Physiognomy personality. Physiognomy is also sometimes referred to as anthroposcopy, though the expression was more common in the 19th century when the word originated. Notions of the relationship between an individual's outward appearance and inner character are historically ancient, and occasionally appear in early Greek poetry. Siddhars from ancient India are also known to have defined "samudrika lakshanam" that identifies personal characteristics with body features. Chinese physiognomy or face reading ("mianxiang") reaches back at least to the Northern Song period. The first indications of a developed physiognomic theory appear in fifth century BC Athens, with the works of Zopyrus (who was
Physiognomy the romantic novelist Amelia Opie, and the travelogue author George Borrow. Physiognomy is a central, implicit assumption underlying the plot of Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray". In 19th-century American literature, physiognomy figures prominently in the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe. Phrenology, also considered a form of physiognomy, was created around 1800 by German physician Franz Joseph Gall and Johann Spurzheim, and was widely popular in the 19th century in Europe and the United States. In the U.S., physician James W. Redfield published his "Comparative Physiognomy" in 1852, illustrating with 330 engravings the "Resemblances between Men and Animals".