PHRENOLOGY. 207 



people to form their opinions on a matter which is held 

 out to them to be of such high importance ; and more 

 still, to induce them to trust to its guidance, the educa- 

 tion of their children or any of the important concerns of 

 life. 



643. Dr. Rogers opinion. But without making farther 

 observations of our own, we will merely cite the opinions 

 of two or three individuals, which have been formed 

 with a knowledge of the facts, and whose decisions are 

 not of less weight than those of any contemporary wri- 

 ters. 



644. " Although," says Dr. Roget, " the brain is con- 

 structed with evident design, and composed of a number of 

 curiously-wrought parts, we are utterly unable to penetrate 

 the intention with which they are formed, or to perceive 

 the slightest correspondence which their configuration can 

 have with the functions they respectively perform. The 

 map of regions which modern physiologists have traced 

 on the surface of the head, and which they suppose to have 

 relation to different faculties and propensities, does not 

 agree either with the natural divisions of the brain, nor 

 with the metaphysical classification of mental phenom- 



645. Dr. Bostock's Sentiments. " The view/' says 

 Dr. Bostock, " which I have taken of the connexion that 

 subsists between the physical structure of the nervous 

 system, and the mental faculties, naturally brings me to 

 a subject, which has of late attracted a considerable 

 degree of attention among anatomists and physiologists, 

 namely, the dependance of the character and disposition 

 upon the peculiar shape and organization of the brain. 

 Certain facts, which seem to favor this opinion, had 

 long been noticed ; persons of observation were in the 

 habit of associating the idea of superior intellect with a 

 capacious and prominent forehead, while the contrary 

 form was equally conceived to indicate a deficiency of 



* Animal and Vegetable Physiology. Bndgewater Treatise. Vol. ii., p. 

 565. London, 1835. 



It is proper to remark, that Dr. Roget is the author of tke article 

 " Cranioscopy," in the Encyclopedia Britannica, and therefore has not 

 given this opinion without knowledge. 



