Phrenology Examined

by P. Flourens

AUTHOR’S PREFACE.

Having been a witness to the progress of phrenology, I was led to the composition of the following treatise.

Each succeeding age has a philosophy of its own.

The seventeenth century recovered from the philosophy of Descartes; the eighteenth recovered from that of Locke and Condillac: is the nineteenth to recover from that of Gall?

This is a really important question.

I propose, in this work, to examine phrenology as it appears in the writings of Gall, of Spurzheim, and of Broussais.

My wish is to be brief. There is, however, one great secret in the art of being brief: it is to be clear.

I frequently quote Descartes: I even go further; for I dedicate my work to his memory. I am writing in opposition to a bad philosophy, while I am endeavouring to recall a sound one.