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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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25.-WEIGHT.

THERE seems to be no analogy between the weight or resistance of bodies, and their other qualities. They may be of all forms, sizes, and colours, and yet none of these features would necessarily imply that one was heavier than the other. This quality, being distinct from all others, we cannot logically refer the cognizance of it to any of the faculties of the mind which judge of the other attributes of matter. The mental power, however, undoubtedly exists, and its organ has been proved by the following among many other observations. Persons who excel at archery and quoits, and also those who find great facility in judging of momentum and resistance in mechanics, are observed to possess the parts of the brain lying nearest to the organ of Size largely developed. The organ is large in the mask of Maclachlan, a weaver of Saltcoats, who spent much time and money in devising means to regulate the stroke of the common pump, so as to make the working-rod move with the same momentum up and down : it is large also in the mask of Brunei, the celebrated engineer and mechanician. In examining masks, a depression of muscle which sometimes takes place at this

¹ Dr Vimont conceives that he has discovered in the animals which fly, swim, or march in groups, and always in a definite and regular order, an organ situated in the anterior portion of the orbitary plate, which he names " Organe du sens géométrique.'' He does not know whether this organ exists in man or not.

WEIGHT. 47

part, in consequence of the weight of the plaster, must not be mistaken for a fulness of the organ. In blowing crown-glass, the workman dips the end of a hollow iron-tube into a pot of melted glass, and takes up as much of it as will suffice to make a circle. To form a full-sized circle, the quantity raised should be nine pounds and a half ; and when visiting a manufactory at Newcastle, I was told that an expert workman will generally hit the exact quantity, and very rarely deviate to the extent of two or three ounces, either under or over it. Some men excel others in this tact, and some are wholly incapable of acquiring it. I observed the organ of Weight . very largely developed in the successful workman. I have observed it large also in all players on the harp, violin, and pianoforte, who are remarkable for exquisiteness of touch. It enables them intuitively to apply the exact degree of force requisite to produce the nice gradations of forte and piano required. Further, I have remarked that persons in whom Individuality, Size, Weight, and Locality, are large, have generally a talent for engineering, and those branches of mechanics which consist in the application of forces ; they delight in steam-engines, water-wheels, and turning-lathes. The same combination occurs in persons distinguished for successful execution of difficult feats in skating ; in which the regulation of equilibrium is an important element. Constructiveness, when Weight is small, leads to rearing still fabrics, rather than to fabricating working machinery.

Mr Simpson has published, in The Phrenological Journal (vol. ii. p. 412), an interesting and ingenious essay on this organ, in which he enumerates a great number of examples, in proof of its functions. It is large, says he, in Dr Chalmers, Dr Brewster, Sir James Hall, Sir George Mackenzie, Professor Leslie, and in Mr Jardine and Mr Stevenson, two eminent engineers. " We have lately seen," he continues, " Professor Farish of Cambridge, who manifests a high endowment of mechanical skill, and has the organ large ; as has Mr Whewell of the same University, who has written a work of merit on the same subject. In a visit we lately

48 WEIGHT.

made to Cambridge, we saw much that was interesting in regard to this organ. Professor Parish's son inherits the mechanical turn and the organ. We saw both the statue and bust of Sir Isaac Newton, by Roubilliac. The bust was a likeness taken in the prime of his years, and in it the knowing organs are still more prominent than in the statue. Weight is very pre-eminent. The same organ is very large in the bust of the lamented Dr Clarke, the traveller ; and, as might have been expected, Locality quite extraordinarily developed.¹ We met with several persons with small Weight, who at once acknowledged deficiency in mechanical talent, and awkwardness in their actions and movements. A child of two years old was mentioned to us, although we did not see it, quite remarkable to every one for the large development of brain at this part of the frontal bone, and for the uncommon steadiness of its walk, at an age when other children totter, and it is the theme of wonder to all who know it.¹'

Mr Simpson proceeds : " The faculty now under consideration, in high endowment, manifests itself in engineering, in dynamical skill, in the knowledge and application of mechanical forces. What may be its lesser endowments? Where do we find the organ? Situated in the midst of that group, which gives us the perception of the qualities of material objects ; namely, Form, Size, Locality, Colouring, Order, and Number. It is evident there is a quality of bodies most essential to their nature, not included in these qualities

¹ " In the numerous living heads we saw at Cambridge, we met often with the organ of Number large, and found, invariably, that it was accompanied in the individual with algebraic celebrity. The organization generally corresponded to the cause of the person's rank in the University ; and, although there were exceptions, most of the persons who have achieved honours, evidently owe them to the great power of their knowing organs ;-clearly shewing that those who were also gifted with deeply-reflecting and combining powers, are not called to use them either in classical or mathematical studies. Many men, on the contrary, have figured in public life, in virtue of their great endowment of Causality and Comparison, who, from a smaller gift of the knowing organs, have held a very humble grade at Oxford and Cambridge."

WEIGHT. 49

singly or combined ; namely, their density and corresponding weight. As bodies gravitate in a well-known ratio to their density, and their density and weight are the same thing, weight is. only one name for gravitation. Does it then serve any important purpose in our being, or is it essential to our animal existence, that we should have an instinctive perception of gravitation, operating constantly and independently of reason 2 That state of rest which the law of gravitation constitutes the natural state of all bodies, solid, fluid, and aeriform, is called their equilibrium. The simplest animal motions, what are they but alternate disturbance and restoration of equilibrium ?"-" The land-animal walks and runs, and avails itself of the resistance of the earth,-the bird flies by its instinctive perception of the resistance of the air,-the fish uses its fins and tail, instinctively perceiving the resistance of the water.

" Some degree, therefore, of the power of adapting motions to the law of gravitation, some power over equilibrium, must be possessed by the whole animated creation,-for with out it, it is plain, they must perish. May the organ of "Weight be the organ of this faculty? To man alone is given the capacity to aid this power, and render his motion more effectual, and force more availing by the use of instruments, - and Franklin well named him a tool-making, or rather a tool-using, animal. What are his tools ? They are all modifications of the elementary mechanical powers. His club and bow are levers,-his axe, knife, sword, and arrow, are wedges. He instinctively aids his own muscular force by the lever, when he applies a bar of wood to raise a stone from the ground ;-if he wishes to raise that stone to a certain height, perpendicularly, he will instinctively counteract its gravitation by forcing it up an inclined plane, instead of applying his own bodily force to lift it perpendicularly. The principle of the pulley will suggest itself whenever he has obtained a block with a cord .or thong, to draw water out of a pit. The screw is only the inclined plane wrapt spirally round a cylin-

VOL. II. D

50 WEIGHT.

der ; to avail himself of which he would be led, whenever he attempted, as he early did, to build a tower.''

These views, says Mr Simpson, are strongly supported by diseased affections of this part of the brain. Miss S. L. was attacked with headach, and pain in the region of the organ of Weight ; " her perception of equilibrium was deranged, and she experienced giddiness, inclined position of horizontal floors and ceilings, and the sensation of being lifted up, and of again falling down and forward. Her account of it is worthy of remark, for she said she felt as if she had been tipsy" Mr Simpson refers to a diseased condition of this and of some of the other knowing organs, a curious mental affection, which Mr John Hunter, the celebrated anatomist, experienced in 1776, and which is recorded in his Life, written by Sir Everard Home. " From great anxiety of mind,^" says he, "Mr H. had a severe illness. It attacked him on a journey, and his first sensation, it is well worthy of remark, was that of having drunk too much, although he had taken nothing but a little weak punch. On going to bed, he felt as if suspended in the air, and soon after the room seemed to go round with very great rapidity. This ceased, but the strange sensation, like Miss S. L.'s, of being lifted up, continued ; and, on being brought home in his carriage, his sensation was that of sinking or going down. The symptoms of whirling and suspension increased ; and his own head, when he raised it from his pillow, seemed to move from him to some distance with great velocity. When he became able to stand without being giddy, he was unable to walk without support ; ' for,' says Sir E. Home, ' his own feelings did not give him information respecting his centre of gravity, so that he was unable to balance his body, and prevent himself from falling.' We need not add," continues Mr Simpson, " the obvious comment, that the organ of Weight was diseased, and the very function we have imputed to it, the instinct of equilibrium (expressed almost in our own words by Sir E. Home), unequivocally impeded."¹

¹ Phrenological Journal vol. ii. p. 302, 426,

WEIGHT. 51

The phenomena of intoxication are explained by Mr Simpson in a similar way. " Both Miss S. L., and Mr John Hunter," says he, "bore testimony to the illusive feeling of being intoxicated, while Miss S. L. had acute pain in the organ of the instinct or power of preserving the balance, and maintaining an upright posture. But for an innate, steady, and never-failing perception of equilibrium, animal movements would be only staggering and tumbling. The intoxicated soon lose a steady gait, fall down, see perpendiculars at other angles, believe the floor itself perpendicular, and grasp the ground to save themselves from falling off its surface ; they feel lifted up, sinking down, and whirling round. Sickness would follow these sensations, independent of the stimulus of the liquor to the stomach ; and it is extremely probable that sea-sickness results from the inverted feelings occasioned by motion which violates our habitual perception of equilibrium."¹

A correspondent of The Phrenological Journal? mentions, that he was struck with this remark about sea-sickness arising from the disturbance of equilibrium, and found by experience when at sea, that, by standing at the vessel's side, directing his eyes to an object on shore perfectly still, the top of a mountain for example, and shutting out with the palms of his hands all sight of the ship and the sea, sickness was invariably dispelled; but always returned whenever he withdrew his hands, and allowed any part of the vessel to catch his eye. I have seen instances which strongly support the idea, that, coteris paribus, those persons are least subject to sea-sickness in whom the organ is largest.

Sir G. S. Mackenzie has suggested the name " Resistance," as more appropriate for this faculty than " "Weight." "We cannot judge," says he, " of Weight, as we do of form, without repeated experience. We may see before us two balls of the same size and colour. We take up one of them, and perceive that it requires a certain exertion or re-

¹ Phrenological Journal, vol. ii. p. 427. * Vol. ii. p. 645.

sistance on the part of the muscles of the arm and hand to support it. From this, however, we cannot determine that the other ball will produce the same effect, for it may be hollow. Now, although we have obtained the experience that two similar balls may not produce the same effect, this experience is of no use to us, for we must always make the experiment of lifting both, in order to determine which is the heavier. The impression of resistance is, however, left with us ; and probably it is the function of the faculty which Dr Spurzheim calls that of Weight, to give us conceptions of resistance in general."¹ Mr Simpson conceived resistance to be perceived by an external sense formerly spoken of,² and called this the faculty of Force.³ He subsequently agreed with Mr Edmondson in viewing Constructiveness as the organ of Force, and this as the organ of Gravitation. Dr Vimont admits this organ, and calls it " the organ of resistance :-the organ which appreciates the resistance of bodies."

Mr Richard Edmondson of Manchester mentions that a great number of observations have led him to the conviction that this organ gives the perception of perpendicularity. Workmen who easily detect deviations from the perpendicular possess it large ; while those who constantly find it necessary to resort to the plumb-line have it small, and vice versa.⁴ The same gentleman has more recently published⁵ an essay on the functions of the organs of Weight

¹ Illustrations of Phrenology, p. 160.

² See the section on Touch in this vol. p. 16.

³ The views of Mr Simpson are expounded in the Phren. Journ., vol. ix. p. 193. A very extensive discussion has taken place regarding the functions of this faculty, but no generally admitted conclusion has yet been reached. See Phren. Journ. vol. x. p. 148, 462, 525, 535, 730 ; also vol. xii. p. 206, 366. In vol. xiv. p. 109, there is an instructive communication by Mr Hytche, of cases illustrative of the functions of the organ. See also vol. xv. p. 114. On p. 357, 363, of the same volume, the effects of mesmerism applied to the organ are described.

5 Phren. Journ., vol. vii. p. 106. ⁶ Id. vol. ix. p. 624,

and Constructiveness ; in which he maintains the same view, with this addition, that the faculty perceives not only perpendicularity, but also the direction of force, and in particular the direction of the gravitating force of our bodies. The perception of the degrees of force he refers to Constructiveness.

Mr Sampson also, in a letter to me, published in the Phren. Journal, vol. xii. p. 366, suggests that direction depends on weight. An accurate perception of direction is as essential as a just estimate of momentum, in playing at quoits, and practising archery with success ; and this idea is countenanced by an observation which I have repeatedly made, viz., that expert marksmen with the pistol and gun, have this organ uniformly large. Dr Vimont mentions that this organ is large in all the birds of prey, and also in the cat.