Sapphire—Repentance; frees from enchantment.
Sardonyx—Insures conjugal felicity.
Topaz—Fidelity and friendship; prevents bad dreams.
Turquoise—Insures prosperity in love.
PHRENOLOGY.
Mt. Ayr, Iowa.
Give a short history of phrenology, mentioning in particular its more prominent advocates.
E. E. Davis.
Answer.—The history of phrenology is embodied in the lives of its expounders. Although the prominent thinkers of mediæval Europe acknowledged many of its principles, it was not until 1796 that phrenology found an able and persistent advocate. Franz Joseph Gall, who in 1758 was born in Baden, began in his childhood to study the human face and head, and connect the various dispositions of men with certain prominences noticeable in the shape of their skulls. He studied medicine at various colleges, receiving his degree at Vienna. Eleven years after his graduation he delivered a lecture in that city, expounding his views on the subject which had been his constant study. It was not well received, and his subsequent writings and lectures were subjected to considerable censure and ridicule. They were, indeed, to such an extent unpopular that in 1805 the Austrian Government interdicted them, and he was compelled to refrain from further advancing his views in that country. With Kasper Spurzheim, a talented young man, who had embraced his doctrines while attending the school of medicine in Vienna, Dr. Gall changed his abode to Paris. In that city, with the aid of his pupil, he succeeded in making a considerable impression. He afterward became a citizen of France, and died in 1828, near Paris, leaving several works valuable to the student of phrenology. In the meantime Dr. Spurzheim visited England. His lectures were listened to with considerable interest and many in that country adopted his views. In 1832 he came to the United States; but soon after his first lecture, which had created quite a sensation, he died in Boston. His efforts in England and Scotland were continued by George Combe, a lawyer, who wrote and lectured in those countries, and who also visited the United States. But he to whom most credit is due for extending the tenets of phrenology in this country is Oscar Squire Fowler, who was born at Cohocton, N. Y., Oct. 11, 1809, was educated at Amherst College, and has spent most of his life in advocating his views. In 1876 he made his home at Boston, although much of his time was spent in lecturing in various parts of the land. Although one of the fundamental principles of phrenology is that the mind is material and inseparable from the body, yet many who deny such a conclusion accept some of its inferences.