the face of Lincoln

A story moved by the AP late last night confirms what anyone who's ever seen a picture of Lincoln could already discern, there was something seriously wrong with his face.

CHICAGO - Artists, sculptors and photographers knew Abraham Lincoln's face had a good side. Now it's confirmed by science. Laser scans of two life masks, made from plaster casts of Lincoln's face, reveal the 16th president's unusual degree of facial asymmetry, according to a new study.

The left side of Lincoln's face was much smaller than the right, an aberration called cranial facial microsomia. The defect joins a long list of ailments — including smallpox, heart illness and depression — that modern doctors have diagnosed in Lincoln.

Nobody was more aware of this than Lincoln, who often poked fun at his own lack of physical beauty. One of these jokes is one of my favorite Lincoln anecdotes:

Abraham Lincoln was once accused of being two-faced. "If I were two-faced," he retorted, "would I be wearing this one?"