The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1855-02-17
AN ESSAY

By W. b. rYrr, dcliycred 6efore he ot!ara
Phrsaol2gicai -Soeie'y, on the Etenfng q
Nonlay, FJ. ,, 1865.
SupJEcr Pdrenoloyy, its Importance ana
oJjeetiobs dHsrcreL
The study OF man is Of the first impor
lance, though If studied at all it is generally
made the last.
Out ofthc 800, ,00C, 900 Of human beings on
this globe, how many have really studied
themselves know their mental and physica
nature, and the laws which govern them
II is liberal allowance to say that one in
Il hundred do don't believe you will iind
really / in ! 900. But for charity's sake say
| IN 100, then there are 90 ont Of every 100
souls OF human beings entirely ignorant OF
thguselvcs--of one another, and Of their
proper relationship to nature aud natures
God.
The study Of the mind ranks among the
highest subjects Of contemplation which
know oE lts importance rises in view Of the
object studied Just so far as mind trans.
ccnds matter, 50 far does its study transcend
the study Of material objects.
1t is the only model Of divinity we know
Of. II is thinking spark wntCtI has issuuTi
from the great / Am. II moves :he world.
IL can make heaven Of hcll--a hell of hca.
ven. 1t bridges your occans--girdles the
earth with Il belt Of iron-culls news from
immensely darts back into thd past-scans
eternity It's dcs res arc forward onward
upward. ltis only stayed by its own finite
ness from being God itself
There has not been wanting individuals
who have made the mind a matter Of atten-
ton But having no well defined plan TO go
by, they have wandered hithcr and thther
IN the mazes of metaphysics. Take up any
Of their works--Dugald Stewart, Brown or
Abcrcrombic-you cannot get from them a
chart by which TO steer your course. Their
thoughts shoot far over the heads of the
masses 4 student here aud there may
master their ideas, but mental philosophy,
according to the plan they teach it, isa dark
myth, There is little or no beauty in it.
Was il to be thought then that the Creator
had given man the power to investigate all
other subjects, but dcbar him from studying
into his own mental organization? that he
had not marked out any well defined plan by
which he might study himself, but while
everything else was clear, this was dark
IL certainly would seem strange that man
should have the lesser blessing granted and
be denyed the greater.
Men in all ages have supposed that the
mind existed in the brain. Such as Pincl,
Hunter, llaslam, Esquirol, and lrodcxc.
Cullen Says-the part of our body more im.
mcdiatcly connected with mind, and there.
fore more especially concerned in every af.
fccton of the intellectual f'nctions, is the
,,C I sl,,n
in what follows, speak Of under the appella-
ton of the brain. Dr. James Gregory OBJ
serves that the brain is the primary organ CT
the internal powers. Bluuunbach declares
that "thc mind is closely connected with the
brain, as the material condition of mental
phenomena. Maquedie says thatthe brain
is the material instrument of thought.
Abcrncthy says the brain of animals
ought to be regarded as the organization by
which the percipient principle becomes yari.
ously affected.
Locke recognized the principle. Dugald
Stewart found certain condition Of the body
as necessary to intellectual operations. Dr.
Thos Brown held the brain as essential to
life, and to the immediate production Of
those mental phenomena which co.stitssy'
sensations, and perhaps TO modify in some
measure, directly or indirectly, all the other
phenomena Of mind
Minerva or Wisdom, you will recollect, is
sued from the brain Of Jupiter. DR.. bod
bridge asserts il to be proved that the soul is
seated in the brain.
Shakespeare says:
My brain I'll prove the female to ny soul,
Ny soul the father; and these two bcget
\ generation Of still breeding thoughts"
Rowe says;
minds imperial seat the head"
And Byron:
"The dome Of thought, the palace of the
soul"
In common conversation, men recognize
the principle that the brain is the minds or
gan. We say such one is crack Drained
hc is brainlcSs-his head is turncd-hc is
ight-hcaded-he is a block-hcad--a hard
head or soft head, n, d SO on. We seem in.
stinctlvely to recognize the fact that mind
dwcls in the brain.
Amid all the seeming diversity Of thought
and opinion on the subject, when mems
minds were aiioat ON u sea of speculation il.
reference to mental phenomena, u philosoph-
ic mind struck by the diversity in sizes of
eyes, aud finding that the scholars in school
who had large full eyes, were those who
could speak most iluently, and rice rersa,
those who had small eyes,. rctreatng into
the sockets were deficient in language find
ing this to be the case train OF thought
was commenced, which has resulted in u
system, beautiful in its simplicity, and
truthful in its deductions. The diScovcrcr was
Francis Joseph Gall, born in the village Of
TiiIcnbraum, on the 9th Of March, 1868,
The term phrenolcgy signifies discourse
on the mind. Phrenology claims, lst, that
the brain is the organ through which mind
operates. Many metaphysicians have consi.
dcred that mind is entirely Independent Of
matter, and have treated Of it as such. An.
a,omsts on the other hand have held that
the mind isma,crial.
phrcno!ogy avoids both Of the assumr.