MINISTRY OF EFFICIENCY |
| DIRECTOR Modesto McMenamy |
ABOUT
The ancient artists,"' says Dr Spurzheim, " have given to Jupiter a forehead more prominent than to any other antique head; and hence it would seem they had observed, that the development of the forehead has a relation to great understanding." The bust of Socrates (of which the Phrenological Society possesses a copy), shews a very large development of the reflecting organs. It is cither a correct representation of his real appearance, and then it presents an interesting coincidence betwixt his character and development : or it is supposititious, and, in that case, shews the impression of the ancient artist, that such a mind as that of Socrates required such a tenement for its abode.
As already mentioned, when the organ now under consideration is very deficient, the individual has great difficulty in perceiving Causation ; and when two events are presented to him following each other or concomitant, he sees only coincidrwe. Illustrations of this observation frequently occur in discussions relative to Phrenology. When Causality is well developed in an observer, and several decided instances of concomitance betwixt particular forms of head and particular powers of mind are presented to him, the feeling of connexion between them is irresistible; he is struck with it, and declares that there is something here which ought to be followed out. When the same facts are exhibited to apcrson in whom Causality is deficient, he smiles surprizedly, and ejaculates " a curious coincidence ;' but his mind receives iio strong impression of connexion between the phenomena; it feels no desire to follow out the ideas to their consequences, and has no wish to prosecute the investigation. It was from this class of minds, ever ready to catch superficial glimpses, that the public received the first accounts of Phrenology : and on them is chargeable the misrepresentations which so long impeded its course. • Edinburgh Review, Nov. 1820, p. 3119
This faculty is an ingredient in the judgment of the metaphysicians. It is also, to a certain extent, the fountain of abstract ideas, viz. those of the relation of cause aud effect, and bears, in this respect, an analogy to their abstraction. It and Comparison correspond to the Relative Suggestion of Dr Thomas Brown : " A tendency of the mind," says he, " by which, on perceiving or conceiving objects together, we are instantly impressed with certain feelings of their mutual relation *." By dispensing with Perception, Conception, &c. as separate faculties of the mind, and dividing the intellect into the two faculties of Simple Suggestion and Relative Suggestion, Dr Brown has made an interesting approach to the results of phrenological discovery, and to a correct analysis of the actual constitution of the human intellect. It was impossible, by means of the old faculties of Conception, &c. to point out the distinctive characteristies of a mind which collected only facts in the order in which they were presented to it; and of another, which struck out a multitude of new ideas from every object which it contemplated, and instinctively inquired from what causes all phenomena proceed, and to what results they tend. Dr Brown's Simple Suggestion denotes the one, his Relative Suggestion the other; and in Phrenology, the Perceptive Faculties correspond to the former, and the Reflecting Powers to the latter.