Phrenology, and how to use it in analyzing character.

  • Morgan, Nicholas.
Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Phrenology, and how to use it in analyzing character. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    tual power. The latter refers to size in position, or the par- ticular configuration of individual heads ; the former to abso- lute size, regardless of conformation. In illustration of this principle, I shall suppose three individuals of an equal volume of brain, temperament, and health. The one shall be a mere booby in intellect, but of strong passions ; the second much the same in intellect, but of a good moral nature ; while the third shall manifest very little emotional feeling, but much intellectual acuteness. Notwithstanding this great diversity of intellect, they zuould manifest equal mental power, but in different directions. This is not a fanciful, but a real picture of human nature. It would not be attended with great difficulty to select some such indi- viduals of each class from any large assembly—the experi- ence of observant persons will furnish them with many such examples. Care should therefore be exercised in duly con- sidering all the conditions before coming to a final deci- sion on the influence of size on the intellect. In all cases, in comparing individuals, the quality of their brains should be estimated ; for, as a thin bar of malleable iron will sustain a heavier strain than a much thicker bar of cast iron, so will a less brain of good quality put forth greater energy than a larger one of inferior quality. Perfection of tone cannot be brought out of a piano that is built of inferior material; neither can mind manifest exalted genius through the me- dium of an organism whose elementary particles are not of good quality. It is also equally important to take health into the estimate, because, as we have seen in my friend's case, the mental manifestations are greatly influenced thereby. The same principle applies in estimating the size and power