GALL, John Joseph, the founder of Phrenology, as it is now called, was descended of a respectable family residing at Tiefenbrunn, two leagues distant from Pforzheim, in Suabia, and born on the 9th of March 1757. His father was a shopkeeper or merchant, and mayor of the village. His parents, who were of the Roman Catholic persuasion, originally intended him for holy orders; but his natural dispositions were adverse to such a destination. He pursued his studies first at Baden, then at Brucksal, and afterwards at Strasburg, where he completed his literary education. Having resolved to study medicine with a view to the practice of physic, he, in 1781, proceeded to Vienna, the medical school of that capital having acquired great celebrity, particularly since the times of Van Swicten and Stoll; and, after passing through the ordinary course, he took his degree.

Being early given to observation, Gall, whilst yet a boy, was struck with the fact, that each of his companions and schoolfellows possessed some peculiarity of talent which distinguished him from the others. One excelled in penmanship, another in arithmetic, a third in the acquisition of languages. The compositions of some were remarkable for elegance, whilst those of others were hard, stiff, formal, and dry; several connected their reasonings in the closest manner, and clothed their arguments in forcible language; many were devoid of the talent for logical arrangement, and incapable of expressing themselves with clearness and precision. Nor were their dispositions less various than their intellectual endowments. Not a few manifested a capacity for employments which they had not been taught, such as cutting figures in wood, or delineating them on paper; some devoted their leisure to drawing or gardening, whilst others abandoned themselves to noisy games, or traversed the woods to gather flowers, search for birds’ nests, or catch butterflies. In short, each presented a character peculiar to himself, and Gall did not observe that the individual who, one year, displayed selfish or knavish propensities, became a kind and faithful friend the next. Of ħis schoolfellows, those with whom he experienced the greatest difficulty in competing, were the boys who committed their lessons to memory with the greatest facility; and such individuals frequently gained from him by their repetitions the places which he had obtained by the merit of his original compositions. Several years afterwards, having changed his place of residence, and still meeting with individuals possessed of the same faculty, he observed that the individuals so gifted had all prominent eyes, and he also recollected that his rivals in the first school had been distinguished by the same peculiarity. On entering the university, he accordingly directed his attention to those students who had large eyes, and, upon inquiry, he found that they all excelled in committing pieces to memory and giving correct recitations, although many of them were by no means remarkable for general talent. As the coincidence thus observed was recognised by the other students in the classes, Gall conceived that it could not be entirely accidental; and hence, from this period, he seems to have come to the conclusion that they stood in an important relation to each other. But if verbal memory was thus indicated by an external sign, it required no great effort of generalization to conceive that the other intellectual powers might have each its appropriate manifestation. Proceeding on this idea or assumption, Gall now directed his attention to individuals distinguished by any remarkable faculty; and, after a course of observation, he conceived himself to have discovered and defined the external characteristics indicative of decided talents for painting, music, and the mechanical arts. Having also become acquainted with several persons remarkable for determination of character, he observed that a particular part of their heads was largely developed, and [7:10:297]this development he 8et down as the external sign or ma* nifestation of the character referred to.

His next step was to look in the head for the indications of the moral sentiments as well as of the intellectual faculties; but here he experienced considerable difficulties. Hitherto he had been ignorant of the opinions of physiologists concerning the brain, and of metaphysicians respecting the menial faculties; and, on turning to books, he became so much perplexed by the discordance of the views therein inculcated, that, for a time, he hesitated as to the correctness of his own observations. He found that, whilst Pythagoras, Plato, Galen, Haller, and others, placed the sentient sou] in the brain, Aristotle fixed its residence in the heart, Van Helmont in the stomach, Descartes in the pineal gland, and Drelincourt in the cerebellum; that, according to many philosophers and physiologists, all men are born with equal mental faculties; and that the differences observable amongst mankind are not ascribable to any original or constitutional inequality of powers, but the result partly of education, and partly of the diversified circumstances in which individuals are placed. But if all differences are accidental, it is evident that there can be no natural signs of predominating faculties, and, consequently, that the project of attempting, by observation, to discover the functions of the different portions of the brain, must be abandoned as hopeless. Sensible of this, Gall combated the difficulty by denying the truth of the doctrine of original equality on which it is founded. He contended that persons who have all received the same or very nearly the same education unfold each a distinct character, over which circumstances appear to exercise only a limited control; that individuals, whose education has been conducted with the greatest care, and on whom the labours of instructors have been most freely lavished, frequently remain far behind their companions in attainments; that many, even with the most ardent desire, followed out by the most persevering efforts, cannot, in some pursuits, attain even to mediocrity; that, in point of fact, instructors of youth do not appear to attach much faith to the system which teaches the equality of mental faculties, and think themselves entitled to exact more from one scholar and less from another; that the doctrine of Scripture, according to which, each will be required to render an account only in proportion to the gifts which he has received, serves to confirm this view, and is, moreover, in accordance with observation and experience. On these grounds, Dr Gall concluded that there is a natural and constitutional diversity of talents and dispositions amongst men; and that, supposing the exercise of the mental faculties dependent on the functions of the brain, the external signs of these faculties may be determined by observation.

Abandoning every theory and preconceived opinion, therefore, he applied himself to the discovery of those signs of the existence of which he had thus satisfied his own mind. Being physician to a lunatic asylum at Vienna, he had opportunities of making observations on the insane; he visited prisons, and resorted to the seats of learning; he was introduced to the courts of princes and the tribunals ofjustice; wherever he heard of an individual remarkable either for his mental endowments or defects, he studied the development of his head; and at length he conceived himself warranted in maintaining that particular mental powers are indicated by particular configurationsof the shell or case in which the brain is lodged. Hitherto he had resorted only to physiognomical indications in order to discover the functions of the brain; but, being convinced that physiology is imperfect when separated from anatomy, he felt the necessity of instituting anatomical researches into the structure of the brain.^[1. Having observed a woman, aged fifty-four years, who from her youth had been afflicted with water in the head, yet possessed a mind as active and intelligent as that of any other individual of her class, Dr Gall declared his conviction that the structure of the brain must be different from what it was generally supposed to be; a conclusion which Tulpius had already drawn from observing a hydrocephalic patient, whose mental faculties remained unaffected by the disease under which he was labouring. This, and other analogous cases, convinced Dr Gall of the necessity of instituting minute anatomical researches into the structure and fonctions of the brain. ] Accordingly, in every instance where an individual whose head he had examined whilst alive happened to die, he used every means to obtain permission to examine the brain, and frequently did so; and he states it as a general fact, that, on the skull being removed, the brain, covered by the dura mater, presented a form corresponding to that which the skull had exhibited in life. Thus, by successive steps, by first observing a concomitance between particular talents and dispositions, and particular forms of the head, and next by ascertaining that the figure and size of the brain were indicated by these external forms, Dr Gall conceived that he had determined the intellectual dispositions corresponding to about twenty organs, or, in other words, ascertained the residences of as many intellectual faculties of the first order; and these organs he named according to the faculty or propensity which he attributed to each respectively. In short, he maintained that the intellectual dispositions being innate, have their seats in the brain, where the organs of the faculties are also situated; that the more prominent any isolated point on the skull is, the greater is the activity of the faculty, the organ of which is there placed; and that the part of the brain where such faculty resides and acts, by pressing on the skull, forms, on its convex surface, a protuberance, which indicates externally the organ, and is, in fact, its invariable sign.

Dr Gall first became known as an author by the publication of two chapters of a work entitled Philosophisch-Meicinishe Untersuchungen über Natur und Kunst im gesunden und krauken Zustande des Menschen, Vienna, 1791. This work was not continued; but in the two chapters published, Dr Gail evinced the spirit which subsequently guided his researches into the intellectual and moral nature of man. The first written notice of his inquiries respecting the differences of form observable in the human head was contained in a familiar letter addressed to Baron Retzen, which appeared in the Deutschen Mercur of December 1798; but two years before this Dr Gall had commenced giving courses of private lectures at Vienna, where his doctrines soon attracted general attention; and Fro-riep, Martens, and Walther, were among his hearers. He continued his lectures for five years, with increasing success, when, at length, upon the 8th of January 1802, the Austrian government issued an order, interdicting them, on the ground that the doctrines therein promulgated were dangerous to religion; and, in a general regulation which accompanied the order, all private lectures were prohibited, unless specially permitted by the public authorities. Dr Gall understood the object of this regulation, and never solicited permission; but, as usually happens, the prohibition stimulated curiosity, and the doctrines thus interdicted were studied with greater zeal than before. It is difficult to perceive what object the Austrian government proposed to attain by this foolish interposition, more especially as publications on the subject continued to be permitted, provided they abstained from reflecting on the government for issuing the order above mentioned. On the 6th March 1805, Dr Gall left Vienna, in company with Dr Spurzheim, whom he had now associated with him in [7:10:298]his pursuits, and proceeded to Berlin, where he remained a short time; he then visited all the principal towns and universities of Germany, and in November 1807 repaired to Paris, where he established himself as a medical practitioner, and remained till the time of his death. To the charge of Spinozism or atheism, which was strongly urged against him, particularly by some of the French scholars, Dr Gall replied in a work entitled Des Dispositions innées de l’Ame et de l’ Esprit, ou du Matérialisme, Paris, 1812, in 8vo, which he seems to have intended as an authoritative exposition of the metaphysics of the new science.. But a much ruder onset awaited it. In 1815, and again in 1826, craniology was attacked in able articles inserted in the Edinburgh Review, where the united powers of argument and ridicule were forcibly directed against it by writers possessing an equal mastery over both; but the results of Dr Gall’s observations were not, in the opinion of his followers, destroyed, nor even materially affected, by the critical severity with which these had been examined in the Review; and their confidence in the truth of the system, which to the uninitiated appeared to be overthrown, gained strength from each successive shock to which it was exposed. But whatever may be thought of Dr Gall’s discoveries, either in reference to the philosophy of mind, or to the moral and religious opinions of mankind, it seems to be pretty generally conceded, that, by his dissections and observations, he has considerably advanced the knowledge of the cerebral system, and that, even if he be accounted a bad philosopher, he has at least shown himself an able anatomist. He demonstrated, what before was only conjectured, that cerebral matter does not derive its origin from the brain, but from the spinal marrow; which, expanding as it proceeds, at length forms the two hemispheres into which the brain is divided. In conjunction with Spurzheim, Dr Gall published at Paris, in 1810, Anatomie et Physiologie du Système nerveux en général, et du Cerveau en particulier; but of this work there only appeared a volume and a half. The most elaborate of his productions, however, is Organologie, ou Expositions des Instincts Penchans, ĩţc. et du siège de leurs Organes, which was completed in 1825. His Histoire des Fonctions du Cerveau had appeared in 1822, in two vols. 8vα In 1828 Dr Gall died at Paris, where he had for many years practised medicine with success, leaving his mantle to Dr Spurzheim, who had been long associated with him both in the pursuit and the propagandism of phrenology. (See Biographie des Hommes Vivants, art. Gall; and Transactions of the Phrenological Society, Edinburgh, 1824; Nécrologie, 1828; Edinburgh Review, vols. xxv. and xlv.) (a.) Gall, St, a canton of Switzerland. It is bounded on the north by the canton of Thurgau, on the north-east by the Lake of Constance, on the east by the Austrian dominions and the principality of Lichtenstein, on the southeast by the Grey Bunden, on the south-west by Uri, and on the west by Schwitz and Zurich. It is 780 square miles in extent, and contained, in the year 1831, 165,740 inhabitants, about equally Catholics and Protestants. It is divided into eight amtsbezirke or bailiwicks. The greater portion of'the land is mountainous; but the districts of Rhinethal, Norschach, and Gossau, have some fine plains intermixed with gentle hills. I n the other divisions the l’ 0 ^^> 1 r 8 ? re U! tler * 0,t y> varying in height from 4300 to 7500 feet. None ol the mountain regions of Switzerland have been less explored, or are less known, than those of this canton. From them issue many of those rivers which increase the volume and the rapidity of the Rhine before’t enters into the Lake of Constance.

Although the cultivation on the plains is good, the cant ufficient c ° anfor the consumption of the inhabitants; but potatoes are extensively planted, and fruits of all kind, are raised in large quantities and of excellent sorts, especially apples, which furnish cider as the common drink. The milk of the cows is more used for butter than for cheese. Some wine is made; but for want of care it will not bear to be long kept.

The manufactures of the canton are prosperous and increasing. The muslins, printed calicoes, and cotton goods, find ready sale at the German fairs. There are many large mills for spinning cotton and linen. The chief trade is in the capital, at Etznach, and Sargans. The government is republican, residing in two assemblies chosen by those who possess property to a stipulated amount, whilst the members to be chosen must have a prescribed amount of capital. The canton contributes to the general fund of the confederacy 39,450 francs yearly, and furnishes for the general defence a contingent of 2630 men; but all the population capable of bearing arms are regimented, and taught the use of them.

Gall, St, the capital of the canton of that name in Switzerland. It stands between two hills, on the river Steinach. It is surrounded with walls and ditches, but is well built, with broad streets and good houses. It contains 500 houses, and about 9500 inhabitants, of whom 8000 are Protestants. It is a flourishing city, of great industry in manufactures of cotton, linen, and silk, and some in woolier», goods. Long. 9. 21. 37. E. Lat. 47. 21. 50. N.