370 Phrenology, 



gion, manifested in this country, notwithstanding the absence of 

 any legal provision and national institution, affords abundant ev- 

 idence of the effect of the faculty under consideration. It shows 

 itself in the love of the wonderful, and faith in supernatural agen- 

 cies, so common among mankind. Missionaries frequently com- 

 plain of the attachment evinced by savages to their sorcerers. 

 The Romans generally attached a momentous importance to the 

 direction of the flight of a crow. We speak of Johnson as su- 

 perstitious, and there is a very well educated individual abroad, 

 who actually suffered, if by chance a pin should fall point towards 

 him. It is very common to meet with persons prone to attach 

 an extraordinary meaning to every trifling event. Observe the 

 great practical result of an admission of this truth. It explains 

 many of the diversities among christians, since those who ' hear 

 an inward voice,' and admire the mysticism of certain doctrines, 

 feel this from a predominance of the faculty entitled marvellous- 

 ness, but while they act from this impulse, they cannot in view of 

 its spring denounce others who, from their very constitution, 

 cannot sympathise with them. Martin, who was arrested in Lon- 

 don for setting fire to the cathedral, and who declared he was 

 incited to the act by a voice within him, had the cerebral part 

 where this organ lies strongly marked. And Dr. Priestly and 

 Price who could never agree, and never would have agreed, ex- 

 hibited a corresponding difierence in respect to this faculty. The 

 feelings in themselves are blind, and any one who acts solely from 

 their impetus will necessarily err. The Creator has taken care 

 of us, and given' us understanding as a guide. The phrenological 

 system considers the powers of the human soul as two-fold intel- 

 lectual and affective ; the essence of the former is to know, of 

 the latter to feel. Thus the appetite simply induces us to take 

 food, but it is the part of the understanding to direct our choice in 

 selecting it. Veneration inspires a disposition to reverence, 

 without specifying its object ; and cautiousness induces a prudent 

 regard for our safety and well-being ; yet if unenlightened we 

 might, under its influence, fear even our own shadow. 



Most philosophers, from Aristotle to Locke, ascribe the com- 

 mencement of mental activity to external impressions, derived 

 through the medium of our senses. Phrenologists, on the other 

 hand, maintain that the mind acts through the spontaneous incite- 

 ment of the affective powers, and that mental activity does not 

 depend upon the senses. The senses do not produce the intel- 

 lect, and we cannot measure mental capacities according to the 

 senses. - For we find many animals much more acute than man, 

 in regard to their senses, yet how infinitely inferior as respects 



