Phrenological bust by LN FowlerPhrenological bust by LN FowlerThe History of Phrenology on the Web

by John van Wyhe


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].


GENUS II.-INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES WHICH PROCURE KNOWLEDGE OF OBJECTS, THEIR QUALITIES, AND RELATIONS.

THE faculties now to be treated of take cognizance of the existence and qualities of external objects. They corres-

1 Treatise on Human and Comparative Phrenology, i. 310 ; French edit. p. 298

2 De Penit. Struct. Cerebri, p. 125,

3 Dr W. Clay Wallace, of New York, has discovered " fibres in the retina. They diverge from the base of the optic nerve, and surround the foramen of Soemmering at the extremity of the eye. Sir John Herschel had supposed such fibres to be requisite in the explanation of the theory of vision, and it is therefore doubly interesting to find that they have been discovered."-Sir David Brewster's Report of the 8th Meeting of the

28 INDIVIDUALITY.

pond, in some degree, to the Perceptive Powers of the metaphysicians ; and form ideas. Their action is attended with a sensation of pleasure, but (except in the case of Tune) it is weak compared with the emotions produced by the faculties already treated of. In judging of the size of these organs, the rules laid down on page 140 require to be particularly attended to. In addition to what is there stated, I may remark that the most prominent part of the zygomatic arch will be found at the point where the two bones that compose it join. I cannot sufficiently impress on the student of phrenology the importance of attending to this mode of ascertaining the size of the anterior lobe of the brain. Let him compare the masks of Canova, Napoleon, and Franklin, with those of Hare the murderer, or even with men of average talent, and he will discover the extraordinary length of this lobe before the point indicated in men of great intellectual powers.

The organs of the intellectual faculties are small, but active. If they had been as large as those of the propensities, we should have been liable to intellectual passions. The comparative calmness of our reasoning processes is probably the result of the small size of these organs.

22.-INDIVIDUALITY.

this organ is situated in the middle of the lower part of the forehead, immediately above the top of the nose. When large it produces breadth, projection, and descent between the eye-brows, at that part ; when small, the eye-brows approach closely to each other, and lie in a horizontal line. It is very large in the portrait of Michael Angelo ; in which also the anterior lobe in general, estimated by the rule before mentioned, appears to be very largely developed.

In surveying the external world, we may consider first, objects simply as existences, such as a rock, a horse, a tree, a man ; these are designated by substantives ;-in the next place, the properties and relations of things which exist, such as their form, size, weight, and colour. After these, we may notice their active phenomena ; the rock falls, the horse runs, the tree grows, the man walks-these actions are designated by active verbs. As size, form, weight, and colour, are adjuncts of physical existence, time is an adjunct of action. We have no knowledge of the substance or essence of any object. We know only its qualities. Yet we have an intuitiv conviction that substance exists, in which the qualities which we ascribe to matter inhere. In-

30 INDIVIDUALITY.

dividuality gives us this conviction.1 Dr Vimont remarks that if several persons look at an object, all will recall it as a thing that exists ; but they will recollect with very different degrees of distinctness, its different qualities, such as its colour, its size, its density, the arrangement of its parts, and so forth ; which shews that we can form an idea of the existence of an object with very imperfect notions of its qualities, and hence that these perceptions must be referable to separate organs.

Individuality, then, renders us observant of objects which exist ; and forms the class of ideas represented by substantive nouns when used without an adjective, as rock, man, horse' Its functions were ascertained by Dr Spurzheim. It gives the desire, accompanied, with the ability, to know objects as mere existences, without regard to their modes of action, or the purposes to which they may be subservient. Individuals in whom it is large, will observe and examine an object with intense delight, without the least consideration to what purpose it may be applied-a quality of mind which is almost incomprehensible to persons in whom this organ is small and Causality large. It prompts to observation, and is a great element in a genius for those sciences which consist in a knowledge of specific existences, such as natural history. It tends to render all the ideas entertained by the mind specific. A student in whom this organ is small, and the reflecting organs large, may have his mind stored with general principles of science, and with abstract ideas, but will experience much difficulty in reducing them into precise and specific forms. Another, in whom this organ is large, will have all his knowledge individualized : if he hear lectures or conversation in which general views chiefly are presented,

1 In like manner, we can form no conception of the element which constitutes efficiency in a cause. Yet when we perceive a cause operating, we have an intuitive conviction that something which constitutes efficiency or power does exist in the object which we see acting. It is probable that our faculties are not calculated to comprehend more than the existence of substance and efficiency.

INDIVIDUALITY. 31

he will render them specific for himself ; but unless his reflecting organs also be large, he will be prone to miss the essential principle, to seize upon a mere illustration or some palpable concomitant circumstance, and to embrace this as his conception of it. Such persons are learned, and, owing to the store of facts with which their memories are replenished, the great definiteness and precision of their ideas, and the readiness with which they command them, they often take a lead in public business : but if their reflecting organs be deficient, they shew no depth or comprehensiveness of understanding ; they do not advance the principles of science, and rarely acquire a permanent reputation.

In common life, a great development of this organ confers a talent for observation, curiosity to know, and aptitude for acquiring knowledge of details. The character of Miss Pratt, as drawn by the author of The Inheritance, a novel, is a personification of Individuality, when predominantly powerful, and not directed by higher faculties.1 " But people who make use of their eyes," says this author, " have often much to see, even between two doors ; and in her progress from the hall door to the drawing-room, Miss Pratt met with much to attract her attention. True, all the objects were perfectly familiar to her ; but a real looker, like a great genius, is never at a loss for a subject-things are either better or worse since they saw them last-or if the things themselves should happen to be the same, they have seen other things, either better or worse, and can therefore either approve or disapprove of them. Miss Pratt's head then turned from side to side a thousand times as she went along, and a thousand observations and criticisms about stair-carpets, patent-lamps, hall-chairs, slab-tables, &c. &c. &c. passed through her crowded brain."-" At length Miss Pratt and Mr Lindsay were announced, and thereupon entered Miss Pratt in a quick paddling manner, as if in all haste to greet her friends."-" Miss Pratt then appeared to her (Gertrude)

1 See The Phrenological Journal, ii. 65.

32 INDIVIDUALITY.

a person from whom nothing could be hid. Her eyes were not by any means fine eyes-they were not reflecting eyes -they were not soft eyes-they were not sparkling eyes- they were not penetrating eyes ; neither were they restless eyes, nor rolling eyes, nor squinting eyes, nor prominent eyes-but they were active, brisk, busy, vigilant, immoveable eyes, that looked as if they could not be surprised by any thing-not even by sleep. They never looked angry, nor joyous, or perturbed, or melancholy, or heavy ; but morning, noon, and night they shone the same, and conveyed the same impression to the beholder, viz. that they were eyes that had a look-not like the look of Sterne's monk, beyond this world-but a look into all things on the face of this world. Her other features had nothing remarkable in them ; but the ears might evidently be classed under the same head with the eyes-they were something resembling rabbits'-long, prominent, restless, vibrating ears, for ever listening, and never shut by the powers of thought."

From communicating this talent of observation, Individuality greatly assists Imitation in promoting mimicry. The organ was large in Garrick and Matthews ; and it is obvious that accurate observation of the manners and appearances of men was a fundamental element in a talent such as theirs, of pourtraying on the stage living individuals in their minutest peculiarities.

When the organ is deficient, the individual fails to observe things that exist around him ; he may visit a house, and come away without knowing what objects were in the rooms. A person thus deficient walks in the streets, or through the country, and observes nothing. In short, although the external senses are in perfect health,-owing to the feebleness of this observing power, they are not called into activity for the purpose of acquiring knowledge.

This organ, when large, prompts to discovery by observation of things which exist. Persons so constituted do not seek to arrive at new truths by reasoning, but inquire of nature, of men, of books for information ; and hence, many

INDIVIDUALITY. 33

brilliant physical discoveries have been made by persons largely endowed with these and the other perceptive organs, whose reflecting faculties have not surpassed mediocrity. Since Bacon's rules of philosophizing have been duly appreciated and become fashionable, science has been extensively and successfully cultivated by a class of minds, which, while the method of speculative reasoning prevailed, was excluded from such pursuits. This class is composed of persons in whom the organ under consideration greatly predominates over those of the reflecting powers. Such individuals are constituted by nature to become observers ; and natural history, particularly botany,1 anatomy, mineralogy, and even chemistry, are great departments of knowledge fitted for the exercise of their peculiar talent. The substance of these sciences consists in a knowledge of the existence, appearances, and properties of natural objects, as facts ; and we need not be surprised to meet with eminent professors of them, in whose heads the reflecting organs are greatly inferior to the knowing. When Individuality is small, and the reflecting organs large, the possessor forms vague conceptions of things that exist, and of facts.

To the artist this organ is of great importance. It enables him to give a definite character to his conceptions, and confers on him a capacity for attending to details. In the pictures of an artist in whose head Individuality is deficient, there is an abstractness of conception, and a vagueness of expression, that greatly detract from their effect. In the 'works of an individual in whom these organs are large, every object appears full of substance and reality ; and if he paint portraits, the spectator will be so impressed with their individuality, that he will be apt to fancy himself acquainted with the originals.

^ Persons who excel at whist, generally possess Individuality and Eventuality large. If both of the organs be deficient, eminence will not easily be attained in this game.

' See Letter by Mr Hewett Watson, on the beads of botanists. Phren. Journ., vol. viii. p. 101. VOL. II.

34 INDIVIDUALITY.

" This faculty, combined with that of Form, gives the tendency to personify notions and phenomena, or to ascribe existence to mere abstractions of the mind, such as Ignorance, Folly, or Wisdom.

The organ was large in Sheridan and Sir Walter Scott. It is small in the Scots in general ; it is larger in the English, and still larger in the French.

In adults, the frontal sinus is generally present at the situation of this organ, and this throws a difficulty in the way of judging of its size in them. The function, however, is ascertained by observing young persons in whom the sinus is not formed, and by the negative evidence ; that is, when the external part of the skull at the top of the nose is narrow, contracted, and depressed, the portion of brain below is necessarily small, and then the mental power is found invariably weak. The concomitance of large size and great power in young persons, in whom there is no sinus, and of deficiency of size and feebleness of power in all ages, proves the function. In mature age the sinus may, in certain cases, throw a difficulty in the way of determining the exact' size of the organ, but this does not prevent the possibility of ascertaining the function by observations made in other cases in which this obstacle does not exist. See vol. i. p. 127-8-9.

The organ and the mental qualities conferred by it are established ; but the metaphysical analysis of the faculty seems to require farther elucidation.1

1 Mr Scott has published an elaborate essay on Individuality in the Phrenological Journal, vol. Y- p. 226. See also remarks on it by Mr Schwartz of Stockholm, vol. vi. p. 328 ; and by Mr Hewett Watson, vol. vii. p. 213.


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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