An essay on the system of Messrs. Gall and Spurzheim, read before the Physical Society ... 14th November, 1817 / [Charles Hepburn].

  • Hepburn, Charles.
Date:
1818
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on the system of Messrs. Gall and Spurzheim, read before the Physical Society ... 14th November, 1817 / [Charles Hepburn]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    destroyed to satisfy his wants; and instances have oc¬ curred, of man destroying his fellow-creature for his food, in those situations in which necessity would not warrant such an action. Now, therefore, in man, this propensity to kill animals takes a wide range : from their horror, at the sight of the least cruelty—their indifference to the in¬ fliction of pain, to the pleasure of seeing killed, and even to the desire of killing—shocked as may be the feelings of many, it requires neither the aid of mathematical reason¬ ing, or logical proofs, to identify its existence. Unfor¬ tunately, we have too many positive proofs of its subsist¬ ence at the present time. The numerous anecdotes that might be here related, of persons sacrificing their reputa¬ tion, character, their every thing, to inhumanity, would fully prove it. Observe the diversity of feeling at an exe¬ cution : note those persons who never allow one to pass without being present; and then determine, whether or no, cruelty may not exist in the human mind. The his¬ tory of George Selvvin, affords a good’proof of the exist¬ ence of this feeling; or, I would rather say, of the per¬ version of a useful propensity : he never was absent from an execution which took place within many miles of his residence : look at the field of battle ; hear the accounts of the slain from the mouths of different soldiers; observe the energy of one and the feeling of another : idiots, mad¬ men, persons of education, others devoid of it, frequently possess this dreadful perversion of feeling. From what has been said upon this subject, we are enabled to prove, that man is carniverous, as well as her- biverous. I might have gone much further into this sub¬ ject ; and, by a comparison of structure, still more clearly pointed this out: but, as this proceeding might be consi¬ dered by many as tedious, 1 shall content myself with w hat is above stated. Destruction is an attribute of car¬ niverous animals : excited to a certain degree, this pro¬ pensity is requisite, and useful; it is sometimes necessary that we destroy that which is useless, to replace it by that which is more useful: and. again, there are many things, which, on account of their being dangerous, we are obliged to destroy. But, on the contrary, w herever this propensity destroys things that it ought not, an evident E