380 Dr. Spurzhcim's demonstrative Course ofLedw'es 



XVII. Organ of Righteousness : Another sentiment which 

 Gall has not noticed : it is the sentiment of right and wrong, 

 This organ is situated behind that of faith. Gall denies the ex- 

 istence of any positive conscience, and alleges that if a woman 

 kills her child she only repents; if ansurer omits an opportunity 

 of taking advantage of his neighbour, he also regrets it ; and 

 therefore there must be a good and a bad conscience or none at 

 all. He would thus have as many consciences as organs ; but 

 Dr. S. is of a difTerent opinion, he reasons more correctly. Gall 

 here seems to commit the error which he censures in the philo- 

 sophers, aiid confounds will with inclination, regret with repent- 

 ance or contrition. No inferior faculty has any conscience; and, 

 however repugnant the fact may be to our feelings, there are 

 persons who hiwc really no conscience. Examples : a mur- 

 derer in Holland tlnew j-.eople into the canals merely to have the 

 pleasure of seeing them drown, and cjuite unconscious of its being 

 any crime : many are pleased with criminal actions and wonder 

 how others do not enjoy the same delight in them : criminals 

 often go the. gallows satisfied with the propriety of their own 

 conduct : tlie Dutch drowner was astonished that he should be 

 thought guilty of any crime, he had injured no one, he said, uof 

 ever robbed any one. Bigots are of this description ; they are 

 pleased . with their own conceits, and cannot conceive why all 

 others are not of their mind. Hence, therefore, we must admit 

 that there are persons without any conscience, which belongs to 

 the sentiment of righteousness. In »Sparta stealing w;is per- 

 mitted, provided it was d<me cunningly ; justice is therefore not 

 a determinate faculty resulting from social laws : yet all men 

 have a feeling of justice in proportion to their faculties. Con- 

 Bcience has been divided into absolute, individual, and positive: 

 absolute conscience is the faculty of justice combined with the 

 higher faculties ; individual conscience is not universal, and po- 

 fcitive conscience is the same as absolute. Christ is the only 

 lawgiver who founds all laws on the sentiment of absolute 

 justice. 



The XVIIlth configuration is the last sentiment axiAorgan of 

 determiiiateness, or firmness. This sentiment fixes all the others. 

 He who has this organ resolves and persists in his resolution ; he 

 is a decided man, and may be depended on in moments of ne- 

 cessity. Instances of benevolent and of pious persons who have 

 firnmess and who want it ; the former are tenacious and the 

 latter yielding. Observe persons who argue and who will not be 

 convinced, and you may discover this organ of determinateness 

 near that of pride. When this organ is disproportionately de- 

 veloped, as often happens, it indicates stubbornness. The pro- 

 fubior eidiibilsd a cast of the murderer Sharpe's head, which 



perfectly 



