325 
PHYSIOGNOMY. 
fupporting it certainly often makes it ridiculous; and, 
though it is no argument againft a theory that it is fup- 
ported by foolifh, in addition to fenfible, reafonings, yet 
fuch a practice certainly allows us to look with much 
fufpicion on thofe obfervations of the theorift which de¬ 
pend on his own word. 
Theabfurdity of the following remarks is truly laugh¬ 
able. “Gall examined the head of a woman at Vienna 
who was known as a model of friendfhip. She fuffered 
different changes of fortune; (he became alternately rich 
and poor; but was attached to her former friends. Gall 
found the part of her head fituated upward and outward 
from the organ of philo-progenitivenefs, very prominent, 
and called it the organ of friendfhip. Our obfervations 
are not multiplied enough to enable us to decide pofitive- 
ly on this organ; yet its feat appears to be more than 
probable. It rrmji be inferiorly, becaufe this faculty 
exifts in the lower animals, and is a propenfity. For this 
reaj’on it belongs to their region of the head; and accord¬ 
ing to its mimical figns, and the motions of the head 
when it is active, it lies laterally and backward.” In 
order to render intelligible the latter part of his argument, 
the reader fhould be informed, that Drs. Gall and Spurz- 
heim believe, that, when any faculty of the mind is 
ftrongly excited, the adtion of the correfponding organ in 
the brain, tends to raife that part of the head in which it 
is fituated : fo that the perfon has a propenfity to lay his 
finger upon the neareft external part of the head; or 
fometimes to apply his hand to it, either to cool it when 
too hot, or to warm it when too cold : and that he is oc- 
cafionally prompted to rub it in order to excite it when 
too fluggifh. Thus, when we endeavour to recollect a 
name or a word, we unconfcioufly flap our foreheads, or 
rub the fkin a little above the eyes, or perhaps higher 
ftiil, juft where the appropriate organ of memory is fitua¬ 
ted, that it may awake and exercife its peculiar faculty. 
When embarraffed by any difficulty, we gently ftimulate, 
in like manner, the organ of contrivance, by fcratching 
the head at the part under which is the feat of conJlruBive- 
nefs. The timid man fcratches his head on the organ of 
courage behind his ear, as if he tried to roufe the feeble 
organ into activity. A proud man holds his head eredl 
upon his fhoulders, and raifes himfelf upon his toes, for 
no other reafon than becaufe the organ of the fentiment 
lies at the very top of the head, and is therefore elevated 
by the adtion. A fenfe of danger, or the neceffity of cir- 
cumfpedion, leads all animals, man not excepted, to flretch 
their necks forward horizontally, thus prefenting the 
broad extent of that organ, as it were in front. Devotion 
raifes the head gently ; and our adorations are all diredted 
upwards, not becaufe we regard the Deity as above, but 
becaufe the organ of adoration is fituated in the centre of 
the upper part of the head. When bufied in deep con¬ 
templation, we cover the whole forehead with our hands, 
as it is there that the reflecting faculties are lodged: and, 
accordingly, when we reproach any one for his want of 
reflection, we put our hand to this part of the head; and 
exclaim, “ I^e wants it here.” If we try to recolledt a 
date, we put into aCtion the organ of time, which being 
fituated over the eyebrows, and a little to one fide, occa- 
fions an involuntary movement of the dyes upwards and 
towards the temples. In beating time to a mufical air, we 
make the head ofcillate from fide to fide, becaufe the or¬ 
gans of tone, as well as of time, being fituated on each 
fide, and being alternately in adtion, occafion thefe gefti- 
culations. Sterne excelled in wit: and we find him re¬ 
prefen ted in all his portraits with his head leaning on his 
hand, the fore-finger of which is placed on a particular 
part of the forehead. Dr. Spurzheim confiders this as one 
of the proofs that the organ of wit occupies that very 
fpot. 
_ After laughing at this, on recurring to the “ Tran fac¬ 
tions” of the Phrenologifts, we feel fomewhat indignant 
at the new' mode by which they attempt to confirm their 
theory. They take the paragon of bards, Shakefpeare, 
Vol. XX. No. 1371. 
and contrive to torture the tranfcendent creatures of his 
imagination into automatons moved by the organs of 
combativenefs and deftrudtivenefs, reftrained by confcien- 
tioufnefs, and fuch like. Wherever their organology 
tallies with the common metaphyfical language of man¬ 
kind, they can of courfeexplain, though ftiil not minute¬ 
ly, the paffions pourtrayed by Shakefpeare’s hand ; but, 
when they leave this, nothing is more abfurd than the 
language they hold. Enough of this. We repeat we are 
rejoiced at the ftep they have taken. Amidft all the 
nonfenfe (as it feems to us) they have promulgated, they 
have taken a firm (land on the lure bafis of experience; 
and we are therefore bound to receive their remarks with 
deference and attention, till general obfervation (hall 
difclofe their error. We have already fhown by what 
means Gall and Spurzheim purfued their obfervations ; 
viz. by examining the heads of all individuals who pof- 
feffed remarkable faculties, the faculties of all thofe who 
pofiefled remarkable heads, the fame correfponding marks 
in tribes or maffesof men and the inferior animals. As to 
the particular organs, fome of them are eflablifhed by a 
multitude of inftances, fome by very meagre details 
indeed. 
As a general principle, it is very properly afferted by 
Gall and Spurzheim, that the faculties are innate, (for the 
proof of which propofition, on other and far ftronger 
grounds than craniology, the reader may turn to the 
articles Kant, and Metaphysics,) though the ideas 
thefe faculties receive came from without. 
They arrange the faculties of the mind, with their 
correfponding organs, according as they relate to the 
feelings and to the intelledt: the firfl order comprehend¬ 
ing the prcpenftics, all of which are common to men and 
animals, and the Jentiments , which conflitute wdiat the 
French denominate Vame, and the Germans getniith; and 
the fecond order comprifing the faculties by which we 
acquire knowledge, or the knowing faculties, and alfo the 
reflefiing faculties , which lafl compofe what the French 
call Vefprit, the Germans gheijl, and what we fhould gene¬ 
rally underftand by the term inielleSl. They find that the 
organs of thofe faculties which men poflefs in common 
with animals, are fituated towards the bafis and back part 
of the brain ; while thofe of the fuperior faculties, which 
are peculiar to man, are placed fomewhat higher; and the 
organs fubfervient to the intellectual faculties occupy 
exclufively the forehead. The total number of fpecial 
faculties is thirty-three, which are all found, but in differ- 
rent proportions, in all mankind except idiots. The par¬ 
ticular fituation of each of thefe is marked by a corref¬ 
ponding number on the annexed Plate, which exhibits 
the human head in four different pofitions; and the fame 
numbers exprefs the fame parts on each figure. 
Laying, now, the Engraving before us, we (hall proceed 
to defcribe the 33 organs. 
The order which includes the Propensities and Sen¬ 
timents coniifts of the following faculties : 
1. The Organ of Amativenefs. —Amativenefs is the phy- 
fical propenfity which prompts towards the continuance 
of our fpecies. It occupies the whole of the cerebellum. 
Gall feems to think that its large fize indicates the im¬ 
portance of the propenfity. He firfl difcovered it by no¬ 
ticing the great fize of the back of the neck in a lady of 
an amorous difpofition ; and fubfequently he remarked, 
that copulation takes place only in animals which poflefs 
the cerebellum. He found that males (as might be ex¬ 
pected) have it more expanded than females; and noticed, 
efpecially, that vigorous pigeons always have it larger 
than weak ones. But, not contented with thefe ftrong 
fadts, he tells us, that Apollonius Rhodius, fpeaking of 
Medea’s love, reprel’ents her as fuffering pain in the back 
of the neck ; and that Profeffor Reinhold relates a cafe in 
which the introduction of a feton on the neck of a boy 
produced amative pafiion in a great degree. The Phre¬ 
nologifts of Edinburgh Hate, that, independent of the 
more violent effedts, the moderate adtion of this organ 
4. O produces 
