History of Phrenology on the Web

Organs

George Combe's A System of Phrenology, 5th edn, 2 vols. 1853.

Vol. 1: [front matter], Intro, N ervous system, Principles of Phrenology, Anatomy of the brain, Division of the faculties 1.Amativeness 2.Philoprogenitiveness 3.Concentrativeness 4.Adhesiveness 5.Combativeness 6.Destructiveness, Alimentiveness, Love of Life 7.Secretiveness 8.Acquisitiveness 9.Constructiveness 10.Self-Esteem 11.Love of Approbation 12.Cautiousness 13.Benevolence 14.Veneration 15.Firmness 16.Conscientiousness 17.Hope 18.Wonder 19.Ideality 20.Wit or Mirthfulness 21.Imitation.
Vol. 2: [front matter], external senses, 22.Individuality 23.Form 24.Size 25.Weight 26.Colouring 27.Locality 28.Number 29.Order 30.Eventuality 31.Time 32.Tune 33.Language 34.Comparison, General observations on the Perceptive Faculties, 35.Causality, Modes of actions of the faculties, National character & development of brain, On the importance of including development of brain as an element in statistical inquiries, Into the manifestations of the animal, moral, and intellectual faculties of man, Statistics of Insanity, Statistics of Crime, Comparative phrenology, Mesmeric phrenology, Objections to phrenology considered, Materialism, Effects of injuries of the brain, Conclusion, Appendices: No. I, II, III, IV, V, [Index], [Works of Combe].

APPENDIX.

No. I.

Text, page 20. The Brain the Organ of the Mind.

Dr Gall supports the proposition that the brain is the organ of the mind, by a number of facts in addition to those mentioned in the text. A lady of distinguished talent fell and wounded the back of her head ; from this time she was subject to periodical fits of madness, and gradually lost her intellectual brilliancy.-A man whom Dr Gall saw at Pforzheim, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, had his frontal bone fractured at the age of six years, and in consequence became liable to periodical fits of fury.-In another, residing at Weil, near Stuttgard, a portion of the skull was depressed by a blow from a stone. Before this accident, he bore the reputation of a peaceful citizen, but after recovery his friends were surprised to find his character entirely changed ;-though formerly so mild and good-natured, he was now a troublesome brawler. Dr Gall preserved his skull, which is thick and very dense, thus shewing how much the brain had been affected,¹-Father Mabillon had a very limited capacity in early youth, insomuch that, at the age of eighteen, he could neither read nor write, and hardly even speak. In consequence of a fall, it became necessary to trepan his skull : during his convalescence a copy of Euclid fell into his hands, and he made rapid progress in the study of mathematics.²-Dr Gall mentions also the case of a lad who, up to his thirteenth year, was incorrigibly dull, having fallen from a staircase and wounded his head, he afterwards, when cured, pursued his studies with distinguished success.-Another young man, when at the age of fourteen or fifteen, was equally unpromising, but fell from a stair in Copen-

¹ Gall, ii. 174. 2 Id. p. 176.

424 APPENDIX.

hagen, and subsequently manifested great vigour of the intellectual faculties. Nor was this the full extent of the change. Before the accident, his moral character was unexceptionable ; but latterly it became so bad as to deprive him of an important situation, and ultimately to consign him to prison.-Gretry tells of himself in his Memoirs, that he was indebted for his musical genius to a violent blow inflicted on his head by a falling beam of wood.-Haller speaks of an idiot who, having been seriously wounded on the head, manifested intelligence while the injury was unhealed, but relapsed into imbecility as soon as the cure was complete.¹-Dr Caldwell mentions the case of a mechanic, near Lexington, Kentucky, whose intellectual powers were greatly augmented by " an inflammatory action of the brain resulting from a mechanical injury." A similar change, he adds, " took place on one of the sons of the late Dr Priestley. A fracture of the skull, produced by a fall from a two-story window, improved not a little the character of his intellect. For a knowledge of this fact I am indebted to the Doctor himself."²

-A young man who had received a considerable wound near the temporal bone was trepanned by Acrel. When cured, he felt an irresistible propensity to steal, although formerly no such disposition had existed : Acrel 'procured his liberation from prison by attributing this troublesome inclination to the effects of the wound.³

-There is in Dr Gall's collection a cast of the head of a relative of his own, whose brain was injured by the fall of a tile : before the accident this person was good-natured, pacific, and regular in his habits, but afterwards became eccentric, quarrelsome, and apt to fly into a passion at the slightest contradiction.⁴ Mr Hood of Kilmarnock has published similar cases. A man was waylaid and struck severely on the head with a pair of tongs, which penetrated to a considerable depth into his brain at the situation of the left organ of Cautiousness ; subsequently to this he manifested an unusual degree of timidity. Another individual had his skull fractured by falling from a stage-coach, the injury extending over the organs of Destructiveness and Combativeness ; and his temper in consequence became more irritable than before.⁵ Little is yet known concerning the manner in which the injuries produced these effects. See Phrenological Journal, vol. xii. p. 285.

1 Gall, i. 215,216; v. 120.

² Caldwell's Elements of Phrenology, 2d edit. p. 92, 93.

³ Gall, i. 450. 4 Phren. Journ, vii. 33.

⁵ Id. ii. 75. et seq.

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The History of Phrenology on the Web

APPENDIX.