m fci,;l M WW I f.: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WASHINGTON, D. C. GPO 16—67244-1 Vkl v ~"!\' ■£?&£ J ' ■gy. as explained and illustrated by him, claims, in our opinion, the attention of all those who would investigate mind philosophically, and who desire the diffusion of truth and the exaltation of the moral and intellectual faculties of man. " Resolved, That in the application of phrenology to the investigation of human character, and the practical purposes of life, we perceive a new pra in mental anil physiological science, in which we believe human enquiry will be greatly facilitated, and the amount of human happiness essentially increaped. " Revived, That inasmuch as prejudice may deter many individuals from attend- ing Mr. Combe's lectures in other cities of our country, which he proposes to visit, and as the truth and impovinrice of phrennlcgy can be understood and appreciated only after an examination of its principles, we recommend to such citizens an attendance upon his entire course; being convinced that they will find their own advantage in doing so, and that they wiil thereby become better able to judge of the truth and practical utility of the science. "Resolved, That entertaining these views and feelings, we take great pleasure in tendering an expression of them to Mr. Cembe, and in adding our most hearty wishes for his personal tiappiness, and for lus long-continued usefulness to hia fellow-men. "Resolved, That Silas Jones, Esq., Counsellor at Law and Superintendnnt. of Vlll MR. COMBE. the New-York Institution for the Blind ; Judah Hammond, Esq., Judge of the Marine Court ; John B. Scott, Esq., Judge of the Marine Court; Loring D. Chap- man, Esq., Member of the New-York Legislature, <&c. ; Robert Sedgwick, Esq., Counsellor at Law, &c.; C. A. Lee, M. D., Professor of Materia Medica in the New- York University ; B. F. Joslin. M. D., Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philo- sophy in the New-York University ; E. Parmley, M. D.; J. Neilson.M. D.; J. W. Francis, M. D ; A. S. Doane, Professor of Physiology in the New-York University, Caleb Ticknor, Professor of Hygiene in the New-York University ; and Joel Fos- ter, M. D., be a committee to present to Mr. Combe the foregoing resolutions, and !o publish the same in the newspapers of this city." John B. Scott, Chairman. New-York, Dec 22, 1838. On four of the evenings unappropriated to his phrenological course,' Mr. Combe lectured to the New-York Mercantile Library Associa- tion, on the physical constitution of man and its relations to the mind. These lectures were attended by overwhelming audiences. Mr. Combe's third course was commenced in Philadelphia, on the 4th of January, and ended on the 8th of February, 1839. The num- bers in attendance ranged from 441 to 607, the former number being that with which he commenced. The great attentions which he received in the most scientific city of the Union, must have been peculiarly grati- fying to the lecturer. At the close of this course, the following resolu- tions were unanimously adopted: " Resolved, That they have listened with great pleasure and mental profit to the comprehensive views of human nature, and to the elucidations of individual char- acter, set forth by Mr. Combe, in his lectures just completed ; and, that, in these, they recognize many important suggestions for the improvement of Education and Jurisprudence, and the consequent increase of the happiness of mankind. "Resolved, That a committee be appointed to convey to Mr. Combe the preceding resolution, and a wish, on the part of this meeting, that he will be induced to repeat his course of lectures on phrenology." The following gentlemen were appointed a committee to carry into effect the foregoing resolutions, viz.—Nicholas Biddle, LL. D., Joseph Hartshorne, M. D., Benjamin W. Richards, William Gibson, M. D., Thomas Harris, M. D., Alexander Dallas Bache, Rembrandt Peale, Charles Picot, John Bell, M. D. In compliance with the last resolution, and the earnest solicitations of many private individuals, Mr. Combe delivered a second course at Philadelphia, between the 20th of March and the 6th of April inclusive. Having meanwhile visited Washington and other places, and delivered at Wilmington a short course of lectures on Physical and Mental Education. At the close of Mr. Combe's second course of Lectures on Phreno- logy, in the Hall of the Musical Fund, March 6, 1839, On motion, Professor Samuel B. Wylie was called to the chair, and George McClellan, M. D. appointed Secretary. MR. COMBE. IX The Rev. Chairman addressed the meeting on the propriety of mak- ing some public expression of the satisfaction which the very numerous class in attendance had derived from the lectures. On motion, the following resolutions, offered by Mr. Thomas Fisher, were unanimously adopted: "Resolved, That the class have listened with great interest to the able and highly instructive exposition of Phrenology which Mr. Combe has offered us. •' Resolved, That whatever may have been our previous acquaintance with the subject, the lectures of Mr. Combe have impressed us with much respect for it* practical importance, and with the kindliest feeling for the learned lecturer. " Resolved, That Phrenology is recognized and commended as a science founded in Nature, by a large portion of the most distinguished anatomists on both sides of the Atlantic, and that we believe it to be the only adequate illustration exist- ing, of the wonderfully various manifestations of the human mind. " Resolved, That it will afford us pleasure, and that we believe it will be highly acceptable to this community, that Mr. Combe should make it consistent with his arrangements in other cities, to give, during next winter, another course in Phila- delphia. " Resolved, That a committe of seven gentlemen be appointed to communicate to Mr. Combe a copy of these resolutions.'' The following gentlemen were accordingly appointed—Samuel B. Wylie, D. D., Samuel George Morton, M. D., George McClellan, M. D., Charles S. Coxe, Esq. Joseph Hartshome, M. D., Thomas Gilpin, Esq., Thomas Fisher. During Mr. Combe's stay in Philadelphia, a number of gentlemen in New-York were engaged in organizing a class, that they might obtain the services of Mr. Combe, a second time. An invitation was sent, and Mr. Combe consented to repeat his course in New-York. He com- menced on the 13th of April, and closed on the 18th of May. At a meeting of the Class, held on the 15th of May, the following gentlemen were appointed a Committee to prepare and report a paper and resolutions, expressive of the sentiments of the Class upon the sub- ject of said Lectures, and their feelings towards Mr. Combe as a Lec- turer, to wit:—Rev. Mr. Sawyer, Mr. Boardman, Rev. Mr. Sunder- land, and Mr. E. D. Hurlbut. On the 18th, Mr. Hurlbut, from that Committee, reported the following paper and resolutions, which were unanimously adopted: "The second course of Lectures upon Phrenology, delivered in this city by Mr. George Combe, of Edinburgh, having closed, the members of his class are desirous of expressing their views of the science which he has taught, and the sentiments -entertained by them toward the distinguished Lecturer, personally. " He has presented to us the wonderful discovery of Dr. Gall, and its practical Influence upon the character and condition of man. That discovery was charac- terized by the most minute attention to the laws of our organization, by the most patient observation of facts, and by the deduction of inevitable conclusions from tbem. X MR. COMBE. " Dr. Gall ahandoned the school of metaphysical speculation ; and taking to the observation of Nature, he at length presented to the world his great discovery of the true functions of the brain, and of its various parts. We now look to Nature for the foundation of the noble science of mental philosophy; and the enlightened mind of the old world, and of the new, is now engaged in illustrating and estab- lishing it. " Our own country has been twice honoured by visits from the earliest and most gifted advocates of this science. The noble and accomplished Spurzheim, a name sacred to every friend of man, fell a victim to disease upon our shores, while just opening the rich fountain of his well-stored intellect to an American audience. The language of eulogy fails altogether when employed upon so noble a nature as his. " But for this w e thank him—that he directed the mind of a Combe to the sublime truths he had himself embraced, and allowed his mantle to descend upon the gifted individual to whom we have all listened with intense interest and delight. How nobly has he executed in cur country the work which his ' great and lamented master' had begun ! " He came not among us to earn applause, for of that he had already enough; nor treasure, for we are happy to know of that he had no occasion to go in search. He came not seeking controversy—being no less distinguished for his love of peace than for his devotion to science. But he came as a minister from trie enlightened mind of the old world to treat with the intellect of the new, upon matters of the deepest concern to the human race. " His message was of the highest importance to us all. It interested us as stu- dents of Nature's laws, as observers of their manifestations, as speculators in mental philosophy, and as friends of education. It opened new views of man's moral and intellectual character, and well nigh explained the mystery of thought, that most sublime emanation from the Divinity of Nature. It taught the discipline Of youth—how to inform their intellect, to elevate their sentiments, and to mode- rate their passions. It pointed the way of happiness to man by exhibiting the sources of human virtue, and its effects ;—the causes of vice, and its effects upon his condition in life. It presented the most rational and humane view of moral responsibility, and explained and enforced the whole duty of man. And in this, hi* last and crowning Lecture, Mr. Combe has opened the treasures of his knowledge of the political institutions of the old world, faithfully portrayed their defects, theii subversion of human liberty and happiness, and contrasted with them the free institutions of our own country, and their happy influences upon the moral and intellectual condition of our citizens. " And now, having attended upon the gifted Lecturer through his various illus- trations—his well-authenticated facts, and heard his sound deductions drawn from them, we hasten to express our profound sense of obligation to him for the instruc- tion he has afforded us, and our high appreciation of the doctrines he has so ably maintained. " Be it therefore, " Resolved, That we regard Phrenology as having its foundation in the truths of Nature, and as entitled in point of dignity and interest, to rank high amon° the natural sciences. " Resolved, That we regard the practical application of Phrenological principle-" to physical training, to moral and mental education, to the treatment of the insane, and to criminal legislation, as of the highest importance and utility; and we ,in^ dulge the hope of witnessing in our own day the beneficial results of such,aBplica- MR. COMBE. XI lion in the increased happiness of our hopes, in the improved condition of out seminaries of learning, in more enlightened legislation, and in the more benign influences of our civil and religious institutions. " Resolved, That the extensive knowledge and sound philosophy which Mr. Combe has exhibited in the course of his Lectures, have inspired us with a profound respect for his intellectual power and attainments ; and wliile the simplicity of manner and the purity of style with which he has conveyed the most interesting truths evince a highly cultivated taste, the generous enthusiasm with which he has embarked in the cause of humanity commands an admiration of his sentiments equal to the respect we entertain for his understanding. " Resolved, That, entertaining such opinions of the science with which Mr. Combe has identified his life and fame, and such sentiments toward him as a lec- turer and a man, we beg to tender to him the expression of our heartfelt gratitude for the instruction and delight he has afforded us, and our kindest wishes for his prosperity and happiness through life. " On motion, it was Resolved, That the gentlemen who reported the foregoing paper and resolutions constitute a Committee to present the same to Mr. Combe." J. T. SAWYER, Chairman A. Boabdman, Secretary. On the evening that the Committee was appointed to draw up the foregoing resolutions, it was mentioned that a number of gentlemen, desirous of evincing in a more enduring manner their sense of Mr. Combo's merits, and of the important doctrines which he promulgated, had commenced a subscription for that purpose. The announcement was cordially received—a meeting was called at Mr. Hurlbut's office the ensuing evening, at which the following gentlemen were appointed a committee with full powers: Mr. E. D. Hurlbut, Mr. Wm. J. Mul- len, Captain Dewey, and Mr. A. Boardman. They determined on presenting a vase, which will, I think, be one of the most beautiful specimens of art which America has produced. Too much credit cannot be given to Captain Dewey, for his assiduity in attending to the general business of the committee, nor to Mr. Mul- len, by whom the plan of the vase was drawn, and under whose direc- tion and superintendence its execution has thus far satisfactorily pro- gressed, and will doubtless be completed. The vase is of exquisite form, and contains fifty ounces of silver. On one side will be chased the heads of Dr. Gall, Dr. Spurzheim, and Mr. Combe, over which will be the motto: " Res non verba o.u.a:so," and around the latter a wreath containing the words —" System of Phreno- logy." " Constitution of Man," &c. On the other, will be chased th< busts of Dr. Rush, and Dr. Caldwell, together with the following inscription: xu MR COMBE. , PRESENTED TO GEORGE COMBE, ESQUIRE, OF EDINBURGH, BY THE MEMBERS OF THE CLASS IN ATTENDANCE UPON THE LECTURES DELIVERED BY HIM IN THE CITY OF NEW-YORK, In the year 1839, on the subject of PHRENOLOGY; In testimony of their profound respect for the distinguished Lecturer, penonaUy, and their belief in and admiration of THE NOBLE SCIENCE, OF WHICH HE IS THE ABLEST LIVING TEACHER AND EXPOUNDER. The base of the vase will be ornamented with the skulls of various animals, as emblematical of comparative Phrenology. ESSAY ON THE PHRENOLOGICAL MODE OF INVESTIGATION. On its being observed to a scientific pretender, that facts were atvariance with ahypothesis which he had announced, he replied indignantly, " So much the worse for the facts." Like this was the language of almost all expounders of natu- ral science antecedent to the seventeenth century. They worshipped the shadow of a mighty name. The Aristotelian philosophy held undisputed sway. Mahomedan, Jew, and Christian, vied with each other in hugging the chain of scholastic bondage, deeming a quotation from the stagi- rite adequate to establish the grossest absurdity, or refute the most obvious truth. So far did this infatuation reach, that, in some of the Universities, statutes were framed, re- quiring the professors to promise, on oath, to follow no guide but Aristotle ; and the French parliament, under Francis I., pronounced Peter Ramus to be " insolent, impudent, and a liar;" and for all coming time, condemned, suppressed and abolished his books, prohibiting him from copying or even reading them, because he had publicly disputed the doc- 14 THE ARISTOTELIAN PHILOSOPHY. trines of the Greek ; nay, to attack these doctrines was, by legislative acts, rendered punishable by the galleys ! The following incident in the life of Galileo well illustrates this prostration of reason to authority. The Grecian philosopher had asserted that if two bodies, of like material, were let fall at the same time, from the same height, the heaviest would reach the ground as much sooner than the other, as it exceeded that other in weight; that is, if it were fifty times as heavy, it would fall with fifty times the velocity. Galileo appealed from Aristotle to ob- servation, and maintained that, with the exception of a very slight difference, occasioned by the opposing air, both bo- dies would reach the earth in equal times. This proposi- tion was rejected as false, and scowled on as presumptuous ; so to demonstrate its truth, he took his opponents to the famous tower of Pisa, and let fall two weights from its sum- mit ; yet with the evidence of their eyes to the equally rapid descent, with the simultaneous sounds still ringing in their ears, the Aristotelians turned sneeringly and unbelievingly away, quoting the stagirite ! Through such thick clouds of error, prejudice, and bigotry, difficult indeed it was, for the light of science to pierce, and if now and then a ray of truth, from some bright and independent genius, struggled through the enshrouding darkness, it was like a solitary star on a dreary night, rendering " darkness visible." The Greeks having settled it in their own minds that a circle is the most perfect of figures, concluded that the movements of the heavenly bodies must be performed in exact circles, and with uniform motions, when the plainest observations demonstrated the contrary. "In the sixth century, Cosmas Indopleustes gravely taught, that the earth was an oblong plane, surrounded by an impassable ocean ; an immense mountain in the form of a cone, or sugar-loaf, placed in the north, was the centre, around which sun, moon, and stars daily revolved ; the shape of this mountain, and the slanting motion of the sun, THE ARISTOTELIAN PHILOSOPHY. 15 accounted for the variable length of the days, and the changes of the seasons. The heavens were supposed to be an immense arch, one side of which rested on the earth, and the other on two mighty pillars beyond the sea ; un- der this vault a multitude of angelic beings were employed in o-uidino- the motions of the stars."—(Account of Lord Bacon's Novum Organon Scientiarum, p. D.) In the sixteenth century, Gerolamo Fracastora, in his Homocentrica, considered one of the best productions of the day, maintained that all the stars are carried round the earth, fastened to solid concentric spheres, and to prove the necessity of such agency he " reasons" thus : " The plan- ets are observed to move one while forwards, then back- wards, now to the right, now to the left, quicker and slower by turns; which variety is consistent with a compound structure like that of an animal, which possesses in itself various springs and principles of action, but is totally at variance with our notions of a simple and undecaying sub- stance, like the heavens and heavenly bodies. For that which is simple is altogether single, and singleness is of one only nature, and one nature can be the cause of only one effect; and therefore it is altogether impossible that the stars of themselves should move with such variety of motion. And besides, if the stars move by themselves, they either move in an empty space, or in a fluid medium like air. But there can not be such a thing as empty space, and if there were such a medium, the motion of the stars would occasion condensation and rarefaction in different parts of it, which is the property of corruptible bodies, and where they exist some violent motion is going on ; but the hea- vens are incorruptible, and are not susceptible of violent motion, and hence, and from many other similar reasons, any one who is not obstinate may satisfy himself that the stars cannot have any independent motion."* Such were * See life of Galileo Galilei, by Drinkwater. 16 THE BACONIAN PHILOSOPHY. the loose assertions, rash assumptions, and wild imagi- nings, dignified by the name Philosophy. Men strove to explain phenomena by reasoning on their own conjectures, by hypotheses fanciful as fairy tales, and, at the best, by a loose application of general principles, drawn with reck- less haste, and presumption, from a few ill-observed facts. This was the prevalent mode of philosophising. Had such speculations and reasonings been merely the occasional ebul- litions of wayward minds, to adduce them as characteristic of the philosophy of the ancient and middle ages, would be as unfair as it would, in after times, to adduce the anti- phrenological tirades of the present day, as characteristic of the philosophy of the age in which we live. At the commencement of the seventeenth eentury appear- ed Lord Bacon, one of the most remarkable men the world has produced. With " his supreme and searching glance, he ranged over the whole circle of the sciences," detected the ab- surdities of the schoolmen, and exposed them with a vigor- ous and unsparing hand. He dethroned the Aristotelian idol which had forages received the blind fealty of a world, and, fortunately for science and humanity, attempted not to substitute an idol of his own, but pointed to nature as alone worthy of homage. "Man," said he, in the opening sen- tence of his immortal work, " the servant and interpreter of nature, understands and reduces to practice just so much of nature's laws as he has actually experienced, more he can neither know nor achieve." Now this experience Ba- con maintained must be acquired by observation. To ob- serve facts, then, is the first great business of the investiga- tor. Facts may be divided into the presented and pro- duced. The first being such as nature offers to our obser- vation without any aid or interference of ours ; the second being such as occur in consequence of our putting in ac- tion, causes and agents over which we have control. In- stances of the last class are usually called experiments, and their production and observation Lord Bacon signifi- THE BACONIAN PHILOSOPHY. 17 cantly terms " asking questions of nature." Thus the increase of size in the human head, from infancy to adult age, is a fact presented to our observation. But the division of the anterior root of a spinal nerve, for the purpose of observing the loss of motion, is a produced instance or expe- riment. It must be remembered, however, that if facts bo well scrutinized and verified, they are of equal value, whe- ther presented or produced : but the former, are almost the only ones employed in phrenological investigations. Observation, then, being the only true means of laying a foundation for the discovery and establishment of truth, we should dismiss from our mind, all preconceived notions of what should be or might be, and tr^y carefully to ascertain what is. This rule was neglected by Ludovico Dolci and others who maintained that the cerebellum must be the seat of memory, because its low and out of the way situa- tion so admirably fitted it for a mental store-house. It was adhered to by Gall, when, neglecting the assertions of those who maintained that mental capacity ought and must, at birth, be equal in all, he observed and maintained that vast differences do in reality exist. But we must bear in mind that isolated facts are of small value. They must be brought together carefully and pa- tiently; must be rigidly scrutinized and verified, compared and classified, for the purpose of ascertaining some relation of sign and power, cause and effect, general principle, quality, or mode of activity. To achieve such results is, indeed, the great object and triumph of the Baconian phi- losophy. By such observation, comparison, and classifica- tion, it has been discovered for example, that a certain state of the barometer indicates a certain elevation above the level of the sea ;that increase of heat causes bodies to ex- pand ; that all the individual plants of the crow-foot tribe are more or less acrid and poisonous ; that the sun modi- fies the moon's influence on the tides. Or, to take another ?eries of examples. By this method it has been ascertain* 2* 18 THE BACONIAN PHILOSOPHY. ed that a large skull indicates a large brain, and that a large brain causes a large skull ; that persons having a brain weighing but one and a half pounds are invariably idiotic ; that a predominant coronal region gives a general tendency or disposition towards virtue, and that education has the power of modifying the constitutional tendencies of our nature. The fundamental error of ancient philosophy was the no- tion that a general cause must be first divined or conjectured, and then applied to the explanation of particular pheno- mena ; they perceived not the plain but momentous truth, that a general fact is nothing else than a fact common to many individuals, and consequently, that the individual facts must be known, before the general fact can be stated. Hence, instead of first ascertaining by direct observation, the relative velocity of two descending bodies differing in weight, then of two others—persisting with new experiments until enough of instances had been observed to justify an assumption of uniformity, Aristotle first assumed a gross error as a general fact, and then inferred it of any two bodies whatever. His reasoning was correct, but his pre- miss was false. He attended to logics but utterly neglected induction. But, besides pointing out the true method of investiga- tion, the Baconian philosophy furnishes a number of tests by which we may know when two facts bear to each other the relation of cause and effect, or of sign and power. These are, 1. " Invariable connection." 2. " Invariable negation of the effect, with absence of the cause." 3. " Increase or diminution of the effect, with the increa- sed or diminished intensity of the cause." It further teaches us that, " we are not to deny the exis- tence of a cause in favour of which we have a unanimous THE BACONIAN PHILOSOPHY. 19 agreement of strong analogies, though it may not be appa- rent how such a cause can produce the effect."* For example, suppose a dark line be observed invariably to exist on the forehead of man, and on the heads of all such animals as sing, or recognize the melodious succes- sion of notes, and to be invariably absent from the heads of such animals as do not sing, or manifest such recognition. Again, suppose the musical faculty to be possessed by dif- ferent individuals, of the same species, in different degrees. A long line being invariably accompanied by great musical power, and a short line by feeble musical power, the power varying in strength in proportion as the line varied in length. Here we should have that " invariable connection," that " invariable negation of the effect, with absence of the cause," and that, " increase or diminution of the effect, with the increased or diminished intensity of the cause," which would unavoidably lead us to recognize one of the pheno- mena as the cause or sign, and the other as the effect or power, notwithstanding that we might not be able to con- ceive how a dark line, and the musical talent, should be so related. Now what is here supposed of the black line, is de- monstrably true of a certain portion of the brain, with this advantage, that the brain is admitted by all to be an ade- quate material, or proximate cause of mental manifestation. The organ of tune is developed in all animals which have the musical faculty, and undeveloped in all such as have it not. In such as have it, the organ and faculty are always directly related in size and power. To pretend, with some, to trace all the magnificent discove- ries of modern times to the Novum Organon, as to the foun- tain whence they sprung, would be erroneous. Ere Bacon appeared, the art of printing had been diffused ; men had commenced to ask the why of all existing institutions, the re- * Discourse on the study of Natural Philosophy, by Sir John Her- schell, Nos. 145 and 148. 20 THE BACONIAN PHILOSOPHY. formation had shaken the ancient empire of superstition to its foundation. John of Salsbury, Roger Bacon, Gilbert, and Copernicus preceded him ; Galileo and Kepler were his con- temporaries. The Novum Organon must, therefore, be con- sidered as a manifestation, rather than a cause, of the philo- sophic spirit which, about that time, simultaneously burst forth. We must remember, too, that Gilbert, Galileo, and others had recognized the inductive, as the true method of investigation, before the appearance of Bacon's great work, as Gall did afterwards, before knowing of its existence. But, though the principle of induction had been recog- nized, to Bacon belongs the great honour of placing it, by his noble ardour and giant power, in deserved pre-eminence, as the true, the only method in which nature can be so ques- tioned, as to induce her to reveal her hidden agencies and laws of action. He destroyed for ever, the philosophic pre- tensions of those who essayed to explain natural pheno- mena by reasoning on conjecture. And, by showing the nobleness of their employment, who were laboriously en- gaged in minutely investigating and comparing particular phenomena, he forced the curl from the pedant's lip, and the scowl from the bigot's brow. It may be truly said that the dawn of the new philosophy had before appeared, but that " day waited" for Verulum. As the glory and utility of logic depend on its not being merely a mode of reasoning, but the mode in which all cor- rect reasoning must be performed,* so do the glory and * Sec Elements of Logic by Archbishop Whately, book iv. chap. I. To those who, with Menage, define logic to be " The art of talking unin- telligibly on things of which we are ignorant," I would recommend a perusal of the above admirable work. Logic has been abused by its pre- tended friends, and has therefore been denounced. Thus it is ever; the world, in its hurry to condemn, stops not to discriminate between the true uses of a thing, and the purposes to which it is applied ; but visits upon the poor abused fact, or principle, the punishment due only to its abusers. Thus has it been with Phrenology. Many, for lucre's sake, THE BACONIAN PHILOSOPHY. 21 utility of the Baconian method depend on its not being merely a mode, but the mode in which all discoveries must be made and established. By induction we ascertain the truth or falsehood of premises ; by logic, whether, from the premises, the announced conclusion is fairly deduceable. By the former we become acquainted with the previ- ously unknown, by the latter we draw particular conclu- sions from general propositions, the truth of which is ac- knowledged. By means of the inductive philosophy, man, in these lat- ter days, has been able to draw aside the veil of the inner temple, and become on " intimate terms with nature." To it, chiefly, do we owe our superiority over the dark ages, for it cannot be supposed that all at once the human intellect gathered vigour, and emerged from childhood to manhood. No ; it had lost its way, and become " in wandering mazes lost," and though vast powers were often times displayed, yet as they were displayed in weaving webs of subtlety and conjecture, nothing was achieved. Like the arts of the posture master, the displays of intellectual power were won- derful, but of small profit, and, by enlightened reason, could be accounted only as " fantastic tricks." The induc- tive philosophy brought men back to the true path, and in that path, advancement was not, as before, a departure from truth, but progress in it. No wonder, then, that we have surpassed our fathers, for, as Bacon well observes, even " a cripple in the right way may beat a racer in the wrong." To this philosophy, then, do we owe the establishment of Phrenology, a seience pregnant with more important influ- have dragged our noble science through the mire, by pretending to teach what they have never learned, and to determine the value of develop- ments, of the significance of which they were ignorant. Phrenologists have ever been the first to warn the community against these self-styled friends, but worst of foes, and yet, in public and in private, have the cru- dities and mal-practices of these men been identified with the cause of Phrenology. DR. GALL S CHARACTER. ences than the revelations of Galileo, of Harvey, or of Newton ; making known as it does, the material instruments of mentality, unfolding as it does, the moral and intellectual constitution of man, and exposing as it does, the secret springs of thought and impulses of action; furnishing man with a middle term, which will enable him, as it were, to throw his own and external nature into one mighty syllo- gism, and educe human duty and human destiny. The day is not far distant when it will be acknowledged by all, that no doctrines were ever established on a more extensive induction of rigidly scrutinized and verified facts, than were those of Gall. The length of time which he allowed to elapse between their dawn and promulgation ; his entire devotion of life and property to their investiga- tion ; the bold but truth-loving spirit; the profound, com- prehensive, discriminative, and practical understanding, every where manifested in his writings, place him at the antipodes of those speculative geniuses, who spend their lives in weaving webs of sophistry for the entanglement of human reason. To make this evident, to show in a man- ner satisfactory to all candid minds, that phrenology is a discovery, not an invention, that its doctrines are but the crowning stones to pyramids of facts, is the object of the present essay. From his earliest youth, Francois Joseph Gall, remarked that his brothers and sisters, his play-fellows and school- mates, manifested great diversity of disposition and talent, notwithstanding similarity of education and external cir- cumstances. Some were remarkable for their attachment to, some for their disregard of truth ; some were peaceable others quarrelsome ; some modest, others arrogant; some shone in composition, others had a harsh dry style ; some excelled in calculation, others could not learn or compre- hend the multiplication table. He remarked, too, that there was great uniformity in the character of each indi- GALL'S FIRST ORGANIC DISCOVERY. 2J vicinal. No one remarkable for goodness one year, be- came remarkable for wickedness the next; no one remark- ably arrogant and rude, did he ever know to become very humble and complaisant. He was thus impressed with the notion, that the dispositions, or original tendencies of the mind, are innate. At the age of nine years* he first noticed a connection between prominent eyes and verbal memory. With the cause of that prominence he was then unacquainted, but afterwards ascertained it to be the predominant size of a certain cerebral convolution, which, by pressing on the pos- terior part of the superior orbital plate, pushed the eye out- wards. This was the first observation which led the youthful philosopher to seek for external signs of the mental faculties. And let not a smile of incredulity play upon the lips be- cause of Gall's early age. Mozart began to compose at the age of four years. Handel, almost as soon as he could speak. Colburn, at six, astonished the world by the ra- pidity with which he performed intricate arithmetical cal- culations. At twelve, Pope wrote his " Ode on Solitude." At thirteen, Wren had formed an ingenious machine to represent the course of the stars. At sixteen, Pascal pub- lished a work on conic sections. At the same age, Michael Angelo had executed works which were compared to those of antiquity. Newton, at twenty-five, had completed some of his most brilliant discoveries, and originated all he ever made. So true is the observation of Gall, that " from in- fancy man announces the character which will distinguish him in adult age." Nor let the seemingly trifling observa- tion which he first made excite derision. It is the glory of genius to detect, in the every day phenomena of life, the clews to mighty principles. Thus, Pythagoras, from listening to a blacksmith's hammer, made a most bril- liant discovery in acoustics. Galileo deduced the use of the * Chenivix. 24 FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS OF PHRENOLOGY. pendulum, as a pulse and time measurer, from observing the oscillations of a lamp, swinging from the cathedral roof at Pisa. From noticing the phenomena presented by soap bubbles, Newton caught the first hint to some of his great- est optical discoveries, and from noticing the fall of an ap- ple, he was led to unravel the subtle bond of the universe. It would be pleasant and instructive to follow Gall throughout his career of doubt, and difficulty, and dis- covery, and persecution, and noble self-reliance, and ulti- mate triumph ; but space will not suffice, and I must hasten to show, more in detail, the spirit and mode in which phre- nological investigations have been prosecuted, and the kind of evidence on which phrenological doctrines rest. As preliminary to this, let us state some fundamental truths of phrenology, referring to the lectures for the proofs on which they rest. 1. The mental powers of man are innate, and their talents and dispositions are discoverable by observation. 2. By means of the brain, all the mental powers arc manifested. 3. The mental manifestations result from various dis- tinct mental powers ; and ought, therefore, to have then- seat in distinct parts of the brain. 4. Men differ much in their power of manifesting the various mental qualities ; and brains differ much in size and form. 5. The outer surface of the head so nearly corresponds to the outer surface of the brain, that the size and form of the latter, are indicated by the size and form of the former. 6. By a comparison of mental manifestations in indi- viduals of all varieties of age, station, talents, and disposi- tion, with their cerebral developement, the seats of various mental oigans have been clearly ascertained. 7. Size, other things being equal, is the measure of power; consequently, phrenologists are able to tell from LOVE OF YOUNG. 25 the size of an organ, its power of manifestation ; and from the energy of its manifestation, its relative size. I said that I would show more in detail, the spirit and mode, in which phrenological investigations have been prosecuted, and the kind of evidence, on which phrenologi- cal doctrines rest. To do this, I shall adduce the proofs of an organ, which may be readily observed. Perhaps none has been established by such an overwhelming ac- cumulation of facts, as that of Amativeness ; but, for obvious reasons, the facts are inadmissible in this essay. I, there- fore, refer the professional reader to Gall's article contain- ed in the third volume of his work, " Sur les Fonctions du cerveau, &c,"—but, more especially, to the late work of Mr. Combe, on the same subject ;* and proceed to show the sort of evidence, on which we rest our belief concerning the seat of that organ, by which the love of young is mani- fested. I deem it better to exhibit at length, and in order, the chief proofs of one organ, than to mention promiscu- ously some of the proofs of several;—for one organ being proved, the fundamental principles of phrenology are es- tablished; and these being established, the details will readily make their way to the convictions of men. In doing this, I shall make a free use of phrenological writings. * On the Functions of the cerebellum, by Drs. Gall, Vimont, and Brous- sais, translated from the French, by George Combe, with additional cases by the translator. Published 1838, by Maclachlan and Stewart, Edin- burgh; Longman and Co., and Simpkin Marshall and Co., London; and Marsh, Capen and Lyon, Boston. 3 26 LOVE OF YOUNG. LOVE OF YOUNG. C The organ of this faculty was established by upwards of three thousand observations.) Fig- 1: Fig. S. Love of Young, small Love of Young, large. Location of the organ of the Love of Young. Let the reader feel along the middle line, at the back part of the head, towards the base of the skull, and he will recognize a small bony projection; below this point lies the organ of amativeness ; immediately above it, and on each side of the middle line of the head, lies the organ of the love of young, forming, generally, a single protuberance occupying both sides of the line. When predominant, a= in the second of these figures, it gives to the posterior part of the head a drooping, overhanging, appearance. To the anatomist, I may remark, that this organ lies on each side the falx cerebri, and rests on the tentorium. Discovery of the organ of the Love of Young. Dr. Gall observed, that in females the upper part of the iZZTtVheTd ^^ --^and"natural inferred, that the brain beneath this part was the probable LOVE OF YOUNG. 27 seat of some quality which is stronger in woman than in man. The question then arose, of what quality is it the se&t'i For five years he kept the subject continually in mind, adopting various opinions, all of which, he saw reason to discard. At length he noticed, that the crania of monkeys, in this particular part, bear a striking resemblance to those of wo- men, and he inferred that the cerebral part lying under this prominence, was the probable organ of a quality, which wo- men and these animals equally possess in a high degree. He held the more tenaciously to this idea, because, from the organs he had before discovered, he felt sure that this region was not the seat of any superior intellectual or moral faculty. He often pondered on the qualities which he knew the monkey tribe to possess, and, at length, in a happy moment, during the delivery of a lecture, as he re- collected the extreme love of young, which is so char- acteristic of these animals, the thought flashed upon his mind, that this might be the long sought quality. He hastily begged his class to retire, hurried to his cabinet, commenced to examine and compare all the skulls he pos- sessed, and found the same difference to exist between male and female skulls in general. The idea which had struck him appeared the more plausible, from the close proximity of this organ to that of the instinct of propagation. All sub- sequent observations confirmed its correctness. The Love of Young exists throughout the animal kingdom to a greater or less extent. We can hardly turn our attention to any part of the animal kingdom, without being greeted with the manifest- ations of this delightful feeling. Insects, fishes, and the amphibious animals, seek to deposit their eggs in a place of safety, whence the young may obtain ready egress, and be able to find food. The savage crocodile cautiously steals 26 LOVE OF YuUNG. forth, and deposits her eggs in the sloping sand bank, where the sun's rays can have full power, carefully trying to cover them in such way as to prevent their discovery. Certain spiders carry their eggs in a little sack on their back, which they never part with except on the most pressing emergency. The cricket forms winding passages to its nursery, and keeps sentry around it. If an ant hill be destroyed, with what earnestness the little inhabitants collect the eggs and larva?, and deposit them in a place of safety ! The wasps and bees may at other times be approached without excit- ing their anger, but in the season of their young they be- come dangerous. With what activity they nourish the in- fant bees, with what fondness they lick and caress them, with what courage they defend them! Then with what perseverance do the birds cover and hatch their eggs, with what assiduity do they feed and protect their young, what alarm they manifest when their brood is threatened. They cling to their little ones despite hunger and cold, and are sometimes found dead, having in vain attempted to screen them from inclement weather. The cuckoo is often quoted as destitute of this feeling; but, inasmuch as she carefully deposits her eggs in the nest of some bird which will hatch them, and supply the infant brood with worms, she evi- dently possesses it, though in an inferior degree. In the mammalia, the love of young, is the most active and imperious of the instincts. When the fox, cat, or squir- rel has the least suspicion that its habitation is discovered, it immediately removes its offspring to another asylum' However cautious the fox may ordinarily be, it becomes rash and dauntless when it has whelps to succour. When their young are in danger, beasts of prey become truly ter- rific ; and even the hind and female roebuck forget that they are unarmed, and rashly precipitate themselves on the enemy when their fawns are in peril. Monkeys are so fond of the young, that they bestow their caresses on chil- dren even, who may be so unfortunate as to fall in their LOVE OF YOUNG. 29 way. The strength of this feeling in the human species, need not be told. It cannot be denied, then, that love of young is an innate propensity. The strength of the Love of Young is greater, and the organ larger, in females than in males In many species of animals, the male takes very little interest in the young; this is the case with the bull, horse, stag, wild boar, and dog, all the females of which, are extremely attached to their young ; there have been dogs and horses however, which have sought the young with solicitude, protected them with tenderness, and defended them with courage. Among those animals which live in the marriage state, or remain faithfully attached during life, as the fox, wolf, martin, and polecat; and among most birds, both sexes take great care of the young, still parental love is most conspicu- ous in the female ; in imminent dangerthe father more often escapes than the mother, though, in ordinary circum- stances, this is reversed. Mankind love their young, and take charge of them with common accord, but yet, the love of offspring is much more intense in the female, than in the male, and this dif- ference is manifested from the earliest infancy. The boy wants his whip, horse, drum, or sword ; but, observe the little girl, occupied with her doll, she decks it in fine clothes, prepares for it night linen, puts it into the cradle, rocks it, takes it up, caresses it, feeds it, teaches it, scolds it, threatens it, and tells it stories. When she grows older she takes charge of her younger brothers and sisters, no- thing possesses in her estimation, greater charms than babies.—And, when grown to maturity, and become her- self a mother, with what sweet emotion and gushing tender- ness does she caress her little ones. Well might Gall say, 3* 30 LOVE OF YOUNG. " If I had a city, there should arise in its midst, as an em- blem of domestic happiness, a mother nursing her infant." A most interesting practical example, of the difference in this feeling betwixt males and females, is quoted by Mr. Combe, from Morier's Travels in Persia. " The surgeons of the Embassy," says he, " endeavoured to introduce vac- cination among the Persians, and their efforts at first, were very successful; but, on a sudden, its progress was checked by the government itself. Several of the King's Ferashes, were placed at the gate of the Ambassador's hotel, nominal- ly as a mark of attention to his excellency, but really to stop all women from going to our surgeons. They said, that if the people wanted their children to be vaccinated, the fathers and not the mothers were to take them to the surgeons, by which means the eagerness for vaccination was stopped ; for, we soon discovered, that the males did not feel one half the same anxiety for their offspring, as the women."—Second Journey through Persia, p. 191. We find, in short, in all species of animals, that love of young predominates in the female, and, in exact accordance with this, Gall found that in the skulls of birds, from the smallest to the largest, and in the skulls of the mammife- rous animals, from the shrewmouse to the elephant, the part before described is more developed in the female than ini the male. The plates of Gall and Vimont, well illustrate this fact and any one may be convinced of it by observation. The organ of amativeness, situated in the cerebellum, is greater in the male than in the female ; that of the Love of young, is greater in the female than in the male, and by the difference in these organs alone, Gall could tell, when a brain was presented to him in water, whether it were that of a male or female. The difference in form, in man, is manifest, in the foetal cranium. The skulls of women are, by this difference of developement, readily known from those of men. LOVE OF YOUNG. 31 The Ijove of Young varies in intensity in animals of the same species, and the same sex, and the organ differs ac- cordingly. Many domestic animals kill and devour their young, though, generally, they are greatly attached to them. Many cows will not suffer themselves to be suckled by their calves; others, if separated from them, low piteously and refuse to eat for several days. The king of quails sits so assiduously, that it is often beheaded by the reaper's sickle. When the building in which there is a stork's nest takes fire, the parents often precipitate themselves into the flames, rather than abandon their young. Some mares have such a passion for colts, that they lead away those of other mares, and tend them with jealous tenderness. There is not a single farmer's wife, who does not know that in- dividual differences exist in this particular, and who can- not point out, in the farmyard, those hens, turkeys, ducks, and geese, that cover their eggs, and tend their young as- siduously, from those which destroy their nests or neglect and abandon their young. The same difference exists in the human species. Some men are passionately fond of children ; this was the case with Burns, in whom this organ was greatly devel- oped, (see outline.) Agesi- Iaus, the warlike king of Sparta, used to ride on a stick to amuse his chil- dren. And Henry the IV, of France, was caught on all fours galloping round the room, with one child on his back, and another flog- ging him with a whip. On the other hand, some women show marked dislike to children, they look upon them as visitations. We see some mothers give up their children 32 LOVE OF YOUNG. with indifference to mercenary hands, while some adopt the children of others, and bestow upon them the most tender cares. " I knew a lady at Vienna," says Gall, " who loved her husband tenderly, who managed the affairs of her house- hold with intelligent activity, but, who sent from home im- mediately after birth, all the nine children of which she was successively delivered, and for years she never desired to see them. She was herself astonished at this indifference, and could not account for it. In order to acquit her con- science, she required that her husband should daily see her children, and attend to their education."—Vol. 3, p. 282. " Dr. Gall," says Mr. Combe, " knew instances of ladies who never felt any interest whatever in their children. I found it difficult to realize this fact, till I met with a case precisely similar. A lady of Edinburgh sent all her chil- dren from home to be reared and educated, and never wish- ed to see them till they were grown, when she treated them not as thougli she regarded them as her children, but as friends and companions. I was not sufficiently acquainted with this lady to examine her head, but a lady of my acquaintance, who was an excellent phrenolo- gist, did so, and found the organ to be remarkably small. The head, like this of a Peruvian, appeared to be truncated in the posterior region." We daily see domestics very fond of children, and others who cannot abide them. We see some who abhor even their good humoured prattle, others who show towards them the utmost forbearance, and sooth their fretfulness with admirable patience and gentleness. Now, in all these cases, the strong manifestation of the feeling is accompanied by a large development of the organ, LOVE OF YOUNG. 33 and a feeble manifestation of the faculty, by a small develop- ment of the organ, the manifestation and development being- proportional. Proofs drawn from the cerebral conformation of infanticides, that the portion of brain before indicated, is the organ of the Love of Young. Drs. Gall and Spurzheim examined the heads of twenty- nine women guilty of child murder, and in twenty-five this organ was very feebly developed.—GalVs Works, Boston edition, Vol. 1. p. 293. One of the twenty-five cases, I here present as an exam- ple. The account will be found in the description of Gall's visits to the prisons of Berlin, and Spandau, published in Nos. 97 and 98 of the Freymuthige, May, 1805, and trans- cribed into Gall's Works, Vol. VI. p. 301. Dr. Gall drew attention to the large organ of destructive- ness, and the absolutely flattened region of the love of off- spring in a woman named Regine During. This woman had had several children, of which she had always secretly (rot rid. She was sentenced to imprisonment for life, yet she showed no repentance, nor remorse, but entered the room, to be examined by Gall, with a serene and assured air The feebleness of child-love could never be the cause of infanticide ; but, when the organ is energetic, it has a most powerful restraining tendency. In four cases out of the twenty-nine above mentioned, the organ was full or large. I will relate one of these also, as it subjected phrenology to what may be fairly called an experimentum crucis. The account appeared in the Journal du Beau Monde, Aug. 1, 1805: Leipsic. Among a number of criminals detained in the prison of Torgau, who were brought to Dr. Gall, a woman was pre- sented, who, deaf to the cries of her infant, aged four years, 34 LOVE OF YOUNG. had drowned him in a river. Dr. Gall examined her; then he took the hand of M. Soder, counsellor at Halle, who happened to be there, and passed it over the back and sides of the woman's head, in order to prepare him for some far- ther observations. The prisoner having retired, Dr. Gall explained to a crowd of persons, who accompanied him, that he had discovered a circumstance very unusual in these cases ; namely, that the prisoner had the organ of maternal love very greatly developed ; that the organ of de- struction was very little so ; that otherwise, she was very well organized, and must have great faculty for learning by heart. The magistrates present, then related to Dr. Gall the following facts. " This person, born of poor parents, whom she lost at an early period, had received hardly any education, when grown up she went to service in the country, and received the best certificates from her masters. Unhappily she was seduced, became pregnant, and the being to which she thus gave life, was the cause of her misery. She was dismissed from her employers, and no one would receive her, she knew not how to maintain herself and her unfortunate in- fant, which she continued to cherish with the utmost tender- ness. At length, a poor villager and his wife, took pity on her lot, received the child into their house, and kept charge of it for three years. The mother again found employment and behaved very well. " The child grew up, and gave great satisfaction to his protector, who loved him with the tenderness of a son, and was repaid with equal warmth. This was enough to set idle tongues busy. A rumour spread that the villager was the father of the child. The good man, conscious of in- nocence, despised these calumnies; but, his wife was dif- ferently affected by them. Hence, resulted altercations so frequent and so disagreeable, that the villager, to obtain peace, sent back the child to its unhappy mother. In vain LOVE OF YOUNG. 35 did she supplicate her employers ; in vain represent that she had served them with exemplary assiduity and fidelity ; she saw herself, on account of this child, again houseless in the severest season of the year. AH the other rich peo- ple treated her with the same harshness, she met with no other poor and hospitable villager. She wandered from place to place, selling her garments to satisfy her hunger and that of her child, finding no where either refuge or succour. The child was wasting away; overcome and enfeebled by hunger and pain, she implored death for this miserable being and herself, as the only relief to their suf- erings. In this struggle, between maternal love for her child, who was almost dying with hunger and cold, and the conviction that its destruction was the only means of saving herself; hopeless of compassion from mankind, in a moment of delirium, she seized the wretched child, and dropped him into the river, where death soon relieved his sorrows. Exhausted by weakness, the mother fainted, and was found in this state; on recovery, she immediately accused herself of the crime, and was arrested. She was condemned to be beheaded, but, on account of the attend- ing circumstances, her punishment was commuted for im- prisonment during life. In prison she behaved with great attention, gentleness, and docility. She learned to read with extraordinary facility, and she seizes with readiness whatever is taught her." In this case, the crime led Gall to expect small love of off- spring and large destructiveness ; he found the reverse, but confiding in the truth of his doctrines, he fearlessly an- nounced the seeming contradiction. How well the recital of the magistrates justified his confidence ! 36 LOVE OF YOUNG. Proofs drawn from a state of disease, in favour of the pro- position that the portion of the brain before described, is the organ on which the manifestation of the Love of Young depends. case i. In the great hospital of Vienna, there was a woman who had a singular delirium. She believed herself to be preg- nant with six children. Gall was told of this, and attributed it partly to extraordinary development of the organ of love of offspring, and partly to its over excitement. The woman died. The skull was sent to Gall, who found this part so very voluminous, that M. Rudolphi, the celebrated physi- ologist, attempted to account for the protuberance, by some supposed pressure.— Gall's Works, Vol. III. p. 285. CASE II. At Paris, Gall professionally attended, for a mental dis- ease, a very amiable and modest young lady, who, after- wards accompanied some friends to Vienna. She had hardly arrived there, before she visited all her acquaintance, and informed them with the most lively joy, that she was pregnant. This declaration, taken in connection with her known character, convinced her friends that she was insane. Her immoderate joy soon gave place to violent anguish, and an invincible and melancholy taciturnity. Shortly after this she died a victim to consumption. Here, again, the organ of the love of offspring was extremely developed, and, during life, this lady had singularly loved children — GalVs Works, Vol. III. p. 286. CASE HI. Gall saw in the insane hospital of Amsterdam, a lady who incessantly talked like the last mentioned one. Her head was small. The organ of the love of offspring being alone very much developed—GalVs Works, Vol III p. 287. LOVE OF YOUNG. 37 CASE IV. A man in an insane hospital maintained that he was about to be delivered of twins. Gall declared that he must have the organ in question very much developed. An exam- ination proved it to be so.—GalVs Works, Vol. III. p. 286. case v. " I have seen," says Spurzheim, " several insane women, who fancied themselves with child, and they had the re- spective organ elevated."—On Insanity : Boston, p. 108. CASE VI. " I saw, April 1836, a woman in a Lunatic Asylum," says Mr. Combe, " who thought her children stolen. She fell on her knees to the superintendent, screaming with agony, and imploring that they might be restored, with a depth of wo, which I could never have conceived it possi- ble to express. In her head the organ was very large." CASE VII. " I attended some time ago," says Dr. Combe, " the mother of a family, in a state of delirium, characterized by intense anxiety and alarm about the supposed murder of her children, and who, on being asked, after her recovery, what were her sensations during the paroxysm, applied her hand to the region of the organ of philoprogenitiveness, and said, that she was conscious of nothing except severe pain in that part of the head. She was unacquainted with phrenology, and never had heard the subject mentioned by me, so that her statement was perfectly unbiassed."—On Mental Derangement: Boston ed. p. 156. Many other cases are on record, in which love of off- spring has been deranged, but, as the development of the organ is not mentioned, they only so far bear upon the present subject, as to show that this feeling may be singly or chiefly affected. Pinel mentions a mother who had been distinguished for great attachment to her family, and whom 4 38 LOVE OF YOUNG. domestic troubles had thrown into profound melancholy. She regarded the food that was offered to her, as the por- tion of her children, and rejected it with indignation.—On Mental Alienation, second ed. p. 296. A native of the South Sea Islands, having had a child taken from her to make a sacrifice to a barbarous idol, went mad, and in consequence, becoming very troublesome, her countrymen killed her.—Burrow's Commentaries, p. 22. Proof that the portion of brain before described, is the organ of the Love of Young, drawn from its growth under excite- ment. It is known, and admitted, by all physiologists, that even after persons have arrived at adult age, the different parts of the body often become enlarged by well regulated exer- cise ; the same occasionally happens in different parts of the brain—thus, Napoleon's head much enlarged in cer- tain directions after he first entered the army. Broussais, the great French physiologist states, that, within two or three years that he was engaged in deep reflection, and ar- gumentative study, his organ of causality so much increased that the difference was perceptible by measurement. Mr. Kirdeyrecords a case in which the attention of a mother was concentrated on her children for a length of time, on account of their sickness, till she began to feel an interest in them never before experienced. This excitement of the love of offspring, was, necessarily, accompanied by increas- ed vascular action in the corresponding organ, and this resulted in the permanently increased development of the part before designated—See Edinburgh Phrenological Journal, Vol. X. No. 51. Here we might rest the case, but, as objections have been made, let us briefly notice them. Objection. A mother's love for her offspring is the result of reason. LOVE OF YOUNG. 39 Answer. " Reason only investigates causes and effects, and decides on a comparison of facts. The mother, while she smiles with ineffable joy on her tender offspring, does not argue herself into the delightful emotion. The excite- ment is instantaneous; the object requires only to be pre- sented to her eye or imagination, and the whole impetus of parental love stirs the mind. Hence a feeling or pro- pensity is obviously the basis of the affection."—(Combe.) Besides, it " often acts in opposition to reason in spoiling children."—(Spurzheim.) And we find it in full energy among the most intellectual of mankind, and the most ferocious brutes. Objection. Love of offspring arises from kindness and benevolence of disposition. Answer. Were this the case, no selfish person should be fond of children; but, persons noted for ferocity and blood- thirstiness, are often strongly attached to their offspring. The Charibs, the most unfavourably or- ganized of human beings, and whom all travellers represent as totally un- regulated either by intel- lect or benevolence, have this feeling decidedly strong, and the organ is as decidedly developed. This the accompa- nying figure will show. Captain Parry says that love of offspring is almost the only amiable feeling that the Esquimaux Indians possess, but that they pos- sess it in a remarkable de- gree. He met and reliev- ed a party of them, who were without food and almost dying with hun- 40 LOVE OF YOUNG. ger; the first thing they did was to feed their children, ne- glecting themselves till they were fully satisfied. In them the organ is greatly developed (see outline). Again, this feeling is not less strong in the eagle, or tiger, than in the most gentle and docile of animals. Objection. The love of offspring is proportionate to the feeling of amativeness. Answer. Amativeness is strongest in males, whereas the love of offspring is the strongest in females. Objection. The love of offspring is the mere result of in- stinct. Answer. It may be admitted that love of offspring is an instinct, but then it does not the less require to be manifest- ed through a distinct cerebral organ. Objection. " A mother does not love her infant, because she has a protuberance, but because it makes, or has made, •. prv: of her happiness."—Journal of the Empire, and DictiP-i... of Medical Sciences, Vol. XXI. p. 210. Answer. Children make a part of her happiness, because her organization fits her to receive pleasure from them. The proper activity of an organ being always pleasurable* Objection. " A mother loves her child from the pains it has cost her, and the dangers she has been exposed to on its account."—Journal of the Empire. Answer. Like causes produce like effects. And for the same reason, she should love a dog because it had bitten her, a bee because it had stung her, or a horse because, by its vicious turbulence, it bad endangered her life. Objection. But, we find mothers who love one of their children, much more than the others ; how can this be ex- plained on the supposition of love of offspring depending on a blind impulsion ? Answer. Phrenologists always take the whole organiza- tion into consideration. A mother will naturally love that child most, which is most pleasing to her other faculties. Independent, of this, however, Mr. Scott, Mr. Combe, and LOVE OF YOUNG. 11 other phrenologists have remarked, that the direction of the feeling bears a reference to the weakness or helplessness of its objects, that " the mother doats with the fondest delight on the infant in the first months of its existence, and her solicitude and affection are bestowed longest, and most in- tensely, on the feeblest member of her family." Objection. Love of offspring is manifestly a modification of self-love. Answer. Then should parental affection be weak, in pro- portion as generosity is strong ; and strong, in proportion as generosity is weak ; which is evidently not the case. We have now shown that the organ of the love of young is always present, and that the corresponding feeling is al- ways present; that the organ is largest in females, and that the feeling is strongest in females ; that the size of the organ varies in animals of the same species and sex, and that the strength of the feeling varies correspondingly ; that when the manifestation of the feeling is disordered, pain is felt in the organ ; that where hallucination of the feeling exists, the organ is generally very large ; that in child murderers, it is generally very small; that when the feeling has been called into long continued manifestation, the organ has increased in size; that such is the intimate correspon- dence between manifestation and development, that where one is known, the other may be inferred. Here we close our case, deeming the evidence adduced more than suffi- cient to establish our position. We now say to the antiphrenologist, there is, there can be no way to avoid our conclusions, except by showing that we have borne false witness, and to attempt this, you will have to question nature, who, if questioned, will, we know full well, confirm the truth of our testimony. Until you have S- questioned nature, maintain not tha we are false, because you are ignorant; that light exists not, because you refuse to see. The King of Siam, ac- cused the Dutch traveller of falsehood, for affirming, that, in 4* 42 ADVICE TO INVESTIGATORS. Holland, water sometimes becomes solid. You accuse us of falsehood, for maintaining that the mental faculties are manifested through distinct cerebral organs, the power of which may be proximately estimated from cerebral devel- opment. You blame the King of Siam for injustice— though the congelation of water was entirely at variance with his experience, and beyond the range of his observa- tion—yet denounce us, though our proofs are numerous as the heads of men ! To the sincere seeker after truth, we would earnestly re- commend observation. Do not, we pray you, sit down to argue against facts when you may so readily observe. Such a course is as useless as it is absurd. The organ which has been described, is one of the most easily distinguishable. Compare then, with reference to this point, the heads of your male and female acquaintance, especially the heads of such as manifest the feeling strongly, and such as mani- fest it weakly. Compare the skulls of males and females in anatomical collections, and the skulls of animals of vari- ous species, and of both sexes. Do this candidly, nay, with prejudice if you please, so that you do it carefully, and our word for it, the sneer and shrug of pedantry, or self-conceit, the denunciations of bigotry, and the forebodings of weak- ness and superstition will never be able to uproot the con- viction from your mind, that phrenology is true : and being true, is it not of God, the fountain of all truth ? Having satisfied yourself of one fact, proceed cautiously but perse- veringly, and human nature will gradually unfold itself to your mental vision, in all its beautiful simplicity ; your views of man will be enlarged, of providence corrected, and of the great moral teachings of Christianity demonstrably confirmed. It appears to me that the » Jra medio tutissimus ibis," or middle course principle, has been much more lauded than tt deserves. A middle course! where is there such a course ? To a greater or less extent, whatever is not right THE MIDDLE COURSE PRINCIPLE. 43 is wrong—whatever is not just is unjust—whatever is not honourable is dishonourable—whatever is not temperate is intemperate—whatever is not true is false. Now, the path of right, of justice, of honour, of temperance, of truth, is not a middle, but the narrow and only path of true philoso- phy and virtue. In medio tutissimus ibis is gently syllabled forth, and individual heroism becomes withered. And to take a firm stand for some broad and momentous, but un- popular principle, urge its importance, and attempt its pro- mulgation, is considered sufficient proof of hallucination. The absurdity of the " middle course" men, is finely illus- trated by their expressions concerning phrenology ; you hear them remarking every day, " The general principles are no doubt true, but the details are ridiculously absurd." Now, as a general truth is merely a truth common to many individuals, if the details be false, the general principle must be so too. It is as impossible that any accumulation of falsities should constitute atruth, as that the simultaneous infliction of various torments should harmonize into exqui- site delight. It may be truly said, that the light of every natural truth exists at all times in the atmosphere of mind ; but, as the natural light seems not to exist till the eye receives it, so the light of truth seems a nonentity, till it meets with some human mind, which has a correspondence with itself. It exists from creation's dawn, but not till then does it become known. From this mind it shines forth as from a sun ; and as natural light is affected by the body on which it falls, and the medium through which it passes, so as the light of truth radiates to other minds, it becomes bright- ened, dimmed, or darkened. Thus, the truths of phrenology had ever existed, but had never been clearly recognized till the coming of Gall. In him they found the fittest medium perhaps,that ever was ; he gave himself to their reception with singleness of heart, and to their transmission with un- paralleled ardour. His light radiated to Spurzheim and 44 THE RECEPTION OF NEW TRUTHS. Combe, and became increased and purified ; to Cuvier,and it became dimmed jtoGordon, and it became a baleful and affrighting glare. Blessed is he who receives the light, and transmits it purified to his neighbour. But awful is the conduct of him, who turns the light of truth to the dark- ness of error, prejudice and superstition; who, being made a recipient of good, becomes a transmitter of evil. Is it true 1 is the only rational question on any scientific proposition; and the answer must be either in the affirma- tive or negative. Suppose a proposition to be false, to de- cide that it is so without investigation, is childish and pre- sumptuous. The really laudable thing is the search, and the impartial manner of conducting it. But how rare this attention and impartiality! That the world is slow to practice goodness, all allow, it is almost equally back- ward to receive light. Every individual seems to concen- trate his thoughts, and limit his view, to a certain sphere. Some spheres are greater, indeed, than others, but it is true of almost every man, that if you try to draw his atten- tion to something beyond his particular sphere, he is roused to passion, by what he is pleased to deem impertinent in- terference. Men, like dogs, seem each to have a bone to which they are paying exclusive attention. Try to with- draw that attention, and you are rewarded by a snap and a snarl. And as in the case of the dog, so in that of man, the scraggiest bone is generally the most fiercely clung to, and the most vigorously defended. Let it not be supposed that we admire men in proportion to their facility of belief, we hold credulity in low estima- tion. Let it not be supposed that we admire those who pass from a first, or second lecture, stoutly declaring themselves to be phrenologists. It would be as modest to declare themselves astronomers, becatise they had learned that there is only an apparent, not a real, daily revolution of the sun round the earth ; or, to declare themselves geometricians, because they had learned that " two lines which are parallel DR. VIMONT. 45 to a third, are parallel to each other." What we do admire, is a mind imbued with the love of truth and goodness. What we ask for, is rigid scrutiny, candid investigation, and that men will not decide against us before examining evidence. Grant this, and we fear not the result—for, whoever examines, believes. This is confirmed by the whole history of phrenology, and, with a single instance, in illustration, I close the present essay. In 1818, the Royal Institute of France offered a prize, to the author of the best memoir on the anatomy of the brain, in the four classes of the vertebral animals. Attracted by this, Dr. Viinont, of Caen, commenced researches without reference to phrenology ; indeed, he had not read Gall, and had only heard of him as a charlatan. However, as Gall had written upon the subject of his researches, he thought it incunbent r.i him to read his work among others. " Hardl;*" s' ys he, " had I begun to read it, when I found tlit5 iad to do with one of those extraordinary men, whom da-1: envy endeavours to exclude from the rank to which their genius calls them, and against whom it em- ploys the arms of the coward and the hypocrite. High cerebral capacity, profound penetration, good sense, varied information, were the qualities which struck me as dis- tinguishing Gall. The indifference which I first felt for his writings, soon gave way to the most profound veneration." — Introduction, p. 14. Vimont commenced investigations into the phrenology of brutes, and continued them with extraordinary perseve- rance. In 1827, he presented to the Institute, a memoir containing a fragment of the researches on which he had spent so many years, together with two thousand five hun- dred heads of brutes of various classes, orders, genera, and species. Among these, fifteen hundred had belonged to brutes, with whose habits, he had been individually well acquainted before they died or were killed. He presented four hundred wax representations of the brain, modelled • 46 RECAPITULATION. after nature, and an atlas of more than three hundred fig- ures of the brain and cranium, having expended upwards of twelve thousand francs in procuring specimens. The work in which he now sets forth his observations, is illus- trated by an atlas of one hundred and twenty plates, con- taining six hundred figures. I have seen an inferior edition, published at Brussels, but not the work itself. The plates are said to be exquisite, and to surpass, in accuracy of di- mensions, any thing before attempted in anatomy. Dr. El- liotson remarks, that " if the immense mass of proofs of phrenology from the human head, and the facts pointed out by Gall, in brutes, are not sufficient to convince the most prejudiced, the additional multitude amassed by Dr. Vi- mont will overwhelm them."* I have now shown briefly, the aberrations of the human understanding, and the darkness in which it became invol- ved, previous to the recognition of the Baconian, as the only true method of investigation. 1 have briefly endea voured to illustrate that method, its vast utility and impor- tance ; and to prove, that by the rigid application of its rules, the principles of phrenology have been elaborated from nature. I have shown that, in doing this, there has been no mere conjectures, no anticipation of facts, no castle- building, nor hypothecation. But that phrenologists have proceeded in exact accordance with the order of the in- tellectual faculties. Like the bee, which, as Lord Bacon observes, first gathers matter from the fields and gardens, and then digests it and prepares it for use by its own native powers, they have laboriously and carefully gathered facts from a vast field of observation; these they have rigidly compared and classified, have noticed their multifarious relationships, and detected the dependence of mental facul- ties for manifestation on certain recognizable material or- gans and conditions, which they have described and ex- * Elliotson's Physiology, 5th ed. p. 406. • RECAPITULATION. 47 plained. In doing this, I have proceeded, somewhat at length, through the proofs on which we rest our belief in the existence of an organ, by, and through which, alone, love of young is manifested.—Proofs sufficiently strong, if joined with the necessary personal investigation, to sweep away all doubt, and overwhelm all opposition. I have, finally, endeavoured to illustrate the folly and presumption of those who decide without evidence, and erect themselves into oracles. And to impress upon all, that it is the duty of man to listen eagerly for the voice of truth, and whether it be heard in an appeal from without, or be heard, like the " still small voice" of conscience, arising in the hour of thoughtful meditation, from the depths of the soul, that whenever, wherever, however, it be heard, for him it is to follow its dictates with assurance of unerring guidance. SKETCH OF THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND PRESENT CONDITION, OF PHRENOLOGY. On no subject has there been a greater diversity of opin- ion, than on the functions of the brain. It has been re- garded as a sponge, attracting to itself the humidity of the body ; as a cold, humid mass, destined to temper the heat of the heart; as a mere excresence of the spinal marrow ; as a prolongation of the blood vessels; as a collection of confused intestines ; as a gland secreting an impure fluid ; and even Bichat saw in it nothing more than an envelope, destined to secure the parts on the internal base of the brain !* * See Gall. Vol. ii.; Introduction. 48 ANCIENT OPINIONS ON THE BRAIN. From the earliest recorded time however, there have been those whose views more nearly approximated to truth. Though these views can be considered merely as fortunate conjectures, mixed up with gross absurdities. It is remarkable, as Ehrenberg observes,* that 500 years before the Christian era, (and no historical record ascends higher,) Pythagoras, to whom the existence of nerves was unknown, should maintain that the brain is the chief seat of the soul, and the seat of the intellect.! In the treatise on Epilepsy, erroneously ascribed to Hippocrates, it is assert- ed that by the brain we think and perceive, see and hear, and distinguish the base from the honourable, and the bad from the good, adding that its disorder produces frightful dreams, panic terrors, and even mental derangement. $ We find that the multiplex character of the brain has had its advocates. St. Gregory compared the brain to a city with many gates and a number of streets. Nemesius taught that sensation has its seat in the anterior, memory in the middle, and understanding in the posterior ventricles. Al- bertus Magnus, in the thirteenth century, delineated a head on which he indicated the fancied seats of the different mental powers. Peter de Montagnana, and John Rohan de Retham, in 1491 and 1500, published others. Bernard Gor- don, and Lodovico Dolci, a Venetian, published similar de- lineations. Servito, Willis, Bonnet, Boerhave, Haller, and Prochaska maintained the doctrine of plurality of organs in the brain. Again, an obscure notion that some degree of correspon- dence, exists between the size of the head and the mental character, has existed for ages. The ancient sculptors rep- resented their highly intellectual men and gods with large heads, and their mere fighting men, and unintellectual dei- ties with small ones. This was doubtless the result of ob- * On the structure of the nervous system; sec. 1. t Diogenes Laert. viii; 30. t Dr. Craigie. ANCIENT OPINIONS ON THE BRAIN. 49 serving that large size is most frequently the accompani- ment of intellectual and moral greatness. Thus they had to represent Pericles as wearing a helmet to hide the extra- ordinary size of his head, and Plutarch relates of him that he might be seen sitting in the street fatigued by its enor- mous weight; at other times, remarks the biographer, thun- der and lightning issued from this monstrous head with a tremendous noise. Compare the head of Bacchus with that of Jupiter, the one with a relatively small head, the other with an enormous one. Compare the head of Venus with that of Minerva, great difference exists. But the form of the head has also been recognized as bearing a relation to the mental character. It is remarka- ble, observes Dr. Elliotson,* that Aristotle in his Physiog- nomy, though he gives a number of ridiculous signs of character from the face and numerous parts of the body, gives three only from the cranium, but those three are in strict accordance with Phrenology. " Those who have a large head are sagacious, are like dogs ;t those who have a small head are stupid, are like asses; those who have a conical head have no shame, are like birds with curved claws. It is no less remarkable, that one of each of these points is spoken of, by each of the three greatest poets: " His fair large front and eye sublime declare Absolute rule."—Milton's Paradise Lost, b. iv. "Hum. Phys.5ed. 370. t Yet Dr. Sewell says, " While Aristotle regarded the brain as multi- plex, he considered a small head as the standard of perfection.' —(Exam. of Phrenology, p. 121.) On this Dr. Caldwell remarks, " I do not be- lieve that Aristotle has pronounced a small head an evidence of ' supe- rior intellect,' because T have been unable to find the assertion in his ori- ginal works—I mean his works in his native tongue. I have carefully looked through his philosophical writings for the sentiment in question, but looked in vain.—Phrenology Vindicated, p. 30. 50 OPINIONS OF DR. BENJAMIN RUSH. " 1 will have none on't; we shall lose our time And all be turned to barnacles or to apes With foreheads villanously low—Tempest, Activ. sc. 1. Homer gives the basest fellow who went to Troy a conical head—a miserable development of the seat of the moral sentiments. Compare the statue of the Gladiator with that of Jupi- ter, and you will find the one with a low, retreating fore- head, thick neck and wide basilar region; the other with a forehead truly magnificent, piled up and spread out, a worthy ideal temple for the all comprehending intellect of the " father of Gods and the king of men." " The nearest approach," says Mr. Combe, " to Gall's discovery which has come under my notice, is one that the opponents of phrenology have not referred to. It is con- tained in an inquiry into the influence of physical causes upon the moral faculty, delivered by Dr. Benjamin Rush, before a meeting of the American Philosophical Society, held at Philadelphia on the 27th of February, 1786. In this inquiry coming discoveries may be said to have cast their shadows before, and Dr. Rush, by observing and faith- fully recording the phenomena of Nature, has brought, to light several important truths, which have since been con- firmed and elucidated by phrenology, in a manner that evinces, on his part, extraordinary depth and perspicacity of intellect, combined with the highest moral qualities."* In this essay Dr. Rush powerfully maintains, that over the manifestations of the mind, physical causes have a most important influence. Of the peculiar features of Phrenolo- gy, however, the distinctness of the cerebral organs, and the possibility of estimating their force by external develop- ments, he takes no notice. It appears to me, that no author had approached more Inquiry, &c, with an introductory notice, by George Combe, lnhig 1QQO ° ' OPINIONS OF SWEDENBORG. 51 nearly to the doctrines of Gall than Emanuel Swedenborg, the sincere, amiable, and highly moral and intellectual vis- ionary of Sweden, who was born in 1689, and who died in 1772. Throughout his voluminous writings, allusions to the dependence of the mental faculties on material condi- tions continually occur. To enable the Phrenologist to judge of their value, I shall present some of them in a connected form. Brain the organ of Mind. " That the principles or beginnings of life are in the brains is manifest. 1. From sense itself, in that when a man applies his mind to any thing and thinks, he perceives that he thinks in the brain, he draws inwardly as it were, with his eyesight, and keeps his forehead intense, and perceives that there is inwardly a speculation, chiefly within the fore- head, and somewhat above. * * * 4th. That when the brain is hurt either in the womb, or by a wound, or by dis- ease, or by too great application, thought is debilitated, and sometimes the mind is delirious. 5th. That all the external senses of the body, which are the sight, hearing, smell, taste, together with the general sense, which is the feeling, as also the speech, are in the anterior part of the head, which is called the face, and have immediate communica- tion by fibres with the brain, and derive thence their sensi- tive and active life."* "It is there (the brain) also whence come the thoughts, which are of the understanding, and the affections which are of the will."t " For the brain, where the mind of man is, hath respect to the ends of the body."$ * Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, Latin, Amsterdam, 1763. Eng- lish, Boston, 1835. No. 362. t Arcana Ccelestia. No. 4042. I Idem. No. 4054, et passim. 52 OPNIIONS OF SWEDENBORG. "Every one skilled in anatomy may see, that round about the cerebrum, also within it, and in the cerebellum, and in the spinal marrow, there are little spheres like dots, called the cortical and cineritions substances and glands, and that all the fibres whatsoever in the brains, and all the nerves derived from them throughout the body, come forth and proceed from those little spheres or substances. * * * The eye does not see from itself, but by what is continuous from the understanding, for the understanding sees by the eye, and also moves by the eye, determines it to the ob- jects, and gives intensity to sight. * * * In like man- ner the muscles, these not being moved of themselves, but from the will together with the understanding, which actu- ate them at their own disposal; from which considerations, it is evident, that there is not any thing in the body which feels and is moved of itself, but from its origins, in which reside the understanding and will, consequently, which are in man the receptacles of love and wisdom, whilst the or- gans both of sense and motion, are forms derived from them.*" Influence of the Brain on Mental Operations. Many suppose that the perceptions and cogitations of the mind, (as being spiritual things,) present themselves to us naked and destitute of all organized forms ; but this is ow- ing to their ignorance of the formation and offices of the brain, with the various intertextures and convolutions in its cineritions and medullary substances, its different glands, sinews and partitions, and numberless imperceptible fibril- lar, and these invested with its meninges and matres, (dura and pia,) all which afford infinite materials and receptacle- to the mind for the configuration of ideas. Now upon the good condition of these parts depends the soundness of the ologyiNri71adADiVinVW!Sd0m' P- 66' See also Uni-'sal The- oiogy, i\o. rf51, and Arcana Ccelestia, No. 4040. OPINIONS OF SWEDENBORG. 53 intellectual operations, and the regular determination of the toill in this our natural state, so that a man is deemed rational or moral in proportion to the right organization of the mental forms ; for the rational sight of man, which is the understan- ding can no more be said to exist here in this outward world without organs properly adopted to the reception of spiritual light, than the bodily sight to exist without eyes."* Distinct Faculties of the Mind have distinct Organs of the Brain, and Mental activity affects the form of the Skull. " Every man that is born has a disposition to all sorts of evil, which must be checked by education, and as far as possible, rooted out. This is first to be attempted by cor- rection and punishment, then by good society and exam- ple, which leads to imitation; and at last, good is secured upon a true and reasonable religious root. When these conditions are all observed, it is indicated by the beautiful skull of the individual. On the contrary, should the education be neglected, or no sudden misfortune, or opposition, hinder the first outbreakings of evil, or dis- order, the evil afterwards becomes habit, and produces peculiar wishes, both in design and practice, which cause the formation of a badly shaped skull. The cause of the difference of skulls, in such cases, is this : The peculiar distinctions of man, will and understanding, have their seats in the brain, which is excited by the fleeting desires of the will, and the ideas of the intellect. Near the vari- ous spots where these irritations produce their effects, this or that part of the brain is called into a greater or less degree of activity, and forms along with itself correspond- ing parts of the skull."t 8*1 * Treatise on the nature of influx, by E. S. Boston, 1794, p. 72. 11 have not met with this passage in Swedenborg's writings, but it is quoted by Dr. Sewell in his Ex. of Phren., p. 12, from a memoir of Swedenborg, by Capt. Walden; Copenhagen, 1806. 5* 54 GALL A DISCOVERER. On account of these things a few captious writers have endeavoured to lessen, if not destroy, the merit of Gall as a discoverer; an attempt of which that noble spirit now recks not, and which can have no effect on the truth or utility of Phrenology. Still we remind such objectors that Giordano Bruno had said " that it is by no means impro- bable that there are other planets revolving round our own sun, which we have not noticed, either on account of their minute size or remote distance," yet this detracts not from the merit of Herschel. Some had expressed confused no- tions concerning the circulation of the blood; yet we al- low not this to tarnish the honours of Harvey. Bacon sug- gested that there may be some kind of magnetic influence operating by consent between the earth and heavy bodies, the moon and the waters of the sea, the starry heavens and the planets ; yet we strip not Newton of his crown. Ba- con had said that it seemed to him incredible that the rays of celestial bodies can instantaneously pass to us, and that he suspected that the stars are not seen by us in their true situations ; yet we do not consider this as diminishing the merit of Dr. Bradley, the prover of the aberration of light. Bacon conjectured, that air might be converted into water by condensation ; yet Biot's fame is not on this account les- sened. A few farmers had long been acquainted with the efficacy of cow pox matter; yet this did not preclude Jen- ner from a parliamentary reward, and a world's grati- tude. So others darkly guessed,at what Gall clearly pro- ved. He was not content with guessing; he demonstra- ted, by laborious investigation and rigid induction. He travelled from city to city, teaching and extending his ob- servations : he devoted to the task his property, his talents, his energies for many years, steadily pursuing his course amid laughter, mockery and vituperation. Columbus like, he lay not supinely on his back, vaguely conjecturing that beyond the vast and trackless ocean might lie some rich and undiscovered country. No ; despite the » Gorgons, hydras, MEASURE OF MENTAL CAPACITY. 55 and chimeras dire," which seemed to beset his career ; des- pite the storms of opposition, the threats and forebodings of bigotry and superstition, he kept his onward course, nor rested till the anxiously sought for land beamed upon his sight—till he had planted his standard on the new, but no longer unknown, world. Nobly did he win his laurels ; be it our care that not a leaf be plucked from his brow. Those physiologists who admitted the brain to be the or- gan of mind, were particularly anxious to find, by its gene- ral form, or by its relations to other parts, a measure for the intellectual faculties and the moral qualities. Of their at- tempts Gall gives a full account in the second volume of his work on the Functions of the Brain. Aristotle, Galen, and others maintained that, of all ani- mals, man had the most considerable mass of brain, and that this accounted for his superiority ; but the brain of the elephant and that of the whale are heavier. The brain of a whale in the museum of Berlin weighed 51bs. 5oz. ldr.* Cuvier and others have attempted to establish a relation between the amount of mental capacity, and the proportion of the brain to the rest of the body; but the sparrow, the robin, the wren, and several species of monkeys, have, in proportion to the body, a much larger brain than man. Wrisberg and Soemmering concluded that of all animals, man has the largest brain in proportion to the nerves in gen- eral ; but if the monkey, the little sea dog, or many birds, be compared with him in this respect, the result will be in their favour. Cuvier, Soemmering and Ebel considered the relative pro- portion of the brain and spinal marrow as the most infalli- ble measure of the intellectual faculties. But Cuvier him- self admits that there are exceptions to this rule, and addu- ces the dolphin as an instance. Others maintained that the proportion of the brain to the * Miiller's Physiology, London, 1838. p. 815. 56 MEASURE OF MENTAL CAPACITY. face indicates the mental capacity. Plato, and, after him, Bichat and Richerand, maintained that there is a propor- tion between the length of the neck and the vigour of intellect, the shortest neck being the most favourable. " Here," says Gall, " the authority of Plato proves but one thing, which is, that men who enjoy great reputation ought, above all others, to avoid throwing out ideas at ran- dom ; for, however erroneous they may be, they will be repeated for centuries." In order to determine the cerebral mass, Camper drew a base line from the roots of the upper front teeth to the ex- ternal opening of the ear ; then another straight line from the upper front teeth to the most elevated point of the forehead : according to him the intellectual faculties of the man or animal, are in direct proportion to the magnitude of the angle, made by those two lines. Lavater, with this idea for a basis, constructed a scale of perfection from the frog to the Apollo Belvidere. Cuvier furnishes a list of men and animals in support of this doctrine. But the facial angle of the same individual differs immensely at different periods of life ; and Blumenbach shows that near- ly three fourths of the animals known, have the same facial angle. Seeing then, that men were anxiously searching an indi- cation of mental capacity, and that each of the fallacious methods above enumerated was received with favour, and was copied from book to book, and from periodical to peri- odical, the respective proposers receiving in every case an increase of celebrity, on account of their proposition, it would seem likely, a priori, that Gall's discoveries would have been received with acclamation and not have been strenuously, and, in many cases, ferociously opposed and denounced. Men, on this subject, were involved in dark- ness, and when a twilight glimmer, or ignius fatuus faintly twinkled on their searching eyes, they bent towards it with eager gaze, and hailed and blessed it as the harbinger of RECEPTION OF PHRENOLOGY. 57 day; but when day itself beamed suddenly upon them,they closed their eyes and raved, and thus merely exchanged the darkness of midnight, for the darkness of excessive light. The history of the reception of Gall's discoveries, and of the treatment which his works and those of his immediate followers met with, from the authorities in literature and sci- ence, will ever be an interesting chapter in the annals of human civilization. Men talk largely of the superior lib- erality of the present age, and justly perhaps. This supe- riority, however, appears to me to consist in the currency of a number of opinions formerly proscribed, but which have, from time to time, burst the barriers of prejudice and bigotry, rather than in an enlarged spirit of candour to- wards opposing doctrines. To prove our greater liberality, it is not sufficient to show that we receive as true, what our ancestors rejected as false. To ascertain the liberality of Harvey's age, we do not ask whether it believed the doc- trines of Galileo, but how it received those of Harvey. To ascertain the liberality of Newton's age, we do not ask whether it believed the doctrines of Galileo and Harvey, but how it received those of Newton. So to ascertain the degree of liberality which now prevails, men, in after times, will not ask whether we accredited the doctrines of Galileo, Harvey and Newton, but how we received those of Gall. And I see not how the conclusion can be avoided, that to- wards that which is really new in kind, the present age is as intolerant as were past ages. The material rack and faggot are not, indeed, brought into requisition, because philosophers do not wield the power of the rack ; because the conviction that such applications are utterly ineffi- cacious, as suppressive measures, has forced itself, by long and horrible experience, on the minds of men. But when a profound genius, after years of anxious and un- remitting investigation, during which energy would have sunk, but for the glowing and lofty hope of benefitting the human race, brings forward a momentous discovery ; he 58 RECEPTION OF PHRENOLOGY. is met with the dark scowl of insulted pride, and against him the shafts of ridicule, the rack of sarcasm, and the fires of rage and denunciation are brought into full play. He offers to his fellow men an inestimable boon, and they turn sneeringly away, asking what " the babbler" says, waiting not for a reply. Or they mock at him and de- nounce him, and strive to blast his good name. The vio- lent cry out charlatan and scoundrel, while the pretenders to charity, in soft and silvery tones, beg that the poor un- fortunate may be excused on account of his manifest in- sanity. The history of Gall's discoveries proves all this. Well was it that the great master and his immediate fol- lowers could gaze on calmly and forgivingly, repeating that ever memorable saying: " This is truth though at enmity with the philosophy of ages." Gall, on the 9th of January 1802, was commanded, by the Austrian government, to discontinue his lectures on the functions of the brain; in consequence of which, he was forced either to cease his labours, or tear himself from friends, home, and a rich and extensive practice. He nobly chose the latter, and on March 6th, 1805, he left Vienna for ever, accompanied by his young associate Dr. Spurzheim. I shall not dwell on the reception of the new doctrines by the Institute of France, and by the scientific men on the continent of Europe ; but shall make a few extracts from British and American works, as demonstrative of the fore- going remarks. " We look on the whole doctrines taught by these two peripatetics, (Gall and Spurzheim) anatomical, physiologi- cal and physiognomical, as a piece of thorough quackery from beginning to end." Edin. Review. No. 49. " They (the doctrines of Gall and Spurzheim,) are a col- lection of mere absurdities, without truth, connexion, or consistency; an incoherent rhapsody, which nothing could have induced any man to have presented to the public, un- RECEPTION OF PHRENOLOGY. 59 der a pretence of instructing them, but absolute insanity, gross ignorance, or the most matchless arrogance." Ibid. " Such is the trash, the despicable trumpery." Ibid. " The writings of Drs. Gall and Spurzheim have not added one fact to the stock of our anatomical knowledge." Ibid. " Madame de Stael is by far too indulgent to such igno- rant and interested quacks as the craniologist Gall." Lon. Qjuar. Review. " A wild effusion of a bewildered imagination." Dr. Rogct, in the Encyclopedia Britannica. " Fool and phrenologist are terms as nearly synomymous as can be found in any language." Blackwood's Mag. " These infernal idiots the phrenologists." Ibid. " The difficulty with phrenology, is the utter absence of any evidence in favour of it." N. Am. Rev. July, 1833. "Ofthe principal phrenological writers, including Gall and Spurzheim, and with one exception in favour of Mr. Combe, who appears to us to have allowed his natural acute ness and professional tendency to hair-splitting to bias his better judgment—we can say with sincerity, that to judge from their works, they are alike deficient in learning and accuracy." Ibid. " The most extravagant departure from all legitimate modes of reasoning, although still under the colour of ana- tomical investigation, is the system of Dr. Gall. It is suf- ficient to say, that without comprehending the grand divis- ions of the nervous system, without a notion of the distinct properties of the individual nerves, or having made any distinction of the columns of the spinal marrow, without even having ascertained the difference of cerebrum and cere- bellum, Gall proceeded to describe the brain as composed of many particular and independent organs, and to assign to each the residence of some special faculty." Sir Charles Bell, 1836. " Experience shows that the system of organs proposed 60 HAS PHRENOLOGY TRIUMPHED. • by Gall has no foundation." Elements of Physiology, by by J. Midler. M. D.\ translated with notes by W. Baly. 31. D. London, 1838,;;. 837. "M. Magendie is very right, in placing Cranioscopy in the same category, as Astrology and Alchymy." Ibid p. 838. These quotations from Midler receive no comment from the translator and annotator, and must be supposed, there- fore, to express his own views. It would be easy to multiply quotations written in the same general spirit, but these will suffice to show the man- ner in which phrenology was received. For a triumphant answer to the mendacious assertions that they contain, I refer to the reports which I have the honour to present to the public. But I must here respectfully record my dissent from an opinion recently expressed by the most distinguished of American phrenologists, in a late publication, with the general views of which I entirely coincide : " I have said nothing" says Dr. Caldwell "about the future triumph of phrenology, for one of the best of reasons. Its triumph is past; and there will be no renewal of the war which it has sustained with such preeminent success." Thoughts on the true connexion between Phrenology and Religion.—Louis- ville, 1839, p. 19. Again, " Where is the writer of standing, where the periodical of influence and authority, that now contests the truth of these principles 1 they do not exist." Ibid p. 22. What is a triumph T Clearly a victory in which the oppo- nent is completely subdued, and the victor's superiority ac- knowledged. Can phrenology yet claim such a triumph ? A short time ago the London Quarterly treated it as false, in a review of Combe's outlines. And since that, the same Review has said of the accomplished Chenivix, that though "a man of vigorous talents and very considerable learning, he became a sad dreamer in his latter days, he was a devout disciple of the Phrenological quacks." While I now write, HAS PHRENOLOGY TRIUMPHED. 61 a number of the Boston Quarterly Review, comes under my notice, in which it is said that the " ignorance and simplici- ty," betrayed by phrenologists, " can hardly be expected not to excite a smile of pleasantry, or oi contempt, in every man of ordinary discernment and information." (April, 1839. p. 229.) But twelve months ago the respected author himself, from whom I have quoted, wrote answers to two opponents, both of whom, are medical professors. Not six months ago, (Nov. 26.1838, in the Cincinnati Daily News) he challenged three gentlemen, Drs. Mc. Dowel! and Harrison, and Professor Mussey, to controversy, on account of their denunciations of phrenology. But last winter, the professor of Physiology in the Medical college of this city spoke of phrenology as a mere chimera. Every where we meet with denouncers and ridiculers of phreno- logy. Every where is the acknowledgment of our belief received with a half-repressed smile. Surely, this cannot be called a triumph. That phrenology will ultimately triumph, I profoundly believe. That it has done so, I am sorry to see stated. For it has a tendency to slacken the energy, and cool the ardour, of young phrenologists, to be told that "the entire day of actual war has gone by ;" and that the presumption is " they are flocking to gather 'the spoils of victory.'" It is true, indeed, that the principles of phrenology arc proved, but the proof of right no more constitutes a triumph in science, than in war. It was right that Poland should be free, but Russia triumphed. That " by all who have studied phrenology its doctrines are accredited" may be, and is true, but the question is one of acknowledgment, not of proof, and that examination and conviction are in- separable, was as true before Dr. Caldwell himself accredit- ed phrenology, as it is at this day. When the physiology of the brain, as taught by phrenologists, shall be thattaugh* in all medical institutions ; when the mental philosophy de veloped by that physiology shall be the mental philosophy 62 NAMES. of the schools and colleges; when the language of that phi- losophy shall be seen in the current literature, and be heard in the senate, from the pulpit and the bar; then, and not till then, will phrenology have triumphed. And before that auspicious day come, long and arduous must be the struggle. But with pleasure and gratitude do we acknowledge, that that part of the struggle which has passed, has been fat- more arduous than that which now is, or which is yet to come. That whatever accusation may lie against others, the charge of fair-weather championship can never be brought against the Combes and the Caldwells. Craniology was the name early bestowed on the physi- ology of the brain, but Gall thus objects to it: " They call me Craniologist, and the science which I discovered, Crani- ology ; but, in the first place, all learned words displease me; next, this is not one applicable to my profession, nor one which really designates it. The object of my research- es is the brain. The cranium is only a faithful cast of the '.'sternal surface of the brain, and is, consequently, but a minor part of the principal object. This title, therefore, is as inapplicable as would be maker of rhymes, to the poet."* The present name Phrenology, was not first applied by Spurzheim, as Mr. Capen states ;t but by Dr. Forster.f To designate the organs, Gall chose words or phrases ex- pressive of the manifestations which he had observed them to produce, leaving their confirmation or correction to future observers; following, in this respect, the rule generally adopted by scientific investigators^ Spurzheim, conform- * Letter to Baron Retzer, Teutchen Merker, 1798. t Biography of Spurzheim, Boston, p. 160 ^Sketch of Phrenology, by Dr. Thomas Forster, London, 1816. A Guide to Human and Comparative Phrenology, by Dr. H W Dew- pCciL01!0"' 18T,' ^ 14 ReCUi,de9 °—ges'etde PenseesZ Phys.cen, *c. par Thomas Forster, Francfortsnr le Mein 1836 n 12 Elhotson's Blumenbach, 1838, p. 690. P" §See Gall, vol. 4, p. 13. LABOURS of gall. 63 ably with enlarged views of function, changedmany of these names; in some instances, to others more appropriate or comprehensive. In all his changes, however, he was not so successful. I shall now exhibit a conspectus of the principles estab- lished, and the organs discovered, by the father of phrenolo- gy ; together with his proposed methods of classifying the organs, and of classifying men according to organic de- velopment. Also, a brief account of his anatomical dis- coveries, and of the views he entertained concerning the application of his doctrines. He established, 1. That the mental faculties are innate. 2. That the brain is the organ of mind. 3. That the form and size of the brain are distinguish- able, by the form and size of the head or skull. 4. That the mind possesses distinct faculties, and the brain is composed of distinct organs, and that each mental faculty is manifested through a distinct cerebral organ. 5. That the size of each organ can be estimated during life, and that size, other things being equal, is the measure of power. 6. That each organ, when predominantly active, impress- es the body with certain uniform attitudes and movements, called its natural language. He discovered the following organs : 1. Amativeness. 2. Love of Young. 3. Attachment. 4. Propensity to op- pose, or Combativeness. 5. Propensity to injure, or De- structiveness. 6. Secretiveness. 7. Acquisitiveness. 8. Self-esteem. 9. Love of approbation. 10. Cautiousness. 11. Educability, (afterwards discovered by Spurzheim and the Edinburgh phrenologists to be compound, and to in- clude the organ of Individuality and of Eventuality.) 12. Lo- cality. 13. Form. 14. Language. 15. Colour. 16. Tune. 17. Number. 18. Constructiveness. 19. Comparison. 29. Causality. 21. Wit. 22. Ideality. 23. Benevolence. 64 LABOURS OF GALL. 24. Imitation. 25. Veneration. 26. Firmness. 27. Won- der. [See Gall, vol. 5. p. 211.] Gall considered it probable, that there is an organ for the propensity to take food. Dr. Hoppe, Mr. Crook, Mr. Combe, and others, have established it. He supposed, at one time, that love of life is a distinct function, and thought he had discovered its organ ; but sub- sequently considered himself mistaken. A distinguished editor of Scotland, being in conversation with Mr. Combe, remarked, that his love of life was such, that he would ra- ther suffer " eternal damnation," than be annihilated. Mr. Combe contrasting the vivacity of the feeling in this gentle- man, with its comparative weakness in himself, concluded that the difference probably depended upon the different development of some distinct cerebral organ, and from that time searched for an external sign. Dr. Combe, however, has the merit of making the only valuable observation which I have seen upon this subject. [See Phren. Journal, 1826, p, 467, and the succeeding lectures.] Gall considered it probable that there is an organ of at- tachment for life. [Vol 3, p. 306.] Vimont thinks he has discovered its seat. He gave reasons for believing the sense of order to be a distinct fundamental faculty. [Vol. 4. p. 283.] He thought the sense of time must be a fundamental facul- ty. [Vol. 5. p. 98.] He discovered the dependence of attachment to place, on cerebral development, but confounded it with Self-esteem to which it lies contiguous. Spurzheim seems to have cor- rected this error, but the functions of the region between Self-esteem and Love of Young are still in dispute. It has been objected to Gall, that his works are a series of disjointed facts. No assertion can be more incorrect. He did not, indeed, reduce his doctrines to a system of ex- act classification, but he pointed out almost all that is valu- able in the classifications now adopted. Gall was not a LABOURS OF GALL. 65 system maker, according to the usual acceptation of the term. But while he kept assiduously at work, establishing fact after fact, he was keenly scrutinizing the results of his labours that he might discover, if possible, the arrangements of nature's self. Well was he rewarded for his philosophic caution. System gradually " rose like an exhalation" from the seeming chaos. It is believed by the faithful followers of Mahomed, that to form the temple of Mecca, a stone came ready hewn from every mountain in the world, exactly fitted to fill the place it now occupies. So with the phre- nological organs. All at first seemed confused and unre- lated ; but gradually they grouped themselves together, each in its proper place, and formed, before the admiring eyes of the great investigator, a system of wondrous har- mony, and of matchless symmetry and beauty. " After I had a thousand times considered the arrange- ment of organs," says Gall, "I was struck with the follow- ing great truths :— " 1. The qualities and the faculties, which are common tu man and animals, have their seat in the inferior posterior. the posterior inferior, or the anterior inferior parts of the brain. " 2. The qualities and.faculties which man exclusively en- joys, and which form the barrier by which he is separated from the brute, have their seat in those parts which are wanting in animals, and we must consequently seek them in the anterior superior, and the superior anterior parts of the forehead. " 3. The more indispensable the qualities and faculties may be, the more nearly are they placed to the base of the brain, or the median line. " 4. The organs of the fundamental qualities and facul- ties which aid each other, are placed near each other, a? the organ of the love of offspring, and that of the instinct of propagation. " 5. The organs of the fundamental analogous qualities 6* 66 LABOURS OF GALL. and faculties are also placed near each other, as those of places, colours, tones and numbers. " Every one must be struck," he continues, " with the profound wisdom which is manifested in the arrangement and successive order of the organs.—We discover there the hand of God, whom we cannot cease to adore with the more astonishment, in proportion as his works are more displayed before our eyes."* Gall arranges heads into three groups: 1. Those of idiots. 2. Those of men whose talents are only moderate. 3. Those of illustrious men, of vast and eminent genius.t He divides men into six classes in respect to internal, moral, and intellectual forces. 1. Those in whom the faculties proper to man are com- pletely developed, while the animal faculties are feebly de- veloped. 2. Those in whom the animal faculties are greatly de- veloped and the higher faculties but feebly. 3. Those in whom both the higher and lower faculties are considerably developed. 4. Those in whom one, or a few of the faculties are de- veloped to an extraordinary degree, while the others are at or below mediocrity. 5. Those in whom some, or one, of the organs are very little developed, while the others are more favourably de- veloped, and active. 6. Those in whom the organs common to animals and those proper to man, are equally moderate in their devel- opment.| These he elucidates in a brief but masterly manner. The organs of the inferior anterior, and superior anterior portions of the brain he divides into five regions.§ * Gall, vol. iii. p. 130. t Gall, rol. i. p. 179. t Gall, vol. i. p. 251. $ Gall, vol. iv. p. 232. LABOURS OF GALL. 67 The faculties may, he states, be differently classified ac- cording to the view we wish to take of them. 1. Into sentiments, propensities, talents, ancf intellectual faculties. 2. Into faculties common to man and brutes, and facul- ties proper to man. 3. Into fundamental faculties and their attributes.* This last is the arrangement which he prefers and adopts. Gall in 1805, demonstrated the brain to Riel, who ac- knowledged " that he had found more in Gall's dissections of the brain, than he thought any man could have discover. ed in his whole life.t " Having completed my studies in 1804," says Dr. Spurzheim, " I became associated with Dr. Gall, and devoted myself entirely to anatomical in- quiries. At this period, Dr. Gall, in the anatomy, spoke of the decussation of the pyramidal bodies, of their passage through the pons varolii, of elevenlayers of longitudinal and transverse fibres in the pons, of the continuation of the optic nerve to the anterior pair of the quadrigeminal bodies, of the exterior bundles, of the crura of the brain diverging beneath the optic nerves, in the direction which Vieussens, Monro, Vicq d' Azyr, and Reil had followed, the first by means of scraping, the others, by cutting the substance of the brain. Dr. Gall showed further the continuation of the anterior commissure across the striated bodies ; he also spoke of the unfolding of the brain that happens in hydro- cephalus."! From numerous passages in the works of Gall, we learn that he clearly perceived and pointed out the vast importance and comprehensiveness of his doctrines. He did this as early as 1798, in his admirable letter to Baron Retzer, pub- lished in the Teutchen Merker. Again, in 1802, in that noble document, his petition and remonstrance to the em- " Gall, vol. vi. p. 270. t Gall, vol. vi. p. 303. t Spurz. Anat. of the Brain, Boston, 1836, p. 16. 68 COMPARATIVE MERITS OF GALL AND SPURZHEIM. peror of Austria. And in the opening of the sixth volume of his smaller work he remarks : " I have always had a con- sciousness of the dignity of my researches, and of the ex- tended influence which my doctrines will hereafter exercise on all the branches of human knowledge ; and for this rea- son I am indifferent what may be said, either for or against my works." And, immediately afterwards, as if a vision of futurity had just burst upon his sight, he exclaims: " What advances in comparative anatomy, physiology, and comparative pathology of the nervous system ! What fruit- ful sources of undeniable principles for philosophical stu- dies, for the art of selecting, deducing the good from the dispositions of individuals, for directing the education of the young ! What precious materials for a criminal legis- lation, founded upon a complete knowledge of the motives of human actions ! How different will history appear to him who knows how to appreciate it, according to the domi- nant propensities and faculties of those personages, who have been its great actors."* * Gall. vol. 6, p. 2. It is said by Capen, that, in Paris, Dr. Gall reali- zed a handsome fortune. \_Biography of Spurzheim, p. 37.] Dr. Elliot- son, on the contrary, whose means of obtaining correct information seem to have been ample, says, that " Till Gall established himself in Paris, and rose into a very fine practice, (he was physician to many ambassa- dors,) he kept himself very poor from spending upon his phrenological pursuits, all he gained, after absolutely necessary expenses. And although he lived then in the most private manner, with the comforts indeed of a handsome lodging, a carriage, and a garden with a small house in the suburbs, he had saved so little, that had his illness been protracted, his friends, in a few months, must have supported him." [Phys. 5th ed. p. 404.] Gall, in his petition and remonstrance to the emperor ofAustria [1802] says, "3. To this perilous injury to my reputation, involving the loss of all the advantages arising from the hard earned confidence of the pubhc, must be added a consequence deeply affecting my interest. My collect™ of plaster casts,-of the skulls of men and animals, and of the brains of men and animals in wax, has cost me about seven thousand fn*,?' "! I al'eady made ™iy expensive preparations, exceeding in amount fifteen thousand gulden, for a splendid work on the functions COMPARATIVE MERITS OF GALL AND SPURZHEIM. 69 I have stated thus at length our amount of indebtedness to Gall, as the groundwork of the opinion which I now ex- press, with respect, but with the profound conviction of its truth, that from by far the greater part of British and Ameri- can phrenologists, Gall has never received justice. This is not wonderful, indeed, for his works were expensive, and, until recently, entirely in a foreign language. Besides, Spurzheim, and not Gall, introduced phrenology into Britain, and taught it in the United States. His manners were winning, his mind of a high order, and calculated to leave an impression of intellectual and moral greatness. And among those who received the doctrines which he taught, Reverence bowed to him, and Benevolence warmed towards him, and Friendship clung to him, and Conscien- tiousness yearned to discharge, as far as possible, that debt of obligation to which the inestimable truths of which he was the minister, had subjected it, and it was seemingly forgotten that he was not the master. Gall and Spurzheim were used as synonymes, and the latter more often and with more praise than the former. Hence, it appears to me, are we to account for the frequent occurrence of the phrase "founders of phrenology" applied to Gall and Spurzheim, though Spurzheim had no more to do with founding phrenology than the writer of this sentence ; and for such opinions as the following: "Dr. Spurzheim found by observation, that in an individ- ual who manifests great self-esteem, a certain part of the brain is fully developed : and likewise, that the individual carries his head high, and reclining backwards."* " The mind of Dr. Spurzheim, in our opinion, seems to have been cast in a still more metaphysical mould than that of Dr. Gall, who, though he has shown very uncommon of the brain, which has been universally demanded of me: this property will be rendered useless, by destroying my reputation." [See Combe's translation of Gall and others, on the cerebellum, 8fc. London, 1838, p. 334.] * Combe's answer to Roget. 70 COMPARATIVE MERITS OF GALL AND SPURZHEIM. acuteness in his abstract inquiries upon mind, has yet left some points so feeble as to endanger the whole system."* " Spurzheim, the anatomist, who, by dissecting the brain, first displayed to the eye its fibrous and ganglionary struct- ure, and demonstrated the direction and connection of its filaments;"—"the philosopher, who, by the greatness of his own mind, raised craniology and physiognomy to the ethical science, phrenology."! " Gall and his no less illustrious associate."! " From the moment Spurzheim became the associate of Gall, the anatomy of the brain assumed a new character."§ " What a debt of gratitude do we owe to Gall."—" But a still deeper debt do we owe to Spurzheim, whose sagacity, amidst a labyrinth of apparent absurdity, found a clew to guide him to the shrine of Reason—whose resistless under- standing, penetrated the chaos of deformities, exaggerations and abuses, and saw, beneath the crude and shapeless mass, the true design of Omniscient Benevolence."|| " That Spurzheim was superior to Gall as an anatomist, we believe, all admit."fl " Time will prove that the foundation of the science of phrenology was laid by Gall: but, that without the aid of Spurzheim, the superstructure had not been reared."** I might greatly increase the number of such quotations, but these will suffice. Time, the great vindicator, who ever restores to the wronged one the riven spoils, will decide strangely indeed, if he decides as Dr. Stedman indicates: " Without the aid of Spurzheim, the superstructure had never been reared !" Before Spurzheim's engagement, as Gall's assistant, the father of phrenology had thrown down * Chenivix's art. in For. Qua. Rev. t Annals of Phren. Boston, 1835. p. 72. j Translator's preface to Gall's works. § Memoir of Spurzheim, by Dr. Carmichael, p. 4. || Ibid p. 95. H Memoir of Spurzheim, by Nahum Capen. p. 164. ** Dr. Stedman's preface to Spurzheim's anatomy of the brain. Boton, 1835. COMPARATIVE MERITS OF GALL AND SPURZHEIM. 71 the accumulated superstructures of ages, had cleared away the rubbish, had laid the foundation of the new temple broad and deep, and had reared by far the greater part of its massive walls and its everlasting towers. The,faithful student of Dr. Gall's works cannot, 1 think, read some of these quotations without a feeling of regret, that Dr. Spur- zheim's eulogists should have thus attempted to raise their friend at Dr. Gall's expense. A just appreciation of his talents did not require it; for we need not admire Spur- zheim the less, because we admire Gall the more. Let me here then recapitulate the following undeniable facts: Dr. Gall demonstrated the unsatisfactory nature of all existing explanations of mental phenomena, and of the functions of the brain, and the true method of investi- gating such phenomena, and such functions. He alone es- tablished all the great fundamental principles of phrenology. He discovered three-fourths of all the organs yet known. He discovered and developed the natural language of the or- gans. He pointed out, in a general way, the applications of phrenology to insanity, education and jurisprudence. He indicated the mode in which men, and the organs might be classified, and in which investigations should be continued. Finally, he discovered the great leading facts concerning cerebral structure ; in developing which, those who followed him had merely to pursue the same course. In view of these things how can it be pretended that to Spurzheim is due equal, if not superior merit? The ques- tion is not whether Spurzheim had superior mental capaci- ty, though the magnificent cerebral development of Gall must decide that question in the negative, but whether Spurzheim achieved more than Gall. And when so ex- pressed, the answer must rise up in the mind of every man, with a feeling of surprise that the ouestion should ever have been conceived. But I must go one step farther, and with reverence, with a deep feeling of responsibility, but desiring in all things, 72 spurzheim's depreciation of gall. and above all things to be true to my own convictions, must say, that I do not consider Dr. Spurzheim as entirely blame- less. In his works we find none of that beautiful display of gratitude towards his master, which we so often meet with in the works of Mr. Combe and others towards him- self, but on the contrary, a tendency to depreciate. It had been asserted that G all pretended to have discovered an organ of murder. Now Gall never pretended to any such discovery. What he did discover, and what he stated himself to have discovered, was a propensity to kill for food. Yet Dr- Spurzheim countenanced and repeated the accusation. Gall was accused of maintaining that there was an organ of theft; now, he never maintained that theft was any thing else than the abuse of acquisitiveness. Yet Spurzheim countenanced and repeated the accusation. Again, Dr« Gall gives seven tests of a fundamental faculty* which Spurzheim imitates,! and then, without accrediting Gall, adds, that Gall did not determine any of the oreans in con- formity with such tests. But once more, Spurzheim says, " His (Dr. Gall's) talent, and the sphere of its operations had their limits, and since our separation in 1813, Dr. Gall has neither made a new discovery, nor a step towards its im- provement.":}: This, is at least, an inconsiderate statement, for in 1813, Gall was fifty-eight years of age, two years older than was Dr. Spurzheim at the time of his death ; he had been engaged from his youth in intense cerebral action ; his powers had begun to decay ; he had almost fulfilled his destiny ; nothing remained for him to do, but that he should complete the presentation of his labours in due form to the world. Truly did he himself remark, " The foundation of this useful doctrine is established, and it should be as firm as the facts, the materials of which it is constructed. But I am far from believing, that the edifice is finished ! Neither • Gall. vol. iii. p. 134, and vol v. p. 250. f Spurz. vol. . p. 132. t bpurzheim's Notes to Chenivix, note 3. p. 99. spurzheim's merits. 73 the life nor the fortune of one man, can be sufficient for this vast project."* I think it cannot be shown in the annals of the human race, that any man ever laboured more assiduously, or more successfully, than did Dr. Gall, ur that any man ever presented to his race so rich a boon , and is it becoming, to damn him with faint praise, because he did not labour still more assiduously and successfully, and present a still richer boon ? Because he did not show in the decline of life,the vigour of undecaying manhood 1 True it is that Gall's talent, and the sphere of its opera- tions had their limits ; he was finite ; but that limit was as wide as man's ever was. He was one of those few immor- tals who for ever tower in awful majesty above the waters of oblivion, marking the grand eras of human history, far better than years, or Olympiads. But though I cannot for a moment consider Spurzheim as having equal merit with Gall, yet to him also we do owe much. He stood by phrenology firmly, and battled for it manfully, when the most fiercely assaulted; he for a long course of years devoted to its investigation and promulgation, talents and energies of a high order. He corrected some er- rors into which Gall had fallen, and made many observations tending to strengthen and confirm his discoveries. He, him- self, made other discoveries, both in the anatomy, and physiology of the brain. He discovered the organ of Con- scientiousness, that of Hope, of Size, of Weight, of Or- der, and of Time, and proved the organ of Educability to be compound. He was the first to apply, in detail, the doctrines of phrenology to the treatment of the in- sane, and the direction of education; which he did in an admirable manner. For these things his memory will ever be held sacred ; and because of them, he was, on the death of Gall in 1828, deservedly acknowledged by uni- versal consent, as the head of the new philosophy. But • Gall, vol. vi. p. 3. 74 combe's merits. not long did he survive his great master. In 1832, just as America had commenced to be blessed with the outpourings of his vast knowledge and experience, his light was extin- guished. But Mr. Combe, who had long been second only to Spurz- heim, survived. He had advocated phrenology with singular success, and repelled its assailants with manly vigour, so tempered with knightly courtesy, that, while they reeled from the conflict, they could hardly withhold respect and praise from the victor. Perhaps no man has a greater power than he, of reducing an argument into its elements, and of separating whatever is sound, from whatever is fal- lacious. His fine analytical talent acts with the readiness and certainty almost, of a chymical test. The crowning merit of Mr. Combe, however, consists in his complete knowledge of the principles, details, and evidences of phre- nology ; his zealous and masterly application of them to the advancement of human civilization; and in the clear- ness, force and beauty, of his writings, which, while they satisfy the most profound judgment, and gratify the most refined taste, are readily comprehended by the popular mind. His works, therefore, are more extensively read than those of any other phrenologist. One of them, The Constitution of Man, has, I believe, a circulation un- paralleled in the history of philosophical works. In it he has well nigh solved the problem of human happiness and human destiny. In reading it the pulse of the philanthro- pist beats high with excitement, his muscles stiffen with energy, his countenance beams with anticipation, and his eye brightens with hope, as he looks through its pages at the panorama of coming events, and sees Justice and Benev- olence, surely though slowly, subjecting all things to them- selves ; as he sees that the golden age, which poets feigned to be past has yet to come ; that the course of society is not as from noon to night, but as from dawn to meridian day.* *I have before me, "An exposure &c, of Combe's Constitution of VIMONT, UCCELLI, ETC. 7". On Combe then did the mantle descend at Spurzheim's death. Nobly and gracefully has he worn it, and long mav the time be, before this third prophet is summoned from his sphere of usefulness! It would be a pleasing employment to do justice to all who have been engaged in the promotion of phrenology, but my limits would not permit, even if I had ample know- ledge for the task. I can therefore merely say, in brief, that to Dr. Vimont, as before observed, are we indebted for the best work on comparative phrenology; he thinks too, that he has discovered two organs which have not been before alluded to: namely, a geometrical sense, and a sen- timent of the beautiful in arts. Let not the lamented Uc- celli of Florence be forgotten ; who, for expressing his be? lief in phrenology, lost his chair in the University of that city, was persecuted with blind malignity ; to whose re- mains were denied the honours which his students wished to pay, and of whom all biographical accounts were pro- hibited. To Sir George Mc. Kenzie, Mr. Cox, Mr. Simp- son, Mr. Watson, Mr. Scott and other collaborators of Mr. Combe, much credit is due, and also to Dr. Hoppe of Co- Man; being an antidote to the poison of that publication, by Wm. Gil- lispie. Edinburgh, 1837." I advise those who can borrow this work, to do so, and read what has been called "an efficient antidote" (see Mothodist Magazine,) to Mr. Combe's work, by a gentleman " more than a match for Mr. Combe," (see Christian Advocate,) by an antag- onist, in short, "whom it will be difficult if not impossible to vanquish." (See Edinburgh Evening Post.) The chief argument of Mr. Gillispie, may be thus stated: "If Mr. Combe be right, then somebody else is wrong; therefore, Mr. Combe is wrong." I leave the author to throw it into the syllogistic form. But I must really give him credit for the intimate acquaintance he manifests with Hudibras and Don Quixotte, the Dictionary of Quotations, and the flowers of twaddle and vitupera- tion. He also defends the Devil with much zeal, but for what reason I am at a loss to determine, seeing that Mr. Combe no where attempts to depreciate the merits, or interfere with the prescriptive rights of that powerful potentate. 70 DR. ELLIOTSON. penhagen, an able and indefatigable advocate of the phre- nological doctrines. To Dr. Elliotson are we indebted for his early, zealous, and unremitting advocacy of phrenology in England. He has the merit, too, I believe of being the first writer in the English language who has attempted to do full justice to the comparative merits of Gall. Whilst preparing the mat- ter which constitutes this sketch, I received from a friend the doctor's notes to the fifth edition of Blumenbach, which have enabled me to make my own more complete. It was pleasing to find the claims of Gall so ably maintained, but painful to witness the doctor, in the ardour of his zeal for Gall's fame, seem anxious to destroy that of Spurzheim, by presenting all that he thought exceptionable in his works and character, and by keeping out of view nearly all that was good and great. Dr. Elliotson, has, however, been assailed for stating what is indubitably true, regarding Spurzheim's filtering the situation of organs on the bust. The alterations which he mentions, and some others, I pointed out three years ago to the New York Phrenological Society, and to my friends many times since. And also, in November last, to a distinguished phrenologist, who wrote to Mr. Capen, the biographer of Spurzheim, to ascertain whether the chart published in the last edition of Spurzheim's Phrenology, and the bust purporting to be his, and sold by Marsh, Capen 8 Secretiveness W /J.SElfTlMKNTS. Self- esteem J.tne ef aprohation Cautiousness Benevolence Yenerali07i. Firmness Conscientiousness Hope Wonder Ideality e of the subli JHSFJBjLXijKCTUAJ z.pjsRcz/>rrvf-:. /ljchflectiye Comparison Causality 22 Individuality 23 Form 2* Size Zo Weight 26 Colouring 27 Locality 28 Sumber 29 Order 30 Eventuality 31 Tune .*? Tune LECTURES ON PHRENOLOGY AND ITS APPLICATIONS. BY GEORGE COMBE, ESQ. LECTURE I. When a young man, I paid much attention to the pre- vailing theories of mental philosophy, frequently meeting a number of friends for the purpose of discussing the opinions of various metaphysical authors, hoping to obtain some practical views of human nature which would be servicea- ble in my intercourse with society, and in the pursuit of my professional avocations. But all my study proved fruit- less of beneficial results, and I ceased to study the works of the metaphysicians. Hoping to obtain some more satis- factory notions of the mental functions from the physiolo- gists, I attended the lectures of Dr. Barclay. All parts of the body were beautifully described, and their uses clearly explained, till he came to the brain ; then was all dark and confused. He took great pains in dissecting that most im- portant organ, but by a wrong method; he cut it up into slices like a ham, confessing his ignorance of its functions and intimate structure. The physiologists satisfied me no better than the metaphysicians. From the 49th No. of the Edinburgh Review I received my first information concerning the doctrines of Phrenology. 92 RECEPTION OP IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES. Led away by the boldness of that piece of criticism, I re gardedits doctrines as absurd, and its founders as charia tans. For twelve months ensuing I paid no attention to the subject; indeed, such was the unfavourable impression made on my mind by the Review, that when Dr. Spurz- heim came to Edinburgh, I neglected to attend his first course of lectures, and should probably not have attended him at all, but for a fortunate circumstance. Coming out of the supreme court one day, my friend Mr. Brownlee in- vited me to attend a dissection of a brain, to be performed in his house by Dr. Spurzheim. I availed myself of this opportunity of comparing the method of Gall and Spurz- heim, with that which I had seen practised by Dr. Barclay. Dr. Spurzheim did not slice, but began at the medulla ob- longata, and gradually unfolded the brain by following its structure. In ten minutes he completely refuted the re- viewer's assertions, and finally demonstrated his own ana- tomical views. I immediately commenced to attend the second course of lectures of Dr. Spurzheim ; and, independently of his physiological views, I found the explanation he gave of mental manifestations to be greatly superior to any with which I was acquainted. This was a great point gained, and I determined to pursue the study by an appeal to nature. Accordingly I purchased books, and sent to London for a large quantity of casts. They arrived in three huge punch- eons ; and when taken out, they covered nearly the whole floor of my drawing room. But when I saw them there, seemingly all alike, my heart sank within me, and I would gladly have buried them in the ground to get rid of them. However, my friends heard of my collection, and 1 soon had a great many to visit me—some to examine, and some to quiz. When I began seriously to examine them, I soon found that heads apparently alike were in reality very dissimilar. This encouraged me. I pursued my ex- aminations, both of casts and of the heads of living persons, RECEPTION OF IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES. 93 and gradually became firmly convinced of the truth of the new science. The meetings at my house, to hear my ex- planations, became more and more numerous, and in 1822 I was prevailed on to give public lectures. Thus, without the slightest intention on my part, I became a lecturer on phrenology about five years after first attending to the sub- ject. Of this narrative I wish to make two applications. 1. I desire to show you that, in taking up the phrenological doctrines, I was not led away by enthusiasm. 2. I wish to impress on your minds, that it is not by attending a course of lectures that you can become fully acquainted with phre- nology. I deem it impossible to make you so acquaint- ed in a hundred lectures. I come here, not to wage war upon your opinions, but to invite your attention to an im- portant subject; not to convince you of the truth of all the details of phrenology, but to show you how to study and observe for yourselves. I admire not the mental character of those who have too great facility of belief; and Phreno- logy asks nothing but fair play, and candid, scrutinizing in- vestigation. Phrenology means the philosophy of the human mind, as manifested through the medium of the brain. This philo- sophy, as you know, has been opposed with great violence ; and the opposition has not yet ceased. In being so oppos- ed, however, it merely shares the fate of all new truths. " In every society," says Professor Playfair, " there are some who think themselves interested to maintain things in the condition wherein they have found them. * * * Even in matters purely intellectual, and in which the abstract truths of arithmetic and geometry seem alone concerned, the prejudices, the selfishness, and the vanity of those who pursue them, not unfrequently combine to resist improve- ment, and often engage no inconsiderable degree of talent In drawing back instead of pushing forward the machine df science. The introduction of methods entirely new 94 RECEPTION OF IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES. must often change the relative place of men engaged in scientific pursuits, and must oblige many, after descending from the stations they formerly occupied, to take a lower position in the scale of intellectual improvement. The en- mity of such men, if they be not animated by a spirit of real candour and the love of truth, is likely to be directed against methods by which their vanity is mortified, and their importance lessened." Dissertation, part II. p. 27. It is well known that Harvey was treated with great con- tumely, and lost much of his practice, on account of his mo- mentous discovery of the circulation of the blood.* Pro- fessor Playfair, speaking of Newton's discovery of the com- position of light, says : " Though the discovery had every thing to recommend it which can arise from what is great, new and singular ; though it was not a theory or system of opinions, but the generalization of facts made known by experiments ; and though it was brought forward in a most simple and unpretending form, a host of enemies appear- ed, each eager to obtain the unfortunate preeminence of being the first to attack conclusions which the unanimous voice of posterity was to confirm."! But the most striking instance, perhaps, of reckless and unprincipled opposition to newly discovered facts, was the opposition made to Galileo's discovery of the satellites of Jupiter. This discovery was made simply from Galileo's having invented a telescope, by which bodies invisible to the naked eye were brought into view. One who violently opposed him he invited to look through the telescope, and see for himself. " No," said his adversary; " should I look through the telescope, I might perhaps see them ; and then I could no longer deny their existence." This well *Long after the labours of Harvey, when M. Dodart defended, at Paris, a thesis on the circulation of the blood, the old doctors decided, " that the young candidate managed his subject very well, considering the Strangeness of the paradox. t Supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica, part ii. p. 56. THE BRAIN THE ORGAN OF MIND. 95 illustrates the course pursued by the opponents of phreno- logy. The truths of our science are sufficiently obvious; but many fiercely vituperate, yet refuse to look through the telescope. Formerly phrenology was greatly opposed by the reli- gious portion of the community. In this country I have not witnessed much of this. Wherever the religious man places himself in opposition to natural truth, it is deeply to be regretted. All truth is from the same eternal source, whether it be the truth of Philosophy or the truth of Reve- lation. It is impossible to destroy a fact—it remains for ever; and in opposing it, religious men will always be ultimately found in the wrong. That is, in God's name they will be found to have opposed God's truth, and to have set variance between His word and works. I recollect that, in my youth, I was taught to repeat the catechism of Dr. Watts,in which is this question—" How do you know you have a soul ?"—which is thus answered —" Because there is something in me that thinks and feels, which the body cannot do." This answer is founded on an illusion. It may satisfy a child, but it is palpably erro- neous in the eyes of the physiologist. It rests simply on the circumstance that we are not conscious of the operations of the brain; yet numerous facts with which we become ac- quainted by means of observation prove that,without its agency,we can neither think nor feel—that it is in short ths organ of mind. In support of this proposition I may remark, 1. If the brain be not the organ of mind, its uses are un- known. 2. It is better protected and better supplied with blood than any other part of the body. 3. The nerves of the senses are all connected with the brain : it is the recipient of all their transmissions. 4. The nerves of motion and the nerves of sensation are all connected, through the medium of the spinal marrow, 96 THE BRAIN THE ORGAN OF MIND. with the brain: it is the fountain of impulse and the reser- voir of sensation. 5. Certain substances, as opium or ardent spirits, disturb mental manifestations by operating on the brain. 6. Fainting is a temporary loss of consciousness, occa- sioned by recession of blood from the brain. But we have still more direct evidence. Richerand at- tended a woman whose brain had been laid bare. One day he pressed upon it a little more forcibly than usual, and the patient became silent and unconscious in the midst of a sentence. On removing his hand, consciousness im- mediately returned. As no pain was felt, he repeated the experiment several times, and always with the same result.* Similar cases are related by many other writers. Sir Ast- Iey Cooper relates one, of a seaman who had his skull fractured and brain compressed by a fall. For thirteen months he remained totally unconscious. On Mr. Cline raising the skull, consciousness immediately returned. The last thing the man recollected was a sea fight in the Medi- terranean, thirteen months before,t in which he had receiv- ed the injury. But it may be asked how pressure on one part suspends all mental manifestations, if, as phrenologists say, the brain consists of numerous organs? Let it be recollected that the brain is composed of a pulpy mass, having nume- rous blood vessels ramifying in its substance, and is inclos- ed in membranous sacs, the pia mater and the dura mater. It may be likened to an India rubber bag filled with fluid. Now it is a law of hydrostatics, that pressure made on one part of a fluid affects all parts alike ; consequently, when * Nouveaux Elemens de Physiologie, 1th ed. ii. 195—6. t Lectures of Sir Astley Cooper on Surgery, p. 159. Gall mentions a person who received a wound which penetrated to the corpus callosum, and whenever pus accumulated, he lost the use of the eye of the oppo- site side ; and this blindness disappeared the moment the pus was difl- eharged. Gall. ii. 56. THE BRAIN A CONGERIES OF ORGANS. 97 pressure is made on one part of the brain, all are equally affected. If the integuments be cut, so as to permit effu- sion of blood, total unconsciousness does not take place from a partial injury. " But," say objectors, " how is it that the brain does not manifest structural derangement after death, when the in- dividual has been afflicted with insanity ?" This question was more confidently asked some years ago than now: more accurate investigations have shown that, in the great majority of cases, such derangement is demonstrable ; and if it be not always the case, this is not more remarkable than what takes place in other parts, where there may be derangement or destruction of function, without the anat- omist being able to discover organic change. Thus some poisons destroy life, without any structural alteration being visible in any part of the body. Again, to show that the mind is independent ofthe body, it is said that the mind often fully manifests its faculties to the last moment of life, even in lingering disease. This is not true. It is important to distinguish between functional and organic derangement and simple weakness. Suppose I cut the muscles of my arm across, there would be organic derangement, completely incapacitating me from using my limb. Suppose I should bandage my arm tightly and keep it motionless for six months, at the end of that time I should be able to move it in the usual manner, but not with the usual force; the general structure would remain the same, but the size and power would be greatly diminished. So when the brain is but secondarily affected, the mode of manifestation may remain unchanged to the end of some fatal malady, butthe energy will be greatly lessened. Thus, in disease ofthe lungs, the brain merely suffers, like other parts, sympathetically, and from badly oxygenated blood. At the commencement ofthe disease, the mind may act with its usual vigour. During the second month the patient thinks but little on subjects requiring mental energy; 9 98 THE BRAIN A CONGERIES OF ORGANS. during the third month he chooses novels or light reading; during the fourth month he prefers newspaper paragraphs, as requiring little continuous attention ; and afterwards he ceases to read altogether, and does little more than answer simple questions ; yet, because he answers these questions correctly, his mental manifestations are said to be unim- paired. No mistake can be greater. Again, when a part is actively exercised, blood rushes to it with rapidity ; and if the brain be the organ of mind, there should be to it a rush of blood during mental action; and this is found to be the fact, as many writers testify. Dr. Pierquin observed a patient in one of the hospitals of Montpelier, part of whose skull had been removed. In dreamless sleep the brain lay motionless within the cra- nium; when she was disturbed by dreams, it was agitated and protruded; in dreams reported by herself to be vivid, it was more protruded, and still more so when she was awake and engaged in active thought, or sprightly conver- satian. Every act of the will, every flight of the imagination, every glow of affection, every effort of the understanding, is, in fact, manifested by means ofthe brain. And this pro- position is acknowledged by the greatest anatomists. " We cannot doubt," says Dr. Cullen, "that the operations of our intellect always depend upon certain motions taking place in the brain." Dr. Gregory remarks that " although memory, imagination and judgment appear to be so purely mental as to have no connection with the body, yet certain diseases which obstruct them prove, that a certain state of the brain is necessary to their proper exercise, and that the brain is the primary organ ofthe internal powers." Blu- menbach, Magendie, Arnott, nay, even the Edinburgh Re- view, in the 94th number, as well as numerous other au- thorities, give like testimony. It is worthy of observation, that the general notion of the mind's independence of the body is quite modern, the THE BRAIN THE ORGAN OF MIND. 99 offspringin fact of philosophical theories sprung up, chiefly, since the days of Locke. Shakspeare and the older writers frequently speak ofthe brain as implying the mental func- tions ; and, to the present day, the notions of the vulgar are more in accordance with nature than those of polite schol- ars of the old school. Thus a stupid person is called a numbskull, a thick head, or said to be addle-pated—badly furnished in the upper story: while a talented person is said to be strong-headed, long-headed—to have plenty of brains ; a madman is said to be wrong in the head— touched in the noddle. We find, then, that reason, fact, the testimony of the best physiologists, and vulgar notions, all testify that the brain is the organ of mind.* And what does this proposition imply ? Clearly that the state of the brain must greatly influence the mental mani- festations, and that the perfection of those manifestations must depend on the perfection ofthe organ. How import- ant, then, does the study of the brain become ! I beg to state that in Edinburgh my Phrenological course occupied fifty lectures of one hour each. Your time will not permit this. I therefore limit my lectures to sixteen. As in sixteen hours, however, I should be unable to do jus- tice to the subject, I must beg your attendance on two hours of each evening. But, inasmuch as two hours' continuous attention would be fatiguing, I shall always pause for five minutes at the end of the first hour. And I hope you will stand up during that time, and disengage your attention from the subject. In this way you will be greatly relieved, and be enabled to bear the two hours' exertion much better, than would at first appear likely. * The usual termination of incurable mania proves that its immediate seat is the brain. When it continues many years, the cerebral mass is diminished, the cavity ofthe cranium contracts, and incurable dementia is the result. Gall, vol. ii. p. 123. 100 THE BRAIN A CONGERIKS OF ORGANS. I hope you will attend faithfully to the observations which form the introduction to my course. You will, hereafter, find that they have a most important practical bearing on the subject of Education. We next come to the question—Does the mind in every act employ the whole brain, or are separate faculties ofthe mind connected with distinct portions ofthe brain, as their respective organs 1 Is the brain single or multiplex 1 That it is multiplex may be proved by a number of con- siderations. Analogy would lead us to this conclusion. Thus, in all ascertained instances, different functions are never performed by the same organ. We have, for in- stance, a distinct organ for each sense, and it appears to me clear that to feel puffed up with pride, and to feel great deference for others, are manifestations of functions as dis- tinct as those of smelling and hearing. Some parts appear to have several functions, but, on analysing them, each func- tion is found to be performed by its peculiar organ : thus, the tongue moves, feels and tastes; but then it contains a nerve of motion, a nerve of feeling, and a nerve of taste ; and it may be deprived of any one of these functions, without the other two being impaired. But the most interesting example of distinct functions being dependent on distinct organs, is fur- nished by the spinal marrow. This is composed of two double columns, the anterior being appropriated to motion, the posterior to sensation. This, Sir Charles Bell clearly proved in the following manner: he cut an anterior nerve at its root in an ass, and the parts through which it ramified lost the power of motion, though feeling remained unim- paired. He cut a posterior nerve in another, and the parts through which it ramified lost the power of feeling, but re- tained that of motion.* Their distinctness is now univer- * Several years before Bell's experiments were heard of, Dr. Spurz- heim published the following observation. " It has been observed, that, in palsy, voluntary motion and the sense of touch are both destroyed at the same time, but that sometimes the one has ceased while the other THE BRAIN THE ORGAN OF MIND. 101 sally acknowledged—and here I would make an important observation: it has been objected to phrenology, that to the organs of the brain we cannot assign distinct bounda- ries ; that we are unable to take a brain and isolate the or- gans with the dissecting-knife, showing precisely where one ends and another begins. But, mark, this objection holds equally against the distinct functions of the different parts of the spinal marrow: that one part is appropriated to nerves of sensation and another to nerves of motion, no one doubts ; and yet to point out the precise boundaries of the distinct nervous columns is absolutely impossible. Different faculties ofthe mind appear in succession: thus, affection for the parents or nurse appears before veneration, or the sense of justice ; and the power of perceiving colour and form before the reasoning power. I am told by mothers, that children manifest fear when two or three months old. If the brain be a single organ, these powers should be simul- taneously developed ; but this is not so, and the only true explanation seems to be, that the brain is composed of dif- ferent organs, which come to maturity at different times. Dr. Johnson, indeed, remarked that the doctrine of a varie- ty of faculties was absurd, ' for,' said he, ' the man who can walk east can certainly walk west.' But it may be remark- ed, that walking east and walking west are but walking— the exercise of a single function ; whereas feeling fear, and reasoning, are quite distinct operations. Again, genius is always partial, which it ought not to be remained. From this it has been inferred, that there are two sorts of nerves. Anatomy has not yet demonstrated them, but I believe them to exist, for the following reasons. The same nervous fibres do not go to the muscles and to the skin, and each of these parts has a distinct func- tion. The nerves which are necessary for voluntary motion cannot propagate the sense of touch, nor the latter the impressions of move- ment," &c. Sur la Folic, p. 26, Paris 1818, and before in his pbysiog nomical system, 1815. 9* 102 THE BRAIN THE ORGAN OF MIND. if the organs of the mind were single.* I have seen it maintained, in one of your periodicals, that genius is the result merely of an accidental exciting cause. Thus, New- ton was made a philosopher by the fall of an apple, and Byron became a great poet because he was lashed by the reviewers and condemned as a poetaster. But like causes nroduce like effects, and how happens it that so many mil- Kons, before Newton, had seen apples fall without ever thinking of any thing but picking them up and eating them 1 And if a lashing be sufficient to produce a great poet, why are not great poets more numerous 1 Indeed, if critical abuse had been sufficient, I should by this time have become a great poet myself. Dreaming can be rationally explained by phrenology alone. Were the brain a single organ, then would all its faculties be asleep or awake together, and, consequently, dreaming be impossible. But this is not so. Cautiousness alone is sometimes awake: then are conjured up all fear- ful thoughts, and the dreams are of ' hydras and chimeras dire.' On the other hand, a number of the intellectual faculties may be awake and the sentiments asleep : then we may have a vision of friends long dead, but totally free from that awe or fear which their presence would inspire were not the feelings dormant. Were not the brain a congeries of organs, partial idiocy could not occur ; yet, that it does occur we well know. Here is the cast of an idiot whose intellectual faculties were extremely small, but whose self-esteem was large; and not- withstanding his utter imbecility, he had a very comforta- ble opinion of his own importance. I knew an idiot on the banks of the Clyde, who could play on one or two musical instruments, yet, in other respects, he was so utterly imbe- cile that he had to be supported by the parish. An idiot * " Genius ordinarily commences its great works, as it were by in- stinct, without being aware of its own talent." Gall. i. 158. THE BRAIN THE ORGAN OF MIND. 103 in Liverpool, named Jones, manifests great facility in learn- ing languages ; show him a passage in the bible, and he will point out and read the parallel passage in seven or eight other languages. But about the meaning he has no idea. Now if the brain were a single organ this would be the same as if a man had the power of walking east, without having the power of walking west. Indeed, that the brain must consist of a congeries of or- gans, is maintained by distinguished physiologists other- wise opposed to phrenology; as Fodere, and Sir Charles Bell. Such considerations as I have stated, have impress- ed men, in all ages, with belief in the brain's multiplex char- acter ; and particular portions of the head have been as- signed to distinct faculties, from the time of Aristotle. This drawing represents a head published at Venice in 1562, by Ludovico Dolci. Now what is the difference between such an arrangement and the system of Gall? Simply this :— Gall discovered the seat of the various faculties. These older writers considered modes of activity as simple facul- ties, and located them according to a fancied propriety. Here, in the front, they placed common sense, because it seemed the most appropriate place for receiving informa- tion from the eyes, nose, and taste. Fancy they placed on the sides ofthe head, because it has such great facility in flying off in a tangent. Reflection they placed at the back of the bead, because, in reflecting, men throw the mind back on itself. Memory they placed in the cerebellum, be- cause they thought it formed a nice little store-house for the safe and snug keeping of ideas till they were needed. This, you will observe, was making man, not observing him. The brain, then, is not a single organ, but each particu- lar function is manifested by a particular portion of the brain. 104 INFLUENCE OF AGE ON MENTAL MANIFESTATION. LECTURE II. In the last lecture I stated reasons for believing that the brain is the organ ofthe mind, and that each distinct funda- mental faculty is manifested by a distinct cerebral organ. We now come to inquire whether the condition of the brain exercises any influence on the manifestations of mind. Does it matter, in short, whether the brain be old or young, healthy or diseased, fine or coarse, small or large 1 It is certain that a young and immature, or an old and shrunken brain cannot manifest its functions with the vigour and continuity of one in the heyday of life. Thus we see the feebleness of childhood and the imbecility of age. Usually at sixty or sixty-five the painter's touches become feeble, and the poet's fire darkened.* The influence of disease we observe in insanity and other affections. " We are told of octogenarians, nonagenarians, and centenarians, with their mental faculties unimpaired ! as well might we be told of such individuals, with the bloom and elasticity of corporeal youthfulness unimpaired. Men very far advanced in years often manifest much sprightliness, and sufficient vigour, for a short period. But it is necessa- rily short. Exhaustion overtakes them, and compels them to pause, or stop entirely, until their strength is renovated, when they again proceed. In the last years of their lives, Mr. Jefferson and Dr. Priestly furnished striking examples of this. At table, and elsewhere, their mental powers would exhibit themselves briefly, with the apparent vigour and freshness of youth. But exhaustion soon came and constrained them to be silent —sometimes to slumber for a few minutes, when they would wake and join again in sprightly conversation. When in the vigour of life, these two individuals could have maintained for many hours the same degree of mental exertion, which, near its close, would have exhausted them in half an liour. And of every one bowed down with years the same ia true." Dr. Caldwell, Annals of Phren. 1835, p. 409. SIZE, CETERIS PARIBUS, THE MEASURE OF POWER. 105 It is the opinion of phrenologists that size, other things being equal, is the measure of power—that is to say, age, health, exercise, and temperament being the same in two in- dividuals, if in one the mental organs be small, and in the other large, the latter will manifest mind most powerfully. You have all read the pleasing fable of the old man who showed his sons a bundle of rods, and pointed out to them how readily they might snap them asunder separately, but how difficult it was to break the whole at once. Whence arose this difficulty? Clearly from the added rods or fibres producing additional resistance : so it is with living parts. A muscle is strong in proportion to the number of its fibres ; so is a nerve. But suppose an objector to pre- sent a rod of iron of the same thickness as one of the wooden twigs, and insist that to break that single rod was as difficult as to break the whole bundle of twigs before referred to. The answer is obvious. Here the things compared differ in kind and quality. The condition, that size is a measure of power, other things being equal, has been entirely overlooked. Take ten iron rods of like thickness, and you will find, as in the former case, that it is ten times as difficult to break ten rods as to break one. The bee has a very minute brain, and yet it manifests great constructiveness. Now it may be argued, that if size be a measure of power, then should the comparatively enormous organ of constructiveness in man, cause him to manifest the faculty with proportionate energy, which is not the case. But this objection is unsound. The struc- ture of every species of animal is modified to suit its condi- tion, and you can no more compare a bee with a man, than a twig with an iron rod. Correct conclusions can be ob- tained only by comparing animals of the same species. It is to be observed, however, that the more nearly any two species resemble each other, the fitter they become for profitable comparison. Thus, the heads of the cat and tiger, correspond more closely with each other, than those 106 SIZE, CETERIS PARIBUS, THE MEASURE OF POWER. ofthe tiger and sheep ; hence, too, by comparing man with the higher animals, analogy throws on human organization a reflected light, which serves admirably for illustration, though not for proof. Direct observation on man himself is the only evidence on which phrenologists depend, and on such evidence alone their science rests. All animated nature teems with proofs that size is a mea- sure of power. Large lungs aerate blood better than small ones, and large muscles are more powerful than small ones. If a liver with a surface of ten square inches, secrete four ounces of bile, it is certain that, other conditions being equal, a liver with a surface twice as great would secrete twice as much. Bones are large in proportion to the weight they have to support: hence their enormous size in the elephant and the mammoth, a complete specimen of which I saw at Philadelphia—and their strength is always in proportion to their size, other things being equal. But suppose the arrangement ofthe bony matter to differ, then may the same quantity produce different degrees of strength. Thus, if you wished to place an iron pillar weighing ten tons in the centre of this room, for the pur- pose of supporting it, the strength of the pillar would be much greater if you disposed the matter in the cylindrical, than if you disposed it in the solid form. So when nature wishes to give strength to the bones of birds without in- creasing weight, the bone is made of large diameter, but hollow in the middle. It would not do, therefore, to com- pare equal quantities of bone, in one case compacted and in the other arranged cylindrically, inasmuch as the conditions would not be equal. But of two cylindrical bones, containing matter in proportion to their size, the largest would be the most powerful. And of two compact bones, the same would hold good. We have striking confirmation of the principle I am advocating, in the relative distribution ofthe different kinds of nerves. Speaking generally, there are two classes of SIZE, CETERIS PARIBUS, THE MEASURE OF POWER. 107 nerves, those of motion and those of sensation. Now wherever the power of motion predominates in an animal, there are the nerves of motion most numerous ; and where- ever the power of feeling predominates, there are the nerves of sensation most numerous. Thus, in the horse, which is noted for its muscular power, the nerves of motion going to the limbs are one third more numerous than those of sensation. Whereas, in man, distinguished for acuteness of feeling, the nerves of sensation are one fifth more nume- rous than those of motion. The nerve of feeling going to the elephant's proboscis, and ramified on its tactile extrem- ity, exceeds in volume all the muscular nerves of that organ put together. Birds require to rise in the air, which is a medium much lighter than their bodies : Nature, there- fore, to avoid enlarging their muscles,and thus increasing their weight, has bestowed on them large nerves of motion. Power is thus secured by applying a strong stimulus to muscles comparatively small. In fishes, on the contrary, which live in a medium almost equal in density to their own bodies, the muscles are comparatively large, and the nerves small. Thus does nature beautifully adapt the structure of the animal to its condition. We find this adaptation well illustrated by the external senses. Each of these senses is composed of an instru- ment on which the impression is made, and of a nerve to conduct that impression to the brain. Now a lar^e eye will evidently collect more rays of light, a large ear more vibra- tions of sound, and large nostrils more odorous particles, than the same organs if small. And the nerves, ramified in these organs, give intensity of perception proportionate to their extent. The organ of vision affords a most inter- esting example of this, A large eye collects a greater num- ber of rays, and, consequently, commands a greater sphere of vision than a small one. The ox is remarkable for the size of his eye; (hence the term * ox-eyed,' applied to large- eyed individuals;) he consequently commands a large 108 SIZE, CETERIS PARIBUS, THE MEASURE OF POWER. range of space without turning round ; but,as his provent der lies at his feet, his sight need not be acute : according- ly, we find that the optic nerve is not large in proportion. The eagle, on the contrary, soaring as it does to an immense height, needs not a large eye to give it range of vision, but it needs intensity of vision, that it may perceive its prey at a great distance. We find its eye, therefore, of small size, but of great keenness : the optic nerve is enormously large. It does not, as in man, form a mere lining membrane to the posterior chamber, but, according to Des Moulins, is composed of folds hanging loosely into the eye, and aug- menting largely both the nervous surface and nervous mass, giving that great intensity of vision, which particularly dis- tinguishes this bird of prey, and enables it to discover its quarry at immense distances.* The external ear is for the purpose of collecting the vi- brations of sound, and we find the lower animals to have large trumpet-ears,which man imitates, when he wants to hear distinctly, by using an ear-trumpet. In man, the olfactory nerves spread over twenty square inches ; in the seal, over one hundred and twenty—and in this animal the sense is so acute that the hunters have to approach him in the teeth of the wind. There are two dogs, the greyhound and pointer: the first follows the game by its eye, and the last by its smell. The nose of the first * Des Moulins is incorrect. On a retina so constructed it would be impossible for the rays of light so to arrange themselves as to form a perfect image. What he calls folds of the retina, are nothing more than the marsupidm, a membranous, puckered, fanlike body, which arises from the back ofthe eye, passes through a division in the retina, and is inserted into the vitreous humour, not far from the foremost or inner edge ofthe crystalline lens, out of the way of direct vision. The marsupium is thin, vascular and erectile, and assists in so affecting the position ofthe lens, as to accommodate the eye to variations of distance. With the aid of my ingenious friend Dr. W. C. Wallace, I recently examined the structure of the eagle's eye, and therefore give the above correction with confidence. The principle in the text is not, of course, affected by this anatomical error. SIZE, CETERIS PARIBUS, THE MEASURE OF POWER. 101) is narrow and pointed; that of the last broad and extend- ed. The sheep excels man in the acuteness of smell, and accordingly, while in it the nerve is thicker than this pen- cil, in man its size is not greater than pack-thread or ti thin whip-cord. The mole is remarkable for the acutene?- of its smell, and the nerve is very large. It is remarkable for the feebleness of vision—thus, ' as blind as a mole' k< a common saying. Corresponding with this is the smallnos- of its optic nerve. Lord Jeffrey, in an article which he published in the Edinburgh Review, opposed this doctrine, of size being n measure of power. " The proposition," he says, " is no less contrary to the analogy of all our known organs, than to gen eral probability. Grandmamma Wolf, in the fairy talc, does, indeed, lean a little to the phrenological heresy, when she has large eyes to see the belter. But with this one ven- erable exception, we rather think that it has never been held before, that the strength of vision depends upon the size of the eye, the perfection of hearing on the magnitude of the ear, or the nicety of taste on the breadth of the tongue and palate." Now it happens that so far as the weight of authority is concerned, the venerable grandmamma Wolf has complete advantage over Lord Jeffrey, and fairly beats him out ofthe field—Soemmering, Cuvier, Monro, Blumenbach, Magen- die, Georget and a host of others, taking her side in the controversy. Blumenbach says: " While animals of the most acute smell have the nasal organs most extensively evolved, precisely the same holds in regard to some barba- rous nations. For instance, in the head of a North American Indian the internal nostrils are of an extraordinary size. The nearest to these in point of magnitude are the internal nostrils of the Ethiopians." Monro primus says : " The sensibility of smell is increased in proportion to the surface ; this will also be found to take place in all the other senses." Suppose that, after these expositions, I were to tell you 10 110 SIZE, CETERIS PARIBUS, THE MEASURE OF POWER. that size has no influence on power in the human brain— would you be disposed to credit the assertion 1 I think not. Here is the skull of an infant; here one of an adult— mark the difference in size. This is the skull of a Swiss; this of a Hindoo—see how large the one compared with the other—and what says history of their manifestations of power? While the one people achieved their independence at an early day, and have maintained it at times against fearful odds, the other have ever been the prey of invaders, and one hundred millions of them are at this moment kept in subjection by forty or fifty thousand Englishmen. Before studying phrenology this last fact was utterly inexplicable to me. The Hindoos are considerably advanced in the arts of civilized life. They have written language, systems of law and religion. And yet, they are utterly unable to contend against a mere handful of Anglo-Saxons. But now the reason is plain, the small comparative size of their brain explains their feebleness. Again, here is the head of a Peruvian Indian, a fair specimen of the race; see how small compared with the European head; and you know that a few Spaniards conquered a nation of them. But again, when the brain is below a certain size, idiot- ism is the invariable result. In the lowest class of idiots, the horizontal circumference of the head, taken a little higher than the orbit, varies from 11 to 13 inches; in a full-sized head, the circumference is 22 inches ; in Spur- zheim's skull it is 221. in SUch idiots the distance from the root ofthe nose, backwards over the top ofthe head to the occipital spine, is only 8 or 9 inches ; in a full sized- head it is 14; in the skull of Spurzheim it is 13^. Let those who deny the influence of size reconcile these facts with their belief. We challenge them to produce a man with a small sized head, who manifests great general men- tal power. " But," say some, " we know idiots who have large THE HAT DOES NOT INDICATE THE BRAIN'S SIZE. 11 1 heads." Our reply is—so do we ; but, then, in these cases, the brain is not healthy. A large leg is usually indicative of strength ; but this is not the case when the leg is large from disease. But though disease be absent, if the size of the brain be very deficient, idiocy is invariable, and men remarkable for great force of character, as Bruce, Crom- well, Bonaparte, Franklin, and Burns, invariably have heads of unusual magnitude. But here allow me to save you from error. Many, after hearing this statement, immediately commence to try on the hats of their acquaintance, and are apt to conclude that the man with the largest hat is the most clever. Now, here is a little bit of a mistake. The hat is the measure only ofthe head's circumference in a part of which he need not be so proud. It does not measure a great part ofthe intellect, and none at all ofthe moral sentiments. Hatters, in seeming an- ticipation of moral improvement, have left in the upper part of our hats, ample room for the moral sentiments to sprout and grow. Sir Walter Scott's hatter told me, that the hat of that celebrated individual was one ofthe smallest which went out of his store. But then the perceptive faculties, which were large in Scott, were not reached by the hat. The up- per and lateral portions of his forehead were only full. Cau- tiousness was little more than moderately, and concentra- tiveness only moderately developed ; and these organs, taken collectively, determine the circumference of the hat. His forehead and coronal region towered high. His head, from the ear to veneration, was the highest I ever beheld; but of these dimensions his hat gave no account. That size has an important influence on the power of man- ifestation, is now admitted even by the Edinburgh Review. In the 94th number appeared a paper written by Dr. Con- nolly, containing this sentence: "The brain is observed pro- gressively to be improved in its structure, and, with refer- ence to the spinal marrow and nerves, augmented in volume more and more, until we reach the human brain, each addi- 112 EFFECTS OF TEMPERAMENT ON CEREBRAL ACTIVITY. tion being marked by some addition to, or amplication of, the powers of the animal—until in man we behold it pos- sessing some parts of which animals are destitute, and want- ing none which they possess." The principle for which we contend being thus establish- ed, we would remark that it is susceptible of a most import- ant application. It is found, in four cases out of five, that in insanity the nature of the derangement bears direct reference to the predominant organ or organs. Some are affected with melancholia; in these the organ of cautiousness will be found large. Some fancy themselves the Deity : in these, self-esteem will be found predominant. Some are furious: in these destructiveness will be found large. These are gene- rally cases of functional derangement; and by examining the heads of the insane, I can generally determine with ac- curacy the nature of their derangements. But a small organ may become diseased, and sometimes does so. Most fre- quently, however, the derangement is structural: thus, I have seen a small organ deranged by a spiculum of tone growing into it, and by the pressure of a fungous deposi- tion. Let us now inquire into the circumstances which modify the effects of size. The most important of these is the con- stitution ofthe brain ; and the question naturally arises—do we possess any means of ascertaining this constitution'? We do, in the observation of what are called the temperaments, which are four in number—the lymphatic, the sanguine, the bilious, and the nervous —each of which is accompanied by a different degree of activity in the brain. The temperaments are supposed to depend upon the condition of particular sys- tems ofthe body: the brain and nerves being predominantly active seem to produce the nervous temperament; the lungs and blood-vessels being constitutionally predominant, give rise to the sanguine ; the muscular and fibrous systems be- ing predominant, give rise to what is called the bilious, but which should be called the fibrous temperament; and the EFFECTS OF TEMPERAMENT ON CEREBRAL ACTIVITY. 113 predominance of the glands and assimilating organs give rise to the lymphatic. The temperaments are indicated by external signs :* 1. The lymphatic is indicated by roundness of form, soft- ness of muscle, fair hair, pale skin, sleepy eyes, and inex- pressive face. In this temperament the brain, and all other parts ofthe system, are feeble in action, slow and languid. The system seems one great manufactory of fat, and has the appearance of an overripe gooseberry. 2. The sanguine is indicated by a well-defined form, moderate plumpness, firm flesh, chesnut hair, blue eyes, and ruddy, fair complexion. There is great fondness for exercise and intolerance of muscular quiescence. The brain par- takes of the general activity. 3. The bilious is indicated by black hair, dark skin, mode- rate stoutness, firm flesh, and harsh features. It gives great power of endurance, or bottom, as the jockeys call it, 4. The nervous is indicated by fine thin hair, small mus- cles, thin skin, paleness of countenance, and brightness of eye. This temperament gives great vivacity of mental ac- tion.t ^ These temperaments are, however, seldom found pure. We have a mixture of the nervous and bilious as in Lord Brougham, giving great activity and endurance. As an ex- ample of Brougham's power of continuous activity, I may mention ^circumstance, which I have heard mentioned * See Plate of the temperaments. t One ofthe great causes why men of talent frequently leave no gifted posterity, is, that they form alliances with women of low tempera- ment, in whose inert systems their vivacity is extinguished; and, on the other hand, the cause why men of genius often descend from fathers in whom no trace of etherial qualities can be discovered, is, that those men were the fortunate husbands of women of high temperament, and fine cerebral combinations, who transmitted these qualities to their offspring Ed. Phren. Jour. No. 31. The effects of temperament pervade all parts ofthe body; and hence a fine or coarse skull or skin, is an indication that the textures of the brain and the nervous system, and of the muscles are similar. Ibid. 114 EFFECTS OF TEMPERAMENT ON CEREBRAL ACTIVITY. among his friends in Edinburgh. Brougham was engaged in a Court of Law all day; he went from the Court to the House of Commons and remained there till two in the morn- ing ; on going home he wrote an article for the Edinburgh Review, by the time of finishing which he went to the Court; from the Court he again proceeded to the House of Commons, where he remained till some time in the morning —and it was not till the morning of the third day that be retired to bed. During all this time his vigour seemed unabated. The nervous and lymphatic temperaments are not un- frequently combined : this gives alternations of great activi- ty and indolence. It was the combination of Professor Leslie. He would for a day or two apply himself with great vigour, assiduity and success, to scientific studies; it would then seem as though the nervous energy were ex- hausted, and the nutritive system came into predominance; he would sit and eat, and dose and sleep—paying no atten- tion to study for a considerable interval. He would often take a day to go about and attend to any matters not requi- ring much mental exertion ; again would the nervous sys- tem come into predominance, and again,for two or three days, would he apply himself most assiduously to study. Ofthe lymphatic or even nervous lymphatic temperament, I have found few instances in this country. They are more eommon, however, in Philadelphia than in thisSicity, but not nearly so common there as in Europe. The nervous and sanguine temperaments both give ac tivity ; but the first is more of a mental, and the last more of a physical character. The nervous is a grave, thought- ful temperament, the sanguine is accompanied with an ap- pearance of hilarity and hope, there is a peculiar lighting up of the countenance, and tendency to motion. One of the former temperament would rather write a note than walk across the floor ; one of the latter would rather walk the length of Broadway than write a note. FORMER MODES OF INVESTIGATION. 115 Shakspeare admirably contrasts the lymphatic and ner- vous temperaments in the scene between Caesar and An- tony : Casar. Let me have men about me that are fat— Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights. Yond' Cassius has a lean and hungry look : He thinks too much—such men are dangerous. Antony. Fear him not, Ceesar; he's not dangerous— He is a noble Roman, and well given. Casar. Would he were fatur—but I fear him not; Yet if my name were liable to fear, I do not know the man I should avoid So soon as that spare Cassius. It is to be remembered, then, that a large brain may, in fact, be less active than a smaller one if its temperament be inferior. But in judging the relative power of organs, temperament need not be considered, as all the organs of the same head are of the same temperament. In cases of disease great size may be present, and yet the manifestations of mind may be very feeble and imperfect. In this case, size forms no measure of power any more than in the case of a leg affected with dropsy. Now, if the brain be the organ of mind, and different parts ofthe brain manifest different faculties, it cannot be in- different what part is most or least developed, for it is obvi- ous that two brains may be composed of precisely the same quantity of cerebral matter, and yet manifest totally differ- ent qualities. The/or/» of the head, therefore, is not less interesting and important to phrenologists than the size. Before proceeding further with the consideration of this subject however, let us glance at the means which have been used by those inquirers who have preceded Dr. Gall, to ascertain the true philosophy of mind and functions of the brain. By one set of philosophers, the laws of thought have been expounded without any reference to organization. Such 116 ON VIVISECTION. were Locke, Hume, Reid, Stewart, and others. They re- flected on their own consciousness, and they inform us of the result of their investigations, what they have thought and what they have felt. Consciousness does not inform us that the mind manifests itself by means of organs at all, and the connection of the brain with the mind forms no part of their philosophy. With the hope of obtaining some information concerning the functions ofthe brain, the anatomists have cut it up in every possible direction, but no sentiment was ever perceived slumbering in its fibres, nor half-formed ideas starting from its folds. In fact a dissection never yet disclosed the func- tions of any part whatever. Formerly it was very prevalent in France to cut out parts from the brains of living animals, in order to ascertain functions; a practice as absurd as it was cruel. The experimenters proceeded on the supposi- tion that nothing was known concerning the functions of the brain, and yet they expected to ascertain functions, by observing what powers were not manifested when various parts were destroyed. Suppose a musical instrument were presented to one of these operators, and that his object was to discover, by experiments, what sounds it was capa- ble of producing, and by what part of it each sound was emitted. Imagine him to take a hammer and smash, at random, a number of its springs and wheels, and then set the machine a-going. By listening to the sounds emitted, how could he tell what were wanting, when he did not know the whole originally within its compass? and how could he tell by their silence, the sounds which the broken strings were originally calculated to emit. Yet this would be precisely analogous to the procedure of the vivisectors. They are unacquainted with the number of the mental powers, and they destroy several of them at random, that they may find it out. They do not know what particular power is manifested by any particular part ofthe brain, yet they destroy the part to get it to reveal its function. They ON DISEASE OF CEREBRAL ORGANS. 117 break the string of a musical instrument, and then listen to hear what sound it will not emit! We hear of Magendie, and others, cutting away certain portions of the brain in various animals, and that some ani- mals, went forwards, some backwards, some to the right, some to the left, some seemed drunk, some stupid. And then from these experiments, a number of so-called important de- ductions were drawn. But how can deductions, fit to be de- pended on, be drawn from the actions of animals so tortured? Suppose you take a beautiful blackbird and cut through its integuments and skull, and take out a portion of its brain, do you think it would favour you with a song? And be- cause it did not, would you be correct in calling the excised portion of brain the organ of tune? Suppose you take another animal, and serve it in like manner, do you think it would be in the humour or condition to tend and nurture its young ? And because it did not, would it be correct to say that the excised portion was that which manifested love of offspring? Had phrenology been based on such obser- vations, then would it have merited all the obloquy which has been heaped upon it. But because such cruel experi- ments have been performed to overthrow phrenology, they have been lauded as most philosophical! Again, pathological cases have been brought forward to illustrate the functions of the brain ; and sometimes to op- pose phrenology. Now, before you can draw any conclusion concerning the function of a part from a state of disease, you must know the function of the part in health. But as the non-phrenologist is ignorant of the situation of particu- lar organs, he cannot tell, when a certain feeling is deranged, in what organ to look for disease. Nor. when he sees mor- bid appearances in an organ, what faculty was probably de- ranged. To illustrate my meaning, I relate the following circumstance. Mr. N----* was a man highly respected for talent and ' Mr. Conibfr, for the sake of authenticity, mentioned the name, H8 ON DISEASE OF CEREBRAL ORGANS. character: he was at one time minister plenipotentiary to this country, and at another to the court of Constantinople. He lived to the age of ninety-three. Seven years before his death his character commenced to undergo a remarkable change ; from being one of the most amiable and courteous, he became one of the most violent of men. He abused his aged gardener, spit in his face, and threw things at him. He also from being an admirable linguist became unable to use words. When he died, Dr. Abercrombie and Mr. Craig examined the brain, and Mr. N—, being connected by mar- riage with a near relative of mine, I was invited to attend. The medical gentlemen knew, by means of their intercourse with Mr. N—, that he had lost the use of words ; but they did not know, which I did, of the change of his temper. They found an abscess, one inch in length by half an inch in breadth,in the posterior lobe where Combativeness is situ- ated. They conceived this lesion to be connected with his loss of words. I regarded this as connected with his change of temper, and expected to find another injury in the anterior lobe. When Mr. Craig came near the organ of language, I begged of him to dissect carefully. I was an abscess there before he discovered it, I took the probe, and pointed it out to him ; he unfolded it, and it was in the line of the fibres of the organ of language. Mr. Craig published an account of the case, in which he mentioned the large lesion and connected it with the loss of words; he had been unacquainted with the furious conduct of Mr. N. I immediately published another report, stating the conduct of the patient in this respect, and showing clearly the man- ner in which the post mortem appearances harmonized with phrenological doctrines. I repeat, that a non-phrenologist is incapable of reporting pathological cases of the cerebral organs with success. which I deem it proper on this, and like occasions, to suppress, lest pain should be given to individuals in private life with whom the parties men. tioned were connected by the ties of blood or friendship. DR. GALL'S METHOD OF INVESTIGATION. 119 Dr. Roget, an opponent of phrenology, confesses, that " the brain is still as incomprehensible in its functions, as it is subtle and complex in its anatomy." Dr. Conolly, in the 94th No. of the Edinburgh Review, well describes the utter confusion of the anatomists and physiologists, even in late years, when trying to unravel the mysteries of the brain. It is plain, then, that if Dr. Gall could boast no superior method to that of ordinary physiologists and metaphysi- cians, he would have been unable to solve the question, What parts of the brain and what mental faculties are connected 1 He was led, however, to adopt a different and superior mode of inquiry, which will be best explained by relating briefly the history of his discovery. Dr. Gall, from an early age, was given to observation and was struck with the fact, that each individual was dis- tinguished for some peculiarity of talent or disposition. Some of his schoolmates were distinguished for the beauty of their penmanship, some for the elegance, others for the stiffness and dryness of their style of composition. Their dispositions were equally different; and this diversity ap- peared to determine their partialities and aversions. Some manifested a fondness for employments which they were not taught. Some would spend their leisure in painting, some in cultivating a garden, some in carving, some in noisy games. Each individual presented a peculiar character, and Gall observed, that an individual who one year had displayed selfish or knavish dispositions, never became in the next a good and faithful friend. The most formidable rivals of Gall, at school, were such as learned by heart with great facility, and these he noticed had prominent eyes; they gained from him, by their repe- titions, the plnces which he had obtained by the merit of his original compositions. Some years afterwards he changed his residence, and he still found that his school-fellows, to gifted, had prominent eyes. He made the same observa- 120 DR. GALL'S METHOD OF INVESTIGATION. tion on entering the University. Gall could not believe this connection to be purely accidental, but suspected that they stood in an important relation to each other. After much reflection he conceived, that there might be ex- ternal signs for the other intellectual powers, and thereaf- ter all individuals remarkable for any mentai quality became the objects of his attention. Light broke in upon him by an almost imperceptible induction, and by degrees he conceived himself to have found external characteristics, indicative of a decided disposition for painting, music, and the mechanical arts. In following out the principle which had thus presented itself to his mind, he encountered great difficulties. The prevailing notions of the philosophers and physiologists were a continual stumbling-block, till abandoning every theory and preconceived opinion, he gave himself up to the study of nature. He visited prisons and schools, was in- troduced into the courts of princes, to colleges and the seats of justice, and visited every individual remarkable for any particular endowment. During my recent visit to Vienna, [ was informed that such was the ardour with which Gall pursued his inquiries, that he created alarm ; people when dying were afraid lest Gall should obtain their skull, and some left orders in their wills that means should be taken to prevent him. On reflection, Gall was convinced that, without anatomy, physiology must be imperfect; and although he had always supposed the external indications to depend on the brain, he had not gone beyond other anatomists in explaining its structure. But observing a woman afflicted with hydro- cephalus, who manifested an active and intelligent mind, he declared that the structure of the brain must differ from what was generally conceived. From that commenced his anatomical discoveries. Gall did not first dissect the brain and thus pretend to discover the mental organs, nor did he first map out the skull according to his imagination. On DR. GALL'S METHOD OF INVESTIGATION. 121 the contrary, he first observed a concomitance between particular talents and dispositions, and particular forms of the head ; he next ascertained, by the removal of the skull, that the size and figure of the brain are indicated by ex- ternal appearances; and it was only after these facts were ascertained, that the brain was minutely dissected and light thrown upon its structure. Dr. Gall, for the first time, delivered lectures on his sys- tem in 1796, at Vienna ; in 1800, Dr. Spurzheim became a student of his, and in 1804, his associate. When I was in Germany, I saw a collection of books describing the science at different stages of its progress, and also skulls marked at different times; all proving that the organs were discovered in succession. Indeed, I found in this country a most unexpected corroboration of the fact. Mr. Nicholas Biddle, when a young man, and on a visit to Europe, in 1806, attended a course of Dr. Gall's lectures, and was so much interested that he requested Dr. Spurz- heim to mark out the places of the organs on the skull, which the Dr. did. When in Philadelphia, Mr. Biddle presented me with the skull so marked, saying, that I could make a better use of it than he. This is it, and you perceive that there are a number of unoccupied places. You per- ceive that Hope, Conscientiousness, Individuality, Concen- trativeness, Time, Size and Weight, are not marked upon it, they, at that time, being unascertained. So far indeed was Gall from advocating a hypothesis, that in the disjointed items of information which he first presented to the public, there appears a want of ordinary regard for systematic arrangement. A candid and un- coloured statement of facts was all he seemed desirous of furnishing, leaving their value to be ascertained by time and farther investigation. But gradually a system of men- tal philosophy emanated, almost spontaneously, from the seeming chaos. 11 122 VARIETIES OF DISPOSITIONS AND TALENTS. LECTURE III. In order that we may successfully investigate mental powers by means of organization, we must be able, I. To discover the mental qualities of individuals from their actions. II. To ascertain the size of the brain during life. Let us see whether these things are practicable. It is worthy of remark that men familiar with human life and conduct have ever had much practical knowledge of the philosophy which we teach, while metaphysicians have been wandering in the dark. They have observed that one person is very covetous, another cruel, another benevo- lent, another proud, another vain ; that some have a passion for poetry, some for music, some for sculpture, some for the mechanic arts. In their intercourse with society they act on these observations and try to move men to certain courses of conduct by very different appeals. To the covetous they describe the profitableness of the act which they wish him to perform ; to the benevolent its kindness ; to the vain its praiseworthiness. They feel assured, too, that these dis- positions are natural, uniform, and permanent, and never expect that a man prone to covetousness to-day will to-mor- row become very benevolent; that to-day an individual may be deaf to the voice of censure, or of fame, who yester- day was tremblingly alive to every breath that was blown upon his character. As to intellectual endowments, these cannot be similated. To produce a Catalani's burst of melody, you must possess the faculty of music ; to send forth the splendid eloquence of a Chalmers, you must be gifted with his ideality. To VARIETIES OF DISPOSITIONS AND TALENTS. 123 fathom, like Newton, the profundities of science; to soar, like Shakspeare and Milton, beyond the boundaries of sublunary space, requires a mind far different from that which can scarcely grope its way through the daily occur- rences of life, or which sees no glory in the heavens, and no loveliness on earth. ' He has a genius for music ;' ' he has a genius for painting ;' 'he has a genius for nothing,' are common expressions, and express the convictions which experience has produced. Men believe, doubtless, that education may improve any faculty—but not that it can produce genius ; whereas great genius cannot be wholly hidden by any accumulation of difficulties. It is observed, doubtless, that one who seems dull at ten, may be ,a genius at twenty—because a child has not the full-grown powers of a man. But it is not imagined that every boy may be made a genius by any education or in any length of time. We acknowledge that different individuals may follow a line of conduct, the same in external appearance, from differ- ent internal motives ; and that seemingly virtuous deeds are often performed under the influence of selfishness and cun- ning. For example, there were two girls, Mary and Jane, walking in an orchard, and they saw two fine apples lying on the grass. Mary was about to pick them up, give one to her sister and eat the other herself. But Jane checked her and remarked, that as the fruit in the orchard belonged not to their father but to his tenant, they had no right to the apples, and it would be wrong to take them. Such conduct would be considered as indicative of a nice sense of justice, and rare strictness of'moral conduct. But mark these little girls; they go home, and as soon as Mary has sat down to work, Jane steals out, picks up the apples, and eats them both herself. Now her conduct presents a very different aspect, and indicates a disgusting combination of cunning, dishonesty and selfishness. Had you formed your opinion of her character from a partial knowledge of her conduct, that opinion would doubtless have been very 124 THE FORMATION OF THE BRAIN. erroneous. You need therefore to exercise a rigid scrutiny in forming your opinion, but from such scrutiny few indeed are able to veil their true dispositions ; and if there be per- sons who do possess this power of dissimulation, it forms the predominant feature in their mental constitution ; and, as will afterward be shown, is indicated by a particular form of organization. I venture to conclude, then, that the first point is estab- lished in favour of phrenology. Let us now inquire whether it be possible to discover the true form of the brain by ob- serving the form ofthe head. But first allow me to make a few remarks on the formation and structure ofthe brain. In forming animals, Nature seems to have proceeded with as much uniformity as in forming the solar system. -- We find animals continually increasing in intelligence, and as we proceed up the scale, 'the brain,' to use the words of Dr. Conolly, in the Edinburgh Review,' is observed pro- gressively improved in its structure, and, with reference to the spinal marrow and nerves, augmented in volume more and more, until we reach the human brain.' And it is a remarkable fact, that man seems to pass through every gra- dation of animal existence. His heart is at first a mere pul- sating vessel, like that of an insect; then a sack like that of a fish ; then two sacks like that of an amphibious ani- mal ; then a regular double heart. So the human brain at one period presents appearances analogous to the brain in fishes ; then to that of birds; then to that of the mammalia; and finally becomes, by the addition of new portions, a proper human brain, and is such at birth ; and according to Soemmering, has no convolutions till the sixth or seventh month of gestation, being in this respect like the brain of mature fishes and birds in which convolutions are never found. Convolutions then begin to appear and gradually enlarge to adult age. Atheists have taken advantage of these facts to maintain that man is merely an improved edition of an animal. STRUCTURE OF THE BRAIN. 125 Now this is not correct; for besides having all that the ani- mal possesses, he has parts which it does not possess : he is endowed with moral sentiments and reflective faculties; and it would be just as correct to say, that a locomotive steam-carriage is an improved edition of a wheelbarrow, be- cause both have two sides, a bottom and a top. The brain comes to maturity at different ages in different persons—seldom before the age of twenty, and sometimes, according to Gall, not before forty. My own observations prove, that it generally continues spontaneously to grow to twenty-three years of age, and sometimes to twenty-eight. A good-sized, mature brain in man weighs 3 lbs. 8 oz.; in women 3 lbs. 4 oz. The brain of distinguished men is often very heavy: Cuvier's weighed 3 lbs. 10 oz. 4^ dr. The brain is a mass of soft matter, incapable of feeling pain on being injured. It consists of two hemispheres or halves, which are separated from each other by a mem- brane called the falciform or scythe-shaped process; each hemisphere is divided into three lobes, the anterior, middle and posterior. This last division is to some extent arti- ficial ; for though the divisions partially exist, as you per- ceive on looking at the base of this cast, on the superior surface you see no such divisions. Then there is the cere- bellum or little brain, situated beneath the posterior part of the cerebrum or true brain, and separated from it by a membrane called the tentorium. There are in fact two brains, just as there are two eyes or two ears, each hemi- sphere being capable of independent action, but united to its fellow at the bottom ofthe medial cleft by a commissure or connecting part. On the surface of the brain, as you perceive, there are waving lines: these are the convolutions. They vary from half an inch to an inch in depth. I have said that in the lowest animals convolutions do not exist. We do not find them in fishes, nor in birds, nor in the lowest of the quadrupeds, such as the rat and mouse. As we proceed up the scale, they commence and increase in 11* 126 STRUCTURE OF THE BRAIN. size and number. Every one must have been struck with the difference, as to docility, between dogs and cats. Accordingly, Des Moulins estimates the convolutions ofthe dog to exceed six or eight times those of the cat. The ape has more large and numerous convolutions than the dog, though some dogs are scarcely inferior to the higher order, even of apes, in this respect. The most marked superior- ity exists in the apes of the old world over those ofthe new, is is well known ; and there is a corresponding difference in the convolutions. It was stated by M. Berard that none ofthe gentlemen present at the dissection of Cuvier's brain remembered to have seen one so complicated, or with con- volutions so numerous and compact, or with such deep anfractuosities ; these last were stated as an inch deep. Atrocious criminals have been noticed to have very small, narrow and shallow convolutions in the moral regions. According to Haller, the brain is supplied with one fifth of all the blood in the body ; according to Dr. Monro, with one tenth. In either case the supply is very great. Each hemisphere has its own arteries ; but the venous blood is carried away by a common canal. The substance of the brain is composed of a white mat- ter in the interior, called the medullary portion, and of a gray or cineritions matter forming the outside, which dips down with the convolutions, and forms the dark substance seen between the folds. It does not blend gradually with the white or medullary matter, but, on the contrary, the line of demarcation is abrupt. The supply of blood seems to be greater than in the medullary portion. The convolu- tions appear intended for the purpose of increasing the su- perficial extent of the brain without enlarging its absolute size—an arrangement analogous to that employed in the eye of the eagle. It is often asked whether in the brain there are distinct lines of separation observable between the organs. We answer no. We presume that in the brain such lines do STRUCTURE OF THE BRAIN. 127 exist, though our present means of observation are too im- perfect to detect them ; but, as I have before stated, this objection lies against the distinct functions of the different parts of the spinal column, as well as against the distinct functions of the different parts of the brain. Sir Charles Bell remarks of the brain, that " whatever we observe on one side, has a corresponding part on the other ; and an exact resemblance and symmetry is pre- served in all the lateral divisions." This statement is not rigidly correct. There is a general correspondence be- tween the parts on the opposite sides of the brain, but not an ' exact symmetry.' But the symmetry is as great as between corresponding parts in any part of the body, as between the bloodvessels ofthe left and right arms, for in- stance, or between the muscles of the two opposite sides. On talking over this matter with Dr. Conolly, he remarked that, as the convolutions were nothing but folds, and as the folding was merely for the sake of packing, a little dif- ference in the folding probably has no influence on the cerebral functions. I have said that we cannot point out the exact line of demarcation between any two organs in the brain. It must not be inferred from this that no difference can be discover- ed between various parts, for the convolutions of the pro- pensities are larger than those of the sentiments, and these last are larger than those ofthe intellect, so that if you were to cut out an organ of a propensity from an adult brain, and present it to a skilful phrenologist, he would have no diffi- culty in distinguishing it from an organ of intellect. The different parts of the brain are brought into com- munication with each other, by means of a number of com- missures. At the base of the cleft between the two hemi- spheres ofthe brain, is a large body which consists of fibres passing from one hemisphere to the other, and uniting them : this is called the corpus callosum. Ten years ago I pointedout a convolution of the brain lying above the corpus 128 STRUCTURE OF THE BRAIN. callosum, extending from the bottom of Concentrativeness to the organs of the intellectual faculties. This convolu- tion Mr. Solly has recently shown to be a commissure, uniting the posterior and anterior portions of the brain. This gentleman describes nine commissures—six trans- verse, two longitudinal, and one oblique. The superior commissure which unites the anterior and posterior parts ofthe brain, I showed to a number of physicians both in this city and Philadelphia. Dr. McClellan of Philadelphia confessed that before my arrival in that city he used to de- ride phrenology, mentioning in particular to his class, that no communication was found to exist between the anterior and posterior portions of the brain. He found, however, that he had been laughing in ignorance ofthe existence of the superior longitudinal commissure. But he had the rare magnanimity to confess it to his medical students. The capital or top ofthe spinal marrow is called the me- dulla oblongata. Mere we notice three bodies on each side, constituting what are called the corpora pyramidalia, the corpora olivaria, and the corpora restiformia. The corpora pyramidalia are a continuation of the ante- rior or motory tract of the spinal marrow. They are fi- brous, decussate at their lower extremity, proceed upward through the Pons Varolii, escape from its upper border, and the greater number passing still upward form the anterior and external bundles of the crura cerebri and exterior part ofthe corpora striata, and ultimately expand into the infe- rior, anterior, and exterior convolutions ofthe anterior and middle lobes of the brain. A number of fibres ofthe corpora pyramidalia pass into the middle and posterior lobes, and a number into the cerebellum. We shall immediately see how beautifully this arrangement of the motory fibres, corrob- orates phrenological doctrines. The intellectual faculties are situated in the anterior lobe ofthe brain. They enable man to perceive objects that exist, their qualities, and relations, and when acting to- STRUCTURE OF THE BRAIN. 129 gether they constitute will. We have seen that the intel- lectual organs spring from the corpora pyramidalia which are at the top of the motory tract of the spinal marrow. Here, then, is a direct relation between the convolutions which manifest will, and the motory tract which executes will. The corpora olivaria and corpora restiformia spring from that column of the spinal cord which is devoted to sensa- tion. The former pass upward into the Pons Variolii, and form the posterior and interior parts of the crura; thence through the great posterior ganglion, and expand partly into the convolutions ofthe anterior lobe lying on its upper surface, towards the mesial line, partly into the superior convolutions towards the mesial line of the middle lobej but chiefly into the convolutions of the posterior lobes. The latter ascend and form the chief part of the cerebellum, but a portion enters into the composition of the posterior lobes of the brain. The distribution of these fibres is also in beautiful harmony with the doctrines of our science. The convolutions ofthe middle and those of the posteri- or lobes of the brain, manifest the feelings. These, as we have seen, spring chiefly from the corpora olivaria. The functions of the cerebellum is to manifest the instinct of reproduction, which is also a feeling; and the cerebellum springs, as I have just said, from the corpora restiformia. Now these bodies constitute the top of the sensory tract of the spinal marrow. We see, then, that while the intellectual organs are form- ed of fibres connected with the motory tract, the organs of the feelings are formed of fibres connected principally with the sensory, but partly with the motory tract. The arrangement of structure, by which the organs of feeling are supplied with fibres in direct connection with the motory tract, is another manifestation of that harmony which subsists between phrenology and anatomy, rightly understood. Each feeling manifests itself by means ofthe muscular system. Thus fear, rage, or any other feeling 130 THE TUTAMINA OF THE BRAIN. communicates great energy to the muscles of voluntary motion. Again, each feeling impresses certain peculiar motions, called its natural language, on the muscular nerves: thus self-esteem, when predominant, gives the ten- dency to carry the head and body reclining backward. Hence, again, we see the necessity of a direct communica- tion between the feelings and nerves of motion.* We come now to the question—Can the size ofthe cere- bral convolutions be ascertained by inspection of the head during life ? The brain is embraced by three membranes : the pia ma- ter and tunica arachnoidea, both very thin, and the dura mater, which is thin but strong, and adheres strongly to the inner surface of the skull. The brain enclosed in these membranes so exactly fills the interior of the skull that a cast in plaster of the interior of the skull, is a fac simile of the brain covered by the dura mater. The skull is the bony case : this is composed of three lay- ers—a very compact one internally, a less compact one ex- ternally, and a cellular layer between, called the diploe. * During Mr. Combe's first visit to New York, a number of medical gentlemen expressed a strong desire to witness the dissection of the brain, according to the method pursued by Gall and Spurzheim. I took occasion to mention this to Mr. Combe, who, with the utmost readiness, offered to demonstrate the brain, and gave me leave to form a class of medical gentlemen to witness the dissection. Brains were provided and at the appointed time, the lecturer demonstrated to a class, several members of which were medical professors, the fibrous character of the brain, the decussation ofthe fibres of the corpora pyramidalia, their pas- sage through the Pons Varolii, and their ultimate expansion into the anterior and middle lobes. In like manner he traced the fibres which rise from the corpora olivaria and corpora restiformia to their respective expansions. He traced the optic nerves to the anterior pair of the corpora quadrigemina. Showed the various commissures ofthe brain, and the manner of unfolding its convolutions. There was a general expression of satisfaction and gratification, and an acknowledgment from all present, I believe, that they had seen some things which they had never before had the opportunity of witnessing. THE TUTAMINA OF THE BRAIN. 131 Now the external surface of the skull corresponds almost exactly with the internal, except in a few points, which I shall mention. The departure from perfect parallelism, where it occurs, is limited to one-tenth or one-eighth of an inch. Again, the integuments or coverings ofthe skull lie close to its surface, and are so uniform in thickness as to ex- hibit its true figure. Thus, then, there is, in general, no ob- stacle to the discovery of the form ofthe brain by the form of the skull or head. The skull is very thin at the orbital plates, and at the squamous portion of the temporal bone : it is thick at the ridges of the frontal and occipital bones, but this is always the case, and therefore presents no difficulty. One part ofthe brain, however, does some- times present a difficulty. I refer to a cavity called the frontal sinus. It lies above the nose and is formed between the external and internal surfaces ofthe skull. The size of this sinus varies. But recollect that it only inter- feres with five organs—Form, Size, Weight, Individuality and Locality. Again, below the age of twelve it does not exist: and as the five organs before mentioned are generally very active before that age, the sinus cannot interfere with our observation of them before that period. The sinus, therefore, presents no difficulty in the way of our discovering the functions of these organs, if we study subjects below twelve years of age. The opponents con- ceal this fact. After this age it appears, gradually en- larges, and after twenty may present some difficulty to the observer.* Look at this skull for yourselves. You see that the par- allelism ofthe outer and inner surfaces is almost complete. —You will observe the same in this, and this, and this— * I was the first to maintain that it was impossible for us to determine, with exactness, the development of certain convolutions, by the inspec- tion ofthe external surface ofthe cranium. Gall iii. 22. ( 132 ON DISEASKD SKULLS. in short, in all healthy skulls. Observe this skull—it is that of a boy twelve years old—you see the sinus does not exist. In this we have it of average size ; and when of this size, no difficulty is presented. Recollect, phrenologists pretend not to tell the power of an organ when the braiu or skull is diseased. They make their observations on healthy individuals in the prime of life. It is therefore utterly futile to bring against us morbid speci- mens. In disease ofthe brain the inner table of the skull sometimes recedes, and not the outer, the space between be- ing often filled up with bone, rendering the skull very thick —occasionally enormously so. Here is a skull as irregular on the surface as the sea ruffled by the wind ; but then it is the skull of a very old man. I know a gentleman of Bath eighty-six years of age, in whose skull a like change has taken place. Such cases are not uncommon and I am at a loss to account for them, since they seem not to result from disease, as the faculties of the gentleman I refer to are healthily manifested. This skull is very thick and irregu- lar : it belonged to a dragoon in the British service, who became insane, and nine months afterward killed himself. In this case we find the frontal sinus very wide—nearly half an inch. Dr. Sewall of Washington, to whom, when in that city, I was indebted for many acts of kindness, has published a work against phrenology, almost entirely taken up with a description of diseased skulls. Now, as I remarked to him, his work is no more anti-phrenological than it is anti-geo- logical or anti any thing else. To the frontal sinus I shall again allude, when I come to the range of faculties whicli may be interfered with by its size. In the mean while, however, bear in mind that there is a great difference be- tween the possibility of discovering the functions of an or- gan and of applying this discovery practically in all cases, so as to be able, to predicate the exact degree in which every particular mental power is present in each individual THE GROWTH OF THE SKULL. 133 Now we have seen that before twelve no impediment to its observation exists. Again, in after life, if the skull be de- pressed in this part, no error can be committed in stating the subjacent organs as small; for if the sinus be larger than it seems, the error will be on the side of the phrenologist. The only cases which at any time can be productive of er- ror, are those in which the sinus causes a protuberance without, to which the brain does not correspond within. But even here, it is possible, in general, to distinguish be- tween external appearances produced by a large develop- ment of the frontal sinus, and those indicating large devel- opment ofthe organs. In the first, they are generally abrupt and ridgy; in the second, they present a rounder swell, and follow the direction ofthe organs as delineated on the busts. We may be asked how it is that an infant's skull, such as the one I hold, can be enlarged to the size of an adult skull. The explanation is this: Two processes are ever going on in the system—deposition and absorption—by the first of which new particles are laid down, and by the second old ones are taken up. The skull, then, is a strong, but not an adamantine barrier. It shields the brain by its powerful structure, yet for ever changes to accommodate itself to the size of its noble occupant: for it is worthy of remark that, throughout organized nature, the hard parts yield to the soft. Thus large lungs produce a large chest—not a large chest large lungs. . So the skull is formed to the brain—not the brain to the skull. At first the brain is covered by a mere membrane, in which bone at length begins to be deposited. The deposition commences at particular points, and bony rays shoot out in all directions, just as you have seen in the formation of ice. It is not till some time after birth that ossification is complete. The skull is formed into eight bones, which unite at their edges, and become dovetailed together. The lines of union are called sutures or seams. The extent to which the head may be enlarged is seen from this enormous skull, which belonged to an individual 12 134 ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE WORD BUMP. whom I saw at St. Thomas's Hospital, who was affected with water in the brain. His faculties were sound, but his head was so heavy that he could not support it. In commencing the study of phrenology, individuals generally become very diligent feelers of their own heads. They search about, and finally they rest upon this large pro- tuberance behind the ear. They are in amazement at the size of the ' bump,' as they are pleased to call it. Then they wonder whether it is a good bump or a bad one. Now this protuberance is a mere bone, called the mastoid pro- cess, and is for the attachment of muscles. It has no rela- tion whatever to the brain, and may therefore be not unapt- ly styled the Ass's bridge, over which incipient phrenologists have to pass. With regard to this word ' bump,' which has long been supposed to contain a whole volume of wit within itself, allow me to remark that I think its use is sanctioned by neither correctness of language, nor sound philosophy. It is often used, too, in a low, contemptuous sense. It is evi- dent to me that the brain is the work of God, and eminent- ly displays His goodness and wisdom. In talking of it, we ought, therefore, to use philosophical and respectful lan- guage. What would you think of a man's taste who, before speaking ofthe functions of the eye, should say—" Come, let us say something about the blinkers'1'' ?—or, as an intro- duction to a demonstration of the functions of the stomach, should say—" Come, let us talk about the bread-basket" ? Yet, such expressions are on a par with—" Come, let us talk about the bumps." In concluding this part of my subject, let me show you how unimportant a difference of one-tenth or one-eighth of an inch is in the thickness of the skull. This is the head of loseph Hume, M. P.; this of Dr. Chalmers. The general size is nearly the same in both; yet, inthe region of Ideali- ty, Chalmers' head is an inch and a quarter wider than Hume's. Contrast this head of General Wurmser with that PHRENOLOGICAL EVIDENCE ESTIMATIVE. 135 of the Hindoo in the regions of destructiveness and coin- bativeness. Contrast these three heads in the region of firmness : there is a difference of more than an inch. Con- We evidently need not trouble ourselves about very minute shades. As to authority, the best is on our side. Magendie says that " the only way of estimating the volume ofthe brain'va. a living person, is to measure the dimensions of the skull. Every other means, even that proposed by Camper, is un- certain." Sir Charles Bell, Cuvier, Monro, Blumenbach, aiu! others, hold similar language. That the form of the brain can be ascertained by the form of the head may then be considered as established. But it has been objected that the whole method of phre- nologists is empirical, that we cannot weigh or measure either an organ or its manifestation. We plead guilty to the charge, and freely admit that the two elements in our method of investigation are both, in their own nature, esti- mative. But then, we affirm that if an observer possess an average endowment ofthe observing and reflective faculties, he may, by due practice, learn to estimate both develop- ment and manifestation with sufficient precision to lead him to positive conclusions. Phrenology rests on the same kind of evidence as the practice of Medicine. Diseases are judged of by the symptoms or appearances which they present. The knowledge of what organs are affected; of the degree to which they are affected, and of the extent to which medi- cines act on them, depends entirely on estimative evidence. The same general laws of evidence must necessarily ap- 136 AMATIVENESS. ply to the study of phrenology as of medicine. The men- tal manifestations are neither ponderable nor measurable any more than the capacity for pain or pleasure, or the powers of hearing or sight. We estimate the degree to which these susceptibilities and capacities are possessed by different individuals, and regard our knowledge as substan- tial ; so we estimate the force of mental manifestations by the exercise of observation and reflection, and must neces- sarily do so, or remain for ever ignorant of mental science. Again, I have just demonstrated that differences between the form of particular organs, and between their size, when large and small, are so palpable that to deny the possibility of distinguishing them, in favourable cases, is perfectly ab- surd ; and in proving science, we are not only entitled but bound by the dictates of common sense, to select the sim- plest and most striking cases as best calculated to bring truth to light. Those individuals, therefore, who object to the evidence on which phrenology is founded, appear to me completely to misunderstand the nature of the inquiry. To deny the possibility of estimating the size of the cere- bral organs and mental manifestations, is as absurd as to deny that we can estimate whether any feature of the body be large or small, or whether a person be blind, near- sighted or sharp-sighted. I shall now proceed to describe the particular organs, premising that the faculties are divided into two orders— Feelings and Intellect ; the feelings into two genera— Propensities and Sentiments. Of the Propensities 1 shall now treat: 1. AMATIVENESS. To learn the situation of this organ, feel on the middle line toward the base of the skull at the back part of the head, and you will find a small bony projection named the occipital spine. Amativeness is situated below that point and between the mastoid processes. The size ofthe organ is indicated by the extension of the inferior surface of the AMATIVENESS. 137 occipital bone backward and downward, or by the thick- ness of the neck at these parts between the ears. Its large size gives great peripheral expansion to the neck from the ears backward. In infants, the cerebellum is the least de- veloped of all the cerebral parts, forming but from one-thir- teenth to one-twentieth ofthe weight of the brain, whereas at adult age it constitutes from one-eighth to one-sixth. In infants, the part of the neck corresponding to the cerebel- lum appears attached to the middle of the base ofthe skull; towards puberty it begins to expand behind. This part is generally more developed in males thau in females. 1. Cerebellum moderate. 2. Cerebellum large. 0 3. O Represents a large development ofthe cerebellum downwards. 4. In this skull the distance between M the mastoid process, and the spine ofthe transverse ridge ofthe occipital bone is large, although the occi vital swelling O does not droop as in the preceding skull. 12* 138 AMATIVENESS. The function of the cerebellum is to manifest the sexual feelings. In this bust of Dr. Hette the development is very small, as you perceive, and the manifestation of feel- ing corresponded. Compare the bust of Hette with this of Mitchell and this of Dean—how enormous the develop- ment in these last!—both of whom were executed, Mitchell for murdering a young woman whom he had seduced, Dean for murdering a child without any rational motive, and un- doubtedly under the influence of diseased cerebral action, occasioned by disappointed love. You see here the head of the Rev. Mr. Martin, in which it is small. This is the head of Linn, the parricide, in which it is very large. The head of Gall, as you perceive, shows a very large cerebel- lum—and it seems to have been the only faculty which he abused. This faculty exercises a very great influence on the character. Boys before the age of puberty are generally undeferential, and even rude, toward the other sex, but after that age they become kind and attentive. It softens all the harsh feelings of our nature, and increases the force and activity of all the kindly and benevolent affections towards the opposite sex. It is thought, by many that the functions of this organ can- not be approached. But it appears to me that " to the pure all things arc pure," and that there is no function which does not present an aspect, in which it may be made to manifest the wisdom and goodness ofthe Creator. Some think it best that young people should be kept in entire ignorance ofthe function of this organ. This is an opinion to which I can by no means subscribe. The organ of Amativeness is the largest of all the mental organs, and being endowed with natural activity, it fills the mind spontaneously with emotions and suggestions the manifesta- tion of which may be directed and controlled, but which cannot be prevented from arising, even though you shut youth out entirely from the world. The question is not, AMATIVENESS. 139 therefore, whether the feeling shall arise or not—over that we have no control—but whether it shall be placed ut.der the guidance of an enlightened understanding, or be with- drawn from the eye of reason, and allowed to riot in all the fierceness of a blind animal instinct. The formei course appears to me the only one consistent with reason and morality, and the one which should be invariably adopted. Messrs. Flourens and Magendie think they have discov- ered, by inflicting injuries on the cerebellum, that it serves for the regulation of muscular motion. But from these experiments no certain conclusions are deducible. The infliction of injury on one part of the nervous system de- ranges other parts—and hence it is not the way to deter- mine the functions of any. Again, Mr. Solly has discov- ered a column of fibres which passes from the motory tract of the medulla oblongata to the cerebellum. Now when these experimenters sliced this part, they commenced at the distal extremity ofthe motory fibres and destroyed them to the medulla oblongata. By thus injuring and irritating the motory tract, no wonder that convulsions followed ! The cerebellum is composed, as I have before said, of fibres connected with the motory as well as the sensory tract of the spinal column. It is an organ of feeling, but also influ- ences voluntary motion by instinctive impulses. Injuries of the cerebellum may therefore cause irregular or con- vulsive muscular movements without being the regulator of such movements. That the cerebellum may manifest other functions than that of Amativeness is not, however, impossible ; but that this faculty occupies the largest part of it is unquestionable.* * "The cold in clime are cold in blood ; Their love can scarce deserve the name." Byron's Gwur. An opinion is somewhat prevalent that the amative feeling increases instrength from the poles towards the equator; but facts are at variance with this hypothesis. No people manifest amativeness more strongly than the Esquimaux, Grecnlanders and other northern nations. 140 PHILOPROGENITIVENESS. LECTURE IV. 2. PHILOPROGENITIVENESS. [ 1" have omitted such parts of the lecture as refer to those facts, concerning this organ, which are more fully detailed in the Introductory Essay from page 26 to page 41 inclusive. To that essay I refer the reader. A. B.] This faculty has been confounded with that of benevo- lence, but it is often strong when benevolence is very weak, and weak when benevolence is very strong. When the organ is large it renders the office of rearing children plea- sant, nay delightful, even when they belong to others. Sir Walter Scott remarks that among children there is a sort of freemasonry, by which they detect almost instantly those who pay attention to them merely that they may be pleas- ing to the parents, and that they recognize by intuition those who take real pleasure in their society. This faculty is frequently abused ; people often pamper and spoil children instead of training them rationally. They forget that this is a blind feeling; indeed, all the pro- pensities are blind—and by proving this, phrenology will confer one of its greatest boons on man. This faculty sometimes takes a direction that has subject- ed its possessors to ridicule. In the United States, all ladies who have arrived at adult age seem to be married; but in my own country, this (alas !) is not the case ; and among unmarried ladies we see the amiable feeling now under consideration lavished upon lap-dogs, cats or birds, these delicate and little animals being used as substitutes for PHILOPROGENITIVENESS. 141 children. This practice is often ridiculed; but recollect that it is the manifestation of a feeling which under more favourable circumstances would have rendered them excel- lent and devoted mothers. Here is the skull of a negro ; this of a Scotch highland- er; this of a Charib from the island of St. Vincent; see how largely the organ is developed—and these people strikingly manifest love of children. When at Brussels, I talked with a woman concerning the behaviour of the Scotch highlanders who had been billeted in her house, du- ring the war. She said they were as gentle and affectionate in the house as they were brave in the field, and that they were very fond of children. See what a large development in the skull of the poet Burns—and how beautifully is the feeling manifested in his poetry ! In the Esquimaux it is very large ; here is a specimen. Captain Parry says, that love of children is almost the only amiable feeling they manifest. He met a party of them without food and almost dying with hunger; he relieved them, and the first thing they did was to feed their children, not attending to their own wants till the little ones were fully satisfied. This organ is sometimes diseased. Mental derangement is one of those subjects on which phrenology throws a flood of light. Diseased affections of the mind, by reason of men's ignorance, have been a source of much anxiety and maltreatment. People have known not what to do. Some- times terrified, sometimes horrified, sometimes mystified, they have had no idea that it was the disease of a material organ, which was probably in a state of exalted action, and which, like inflammation of the eye, might be got rid of by a proper remedial course. A lady in whom this organ is very large, told me that she frequently dreams of children. She described one dream which imparted to her the most exquisite delight, in which she seemed to have her whole lap full of babies, which were 142 NATURAL LANGUAGE. smiling, sprawling, raising their hands and tossing about in the most interesting manner imaginable. I now come to what is called the Natural Language of the Organs. Up to this time you will perhaps grant that I have been talking with a show, at least, of reason; but now you will probably set me down as fanciful and absurd. I am prepared for this; but I doubt not that you will ac- knowledge its truth before the end of the course ; for as most of you have some predominant organ, and as each organ has a language of its own, though you may think my description of the natural language of those organs which in you are weak to be ridiculous, you will recognize the language of your own strong organs, and be convinced that there is truth in it after all.* The law of action, as laid down by Gall, is, that the mo- tions are all in the direction of the seat of the organs. That natural language does exist all will allow when they reflect that by mein, walk and gesture the actors of panto- mime are enabled to operate powerfully on the feelings without uttering a word. The natural tendency of Philo- progenitiveness when predominantly active, is to throw the head backward. Near Manchester I saw a young woman bring her hus- band's breakfast to him, and sit by the road-side till he ate it, spending the time in caressing her child. Her whole manner was expressive of the highest delight. She kissed and fondled the infant, pressed it to her bosom, and then she threw back her head, repeating the same action several times. This was the natural language of this feeling. It would have formed a most beautiful subject for a painter. * Pantomime is the universal language of all nations, and of all ani- mals. There is no beast, there is no man who does not learn it; there is no beast nor man who does not understand it; it accompanies lan- guage and strengthens its expressions; it supplies the defects of articu- late language; words may be ambiguous, but pantomime never is so- Gall v. 266. CONCENTRATIVENESS. 143 The great painters of Italy noticed the same expression, and in tkeir representations of the murder of the innocents, they place the bereft mothers with their heads thrown back and the extreme of agony depicted in their countenances. 3. CONCENTRATIVENESS. This organ is situated immediately above Philoprogeni- tiveness, and below Self-Esteem. Phrenologists differ con- cerning its functions, therefore I shall not occupy much time upon it. Spurzheim, from observing it large in ani- mals fond of dwelling in one place, called it lnhabitiveness. [ observed persons whose thoughts, like clouds, come and o-o without regularity—whose sentences have succession without relation. In them I have found the organ very small. I observed others, of less mental capacity, remarka- ble for continuity of thought, and for the natural relation- ship existing between the successive subjects of their con- versation. In these I have found the organ large. It ap- peared to me, therefore, that its function is to keep two or more organs in continuous and simultaneous activity. Dr. Hoppe and the Rev. Dr. Welsh agreed with me in this view. I have already mentioned that I noticed some years ago a convolution ofthe brain running from the region of this organ, near the base ofthe cleft between the two cere- bral hemispheres, nii:l terminating in the anterior lobe, and that Mr. Solly has since proved this to be a commissure. Dr. Vimont of Paris has made some observations which, if established, will reconcile the views of Dr. Spurzheim and myself. Having directed his attention to birds which live on fish, and which hover over water, watch with in- tense fixedness and then dart downward as though they were arrows rather than living beings, and having com- pared them with ducks and other animals which practice no such concentrated watchfulness and action, he found in the first a great development of the lower part of this region, and in the others great deficiency. This he calls 144 ADHESIVENESS. Concentrativeness. He found that this organ did not oc- cupy the whole space, but left a region immediately above it and below Self-Esteem which, he is convinced, apper- tains to the faculty of Inhabitiveness. If this view be cor- rect, and I am pretty well satisfied that is, then are Dr. Spurzheim's views and my own reconciled. 4. ADHESIVENESS. This organ is situated at the middle ofthe posterior edge of the parietal bone, on each side of the lower part of Con- centrativeness and the upper part of Philoprogenitiveness. Dr. Gall was requested to mould the head of a lady who was a model of friendship. He did so, and found two large symmetrical protuberances, one on each side. The lady had suffered great mutations of fortune. She had been rich, and then poor—again rich, and again poor; but amid all these changes she remained firmly attached to her friends. The idea naturally suggested itself that this part might be the organ of the disposition to attachment, Many subsequent observations confirmed the conjecture. You will seldom find this organ in an isolated protuber- ant state. Its large size is generally indicated by the breadth and fullness of this region. Compare these two skulls ; this is the skull of an Esquimaux in which Ama- tiveness and Philoprogenitiveness are very large, and Ad- hesiveness small; this is the skull of a Swiss, in which all three are very large. Those in whom this organ is large feel the instinctive ten- dency to embrace and cling to the object of their affections. Boys manifest it by their attachment to dogs and rabbits, and in girls, to the feeling of Philoprogenitiveness it adds the hug of affection which they bestow upon their dolls. I have seen the poet Moore, and know this organ to be large in him, and his poetry breathes its very spirit: ADHESIVENESS. 145 " The heart, like a tendril accustomed to cling, Let it grow where it will cannot flourish alone; But will lean to the nearest and loveliest thing, It can twine with itself, and make closely its own." Again—how it glows in the following lines!— " The heart that loves truly, love, never forgets, But as truly loves on to the close, As the sun-flower turns to her god as he sets, The same look that she turned when he rose." In general this organ is larger and the faculty stronger in woman than in man; and the extreme ardour and con- stancy of their attachment may be attributed to this circum- stance. In them alone can friendship be found in the full- ness of perfection. Taking advantage of this proneness to attachment—this consecration of the heart to the object of affection—some men, for the gratification of a most despi- cable vanity, or from a worse motive, sport with this beauti- ful trait of female nature—conduct which should subject them to double infamy, but which is too often allowed to pass without censure. The seducer glories in his success- ful villany, while the wronged one is mourning in utter wretchedness, over ruined hopes and a blighted name. We often find strong attachment subsisting between per- sons of very different mental characters, in whom there are many points of repulsion ; but the strength of this feeling serves as a bond of union. There are husbands and wives in whom the attracting and repelling forces are so balanced that they can be happy neither together nor apart. They are for ever quarreling and making matters up; they part and unite, part again and again unite ; again fly off, and again come together. They are a complete puzzle to their friends, who can place no dependence on their assertions or protestations. In these cases, Adhesiveness will generally be found largely developed in both parties. This produces instinctive attachment; but other discordant organs will be found in their heads, which produce reciprocal repulsion. 13 146 ADHESIVENESS. This faculty is the bond of union among men, and gives rise to society. It is found large in many animals ; but there are some, as the fox and magpie, which live in the married state, that is, they are attached for life; some, again, as the dog, live in society, but are not attached for life. Spurzheim thought attachment and attachment for life to be modifications of the same faculty. Gall inclined to think them distinct faculties ; and Dr. Vimont thinks he has proved this to be the case, and considers the region which we ascribe to philoprogenitiveness as comprising two organs—love of young in the middle, and on each side attachment for life. This organ is sometimes so active in oxen and horses, that they become sick, when deprived of their accustomed com- panions. This diseased condition of the organ in man is called nostalgia. Many are unaware of the strength of this feeling till they have occasion to leave home. When away from their friends and companions they feel a yearning to- ward them, and a longing and craving to be again at home. Amativeness, philoprogenitiveness and adhesiveness form the group of domestic affections, on the due regulation and proper exercise of which so much of our happiness depends. The natural language of this faculty is to embrace and cause the organs to approach, as you see in this plate of two little girls, and this of a girl and dove. When a dog or cat is under the influence of this faculty, and wants to show great attachment, it will rub this part ofthe head against its master's leg.* When two persons meet in whom this or- gan predominates, they feel an involuntary attachment toward each other springing up in their minds, unless their other faculties be very incongruous. Those who have it * There is a beautiful group of Castor and Pollux, in which we see their arms resting on each other's shoulders, and these friends pressing together their organs of attachment. In the Madonna aulapin of Raphael, Mary presses this region of her head against the corresponding region of the head of the child. Gall, v. 272. COMBATIVENESS. 147 large give the hand a hearty shake on meeting ; those who have it small hardly press the hand at all. With the first, absent friends are ever present; they think of them with a warm glow of affection. With the last, out of sight out of mind. The organ was large in Burns, and his poetry is full of its spirit. It was large in Mary Mac Innes the mur- derer, and she strongly manifested the feeling. A person to whom she was firmly attached had sent her a pocket- handkerchief with his name written on one corner, and also half an orange, requesting that she would eat it on the scaffold in token of their mutual affection, he having eaten the other half the preceding morning at the corresponding hour. She held the corner of the handkerchief, on which his name was written, in her mouth, all the night preceding her execution. When seated on the drop she took the orange from the turnkey, saying, " Tell him that I die perfectly satisfied that he has done all in his power for my life, and that I eat the orange as he desired me. May God bless him. Say to him that it was my dying request that he may avoid drink and bad company, and be sure never to be late out at night." She forgot eternity in the ardour of her at- tachment. In 1836, Dr.------, had a patient whom he examined after death, and in whom he found the lungs extensively diseased. This was conceived to be a sufficient cause of death, and the examination proceeded no further till the brother of the deceased asked him with eagerness what they had found to be the condition of the brain ; and when he learned that no examination had taken place, he requested that they would proceed to examine it. They did so, find to their astonishment found twenty-seven abscesses, eleven in the cerebellum and ten or eleven more in the posterior lobe, there being but one in the intellectual region and it was in the organ of Tune. The brother then stated his reason for making the request he had. His brother, he said, had been a resident of London, where his family then 148 COMBATIVENESS. resided, and that he was formerly very much attached to his family ; and that when he first came to Edinburgh he manifested about them the usual anxiety, but that before he died attachment to them was utterly lost, and that he would hardly have mentioned them in his will if he had not been urged to do so. 5. COMBATIVENESS. The organ of this faculty is situated immediately back- ward and upward from the ear. Gall discovered it by col- lecting together a number of the lower classes of society, studying their characters and comparing their develop- ments. He found such as were remarkable for being bra- voes to have this part large, such as were noted for cow- ardice to have it very small. Subsequent observations es- tablished the discovery. In Vienna animal combats were frequently exhibited, and one man was so intrepid that he often presented himself alone in the arena to sustain the attack of a bull or a wild boar. In him Gall found it very large. He found it very large in a young lady who had repeatedly dressed herself in male attire and maintained battles with men.* Dr. Brown speaks of this faculty. " There is," says he, "a principle in our mind which is to us like a constant protec- tor, which may slumber, indeed, but which slumbers only at seasons when its vigilance would be useless ; which awakes, therefore, at the first appearance of unjust intention, and which becomes more watchful and more vigorous in pro- portion to the violence ofthe attack which it has to dread." " Courage," says Dr. Johnson, " is a quality so necessary for maintaining virtue, that it is always respected, even * In the first interview I ever had, in my travels, with a devoted ama- teur of cock-fighting, he thought he was confiding to me a great secret, by telling me that, by sight alone, he could distinguish good fighters from poor ones, and pointing out, as the distinguishing mark, a great breadth of the head, a little in front ofthe ears. This man had no knowledge of my discoveries. Gall iv. 27. COMBATIVENESS. 149 when it is associated with vice." Sterne's Uncle Toby is a personification of great combativeness, benevolence and integrity. This faculty produces active courage, the instinctive pro- pensity to oppose, and gives that boldness to the mind which enables it to remain undaunted amid opposition ; a consid- erable endowment of it is, therefore, indispensable to all great and magnanimous characters. I knew a lady in whom the moral sentiments were large and Combativeness very small, who confessed that she felt the want of a proper development of this organ as a great deficiency in her char- acter. She lacked the courage to oppose even manifest wrong. She felt that she should have been a much more useful woman with a proper endowment of Combativeness. and sometimes shed tears at her own pusillanimity. A man without proper Combativeness is always trodden under foot. This organ was very large, as you may see by this head, in General Wurmser, (1) who defended Mantua against Bo- naparte. Fighting was his chief delight. His intellect was by no means remarkable, and Napoleon said he gave him more trouble than ten better men. By his sudden and fierce attacks, made in defiance of all military principles, he kept the French in a continual state of alarm. It i^ very large, as you may see, in King Robert Bruce, and all know how strongly he manifested the faculty. Let the skull of either of these heroes be compared with this of a Ceylonese boy.(2) 13* 150 COMBATIVENESS. The faculty is of great service to the barrister, and causes his energies to rise in proportion as he is opposed. Com- bined with Destructiveness it inspires authors with the love of battles. Sir Walter Scott, who possessed this com- bination, rose above his usual energy when describing the fight, the slaughter, and the shouts of victory. From this sympathy of authors with warriors, a successful butcher is too often elevated to the rank of a hero, and success in arms considered glorious without reference to the merits of the quarrel. This faculty, large, gives the love of contention. Thus you find persons who dispute every thing; they say it is the love of truth which instigates them, but it is in reality the love of quarreling. It is reported of a native of Aber- deen, that he was so contentious that when a friend met him and said "this is a fine day, sir," he replied, "tut man who is finding fault with the day." When Combativeness is large and undirected by the moral sentiments, it becomes a great disturber of domestic peace: the hours which should be devoted to pure and quiet enjoyment are embit- tered by strife and contradiction. This organ it is for the gratification of which the prize- fights of England are enacted. It is generally very large in those who murder from sudden impulses, as Haggait and Mac Lines. It is usually more developed in man than in woman, but sometimes it predominates in the lat- ter, and gives her a bold, forward air. It gives girls a ten- dency to romp. You see this organ very large in the statue ofthe ancient gladiator. Those in whom it is large are very pugnacious when in- toxicated, though at other times they may restrain the propensity within proper bounds. Here is the skull of a native of one of the British Isles, where the people have the propensity so strong, that it is said in song ' when one meets his friend he for love knocks him down.' In it the organ is very large. An Irish gentleman told me that COMBATIVENESS, 151 at their fairs it was not uncommon for one of his countrymen after becoming excited by whiskey, and unable any longer to repress his pugnacity, to range along the booths till he could see a head poking out somewhere, when he would give it a blow which would bring out its owner in quick time, then a regular fight would en* «e.—Contrast this head with that of the Hindoo, in whom combativeness is feeble —what a difference you perceive! Bull-dogs are always broad here, greyhounds narrow. When horses are narrow behind the ears they are shy, when broad they are bold ; when broad here and low in the forehead they are vicious ; when broad here and high in the forehead, they are both boJd and good-natured. In our intercourse with men the knowledge of the mode in which this faculty operates is most useful. Knowing that such men constantly desire to oppose, the best plan is to state your opinion or arguments as clearly as possible, and if your meaning is perverted, your expressions distorted and the the question embarrassed by extraneous matter, to drop the argument and leave your opponent in quiet possession of the field. This will be to him a real punishment and give a better chance for your views to sink into his mind. This organ is often diseased. Pinel says, "A maniac naturally peaceful and gentle in disposition, appeared to be inspired by the demon of malice during the fit. He was then in an unceasingly mischievous activity; he locked up his companions in their cells, provoked and struck them, and at every word raised some new quarrel and fighing." I have before related a case in which diseased manifestation was attended with pain in the organ. The natural language of this propensity is to throw the head backward and to one side, as in the attitude of boxing; the painters have noticed this. It gives a cutting expres- sion to the lips, and a harsh thumping sound to the voice ; Madame de Stael noticed this in Napoleon, and remarked, that when excited every word he uttered seemed to contain 152 COMBATIVENESS. a shot. Boys who have it large, stand up boldly when fight- ing, and look their adversary in the face. Those who have it small rarely fight, and when they do they generally poke their head as soon as possible to the breast of the adversary. It has been objected to this view ofthe natural language, that men put themselves into the described attitude because it is the best position both for attack and defence. We reply that boys who are quite young instinctively assume this at- titude without in the slightest degree considering its pro- priety ; and that this attitude is best is an inevitable con- sequence of its being natural.* * A clerical friend handed me the following note, I insert it entire. Constitit in digitos extemplo arrectus uterque, Brachiaque ad superas interritus extulit auras, Abduxere retro longe capita ardua ab ictu; Immiscentque manus manibus, pugnamque lacessunt. JEneid, B. V. verse 426. " Both on tiptoe stand, at full extent; Their arms aloft, their bodies inly bent; Their heads from aiming blows they bear afar, With clashing gauntlets then provoke the war." Dryden. This seems to me a pretty and very correct illustration of the natural language of " Combativeness." As such it maybe worth remembering, It occurs in Virgil's description of the encounter between Dares and Enlcllus. T. J. S. DESTRUCTIVENESS. 153 LECTURE V. 6. Destructiveness. This organ is situated immediately above, extends a little backward and forward from the external opening of the ear, and gives to that part breadth and elevation in pro- portion to its size. In graminivorous animals, only a small portion ofthe brain lies behind the external opening ofthe ear; while in the carnivorous, a considerably larger mass is situated there. This is well shown by exhibiting the dif- ference between this, the skull of a young lion, and this, the skull of a roebuck. This is the skull of a fox ; a sheep ; a cat; a dog; a rabbit; a savage baboon. You notice that those of the carnivorae are broadest just over the ear, whereas those of the herbivore are broadest higher up and have little brain behind the ear. You notice too that the former are all much broader in proportion to their size than the latter. By the difference in this part of the skull alone, these two classes of animals are readily distinguish- able from each other. Dr. Gall early noticed this, but drew no particular con- clusion from it, till one gentleman sent him the skull of a parricide, and another the skull of a highwayman, who, not content with robbing, murdered his victims. On com- paring these, he found them both very wide here. This fact, in connection with his previous observations on the skulls of animals, led him to conclude, that in this region might be situated an organ which gives the disposition to kill. At first his mind revolted at the idea; but finding, on still further examination, that nature spoke unequivocal- ly, he was forced to believe her. This organ he called by 154 DESTRUCTIVENESS. a French name—instinct du muertre—which signifies pro- pensity to kill, but which was ignorantly translated into English by the word murder. This blunder was the cause of infinite abuse of phrenology and Dr. Gall. Can it be possible, say declaimers, that God has implanted such a propensity in the human mind ? I observe, in the first place, that others besides phrenologists have acknowledged its existence. Lord Kaimes names it the " appetite for hinting." It has been said, indeed, that the pleasure of hunting is in the pursuit, and the consequent emulation; but I have asked hunters whether, if some machine could be invented to fly before them as the game now does, they would feel the same pleasure. The answer has always been in the negative: some animal must suffer, or little pleasure ensues. Poets and authors who delineate human nature are familiar with this feeling. Sir Walter Scott describes its abuse as " the 7-uffian thirst for blood.'1'' The author of Recollections of the Peninsula says, that not only soldiers, but others, " talk with an undefined pleasure about car- nage." I have met with youngmenof good moral qualities in whom the impulse was restrained, but who confessed that to smash and slay would give them great momen- tary gratification. In them the organ was decidedly large. Besides, in regarding the scene of creation, we perceive all living beings destined to destruction ; and this has ever been the case. The history ofthe earth informs us that vari- ous races of animals and vegetables have successively been destroyed. The works of art are subject to the destroying hand of time; man himself is destined to destruction. Moreover, he has received a stomach fitted to digest animal food, and a bodily system which such food is fitted to nourish and preserve. To gratify this appetite, he must deprive animals of life by sudden destruction, as their flesh is unwholesome if they die of old age or disease, and ani- mals bent on destruction surround him. To place him DESTRUCTIVENESS. 155 on earth, therefore, without an organization fitting him for these circumstances of his condition, would have been any thing but indicative of supreme wisdom and beneficence. Combativeness gives us courage to face danger and to re- sist aggression. Destructiveness gives us the desire and disposition to hurl destruction on the aggressor. Those in whom it is large take a kind of pleasure in seeing scenes of suffering, at the sight of which those in whom it is small would be agonized. Thus humane and even cultivated in- divuals experience pleasure in witnessing executions. They would not put a man to death, but if one is to be put to death at any rate, they think it no harm to look on and enjoy the spectacle. It is always found large in good operating surgeons : medical gentlemen in whom it is small, though possessed of all the requisites of knowledge and skill, would dislike—nay, would be unable—to operate. We see, then, that this organ is absolutely necessary even to perform the behests of Benevolence. I knew a clergyman who had very small Destructivenese, and very large Benevolence, who could not bear to see a person bled. His son was taken ill with inflammation of the lungs : the physician was sent for, and proceeded to bleed immediately, telling the father that he should want his assistance ; the minister screwed up his courage, remained till the operation was performed, and then fainted away. Compare the size of Destructiveness in Tardy the pirate, (1) with its size in the Cingalese boy.(2) This organ is 156 DESTRUCTIVENESS. always large in cool and deliberate murderers, such as John Bellingham, whose head I now show you. He murder- ed Perceval, the English Minister, in 1819, by deliberately shooting him in the lobby of the House of Commons. In this the organ is very large, it is the skull of the woman Gottfried, who, though in easy circumstances, murdered, in a series of years, both her parents, her children, two husbands, and six other persons, by small doses of arsenic ; yet she would stand by their death-beds seemingly in an agony of grief, but in reality gloating over their protracted torments. See the size ofthe organ in the head of Hare, who assisted Burke to murder sixteen persons for the sake of selling their bodies for dissection, and who, after his bloody deeds, slept as undisturbedly as though he had been merely killing a pig. This is the head of a man of Belfast who murdered his father. The jury that tried him very properly returned, in conformity with the evidence, a verdict of insanity. He was accordingly confined to an asylum, from which, after some period of correct conduct, he made his escape and proceeded to Liverpool, where, for a deed of violence, he was immediately arrested, and after trial transported to New South Wales. I expect that the next we shall hear about him will be, that he has there committed some dreadful deed. Contrast these skulls with that of the Hindoo. How small this organ is in them in comparison ; and yet it is of its average size in these people. The Hindoos are notori- ous, for their dislike of putting animals to death.* In some parts, indeed, they have hospitals for the reception and maintenance of sick and aged animals. Here is the head of a Flat-head Indian ; see how large in this region ! Here is one of a Charib, which is still more developed. In these heads you will notice that large Destructiveness is combined with small reflective and moral faculties. Its large size, in * " If a man kills a fish, the magistrate shall fine him ten puns of cow- ries."—"If a man kills an insect the magistrate shall fine him one pun of Cowries."—Gentoo Laws, translated by Halbed. C.xvi, Sec. iii. DESTRUCTIVENESS. 157 proper combination, is quite compatible with high moral character. Here, for example, is the head of Captain Parry, in whom it is large, but in whom the intellectual faculties and moral sentiments preponderate. It is large, too, in Spurzheim, yet he was an amiable philosopher. Satire is a combination of this faculty with wit. It must have been large in Byron. It gives point, too, to that sar- castic, cutting speech, which is so unpleasant to those who are the subjects of it. Some swear with a heartiness which others cannot imitate. Destructiveness gives a force and energy to their imprecations which those who think swear- ing manly, but whose Destructiveness is small, vainly strive to imitate ; there is a softness, a roundness about their im- precations which completely destroys the effect. In Par- liament, we find some men with Destructiveness and Lan- guage very large; and whose speeches are complete tor- rents of invective—often of nothing else. Yet after such a speech, the newspapers are full of laudatory remarks: "such energy !" " such torrents of invective !" " such withering sarcasm !" For my own part, I no more admire Destruc- tiveness manifested in this way, than when manifested by blows. With due reverence, I must be allowed to say that I have noticed preachers in whom this organ is very large dwell principally on " the worm that never dies, and the fire that is never quenched." They mistake, it seems to me, the fervours of Destructiveness, for the inspirations of moral eloquence, and, while they gratify the stern, they harrow up the feelings ofthe amiable and susceptible. Phrenology will be very serviceable by teaching men the secret fountains of their emotions, and that what is gratifying to them is not necessarily edifying to others. Those in whom this organ is small are often deficient in proper indignation. A community of such men would be a prey to the profligate and unprincipled. Contumely and suffering would inevitably be their portion. If aggressors 14 158 DESTRUCTIVENESS. visit a community in whom exists a proper endowment of this faculty, destruction is hurled upon their heads, and others are kept aloof by the terror which such a manifesta- tion of the feeling inspires. Great size of this organ and Combativeness inspires men with delight in battles. Of this we a short time ago had an example in the United States ; the Boundary Question was agitated, and every mouth breathed war. The excite- ment has passed away, and many are astonished now, as I was then, at the violence of their emotions. Phrenology indicates the source of our feelings, and shows us that the propensities ought never to act as the controllers but mere- ly as the servants of reason and the higher sentiments. I met in Edinburgh a young American who said that the United States equalled any European nation in every thing excepting military glory, and that a great war, which would afford them an opportunity for acquiring it, would be a na- tional blessing. I told him that his organs of Combative- ness and Destructiveness were large, and that he was mere- ly mistaking the impulses of his own propensities for the wishes and interests of his nation.* When Destructiveness is excited by disease, there is an exalted manifestation of its function, and a disposition to burn, kill and destroy. Violence or murder may be commit- ted, and we may hang the person on account of his malady. A man in a village in Scotland was observed to enter a cot- tage and presently to come out and walk deliberately away. * The activity of Destructiveness is very evident in the following nar- rative of Adanson. " What struck me most was the shooting of mon- keys, which I enjoyed * * * I do not think there ever was better sport * * Nothing could be more entertaining when several of them jumped to- gether on the same bough, than to see it bend under them, and the hinder- most to drop down on the ground; while the rest got further on, and others were still suspended in the air. While this game was going on, I con- tinued to shoot at them, and though I kUledno less than three-and-twenty in less titan an hour, and within the space of twenty fathoms, yet not one of them screeched the whole time." p. 316. DESTRUCTIVENESS. 159 He was thought to be a beggar, and no further notice was taken of the circumstance till an hour or two afterward, when a neighbour entered and found the old woman who resided there lying on the floor, with her skull cleft in two by means of a spade. It is an important fact that not the slightest article had been stolen. The man was pursued, taken, and brought to trial. The evidence was such that no doubt remained on my mind that the prisoner was a monomaniac. I mentioned this to Mr. C, the Solicitor General for the crown, a very worthy and amiable man, but he could not understand the force of my representa- tions. A petition was sent to the crown that the man might be confined in a mad-house instead of being hanged, but the petition was refused. The day before that appointed for his execution, Mr. C. asked me if I still considered the man insane. I replied, " Certainly I do." At 4 o'clock in the morning of the day on which he was to be execu- ted, he sent for the Mayor of the City for the purpose of making some important confessions. The Mayor went to his cell, when the man commenced the relation of a whole list of atrocious murders. He said he had killed a child at such a time in such a street of Edinburgh—a man at such another place—and so he kept on, enumerating six or eight murders, in the most circumstantial manner. The Mayor sent for the Superintendent ofthe Police and related the man's confessions, asking him if they could be true. The Superintendent said it was impossible, no such mur- ders had ever been heard of. They were then convinced that the man was staring and glaringly mad ; but at that time no person in Scotland had power to stay the execution, so the poor maniac was taken out at 8 o'clock the same morning and hanged. I met Mr. C. some time afterward, and asked him what he then thought ofthe case. " The fact is," said he, " it was an ugly business, and the less that is said about it the better " But if by relating the circum- stances I can draw attention to the subject and prevent re- 160 DESTRUCTIVENESS. petitions of such manifest wrong, the relation will be ser- viceable. Like cases are very numerous in the annals of criminal jurisprudence. Some say, Granting that a man is mad, if he be inclined to commit murder, he is best out of the way. But madness is a disease ; and it would be quite as just and humane to hang a man for having the yellow fever, because he was liable to infect his neighbours. Besides, it makes a vast difference to a man's family whether he be hanged or con- fined as a lunatic. The latter may be borne with resigna- tion, but the former overwhelms with a feeling of mortifica- tion and a sense of infamy. Justice, then, not only to the maniac, but to his relatives and friends, demands that we should be careful in our judgments. And let no man treat this subject as one which does not concern him. None of us know but that ourselves or some member of our families, or some one in the list of our friends and associates, may soon be affected in like manner. Individuals who commit murder or set fire to property without rational motive, often ascribe their actions to the temptation of the devil; they say that he never ceases to whisper in their ears exhortations to mischief. Diseased activity of this organ, filling the mind with the desire to destroy, probably gives rise to such impressions. Destructiveness is the great fountain of passion ; its natu- ral language is to give a sort of wriggling motion to the head, like that of a dog in the act of worrying. The foot is stamped, the face wears a scowling expression, and the body is drawn up towards the head. In Dr. Chalmers it is large; and when operative in his speeches, he clinches every thing with a blow. When preaching against sin, it seems as though he were endeavouring to pound it out of mankind. In this drawing,by a very able artist who pro- proses visiting this country, Mons. Edouart, you see it strongly manifested in a scene of matrimonial strife: the woman is daring her husband, and he stands with his head Fclou.ar-l.feci1 NATURAL LANGUAGE OF DESTRUCTIVE N ESS ALIMENTIVENESS. 161 bent forward, his fists clenched, but retracted, his counte- nance peculiarly expressive of the power which he has to exercise,in order to prevent passion from boiling over and relieving itself by blows. If, in friendly converse with a person in whom this organ is large and Secretiveness small, one happens to touch on some irritating topic, in an instant the softness of Benevolence, and the courtesy of Love of Approbation, are gone, and the hoarse growl of Destructive- ness ushers in a storm. 6.a Alimentiveness. That the appetite for food is an instinct not referable to any of the recognized faculties ofthe mind early occurred to Gall: but neither he nor Spurzheim discovered its situa- tion. Observations made by various individuals have proved that there is in man an organ of appetite for food, situated in the zygomatic fossa. The stomach is to this organ what the eye is to the sense of seeing. Cut off the communication between it and the brain and the appetite will be lost. A dog was kept with- out food, till he was ravenous with hunger; the pneumo- gastric nerve was then divided, and the sensation left him at once. A number of cases have occurred, in which a gluttonous appetite existed during life, and these convolu- tions were found, after death, ulcerated. Dr. Caldwell thinks the burning desire of the drunkard to arise from disease of this organ, and recommends it to be treated with bleeding, cold water, quiet, and attention to diet. That this is the organ of Alimentiveness has been con- firmed by Vimont, and since coming to this country I have seen two strong proofs of it in the collection of Dr. Morton of Philadelphia. One the skull of a Dutch Admiral, who died at Java in consequence of excessive eating, in which the organ is very much developed, but it is still larger in in this, the skull of a convict of New South Wales, who 14* 162 LOVE OE LIFE. inviegled seven people into the woods, at various times, murdered and ate them. In the Annals of Physiological Medicine, an account is given of a girl who from infancy exhausted the milk of all her nurses and ate four times as much as other children. At the Saltpetriere she ate eight or ten pounds of bread daily as her ordinary quantity ; but she had fits of hunger, two or three times a month, during which she devoured twenty-four pounds of bread. She went one day into the kitchen of a rich family where a dinner party was expected, and devoured the soup prepared for twenty guests, together with eight pounds of bread ! On another occasion she drank all the coffee prepared for seventy-five of her companions in the Saltp6triere ! Her skull is said to be small, but the propensities predominate, and Alimentiveness is largely de- veloped. Many similar instances are recorded by medical writers. In these cases the food passes undigested. You may generally tell those in whom this organ is large by the interest they take in the table. This organ has been marked as probable, but I now consider it established. 6.b Love op life. That this feeling is manifested in different degrees by dif- ferent individuals is certain, the bravest men being some- times excessively attached to life, while the most timid are often indifferent to death. I knew a gentleman of superior talents, but not remarkably happy, who declared that his attachment to life was such, that he would rather live in tor- ment for ever than suffer annihilation. Another, who was present, and a more fortunate man, said he could not con- ceive the feeling which would lead to such an expression. Dr. Combe had a patient who showed extraordinary anxiety about death. In her he found an enormous development of one convolution, at the base of the middle lobe of the brain, and the skull showed a corresponding very deep and distinctly moulded cavity. From the situation of the con secretiveness. 163 volution its development cannot be ascertained during life. In the Hindoos carelessness about the continuance of life is wonderful. If fatigued on a march, they ask no greater boon than to be allowed to lie down and repose, with every chance of being devoured by the wild beasts, or of being overtaken and slain by the pursuing enemy. That species of hypochondria which consists in morbid fear of death, is probably produced by a disease of this organ and Cautious- ness. Love of life is strongly manifested in the scene be- tween Rob Roy's wife and Morrison. 7. Secretiveness. This organ is situated exactly in the centre ofthe lateral part ofthe cranium, and lies immediately above Destructive- ness. Dr. Gall, in early youth, was struck with the char- acter and form of the head of one of his companions, who was distinguished for cunning and finesse. Although a staunch friend, he experienced great pleasure in deceiving his school-fellows ; his natural language was absolutely expressive of cunning, and such as we see in cats and dogs when in playing they want to give each other the slip. At a subsequent period Gall became acquainted with another who was not only cunning but perfidious, and his temples swelled out in the same manner. At Vienna he became acquainted with a physician having a similar develop- ment who often told Gall that he knew no pleasure equal to that of deceiving ; he carried his tricks so far that the Government warned the public, through the medium ofthe public prints, to beware of him. From these facts Gall concluded that there is in the human mind, a primitive ten- dency toward cunning, and that its organ is situated in the region before described. By a great number of observations this conjecture was fully confirmed. The various faculties ofthe mind are liable to involuntary activity from internal causes, as well as from external ex- citement. Acquisitiveness inspires with strong desire for 164 secretiveness. wealth, Language for utterance, Tune for music. If outward expression were given to these feelings as they arise, social intercourse would be disfigured with a rude assemblage of gross or ridiculous improprieties. There needs some ever- prompting feeling to curb these instinctive impulses, until the judgment shall decide upon the propriety of utterance. This curb is supplied by Secretiveness. Secretiveness is an essential ingredient in a prudent char- acter ; it serves as a restraint upon ourselves and a shield against the prying curiosity of others. ' When Napoleon,' says Sir Walter Scott, ' thought himself closely observed, he had the power of discharging from his countenance all expression save that of an indefinite smile, and presenting to the curious investigator the fixed eyes and rigid features of a marble bust.' ' A fool,' says Solomon " uttereth all his mind ; but a wise man keepeth it till afterward." Scott's character of Louis XI in Quentin Durward is a fine delinea- tion ofthe predominance of this feeling. " He was," says he, " calm, crafty, and profoundly attentive to his own in- terest. He was careful in disguising his real sentiments and purposes from all who approached him, and frequently used the expressions, that the king knew not how to reign who knew not how to dissemble;' and that ' for himself, if he thought his very cap knew his secrets, he would throw it into the fire.' Like all astutious persons he was as de- sirous of looking into the secrets of others as of concealing his own." Those who have Secretiveness very large, look upon life as one great stratagem, and upon cunning as wisdom. Pope, according to Lady Montague, played the diplomatist about cabbages and turnips ; and Johnson says of him that he hardly drank tea without a stratagem. I knew a gentle- man, a resident of a village west of Edinburgh, in whom it was very large, and who was so desirous of doing every thingsecrctly, that when he had to go to Edinburgh he would walk west out of the village, without coat, and by a turn secretiveness. 165 come round to the Edinburgh road, where a person would be waiting with the absent part of his clothing. He thus went to Edinburgh without any of the villagers knowing, and, I suppose, without any of them caring. It is said that a tailor lived next door with equal secretiveness. He long wished to know how this tailor passed his time, but could not learn till one night he fixed a ladder, got to the top of the house, removed two or three tiles, and saw him at work in his garret. Secretiveness is large in the English, who seclude them- selves, surround their houses and gardens with high walls, and are reserved about their history or affairs. It is small in the French, who are very communicative, and pass most of their lives in public. When Secretiveness is large, joined to small Conscientiousness, it prompts to lying; joined to large Acquisitiveness, it prompts to stealing. Mer- chants in whom it predominates, and whose circumstances are declining, frequently conceal their difficulties from their family till bankruptcy bursts upon them like an explosion. They then plead as an excuse for their conduct a regard for the feelings of their relatives, but the real springs of their conduct are overweening Self-esteem, which hates to acknowledge misconduct or misfortune, and inordinate Secretiveness, which is instinctively averse from candid communication. Humour is a combination of Wit and Secretiveness. Hence the English and Italians, in whom this organ is large, are very fond of it. The French, in whom it is small, think humour buffoonery, and cannot appreciate it. Secretive- ness gives authors the power of hiding the plot till its de- nouement ; its size in La Fontaine is enormous. It is large in artists and actors, and enables the latter to conceal their real characters and put forth the natural language of the assumed one ; without this the words might be repeated, but they would not be charged with the required feeling. This is the head of Ann Ross, in whom, as you see, 166 ACQUISITIVENESS. Secretiveness and Firmness are very greatly developed. She practised various deceptions for the purpose of exciting sympathy and obtaining relief; but her impositions being discovered she was discarded. She was shortly afterward admitted into Richmond Hospital with her wrist severely ulcerated. Mr. Richard Carmichael and others attended her, but no remedial course seemed to afford relief. At length the disease became so bad that amputation was proposed and submitted to without flinching. On examin- ing the arm afterward it was found full of needles which she had purposely stuck there. It is said that she appeared much more mortified at the discovery of the trick than afflicted by the loss of her arm. They did not inform her ofthe discovery till after she had recovered, and when they did, it struck her to the ground. I saw her after the ampu- tation had been performed. The natural language of Secretiveness is a furtiveness of look, a soft manner of speech, from suppression of other faculties or propensities, a close mouth, and eyes partly closed, leaving as small a chink as possible, enabling the owner to look out but preventing the world from looking in. Here is a French drawing called ' Hush :' the mouth is shut and the finger upon the lip, but the designer, being ig- norant of natural language, has left the eyes wide open. Nature never makes such mistakes. Observe the portrait of Fouche, Napoleon's Minister of Police, with his firmly closed lips and half shut eyes. 8. Acquisitiveness. This organ is situated above the fore part of Secretive- ness, reaching, however, further forward. To prevent mis- takes bear in mind that it is backward and downward from Causality. Love of property, say the metaphysicians, is merely a habit originating in the love of enjoyment, and afterward transferred by association to the means of procuring the ACQUISITIVENESS. 167 enjoyment—which is as rational as to say that a man's love of a good dinner becomes, by long indulgence, love of a knife and fork. Lord Kaimes, however, who wrote from observation, recognises this faculty. ' Man,' says he,' is a hoarding animal, having an appetite for storing up things of use.' Gall discovered it by comparing the heads of the peasants, whom he used to invite to his house, and who made him their confidant. He found some notorious for petty larcenies, and proud of their superior savior-faire— others, who would rather starve than even partake of what their companions had stolen: in the first he noticed this part of the head to be much developed—in the last, to be comparatively small. There are many periods of life in which we cannot la- bour, as sickness and old age. Now, if we were content with satisfying our present wants, what would become of us in the time of need? This faculty prompts us to accu- mulate, to store our surplus. This is the skull of Tardy, the notorious pirate. You see this organ immensely developed. This is the head of Heaman, executed at Edinburgh for piracy and murder. You perceive a great development of this organ. He saw a number of dollars put on board the ship in which he sailed ; they excited his cupidity and haunted his imagina- tion so much, that he did not rest until he had persuaded his ship-mates to assist him to take possession of the vessel. They did so, but were unable to manage it, and consequent- ly it ran ashore on the coast of Scotland, and they were im- mediately arrested. Owing to its large size in notorious robbers it has been called the organ of theft. This is just as appropriate as to call the stomach the organ of gluttony. Thieving is a manifest abuse of a propensity obviously given for wise and benevolent purposes. You have all heard of Robert Owen. That gentleman maintains that the institution of private property is wrong. Now, in his head this organ is very small, and benevolence 168 ACQUISITIVENESS. large. And he has expended a property of £90,000 ster- ling, or between $400,000 and $500,000, in attempting to carry out his schemes of benevolence. When Acquisitiveness and Benevolence are both large, the individual will show his kindness by personal exertions, by giving advice, by imparting the results of experience, rather than by giving money. He may acquire, however, for the very purpose of giving, and have a hand open as day to melting charity. Acquisitiveness is large in the Anglo-Saxon race, and this accounts for the eager pursuit and vast accumulation of wealth for which it is distinguished; we see around u^ overwhelming evidence of its activity. For untold ages this vast country was inhabited by Indians,—and a few personal ornaments and war instruments were almost the whole extent of their accumulations—the British race ap- peared—and cities rose, and roads were constructed, and the comforts, conveniencies and elegancies of life were gathered, where the wild beasts had been chased by men almost as wild. This propensity takes its direction from the other facul- ties. Combined with Destructiveness, it leads to crimes of violence for gain; combined with Secretiveness, it indu- ces crimes of fraud ; combined with large Ideality, Con- structiveness, and Form, it stimulates to collections in works of art, as painting, and statuary; with large Even- tuality, to collections of books, especially of history, me- moirs and travels; with large Individuality, to collections of shells, insects and other specimens of natural history; with Veneration large, to the collection of antiques ; com- bined with large Self-esteem, it produces a disposition to acquire and hoard; combined with large Love of Approba- tion, it leads to admiration ofthe rich, and, if Conscientious- ness and Benevolence be deficient, to contempt of ihe-poox. Acquisitiveness is small in the skulls of the Charibs, who never manifested any propensity to theft, and who ACQUISITIVENESS. 169 always insisted, says Rochester, in his History of the An- tilles, when robbed, that the crime was committed by a Christian. It is large in the Kalmucks, who are incorrigible thieves. Dr. Spurzheim tells us that a young Kalmuck brought to Vienna by Count Stahrenberg became melan- choly because his confessor had forbidden him to steal. Seeing this he was permitted to do so on condition that he should give back what he had stolen. The young man profited by this permission, stole the confessor's watch during high mass, but joyfully returned it when mass was over. Acquisitiveness when predominant is never satisfied. Its pleasure consists in acquiring—and this explains a puzzle in human nature which has attracted much attention. Men, on retiring from business, instead of finding that re- pose which they sought, that comfort and enjoyment toward which they had long looked forward with glowing anticipa- tion, are restless and dissatisfied. Man's happiness consists in the activity of his faculties ; and when this organ is large the other organs become habituated to work with it in as- sociated activity. Taken away from the business which has constituted the daily stimulus of mind, there is a cra- ving which nothing in retirement can satisfy. But when the moral and intellectual faculties predominate, the indi- vidual can glide easily and pleasantly from business to pri- vate life. Sometimes this organ is so large that individuals in good circumstances give way to the temptation to steal. A bar- rister of Edinburgh was convicted of stealing books—and similar cases are on the records of all courts. A gentleman in good circumstances always pocketed, if possible, some silver spoons when he dined out. He was at last detected by the handle of a soup-ladle peeping out of his pocket. This organ becomes disordered. Esquirol mentions a Knight of Malta who became addicted to theft in conse- quence of disease, and who not unfrequently refreshed him- 15 170 ACQUISITIVENESS. self in coffee houses, but instead of paying, put the cup, saucer and spoon in his pocket and walked away. Acrel mentions a young man who manifested an irresistible pro- pensity to steal, after receiving a wound in the temple. The organ is found in animals, and they have notions of private property. After a winter's absence, the stork will return to the same steeple, the swallow to the same roof, and the nightingale to the same nest which they before occupied. Vimont remarks that it is generally large in the fox, ourang-outang and cat. He mentions two cats, in one of which it was small, and in the other large ; the first would not steal except when very hungry ; the other would do so on all occasions. He once gorged it with as much fish as it would eat, and then left it in the room where a piece of veal was on the table: and coming in shortly after, he found that the cat had stolen it. It is difficult to describe the natural language of this fa- culty ; but after once seeing it well manifested it is not soon forgotten; when predominant it gives a lean, hungry, mean aspect, and, when combined with Secretiveness, a one- sided, creeping, sneaking look, half-shut eyes and closed mouth. To use a common expression, such a man seems as if he could skin a flint. His hands often go out at the side as if bent upon grasping something. CONSTRUCTIVENESS. 171 LECTURE VI. 9. Constructiveness. This organ is situated at that part of the frontal bone which lies behind and above the superior and outer angle of the eye, immediately above the sphenoido-temporal su- ture, and before Acquisitiveness. In the brain it occupies the posterior part ofthe anterior lobe. Dr. Gall discovered it by noticing that men distinguished for mechanical genius are very wide in this region. After this discovery some gentlemen of Vienna presented to him a person concerning whose talents they solicited his opinion. He told them that he ought to have a great tendency toward mechanics. They then told Gall that he had been examining the fa- mous painter, Unterbergen, and expressed dissatisfaction at the decision ; but the painter acknowledged that the Doctor was correct—that he had always had a passion for mechanics, and that he painted only for a livelihood. He also took the party to his house, where he showed them many machines and instruments, some of which he had in- vented and others improved. Besides, Constructiveness is an element in the art of painting. Dr. Barclay used to exhibit to his pupils the skulls ofthe lion and other carnivorous animals, and ridicule the Phre- nologists for ascribing the narrowness of this region in those animals to their deficiency in Constructiveness. " The lion, gentlemen," he would say, " has very strong temporal muscles, for the purpose of empowering its jaws to masti- cate flesh and bones : now it is evident that the play of these muscles compresses the head in this region, and causes this 172 CONSTRUCTIVENESS. remarkable narrowness." This seems plausible, but had the Professor carried his observations far enough, he would have found that the form of head alluded to occurs in the foetus of carnivorous animals, and cannot, therefore, be the effect ofthe action of their jaws on hard substances. Fur- ther, the beaver eats through pretty strong logs of timber with its teeth, and its temporal muscles are strong, yet the head is very broad in this region as you may see in this skull, and on putting my finger within, I find a hollow cor- responding with the external protuberance. The temporal muscle covers this organ and part of Ac- quisitiveness, and differs in thickness in different persons. It is therefore necessary to estimate its thickness in the liv- ing head, by feeling at the muscle while the individual moves his lower jaw as in biting. To construct, means to put detached materials together so as to make a single object. This faculty, however, seems to be a tendency to fashion in general, which may he done by putting materials together, or by chipping off frag- ments, or by moulding, or by drawing lines and laying on colours. It does not invent : but merely fashions or con- figurates, though when large it stimulates the understand- ing to invent what will employ it agreeably in constructing. It takes its direction from the other faculties. Combined with large Weight, it leads to machine-making; with Ideality and Form, to statuary ; with these and Colour, to painting. Compare these heads : in this of Franklin, it is small; in this, of Canova, very large. The development is very small, as you see, in the New-Hollanders, and of all mankind they are the least constructive. When visited by Capt. Cook, they were naked, built no houses, and had no implements of agriculture, fishing or hunting. They were destitute, in short, of every art which can add comfort or decency to life, depending for a subsistence on spontaneous vegetation, and the fishes which are left by the tide among the rocks. Com- CONSTRUCTIVENESS. 173 [1] Ancient Greek. [2] New Hollander. pare it with this of an ancient Greek [1] or with this of an Italian : the difference in favour of the latter is enormous! This Italian skull known to be at least two hundred years old, was supposed to be that of Raphael, and was preserved as such in St. Luke's Academy at Rome ; but as Raphael's skull has been recently discovered, objectors say that this mistake refutes phrenology. All that they can make of the case, however, is, that it did not belong to Raphael, but as they cannot tell to whom it belonged, they cannot specify what talents or disposition its owner possessed. We see here large organs of Amativeness, Constructiveness, Imita- tion, and Ideality ; faculties by which Raphael was distin- guished. If the objectors could show that the real owner of the skull did not manifest these faculties, this would be a fact against Phrenology ; but while his character is un- known, the skull is merely a specimen ofthe development of particular organs and affords no evidence either for or against Phrenology. Compare the head of Napoleon, in whom Constructiveness was small, with the head of Brunei, the celebrated engineer of the Thames Tunnel, and the in- ventor of machinery for making blocks by means of steam for the rigging of ships. Here is the head of Sir Wm. Her- schell, in whom it is very large, and the construction of a superior telescope was the principal foundation of his fame. This organ is of great service to operative surgeons, en- gravers, cabinet makers, tailors and dress-makers. We find some men who for want of it cannot mend a pen nor 15* 174 CONSTRUCTIVENESS. sharpen a razor.* You perceive it small in the Rev. Mr Martin, who was bred a watch-maker, but taking no interest in the employment, he gave it up and turned preacher. Lucian and Socrates renounced sculpture for the same rea- son. On the other hand, we often find men whom circum- stances have prevented from following their natural incli- nation, and whose occupations do not lead them to its exer- cise, occupying themselves with mechanics as a pastime and amusement. An eminent Scotch barrister told me that in the very act of composing a pleading on the most abstruse questions of law, vivid conceptions of mechanical improvements would dart into his mind, and that he often had to leave his employment to embody them in a diagram in order to get rid ofthe intruders, or "lay the devil," as he said. Leopold I., Peter the Great, and Louis XVI con- structed locks. The late Lord President Blair, in whom this organ was large, had a private workshop in which he constructed pieces of mechanism. Constructiveness is sometimes large when Intellect is deficient. Thus, some of the cretins of Switzerland are employed in making watches. Dr. Rush mentions two cases in which a talent for Design had unfolded itself during a fit of insanity ; and he adds, that there is no in- sane hospital in which examples are not found, of construc- tive talent suddenly developing itself in certain patients in their insane condition. The natural language of this organ is to turn the head sidewise, in the direction ofthe organ. Dr. Spurzheim re- marked that women in whom it is large, when entering a milliner's shop, turn their heads on one side toward the arti- cle they are examining. I have observed that children with it large, in learning to write, move their heads with their pens, and delight in flourishes ; while those with it small hold their heads still and upright, and write stiff Excellence in these operations depends much upon the organ of SELF-ESTEEM. 175 crabbed hands. This is a hint to writing-masters to let the heads of their pupils alone, for their instinctive movement or position will best aid the mind and the hand. SENTIMENTS. We now come to that genus of the faculties called Senti- ments. Some of these are common to man and the lower animals; others are peculiar to man. The former are styled the Inferior Sentiments: of them I shall treat first, and begin with Self-Esteem. This organ lies at the crown of the head,just above the sagittal angle ofthe parietal bones. When large, the head runs far upward and backward from the ear in this direction. It can be readily found by noticing that it lies on the middle line, in the superior part of the back of the head, and never occupies any portion ofthe head which looks directly upward. Man, placed as he is in a universe of worlds, surrounded by objects vast and magnificent, would be apt to have an overwhelming idea of his own insignificance, and exclaim, despondingly, ' What is man, O Lord, that thou art mindful of him V did not this organ give to him due importance in his own eyes, and impart that degree of satisfaction with self which leaves the mind open to the enjoyment of the bounties of Providence and the amenities of life; and in- spires him with that confidence in his own powers which is essential to every great achievement, and even to the pro- per application of his faculties in the every-day business of life. Some have expressed their surprise that there should be an organ for esteeming one's self, seeing that humility is a virtue; but they forget that humility is the opposite of arrogance, not of proper self-respect. Gall discovered this organ by noticing the head of a beg- gar who had inherited a considerable fortune from his father, but thought it beneath him to apply to business, either foy 176 SELF-ESTEEM. its preservation or for the acquisition of a new one. Gall moulded his head, and, on examining it with attention, found the organ of Cautiousness small, with a small head in general, but this part much developed. He pursued his inquiries and finally established the organ. This cast, which was given to me at Boston, is very long upward and backward from the ear. 1 was told that the gentleman whose head it represents manifests the feeling to a most ridiculous extent. Love of Approbation lies on the sides of Self-Esteem. When large it gives remarkable fullness and breadth to the upper and back part ofthe head. I will present some heads to you in which these two organs are in various states of development. This is the Boston head, in which Self-Esteem is large and Love of Approba- tion small. This is the head of Mrs. H., in which Self- Esteem is small and Love of Approbation large. This is the head ofthe Rev. Mr. Martin, in which both organs are large. Here are three others : this is the head of an Irish soldier who shot three men ; in it Self-Esteem is very large and Love of Approbation very small. This is the head of Francois Cordonnier, the French poet, in which Self-Esteem is small and Love of Approbation very large. This is the head of Sheridan, in which both organs are large. The proper development of Self-Esteem is an essential element in a great character; but when too large it pro- duces arrogance, superciliousness and selfishness, and in children pettishness and wilfulness of temper. The man of inordinate Self-Esteem is a world unto himself, to which all things must concentrate ; a standard to which the man- ners, morals and opinions of others ought, he thinks, to conform. This feeling in predominance is, to a great ex- tent, the fountain of that intolerant zeal so frequently mani- fested by professing Christians on behalf of their sectarian views. " There is no grace," says Cowper, " that the spirit of self can counterfeit with more success than a religious zeal. A man thinks he is fighting for God, when he is SELF-ESTEEM. 177 merely fighting for his own notions. He thinks he is skill- fully searching the hearts of others, when he is only gratify- ing the malignity of his own ; and charitably supposes his hearers destitute of all grace, that he may shine the more in his own eyes by comparison. When he has performed this notable task, he wonders that they are not converted: he has given it to them soundly, and if they do not tremble and confess that God is in him of a truth, he gives them up as reprobate, incorrigible, and lost for ever." Cowper was a sincerely religious man, and in this description he repre- sents that dogmatic Self-Esteem which arrogates to itself infallibility and which is found in some individuals of all sects. There is at this time a great war going on in my own country between two religious parties, one of which has certain endowments which the other thinks it ought not to have. A minister of the established church, making a speech at one of their meetings, maintained that the true religion should be endowed ; " But," said he, "it is asked which is the true religion 1 I answer, ours is the true reli- gion." This assertion, which was merely an amusing manifestation of Self-Esteem, was received with loud ap- plause. The person in whom this organ is too small is often un- able to pursue even a virtuous course, through diffidence of his own judgment. Inferior talents, combined with a strong endowment of Self-Esteem, are often crowned with far higher success than more splendid abilities joined with this sentiment feebly developed. Dr. Adam Smith remarks that it is better to have too much than too little ; because, if we pretend to more than we are entitled to, the world will will give us credit for at least what we possess; whereas, if we pretend to less, we shall be taken at our word, and mankind will rarely have the justice to raise us to our true merit. The fancied superiority of self produces the enjoyment of 178 SELF-ESTEEM. detraction. People take their neighbours down a peg that themselves may appear a peg higher. Envy is the result of Self-Esteem and Destructiveness. The former is offended at the superior happiness, excellence, wealth or station, of others, the latter hates them for it. This organ renders true the saying ' that we always finds something to console us for the misfortunes of our neighbours.' It is extremely active in society. In my own country the learned profes- sions look down upon and despise the merchants as a plod- ding set, and the merchants look down upon the manufac- turers, the wholesale dealers look down upon the retail dealers, and these look down upon the handicrafts—and the men of title look down upon and despise all. These are strange fantastic tricks, from the spirit of which this country is by no means free. Predominant Self-Esteem, renders men quite satisfied with themselves, and with whatever belongs to them. Madame de Stael describes its effect on even a powerful mind. He spent his time, she remarks, in admiring the astonishing magnificence of his own abilities and attain- ments. Men possessing this organ and Benevolence large, have a solemn, good-natured, patronizing air, and are apt to address others with the epithets, ' My good sir,' ' My good fellow,' and the like. Self-Esteem is large in the North American Indians, who are remarkable for pride and personal dignity. Also in the English and Americans, and is the foundation of that love of liberty which characterizes this arrogant and turbulent race. It produces that egotism, that proneness to use the emphatic J—' / did this; /said that'—which characterizes the discourse of some people. During the wars of the French Revolution, when the British nation was struggling for existence against all Europe, excluded from the conti- nent, and mostly confined to their island, their patriotism was invoked in all modes, and their Self-Esteem continually stimulated. They thus learned to consider themselves the SELF-ESTEEM. 179 most civilized people in the world, and were greatly aston- ished on visiting the Continent after the peace, to find any great, good and amiable quality as abundant elsewhere as at home. This country, from its remoteness from other civ- ilized nations,is in a situation similar to that of England during the war. It has no standard by which to compare itself, except itself, and I see a good deal ofthe same over- estimate of its own attainments which characterized the English during the period of their isolation. Self-Esteem often restrains men from forming improper connections, when combined with large moral organs it in- spires with the dislike of every thing mean and contempti- ble in behaviour. Combined with Acquisitiveness, it pro- duces a disposition to acquire and keep property. This combination with deficient Benevolence constitutes a miser; with Acquisitiveness, Love of Approbation, Ideality and Form, it leads people to collect works of art; with these and Colour, to collect paintings; with Acquisitiveness, Self- Esteem and Veneration, to a passion for uniques. It has been said that but three farthings were coined during Queen Ann's reign. This combination would prompt its posses- sor to give one hundred pounds for one of these farthings, and one thousand pounds if the other two were destroyed. It appears to be the secret satisfaction of thinking that " In possessing this article I am superior to, and unrivalled by all the world," which gives the love of uniques. When diseased, the organ leads patients to consider themselves great personages, as kings, queens, generals, <>reat poets, or even as God himself. It is larger in men than women ; and the former are more liable than the lat- ter to insanity from pride. Its natural language is a strut in the gait, a lofty carriage of the head, and a repulsive manner and tone of voice. When much excited, it draws the head back. You see the natural language expressed in the most striking manner in this caricature of Louis XVIII. It was printed at the time that there was a conten- 180 LOVE OF APPROBATION. tion between this King and the people about a charter. The French, very reasonably in my opinion, thought that France belonged to them, and that they had a right to form their own charter. Louis thought that France belonged to him, and he out of the plenitude of his condescension would bestow a charter upon them. They revenged them- selves by drawing him in this attitude, with about as much contempt in his face and manner as if he were giving to a dog a bone. I mentioned that while the Rev. Edward Ir- ving was a student, I examined his head and found very large Self-Esteem. This represents him in the pulpit: you see he is drawn back in the atttitude of self-importance. It is easy to perceive that he is winding up a period in which he tells his hearers, that he has done his duty, and that if they will go to perdition, their blood will be upon their own head. Here is the full-length portrait of a lady: her erect and composed attitude indicates the presence of this organ. At the close of a battle between two cocks, you see the abasement and exhaltation of this organ. The one slinks away with his head down, and the other stretches up his head and proudly struts while issuing a victorious crow. Self-abasement bows the head into a direction contrary to that of Self-Esteem, as in this beautiful representation of our Saviour, who is supposed to be saying: 'Thy will be done.' The prostration of the whole person on the ground before Eastern potentates, is meant to indicate the abase- ment of self. It is the attitude the very opposite of that of pride and self-importance. 11. Love of Approbation. I have pointed out the direction of this organ, and pre- sented to you a number of specimens. Dr. Gall met with a woman in a lunatic asylum who fancied herself the Queen of France. He expected to find the region of Self-Esteem largely developed, but instead, there was a distinct hollow and a large round protuberance on each side. This at first love of approbation. 181 caused him much embarrassment. But he soon perceived that this woman's insanity differed much from that of men alienated through pride. The latter affected a masculine majesty, and were grave, calm, imperious, elevated, arro- gant. This woman, on the contrary, manifested a restless frivolity, an inexhaustible talkativeness, affected forward- ness, eagerness to announce high birth and boundless riches, promises of favour and honour. She solicited at- tention, and strove by every means to obtain admiration, From that time he perceived the difference between Self Esteem and Love of Approbation. Love of Approbation is the drill-sergeant of society, and admonishes us when we depart too widely from the line of march. It is the butt, on which wit strikes, and which enables ridicule to shame us out of faults and improprieties. When excessive, it craves for compliments, is led by fashion, and ever asks, before adopting a course of conduct, what will the world think of it 1 It leads men to give openly, that they may receive praise. He in whom it is large feels rebuffs keenly, and a thousand things occasion excessive pain, which pass over one in whom Self-Esteem is large without exciting attention. In the French, Love of Appro- bation is predominant, and they think the English cold, haughty and arrogant. In the English, Self-Esteem is predominant, and they think the French low-spirited, fawn- ing and trifling. Love of Approbation combined with Benevolence, pro- duces politeness and a desire to please ; with Self-Esteem, love of fame; with Alimentiveness, it leads men to boast of feats in eating and drinking, producing the four-bottle men, whom Lord Chesterfield in charity calls liars, because, if he believed them, he should call them beasts. Com- bined with Ideality without large Intellect, it produces love of dress and ornament, and ambition to lead the fashions ; with Ideality and Constructiveness, love of works of art. Combined with Language, it produces a fondness for com- 16 182 LOVE OF APPROBATION. position, for love of fame as an author; with Acquisitive- ness, it produces admiration of wealth ; with Combative- ness and an otherwise low organization, it forms the bully, who loves to be considered the best fighter in his neigh- bourhood. Love of Approbation is the foundation of that love of distinction and of titles which is so common in my own country, and from which this country is by no means free. Your institutions exclude artificial distinctions of rank, but I perceive that such titles of honour and dignity as do exist among you, are as eagerly sought after, as the titles of rank in England. The faculty exists here as everywhere else, and it desires such distinctions as it can attain. The love of decorations and ornaments, whether these consist of stars, garters and medals, or of tattooed faces, bored noses and eagles' feathers, springs from this organ. We find some men who are apt to captivate us very quickly by their attentive and repectful manner, but we often discover that all their attentions are bestowed for the purpose of ob- taining approbation and praise for themselves. Dr. Gall draws with great accuracy the distinction be- tween Pride, which is an abuse of Self-Esteem and Vanity, which is an abuse of the organ of which we are now treat- ing.—" The proud man," says he, " is imbued with a sen- timent of his own superior merit, and from the summit of his grandeur treats with contempt or indifference all other mortals ; the vain man attaches the utmost importance to the opinions entertained of him by others, and seeks with eagerness to gain their approbation. The proud man ex- pects the world will come to him and acknowledge hi? merit; the vain man knocks at every door to draw attention toward him and supplicates for the smallest portion of hon- our. The proud man despises those marks of distinction which on the vain confer the most perfect delight. The proud man is disgusted by indiscreet eulogiums; the vain LOVE OF APPROBATION. 183 man inhales with ecstasy the incense of flattery, although profusely offered, and with no very skilful hand." This faculty is too much cultivated in education, by being almost universally appealed to as the chief stimulus to exer- tion and good behaviour. It is only where improper sub- jects are taught, or proper ones are taught improperly, that such appeals are required. In excessive activity it prompts to the equivocation, 'not at home,' which in this country is much less used than in Britain. Here ladies are not ashamed to announce the truth that " they are par- ticularly engaged and find it inconvenient to see company." Love of Approbation, as well as Self-Esteem, prompts to the use of the first person ; but its tone is that of courteous solicitation, while that of Self-Esteem is arrogant and presumptuous. Whim this organ is deficient, the individual cares little for the opinion of others; and if the selfish propensities predominate, the combination produces what are called ' impracticable' men, whose whole feelings are concentra- ted on self. Rebuffs and indignities never affect them. Free from restraints of delicacy, they practise upon the benevo- lence, the friendship, the interest of others, and often achieve their ends in spite of obstacles which to a sensitive mind would have been insurmountable. The natural language of this feeling is to carry the head backward, and a little to the side ; it imparts to the voice a soft, soliciting tone, clothes the countenance in smiles, and produces in the lips that elegant line of beauty which re- sembles Apollo's bow. You see the natural language well manifested in this drawing. A lady, after I had delivered this lecture on one occasion, told me that she was surprised at my not exhibiting the natural language of the faculty in a drawing of a dandy. " Look at him" said she " with his hair bunging in ringlets or carefully rounded out at the side into a fascinating curl ; he wears a little, low crowned and broad brimmed hat, stuck jauntily on the side of his 184 LOVE OF APPROBATION. head ; his coat is fitted to his back like a tailor's show-fig- ure, and his head is reclining gently backwards and to one side, while simpering smiles bedeck his countenance ; he is the very personification of Love of Approbation." I thanked the lady for her portrait, and if any friend will draw it for me in black chalk, I shall have great pleasure in doing jus- tice to the ladies by placing the ' dandy' along side of the female figure which you here see.* A young lady, a relative of my own, went to a boarding school, the governess of which was very particular about the manners of her pupils; and, among other things, she taught the young ladies that the proper attitude for a lady, was to hold the !i?ad and figure in the position represented m this drawing, the head thrown gently back, and inclining to one side, in short, in the position naturally adopted when Love of Approbation predominates. In my young relative, Self-Esteem and Firmness were rather large, and conse- quently it was natural for her to hold her head erect. She did her best, however, to follow directions ; but after sitting for some time with her head on one side, she took a pain or crick in her neck, and had to resume her natural position. She would then get a scolding, would again try to hold her head in the required position, but the crick would again come; and finally the governess gave up the attempt, remarking that she did very well in every thing else, but that in her at- titudes she was excessively awkward and incorrigibly vulgar. I subsequently saw this lady, and remarked that in her head Love of Approbation was enormous, and that she naturally threw her head in this position ; and because it * " Every one knows that in the south of France, they decorate the mules with bouquets when they travel well. The most painful punish- ment which can be inflicted on them, is to deprive them of their bou- quet, and tie them to the back of the carriage. I have a female ape, whenever they give her a handkerchief, she throws it over her, and takes a wonderful deal of pleasure in seeing it drag behind, like the train of a court-robe. Gall. iv. 190. CAUTIOUSNESS. 185 was natural to her, she conceived it to be the beau ideal of graceful position. The upright attitude of Firmness, which she condemned as vulgar, was more agreeable to my taste, than the simpering attitude of Love of Approbation which she commended ; but every one will prefer the attitude which harmonises with his own predominant faculties. 12. Cautiousness. Cingalese boy. French skull. This or