while the latter is prone to do so, as a habitual disposition of mind, without study or intention. This case also is in harmony with Dr SPURZHEIM's doctrine.

When this organ large is combined with much Combativeness and Destructiveness, it leads to satire. It gives the talent also for epigrams. Persons in whom it is small, if their predominating faculties be grave, regard Wit as impertinence, and are apt to be offended by it. It is greatly aided by Individuality, Eventuality and Comparison, which furnish intellectual materials which it invests with a ludicrous appearance.

I include Wit among the sentiments in the present edition, with a view to preserve uniformity with Dr SPURZ, HEIM in the numbering of the organs with reference to the bust. Dr SPURZHEIM, in the dissection of the brain, shews that, anatomically, Ideality and Wit belong to the same department of convolutions; whence a presumption arises of their functions belonging to the same class of mental faculties; and as Ideality has been uniformly regarded as a sentiment, Wit may with propriety be placed under the same head. Mr WATSON has been led to regard Ideality also as an intellectual power; but his ideas are not sufficiently matured for publication. It will be observed, that all these differences relate to the metaphysical analysis of the faculty, and that phrenologists are agreed on the fact, that witty and mirthful manifestations are connected with the organ now under consideration. The organ, and its general functions, therefore, are regarded as ascertained.

21.-IMITATION.

DR GALL gives the following account of the discovery of this faculty and organ. One day, a friend with whom he conversed about the form of the head, assured him that his had something particular, and directed his hand to the superior-anterior region of the skull. This part was elevated in the form of a segment of a circle; and behind the pro

tuberance there was a depression. Before this time Dr GALL had not observed this conformation. This man had a particular talent for imitation. Dr GALL immediately repaired to the institution of the deaf and dumb to examine the head of the pupil CASTEIGNER, who only six weeks before had been received into the establishment, and, from his entrance, had attracted notice by his amazing talent for mimicry. On the mardi-gras of the Carnival, when a little play was presented at the institution, he had imitated so perfectly the gestures, gait, &c. of the director, inspector, physician, and surgeon of the establishment, and above all of some women, that it was impossible to mistake them. This exhibition was the more amusing, as nothing of the kind was expected from this boy, his education having been totally neglected. Dr GALL states, that he quite unexpectedly found the part of the head in question as fully developed in this individual as in his friend HANNIBAL, just mentioned.

Is the talent for mimicry, then, said GALL, founded on a particular faculty and organ? He sought every opportunity of multiplying observations. He visited private families, schools, &c., and every where examined the heads of individuals who possessed a distinguished talent for mimicry. At this time, Mons. MARX, secretary to the minister at war, had acquired a great reputation, by several characters which he played in a private theatre. Dr GALL found in his head the same part of the head swelling out as in CASTEIGNER and HANNIBAL. In all the other persons whom he examined, he found the part in question more or less elevated in proportion to the talent for imitation which they possessed. It is told of GARRICK, says Dr GALL, that he possessed such an extraordinary talent for mimicry, that, at the court of Louis XV., having seen for a moment the King, the Duke D'AUMONT, the Duke D'ORLEANS, and Messrs D'AUMONT, BRISSAC, RICHELIEU, Prince SOUBISE, &c. he carried off the manner of each of them in his recollection. He invited to supper some

friends who had accompanied him to court, and said, “I have seen the court only for an instant, but I shall shew you the correctness of my powers of observation, and the extent of my memory;" and placing his friends in two files, he retired from the room, and instantly returning, his friends exclaimed, "Ah! behold the King, Louis XV. to the life." He imitated in succession all the other personages of the court, who were instantly recognised. He imitated not only their walk, gait and figure, but also the expression of their countenances. Dr GALL, therefore, easily understood how greatly the faculty of Imitation would assist in the formation of a talent for acting; and he examined the heads of the best performers at that time on the stage of Vienna. He found the organ large in them all, namely, in MÜLLER, LANGE, BROCKMANN, SCHRÆDER, BAUMAN, KOCH, and his daughter. He got the skull of JÜNGER, a poet and comedian, and he afterwards used it to demonstrate the organ. Subsequently, he and Dr SPURZHEIM, in their travels, met with many confirmations of the organ; in particular, in the house of correction at Munich, they saw a thief who had this organ large. Dr GALL said he must be an actor: surprised at the observation, he acknowledged that he had for some time belonged to a strolling company of players. This circumstance was not known in the prison when GALL made the observation. On these grounds, Dr GALL conceived himself justified in admitting the existence of a particular talent for imitation; that is to say, a faculty which enables the possessor in some degree to personify the ideas and sentiments of others, and to exhibit them exactly by gestures; and he considered this talent to be connected with the particular organ now pointed out.

This organ contributes to render a poet or author dramatic, such as SHAKSPEARE, CORNEILLE, MOLIERE, VOLTAIRE, &c. It is large in the portraits of SHAKSPEARE, and also in the bust of Sir WALTER SCOTT, whose productions are strongly characterised by their dramatic scenes. This faculty produces the talent for imitation alone; and

Mr SCOTT has observed, that, in perfect acting, there is more than imitation. There is expression of the propensities and sentiments of the mind in all the truth and warmth of actual and natural excitement; and this power of throwing real expression into the outward representation he conceives to depend upon Secretiveness. Thus, says Mr SCOTT, a person with much Imitation and little Secretiveness, could represent what he had seen, but he would give the externals only in his representation; add Secretiveness, and he could then enter into any given character as it would appear if existing in actual nature: he could, by means of this latter faculty, call up all the internal feelings which would animate the original, and give not a copy merely, but another of the same,-a second edition, as it were, of the person represented. In this analysis of acting, perhaps, too much influence is ascribed to Secretiveness, and too little to Imitation: My own opinion, as expressed on p. 197, is, that Secretiveness produces chiefly a restraining effect, and that Imitation enables its possessor to enter into the spirit of those whom it represents.

While, however, Secretiveness and Imitation together may thus be regarded as general powers, without which no talent for acting can be manifested, it is proper to observe, that the effect with which they can be applied in representing particular characters, will depend on the degree in which other faculties are possessed in combination with them. They confer on the individual only the capacity of applying, in this particular way, the whole other powers of the mind, so far as he possesses them; but they do not supply the want of these powers. For example; an actor destitute of Tune, however highly he may be endowed with Secretiveness and Imitation, could not imitate CATALANI, or, what is the same thing, perform her parts on the stage; and neither could an individual possessing little Combativeness and Destructiveness, represent with just effect the fiery Coriolanus; because the natural language of indignation can no more be called up by Secretiveness and Imitation,

without Combativeness and Destructiveness, than melody without the aid of Tune. Hence, to constitute an accomplished actor, capable of sustaining a variety of parts, a general full endowment of the mental organs is required. Nature rarely bestows all these in an eminent degree on one individual; and, in consequence, each performer has a range of character in which he excels, and out of which he is nothing; and I have found, by repeated observations, that the lines of success and failure bear a decided reference to the organs fully or imperfectly developed in the brain. Any one may easily put this observation to the test of experiment. Actors incapable of sustaining the dignity of a great character, but who excel in low comedy, will be found deficient in Ideality; while, on the other hand, those who tread the stage with a native dignity of aspect, and seem as if born to command, will be found to possess it largely developed; and also Firmness, Self-esteem, and Love of Approbation. It does not follow, however, from these principles, that an actor, in his personal conduct, must necessarily resemble most closely those characters which he represents to the best advantage. To enable an individual to succeed eminently in acting Shylock, for example, Firmness, Acquisitiveness and Destructiveness, are reckoned indispensable; but it is not necessary, merely because Shylock is represented as deficient in Benevolence, Justice, Veneration, and Love of Approbation, that the actor also should be so. The general powers above referred to, although they do not supply the place of deficient faculties, are quite competent for the time to suppress the manifestations of opposite sentiments. Hence, in his proper character, he may manifest in the highest degree the moral sentiments; and yet, by shading these for the time, by the aid of Secretiveness, and bringing into play only the natural languages of the lower propensities, which also we suppose him to possess, he may represent a scoundrel to the life.

This faculty is indispensable to the portrait painter, the