Phrenology. T'B 



performed, no sensation there experienced, indicates it to be any 

 thing else than an organ, indispensable indeed to the physical sup- 

 port and nourishment of the body, but in no degree the residence 

 of the mind. 



On this position we cannot consent to argue further, and if 

 there be any persons who seriously believe that the mind and 

 affections reside in the stomach, we can only say, that in this case, 

 we have no perceptions in common, and that the proof which con- 

 vinces us would probably be lost upon them. 



We are then at last, compelled, to return to the head, from which 

 intellectual citadel we should never, for a moment, have departed, 

 did not some individuals affirm that they are not sure where their 

 minds reside. 



Such a doubt fills me with amazement, for I am as distinctly 

 conscious that my mental operations are in my head, as I am of 

 my existence, or that my eyes present to me the images of ex- 

 ternal things ; nay more, 1 am equally certain, that no merely intel- 

 lectual or moral operation has its seat below the bottom of the or- 

 bital cavities ; that all the wonderful and beautiful structure be- 

 neath the base of the brain quite to the soles of the feet, is com- 

 posed merely of corporeal members, of ministering servants, that 

 obey the will and execute the mandates of the heavenly principle, 

 the representative of the Creator residing within the beautiful dome 

 that crowns our frames, and which, like the lofty rotunda of a holy 

 and magnificent temple, covers the inhabitant beneath, while it 

 looks upward to heaven, with aspirations toward its divine author 

 and architect. 



Are we then expected seriously to assert, that which appears 

 self-evident, that the seat of our mental operations, and of our 

 affections and propensities, is in the brain? My consciousness 

 informs me so, and this is the highest possible evidence to me, 

 although my consciousness cannot be evidence to another person. 

 Were it possible for life to exist with the body detached from the 

 head, the latter might perhaps be even capable of thinking for 

 a short time, without the appendage of trunk and limbs. Indeed, 

 we are sure, that dislocation of the neck, while it has paralyzed 

 and rendered insensible all the parts below, so that the individual 

 ceases to be conscious that he possesses a body, has often left 

 the mind in full operation. Provided the luxation or other severe 

 injury has taken place below the vertebrae from which proceed the 



Vol. XXXIX, No. 1.— April-June, 1840. 10 



