THE OLD PHRENOLOGY AND THE NEW. 477 



or overawe the inquiring mind. Pope's dictum concerning " the proper 

 study of mankind " embellishes the walls ; and the advice " know thy- 

 self," meant to be interpreted and taken in a phrenological sense, is 

 given gratis through the medium of a conspicuous and usually illus- 

 trated poster. The tattooed head of a New-Zealander ; a few skulls, 

 occasionally supplemented by a collection of stuffed lizards and other 

 reptilian curiosities, and invariably flanked by busts of the ancient 

 philosophers, complete the Eesthetic furnishings of the modern temple 

 of the delineator of character. To the proprietor, in due time, enters a 

 certain moiety of the British public in search of knowledge. And 

 thence issue the patients, each provided for a consideration with a 

 wondrous chart of their mental disposition, wherein the moral quick- 

 sands are presumed to be duly marked, and the obliquities of character 

 stamped, with a view toward future correction and improvement. 



How does the phrenological professor succeed very fairly in reading 

 character ? may be asked at the outset by readers who have had those 

 parts of their disposition best known to themselves delineated with 

 accuracy by the oracle. The reply is clear. Not through manipulating 

 those mysterious " bumps," nor through any occult knowledge of the 

 brains of his votaries, but simply from a shrewd talent for scanning the 

 personal appearance and physiognomy of his clients, and by the dex- 

 terous suggestion of queries bearing on those traits of character which 

 the features and manner reveal. Your successful phrenologist is in 

 truth a shrewd physiognomist. His guide to character is in reality tne 

 face, not the brain-pan. The dress, manners, and deportm.ent of his 

 clients, and not the gray matter of the cerebrum, form the real basis of 

 his observations. If any one may be found to doubt how accurately 

 one's character may be mapped out from its outward manifestations, 

 let him endeavor to study for a while the acts and deportment of those 

 with whose " mind's construction " he may be even slightly acquainted, 

 and he will speedily discover numerous clews to the mental disposition 

 in common acts and traits which previously had passed utterly unno- 

 ticed. Such a result accrues speedily to the professed physiognomist 

 and shrewd observer of men, who, passing his fellows in professional 

 review before him, speedily discovers types of character to which, with 

 allowance for special proclivities or traits, his various clients may be 

 referred. That character may with tolerable success be determined even 

 from handwriting is a well-known fact ; and it is difficult to see the supe- 

 riority of the pretensions and claims of phrenology as a guide to charac- 

 ter over those of the professor of calligraphic philosophy. One of the 

 most convincing illustrations that even a practical knowledge of brain- 

 structure is not necessary for the successful delineation of such superficial 

 traits of character as can alone be determined by the casual observer, 

 may be found in the fact that very few " professors " of phrenology have 

 ever studied the brain, while a large proportion may never have seen an 

 actual brain. A notable example of a successful practice of phrenology 



