KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



41 



PHKENOLOGY FOR THE MILLION.* 



No. XXXIX.- 



-PHYSIOLOGY OF THE 

 BKAIN. 



BY P. J. GALL, M.D. 



(Continued from page 389, Vol. II. ) 



Let us now pursue another very interesting 

 and important inquiry : — 



Does social life give rise to factitious 

 qualities or faculties? 



Numberless works contain reveries on the 

 natural state of man, and on the number of good 

 and bad qualities which, as some say, he has 

 acquired, only in social life. In this hypothesis 

 we easily start with the supposition, that man 

 was made for solitude ; that he has been led, con- 

 trary to his nature, to unite himself with other 

 individuals, to form a family, a tribe, or nation. 

 These new relations, for which he was not 

 designed, have caused to spring up in him all 

 those vices and virtues, of which, in his natural 

 state of insulation, he would for ever have been 

 ignorant. 



Let us examine, for some moments, the instinct 

 of sociability in man and in animals. 



Some animals lead a solitary life, the male even 

 separated from the female ; in other species the 

 male and female remain united. In some species, 

 the parents separate from their young, as soon as 

 these are in a state to provide for their subsistence. 

 In others, the parents and all the race of the year, 

 form a little society till the return of spring, when 

 the young ones seek to form for themselves an 

 independent establishment ; and, finally, several 

 species form flocks, and live in common. In some, 

 a single male couples with several females ; in 

 others, each male joins for life with his particular 

 mate. All these modes of living have always been 

 invariable, and are, by no means, the result of an 

 arbitrary choice ; an evident proof that insulated 

 existence, and social existence, are natural in- 

 stitutions for the different species of animals. 



Do not believe, what some naturalists imagine, 

 that it is weakness and the need of mutual 

 succour which brings together certain species in 

 society. While so many powerless insects bring 

 forth and live by themselves, why do the gnats, 

 the ants, the bees, the hornets, live together by 

 thousands ? The fox is more feeble than the 

 wolf : but we never see him, like the wolf, asso- 

 ciated with several of his comrades : the wren, 

 the mock-bird, the linnet, the nightingale, insu- 

 lated in our groves, charm our ears by their 

 melodious accents ; while the bold sparrow, and 

 the babbling rook, assembled by hundreds, 

 deafen us from morning till evening. What ad- 

 vantage do the linnets, or the sheep, derive from 

 their union, when a single hawk, a single dog, 



* Under the title of " Phrenology for the Million," 

 we have been reprinting, in English, the Immortal Work 

 of Dr. Gall. Thirty-nine papers have already appeared. 

 Of these, thirty-eight will be found in our first and second 

 volumes. The publication will be continued regularly, 

 until completed. We hardly need remark that the 

 observations of Dr. Gall possess an imperishable interest, 

 both for young and old. His ideas originate subjects 

 inexhaustible,— all tending to the welfare of mankind.— 

 Ed., K.J. 



can disperse them? Have the headlong boar 

 and the powerful bull more need to lend each 

 other succour, than the timid hare, and the feeble 

 insulated quail ? 



If it be social life which produces certain 

 faculties, how do you conceive that each of the 

 different species of animals which live in society, 

 enjoys faculties so different, so opposite ? How 

 should the mere plurality of individuals produce 

 so many peculiarities, diversities of instincts, pro 

 pensities, and faculties ? 



Let us penetrate still farther into the mysteries 

 of nature. Each species of animals is destined 

 to fill a void, to accomplish an end in the order 

 of things. As soon as a species was ordained 

 to live in society, it became necessary that all 

 the individuals should be furnished with the 

 qualities necessary to attain this end of the great 

 family. Each individual must be fitted for tho 

 whole society. The qualities of each bee, and 

 chamois, and beaver, had to coincide. Accord- 

 ing as this general end is different, the faculties 

 of tbe individuals of whom a certain number 

 is destined to form a society, are equally dif- 

 ferent. The establishment of sentinels among 

 the bustards ; the direction of the herd by the 

 leading chamois ; the common labors divided 

 between several individuals among the bees and 

 the ants ; the mutual aid which swine and mon- 

 keys give each other ; the direction of a flock of 

 wild geese, always formed in a triangle in their 

 flight ; all these instincts have been given to 

 these animals, at the same time as the social 

 instinct. 



It is absolutely the same with the human race. 

 Man has been destined to live in common. No 

 where, and at no period, has man lived alone. 

 As far as we can go back into history, man has 

 been united in families, tribes, and nations ; and, 

 consequently, his qualities must have been cal- 

 culated for society. The phenomena which we 

 witness in whole races, are no more the effect of 

 this union, than those which take place in each 

 man in particular. Always, and every where, the 

 human race has manifested the same propen- 

 sities and the same talents ; always, and every 

 where, there have resulted the same virtues and 

 the same vices, the same employments and the 

 same institutions. There exists no crime against 

 which we cannot find a law in the Bible ; 

 calumny, theft, usury, incest, adultery, rape, 

 murder, had already spread over the earth like 

 a torrent. On the other hand, there exists no 

 virtue, no moral precept, which has not been 

 recommended, no faculty relative to human occu- 

 pations, which has not been more or less exer- 

 cised. Cain was a laborer ; Abel, a shepherd ; 

 the children of Jubal played on all sorts of" wind 

 and stringed instruments ; the children of Tubal 

 Cain were skilful workmen in iron and copper ; 

 Nehemiah established regulations of police, &c. 



The only changes we remark in the progress 

 of human society, consist in this, that the same 

 propensities, and the same faculties, are exercised 

 on different objects, and produce modified results. 

 The manners, customs, laws, different religious 

 ceremonies of different nations — all rest upon the 

 same basis. Every where, men profess to do and 

 believe what they regard as just and true ; every 

 where, they profess to honor a Supreme Being ; 



