The speaker was Professor William Windsor, LL. B., phrenologist and anthropologist, whose lectures last week at the Guard’s armory interested the people of Atlanta in the study of human character.
“Mr. Grady has interested me ever since I first heard of him, and I had looked forward to meeting him personally here in Atlanta this winter, ever since my route was mapped out for the season. I feel a sense of personal bereavement in his death, for his characteristics were as vividly impressed upon my mind by the study I had made of the man as others experience from personal contact.”
“Perhaps you can tell us something of the character of Mr. Grady as viewed from the standpoint of your science that will be interesting, Professor,” suggested a representative of The Constitution, and the party of interested gentlemen drew more closely around the philosopher.
“Yes, indeed,” answered Professor Windsor, “but to me the contemplation of the character of Mr. Grady, at this time, is too much like viewing the wreck of a grand ship which was freighted with a precious cargo, and trying to estimate the loss. There isn’t much comfort in it, except in the fact that a correct estimate of the virtues and accomplishments of such a man, at a time when the community is still shocked at the calamity of his demise, is a powerful incentive to emulation on the part of other and younger men.
“From the phrenological standpoint Mr. Grady’s characteristics present an interesting study, while his known accomplishments are a wonderful confirmation of the correctness of the theory upon which we estimate mental power, namely, that size of brain is the measure of power, when temperament, quality and health of body are sufficient to support the brain. Comprehensive greatness is never manifested by a small brain. I have been placed in possession of very accurate measurements of Mr. Grady’s head through the courtesy of Mr. Frazee, the Atlanta sculptor who has a cast of the face and forehead made from the body of Mr. Grady, and hence strictly correct in dimensions. I have also had the benefit of numerous photographs, in which the phrenological features are distinctly preserved.
“Mr. Grady possessed a strong endowment of the magnetic temperament which gives a strong circulation of blood and a great activity of mentality. His height and weight show him to have had sufficient vitality to sustain his brain, and there was just enough of the electric temperament in him to darken his eyes and hair and give him intensity of feeling and action. His quality was exceedingly responsive and delicate, and these attributes are necessary to the class of orators to which he belonged.
“The size of his brain compares favorably with what is known of other intellectual giants, as the following measurements will demonstrate. The actual circumference of the head around the base of the brain was twenty-four inches. The measurement from ear to ear over the top of the head fifteen and a half inches, while the forehead measures from ear to ear over the perceptives twelve and a half inches, and from the same points over the region of sympathy fourteen inches. The massing of the intellect, it will be seen, was in the upper portion of the forehead; and that region shows a remarkable development of benevolence, suavity, causality, comparison and imitation.
“The most remarkable development, however, is in the organ of constructiveness, which gives a lateral expansion to the forehead which is almost enormous. This faculty is necessary to the correlation of thoughts and ideas, the construction of sentences and the formation of schemes and plans. As an inventor, Mr. Grady was superb, and his large sympathy would naturally lead him to the invention of social plans and philanthropic enterprises rather than machinery.
“His large language is indicated by the fullness under the eye. The phrenological organ of language lies above and behind the eye, and when large presses the eyeball forward and downward causing a fullness or sack under the eye which is very prominent in Mr. Grady’s portraits. In the power and scope of this feature he had more development than either Webster or Ingersoll.
“His large suavity enabled him to use his language in a way that pleased even his antagonists. Mr. Grady was emphatically combative, as shown by full development behind and between the ears, where the cast measures six inches in diameter, but it was the combativeness which showed itself in force and energy rather than contention. His combativeness was harnessed to his suavity, and he could be forcible and at the same time persuasive.