

CHAP. xvi. THE NEGLECT OF PHRENOLOGY. 191 



only intelligible when explained by means of its long- 

 established facts, and thus really furnish a most striking 

 and most convincing, because wholly unintended, confir- 

 mation of its substantial truth. 



Let us now briefly state the main principles of phre- 

 nology, all at first denied, but all now forming part of 

 recognized science. 



(1) The brain is the organ of the mind. 



This was denied in the Edinburgh Reviezv, and even 

 J. S. Mill wrote that " mental phenomena do not admit 

 of being deduced from the physiological laws of our 

 nervous organization." 



(2) Size is, other things being equal, a measure of 

 power. This was at first denied, but is now generally 

 admitted by physiologists. 



(3) The brain is a congeries of organs, each having its 

 appropiiate faculty. 



Till a comparatively recent period this was denied, 

 and the brain was said to act as a. single organ. Now it 

 is admitted that there are such separate organs, but it 

 is alleged that they have not yet been discovered. 



(4) The front of the brain is the seat of our percep- 

 tive and reflective faculties; the top, of our higher 

 sentiments; the back and the sides, of our animal in- 

 stincts. 



This was long denied; even the late Dr. "W. B. Car- 

 penter maintained that the back of the brain was 

 probably the seat of the intellect! Now, almost all 

 physiologists admit that this general division of brain- 

 organs is correct. 



(5) The form of the skull during life corresponds so 

 closely to that of the brain that it is possible to deter- 



