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

Vol. 1: [front matter], Intro, Nervous 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].

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28.-NUMBER.

A scholar of St Poelton, near Vienna, was greatly spoken of in that city, on account of his extraordinary talent for calculation. He was the son of a blacksmith, and had not received any particular instruction beyond that bestowed on other boys at the same school ; and in all other respects he was nearly on a footing of equality with them. Dr Gall induced him to come to Vienna, and, when he was nine years of age, presented him to his audience. " Lorsqu'on lui donnait," says Dr Gall, "je suppose, trois nombres exprimés chacun par dix à douze chiffres, en lui demandant de les additionner, puis de les soustraire deux à deux, de les multi-See Remarks on Carrier-pigeons, Phren. Journ. vol viii. p. 7l.

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plier et de les diviser chacun par un nombre de trois chiffres ; il regardait une seule fois les nombres, puis il levait le nez et les yeux en l'air, et il indiquait le résultat de son calcul mental avant que mes auditeurs n'eussent eu le temps de faire le calcul la plume à la main. Il avait créé lui-même sa méthode." A barrister of Vienna stated his regret that his son, of five years of age, occupied himself exclusively with numbers and calculation, in such a manner that it was impossible to fix his attention on any other object, even the games of youth. Dr Gall compared his head with that of the boy just mentioned, and found no particular resemblance, except in a remarkable prominence at the external angle of the eye, and a little to the side. In both, the eye was in some degree covered by the outer extremity of the eyebrow. These cases, suggested the idea that the talent for calculation might be connected with a particular organ ; and, in order to verify the discovery, Dr Gall sought for men distinguished for this power. He repaired to the Councillor Mantelli, whose favourite occupation was to invent and solve problems in mathematics, and particularly in arithmetic, and found in him the same configuration. He next went to Baron Vega, author of Tables of Logarithms, at that time professor of mathematics, and who, in every other talent, "était un homme fort médiocre," and found in his head the same peculiarity. He then visited private families and schools, and desired the children distinguished for ability in calculation to be pointed out to him ; and still the same development recurred. He therefore felt himself constrained to admit a special organ and faculty for this talent.

Sir Whitelaw Ainslie reports, in The Phrenological Journal, the case of a boy whom he met in a stage-coach, and who attracted his attention by a remarkable development of the organ of Number, which projected so much as to be " nearly of the size of half a common marble, and not unlike it in shape.^" On asking the boy's father whether he was not an excellent arithmetician, Sir Whitelaw was informed, that, in arithmetic, he excelled all the other boys at school, and

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could multiply six figures by other six without the aid of a

pencil,¹

The organ, when large, fills up the head above and outside of the external angle of the eye, a very little below the point called the external angular process of the frontal bone.

The special function of the faculty seems to be calculation in general. Dr Gall calls it " Les sens des nombres;'''¹ and, while he states distinctly that arithmetic is its chief sphere, he regards it as also the organ of mathematics in general. Dr Spurzheim, on the other hand, limits its functions to arithmetic, algebra, and logarithms ; and is of opinion that the other branches of mathematics, such as geometry, are not the simple results of this faculty. In this analysis he appears to me to be correct. Mr George Bidder, when only seven years of age, and without any previous instruction, shewed an extraordinary talent for mental calculation ; and I have seen him, when only eleven, answer the most complicated questions in algebra, in a minute or a minute and a half, without the aid of notation. When he first came to Edinburgh, and before I had seen him, a gentleman waited on me, accompanied by three boys of nearly equal ages, and said-" One of these is George Bidder, the celebrated mental calculator ; can yon tell which is he by his head 2'' On examining the organ of Number in all of them, I replied that one of them should be decidedly deficient in arithmetical talent ; that another should possess it in a considerable degree ; but that the third must be Bidder, because, in him, the organ was developed to an extraordinary extent. The gentleman then stated that the indications were perfectly correct ; that the first was a boy who had been remarked as dull in his arithmetical studies ; the second was the most expert calculator selected from a school in Edinburgh ; and the third was Bidder. Dr Gall mentions a similar experiment which was tried with him, and with the same result. He gives a detailed account of Zhera Colburn, the American youth who exhibited great talents for calculation, and in Phren. Journ. _vi. ₁₀₇. _See another case, vol. iii. p. 266 ; also iii. 561.

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whom also the organ was large. This young man visited Edinburgh, and afforded the phrenologists of this city an opportunity of verifying Dr Gall's observations, which were found to be correct.¹ Masks of him and of Bidder were taken, and now form part of the Phrenological Society's collection. These two examples tend to shew that Dr Spurzheim is right in limiting the function of this faculty to calculation of numbers ; as neither of these young men proved so eminent in geometry as in arithmetic and algebra.

The organ is large in the mask of Humboldt, brother of the traveller, and he was celebrated for his powers of calculation.

In the Phrenological Journal, vol. x. p. 411, the case of the daughter of a lady of rank resident in London, in whom the organ was very large, is reported. The lady mentioned, that when she rode out to make calls, instead of taking cards with the numbers of the residences of those upon whom she meant to call-as is usual in London-she took her child (thence years of age) with her in the carriage, and upon the name of any individual being mentioned, the child would instantly remember the number of the house. She added, that the child remembered the numbers of the residence of at least three hundred ladies. The child had Locality large as well as number.

There are some facts which appear to indicate, that the organ of number is important in constituting a talent for chess-playing. See Phrenological Journal xv. p. 92.

I am acquainted with other individuals, and include myself among the number, in whom this organ is deficient, and who experience great difficulty in solving the most ordinary arithmetical questions-who, indeed, have never been able to learn the multiplication table, or to perform readily, common addition and subtraction, even after persevering efforts to attain expertness. The organ is small in the mask marked " French M. D. ;" which serves as a contrast, in this respect, to those before mentioned, in which it is large.

¹ He was not distinguished by high intellectual talents in other respects. He subsequently became a preacher in New England, and manifested only average abilities. He was born in 1804, and died in 1838.

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Dr Gall observes, that when this organ predominates in an individual, all his faculties receive an impression from it. He knew a physician in whom it was very large, who laboured to reduce the study of medicine, and even the virtue of particular medicaments, to mathematical principles ; and one of his friends, thus endowed, endeavoured to found an universal language on similar grounds.

This organ probably assists Eventuality and Time in recollecting dates. Form, however, seems also to aid them in this effort, by retaining before the mind the idea of the printed numerals.

Dr Spurzheim mentions, that " certain races of Negroes make five the extent of their enumeration, that is, they count only as far as five by simple terms ; all their numbers after five are compound, whereas ours are not so till they have passed the number ten ; while our terms, six, seven, &c. are simple, they say five-one, five-two, five-three, &c. Negroes in general," he continues, " do not excel in arithmetic and numbers ; and, accordingly, their heads are very narrow in the seat of the organ of number." Humboldt also mentions that the Chaymas (a people in the Spanish parts of South America) " have great difficulty in comprehending any thing that belongs to numerical relations ;" and that " the more intelligent count in Spanish, with an air that denotes a great effort of mind, so far as 30, or perhaps 50 ;" he adds, that " the corner of the eye is sensibly raised up towards the temples."¹ The organ of Number is remarkably small in the skulls of the Esquimaux, and both Parry and Lyon notice that their eyes are turned up at the exterior angle : they have the peculiarity of " not being horizontal as with us, but coming much lower at the end next the nose than at the other."2 Captain Back adverts to the same peculiarity in an Esquimaux woman whom he describes.³ This " remarkable

1 Personal Narrative, vol. iii. pp. 223, 241, 242.

² Parry's Voyages, 12mo, vol. v. p. 184.

3 Narrative of the Arctic Land Expedition in 1833-4-5, London. 1836 P. 384.

formation of the eye," says Captain Lyon, " is in all alike."¹ Accordingly, Captain Parry speaks of their " imperfect arithmetic, which resolves every number above ten into one comprehensive word."² The Arctic Highlanders of Captain Ross are unable to reckon farther than five ; and, in answer to his inquiries concerning the numbers of the tribe, they could only say that there were " plenty people." Others, however, could reckon ten.³ Nor is the skull of the other Greenland tribes much superior. Their numerals, says Crantz, " fall very short, so that they verify the German proverb, that they can scarce count five : however, they can make a shift with difficulty to mount as high as twenty, by counting the fingers of both hands, and the toes of both feet. When the number is above twenty, they say, ' it is innumerable." ⁴

It is mentioned by Dr Gall, that two of his acquaintances felt pain in the region of this organ, after being occupied for several days in succession with difficult calculations. In the Hospital of Vienna, he saw a patient whose insanity degenerated into idiocy, but who nevertheless occupied himself solely with counting. He stopped, however, regularly at ninety-nine, and could never be induced to say one hundred, but recommenced counting at one. M. L. A. Goelis, in his Treatise on Chronic and Acute Hydrocephalus, mentions the case of a boy, who, though stupid in every other respect, still manifested, in his twelfth year, an astonishing memory for numbers, and a strong feeling of Benevolence ; which qualities, however, he adds, disappeared in proportion as his malady, hydrocephalus, increased. In the Journal Generale de Médecine,⁵ a young Englishman is mentioned, who had a nervous attack each alternate day, during which he saw and

¹ Private Journal, p 309. ² Vol. v. p. 319.

³ Boss's Voyage, London, 1819, pp. 95, 127.

⁴ Crantz's History of Greenland, vol. i. p. 225. See Remarks on the Character and Cerebral Developement of the Esquimaux, by Mr Robert Cox, Phren. Journ. vol. viii. p. 436.

5 Tome xl. p. 155.

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heard nothing, as was verified by experiment, and who yet occupied himself particularly with mathematics, arithmetic, and logarithms, and solved with ease new and difficult problems. In October 1835, I saw, in the Lunatic Asylum at Newcastle, a patient named Marshall, in whom the organ of Number was very largely developed, and it was mentioned by Mr Macintosh, the resident surgeon, that he was distinguished by a " love of arithmetic and accounts, and was perpetually employed in figures :" His hands were confined to prevent him from scratching numerals on the walls, and he then used the tip of his tongue, and traced them with saliva on the stones. I saw his tongue excoriated at the point with this exercise.

It seems difficult to determine whether or not this faculty exists in the lower animals. George Le Roy mentions that an ambush was formed, into which one man entered, to shoot a magpie, whose nest was in a tree above it. She kept her nest while he remained, and was safe. Two men entered, one left, and one remained. She still kept her nest. Three entered, and two went away. She still remained concealed. He therefore concludes that magpies count three. Six men entered and five went away. She was deceived, came forth, and was shot. Dupont de Nemours asserts that they count nine. Dr Gall does not attempt to decide the question. Dr Vimont mentions an experiment which convinced him that dogs have an idea of numbers. At a certain hour of twelve successive evenings, he gave a dog three balls of meat, which he threw into different parts of the room. Afterwards he kept one of them on the table, and threw down the other two. The animal came for them as usual, but not finding the third ball, began to search for it in every part of the room, and barked in order to obtain it : when Dr Vimont threw down the third ball its cries immediately ceased. Its behaviour was the same when four or five pieces of meat were used.¹

The organ is regarded as established.

¹ Traité de Phrénologie, tome ii. p. 321.