Phrenology, or, The doctrine of the mind : and of the relations between its manifestations and the body / by J. Spurzheim.

  • Spurzheim, J. G. (Johann Gaspar), 1776-1832.
Date:
MDCCCXXV. [1825]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Phrenology, or, The doctrine of the mind : and of the relations between its manifestations and the body / by J. Spurzheim. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    branches of anthropology, instead of being studied together, are cultivated separately. The useful ex- ample of the Greek philosophers is neglected, and anatomy, physiology, medicine, philosophy, education, religion and legislation, instead of being studied as parts of a harmonious whole, and united so as to exert a mutual influence, are split into so many particular doctrines or sciences. Man must be studied as a being of creation ; and his nature requires the same method of examination as every other natural object: observation and in- duction. To what profession then does the study of human nature especially belong? Many persons cannot conceive why a physician should be continually speaking of the knowledge of human nature. No profession, however, is more interested in, and none affords better opportunities for its examination. The particular province of the physician is, indeed, man in a state of disease; but it is evident that knowledge of the healthy must be the foundation of knowledge of the diseased state; that is, pathology must be based upon physiology. Derangement of the func- tions cannot be understood if we are not acquainted with their regular and proper actions. Hence all physiological inquiries are most intimately connected with medicine. It cannot be doubted that, considered even in itself, the most important part of man is the nervous system; and traced in its relations with other parts and other systems, inquiries into its functions must also be more