A system of phrenology / [George Combe].

  • Combe, George, 1788-1858.
Date:
1825
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A system of phrenology / [George Combe]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    lapse and labour of more than 2000 years, philoso- phers are not yet agreed concerning the existence of many of the most important principles of action, and intellectual powers of man. If, therefore, Phrenology could introduce into the philosophy of mind even a portion of the certainty and precision which attend physical investigations, it would confer no small bene- fit on this interesting department of science; and that it is fully competent to do so, shall be shewn after we have attended to a few preliminary points requir- ing consideration. In the third place, supposing the number and nature of the primitive faculties to be ascertained, it is to be observed, that, in actual life, they are succes- sively developed. The infant feels, before it is ob- servant; and it observes occurrences long before it reasons; and it feels fear, love, attachment, before it is alive to the sublime or the beautiful. A correct theory of mind ought to unfold principles to which these facts also may be referred. Farther, even after the full maturity of age is at- tained, how different the degrees in which we are endowed with the various mental powers. Admitting each individual to possess all the faculties the assem- blage of which constitutes the human mind, in what a variety of degrees of relative strength do they appear in different persons. In one, the love of glory is the feeling which surpasses all; another is deaf to the voice of censure, and callous to the accents of ap- plause. The soul of one melts with softest pity at a