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KIDD'S LONDON JOURNAL. 



friends; and he attended a course of lectures, 

 given purposely for him and a party of his selec- 

 tion. Ho listened with much attention, and 

 appeared well disposed towards the new doctrine; 

 and expressed his approbation of its general 

 features, in a circle which was not particularly 

 private. 



About this time, the Institute had committed 

 an act of extraordinary courage, in venturing to 

 ask permission of Bonaparte to award a prize 

 medal to Sir H. Davy for his admirable galvanic 

 experiments, and was still in amazement at its 

 own heroism. Consent was obtained; but the 

 soreness of national defeat rankled deeply within. 

 When the First Consul was apprised that the 

 greatest of his comparative anatomists had at- 

 tended a course of Lectures by Dr. Gall, he 

 broke out as furiously as he had done against 

 Lord Whit worth; and at his lev6e rebuked the 

 wise men of his land for allowing themselves to 

 be taught chemistry by an Englishman, and ana- 

 tomy by a German. A " hint " sufficed. The 

 wary citizen altered his language. A commis- 

 sion was named by the Institute to report upon 

 the labors of Drs. Gall and Spurzheim : M. 

 Cuvier drew up the report. In this he used his 

 efforts, not to proclaim the truth, but to diminish 

 the merits of the learned Germans. Whenever 

 he could find the most distant similarity between 

 the slightest point of their mode of operating, and 

 anything ever done before, he dwelt upon it 

 with peculiar pleasure; and lightly touched upon 

 what was really new. He even affected to excuse 

 the Institute for taking the subject into consi- 

 deration at all, saying that the anatomical re- 

 searches were entirely distinct from ihe physi- 

 ology of the brain, and the doctrines of 

 mental manifestations. Of this part of the sub- 

 ject, Bonaparte, and not without cause, had de- 

 clared his dislike ; and M. Cuvier was too great 

 a lover of liberty not to submit his opinion to 

 that of his Consul. His assertion, too, that the ana- 

 tomy of the brain has nothing to say to its mental 

 influence, he knew to be in direct opposition to 

 fact; but even the meagre credit which he did 

 dare to allow to the new mode of dissection, he 

 loish&d to dilute with as much bitterness as he 

 could. So unjust and unsatisfactory, so lame 

 and mutilated did the whole report appear, that 

 the authors of the new method published " an 

 Answer," in which they accused the committee 

 of not having repeated their experiments. Such 

 was the reception which the science of Phreno- 

 logy met with from the Academy of the groat 

 nation. 



Napoleon was unquestionably a good judge of 

 character, and had his favorite rules in deciding 

 upon the motives' and designs of men. It was 

 not in his nature to be either ignorant of, or 

 indifferent to, the doctrines of Gall. Conscious 

 of his own superiority, and eminently proud and 

 selfish, it is not to be supposed that he would 

 favor a system which opened to all the origin and 

 nature of human actions. In admitting such a 

 theory as that of Gall, he would himself become a 

 subject of remark and investigation by his own 

 consent ; and, however well he might have liked 

 the principles of organology, for his own exclu- 

 sive use, his spirit could never have sanctioned 

 the practice of them in others, , 



That this position may be made more apparent, 

 we will quote the following conversation from 

 the Memoires du Docteur F. Antommarchi, ou les 

 demiers Momens de Napoleon. He does not 

 hesitate to express his aversion to all those phi- 

 losophers who pretend to interpret the internal 

 man by the external organisation. 



Lady Holland had sent a box of books, in which 

 was also contained a bust in plaster, the head of 

 which was covered with divisions and figures 

 according to the craniological system of Dr. Gall. 

 " There doctor," said Napoleon, " that lies in 

 your province ; take and study it, and you shall 

 then give me an account of it. I should be glad 

 to know what Gall would say of me if he felt my 

 head." I immediately set to work ; but the di- 

 visions were not exact, and the figures misplaced, 

 and I had not been able to put them to rights 

 when Napoleon sent for me. I went, and found him 

 in the midst of a mass of scattered volumes, read- 

 ing Polybius. He said nothing to me at first, 

 and continued to run over the pages of the work 

 he held in his hand; he then threw it down, 

 came to me, and taking me by the ears, and 

 looking me steadily in the face, " Well ! dotto- 

 raccio di capo Corso, you have seen the bust?" — 

 Yes, sire. — " Meditated the system of Gall ?" — 

 Very nearly. — " Comprehended it ?" — I think so. 

 lr You are able to give an account of it ?" — 

 Your majesty shall judge.* — " To know my tastes 

 and to appreciate my faculties, by examining my 

 head ?." — Even without touching it (he began to 

 laugh). — " You are quite up to it ?" — Yes, sire. 

 " Very well ; we shall talk about it when we 

 have nothing better to do." 



It is apis-allerj which, is just as good as any 

 other; and it is sometimes amusing to notice to 

 what extent folly can be carried. 



He now walked up and down, and then asked, 

 " Yfhat did Mascagni think of these German 

 reveries? Come, tell me frankly, as if yon were 

 talking to one of your brethren." 



" Mascagni liked very much the manner in 

 which Gall and Spurzheim develop and point 

 out the different parts of the brain ; he himself 

 adopted their method, and regarded it as emi- 

 nently fitted for discovering the structure of this 

 interesting viscus. As to the pretended power of 

 judging from protuberances, of the vices, tastes, 

 and virtues of men, he regarded it as an inge- 

 nious fable, which might seduce the gens du 

 monde, but could not withstand the scrutiny of 

 the anatomist." 



" That was like a wise man ; a man who knows 

 how to appreciate the merit of a conception, and 

 to isolate it from the falsehood with which char- 

 latanism would overcharge it: I regret not 

 having known him." 



Corvisart was a great partisan of Gall; he 

 praised him, protected him, and left no stone 

 unturned to push him on to me, but there was no 

 sympathy between us. Lavater, Cagliostro, Mes- 

 mer, have never been to my mind; I felt, I 

 cannot tell how much aversion for them, and j 



* Vevily the Dot tor actio' s modesty was very great, and- 

 his understanding very gigantic in its dimensions. Few 

 men, except himself, could have studied, comprehended 

 and mastered, in as many months as he required hours, 

 a science which, in its application and details, is perhaps 

 the most extensive that is known !— Ed. K. J. 



