom suffers from chronic diseases. He becomes ill quickly and dies, or recovers rapidly. In his hunting, sailing, and fighting, the blonde has always been called upon for a quick exhibition of concentrated energy, followed by a period of recuperation, so he is not particularly well fitted for long sustained physical action, and therefore lacks patience and concentrativeness. All of his physical processes are rapid and active, though he possesses relatively little endurance. He expends his abundant energy too rapidly, for example, in athletics, the blonde excels in the sprints and dashes, in jumping, throwing, vaulting, and other such contests ; while the brunette is better adapted for long runs, wrestling, prize fighting, and feats where endurance is a primary factor.

Dr. Blackford, who has made an exhaustive study of color, tells us that the blonde is the Rooseveltian who is constantly on the move. It is the type that goes to extremes and works rapidly and enthusiastically. A man possessing a high degree of blondeness is likely to work quickly, to overcome obstacles, to coerce others and to force himself. His roving and varied life have made him enthusiastic, hopeful, changeable, rather fickle — and he arrives at his conclusions without mature deliberation. He is always practical and energetic though the issue may not always terminate successfully. He is stimulative, alive, and positive in the electric influences which he instinctively conveys to others. Motion is the one and active element of his being and he is always on the alert. Sometimes he hits the mark ; sometimes he misses.

The man who has a good circulation, a good digestion, and who breathes deeply will naturally be optimistic, hopeful, exuberant, eager, and fearless. Such a man is willing to take a chance; he is speculative, impatient, restless and always striving for new worlds to conquer. The early struggle for existence has led him to rove far and wide on land and sea. He has developed an eager, active disposition and is fond of variety and change. He will easily turn his attention from one interest to another, and as a result of the conquests he has made in the past ages over his environment, the blonde has developed dominative and domineering characteristics and loves to rule; hence, we can trace the advent of his predominance in the relative spheres in the realms of royalty and nobility.

He is eager to take the initiative, to handle and manage large enterprises generally. The blonde likes excitement, crowds, gaiety, and readily forms acquaintances and makes friendships, but on account of his versatile nature, he lacks stability and is liable to be fickle. Thus the blonde is generally to be found in politics, organizing and promoting great adventures, selling, advertising, colonizing, and creating, his inventiveness no doubt being prompted by the exigencies of his environment.