PIIRENOL OGY is a Greek compound signifying a discourse on the mind, but is used in a more limited sense to mean a theory of mental philosophy founded on the observa tion and discovery of the functions of the brain, in so far as it is concerned in intellectual and emotional phenomena. Phrenology takes into view likewise the influence of all other parts of the body, and of external agents affecting these, upon the brain.
The founder of this system was Dr. Kranz Joseph Gall (q.v.), who died in 1828. In Britain it has been amply expounded by his pupil Dr. Spurzheim (q.v.), by George and Andrew Combe (q.v.), by Dr. Elliotson of London, and others. In America, Dr. Charles Caldwell has been its ablest advocate. Gall's method of investigating the functions of the brain is that which, applied to other organs. has led to the discovery of their func tions, but which had never before been systematically applied to the brain. When a physiologist wished to ascertain the functions of any part of the body, he did not rest satisfied with examining its structure, .and speculating on the purposes for which that structure seemed to be adapted. He observed what kind of function appeared during life as the invariable accompaniment of the presence and action of that particular part ; and, by repeated and careful observation, he at last succeeded in discovering the func tion. The knowledge thus obtained was afterwards verified and completed by examina tion of the structure, and observation of the effects of its injury or diseases. To the adoption of this principle in studying the functions of the brain, Gall was led by observ ing at school the concomitance of a quick and retentive memory of words with a peculiar appearance of the :eye, which he afterwards found to be caused by a large development of a particular part of the brain. At school, at college, and in many other places, and under the most different circumstances, the same concomitance of taleut with develop ment of brain came under his notice so frequently as to suggest to him the probability that there might be discovered by method a connection of other talents and dispositions with other portions of the brain. It was by the diligent application of the method of inquiry which accident had thus suggested to him, and not, as some suppose, by the exercise of his imagination. that Dr. Gall was at last led to conclude, first, that
the brain is an aggregate of many different parts, each serving for the manifestation of a particular mental faculty; and, secondly, that, all other condit ons being equal, the size of each of these cerebral organs is a measure of the power of its function. These twc propositions constitute the distinctive or fundamental principles of phrenology. The first of them, however, is not new. The impossibility of reconciling actual phenmnena with the notion of a single organ of the mind has, for many centuries, suggented the probability of a plurality of organs in the brain. But the phrenologists hold that Dr. Gall was the first to demonstrate the fact, and to make any considerable progress in determining with what parts of the brain the various intellectual and emotional faculties and susceptibilities are connected.
. That man, in hie present state, cannot think, will, or feel without the intervention of the brain, isgenerally admitted by physiologists, and appears from even the fact that, by pres sure applied to it, consciousness is at once suspended. That it is not a single organ is is priori probable from such considerations as these: 1 It is a law in physiology that different functions are never performed by the same organ. The stomach, liver, heart, eyes, ears, have each a separate duty. Different nerves are necessary to motion and feeling, and there is no example of confusion amongst them. 2. The mental powers do not all come :it once, as they would were the brain one organ. They appear successively, and the brain undergoes a corresponding change. 3. Genius varies in different individuals: one has a turn, as it is called. for one thing, and another for something different. 4. Dream ing is explained by the doctrine of distinct organs which can act or rest alone. 5. Partial insanity, or madness on one point with sanity on every other, similarly points to a plu rality of cerebral organs. 6. Partial injuries of the brain, affecting the mental manifes tations of the injured parts, but leaving the other faculties sound, tend. to the same conclusion. 7. There could be no such state of mind as the familiar one where our feelings contend with each other, if the brain were one organ.