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FIG. 106 Engraving of an idiot (possibly a cretin) from J. C. Lavater's Essays on physiognomy, 1789 (translated by T. Holcroft), London, Robinson, vol. 3, plate 36.

Engraving of an Idiot

The commentary reads : 'The mouth and nose of this idiot have not lost the national character [Swiss], though he is not so natively stupid as to be incapable of being taught, or of any unexpected or original thought. There are decisive marks of stupidity . . . in the eyebrows, the vacant eye, the cavity between the forehead and nose, and, particularly, in the mouth, chin, and neck. I should have discovered folly even in the wrinkles of the cheek'. Physiognomony, or, as more shortly written Physiognomy is the science or knowledge of the correspondence between the external and internal man, the visible superficies and the invisible contents' : this is why pictures of idiots and lunatics were common in books like this and later in the phrenological literature before they appeared in medical treatises on insanity like Sir Alexander Morison's Outlines of lectures on mental diseases, 1826 (second edition).

How to spot the facial features of a male madman.

How to spot the facial features of a male idiot of low intelligence.

How to spot the facial features of a female idiot of low intelligence.

How to spot the facial features of a depressed person.