130 THE ORGAN OF LOCALITY. [CHAP. iv. 



action of a special organ of the brain, which they have 

 named Locality, and which, when highly developed in 

 man, appears as " two large prominences, of singular 

 form, a little above the eyes, commencing near each 

 side of the nose, and going obliquely upwards and out- 

 wards, almost as high as the middle of the forehead." 

 Sir George Mackenzie considers the primitive faculty 

 to be that of perceiving relative position. The organ is 

 affirmed to be large in the busts and portraits of all 

 eminent navigators and travellers, such as Columbus, 

 Cook, and Mungo Park. Dr. Gall believes the organ 

 to be possessed by the lower animals, and relates 

 several amusing stories of dogs returning to their 

 homes from a great distance, without the possibility of 

 their having been guided by smell or sight ; indeed, his 

 whole work is full of delightful illustrations of natural 

 history. Similar facts with regard to other animals 

 and birds must occur to the memory of every reader ; 

 and we must allow that no credible hypothesis for the 

 means by which this surprising faculty is exercised 

 has been offered, except by the phrenologists. Dr. 

 Gall considers it to belong to the organ of Locality. 

 The Falcon of Iceland returns to its native place from 

 a distance of thousands of miles ; and Carrier Pigeons 

 have long been celebrated for a similar tendency, 

 though of inferior power. The migrations of Swallows. 

 Nightingales, Terns, &c., are attributed by Dr. Gall to 

 periodical and involuntary excitement of the organ of 

 Locality ; for this excitement, it cannot be denied, 

 occurs even in birds kept in cages, and abundantly 

 supplied with food. We must admit that at least some 

 affections of the mind are subject to involuntary and 

 periodical excitement of various intensity. A gentle- 



