Hlava

“ We have learned, in an earlier article, that hands are very expressive of character. In good portraits there is always a oneness of feeling and character between the hands and the head. Hals was a master in this respect. There is also an absolute oneness in the expression of the hand and that of the face in the Van Dyck, even to the curl of the forefinger, which echoes the curious, slanting glance of the eyes. ”

“ A MEMORIAL EFFIGY, MALEKULA, NEW HEBRIDES This figure represents a departed chief who has gone to the under world and become a “Demit.”
The figure is made on a framework of wood or bamboo, covered with clay and vegetable fibre. The head is the real skull of the chief covered in the same way as the body with real hair and beard; the arms, round which are pigs’ tusks, are made from a small plant, the root forming the hands. One of the reasons the natives have for making figures in this way is that the chief may still be able to look upon his friends. ”

“ As we speak the name of each part, let each one touch that part of himself which is named. We will begin with the head. The chief parts of the head are the skull and the face. The forehead, the temples, the cheeks, the eyes, the ears, the nose, the mouth, and the chin are parts of the face. ”

“ Under the best-loved and most beautiful face we know, there is hidden a skull as ghastly as that from which we turn aside with a shudder in the anatomist's cabinet. We smile, and are gay enough; God pity us! We try to forget our heart-aches and remorse. We even call our lives commonplace, and, bearing our own heaviest burdens silently, we try to keep the commandment, and to bear one another's also. ”

“ Upon the large, powerful body, whose height was in full harmony with the breadth of the shoulders and the magnificent chest, there was set a head more angular than round, covered all over with short, curling black hair, and firmly resting upon a neck which looked too short for the size of the head. ”

“ Pass straight from your chamber to the battle-field, and from the cool shade into the burning sun? Nay, a body used to a tunic cannot endure a buckler; a head that has worn a cap refuses a helmet; a hand made tender by disuse is galled by a sword-hilt. ”

“ I call it extreme hot when the strength fails, a disposition to faint comes on, a straitness is found in the temples, as if a small cord was drawn tight around the head, the voice impaired, the skin dry, and the head seems more than ordinarily large and light. ”

“ Taller by half a head than I, broad-shouldered and with a powerful chest, she could hold at arm's length a small child seated on her hand—and it was a hand, too, that would render superfluous a visam repertum, if it came in contact with a human face! ”

“ For Nature will be sure to whisk the hair away from your ears where you want it, and into your eyes where you don't want it, besides crowning you with magnificent disorder in the morning. But as I have always believed that no evil exists without its remedy, I had long been exercising my inventive genius in attempts to produce a head-gear which should at once protect the ears, confine the hair, and let the skull alone. ”

“ His head recalls to our memory another, the head of one who is not long dead, more massive perhaps, less developed, more thoughtful, but with an equally calm expression; a head belonging to the same racial type, with the same proud, princely features, the same prominent nose with the large eyes of a discoverer—the head of a Normandy peasant, of Millet, his fellow-countryman, the creator of a new feeling for nature and a new aspect of nature in art. ”

“ In other words, I had expected to see a fighting figure of powerful build, with thick hair, full beard, and fiery, defiant eyes. It seemed almost ludicrous to behold a man of middle size, completely bald and clean shaven, with kindly eyes behind spectacles, and, instead of a fierce, an entirely benignant expression. ”

“ The well-shaped head was no longer marred by the mane which it had formerly worn, but was close cropped, and under the transforming influence of the change the forehead seemed bolder and higher, and to her thinking the strength of the purposeful features was enhanced, and yet, had she known it, the man felt that he had for the first time surrendered a point which meant an abandonment of something akin to principle. ”

“ For, as I have already indicated when distinguishing the head from other parts of the body, it is undeniable that the spiritual expression of the form is restricted to the face and the pose and movement of the whole, to the general mien, which is pre-eminently eloquent by virtue of the arms, hands, and position of the legs. ”

“ Because the beautiful shoulder slips tremulously from the heavy mouth, which lies against the smooth, polished flesh; because this shoulder rises again toward the head, slightly bent and inclined, as if to draw toward it some loved one; because the neck swells like that of a dove, and the head is stretched forward to offer a kiss, we seem to catch a glimpse of the whole body and its delicate curves. ”

“ If she could hold his head in her hands—for she had fine, silken hands that adjusted themselves with a rare pressure, wrapping his weakness up in life—then his head would gradually grow healed, and he could rest. ”

“ If I told you that my hero had scanty hair, as is the case with modern youths, a pointed moustache, dark eyes with nothing in them to attract you, his nose not more characteristic, a swarthy face, a not more distinctive figure, long nails on short fingers, that he was fashionably dressed,—tell me, would you know him any better? ”

“ Thus one order and degree of loves and of thoughts may constitute the head in the mind, whilst another may constitute the trunk, another the arms and hands, and a fourth the legs and feet, the three latter being all of them in subordination to, and under the control of, the first, or highest, as is the case in the corresponding members of the body, which are all of them subject to, and at the disposal of the head. ”

“ In looking at these very venerable ancestors it is the face that naturally attracts the greater attention. There is some expression in a skull, an expression of melancholy and surprise, with a suggestion of ferocity. Conspicuous, especially, is the look of wonder, the open mouth, the staring teeth, the solemn, hollow eye sockets. ”

“ Thick-heads, block-heads, bumble-heads, or basket-heads, which used in former days to be symbols of obesity, and gave rise to the maxim, "Great head, little wit," are now the indications of intellectual superiority. "The bigger the head the greater the genius," as the mushroom said to the cucumber; and to have a head as big as a baker's basket, or the bustle of a lady mayoress, is perfection. ”

“ Whatever might be the case with regard to the hair, the ears, the nose, and lips, or even the teeth, it might have been thought that the actual shape of the head, as determined by the solid skull, would not have been considered a subject to be modified according to the fashion of the time and place. Such, however, is far from being the case. The custom of artificially changing the form of the head is one of the most ancient and widespread with which we are acquainted. ”

“ One with a head too large for the body, and having a thick neck and extended veins, was generally strong and of a martial spirit. When the head was long and of conical shape, the person was generally impudent and rash; and, if sprightly in early life, was supposed to lose spirit and vivacity before reaching the age of thirty years. A well-proportioned head, but slightly compressed at the sides, denoted a person of good apprehension, proceeding from the spirits domiciled there. ”

“ The custom of flattening the head originated, probably, in the idea, that it was unbecoming the dignity of a master to wear the same appearance as the slave, and as garbs and insignia were perishable, or subject to be wrested from them, it seems that they determined to put on different and, of course, as they were superior, more beautiful heads. ”

“ A head, strictly speaking, is the prerogative of man, formed beneath a skull which rounds the forehead and determines the face. The more the front recedes and inclines to the horizontal, so much the nearer a head [379] approaches the form of a brute; the more it inclines to the perpendicular, the more it gains of man. ”

“ The heads, which have been carried by old men, are then hung up over the principal hearth on the beam on which the old heads are hanging; they are suspended by means of a rattan, of which one end is knotted and the other passed upward through the FORAMEN MAGNUM and a hole cut in the top of the skull. After this the men sit down to drink, and the chief describes the taking of the heads, eulogising the warrior who drew first blood in each case, and who is credited with the glory of the taking of the head. ”

“ Tall—at least six feet-with a well-shaped head set on square shoulders, brown hair inclined to curl, large blue eyes which could be merry or exceedingly grave, I thought him a picture of manly beauty. Good-natured, clever, prosperous, and not yet thirty. ”

“ Hals, masculine, ‘neck,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German hals, masculine; corresponding to Old Saxon and Dutch hals, Anglo-Saxon heals (English to halse, ‘embrace,’ but now antiquated; the modern word is neck) , Old Icelandic hals, masculine, ‘neck,’ Gothic hals (genitive halsis) , masculine; all point to a common Teutonic masculine, halsa-. Primit. allied to Latin collum for *colsum, neuter, ‘neck’ (Old Latin also collus, masculine) ”

“ Directly they set foot in the spirit land, first of all one man came to the Skull and demanded his legs, then another his head, and the next his body, and so on, until in a few minutes the skull was left by itself in all its natural ugliness. ”

“ The demonstration of movement is in the head. The head is the primary agent of movement; the body is the medium agent, the arm the final agent.
Three agents in gesture are especially affected in characterizing the life, mind and soul. The thumb is the index-sign of life; the shoulder is the sign of passion and sentiment; the elbow is the sign of humility, pride, power, intelligence and sacrifice. ”

“ Of so small extent do they falsely imagine their head to be! Others, who think the palm of their hand plainly greater than any fringe or thread, misuse their head no less; like a certain (creature) , more beast than bird, albeit winged, with small head, long legs, and moreover of erect carriage. ”

“ She has grown taller and somewhat stouter; her shoulders spread like those of a caryatid; the arm with which she props her head is as strong as a carter’s and magnificently moulded. The head itself looks immense with its pile of glossy hair. ”

“ A MAN, very much annoyed with a Flea, caught him at last, and said, "Who are you who dare to feed on my limbs, and to cost me so much trouble in catching you?" The Flea replied, "O my dear sir, pray spare my life, and destroy me not, for I cannot possibly do you much harm." ”

“ My countrymen twirl their shillalahs above their heads with a whirring noise, and endeavour to knock off their opponents’ hats so as to get at their heads. Then begins the fun of the fair—all is slashing and whacking, and the hardest skull generally comes off the best. ”

“ Nature, in her bounty, seems to have provided in part against the necessity of the hat, by giving to the head a thick and abundant covering of hair, but, instead of considering this as an indication that the head required no other protection, mankind seems rather to have regarded it as a hint to keep this most important part of the body well covered. ”

“ For all who preside are the head of their subjects; and, that the feet may be able to take a straight course, the head ought undoubtedly to look forward to it from above, lest the feet linger on their onward journey, the body being bent from its uprightness and the head bowed down to the earth. ”

“ He was tall and strongly knit, with features of a high patrician cast, a noble head, covered thick with grizzly hair--one of those heads so tenacious of life that they never grow bald, but carry to the grave the snows of a hundred years. ”

“ The first step in studying a head is to observe its general contour,—whether the forehead projects far in front of the ear, to indicate intellect; whether the upper surface rises above the forehead sufficiently to indicate the nobler qualities, and whether it is balanced or overpowered by the breadth and depth of the base of the skull and thickness of the neck. ”

“ In the Greek ideal head, the development presenting a facial angle of ninety degrees, confers the highest beauty of the form of the head, the majesty of the forehead, the position of the eyes upon a line which divides the face into two equal parts, the elegant projection of the nose, the absence of all tumidity of the lips.—But of that, in the sequel. ”

“ We must judge of heads then from their shape, and from the processes which arise from them: from their shape, if well formed, for that is always a good sign; and from the processes of the brain, if they be in their proper state, and if the nervous parts be all properly nourished, have their suitable tone, and if the sight be acute. Sharp heads are defective in the protuberance of the front or hind-head, or else it is unnaturally increased. ”

“ A certain influential man denied that head-hunting is a religious ceremony among them. It is merely to show their bravery and manliness, that it may be said that so-and-so has obtained heads. When they quarrel it is a constant phrase, “How many heads did your father or grandfather get?” If less than his own number, “Well, then, you have no occasion to be proud!” Thus the possession of heads gives them great considerations as warriors and men of wealth, the skulls being prized as the most valuable of goods. ”