164 



KIDD'S LONDON JOURNAL. 



the office of incubation ; another, consisting of 

 a little thatched roof and covering a perch, 

 without a bottom, is occupied by the male, who, 

 with his chirping note, cheers the female during 

 her maternal duties." 



The object of these ingenious builders appears 

 to be to protect their young against squirrels, 

 serpents, and numerous other deadly enemies, 

 against whose force they thus oppose a more 

 effective defence than superior strength and 

 watchfulness could furnish. 



PHRENOLOGY FOR THE MILLION. 



"He who opposes his own judgment against the con- 

 sent of the times, ought to be backed with unanswerable 

 Truths ; and he who has Truth on his side is a fool, 

 as well as a Coward, if he is afraid to own it because of 

 the currency or multitude of other men's opinions." — 

 Defoe. 



No. III.— THE LIFE OF DK, GALL. 



Hitherto Dr. Gall had resorted only to Phy- 

 siognomical indications, as a means of discover- 

 ing the functions of the brain. On reflection, 

 however, he was convinced that Physiology was 

 imperfect when separated from Anatomy. Having 

 observed a woman of fifty-four years of age, who 

 had been afflicted with hydrocephalus from her 

 youth, and who, with a body a little shrunk, 

 possessed a mind as active and intelligent as that 

 of other individuals of her class, Dr. Gall declares 

 his conviction that the structure of the brain 

 must be different from what was generally con- 

 ceived, — a remark which Tulpius also had made, 

 on observing a hydrocephalic patient, who mani- 

 fested the mental faculties. He therefore felt the 

 necessity of making anatomical researches into 

 the structure of the brain. 



In every instance, when an individual whose 

 head he had observed while alive happened to 

 die, he used every means to be permitted to 

 examine the brain, and frequently did examine 

 it; and he found as a general fact, that on re- 

 moval of the skull, the brain, covered by the 

 dura mater, presented a form corresponding to 

 that which the skull had exhibited in life. 



The successive steps by which Dr. Gall pro- 

 ceeded in his discoveries are particularly de- 

 serving of attention. He did not, as many have 

 imagined, first dissect the brain, and pretend by 

 that means to have discovered the seats of the 

 mental powers; neither did he, as others have 

 conceived, first map out the skull into various 

 compartments, and assign a faculty to each 

 " according as his imagination led him to con- 

 ceive the place appropriate to the power." On 

 the contrary, he first observed a concomitance 

 betwixt particular talents and dispositions, and 

 particular forms of the head : he next ascer- 

 tained, by removal of the skull, that the figure 

 and size of the brain are indicated by these ex- 

 ternal forms; and it was only after these facts 

 were determined, that the brain was minutely 

 dissected, and light thrown upon its structure. 



Dr. Gall was first known as an author by the 

 publication of two chapters of an extensive work, 

 entitled " Philosophisch-medicinischeUntersuch- 

 ungen iiber Natur und Kunst im gesunden und 

 kranken Zustande des Menschen, Wien, 1791." 



The continuation of this work has never appear- 

 ed ; but, in the first of the two chapters printed, 

 he has evinced the spirit with which his re- 

 searches into the moral and intellectual nature of 

 man were subsequently conducted. The first 

 written notice of his inquiries concerning the 

 head appeared in a familiar letter to Baron 

 Ketzer, which was inserted in the German perio- 

 dical journal " Deutschen Mercur," in Decem- 

 ber, 1798. In this letter he announces the 

 publication of a work upon his views concerning 

 the brain; but circumstances induced him to 

 alter his intention. 



In reading it, one will be surprised to find con- 

 tained in so few pages, written so long ago, all 

 the principles of the physiology of the brain. 

 It will be observed, that Gall clearly defined the 

 object of his researches; to wit, a knowledge of 

 the brain in relation to the fundamental qualities 

 of man, illustrated by that of the instincts and 

 propensities of animals in connection with their 

 cerebral organisation. Our readers will perceive 

 in it all the useful applications which he pro- 

 posed to make of his new doctrines to medicine, 

 to morals, to legislation, to everything, in a 

 word, which relates to the physical, moral, and 

 intellectual nature of man. 



This paper is a valuable document for the 

 history of the science, and should convince every 

 one that to Gall alone belongs the honor of 

 having discovered the true physiology of the brain. 



Letter from Dr. F. J. Gall, to Joseph Fr. De 

 Retzer, upon the Functions of the Brain, in 

 Man and Animals. 



I have at last the pleasure, my dear Retzer, 

 of presenting you a sketch of my " Treatise upon 

 the Functions of the Brain;" and upon the pos- 

 sibility of distinguishing some of the dispositions 

 and propensities by the shape of the head and 

 the skull. I have observed, that many men of 

 talent and learning awaited with confidence the 

 result of my labors, while others set me down as 

 a visionary, or a dangerous innovator. 



But, to the subject : my purpose is to ascer- 

 tain the functions of the brain in general, and 

 those of its different parts in particular; to show 

 that it is possible to ascertain different dispo- 

 sitions and inclinations by the elevations and 

 depressions upon the head ; and to present in a 

 clear light the most important consequences 

 which result therefrom to medicine, morality, 

 education, and legislation — in a word, to the 

 science of human nature. 



The particular design of my work is to mark 

 the historical outline of my researches; to lay 

 down the principles, and to show their applica- 

 tion. You will readily conceive, that the stud}' 

 of the real springs of thought and action in man, 

 is an arduous undertaking. Whether I succeed 

 or not, I shall count upon your indulgence and 

 support, if only on account of the hardihood of 

 the enterprise. 



Be so good as to recollect, that I mean by the 

 brain or cranium, the bony box which contains 

 the brain; and of this, only those parts which 

 are immediately in contact with it. And do not 

 blame me for not making use of the language of 

 Kant. I have not made progress enough in my 

 researches to discover the particular organ for 



