Physiognomical Fragments

JOHANN LAVATER Physiognomical Fragments Johann Caspar Lavater, the Swiss theologian, poet, and physiognomist, was born at Zürich on November 15, 1741. He began his public life at the age of twenty-one as a political reformer. Five years later he appeared as a poet, and published a volume of poetry which was very favourably received. During the next five years he produced a religious work, which was considered heretical, although its mystic, religious enthusiasm appealed to a considerable audience. His fame, however, rests neither on his poetry nor on his theology, but on his physiognomical studies, published in four volumes between 1775–78 under the title "Physiognomical Fragments for the Advancement of Human Knowledge and Human Life" ("Physiognomische Fragmente zur Beförderung des Menschenkenntniss und Menschenliebe").