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SECOND EDITION

CHRISTIAN PHRENOLOGY,

A GUIDE TO SELF-KNOWLEDGE.

BY JOSEPH BUNNEY

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF PHRENOLOGY.

Phrenology is a system of Mental Philosophy. It enquires into the quality and condition of the mind, estimating the faculties, sentiments, and propensities of the individual, without being deceived by personal esteem or the voice of partial praise; for as it too frequently occurs that minds of the highest order are more or less under the influence of self love, or a desire for the admiration of others, so are they blinded to their own weaknesses and in some measure rendered incapable of acknowledging their faults even to themselves. This defect, a defect of the race rather than of the individual, presents an effectual barrier to all mental improvement, for minds however highly gifted are always in some measure led astray by self gratulation or the flattering commendations of others, and thus they are led to overlook their own errors, or to congratulate themselves that they are not as other men are, and the mental eye becomes blinded to what is wrong in its own intellectual organization although sensitively awake to the erroneous feelings and propensities of others. It is the province of PHRENOLOGY to measure the external features of the mind's agent, and to facilitate the study of MAN without diverging into metaphysical error on the one hand, or materialism on the other.

Phrenology then is one of those beautiful revelations of applicable science which could only have been made known in an aera of intellectual cultivation. It is in accordance with man's advancement in civilization and refinement.--It was not needed in the days of

"High emprise or priestly power."

for when men were measured by their prowess, and when might was right, a standard of intellect would have been of little value; but amidst the discoveries of the 19th century it comes to us as a monitor and a friend; Its developement forms a striking fact in the philosophy of history--for as we trace the long and varied records of physical discovery from the time of Archimedes to the coronation of Victoria,--we invariably find that whatever science, or whatever art has been made known to us, it has always been the forerunner of new chapters in the history of man: thus Astronomy led the way to magnetism--Magnetism led to the scientific principles of navigation,--and the steam engine, mighty as its power appears, is but in accordance with the advanced wants of mankind; and so with every other instance, in proportion to the discoveries of intellect, has man advanced in the scale of intelligence and humanity,--with mind, so has matter progressed, until from the unlettered savage, he has arrived at the gates of that scientific temple whose lessons teach him, that now, having laid out the earth for his sustenance, peopled the ocean with his race, and proved his mastery over all things, it is time that he should arise and conquer self,--

Know then thyself, and seek not God to scan, The proper study of mankind is man! POPE.

Such is the object that forces itself upon the mind, when liberated from the baser passions of humanity, the spirit can indulge in its own lofty aspirations--it feels a noble elevation of purpose in contemplating the improvement of its being--and it feels capable of following out a design so beautiful,--there is a dimly revealed pleasure in devoting every energy to the acquisition of an end so glorious, and the pleasure is pure, elevated, and ennobling, it is neither transient nor violent, but it seems to be breathed into the heart, making it wiser, better, and happier--It is not the pleasure that we have sought for in life, but the calm and quiet enjoyment that is referred to the mind, as the seat of all pure and rational delight: and to the brain, as a pleasure that will endure and increase, and fade not away like the momentary intoxications of animal delight: the pleasure of a good object is referrible to the mind, and to the brain as the seat of that mind, and we ask, Is the mind the offspring of that brain? or, Is the brain the organ through which the mind acts? a moment's thought answers the question; in a few short years that brain will be mouldering away in the silent tomb, whilst the mind that animated it, can never die; thus then we arrive at the seat of the mind, a fact universally allowed by all philosophers, in all places, and at all times, and by reasoning upon this simple fact, we are led through progressive stages of induction, until we have arrived at a knowledge of that most valuable but most difficultly exercised faculty, Self-control.

Now, we know well that the eye and the ear receive their faculties from the brain, through the medium of the nerves. Thus, the eye may be delighted by gazing on an extended view of nature; the ear by listening to the sublime cadences of sacred music; but if we sever the delicate filament that conveys the sense of enjoyment to the brain, as the seat of all pleasure, resulting from the exercise of the eye or the ear, so do we immediately sever the sentient being from the perception of beauty in form or landscape, or of harmony in sound. So it is with a limb, if we divide the fibre or nerve connecting the muscles of that limb with the brain, we immediately deprive the organ of feeling and volition. Thus, then, the feelings, the senses, and the enjoyments are referred to the brain as the seat of the mind, and it would be as irrational to suppose that the brain in its entirety is influenced by every sensation, perception, or impulse, as to suppose that the whole body is required for an operation affecting only a part: so by analogy we learn, that as the eye is given us to see with, the ear to hear with, the tongue to speak with; when neither eye, ear, or tongue is adapted to any other use, so, in like manner we are led to infer, that particular parts of the brain are endowed with powers, peculiar to themselves; for it would be equally rational to suppose that a man could in some measure read with the ear, smell with the eye, or see with the nose, as to assert that the same portion of brain could be directed by the mind at will, to study poetry, or sculpture, the arts of money getting, or direct to the enjoyments of love. Such operations of the mind are essentially different; the poet, the sculptor, the man of this world, and the lover of pleasure have portions of the brain, individually adapted to the various operations of the mind, and as the mind is developed by natural circumstances, by hereditary prejudices,--the effects of early training,--the results of education,--the influence of good or bad example, or the untoward events that occur in life,--so is the effect of each and every one of these duly registered upon the mind, and upon the brain, as the organ of that mind, so that at any and every period of existence an external examination of the brain points out what propensities, sentiments, and faculties are at that period in existence, and as a due cultivation or improper neglect of the mental powers is invariably recorded through the mind itself acting upon the brain with more or less energy in those individual parts most generally exercised, so does Phrenology--the science of the brain, as an unbiassed friend, point out what errors of the imagination are to be shunned--what propensities to be conquered, what faculties to be cultivated, what sentiments to be given up. So does it present itself as a means whereby we may know our own weaknesses and conquer them--our strength, and be enabled to exert it. So does it point out whatever may be predominant in our nature for good or for evil, teaching us by a monitor far more true than even the heart itself, how to remedy our faults in this life, and gradually by severe and constant practice, teaching us how to become more fitted for the life to come.

HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF PHRENOLOGY.

Here then commenced the difficulties which appeared as soon as Dr. Gall compared his own observations from nature, with the opinions of Physiologists and Metaphysicians; he found that while some placed the sentient soul or intellectual faculties in the brain, others placed it in the heart, or the cerebellum, or even in the viscera, so that he hesitated about the correctness of his conclusions, he observed also that the principal difference of mental faculty was not owing to difference of education or accidental circumstances,--if the difference were accidental, the project he now contemplated would be hopeless, but he recollected that his brothers, and sisters, and schoolfellows had all received a similar education and equal care, yet many upon whom the teachers had bestowed great attention were still far behind their companions.

"Often," says Dr. GALL, "we were accused of want of will, or deficiency in zeal; but many of us could not, even with the most ardent desire, followed out by the most obstinate efforts, attain, in some pursuits, even to mediocrity; while in some other points, some of us surpassed our schoolfellows without an effort, and almost, it might be said, without perceiving it ourselves. But, in point of fact, our masters did not appear to attach much faith to the system which taught equality of mental faculties: for they thought themselves entitled to exact more from one scholar, and less from another. They spoke frequently of natural gifts, or of the gifts of God, and consoled their pupils in the words of the Gospel, by assuring them that each would be required to render an account, only in proportion to the gifts he had received."

Dr. Spurzheim studied under Gall, in 1800, and in 1804 became associated with him in his labours; since that period many new and valuable discoveries were made by them in the anatomy and physiology of the brain; the truths thus elucidated mere formed into a system of mental philosophy.

"Nothing that ever was devised by man has put in his hands so powerful an instrument to know himself, as that which we have given him; for, if he believes in us, he cannot deny the evidence of his own organization. The first key to unlock the hearts of others is that which opens our own; and to know whether we judge our neighbour fairly or not, we should measure the quantity of our own feelings which we mix up in the judgment. But from this acquaintance with ourselves and others may result the greatest benefit that could accrue to social intercourse, mutual indulgence. When we recollect that each has his own particular organization, as we have ours; that it is not easy to controul the dispositions which nature has thus implanted in our minds; that we have defects as insupportable, perhaps, as any that we encounter, we shall be more disposed to bear with others' foibles, that they may pardon ours; and mutual necessity will make us tolerant.

"But individual education is a very small portion of the good which we aspire to teach--. We will educate nations; and nothing can prevent us from fulfilling this mission, but the destruction of the human race. We will tell the men of every country their faults and their vices, their virtues and their talents, and hold them up as clearly as size and form can be held up, to the notice of mankind. None shall escape us. Already, not only Europeans,--English, French, Germans, Italians,--the most enlightened, the most refined of men, have we scrutinized, but Asiatics under every latitude, Africans thirsting on both sides of the Equator, Americans as wild as Africans, as civilized as Europeans. We have told truths to all, and pointed out the means of improvement. At this moment, indeed, they may not listen to us, but the day will come when they will advance but by us. To us is given to decide the great question of original national propensities, as of individual propensities, and to show how they may be expanded or repressed. We shall instruct rulers how to govern, and subjects how to submit, and strike the just balance--as various as the races and the regions of the earth--between the sovereign and the people; and the first time that we inspire oppressed reason to demand her rights, and to demand no more--that we teach men how much liberty they can bear, how much privation they must yet endure, we shall have our full reward.

ADVANTAGES AND OBJECTS OF PHRENOLOGY.

Having pointed out in the introductory chapter the great end and aim of all learning--THE ADVANCEMENT OF MANKIND IN RELIGION, MORALITY, AND VIRTUE, we shall proceed to point out the advantages of Phrenology, in enabling man to become wiser, better, and happier. It will be universally conceded, that this life is a state of probation, that if we do well--that is, if we become God's people, we shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but if we do evil, we shall have our portion in the lake which burneth with everlasting fire; for this reason St. Paul exhorts us to press forward to the prize of our high calling. "Let us go on unto perfection," says he, and again, "let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us"--and in another place he tells us, that "it is appointed unto men once to die, and after that the judgment."

Taking it for granted then, that the brain is the organ of the mind, we are led to the following principles.

Under one of these heads all phrenological facts must fall.

From these principles also, it must be evident that the brain is dependant for its form and character on the developement of the mind in any individual, and in this manner phrenology ascertains the natural bias of the mind, so as to direct education;--it ascertains similarity of pursuits and dispositions so as to improve social intercourse;--it ascertains at any time of life what faculties require to be cultivated or to be checked, what sentiments or passions preponderate in the individual, for good or for evil, what should be repressed, as well as those parts wherein increase should be aimed at, it points out the persons with whom we sympathize, or towards whom we may have an antipathy,--in the treatment of mental disease, its use is obvious. "No more satisfactory proof of this can be referred to, than the extraordinary success of the experiments at the Hanwell Lunatic Asylum under the direction of Dr. and Mrs. Ellis. Regarding the brain not as an entire organized mass, but as an assemblage of organs, some of which may come into a morbid condition while the rest remain comparatively healthy, the course pursued at that excellent institution has been, by kindness and by engaging the attention of the patient, to exercise those organs which are sound, and, by diminishing the action of those which are in a diseased state, to restore them to the healthy performance of their functions. The success which has attended the experiment stands without precedent in the annals of insanity." From this treatment we learn that cures have averaged ninety in a hundred.

ON THE STRUCTURE AND ANATOMY OF THE BRAIN.

ON TEMPERAMENT.

These, with their combinations will produce all the common varieties, and where they are well united in a single individual the union generally improves the character.

ON THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN RACE.

These national differences have been attributed to the influence of soil and climate:--but although these exercise some influence, they are inadequate to explain the whole--climate would materially affect the customs of the people, and these customs would influence the organization of those parts of the brain influenced by the operations of the mind in procuring animal comforts,--the developement of constructiveness is greatly affected by the cause. But when we remember how certainly the same causes produce the same results throughout the works of nature, we are often unable to explain much of this influence, the Europeans and native Indians have lived for centuries under the influence of the same physical causes--the one has progressed like their brethren of the old continent,--the other remains stationary in savage and uncivilized wildness.

Religious and political institutions again, have been brought forward as the causes of these differences; but this is a superficial view of the matter, because it will be granted that all our institutions have been framed as the minds of man require them, not anteriorly: and when we except institutions like that of christianity, the direct gift of God himself, from what cause do we consider human institutions to emanate except from the minds of those who legislate for the wants of a people, or who impose institutions upon them by right of arbitrary power.

To estimate national peculiarities properly, travellers competent to examine heads, and classify temperaments are much wanted: the size of individual organs and their combinations are also required: the skulls that we possess shew that the brain is in exact agreement with the characters given to their various people by travellers of observation and experience.--The subjugation of a free people to a foreign yoke,--the introduction of new customs by conquerors,--the revolutions of states and empires, and the intercourse of nations, with many other matters to be gathered from the history of the world, all aid in assisting us to determine national character and from this to deduce the natural tendencies of individuals.

MENTAL FACULTIES.

This organ is situated in the cerebellum, about half way between the centre of the occipital bone and the large long process behind the ear. It manifests itself by the thickness or width of the back part of the head; it is produced as the human frame approaches full developement, being small in children, and generally on the increase between the ages of sixteen and twenty four,--it frequently diminishes in old age. USE,--This organ is properly exercised in virtuous affection:--the endearments of a domestic circle, and the society of those we love;--it softens the proud, irascible, anti-social principles of human nature, and aids the benevolent affections,--it causes a respectful, and honourable deference to the softer sex;--inspires the poet in his best conceptions of the purity, and self devotedness of Love, and produces that quiet but effectual influence in society, which is shown in the kind interest taken by either sex in the proceedings of the other. When abused, or allowed only to act as an animal propensity, the absence of the higher feature is a very unamiable trait in the human character,--no deference is paid to age or sex and woman regarded only as the minister to illicit lust. Love to God is shown by overcoming these baser feelings, "they who love me, are such as follow my commands" were the words of the Christian's pattern, and the exercise of this mental faculty is best shown by those who practise charity or universal love without which we are but as "a sounding brass or tinkling cymbal." ABUSE.--An encouragement of animal and debasing sensuality which soon leads to a loss of modesty, and personal respect, and virtue: the worship due to the Creator is lavished on the creature; Jealousy and its myriad evil attendants originate chiefly in the abuse of this faculty.

This organ is located at the middle of the posterior edge of the parietal lobe, or each side of Concentrativeness, higher than Philoprogenitiveness, and just above the lambdoidal suture. USE--This faculty is marked in those individuals who exhibit permanent attachment to beings and objects around them--it gives a permanence to friendship, a steady adherence to opinions, and a dislike to change whether of objects or persons: a person with this faculty well developed will manifest friendship to another even in the greatest depression of fortune when friendship is most severely tried: it is on the average larger in females than in men, and this is shewn in the permanence of their attachments, "Man," it is said "may love, but it is too often with a view to his own gratification, but when a woman loves, she does so with all her soul."--The absence of this organ shews an individual to be of a cold, indifferent character in his friendship, and one not to be depended upon in the hour of misfortune, it is only where the organ is well developed that an attachment is sustained through evil report and good report: when regulated by judgment rather than passion, it produces the noblest examples of disinterestedness and devotion.--The ABUSE of this organ is shown in the unworthy attachment of man to the fleeting things of this life--he places not his affections upon high, but on the conections of party, the interests, the advantages of this life--he loves life to an erroneous extent, perhaps degenerates into a recluse, shews a devoted attachment to the good things of this life and but little for him who was the true friend as "the way, the truth, and the life."

The faculty when ABUSED, or allowed to be excessive leads to peculiarity of disposition, an avoidance of strangers, a dislike to necessary duties that interfere with domestic arrangements, nervous ideas, susceptibility of insult, and in some cases, by the neglect of external objects, the mind dwelling upon its own internal emotions only, has declined to monomania or even temporary alienation.

This organ is only a probable one: a love for food hardly appears to be a natural function of the mind, and most of the known instances of enormous appetite appear to have resulted from organic disease There appears to be some grounds for supposing that this part of the brain is connected with the sensations of hunger and thirst, and perhaps also with the sense of taste. Spurzheim says of it, "This organ though indicated by reason and comparative anatomy, is merely probable and can be confirmed or rejected like every other, according to direct observations alone, in comparing cerebral developement to the special propensity. I possess many facts in confirmation."

It requires some little experience to tell the precise spot of this organ, it is situated in the frontal bone above the spheno-temporal suture, but its position varies with the developement; and it is somewhat covered by the temporal muscle, so that it is difficult to judge except from experience. Constructiveness is the application of the inventive faculty, and since necessity is the mother of invention, Constructiveness is that talent possessed by man for constructing and fabricating whatever his wants or his desires may originate. It is this organ that is exercised by the architect, the painter and the poet in refined life, by the artisan of humble life, by the beaver in their huts, birds in their nests and even spiders in their webs: it is a most valuable faculty: and to it we are indebted for the ability to carry out what the mere intellectual faculties have conceived: it depends for its value upon the organs wherewith it is associated, with language and Ideality, it gives poetical ability; with form, the art of sculpture; or with colour, painting--where the organ is in excess it determines to ABUSE; such as, the attempting to do what an acquaintance with philosophy would prove impossible; the construction of ingenious, but useless or even mischievous articles; the application of constructive ability in imitating valuables for base purposes; throwing away great labour on articles of curiosity, and innumerable other ways in which mis-application of ability is productive of injury: it should be remembered that ability in any way is a talent, for us to improve against the time when our Lord comes to require it of us, and we should remember that misapplication will be a more serious fault, than that of the servant who hid his lord's talent in a napkin, or of him who buried it in the ground.

It was owing to this organ, a full prominent eye, that Dr Gall first directed his attention to a scientific investigation of the faculties of the mind. vide Page. 13

A large developement is indicated by the prominence and depression of the eye, this appearance being produced by convolutions of the brain situated in the posterior and transverse part of the orbitary plate, pressing downward and outward in proportion to its convolutions. A full developement of this organ indicates a faculty for the acquisition and employment of words, or artificial signs, expressing our ideas; the meaning of the signs must be determined by other faculties, exactly as force or power of any kind requires to be guided and directed: from this reason may originate the very different significations given to the same abstract word, a different organization producing a difference in the meaning attached to it in spite of every effort to give an accurate definition; this will be self evident, if we merely quote the three leading features of Christianity, Faith, Hope, and Charity, and refer to different degrees of moral and intellectual elevation or turpitude, for the vague, unsatisfactory, and degraded meaning that we find frequently attached to them. Persons with a large endowment of this faculty, abound in words; in conversation they pour forth with volubility, but when excited they pour forth a torrent; this should be moderated by good sense, and appropriate language rather than verbosity will be employed in their speaking efforts as well as in their writings: when the organ is deficient, the individual wants a command of expression, he writes and speaks with great poverty of style, and when possessed of ideas is unable to clothe them in elegant or even appropriate language. The talent for, or facility of learning foreign languages originates in the same faculty, taken connectedly with the mental capacity for entering into the style and combinations of other countries. Some individuals in whom the organ is large do not necessarily possess a ready memory, which usually occurs when the faculty that apprehends the primitive idea is more than ordinarily small. The organ abused generally makes a speechifier of small worth, a talker for the mere sake of talking, who frequently loses sight of reason and subject as well as his own good sense.--Its best use is a felicity of diction in describing the sentiments and opinions of the individual so that they may be exactly comprehended by others.

This organ is situated in the corner of the eye next the nose, and when large there is a considerable breadth across the nose at that place: its chief use is in the accurate knowledge of form, whether of persons or objects, and disposes the mind to give a definite form to objects even when unseen: it is to this the acute observation of objects, by which means we compare them one with another, or personal identity after absence and probable change in the form of features: to this organ many distinguished sculptors and architects owe much of their excellence, as its necessary action in connection with other organs would be to express an accuracy of outline: it is to an excessive use of this organ that painters study correctness of form in drawing, and neglect colouring; useful to architects for this reason.

The organ of size is situated at the corner of the eyebrow, next to individuality, and appears to influence the capability of the eye and mind in its motions of dimension: instances are known where persons deficient in this faculty have been unable to manage perspective in drawings, or even to copy the plainest figure without error in the size: others on the contrary measure size by the eye almost as accurately as by a rule, and are especially accurate in judging about dimensions--the organ is necessary for some professions, but not of great general importance.

This faculty like the preceding, is shewn only in particular persons: the absence of it is rarely noticed, and the presence of it quite unseen except in some particular walks of life. It gives a power of measuring, and comprehending the resistance of bodies to forces applied to them, is useful in philosophic enquiry, engineering, architecture &c.

The sensation of colour on the eye is very different in different persons; many persons having an acute sense of vision readily perceive the qualities of objects but are incapable of judging about the agreement or disagreement of particular colours, and when the faculty is small they confound them and are incapable of perceiving their effect. When prominent the individual possesses a taste for gaudy colours, careless about their arrangement or harmony with others. It is situated in the centre of the eyebrow giving it a prominent aspect such as may be witnessed in the portraits of Titian, Rubens, and many celebrated artists: The organ of colour well developed gives harmony and excellence in colouring and is useful to botanists, dyers, mercers, and all artists: That the faculty is abused, or rather wanting may be witnessed by the numberless facts that we meet with constantly, where people dress in gaudy colours and appear quite regardless of their being suitable or otherwise.

This hardly appears a positive faculty, we have noticed it from its being mentioned by phrenologists; it appears to be of a similar kind to form, size, and weight, all of which organs are connected with the organ of vision; the persons who have the organ well developed are persons of wide views in every thing, they are enraptured with extensive prospects, mountains, and every thing of a large size--if proved to exist, such a faculty would be valuable to painters.

The tendency of this faculty is to produce a love of order and arrangement in every thing; they are distressed by confusion, and are highly pleased with a regular arrangement of their furniture, books and other property. The organ is located in the superciliary ridge, and from its general small developement, much fact is still necessary before the organ and its value can be definitely determined: there is certainly well marked in some persons, a love of order, and in others a carelessness to disorder, the one often degenerating into precision in trifles that produces great discomfort to other persons, the latter often inducing a disregard of necessary care and attention: the medium is to be sought for by all who detect either in their own character.

The organ of the faculty of NUMBER is situated above and outside the external angle of the eye, a little below the external angle of the frontal bone. The special function seems to be calculation in general: it does not seem to extend to any faculty of computation beyond that of numbers, although from the tact that it associates with it, it facilitates the study of mathematics. Many instances are adduced of its large size in good calculators, particularly in George Bidder, the calculating boy. This organ, like the other perceptives requires cultivation.

The organ of TIME seems to be related to that of order in its effects, it is essential to music and versification, form some source of pleasure in dancing, and seems to give a power of judging time and intervals of duration in general. The value of time renders this faculty more than usually necessary; it leads to a right estimation of punctuality as well as punctuality in engagements: persons with the organ large are fevered by delay, they become irritated about trifles of time that they may be kept waiting by others and thus incur a charge of bad temper. The organ is especially useful in persons studying history as it tends to give a faculty of remembering dates and other periods of time, the succession of events, &c.

Dr. Gall was led to infer the position of this organ from witnessing the memory of particular persons in their relation of places they had visited, and the strong impression made upon them by surrounding objects, so that he regarded this to be a primitive faculty. Spurzheim says, "the special faculty of this organ and the sphere of its activity, remains to be determined. It makes the traveller, geographer and landscape painter, recollects localities and gives notions of perspective." Persons in whom the organ is large, form vivid and distinct conceptions of situations and scenery which they have seen or heard described, and have great power in recalling such conceptions.--The organ is large in all eminent navigators and travellers, also in great astronomers and geographers. Persons who have this organ large, are passionately fond of travelling: and where firmness is small, it influences to restlessness, and love of change; to physical pleasure as a gratification of this organ, in the neglect of other duties, and thus often exerts a baneful influence on the mind when allowed to operate without control.

The tendency of this organ is, the examination of fact as the only foundation of truth; it is situated in the middle of the lower part of the forehead, immediately above the top of the nose, it produces breadth and projection between the eyebrows. This faculty renders us observant of outward objects, and gives a desire to know, and to examine; it prompts to observation and general information, and is necessary for the acquisition of facts as a basis of science. Spurzheim says, "Persons endowed with this faculty in a high degree are attentive to all that happens around them, to every object, to every phenomenon, to every fact: it desires to know all by experience, and consequently puts every other organ into action: is fond of instruction, collects facts, and leads to practical knowledge."--To the influence of this organ we may trace the knowledge of individuals by animals, and even wild beasts in which this organ is large may be tamed to the will of a keeper. It puts into active exertion the perceptive faculties round the eyebrow, and thus influences the quality of the faculty which lies in that portion of brain; so that a person with this organ large, and language small, will say but a few words and those to the purpose, or with individuality small and language large, he will utter ten thousand neatly turned sentences of the meanest commonplace, alike destitute of information or science. Persons in whom the organ is large, are alive to every thing that passes around them, they look at facts and events, leaving it to others to reason upon them, and many great discoveries have been made by persons with this organ large who have not been celebrated for their powers of reasoning. When the organ is small, the individual fails to observe things that are going on around him, he will walk in the streets, or the country and see or rather observe literally nothing; he may visit a house without observing any one object beyond the immediate purpose of his visit.

ABUSES. This organ is often employed in the affairs of other people, in petty knowledge that tends to no real purpose; a superficiality of observation that leads to erroneous inferences, and when largely developed with the reflective and philosophic faculties, it leads to peculiarity of studies and pursuits to the exclusion of all others, and by breaking the unity of learning which points all things to Him who gave, it is too often the cause, of mistaken opinion or downright error.

The organ of Gaiety is sometimes called WIT; and has been defined by Spurzheim as "a sentiment which disposes men to view every thing in a gay, joyful, and mirthful manner;"--"given to man to render him merry and gay,--feelings not to be confounded with satisfaction and contentment." The faculty appears to give a characteristic tendency to view every thing that occurs in a light manner, simply as far as it gratifies, and pleases, not in proportion to its intrinsic value, combined with the higher faculties, it produces wit, in common events humour; with the animal propensities, sarcasm and satire, or caricature and excess; with language, punning and double meanings, and in all cases it tends to a levity that is often misplaced. It is situated between Ideality and Causality at the upper part of the side of the forehead. In ABUSE, or when not counteracted by reason and reflection, it tends to severity and satirical remarks on the failings and weaknesses of others: a too easy regard for sin when not positively offensive, a love of pleasure, often leading to vicious excess; and frequently the faculty to gratify itself, offends friends by ill timed remarks and a system of practical jokes.

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