knowledge of the spiritual world, and to place me in communication with angels and spirits, and this power has been continued with me till the present day." Swedenborg, says his biographers, was a man of unquestionable sincerity, but one of the most extravagant enthusiasts that ever existed.* Dr. Gall remarked, in the first fanatic who fell under his observation, a large developement of the part of the brain lying between the organs of Ideality and Imitation, and subsequently met with many similar instances. Dr. Jung Stilling, whom he often saw with the late Grand Duke of Baden, was a tailor in his youth, then a tutor, afterward doctor in medicine, moralist, divine, journalist, illuminatus, and visionary; and in him this part of the brain was largely developed. He believed firmly in apparitions, and wrote a book in exposition of this doctrine. In the Maison de Detention, at Berne, Dr. Gall saw a fanatic who believed that Jesus Christ, surrounded by a brilliant light, as if a million of suns had combined their splendours, had appeared to him to reveal the true religion. A gentleman who moved in the best society in Paris, asked Dr. Gall to examine his head. The doctor's first remark was, "You sometimes see visions, and believe in apparitions." The gentleman started from his chair in astonishment, and said that he had frequent visions; but that never, up to this moment, had he spoken on the subject to any human being, through fear of being set down as absurdly credulous. On another occasion, Dr. Gall, when he observed the developement of the head of a Dr. W., told him that he ought to have a strong liking for the marvellous and supernatural. "For once," replied he, "you are completely mistaken, for I have laid down the rule to believe in nothing which cannot be mathematically demonstrated." After talking with him on various scientific subjects, Dr. Gall turned the conversation toward animal magnetism, which appeared a fit topic to put the mathematical rigour of his proofs to the test. He instantly became greatly animated; assured Dr. Gall again very solemnly, that he admitted nothing as true that was not mathematically demonstrated; but added, he was convinced that a spiritual being acted in magnetism— that it operated at great distances-that no distance, indeed, presented an obstacle to its action-and that, on this account, it could sympathize with persons in any part of the world. "It is the same cause," continued he, "which produces apparitions. Apparitions and visions are rare, no doubt, but they undoubtedly exist, and I am acquainted with the laws which regulate their production." "On this occasion," says Dr. Gall, “I thought, within myself, that my inference from his developement was not so very erroneous as the worthy doctor wished me to believe."

A man named Halleran, at Vienna, imagined himself continually accompanied by a familiar spirit; he saw the spirit, and conversed with it. When he reached his sixtieth year his genius appeared as if he wished to leave him, and only on certain days in the month was he favoured with his presence. At Gersbach, near Durlach, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, Dr. Gall knew a curate who was confined because he conceived himself to have a familiar spirit. At Manheim there was a man who saw himself continually attended by several spirits: sometimes they marched at his side in visible forms; at other times they attended him under ground. In these persons Dr. Gall found the part of the brain in question largely developed. He states as questions for consideration, "Does this convolu tion form part of the organ of Imitation? and does its extreme develope ment exalt the talent for mimicry to such a degree, as to personify simple ideas, and to give them, thus metamorphosed, a locality out of the indi vidual? Or does it constitute parts both of Ideality and Imitation? Or finally, does it constitute a separate organ? These points can be deter mined only by farther researches."*

* Gall, tome v., p. 342.

Sur les Fonctions du Cerveau, tome v., p. 346.

Sir Walter Scott observes, that "no man ever succeeded in imposing nimself on the public as a supernatural personage who was not to a certain degree the dupe of his own imposture."*

Dr. Gall mentions, that the organ appears large in the busts of Socrates, Joan of Arc, Cromwell, Swedenborg, and other individuals by whom the tendency before described has been manifested. In the portrait of Tasso it and Ideality (18 and 19) both appeared largely developed.

The views of Dr. Spurzheim on this faculty are thus expressed in his Phrenology, p. 206: "There is still a sentiment which exerts a very great influence over religious conceptions, and which, in my opinion, contributes more than Veneration to religious faith. Some find all things natural, and regulated by the laws of creation; many others are amused with fictions, tales of wonders, and miraculous occurrences. They find in every passing event extraordinary and wonderful circumstances, and are constantly searching after whatever can excite admiration and astonishment. This sentiment is to be observed among mankind at large, both among savages and civilized nations. In every age, and under every sky, man has been guided and led by his credulity and superstition. The founders of all nations have had a fabulous origin ascribed to them, and in all countries miraculous traditions and marvellous stories occur in ample abundance. There are many disposed to believe in dreams, sorcery, magic, astrology, in the mystic influence of spirits and angels, in the power of the devil, in second sight, and in miracles and incomprehensible representations of all sorts. Some also are disposed to have visions, and to see ghosts, demons, and phantoms. This sentiment gains credence to the Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, vol. iv., p. 88

*

true and also to the false prophet, aids superstition, but is also essential to faith and refined religion. It is more or less active, not only in different individuals, but also in whole nations. Its functions are often disordered, constituting one species of insanity.

"The legislators of antiquity, aware of the great influence of this faculty, made frequent use of it to enforce and to confirm their laws. They spoke in the name of God, of angels, or of supernatural powers. In our own days the religious sects of Swedenborgians, Methodists, Quakers, and many others, particularly demonstrate its influence and presence. In dramatic representations the introduction of ghosts, angels, transformations, and supernatural events proclaims its activity both in the author and in the public, by whom such exhibitions are relished and sought after.

"The existence of this feeling is certain. Its organ is situated anterior to Hope, and a great developement of the convolutions on which it depends enlarges and elevates the superior and lateral parts of the frontal bone. It is remarkably prominent in the heads of Socrates, of Torquato Tasso, Dr. Price, Jung Stilling, Wesley, &c. My observations on it are extremely numerous, and I consider it as established."

My own observations on this organ are the following: I have met with persons excessively fond of news, which, if extravagant, were the more acceptable; prone to the expression of surprise and astonishment in ordinary discourse; deeply affected by tales of wonder; delighting in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, and the mysterious incidents abounding in the Waverley Novels; and in them I have uniformly found the part of the brain in question largely developed. When the organ predominates, there is a peculiar look of wonder, and an unconscious turning up of the exterior portions of the eye-lashes, expressive of surprise. In other persons I have found the part of the brain in question small, and in them it was accompanied with a staid soberness of feeling, diametrically opposite to the manifestations above described. Such individuals were annoyed by everything new or strange; they scarcely felt or expressed surprise, and had no taste for narratives leaving the beaten track of probability or reality, and soaring into the regions of supernatural fiction. On analyzing these manifestations, they all appear to be referrible to the sentiment of Wonder, an emotion which is quite distinguishable from those hitherto enumerated.

Philosophers have long been puzzled to account for the circumstance, that a particular form of furniture or dress is pleasing, and is regarded as even beautiful when first introduced, but that it appears ridiculous and antiquated after it has been superseded by a newer fashion. Probably one cause of this feeling may be found in the faculty now under consideration; and the agreeable impressions made on it by new objects may be one source of the gratification which a change of fashion affords. Love of Approbation unquestionably prompts multitudes to follow the fashion, without much relish for novelty itself; but some individuals must take the lead, and there must be some principle in the mind to be gratified by mere change, which excites them to do so; and Wonder may contribute to this effect. Indeed, as every faculty has a useful and legitimate sphere of action, I am disposed to infer, that the legitimate tendency of this sentiment is to inspire the mind with a longing after novelty in everything, and that its proper effect is to stimulate to invention and improvement. Fashion is not a real element of beauty in external objects; and to persons who possess a good endowment of Form and Ideality, intrinsic elegance is much more pleasing and permanently agreeable, than forms of less merit, recommended merely by being new. Hence there is a beauty which never palls, and there are objects over which fashion exercises no control. A Chinese teapot may be rendered agreeable by being fashion

able, but will look ugly when the mode changes; while a vase of exquisite form will please in all countries and in all ages. The teapot I conceive to owe its attraction to the impression which its novelty makes on the faculty of Wonder: but when this has ceased, it is judged of by its proper qualities, and disliked on account of its inherent inelegant proportions; while the vase, by gratifying the faculties which take cognizance of intrinsic beauty, continues always to please. This view is strengthened by the fact, that the greatest votaries of fashion have frequently execrably bad taste; a circumstance perfectly accordant with the supposition, that the mere love of novelty is the chief element in this disposition of mind.* The French in general possess a considerable developement of the organs of Ideality, Wonder, and Love of Approbation; and they have long been celebrated as leaders of fashion. Their ordinary discourse also is replete with terms of admiration and approbation, which to Englishmen appear excessive. Every object is superbe, magnifique; and the terms bon, beau, excellent, express such faint praise as almost to imply disapprobation.

Sir John Ross, R. N., mentioned to me that young men, born and bred up in inland situations, who enter the navy voluntarily, generally possess a large developement of this organ, the gratification of which, he inferred, incites them to choose the sea as a profession.

According to this view, Wonder may aid genius, by prompting to novelty in all the conceptions of the mind. Kepler, Napier, Newton, and Davy, all of whom were fond of diving into abstruse and unexplored regions of science, were inclined to superstition. Dr. Samuel Johnson is strongly suspected of having believed in ghosts, a trait which indicates an excessive endowment of this faculty ;t and his style is full of new words and unusual forms of expression, to which he was probably led by the same feeling. Dr. Chalmers also shows a strong tendency to coin new vocables, and occasionally to give strange turns to his discourse; which perhaps originates from Wonder acting with Comparison, as his brilliancy and elevation spring chiefly from Ideality. Mr. Tennant, the author of Anster Fair, and Mr. Hazlitt show some degree of the same disposition in their writings; and I have observed the organ full in the heads of both. The faculty prompts, as Dr. Spurzheim remarks, to the use of machinery in poetry, and to the introduction of supernatural agency. In the portraits of Shakspeare and the busts of Sir Walter Scott it is large; moderate in the head of Rammohun Roy. The feeling was strong in Robert Burns, and the cast of his skull indicates a large developement of the organ.‡

The following lines of the poet Akenside finely delineate the manifestations of the sentiment of Wonder:

"Witness the sprightly joy, when aught unknown

Strikes the quick sense, and wakes each active power
To brisker measures. Witness the neglect

Of all familiar prospects, though beheld

With transports once; the fond attentive gaze
Of young astonishment; the sober zeal

Of

age, commenting on prodigious things.

For such the bounteous providence of Heaven,
In every breast implanting this desire

Of objects new and strange, to urge us on
With unremitted labour to pursue

* Concentrativeness has been supposed to act as the antagonist of Won der, in giving the love of sameness of object and pursuit. See Phren. Journ.,

IX., 619.

Respecting the sources of credulity, see Phren. Journ., ix., 642
See Phren. Journ., ix., 69, note.

Those sacred stores, that wait the ripening soul
In Truth's exhaustless bosom. What need words
To paint its power? For this the daring youth
Breaks from his weeping mother's anxious arms,
In foreign climes to rove: the pensive sage,
Heedless of sleep or midnight's harmful damp,
Hangs o'er the sickly taper; and, untired,
The virgin follows, with enchanted step,
The mazes of some wild and wondrous tale
From morn to eve....Hence, finally, by night,
The village matron, round the blazing hearth,
Suspends the infant audience with her tales,
Breathing astonishment! of witching rhymes,
And evil spirits; of the death-bed call

Of him who robbed the widow, and devoured
The orphan's portion; of unquiet souls
Risen from the grave to ease the heavy guilt
Of deeds in life concealed; of shapes that walk
At dead of night, and clank their chains, and wave
The torch of hell around the murderer's bed.
At every solemn pause the crowd recoil,
Gazing each other speechless, and congealed
With shivering sighs; till, eager for the event,
Around the beldame all erect they hang,

Each trembling heart with grateful terrors quelled."*

Dr. Spurzheim concludes his account of this faculty with the following emarks: "The preceding facts," says he, "determined me formerly to designate this feeling by the name of Supernaturality; and it is certain hat it is principally manifested by a belief in miraculous and supernatural ircumstances, in the foundation of religion by supernatural means, and in its dogmatical points. As, however, the feeling may be applied both to natural and supernatural events, and in every case fills the mind with amazement and surprise, I do not hesitate to change the name of Supernaturality into that of Marvellousness. This name I prefer to that of Wonder, adopted by Mr. Combe, because, according to Dr. Johnson's Dictionary, wonder is applicable only to surprise excited by natural objects, while marvellousness embraces both kinds of astonishment caused by natural and supernatural circumstances."

When Dr. Spurzheim observes, in the foregoing passage, that this faculty is "principally manifested by a belief in miraculous and supernatural circumstances," I do not understand him to mean that this belief is its legitimate function. The period when Divine Power manifested itself by extraordinary means was limited, and is long since past; and philosophy cannot acknowledge any object or event that occurs in the present day as miraculous or supernatural: a special faculty, therefore, for belief in such objects appears inadmissible. The fact, however, mentioned by Dr. Spurzheim, that persons in whom this organ is large have a natural disposition to believe in the wonderful and miraculous is certain. Some individuals, so endowed, have informed me, that, when any marvellous circumstance is communicated to them, the tendency of their minds is to believe it without examination; and that an effort of philosophy is necessary to resist the belief, instead of evidence being requisite to produce it. This tendency appears to me to arise from too great energy in this faculty, not directed by reflection; but it is not inconsistent with the idea, that the primitive sentiment is that of Wonder. Every propensity and sentiment desires objects suited to afford it gratification: Acquisitiveness longs for wealth, and Love of Approbation for praise; and, in like manner, Wonder will ardently desire the marvellous. Individuals, therefore, in

* Pleasures of Imagination, B. i., v., 238-270.