A new system of phrenology / by J. Stanley Grimes.

  • Grimes, J. Stanley (James Stanley), 1807-1903.
Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A new system of phrenology / by J. Stanley Grimes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    probability is there that the children will resemble one parent and not the other. Bi.u if the parentsdiffer very much from each other, the children will be more likely to resemble both. This explains why it is improper to marry near blood re- lations. It has long been known that intermarriages of relations produces degeneracy; but the cause of this has never before been understood. The union of whites and Ne- groes, almost always produces mullaltoes, and the whites and Indians mingle in a smilar manner; but among those who intermarry with the same complexion, and nation, and community, and even the same family, and who continue to do so for several generations, if the preceding rules are correct, degeneracy must be the inevitable consequence. It is among these that we most frequently find the children resembling one parent onlv. But this subject teaches us, that if marriages are consummated between persons who are very much alike in constitution, the consequences will be nearly the same as if they were relations. There is nothing in the application of the principles of Phrenology which creates so much ourpylao as the subject under consideration; and perhaps there is no more powerful evidence to the minds of the inexperienced, of the truth of the science. I have frequently been able to give a correct account of the general character of a man whom 1 have never seen, merely by examining the head of his son. Let me, in conclusion, caul ion the practitioner against pla- cing too much reliance upon the assertions of friends and ac- quaintances, in relation to the resemblance of persons who are present to those who are absent; as I frequently find the mest intimate friends mistaken. Whenever it is possible to see for yourself, the best way is to depend onlv upon observation. I would also advise those who apply phrenology practi- cally, to admit their liabilities, in some doubtful cases, to be mistaken; and when they perceive their mistakes, to