114 ANALYTIC SECT. XIV. 
SECTION XIV. 
Cerebral Irritability. 
ccLxxin. Philosophers have, in all ages, ad- 
mitted an intimate relation between the physical 
and moral nature of man; it is therefore not a 
little strange, that such a quantity of sarcasm ~ 
should have been heaped upon Gall and Spurz- 
heim, for bringing, with immense labour, this 
relation into a more tangible shape. The kind 
of ridicule now levelled at phrenology, was, in 
former times, liberally bestowed on chemistry, 
astronomy, and Christianity itself; and like them, 
it will be likely to prosper under persecution 
—truth shines brightest from the collision of 
opposing sentiments. 
ccLxxiv. The Baroness de Stael has truly ob- 
served, that every discovery appears absurd at its 
first announcement; the new conclusions are 
tried by the test of known principles, while it is 
precisely by abandoning old principles, especially 
if they be false, that new conclusions are brought 
to light. Man feels a sort of selfish regard for 
the doctrines which he imbibes in his youth; he 


