Metoposcopy

Jerome Cardin was a great mathematician of the sixteenth century, but unlike present day mathematicians, he was no prisoner of the proven. In fact, his devotion to Astrology that he starved himself to death in order to fulfill his horoscope's prediction that he would die at the age of seventy-five.

Cardin's belief in the influence of the stars on individuals was common for his era (though his mortal dedication to his principles was not). Most extreme was his literal interpretation of that influence: he believed that heavenly bodies left marks on human bodies --- specifically on the forehead. Accordingly, he drew up a system of character analysis based on forehead wrinkles. This is metoposcopy, the science of the frontal lines.

Cardin's system was based on the correlation of a strip of forehead space with each of the planets. (Luckily in his day there were only believed to be seven planets)  Thus the influence of the Moon was to be seen in the band of head directly above the eyebrows. This is followed, in order up the head toward the hair, by the bands of Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Obviously, only the most wizened among us could claim lines from all the planets. The two or three lines that most of us sport, once scrutinized carefully to determine the band to which they belong, reveal the planets that most influence our characters.  (If you can't figure out where your lines fall, planetarily speaking, get a ruler and divide your forehead into seven equal strata with a felt tip pen.)

According to Cardin, the longer and straighter your wrinkles, the more noble your character. Waves or breaks in your wrinkles are indicative of various faults and flaws, but the real villains have vertical lines plummeting down their brows. More than one vertical line or, worst of all, a crossed lines (an X shaped wrinkle) are the signs of the most hideous criminals.

Cardin's masterpiece work, Metoposcopia was published in 1658. Containing better than eight hundred illustrations of facial types and various wrinkle configurations it to this day is the single most detailed work (and one of the few) for those wishing to practice this lost art. For swift character analysis, metoposcopy has no rival. It is fast, clean, and you do not require your subjects permission to do it. However, since metoposcopic expertise requires that you memorize all eight hundred of Cardin's illustrations, it is not surprising that the science of frontal lines never became a popular one.