334 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



man. The very aptitude that I recognize in myself for the exercise of 

 this power would indicate a preexisting tendency. In my junior col- 

 lege year I became, during the visit of Spurzheim, enamoured of phre- 

 nology. For twenty years, although I have not made it a special study, 

 it has been the foundation on which I have worked. Admit, if you 

 please, it is not exactly the true thing ; and admit, if you will, that 

 there is little form or system in it ; yet I have worked with it the same 

 as botanists worked with the Linnsean system of botany, the classifica- 

 tion of which is very convenient, although an artificial one. There is 

 no natural system that seems' to correspond to human nature so nearly 

 as phrenology does. 



For example, you assume that a man's brain is the general organ 

 of the spiritual and intellectual functions. 



I see a man with a small brow and big in the lower part of his 

 head, like a bull, and I know that that man is not likely to be a saint. 

 All the reasoning in the world would not convince me of the contrary, 

 but I would say of such a man, that he has very intense ideas, and will 

 bellow and push like a bull of Bashan. Now, practically, do you sup- 

 pose I would commence to treat with such a man by flaunting a rag in 

 his face ? My first instinct in regard to him is what a man would have 

 if he found himself in a field with a wild-bull, which would be to put 

 himself on good manners, and use means of conciliation, if possible. 



On the other hand, if I see a man whose forehead is very high and 

 large, but who is thin in the back of the head, and with a small neck 

 and trunk, I say to myself, " That is a man, probably, whose friends are 

 always talking about how much there is in him, but who never does 

 any thing. He is a man who has great organs, but nothing to drive 

 them with. He is like a splendid locomotive without a boiler." 



Again, you will see a man with a little bullet-head, having accom- 

 plished more than that big-headed man, who ought to have been a 

 strong giant and a great genius. The bullet-headed man has out- 

 stripped the broad-browed man in every thing he undertook ; and 

 people say, " Where is your phrenology ? " In reply, I say, " Look at 

 that bullet-headed man, and see what he has to drive his bullet-head 

 with ! " His stomach gives evidence that he has natural forces to 

 carry forward his purposes. Then look at the big-headed man. He 

 can't make a spoonful of blood in twenty-four hours, aud what he does 

 make is poor and thin. Phrenology classifies the brain-regions well 

 enough, but you must understand its relations to physiology, and the 

 dependence of brain-work upon the quantity and quality of blood that 

 the man's body makes. 



You may ask, " What is the use of knowing these things ? " All 

 the use in the world. If a person comes to me, with dark, coarse hair, 

 I know he is tough and enduring, and I know, if it is necessary, that I 

 can hit him a rap to arouse him ; but, if I see a person who has fine, 

 silky hair, and a light complexion, I know that he is of an excitable 



