A System of Phrenology

PREFACE

TO THE SECOND EDITION.

THE following are the circumstances which led to the publication of the present work:

My first information concerning the system of Drs. Gall and Spurzheim was derived from No. 49 of the Edinburgh Review. Led away by the boldness of that piece of criticism, I regarded the doctrines as contemptibly absurd, and their authors as the most disingenuous of men. In 1816, however, shortly after the publication of the Review, my friend Mr. Brownlee invited me to attend a private dissection of a recent brain, to be performed in his house by Dr Spurzheim. The subject was not altogether new, as I had previously attended a course of demonstrative lectures on Anatomy by Dr. Barclay. Dr. Spurzheim exhibited the structure of the brain to all present, (among whom were several gentlemen of the medical profession,) and contrasted it with the bold averments of the reviewer. The result was a complete conviction in the minds of the observers, that the assertions of the reviewer were refuted by physical demonstration.

The faith placed in the Review being thus shaken, I attended the next course of Dr. Spurzheim's lectures, for the purpose of hearing from himself a correct account of his doctrines. The lectures satisfied me that the system was widely different from the representations given of it by the reviewer, and that, if true, it would prove highly important; but the evidence was not conclusive. I therefore appealed to Nature by observation; and at last arrived at complete conviction of the truth of Phrenology.

In 1818 the Editor of the "Literary and Statistical Magazine for Scotland" invited me to a free discussion of the merits of the system in his work, and I was induced to offer him some essays on the subject. The notice which these attracted led to their publication in 1819, in a separate volume, under the title of "Essays on Phrenology." A second edition of these Essays has since been called for, and the present volume is offered in compliance with that demand. In the present work I have adopted the title of "A System of Phrenology," on account of the wider scope and closer connexion of its parts; but pretend to no novelty in principle, and to no rivalry with the great founders of the

science.

The controversial portions of the first edition are here almost entirely omitted. As the opponents have quitted the field, these appeared no longer necessary, and their place is supplied by what I trust will be found more interesting matter. Some readers may think that retributive justice required the continued republication of the attacks of the opponents, that the public mind, when properly enlightened, might express a just disapprobation of the conduct of those who so egregiously misled it: but Phrenology teaches us forbearance; and, besides, it will be misfortune enough to the individuals who have distingished themselves in the work of misrepresentation, to have their names

handed down to posterity as the enemies of the greatest and most unportant discovery ever communicated to mankind.

In this work the talents of several living characters are adverted to, and compared with the developement of their mental organs-which is a new feature in philosophical discussion, and might, without explanation, appear to some readers to be improper: but I have founded such observations on the printed works and published busts or casts of the individuals alluded to; and both of these being public property, here appeared no impropriety in adverting to them. In instances in which reference is made to the cerebral developement of persons whose susts or casts are not published, I have ascertained that the observaions will not give offence.

1825.

ADVERTISEMENT TO THE FOURTH EDITION.

THE cause of Phrenology continues prosperously to advance, and hail with pleasure the increase of its advocates. Since the third dition of this work was printed, Dr. Vimont, of Paris, Dr. Caldwell, of Lexington, and Mr. Macnish, of Glasgow, have contributed valuale additions to the philosophy or literature of the science. During he same interval the present work has been reprinted in America, and very ably translated into German by Dr. Hirschfeld, of Bremen ; while he 66 Elements of Phrenology" have been translated into French by Dr. Fossati. The study of the science thus appears to increase in all the enlightened countries of the globe.

Large additions have been made to the present edition; improved cuts have been used; and, in treating of topics of interest, I have added references to other phrenological works in which they are discussed or illustrated, so as to render this edition an index, as far as possible, to the general literature of the science. The appendix contains Testimonials in favour of the truth of Phrenology, and of its utility in the classification and treatment of criminals, presented in February, 1836, by Sir George S. Mackenzie, one of the earliest and most zealous advocates of the science, to Lord Glenelg, Secretary for the Colonies. His lordship transmitted the documents to Lord John Russell, Secretary for the Home Department, who promised to Sir George S. Mackenzie to bestow on them due consideration.

Dr. Spurzheim, in the American edition of his " Phrenology," published at Boston in 1832, has adopted a new arrangement of the organs, different from any which he had previously followed. It will be impossible, however, to arrive at a perfect classification and numeration of the organs until the whole of them shall have been discovered, and the primitive or elementary faculties shall have been ascertained. Any order, therefore, adopted in the meantime, must be to some extent arbitrary. Dr. Spurzheim has shown this to be the case by the frequent alterations which he has made in the numeration of the organs, without having added any corresponding discoveries to the The difficulties attending a correct classification are stated in the Appendix, No. II., and for the present I retain the order followed in the third edition of this work as a matter of convenience.

Boeken