AND CEANIOGiSOMY. 



499 



T' expatiate free o'eir all this scene of mau, 

 , This mighty maze, but not without a plan ; 



This wild where weeds and flowers promiscuous shoot ; 

 This garden, tempting with forbidden fruit. 



Of all these attempts, however, there is but one that is in any degree 

 worthy of notice, or that has acquired any considerable degree even of 

 transitory popularity ; and this is the hypothesis of Dr. Gall of Jena, who 

 has been greatly indebted to his friend Dr. Spurzheim for a popular diffusion 

 of his doctrine over most parts of Europe. This learned philosopher, 

 being determined to deviate as far as possible from the beaten path, left 

 the face or front of the head to the rest of the world, and took the crown 

 and back part for his own use. He conceived, first, that as all the facul- 

 ties of the mind are hmited to the common sensory or organ of the brain, 

 nature, hke a skilful general, instead of confounding every part with every 

 part, and every faculty with every faculty, has marshalled this important 

 organ into a definite number of divisions, and has given to every faculty 

 the command of a separate post. He conceived, secondly, as the general 

 mass of the brain lies immediately under the cranium or scull-bone, and is 

 impacted into its cavity with the utmost exactness, that if any one or more 

 of the aforesaid faculties, or, which is the same thing, any one or more of 

 the aforesaid divisions of the brain allotted to their control, should be pe- 

 culiarly forward and active, such divisions must necessarily grow more 

 abundant, and give some external token of such abundance by a constant 

 pressure against those particular portions of the cranium under which they 

 are immediately seated, and which, by uninterrupted perseverance, and 

 especially in infancy and early hfe, when the bones of the cranium yield or 

 are absorbed easily, they must elevate and render more prominent than 

 any other part.* And, thirdly, he conceived, that every man having some 

 faculty or other more marked or active than the rest, or, in his own phrase- 

 ology, more sensibly manifested, from which, indeed, his peculiar disposi- 

 tion or propensity takes its cast, must necessarily also have some peculiar 

 prominence, some characteristic bump or embossment, by which his head 

 is distinguishable from all others, or at least from all others of a difl^erent 

 temper, or attracted by different objects of pursuit ; and that nothing more 

 is necessary than to determine the respective regions of the difi^erent facul- 

 ties which belong to the brain, in order to determine at the same time, from 

 the external bump or prominence, the internal propensity of character. 



These premises being in his own mind satisfactorily estabhshed. Dr. 

 Gall next sets to work with a view of deciding the relative parts of the 

 brain possessed by the different faculties or their respective sentient organs. 

 And having settled this important point to his own thorough conviction, 

 he immediately made a map of the outside of the head, divided it into cor- 

 responding regions, and was able, in his own opinion, to indicate to a 

 demonstration the characteristic temper or tendency of every man pre- 

 sented to him by a mere glance of the eye, or a mere touch of the finger. 

 For, in the language of Dr. Spurzheim, in order to distinguish the 

 developement of the organs, it is not always necessary to touch the head j 

 in many cases the eye is sufficient."! 



* " It sectos to me, that at least a great part of every organ lies at the surface ; and that 

 if the part of any organ be well developed, the whole participates of this developement."— 

 Spurzheim, Physiognom. System, p. 264. In p. 240, he admits, however, that " the organs 

 are not confined te the surface." 



t Phvsiog. Syst. p. 261, 



