310 PROCKfiDlKGS OTf PROVINCIAL SOCl£Ttfid. 



and starling, appear, from an inspection of their heads, to have ail 

 organ of caution, similar to that of man. 



Having considered the organs which occupy the hasilar and occi- 

 pital regions, Mr. Turley proceeded to the sincipital region, which 

 is the most ennobled and exalted, as it contains the organs that form 

 our moral distinction from the brute creation. If we look at the 

 two regions, upper and lower, we shall find that the size of the low- 

 er preponderates in mankind. There are some individuals diversely 

 organised to this : but we shall never see a person whose moral 

 qualities outweigh his other propensities, without finding the sinci- 

 pital organ outweigh the basilar region. 



The lecturer next considered the faculty of benevolence, which is 

 situated at the most anterior part of the forehead. This propensity, 

 when greatly developed, gives to the countenance a character of be- 

 nignity, which we acknowledge by a degree of immediate confidence 

 not unfrequently opposed to our worldly experience. It has been 

 urged, as an argument against the cultivation of phrenology, that 

 this science would be injurious to the interests of morality and reli- 

 gion. But, if we demonstrate an organ of benevolence, does it de- 

 tract from our adoration of our divine creator to show the organ 

 which he employs to call into action the feelings that we honour ; 

 than to believe, against demonstrative evidence, that the feeling 

 exists, fortuitously, without an instrument for its active manifesta- 

 tion .f* We need not be alarmed about consequences until we 

 have examined if such things as the organic causes here alleged 

 really exist in nature, if they ever have existed, or if they have 

 been merely created by the fancy of phrenologists. If we find that 

 they have long existed, and that mankind, wherever discovered, tes- 

 tifies their existence, we may be assured that those faculties cannot 

 be given for our injury — they cannot have any evil tendency. We 

 find nothing in the economy of animals that bears the least resem- 

 blance to religion or morality in man. We see the feeling of at- 

 tachment strong in animals, but there is no sign manifest in them 

 of their having any sense or instinct of a Creator. Religion is a 

 blessed prerogative peculiar to man. There are some dogs mild and 

 docile, others ferocious and indocile, and we can distinguish these 

 physical rudiments in examining their skulls ; but yet this does not 

 seem analogous to morality. In one well-disposed and docile tribe of 

 monkeys, the part of the brain destined to benevolence of disposi- 

 tion, is found to be prominent ; while in another savage and male- 

 volent class of the same race, its absence is remarkable. 



Wherever charitable institutions are numerous, in a kingdom, a 

 county, or city, like our own, we may easily infer the national, or 

 local, existence of benevolence, in an extended degree. The chris- 

 tian religion, the divine precepts of our meek and benevolent Sa. 

 viour, teem with fervent appeals to this faculty. 



The emancipation of the Negroes last year, by the exertions 

 made in the United Kingdom, is a proud monument of the triumph 

 of benevolence over the lower and selfish propensities ; and cold 



