AND CBANIOGNOMY, 



50S 



ness and expediency, so eloquently and forcibly controverted by the learned 

 Bossuet, about a century ago, of frequenting the theatres and encouraging 

 the drama. 



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 hes 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 por- 

 traits 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 deve- 

 loped in religious fanatics^ and men who have become recluse through 

 superstition and religious motives. It is the seat of this organ," conti- 

 nues he, with a subtlety of reasoning worthy of Aquinas, which, accord- 

 ing 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 i?o more reason for supposing that God exists above the world than 

 below it." 



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 re- 

 ligious pump. Dr. Gall, indeed, contends openly that this organ " is 



THE MOST EVIDENT PROOF OF THE EXISTENCE OF G03>." I qUOtC the 



words of his learned colleague Dr. Spurzbeim,* 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 residence — 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 

 demonstration before us extends equally to ail gods, and to all rehgions : 

 it is founds 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 manifesta- 

 tion. There is not quite so much, perhaps, to condemn in Dr. Spurz- 

 heim's remarks upon the same organ ; for this most able advocate for the 

 school thinks more clearly, and writes more cautiously in the main ; but 



* Physiolow. Syst. ut supr. p, 414, 



