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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    9 state of this propensity, if they but reflect for a moment on the many instances we have on record, of persons in the highest ranks of society committing theft; whose situation would seem to remove them from all cause, and yet unable to withstand the temptation. That we do not find it so often in the higher circles as in the lower ranks, is well accounted for. The incidents of situation, and the temptations, all conspire to sustain this unfortunate failing in the latter. I sincerely hope, I have now said sufficient to erase from the minds of my hearers, that accusation which has been so unwarrantably attributed against our theorists: nor can I, in conclusion, help animadverting upon the manner in which its enemies have attached this to it. They have not done as becomes those who pretend to judge, reason, argue, and deduce inferences: it is well for any man to say, here is an organ of murder; here is an organ of theft; but he ought, at the same time, to recol¬ lect, that if he takes upon himself to investigate, he ought to give the foundation of Iris condemnation ; if this had been done in this instance, no reasoning could have proved that they have given special organs for murder and theft. Nothing, in my opinion, tends so much to retard the ge¬ neral welfare of literature, as unjust and unfounded criti¬ cism : the young are timid at the idea of the erudition of our Critical Reviews, and too frequently are induced to resign their works, fearful of this modern palladium of wit and scurrility. Men of riper years and acknowledged talent, rather than submit to the indignity of having their works lashed and cut up, and their meaning per¬ verted, withhold that which might' otherw ise be a general C5 O good. It has been said of this theory, that we can, by a know- ledge of it, on looking at a man’s head, see directly his disposition, and his general character. This I positively contradict; and assert, that its authors never advanced any such position. They have said, in the very first line of the book which I before quoted, that they do not treat of determinate actions; they only consider the faculties man is endowed with, and the “ general indications they present.” Some persons have taken up the principles of