Their are certain great principles generally admitted, which are necessarily recognised by the science of Phrenology.

The first of these is, that children are born with dif ferent dispositions and capacities; that in the same family or neighbourhood, there are innate differences in the dispositions and talents of the individuals, and that these differences are as striking as those of size, form, complexion, and constitution.

The second principle recognised by Phrenology is, that, notwithstanding these original innate differences continue through life to modify character to a great extent, every one is, and may be, influenced by education, health, climate, and the thousand circumstances which surround us. And that character is the result of the combined influence of all these great principles.

Phrenology adopts a third generally recognised principle, beautifully expressed by the late Mr. Wirt, that "in all sound minds the germ of all the faculties exists," or in other words, that in each mind there is a certain and determinate number of faculties. Thirty-five of these faculties are already considered as sufficiently established. A few others are supposed to exist, but are not yet considered as sufficiently proved.

The fourth doctrine recognised by Phrenology is, that the brain and the external senses are the material organs, through which all knowledge is acquired, and thought and feeling are manifested. I say recognised, because I believe, that this doctrine is now generally believed by all those, who have the slightest acquaintance with physiology or anatomy. The old notion, that the moral sentiments have their seat and centre in the thoracic and abdo

minal viscera, is generally exploded; and the expression, that indicates the heart to be the seat of the feelings, is now generally understood in a figurative sense, which has its origin in the effect of any sudden emotion upon this important organ, from its sympathy with the brain.

The fifth and last doctrine recognised by Phrenology, of which it is necessary to make particular mention, is, that the mind is a unity, although it manifests itself through a plurality of faculties.

The fundamental doctrines of Phrenology remain now to be stated.

CHAPTER II.

FIRST

FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINE OF PHRENOLOGY

THE

CONNEXION BETWEEN MANIFESTATION OF MIND AND MENTAL ORGANS.

ALTHOUGH it is generally admitted, that the brain is the material organ of thought and feeling, the science of Phrenology carries the doctrine of the nature and extent of this union far beyond any former philosophy.

1. The mind does not in this life manifest itself independently of the exercise of the brain, its material organ. 2. That every mental affection, and every exercise of the intellect, requires a particular and corresponding state of the brain, just as every exercise of vision requires a particular state of the organ of sight.

3. That the more perfect the state of the organ, the more perfect will be the manifestation of the mind, as

perfection of sight depends on the perfection and activity of its organ. As it is physiologically absurd to speak of life independent of organization, so is it phrenologically absurd to speak of mental manifestations independent of organic activity and agency. There is sometimes a morbid activity of mind, manifested when the organ is diseased, far more intense than any thing known to the healthy state. But the excited action of the brain, in these cases, always corresponds to the manifestation of mind. The manner, in which an all-wise Creator has brought about this intimate connexion between the immaterial spirit and material organization, is known only to himself. He has been pleased, in his volume of Revelation, to open to our faith and our hope a prospect of a future and separate state of existence, and on this we must rely. But while the soul is connected with organization, it becomes us to study it in this connexion, and this only. If we do not, we neglect many of the great and important truths, on which our happiness and safety depend, and are guilty of a disrespect for the natural laws of our Creator-laws no less entitled to our religious regard than those contained in his revealed will.

As in speaking of the sun as rising and setting, we are guilty of a slight error of speech, yet in strict accordance with its apparent motion; so we are guilty of a similar error, when we speak of mind as merely a function of the brain; yet by so doing, we more readily comprehend the laws of mind, than by any other mode of expresssion ; because we avail ourselves then of all the reflected light thrown upon the subject, by contemplating the functions of the whole human system. We speak then as physiologists are obliged to speak, when treating of the func

tions of the brain, in connexion with the functions of all the physical organs. This will enable us to understand how the mind can become (in the language of a writer in the Christian Spectator)" young and old, mature and decrepit, weak and strong, sane and insane, drunk and sober, asleep and awake; - how it may be fatigued by exercise, prematurely enfeebled by ill-timed or too powerful exertion rendered idiotic by a blow, or comatose by a hemlock, states or modifications of the thinking principle perfectly unintelligible (indeed shocking to thought) on the supposition of a purely spiritual or independent existence, but which are in perfect harmony with a presently dependent existence, and in entire accordance with those which functions undergo under certain conditions, diseased or healthy, of their organs."

CHAPTER III.

PLURALITY OF MENTAL ORGANS.

We have already recognised the doctrine, that there are a plurality of faculties. We will now state the second great phrenological doctrine, viz. that every distinct faculty is manifested by an appropriate organ, or, in the language of physiology, that the brain is a combination of parts, or organs, performing distinct functions, or manifesting distinct faculties.

A faculty, as applied to Phrenology and defined by Mr. Combe, indicates the particular state, into which the

mind enters, when influenced by particular organs. It is therefore the function of a physical organ to manifest mind in the form of faculties agreeable to the laws of organization and exercise.

There are several proofs of the plurality of mental organs, the force of which may be more or less appreciated, without resorting to the great source of evidence, derived from observation of uniformity of cerebral development and mental manifestation, by which the organs are regarded as established.

The first of these is derived from analogy. Through the whole range of the animal system, each distinct function is performed by a distinct organ. The stomach digests food, the liver secretes bile, the heart propels the blood, the lungs perform the function of respiration. There is no ascertained example of one nerve performing two functions, such as feeling and communicating motion, or seeing and hearing, tasting and smelling. So if reasoning be an act or function, different from loving or contending, analogy would seem to require us to look for, and to expect to find, distinct organs.

2. Man manifests more faculties than any brute animal; and a dissection of the brain of man, and of the several classes of animals, furnishes evidence, that the brain of the former possesses several more convolutions or organs, and these are appropriated to sentiments and higher intellectual powers. No one will be ready to believe, that the lowest and smallest animal, that has an apparatus called a brain, has in that apparatus as many distinct folds or parts, as has the human brain.

3. It is well known, that the different faculties of children manifest themselves at different periods. In infancy