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pearance like that of a blister on a biscuit, or by the internal table sinking in without being followed by the external; and hence, as the outer surface does not indicate the precise degree of development of brain beneath, it is argued that the existence of a frontal sinus must be an insuperable objection to our science, because it throws so much uncertainty on our observations as completely to destroy their value; other opponents, however, more rationally confine their objection to those organs only over which the sinus extends.

The first objection is manifestly untenable. Even granting the sinus to be an insuperable obstacle in the way of ascertaining the development of the organs over which it is situated, we state, first, That in ordinary cases it extends only over three, viz. Size, (21), Lower Individuality, (19), and Locality, (24); and, 2dly, We ask in what possible manner it can interfere with the other thirty or thirty-one organs, the whole external appearances of which it leaves as unaltered as if it were a sinus in the moon? It would, we think, be quite as logical to talk of a snow-storm in Norway obstructing the high road from Edinburgh to London, as of a small sinus at the top of the nose concealing the developments of Benevolence, Firmness, or Veneration on the crown of the head.

To enable the reader to form a correct estimate of the value of the objection as applicable to the two or three individual organs particularly referred to, we subjoin a few observations. In the first place, Below the age of twelve or fourteen, the sinus almost never exists; 2dly, In adult age, it frequently occurs to the extent above admitted; and,

This may seem at variance with a statement given in Mr Combe's Essays, on the authority of a friend in Paris, who, in the course of many months, dissections, had never found a frontal sinus except in old age and in disease. In sawing open the skull for anatomical purposes, the section is almost always made horizontally through the middle of the forehead, or over the organs of Tune, Time, and Upper Individuality, and in all the cases alluded to by the gentleman in Paris, this line was followed, and as the sinus rarely extends so high up, he could not, and did not, meet with it. On examining vertical sections, however, for the purpose of seeing the sinus, he has since frequently found it to the extent mentioned in the text.

3dly, In old age and in disease, as in chronic idiocy and insanity, it is often of very great extent, owing to the brain diminishing in size, and the inner table of the skull following it, while the outer remains stationary. Now the first cases present no objection, for in them the sinus does not exist; and the third are instances of diseases, which are uniformly excluded in phrenological observations; and thus our attention is limited solely to the cases forming the second class. In regard to them the objection is, that large development of brain, and large frontal sinus, present so nearly the same appearance that we cannot be sure which is which, and, therefore, that our observations must be inconclusive.

To this we answer as follows:-1st, We must distinguish between the possibility of discovering the functions of an organ and of applying this discovery practically in all cases, so as to be able in every instance to predicate the exact degrees in which each particular mental power is present in each individual. The sinus does not in general exist before the age of twelve or fourteen, below which is precisely the period when Individuality is most conspicuously active in the mind. If then in children, in whom no sinus exists, the mental power is observed to be strong when the part of the head is large, and weak when it is small, we make certain of the function whatever may subsequently happen. If in afterlife the sinus comes to exist, this throws a certain degree of difficulty in the way of the practical application of our knowledge; and accordingly phrenologists state this to be the case, and admit a difficulty in determining the exact degree of this mental power, which, in adult age, may be expected to accompany any particular development of this organ, unless in extreme cases of development and deficiency, in which even the sinus itself can form but a small fraction of the difference. In the next place, the objection applies only to one set of cases. If there be a hollow or depression in the external surface of the skull at the situation of the organs in question, and the sinus be absent, then the organ must necessarily be deficient in proportion to the depression. If, with

such an external appearance, the sinus be present, which it is not, but which we shall allow the opponents to maintain it to be, then it must be formed by the inner table receding still more than the outer table, and hence a still greater deficiency of organ will actually exist than is externally indicated, and of course the mental power will be at least equally deficient with the external indication of deficiency in the organ. In cases of deficiency, therefore, the sinus forms no objection. Thus the only cases in which it can occasion embarassment are those in which it causes a swelling of the parts of the skull in question outward, to which there is no corresponding development of brain within. Now, if in all cases in youth, when no sinus exists, and in all cases in mature age in which a depression is found, the mental power is ascertained to correspond exactly with the external development, and if, in certain cases, in adult age, an external indication is found to which the mental power does not correspond, what conclusion falls to be drawn according to the rules of a correct logic? Not that the functions are uncertain, because they have been ascertained in cases not liable to impediment or objection, but only that in the particular case in mature age, in which the external development is large, and the power absent, there must be a frontal sinus.

Having now shewn that this objection, viewed even in its strongest light, only renders it difficult to infer from the development alone the degree of endowment of these three faculties, in an occasional individual case, and does not in the least interfere with the possibility of discovering the function, we have now to state, that there are few cases indeed, perhaps not five in a hundred, in which the phrenologist cannot say distinctly whether a sinus exists or not to such an extent as to diminish the accuracy of his observations; and we refer those who wish to have a correct idea of the general size and appearance of this cavity to about a dozen specimens in the collection of the Phrenological Society.

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ARTICLE XIII.

EFFECTS OF SIZE AND ACTIVITY IN THE ORGANS.

CONSIDERABLE obscurity pervades the minds of many persons regarding this branch of the Phrenological doctrine, and we shall endeavour to remove it.

In physics, power is quite distinguishable from activity. The balance-wheel of a watch moves with much rapidity, but so slight is its impetus that a hair would suffice to stop it; the beam of a steam-engine traverses slowly and ponderously through space, but its power is prodigiously great.

In muscular action these qualities are recognized as different with equal facility. The greyhound bounds over hill and dale with animated agility; but a slight obstacle would counterbalance his momentum and arrest his progress. The elephant, on the other hand, rolls slowly and heavily along; but the impetus of his motion would sweep away an impediment sufficient to resist fifty greyhounds at the summit of their speed.

In mental manifestations (considered apart from organization) the distinction between power and activity is equally palpable. On the stage, Mrs Siddons, senior, and Mr John Kemble, were remarkable for the solemn deliberation of their manner, both in declamation and action, and yet they were splendidly gifted in power. They carried captive at once the sympathies and understanding of the audience, and made every man feel his faculties expanding, and his whole mind becoming greater under the influence of their energies. This was a display of power. Other performers, again, are remarkable for vivacity of action and elocution, who nevertheless are felt to be feeble and ineffective in rousing an audience to emotion. Activity is their distinguishing attribute, with an absence of power. At the bar, in the pulpit, and in the senate, the same distinction prevails. Many members of the

learned professions display great felicity of illustration and fluency of elocution, surprising us with the quickness of their parts, who nevertheless are felt to be neither impressive nor profound. They possess intellect without passion, and ingenuity without comprehensiveness and depth of understanding. This also proceeds from activity, with little power. There are other public speakers again who open heavily in debate, their faculties acting slowly but deeply, like the first heave of a mountain-wave. Their words fall like minuteguns upon the ear, and to the superficial they appear about to terminate ere they have begun their efforts. But even their first accent is one of power; it rouses and arrests attention; their very pauses are expressive, and indicate gathering energy to be embodied in the sentence that is to come. When fairly animated, they are impetuous as the torrent, brilliant as the lightning's beam, and overwhelm and take possession of feebler minds, by impressing them irresistibly with a feeling of gigantic power.

Let us apply these observations to phrenology.

The proper subjects for observation are men in sound health, under the middle period of life, and free from external restraint upon their actions. Dr Gall discovered, by observation, that in such individuals the power of manifesting the mental faculties bears a proportion to the size of the cerebral organs; and on this fact the whole science is founded. Accordingly, if we take two brains, one very large, like that of King Robert Bruce, and another very small, like that of the least of the Hindoos in the Phrenological Society's collection, in no instance and in no circumstances, the above conditions being preserved in both, will the faculties attached to the small brain manifest themselves with the power and energy which characterize those connected with the large one. The small brain may be as active, and the large one as inactive as is consistent with the condition of sound health, and yet the manifestation of power will uni formly distinguish the latter, while comparative feebleness will attend the former, however numerous and vivacious its

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