these are artificial measures, with which nature has nothing to do. But when two objects, equal in size, are presented to the eye, the one being twice as far distant as the other, the mind has an intuitive perception that they are not equally near, unless the external or internal organs, or both, be deficient or deranged.

What, then, are the true functions of the eye? No external organ of sense forms ideas. The eye, therefore, only receives, modifies, and transmits the impressions of light; and here its functions cease. Internal faculties form conceptions of the figure, colour, distance, and other attributes and relations of the objects making the impression: and the power of forming these conceptions is in proportion to the perfection of the eyes and the internal faculties jointly, and not in proportion to the perfection of the eyes alone. *

The anterior pair of the corpora quadrigemina seem to have an intimate connexion with the sense of sight, and indeed to form part of its organic apparatus. Sommering states that he found them atrophied in blind horses, and Dr. Gall made similar observations. Dr. Vimont found in fourteen old horses which were one-eyed, a diminution of the anterior corpus quadrigeminum opposite to the lost eye; in two of them the atrophy was complete. To obtain farther light on this subject, he put out the left eyes of four rabbits, and the right eyes of other four; and deprived another of both eyes. Ten months afterward they were all put to death. In the four deprived of the left eye he found the anterior corpus quadrigeminum on the right side much smaller than that on the left, while the opposite appearance presented itself in those which had lost the right eye. In the blind rabbit both of the anterior corpora were much smaller than the sound one in any of the other rabbits. Compared with the corresponding parts in a rabbit of the same litter, whose eyes were sound, they presented a very perceptible difference of volume. Dr. Vimont adds: "M. Magendie has told me, that he had observed a diminution of a bigemina body in birds, a short time after having put out one of their eyes. have repeated the experiment; it is exact; the diminution even takes place a great deal sooner than in quadrupeds." He mentions farther, that, according to the observations of Wenzel, there is atrophy of the optic thalami in blindness, and when that state is of long continuance the thalami become narrower and flatter. These facts account satisfactorily for Chesselden's patient not being able to see perfectly, immediately after being couched.

I

The senses may be exercised, and their powers greatly improved by exercise. The taste of the gourmand is more acute than that of the peasant, and the touch of the artisan than that of the ploughman.

GENUS II.-INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES WHICH PROCURE KNOWLEDGE OF EXTERNAL OBJECTS, THEIR PHYSICAL QUALITIES, AND VARIOUS RELATIONS.

THE faculties now to be treated of take cognizance of the existence and qualities of external objects. They correspond, in some degree, to the Perceptive Powers of the metaphysicians; and form ideas. Their action is attended with a sensation of pleasure, but (except in the case of Tune) it is weak compared with the emotions produced by the faculties

See two papers by Dr. A. Combe, "On the Functions of the Sense of Sight, considered chiefly in its relations to ideas of Form, Colour, Magnitude, and Distance;" Phren. Journ., vol. iv., p. 608, and vol. v., p. 286.

+ Treatise on Human and Comparative Phrenology, i., p. 310; French edit., p. 298.

+ De Penit. Struct. Cerebri, p. 125.

already treated of. In judging of the size of these organs, the rules laid down on page 85 require to be particularly attended to. The organs of the intellectual faculties are small, but active. If they had been as large as those of the propensities, we should have been liable to intellectual passions. The comparative calmness of our reasoning processes is probably the result of the small size of these organs.

22. INDIVIDUALITY.

THIS organ is situated in the middle of the lower part of the forehead, immediately above the top of the nose. When large, it produces breadth, projection, and descent between the eye-brows, at that part; when sinall, the eye-brows approach closely to each other, and lie in a horizontal line. It is very large in the portrait of Michael Angelo. MICHAEL ANGELO.

J.J.BUTLER Se.

In surveying the external world, we may consider, first, objects simply as substances or existences, such as a rock, a horse, a tree, a man; these perceptions are designated by substantives;-in the next place, the properties and relations of things which exist, such as their form, size, weight, and colour. After these perceptions, we may notice their active phenomena; the rock falls, the horse runs, the tree grows, the man walksthese actions are designated by active verbs. As size, form, weight, and colour are adjuncts of physical existence, time is an adjunct of action. Now, the faculty of Individuality renders us observant of objects which exist; it gives the notion of substance, and forms the class of ideas repre

sented by substantive nouns when used without an adjective, as rock, man, horse.

The faculty gives the desire, accompanied with the ability, to know objects as mere existences, without regard to their modes of action or the purposes to which they may be subservient. Individuals in whom it is large will observe and examine an object with intense delight, without the least consideration to what it may be applied-a quality of mind which is almost incomprehensible to persons in whom this organ is small and Causality large. It prompts to observation, and is a great element in a genius for those sciences which consist in a knowledge of specific existences, such as natural history. It leads to giving a specific form to all the ideas entertained by the mind. A student in whom this organ is small and the reflecting organs large, may have his mind stored with general principles of science and with abstract ideas, but will experience much difficulty in reducing them into precise and specific forms. Another, in whom this organ is large, will have all his knowledge individualized: if he hear lectures or conversation in which general views chiefly are presented, he will render them specific for himself; but unless his reflecting organs also be large, he will be prone to miss the essential principle, to seize upon the most palpable circumstance attending it, and to embrace this as his conception of it. Such persons are learned, and, owing to the store of facts with which their memories are replenished, the great definiteness and precision of their ideas, and the readiness with which they command them, they often take a lead in public business: but if their reflecting organs be deficient, they show no depth or comprehensiveness of understanding; they do not advance the principles of science, and rarely acquire a permanent reputation.

In common life a great developement of this organ confers a talent for observation, curiosity to know, and aptitude for acquiring knowledge of details. The character of Miss Pratt, as drawn by the author of The Inheritance, a novel, is a personification of Individuality when predominantly powerful, and not directed by higher faculties.* "But people who make use of their eyes,” says this author, "have often much to see, even between two doors; and, in her progress from the hall-door to the drawing-room, Miss Pratt met with much to attract her attention. True, all the objects were perfectly familiar to her; but a real looker, like a great genius, is never at a loss for a subject-things are either better or worse since they saw them last-or if the things themselves should happen to be the same, they have seen other things, either better or worse, and can, therefore, either approve or disapprove of them. Miss Pratt's head then turned from side to side a thousand times as she went along, and a thousand observations and criticisms about stair-carpets, patent-lamps, hall-chairs, slab-tables, &c., &c., &c., passed through her crowded brain."-" At length Miss Pratt and Mr. Lindsay were announced, and thereupon entered Miss Pratt in a quick paddling manner, as if in all haste to greet her friends."-" Miss Pratt then appeared to her (Gertrude) a person from whom nothing could be hid. Her eyes were not by any means fine eyes-they were not reflecting eyes-they were not soft eyes-they were not sparkling eyes-they were not penetrating eyes; neither were they restless eyes, nor rolling eyes, nor squinting eyes, nor prominent eyes-but they were active, brisk, busy, vigilant, immoveable eyes, that looked as if they could not be surprised by anything-not even by sleep. They never looked angry, nor joyous, or perturbed, or melancholy, or heavy; but morning, noon, and night they shone the same, and conveyed the same impression to the beholder, viz., that they were eyes that had a look-not like the look of Sterne's monk, beyond this world

* See The Phrenological Journal, ii., 65.

but a look into all things on the face of this world. Her other features had nothing remarkable in them; but the ears might evidently be classed under the same head with the eyes-they were something resembling rabbits'-long, prominent, restless, vibrating ears, for ever listening, and never shut by the powers of thought."

From communicating this talent of observation, Individuality greatly assists Imitation in promoting mimicry. The organ was large in Garrick and Matthews; and it is obvious that accurate observation of the manners and appearances of men was a fundamental element in a talent such as theirs, of pourtraying on the stage living individuals in their minutest peculiarities.

When the organ is deficient, the individual fails to observe things that exist around him; he may visit a house, and come away without knowing what objects were in the room. A person thus deficient walks in the streets, or through the country, and observes nothing. In short, although the external senses are in perfect health-owing to the feebleness of this observing power, they are not called into activity for the purpose of acquiring knowledge.

This organ, when large, prompts to discovery by observation of things which exist. Persons so constituted do not seek to arrive at new truths by reasoning, but inquire of nature, of men, of books for information; and hence, many brilliant physical discoveries have been made by persons largely endowed with these and the other perceptive organs, whose reflecting faculties have not passed mediocrity. Since BACON's rules of philosophizing have been duly appreciated and become fashionable, science has been extensively and successfully cultivated by a class of minds, which, while the method of speculative reasoning prevailed, was excluded from such pursuits. This class is composed of persons in whom the organ under consideration greatly predominates over those of the reflecting powers. Such individuals are constituted by nature to become observers; and natural history, particularly botany,* anatomy, mineralogy, and even chemistry, are great departments of knowledge fitted for the exercise of their peculiar talent. The substance of these sciences consists in a knowledge of the existence, appearances, and properties of natural objects as facts; and we need not be surprised to meet with eminent professors of them, in whose heads the reflecting organs are greatly inferior to the knowing.

To the artist this organ is of great importance. It enables him to give body and substance to the conceptions of his other faculties, and confers on him a capacity for attending to detail. In the pictures of an artist in whose head Individuality is deficient, there is an abstractness of conception and a vagueness of expression that greatly detract from their effect. In the works of an individual in whom these organs are large, every object appears full of substance and reality; and if he paint portraits, the spectator will be so impressed with their individuality, that he will be apt to fancy himself acquainted with the originals.

Persons who excel at whist generally possess Individuality and Eventuality large. If both of the organs be deficient, eminence will not easily be attained in this game.

This faculty gives the tendency to personify nations and phenomena, or to ascribe existence to mere abstractions of the mind, such as Ignorance, Folly, or Wisdom.

The organ was large in Sheridan and Sir Walter Scott. It is small in the Scots in general; it is larger in the English, and still larger in the French. In adults the frontal sinus is generally present at the situation of this *See Letter by Mr. Hewett Watson, on the heads of botanists, Phrenological Journal, vol. viii., p. 101.

organ, and this throws a difficulty in the way of judging of its size. The function, however, is ascertained by observing young persons in whom the sinus is not formed, and by the negative evidence; that is, when the external part of the skull at the top of the nose is narrow, contracted, and depressed, the portion of brain below is necessarily small, and then the mental power is found invariably weak. This concomitance of large size and great power in young persons, and of deficiency of size and feebleness of power in all ages, proves the function. In certain cases the sinus may throw a difficulty in the way of determining the exact size of the organ, but this does not prevent the possibility of ascertaining the function by observations made in other cases in which this obstacle does not exist. The organ and the mental qualities conferred by it are established; but the metaphysical analysis of the faculty seems to require farther elucidation.*

23. FORM.

DR. GALL was struck with the circumstance, that certain persons and animals recognise, with the greatest facility, individuals whom they have not seen for years, and even then seen only in passing. In himself this faculty was weak, and frequently, on rising from table, he had no recollection of the person who had set next to him, so as to be able to recognise him again in society; and he was, in consequence, exposed to many painful embarrassments and awkward mistakes. Being desired to examine the head of a young girl who had an extreme facility of distinguishing and recollecting persons, he found her eyes pushed laterally outward, and a certain squinting look: after innumerable additional observations, he spoke of an organ of the knowledge of persons.

The organs lie on the two sides of, and contiguous to, the crista galli. When small, the orbitar plate approaches close to the sides of the crest, and then the external width across the nose from eye to eye is small : when large, there is a considerable space between the orbitar plate and the crest, and a great external breadth across the nose; in general there is also a depression of the internal part of the eyes.

In some instances the frontal sinus is found at the situation of this organ, but it very rarely leads to difficulty in observing its size. The organ was large in King George III., and, combined with his large organ of Individuality, gave him that extraordinary talent for recollecting persons for which he was celebrated. It is very moderately developed in Curran.

Dr. Gall observes, that those individuals who never bestow more than a superficial attention on phenomena, and who have always reasonings, or at least sophisms, ready in explanation of every fact, pretend that a deficiency, such as he experienced in recognising persons, is owing to the eyes; that, in such cases, the vision is indistinct, or there is a squint. His personal experience, he adds, affords a refutation of this hypothesis ; for he never had a squint, and his vision was particularly acute and clear.t

* Mr. Scott has published an elaborate essay on In ividuality in The Phre nological Journal, vol. v., p. 226. See also remarks on it by Mr. Schwartz, of Stockholm, vol. vi., p. 328; and by Mr. Hewett Watson, vol. vii., p. 213.

Dr. Gall mentions, that, although he could neither paint nor design, he able to seize, with great facility, the numerous forms of the head; which nent is at variance with great deficiency in the organ of Form: but, from neral tenor of his observations, it appears that his power of distinguishms was not so great as he imagined it to be. Dr. Spurzheim gives the ing note in his reprint of the article "Phrenology" in the 3d number of Foreign Quarterly Review:

The phrenological faculties of Dr. Gall's infantile genius were, IndividuEventuality, and Causality, in an eminent degree.