(_For the Mirror._)
The loss which the scientific world has lately sustained by the death of
Dr. Gall, will be longer and more deeply felt than any which it has
experienced for some years. This celebrated philosopher and physician
was born in the year 1758, of respectable parents, at a small village in
the duchy of Baden, where he received the early part of his education.
He afterwards went to Brucksal, and then to Strasburgh, in which city he
commenced his medical studies, and became a pupil of the celebrated
Professor Hermann. From Strasburgh he removed to Vienna, where he
commenced practice, having taken the degree of M.D. In this capital,
however, he was not permitted to develope his new system of the
functions of the brain; and from his lectures being interdicted, and the
illiberal opposition which he here met with, as well as in other parts
of Austria, he determined to visit the north of Germany. Here he was
well received in all the cities through which he passed, as well as in
Prussia, Sweden, and Denmark, and explained the doctrines he had founded
on his observations from _nature_ before several sovereigns, who
honoured him with such marks of approbation and respect as were due to
his talents. In the course of his travels he likewise visited England,
and at length, in 1807, settled in Paris, where his reputation had
already preceded him, and which, from its central situation, he
considered as the fittest place for disseminating his system. In this
city, in 1810, he published his elaborate work on the brain, the
expenses of which were guaranteed by one of his greatest friends and
patrons, Prince Metternich, at that time Austrian minister at the court
of France.
It was natural to expect that the system of Dr. Gall, which differed so
widely from the long confirmed habits of thinking, and having to contend
with so many prejudices, should encounter a large host of adversaries;
for if _phrenology_ be true, all other systems of the philosophy of the
human mind must consequently be false. The brain, which, from the
earliest periods, has generally been considered as the seat of our
mental functions, Dr. Gall regards as a congeries of organs, each organ
having a separate function of its own. This system, first promulgated by
him, is now rapidly advancing in the estimation of the world; and its
doctrines, which a few years since were thought too extravagant and
absurd for investigation, are now discussed in a more liberal and candid
manner. The _test_ for the science of phrenology, and a test by which
its validity alone can be tried, consists in an induction of facts and
observations; and by this mode it is that the disciples of Gall and
Spurzheim challenge their antagonists.
After a life of the most indefatigable industry and active benevolence,
Dr. Gall breathed his last at his country house at Montrouge, a short
distance from Paris, on August the 22nd, 1828, at the age of seventy-
one. The examination of his body took place forty hours after death, in
the presence of the following members of the faculty:--Messrs. Fouquier,
J. Cloquet, Dauncey, Fossati, Cassimir-Broussais, Robouane, Sarlandière,
Fabre-Palaprat, Londe, Costello, Gaubert, Vimont, Jobert, and Marotti.
The exterior appearance of the body presented a considerable falling
away, particularly in the face. The skull was sawed off with the
greatest precaution; the substance of the brain was consistent, and this
organ was firm and perfectly regular.
The funeral of Dr. Gall, which was conducted with as much privacy as
possible, took place at Paris on the 27th of August. He was interred in
the burial-ground of Père la Chaise, between the tombs of Molière and La
Fontaine, being attended to the grave by several members of the faculty.
Three _eloges_, or _oraisons funèbres_, were delivered at the place of
interment by Professor Broussais, Dr. Fossati, and Dr. Londe.
Broussais informs us, that Dr. Gall possessed most of the social
virtues, particularly beneficence and good-nature--qualities, he
observes, precious in all ranks of society, and which ought to make
amends for many defects; but for Gall, they had only to palliate a
certain roughness of character, which might wound the susceptibility of
delicate persons, although the sick and unfortunate never had to
complain; and, indeed, the doctor ought, in strict justice, to have more
merit in our ideas, from never having once lost sight, in his writings,
of either decency or moderation, particularly when it is remembered how
severely he was attacked in propagating his favourite doctrine.