Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1833-10-03
PHRENOLOGY.
sSir Geo. S. McRenzie's address.


n not to be wondered at. Noselt! of opinion
has in all ages been resisted; and the most i'm
portant discoveries, those which have enilRhten
ed the world and added numerous comforts to
the lot Of man, have met with strenuous opposi'
ton. At this day We feel somthing even more
than cont. npt for the opponents OF Harvey Of
Gaileo, and OF Newton. Posterity Will have
the same feeling wards those who now oppose
PhrenoIosy The time will come, when some
future historian will speak Of the discoveries of
Gall, as Playfair has done Of those OF Newton.
"Thuush the discovery now communicated"
saws Playfair, "bad every thing to recommend
il. which can arise from what is great, new. and
singular; though il was not q theory. or system
OF opinions, but the generalization OF facts made
known BY experiments, and though 1t was brought
forward in a most simple and unpretending form,
host of enemies appeared, each eager to obtain
the unfortunate pre.eminrnce Of being the first to
attack conclusions which the unanimous voice Of
posteritv vas TO confirm"
the frs, fundamental principle Of Phrenolosy
is, to view Man as he is-a compound OF mind
and matter. Mind not being cogniZable by US
as a separate existence, phrenoiogists regard II
ONLY as it is manifested through the medium OF
an organic apparatus. The mind itself is mel
Their visible nor tangible; aud we cannot Know
il in this life, but in connexion with the body
While il Is admitted that man is a compound
Of mind and matter, few have allowed themselves
to reflect upon their connection. The mode OF
II we cap never discover; but, we know that the
connection subsists during life, and is dissolved
by death. IL is admitted that the connexon Is
40 intimate, that the immortal part is responsible
for the acts Of the body, aud will be judged al
ter the mortal union has ceased. II is ad.
mitted. ss a familiar fact. that the condition Of
the mind, ia regard to the power Of manifesto
ton by action. is dependent on that OF the body
and vet { e assumption Of th familiar fact has
been denounced as heresv, and doomed phrenO-
logsts to be materialists and fatalsts. All the
world, n common with phrepOOgists, believe
that when man is drunk, he is incapable from,
that circumstance. the condition Of his body. OF
duly exercising his mental faculties; that blow
on the head induces s'upefaction; that injury Of
the organs of the external senses obs'ruots the
perception Of what is passing around US IL.
therefore. materiaiism could be maintained al
all, (the phrenolosical books demonstrate thai
il cannot such facts would render all mankind
liable to the pitiful accusauon
The second principle Of Phrenology is. thai
the discoveries Of ana,omists and physiologists
have determined, that the nervous system is thai
portion of the animal frame with which the mind
is in most direct connexion; and that. as the
brain is the fountain OF all nervous influence,
that organ is the one On which mind directly ope
rates 20 produce all its manifestations.
Although when a man wills to utter rertsn
words, or to perform certain actions, heshas no
consciousness that obedience to the will ID per.
formed by TIE intervention Of complicated ma
chinery. experiment proves what consciousness
cannot discover. Anatomy and ply solosy unit.
ed have developed manv remarkable facts in re-
spect tn the cUnnexion Of mind with the nervous
system; and long before Phrenology vas known,
the fountain from whence nervous influence t1ows
had been ascertained. DR.. Cullen could not
doubt that the operations of intellect depended
on the brain. DIR. Gregory said, Although at
first sight certain faculties appear s" purely men.
tai as to have no connection with the body, yet
certain diseases which obstruct them prove that
q ccrtain state Of the brain is necessary to their
proper exercise, and that the brain il the prima.
~ organ Of the internal powers" These cele-
brated men were not psychologists; and many
others make the same affirmation. conviction
having been forced upon them by the facts which
they observe. In the introduction 10 DR.. Ar
motifs Elements Of Physics, we find the follow.
ing passage: "The laws Of mind which man can
discover by reason. are not laws Of independent
mind, but Of mind in c0nnexion With body, and
Influenced BY the bodily condition. II has been
believed BY many. that the nature OF mind, Sc.
parate from the body. is to be al once all know
ing and intelligent. But mind connected with
body, can only acquire knowledge slowly through
the bodily organs Of sense, and more or less per.
fectly according as these organs and the central
brain are perfect. A human being born blind
and deaf, and therefore remaining dumb, as 10
the noted case Of Mitchell, grows up closely to
resemble an automston; and an originally MIS-
shaPen or deficient BRAIN causes idiocy for life
Childhood, maturity, dotage, have such
differences Of bodily powers. Shave correspond
ing differences Of mental faculty; and as no two
bod'es' so no two minds, ia their external mani
ies'atons, are quite alike. Fever. or blow on
the head. will change the most gifted individual
in'o maniac. cause the lips Of virgin innocence
to utter the nost revolving obsceuitv, and those
OF pure religion 10 speak the most horrible bias.
phemy; and most cases Of madness and eccen.
tricitv can now b. traced to peculiar stat. Of the
brs,n" In the 94th number Of the E,linburoh
Review. in an article on the Nervous System.
we find it stated. that " almost from the first
casual inspection Of animal bodies. the brain was
regarded as an organ Of primary dignity: and