ON PHYSIOGNOMY 



Let not, however, do injustice to the talents of the inventor of this 

 hypothesis. For, he is not only possessed of a lively ingenuity and fancy, 

 as his speculation, thus far unfolded, must suggest to every one, but he is 

 also a man of learning, and of patient and indefatigable research. And 

 such is the plausibihty of his scheme, that he has contrived to enhst under 

 his banners not a few philosophers and physiologists of considerable emi- 

 nence and merit, among whom I may especially mention Dr. Bojames, 

 who was one of the first to pubHsh an account of this singular line of 

 study to the world, and, as already observed. Dr. Spurzheim, who is at 

 this moment lecturing upon the subject in this metropolis.* 



The allotments of the different parts of the brain, and the consequent 

 laying down of the outside of the cranium into a superficial map of men- 

 tal qualities or sensations, was a work of great patience and investigation. 

 To accomplish it, hundreds, perhaps thousands of human sculls, of known 

 characters and propensities, were examined, and their pecuhar impressions, 

 whether prominences or indentations, were noticed and arranged. These 

 were afterwards compared with the respective tempers and inclinations of 

 the particular subjects while ahve ; and the whole tried by the craniogno^ 

 my, as it was called, of other animals celebrated, in common language, 

 for the acuteness of their respective instincts ; but, in the language of 

 Dr. Gail, for the acuteness of their predominant organs of sensation ; ' in 

 whose sculls correspondent symbols were observed, or supposed to be 

 observed. 



The whole was hence reduced to one regular system ; the brain was 

 found to consist of thirty-three separate parts or chambers, and conse- 

 quently the superincumbent cranium was divided into as many sections, 

 from the lowest part of the back of the head, over the crown, to the 

 orbits of the eyes. It is not my intention to dwell upon any of these 

 chambers, or superficial sections. To enumerate them, with a few ex- 

 planatory hints, is all we can find space for ; and even this, I am afraid, 

 cannot be done without an occasional verification of the poet's remark, 

 that there may be situations in which, although 



The following is the classification of the diflTerent mental powers of the 

 brain, and the order in which they lie, according to the table of Dr. Bo- 

 james, one of Dr. Gall's earliest and most assiduous pupils, commencing, 

 as I have already observed, at the lowest part of the back of the head. 

 I. Organ of tenacity of life. II. Of self preservation. III. Selection of 



* This lecture was delivered at the time of Dr. Spurzheim's first visit to England, for the 

 purpose of illustrating his hypothesis, which has certainly possessed every advantage of which 

 it is susceptible from his exertion and talents. Yet it is well known, that scarcely an indi- 

 vidual among the more distinguished anatomists or physiologists of our own country have 

 been led to adopt his views. To the discrepancy of Sir Everard Home's conceptions the au- 

 thor will have occasion to advert in a subsequent note. The following is the opinion of IVIr. 

 Charles Bell in his very excellent paper on the nerves of the orbit of the eye, as contained in 

 the Philosophical Transactions for 1823, p. 306. But the most extravagant departure from 

 all the legitimate modes of reasoning, though still under the colour of anatomical investiga- 

 tion, is the system of Dr. Gall. It is sufficient to say, that, without comprehending the grand 

 divisions of the nervous system ; without a notion of the distinct properties of the individual 

 nerves ; or, without having made any distinction of the columns of the spinal marrow ; with- 

 out even having ascertained the difference of cerebrum and cerebellum, Gall proceeded to 

 describe the brain as composed of many particular and independent organsj, and to assign to 

 each the residence of some special faciijt J." 



