This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1878 edition. Excerpt: ... John Caspar Lavater was the son of Henry Lavater, Doctor of Medicine, and Member of the Government of Zurich; the maiden name of his mother was Regula Escher. In a manuscript, containing notices and reflections on the incidents of the earlier years of the life of Lavater, written by himself, and found among his papers, by his son-in-law, G. Gessner, he characterises his father as " a man of universally acknowledged integrity, of a naturally good and sound understanding, but neither distinguished for learning nor great penetration; neither a genius, nor a man of philosophical inquiry; an example of industry and unwearied application; attentive and successful in his profession; an excellent economist; in every thing extremely orderly and regular; the best of husbands, and the tenderest of fathers." His mother, he tells us, possessed an extraordinary understanding, an astonishing power of imagination, and an insatiable curiosity after novelty and knowledge, which extended at once to the smallest and the b greatest objects, though the latter afforded her most satisfaction. Her invention was inexhaustible; she had a projecting mind, and was active and indefatigable in carrying into execution what she had planned. She esteemed and reverenced whatever was noble, great, and intelligent; and had derived every advantage that could be expected from her conversation with pious and learned men. She had read the books they recommended to her perusal, though she did not pretend to be, nor was she, a learned woman. She was an excellent manager, and her industry was particularly useful to her husband, to whom she acted as an apothecary, being frequently employed from morning till night in making up the medicines he prescribed. She was a faithful and...