JOHANN CASPAR LAVATER is chiefly celebrated for his attempt to formulate a science of physiognomy, but he was noted in his own generation as a poet and theologian. He was born at Zurich, Switzerland, November 15th, 1741, and educated there for the Church. He passed his life in his native town, and wrote there the “Swiss Songs” (1767) and “The Looks into Eternity” (1768), which gave him his first reputation. His celebrated work on “Physiognomy,” to which Goethe contributed a chapter, appeared in 1775–78. While he did not reduce physiognomy to an exact science, Lavater’s good qualities of mind and style so appealed to the universal wish that such a science were possible as to immortalize the book. Lavater died January 2d, 1801, as a result of protracted suffering caused by a wound received from infuriated soldiers he was attempting to appease after the taking of Zurich by the French in 1799.