How to Become Rich: A Treatise on Phrenology, Choice of Professions and MatrimonyWindsor, William
Science
How to Become Rich: A Treatise on Phrenology, Choice of Professions and Matrimony
Windsor, William
Phrenology
PHRENOLOGY is the science of intelligence. It is derived from two Greek
words--_Phren_ intelligence _Logos_ "discourse" or science. But before
we can properly understand this definition we must have a definition of
the term "Science," which is about as often misused as any word I know.
_Science_ is classified knowledge. The word itself in its etymology
signifies what we _know_ about a particular subject. And whenever we
learn two facts about any subject, and we differentiate and classify
those two facts, we have a science of that subject. Thus we have the
science of Astronomy, containing the classified facts that intelligent
observers have learned concerning the stars. The science of Mathematics,
a classification of knowledge concerning numbers, and the science of
Phrenology, which simply means the facts that intelligent observers have
collected concerning intelligence, classified and reduced to rules
to serve a practical purpose.
Before I leave this term "Science," I wish to draw a distinction between
a science and an art. The science is the classified knowledge; the art
is the process of turning that knowledge to practical account. The
science of Astronomy never discovered a star, the science of Arithmetic
never computed the value of a fraction. The sciences are merely icebergs
of cold, hard facts piled up in crystallized principles and rules. Art
is the warm, living application of these principles and rules to serve
the needs of mankind. The art of Astronomy, with the assistance of its
handmaiden, the art of Mathematics, astounds the world with its
achievements, and holds in one hand the balances with which it weighs
the sun, and in the other the chain with which it surveys the distance
to the Pleiades.
So with the Science and Art of Phrenology. The science is as absolute as
Mathematics. In its principles there are no fallacies. To its rules
there are absolutely no exceptions. The Art of Phrenology, on the other
hand, is estimative, and the results of its application will depend on
the graces, the gifts and the abilities of him who seeks to apply it. As
we have brilliant astronomers and poor astronomers, as we have correct
mathematicians and incorrect ones, so we may have phrenologists whose
discoveries and whose workmanship may command the admiration of the
world, those whose talents are of the order of mediocrity, and those who
blunder on all occasions.
You have had Phrenology defined to you as the Science of Intelligence,
and you naturally ask for a definition of intelligence itself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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