Phrenology. 75 



and if the energy of the faculties is in proportion to the size and 

 development of the organs, then the external form and size of the 

 cranium will indicate the powers and affections within, due allow- 

 ance being made for the varying depth of the frontal sinus, and 

 for some other peculiarities of idiosyncrasy or of disease, affecting 

 the thickness and development of the bone in different individ- 

 uals. 



This then is the vexed question — is there such a correspon- 

 dence — are the views of phrenologists sustained by facts, and do 

 the prevailing powers, affections and propensities of individuals, 

 correspond with the cranial developments, modified by the tem- 

 peraments, by health and other circumstances ? It is obvious that 

 these questions can be answered only by persons of large observa- 

 tion, of great mental acumen and extensive and accurate knowl- 

 edge of the structure, physiology, and history of man. The in- 

 vestigation includes, in the widest sense, all that belongs to him, 

 and therefore few persons are qualified to make such responsible 

 decisions. They have been made, however, in so many instan- 

 ces with success, as to command confidence and to conciliate 

 favor. 



It was seriously proposed to the British government in 1836, 

 and the application was sustained by many professional men of 

 high authority, that the numerous convicts who are annually 

 transported to Australasia and Van Dieman's land, should be ex- 

 amined, phrenologically, that the dangerous criminals may be sep- 

 arated from the rest, allotted to a more rigorous supervision, and 

 controlled by military force, both on the passage and in the colo- 

 nies ; — that on landing, they should be stationed at labor under 

 guard, on the roads and other public works, while the milder in- 

 dividuals, being placed out as servants, might become safe and 

 useful inmates in families, or laborers on the farms, and thus 

 there might be a better prospect of their acquiring the confidence 

 of their employers and of recovering their own self-respect. 



In New Holland, this course is very important, as appears par- 

 ticularly from the able report on the exploration of a large portion 

 of that immense country by Major T. L. Mitchell,* who under the 

 authority of government, and as surveyor general, made three ar- 



* His report was published in London in 1838, in two beautiful 8vos, with nu- 

 merous illustrations by plates and maps, a very valuable work, which we have 

 read with great interest. 



