KIDD'S LONDON JOURNAL. 



149 



this, for the moment, made him hesitate about 

 the correctness of his own observations. He 

 found that the moral sentiments had, by an 

 almost general consent, been consigned to the 

 thoracic and abdominal viscera; and, that while 

 Pythagoras, Plato, Galen, Haller, and some 

 other Physiologists, placed the intellectual facul- 

 ties in the brain, Aristotle placed it in the heart, 

 Van Helmont in the stomach, Des Cartes, and 

 his followers, in the pineal gland, and Drelin- 

 court and others in the cerebellum! 



He observed also that a great number of Phi- 

 losophers and Physiologists asserted, that all 

 men are born with equal mental faculties ; and 

 that the differences observable among them are 

 owing either to education, or to the accidental 

 circumstances in which they are placed. If all 

 differences are accidental, he inferred that there 

 could be no natural signs of predominating 

 faculties, and. consequently, that the project of 

 learning, by observation, to distinguish the func- 

 tions of the different portions of the brain, must 

 be hopeless. This difficulty he combated, by 

 the reflection that his brothers, sisters, and 

 schoolfellows, had all received very nearly the 

 same education, but that he had still observed 

 each of them unfolding a distinct character ; over 

 which, circumstances appeared to exert only a 

 limited control. He observed also, that not 

 unfrequently they, whose education had been 

 conducted with the greatest care, and on whom 

 the labors of teachers had been most freely 

 lavished, remained far behind their companions 

 in attainments. " Often," says Dr. Gall, " we 

 were accused of want of will, or deficiency in 

 zeal; but many of us could not, even with the 

 most ardent desire, followed out by the most obsti- 

 nate efforts, attain in some pursuits even to me- 

 diocrity; while in some other points, some of us 

 surpassed our schoolfellows without an effort, and 

 almost, it might be said, without perceiving it 

 ourselves.* But, in point of fact, our masters 

 did not appear to attach much faith to the 

 system which taught the equality of mental 

 faculties; for they thought themselves entitled to 

 exact more from one scholar, and less from 

 another. They spoke frequently of natural gifts, 

 or of the gifts of God; and. consoled their pupils 

 in the words of the gospel, by assuring them that 

 each would be required to render an account, 

 only in proportion to the gifts which he had 

 received. 



Being convinced by these facts that there is a 

 natural and constitutional diversity of talents and 

 dispositions, he encountered, in books, still another 

 obstacle to his success in determining the exter- 

 nal signs of the mental powers. He found that, 

 instead of faculties for languages, drawing, dis- 

 tinguishing places, music, and mechanical arts, 

 corresponding to the different talents which he 

 had observed in his schoolfellows, the metaphy- 

 sicians spoke only of general powers — such as 

 perception, conception, memory, imagination, 

 and judgment; and. when he endeavored to dis- 

 cover external signs in the head, corresponding 

 to these general faculties, or to determine the 



* We have, in our Introductory Chapter, noticed the 

 same striking fact in connection with our own early 

 education ; and very often since, in others. — Ed. K. J. 



correctness of the physiological doctrines regard- 

 ing the seat of the mind, as taught by the authors 

 already mentioned, he found perplexities with- 

 out end, and difficulties insurmountable. 



Dr. Gall, therefore, abandoning every theory 

 and pre-conceived opinion, gave himself up en- 

 tirely to the observation of nature. Being Phy- 

 sician to a Lunatic Asylum in Vienna, he had 

 opportunities, of which he availed himself, of 

 making observations on the insane. He visited 

 prisons, and resorted to schools: he was intro- 

 duced to the courts of Princes, to colleges and 

 the seats of Justice; and wherever he heard of 

 an individual distinguished in any particular 

 way, either by remarkable endowment or defi- 

 ciency, he observed and studied the development 

 of his head. In this manner, by an almost im- 

 perceptible induction, he conceived himself war- 

 ranted in believing, that "particular mental 

 powers are indicated by particular configurations 

 of the head." 



(To be Continued Weekly.') 



A BOTANICAL EAMSLE 

 In the Neighborhood of Abbotsford. 



On the morning of Saturday, the 16th of 

 June, 1849, a party of botanists in embryo, 

 headed by their respected professor, pro- 

 ceeded by an early train from Edinburgh to 

 Galasheils, determined upon a day's enjoy- 

 ment in the classic ground in the immediate 

 vicinity of Abbotsford. In one who has no 

 knowledge of botanical zeal, the sight of a 

 motley party proceeding in high glee to the 

 field of their delightful labor, with box on 

 back and spud in belt, is apt to excite an 

 amount of curiosity, coupled too often, in 

 the minds of the vulgar, with a degree of 

 ridicule. Young gentlemen of all forms and 

 sizes, from the tall, thoughtful student, 

 canistered and belted, to the merry, ruddy 

 little fellow, whose cherry face as yet bears 

 not a mark of " time's effacing ringer ; " 

 from the serious, spectacled four-year, to 

 the freshman in the monkey. To see the 

 glee and unforced smiles, and hear the ready 

 tattle and merry laugh, few would imagine 

 that all these bearers of canisters were bent 

 on a day of pleasure accompanied by severe 

 toil, physical and mental. Well, our tickets 

 being taken, our corns crushed, and hats 

 knocked in amid the hurry, we rushed into 

 the bare-seated third-class carriages ; for 

 botanists are not over particular ; and two 

 hours' puffing and banging brought us with 

 fresh spirits to the shawl-manufacturing town 

 of Galasheils, situated partly in the adjacent 

 counties of Selkirk and Koxburghshire. 



What was done there, let no man ask. 

 Some breakfasted ; a few, not the botanists, 

 had beer ; and a large party searched the 

 ditches and field sides in pursuit of their 

 peculiar pleasures. All were bent on en- 

 joyment, and all did enjoy themselves, one 



