THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 389 



possessed of a power in his intercourse with men and books 

 relating to the human character, to which those unacquainted with 

 phrenology are perfect strangers. 



Paris, enter into my feelings on this subject ; and Dr. Fossati lately printed a 

 letter published by Gall to a M. Retzius, in 1798, in which he laid down the 

 plan of his work. Because Dr. Fossati complained that too many put Dr. S. 

 on a par with, or even above, Gall, the Edin. Phren. Journ. No. xlvi. p. 506. 

 reproved Dr. Fossati for this "twaddle." But Dr. Fossati spoke the truth. 

 Gall is, indeed, called the original ; but, in the next breath, we hear of the 

 founders, or the system of Gall and Spurzheim. See Ed. Phr. Journ. as quoted 

 in the last page, and various other writings. Yet, although the Ed. Phr. Journ. 

 calls Dr. S. the founder of phrenology with Gall, Dr. S. does not venture such a 

 dangerous length, but on all occasions acknowledges, what all Europe knows, 

 that Gall is the sole founder. He only reduces Gall's discoveries as low as 

 possible. It tells very much against Dr. S., that all those who were intimate 

 with him have been more or less unjust towards Gall, and some have spoken 

 contemptuously of Gall, in regard to both his intellect and moral feelings, con- 

 trasting him with Dr. S. One London phrenologist declared that Gall's 

 forehead was only for collecting facts, while Dr. S.'s was for philosophy. A 

 great Edinburgh phrenologist referred me to the inferiority of Gall's organ of 

 conscientiousness. Now, in truth, Dr. S.'s forehead is far less full and square than 

 Gall's, and his whole coronal surface together, indicating the high moral feelings, 

 equally inferior to that of Gall. The intellectual and high moral part of Gall's 

 head are magnificent, and those of Dr. S. will bear no comparison with them. His 

 firmness, self-esteem, and courage also are so large that we see at once how he 

 was enabled to rear phrenology, and present it steadily to the world for so many 

 years, standing alone and braving the contempt and attacks of the learned and 

 unlearned. It is greatly to be lamented that Gall's 8vo work is not translated ; 

 and I am certain that the legacy left by a Scotch gentleman to aid phrenology 

 could not have been laid out to half the advantage in any other way than in pub- 

 lishing a cheap translation of it. Pure as were the motives of the gentlemen 

 intrusted to fulfil the wishes of the spirited bequeather, in publishing works 

 of their own, I am convinced that they would have done far better in publishing 

 the writings of the founder before any thing else, writings so eloquent and 

 convincing, and so divested of speculation, so overwhelming in proofs, that their 

 translation would have formed the surest foundations for a universal conviction of 

 the truth of phrenology. The injustice I complain of in phrenologists arises, I 

 am certain, solely from their not having studied Gall as they have Dr. S., and from 

 many not having read a syllable of Gall. When my reading was confined to 

 Dr. S.'s books, and I was acquainted with him only, I committed the very same 

 injustice to Gall which I now most earnestly and respectfully entreat phrenolo- 

 gists to commit no longer. . 



