SELF-PRESERVATION. 139 



those which presented the highest degree of development, such are the Ape, the 

 Fox, the Badger, the Cat, the Fitchet and Marten Weasels, the Marmot, the 

 Hare. It is enormous in the Stag and Roebuck. 



The region of the cranium in which this organ in quadrupeds is lodged, is the 

 lateral sphenoidal fossa. In man its situation is the same. It occupies in the 

 latter all the portion of the sphenoidal bone marked 2 and 3, fig. 6, PI. xi, bis ; 

 the anterior half of the cerebral surface of the temporal bone indicated by No. 3, 

 id. pi., fig. 8. Its innermost surface will cover the two anterior thirds of the 

 upper face of the petrous portion of the same bone. 



An old gunner, who died in the Val-de-Grace, was one of the greatest bullies 

 that ever existed, and so regardless of his life, that he exposed it daily in nu- 

 merous duels. In his skull, presented to me by Dr. Gaxibert, the region before 

 specified is not only very narrow, but has little depth. I have compared this 

 skull with others in my possession, and the difference in extent and depth in this 

 region is well marked. I have not met with the skull of any person who had a 

 propensity to self-destruction without disease of the brain, and therefore cannot 

 speak of the development of the organ in suicides. 



I am strongly disposed to believe that the sentiment of fear, which Dr. Gall 

 attributes to want of courage, and which Dr. Spurzheim made to depend on cau- 

 tiousness, may be, on the contrary, an affection of the organ of self-preservation. 

 When a man considers his existence threatened by a body above him, he, by a 

 movement truly instinctive, stoops his head and forms a kind of arch with his 

 back. This movement coincides with the situation of the organ. Persons who 

 feel uneasy on the top of a tower or steeple, crouch down in the same manner. 

 I believe that the disagreeable impression which they then experience is referable 

 to an affection of the organ of self-preservation, and that it is this affection which 

 gives rise to the gesture above described. 



I consider that the sphere of action of the faculty is more extensive. It gives 

 a character of egotism to the mind. I have constantly found more egotists among 

 bachelors than among married persons. In France there are more egotists among 

 priests than in any other class of society, which I attribute to the retired life they 

 lead. Contempt of life and generous actions should depend on a small development 

 of the organ, particularly if other faculties are in a sufficient state of development. 



£This subject — namely, that of Phrenology — though hitherto little attended to 

 by naturalists, is one of the highest interest and importance ; and such is the 

 value and the novelty of Dr. Vimont's observations, that we feel assured they 

 cannot fail to strike our readers. We are inclined to believe, with Dr. V., that 

 self-preservation is a distinct faculty, but cannot agree with him in the opinion 

 that it embraces Cautiousness. — Dr. Combe described this organ (which he termed 

 Vitativeness) in his trother's System of Phrenology, about the same time that 



No. 9, Vol.11. u 



