Phrenology proved, illustrated and applied : accompanied by a chart : embracing an analysis of the primary, mental powers in their various degrees of development, the phenomena produced by their combined activity, and the location of the phrenological organs in the head : together with a view of the moral and theological bearing of the science / by O. S. & L. N. Fowler ; assisted by Samuel Kirkham.
- Orson S. Fowler
- Date:
- 1836
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Phrenology proved, illustrated and applied : accompanied by a chart : embracing an analysis of the primary, mental powers in their various degrees of development, the phenomena produced by their combined activity, and the location of the phrenological organs in the head : together with a view of the moral and theological bearing of the science / by O. S. & L. N. Fowler ; assisted by Samuel Kirkham. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![genera], correspond—a proposition which is not only a mat- ter of observation, and w hich is demonstrated by almost every scull upon which we can cast our eyes, but which is already proved to our hands by such men us Cuvier, Magendie, Charles Bell,* and others of equal learning and authority, and, moreover, which is susceptible of physical demonstration? It remains, then, for the phrenologist merely to ascertain what portions of the brain arc employed to manifest the vari- ous faculties, and, also, what are the indications upon the scull of the relative size of these organs, (which, indeed, has already been done by the most critical and extensive observation,) and then he will have sufficient data from which to determine even the minutice of the character and talents, and of the various mental qualities, of any and of every individual. In this connexion may be mentioned the fact, that the thickness of the scull may be determined by its vibrations in speaking, the tones of the voice, &c. VII. The history of the discovery of phrenology, fur- nishes ample demonstration of its truth. Like all the other exact sciences,! every portion of it was discovered, and brought to its present state of perfection, entirely by induc- tion—by an observation and a classification of facts. It originated with Dr. Gall, a celebrated physician of Vienna, who noticed, in the first place, a uniform connexion between full and prominent eyes, and a talent for committing to mem- ory. By this happy circumstance, he was led to look for ' In Charles Bell's Anat II. 300, we are furnished with the following passage : Thus we find, that the bones of the head are moulded to the brain, and the pe- culiar shapes of the bones of the head, arc detet mined by the original peculiari- ty in the shape of the brain. It is also added in a note, I have seen one striking instance of the scull's decreasing with the brain. If occurred in an individual who died al the age of thirty-two, after having laboured under chronick in for upwards often years, and whose mental weakness augmented inproportion to the diminution of the brain and the shrinking of his scull. The diminution of ] in size, attracted his own attention daring life Cuvier is still more ex- plicit upon the same point. He says, In all mammiferous animals, the brain is moulded in t lie cavity of the cranium, which it fills exactly : so that the description of the osseous part, affords us a knowledge of, at least, the t < ,,f the medullary mass u-ithi?i. Magendie says, Theonly way of estimating the volume of the brain in a living person, is to take the dimensions of the. scull. &c. Other authors might lie quoted ; but these are sufficient for our purpose ; so that anat- omists ami physicians, at least, cannot, with any appearance of consistency, ques- tion this proposition: and no others have any right to do so. Its correctness stands, then, unshaken. t So many phrenological facts, all, like the converging rays of the concave mir- ror, tending to the same focus, all establishing and confirming the same general principles as the great law of nature, have been collected and classified, that until their opponents, upon whom the burden of proof is thus thrown, explain these facts upon other than phrenological principles, phrenologists have an un- disputed right to number it among the other exact sciences.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21120420_0024.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
