Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1834, by MARSH, CAPEN, & STEREOTYPED BY LYMAN THURSTON & CO. BOSTON. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. I HAVE been requested to prepare a corrected edition of this work for the American press, and with the greatest satisfaction have complied with the solicitation. The United States stand in an enviable position as a nation. To a territory almost boundless, a soil in the highest degree fertile, and every variety of climate, are added what no other people on earth enjoy, a constitution entirely free, and social institutions calculated to encourage the boldest exercise of the human understanding. They require only, in addition, a sound and practical system of mental philosophy, to enable them to attain to a moral and intellectual preeminence commensurate with their physical and political advantages. Phrenology professes to be such a system; and as such I present it to their consideration. The great discoverer of it has been for several years numbered with the dead, and to him alone belongs the glory of having presented this invaluable gift to mankind. His illustrious colleague died lately in the arms of American citizens: They did honor to him, to themselves, and to their country, by their generous conduct towards him while alive, and the reverence paid to his memory when dead. We who remain profess to be only humble disciples, made wise by the wisdom of our masters, and shining with a light reflected from their brightness. In proclaiming the value and importance of their doctrines, therefore, we assume no merit to ourselves; we simply invite others to partake of a moral and intellectual banquet which we have enjoyed with the highest relish, and found to conduce to our happiness and improvement. The organs are delineated in the Plate according to their most general appearances. There are however slight differences in national heads, which give rise to small variations in the lines of demarcation in the plates of different phrenologists. By appealing to nature, the student will soon learn to discriminate the positions and limits of each organ; and I recommend practice as the best means of removing every difficulty. My excellent and lamented friend Dr. Spurzheim no longer lives to hear the expression of my gratitude and affection. I can now only revere his memory; and in paying the highest tribute to his admirable dispositions, exalted talents, and extensive attainments, I know that I shall have the heartfelt concurrence of every American who enjoyed the pleasure of his personal acquaintance. To the best of my knowledge, there is no material point of doctrine on which he and I differed, except concerning the functions of the organ No. III.* I continue to entertain the views expressed in my works in regard to it. I may now add, without indelicacy, that it was perhaps the only cerebral organ in which the superiority of developement lay on my side, and that every one understands. best the functions of those organs which are largest in his own brain. It was remarkably small in Dr. Spurzheim, and it appeared to me that he never comprehended the effect produced by it when large. The point, however, is left open for the judgment of all inquirers. 23 CHARLOTTE SQUARE, } * Inhabitiveness, in Spurzheim's arrangement No. IV. |