358 MENTAL FACULTIES. 



* 



say the least of it; 1 and the remark applies a fortiori to that of Spurz- 

 heim. 



It is, indeed, difficult to grant, that the same convolutions can be the 

 encephalic organs of distinct faculties; and if the views now adopted 

 by many of the phrenologists, be admitted, that the number and size 

 of the convolutions and the depth of the anfractuosities be any index 

 of the developement of an organ; it is obviously impossible by an ex- 

 amination of the skull to form the slightest judgment on these points. 

 Messrs. Leuret and Carpenter 2 are of opinion, that comparative anatomy 

 and psychology which have been so much invoked when their evi- 

 dence is fairly weighed, are very far from supporting the system. M. 

 Flourens 3 and Retzius 4 have opposed it on anatomical, physiological, 

 and psychological grounds ; and Muller 5 thinks Magendie right in 

 placing cranioscopy in the same category with astrology and alchemy. 

 The author would not go so far ; but he must candidly admit, that year 

 after year's observation and reflection render him less and less disposed 

 to consider, that even the fundamental points of the doctrine are found- 

 ed on a just appreciation of the encephalic functions. 



It is the mapping of the skull, accompanied by the self-conceit and 

 quackery of many of the soi-disant phrenologists or craniologists, that 

 has excited the ridicule of those who are opposed to the doctrine of 

 innate faculties, and to the investigation of points connected with the 

 philosophy of the human mind in any other mode than that to which 

 they have been accustomed. Were we, indeed, to concede, that the 

 fundamental principles of craniology are accurate, we might hesitate 

 in adopting the details ; and still more in giving any weight to it as a 

 practical science. Gall and Spurzheim would rarely venture to pro- 

 nounce on the psychical aptitudes of individuals from an examination of 

 their skulls ; and when they did, they frequently failed. " When Gall," 

 says Dr. Burrows, 6 " was in England, he went in company with Dr. H. 

 to visit the studio of the eminent sculptor, Chantry. Mr. C. being at 

 the moment engaged, they amused themselves in viewing the various 

 efforts of his skill. Dr. Gall was requested to say, from the organs 

 exhibited in a certain bust, what was the predominant propensity or 

 faculty of the individual. He pronounced the original must be a great 

 poet. His attention was directed to a second bust. He declared the 

 latter to be that of a great mathematician : the first was the bust of 

 Troughton, and the second that of Sir Walter Scott!" 



This kind of hasty judgment from manifestly inadequate data is the 

 every-day practice of the itinerant phrenologist, whose oracular dicta 

 too often draw ridicule not only on the empiric himself, but on a sys- 

 tem which is worthy of a better fate. Ridicule is the harmless but 



1 Miiller's Elements of Physiology by Baly, p. 837, Lond., 1838. 



2 Human Physiology, p. 226, Lond., 1842. 



3 Journal des Savans, Nov., 1841, & Fevr. & Avril, 1842; and Phrenology Examined, 

 translated from the second edition of 1845, by Professor Meigs, Phi lad., 1846. 



4 Beurtheilung der Phrenologie vom Standpunkte der Anatomic aus., Miiller's Archiv., 

 Heft 3, s. 233, Berlin, 1848. 



s Op. citat., p. 837. 



6 Commentaries on the Causes, Forms, Symptoms, and Treatment of Insanity, Lond., 

 1828. 



