The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-03-21 00:00:00

PH REA' OLOG r.

[We were prevented on Saturday from giving insertion
to the following report, by the late arrival and heavy
pressure of the Assize intelligence. We had intended to
unite this With the lecture of Saturday evening, but as
the present article is long, we defer the other till to-
morrow.]
On Thursday evening Doctor Spurzheitn delivered his second
lecture on the science of Phrenology. Having recapitulated briefly
the topics of his former lecture, he stated tlitt the object of the
present would be to prove that difl'erenr parts co .the cerebral mass
were appropriated to difi'erent powers of the mind. All who re-
flected on the nature of the mental lieulties must be convinced that
there were several distinct powers in the tided. No individual was
competent to excel in every kind of intellectual excellence. The
most eminent man in one respect would be in some respect inferior
t.; men of leasgeneral capacity. This was a truth which could not
be doubted. Every day's experience confirmed it. Sometimes the
mind was deprived of some of its powers, while the others remained
in as perfect a state as ever. This was the case peculiarly with
insane people. So with persons as they advanced in life—they
complained of the decay of their memory, while other faculties
continued in companoirely an unimpaired state. The great dif-
ficulty was how to ascertain what particular part of the brain was
appropriated to a particular function of the mind. Anatomy alone
could not show the manifestations or functions of any particular
put; neither could anatomy alone explain the purposes to which
particular muscles were appropriated. For that purpose; anatomy,
physiology, and pathology must be combined. Anatomy was of
great importance to physical knowledge, but it was not alone suf-
ficient to diaiover the functions to which any separate and par-
ticular pre of the body or brain was applied. Without anatomy,
however, no advance could be made. In some hydrocephalous
cases, the brain was found to be distended like a bladder. By
anatomy, we learned that the brain might exist in this state without
having any of its functions destroyed: By patient obeerration
only could facts be ascertained ; and when anatomical, phemolo•
real, and pathological concurred, we might presume that we
were nut mistaken in the inferences we drew front the facts
ascertained with respect to the brain. All these sciences
agreed in pruning that the brain was the organ of the mind.—
Whether we attended to the general structure of the body in p
healthy state, or the particular disorganisation of the parts in 'bide
diseased state, every known fact tended to confirm this propotitioo.
The question then was to ascertain how the nutniferdations of the
brain were connected with the functions of the mind. This actual
size of the brain, it had been before remarked, proved nothing.
Persons but little skilled in phrenological knowledge were apt er-
roneously to draw inferences as to the amount of intellectual capa-
city front the proportion between the size of the head and that et
the body. No measurement of that kind could lead to any true or
useful result. Nor was the comparative largeness of the forehead
as to the face any indication of the talent possessed by the indivi-
dual. He had digressed to allude to these errors, in order chat
the science of Phrenology might not be prejudiced by the mistakes
of those who were not thoroughly versed in its principle& With
respect to the different parts of the brain allotted to the different
faculties of the mind, no knowledge had been gained by the expe-
riments of mutilation practised on the Continent. Parts of the
cerebral mass had been removed, but no faculty had been destroyed,
except that of voluntary motion. In some instances the corpora
alrisla had been removed t in others the cerebellum; but no specific
result had ensued, except that in the latter case the animal had
lost all power of voluntary motion. What inference could be drawn
from these experiments? Certainly not that voluntary motion was
the only faculty dependent on the brain. No one would arrive at
such a conclusion. The probability was, that the experiments had
not been properly made. The cerebral parts were all doublet and
therefore, unless both were removed, the (Acuity would no more be
destroyed than the power of vision was annihilated by the loss of
one eye. Ile doubted whether experiments of this nature could,
tinder any circumstances, be successfully conducted. It was cer-
tain that as far as they had been carried, they had led to the
acquisition of no knowledge. That doctrine of the plurality
of the powers of the mind was very ancient. All the
Schools of Philosophy had admitted that several powers were
necessary to explain the phenomena of the mind. The distinction
between the understanding and the will was recognised by all the
writers on the subject. They spoke also of memory, judgment,
imagination, wit. The doctrine of the plurality of the powers
of the mind was as old as physiology itself. But no determinate
power was attached to any individual part of the cerebral mass.
This was the object of Phrenology ; though in the works of some
ancient physiological authors there were representations of the
head, with divisions marked upon it for the superior powers of the
mind. The Phrenologists, however, carried their observations
further: they considered that the brain was not only essential to
the intellectual faculties, but to the manifestation of the feelings,
sentiments, and passions by which the conduct of men was go-
verned. To prove this position, it was necessary to attend with
great care to the facts that had been ascertained ; and again begging
tee auditory, in the course of his remarks, to distinguish
between the facts he elated and the inferences he deduced
front them, he proceeded to the means adopted to know the
particular parts proper to the several determinate powers of the
mind. In the first place, he would have recourse to the fact,
that every head was in point of size and shape widely different from
every other head. In objecting to Phrenology, even anatomists
had been known to assert that every head was alike. But no
proposition could be more unfounded. If we were accustomed to
observe the size and shape of heads as much as we did the features
of the face, every individual would be as easily distinguished as at
present. Of this fact, the auditory would have no doubt, when he
pointed out from the casts before him the great difference that ex-
isted, and they might afterwards make their own observations on
the heads of the persons they met with in private life. They would
find each head differing from another in a degree that would be
perfectly surprising to them. But here again he must caution them
against hasty inferences from the facts to which he should call their
attention. All he meant thee to do was, to show that each head
was different. In discovering facts in phrenological science, it
would be necessary, not only to consider the size of the organ of
each particular faculty, but the Influence in its development
from the exercise of that faculty. The mere size of the or-
gan was not sufficient to determine the power of the function :
the influence of habit must be taken into consideration. So it
was with respect to other parts of the body : much depended on
the exercise given by the individual to the powers he possessed.
The Lecturer then exhibited several casts and real skulls of singular
variety in their construction and development. Dividing the head
by a line drawn from the ear to the centre or crown of the head, it
would be found that the anterior or frontal part was much larger
in some than the posterior or occipital part. By drawing milli
front the ear to the upper edge of the head, it would be seen that
the developroent of particular parts was very different in some in-
dividuals front others. Another mode was by drawing a hal-
sontal line round the head from the level of the middle of
the forehead. In some skulls the bases or lower part of the cerebral
masa would be found to be larger than the upper, and in others
smaller. By observations of this kind, which each individual could
perform at his leisure for himself, the fact of difference would
be established beyond all doubt. It was amazing, indeed, how so'
palpable a fact could ever have been denied. In other respects the
difference was equally observable ; in some heads the breadth ex-
ceeded the height, in others the reverse. But another objection
was raised to which he would then reply. It was said that ad-
mitting the fact of the exterior difference of the skull, no inference
could be drawn as to the size of the brain. By examination and
observation, however, it would be found that the size and shape of
the brain corresponded to the size and shape of the skull. He then
exhibited several cams of the skull and brain of particular heads,
from which it resulted that the brain conformed to the skull : where
the latter was fully developed, the former was so too. He did nut
deny that in some cases of disease and extreme old age, there might
not be sonic difference, but these were not fit subjects of phreno-
logical inquiry. In all sound and healthy persons in the vigour
of life, the cotiformity was perfect. All the investigation this fact
had received had confirmed it. The skull was like all the other
bones, increased in size and thickness by the advance of age,
and in a few instances he had met with skulls of surprising thick-
ness. He exhibited one of a very aged woman who had died in a
state of idiocey, more than an inch thick, and others in which frost
disease the thickness had increased considerably. In infants the
skull was thin, and gradually increased with the progress of ossifica-
tion in the other parts of the body. Sometimes the plates of the
cranium separated themselves, and the interstices were filled with
osseous matter. The brain too in a similar manner wasted with age,
and was eonietimes found to be greatly diminished. But these
particular cases did not invalidate the general fact that the brain in a
healthy person, in the vigour of his life, corresponded in develop-
ment with the exterior surface of tine skull. Allowance was of course
to be made for small osseous elevations and depressions, which
arose from accidental causes, arid did not in the slightest degree
affect the interior surface, which was always perfectly smooth. lie
repeated, that Joking the head in a sound and healthy state, the
brain would be found to correspond with it in size and shape. There
was, however, another limitauon to this proposition, to which he
begged their attention. In some persons the integument' were
thickee than in others; the muscles were fatter and larger;
and in these instances it was necessary to ascert..in by the
touch what allowance should be made fur the integuments.
Subject to these diversities, the size and shape of the head were cer-
teinly indicative of the size and shape of the skull, which also in-
dicated the else and shape of the brain. It had been said that the
size anti shape of the head might b: altered by artificial means.
This lie doubted, though he wished indeed that it were true. The
Calibs, of whom the Lecturer exhibited a skull remarkably de-
• pressed in the forehead, had been represented as obtaining that pe-
, culler development from pressure arthicielly applied by the mothers
in their infancy. But how could there be this sort of preseute
without counter pressure? and in examining the skulls of these
people no counter pressure appeared. Round the basin the
cerebrum was fully developed, and the head bore all the appear-
ance of unchecked natural growth. He concluded, therefore, that
artificial causes were wrongly assigned for this Formliar develop-
ment Undoubtedly parts of the head might be more or less de-
veloped by the exercise of the powers to which they were related
but he disbelieved that exterior pressure could have produced the
peculiar conforniation belonging to seine races of men. Having
established the fact of the difference existing between the sizes and
I shapes of different heads, and the general conformity of the size
Ned shape of the brain with the exterior surface of the Ault, he in-
. oisedeil in has next Lecture to proceed to consider the determinate
I powers (tithe 'Mod more cloetiy, with the view of ascertaining their
Mellon to the brain.
The audience was more numerous than at the preceding Lec-
tor.. arid their eatisfaetioa was evinced by a deco:ovum man festation
of theit applause.