344 MENTAL FACULTIES. 



takes place on a less and less outline. In advanced life, however, 

 according to Gall, the correspondence between the encephalon and the 

 inner table of the skull is alone maintained ; the table appearing to be 

 a stranger to all nutritive movement, and preserving its dimensions. 

 Lastly, the cranium partakes of all the variations experienced by the 

 encephalon in disease. If the latter be wanting, as in the acephalous 

 monster, the cranium is wanting also. If a portion of the encephalon 

 exists, the corresponding portion of the cranium exists. If the ence- 

 phalon is smaller than natural, as in the idiot, the cranium is also. 

 If, on the contrary, it is distended by hydrocephalus, the cranium has 

 a considerable capacity : and this, not owing to a separation, at the 

 sutures, of the bones composing it, but to ossification taking place on 

 a larger outline. If the encephalon be much developed in any one 

 part, and not in another, the cranium is protuberant in the former; 

 restricted in the latter ; and lastly, in cases of mania, the cranium is 

 often affected, being, for example, unusually thick, dense, and heavy. 



These reasons, adduced by rall, may justify the admission, that, 

 within certain limits, the skull is moulded to the encephalon ; and, if 

 this be conceded, the method followed by him of specifying the organs 

 of the mental faculties may be conceived practicable. 



Such is the basis of the system of craniology proposed by Gall. It 

 has also been called cranology, org analogy, phrenology, and cranioscopy: 

 although, strictly speaking, it is by cranioscopy that we acquire a know- 

 ledge of craniology, the art of prejudging the intellectual and moral 

 aptitudes of man and animals, from an examination of the cranium. It 

 is, of course, limited in its application. Gall admits, that it is not 

 available in old age, owing to the physiological fact before stated, 

 that the external table of the skull is no longer modified by the changes, 

 that happen to the encephalon ; and he acknowledges, that its employ- 

 ment is always difficult, and liable to errors. We cannot, for example, 

 touch the crajiium directly; for it is covered by hair and integument. 

 The skull is made rough, in parts, by muscular impressions; and these 

 roughnesses must not be confounded with what are termed "protu- 

 berances" prominences, formed by a corresponding developement of 

 the encephalon. In this respect, craniology presents more difficulties 

 in animals, owing to their heads being more covered with muscles, and 

 from the inner table of the skull being, alone, in contact with the 

 encephalon beneath. Other errors may be incurred from the frontal 

 and superior longitudinal sinuses ; and from the possible separation of 

 the hemispheres at the median line. The difficulty is, of course, 

 extremely great in appreciating the parts of the encephalon, that are 

 situate behind the eyes ; and craniology must be entirely inapplicable 

 to those encephalic organs that terminate at its base. 



Gall has taken especial pains to remark, that by craniology we can 

 only prejudge the dispositions of men, not their actions; and can 

 appreciate but one of the elements of the activity of organs their 

 s i ze? not what belongs to their intrinsic activity, and to the impulse or 

 spring they may receive from the temperament or general formation. 

 Setting out, however, with the principle, that the predominance of a 

 faculty is in a great measure dependent on the developement of the 



