314 



SOME REMARKS ON A REVIEW OF A PAPER ON 

 PHRENOLOGY, BY DR. MILLIGAN.* 



I HAVE only lately received the earlier numbers of "The 

 Analyst/' consequently my remarks on this paper come rather 

 late ; I could not, however, allow them to pass wholly unnoticed, 

 although neither these nor any other objections that have been 

 brought against Phrenology, ever have had, or ever will have, 

 any influence in retarding the science.f The review of the paper 

 of the late Dr. Milligan (by a writer who signs himself C. R.) 

 commences with the following observation : — " Upon the present 

 occasion we snail confine our remarks to the Phrenological [or 

 rather anti-phrenological] paper from the pen of the late Dr. 

 Milligan. In selecting this essay, we are perfectly aware that 

 we run considerable risk of disturbing the repose and arousing 

 the ire of that very sensitive race — those exquisite specimens of 

 the irritable genus, the Phrenologists," &c. This assertion is 

 totally unfounded, and all who know any thing at all of the 

 Phrenologists, are well aware that there are no persons more 

 unwilling to enter into disputes than they are, and that even 

 when they do, none are more calm and temperate. Witness, 

 for example, the controversies of Dr. Spurzheim, or of Mr. Combe, 

 and Sir William Hamilton. These were carried on — on the 

 part of the Phrenologists — in a calm, and at the same time, 

 masterly manner. The ire of the Phrenologists is not so easily 

 roused as C. R. supposes, and such a paper as his would cer- 

 tainly not tend to arouse their indignation. 



In another part of the paper. Dr. Milligan, as quoted by C. R. 

 says that the inner table of the skull is adapted to the configura- 

 tion of the brain. This is perfectly true, but he should have 

 gone further, and have stated that the outward form of the skull 

 is regulated by the development of the brain. This has long been 

 satisfactorily proved, and the following instance, amongst many 

 others that might be adduced, is a remarkable proof of it : — 

 When I last visited Deville, he informed me that some years 



ago Mr. C had had a cast of his head taken, which Deville 



kept. The latter remarked to Mr. C that liis organ of 



Order was somewhat deficient, and advised him to study har- 

 mony, in order to develope more fully this important organ. 

 He did so, and on having his cast taken again, a few years after- 

 wards, the desideratum was found to be completely supplied, 



♦ Vide " Analyst," No. 1, p. 29. 



t Antiphrenologists carp at the discovery of the immortal Gall being called a 

 science ; a science, however, it is, and the noblest of sciences, inasmuch as its end 

 is the improvement of man. 



