PHRENICS. 83 



aside. " Although the scaffolding of the senses should be thrown 

 down :" the edifice will be complete ; the object for which the senses 

 were given will have been attained ; " and no argument against the 

 soul's immortality can be deduced from their decay." 



Aristotle supposed ideas to be images, or phantasms ; resembling 

 their original objects, but conveyed to, and existing in, the mind! 

 Hence the doctrine of the Schoolmen, that " nothing exists in the 

 mind, which was not first perceived by the senses." Descartes, on 

 the contrary, maintained the doctrine of innate ideas : that is, of 

 certain impressions or principles, coexistent with the mind, or at 

 least independent of the senses. Locke rejected this doctrine also ; 

 but he admitted that the mind may derive ideas, by reflecting on its 

 own operations, as well as by means of the senses. Hobbes, prior 

 to Locke, had proposed a material theory of the mind ; attributing 

 all thought to certain sensations, or motions, of the body. This 

 probably led Berkeley to promulge his ideal theory ; maintaining 

 that what are called sensible, material objects, are not external, but 

 exist only in the mind. Thus, while Hobbes denied the existence 

 of the mind, Berkeley went to the opposite extreme of denying the 

 existence of matter. 



Hume was so sceptical as to deny that we can know any thing 

 certainly, or even that there is any necessary connection between cause 

 and effect ; while Kant, on the other hand, maintained not only the 

 existence of this connection, but that our knowledge of it is sponta- 

 neous or intuitive. Dr. Reid also maintained the existence of cer- 

 tain ideas, which cannot be derived from the senses ; as the percep- 

 tion of right and wrong, or the moral sense. Stewart modified this 

 theory, by admitting that sensible objects first occasion the use of 

 our faculties ; though he maintained that the mind can afterwards 

 operate upon* the ideas or materials derived from perception : and this 

 view of the subject we are inclined to adopt. Dr. Brown and others 

 have endeavored to show how we may trace the connection of ideas, 

 by the laws of suggestion or association : laws which are well wor- 

 thy of attention, so far as they can be proved to exist. 



The doctrine of Phrenology, proposed by Dr. Gall, as early as 

 1798, and improved by Dr. Spurzheim, considers the mind as pos- 

 sessed of certain faculties, or influenced by certain affections ; each 

 of which is connected with a certain portion of the brain, as its seat, 

 or organ ; on the developement of which, its strength and activity 

 depend. This theory does not controvert the unity of the mind, as a 

 spiritual and responsible agent ; but attempts to explain its phenomena 

 more fully than the older systems. We are not prepared to adopt it 

 in full ; still less to disprove it ; but we think that its introduction 

 has been of benefit to this branch of knowledge ; particularly in im- 

 proving the classification of the mental powers.* 



We proceed to treat of Phrenics, under the four heads of Propen- 

 sities ; Sentiments ; Perceptive Powers ; and Reflective Powers ; 

 the two former comprising the affections ; the two latter, the intel- 

 lect, or reason. 



* The positions and names of the cerebral organs, are given in Plate III. ; ac- 

 cording to the latest Boston edition of Combe's Phrenology. 



