ARTICLE IV.

Dr. F. J. Gall's System of the Functions of the Brain, extracted from Charles Augustus Blode's account of Dr. Gall's Lectures, held on the above subject at Dresden, 1805.

L. D. Chapen, Esq. of New York, has in his possession a small work on phrenology with the 'above title. It is probably the only copy in this country, and, from the rarity and antiquity of the work, it is certainly quite a curiosity in the history of the science. Dr. Gall, in the early course of his labours, wisely determined to publish no account of his discoveries until he could do the subject justice, and acquit himself with honour. And the first production which he ever presented to the public, was, in connection with Dr. Spurzheim, a work on the Anatomy of the Brain, offered to the French Institute in the year 1808. In the mean time, several sketches of Dr. Gall's discoveries were published, either in miscellaneous periodicals, or in distinct treatises by themselves. In this last class, we find the following notices of works: Froriep published one in Berlin, 1802; Martens, in Leipzic, 1802; Walther, in Zurich, 1802; Bischoff, in Berlin, 1805; Blode, in Dresden, 1805. This last was published in German, and from which the work heading this article is extracted and translated into the English language. It was undoubtedly designed to explain, in some measure, the nature of Dr. Gall's discoveries, and prepare the public mind for their reception.

The work before us (which Mr. Chapen has kindly loaned us) is particularly interesting to the phrenologist, in a historical point of view. In its looks, typography, and language, it bears the impress of "olden times," and seems to carry the reader back to the early history and labours of the great founder of the science. It is, as it were, a mirror through which we may behold the nature and extent of Dr. Gall's discoveries in the year 1805. At that time, he had been engaged in expounding and defending publicly the science only about nine years; but more than thirty years had then elapsed from the time of his first discoveries touching the functions of the brain, and it is even truly astonishing how much he accomplished within this

great Toltecan family, and that the cranium had the same general characteristics in both. I am at a loss to conjecture how they narrowed the face in such due proportion to the head; but the fact seems indisputable. I shall use every exertion to obtain additional materials for the farther illustration of this subject.

Signed,

Philadelphia, March 3, 1840.

SAMUEL GEORGE MORTON."

period. He had, even at that date, proved and settled all the great fundamental principles of the science, and discovered a majority of the cerebral organs; and that our readers may become better acquainted with the results of his labours, we will here present a brief synopsis of the work before us.

It opens with an "anatomical introduction," designed to prove not only the fibrous structure of the brain, but that it is composed of two distinct sets of nerves-viz. the diverging and converging fibres. After a minute, and somewhat extended, exposition of the anatomy of the brain, he enters upon a discussion respecting its functions, under the following inquiries or propositions:

"Man and animals are born with certain dispositions and inclinations, and for the exertion of them they have received certain organs, by way of innate instruments, by the means of which they may have an intercourse with the external world. These organs reside in the brain, which, however, must not be considered as a faculty, but merely as a material requisite of it. Nor is the brain the general organ of all the mental faculties, but merely the place of rendezvous of all the single organs, each innate disposition having an organ of its own, which is increased in proportion to the power residing in the disposition. These organs of the innate dispositions are expressed on the surface of the brain, and form certain protuberances on the osseous cover of the skull, by which the existence of the organs may be ascertained under certain strictures. And from these observations arises the special system of the organs, or the system of the skull, as a science entirely new."

Each of the above propositions are discussed at considerable length. For instance, the inquiry respecting a plurality of organs to the brain, is examined under the following heads :

1. "The existence of sundry single organs of the mental dispositions may with some probability be inferred from analogy; for we observe throughout the whole scale of creation, that whenever nature intends to create a new power, or produce a new effect, she will also take new preparatory arrangements for them."

2. "It is a fact, known and proved, that man can vary the objects of reflection and attention at large."

3. "All men, if the brain were the general organ of the soul, must by nature be endowed with like dispositions; but this is not the case. For experience teaches us, that with regard to their intensity or intrinsic quality, the greatest variety is found, even from infancy, in the dispositions of man."

4. "The single dispositions to most mental powers, innate to man, are, again, found single and detached in the different species of animals."

5. "The dispositions of man cannot reside in one and the same organ for every disposition, because these dispositions are not deve

loped at one and the same time, but at several different periods of life."

6. "The existence of sundry single dispositions, and their being attended with their respective organs in the brain, likewise is proved from many phenomena which appear in hurts and distempers of the brain.'

7. "We lastly may, from many other physiological and psychological phenomena and facts, be led to suppose that every single mental power must have its own organ in the brain." Dr. Gall here enters into an examination of the philosophy of sleeping, dreaming, somnambulism, visions, ecstacies, and the effects of medicines and intoxicating drinks on the brain, and deduces from each of these, severally, many important facts and arguments in proof of a plurality of cerebral organs. His remarks on the organisation and growth of the skull, showing that its general shape and particular protuberances are occasioned by the brain, and, consequently, that its external surface corresponds to its internal, and therefore the size of the individual cerebral organs may be very accurately ascertained by the developements of the skull-his remarks on all these topics are copious, critical, and satisfactory. After disposing of these points, Dr. Gal! enters upon the description and an analysis of the several mental faculties which he had then discovered. In this list, we find twenty-seven organs mentioned, the names of which are as follows:-"The impulse to propagation; Tenderness for offspring; The organ of the aptness to receive an education; The organ of Locality; Of the recollection of persons; The disposition for colouring, and the delighting in colours; The organ of sound; Arithmetic; Words; Language; Mechanical skill; Friendly attachment; Valour; Murdering; Cunning; Larceny; Weight; Ambition and vanity; Circumspection; Comparative perspicuity; Metaphysical perspicuity; Wit; Inference; Good-nature; Theosophy; Perseverance and Mimic."

These are the English names applied by the translator, and it is

*The following curious fact, under this head, is introduced by the compiler of the work in the form of a note:- Very remarkable is the instance which the celebrated Villers, in his exposition of Gall's system, relates of a young woman, who, through some accident during her first childbed, lost all recollection of what had happened to her ever since her marriage. She would hear neither of her husband nor of her child, constantly endeavoured to remove both from her, and nothing but repeated persuasions and the authority of the asseverations of her relatives were able to convince her that she was a wife and a mother. She, however, could never recollect the first year of her wedlock."-Monthly Mag. Jan. 1805, p. 494.

quite probable that many of them do not clearly express the sense, or just the right shade of meaning which Gall might have intended, as he first described and named the organs in the German language. It will be observed that these names have now been very much changed, and that several additional organs have since been discovered. This might rationally be expected in the farther developements of the science, and it moreover affords evidence of the truth and reality of the discoveries. Though some changes have taken place in the number and nomenclature of the organs, yet the location and essential functions of all the organs which Gall discovered and described, remain now the same that they ever were.

There is abundant evidence to prove that Dr. Gall did not first map out the skull, or merely conjecture the location of the organs, but, on the contrary, that he proceeded slowly, step by step, discovering first one organ, then another, and another. In proof of this, we quote the following remarks made by Mr. Combe, last year, in his lectures in this city:-"When I was in Germany," says Mr. Combe, "I saw a collection of books describing the science at dif. ferent stages of its progress, and also skulls marked at different times; all proving that the organs were discovered in succession. Indeed, I have found in this country a most unexpected corrobora. tion of the fact. Nicholas Biddle, Esq. of this city, when a young man, and on a visit to Europe, in 1806, attended a course of Dr. Gall's lectures, and was so much interested, that he requested Dr. Spurzheim to mark out the places of the organs on the skull, which he did. This is the skull, (which Mr. Biddle has kindly presented me, saying that I could make a better use of it than he could,) and you perceive that there are a number of unoccupied places. You perceive that Hope, Conscientiousness, Individuality, Concentrativeness, Time, Size, and Weight, are not marked upon it, they, at that time, being unascertained."

ARTICLE V.

A Lecture delivered before the Woodville Lyceum Association, by MARIANO CUBI I SOLER, Professor of Modern Languages in the College of Louisiana. 8vo. pp. 24.

This is an address on phrenology, delivered publicly before a large audience at Woodville, by Professor Soler, of the Louisiana College, located at Jackson. From numerous sources, we have evidence

to believe that phrenology not only has many able advocates, but has created a very general interest throughout all classes of the community, in this portion of the United States. The science is taught in several of their public institutions of learning, and not unfrequently is made the theme of popular addresses and lectures. Such is the character of the pamphlet now before us. Though it treats chiefly of the elementary principles of the science, yet they are ably and lucidly discussed, under the following heads;-First, that the mind acts through the brain; Secondly, that the mind employs, variously, different portions of the brain; and, Thirdly, that size of brain is a chief element of mental power.

After disposing of these propositions, Professor Soler discourses in a general manner on the three natures of man, moral, intellectual, and animal; that there are certain innate faculties or powers pertaining to each, and possessing certain fixed and definite relations to external objects; that these faculties are all primarily good in their nature, though liable to perversion; that man is, by his creation, a free moral agent, and can direct and control these powers at his will; that his highest happiness, and the perfection of his being, require that all these faculties should be exercised in perfect harmony, and gratified by their appropriate objects, and that such a course is no less in accordance with the laws of the nature of man than with the

requirements of God. As a specimen of his style and manner of treating the subject, we present below the last two pages of this lecture.

"We must study man as he has been created; created by supremely perfect wisdom, for supremely perfect ends; with imperfect but improving elements-with liabilities to sink into vice, but with powers to walk in the path of rectitude-with tendencies to suffer misery, but with capacities to seek and enjoy present and future happiness.

"But religion, as well as philosophy, shows that virtue and happiness, not vice and misery, were the object of the Almighty in the creation of man. Religion, as well as philosophy, shows that virtue and happiness consist in obeying, as far as we can, the laws which God has established for the physical and moral government of the universe; and that, therefore, it becomes our most imperative duty to discover these laws, that we may act in accordance with the will of our Heavenly Father. Phrenology explains the laws which govern mind here below-mind, as it exists in our present condition, connected with matter. Without a knowledge of it, therefore, we remain, to a very great extent, ignorant of the manner in which we ought to act, in the most important occasions of our lives, to ensure, now and hereafter, happiness to ourselves and others.

"Take marriage for example. Without a knowledge of phrenology— without knowing that God has, by an eternal, unchangeable decree, ordained that man can only be virtuous and happy by satisfying tempe rately and harmoniously all his desires, we may enter into that condition and reap from it ourselves, and communicate or transmit to others,