Duke Ouang-King-Tche, whose mother was a phrenologist, was born in a violet caul. When he was a little older, two long breasts grew under his arms. The mother announced a brilliant future for her son, and events proved that she was right.
It had been predicted to the mother of Empress Wou-Hao, of the dynasty of the Thang family, that she would have a child who would reign on the throne. As she was a simple middle-class woman, she did not place much faith in this piece of news. She had a daughter which she showed to a phrenologist, and told him that it was a boy. He made the child walk, and said, “If it be a boy, it will one day become emperor.” As a matter of fact the child became empress, and after the death of her husband mounted on the throne. She was one of the two empresses who have reigned over China.
An emperor, of the dynasty of the Tchings, had no children. He sent for a phrenologist, and asked him to tell him which of the ladies in the palace could make him a father. The phrenologist pointed out one, but added that after having given birth to a child she would be devoured by a tiger. The young woman in due time presented the emperor with a son. This point having been realised, the second prediction was thought about. Nobody had seen any tiger, and nobody thought that the prediction could be realised. The picture of a tiger was sent for, so that people might see what kind of an animal it was that was to prove fatal to the empress, and the young woman, wishing to destroy her enemy, struck the picture with so much force that she wounded herself, and died of gangrene in the arm.
A man aged thirty years had already lost two of his brothers. His mother, fearing for his life, also went to a phrenologist, and asked if her last child was not also threatened with the same fate that had befallen his brothers. The phrenologist said that in order to answer he must pass one night with the young man. During his sleep he listened attentively to the breathing of the sleeper, and noticed that his breath seemed to come out of his ears. The phrenologist then comforted the mother, and said, “Your son will live long and happy, for he breathes like a tortoise.”
There are, of course, numbers of quacks in the profession. The following is a story about one of them. It is rather amusing:—
The Governor of a province once sent for a phrenologist, and asked him to select amongst a number of ladies, who were all dressed in the same way, which was his wife. The phrenologist looked at them for a long time without being able to answer. At last he cried out, “It is she out of whose forehead a yellow cloud has just issued forth.” Of course everybody turned round to look at the real lady, and the phrenologist equally, of course, guessed at once which was the Governor’s wife, and pointed her out with the most prophetic of gestures.
