Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "面相學" in Chinese language version.
Although we bracket physiognomy with Mesmerism as discredited or laughable belief, many eighteenth-century writers referred to it as a useful science with a long history ... Although many modern historians belittle physiognomy as a pseudoscience, at the end of the eighteenth century, it was not merely a popular fad, but also the subject of intense academic debate about the promises it held for progress.
Although we bracket physiognomy with Mesmerism as discredited or laughable belief, many eighteenth-century writers referred to it as a useful science with a long history ... Although many modern historians belittle physiognomy as a pseudoscience, at the end of the eighteenth century, it was not merely a popular fad, but also the subject of intense academic debate about the promises it held for progress.