That chapter, entitled “Philosophy of Man,” is Gall’s philosophy entire. It is in that chapter that he says what he does understand by faculties, by understanding, by will, &c. &c. and it is there that he defines the faculties of the individual understandings;[130] understanding, a simple attribute of each faculty;[131] will, a simple result of the simultaneous action of superior faculties, &c.[132]
Spurzheim never would have imagined the doctrine: he found it already concocted; he follows it, and in doing so, always hesitates. He did not imagine it; and perhaps never could have had the facilities enjoyed by Gall for carrying it successfully into the world. Gall’s mind was full of address. We have seen his method of studying men.[133] In his great work there is a dominant tone of philosophy; for the doctrine was already established at the period of the publication of that work. When the doctrine was inchoate, Gall’s tone was not quite so grave, for it is above all things necessary to awaken the public curiosity, and the philosophic tone does not answer for that purpose.
Charles Villers has preserved some of his souvenirs, touching the first impressions produced by the doctrine.[134] “If,” writes Gall at the period in question, “the exterminating angel was under my orders, wo to Kæstner, to Kant, to Wieland, and others like them.... Why is it, that no one has ever preserved for our times, the skulls of Homer, Virgil, Cicero, &c.?”[135]
“At one time,” says Charles Villers, “every body in Vienna was trembling for his head, and fearing that after his death it would be put in requisition to enrich Dr. Gall’s cabinet. He announced his impatience as to the skulls of extraordinary persons—such as were distinguished by certain great qualities or by great talents—which was still greater cause for the general terror. Too many people were led to suppose themselves the objects of the doctor’s regards, and imagined their heads to be especially longed for by him, as a specimen of the utmost importance to the success of his experiments. Some very curious stories are told on this point. Old M. Denis, the Emperor’s librarian, inserted a special clause in his will, intended to save his cranium from M. Gall’s scalpel.”[136]
Gall and Spurzheim differ from each other upon several points: upon the offices of the external senses; upon the names of the faculties of the soul; upon their number; and upon the classification of the faculties, &c. Let us examine a few of the points more particularly.
1. Offices of the external senses. “M. Gall is disposed,” says Spurzheim, “to attribute to the external senses, as well as to each and every internal faculty, not only perception, but also memory, reminiscence, and judgment.... It seems to me that such facts (the facts cited by Gall) do not prove the conclusion. In the first place, memory, being nothing more than the repetition of knowledge, must have its seat in the point where perception takes place. The impressions of the nerves that give rise to the sensation of hunger, &c. are indisputably perceived in the head, which likewise has the reminiscence of hunger.... I do not believe we can conclude that the eyes or the ears are the seats of reminiscence.”[137]
Spurzheim is right, as we have sufficiently seen;[138] perception is not in the organ of the sense.
But the error that Spurzheim combats is not the whole of Gall’s error; it is only a particular and secondary error:[139] the error that he does not perceive, the error that he follows, is a general and capital one. From the independence of the external senses, Gall concludes the independence of the faculties of the soul: he reasons upon an apparent analogy, which conceals a profound dissimilitude; and Spurzheim reasons just as Gall does.
“In the nervous system,” says he, “we find the five external senses separate and independent of each other.”[140] “The faculties of the external senses are attached to different organs; they may exist separately. The same holds true of the internal senses.”[141] “We assert that there is a particular organ for each species of sentiment or thought, as there is for each species of exterior sensation.”[142]