on Drs, Gall and Spurzheim's Plajsiognomofiical System. 309 



drawn from partial sections of tlie living brain, as the animal is in- 

 jured by either vertical or lateral sections, and consequently cannot 

 evince its faculties. — No general organs of feeling or sensation can 

 be indicated ; the functions of the brain and the signs of the dis- 

 position of the mind are the same. — Every thing in nature is 

 more powerful in proportion to its mass: the larger the muscular 

 fibre, the greater the force or energy : the more considerable 

 the nerve, the more energetic tlie function. — Necessary distinc- 

 tion between functions and the conditions of those functions, as 

 they may be active or passive. — Temperament adds to energy, 

 exercise improves the faculties : consequently the whole grounds 

 of judging are very compound and complex. — Size is sufficient 

 to indicate the function, although mere dimension of muscle is 

 no index of strength : the same applies to the five senses, and to 

 the organs of the brain. Size contributes to energy; and Irom 

 the external configuration of the head, that of the brain may be 

 ascertained. — \Yai\t of parallelism between the tables of the sk\ill 

 (the two hard bones on the outer and iinier sides of the cranium, 

 between which is the cellular substance called dipLoe) no argument 

 against the accuracy of our knowledge of the shape, parts, and 

 functions of the brain : the contrast of different heads and skulls 

 with and without the hair and integuments only proves the lat- 

 ter to be much less, but not of a different configuration. — Nerves 

 are large in proportion to their expansions ; (olfactory nerves of 

 a calf larger than those of a man) hence the functions are 

 judged of by the external expansions, which determine the whole 

 organization. 



Practical application of this system. — Skulls too large or too 

 small indicate disease or idiotism. Size of the antique not found 

 in nature. The configuration only to be considered or relied on: 

 bony excrescences or jnojections not to be confounded v/ith or- 

 ganic developments. All persons have all the organs ; but in 

 some they are more developed than iii others, indicating a jjar- 

 lici'.lar exertion or bias of the mind. One exception, a child in 

 Paris was found without the lateral convolutions. Fibres ot the 

 brain long or short, thick or thin : tiie long and thick have 

 greater energy; the long and small, or thin, disposition, acti- 

 vity, l)Ut neither energv nor success. A groove in the posterior 

 part of the skull indicates that the two hemispheres of the brain 

 are separated a little, and a greater development may be ex- 

 pected on the sides. Anatomists often call every bony elevation 

 above the eyes, a fiontal sinus ; but tiie sinus is contiguous to 

 the eyes, and all elevations above it are organic developments of 

 functions. Various depressions of the eyes outwards, downwards, 

 (which swells the under eye-lids,) upwards, inwards, and projcct- 

 \]3 ing 



