Christian Phrenology: A Guide to Self-KnowledgeBunney, Joseph
Religion
Christian Phrenology: A Guide to Self-Knowledge
Bunney, Joseph
Phrenology
It was impossible to foresee what results would follow the exposition of
this doctrine. Dr. Gall's mode of enquiry was plain and simple; thus he
found that a desire for gain bore relation to the size of one part of the
brain--he called it the organ of _theft_, because he found it largest in
thieves; the propensity to destroy, he called _murder_, because he found
it largest in individuals condemned for that crime--in like manner
benevolence and other organs, for as Dr. Gall had not laid out any
arrangement, a series of disjointed facts was all that could be arrived
at, leaving their value to be determined at a future period, when the
multitude of facts should require some arrangement. As soon, therefore, as
the value of the materials had been ascertained by time and further
investigation, the eye of philosophy at once detected the materials for a
system of mental elucidation, and phrenological facts were arranged into a
scientific system, whose importance has been universally recognized:
facts that had hitherto appeared isolated were soon connected with others
and the obloquy that had been thrown upon it by public ridicule, was
overpowered by the presence of truth. The doctrines which at first were a
rude and undigested mass of unconnected facts, whose apparent results were
neither promising nor inviting, now became changed in character,--it was
recognized to be the science of mind and its value was apparent, the new
opinions had been doubted, simply because they were new, but they bore
upon them the impress of truth: those who were adverse to its doctrines,
were those who had not studied its principles; and those who doubt it now
are those who have never examined the volume of nature, from which the
page of science has been torn. Those who consider its relative bearing,
both upon individuals and the human race, will be convinced that
Phrenology carries in its train the most valuable assistance in furthering
the cause of education, morality, and religion. We cannot conclude this
chapter better than by quoting the annexed extract by a popular writer
from the Foreign Quarterly Review;--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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