But if they should look a little into the subject, they would see that it partakes singularly of the aspect of a science, in its large array of facts, and the numerous and harmonious inference from these for the guidance of man in his individual capacity, and for the maintenance of his varied and important social relations. If the legal gentlemen who have committed themselves by a declaration of opinion, had paused a little, and not allowed their prejudices to bind them, like a retaining fee, to the advocacy of a singularly shallow plea, they would have found that the evidence is all on the other sideevidence of a distinct positive kind, in singular contrast with the gossiping, hearsay, and second-hand opinions of the metaphysical school. Teachers, heads of colleges, might, seeing how utterly barren has been their favourite philosophy through all time down to the present, look with a little more patience on a scheme of reform, which could hardly be carried into effect without some improvement resulting. Certain doctors of divinity and theologians might be counselled not to make their own ignorance the standard of science, nor their prejudices the test of other people's orthodoxy; but rather to learn a little more of the wonderful mechanism and harmony of the works of the Creator, about whose wisdom, in the adaptation of means to ends, they sometimes discourse. More especially useful to them in their vocation, and as a check to hasty and intolerant judgment of the effect and tendency of what they do not at once understand, would be the study of physiology, and of natural science in general. With a knowledge of the commonest elements of anatomy and physiology, they would hardly commit themselves, as they every now and then do, by the utterance of such an absurdity as the accusation against phrenology of its fostering materialism. They are shocked, pious souls! at the idea of the brain being the material instrument of mind, and of its consisting of many organs on which depend the display of the mental faculties. We would just remind such objectors, that their own creed of philosophy partakes fully as much of materialism as phrenology does. They may indeed discard the brain as useless; but they will not venture to reject also the five senses. If they should ever descant on the knowledge of the colours, forms, distances of objects, on the beauties of the landscape, and the charms of art in statuary and painting, what are all these but phenomena resulting from the impression of matter on matter, of inanimate matter on animate matter. Is the mechanism of the eye spiritual or material? Could the mind perceive an external object, unless the image of the latter were impressed on the retina, which is the termination of the optic nerve-both of them portions of matter? But the process does not end here; the material chain, of which one end is the eye, is connected at the other end with a certain portion of brain called the anterior corpora quadrigemina, the entireness of which is just as necessary for vision as that of the optic nerve or of the globe of the cye. The man, therefore, who speaks of the eye seeing, or of the car hearing, is just as much a materialist as he who speaks of the brain forming ideas of colours and forms, or of sound and harmony. Abrogate the five senses, and what would be the amount of ideas? the channels are all closed, and nothing can reach the mind, as the metaphysician would say, or the brain, as the phrenologist alleges. Each external sense has its own organic structure and mechanism, a mere modification in fact of matter: each sense depends for its display of function on a particular portion of the brain; the optic nerve with one, the auditory nerve with another, the olfactory with a third portion, and so on of the rest. These nerves and the contiguous portions of brain have specific functions, each being acted on by its particular stimulus, and by it alone. Light will stimulate the retina and optic nerve, but has no effect on the auditory nerve, or the nerves of touch-as the retina in its turn is not susceptible of the impressions which on the auditory give rise to the sensations of sound. There is yet another series of nerves, connected also with different parts of the brain, and distributed to various organs through which these latter are moved. Without the aid of these, the eye would be fixed in its socket, its muscles would be powerless, and a most limited range of vision would result. A knowlege of the functions of these several nerves-respectively of the senses, and for motion-was never acquired by an observation of their texture and structure, nor by any kind of observation, à priori. Nor, now that their functions are known, can we find any adequate explanation in differences of organisation. The thing is received as an ultimate fact, nor is any physiologist adventurous enough, in quixotic spiritualism, to deny that we see by means of the eye, and in virtue of the connection of this organ with the brain; and that we hear through the ear, and on account of its connection with the brain, merely because he cannot detect any notable differences between the optic nerve and the olfactory one, and between the two portions of the brain with which they are severally united. Even Dr. Sewall would not hesitate to teach this much physiology to the worthy presidents of the college, and of the theological seminaries, who are so much alarmed at the materialism of phrenology. It is very true that the doctor would at the same time inculcate, and the worthy presidents would believe a materialism as positive and evident as that of the phrenologists. The difference between the two schools consists in this: Dr. Sewall and his friends would persuade us that a man can think, act, and have the affections of his nature, with the aid alone of that arrangement of matter which consists of the five senses, their nerves, and some of the minuter parts of the basis of the brain, connected with these nerves. The phrenologists, on the other hand, believe that the brain was not given by the Maker in vain, but that its hemispheres perform great and important functions, in completion of those of the inferior organic apparatus just mentioned. The organs of the brain are, they think, those of the internal senses; the eyc, ear, &c., are the organs of the external senses. We cannot say, then, of the two schools, that the one is, in its doctrine, spiritual, and the other material. Both admit the necessity of a material structure and organisation for the formation of ideas, and processes of thought: but the one denies in a great measure the necessity of a brain; the other admits it, and sees in it a complicated apparatus. Dr. Sewall and his friends, certain doctors of law and divinity, and distinguished politicians, &c., are advocates of what may, for distinction's sake, be called brainless materialism, and the philosophy of the external senses alone. For ourselves, and with all becoming respect for such authority, backed, as it is, by an expresident and a judge of the Supreme Court, we still believe that the time has not yet come when a man can dispense with his brain, and walk, for occasional convenience, like St. Denis, with his head under his arm. ARTICLE II. ON THE PRIMARY FUNCTION OF THE ORGAN MARKED “?” BY M. B. SAMPSON. Phrenology being a system of philosophy of the human mind, and, as such, professing to throw light on all the primitive powers of human feeling, must, to a certain extent, remain in an imperfect and unsatisfactory state so long as any specific and inherent desire or affection can be shown to exist, as a uniform principle, in the mind of man, on the nature of which it can throw no light, or bring no collateral evidence or illustration. The science has succeeded in winning the acceptance of some of the most comprehensive minds of the present day, by the clearness and simplicity of its rudimentary principles, among which there is none more in harmony with our perceptive and reasoning powers than that which teaches us that man is provided with special faculties to adapt him to each physical and moral law of the world in which he is placed, and that it is upon the harmonious and healthy action of such faculties that his happiness and safety are made entirely to depend. The phrenological system does not embrace a single organ, the deprivation of which would not prove in some way fatal to our physical or moral safety, or the functions of which could be supplied by the action of any other faculty. By the exposition of this view, much has been done to enlarge our ideas of the plan of our existence, and of the ultimate destinies of our race; but in estimating the effect of the various faculties which have been hitherto ascertained, it remains to be seen if it will give a full, harmonious and complete picture of the constitution of man, or if there still exist any emotions common to the human mind, and having reference to some moral or physical law of nature, for the manifestation of which phrenologists have failed to offer any explanation, or to discover any organ in the brain. There is a mental emotion peculiar to all men, and strongly characteristic of many, which cannot be referred to the action of any organ which has hitherto been located. An emotion which takes root in the contemplation of that which we are accustomed to consider as one of the most important laws of our moral destiny, and the absence of which would render us incapable of appreciating, even in the remotest degree, one of the most sublime attributes of the Deity himself. The sentiment to which I allude, is that which impels us to the contemplation of ETERNITY. That the perception of time is one of the peculiar conditions of our relation to the external world, is not a more incontrovertible fact than that the tendency of our desires to an eternity of being is a condition of our moral nature. If, therefore, among the perceptive faculties we find an organ that adapts us to our destiny in time, we might well expect among the moral faculties to discover an organ that should adapt us to our destiny in eternity. Upon a full consideration of the primary functions of the various organs which up to the present time have been acknowledged, it will be seen that there is not one to which this tendency of the mind can be referred. It is impossible to attribute it to the action of "Hope," because the feeling is very frequently exhibited in its greatest force by those in whom the sentiment of Hope is exceedingly deficient; and many individuals have been known, whose thoughts of the future have been of a sad and desponding character, yet to whom the idea of an eternity of pain seemed preferable to that of utter extinction. Moreover, Hope does not point out the nature of the thing to be desired-it merely imparts the belief that the desires of the other faculties will be attained, and consequently, of itself, would never suggest a longing either for endless duration or ultimate extinction. If we turn to the organ of Marvellousness or Faith (?), we shall meet with the same result, for we have abundant testimony that this faculty is primarily intended to impart a belief in our spiritual existence, independent of our physical organisation, which renders us capable of a future state of being, but which (unless it can perform two functions) possesses no power of impressing upon us, as an irresistible sentiment, the idea that that state is to be eternal. Moreover, many instances may be cited in which the abstract conception of eternity and boundless space seems to have been prominently manifested and dwelt upon with a delight that has been called forth by the simple and isolated idea. It seems to have been a marked characteristic of Byron's mind, as will be shown by the following passages, selected almost at random from his works. Cain thus apostrophises the wide expanse to which he is conveyed by his tempter :— Oh, thou beautiful And unimaginable ether! and Ye multiplying masses of increased And still increasing lights! what are ye? What Is this blue wilderness of interminable Do ye Sweep on, in your unbounded revelry, Through an aerial universe of endless Expansion, at which my soul aches to think, And upon his return from his survey of those myriads of starry worlds, he thus replies to his brother's question, "What hast thou seen?" "The dead, The immortal, the unbounded, the omnipotent, The overpowering mysteries of space The innumerable worlds that were and are A whirlwind of such overwhelming things, Suns, moons, and earths, upon their loud-voiced spheres |