Phrenology, or, The doctrine of the mental phenomena (Volume 2).

  • Johann Spurzheim
Date:
1835
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Phrenology, or, The doctrine of the mental phenomena (Volume 2). 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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    general qualities of inanimate objects, such as extension, configur- ation, consistency, color,—even in knowing the common qualities of metals, earths, or acids ; we are not yet made acquainted with iron, copper, chalk, or vinegar. To indicate a determinate body, its specific qualities must be exposed. In natural history it is not sufficient to say that we possess a stone, a plant, an animal, a bird, &c, it is indispensable to mention the species of each possessed, and if varieties exist, to state even their distinctive characters. In the study of the human body, general and common notions are also distinguished and separated from those which are partic- ular ; the body is divided into several systems, such as the muscu- lar, osseous, nervous, glandular, &c. ; determinate functions, too, are specified, as the secretion of saliva, of bile, tears, &c But this distinction between general, common, and special notions is entirely neglected in the study of the mind, and even in that of the functions which in animals take place with consciousness. Instinct. Zoologists divide and subdivide the organization of the beings they study, and determine the structure of each particularly, but they consider their animal life in a manner quite general. Whatever is done with consciousness is explained by means of the word in- stinct. Animals eat and drink, and construct habitations by instinct; the nightingale sings, the swallow migrates, the hamster makes provision for the winter, the chamois places sentinels, sheep live in society, &c, and all by instinct. This is certainly a very easy manner of explaining facts; instinct is the talisman which produces every variety in the actions of animals. The knowledge convey- ed, however, is general, and therefore completely vague. What is instinct ? Is it a personified being, an entity, a principle ? or does the word, according to its Latin etymology, signify only an internal impulse to act in a certain way in ignorance of the cause? I take it in the latter signification ; thus the word instinct denotes every inclination to act arising from within.
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