The modern self-instructor in phrenology, physiology & physiognomy, or, The people's hand-book of human nature : containing a view of the moral and theological bearing of the science of phrenology

Front matter

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Med

THE MODERN

PART I. The Brain and Skull. 14

Principles of Phrenology ... ... ... ... ... 21

The Mind not a Unit ... ... ... ... 25

Groups of Faculties ... ... ... ... ... 26

Size, the Measure of Power ... ... ... ... 27

Physiological Conditions ... ... ... ... ... 27

All the Faculties Good ... ... ... ... ... 28

PART II. Physiological Conditions

Balance of Temperaments ... ... ... ... 37

Digestion ... ...

PAGE

... 44

Activity

...

Excitability

. ... ....

... 45

Balance of Conditions

... ...

The Temperaments of Children ...

PART III. The Mental Faculties

... 46

Their Grouping ...

... 50

The Groups and their Functions

... ...

List of Faculties Classified

. ... ...

Definition of the Mental Faculties

PART IV. The Mental Faculties and their Functions

... 62

2. Conjugal Love

3. Parental Love

.

... 69

4. Friendship

...

5. Home Love ...

... 74

6. Concentration

T 7. Vitativeness ...

..

... 81

I 8. Force

...

9. Resistance

. .

... 87

10. Appetite ...

...

gr

xi. Acquisitiveness

..

12. Secretiveness

...

Cautiousness ...

..

... 98

14. Approbation

...

15. Dignity

.

... 104

16. Firmness _

...

xo6

" 17. Conscientiousness

..

... 108

18. Hope

...

in

Vll.

19. Spirituality ...

20. Veneration

21. Kindness

22. Construction

23. Ideality

24. Sublimity

25. Imitation

26. Mirthfulness

27. Observation ...

28. Form

29. Size

30. Weight ...

31. Colour

32. Order

33. Calculation ...

34. Locality ..

35. Eventuality ...

36. Time

37. Tune

38. Language

39. Causality

40. Comparison

41. Intuition

42. Geniality...

LIST OF

Bradlaugh, Charles ...

PAGE

•

• 125 127

. 129

131 . 132 133

• 134 135

• 137 138

• 139 141

• 147 149

. 150

PORTRAITS.

... 107 88 ... 122 81

... 62

98 ... 81 150

Cook, G. F.

De Lesseps, M.

Dumas, Alexander

Eiffel, M

Fawcett, Henry ...

Gladstone, W. E.

Goddard, E.

Hall, Rev. Newman ...

Havelock, Sir Henry Hey wood, John Hoffman, M.

McLaren, Rev.

Meisonnier, M. ...

Petherick, Rev.

Shaftesbury, Lord Stanley, H. M.

AUTHOR’S PREFACE.

Phrenology has of late years suffered considerably through the indiscriminate handling by persons incapable of expounding the principles of the science ; to say nothing of improving upon the facts and theories already put before the public by its founders. Like everything good and true it has been a favourite field for quacks of every description, and has, in consequence, drawn down upon itself the malevolent abuse of those who are in the habit of sweeping away the good with the bad. A great mistake has been made in Phrenology, and a wrong impression conveyed, by the use of the term organs as defining the distinct powers of the mind. For example : — " The organ of Veneration is situated on a certain part of the brain,” leads one to understand that upon this portion of the head is a part or section of brain, the sole office of which is to venerate. The same principle also conveys the idea that a particular portion of brain matter is reserved for each distinct function. This notion is, of course, absurd, and would be very hard to be believed by even the least sceptical. We have no organs for this, and organs for that. The brain is one whole, divided only into the cerebrum and cerebellum. Observation and sound deductions from physiological facts have proved beyond doubt that the shape and volume of the brain is manifested in physical harmony with the internal workings of the human mind, i.e., that distinct inherent forces, either weak or powerful, form and mould the substance of the brain accordingly. We have, therefore, faculties that manifest themselves by the developments of the brain, and not as we have been seriously told, " organs that are situated." This is undoubtedly something new in the field of Phrenology, and throws light upon the darkness and mystery which has surrounded the subject for so many years. I fearlessly assert that a man who speaks of an organ being situated in a certain part of the head, speaks not in the language of science, but in the language of ignorance and quackery. It is time that intelligence and thoroughness were

X.

applied to Phrenology ; because, hitherto the people have been made to swallow any hotch-potch fuddled together by an enterprising salesman, as a work on the science of Phrenology. Such literary food being hardly calculated to rest undisturbed upon the stomach of common sense, has invariably been again ejected, and left behind it nothing but sensations of discontent and disgust. I have endeavoured, in the following pages, to make clear to all unprejudiced minds, the principles, the uses, and the influences of true Phrenology. The accompanying illustrations have been drawn and engraved by Mr. W. H. Roberts, and have been carefully selected by me, as illustrative of the different faculties of the human mind.

Old-time phrenologists, and new-time imitators of their phraseology, have in their servility handed down to us the remarkable organ of Destructiveness. After mature deliberation and long research, I have come to the conclusion that the so-called organ is a myth, existent only in the imagination of those who have not studied the subject. Certainly we have given us a power to resist, which may impel us to destroy ; but the normal name that this faculty should be known by is Resistance. Perverted resistance may lead to destructiveness, but the idea that God has endowed us with an organ of Destructiveness would be appalling were it not childishly ridiculous in the first instance.

We are in an enlightened age, and in the hope that this modern treatise upon the science of Phrenology may prove acceptable to the culture and intelligence of the present generation, and assist in removing the foul stigma engrafted upon this valuable key to the study of human nature by the ignorant and incapable, I send it forth upon its mission of usefulness, expressing my gratitude for the amount of public approval it has already received, in that this — the Fourth Edition — has been imperatively called for by the public demand.

G. C.

COHEN’S

MODERN 0ELF-IN^T^UdTO^

IN

PHRENOLOGY.

Introduction To Phrenology

I have found, during my travels and intercourse with all classes of people, that by far the greater portion of those who were sceptical on the subject of Phrenology evinced a strong desire to know something more concerning the science ; to test it for themselves, and to prove that their objections were justifiable and well founded. Now I desire no better audiences than those composed of people of this class. They are intelligent, and open to reasonable argument, and I have had no difficulty in convincing them of the truth of Phrenology, morally, physically, and anatomically considered. I may here mention that the masses of those who know nothing or very little concerning the subject of Phrenology comprise persons of all denominations and professions. I mention this because there is a popular idea in existence that a doctor or a medical man is duly qualified to pronounce a judgment upon Phrenology. Now this is altogether erroneous; and even supposing that these men were qualified judges the controversy would not be ended here, for we have had the most eminent doctors, among them Sir Andrew Clarke, strongly advocating Phrenology. But the facts are these : this science is essentially based upon the human brain, the organ of the mind, , and refers moreover not to diseased brains but to brains in their normal condition. Hence it follows that a man may have a very perverted and illconditioned mind and yet be physically in a robust condition.

A

We may safely conclude from this that a most accomplished doctor, who has not made mental science a special study, is ignorant upon the subject of Phrenology, and his opinion is therefore valueless. Nor has modern education touched much upon this all-important subject. In proof of this we may quote the case of a popular Liverpool clergyman, a master of arts, and a man with a shrewd, practical, and analytical brain, who confessed at my farewell meeting held in that city that when he attended the first lecture he was a disbeliever in Phrenology, but that since he had entered more deeply into the subject his opinions had altered, and he confessed that night that he was a staunch believer in Phrenology. The gentleman in question became so interested in this useful science that he gave a few lectures upon the subject himself. It is satisfactory to note that the ignorant prejudice which has been so largely manifested towards Phrenology — partly because we have had sham phrenologists as we have had, and still have, sham doctors and shams of every description, and partly because the masses of the people have, from a mere glance at the subject, failed to understand its true meaning — has been very much weakened of late years. In the following pages, couched in language the most simple and comprehensive, I have endeavoured to make the subject plain to all, and confidently trust that those who carefully read this recapitulation of phrenological facts, will not fail to be struck by its truth as exemplified by their own actual observations of others ; and be personally and lastingly benefitted by becoming more cognizant of their own weaknesses, and in consequence striving to improve themselves and to strengthen their wTole character.

Most sciences and philosophies have from the earliest ages, before having become thoroughly established, had to contend with the strenuous opposition of those who have overlooked their truths without being sufficiently acquainted with their claims for consideration. Pythagoras was expelled from Athens. Anaxagoras was imprisoned. Democritus was considered insane because he endeavoured to ascertain the causes of insanity by post mortem examinations. Socrates was condemned to drink hemlock. Galileo was imprisoned on account of his peculiar opinions in astronomy. Linnseus and Buffon were called infidels. Locke was denounced as a fatalist, and the works of Descartes were burned by the ' University of Paris. Such being the case, we cannot be surprised that Phrenology has met with a great amount of opposition, which, however, as the light of knowledge becomes stronger is gradually becoming more weak and meaningless.

FATALISM.

Among the numerous charges which have been brought against Phrenology by the uninitiated, the charge that it leads to fatalism is undoubtedly the most serious and the most unfounded. As an advocate of Christianity, I cannot but dwell briefly upon this matter before all others.

The theory adopted against Phrenology, then, is that a man with a certain form of head is not accountable, because he is compelled by his organization to do certain things, and cannot act freely. It is not the phrenologist who says this, unless he is already an infidel, and has espoused Phrenology in order to find a support for his infidelity, in the same way that a man with preconceived ideas of religion will read the Bible, and afterwards declare that his peculiar opinions are to be found in the sacred Book. Phrenology teaches most distinctly the doctrines of a necessity for, — and the possibility of, — growth, improvement, and advancement; that the mind is feeble in the organization of the child, but that it developes, expands and unfolds as it is trained and educated.

Phrenology explains the nature of the organization, but it does not make the brain, or teach that a person must of necessity pursue a certain course. If, for example, a boy steals, and his mother brings him to me, and I say to her, “Guard the mind of the child, for his Acquisitiveness is very powerful, and if it becomes perverted in action he will covet, and very likely appropriate that which does not belong to him.” I do not say to her, “Your boy must or will steal,” but explain that Phrenology recognizes a faculty, the perversion of which leads to stealing, which is prominently developed in the brain of the boy, and that she must teach him to control that tendency of his mind. Phrenology does not pul the tendency there, and it is just as much the duty of the chaplain of a prison to explain why one of the prisoners has committed the crime of murder, while his neighbour in the next cell has been a burglar, as it would be that of the phrenologist, after postulating the existence of the tendency, to be called upon to account for the neglect of the necessary restraint upon it, when evil resulted.

How often have persons, even professing to be intelligent and educated, said to me, “ If I have a bad bump how can I help it ? ” Here we have an individual who would denounce Phrenology and its exponents for referring to bad bumps. We have no bad bumps ! We have faculties to rule our thoughts and actions, just as we have limbs to exercise in their various functions. The Great Almighty has munificently endowed us with powers both mental and physical, not to pervert and use for sin and evil, but to use for the good of our fellow men and to His own Glory, A faculty only becomes evil when it is excessive, and when the counteracting influence — that moral power of restraining the carnal — is neglected, and sensuality and grossness have full sway. Take for example two children, from the same or from two different families, whose parents are of similar temperaments and dispositions, and rear the one among thieves, vagabonds, and criminal surroundings; while you put the other one into a godly and refined home. Do you imagine for a moment that the children will be identical either in disposition or external development ? Certainly not. That child which has been brought up in surroundings of the lowest order will have grown accordingly. The spiritual faculties, of which a good foundation might have been inherited from parentage, will have been neglected. The social brain will have been perverted and mere carnal passion without love of children or filial affection will have become bestiality. The brain will have grown according to its inner workings, and the forehead, the seat of intellectual power, will be coarse, and lacking that refinement and beauty of development with which the seal of goodness and godliness is set upon the human countenance. The other child of similar temperament at birth will be widely different. All the nobler feelings will have become prominently developed, by practice and use, just as the muscles of the body are developed by exercise ; and the whole form of the head and forehead will be only as an index to the training of, and the life led by the child. Is it God's hand that closes the heavens to the one and opens them to the other ? Ah, no ! O, parents, you have a sacred responsibility, for you descend into your children’s children in your weakness or strength ! Remember Him who saith : “ The sins of the father will be visited upon his children u?ito the third and fourth generation ! " How terrible ! How true , and yet we have no right to question His judgment. Pray, therefore, parents, when you are blest with a darling babe, that God may enable you to bring up that child in the good and righteous path, the only path that leads to the higher happiness upon this earth, and to eternal blessedness hereafter.

The advantage of Phrenology to the mother or the boy who steals is, that when she knows his tendencies she will help him to restrain those faculties that are naturally too strong in development : hence Phrenology is of great benefit, and in following its guidance we may materially change the life of those under our charge.

As Physiology recognizes that the stomach is principally concerned with digestion, that the lungs are connected with breathing, and the heart with the circulation of the blood ; so Phrenology declares that there is one power of the mind that enables us to think ; another gives to us the emotions of love ; another is connected with devotion, and so on through the long catalogue of mental operations. The charge of fatalism is generally brought against Phrenology by those who preach predestination, or the doctrine which teaches that men are fore-ordained to go to Heaven or hell. I am acquainted with clergymen who preach strong predestination doctrines, and at the same time inconsistently oppose Phrenology most strenuously because they have declared that it led to fatalism ! It is a fact that men differ in mental and physical peculiarities, that some are organically strong while others are weak ; that some are long-lived while others die prematurely ; that some are strong-minded, others are naturally weak in mental powers ; some can resist temptation, others find it more difficult to control their propensities. These are facts without reference to Phrenology, and it is a strange thing that the objector calls upon the Phrenologist to account for these facts. They are in our organization, and anterior to every system of mental philosophy.

If man were perfect there would be no occasion for him to change, but the Creator has not designed him to commence his existence a perfect being. He is in a constant state of progression ; beginning as a child, he grows into manhood. His mind as well as his body is constantly developing, and he goes from one degree to another, constantly progressing as long as he lives. The differences in the human race arise in great measure from the fact that one has a better organization than another, more native power and ability, and is more susceptible of receiving an education. Why this difference ? Some say that the Creator makes it. The children, both of whose parents are inclined to insanity, are liable to become insane. The children of consumptive parents frequently die before the mother. Does God make the child insane or consumptive any more than He makes human beings imperfect in any way ? If one child is better organized than another there is a cause for it. There can be no fatality in the matter, because the result has arisen from superior parentage and obedience to the laws of hereditary descent. If you wish good fruit from trees planted in your garden, you prune and nourish them, and graft good fruit into the branches. Let the trees grow wild in the w'oods and you will pluck fruit not fit to be eaten. The same is true in regard to the development of the body and mind. It is a fact that those parents who understand and obey the laws of life bear more perfect children than those who neglect or infringe those laws.

It is unwise for anyone to say that the Creator makes idiots. We ought, with greater truth and propriety, to infer that they are the result of certain mental and physical conditions of the parents. If an individual possess a very small development of the moral brain, and a great preponderance of the selfish and animal propensities, it does not necessarily follow that the individual must be bad, or that the Creator intended that he should be so. But had the Creator specially designed him to have such an organization he would obey its dictates, and fulfil the destiny which was marked out for him. Hence, Phrenology explains more clearly than any other system of theology or mental philosophy why it is that man, being born with an imperfect organization, which, unrestrained by counter forces, might lead him to commit crimes of various kinds, is not fated to lead a wicked life ; of course, I except idiots, who have not generally the control either of the mental or physical forces of their being. It also gives explicit directions so that our normal powers may be developed harmoniously. The science does not teach that a man has a bad head and hence must be bad ; but that sometimes certain faculties may be too strongly developed, so that there is a want of harmony or balance of the powers, consequently there is in such cases inconsistency in mental action. It also declares that all the primitive powers of the mind are good ; that they were given to ns for a legitimate purpose, and that the vices we see in society come solely from a perversion of the faculties. When Appetite, for instance, is perverted it leads to gluttony and intemperance ; but no normal power is given for this excess. When Acquisitiveness is perverted it leads to stealing, but there is no primitive faculty for theft. If there was a faculty given for that purpose, Phrenology would not be blameable, neither would the man be responsible for the exercise of the faculty. Every man with a fair amount of mentality is conscious that he is doing wrong when he steals, and thus acts contrary to his innate convictions of right and wrong. But when he eats the food that is prepared for him he does not feel guilt and condemnation. When we honestly earn money we are not self-condemned for so doing, for it is the legitimate action of Acquisitiveness. Some look at this whole subject in a superficial manner, and reason that because other persons steal there must be a faculty to incline them to do so, and they hence conclude that such have no responsibility in the matter. Many of these tendencies are transmitted hereditarily, and where families have certain predilections the children frequently inherit the same.

Another objection that is often seriously raised against Phrenology is that it destroys accoutitability , so that a person with a bad organization will feel that he is not responsible for his bad conduct. Some are not a law unto themselves. Others can resist temptation better than their neighbours. Those who have large Firmness, Causality, Veneration, Conscientiousness and Secretiveness are not as liable to say or do indiscreet things as those who have these faculties smaller in development. We must recognize these natural differences in human beings, which everyone will admit, and we shall find that the individual is accountable in proportion as he possesses the capacity to understand the claims of truth. No rational being will imagine that the Creator holds the human race equally responsible. Some have but one talent while others have five, and others ten, and consequently the latter are far more responsible than the former. Phrenology explains this difference in organization, and recognizes a difference in responsibility, but makes neither the one nor the other. As man is not perfect, he has not the same degree of guilt when he does wrong as he would have if endowed with a more perfect organization. If we admitted fatality, man being imperfect, would be compelled to remain so; but I believe that his work in this world is to endeavour to become as perfect as possible ; then as long as life lasts he must relax no efforts to improve, restrain, and balance his powers of mind.

MATERIALISM.

And then we have those who say that Phrenology leads to Materialism. By materialism the objector means that mind and matter are identical, that the brain and the mind are synonymous terms, that as the brain in childhood is a weak and limited power, so is the mind ; that when the brain is defective there is a corresponding imbecility of mind, that they expand together, and when one decays the other is lost. Phrenology teaches that mind and matter are distinct, but that there is no manifestation of the mind except through the organism, and we have no acquaintance with mind unless we see it developed through a living being. When the child is dead reason tells us that its mind is gone. The brain is matter formed of the food we eat, and sustained in the same way as the body. After the formation of the body we read that God breathed into it the breath of life, and endowed it with a living soul. When the body dies, and has no further use for the mind or spirit, the latter goes back to the source from whence it came.

The mind has its existence, its attributes, its individuality ; it is not flesh and blood, but an ethereal or subtle essence pervading the brain, and the more perfectly organized the brain is the more perfect is the development of the mind.*

There is a vast difference between a rock and electricity, yet both exist. A rock is hard, substantial, has its locality, can be seen and handled, while electricity is a fluid that passes rapidly, and is so volatile that you cannot grasp it, and man cannot analyse it, or predicate the extent of its power. How much more difficult it is to comprehend and analyse the mind than even electricity all scientists must acknowledge. Materialism cannot be charged against Phrenology any more than against every other system of mental philosophy that makes the mind depend upon matter for its manifestation ; whether the mental philosopher locates mind in the brain as a whole or in a part of it, as in the pineal gland, that system leads to Materialism if Phrenology does. Phrenology expands and liberalizes the mind, but a bigoted person thinks that a man cannot be a Christian unless he believes certain articles in the catechism, looks towards Jerusalem, prays on his knees, and rigidly attends service in the same sanctuary where the bigot himself worships. Let him differ in the least from the prescribed tenets and he is strongly denounced ; hence more blood has been shed in consequence of a spirit of religious intolerance between different sects than from any other cause. Phrenology does not teach sectarianism, but it distinctly points out a power of the mind which leads man to feel his dependence upon a higher source, to worship and conform to what he conceives to be a higher authority ; also other moral faculties which

* “ It is quite futile to refer to pre-arranged and co-ordinate relations between external objects and the organism of the brain, without supposing the existence of a power, which is not derived from the brain, but which acts through it, noc always and merely in proportion to the size of the organ, and the state of its blood ; but also according to convictions of truth, and by the operation of agencies beyond the reach of our senses, and whose influence, therefore, we cannot estimate.” — Dr. Geo. Moore.

IO give sense of obligation and of justice, a consciousness of immortality, of spiritual existence, and feelings of charity, sympathy, and kindness. Some men do not grow spiritually. They think if they are “converted,” join the Church, become rigid sectarians, they have done their whole duty. At the commencement of their Christian life they were full of zeal and the spirit of prayer for all mankind ; longed to have the world know all they have enjoyed ; but in a short time their ardour and enthusiasm have cooled ; they have pinned their faith on creed until they have quite forgotten the first liberty felt by them at their conversion.

Although thus denouncing sectarianism and the religion of creed, I would say that were the inhabitants of the whole world gathered into Christian folds they would be more restrained from committing overt acts of vice and wickedness than now. Some do not understand the difference between religion and Christianity. While Phrenology does not profess to expound the dogmatic tenets of the day, yet it says nothing against the doctrines of Christ, nor does it oppose Christianity. It, in fact, proclaims that love to God and love to man are the highest prerogatives of a human being. It says nothing against any particular form of worship, belief, or recognition of the Deity. Two persons cannot see the attributes of God exactly alike unless they have similar minds, have been surrounded by the same influences from childhood, and have had the same general religious instruction. Phrenology explains why the Bible is interpreted so differently by different people. One who has large Resistance and Conscientiousness, with less Benevolence and Friendship, will read the Bible very attentively, and will mark each passage which says that “ God is angry with the wicked every day.” He reasons, “That is right; man is a sinner, and ought to be dealt with according to his iniquity.” Again, he reads that “ God punishes the wicked.” “ Nothing more than they deserve,” he ejaculates. In fact, a man with the combination of forces named would be constantly marking, and be more powerfully impressed by, passages referring to the punishment of sinners and eternal damnation than by anything else mentioned in the Sacred Book.

If a man, on the other hand, have a small share of Resistance and Conscientiousness, with large Benevolence and Friendship, he dwells upon such sentences as “ There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus;” “but God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Every paragraph that speaks of the goodness of God, and His desire that none should be lost, is marked. These men read and interpret- the Bible according to their peculiar organizations, so it is hardly surprising that there are as many different creeds in the world, in regard to religious opinions, as in regard to opinions upon all other subjects. Such being the case, the value of Phrenology in enabling people to come to the right conclusion, and to regard things in their proper light, cannot possibly be over-estimated. For a person seldom, until after great trouble and much suffering, begins to see what peculiar faculty in himself has led him astray, whereas Phrenology might point out to him what faculties he should cultivate and what faculties restrain, when the process of forming and bettering his character is much easier than when the mind has been allowed to wander and become perverted. Too much importance cannot therefore be attached to the Phrenological examinations of the young. The material is young, easily impressed and pliable, and can be readily moulded for good or evil by the slightest pressure or influence.