There are parts at the base of the brain, in the middle and posterior regions, the size of which cannot be discovered during life, and whose functions in consequence are still unknown. From analogy, and from some pathological facts, they are supposed to be the organs of the sensations of Hunger and Thirst, Heat and Cold, and some other mental affections for which cerebral organs have not been discovered; but demonstrative evidence to this effect being wanting, the conjecture is stated merely to incite to farther investigation.

The sutures interrupt the absolute parallelism of the tables; but their situation is known, and only one of them, the lamb-doidal, where it passes over the organ of Concentrativeness, presents any difficulty to the student. In some individuals it presents a bony projection at that part, which may be mistaken for a large developement of Concentrativeness; but the bone is generally sharp and angular, whereas the developement presented by the organ when large is full and round. The sagittal and frontal sutures, which run longitudinally from the back part of the crown of the head forward and downward, sometimes so low as the top of the nose, occasionally present a narrow prominent ridge, which is sometimes mistaken for developement of the organs of Benevolence, Veneration, Firmness, and SelfEsteem. It may, however, be easily distinguished, by its narrowness and isolation, from the full broad swell of cerebral developement. In anatomy projecting bony points are called processes. The mastoid process of the temporal bone, (B in figure, p. 80,) which is a small knob immediately behind the ear, serving for the attachment of a muscle, is sometimes mistaken for the indication of large Combativeness. It is, however, merely a bony prominence, which is found in every head, and does not indicate developement of brain at all. Another process, called by anatomists the spinous process of the transverse ridge of the occipital bone, requires to be known. Phrenologists generally name it shortly the Occipital Spine, and its situation is indicated by C in the figure, p. 80.

There is one part of the skull where the external configuration does not always indicate exactly the size of the subjacent parts of the brain, and upon which objections have been raised. At the part of the frontal bone immediately above the top of the nose, a divergence from parallelism is sometimes produced by the existence of a small cavity called the frontal sinus. The frontal sinus is the dark hole seen in the annexed cut, above the nose. Its size in one individual is shown; it is sometimes larger and sometimes smaller than that which is here represented.

It is formed between the two tables of the bone, either by the external table swelling out a little without being followed by the internal, and presenting an appearance like that of a blister on a biscuit, or by the internal table sinking in without being followed by the external; and hence, as the outer surface does not indicate the precise degree of developement of brain beneath, it has been argued by some individuals that the existence of

a frontal sinus is an insuperable objection to Phrenology in general, because it throws so much uncertainty in the way of our observations as commont thinks that farther observations are necessary to determine whether this is the most frequent appearance.-(Gall, iii., 50; Vimont, i., 288.) Sometimes, in extreme old age, portions of the outer table and diploë are absorbed and not renewed, so that the skull becomes, in various parts, very thin and transparent. There is such a skull in the collection of the Phrenological Society, and Dr. Gall possessed several specimens.-(Gall, iii., 53; and Phren. Jour., vii, 28.) That the skull becomes thin in old age by absorption is maintained also in a work called Anatomia Senilis, published in 1799. Ac cording to Tenon, the skull loses two-fifths of its weight in old age.(Memoirs of the French Institute for the year 6.)

pletely to destroy their value. Other opponents, however, more rationally confine their objection to those organs only over which the sinus extends.

The first objection is manifestly untenable. Even granting the sinus to be an insuperable obstacle in the way of ascertaining the developement of the organs over which it is situated, it is plain that, in ordinary cases, it interferes with only a few, viz., Form, Size, Weight, Individuality, and Locality; and that the whole external appearances of the other thirty or thirty-one organs are left as unaltered as if no frontal sinus existed at all. It would be quite as logical to speak of a snow-storm in Norway obstructing the highway from Edinburgh to London, as of a small sinus at the top of the nose concealing the developement of Benevolence, Firmness, or Veneration on the crown of the head.

To enable the reader to form a correct estimate of the value of the objection as applicable to the individual organs particularly referred to, I subjoin a few observations. In the first place, Below the age of twelve or fourteen the sinus, if it exists at all, rarely extends so high as the base of the frontal lobe of the brain; secondly, In adult age it frequently occurs to the extent above admitted; and, thirdly, In old age, and in diseases such as chronic idiocy and insanity, it is often of very great extent, owing to the brain diminishing in size, and the inner table of the skull following it, while the outer remains stationary. The first cases present no objection, for in them the sinus does not exist so high as to interfere with the observation of the size of the organs; the third are instances of disease, which are uniformly excluded in phrenological observations; and thus our attention is limited solely to the cases forming the second class. In regard to them the objection is, that large developement of brain and large frontal sinus present so nearly the same appearance that we cannot accurately distinguish them, and that, therefore, our observations must be inconclusive.

To this the following answer is given: 1st, We must distinguish between the possibility of discovering the function of an organ and of applying this discovery practically in all cases, so as to be able, in every instance, to predicate the exact degree in which every particular mental power is present in each individual. The sinus does not, in general, extend so high as the brain until after the ages of twelve or fourteen, before which time Individuality is most conspicuously active in the mind. If, then, in children, in whom no sinus exists, that mental power is observed to be strong when the part of the head is large, and weak when it is small, we ascertain the function, whatever may subsequently embarrass us. If in after-life the sinus comes to exist, this throws a certain impediment in the way of the practical application of our knowledge; and, accordingly, phrenologists admit a difficulty in determining the exact degree of deveiopement of the organs lying immediately above the top of the nose, except in extreme instances, in which even the sinus itself will form but a fraction of the difference between great developement and deficiency. In the next place, the objection applies only to one set of cases. If there be a hollow or depression in the external surface of the skull at the situation of the organs in question, and the sinus be absent, then the organ must

*This may seem at variance with a statement given in the first edition of this work, on the authority of a friend in Paris, who, in the course of many months' dissections, had never found a frontal sinus except in old age and in disease. In sawing open the skull for anatomical purposes, the section is almost always made horizontally through the middle of the forehead, or over the organs of Tune, Time, and Eventuality; in all the cases alluded to by the gentleman in Paris, this line was followed, and as the sinus rarely extends so high up, he could not, and did not, meet with it. On examining vertical sections, however, for the purpose of seeing the sinus, he has since frequently found it to the extent mentioned in the text.

necessarily be deficient in proportion to the depression. If, with such an external appearance, the sinus be present-which is not generally the case, but which, for the sake of argument, I shall suppose then it must be formed by the inner table receding more than the outer table: hence a greater deficiency of the organs will actually exist than what is externally indicated; and, of course, the deficiency of mental power will be at least equal to that which is indicated by the exterior of the head. In cases of this kind, therefore, the sinus forms no objection. Thus the only instances in which it can occasion embarrassment are those where it causes a swelling outward of the parts of the skull in question, when there is no corresponding developement of brain within. Now, if, in all cases in youth, when no sinus exists, and in all cases in mature age in which a depression is found, the mental power is ascertained to correspond with the external developement; and if, in certain cases in adult age, an external indication appears to which the mental power does not correspond, what conclusion ought to be drawn according to the rules of a correct logic? Not that the functions of the parts are uncertain-because they have been ascertained in cases not liable to impediment or objection; but only that, in the particular cases in mature age in which the external developement is large and the corresponding power absent, there must be a frontal sinus.

Finally, by practice in observing, it is possible, in general, to distinguish between external appearances produced by a frontal sinus, and those indicating a large developement of organs. In the first instance the elevations are more abrupt and ridgy; in the second, they present a rounder swell, and follow the direction of the organs as delineated on the busts.

If, then, men in general manifest their natural capacities in their actions; and if, in healthy individuals, not beyond the middle period of life, the form of the brain may be discovered by observing the figure of the head, it follows that the true faculties and the true cerebral developement may be compared in living subjects; and on these grounds the proposition is established, that the phrenological mode of philosophizing is competent to enable us to attain the results sought for.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLES OF

PHRENOLOGY.

Ir has already been mentioned, that there are two hemispheres of the brain, corresponding in form and functions. There are, therefore, two organs for each mental power, one in each hemisphere. Each organ, including its supposed apparatus of communication, extends from the medulla oblongata, or top of the spinal marrow, to the surface of the brain or cerebellum; and every person not an idiot has all the organs in a greater or less degree. Such of the organs as are situated immediately on the sides of the middle line separating the hemispheres, are included in one space on the busts and plates. To avoid circumlocution, the expression 46 organ "of a faculty will be used, but both organs will be thereby meant.

The brain is not divided by lines corresponding to those delineated on the busts; but the forms produced on the skull by its different parts, when extremely large or small, resemble those there represented-though it is not to be understood that the angles of the compartments are ever seen on the head.* Each part is inferred to be a separate organ, because its size, cæteris paribus, bears a regular proportion to the energy of a particular mental faculty.

*In Dr Gall's plates, the organs are, in many i stances, represented apart from each other, and all of them bounded entirely by curved lines, without angels. See his Atlas, Plates 98, 99, and 100.

As size, cæteris paribus, is a measure of power, the first object ought to be to distinguish the size of the brain generally, so as to judge whether it be large enough to admit of manifestations of ordinary vigour; for, as we have already seen, (p. 45,) if it be too small, idiocy is the invariable consequence. The second object should be to ascertain the relative proportions of the different parts, so as to determine the direction in which the power is greatest.

It is proper to begin with observation of the more palpable differences in size, and particularly to attend to the relative proportions of the different lobes. The size of the anterior lobe is the measure of intellect. In the brain it is easily distinguished, and in the living head it is indicated by the portion lying before Constructiveness and Benevolence. Sometimes the lower part of the frontal lobe, connected with the perceptive faculties, is the largest, and this is indicated by the space before Constructiveness extending farthest forward at the base; sometimes the upper part, connected with the reflecting powers, is the most amply developed, in which case the projection is greatest in the upper region; and sometimes both are equally developed. The student is particularly requested to resort invariably to this mode of estimating the size of the anterior lobe, as the best for avoiding mistakes. In some individuals the forehead is tolerably perpendicular, so that, seen in front, and judged of without attending to longitudinal depth, it appears to be largely developed; whereas, when viewed in the way now pointed out, is seen to be extremely shallow. In other words, the mass is not large, and the intellectual manifestations will be proportionately feeble.

Besides the projection of the forehead, its vertical and lateral dimensions require to be attended to; a remark which applies to all the organs individually-each having, of course, like other objects, the three dimensions of length, breadth, and thickness.

The posterior lobe is devoted chiefly to the animal propensities. In the brain its size is easily distinguished; and in the living head a perpendicular line may be drawn through the mastoid process, and all behind will belong to the posterior lobe. Wherever this and the basilar region are large, the animal feelings will be strong, and vice versa. The coronal region of the brain is the seat of the moral sentiments;

Fig. 1. HARE.

* See Introduction, p. 42, et seq.

and its size may be estimated by the extent of elevation and expansion of the head above the organs of Causality in the forehead and of Cautiousness in the middle of the parietal bones. When the whole region of the brain rising above these organs is shallow and narrow, the moral feelings will be weakly manifested; when high and expanded, they will be vigorously display.ed.

Fig. 1 represents the head of William Hare, the associate of Burke in the murder of sixteen individuals in Edinburgh, for the purpose of selling their bodies for dissection.†

+ Phrenological Journal, v., 549.

Fig. 2 represents that of Melancthon, the highly intellectual, moral, religious, and accomplished associate of Luther in effecting the Reformation in Germany.* All that lies before the line A B, in fig. 1, is the anterior lobe, comprising the organs of the intellectual faculties. The space above the horizontal line BC marks the region of the moral sentiments. The space from A backward, below B C, indicates the region of the propensities.

Fig. 3 represents the head of Gesche Margarethe Gottfried, who was executed at Bremen, in 1828, for poisoning, in cold blood, during a succession of years, both her parents, her three children, her first and second hus

bands, and about six other individuals.t

The line A B commences at the organ of Causality B, and passes through the middle of Cautiousness 12. These points are in general sufficiently distinguishable on the skull, and the A line can easily be traced. The convolutions lying above the line A B must have been shallow and small, compared with those below, which are devoted to the animal propensities.

Fig. 4 is a sketch of the head of a negro called Eustache,+ who was as much distinguished

BUTLERANOSS 8

for high morality and practical benevolence as Gottfried was for deficiency of these qualities. During the massacre of the whites by the negroes in St. Domingo, Eustache, while in the capacity of a slave, saved, by his address, courage, and devotion, the lives of his master and upward of 400 other whites, at the daily risk of his own safety. The line A B is drawn from Causality B, through Cautiousness 12; and the great size of the convolutions of the moral sentiments may be judged of from the space lying between that line and the top of the head C.

Both of the sketches are drawn from busts, and the convolutions are filled in suppositively for the sake of illustration. The depth of the con. Spurzheim's Phrenology in Connexion with the Study of Physiognomy, p. 160. This woman's history will be found in The Phrenological Journal, vol. vii.,

p. 560.

Phrenological Journal, vol. ix., p. 134.