THE LINGERINa ADMIRERS OF PHRENOLOGY. 
3)9 
persons of distinguished talent, and the tendency of the eye to 
dwell on clumsy or forbidding proportions, when occurring in 
persons brought under notice as stupid or depraved, all seemed, 
though vaguely, to point out that a scrutiny of the amount of 
the brain and shape of the cranium was likely to afford an index 
of the strength and qualities of the mind. Gall propounded his 
theory that different portions of the brain were the organs of 
different mental faculties, and that according to the size of those 
different parts of the brain, so the mental qualities varied ; and 
making continual observations on the heads and characters of 
those with whom he came in contact, he covered the surface of 
the cranial vault with a map, which at once professed to indicate 
the correct analysis of the mental faculties, and to assign to each 
of these its proper habitation. The psychological difl&culties of 
their pursuit do not seem to have weighed heavily on either 
Gall or his followers ; and as for the exceedingly great obstacles 
in the way of estimating the proportions of even large masses 
of the brain by observation of the surface of the skull, not only 
did the phrenologists strangely ignore them, but we are con- 
strained to say that even anatomists have been very slow to 
appreciate them. Phrenology, however, supplied a want which 
the public felt, seeming to furnish an answer to questions which 
were continually obtruded before them, and giving precision to 
the notions founded on fact which had previously possessed 
their minds: this, we believe, is the principal reason why 
phrenology became so popular as it did, and v/hy it is not yet 
eradicated from the public mind. 
Probably scientific men, in dealing with phrenology, have been 
too much in the habit of contenting themselves with merely 
pointing out that the system is certainly a blunder ; and their 
hearers have gone away impressed with the conviction that it is 
impossible for the uninitiated to argue with experts, yet saying 
in their hearts that they are sure there is a mistake somewhere, 
and unwilling to part with all their beautiful theories and get 
nothing in exchange. Iconoclasm is not popular : when an 
image is thrown down it is well that its destruction should make 
way for a flood of light sufficient to satisfy the eye in its stead. 
This is an achievement not easy to accomplish, but, actuated 
with the laudable motive of attempting it, the writer will try, 
not only to reiterate the reasons why phrenology cannot possibly 
be true, but to give some idea of what is positively known re- 
garding the brain and its functions, and to point out in what 
direction speculation may be still legitimately indulged. 
Let us begin at the beginning, and try and form some general 
notion of what the brain is as it is known to the anatomist, before 
we dogmatise about the functions of the parts which happen 
to come in contact with the upper and lateral walls of the skull. 
