xt7kwh2d8g00 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7kwh2d8g00/data/mets.xml Bartlett, Elisha, 1804-1855. 1838 books b92-183-30418225 English Marsh, Capen and Lyon, : Boston : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Phrenology. Address delivered at the anniversary celebration of the birth of Spurzheim : and the organization of the Boston Phrenological Society, January 1, 1838 / by Elisha Bartlett. text Address delivered at the anniversary celebration of the birth of Spurzheim : and the organization of the Boston Phrenological Society, January 1, 1838 / by Elisha Bartlett. 1838 2002 true xt7kwh2d8g00 section xt7kwh2d8g00 AN ADD RE S S DELIVERED AT THE ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION OF THE BIRTH OF SPURZHEIM, AND TIHE ORGANIZATION OF THlE BOSTON PHRENOLOGICAL SOCIETY, JANUARY 1, 1838. BY ELISHA BARTLETT, M. D. PUBLISHED BY THE REQUEST OF THE SOCIETY. BOSTON: MARSH, CAPEN AND LYQN4 1838. PRINTEJ BY Wm. A. HALL CO. ADD RES S. ALL true science is of slow growth. All true knowledge has ever been, and, from its very nature, must ever continue to be an attainment, more or less gradual and progressive, and more or less difficult of acquisition. Often does even the most elementary knowledge, or the simplest and plainest truth, seem to us to have been late and tardily acquired or discovered, and the world wonders how it could happen, that what is now such manifest and beautiful and far-darting light, should have re- mained so long obscure, or altogether hidden. This is true of all subjects of investigation, though it is more .strictly and re- markably so of some than of others. History can be written only after it has been acted. Nations must have lived and died, they must have played their parts on this stage of the world, before their lives and deaths and doings can become the sub- jects of recital and commentary. Great biographies must be lived and acted before they can be recorded. And, furthermore, it may be, that ages shall elapse after the annalist has registered his facts, before their relations come to be fully understood, and the chain, which runs through them all and binds them together, is rendered visible and luminous by the light of philosophy. Especially is this the case with all knowledge which is the result of experiment and observation. Through a slow, irregu- larly moving and progressive process, have a1l the natural sciences been obliged to pass. The very art'itsilf of bbserVa- 4 tion and induction wvas, until within a comparatively recent period of time, either unknown or disregarded, almost wholly; and, even now, it is but imperfectly, and in part only, under- stood and practised. First, after long groping in the dark, or in a shadowy and uncertain twilight, are materials collected and partially examined. One man finds out the art of polishing a lens;-another watches the motions of a star;-a third counts the stamens of a flower: this smelts an ore in his rude furnace; -that measures the ebb and flow of the ever-moving tides. And so on, day after day, through ages, perhaps, atom by atom, is the pile heaped up, heterogeneous and unsifted, grain and char, gems and rubbish together. The science of mathematics, even,-that purest abstraction of the intellect,-independent, as it is, of the senses, and of all observation,-far removed, as it is, froin the sources of fallacy and error, so inseparably connected with observation, has been, from its first origin up to the present day, slow and irregular in its advancement in comprehensiveness, simplicity and power. It has generally happened, that the progress of each of the sciences depending on observation and induction, has been signalized by some one or more remarkable epochs. These epochs are constituted, not by the addition to those already ascertained, of novel or important facts, but by the establish- ment of the general principles of the science;-by the discovery of the true laws which govern its phenomena, or in accordance with which, its objects are arranged. It has, also, generally happened, that, for the establishment of these principles and laws, we have been indebted to the extraordinary genius and sagacity of some one, or of some very few individuals. An epoch of this kind was the discovery of the Fluxionary calculus in the history of mathematical science. The labors of Linneus in Botany, of Haller in Physiology, of Lavoisier and Dalton in Chemistry, of Cavier in Zoology, constituted like remarkable eras in each of these several sciences. Each of these eras creates, not a. revolution merely, but it constitutes a new birth, a teg, eneration of the science in which it occurs. The uncer- 5 tain and indefinite becomes definite and certain. That which was before meaningless, becomes now significant. The appa- rently trivial and useless, in consequence of taking its appro- priate position, is made important and valuable. That which was before without form, and void, assumes shape and arrange- ment, and is filled with a new creation. The spirit has brooded over the chaos, transforming it into order, and covering it with beauty. The breath of life is now breathed into the body, before cold and inanimate. The limbs now move, the heart beats, the eye sees, the tongue utters. The science, whatever it may be, is no longer barren; it becomes prolific of new and great results ; it starts on a fresh career ; it spreads its wings for a bolder flight. Henceforward there is opened to it a broader and a clearer pathway. It must be obvious enough, I think, to any one who has at all looked into the subject, that the science of the humat mind constitutes no exception to the remarks already made in rela- tion to the slow growth of most of the other sciences. Certain, at any rate, is it, that hitherto, till within a very short period, it has been surrounded by the same thick obscurity and vague- ness which have enveloped the other sciences previous to the discovery of their true laws,-to the establishment of their fundamental principles. Almost the whole history of meta- physics is a record of absurdities, and inconsistencies, and contradictions. The very name has become, almost by common consent, only another term for intellectual harlequinism and jugglery. Never has the human mind been guilty of playing more fantastic tricks, than when attempting by misdirected and impotent efforts to unriddle the mystery of its own constitution. It is certainly unnecessary for me, whether speaking to phre- nologists or to anti-phrenologists, to insist upon this particular point, or to spend any time in the supererogatory labor of endeavoring either to prove or to illustrate the almost universal unsatisfactoriness, emptiness, and unprofitableness of those subtle fancies,-those shadowy and spectral visions of the human understanding, which have been dignified with the 6 Rtle of metaphysics,-which have arrogated to themselves the high distinctions of philosophy. Whether the phrenological era holds a like place in the history of the science of mind, which the Baconian era holds in the history of the art of observation and induction, or the Newtonian in that of the sciences of mathematics and astrono- my, is yet an unsettled and disputed matter. A large majority indeed of the scientific and learned world wholly deny the claims of phrenology to the character of a science. They treat it for the most part with contempt; or, at best, they regard it but as oneamong the many delusions of the are. There is a question then. Are they, its contemners and opposers, right; or are we so, its disciples and advocates Is Phrenology true, or is it false Is it a sky-rocket only, shooting up, with a transient and artificial glare, some few hundred feet in the atmosphere of the earth, or is it indeed a new star, kindled and set forever in the depths of the firmament It will be the object of this Address, to exhibit some of the reasons which we have for believing that Phrenology does constitute a great era, analogous to those of which I have spoken;-that it is, what it claims to be, the true science of the human mind;-that its laws are the laws of the human mind; -that it has interpreted, truly, that revelation of God written in the constitution of man's spiritual nature. Phrenology, in so far as it claims to have demonstrated the existence of a multiplicity of cerebral organs, each concerned in the manifestation of a primary and elemental faculty or power of the mind, must rest for support, singly and exclusive- ly, on observation. The truth of this fundamental proposition of the science, we believe, has been so established. It is not my purpose, at the present time, to go into this part of the subject, for the good reason, among others, that I have not qualified myself sufficiently, by practical study, to do so; and I pass from it with the single remark, that the science, so far as its organology, so called, is concerned, appeals to this only and ultimate test of its pretensions to truth, and that by this test 7 alone can it be fairly tried and judged. I may say, also, that the opposers of phrenology have, for the most part, overlooked or misapprehended this fact; and that they have, instead of endeavoring to controvert the alleged results of observation, in the only way in which such results can be controverted, by counter observation, resorted to reasoning or to speculation, based only upon certain gratuitous and assumed premises, or, as has been more commonly the case, to misrepresentation and ridicule. Leaving this topic, then, I proceed to say, that the true sci- ence of the human mind ought to issue in human good;-it ought to be productive of beneficent results. Such has been the case with all the other sciences ;-such ought, also, to be the case with this. Astronomy, mathematics, geology, chemistry, physiology, have all proved themselves not merely subjects of abstract intellectual interest and curiosity, but matters of great practical usefulness. They have acted upon man's daily life. They have aided in improving his spiritual nature, and they minister to his commonest wants. They enlarge and elevate his mind; they clothe and nourish and protect his body. They make the elements his servants to do his bidding. They make his time-keepers, for seconds, or for ages, the stars on the dial- plate of the sky. They carry him over the land,-they guide him across the sea,-his pillar of cloud by day, and of fire by night. Unfolding to him the mysteries of the visible world, they bring him nearer to its author, God. If Phrenology, I repeat, is what it pretends to be, it must also, like its sister sciences, show itself directly instrumental in promoting the best interests of the human race. And if it does so show itself, we have a right to see herein another evidence of its truth. I shall, therefore, after these preliminary observations, endeavor to apply this test of the claims of Phrenology, derived from some few of its leading tendencies and results, both practical and philosophical-from the natural and inevitable issues of its principles and laws. The first general result of the Phrenological doctrines of 8 which I shall speak, is the separation which they make of our true humanity from those accidental and factitious circumstan- ces with which it is interwoven and overlaid. By revealing to us the essential nature of humanity, in its complex physical and spiritual constitution, it exposes, also, the manifold illusions, which this humanity has always and everywhere worn. In the clear liaht of Phrenology, man, for the first time, stands be- fore us as man,-whatever, and however unlike and diverse may be the accidents of his environment. If there is any one moral truth, which can claim to be a central truth,-the truth of truths,-it is that of the entire, essential, absolute oneness and equality of human nature. All right rests upon this, its only immutable basis; all order flows from this, its sole inexhausti- ble fountain. I do not claim for Phrenology the merit of hav- ing first asserted or promulgated this truth. Always, through- out all time, and in every country, have there been SEERS, who have read the sublime record written on their own hearts;- always, too, have there been PROPHETS and TEACHERS, who have uttered it. It is a doctrine, also, of inspiration. It was proclaimed by Moses, and it runs through all the teachings of Christ. I do not claim for Phrenology, I say, the merit of hav- ing first asserted and promulgated this truth ; but I do claim for it the next highest merit of having given to that which was, before, only matter of argument or speculation, or of dogmatic statement, merely, the fixed and positive and everlasting attri- butes of science. What was precept became law, unchangea- ble and eternal, and universally binding in its obligations. In spite of all the teachings of sages and philosophers and prophets, blind to the light of wisdom, and deaf to the oracles of Revelation, men, generally, have never believed this truth. They do not yet believe it. At least they do not feel it, and they never have felt it. The feeling,-and in this case the feeling is equivalent to the belief,-is almost universal, that the circumstances, by which each man and woman is accidentally surrounded, have wrought a change in that man's or woman's nature, and rendered it unlike that of an individual surrounded 9 by wholly different circumstances. I am sure that I do not state this too strongly. Phrenology not only asserts, what has always been nominally asserted, that this is not the case, but it shows the reasons why it is not. Phrenology not only teaches the great opposite truth, but it makes plainly visible the founda- tion on which the truth rests ; it developes its principles,-it unfolds and establishes its laws and sanctions. We see, by its light, not only that every man is the equal brother of every other man, but we see, also, why he is so, and how he is so, and wherein he is so. Let us develope this thought a little, in reference to its bear- ing on the distribution of human happiness, and so far as it relates to man's spiritual being. Phrenology shows, that this spiritual nature of man consists, like his body, of one harmoni- ous whole, composed of many parts or faculties, all tending to one end,-all conspiring to form a perfect ONE. It teaches, that the various powers of the mind have each its independent law, as well as such as grow out of their mutual relations. It teaches, that in the healthy energy and rational activity of each individual faculty consists the pleasure which this faculty is capable of imparting,-the good of which it was intended to be productive. It teaches, that the pleasure and the good depends, exclusively, upon this energy and activity in each particular instance. It also teaches, that a certain appropriate form of suffering is the pre-ordained and inevitable consequence of a want of this activity, or of an excess of it, in each faculty. All of happiness and all of misery, all of good and all of evil, which we here enjoy or suffer, excepting such as comes from mere aninial indulgence, or mere bodily pain, is exclusively depend- ent on the condition of these powers. The proper cultivation and use of all these powers, the lower actingr ever in subordina- tion to the higher, the selfish and the animal subject always to the disinterested, the intellectual and the moral, is happiness and good. Every departure from this rule is suffering and evil. We thus see where it is that 'the primal Law of Equality 2 10 rests. The same powers which constituted the mighty intellect of Isaac Newton, constitute, also, the intellects of all other men. That same light which made his mind luminous with a sun- like brightness, has enlightened, also, every man that cometh into the world. I am not speaking, of course, of the amount of acquired knowledge, or of the relative capacities for acquisi- tion. Herein, as in many other respects, do the minds of men so differ, that no two probably ever existed, or ever will exist, precisely alike. This kind of original likeness is not that which I speak of. Indeed, Phrenology first fully exhibited the error and absurdity of this notion. I only mean to say, that as God has given to every soundly-constituted body eyes to see, and feet to walk, and lips to utter, so has he given to every soundly-constituted mind the powers, in kind, though not in degree, of every other mind, and that he has made them subject, in every individual of the race, to the same laws. The differ- ences between different minds are like the differences between different bodies. Some are stronger than others in their origin- al constitution; others are rendered strong and effective by active training, and each one has its own peculiar combination of endowments, as each face has of features. But the kind of pleasure derived from the use of each intellectual power is the same in every mind, and the amount of individual gratification, flowing from the action of a limited power, may often be but little less than that resulting from the action of the highest. The single essential point, so far as individual happiness is concerned, is the cultivation and employment of the power itself; its appropriation to the purposes for which it was be- stowed. I may remark here, that the acquired differences among men, depending upon the purely intellectual powers, correspond more nearly to differences of outward condition, than those depending upon the other portions of his spiritual nature. High intellectual culture presupposes exemption from the necessity of constant bodily toil, and the means of full and free communion with cultivated cotemporary intellect, and with the intellect, also, of accumulated ages. This exemption 11 has never yet been made the common lot, and hence has arisen the great inequality in the intellectual condition of different classes of men. The truth which I am endeavoring to exhibit finds a more striking illustration in the moral and instinctive powers of our complex nature. One of the strongest of these innate feelings is the desire for acquisition,-the love of gain. Now, the de- gree of pleasure which results from the gratification of this desire, and of pain which follows its disappointment, is not at all dependent upon the mag-nitude and importance of the object of desire. The selfish exultation, with which the miser in his rags gloats at his little heap of hoarded gold, is the same feeling that fills the mind of the lordly banker who counts his yearly gain by millions, and it may be equally intense. And so is the arrow tipped with the same poison, and sent from the same bow-string, which strikes with a pang the heart of the sordid wretch from whose desperate clutch is torn a single dollar, and that of the merchant-prince when his palace is wrapped in flames, or when his richest argosy goes down at sea. The pleasure is the same in nature, and it may not differ in degree, so far as this particular faculty is concerned, in the two cases; and so is also the pain. The pleasure consists in the activity and gratification of the faculty; the pain consists in its disap- pointment, independent of the importance of the object upon which it is exerted, and independent of circumstances affecting other portions of our nature. The same thing is true of all those capacities and feelings upon which almost the whole of life's weal and wo depend. Ever ready are we to magnify the happiness of exalted station, and high honor, and great riches. But the hope of a coming good lights up an ecstacy in the peasant's heart as wvarm as in the prince's. What though, in the one case, it be the hope only of some common thing,-a village festival, or a day of rest from labor,-and in the other, the high and palmy hope of empire or renown-it matters not, for in each case the feeling is the same; the joy which overspreads each heart issues out from the same 12 fountain. Does not maternal love-that deepest instinct- yearn with as passionate a tenderness over its object, when this object is cradled in poverty and nursed by pining want, as when it rests on the lap of affluence and ease Wherever the darling object is, there is the delight;-wherever the passion is, there is there woven by it, over the future, its tissue, many colored, of hopes and forebodings, of sadness and joy. Little matters it, nothing matters it, to the darkness of the shade in this picture, or the brightness of the light, whether it be hung under the thatched roof of a cabin, or the golden and frescoed ceiling of a royal saloon. So is it with every thing that adorns and blesses and sancti- fies and humanizes the soul. So is it with all kindly sympa- thies,-so is it with all merriment and all sadness,-so is it with piety and reverence,-so is it with all the sweet charities of life,-so is it with the memories of the past, garnered in the heart and embalmed,-so is it with the hopes of the future, ever springing in our path, flowers of like fragrance and beauty, whether this path be along the cool-sequestered vale of life, or over the broad highway of nations, and in sight of the world. It is certainly true, that our conviction and feeling of the universal likeness of human nature, in its elements and rela- tions, is strengthened, and made distinct and vivid, by the view of this nature which Phrenology presents to us. The kindred truth, that all human well-being and all human ill,-excepting so far as the body is concerned,-has been linked, indissolubly, with certain states and conditions of the several elementary principles of our spiritual being, is also more clearly compre- hended, and more practically realized, by the aid of Phrenology. By the same aid are we enabled to see more distinctly than without it, how, independent of the accidents of outward condi- tion, has the distribution of human happiness been made. How important it is that these truths should be,-not merely granted with a cold and unfelt assent,-but embraced by the intellect and the sentiments, and infused through the whole thinking and feeling soul, it is unnecessary for me to say. I 13 have already observed that they lie at the foundation of all civil right, that they are the root of all social order. They are, also, the nurse of all true philanthropy. They give not only life, but sacredness to the common brotherhood of humanity. They bring all men nearer to each other. They warm and deepen the currents of human sympathy. They strengthen the bonds of human fellowship. By dispelling the illusions of a spurious philosophy, by stripping of from the soul of humanity the false guises in which it has been clad, the meretricious finery, the masquerade dresses and the counterfeit visors in which old custom, and SOCIETY,-SO called,-has tricked it out, they show us our fellow-men in a new aspect, in the light and in the position where God has placed them; and in this light how much that is called low is exalted; how much that is called high is abased! Phrenology cannot be true, it is not what it pretends to be, the veritable science of the human mind, unless it sheds new light on the subject of education. If it enables us to understand, better than. we have hitherto done, the constitution of the mind, it ought also to assist us in the management and train- itng of the mind. The high merit of having done this, no one, I believe, acquainted with the history and character of Phren- ology, will deny. It has done this in many ways. For my present purpose, however, it will be sufficient to mention one or two only. Phrenology first fully unfolded and established this great and elementary principle of education,-that each and every power of the mind,-intellectual, moral, and instinctive, -can be strengthened and developed only by its own activity, and that this activity can be excited only by placing the power in relation to its appropriate objects or phenomena. It took this truth, as it did other truths relating to the mind, out of the domain of vague generalities, of common sense sagacity, and gave to it the absoluteness, and certainty, and simplicity of a demonstrable law. And it is the primal law of education; its very seminal principle. Disregarded has it always been, in all systems of education; disregarded it still is, for the most 14 part, both in theory and in practice. The higher powers of the miind, for instance, such as reverence, conscientiousness and benevolence, have been generally appealed to, through the exclusive medium of the knowing faculties; and how universal- ly unanswered has been the appeal! Men have asked of the mind, bread, and it has given them a stone, and why should it not, since the boon was not rightly asked I know very well, that, within a short period, many persons, not professed disci- ples of Phrenology, have begun to see this truth, and to vindi- cate, ably and zealously, its immense practical importance. None the less true is it, also, that for whatever of genuine in- sight these persons have obtained of this fundamental doctrine, are they more or less indebted to the principles and develop- ments of Phrenology. Most of my hearers, I suppose, are so far acquainted with these principles, as to understand my meaning without further explanation. But as this pretension in behalf of Phrenology, so far as its practical results are concerned, is one of the very highest that can be made, I will take the liberty, in order to render myself intelligible to those who are not familiar with its principles, to state, as briefly and explicitly as I am able to do, what I mean. The truth which I claim to have been first authoritatively asserted and demonstrated by Phrenology, as a law of the mental constitution, is this ;-that every separate power and capacity of the human mind can be developed and strengthen- ed only by developing and exciting its own, peculiar, individual activity; and that, therefore, the education of each and every faculty is dependent wholly upon those means and influences which increase, or diminish, or control this activity andstrength. That power of the mind which takes cognizance of the rela- tions of numbers, can be educated only through its own instru- mentality; it can acquire skill and facility in calculating these relations, only by calculating them; and just in proportion to the amount of its original vigor and of its educated activity, will be its strength and capabilities. This is strictly true of 15 every intellectual power, and it is as true of the animal instincts as it is of the knowing faculties. The love of children is made strong and fervent by loving children. Hate becomes a burn- ing and ferocious passion only by hating. And, furthermore, as strictly true as this is of the intellect and the instincts, is it of all the higher sentiments. Hope can be nourished only by its own ambrosial food,-the brigaht colors, the ever-blossonming flowers, the fairy enchantments of the future. Conscientious- ness, that deep-seated sentiment of right and wrong, that stern monitor within us, can be crowned with the supremacy which it was designed to possess, only by our being just. Ideality,- that versatile power,-constituting, as it may be said to do, the wings of the spirit, can acquire strength and freedom only by soaring aloft into a pure and celestial atmosphere, and by visit- ing, in the heavens and on the earth, those scenes of beauty and sublimity and order, those manifestations of the perfect, the excellent and the fair, which have been created for its gratifica- tion. Benevolence can be quickened into a divine and soothing sentiment only by our being compassionate and humane. The bearing of this principle must be perfectly manifest. It iseasyto see, that all education hinges upon it; and you wvould almost as soon tolerate me in consuming your time with a formal argument in favor of education itself, as in any more elaborate effort to show the importance of the truth which I have stated. There is another great elementary truth, bearing directly upon the subject of education, which, like the one already spok- en of, was first clearly demonstrated, as a natural law of man's spiritual being, by Phrenology. I mean that of the absolute rule and superiority, which the Author of the mind has conferred on the religious and disinterested sentiments, over all the other powers. Phrenology has not merely pointed out the only effec- tive method of educating these sentiments, but it has vindicated for them their inalienable supremacy. Far be it from me, I say again, as I have said in another connection, to arrogate, for Phrenology, the merit of having discovered, or of having first 16 promulgated the truth of which I now speak. No one, I trust, will suppose me guilty of such ignorance, or of such presump- tion. Always has it been taught, by the wise and the good, everywhere, and throughout all time, eloquently in their pre- cepts, and more eloquently still in their happy and beneficent lives, and in their deaths of serenity and triumphant hope. It is the declaration of prophets and apostles,-it is the song of the seraphim, it is the great lesson of Christ, it is the voice of God. Nevertheless, it is true, that to Phrenology belongs the high distinction of having placed this doctrine on the firm basis of demonstration, of having fixed it, immutably, in the very or- ganization of humanity, one of its central and everlasting laws. This truth, like the other of which I have spoken, is almost universally disregarded. In all systems of education, the intel- lectual powers are almost exclusively considered; a very sub- ordinate place is assigned to the higher sentiments, and herein consists one of the most melancholy and disastrous errors of these systems. Almost the whole surface of the civilized world is spread over with school-houses for the nurture of the infant intellect, and universities are built, and professorships are en- dowed, to aid it in its maturer training. I do not complain that this has been done, but that the other has been left un- done. One of the highest ends, even of intellectual culture, is almost entirely overlooked and neglected,-that of promoting the development and regulating the action of the moral and religious feelings, and of ministering, directly or indirectly, to their good. It is not my purpose, in this address, to attempt any thing farther, than to state some of the general tendencies and results of the Phrenological doctrines, accompanied with such illustra- tions as may be necessary to render them intelligible. I cannot, of course, go very fully into the details of their practical opera- tion. I wish, however, here, to be indulged in a few remarks of this latter character. Free and liberal governments have thought it their safety as well as their duty, to provide for, and encourage general education. The axiom is, that popular in- telligence is the only sure support and safe guardian of popular government. All political institutions, resting, to any consider- able extent, on the popular or democratic principle, recognize this relation ;-they profess to rely upon it for their stability, and efficiency for good. What I wish to say,is this :-If the ed- ucation, Ion which popular government is to rest, be the educa- tion of the intellect merely, then it leans on a broken reed.- How is it here, at home, in this Federal Republic Will in- tellectual culture, alone, perfect and universal as it can be made, secure to us the permanency and the purity of our institutions Will it keep inviolate the spirit of rational liberty, which per- vades and consecrates the written charter of our rights Will it hold, unbroken, the links of that chain, which binds these states together Will it prove a sufficient security for national peace, prosperity and happiness Can we confide to it the keeping of our hearth-stones, and our altars Will it guard us in the business of the day Will it be round about us-a tu- telary presence-in the watches of the night No! never, nev- er, never! Unless the sense of right and wrong between man and man be ripened to a hardier growth amongst us, than it has ever yet attained,-unless the true and great relation, which every man sustains to all oth