—— —— ——“And his pure brain,
Which some suppose the soul’s frail dwelling-house.”
_Shakspeare._
We have just alighted upon a most curious and interesting document, and
propose to base upon it a phrenological article.
The late lamented Dr. Lovell, Surgeon General of the U. S. Army, set
himself about investigating the claims of phrenology in what seems to us
the only fair and philosophical manner, viz. taking measurement of the
heads of all persons of his acquaintance, particularly those who were
distinguished for any talent.
Below is a paper drawn up by that gentleman and Dr. Brereton; a document
of incontestable genuineness, giving the measurement of more than fifty
distinguished individuals, among whom are Van Buren, Webster, Calhoun,
Clay, Marshall, M’Duffie, John Quincy Adams, &c.
We insert the document entire, sure that it will be examined with care by
all who are examining phrenology, and regarded with interest by general
readers, who can thus place head by head our great men.
1. Occipital Spine to Lower Individ.
2. Occipital Spine to Ear.
3. Ear to Individuality.
4. Ear to Firmness.
5. Destructiveness to Destruct.
6. Cautiousness to Cautiousness.
7. Ideality to Ideality.
8. Ear to Comparison.
--------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
--------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----
No. 1 J. Q. Adams, | 7,8 | 4,2 | 5,3 | 6,0 | 6,1 | 6,1 | 5,6 | 5,6
” 2 J. C. Calhoun, | 8,0 | 4,2 | 5,0 | 6,0 | 6,0 | 6,0 | 5,1 | 5,4
” 3 Henry Clay, | 7,9 | 4,8 | 5,0 | 5,3 | 6,0 | 6,0 | 5,8 | 5,3
” 4 James Barbour, | 8,2 | 4,2 | 5,2 | 6,0 | 6,3 | 6,2 | 5,3 |
” 5 Samuel L. Southard, | 7,9 | 4,3 | 5,1 | 5,5 | 6,3 | 5,4 | 5,2 |
” 6 William Wirt, | 8,1 | 4,6 | 5,2 | 5,9 | 6,0 | 5,4 | 6,0 | 5,5
” 7 John M’Lean, | 8,1 | 5,0 | 5,1 | 6,3 | 6,2 | 6,1 | 6,1 | 5,7
” 8 Martin Van Buren, | 7,8 | 4,3 | 4,7 | 5,6 | 6,4 | 6,1 | 6,0 | 5,1
” 9 Wm. T. Barry, | 7,5 | 3,5 | 5,0 | 6,0 | 6,0 | 6,0 | 6,2 | 6,1
” 10 Judge John Marshall,| 8,0 | 4,5 | 5,0 | 5,7 | 6,2 | 6,3 | 5,6 | 5,4
” 11 ” Johnson, | 7,8 | 4,8 | 5,1 | 6,0 | 6,3 | 5,8 | 6,0 | 5,2
” 12 ” Trimble, | 7,9 | 4,5 | 5,1 | 5,7 | 6,4 | 6,2 | 6,1 | 5,7
” 13 Gov. L. Woodbury, | 7,6 | 4,5 | 5,0 | 6,0 | 6,2 | 6,0 | 6,1 | 5,7
” 14 Mr. Tazewell, | 7,7 | 4,5 | 5,0 | 5,8 | 6,1 | 6,0 | 5,7 | 5,7
” 15 ” M’Duffie, | 8,2 | 4,3 | 5,1 | 6,0 | 6,0 | 6,0 | 5,8 | 5,4
” 16 ” Cheeves, | 8,2 | 4,1 | 5,2 | 6,1 | 6,1 | 5,9 | 6,1 | 5,7
” 17 ” Webster, | 8,2 | 4,4 | 5,0 | 6,1 | 6,3 | 6,0 | 6,4 | 5,6
” 18 Judge M’P. Berrien, | 8,0 | 4,7 | 4,8 | 5,8 | 6,3 | 6,1 | 5,2 | 5,1
” 19 Mr. Bradlee, | | | | | | | |
senator, Vt. | 8,1 | 4,5 | 5,1 | 5,8 | 5,9 | 6,0 | 6,0 | 5,1
” 20 ” Whipple, ” N. H. | 8,2 | 4,5 | 5,1 | 5,6 | 6,0 | 5,8 | 5,8 | 5,5
” 21 ” Hamilton, ” S. C. | 7,8 | 4,8 | 4,7 | 5,6 | 6,0 | 5,9 | 5,7 | 5,1
” 22 ” Stewart, ” Pa. | 8,0 | 5,0 | 5,1 | 6,0 | 6,0 | 5,7 | 5,8 | 5,7
” 23 Judge Henry Baldwin,| 8,0 | 5,0 | 5,3 | 6,0 | 6,2 | 6,0 | 6,0 | 5,8
” 24 Gen. D. Parker, | 7,4 | 4,0 | 5,3 | 5,8 | 6,4 | 6,1 | 6,2 | 6,0
” 25 Col. Roger Jones, | 7,8 | 4,5 | 4,8 | 5,3 | 5,6 | 5,8 | 5,7 |
” 26 Mr. Mitchell, | 7,9 | 4,7 | 5,0 | 6,2 | 6,2 | 6,2 | 7,1 | 5,4
” 27 Col. Geo. Bomford, | 7,9 | 4,6 | 5,0 | 5,6 | 6,2 | 6,2 | 5,7 | 5,4
” 28 ” N. Towson, | 7,4 | 3,9 | 4,9 | 5,5 | 5,5 | 5,2 | 5,3 |
” 29 ” Geo. Gibson, | 7,5 | 4,5 | 4,8 | 5,7 | 5,9 | 5,3 | 5,4 |
” 30 Maj. W. Wade, | 7,8 | 4,1 | 5,1 | 5,8 | 5,9 | 5,0 | 5,5 | 5,4
” 31 ” Jas. Kearney, | 7,4 | 4,0 | 5,1 | 5,6 | 5,6 | 5,3 | 5,6 | 5,3
” 32 Capt. John Smith, | 7,6 | 4,1 | 4,8 | 6,0 | 5,9 | 5,6 | 5,6 | 5,0
” 33 ” Maurice, | 8,0 | 4,6 | 5,1 | 5,4 | 6,0 | 5,8 | 5,6 | 5,3
” 34 Rev. J. N. Campbell,| 7,4 | 4,4 | 4,8 | 5,4 | 5,6 | 5,3 | 5,6 | 3,3
” 35 George Todsen, | 7,5 | 4,4 | 4,8 | 5,9 | 6,6 | 5,4 | 5,9 | 5,3
” 36 Dr. Richard Randall,| 7,2 | 3,4 | 5,0 | 6,0 | 6,0 | 5,4 | 5,7 | 5,9
” 37 ” Cutting, | 7,9 | 4,2 | 5,4 | 5,8 | 6,0 | 5,2 | 5,6 | 5,9
” 38 Maj. Vandeventor, | 7,0 | 3,8 | 4,8 | 5,7 | 5,6 | 5,5 | 5,3 | 5,3
” 39 Lieut. John Farley, | 7,2 | 4,0 | 4,9 | 5,7 | 5,9 | 5,1 | 5,5 | 5,3
” 40 ” Graham, | 7,5 | 4,3 | 5,0 | 5,7 | 5,9 | 5,3 | 5,3 | 5,2
” 41 ” Martin Thomas, | 7,4 | 4,7 | 4,8 | 5,3 | 6,1 | 5,6 | 5,9 | 5,3
” 42 Dr. E. Cutbush, | 7,5 | 4,5 | 5,1 | 5,3 | 5,6 | 6,0 | 5,2 | 5,6
” 43 I. Inman, | 8,0 | 5,0 | 5,1 | 6,0 | 6,1 | 6,0 | 5,2 | 5,2
” 44 James H. Henshaw, | 7,6 | 4,4 | 4,9 | 5,7 | 6,2 | 5,8 | 5,7 | 5,4
” 45 Charles Hill, | 7,6 | 4,3 | 5,3 | 5,9 | 6,2 | 6,2 | 6,5 |
” 46 Nathaniel Frye, | 7,5 | 4,3 | 5,0 | 5,9 | 6,0 | 5,0 | 5,9 |
” 47 Lieut. Simonson, | 7,3 | 4,3 | 5,0 | 5,2 | 5,1 | 5,4 | 6,0 |
” 48 Col. J. L. M’Kenney,| 7,0 | 3,0 | 4,9 | 5,5 | 6,0 | 5,7 | 5,6 | 5,4
” 49 Dr. J. Lovell, | | | | | | | |
Sur. Gen. | 7,6 | 4,6 | 5,0 | 5,4 | 5,6 | 5,0 | 5,5 |
” 50 R. Johnson, | 7,3 | 4,0 | 4,6 | 5,5 | 5,7 | 5,4 | 5,2 | 5,1
” 51 Lieut. James Macomb,| 7,7 | 4,3 | 4,8 | 5,7 | 5,9 | 5,5 | 5,2 | 5,2
” 52 Wm. Lee, 2d Auditor.| 8,0 | 4,0 | 5,0 | 6,1 | 6,2 | 5,8 | 5,8 | 5,9
--------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----
For the benefit of the uninitiated, we will explain the principles of
these admeasurements, and then give the inferences to be drawn from them.
The occipital spine is the lump or knob which every person may feel on
the back of his own head, just in the centre of the skull, a little above
the nape of the neck; lower Individuality is just between the eyes,
where the root of the nose springs from the forehead; this measurement
gives the whole length of the head. The average length of men’s heads is
seven inches five-tenths; the average length of the fifty-two heads in
this table, is seven inches seven-tenths, being two-tenths of an inch
more than common heads. Now, this may seem at first a small matter, but
two-tenths of an inch added to the length of a man’s nose, would make a
very different proboscis, and added to the length of the fibre of his
brain, might make him longer headed than his neighbours in more than
one sense of the word. But, _n’importe_, we are looking at the facts;
the longest heads are those of Daniel Webster, Langdon Cheeves, James
Barbour, and Mr. M’Duffie, each measuring eight inches two-tenths; or
seven-tenths of an inch more than the average measure of men’s heads.
Next come John M’Lean and William Wirt, measuring eight inches one-tenth;
then John C. Calhoun, Judge Marshall, Attorney General Berrien, and Judge
Baldwin, each eight inches; next come Henry Clay, Samuel L. Southard,
Judge Trimble, John Quincy Adams, and Martin Van Buren. These are all
longer headed men than the average of the list; while Levi Woodbury is
smaller by one-tenth; and the last postmaster, Barry, by two-tenths. The
shortest head in the list is that of Col. M’Kenney.
The next measurement is from the cochile, or hollow of the ear, to the
occipital spine on the bump felt in the back of the head. It is asserted
by some phrenologists, that this measurement gives the development
of Inhabitiveness, or in the vernacular, the disposition to stay at
home, attachment to place; but others, schismatics, say it indicates
Concentrativeness, or power of fixing and concentrating thought. Be this
as it may, among those on our list, John M’Lean and Judge Baldwin are
the longest in this direction; next Henry Clay, Judge Johnson, &c. The
smallest, and very small, (the average being in common men four inches
two-tenths,) is Col. M’Kenney, who, (Heaven help him) is tied to home
by a fibre of only three inches. No wonder he has trotted all over the
world, and received the appointment of U. S. Indian Agent.
The next line of the table gives the measurements from the ear forward
to Individuality, on the centre of the forehead between the eyes. This
measurement, when taken in relation to the other measurements of each
individual’s head, is much relied on by phrenologists as a test of the
strength of the perceptive faculties; men who perceive and remember a
multitude of individual facts and things, should belong here.
The longest in the list are J. Q. Adams, Judge Baldwin, and Gen. D.
Parker. The average length of men’s heads in this direction, is less than
five inches; the above measure five inches three-tenths; James Barbour,
William Wirt, and Langdon Cheeves, each measure five inches two-tenths;
Judge M’Lean and Mr. M’Duffie measure five inches one-tenth. Webster,
Clay, and Calhoun, are a little longer than the average; Van Buren falls
considerably short of the mark.
Col. M’Kenney should be well endowed in the perceptive faculties,
for although his fibre measures but four inches nine-tenths, we must
recollect that his head is small. The shortest in the list is R. Johnson.
Now, among all men we ever met, no one can match John Q. Adams for minute
and varied knowledge, save and except Lord Brougham.
The next measurement is from the ear to the top of the head, where, it
is said, is the organ of Firmness; and the height of the head should
indicate the strength of this quality. And here we used to think we
had the phrenologists on the hip, judging from some of our own eye
measurements; but we were told it must be taken in relation with other
qualities; a man may be firm in vice’s cause as well as virtue’s,
but then he is called stubborn; or his firmness may be qualified by
caution or cowardice—he may be a confirmed coward, &c. But no matter,
we proceed to the measurements. The average of Firmness of these men,
measured by Gunter’s scale, is five inches seven-tenths. We find Judge
M’Lean overtops them all, and has a mountain of Firmness, measuring six
inches three-tenths; next comes Mr. Mitchell, of South Carolina, then
Messrs. Webster and Cheeves—six inches one-tenth; then lower, but yet
high, John Quincy Adams, Calhoun, Barbour, Johnson, M’Duffie, Baldwin,
Barry. Van Buren’s Firmness would never be in his way, being a tenth
lower than the average; Mr. Clay’s is three-tenths; and one person,
Lt. Simonson, is only five inches and two-tenths! The small Firmness,
alias, small obstinacy, of Clay, perhaps qualifies him so well for
mediator—pacificator.
Now let us apply the rule and compass the other way, and look at the
measurements through the head; that is, from ear to ear, or rather along
the ear from Destructiveness to Destructiveness, which indicates, also,
the size of Secretiveness; it is said to be necessary to statesmen,
players, and thieves.
Men generally measure five inches six-tenths in this direction; but
the average measure of this list gives seven inches seven-tenths; from
whence phrenologists would infer, that our worthies destroy and secrete
only in the ratio of one-tenth more than the rest of the people; a very
charitable conclusion, truly! The longest is Dr. Todsen, of the United
States Army; who, _horribile dictu_! measures six inches and six-tenths!
No wonder he was afterwards cashiered for theft; how could he help it,
with such a bump! Next to this unfortunate worthy—and, as if to mark the
contrast, and note the folly of phrenological predictions, comes—who?
why, our present magnanimous and open-hearted president, who was then
(nine years ago) the innocent and unsophisticated Martin Van Buren!
We feel almost indignant at the insinuation implied in this measurement;
not that we doubt its correctness, or the motives of Doctors Lovell and
Brereton, but they should have put in as a salvo the measurement of
our president’s Conscientiousness, which, we think, must be enormous,
in order to counterbalance this Secretiveness; for we are confident
that nine years ago he had no fixed plans and determinations which he
_secreted_ from the world.
To be sure Judge Trimble is placed in the same category, and following
close after, comes Daniel Webster, whose Destructiveness, measuring a
tenth less than the president’s, is, nevertheless, enormously developed,
and probably is
—— “the direful spring
Of woes unnumbered,”
to the feathered and finny tribes which are so unfortunate as to frequent
his neighbourhood. He is rather apt also to attack and destroy the
arguments of his opponents. Barbour and Southard also are set down as
destructives to the extent of six inches and three-tenths; while M’Lean,
Marshall, Woodbury, and Baldwin, go the length of six inches two-tenths;
John Quincy Adams and Tazewell, six and one-tenth; even Clay cannot be
called a conservative, for he, with Calhoun, M’Duffie, and others, go the
length of three-tenths of an inch more than the average of men in the
destructive line.
The next measurement is from Cautiousness to Cautiousness; that is, the
breadth of the head about four fingers above the ears at the broadest
part. Some heads run up in a regular slope from above the ears to the
crown; of course there can be little of the organ of caution there, and
phrenologists maintain that this is the characteristic of French skulls;
while other heads bulge out above the ear, having what they call large
Cautiousness, and they point to the well-known bulge in Hindoo skulls.
Cautiousness, however, we believe, is not now considered by phrenologists
to be merely a negative quality, as was taught by Gall, but a positive
one, and more like fear. When this organ is deficient, the individual
should be rash and precipitate; when full, cautious and circumspect;
when very large, irresolute and wavering. Too much in a judge would be
a failing, “which leans to virtue’s side;” too much in a soldier would
oftener prove his disgrace than his honour; for one Fabius, who gained
the name of Great, we have a thousand Marcelli; the glitter of the sword
dazzles the multitude, but the virtue of the shield is known only to a
few.
The first thing which strikes one on examining this part of the table, is
the great difference between the measurements of caution in military men,
and in the statesmen and judges; the latter are all large—some of them
very large—the former are small; the average measurement of the judges
and statesmen is six inches, while that of the officers is but five
inches and three-tenths!
For instance, Judge Marshall has the enormous measurement of six inches
and three-tenths in the organ of Cautiousness—that of the average being
only five inches seven-tenths; Judge Trimble and Mr. Barbour measure 6-2;
Messrs. Van Buren and Adams, Judges M’Lean and Berrien, 6-1; Messrs.
Clay, Calhoun, Webster, Tazewell, &c. six inches. On the other hand,
Major Wade measures only five inches; Lieut. Farley 5-1; Col. Towson 5-2;
Col. Gibson, Major Kearney, and Lieut. Graham, 5-3. Most of the rest are
below the average; and only two, General Parker and Col. Bomford, measure
over six inches.
The last measurement we shall notice, is from Ideality to Ideality, that
is, through the head, just above and behind the temple. Phrenologists
suppose that this organ is essential to the poet, though it alone will
not make a poet; he must have, besides, Language, Time, Tune, &c.
Ideality in the common man may show itself in his good taste, in dress,
furniture, &c.; in the orator or writer, in his tropes and figures;
in all men, by the conception of, and aspiration to, something finer,
better, superior to what it actually is.
In our list, it is largest, and enormously large, in Charles Hill, who
was, we believe, an elegant dresser, quite a Corinthian; he measures
six inches five-tenths, the average being five inches seven-tenths;
Webster is 6-4 [Qy. 6-2?]; next Messrs. Barry, Parker, Woodbury, Cheeves,
Van Buren, Wirt, &c., all of whom have it large. On the other hand,
Judges Berrien and Marshall, Adams, Barbour, Southard, fall below the
average; and Calhoun measures only five inches one-tenth. The remarkable
diminutiveness of this organ, taken with the terseness of his language,
which never shows a trope or figure of any kind, is a “coincidence” at
least.
The measurements of this paper correct some erroneous impressions which
the public generally have. We always supposed, for instance, that
the heads of Judge Marshall and Mr. Calhoun were unfavourable to the
phrenological doctrine, as being quite small; but it seems they are
actually large; and, though narrow, the region of Ideality capable of
containing a more than usual quantity of brain.
The largest head in the list is that of Daniel Webster, but it is not
most to our liking, for there is a goodly share in the animal region;
and though he has “most brains of the bunch,” they are not of the very
choicest kind.
Phrenologists, looking over these measurements, and without regarding the
names, would say that the best head was No. 7, belonging to Judge M’Lean,
because it is full in the upper or moral region; Firmness, and its
neighbouring Veneration, are large; they would call it a well-balanced
head, and conclude that its great intellectual power would not be made a
pander to the animal propensities. (We ourselves should prefer it; but,
lest we should be suspected of a political bias in favour of the latter,
we avow that our vote is for Daniel, _malgré_, his occiput.) The next
heads, in the order of size, are Judges Baldwin, Marshall, Trimble, and
Johnson; Messrs. Cheeves, M’Duffie, Wirt, Adams, (a quartetto of the same
size); next, Clay, Van Buren, Calhoun, and Southard.
We have stated that we are candid enquirers into the nature of
phrenology; we believe we are so; and if the facts shown in this paper
are favourable to its pretensions, the fault is not ours, but nature’s;
we admire and we adopt the motto of one of its lights, “_res non verba
quæso_.”
It would have been as easy for us to seek for, and to set forth, opposing
arguments and facts; and we should have done it in the spirit of the
motto just quoted; but as the vast majority of men of learning, and
almost all writers, are opposed to phrenology—as it is assailed every day
by argument and ridicule—as its opponents are rather uproarious whenever
it is seriously mentioned—we deem it but fair _audire alteram partem_.
In plain truth, we are all, to a certain extent, phrenologists; and the
disciples of Gall and Spurzheim have no right to claim for their masters
the credit of originality, or for themselves the credit of peculiar
and new views of nature. No age, since Aristotle, has been without its
philosophers, who pointed out the brain as the organ by which the mind
carried on its operations; and it is now generally admitted to be its
primary and essential instrument.
A shrewd and practical English philosopher, and an uncompromising
anti-phrenologist, writes thus: “Mind, connected with body, can only
acquire knowledge slowly through the bodily organs of sense, and more
or less perfectly according as these organs and the central brain are
perfect. A human being, born blind and deaf, and therefore remaining
dumb, as in the noted case of the boy Mitchell, grows up closely to
resemble an automaton; and an originally misshapen or deficient brain
causes idiocy for life. Childhood, maturity, dotage, which have such
differences of bodily powers, have corresponding differences of mental
faculties; and as no two bodies, so no two minds, in their external
manifestations, are quite alike. Fever, or a blow on the head, will
change the most gifted individual into a maniac, cause the lips of
virgin innocence to utter the most revolting obscenity, and those of
pure religion to speak horrible blasphemy; and most cases of madness and
eccentricity can now be traced to a peculiar state of the brain.”
What the nature and the powers of the human soul may be, we know not,
nor can we know, until it is disembodied and disenthralled; until this
mortal shall put on immortality, and time and space shall be no more;
then, doubtless, the power of ubiquity, and a searching vision to which
the diameter of the globe will present no more of an obstacle than does
the thinnest glass to the mortal eye, will be among the least of the
spiritual powers; but, until then, if we would study the nature of the
spirit, we must consider it as trammeled by, and operating through, a
corporeal organisation.
The difference between the vast majority of thinking men and
ultra-phrenologists, we believe to be narrowed down to this; all
admit that the spirit of man, manifesting itself through corporeal
organisation, is influenced and modified by, and indeed entirely
dependent upon, the nature and state of that organisation, particularly
of the brain and nervous system; while phrenologists go farther, and say,
that according to the length and breadth of certain bundles of fibres in
certain compartments of the brain does the spirit manifest its different
faculties with different degrees of activity and power.
We all of us admit, that even the giant mind of a Newton, or a Napoleon,
would struggle in vain against the finger of an infant pressing upon the
brain; but phrenologists maintain, that as the finger should be pressed
upon one or another organ, so would one or another of the mental powers
be immediately affected. Perhaps the truth is beyond the extremes; and
while we should strive to attain the _juste milieu_, we should not be
deterred by any fears of what may be the inferences from searching for
truth in observations upon nature.