“Amongst the skulls of birds how readily could the practised observer distinguish the skull of the tuneful, melodious canary from that of the chirping, inharmonious sparrow. Nor could he fail to mark the constant difference between the form of the head of a song thrush and that of the jackdaw; or to discern how the cuckoo’s head is hollow where the organ of the love of offspring is located, whilst the same part presents a striking protuberance in the partridge. In the dolphin, the porpoise, the seal, and many other animals, the male could there be distinguished from the female by the form of the back part of the skull, where the same organ lies. Nor could any one fail to mark the form of head that is the invariable, and evidently indispensable, concomitant of the ferocious and sanguinary temper of the tiger, as well as the strong contrast which it presents to the skull of the wild but gentle gazelle. How superior also the elevated brain of the poodle dog, when compared with that of the indocile, snarling cur! Thus in animals of the same species the most marked disparity of form is easily discernible, on comparing the skulls of such as are docile and gentle, with those of the dull and intractable. The elevation of the one and the depression of the other are obvious.
“In an ethnological point of view that collection was very valuable. What a striking contrast was presented there by the rounded form of the skull of the fierce, indomitable American Indian, who is so averse to intercourse with strangers, and the rather narrow, elongated head of the indolent negro, who is devoted to social enjoyments. How wide was the difference between the head of the Sandwich Islander or of the Tahitian and that of the Australian or the Tasmanian. How much superior to either of them were the heads of the civilized Incas of Peru, which had not been submitted to the distorting process of artificial compression. Neither could the wide disparity between the Maori and the Gentoo escape the notice of the most careless observer. And how immeasurably inferior in form were they all to the noble head which is the issue of the mingling of the Celtic, Saxon, and Norman races (imbued with an infusion of old Roman, blood), such as it is found to be in these islands, and in the United States.
“Perhaps it may not be considered out of place if I relate a circumstance of considerable interest to those who make it a point to make strict inquiry as to the amount of knowledge which certain races are capable of imbibing.
“Some twenty years ago and more, when the great anatomist, Tiedemann, was in London, he paid a visit to De Ville’s Phrenological Museum. I saw him as he entered the place. He was erect and tall, with an air somewhat stately, yet perfectly unassuming. His head was not so remarkable for great size as for its fine symmetry, and the organs of the moral and intellectual portions of it were in a rare degree harmoniously blended. It was the characteristic head of a curious, indefatigable, conscientious inquirer into the arcana of physical things—one who was not given to indulge in unprofitable, visionary speculations. His visit to De Ville being strictly private, there was no opportunity afforded me of hearing his remarks. But, afterwards, it was told me by De Ville himself, that Tiedemann supposed (and in this he resembled all other opponents of phrenology) that because he had tested the capacity of a great many negro and European skulls, by filling them with millet seed, and found that, on an an average, those of the Africans were scarcely inferior in size to the skulls of Europeans—that from that fact he thought it probable that the negro, if placed in advantageous circumstances, ought to be capable of exhibiting powers of mind equal to the European.
“But when the humble, self-educated follower of Gall demonstrated to this celebrated physiologist and anatomist that the forehead of the negro is usually much smaller than that of the European, and that, moreover, its form, with few exceptions, is irregular and ill-balanced; and when he showed that the size of the negro skull in the basilar portion, where the organs of the affections (which we possess in common with the lower animals) lie, was, in proportion to the upper and anterior parts, which are the seats of the moral and intellectual faculties, larger in the negro than in the European—when De Ville showed, by many instances, that this is always and infallibly the case (with the exception of the heads of criminals), Tiedemann raised his hands and said, ‘The labor of years is now, I clearly see, of no use to me; and I must destroy many valuable things bearing upon this theme.’ Thus, by following the true mode of investigating this department of natural history, was an uneducated man, of good talents, enabled to correct a mistake in anatomy and physiology committed by one of the ablest anatomists that Europe has given birth to.
“For the long term of twenty-two years the writer of this treatise took every opportunity, afforded him by the kindness of its generous owner, to study the contents of this rare collection; and, after having studied it with assiduous care, he is bound to say that out of the hundred thousand facts which it contained, not one could be pointed out that did not testify to the never-failing agreement of particular parts or organs of the brain, with certain independent, elementary faculties, according to the laws discovered by Gall.
“It is with the view of demonstrating the stability and unchangeableness of those laws that the composition of this treatise has been undertaken; in order to excite in its regard such a degree of attention as will tend to awaken it from the state of inauspicious somnolency in which it has for some years lain prostrate. But, strongly impressed with a conviction of the importance of the subject, and fully alive to the difficulty of treating it, the writer cannot help being crossed by fears for the success of this attempt. Relying, however, upon the solidity of the foundation upon which his subject rests, and surveying the vast store of accumulated materials which have, for more than thirty years, been constantly passing through his hands, and the facts which are now strewn before him in whatever society he may be placed, he would fain hope that even his humble abilities will enable him to make such a selection of incontrovertible facts as will place beyond a doubt the possibility of determining the innate talents and dispositions of any one by making a skilful survey of the head; and, should he succeed in merely raising a more general spirit of active inquiry in regard to the nature of the evidence adduced, and the deductions drawn from it by phrenologists, than at present exists, he will have reaped a fair reward for his efforts, for he has long been thoroughly convinced that a strict and faithful examination of the facts which bear upon the case is alone requisite for converting the incredulous scoffer into the zealous advocate.”
Having thus vindicated the claims of the great pioneer in philosophy, our next issue will show the limitations of his discoveries, and give an outline of the new and all-comprehensive Anthropology.
Therapeutic Sarcognomy.—The publication of this work has been laid aside to introduce the Journal of Man. It will appear during the present year, but not in a cheap abridged form as first proposed. It will be an improved edition.