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MR. ATKINSON, "Laws of Man's Nature," p. 17. DR. SPURZHEIM, "Philosophical Principles of Phrenology," pp. PROFESSOR DOD, "Princeton Theological Essays," II. 376. DR. GREGORY, "Letters on Animal Magnetism," p. 57. BISHOP BUTLER, "Analogy," p. I. c. 1, p. 170. DR. JOHN PLAYFAIR, "Works," I., Preface, XXIX. C. M. BURNETT, M. D., "Philosophy," &c. London, 1850. BISHOP BERKELEY, "Words," I. 80.
Here the neglectfulness and dreariness of the outer aspect of the grave are completely done away with, and the dead lie peacefully under ground carpeted with flowers, and shaded by trees. The simplicity of the monuments is very beautiful; that to Spurzheim has merely his name upon the tablet. Fulton, Channing, and other eminent men are buried here.
Why are the busts of Socrates and Solon what they should be, according to this theory of Gall and Spurzheim? Were they modelled from life, or from characters resembling them? Compared the head of a Greek boy with that of a young Hottentot. One was largely developed in the intellectual region, the other in the animal region, and the latter cries whenever his home or his mother is mentioned.
And, forthwith, he overwhelmed me with learned instances from Galen and Hippocrates, from Spurzheim and Binns, from Locke and Beattie, from Malebranche and Bertholini, from Darwin and Descartes, from Charlevoix and Berkeley, from Heraclitus and Blumenbach, from Priestley and Abercrombie; in fact, forsooth, he quoted me so many authorities that it verily seemed to me as though the whole world were against me!
But alas, the dispassionate search for truth is the rarest virtue on earth. Even Gall himself had not enough of this to recognize the discoveries of Spurzheim.
Spurzheim, that no person was fit for the domestic relations who had not undergone trials and sufferings. The gay reader may smile at this opinion, but I can assure him that many wise men besides Spurzheim have entertained it. Chateaubriand, among others, in his 'Genius of Christianity, advances the same opinion. Some, as we have seen, hold that no person can be well educated without suffering.
We had not been long at Cincinnati when Dr. Caldwell, the Spurzheim of America, arrived there for the purpose of delivering lectures on phrenology. I attended his lectures, and was introduced to him.
He has studied Spurzheim and Combe diligently, and seems to understand the science to which he has devoted himself; but neither his lectures nor his conversation had that delightful truth of genuine enthusiasm, which makes listening to Dr. Spurzheim so great a treat. His lectures, however, produced considerable effect.
Of course such advocacy and popularity stimulated opposition as well, and out of the disputations thus arising there grew presently a general interest in the brain as the organ of mind, quite aside from any preconceptions whatever as to the doctrines of Gall and Spurzheim.
At length, towards the end of the dinner, some apple dumplings were placed on the table, and the listener had no sooner seen them than he burst forth, "Them's the fellows for me!" Coleridge adds: "I wish Spurzheim could have examined the fellow's head." An Appropriate Successor. Clerambault, who was deformed, was elected to succeed La Fontaine in the French Academy.
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