The Sun.
London, England, 1839-11-23 00:00:00

PHRE7“LLociicAL

I

The first meeting of the Phrenological Society
was held at the house of Dr. Elliotson, on Monday,
the 4th inst. The President laid before the meet-
ing casts of the head of Marchant, the footman who
was lately executed for the murder of his fellow-ser-
vant in Cadocrart-place, and of Willis, the soldier
who was lately executed for the murder of Sergeant-
Major Shepherd at Woolwich. The east of Mar-
chant had been exquisitely taken by Mr. Butler,
the sculptor, of Gower-place.
The fore and intellectual portion of Marchant's
head was well developed, but the greatest size
was at the sides of the middle of the head—
covetiveness, cunning, destructiveness. The lateral
portions of the coronal surface, from its posterior
to its anterior extremity,—a region large in consci-
entious persons, was very small, so that it had
a keel shape Veneration was large, as well as
self-esteem, love of notoriety, and attachment ;
amativeness and courage were small.
The character of the youth agreed with this or-
ganization. Though he was supposed to have at-
tempted rape, it was ascertained that he never had
sexual connection in his life, and, though momen-
tarily excited on the fatal occasion, it was with a
person to whom he was attached, and he presently
desisted. His want of courage—his extreme fear
when his victim threatened to tell of him, appeared
to have urged him to the murder, his conscientious-
ness being small and his destructiveness and cauti-
ousness large. His large covetiveness and small
conscientiousness were demonstrated by his having
stolen a five-pound note on one occasion and a sove•
reign and a half on two others from a gentleman
with whom he formerly lived. His large 'vene-
ration on the one hand and small courage on the
other explained the great impression made upon
him by the clergyman, by which he was induced to
send for his former master and confess his thefts,
and to confess all the circumstances of his
last crime. It was doubtful, from his small
conscientiousness, that moral feeling co-operated
with religious in this particular. His attach-
ment was shown not only as regarded his vic-
tim, but his mother, to whom he had been in the
habit of giving portions of his wages and behaving
most affectionately, and by the attachment of dif-
ferent animals to him. His self-esteem was mani-
fested in his conceit that he could do all things
better than any one else, and in his always behaving
as if he wag superior to others of his rank.
His secretiveness was shown by his power
of lying, in the coolest manner, when inquiry
was made respecting the money lost in his
former place, so that he had never been sus-
pected and was always thought well of. He had been
for some time servant at the Brompton Dispen-
sary, and then was clever and attentive and very
studious,.as might be expected from the good de-
velopment of his forehead and the smallness of the
back of his head.

The head of Willis was that of the genuine mur-
derer. It closely resembled those of many mur-
derers on the table ; and the resemblance of the
faces, also, was very striking. The President re-
marked that murderers were of different classes, and
a very numerous class comprehended persons of
wretched intellect and the most brutal feelings,
and to this Willis had belonged. The forehead
was very retreating ; the head rose higher and
higher from the front to the back part of the crown,
and was very broad at the lowest central por-
tions of the sides ; consequently the intellectual or-
gans and benevolence were small, while firmness and
destructiveness were very large : as also were self-
esteem and love of approbation. The lateral por-
tions of the coronal surface were small, so that it
also was rather keel shaped. The murder ap-
peared to have been the result of wounded pride
and love of approbation, in a person of extreme
firmness and violence, wretched intellect, and very
little conscientiousness. The moderate develop-
ment of veneration, conscientiousness, and benevo-
lence, together with his great pride and firmness, ex-
plained his absence of contrition to the last. To
the moment of his execution he absurdly, in spite of
all assurance to the contrary, expected a reprieve ; yet
with this intense manifestation of hope, the organ of
hope was moderate. The President said that the
doctrine of an organ of hope was not Gall's, but
one of those numerous additions made by others,
and, as he thought, with no foundation ; and that it
would be well if phrenologists would satisfy them-
selves by rigid observation of the truth of all Gall's
observations before they adopted those of others
also, as many do with but little inquiry. He be-
lieved that some would adopt half-a-dozen more or-
gans or faculties than the disciples of even Spurz-
helm and Combo speak of, if half-a-dozen more
were put down in the books. He doubted, with
Gall, whether hope was a distinct faculty. He
believed that we hope for what we desire ; and in
proportion as we desire it we hope for it—we think it
likely to be obtained ; and this the more, accordingly
as our circumspection and our intellect are small.
A parent hopes for the recovery of a child,
when all around see but little ground for
hope, and the medical attendant, if endowed
with an equal portion of circumspection as the rest,
sees no ground at all,—does not hope in the least,
having not only not the intense desire of the parent,
but possesing a knowledge of the circumstances
which the rest have not, superiority of informa-
tion being tantamount to superiority of intellectual
development over persons with equal means of in-
formation.

Mr. Granger presented to the Society a cast
of the head of the mate of a Prussian vessel,
executed for the murder of his captain. The man
and a boy were connected in the deed, but the boy
turned Queen's evidence, and the man denied the
crime to the last. The head was one of great
power, and totally different from that of the other
two murderers. The organs of the intellectual, the
moral, and the lower feelings were all ver) large.
The man might have committed the murder, but he
was capable also of the most praiseworthy conduct.