The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1869-01-29
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL TEST.

formatory genius who proposes to supply the
defects of Mr.. Jenckes's plan for securing fit
men in the civil service. 1t is to apply the
chronological test to the heads Of applicants
for official appointments. The proposition,
as it appears by the telegraph, has come be-
fore the United States Senate, in the shape of
a petition bearing, we may reasonably pre-
sumo considerable number of respectable
| signatures.
Now, to see the way clearly to the complete
solution of the complex problem which Mr..
Jenckes has vainly attempted to solve, it IS
only necessary to believe firmly in the theory
of phrenology and its methods of determine
ing character. To examine applicants merely
as 10 the extent of their knowledge touching
the duties of the offices to which they aspire,
would not be an infallible means of insuring
even the intellectual calibre which is needed
to make qualified incumbent For the dali
lard or the smatterer, by spell of cram
ming" could, no doubt, as easily obtain
certificate of qualification, as he can now, by
the same process obtain college diploma.
Allow to this test the utmost success, how
ever, and what would be its net result but to
exclude from the civil service knaves of the
commoner and stupider sort and thus make
room for the admission of the brightest, cley-
crest and sharpest representatives of rascal
dom?
We repeat that phrenology is the thing to
try the conscience as well as the intellect of
candidates for official trusts, and so to get
over the moral difficulty left unsolved by Mr.
Jenckes's plan provided that it is able, as it
processes to be, to measure and define, by
manipulations of the Uranium, the moral as
well as the intellectual constituents of charac-
ter-the cerebral lobes that make the predes-
innate thief, embezzler, peculator, and the &C.
rebral lobes that make the predestinate genius,
artist, expert.
But, alas, the professions of phrenology are
not, for practical purposes, to be depended
upon. There Is something of truth at the
bottom of it, as there is something of truth at
the bottom of physiognomy we have not the
least doubt But neither from Gall nor Lava
ter, nor from any of their successors, were we
ever able to get an unfailing clue to either of
these reconcile something's. On the other
hand, we could recount many grievous in
stances of illusion and imposture arising from
too implicit trust in the rules laid down by
phrenoiogists and physiognomists for guild
ance in the discovery of character. Men have
been terribly thrashed in encounters of their
own seeking, simply because they believed
that deficiency of chin was Synonymous with
want of pluck. Others have endured indigni-
ties from milksops endowed with protrusive
chins, the presumptive opponents of plenti-
full pugnscity. And others, again, have
had their hopes wrecked by con-
fding in the prominence of
Bardolphian, wellingtonian or NapOleonic
nose, the supposed advertisement and assur-
ance of warlike spirit and indomitable
resolve; or in the cranial contour of Web
ster or a Madison, accepted as the outward
symbol and guarantee of the matchless
statesman or juIisconsult All these have
boon victims of misplaced confidence in
phrenology and physiognomy. How, then, is
an adequate test of both moral and intel
lectual fitness for Office to be obtained? Well,
we really cannot seea unless it is by the old
fashioned way of Judging men by their
actions, their circumstances, their associa-
lions, and even their dress. The cosmopoli-
tan traveller will tell you that dirty towel
may be taken as an invariable sign of a badly
kept hotel, and that the condition of the
table-cloth and the castors will infallibly
indicate the general quality of restaurant
There are signs equally reliable by which to
distinguish certain classes Of men The
"Bowery boy" can no more disguise himself
as a Broadway exquisite than bull terrier
can look like poodle. The swell mob and the
gambling profession, however much they may
study the arts of the toilet, can never so far
deceive the experienced eye as to be mistaken
for persons of sterling worth and refined
culture. And, most certainly, their charac-
tiers could not be misconstrued by any
rational mind which was acquainted with
their previous haunts and habits.
Let this method of judging be applied to
Office seekers. 1t would rule out, to be sure,
| all the camp-followers Of the dominant party,
all who have gained their places by the single
| virtue of devotion, heart and soul, right or
wrong, to the success of the party as long as
there was money in it." And these consti-
tute, perhaps, nine-tenths of the present in
cumbents protesting to be Republicans, and
ninety-nine hundredths of those who will
seek appointments from the incoming admin
| istration. If Mr.. Jenckes can think of no
plan for keeping such creatures from fasten-
| ing their clutches on the public treasury, he
might as well abandon all idea of reforming
| the civil service.
Almost all of the new senators recently
elected are Republicans-amongt them Fenton
| of New York, Scott of Pennsylvania, and