444 



ON PHYSIOGNOMY 



The relative position, moreover, of the different organs I have thus far 

 noticed, is an object of no small curiosity. In the map of the scull those of 

 murder and thieving- lie immediately next to those of friendship and courage ; 

 while the region for comedies and farces lies directly between the boundaries 

 of moral goodness and theosophy or religion : concerning which last Dr. 

 Bojames expresses himself as follows : " The organ of theosophy occupies 

 the most elevated part of the os frontis. All the portraits of saints which 

 have been preserved from former ages afford very instructive examples ; and, 

 if this character be wanting in any one of them, it will certainly be destitute 

 of expression. It is excessively developed in religious fanatics, and in men 

 who have become recluse through superstition and religious motives. It is the 

 seat of this organ," continues he, with a subtlety of reasoning worthy of 

 Aquinas, " which, according to Dr. Gall, has induced men to consider their 

 gods as above them, or in a more elevated part of the heavens ; for otherwise," 

 he adds, " there is no more reason for supposing that God exists above the 

 world than below it." I 



The theological world cannot but be infinitely obliged to Dr. Gall and Dr. 

 Bojames for this new and unanswerable proof of the divine existence. God, 

 it seems, exists, and must exist, because many men have a bump upon the 

 crown of the head which these philosophers choose to call a religious bump. 

 Dr. Gall, indeed, contends openly that this organ " is the most EvmENT proof 

 OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD." I quotc the words of his learned colleague. Dr. 

 Spurzheim,* who is perpetually using the word proof in the vaguest manner 

 possible, though a manner common to the school. " In general," says Gall, in 

 continuation, "every other faculty of man and animals has an object which 

 it may accomplish. Can it, then, be probable that God does not exist, while 

 there is an organ of religion ? Hence, God exists." 



The next benefit we obtain from the discovery of this important organ and 

 embossment is, that it settles the long-contested question concerning the 

 nature and extent of the divine resider/ce — the locality or ubiquity of the 

 Deity. God, it seems, must exist above us, for the religious bump is on the 

 top of the scull ; and he cannot exist any where else than above us, because 

 there is no religious bump in any other direction. 



The noble Catholicism, moreover, of this incontrovertible proof cannot 

 fail to be matter of the highest gratification ; a Catholicism that puts that of 

 Christianity to the blush, at the thought of its own narrowness ; for the de- 

 monstration before us extends equally to all gods, and to all religions : it is 

 found, we are told, in the portraits of saints] but it is most highly developed 

 in religious fanatics, and in men who have become recluse through superstition. 

 Surely, if Dr. Gall or Dr. Bojames had looked a little more closely, they might 

 have discovered that the still vacant region (vacant, at least, at that time) is 

 the seat of absurdity or folly, and that some heads they are acquainted with 

 are not without its mental manifestation. There is not quite so much, per- 

 haps, to condemn in Dr. Spurzheim's remarks upon the same organ ; for this 

 most able advocate of the school thinks more clearly, and writes more cau- 

 tiously in the main: but he also very closely touches, at times, upon the re- 

 gion of absurdity, if he do not absolutely fall into its boundary; and, in unit- 

 ing the name of our Saviour with that of Jupiter, seems to show, that the 

 same cast of religion, as well as of moral philosophy, is common to the 

 school. His remarks are as follows : — " The pictures of the saints show the 

 very configuration of those pious men whom Gall had first observed. It is 

 also in this respect remarkable that the head of Christ is always represented 

 as very elevated. Have we the real picture of Christ ? Have artists given to 

 the head of Christ a configuration which they have observed in religious per- 

 sons, or have they composed this figure from internal inspiration. Has the 

 same sentiment among modern artists given to Christ an elevation of head, as 

 among the ancient it conferred a prominence of the forehead upon Jupiter % 

 At all events, the shape of the head of Christ contributes to prove this organ- 

 ization."* 



* Physiolog. System, ut supra, p. 414. t p. 412. 



