A lecture on the subject of Phrenology not opposed to the principles of religion; nor the precepts of Christianity / By William Ingalls.

  • William Ingalls
Date:
1839
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A lecture on the subject of Phrenology not opposed to the principles of religion; nor the precepts of Christianity / By William Ingalls. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    i lion was still more complete—the sense of smell was so blunted as to be entirely useless, and only affected by pungent odours ; of course, half the pleasure of taste w^as gone, and she manifested indifference about the flavor of food. It would seem that in this total darkness—this dreary stillness—this isolation from all communication with kindred spirits, the immaterial mind must have remained in infantile imbecility, while the body grew in stature and strength, or have attained a perception of its loneliness, only to pine and die at the discovery. But not so ; every day she be¬ came more active and more cheerful ; and she is now (as far as the closest scrutiny can ascertain the state of her mind,) not only unre¬ pining, but contented and happy. The sense of touch alone remains, and the sight of this unfortunate girl fills one with admiration, not only of the perfectibility of the senses, but of the wonderful power of the mind to adapt its operations to any circumstances of its bodily tene- ment—to put itself in relation with external things, and to obtain its own stimuli and manifest its own emotions through the most imperfect media. There is the strongest evidence of a thirst for knowledge—of an in¬ ternal, intellectual want which can be gratified only by a new idea. Her greatest pleasure is to learn a new stitch—a new way of knitting or braiding—a new word—or to discover the application and use of any new thing ; and her eagerness to learn is only equalled by the quickness of perception which she manifests. There is strong hope that, if her life be spared, the patient and per¬ severing efforts of the humane, aided by the ingenuity and councils of the wise, will succeed in throwing much light into her dreary prison, and be rewarded not only by the satisfaction of imparting happiness, but by new viewrs of the operations of mind.”
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