Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

eyes that had a look-not like the look of STERNE's monk, beyond this world-but a look into all things on the face of this world. Her other features had nothing remarkable in them; but the ears might evidently be classed under the same head with the eyes-they were something resembling rabbits'-long, prominent, restless, vibrating ears, forever listening, and never shut by the powers of thought."

From communicating this talent of observation, Individuality greatly assists Imitation in promoting mimickry. The organ is large in MATTHEWS, and it is obvious that accurate observation of the manners and appearances of men is a fundamental element in a talent such as his, of pourtraying on the stage living Individuals in their minutest peculiarities.

When the organ is deficient, the individual fails to observe objects that exist around him; he may visit a house, and come away without knowing what objects were in the rooms. Such a person walks in the streets, or through the country, and observes nothing. In short, although the external senses are in perfect health, owing to the feebleness of this observing power, they are not called into activity for the purpose of acquiring knowledge.

This organ, when large, prompts to discovery by observation. Persons so endowed do not seek to arrive at new truths by reasoning, but inquire at nature, at men, at books for information; and hence, many brilliant physical discoveries have been made by persons largely endowed with these and the other perceptive organs, whose reflect. ing faculties have not surpassed mediocrity. Since BACON's rules of philosophizing have been duly appreciated and become fashionable, science has been extensively and successfully cultivated by a class of minds, which, while the method of speculative reasoning prevailed, was excluded from such pursuits. This class is composed of persons in whom the organ under consideration greatly predominates over those of the reflecting powers. Such individuals are constituted by nature to become observers; and natural his

tory, particularly botany, anatomy, and even chemistry, are great departments of knowledge fitted for the exercise of their peculiar talent. The substance of these sciences consists in a knowledge of the existence, appearances, and properties of natural objects as facts; and we need not be surprised to meet with eminent professors in these branches, in whose heads the knowing organs predominate over the reflecting.

To the artist this organ is of great importance. It enables him to give body and substance to the conceptions of his other faculties, and confers on him a capacity for attending to detail. In the pictures of an artist in whose head Individuality is deficient, there is an abstractness of conception, and a vagueness of expression, that greatly detract from their effect. In the works of an individual in whom these organs are large, every object appears full of substance and reality; and if he paints portraits, the spectator will be so impressed with their Individuality, that he will be apt to fancy himself acquainted with the originals.

Persons who excel at whist, generally possess it and Eventuality large. If both of the organs be deficient, eminence will not easily be attained in this game.

This faculty gives the tendency to personify notions and phenomena, or to ascribe existence to mere abstractions of the mind, such as Ignorance, Folly, or Wisdom.

The organ was large in SHERIDAN, and it is large in Sir WALTER SCOTT. It is small in the Scots in general; it is larger in the English, and still larger in the French.

The frontal sinus is generally present at the situation of this organ in adults, and this throws a difficulty in the way of judging of its size. The function, however, is ascertained, by observing young persons in whom the sinus is not formed, and by the negative evidence; that is, when externally part of the skull at the top of the nose is narrow, contracted, and depressed, the portion of brain below is necessarily small, and then the mental power is found

3

invariably weak. This concomitance of large size and great power in young persons, and of deficiency of size and feebleness of power in all ages, proves the function; although in some individuals there is an external elevation caused by sinus, and not by brain, which is not accompanied with the corresponding organ in the mental faculty.

23.-FORM.

DR GALL was struck with the circumstance, that certain persons and animals recognise, with the greatest facility, individuals whom they have not seen for years, and even then only in passing. In himself, this faculty was weak; and frequently, on rising from table, he had no recollection of the person who had sat next to him, so as to be able to recognise him again in society, and he was, in consequence, exposed to many painful embarrassments and awkward mistakes. Being desired to examine the head of a young girl who had an extreme facility of distinguishing and recollecting persons, he found her eyes pushed laterally outward, and a certain squinting look: after innumerable additional observations, he spoke of an organ of the knowledge of persons.

The organs lie on the two sides of, and contiguous to, the crista galli. When small, the orbitar plate approaches close to the sides of the crest, and then the external width across the nose from eye to eye is small; when large, there is a considerable space betwixt the orbitar plate and the crest, and a great external breadth across the nose.

In some instances the frontal sinus is found at the situation of this organ; but it very rarely leads to difficulty in observing its size. The organ was large in King GEORGE III., and, combined with his large organ of Individuality, it gave him that extraordinary talent for recollecting persons for which he was celebrated. It is very moderately de

B b

veloped in CURRAN, and by referring to the figures on page 380, it will be observed that the distance between the eyes in King GEORGE III. at 23, is much greater than in CURRAN.

Dr GALL observes, that those individuals who never bestow more than a superficial attention on phenomena, and who have always reasonings, or at least sophisms, ready in explanation of every fact, pretend that a deficiency, such as he experienced in recognising persons, is owing to the eyes; that, in such cases, the vision is indistinct, or there is a squint. His personal experience, he adds, affords a refutation of this hypothesis; for he never had a squint, and his vision was particularly acute and clear*. Often children from three to five years of age have a great memory for persons. Some dogs, at the distance of years, recognise an individual whom they have only once seen, while others, after a few days' absence, do not know again persons whom they have seen frequently. Monkeys, dogs, horses, elephants, and even birds, distinguish, with greater or less

Dr GALL mentions, that, although he could neither paint nor design, he was able to seize with great facility the numerous forms of the head; which statement is at variance with great deficiency in the organ of form; but from the general tenor of his observations, it appears that his power of distinguishing forms was not so great as he imagined it to be. Dr SPURZHEIM gives the following note in his reprint of the article Phrenology, in the 3d Number of the Foreign Quarterly Review :-" The phrenological faculties of Dr GALL's infantile genius were, Individuality, Eventuality, and Causality in an eminent degree.

"It has been remarked as singular, that Dr GALL should have been the first founder of this new science, whilst he could not recollect persons after dinner, though they had been near him at table, and since he could not find his way again to places, where he had been before; or, in phrenological terms, since he had Form and Locality very small. Those who make that remark, can neither know the proceeding of Dr GALL, nor understand the true meaning of the two phrenological denominations. Dr GALL compared the size of individual cerebral portions with certain talents or characters eminent in any way; and he was not deficient in the power of perceiving size and its differences. The want of Locality did not prevent him from making discoveries, any more than the want of seeing certain colours hinders any one to cultivate geometry or mathematics in general. Dr GALL's deficiency in form explains why he constantly attached

facility, their master, or those who have been kind or cruel to them, among a thousand. All the animals which belong to a herd, and also all the bees in a hive, from 20,000 to 80,000 in number, know each other. When a stranger attempts to introduce himself, they drive him away, or kill him*.

Dr SPURZHEIM has analyzed the mental power connected with the organ in question, and considers it in the following manner : "To me," says he, "there seems to exist an essential and fundamental power, which takes cognizance of configuration generally, and one of whose peculiar applications or offices is recollection of persons; for persons are only known by their forms. I separate the faculty which appreciates configuration from that of Individuality, since we may admit the existence of a being without taking its figure into consideration. Individuality may be excited by every one of the external senses, by smell and hearing, as well as by feeling and sight; while the two latter senses alone assist the faculty of configuration. It is this power which disposes us to give a figure to every being and conception of our minds; that of an old man, to GOD; to Death, that of a skeleton, and so on. The organ of configuration is situated in the internal angle of the orbit; if large, it pushes the eye-ball towards the external angle a little outwards and downwards. It varies in size in whole nations. Many of the Chinese I have seen in London had it much developed. It is commonly large in the French, and bestows their skill in producing certain articles of industry. Combined with Constructiveness, it invents the patterns of dress-makers and milliners. It leads poets to

himself to isolated elevations and depressions on the surface of the head, rather than to their general configuration, and left this rectification of Phrenology to my exertions; he, nevertheless, has the great merit of having discovered first, certain relations between cerebral development and mental manifestations."

Sur les Fonctions du Cerveau, tome v. p. 1, 2, &c.

« VorigeDoorgaan »