PHRENOLOGY. BY SILAS JONES. BOSTON: RUSSELL, SHATTUCK, & WILLIAMS. SOLD BY THE PRINCIPAL BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED STATES. M DCCC XXXVI. 1572 forly 7. Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1835, by SILAS JONES, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. CAMBRIDGE PRESS: METCALF, TORRY, AND BALLOU. PREFACE. HAVING been engaged in lecturing on the science of Phrenology more or less for some time past, in several States of the Union, and at the same time having made observations upon the character and organization of several thousands of individuals, principally of the middle and higher classes, I found myself in possession of so many facts, gathered under my own eye and fresh in recollection, that I had seldom occasion to refer to the collections of others, however valuable they may be. When lecturing, I always found the attention most profound, when I related what I had seen, and I soon found that time did not allow me to do even this, to the extent I could wish. I was frequently requested to publish a work on the subject. In consequence of this, I conceived the plan not of publishing my facts; but of preparing a little manual, which would assist those who might attend my Lectures, and serve as an outline of my course. But when engaged in the undertaking, I determined to add to it both facts for illustration, and the method of application of the science, which I had adopted in practice, by which those who wished might be aided in gathering facts for themselves. The volume of nature is the great book for study, and its pages are ever open. All that books can do is to assist in the interpretation of its language. The work will go to the public less perfect than I could wish, notwithstanding the great labor I have bestowed, not only in its composition, but in attention to the cuts. I am aware, opinions are given with a directness and confidence which may appear like too great assurance. But it would be affectation to speak doubtingly of what one has the certain knowledge of ocular demonstration. It would be a deference to doubters and unbelievers, which I am little inclined to manifest. True it is, many of the savans of this and other countries are not yet ready to avow themselves believers in Phrenology. The aged of this class are too much settled in their old opinions too much interested in their continuance - and too little accustomed to observe nature, to lead us to expect much from them. But the young, ardent, and untrammelled, hail it with joy every where; and the independent lovers of truth, among individuals of every pursuit, readily become its avowed friends and patrons. Teachers begin to look to it, as the science on which their art is founded, and in some instances it is adopted in schools, as one of the regular courses of study. So editors of periodicals invite its advocates to their columns, and opposition to it is less virulent and less respectable than formerly. On the whole, therefore, I do not know that it could be desired that its diffusion should be more rapid, for if it were, it would be eagerly seized by those who have little knowledge and less interest in it, for mere purposes of gain -a prostitution of a lofty science, revolting to taste and correct principle. I will make no claims to originality. If any thing new be contained in the following pages, it will not escape the observation of the intelligent reader. The method adopted is that of analysis and synthesis, analagous to the present most approved mode of acquiring a foreign language. This tends to keep out of view the common error, that individual organs necessarily manifest distinct traits of character. The individual is first viewed as a whole, then in reference to the several physical systems, as it regards proportion; then in relation to the regions of the head ; and lastly, by a critical inspection of the organs. Then commences the synthesis, and inference of mental and moral manifestations. The mind then rests upon the individual as a whole, manifesting traits of character, and not as exhibiting mere elementary principles, and the science appears to be in the most beautiful harmony with truth. S. J. Boston, Dec. 1, 1835, |