450 Phrenological Sociely of Edijtburgh. 



viously true, that they admit of no dispute. Nevertheless, philo- 

 sophers on the mind, in conducting their inquiries, have rehed 

 too much on mere mental reflection ; while physiologists, in 

 seeking to discover the functions of the hrain, have resorted too 

 exclusively to dissection. These facts explain the past and pre- 

 sent ignorance of mankind in general, on these interesting points 

 in the philosophy of man ; and point out, in the clearest man- 

 ner, the necessity of resorting to a new method of inquiry, that 

 more perfect information may be obtained. Dr. Gall was the 

 first to introduce the mode of comparing mental manifestations 

 with cerebral development; and this method has led to discoveries 

 which could never have been attained by the means previously 

 employed. By this mode of philosophising, the Phrenologist has 

 attained knowledge in place of ignorance, and system in place of 

 hypothesis, in many points highly important in the philosophy 

 of the mind, and the physiology of the brain ; and while he per- 

 ceives, with a mixture of pity and regret, the determination with 

 which many sensible men adhere to the former defective systems, 

 he feels a perfect conviction that the new method requires only 

 to be studied to be highlv appreciated; and that as it becomes 

 knov.'u the present opposition must disappear. The ridicule with 

 which the new doctrines are pursued gives the Society no un- 

 easiness. Thev have experience for their warrant in saying, that 

 it is uniformly in the ratio of the ignorance of him from whom 

 it proceeds; and they know that no enlightened individual ever 

 compared mental manifestations and development of brain, with 

 a serious desire to discover the truth, who found it possible to 

 continue to scoff. Those who made the discoveries of Galileo 

 and Newton objects of their wit, appear now to have been shal- 

 low-minded indeed ; and those who have found subjects of ridi- 

 cule in the constitution of their own nature, will probably be 

 judged by posterity to have been not more profound. The Phre- 

 nologist knows that the organization and functions of the brain 

 are as independent of human belief as the motions of the globe. 

 Individuals, therefore, mav scoff at the doctrines of phrenology, 

 and think them too ridiculous to merit an inquiry: but the So- 

 ciety are convirced, that nevertheless every human being will 

 continue, altliough unconsciously to himself, to manifest his fa- 

 culties, by means of different parts of the brain, and with a power 

 corresponding to their size and activity; and that mankind at 

 large will believe the fact, as they did the revolution of the globe, 

 whenever they turn their attention to the evidence. The Society, 

 therefore, hold the princi|)les of Phrenology as no longer subject 

 to doubt ; and while thev recommend an attention to the subject 

 to every reflecting and virtuous individual, who considers a know- 

 ledge of himself >ind of human nature as an olTject of iinp9rtHnce, 



they 



