Education phrenologically & physiologically considered : a lecture / by L.N. Fowler.

  • Lorenzo N. Fowler
Date:
Between 1873 and 1879]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Education phrenologically & physiologically considered : a lecture / by L.N. Fowler. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    4i activity through the aid of those that are already active and powerful, or by combining the action of the weaker with those of the stronger. Some children are naturally dull and stupid, and need to be waked up and thoroughly roused. A child should be educated as a whole in body and mind. To educate one faculty does not educate another, as each has a specific work to do, and should be trained according to its own wants and nature. It is especially important that a child should be taught those things that are the most important to be known, that it should be trained to think for itself, have a mind of its own, and supply its own wants. Some children, however, are naturally deficient in self-government, and require special care and training. I have the portrait of a boy that formerly lived in America; he had the animal propensities and passions strongly developed, and was quite deficient in the intellectual faculties. One day he became angry with his father, and seizing an axe, attacked his father and killed him. The boy was arrested and thrown into prison; while awaiting his trial, the governor of the State in which he lived, believing in phrenology, said “ That he did not believe a boy with his unfortunately developed brain could control his propensities,” and he took the boy from the prison into his own family to observe his conduct, and to ascertain how much moral responsibility he had over his actions. “ I will not be guilty of giving my sanction to the hanging of a fool or an imbecile,” said the governor. I was invited to examine the boy’s head while he was in the State’s prison, among other criminals, old and young, without knowing the parti¬ culars of the case at the time, or that such a lad was in the prison. I stated “ That he had immense passions, and not enough intellect to guide them ; in fact, that he would not be responsible for the result of his own actions, and if not controlled would be liable to commit deeds of violence at any time if his passions became roused; that he should be placed under strict surveillance, should not be crossed, excited, or provoked in any way.” It is a great misfortune to a parent to have such a child; but if the father of the lad had understood Phrenology, he would have been very careful to train and develop his child so that he would not have shown those outbursts of passion by which he lost his own life. It is necessary to educate what there is in the child. It is impossible to make two individuals, who have different casts of mind, do the same thing with equally clear perceptions, or with the same degree of talent. It takes a lifetime to do the work of life. We must not expect to accomplish it in a day; for growth, development, and maturity require time. All healthy permanent progress is slow; but every step in the journey of life is necessary to prepare us for the end of the journey. By understanding the natural excesses and deficiencies of children, and the natural influence of different studies and motives for action by way of expanding, disciplining, refining, systematizing, and energizing the mind, we could easily have systems of education adapted to the develop¬ ment of each mind according to its individual needs. But when we place seventy-five or one hundred scholars under the care of a young man or young woman, we must not expect that the children will become
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