Remarks on the principles of phrenology : a lecture delivered before the Fredericksburg Phrenological Society, Feb. 11, 1834 / by Beverley R. Wellford.

  • Wellford, Beverley R. (Beverley Randolph), 1797-1870.
Date:
1834
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on the principles of phrenology : a lecture delivered before the Fredericksburg Phrenological Society, Feb. 11, 1834 / by Beverley R. Wellford. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    brain disappears and the number and extent of the convolutions diminish in strict proportion as u e da • ■ nd in the scale of animal organization. The bruin, approaches in the same ratio, to f a uniform and homogeneous mass and it probably is not until we have arrived at the very lowest grade of animal exis- tence that it actually assumes that character. Tracing the ope- rations of nature as we ascend the scale of the animal creation we find not only new and more perfect organization of those struc- tures which are intended to perform the functions and administer to the wants of his physical nature, but that there is also a more perfe< t organization, by means o( which their limited mental ope- rations or instincts are manifested. When we arrive at man, the most perfect of the animal creation, we find him endowed with powers unknown to the lower orders; physically with organs of voice which enable him to utter articulate sounds ; with his loco- motive apparatus so arranged as to render his natural position erect, and that which in brutes is the anterior extremity termina- ted in him by that most useful and complicated instrument, the hand. Other evidences of a more perfect structure might be ad- duced but these are sufficient for our present purpose. If we ad- vert to his mental constitution, uc find that his superior physical powers are directed by an intellectual and rational principle, so in- finitely superior to that bestowed on brutes as at once to designate that he belongs to another class of being; and if we extend our researches to the. medium through which this principle operates, we find its structure different and its organization perfected by an audition of parts to be found in none of the lower animals. If, after we have established this general fact, we direct our investi- gation to the individuals of our species, we meet with obvious and striking varieties of developement. If you will look around on your associates, you will perceive that the size and form of the head is infinitely varied; in some instances one, part, in others, another most strongly developed ; in one case, tbe forehead, in others, the posterior part of the head; some narrow, some broad, some arched on the summit, others flattened. So obvious are these peculiarities, that if it were customary to shave the head we ■mould as readily recognize our acquaintances by them as we now