sensibility. And thus the opinion was confirmed, that the fifth nerve was to the head what the spinal nerves were to the other parts of the body. The muscles have two nerves, which fact had not been noticed previously to Sir C. Bell's investigations, because they are commonly bound up together but whenever the nerves, as about the head, go in a separate course, we find that there is a sensitive nerve and a motor nerve distributed to the muscular fibres; and we have reason to conclude that those branches of the spinal nerves which go to the muscles, consist of a motor and a sensitive filament. The nerve of touch or feeling, ramified on the skin, is distinct from both.

It was formerly supposed that the office of a muscular nerve is only to carry out the mandate of the will and to excite the muscle to action. But this betrays a very inaccurate knowledge of the action of the muscular system; for before the muscular system can be controlled under the influence of the will, there must be a consciousness or knowledge of the condition of the muscle.

When we admit that the various conditions of the muscle must be estimated or perceived, in order to be under the due control of the will, the natural question arises, Is that nerve which carries out the mandate of the will, capable of conveying, at the same moment, an impression retrograde to the course of that influence, which, obviously, is going from the brain toward the muscle? If we had no facts of anatomy to proceed upon, still reason would declare to us, that the same filament of a nerve could not convey a motion, of whatever nature that motion may be, whether vibration or motion of spirits, in opposite directions, at the same moment of time.

Sir C. Bell has found that, to the full operation of the muscular power, two distinct nervous filaments are necessary, and that a circle is established between the sensorium and the muscle; that one filament or simple nerve carries the influence of the will toward the muscle, which nerve has no power to convey an impression backward to the brain; and that another nerve connects the muscle with the brain, and, acting as a sentient nerve, conveys the impression of the condition of the muscle to the mind-but has no operation in a direction outward from the brain toward the muscle, and does not, therefore, excite the muscle, however irritated.

There are four nerves coming out of a track or column of the spinal marrow, from which neither the nerves of sensation nor those of common voluntary motion take their departure. Experiment proves that these nerves excite motions connected with the act of respiration.

Under the class of respiratory motions we have to distinguish two kinds; first, the involuntary or instinctive; and, secondly, those which accompany an act of volition. We are unconscious of that state of alternation of activity and rest which characterizes the instinctive act of breathing in sleep; and this condition of activity of the respiratory organs, we know by experiment, is independent of the brain. But, on the other hand, we see that the act of respiration is sometimes an act of volition, intended to accomplish some other operation, as that of smelling or speaking. Sir C. Bell apprehends that it is this compound operation of the organs of breathing which introduces a certain degree of complexity into the system of respiratory nerves. A concurrence of the nerves of distinct systems will be found necessary to actions, which, at first sight, appear to be very simple.

If we cut that division of the fifth nerve which goes to the lips of an ass, we deprive the lips of sensibility; so that, when the animal presses the lips to the ground, and against the oats lying there, it does not feel them; and, consequently, there is no effort made to gather them. If, on the other hand, we cut the seventh nerve, where it goes to the lips, the

animal feels the oats, but it can make no effort to gather them, the power of muscular motion being cut off by the division of the nerve. Thus we perceive that, in feeding, just as in gathering anything with the hand, the feeling directs the effort; and two properties of the nervous system are necessary to a very simple action.

After the investigation of the regular system of nerves of sensation and voluntary motion, the question that had so long occupied Sir C. Bell, viz., What is the explanation of the excessive intricacy of the nerves of the face, jaws, throat, and breast? became of easy solution. These nerves are agents of distinct powers, and they combine the muscles in subserviency to different functions.

As animals rise in the scale of being, new organs are bestowed upon them; and, as new organs and new functions are superadded to the original constitution of the frame, new nerves are given also, with new sensibilities and new powers of activity.

Sir C. Bell remarks, that we understand the use of all the intricate nerves of the body, with the exception of the sixth nerve, which stands connected with another system of nerves altogether, namely, the system hitherto called the Sympathetic, or sometimes the Ganglionic System of Nerves; and of this system we know so little, that it cannot be matter of surprise if we reason ignorantly of the connexion of the sixth with it.

PRINCIPLES

OF

PHRENOLOGY.

In the Introduction I have shown that the brain is admitted by physiologists in general to be the organ of the mind; but that two obstacles have impeded the discovery of the uses of its particular parts. In the first place, dissection alone does not reveal the vital functions of any organ: no person, by dissecting the optic nerve, could predicate that its office is to minister to vision; or, by dissecting the tongue, could discover that it is the organ of taste. Anatomists, therefore, could not, by the mere practice of their art, discover the functions of the different portions of the brain. Secondly, the mind is unconscious of acting by means of organs; and hence the material instruments, by means of which, in this life, it performs its operations and communicates with the external world, cannot be dis. covered by reflection on consciousness.

The phrenologist compares developement of brain with manifestations of mental power, for the purpose of discovering the functions of the brain and the organs of the mind. This course is adopted, in consequence of the accidental discovery made by Dr. Gall, that certain mental powers are vigorously manifested when certain portions of the brain are large,

and vice versa, as detailed in the Introduction. It is free from the objections attending the anatomical and metaphysical modes of research, and is conformable to the principles of the inductive philosophy.

No inquiry is instituted into the substance or essence of the mind, nor into the question, Whether does the mind fashion the organs, or do the organs determine the constitution of the mind? If dissection of organs does not reveal their functions, and if reflection on consciousness fails to disclose the nature of the mind's connexion with matter, no means remain of arriving at philosophical conclusions on these points; and speculative reasoning concerning them, although it may amuse the fancy, cannot instruct the understanding. Mr. Stewart justly observes," that the metaphysical opinions which we may happen to have formed concerning the nature either of body or of mind, and the efficient causes by which their phenomena are produced, have no necessary connexion with our inquiries concerning the laws according to which the phenomena take place." "Whether, for example, the cause of gravitation be material or immaterial, is a point about which two Newtonians may differ, while they agree perfectly in their physical opinions. It is sufficient if both admit the general fact, that bodies tend to approach each other, with a force varying with their mutual distance, according to a certain law. In like manner, in the study of the human mind, the conclusions to which we are led by a careful examination of the phenomena it exhibits, have no necessary connexion with our opinions concerning its nature and essence.' The object of Phrenology is, to discover the faculties of the human mind, the organs by means of which they are manifested, and the influence of the organs on the manifestations. It does not enable us to predict actions.

A mental organ is a material instrument, by means of which the mind in this life manifests a particular power. Dr. Gall's discovery leads us to view the brain as a congeries of such organs, and, in the Introduction, reasons have been assigned for regarding this proposition as sufficiently probable to justify an inquiry into the direct evidence by which it is supported. For the purpose of comparing mental faculties with cerebral developement, it is necessary to show, 1st, that the mental qualities of individuals can be discovered; and, 2dly, that the size of different parts of the brain can be ascertained during life.

Let us consider, therefore, in the first place, whether it be possible to discriminate mental dispositions and talents. In regard to the Feelings, men familiar with human life and conduct have observed, that one individual is strongly addicted to covetousness-another to cruelty-another to benevolence-another to pride-another to vanity; and they are accustomed to regard these dispositions as natural, uniform, and permanent. They have never believed that a man, by an effort of the will, can totally change his nature, nor that the true character is so little manifested, that a person may be prone to benevolence to-day, who yesterday was addicted to avarice; that one who is now sinking in the lowest abasement of selfhumiliation in his own eyes, may to-morrow become conceited, confident, and proud; or that to-day an individual may be deaf to the voice of censure or of fame, who yesterday was tremblingly alive to every breath that was blown upon his character. Nay, they have even regarded these dispositions as independent of one another, and separable; for they have often found that the possession of one was not accompanied by the presence of the whole. Hence, in addressing any individual, they have been in the custom of modifying their conduct according to their previous knowledge of his dispositions or genius, obtained by observing his actions. To the covetous man they address one motive; to the benevolent an

* Elements, vol. i., Introduction.

other; to the proud a third and to the vain a fourth. When they wish to move such individuals to act, they speak to the first, of his personal interest; to the second, of the pleasure of doing good; to the third, of the necessity of preserving his own dignity; and to the fourth, of the great praise that will attend the performance of the action recommended.

As to intellectual endowments, a person who has heard, for the most fleeting moment, the bursts of melody which flow from the throat of Catalani, cannot be deceived as to the fact of her possessing a great endowment of the faculty of Tune; he who has listened but for a few minutes to the splendid eloquence of Chalmers, can have no doubt that he is gifted with Ideality; and he who has studied the writings of Dr. Thomas Brown, cannot hesitate as to his having manifested profound discriminative and analytic talent. In surveying the wonderful performances of some individuals in mechanics, poetry, mathematics, painting, and sculpture, it is equally impossible to doubt the existence of mental powers, conferring capacities for excelling in these different branches of science and art. It is equally easy to find individuals in whom the same powers are as indubitably deficient. Hence the difficulties of determining the existence of particular intellectual talents, and their degrees of strength, are not insurmountable; especially if extreme cases be sought for-and these, as the instantia ostentiva, ought to be first resorted to. Men of observation have acted on these principles without hesitation, and without injury to themselves. They have not designed for the orchestra the individual whom they found incapable of distinguishing between a rude noise and a melodious sound, on the notion that "a genius for music" might be "acquired by habits of study or of business."* They do not place in difficult situations, requiring great penetration and much sagacity, individuals who cannot trace consequences beyond the stretch of three ideas; nor do they conceive that a man who has no intellectual capacity to-day, may become a genius to-morrow, or in ten years hence, by an effort of the will.

They, no doubt, have observed, that the faculties are developed in succession; that the child is not in possession of the powers of the full-grown man; and that hence a boy may be dull at ten, who may turn out a genius at twenty years of age, when his powers are fully unfolded by time. But they do not imagine that every boy may be made a genius by "habits of study or of business;" nor do they believe that, after the faculties are fully developed, any individual may, if he chooses, become great in a department of philosophy or science for which he had previously no natural capacity. They have observed that cultivation strengthens powers in themselves vigorous; but they have not found that education can render eminently energetic dispositions or capacities which nature has created feeble. They would laugh at any one who should attempt to convert an idiot into a well-informed philosopher. On the other hand, they have remarked, that, where Nature has bestowed a powerful disposition or capacity of a particular kind, it holds the predominant sway in the character during life, notwithstanding every effort to eradicate or subdue it. They have noticed, too, that, where Nature has conferred, in an eminent degree, the faculties which constitute genius, the individual manifests his native superiority in spite of great obstacles arising from circumstances or situation. The lives of poets, painters, and artists, in every age, bear witness to the truth of this observation.

An individual, it is true, may do particular actions, or even for a time follow a line of conduct, the same in external appearance, from different internal motives. But few men can pass their whole lives in disguise, or acquire the art of acting in the business and enjoyments of life, so

habitually and so skilfully as not to allow their true characters to appear to those who are placed in a favourable situation for observing them: or, if their be persons who do possess this power of dissimulation, it forms the predominant feature in their mental constitution; and, as will afterward be shown, it is indicated by a particular form of organization. But, farther, let it be observed, that it is only in so far as the propensities and sentiments of our nature are concerned, that the display of pretended qualities is possible, even in a single case. In regard to every act which depends on the knowing and reflecting faculties, this is absolutely impracticable. No man can either write logical discourses, or trace profoundly an abstract principle, who has not powerful reflecting faculties. No one can compose exquisite music, who has not the faculty of Tune strong, nor write exquisite poetry, who has not a powerful sentiment of Ideality. When, therefore, we perceive, even with the most transient glance, the performance of such acts, we have evidence, insuperable and irresistible, of the existence of the faculties which produce them.

These opinions have been entertained by persons conversant with society, not in consequence of logical deduction nor metaphysical investigations, but from the observation of plain facts presented to the cogniZance of their understandings. Medical men are in a situation peculiarly favourable for studying even the most hidden traits of human character. The physician, as Dr. Gall remarks, has daily opportunities of knowing the most secret affairs and most intimate relations of families; and it is not easy for the man who is in the agonies of disease, or struggling with death, to veil his true character from him. Besides, with how many private matters are physicians confidentially made acquainted! for who would not make a friend and adviser of the man to whose care he intrusts the safety of himself and his family? It is to such a friend, as one who knows and can sympathize with the failings of humanity, that men unfold the secret recesses of their souls. Gall and Spurzheim were physicians.

For these reasons I venture to conclude that the first point is established in favour of Phrenology-namely, that it is possible, by accurate, patient, and continued observation of actions, to discover the true dispositions and capacities which individuals possess. As this philosophy is founded on a comparison of the manifestations of these faculties with developement of the brain, we now proceed to consider the second question, Whether it be possible, in general, to discover the true form of the brain by observing the figure of the head?

OF THE BRAIN, CEREBELLUM, AND SKULL.

THE anatomy of the brain is minutely described by Drs. Gall and Spurzheim, in their anatomical and physiological work. It is not indispensably necessary, although highly advantageous, to become acquainted with it in order to be a practical phrenologist. A brief description of its general appearance will suffice to convey an idea of it to the nonmedical reader. The proper subjects for observation are healthy individuals not beyond the middle period of life.

The brain, stripped of its outer covering, the dura mater, is represented in figures 1 and 2. These figures, (which are copied from Dr. Spurzheim's plates,) and the accompanying descriptions, are not intended for anatomical purposes; their sole object is to convey some conception of the appearance of the brain to readers who have no opportunity of seeing

it in nature.

Anatomie et Physiologie du Systéme Nerveux, &c., tom. i. Also Spurzheim's Anatomy of the Brain, &c. London, 1826.