V Jwt A) <^w?7r■ are bestowed, -< and the sciences of Geometry, Arithmetic Algebra, Geography, Chemistry, Botany, Mineralogy, Zoology, Anatomy, and various others, are the fields of their exer- cise. The first three sciences are almost the entire products of these faculties ; the others result chiefly from them, when applied on ex- w ternal objects. COMPARED WITH EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 81 Coloring, Time, Tune, are given, " and these, aided by Constructive- ness, Form, Locality, Ideality, and other faculties, find scope in Paint- ing, Sculpture, Poetry, Music, and the other fine arts. Language is given,—and our faculties inspire us with lively emotions and ideas, which we desire to communicate by its means to other individuals. Comparison, Causality, Wit, 1 exist, ' and these faculties, aided by In- dividuality, Form, Size, Weight, and others already enumerated, find ample gratification in Natural Philosophy, in Moral, Political and Intellectual Science, and their different branches. The general objects and affairs of life, together with our own feelings, conduct, and relations, are also the objects of the knowing and reflecting faculties, and afford them vast opportunities for exercise. (82) CHAPTER III. ON THE SOURCES OF HUMAN HAPPINESS, AND THE CON- DITIONS REQUISITE FOR MAINTAINING IT. Having now given a rapid sketch of the Constitution of Man, and its relations to external objects, we are pre- pared to inquire into the sources of his happiness, and the conditions requisite for maintaining it. The first and most obvious circumstance which attracts attention, is, that all enjoyment must necessarily arise from activity of the various systems of which the human constitution is composed. The bones, muscles, nerves, digestive and respiratory organs, furnish pleasing sensa- tions, directly or indirectly, when exercised in conformity with their nature; and the external senses, and internal faculties, when excited, supply the whole remaining per- ceptions and emotions, which, when combined, constitute life and rational existence. If these were habitually buried in sleep, or constitutionally inactive, life, to all purposes of enjoyment, might as well be extinct: Existence would be reduced to mere vegetation, without consciousness. If, then, Wisdom and Benevolence have been employed in constituting Man, we may expect the arrangements of creation, in regard to him, to be calculated, as a leading object, to excite his various powers, corporeal and mental, to activity. This, accordingly, appears to me to be the case; and the fact may be illustrated by a few examples. A certain portion of nervous and mus.cular energy is in- fused by nature into the human body every twenty-four hours, which it is delightful to expend. To provide for its expenditure, the stomach has been constituted so as to AND THE CONDITIONS FOR MAINTAINING IT. 83 require regular supplies of food, which can be obtained only by nervous and muscular exertion: The body has been created destitute of covering, yet standing in need of protection from the elements of heaven; and nature has been so constituted, that raiment can be easily provided by moderate exercise of the mental and corporeal powers. It is delightful to repair exhausted nervous and muscular energy by wholesome aliment; and the digestive organs have been so constituted, as to perform their functions by successive stages and to afford us frequent opportunities of enjoying the pleasures of eating. In these arrange- ments, the design of supporting the various systems of the body in activity, for the enjoyment of the individual, is abundantly obvious. A late writer justly remarks, that ' a person of feeble texture and indolent habits has the bone smooth, thin, and light; but nature, solicitous for our safety, and in a manner which we could not anticipate, combines with the powerful muscular frame a dense and perfect texture of bone, where every spine and tubercle is completely developed.' 'As the structure of the parts is originally perfected by the action of the vessels, the func- tion or operation of the part is made the stimulus to those vessels. The cuticle on the hand wears away like a glove; but the pressure stimulates the living surface to force suc- cessive layers-of skin under that which is wearing, or, as anatomists call it, desquamating; by which they mean, that the cuticle does not change at once, but comes off in squamae or scales.' Directing our attention to the "Mind, we discover that Individuality, and the other Perceptive Faculties, desire, as their means of enjoyment, to know existence, and to become acquainted with external objects; while the Re- flecting Faculties desire to know the dependences and relations of all objects and beings. ' There is something,' says an eloquent writer, ' positively agreeable to all men, to all, at least, whose nature is not most grovelling and base, in gaining knowledge for its own sake. When you 34 ON THE SOURCES OF HUMAN HAPPINESS, see any thing for the first time, you at once derive some gratification from the sight being new; your attention is awakened, and you desire to know more about it. If it is a piece of workmanship, as an instrument, a machine of any kind, you wish to know how it is made; how it works; and what use it is of. If it is an animal, you desire to know where it comes from; how it lives; what are its dis- positions, and, generally, its nature and habits. This de- sire is felt, too, without at all considering that the machine or the animal may ever be of the least use to yourself prac- tically; for, in all probability, you may never see them again. But you feel a curiosity to learn all about them, because they are new and unknown to you. You, according- ly, make inquiries; you feel a gratification in getting an- swers to your questions, that is, in receiving information, and in knowing more,—in being better informed than you were before. If you ever happen again to see the same instrument or animal, you find it agreeable to recollect having seen it before, and to think that you know some- thing about it. If you see another instrument or animal, in some respects like, but differing in other particulars, you find it pleasing to compare them together, and to note in what they agree, and in what they differ. Now, all this kind of gratification is of a pure and disinterested nature, and has no reference to any of the common purposes of life; yet it is a pleasure—an enjoyment. You are nothing the richer for it; you do not gratify your palate, or any other bodily appetite; and yet it is so pleasing that you would give something out of your pocket to obtain it, and would forego some bodily enjoyment for its sake. The pleasure derived from science is exactly of the like nature, or rather it is the very same.'* This is a correct and forcible exposition of the pleasures attending the active exercise of our intellectual faculties. In the introduction to this work, pages 7 and 8, I have given several illustra- Objects, advantages, and Pleasures of Science, p. 1. AND THE CONDITIONS FOR MAINTAINING IT. 85 tions of the manner in which the external world is adapted to the mental faculties of man, and of the extent to which it is calculated to maintain them in activity, and I need not repeat them here. Supposing the human faculties to have received their present constitution, two arrangements may be fancied as instituted for their gratification; 1st, Infusing into the intellectual powers at birth, intuitive knowledge of every object which they are fitted ever to comprehend; and, Di- recting every propensity and sentiment by an infallible instinct to its best mode and degree of gratification: Or, 2dly, Constituting the intellectual faculties only as capaci- ties for gaining knowledge by exercise and application, and surrounding them with objects bearing such relations towards them, that, when observed and attended to, they shall afford them high giatification; and, when unobserved and neglected, they shall occasion them uneasiness and pain:—And giving to each propensity and sentiment a wide field of action, comprehending both use and abuse, and leaving the intellect to direct each to its proper objects, and to regulate its degrees of indulgence. And the ques- tion occurs, Which of these modes would be most condu- cive to enjoyment? The general opinion will be in favor of the first; but the second appears to me to be preferable. If the first meal we had eaten had for ever prevented the recurrence of hunger, it is obvious that all the pleasures of satisfying a healthy appetite would then have been at an end; so that this apparent bounty would have greatly abridged our enjoyment. In like manner, if, our faculties being constituted as at present, intuitive directions had been impressed on the propensities and sentiments, and intuitive knowledge had been communicated to the under- standing, so that, when an hour old, we should have been morally, as capable of wise and virtuous conduct, and intellectually, as thoroughly acquainted with every object, quality, and relation, as we could ever become, all provi- eion for the sustained activity of many of our faculties 8 86 ON THE SOURCES OF HUMAN HAPPINESS, would have been done away with. When wealth is ac- quired, the miser's pleasure in it is diminished. He grasps after more with increasing avidity. He is supposed irra- tional in doing so; but he obeys the instinct of his nature. What he possesses, no longer satisfies Acquisitiveness; it is like food in the stomach, which gives pleasure in eating, and would give pain were it withdrawn, but which, when there, is attended with little positive sensation. The miser's pleasure arises from the active state of Acquisitive- ness, and only the pursuit and obtaining of new treasures can maintain that state. The same law is exemplified in the case of Love of Approbation. The gratification which it affords depends on its active state and hence the necessity for new incense, and higher mounting in the scale of ambi- tion, is constantly experienced by its victims. Napoleon, in exile, said, 'Let us live upon the past:'but he found this impossible; his predominant desires originated in Am- bition and Self-Esteem, and the past did not stimulate them, or maintain them in constant activity. In like man- ner, no musician, artist, poet, or philosopher, would reckon himself happy, however extensive his attainments were, if informed, Now you must stop and live upon the past; and the reason is still the same. New ideas, and new emo- tions, excite and maintain the faculties in activity; and activity is enjoyment. If these views be correct, the consequences of imbuing the mind with intuitive knowledge, and instinctive direction as to conduct, would not have been unquestionably bene- ficial. The limits of our experience and acquirements would have been speedily reached; our first step would have been our last; every object would have become old and familiar; Hope would have had no object of expecta- tion; Cautiousness no object of fear; Wonder no gratifica- tion in novelty: And monotony, insipidity, and mental satiety, would apparently have been the lot of Man. According to the view now advanced, creation, in its present form, is more wisely and benevolently adapted to AND THE CONDITIONS FOR MAINTAINING IT. 87 our constitution than if instinctive direction and intuitive instruction had been showered on the mind at birth. By the actual arrangement, numerous noble faculties are bestowed; and their objects are presented; these objects are endowed with qualities fitted to benefit and delight us, when properly used, and to injure and punish us when mis- understood or misapplied; but we are left to find out their qualities by the exercise of our faculties themselves. Pro- vision is thus made for ceaseless activity of the mental powers, and this constitutes delight. Wheat is produced by the earth, and adapted to the nutrition of the body; but it may be rendered more grateful to the organ of taste, more salubrious to the stomach, and more stimulating to the nervous and muscular systems, by being stripped of its external skin, ground into flour, and baked into bread. Now, the Creator pre-arranged all these relations, when he endowed wheat with its properties, and the human body with its qualities and functions. In withholding congenital and intuitive knowledge of these qualities and mutual re- lations, but in bestowing faculties fitted to find them out; in rendering the exercise of these faculties agreeable; ami in leaving man, in this condition, to proceed for himself,— he appears to me to have conferred on him "the highest boon. The earth produces also hemlock and foxglove, and, by the organic law, those substances, if taken in cer- tain moderate quantities, remove diseases; if in excess, they occasion death: but, again, man's observing faculties are fitted, when applied under the guidance of Cautious- ness and Reflection, to make this discovery; and he is left to make it in this way, or suffer the consequences of neglect. Water, when elevated in temperature, becomes steam, and steam expands with prodigious power; this power, con- fined by metal, and directed by intellect, is capable of being converted into the steam-engine, the most efficient, yet humble servant of man. All this was clearly pre-arranged by the Creator; and man's faculties were adapted to it: 88 ON THE SOURCES OF HUMAN HAPPINESS, but still we see him left to observe and discover the quali- ties and relations of water for himself. This duty, how- ever, must be acknowledged as benevolently imposed, the moment we discover that the Creator has made the very exercise of the faculties pleasurable, and arranged external qualities and relations so beneficially, that, when known, they may carry a double reward in adding by their positive influence to human gratification. The Knowing Faculties, as we have seen, observe the mere external qualities of bodies, and their simpler rela- tions. The Reflecting Faculties observe relations also, but of a higher order. The former discover that the soil is clay or gravel; that it is tough or friable; that it is dry or wet, and that excess of water impedes vegetation; that in one season the crop is large, and in the next deficient. The reflecting faculties take cognizance of the causes of these phenomena. They discover the means by which wet soil may be rendered dry; clay may be pulverized; light soil may be invigorated; and all of them made more pro- ductive; also the relationship of particular soils to particu- lar kinds of grain. The inhabitants of a country who exert their knowing faculties in observing the qualities of their soil, their reflecting faculties in discovering its capa- bilities and relations to water, lime, manures, and the vari- ous species of grain, and who put forth their muscular and nervous energies in accordance with the dictates of these powers, receive a rich reward in a climate improved in salubrity, in an abundant supply of food, besides much positive enjoyment attending the exercise of the powers themselves. Those communities, on the other hand, who neglect to use their mental faculties, and muscular and nervous energies, are punished by ague, fever, rheumatism, and a variety of painful affections, arising from damp air; are stinted in food; and, in wet seasons, are brought to the very brink of starvation by total failure of their crops. This punishment is a benevolent admonition from the Crea- tor, that they are neglecting a great duty, and omitting to AND THE CONDITIONS FOR MAINTAINING IT. 89 enjoy a great pleasure; and it will cease as soon as they have fairly redeemed the blessings lost by their negligence, and obeyed the laws of their being. The winds and waves appear, at first sight, to present insurmountable obstacles to man leaving the island or con- tinent on which he happens to be born, and to his holding intercourse with his fellows in distant climes: But, by ob- serving the relations of water to timber, he is enabled to construct a ship; by observing the influence of the wind on a physical body placed in a fluid medium, he discovers the use of sails; and, finally, by the application of his facul- ties, he has found out the expansive quality of steam, and traced its relations until he has produced a machine that enables him almost to set the roaring tempest at defiance, and to sail straight to the stormy north, although its loudest and its fiercest blasts oppose. In these instances, we per- ceive external nature admirably adapted to support the mental faculties in habitual activity, and to reward us for the exercise of them. In surveying external nature with this principle in view, many qualities of physical objects present clear indications of benevolent design, which otherwise would be regarded as defects. The Creator obviously intended that man should discover and use coal-gas in illuminating dwelling- houses; and yet it emits an abominable odor. The bad smell, viewed abstractedly from its consequences, would appear to be an unfortunate quality of the gas; but when we recollect that gas is invisible, extremely subtile, and liable to escape, and also, when mixed in a certain propor- tion with atmospheric air, to explode, and that the nause- ous and penetrating smell is like a voice attached to it proclaiming its escape and warning us, in louder and louder tones, to aUend to our safety by confining it,—it presents the aspect of wise and benevolent design. It is objected to this argument, that it involves an in- consistency. Ignorance, it is said, of the natural laws is necessary to happiness, in order that the faculties may 8* 90 ON THE SOURCES OF HDMAN HAPPINESS, obtain exercise in discovering them;—nevertheless hap- piness is impossible till these laws shall have been dis- covered and obeyed. Here, then, it is said ignorance is represented as at once essential to, and incompatible with, enjoyment. The same objection, however, applies to the constitution of the bee. Gathering honey is necessary to its enjoyment; yet it cannot subsist and be happy till it has gathered honey, and therefore that act is both essential to, and incompatible with, its gratification. The fallacy lies in losing sight of the natural constitution both of the bee and of man While the bee possesses instinctive ten- dencies to roam about the fields and flowery meadows, and to exert its energies in labor, it is obviously beneficial to it to be furnished with motives and opportunities for doing so; and so it is with man to obtain scope for his bodily and mental powers. Now, gathering knowledge is to the mind of man what gathering honey is to the bee. Appa- rently with the view of effectually prompting the bee to seek this pleasure, honey is made essential to its subsist- ence. In like manner, and probably with a similar design, knowledge is made indispensable to human enjoyment. Communicating intuitive knowledge of the natural laws to man, while his present constitution continues, would be the exact parallel of gorging the bee with honey in midsum- mer, when its energies are at their height. When the bee has completed its store, winter benumbs its powers, which resume their vigor only when its stock is exhausted, and spring returns to afford them exercise. No torpor resembling that of winter seals up the faculties of the human race; but their ceaseless activity is amply provided for, because, 1st, The laws of nature, compared with the mind of any individual, are of boundless extent, so that every one may learn something new to the end of the longest life. 2dly, By the actual constitution of man, he must make use of his acquirements habitually, otherwise he will lose them. 3dly, Every individual of the race is born in utter ignorance, and starts from zero in the scale AND THE CONDITIONS FOR MAINTAINING IT. 91 of knowledge, so that he has the laws to learn for him- self. These circumstances remove the apparent inconsis- tency. If man had possessed intuitive knowledge of all nature, he could have had no scope for exercising his faculties in acquiring knowledge, in preserving it, or in communicating it. The infant would have been as wise as the most revered sage, and forgetfulness would have been necessarily excluded. Those who object to these views, imagine that after the human race has acquired knowledge of all the natural laws, if such a result be possible, they will be in the same condition as if they had been created with intuitive know- ledge; but this does not follow. Although the race should acquire the knowledge supposed, it is not an inevitable consequence that each individual will necessarily enjoy it all; which, however, would follow from intuition. The entire soil of Britain belongs to the landed proprietors as a class; but each does not possess it all; and hence every one has opportunities for adding to his territories; with this advantage, however, in favor of knowledge, that the acquisitions of one do not impoverish another. Farther, although the race should have learned all the natural laws, their children would not intuitively inherit their ideas, and hence the activity of every one, as he appears on the stage, would be provided for; whereas, by intuition, every child would be as wise as his grandfather, and parental protection, filial piety, and all the delights that spring from difference in knowledge between youth and age, would be excluded. 3d, By the actual state of man, using of acquirements is essential to the preservation as well as the enjoyment of them. By intuition, all knowledge would be habitually present to the mind without effort or consid- eration. On the whole, therefore, it appears that man's nature being what it is, the arrangement by which he is endowed with powers to acquire knowledge, but left to find it out for himself, is both wise and benevolent. 92 ON THE SOURCES OF HUMAN HAPPINESS, It has been asked, 'But is there no pleasure in science but that of discovery? Is there none in using the know- ledge we have attained? Is there no pleasure in playing at chess after we know the moves? ' In answer, I ob- serve, that if we know beforehand all the moves that our antagonist intends to make and all our own, which must be the case if we know every thing by intuition, we shall have no pleasure. The pleasure really consists in dis- covering the intentions of our antagonist, and in calcu- lating the effects of our own play; a certain degree of ignorance of both of which is indispensable to gratification. In like manner, it is agreeable first to discover the natural laws, and then to study ' the moves ' that we ought to make, in consequence of knowing them. So much, then, for the sources of human happiness. In the second place, To reap enjoyment in the greatest quantity and to maintain it most permanently, the faculties must be gratified harmoniously: In other words, if, among the various powers, the supremacy belongs to the moral sentiments, then the aim of our habitual conduct must be the attainment of objects suited to gratify them. For ex- ample, in pursuing wealth or fame, as the leading object of existence, full gratification is not afforded to Benevo- lence, Veneration, and Conscientiousness, and consequent- ly complete satisfaction cannot be enjoyed; whereas, by seeking knowledge, and dedicating life to the welfare of mankind, and obedience to God, in our several vocations, these faculties will be gratified, and wealth, fame, health, and other advantages, will flow in their train, so that the whole mind will rejoice, and its delight will remain per- manent. Thirdly, To place human happiness on a secure basis, the laws of external creation themselves must accord with the dictates of the moral sentiments, and intellect must be fitted to discover the nature and relations of both, and to direct the conduct in harmony with them. Much has been written about the extent of human ig- AND THE CONDITIONS FOR MAINTAINING IT. 93 norance; but we should discriminate between absolute incapacity to know, and mere want of information, arising from not having used this capacity to its full extent. In regard to the first, or our capacity to know, it appears probable that, in this world, we shall never know the essence, beginning, or end of things; because these are points which we have no faculties calculated to discover: But the same Creator who made the external world con- stituted our faculties, and if we have sufficient data for inferring that his intention is, that we shall enjoy existence here while preparing for the ulterior ends of our being; and if it be true that we can be happy here only by be- coming thoroughly conversant with those natural laws which, when observed, are pre-arranged to contribute to our enjoyment, and which, when violated, visit us with suffering, we may safely conclude that our mental capaci- ties are wisely adapted to the attainment of these objects, whenever we shall do our own duty in bringing them to their highest condition of perfection, and in applying them in the best manner. Sir Isaac Newton observed, that all bodies were com- bustible which refracted the rays of light, except one, the diamond, which he found to possess this quality, but which he was not able, by any powers he possessed, to consume by burning. He did not conclude, however, from this, that the diamond was an exception to the uniformity of nature. He inferred, that, as the same Creator had made the refracting bodies, which he was able to burn, and the diamond, and proceeded by uniform laws, the diamond also would, in all probability, be found to be combustible, and that the reason of its resisting his power was ignorance on his part of the proper way to produce its conflagration. A century afterwards, chemists made the diamond blaze with as much vivacity as Sir Isaac Newton had done a wax-candle. Let us proceed, then, on an analogous prin- ciple. If the intention of our Creator be, that we should enjoy existence while in this world, then He knew what 94 ON THE SOURCES OF HUMAN HAPPINESS. was necessary to enable us to do so; and He will not be found to have failed in conferring on us powers fitted to accomplish his design, provided we do our duty in develop- ing and applying them. The great motive to exertion is the conviction, that increased knowledge will furnish us with increased means of happiness and well-doing, and with new proofs of benevolence and wisdom in the Great Architect of the Universe. (95) CHAPTER IV. APPLICATION OF THE NATURAL LAWS TO THE PRACTI- CAL ARRANGEMENTS OF LIFE. If a system of living and occupation were to be framed for human beings, founded on the exposition of their na- ture, which I have now given, it would be something like this. 1st, So many hours a-day should be dedicated by every individual in health, to the exercise of his nervous and muscular systems, in labor calculated to give scope to these functions. The reward of obeying this requisite of his nature would be health, and a joyous animal existence; the punishment of neglect is disease, low spirits, and death. 2dly, So many hours a-day should be spent in the sedulous employment of the knowing and reflecting facul- ties; in studying the qualities of external objects, and their relations; also the nature of animated beings, and their relations; not with the view of accumulating mere abstract and barren knowledge, but of enjoying the positive pleas- ure of mental activity, and of turning every discovery to account, as a means of increasing happiness, or alleviat- ing misery. The leading object should always be, to find out the relationship of every object to our own nature, organic, animal, moral, and intellectual, and to keep that relationship habitually in mind, so as to render our ac- quirements directly gratifying to our various faculties The reward of this conduct would be an incalculably great increase of pleasure, in the very act of acquiring know- ledge of the real properties of external objects, together with a great accession of power in reaping ulterior advan- tages, and avoiding disagreeable affections 96 APPLICATION OF THE NATURAL LAWS TO 3dly, So many hours a-day ought to be devoted to the cultivation and gratification of our moral and religious sentiments; that is to say, in exercising these in harmony with intellect, and especially in acquiring the habit of admiring, loving, and yielding obedience to the Creator and his institutions. This last object is of vast importance. Intellect is barren of practical fruit, however rich it may be in knowledge, until it is fired and prompted to act by moral sentiment. In my view, knowledge by itself is comparatively worthless and impotent, compared with what it becomes when vivified by elevated emotions. It is not enough that Intellect is informed; the moral faculties must simultaneously co-operate, in yielding obedience to the precepts which the intellect recognises to be true. As Creation is one great system of which God is the author and preserver, we may fairly presume that there must be harmony among all its parts, and between it and its Crea- tor. The human mind is a portion of creation, and its constitution must be included in this harmonious scheme. The grand object of the moral and intellectual faculties of man, therefore, ought to be, the study of God and of his works. Before philosophy can rise to its highest dignity, and shed on the human race its richest benefits, it must become religious; that is to say, its principles and their consequences must be viewed as proceeding directly from the Divine Being, and as a revelation of his will to the faculties of man, for the guidance of his conduct. Philosophy, while separated from the moral feelings, is felt by the people at large to be cold and barren. It may be calculated to interest individuals, possessing high intel- lectual endowments; but as the moral and religious senti- ments greatly predominate in energy over the intellectual powers, in the mass of mankind, it fails to interest them. On the other hand, before natural religion can appear in all its might and glory, it must become philosophical. Its foundations must be laid in the system of creation; its authority must be deduced from the principles of that THE PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS OF LIFE. 97 system; and its applications must be enforced by a demon- stration of the power of Providence operating in enforcing the execution of its dictates. While reason and religion arc at variance, both are obstructed in producing their full beneficial effects. God has placed harmony between them, and it is only human imperfection and ignorance that introduce discord. One way of cultivating the sentiments would be for men to meet and act together, on the fixed principles which I am now endeavoring to unfold, and to exercise on each other in mutual instruction, and in united adoration of the great and glorious Creator, the several faculties of Benevolence, Veneration, Hope, Ideality, Wonder, and Justice. The reward of acting in this man- ner would be a communication of direct and intense pleas- ure to each other; for I refer to every individual who has ever had the good fortune to pass a day or an hour with a really benevolent, pious, honest, and intellectual man, whose soul swelled with adoration of his Creator, whose intellect was replenished with knowledge of his works, and whose whole mind was instinct with sympathy for human happiness, whether such a day did not afford him the most pure, elevated, and lasting gratification he ever enjoyed. Such an exercise, besides, would invigorate the whole moral and intellectual powers, and fit them to dis- cover and obey the divine institutions. Phrenology is highly conducive to this enjoyment of our moral and intellectual nature. No faculty is bad, but, on the contrary, each has a legitimate sphere of action, and, when properly gratified, is a fountain of pleasure; in short, man possesses no feeling, of the right exercise of which an enlightened and ingenuous mind need be ashamed. A party of thorough practical phrenologists, therefore, meets in the perfect knowledge of each other's qualities; they respect these as the gifts of the Creator, and their great object is to derive the utmost pleasure from their legitimate use, and to avoid every approximation to abuse of them. The distinctions of country and education are broken 9 98 APPLICATION OF THE NATURAL LAWS TO down by unity of principle; the chilling restraints of Cau- tiousness, Self-Esteem, Secretiveness, and Love of Appro- bation, which stands as barriers of eternal ice between human beings in the ordinary intercourse of society, are gently removed; the directing sway is committed to Be- nevolence, Veneration, Conscientiousness, and Intellect; and then the higher principles of the mind operate with a delightful vivacity unknown to persons unacquainted with the qualities of human nature. Intellect also ought to be regularly exercised in arts, science, philosophy, and observation. I have said nothing of dedicating hours to the direct gratification of the animal powers; nor that they should not be exercised, but that full scope for their activity will be included in the employments already mentioned. In muscular exercises, Combativeness, Destructiveness, Con- structiveness, Acquisitiveness, Self-Esteem, and Love of Approbation, may all be gratified. In contending with and surmounting physical and moral difficulties, Combative- ness and Destructiveness obtain vent; in working at a mechanical employment, requiring the exertion of strength, these two faculties, and also Constructiveness and Acquis- itiveness, will be exercised; in emulation who shall accom- plish most good, Self-Esteem and Love of Approbation will obtain scope. In the exercise of the moral faculties, several of these, and others of the animal propensities, are employed; Amativeness, Philoprogenitiveness, and Adhe- siveness, for example, acting under the guidance of Be- nevolence, Veneration, Conscientiousness, Ideality, and Intellect, receive direct enjoyment in the domestic circle From proper direction also, and from the superior delicacy and refinement imparted to them by the higher powers, they do not infringe the moral law, and leave no sting or repentance in the mind. Finally, a certain portion of time would require to be dedicated to taking of food and sleep. All systems hitherto practised have been deficient m THE PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS OF LIFE. 99 providing for one or more of these branches of enjoyment. In the community at Orbiston, formed on Mr. Owen's principles, music, dancing, and theatrical entertainments were provided; but the people soon tired of these. They had not corresponding moral and intellectual instruction. The novelty excited them, but there was nothing substan- tial behind. In common society, very little either of rational instruction or amusement is provided. The neglect of innocent amusement is a great error. If there be truth in these views, they will throw some light on two important questions, that have puzzled phi- losophers in regard to the progress of human improvement. The first is, Why should man have existed so long, and made so small an advance in the road to happiness? It is obvious that the very scheme of creation which I have de- scribed, implies that man is a progressive being; and pro- gression necessarily supposes lower and higher conditions of attainment and enjoyment. While men are ignorant, there is great individual suffering. This distresses sensi- tive minds, and seems inexplicable: they cannot conceive how improvement should so slowly advance. I confess myself incapable of affording any philosophical explanation why man should have been so constituted; neither can I give a reason why the whole earth was not made tempe- rate and productive, in place of being partially covered with regions of barren sand and eternal snow. The Crea- tor alone can explain these difficulties. When the inhabi- tants of Britain wore the skins of animals, and lived in huts, we may presume that, in rigorous winters, many of them suffered severe privations, and that some would perish from cold. If there had been among the sufferers a gifted philosopher, who observed the talents that were inherent in the people, although then latent, and who, in conse- quence, foresaw the splendid palaces and warm fabrics with which their descendants would one day adorn this island, he might well have been led to deplore the slow progress of improvement, and been grieved at the preva- 100 APPLICATION OF THE NATURAL LAWS TO lence of so much intermediate misery. Yet, the explana- tion that man is a progressive being is all that philosophy can offer; and if this satisfy us as to the past, it must be equally satisfactory in regard to the present and the future. This difficulty is eloquently adverted to by Dr. Chalmers in his Bridgewater Treatise. ' We might not know the reason,' says he, ' why, in the moral world, so many ages of darkness and depravity should have been permitted to pass by, any more than we know the reason why, in the natural world, the trees of a forest, instead of starting all at once into the full efflorescence and stateliness of their manhood, have to make their slow and laborious advance- ment to maturity, cradled in storms, and alternately drooping or expanding with the vicissitudes of the seasons. But though unable to scan all the cycles either of the moral or natural economy, yet we may recognise such in- fluences at work, as when multiplied and developed to the uttermost, are abundantly capable of regenerating the world One of the likeliest of these influences is the power of education, to the perfecting of which so many minds are earnestly directed at this moment, and for the general acceptance of which in society, we have a guarantee in the strongest affections and fondest wishes of the fathers and mothers of families.' (Vol. i. p. 186.) Although, therefore, we cannot explain why Man was constituted a progressive being, and why such a being ad- vances slowly, the principles of this Essay show that there is at least an admirable adaptation of his faculties to his condition. If I am right in the fundamental proposition, that activity in the faculties is synonymous with enjoyment of existence,—it follows that it would have been less wise and less benevolent towards man, constituted as he is, to have communicated to him intuitively perfect knowledge, thereby leaving his mental powers with diminished motives to activity, than to bestow on him faculties endowed with high susceptibility of action, and to surround him with scenes, objects, circumstances, and relations, calculated THE PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS OF LIFE. 101 to maintain them in ceaseless excitement; although this latter arrangement necessarily subjects him to suffering while ignorant, and renders his first ascent in the scale of improvement difficult and slow. It is interesting to observe, that, according to this view, although the first pair of the human race had been created with powerful and well bal anced faculties, but of the same nature as at present; if they were not also intuitively inspired with knowledge of the whole creation, and its relations, their first movements as individuals would have been retrograde; that is, as in- dividuals, they would, through pure want of information, have infringed many natural laws, and suffered evil; while, as parts of the race, they would have been decidedly ad- vancing ; for every pang they suffered would have led them to a new step in knowledge, and prompted them to advance towards a much higher condition than that which they at first occupied. According to the hypothesis now presented, not only is man really benefited by the arrangement which leaves him to discover the natural laws for himself, although, during the period of his ignorance, he suffers much evil from want of acquaintance with them; but his progress towards knowledge and happiness must, from the very ex- tent of his experience, be actually greater than can at pres- ent be conceived. Its extent will become more obvious, and his experience itself more valuable, after he has ob- tained a view of the real theory of his constitution. He will find that past miseries have at least exhausted count- less errors, and he will know how to avoid thousands of paths that lead to pain: in short, he will then discover that errors in conduct resemble errors in philosophy, in this that they give additional importance and practicability to truth, by the demonstration which they afford of the evils attending departures from its dictates. The grand sources of human suffering at present arise from bodily disease and mental anxiety, and, in the next chapter, these will be traced to infringement, through ignorance or otherwise, of physical, organic, moral, or intellectual laws, which, 102 THE PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS OF LIFE. when expounded, appear in themselves calculated to pro- mote the happiness of the race. It may be supposed that, according to this view, as knowledge accumulates, enjoy- ment will decrease; but ample provision is made against this event, by withholding intuition from each generation as it appears on the stage. Each successive age must acquire knowledge for itself; and, provided ideas are new, and suited to the faculties, the pleasure of acquiring them from instructers, is only second to that of discovering them for ourselves; and, probably, countless ages may elapse before all the facts and relations of nature shall have been explor- ed, and the possibility of discovery exhausted. If the universe be infinite, knowledge can never be complete. The second question is, Has man really advanced in happiness, in proportion to his increase in knowledge? We are apt to entertain erroneous notions of the pleasures enjoyed by past ages. Fabulists have represented them as peaceful, innocent, and gay; but if we look narrowly into the conditions of the savage and barbarian of the pre- sent day, and recollect that these are the states of all indi- viduals previous to the acquisition of knowledge, we shall not much or long regret the pretended diminution of en- joyment by civilization. Phrenology renders the superiori- ty of the latter condition certain, by showing it to be a law of nature, that, until the intellect is extensively informed, and the moral sentiments assiduously exercised, the animal propensities bear the predominant sway; and that wherever they are supreme, misery is an inevitable concomitant. Indeed, the answer to the objection that happiness has not increased with knowledge, appears to me to be found in the fact, that until phrenology was discovered, the nature of man was not scientifically known; and, in consequence, that not one of his institutions, civil or domestic, was cor- rectly founded on the principle of the supremacy of the moral sentiments, or in accordance with the other laws of his constitution. Owing to the same cause, also, much of his knowledge has necessarily remained partial, and inap- THE PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS OF LIFE. 103 plicable to use; but after this science shall have been ap- preciated and applied, clouds of darkness, accumulated through long ages that are past, may be expected to roll away, as if touched by the rays of the meridian sun, and with them many of the miseries that attend total ignorance or imperfect information.* It ought also to be kept constantly in remembrance, that man is a social being, and that the precept ' love your neigh- bor as yourself is imprinted in his constitution. That is to say, so much of the happiness of each individual depends on the habits, practices and opinions of the society in which he lives, that he cannot reap the full benefits of his own advancement, until similar principles shall have been embraced and realized in practice by his fellow men. This renders it his interest, as it is his duty, to communicate his knowledge to them, and to carry them forward in the career of improvement. At this moment, there are thou- sands of persons who feel their enjoyments, physical, moral and intellectual, impaired and abridged by the mass of ignorance and prejudice which every where surrounds them. They are men living before their age, and whom the world neither understands nor appreciates. Let them not, however, repine or despair; but dedicate their best efforts to communicating the truths which have opened up to themselves the prospect of happiness, and they shall not be disappointed. The law of our constitution which has established the supremacy of the moral sentiments, renders it impossible for individuals to attain the full enjoyment of their rational nature, until they have rendered their fellow men virtuous and happy; and in the truth and power of this principle, the ignorant and the wretched have a better * Readers who are strangers to Phrenology, and the evidence on which it rests, may regard the observations in the text as extravagant and enthusias- tic; but I respectfully remind them, that, while they judge in comparative ignorance, it has been my endeavor to subject it to the severest scrutiny. Having found its proofs irrefragable, and being convinced of ils importance, I solicit their indulgence in speaking of it as it appears to my own mind. 104 THE PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS OF LIFE. guarantee for being raised in their condition by the efforts of their more fortunate brethren, than in the establishment of poor laws or other legislative enactments. If all ranks of the people were taught the philosophy which I am now advocating, and if, in so far as it is true, it were enforced by their religious instructers as the will of the Creator communicated to man, through his natural institutions, the progress of general improvement would probably be accel- erated. If the notions now advocated shall ever prevail, it will be seen that the experience of past ages affords no sufficient reason for limiting our estimate of man's capabilities of civilization;—he is yet only in the infancy of his existence. In the introduction I mentioned the long and gradual pre- paration of the globe for man; and that he appears to be destined to advance only by stages to the highest condition of his moral and intellectual nature. At present he i3 obviously only in the beginning of his career. Although a knowledge of external nature, and of himself, are indis- pensable to his advancement to his true station as a rational being, yet four hundred years have not elasped since the arts of printing and engraving were invented, without which, knowledge could not be disseminated through the mass of mankind; and, up to the present hour, the art of reading is by no means general over the world—so that, even now, the means of calling man's rational nature into activity, although discovered, are but very imperfectly ap- plied. It is only five or six centuries since the mariner's compass was known in Europe, without which even philo- sophers could not ascertain the most common facts regard- ing the size, form, and productions of the earth. It is only three hundred and forty years since one-half of the habitable globe, America, became known to the other half; and considerable portions of it are yet unknown even to the best informed inquirers. It is little more than two hundred years since the true theory of the circulation of the blood was discovered; previous to which it was impos- THE PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS OF LIFE. 105 sible even for physicians to form any correct idea of the uses of many of man's corporeal organs, and of their rela- tions to external nature. It is only between forty and fifty years since the true functions of the brain and nervous system were discovered; before which we possessed no adequate means of becoming acquainted with our mental constitution, and its adaptation to external circumstances and beings. It is only fifty-seven years since the study of chemistry, or of the physical elements of the globe, was put into a philosophical condition by Dr. Priestley's dis- covery of oxygen; and hydrogen was discovered so lately as 1766, or sixty eight years ago. Before that time, peo- ple in general were comparatively ignorant of the quali- ties and relations of the most important material agents with which they were surrounded. At present this know- ledge is still in its infancy, as will appear from an enume- ration of the dates of several other important discoveries. Electricity was discovered in 1728, galvanism in 1794, gas-light about 1798; and steam-boats, steam-looms, and the safety-lamp, in our own day. It is only of late years that the study of geology has been seriously begun; without which we could not know the past changes in the physical structure of the globe, a matter of much importance as an element in judging of oui present position in the world's progress. This science also is in its infancy. An inconceivable extent of territory remains to be explored, from the examination of which the most interesting and instructive inferences will probably present themselves. The mechanical sciences are at this moment in full play, putting forth vigorous shoots, and giving the strong- est indications of youth, and none of decay. The sciences of morals and of government are still in the crudest condition. In consequence, therefore, of this profound ignorance, man, in all ages, has been directed in his pursuits, by the mere impulse of his strongest propensities, formerly to war 106 THE PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS OF LIFE. and conquest, and now to accumulating wealth, without having framed his habits and institutions in conformity with correct and enlightened views of his own nature, and its real interests and wants. Up to the present day the mass of the people in every nation have remained essen- tially ignorant, the tools of interested leaders, or the crea- tures of their own blind impulses, unfavorably situated for the development of their rational nature. They, constitut- ing the gre'at majority, of necessity influence the condition of the rest:—But at last, the arts and sciences seem to be tending towards abridging human labor, so as to force leisure on the mass of the people: while the elements of useful knowledge are so rapidly increasing; the capacity of the operatives for instruction is so generally recognised; and the means of communicating it are so powerful and abundant; that a new era may fairly be considered as having commenced. Owing to the want of a practical philosophy of human nature, multitudes of amiable and talented individuals are at present anxious only for preservation of the attainments which society possesses; and dread retrogression in the future. If the views now expounded be correct, this race of moralists and politicians will in time become extinct, because progression being the law of our nature, the proper education of the people will render the desire for improvement universal. l">7) CHAPTER V. TO WHAT EXTENT ARE THE MISERIES OF MANKIND RE- FERABLE TO INFRINGEMENTS OF THE LAWS OF NATURE 1 In the present chapter, I propose to inquire into some of the evils that have afflicted the human race; also whether they have proceeded from abuses of institutions benevolent and wise in themselves, and calculated, when observed, to promote the happiness of man, or from a constitution of nature so defective that he cannot supply its imperfections, or so vicious that he can neither rectify nor improve its qualities. The following extract from the journal of John Locke, contains a forcible statement of the principle which I intend to illustrate in this chapter: ' Though justice be also a perfection which we must necessarily ascribe to the Supreme Being, yet we cannot suppose the exercise of it should extend farther than his goodness has need of it for the preservation of his crea- tures in the order and beauty of the state that he has placed each of them in; for since our actions cannot reach unto him, or bring him any profit or damage, the punishments he inflicts on any of his creatures, i. e. the misery or destruction he brings upon them, can be nothing else but to preserve the greater or more considerable part, and so being only for preservation, his justice is nothing but a branch of his goodness, which is fain by severity to restrain the irregular and destructive parts from doing harm.'—Lord King's Life of Locke, p. 122. 108 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM SECTION I. CALAMITIES ARISING FROM INFRINGEMENTS OF THE PHYSICAL LAWS. The proper way of viewing the Creator's institutions, is to look, first, to their uses, and to the advantages that flow from using them aright; and, secondly, to their abuses, and the evils that proceed from this source. In Chapter II, some of the benefits conferred on man, by the law of gravitation, are enumerated; and I may here advert to some of the evils originating from that law, when human conduct is in opposition to it. For example, men are liable to fall from horses, carriages, stairs, precipices, roofs, chimneys, ladders, masts, or to slip in the street;—by which accidents life is often suddenly cut short, or rendered miserable from lameness and pain; and the question arises, Is human nature provided with any means of protection against these evils, at all equal to their frequency and extent? The lower animals are equally subject to this law; and the Creator has bestowed on them external senses, nerves, muscles, bones, an instinctive sense of equilibrium, the sense of danger, or cautiousness, and other faculties, to place them in accordance with it. These appear to afford sufficient protection to animals placed in all ordinary cir- cumstances; for we very rarely discover any of them, in their natural condition, killed or mutilated by accidents referable to gravitation. Where their mode of life ex- poses them to extraordinary danger from this law, they are provided with additional securities. The monkey, which climbs trees, enjoys great muscular energy in its legs, claws, and tail, far surpassing, in proportion to its gravitating tendency, or its bulk and weight, what is be- stowed on the legs and arms of man; so that, by means of them, it springs from branch to branch, in nearly com- plete security against the law in question. The goat, INFRINGEMENTS OF THE PHYSICAL LAWS. 109 which browses on the brinks of precipices, has received a hoof and legs, that give precision and stability to its steps. Birds, which are destined to sleep on branches of trees, are provided with a muscle passing over the joints of each leg, and stretching down to the foot, which, being pressed by their weight, produces a proportionate con- traction of their claws, so as to make them cling the faster, the greater their liability to fall. The fly, which walks and sleeps on perpendicular walls, and the ceilings of rooms, has a hollow in its foot, from which it expels the air, and the pressure of the atmosphere on the outside of the foot holds it fast to the object on which the inside is placed. The walrus, or sea-horse, which is destined to climb up the sides of ice-hills, is provided with a similai apparatus. The camel, whose native region is the sandy deserts of the torrid zone, has broad spreading hoofs to support it on the loose soil. Fishes are furnished with air- bladders, by dilating and contracting of which they can accommodate themselves with perfect precision to the law of gravitation. In these instances, the lower animals, under the sole guidance of their instincts, appear to be placed admirably in harmony with gravitation, and guaranteed against its infringement. Is Man, then, less an object of love with the Creator? Is he alone left exposed to the evils that spring inevitably from its neglect? His means of protec- tion are different, but when understood and applied, they will probably be found not less complete. Man, as well as the lower animals, has received bones, muscles, nerves, an instinct of equilibrium*, and faculties of Cautiousness; but not in equal perfection, in proportion to his figure, size, and weight, with those bestowed on them:—The difference, however, is far more than compensated by other faculties, particularly those of Constructiveness and Reflection, in which he greatly surpasses them. Keeping in view that the external world, in regard to man, is ar- * Vide Essay on Weight, Phren. Journ. vol. ii. p. 412. 10 110 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM ranged on the principle of supremacy in tne moral senti- ments and intellect, we shall probably find, that the cala- mities suffered by him from the law of gravitation, are referable to predominance of the animal propensities, or to neglect of proper exercise of his intellectual powers. For example, when coaches break down, ships sink, or men fall from ladders, how generally may the cause be traced to decay in the vehicle, the vessel, or ladder, which a predominating Acquisitiveness alone prevented from being repaired; or when men fall from houses, scaffolds, or slip on the street, how frequently should we find their muscular, nervous, and mental energies, impaired by pre- ceding debaucheries; in other words, by predominance of the animal faculties, which for the time diminished their natural means of accommodating themselves to the law from which they suffer. Or, again, the slater, in using a ladder, assists himself by Constructiveness and Reflection; but, in walking along the ridge of a house, or standing on a chimney, he takes no aid from these facul- ties; he trusts to the mere instinctive power of equilib- rium, in which he is inferior to the lower animals, and, in so doing, clearly violates the law of his nature, that requires him to use reflection, where instinct is deficient. Causality and Constructiveness could invent means, by which, if he slipped from a roof or chimney, his fall might be arrested. A small chain, for instance, attached by one end to a girdle round his body, and the other end fastened by a hook and eye to the roof, might leave him at liberty to move, and break his fall, in case he slipped. How frequently, too, do these accidents happen, after disturb- ance of the faculties and corporeal functions by intoxica- tion ? The objection will probably occur, that in the gross con- dition in which the mental powers exist, the great body of mankind are incapable of exerting habitually that degree of moral and intellectual energy, which is indispensable to -bscrvailCG of the natural laws; and that, therefore, they INFRINGEMENTS OF THE PHYSICAL LAWS. Ill are, in point of fact, less fortunate than the lower animals. I admit that, at present, this representation is to a consid- erable extent just; but nowhere do I perceive the human mind instructed, and its powers exercised, in a degree at all approaching to their limits. Let any person recollect how much greater capacity for enjoyment and security from danger he has experienced, at a particular time, when his whole mind was filled with, and excited by, some mighty interest, not only allied to, but founded in, morality and intellect, than in that languid condition which accom- panies the absence of elevated and ennobling emotions; and he may form some idea of what man will be capable of reaching, when his powers shall have been cultivated to the extent of their capacity. At the present moment, no class of society is systematically instructed in the constitu- tion of their own minds and bodies, in the relations of these to external objects, in the nature of these objects, in the natural supremacy of the moral sentiments, in the principle that activity of the faculties is the only source of pleasure, and that the higher the powers, the more intense the de- light; and, if such views be to the mind what light is to the eyes, air to the lungs, and food to the stomach, there is no wonder that a mass of inert mentality, if I may use such a word, should every where exist around us, and that count- less evils should spring from its continuance in this condi- tion. If active moral and intellectual faculties are the natural fountains of enjoyment, and the external world is "created with reference to this state; it is as obvious that misery must result from animal supremacy and intellectual torpidity, as that flame, which is constituted to burn only when supplied with oxygen, must inevitably become ex- tinct, when exposed to carbonic acid gas. Finally, if the arrangement by which man is left to discover and obey the laws of his own nature, and of the physical world, be more conducive to activity, than intuitive knowledge, the calami- ties now contemplated appear to be instituted to force him 112 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM to his duty; and his duty, when understood, will constitute his delight. While, therefore, we lament the fate of individual vic- tims to the law of gravitation, we cannot condemn that law itself. If it were suspended, to save men from the effects of negligence, not only would the proud creations of human skill totter to their base, and the human body rise from the earth, and hang midway in the air; but our highest enjoy- ments would be terminated, and our faculties become posi- tively useless, by being deprived of their field of exertion. Causality, for instance, teaches that similar causes will al- ways, ccderis paribus, produce similar effects; and, if the physical laws were suspended or varied, so as to accommo- date themselves to man's negligence or folly, it is obvious that this faculty would be without an object, and that no definite course of action could be entered upon with confi- dence in the result. If, then, this view of the constitution of nature were kept steadily in view, the occurrence of one accident of this kind would stimulate reflection to discover means to prevent others. Similar illustrations and commentaries might be given, in regard to the other physical laws to which man is sub- ject; but the object of the present Essay heing merely to evolve principles, I confine myself to gravitation, as the most obvious and best understood. I do not mean to say, that, by the mere exercise of in- tellect, man may absolutely guarantee himself against all accidents; but only that the more ignorant and careless he. is, the more he will suffer, and the more intelligent and vigilant, the less; and that I can perceive no limits to this rule. The law of most civilized countries recognises this principle, and subjects owners of ships, coaches, and other vehicles, in damages arising from gross infringements of the physical laws. It is unquestionable that the enforce- ment of this liability has given increased security to travel- lers in no trifling degree INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 113 SECTION II. ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. It is a very common error, not only among philosophers, but among practical men, to imagine that the feelings of the mind are communicated to it through the medium of the intellect; and, in particular, that if no indelicate objects reach the eyes, or expressions penetrate the ears, perfect purity will necessarily reign within the soul; and, carrying this mistake into practice, they are prone to object to all discussion of the subjects treated of under the ' Organic Laws,' in works designed for general use. But their prin- ciple of reasoning is fallacious, and the practical result has been highly detrimental to society. The feelings have exis- tence and activity distinct from the intellect; they spur it on to obtain their own gratification; and it may become either their guide or slave, according as it is, or is not, enlightened concerning their constitution and objects, and the laws of nature to which they are subjected. The most profound philosophers have inculcated this doctrine; and, by phrenological observation, it is demonstratively estab- lished. The organs of the feelings are distinct from those of the intellectual faculties; they are larger; and, as each faculty, cceteris paribus, acts with a power proportionate to the size of its organs, the feelings are obviously the active or impelling powers. The cerebellum, or organ of Ama- tiveness, is the largest of the whole mental organs; and, being endowed with natural activity, it fills the mind spon- taneously with emotions and suggestions which may be directed, controlled, and resisted, in outward manifesta- tion, by intellect and moral sentiment, but which cannot be prevented from arising, or eradicated after they exist. The whole question, therefore, resolves itself into this, Wheth- er it is most beneficial to enlighten and direct that feeling, or (under the influence of an error in philosophy, and false 10* 1 14 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM delicacy founded on it), to permit it to riot in all the fierce- ness of a blind animal instinct, withdrawn from the eye of reason, but not thereby deprived of its vehemence and im- portunity. The former course appears to me to be the only one consistent with reason and morality; and I have adopted it in reliance on the good sense of my readers, that they will at once discriminate between practical in- struction concerning this feeling addressed to the intellect, and lascivious repiesentations addressed to the mere pro- pensity itself; with the latter of which the enemies of all improvement may attempt to confound my observations. Every function of the mind and body is instituted by the Creator; each has a legitimate sphere of activity; but all may be abused; and it is impossible regularly to avoid abuse of them, except by being instructed in their nature, objects, and relations. This instruction ought to be ad- dressed exclusively to the intellect; and, when it is so, it is science of the most beneficial description. The proprie- ty, nay necessity, of acting on this principle, becomes more and more apparent, when it is considered that the discussions of the text suggest only intellectual ideas to individuals in whom the feeling in question is naturally weak, and that such minds perceive no indelicacy in know- ledge which is calculated to be useful; while, on the other hand, persons in whom the feeling is naturally strong, are precisely those who stand in need of direction, and to whom, of all others, instruction is the most necessary. An organized being is one which derives its existence from a previously existing organized being, which subsists on food, grows, attains maturity, decays, and dies. What- ever the ultimate object of the Creator, in constituting organized beings, may be, it will scarcely be denied, that part of his design is, that they should enjoy their existence here; and, if so, the object of every particular part of their structure ought to be found to conduce to this end. The first law, then, that must be obeyed, to render an organized being perfect in its kind, is, that the germ from INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 1 15 which it springs shall be complete in all its parts, and sound in its whole constitution; the second is, that the moment it is ushered into life, and as long as it continues to live, it shall be supplied with food, light, air, and every physical aliment necessary for its support; and the third law is, that it shall duly exercise its functions. When all these laws are obeyed, the being should enjoy pleasure from its organized frame, if its Creator is benevolent; and its constitution should be so adapted to its circumstances, as to admit of obedience to them, if its Creator is wise and powerful. Is there, then, no such phenomenon on earth, as a human being existing in full possession of organic vigor, from birth till advanced age, when the organized system is fairly worn out? Numberless exam- ples of this kind have occurred, and they show to demon- stration, that the corporeal frame of man is so constituted as to admit the possibility of his enjoying organic health and vigor, during the whole period of a long life. In the life of Captain Cook it is mentioned, that 'one circum- stance peculiarly worthy of notice is, the perfect and uninterrupted health of the inhabitants of New Zealand. In all the visits made to their towns, where old and young, men and women, crowded about our voyagers, they never observed a single person who appeared to have any bodily complaint; nor among the numbers that where seen naked, was once perceived the slightest eruption upon the skin, or the least mark which indicated that such an eruption had formerly existed. Another proof of the health of these people is the facility with which the wounds they at any time receive are healed. In the man who hr.d been shot with the musket ball through the fleshy part of his arm, the wound seemed to be so well digested, and in so fair a way of being perfectly healed, that, if Mr. Cook had not known that no application had been made to it, he declared that he should certainly have inquired, with a very inter- ested curiosity, after the vulnerary herbs and surgical art of the country. An additional evidence of human nature's 116 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM being untainted with disease in New Zealand, is the great number of old men with whom it abounds. Many of them, by the loss of their hair and teeth, appeared to be very ancient, and yet none of them were decrepit. Although they were not equal to the young in muscular strength, they did not come in the least behind them with regard to cheerfulness and vivacity. Water, as far as our navigators could discover, is the universal and only liquor of the New Zealanders. It is greatly to wished that their hap- piness in this respect may never be destroyed by such a connection with the European nations, as shall introduce that fondness for spirituous liquors which hath been so fatal to the Indians of North America.'—Kippis's Life of Captain Cook. Dublin, 1788, p. 100. Now, as a natural law never admits of an exception, this excellent health could not occur in any individuals unless it were fairly within the capabilities of the race. The sufferings of women in childbed have been cited as evidence that the Creator has not intended the human being, under any circumstances, to execute all its func- tions entirely free from pain. But, besides the obvious answer, that the objection applies only to one sex, and is therefore not to be readily presumed to have its origin in nature, there is good reason to deny the assertion, and to ascribe the suffering in question to departures from the natural laws, either in the structure or habits of the indi- viduals who experience it.* The advantage of the study of the finest models of the human figure, as exhibited in painting and sculpture, is to raise our ideas of the excellence of form and proportion to which our nature is capable of attaining; for, other condi- tions being equal, the most perfect forms and proportions are always the best adapted for health and activity. Let us hold, then, that the organized system of man, in itself, admits of the possibility of health, vigor, and ♦See Appendix, No. I. INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS 117 organic enjoyment, during the full period of life; and pro- ceed to inquire into the causes why these advantages are not universal. One organic law is, that the germ of the infant being must be complete in all its parts, and perfectly sound in its condition, as an indispensable requisite to its vigorous development and full enjoyment of existence. If the corn that is sown is weak, wasted, and damaged, the plants that spring from it will be feeble, and liable to speedy decay. The same law holds in the animal kingdom; and I would ask, has it hitherto been observed by man? It is notorious that it has not. Indeed, its existence has been either altogether unknown, or in a very high degree disre- garded by human beings. The feeble, the sickly, the ex- hausted with age, and the incompletely developed, through extreme youth, marry, and, without the least compunction regarding the organization which they shall transmit to their offspring, send into the world miserable beings, the very rudiments of whose existence are tainted with disease. If we trace such conduct to its source, we shall find it to originate either in animal propensity, intellectual igno- rance, or more frequently in both. The inspiring motives are generally mere sensual appetite, avarice, or ambition, operating in the absence of all just conceptions of the im- pending evils. The punishment of this offence is debility and pain, transmitted to the children, and reflected back in anxiety and sorrow on the parents. Still the great point to be kept in view is, that these miseries are not legitimate consequences of observance of the organic laws, but the direct chastisement of their infringement. These laws are unbending, and admit of no exception; they must be fulfil- led, or the penalties of disobedience will follow. On this subject profound ignorance reigns in society. From such observations as I have been able to make, I am convinced that the union of certain temperaments and combinations of mental organs in the parents, are highly conducive to health, talent, and morality in the offspring, and vice versa; 118 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM and that these conditions may be discovered and taught with far greater certainty, facility, and advantage, than is generally imagined. It will be time enough to conclude that men are naturally incapable of obedience to the organ- ic laws, when, after their intellectual faculties and moral sentiments have been trained to observance of the Crea- tor's institutions, as at once their duty, their interest, and a grand source of their enjoyment, they shall be found to continue to rebel. A second organic law regards nutriment, which must be supplied of a suitable kind, and in due quantity. This law requires also free air, light, cleanliness, and attention to every physical arrangement by which the functions of the body may be favored or impaired. Have mankind, then, obeyed or neglected this institution? I need scarcely answer the question. To be able to obey institutions, we must first know them. Before we can know the organic constitution of our body, we must study that constitution, and the study of the human constitution is anatomy and physiology. Before we can become acquainted with its relations to external objects, we must learn the existence and qualities of these objects, (unfolded by chemistry, natural history, and natural philosophy,) and compare them with the constitution of the body. When we have fulfilled these conditions, we shall be better able to discover the laws which the Creator has instituted in regard to our or- ganic system.* It will be said, however, that such studies are im- practicable to the great bulk of mankind, and, besides, do not appear mueh to benefit those who pursue them. They are impracticable only while mankind prefer founding their public and private institutions on the basis of the propen sities, instead of on that of the sentiments. I have men- tioned, that exercise of the nervous and muscular systems * In " Physiology applied to Health and Education," by Dr. A. Combe, many striking examples of the infringement of these laws, and of the 'njuri- ous consequences, are given, to which I refer. INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 119 is required of all the race by the Creator's fiat, that if all, who are capable, would obey this law, a moderate extent of exertion, agreeable and salubrious in itself, would suffice to supply our wants, and to surround us with every bene- ficial luxury; and that a large portion of unemployed time would remain. The Creator has bestowed on us Knowing Faculties, fitted to explore the facts of these sciences, Reflecting Faculties to trace their relations, and Moral Sentiments calculated to feel interest in such investigations, and to lead us to reverence and obey the laws which they unfold; and, finally, he has made this occupation, when entered upon with the view of tracing his power and wis- dom in the subjects of our studies, and of obeying his institutions, the most delightful and invigorating of all vocations. In place, then, of such a course of education being impracticable, every arrangement of the Creator appears to be prepared in direct anticipation of its actual accomplishment. The second objection, that those who study these sciences are not more healthy and happy, as organized beings, than those who neglect them, admits of an easy answer. Parts of these sciences have been taught to a few individuals, whose main design in studying them has been to apply them as means of acquiring wealth and fame; but they have nowhere been taught as connected parts of a great system of natural arrangements, fraught with the highest influences on human enjoyment; and in no instance have the intellect and sentiments been systematically directed to the natural laws, as the grand fountains of happiness and misery to the race, and trained to observe and obey them as the institutions of the Creator. A third organic law, is, that all our functions shall be duly exercised; and is this law observed by mankind? Many persons are able, from experience, to attest the se- verity of the punishment that follows from neglecting to exercise the nervous and muscular systems, in the lassitude, indigestion, irritability, debility, and general uneasiness 120 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM that attend a sedentary and inactive life: But the penalties that attach to neglect of exercising the brain are much less known, and, therefore, I shall notice them more at length. The brain is the fountain of nervous energy to the whole body, and many individuals are habitual invalids, without actually laboring under any ordinary recognised disease, solely from defective or irregular exercise of the nervous system. In such cases, not only the mind, in its feelings and intellectual capacities, suffers debility, but all the functions of the body participate in its languor, because all of them receive a diminished and vitiated supply of the nervous stimulus, a due share of which is essential to their healthy action. The mode of increasing the strength and energy of any organ and function, is to exercise them regularly and judiciously, according to the laws of their constitution.* The brain is the organ of the mind; differ- ent parts of it manifest distinct faculties; and the power of manifestation in regard to each is proportionate, cozteris paribus, to the size and activity of the organ. The brain partakes of the general qualities of the organized system, and is strengthened by the same means as the other organs. When the muscles are called into vivacious activity, an increased influx of blood and nervous stimulus takes place in them, and their vessels and fibres become at once larger, firmer, and more susceptible of action. Thought and feel- ing are to the brain what bodily exercise is to the muscles; they put it in motion and cause increased action in its blood-vessels, and an augmented elaboration of nervous energy. In a case reported by Dr. Pierquin, observed by him in one of the hospitals of Montpelier, in 1831, he saw, in a female patient in whom part of the skull had been re- moved, the brain motionless and lying within the cranium when she was in a dreamless sleep; in motion and protrud- ing without the skull when she was agitated by dreams, more protruded in dreams reported by herself to be vivid; * See Phren. Journ. vol. vi. p. 109. INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 121 and still more so when perfectly awake, and especially if engaged inactive thought or sprightly conversation. Sim- ilar cases are reported by Sir Astley Cooper and Professor Blumenbach.* Those parts of the brain which manifest the feelings constitute by far the largest portions of it, and they are best exercised by discharging the active duties of life and of religion; the parts which manifest the intellect are smaller, and are exercised by the application of the under- standing in practical business in the arts, sciences, or lite- rature. The first step, therefore, towards establishing the regular exercise of the brain, is to educate and train the mental faculties in youth; and the second is to place the individual habitually in circumstances demanding the discharge of useful and important duties. I have often heard the question asked, What is the use of education? The answer might be illustrated by explain- ing to the inquirer the nature and objects of the various organs of the body, such as the limbs, lungs, eyes, and then asking him, if he could perceive any advantage to a being so constituted, in obtaining access to earth, air, and light. He would, at once, declare, that they were obvi- ously of the very highest utility to him, for they afforded the only conceivable means by which these organs could obtain scope for action, which action we suppose him to know to be pleasure. To those, then, who know the con- stitution of the brain as the organ of the moral and intellect- ual powers of man, I need only say, that the objects present- ed to the mind by education, stimulate it in the same manner that the physical elements of nature do to the nerves and muscles; they afford the faculties scope for action, and yield them delight. The meaning which is commonly attached to the word education in such cases, is Greek and * See American Annals of Phrenology, No. I. p. 37. Sir A. Cooper's Lectures on Surgery, by Tyrol, vol. i. p. 279. Elliotson's Blumenbach, 4th edition, p. 283. 11 122 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM Latin; but I employ it to signify knowledge of nature in all its departments. Again, the signification generally attached to the word use in such questions, is how much money, influence, or consideration, will education bring; these being the only objects of strong desire with which uncultivated minds are acquainted; and they do not per- ceive in what way education can greatly gratify such pro- pensities. But the moment the mind is opened to the perception of its own constitution and to the natural laws, the great advantage of moral and intellectual cultivation, as a means of exercising and invigorating the brain and mental faculties, and also of directing the conduct in obe- dience to these laws, becomes apparent. But there is an additional benefit arising from healthy activity of brain, which is little known. Different modi- fications of the nervous energy elaborated by the brain, appear to take place, according to the mode in which the faculties and organs are affected. For example, when misfortune and disgrace impend over us, the organs of Cautiousness, Self-Esteem, and Love of Approbation are painfully excited; and appear to transmit an impaired, or positively noxious, nervous influence to the heart, stomach, intestines, and thence to the rest of the body; digestion is deranged, the pulse becomes feeble and irregular, and the whole corporeal system wastes. When, on the other hand, the cerebral organs are agreeably affected, a benign and vivifying nervous influence pervades the frame, and all the functions of the body are performed with increased plea- sure and success. Now, it is a law, that the quantum of nervous energy increases with the number of cerebral organs roused to activity. In the retreat of the French from Moscow, for example, when no enemy was near, the soldiers became depressed in courage, and enfeebled in body; they nearly sunk to the earth through exhaustion and cold; but no sooner did the fire of the Russian guns sound in their ears, or the gleam of their bayonets flash in their eyes, than new life seemed to pervade them. They INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 123 wielded powerfully the arms, which, a few moments before, they could scarcely carry or trail on the ground. No sooner, however, was the enemy repulsed, than their fee- bleness returned. The theory of this is, that the approach of the combat called into activity a variety of additional faculties; these sent new energy through every nerve; and, while their vivacity was maintained by the external stimu- lus, they rendered the soldiers strong beyond their merely physical condition. Many persons have probably experi- enced the operation of the same principle. If, when sitting feeble and listless by the fire, we have heard of an accident having occured to some beloved friend, who required our instantaneous aid, or, if an unexpected visiter has arrived, in whom our affections were bound up, in an instant our lassitude was gone, and we moved with an alertness and animation that seemed surprising to ourselves. The cause was the same; these events roused Adhesiveness, Benevo- lence, Love of Approbation, Intellect, and a variety of faculties, which were previously dormant, into action, and their influence invigorated the limbs. Dr. Spairman, in his Voyage to the Cape, mentions, that ' there was now again a great scarcity of meat in the wagon; for which reason my Hottentots began to grumble, and reminded me that wc ought not to waste so much of our time in looking after insects and plants, but give a better look out after the game. At the same time, they pointed to a neighboring dale over- run with wood, at the upper edge of which, at the distance of about a mile and a quarter from the spot where we then were, they had seen several buffaloes. Accordingly, we went thither; but, though our fatigue was lessened by our Hottentots carrying our guns for us up a hill, yet we were quite out of breath, and overcome by the sun, before we got up to it. Yet, what even now appears to me a matter of wonder is, that as soon as we got a glimpse of the game, all this languor left us in an instant. In fact,, we each of us strove to fire before the other, so that we seemed en- tirely to have lost sight of all prudence and caution.'—'In 124 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM the meantime, our temerity, which chiefly proceeded from hurry and ignorance, was considered by the Hottentots as a proof of spirit and intrepidity hardly to be equalled.' It is part of the same law, that the more agreeable the mental stimulus, the more benign is the nervous influence transmitted to the body. An individual who has received from nature a large and tolerably active brain, but who, from possessing wealth sufficient to remove the necessity for labor, is engaged in no profession, and who has not enjoyed the advantages of a scientific or extensive education, so as to take an inter- est in moral and intellectual pursuits for their own sake, is in general a victim to infringement of the natural laws. Persons of this description, ignorant of these laws, will, in all probability, neglect nervous and muscular exercise, and suffer the miseries arising from impeded circulation and impaired digestion. In entire want of every object on which the energy of their minds might be expended, the stimulating influence of their brains on their bodies will be withheld, and the effects of muscular inactivity will be thereby aggravated; all the functions will, in consequence, become enfeebled; lassitude, uneasiness, anxiety, and a thousand evils, will arise; and life, in short, will become a mere endurance of punishment for infringement of institu- tions calculated in themselves to promote happiness and af- ford delight when known and obeyed. This fate frequently overtakes uneducated females, whose early days have been occupied with business, or the cares of a family, but which occupations have ceased before old age has diminished corporeal vigor: It overtakes men also, who, uneducated, retire from active business in the prime of life. In some instances, these evils accumulate to such a degree that the brain itself gives way, its functions become deranged, and insanity is the consequence. It is worthy of remark, that the more elevated the ob- jects of our study, the higher in the scale are the mental organs which are exercised, and the higher the organs the INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 125 more pure and intense is the pleasure: hence, a vivacious and regularly supported excitement of the moral sentiments and intellect, is, by the organic law, highly favorable to health and corporeal vigor. In the fact of a living animal being able to retain life in an oven that will bake dead flesh, we see an illustration of the organic law rising above the purely physical; and, in the circumstance of the moral and intellectual organs transmitting the most favorable nervous influence to the whole bodily system, we have an example of the moral and intellectual law rising higher than the merely organic. No person, after having his intellect and sentiments im bued with a perception of, and belief in, the natural laws, as now explained, can possibly desire idleness, as a source of pleasure; nor can he possibly regard muscular exertion and mental activity, when not carried to excess, as any thing else than enjoyments, kindly vouchsafed to him by the benevolence of the Creator. The notion that mode- rate labor and mental exertion are evils, can originate only from ignorance, or from viewing the effects of over-ex- haustion as the result of the natural law, and not as the punishment for infringing it. If, then, we sedulously inquire, in each particular in- stance, into the cause of the sickness, pain, and premature death, or the derangement of the corporeal frame in youth and middle life, which we see so common around us, and endeavor to discover whether it has originated in obe dience to the physical and organic laws, or sprung from infringement of them, we shall be able to form some esti- mate how far bodily suffering is justly attributable to im- perfections of nature, and how far to our own ignorance, and neglect of divine institutions. The foregoing principles" being of much practical im- portance, may, with propriety, be elucidated by a few actual cases. Two or three centuries ago, various cities in Europe were depopulated by the plague, and, in partic- ular, London was visited by an awful mortality from this 11* 126 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM cause, in the reign of Charles the Second. The people of that age, attributed this scourge to the inscrutable decrees of Providence, and some to the magnitude of the nation's moral iniquities. According to the views now presented, it must have arisen from infringement of the organic laws, and been intended to enforce stricter obe- dience to them in future. There was nothing inscrutable in its causes or objects. These, when clearly analyzed, appear to have had no direct reference to the moral con- dition of the people; I say direct reference to the moral condition of the people, because it would be easy to show that the physical, organic, and all the other natural laws, are connected indirectly, and constituted in harmony, with the moral law; and that infringement of the latter often leads to disobedience to other laws, and brings a double punishment on the offender. The facts recorded in histo- ry exactly correspond with the theory now propounded. The following is a picture of the condition of the cities of Western Europe in the 15th century:—' The floors of the houses being commonly of clay, and strewed with rushes or straw, it is loathsome to think of the filth collected in the hovels of the common people, and sometimes in the lodgings even of the superior ranks, from spilled milk, beer, grease, fragments of bread, flesh, bones, spittle, excrements of cats, dogs, &c. To this Erasmus, in a letter 432, c. 1815, ascribes the plague, the sweating, sickness, &c, in London, which, in this respect, resem- bled Paris and other towns of any magnitude in those times.'—Ranken's History of France, vol. v. 416. The streets of London were excessively narrow, the habits of the people dirty, and no adequate provision was made for removing the filth unavoidably produced by a dense pop- ulation. The great fire in that city, which happened soon after the pestilence, afforded an opportunity of remedying, in some degree, the narrowness of the streets; and habits of increasing cleanliness abated the filth; these changes brought the people into a closer obedience to the organic INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 127 laws, and no plague has since returned. Again, till very lately, thousands of children died yearly of the small-pox; but, in our day, vaccine inoculation saves ninety-nine out of a hundred, who, under the old system, would have died. The theory of its operation is not known, but we may rest assured that it places the system more in accordance with the organic laws, than it was in the cases where death ensued. A gentleman, who died about ten years ago at an ad- vanced period of life, told me, that, six miles west from Edinburgh, the country was so unhealthy in his youth, that every spring the farmers and their servants were seized with fever and ague, and needed regularly to undergo bleeding, and a course of medicine, to prevent attacks, or restore them from their effects. At that time, these visitations were believed to be sent by Providence, and to be inherent in the constitution of things. After, however, said my informant, an improved system of agri- culture and draining was established, and vast pools of stagnant water, formerly left between the ridges of the fields, were removed, dunghills carried to a distance from the doors, and the houses themselves made more spacious and commodious, every symptom of ague and marsh-fever disappeared from the district, and it became highly salu- brious. In other words, as soon as the gross infringement of the organic laws was abated by a more active exertion of the muscular and intellectual powers of man, the pun- ishment ceased. Another friend informed me, that, about forty-two years ago, he commenced farming in a high and uncultivated district of East-Lothian; that the crops at first suffered severely from cold fogs; that the whole region, however, has been since reclaimed and drained; that the climate has greatly improved, and, in particular, that the destructive mists have disappeared. The same results have followed in Canada and the United States of America, from similar operations. In like manner, many calamities occurred in coal-pits, 128 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM in consequence of infringement of a physical law, viz. by introducing lighted candles and lamps into places filled with hydrogen gas, that had emanated from seams of coal, and which exploded, scorched, and suffocated the men and animals within its reach, until Sir Humphrey Davy discovered that the Creator had established such a relation between flame, wire-gauze, and hydrogen gas, that, by surrounding the flame with gauze, its power of exploding hydrogen was suspended. By the simple application of a eoverino- of wire-gauze, over and around the flame, it is prevented from igniting gas beyond it, and colliers are now able to carry, with safety, lighted lamps into places highly impregnated with inflammable air. I have been informed, that the accidents from explosion, which still occasionally occur in coal mines, arise from neglecting to keep the lamps in perfect condition. It is needless to multiply examples in support of the proposition, that the organized system of man, in itself, admits of a healthy existence from infancy to old age. provided its germ has been healthy, and its subsequent condition uniformly in harmony with the physical and organic laws; but it has been objected, that, although the human faculties may perhaps be adequate to discover these laws, and to record them in books, they are totally incapable of retaining them in the memory, and of formally applying them in every act of life. If, it is said, we could not move a step without calculating the effects of the law of gravitation, and adjusting the body to its influence; and could never eat a meal without squaring our appetite by the organic laws, life would be oppressed by the ped- antry of knowledge, and rendered miserable by the observ- ance of trivial details. The answer to this objection is, that our faculties are adapted by the Creator to the exter- nal world, and act instinctively when their objects are properly placed before their. In walking during day on a foot-path in the country, we adjust our steps to the ine- qualities of the surface, without being overburdened bv INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 129 mental calculation. Indeed, we perform this adjustment with so little trouble, that we are not aware of having made any particular mental or muscular effort. But, on returning by the same path at night, when we cannot see, we stumble, and discover, for the first time, how important a duty our faculties had been performing during day, with- out our having adverted to their labor. Now, the simple medium of light is sufficient to bring clearly before our eyes the inequalities of the ground; but to make the mind equally familiar with the nature of the countless objects which abound in external nature, and their relations, an intellectual light is necessary, which can be struck out only by exercising and applying the knowing and reflect- ing faculties; but, when that light is obtained, and the qualities and relationships in question are clearly perceiv- ed, our faculties, so long as the light lasts, ivill act instinc- tively in adapting our conduct to the nature of the objects, just as they do in accommodating our movements to the unequal surface of the earth. After the poisonous quali- ties of hemlock are known, it is no more necessary for us to go through a course of physical, botanical, and chemical reasoning, in order to be able to abstain from eating it, than it is to go through a course of mathematical investi- gation, before lifting the one foot higher than the other, in ascending a stair. At present, physical and political science, morals, and religion, are not taught as parts of one connected system; nor are the relations between them and the constitution of man pointed out to the world. In consequence, theoretical and practical knowledge are often widely separated. This ought not to be the case; for many advantages would flow from scientific education. Some of these would be the following:— In the first place, the physical and organic laws, when truly discovered, appear to the mind as institutions of the Creator; wise and salutary in themselves, unbending in their operation, and universal in their application. Thev interest our iniellectual faculties, and strongly impress our 130 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM sentiments. The necessity of obeying them comes home to us with all the authority of a mandate from God. While we confine ourselves to mere recommendations to beware of damp, to observe temperance, or to take exercise, with- out explaining the principle, the injunction carries only the weight due to the authority of the individual who gives it, and is addressed to only two or three faculties, Veneration and Cautiousness, for instance, or Self-love in him who receives it. But if we are made acquainted with the ele- ments of the physical world, and with those of our organiz- ed system,—with the uses of the different parts of the latter,—and the conditions necessary to their healthy ac- tion,—with the causes of their derangement, and the pains thereon consequent: and if the obligation to attend to these conditions be enforced on our moral sentiments and intel- lect, as a duty which is imposed on us by the Creator, and which we cannot neglect without suffering punishment, then the motives to observe the physical and organic laws, as well as the power of doing so, will be prodigiously in- creased. Before we can dance well, we must not only know the motions, but our muscles must be trained to exe- cute them. In like manner, to enable us to act on precepts, we must not only comprehend their meaning, but our intellects and sentiments must be disciplined into actual performance. Now, the very act of acquiring connected scientific information concerning the natural world, its qualities, and their relations, is to the intellect and senti- ments what practical dancing is to the muscles; it invigo- rates them; and, as obedience to the natural laws must spring from them, exercise renders it more easy and de- lightful. 2. It is only by being taught the principle on which consequences depend, that we become capable of perceiv- ing the invariableness of the results of the physical and organic laws; acquire confidence in, and respect for the laws themselves; and fairly endeavor to accommodate our conduct to their operation. Dr. Johnson defines ' princi- INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 131 pie' to be 'fundamental truth; original postulate; first posi- tion from which others are deduced;' and in these senses I use the word. The human faculties are instinctively ac- tive, and desire gratification; but Intellect itself must have fixed data, on which to reason, otherwise it is itself a mere impulse. The man in whom Constructiveness and Weight are powerful, will naturally betake himself to constructing machinery; but, if he be ignorant of the principles of me- chanical science, he will not direct his efforts to ends equally important, or attain them with equal success, as if his intellect had been stored with such knowledge. Scien- tific principles are deduced from the laws of nature. A man may make music by the instinctive impulses of Time and Tune; but there are immutable laws of harmony, of which, if he be ignorant, he will not perform so correctly and in such good taste, as he would do if he knew them. In every art and science, there are principles referable solely to the constitution of nature, but these admit of countless applications. A musician may produce gay, grave, solemn, or ludicrous tunes, all good of their kind, by following the laws of harmony; but he will never pro- duce one good piece by violating them. While the inhab- itants west of Edinburgh allowed the stagnant pools to deface their fields, some seasons would be more healthy than others; and, while the cause of the disease was unsuspected, this would confirm them in the notion that health and sickness were dispensed by an overruling Prov- idence, on inscrutable principles, which they could not comprehend: but the moment the cause was known, it would be found that the most healthy seasons were those that were cold and dry, and the most sickly those that were warm and moist; and they would then discover, that the superior salubrity of one year, and unwholesomeness of another, were clearly referable to one principle; and after perceiving this truth, they would both be more strongly prompted to apply the remedy, and be rendered morally and intellectually more capable of doing so. If some in 132 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND telligent friend had merely told them to drain their fields, and remove their dunghills, they would not probably have complied with his recommendation; but whenever their intellects were led to the perception that the evil would continue until they acted in this manner, the improvement would become easy. The truth of these views may be still farther illustrated by examples. A young gentleman of Glasgow, whom I knew, went out, as a merchant, to North America. Busi- ness required him to sail from New York to St Domingo The weather was hot, and he, being very sick, found the confinement below deck, in bed, as he said, intolerable, that is, this confinement was, for the moment, more painful than the course which he adopted, of laying himself down at full length on the deck, in the open air. He was warn- ed by his fellow passengers, and the officers of the ship, that he would inevitably induce fever by this proceeding; but he was utterly ignorant of the physical and organic laws; his intellect had been trained to regard only wealth and present pleasure as objects of real importance; it could perceive no necessary connection between exposure to the mild and grateful sea breeze of a warm climate, and fever, and he obstinately refused to quit his position. The con- sequence was, that he was rapidly taken ill, and lived just one day after arriving at St. Domingo. Knowledge of chemistry and physiology would have enabled him, in an instant, to understand that the sea air, in warm climates, holds a prodigious quantity of water in solution, and that damp and heat, operating together on the human organs, tend to derange their healthy action, and ultimately to de- stroy them entirely: and if his sentiments had been deeply imbued with a feeling of the indispensable duty of yielding obedience to the institutions of the Creator, he would have actually enjoyed, not only a greater desire, but a greater power, of supporting the temporary inconvenience of the heated cabin, and might, by possibility, have escaped death. FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS 133 Captain Murray, R. N. mentioned to Dr. A. Combe, that, in his opinion, most of the bad effects of the climate of the West Indies might be avoided by care and attention to clothing; and so satisfied was he on this point, that he had petitioned to be sent there in preference to the North American station, and had no reason to regret the change. The measures which he adopted, and their effects, are de- tailed in the following interesting and instructive letter: ' Assynt, April 22, 1827. 'My dEAR Sir, ' I should have written to you before this, had I not been anxious to refer to some memorandums, which I could not do before my return home from Coul. I attri- bute the great good health enjoyed by the crew of his Majesty's ship Valorous, when on the West India station, during the period I had the honor of commanding her, to the following causes, 1st, To the keeping the ship perfectly dry and clean; 2d, To habituating the men to the wearing of flannel next the skin; 3d, To the precaution I adopted, of giving each man a proportion of his allowance of cocoa before he left the ship in the morning, either for the purpose of watering, or any other duty he might be sent upon; and, 4th, To the cheerfulness of the crew. ' The Valorous sailed from Plymouth on the 24th De- cember 1823, having just returned from the coast of La- brador and Newfoundland, where she had been stationed two years, the crew, including officers, amounting to 150 men. I had ordered the purser to draw two pairs of flan- nel drawers, and two shirts extra for each man, as soon as I knew that our destination was the West Indies; and, on our sailing, I issued two of each to every man and boy in the ship, making the officers of each division responsible for the men of their respective divisions w'earing these flannels during the day and night; and, at the regular morning nine o'clock musters, I inspected the crew per- sonally; for you can hardly conceive the difficulty I have 12 134 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND had in forcing some of the men to use flannel at first; although I never yet knew one who did not, from choice, adhere to it, when once fairly adopted. The only precau- tion after this, was to see that, in bad weather, the watch, when relieved, did not turn in in their wet clothes, which the young hands were apt to do, if not looked after; and their flannels were shifted every Sunday. ' Whenever fresh beef and vegetables could be procured at the contract price, they were always issued in prefer- ence to salt provisions. Lime juice was issued whenever the men had been fourteen days on ship's provisions; and the crew took all their meals on the main deck, except in very bad weather. ' The quarter and main decks were scrubbed with sand and water, and wet holy-stones, every morning at day- light. The lower deck, cock-pit, and store-rooms were scrubbed every day after breakfast, with dry holy-stones and hot sand, until quite white, the sand being carefully swept up, and thrown overboard. The pump-well was also swabbed out dry, and then scrubbed with holy-stones and hot sand; and here, as well as in every part of the ship which was liable to damp, Brodie-stoves were con- stantly used, until every appearance of humidity vanished. The lower-deck and cock-pit were washed once every week in dry weather; but Brodie-stoves were constantly kept burning in them, until they were quite dry again. ' The hammocks were piped up, and in the nettings, from 7 a. M. until dusk, when the men of each watch took down their hammocks alternately, by which means, only one-half of the hammocks being down at a time, the tween-decks were not so crowded, and the watch relieved was sure of turning into a dry bed on going below. The bedding was aired every week, once at least. The men were not permitted to go on shore in the heat of the sun, or where there was a probability of their getting spirituous liquors; but all hands were indulged with a run on shore, when out of reach of such temptation. FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 135 * I was employed on the coast of Caraccas, the West India Islands, and Gulf of Mexico; and, in course of service, I visited Trinidad, Margarita, Cocha, Cumana, Nueva Barcelona, Laguira, Porto Cabello, and Maracai- bo, on the coast of Caraccas; all the West India Islands j from Tobago to Cuba, both inclusive; as also Caracoa and Aruba, and several of those places repeatedly; also to Vera Cruz and Tompico, in the Gulf of Mexico, which you will admit must have given a trial to the constitutions of my men, after two years among the icebergs of Labra- dor, without an intervening summer between that icy coast and the coast of Caraccas; yet I arrived in England on June 21th, without having buried a single man or officer belonging to the ship, or indeed having a single man on the sick list; from which I am satisfied that a dry ship will always be a healthy one in any climate. When in com- mand of the Recruit, of 18 guns, in the year 1809, I was sent to Vera Cruz, where I found the------46, the ------42, the------ 13, and------gun-brig; we were joined by the------36, and the------ 18. During the period we remained at anchor (from 8 to 10 weeks), the three frigates lost from 30 to 50 men each, the brigs 16 tc 18, the------most of her crew, with two different com manders; yet the Recruit, although moored in the middle of the squadron, and constant intercourse held with the other ships, did not lose a man, and had none sick. Now, as some of these ships had been as long in the West Indies as the Recruit, we cannot attribute her singularly healthy state to seasoning, nor can I to superior cleanliness, be- cause even the breeches of the carronades, and all the pins, were polished bright in both------and------, which was not the case with the Recruit. Perhaps her healthy state may be attributed to cheerfulness in the men; to my never allowing them to go on shore in the morning, on an empty stomach; to the use of dry sand and holy-stone for the ship; to never working them in the 6un; perhaps to accident. Were I asked my opinion, I 136 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND. would say that I firmly believe that cheerfulness contributes more to keep a ship's company healthy, than any precaution that can be adopted; and that, with this attainment, com- bined with the precautions I have mentioned, I should sail for the West Indies, with as little anxiety as I would for any other station. My Valorous fellows were as cheerful a set as I ever saw collected together.' Suppose that two gentlemen were to ascend one of the Scottish mountains, in a hot summer day, and to arrive at the top, bathed in prespiration, and exhausted with fatigue: that one of them knew intimately the physical and organic laws, and that, all hot and wearied as he was, he should button up his coat closer about his body, wrap a hand- kerchief about his neck, and continue walking, at a quick pace, round the summit, in the full blaze of the sun: that the other, ignorant of these laws, should eagerly run to the base of a projecting cliff; stretch himself at full length on the turf, under its refreshing shade; open his vest to the grateful breeze; and, in short, give himself up entirely to the present luxuries of coolness and repose;—the former, by warding off the rapid chill of the cold mountain air, would descend with health unimpaired; while the latter would carry with him, to a certainty, the seeds of rheuma- tism, consumption, or fever, from permitting perspiration to be instantaneously checked, and the surface of the body to be cooled with an injurious rapidity. I have put these cases hypothetically, because, although I have seen and experienced the benefits of the former method, I have not directly observed the opposite. No season, however, passes in the Highlands, in which some tragedy of the lat- ter description does not occur; and, from the minutest in- formation that I have been able to obtain, the causes have been such as are here described. The following case is illustrative of the points under consideration, and is one which I have had too good an opportunity of observing in all its stages. An individual in whom it was my duty as well as pleasure FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 137 to be greatly interested, had resolved on carrying Mr Owen's views into practical effect, and got an establish- ment set agoing on his principles, at Orbiston, in Lanark- shire. The labor and anxiety which he underwent at the commencement of the undertaking, gradually impaired an excellent constitution; and, without perceiving the change, he, by way of setting an example of industry, took to dig- ging with the spade, and actually worked for fourteen days at this occupation, although previously unaccustomed to labor. This produced haemoptysis. Being unable now for bodily exertion, he gave up his whole time to directing and instructing the people, about 250 in number, and for two or three weeks spoke the whole day, the effusion of blood from his lungs continuing. Nature rapidly sunk under this irrational treatment; and at last he came to Ed- inburgh for medical advice. When the structure and uses of his lungs were explained to him, and when it was point- ed out that his treatment of them had been equally injudi- cious as if he had thrown lime or dust into his eyes, after inflammation, he was struck with the extent and conse quences of his own ignorance, and exclaimed, How greatly he would have been benefited if one month of the five years which he had been forced to spend in a vain attempt at acquiring a mastery over the Latin tongue, had been dedi- cated to conveying to him information concerning the structure of his own body, and the causes which preserve and impair its functions. He had departed too widely from the organic laws to admit of an easy return; he was seized with inflammation of the lungs, and with great difficulty got through that attack; but it impaired his constitution so grievously, that he died, after a lingering illness of eleven months. He acknowledged, however, even in his severest pain, that he suffered under a just law. The lungs, he saw, were of the first-rate importance to life, and their proper treatment was provided for by this tremendous pun- ishment, inflicted for neglecting the conditions requisite to their health. Had he given them rest, and returned to 12* 138 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND obedience to the organic law, at the first intimation of de- parture from it, the way to health was open and ready to receive him; but, in utter ignorance, he persevered for weeks in direct opposition to that law, till the fearful result ensued. This last case affords a striking illustration of the inde- pendence of the different institutions of the Creator, and of the necessity of obeying all of them, as the only condi- tion of safety and enjoyment. The individual here alluded to, was deeply engaged in a most benevolent and disinter- ested experiment for promoting the welfare of his fellow creatures; and superficial observers would say that thi9 was just an example of the inscrutable decrees of Provi- dence, which visited him with sickness, and ultimately with death, in the very midst of his most virtuous exertions. But the institutions of the Creator are wiser than the im- aginations of such men. The first principle on which existence on earth and all its advantages depend, is obedience to the physical and organic laws. The benevo- lent Owenite neglected these, in his zeal to obey the moral law; and, if it were possible to dispense with the one by obeying the other, the whole scheme of man's existence would speedily become deranged, and involved in inex- plicable disorder. The following case was furnished to me by an actual observer:—A gentleman far advanced in years fell into a state of bodily weakness, which rendered the constant presence of an attendant necessary. A daughter, in whom Adhesiveness, Benevolence, and Veneration were largely developed, devoted herself to this service with the most ceaseless assiduity. She was his companion for month after month, and year after year, happy in cheering the last days of her respected parent, and knowing no pleasure equal to that of solacing and comforting him. For months in succession she did not go abroad from the house; her duty became dearer to her the longer she discharged it; till at length her father became the sole object on earth of FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 139 her feelings and her thoughts. The superficial observer would say that such conduct was admirable, and that she must have received a rich reward from Heaven for such becoming and virtuous devotion. But Providence rules by other laws, and never yields. Her enjoyment of mental happiness and vigor depended on the condition of her brain, and her brain was subject to the organic laws. These laws demand, as an indispensable condition of health, ex- ercise in the open air, and variety of employment, calculat- ed to maintain all the faculties in activity. She neglected the first in her constant attendance in her father's chamber; and she overlooked the second in establishing him as the exclusive object of her consideration. The result was, that she fell into bad health, accompanied by weakness of brain, extreme irritability, and susceptibility of mind, ex- cessive anxiety, hysteria, and even symptoms of insanity. Some judicious friends at last interfered, and by forcing her to leave for a time, although much against her incli- nation, the object of her solicitude, rescued her from death, or confirmed mental derangement. If this case had been allowed to proceed uninterruptedly to its natural termina- tion, many pious persons would have marvelled at the mys- terious dispensations of Providence in afflicting so dutiful a daughter; whereas, when the principle of the divine government is understood, the result appears neither won- derful nor perplexing. In the works of religious authors, many erroneous views of divine dispensations may be found traceable to igno- rance of the natural laws. The Reverend Ebenezer Ers- kine, speaking of the state of his wife's mind, says, 'For a month or two the arrows of the Almighty were within her, the poison whereof did drink up her spirits; and the terrors of God did set themselves in array against her.' He called in the assistance of some neighboring clergymen to join in prayers on her behalf, and she was induced to pray with them; but ' she still continued to charge herself with the unpardonable sin, and to conclude that she was a 140 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND castaway.' Such feelings occurring in a woman of blame- less life, clearly indicated diseased action in the organs of Cautiousness. 'Before she fell into these depths,' he con- tinues, ' she told me that the Lord gave her such a disco- very of the glory of Christ as darkened the whole creation, and made all things appear as dung and dross in compari- son of him.' These expressions indicate excessive excite- ment of the organs of Wonder and Veneration. She sub- sequently recovered her mental serenity; and her husband treats of the whole phenomena as purely mental and reli- gious. He, however, afterwards incidentally mentions that she was subject to bad health, and that ' melancholy was a great ingredient in her disease.' We now know that melancholy is a diseased affection of the organs of Cautiousness. At the time when Mr. Erskine lived and wrote, the phy- siology of the brain was unknown; the occurrences which he describes had a real existence; and he had been taught to attribute them to the agency of the divine spirit, or of the devil, according to their different characters. He is, therefore, not deserving of censure for the errors into which he unavoidably fell; but now when the facts which he describes, and analogous occurrences in our own day, can be traced to diseased action of the organs of the mind, we are authorized to view the providence of God in a dif- ferent light. While it would be subversive of all religion to throw any doubt whatever on the reality and importance of religious feelings, sound in their character, and directed to proper objects, it is nearly equally injurious to the sa- cred cause, to mistake the excitement and depression of disease for the influence of the Holy Spirit, or the agency of the enemy of mankind. It is mentioned also in the life of Mr. Erskine, that his wife bore several children to him while in precarious health, and that the situation ' of the manse, or parsonage house, was unwholesome.' We are told, also, that in the year 1713, three of his children died; that one died in 1720, and FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS 141 that, in 1723, a fifth was on the brink of death, but recov- ered.* He treats of all these events as ' severe trials,' and ' sore afflictions,' without having the least glimpse of their true causes and objects, or their relation to the natu- ral laws. Again, Hannah More, in a letter to the Rev. John New- ton, dated Cowslip's Green, 23d July 1788, says, 'When I am in the great world, I consider myself as in an ene- my's country, and as beset with snares, and this puts me upon my guard.' 'Fears and snares seem necessary to excite my circumspection; for it is certain that my mind has more languor, and my faith less energy here, where I have no temptations from without, and where I live in the full and constant perusal of the most beautiful objects of inanimate nature, the lovely wonders of the munificence and bounty of God. Yet, in the midst of his blessings, I should be still more tempted to forget him, were it not for frequent nervous headaches and low fevers, which I find to be wonderfully wholesome for my moral health.' "f* This passage contains several propositions that merit at- tention. First, according to the natural laws, ' the most beautiful objects of inanimate nature,' and 'the lovely wonders of the munificence and bounty of God,' are cal- culated to invigorate the moral, religious, and intellectual faculties, in all well constituted and rightly instructed minds; yet Hannah More's mind 'had more languor, and her faith less energy,' amidst such objects, than ' when beset with snares.' Secondly, According both to the natu- ral laws and scripture, ' evil communications corrupt good manners;' but 'when in the great world,' and ' in an ene- my's country,'her faith was improved: and, thirdly, ' Ner- vous headaches and low fevers,' are the consequences of departures from the organic laws, and are intended to *Life and Diary of the Rev. Ebenczer Erskine, 1831, pp. 266, 301, 286, 290, 320. f Memoirs of H. More, Vol. II. p. 110, 111. 142 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND reclaim the sufferer to obedience that the pain may cease; yet she ' found them wonderfully wholesome for her moral health,' and they prevented her from ' forgetting God! ' Only disease or errors in education could have produced such perverted experience in a woman so talented, so pious, and so excellent, as Hannah More. Can we wonder that the profane should sneer, and that practical religion should slowly advance, when piety exhibits itself in such lamenta- ble contradiction to the divine institutions? And still more so, when, from proceeding on a false theory, it contradicts itself? Hannah More, in her Journal in 1794, says, ' con- fined this week with four days' headache—an unprofitable time—thoughts wandering—little communion with God. 1 see by every fresh trial, that the time of sickness is seldom the season for religious improvement. This great work should be done in health, or it will seldom be done well,' vol. ii. p. 418. This passage is full of sound sense; but it is in contradiction to her previous assertion, that ' nervous headaches and low fevers were wonderfully wholesome for her moral health.' These examples, to which many more might be added, may serve as illustrations of the proposition, That without a philosophy of human nature, even religious authors, when treating of sublunary events, cannot always preserve con- sistency either with reason or themselves, and hence that religion can never become thoroughly practical, nor put forth its full energies for human improvement, until it is wedded to philosophy. In proportion as men shall become acquainted with the natural laws, and apply them as tests to theological writings relative to this world, they will be- come convinced of the truth of this observation. Having traced bodily suffering, in the case of individuals, to neglect of, or opposition to, the organic laws, by their progenitors or by themselves, I next advert to another set of calamities, which may be called social miseries, and which obviously spring from the same causes; although of this latter fact complete evidence was not possessed until FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 143 Phrenology was discovered. And first, in regard to evils of a domestic nature:— One fertile source of unhappiness arises from persons uniting in marriage, whose tempers, talents, and disposi- tions do not harmonize. If it be true that natural talents and dispositions are connected by the Creator with par- ticular configurations of brain, then it is obviously one of his institutions that, in forming a compact for life, these should be attended to. The following facts I regard to be fully established by competent evidence. The portion of the brain before the line AA, Fig. 1, manifests the intel- lect, that above B manifests the moral sentiments, and all the rest the animal propensities; and each part acts, cceteris paribus, with a degree of energy corresponding to its size. The following figures exhibit these regions existing in dif ferent proportions in different individuals; and the lives of the persons represented bear testimony to their possessing the corresponding dispositions. Fig. 1. Hake. The first is a view of the head of William Hare, the associate of Burke, who, acting in concert with him, strangled sixteen individuals in Edinburgh for the purpose of selling their bodies for dissection. In this head the organs which manifest the animal pro- 144 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND pensities decidedly preponderate over those which manifest the moral sentiments and intellect. Another example of the same kind is afforded by the head of Williams, who was executed along with the noto- rious Bishop, in London, for the same crime as that of Hare.* Fig. 2. Williams. In the head of the celebrated Richard Brinsely Sheridan, we find an example of the three regions of the brain in Fig. 3. Sheridan. question, existing nearly in the state of equilibrium. The natural tendencies of such an individual are equally strong towards vice and virtue; and his actual conduct is gener- * See Phrenological Journal, vol. vii. p. 446. FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 145 ally determined by the influence of external circumstances. The life of Sheridan shows, that while he possessed high mental qualities, he was also the slave of degrading and discreditable vices. The head of the celebrated Philip Melancthon the refor- mer and associate of Luther, furnishes an example of the decided predominance of the moral and intellectual regions over that of the animal propensities. The drawing is copied from a portrait by Albert Durer. Fig. 4. Melancthon. The following description of the head is given in Dr. Spurzheim's work, ' Phrenology in Connection with the Study of Physiognomy.' ' It is the brain of an extraordi- nary man. The organs of the moral and religious feelings predominate greatly, and will disapprove of all violence, irreverence, and injustice. The forehead betokens a vast and comprehensive understanding; and the ensemble a mind the noblest, the most amiable, and the most intellectual that can be conceived.' He was born in 1495, and rendered great services to the cause of the reformation by his admi- 13 146 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND rable abilities and great moderation. ' He was humane, gentle, and readily won upon by mild and generous treat- ment; but when his adversaries made use of imperious and menacing language, he rose superior to his general meekness of disposition, and showed a spirit of ardor, independence, nay, of intrepidity—looking down with con- tempt upon the threats of power, and the prospect even of death.' The demarcations in the figures are not arbitrary. The space before AA corresponds to the anterior lobe of the brain; and the space above B includes all the convo- lutions that lie on the upper surface of the brain, and rise higher than the organs of Cautiousness, corresponding to nearly the middle of the parietal bones, and of Causality, situated in the upper part of the forehead. It is not diffi- cult to distinguish these regions; and a comparison of their relative proportions with the talents and dispositions of individuals, will convince any intelligent, honest, and accurate observer, of the truth of the foregoing statements. I have examined the heads, or casts of the heads or skulls, of several hundred criminals, in various countries, and found them all to belong to the classes represented by the figures of the heads of Hare or of Sheridan, and never saw one of them with a brain like that of Melancthon. Neither have I ever seen a man distinguished by moral and intellectual qualities like those of Melancthon, pre- senting a brain like that of Hare. The figures represent Nature, not a casual appearance, but forms which are found constantly in combination with the qualities here named: and I ask why Nature, when she speaks to a geologist or chemist, should be listened to with profound attention, and her revelations treasured for human im- provement,—but scouted and despised when she speaks to and is interpreted by phrenologists? It is God who speaks from Nature in all her departments: and the brain is as assuredly his workmanship as the Milky-way, with all its myriads of suns. If the doctrine before expounded FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 147 be true, that every faculty is good in itself, that the folly and crime which disgrace human society spring from abuses of the faculties, and" that the tendency to abuse them originates in the disproportion of certain parts of the brain to each other, and in moral and intellectual igno- rance of the proper mode of manifesting them, how com- pletely do these considerations go to the root of theology and morals! At present the influence of organization in determining the natural dispositions is altogether neglected or denied by the common school of divines, moralists, and philosophers; yet it is of an importance exceeding all other terrestrial influences and considerations. If we imagine an individual endowed with the splendid cerebral development of Melancthon, under the influence of youthful passion and inexperience, uniting himself for life to a female possessing a head like that of Rare or Bishop, the effects could not fail to be most disastrous, with respect both to his own happiness, and to the qualities of his offspring. In the first place, after the animal feel- ings were gratified, and their ardor had subsided, the two minds could not by any possibility sympathize. Many marriages are unhappy in consequence of an instinctive discord between the modes of feeling and thinking of the husband and wife; the cause of which they themselves cannot explain. The mental differences will be found to arise from different developments of brain. If the husband be deficient in the organ of Conscientiousness, and the wife possess it in a high degree, she will be secretly dis- gusted with the dishonesty and inherent falsehood of his character, which she will have many opportunities of observing, even when they are unknown to the world. 'What,' says Dr. Johnson, 'can be expected but disap- pointment and repentance from a choice made in tho immaturity of youth, in the ardor of desire, without judg- ment, without foresight, without inquiry after conformity of opinions, similarity of manners, rectitude of judgment, or purity of sentiment? Such is the common process of 148 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND marriage. A youth and maiden meeting by chance, or brought together by artifice, exchange glances, reciprocate civilities, go home, and dream of one another. Having little to divert attention, or to diversify thought, they find themselves uneasy when they are apart, and therefore conclude that they shall be happy together. They marry, and discover what nothing but voluntary blindness before had concealed; they wear out life in altercations, and charge nature with cruelty.' Until Phrenology was discovered, no natural index to mental qualities, that could be practically relied on, was possessed, and each individual, in directing his conduct, was left to the guidance of his own sagacity; but the natural law never bended one iota to accommodate itself to that state of ignorance. Men suffered from unsuitable alliances, and they will continue to do so, until they shall avail themselves of the means of judging afforded by Phrenology, and act in accordance with its dictates. In the play of the Gamester, Mrs. Beverly is represented as a most excellent wife, acting habitually under the guid- ance of the moral sentiments and intellect; but married to a being whot while he adores her, reduces her to beggary and misery. His sister utters an exclamation to this effect:—Why did just Heaven unite such an angel to so heartless a thing! The parallel of this case occurs too often in real life; only it is not 'just Heaven ' that makes such matches, but ignorant and thoughtless human beings, who imagine themselves absolved from all obligation to study and obey the laws of Heaven, as announced in the general arrangement of the universe. The justice and benevolence of rendering the individ- uals themselves unhappy who neglect this .great institution of the Creator, become more striking when, in the next place, we consider the effects, by the organic law, of such conduct on the children of these ill-assorted unions. Physiologists, in general, are agreed, that a vigorous and healthy constitution of body in the parents, communi FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 149 cates existence in the most perfect state to the offspring *, and vice versa. The following instances of the transmission of defects are given in the Athenaeum:—'Many persons who have never known any, or perhaps not more than one, deaf and dumb individual in the immediate circle in which they lived, would be astonished to read the lists of applications circulated by the committee for the asylum in the Kent Road, so ably conducted by Mr. Watson, which usually contain nearly a hundred names. The most remarkable fact, however, which these lists present, is the number of deaf and dumb children frequently found in the same families, evidently in consequence of the continued opera- tion of some unknown cause connected with the parents. Three, four, and five, deaf and dumb children are not uncommonly met with in one family, and in some instances there have been as many as seven. In the family of Martain, a laborer, out of ten children seven were deaf and dumb; in the family of Kelley, a porter, seven out of eight were deaf and dumb; and in the family of Aldum, a weaver, six out of twelve were deaf and dumb. The result of a table of twenty families, given in the 'Historical Sketch of the Asylum,' published by Powell, Dowgate-hill, is ninety deaf and dumb out of one hundred and fifty-nine children.f Many observers of mankind, as well as medical authors, have remarked also the transmission, by hereditary de- scent, of mental talents and dispositions. Dr. King, in speaking of the fatality which attended the House of Stuart, says, ' If I were to ascribe their calami- ties to another cause (than an evil fate), or endeavor to account for them by any natural means, I should think they were chiefly owing to a certain obstinacy of temper, which appears to have been hereditary and inherent in all the Stuarts, except Charles II.' It is well known that the caste of the Brahmins is the * See Appendix, No. II. f Athenaeum, 28th May 1828, p. 489. 13* 150 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND highest in point of intelligence as well as rank of all the castes in Hindostan; and it is mentioned by the missiona- ries as an ascertained fact, that their children are naturally more acute, intelligent, and docile, than the children of the inferior castes, age and other circumstances being equal. Dr. Gregory, in treating of the temperaments in his Conspectus Medicinoz, Theorelicce, says, ' Hujusmodi va- rietates non corporis modo, verum et animi quoque, ple- rumque congenita?, nonnunquam haereditarire, observantur. Hoc modo parentes saepe in proles reviviscunt; certe par- entibus liberi similes sunt, non vultum modo et corporis formam, sed animi indolem, et virtutes, et vitia. Imperiosa gens Claudia diu Romas floruit, impigra, ferox, superba; eadem illachrymabilem Tiberium, tristissimum tyrannum, produxit; tandem in immanem Caligulam, et Claudium, et Agrippinam, ipsumque demum Neronem, post sexcentos annos, desitura.* '—Cap. i. sect. 16. The following remarks by Professor John Gregory, are extracted from his Comparative View of the State and Faculties of Man with those of the Animal World. ' By a proper attention we can preserve and improve the breed of horses, dogs, cattle, and indeed all other animals. Yet it is amazing this observation was never transferred to the human species, where it would be equally applicable. It is certain that, notwithstanding our promiscuous marriages, many families are distinguished by peculiar circumstances in their character. This family character, like a family face, will often be lost in one generation and appear again in the succeeding. Without doubt, education, habit, and emulation, may contribute greatly in many cases to keep it up; but it will be generally found that, independent of these, Nature has stamped an original impression on cer- tain minds, which education may greatly alter or efface, ♦Parents frequently live again in their offspring. It is quite certain that children resemble their parents, not only in countenence and the form of their body, but also in their mental dispositions, in their virtues and vices, &c. FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 151 but seldom so entirely as to prevent its traces being seen by an accurate observer. How a certain character or constitution of mind can be transmitted from a parent to a child, is a question of more difficulty than importance. It is indeed equally difficult to account for the external re- semblance of features, or for bodily diseases being trans- mitted from a parent to a child. But we never dream of a difficulty in explaining any appearance of nature which is exhibited to us every day. A proper attention to this sub- ject would enable us to improve, not only the constitutions ject would enable us to improve, not only the constitutions but the characters of our posterity. Yet we every day see very sensible people, who are anxiously attentive to pre- serve or improve the breed of their horses, tainting the blood of their children, and entailing on them not only the most loathsome diseases of the body, but madness, folly, and the most unworthy dispositions, and this too when they cannot plead being stimulated by necessity or im- pelled by passion.*' A celebrated French writer, who has written much sound as well as false philosophy, observes, that ' physical organization, of which moral is the offspring, transmits the same character from father to son through a succession of ages. The Apii were always haughty and inflexible, the Catos always severe. The whole line of the Guises were bold, rash, factious; compounded of the most inso- lent pride and the most seductive politeness. From Fran- cis de Guise, to him who alone and in silence went and put himself at the head of the people of Naples, they were all, in figure, in courage, and in turn of mind, above ordinary men. I have seen whole-length portraits of Francis de Guise, of the Balafre, of his son: they are all six feet high, with the same features, the same courage and boldness in the forehead, the eye, and the attitude. This continuity, this series of beings alike, is still more observable in animals; and if as much care were taken to * Comparative View, &c. 3d edit Load. 1766, pp. 18,19. 152 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND perpetuate fine races of men, as some nations still take to prevent the mixing of the breeds of their horses and hounds, the genealogy would be written in the counte- nance and displayed in the manners.* ' Phrenology reveals the principle on which these phe- nomena take place. Mental talents and dispositions are determined by the size and constitution of thend Decimals. Week.. Days. Hours. Proportion of Si Members. Under 20 0.3797 0 2 16 1 in 136.95 20-30 0.5916 0 4 3 1 ... 87.89 80-40 0.6S65 0 4 19 1 ... 75.74 40-50 1.0273 1 0 4 1 ... 50.61 50-60 1.8S06 1 6 3 1 ... 27.65 60-70 5.6337 5 4 10 1 ... 9.23 Above 70 16.5417 16 3 19 1 ... 3 14 DEATH. 191 when sound in its elements, and preserved in accordance with the organic laws, is fairly calculated to endure in health from infancy to old age, and that death, when it occurs during the early or middle periods of life, is the consequence of departures from the physical and organic laws, it follows, that, even in premature death, a benevo- lent principle is discernible. Although the remedial pro- cess restores animals from moderate injuries, yet the very nature of the organic law must place a limit to it. If life had been preserved, and health restored, after the brain had been blown to atoms, by a bomb shell, as effectually as a leg that is broken, and a finger that is cut are healed, this would have been an actual abrogation of the organic law; and all the curbs which that law imposes on the lower propensities, and all the incitements which the observance of it affords to the higher sentiments, and intellect, would have been lost. The limit, then, is this, — that any de- parture from the law against which restoration is permitted, shall be moderate in extent, and shall not involve, to a great degree, any organ essential to life, such as the brain, the lungs, the stomach, or intestines. The very mainte- nance of the law, with all its advantages, requires that restoration from grievous derangement of these organs should not be permitted. When we reflect on the heredi- tary transmission of qualities to children, we clearly per- ceive benevolence to the race, in the institution which cuts short the life of an individual in whose person disease of essential organs has become so great as to have exceeded the limits of the remedial process; for the extension of the punishment of his errors over an innumerable posterity is thereby prevented. In premature death, then, we see two objects accomplished, first, the individual sufferer is with- drawn from agonies which could serve no beneficial end to himself; he has transgressed the limits of recovery, and prolonged life would be protracted misery; secondly, the race is guaranteed from the future transmission of his dis- ease by hereditary descent 192 ORGANIC LAWS. The disciple of Mr. Owen, formerly alluded to, who had grievously transgressed the organic law, and suffered a punishment of equal intensity, observed, when in the midst of his agony,—' Philosophers have urged the institution of death, as an argument against divine goodness, but not one of them could experience, for five minutes, the pain which I now endure, without looking upon it as a most merciful arrangement. I have departed from the natural institutions, and suffered the punishment; but, in death, I see only the Creator's benevolent hand, stretched out to terminate my agonies, when they cease to serve any bene- ficial end.' On this principle, the death of a feeble and sickly child is an act of mercy to it. It withdraws a being, in whose person the organic laws have been violated, from useless suffering; cutting short, thereby, also, the trans- mission of its imperfections to posterity. If, then, the organic institutions which inflict pain and disease as pun- ishments for transgressing them, are founded in benevo- lence and wisdom; and, if death, in the early and middle periods of life, is an arrangement for withdrawing the transgressor from farther suffering, after return to obedi- ence is impossible, and protecting the race from the con- sequences of his errors, it also is in itself wise and be- nevolent. This, then, leaves only death in old age as a natural and unavoidable institution of the Creator. It will not be denied, that, if old persons, when their powers of enjoy- ment are fairly exhausted, and their cup of pleasure full, could be removed from this world, as we have supposed the lower animals to be, in an instant, and without pain or consciousness, to make way for a fresh and vigorous off- spring, about to run the career which the old have termi- nated, there would be no lack of benevolence and justice in the arrangement. At present, while we live in habitual ignorance and neglect of the organic institutions, death probably comes upon us with more pain and agony, even in advanced life, than might be its legitimate accompani- DEATH. 193 ment, if we placed ourselves in accordance with these; so that we are not now in a condition to ascertain the natural quantity of pain necessarily attendant on death Judging from analogy, we may conclude, that the close of a long life, founded at first, and afterwards spent, in ac- cordance with the Creator's laws, would not be accom- panied with great organic suffering, but that an insensible decay would steal upon the senses. Be this, however, as it may, I observe, in the next place, that as the Creator has bestowed on man animal faculties that fear death, and reason that carries home to him the conviction that he must die, it is an interesting inquiry, Whether he has provided any natural means of relief, from the consequences of this combination of ter- rors? 'And what thinkest thou,'said Socrates to Aristo- demus, ' of this continual love of life, this dread of dissolu- tion, which takes possession of us from the moment that we are conscious of existence?' 'I think of it,' answered he, ' as the means employed by the same great and wise artist, deliberately determined to preserve what he has made.' Lord Byron strongly expresses the same opinion, and is struck with the energetic efforts which he instinc- tively made in a moment of danger, to preserve his own life, although in his hours of calm reflection, he felt so unhappy that he wished to die. There are reasons for believing not only that the love of life is a special instinct, but that it is connected with a particular organ, which is supposed to be situate at the base of the brain, and that, cceteris paribus, the feeling varies in intensity in different individuals, according to the size of the organ. I have ascertained, by numerous confidential communications, as well as by observation, that even when external circum- stances are equally prosperous and happy, there are great differences in the desire of life in different minds. Some persons have assured me, that death, viewed even as the extinction of being, and without reference to a future state, did not appear to them at all appalling, or calculat- 17 194 ORGANIC LAWS. ed, when contemplated as their certain fate, to impair the enjoyment of life; and these were not profligate men, whose vices might make them desire annihilation as pre- ferable to future punishment, but persons of pure lives and pious dispositions. This experience is so different from the feelings commonly entertained by ordinary persons, that I have been led to ascribe it to a very small develop- ment of the organ of the Love of Life in these individuals. A medical gentleman who was attached to the native army in India, informed me, that in many of the Hindoos, the love of life was by no means strong. On the contrary, it was frequently found necessary to interpose force to com- pel them to make even moderate exertions, quite within the compass of their strength, to avoid death. That part of the base of the brain which lies between the ear and the anterior lobe, is generally narrow, measuring across the head, in such individuals. If there be an organ for the love of life, the vivacity of the instinct will diminish in proportion as the organ decays, so that age, which induces the certain approach of death, will, in a corresponding degree, strip him of his terrors. The apparent exceptions to this rule will be found in cases in which this organ predominates in size and activity, and preserves an as- cendency over the other organs, even in decay. These ideas, however, are thrown out only as specula- tions, suggested by the facts before described. Whatever may be thought of them, it is certain that the Creator has bestowed moral sentiments on man, and arranged the whole ol his existence on the principles of their suprema- cy; and these, when duly cultivated and enlightened, are calculated to withdraw from him the terrors of death, in the same manner as unconsciousness of its existence saves the lower animals from its horrors. The Moral Sentiments and Intellect perceive, 1st, That Amativeness, Philoprogenitiveness, and Ad- hesiveness, are provided with direct objects of gratifica- tion, in consequence of the institution of death. If the DEATH. 195 same individuals had lived here for ever, there would; have been no field for the enjoyment that flows from th© domestic union, and the rearing of offspring. The very institution of these propensities prove, that producing and rearing young form part of the design of creation; and the successive production of young appears necessarily to imply removal of the old. 2d, All the other faculties would have been limited in their gratifications. Conceive, for a moment, how much exercise is afforded to our intellectual and moral powers, in acquiring knowledge, communicating it to the young, and in providing for their enjoyments; also, what a de- lightful exercise of the higher sentiments is implied in the intercourse between the aged and the young; all which pleasures would have been unknown, if there had been no young in existence, which there could not have been, without a succession of individuals. 3d, Constituted as man is, the succession of individuals withdraws beings whose physical and mental constitutions have run their course, and become impaired in sensibility, and substitutes, in their place, fresh and vigorous minds and bodies, far better adapted for the enjoyment of crea- tion. 4th, If I am right in the position, that the organic laws transmit, in an increasing ratio, the qualities most active in the parents to their offspring, the law of succession provides for a far higher degree of improvement in the race than could have been reached by the permanency of a single generation possessing the present human constitu- tion. Let us inquire, then, how the moral sentiments are affected by death in old age, as a natural institution. Benevolence, glowing with a disinterested desire for the diffusion and increase of enjoyment, utters no com- plaint against death in old age, as a transference of exist- ence from a being impaired in its capacity for usefulness and pleasure, to one fresh and vigorous in all its powers, 196 ORGANIC LAWS. and fitted to carry forward, to a higher point of improve- ment, every beneficial measure previously begun. Con- scientiousness, if thoroughly enlightened, perceives no infringement of justice in a guest, satiated with enjoyment, being called on to retire from the banquet, to permit a stranger with a keener and more youthful appetite to partake; and Veneration, when instructed by intellect that this is the institution of the Creator, and made ac- quainted with its objects, bows in humble acquiescence to the law. Now, if these powers have acquired, in any individual, that complete supremacy which they are clearly intended to hold, he will be placed by them as much above the terror of death as a natural institution, as the lower animals are, by being ignorant of its existence. And un- less the case were so, man would, by the very knowledge of death, be rendered, during his whole life, more misera- ble than they. In these observations, I have said nothing of the pros- pects of a future existence as a palliative of the evils of dissolution, because I was bound to regard death, in the first instance, as the result of the organic law, and to treat of it as such. But no one who considers that the prospects of a life to come, are directly addressed to Veneration, Hope, Benevolence, and Intellect, can fail to perceive that this consolation also is clearly founded on the princi- ple, that supremacy in the sentiments is intended by the Creator to protect man from its terrors. The true view of death, then, as a natural institution, is, that it is an essential part of the very system of organi- zation; that birth, growth, and arrival at maturity as com- pletely imply decay and death in old age, as morning and noon imply evening and night, as spring and summer imply harvest, or as the source of a river implies its termination. Besides, organized beings are constituted by the Creator to be the food of other organized beings, so that some must die that others may live. Man, for instance, cannot live on stones, or earth, or water, which are not organized, ORGANIC LAWS. 197 but must feed on vegetable and animal substances; so that death is as much, and as essentially, an inherent part of organization as life itself. If vegetables, animals, and men, had been destined for a duration like that of moun- tains,—instead of creating a primitive pair of each, and endowing these with extensive powers of reproduction, so as to usher into existence young beings destined to grow up to maturity by insensible degrees, we may presume, from analogy, that the Creator would have furnished the world with its definite complement of living beings, perfect at first in all their parts and functions, and that these would have remained, like hills, without diminution, and without increase. To prevent, then, all chance of being misapprehended, I repeat, that I do not at all allude to the state of the soul or mind, after death, but merely to the dissolution of organized bodies; that, according to the soundest view which I am able to obtain of the natural law, pain and death in youth and middle age, in the human species, are consequences of departure from the Creator's laws; while death in old age, by insensible decay, is an essential and apparently indispensable part of the system of organized existence; that this arrangement admits of the succession of individuals, substituting the young and vigorous for the feeble and decayed; that it is directly the means by which organized beings live, and indirectly the means by which Amativeness, Philoprogenitiveness, and a variety of our other faculties obtain gratification; that it admits of the race ascending in the scale of improvement, both in their organic and mental qualities; that the moral sentiments, when supreme in activity, and enlightened by intellect, so as to perceive its design and consequences, are calculated to place man in harmony with it; while religion addresses its consolation to the same faculties, and completes what reason leaves undone. If the views now unfolded be correct, death, in old age, will never be abolished, as long as man continues an, 17* 198 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM organized being; but pain and premature death will con- stantly decrease, in the exact ratio of his obedience to the physical and organic laws. It is interesting to observe, that there is already some evidence of this process being actually in progress. About seventy years ago, tables of the average duration of life, in England, were compiled for the use of the Life Insurance Companies; and from them it appears, that the average duration of life was then 28 years; that is, 1000 persons being born, and the years which each of them lived being added together, and divid- ed by 1000, gave 28 to each. By recent tables, it appears that the average is now 32 years to each; that is to say, by superior morality, cleanliness, knowledge, and general obedience to the Creator's institutions, fewer individuals now perish in infancy, youth, and middle age, than did seventy years ago. Some persons have said, that the difference arises from errors in compiling the old tables, and that the superior habits of the people are not the cause. It is probable that there may be a portion of truth in both views. There may be some errors in the old tables, but it is quite natural that increasing knowledge and stricter obedience to the organic laws should diminish the number of premature deaths. If this idea be correct, the average duration of life should go on increasing; and our successors, two centuries hence, may probably attain to an average of 40 years, and then ascribe to errors in our tables our low average of 32.* SECTION III. CALAMITIES ARISING FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. We come now to consider the Moral Law, which is proclaimed by the highest sentiments and intellect acting * An interesting article on the ' Diminished Mortality in England,' ap- peared in the Scotsman newspaper, of 16th April 1828, which coincides with the views of the text; and, as it proceeds on scientific data, it is printed in the Appendix, No. IV. INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 199 harmoniously, and holding the animal propensities in sub- jection. In surveying the moral and religious codes of different nations, and the moral and religious opinions of different philosophers, every reflecting mind must have been struck with their diversity. Phrenology, by demon- strating the differences of combination in their faculties, enables us to account for these varieties of sentiment The code of morality framed by a legislator, in whom the animal propensities were strong, and the moral sentiments weak, would be very different from one instituted by another lawgiver, in whom this combination was reversed. In like manner, a system of religion, founded by an indi- vidual, in whom Destructiveness, Wonder, and Cautious- ness were very large, and Veneration, Benevolence, and Conscientiousness deficient, would present views of the Supreme Being widely dissimilar to those which would be promulgated by a person in whom the last three faculties and intellect decidedly predominated. Phrenology shows, that the particular code of morality and religion, which is most completely in harmony with the whole faculties of the individual, will necessarily appear to him to be the best, while he refers only to the dictates of his individual mind, as the standard of right and wrong. But if we are able to show, that the whole scheme of external creation is arranged in harmony with certain principles, in preference to others, so that enjoyment, flows upon the individual from without when his conduct is in conformity with them, and that evil overtakes him when he departs from them, we shall then obviously prove, that the former is the morality and reli- gion established by the Creator; and that individual men, who support different codes, must necessarily be deluded by imperfections in their own minds. That constitution of mind, also, may be pronounced to be the best, which har- monizes most completely with the morality and religion established by the Creator's arrangements. In this view, morality becomes a science, and departures from its dictates may be demonstrated as practical follies, injurious to the 200 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM real interest and happiness of the individual, just as errors in logic are capable of refutation to the satisfaction of the understanding. Dugald Stewart most justly remarked, that ' the import- ance of agriculture and of religious toleration to the pros- perity of states ; the criminal impolicy of thwarting the kind arrangements of Providence, by restraints upon com- merce; and the duty of legislators to study the lows of the moral world as the ground-work and standard of their own, appear, to minds unsophisticated by inveterate prejudices, as approaching nearly to the class of axioms;—yet, how much ingenious and refined discussion has been employed, even in our own times, to combat the prejudices which every where continue to struggle against them; and how remote does the period yet seem, when there is any pro- bability that these prejudices will be completely abandon- ed.'* The great cause of the long continuance of these prejudices, is the want of an intelligible and practical philosophy of morals. Before ordinary minds can perceive that the world is really governed by divine laws, it is ob- vious that they must become acquainted with, first, The nature of man, physical, animal, moral, and intellectual; secondly, The relations of the different parts of that nature to each other; and, thirdly, The relationship of the whole to God and external objects. The present Essay is an attempt, (a very feeble and imperfect one indeed), to ar- rive, by the aid of phrenology, at a demonstration of morality as a science. The interests dealt with in the investigation are so elevating, and the effort itself is so delightful, that the attempt carries its own reward, how- ever unsuccessful in its results. I am not without hope, that if phrenology, as the science of mind, and the doc- trine of the natural laws, were taught to the people as part of their ordinary education, the removal of these prejudices would be considerably accelerated. * Prelim. Dissert, to Sup. Ency. Brit. p. 127. INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 201 Assuming, then, that, among the faculties of the mind, the higher sentiments and intellect hold the natural supre- macy, I shall endeavor to show, that obedience to the dic- tates of these powers is rewarded with pleasing emotions in the mental faculties themselves, and with the most beneficial external consequences; whereas disobedience is followed by deprivation of these emotions, by painful feel- ings within the mind, and great external evil. First, Obedience is accompanied by pleasing emotions in the faculties. It is scarcely necessary to dwell on the circumstance, that every propensity, sentiment, and intel- lectual faculty, when gratified in harmony with all the rest, is a fountain of pleasure. How many exquisite thrills of joy arise from Philoprogenitiveness, Adhesiveness, Ac- quisitiveness, Constructiveness, Love of Approbation, and Self-Esteem, when gratified in accordance with the moral sentiments; who that has ever poured forth the aspirations of Hope, Ideality, Wonder, and Veneration, directed to an object in whom Intellect and Conscientiousness also rejoiced, has not experienced the deep delight of such an exercise? Or, Who is a stranger to the grateful pleasures attending an active Benevolence? Turning to the intellect, again, what pleasures are afforded by the scenery of na- ture, by painting, poetry, and music, to those who possess the combination of faculties suited to these studies? And how rich a feast does not philosophy yield to those who possess high reflecting organs, combined with Concentra- tiveness and Conscientiousness? The reader is requested, therefore, to keep steadily in view, that these exquisite rewards are attached by the Creator to the active exercise of our faculties, in accordance with the moral law; and that one punishment, clear, obvious, and undeniable, in- flicted on those who neglect or infringe that law, is depri- vation of these pleasures. This is a consideration very little attended to; because mankind, in general, live in such habitual neglect of the moral law, that they have, to a very partial extent, experienced its rewards, and do not 202 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM know the enjoyment they are deprived of by its infringe- ment. Before its full measure can be judged of, the mind must be instructed in its own constitution, in that of exter- nal objects, and in the relationship established between it and them, and between it and the Creator. Until a toler- ably distinct perception of these truths is obtained, the faculties cannot enjoy repose, nor act in full vigor or har- mony: while, for example, our forefathers regarded the marsh fevers, to which they were subjected, from deficient draining of their fields,—and the outrages on person and property, attendant on the wars waged by the English against the Scots, or by one feudal lord against another, even on their own soil,—not as punishments for particular infringements of the organic and moral laws, to be remov- ed by obedience to these laws, but as inscrutable dispensa- tions of God's providence, which it behooved them meekly to endure, but not to avert,—the full enjoyment which the moral and intellectual faculties were fairly calculated by the Creator to afford, could not be experienced. Benevo- lence would pine in dissatisfaction; Veneration would flag in its devotions; and Conscientiousness would suggest endless surmises of disorder and injustice in a scheme of creation, under which such evils occurred, and were left without a remedy:—in short, the full tide of moral, reli- gious, and intellectual enjoyment could not possibly flow, until views, more in accordance with the constitution and desires of the moral faculties were obtained. The same evil afflicts mankind still to a prodigious extent. How is it possible for the Hindoo, Mussulman, Chinese, or the native American, while they continue to worship deities, whose qualities outrage Benevolence, Veneration, and Conscientiousness,—and remain in profound ignorance of almost all the Creator's natural institutions, in conse- quence of infringing which they suffer punishment with- out ceasing,—to form even a conception of the gratifica- tions which the moral and intellectual nature of man is calculated to enjoy, when exercised in harmony with the INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 203 Creator's real character and institutions? This operation of the moral law is not the less real, because many do not recognise it. Sight is not a less excellent gift to those who see, because some men born blind have no conception of the extent of pleasure and advantage from which the want of it cuts them off. The qualities manifested by the Creator may be infer- red from the works of creation; but it is obvious, that, to arrive at the soundest views, we would need to know his institutions thoroughly. To a grossly ignorant people, who suffer hourly from transgression of his laws, the Deity will appear infinitely more mysterious and severe than to an enlightened nation, who trace the principles of his gov- ernment, in many departments of his works, and who, by observing his laws, avoid the penalties of infringement. The character of the Divine Being, under the natural sys- tem, will go on rising in human apprehension, in exact proportion as his works shall be understood. The low and miserable conceptions of God formed by the vulgar among the Greeks and Romans, were the reflections of their own ignorance of natural, moral, and political science. The discovery and improvement of phrenology must necessarily have a great effect on natural religion. Before phrenology was known, the moral and intellectual constitution of man was unascertained;—in consequence, the relations of ex- ternal nature towards it could not be competently judged of; and, while these were involved in obscurity, many of the ways of Providence must have appeared mysterious and severe, which in themselves were quite the reverse. Again, as bodily suffering and mental perplexity would bear a proportion to this ignorance, the character of God would appear to the natural eye in that condition, much more unfavorable than it will after these clouds of darkness shall have passed away. Some persons, in their great concernment about a future life, are liable to overlook the practical direction of the mind in the present. When we consider the nature and 204 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM objects of the mental faculties, we perceive that a great number of them have the most obvious and undeniable re- ference to this life; for example, Amativeness, Philoproge- nitiveness, Combativeness, Destructiveness, Acquisitive- ness, Secretiveness, Cautiousness, Self-Esteem, and Love of Approbation, with Size, Form, Coloring, Weight, Tune, Wit, and probably other faculties, stand in such evident relationship to this particular world, with its moral and physical arrangements, that if they were not capable of legitimate application here, it would be difficult to assign a reason for their being bestowed on us. We possess also Benevolence, Veneration, Hope, Ideality, Wonder, Con- scientiousness, and Reflecting Intellect, all of which ap- pear to be particularly adapted to a higher sphere. But the important consideration is, that here on earth these two sets of faculties are combined; and, on the same principle that led Sir Isaac Newton to infer the combustibility of the diamond, I am disposed to expect that the external world, when its constitution and relations shall be sufficiently un- derstood, will be found to be in harmony with all our facul- ties, and of course that the character of the Deity, as un- folded by the works of creation, will more and more gratify our moral and intellectual powers, in proportion as know- ledge shall advance. The structure of the eye is admirably adapted to the laws of light; that of the ear to the laws of sound; that of the muscles to the laws of gravitation; and it would be strange if our mental constitution were not as wisely adapted to the general order of the external world. The principle is universal, and admits of no exception, that want of power and activity in every faculty, is attend- ed with deprivation of the pleasures attendant on its viva- cious exercise. He who is so deficient in Tune that he cannot distinguish melody, is cut off from a vast source of gratification enjoyed by those who possess that organ in a state of vigor and highly cultivated; and the same principle holds in the case of every other organ and faculty. Crimi- nals and profligates of every description, therefore, from INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 205 the very constitution of their nature, are excluded from great enjoyments attendant on virtue; and this is the first natural punishment to which they are inevitably liable. Persons also, who are ignorant of the constitutions of their own minds, and the relations between external objects, not only suffer many direct evils on this account, but, through the consequent inactivity of their faculties, are, besides, deprived of many exalted enjoyments. The works of crea- tion, and the character of the Deity, are the legitimate objects of our highest powers; and hence he who is blind to their qualities, loses nearly the whole benefit of his moral and intellectual existence. If there is any one to whom these gratifications are unknown, or appear trivial, either he must, to a very considerable degree, be still under the dominion of the animal propensities, or his views of the Creator's character and institutions cannot be in harmony with the natural dictates of the moral sentiments and intel- lect. The custom of teaching children to regard with the highest admiration the literature and history of the Greeks and Romans, stained with outrages on all the superior faculties of man, and diverting their minds away from the study of the Creator and his works, has had a most perni- cious effect on the views of this world, entertained by many excellent and intellectual individuals. This is truly pre- fering the achievements of barbarous men to the glorious designs of God; and we need not be surprised that no satisfaction to the moral sentiments is experienced while this course of education is pursued. But, in the second place, as the world is arranged on the principle of the supremacy of the moral sentiments and in- tellect, observance of the moral law is attended with ex- ternal advantages, and infringement of it with positive evil consequences; and from this constitution arises the second natural punishment of misconduct. Let us trace the advantages of obedience.—In the do- mestic circle; if we preserve habitually Benevolence, Con- scientiousness, Veneration, and Intellect supreme, it is 18 206 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM quite undeniable, that we shall rouse the moral and intel- lectual faculties of children, servants, and assistants, to love us, and to yield us willing service, obedience, and aid. Our commands will then be reasonable, mild, and easily executed, and the commerce will be that of love. With our equals, again, in society, what would we not give for a friend in whom we were perfectly convinced of the supre- macy of the moral sentiments; what love, confidence, and delight, would we not repose in him! To a merchant, phy- sician, lawyer, magistrate, or an individual in any public employment, how invaluable would be the habitual supre- macy of these sentiments! The Creator has given differ- ent talents to different individuals, and limited our powers, so that we execute any work best by confining our atten- tion to one department of labor,—an arrangement which amounts to a direct institution of separate trades and pro- fessions. Under the natural laws, then, the manufacturer may pursue his calling with the entire approbation of all the moral sentiments, for he is dedicating his talents to supply the wants of his fellow men; and how much more successful will he not be, if his every wish is accompanied by the desire to act benevolently and honestly towards those who are to consume and pay for the products of his labor! He cannot gratify his Acquisitiveness half so suc- cessfully by any other method. The same remark applies to the merchant, the lawyer, and physician. The lawyer and physician whose whole spirits breathe a disinterested desire to consult, as a paramount object, the interests of their clients and patients, not only obtain the direct reward of gratifying their own moral faculties, which is no slight enjoyment, but also reap a positive gratification to their Self-Esteem and Love of Approbation, in a high and well-founded reputation, and to their Acquisitiveness, in increasing emolument, not grudgingly paid but willingly offered, from persons who feel the worth of the services bestowed. There are three conditions required by the moral and INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 207 intellectual law, which must all be observed to insure its rewards. 1st, The department of industry selected must be really useful to human beings: Benevolence demands this; 2d, The quantum of labor bestowed must bear a just proportion to the natural demand for the commodity produced: Intellect requires this; and 3d, In our social connections, we must imperatively attend to the organic law, that different individuals possess different develop- ments of brain, and in consequence different natural talents and dispositions, and we must rely on each, only to the extent warranted by his natural endowment. If, then, an individual have received, at birth, a sound organic constitution and favorably developed brain, and if he live in accordance with the physical, the organic, the moral, and the intellectual laws, it appears to me that, in the constitution of the world, he has received an assurance from the Creator, of provision for his animal wants, and a high enjoyment in the legitimate exercise of his various mental powers. I have already observed, that before we can obey the Creator's institutions we must know them; that the science which teaches the physical laws is natural philosophy; and that the organic laws belong to the department of anatomy and physiology: and I now add, that it is the business of the Political Economist to unfold the kinds of industry that are really necessary to the welfare of man- kind, and the degrees of labor that will meet with a just reward. The leading object of political economy, as a science, is to increase enjoyment, by directing the appli- cation of industry. To attain this end, however, it is obviously necessary that the nature of man,—the consti- tution of the physical world,—and the relations between these, should be known. Hitherto, the knowledge of the first of these elementary parts has been very deficient, and, in consequence, the whole superstructure has been weak and unproductive, in comparison of what it may be- come, when founded on a more perfect basis. Political 208 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM Economists have never taught that the world is arranged on the principle of supremacy of the moral sentiments and intellect—that consequently, to render man happy, his leading pursuits must be such as ivill exercise and gratify these powers,—and that his life will necessarily be misera- ble, if devoted entirely to the production of wealth. They have proceeded on the notion, that the accumulation of wealth is the summum bonum; but all history testifies, that national happiness does not invariably increase in proportion to national riches; and until they shall perceive and teach, that intelligence and morality are the founda- tion of all lasting prosperity, they will never interest the great body of mankind, nor give a valuable direction to their efforts. If the views contained in the present Essay be sound, it will become a leading object with future masters in that science, to demonstrate the necessity that civilized man should limit his physical, and increase his moral and intellectual occupations, as the only means of saving him- self from ceaseless punishment under the natural laws. The idea of men in general being taught natural philo- sophy, anatomy, and physiology, political economy, and the other sciences that expound the natural laws, has been sneered at, as utterly absurd and ridiculous *. But I would ask, in what occupations are human beings so urgently engaged, that they have no leisure to bestow on the study of the Creator's laws? A course of natural philosophy would occupy sixty or seventy hours in the delivery; a course of anatomy and physiology the same; and a course of phrenology can be delivered pretty fully * It is pleasing to observe, that great progress has been made in appre- ciating the importance of the kind of education here recommended, since the first edition of this work was published. In Edinburgh an association of the industrious classes has been formed for obtaining instruction in useful and en- tertaining knowledge, and it has met with the greatest encouragement. Under its superintendence, lectures have been delivered on all the sciences enumerat- ed in the text, to audiences consisting of both sexes, and with eminent suc- cess. A notice of its constitution will be found in the Appendix, No. V, INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 209 in forty hours! These, twice or thrice repeated, would serve to initiate the student so that he could afterwards advance in the same paths, by the aid of observation and books. Is life, then, so brief, and are our hours so ur- gently occupied by higher and more important duties, that we cannot afford these pittances of time to learn the laws that regulate our existence? No! The only difficulty is in obtaining the desire for the knowledge; for when that is attained, time will not be wanting. No idea can be more preposterous, than that of human beings having no time to study and obey the natural institutions. These laws punish so severely, when neglected, that they cause the offender to lose tenfold more time in undergoing his chastisement, than would be requisite to obey them. A gentleman extensively engaged in business, whose nervous and digestive systems have been impaired by neglect of the organic laws, was desired to walk in the open air at least one hour a-day; to repose from all exertion, bodily and mental, for one full hour after breakfast, and another full hour after dinner, because the brain cannot expend its energy in thinking and in aiding digestion at the same time; and to practise moderation in diet, which last in- junction he regularly observed; but he laughed at the very idea of his having three hours a-day to spare for attention to his health. The reply was, that the organic laws admit of no exception, and that he must either obey them, or take the consequences; but that the time lost in endurino- the punishment would be double or treble that requisite for obedience;—and, accordingly, the fact was so. Instead of attending an appointment, it is quite usual for him to send a note, perhaps at two in the afternoon, in these terms:—'I was so distressed with head-ache last night, that I never closed my eyes, and to-day, I am still incapable of being out of bed.' On other occasions, he is out of bed, but apologizes for incapacity to attend to business, on account of an intolerable pain in the region of the stomach. In short, if the hours lost in these 18* 210 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM painful sufferings were added together, and distributed over the days when he is able for duty, he would find them far outnumber those which would suffice for obe- dience to the organic laws—and with this difference in the results: by neglect he loses both his hours and his enjoy- ment; whereas, by obedience, he would be rewarded by aptitude for business, and a pleasing consciousness of existence. We shall, however, understand the operation of the moral and intellectual laws more completely, by attending to the evils which arise from neglect of them. I. Let us consider Individuals. At present, the almost universal persuasion of civilized man, is, that happiness consists in the possession of wealth, power, and external splendor; objects related to the animal faculties and in- tellect much more than to the moral sentiments. In con- sequence, each individual sets out in the pursuit of these as the chief business of his life; and, in the ardor of the chase, he recognises no limitations on the means which he may employ, except those imposed by the municipal law. He does not perceive or acknowledge the existence of natural laws, determining not only the sources of his happiness, but the steps by which it may be attained. From this moral and intellectual blindness, merchants and manufacturers, in numberless instances, hasten to be rich beyond the course of nature; that is to say, they engage in enterprises far exceeding the extent of their capital, or capacity; they place their property in the hands of debtors, whose natural talents and morality are so low, that they ought never to have been entrusted with a shil- ling; they send their goods to sea without insuring them, or leave them uninsured in their warehouses; they ask pecuniary accommodation from other merchants, to enable them to carry on undue speculations, and become security for them in return, and both fall into misfortunes; or they live in splendor and extravagance, far beyond the extent of the natural return of their capital and talents, INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 211 and speedily reach ruin as their goal. In every one of these instances, the calamity is obviously the consequence of infringement of the moral and intellectual law. The lawyer, medical practitioner, or probationer in the church, who is disappointed in his reward, will be found erro- neously to have placed himself in a profession for which his natural talents and dispositions did not fit him, or to have pursued his vocation under the guidance chiefly of the lower propensities; preferring selfishness to honor- able regard for the interests of his employers. Want of success in these professions, appears to me to be owino-, in a high degree, to three causes. First, the brain may be too small, or constitutionally lympathic, so that the mind does not act with sufficient energy to make an impression. Secondly, some particular organs indispensa- bly requisite to success, may be very small, as Language, or Causality, in a lawyer—the deficiency of the first ren- dering him incapable of ready utterance, and that of the second, destitute of that intuitive sagacity, which sees at a glance the bearing of the facts and principles founded on by his adversary, so as to estimate the just inferences that follow, and to point them out. A lawyer, who is weak in this power, appears to his client like a pilot who does not know the shoals and the rocks. His deficiency is perceived whenever difficulty presents itself, and he is pronounced unfit to take charge of great interests; he is then passed by, and suffers the penalties of having made an erroneous choice of a profession. The third cause is predominance of the animal and selfish faculties. The client and the patient discriminate instinctively between the cold, pitiless, but pretending manner of Acquisitive- ness and Love of Approbation, and the unpretending genuine warmth of Benevolence, Veneration, and Con- scientiousness; and they discover very speedily that the intellect inspired by the latter sees more clearly, and manages more successfully, their interests, than when animated only by the former. The victim of selfishness 212 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM either never rises, or quickly sinks, wondering why his merits are neglected. In all of these instances, the failure of the merchant, and the bad success of the lawyer and physician, are the con- sequences of having infringed the natural laws; so that the evil they suffer is the punishment for having failed in a great duty, not only to society, but to themselves. II. Some of the Calamities arising from infringe- ment of the Social Law may next be considered. The greatest difficulties present themselves in tracing the operation of the moral and intellectual laws, in the wide field of social life. An individual may be made to compre- hend how, if he commits an error, he should suffer a par- ticular punishment; but when calamity overtakes whole classes of the community, each person absolves himself from all share of the blame, and regards himself simply as the victim of a general but inscrutable visitation. Let us then examine briefly the Social Law. In regarding the human faculties, we perceive that num- berless gratifications spring from the social state. The muscles of a single individual could not rear the habita- tions, build the ships, forge the anchors, construct the machinery, or, in short, produce the countless enjoyments that everywhere surround us, and which are attained in consequence of men being constituted so as instinctively to combine their powers and skill, to obtain a common end. Here, then, are very great advantages resulting directly from the social law; but, in the next place, social intercourse is the means of affording direct gratification to a variety of our mental faculties. If we lived in solitude, the propensities, sentiments, and reflecting faculties, would be deprived, some of them absolutely, and others of them nearly, of all opportunities of gratification. The social law, then, is the source of the highest delights of our nature, and its institution indicates the greatest benevo- lence towards us, and wisdom in the Creator. INFRINGEMENT of the moral law. 213 Still, however, this law does not suspend or subvert the laws instituted for the regulation of the conduct of man as an individual. If an individual go to sea in a ship, the natural laws require that his intellectual faculties shall be instructed in navigation, and in the features of the coasts and seas which he shall traverse; that he shall know and avoid the shoals, currents, and eddies; that he shall trim his canvass in proportion to the gale; and that his animal faculties shall be kept so much under subjection to his moral sentiments, that he shall not abandon himself to drunkenness, sloth, or any animal indulgence, when he ought to be watchful at his duty. If he obey the natural laws, he will be safe; and if he disobey them he may be drowned.* It is obvious that it must be a small vessel, and bound only on a short voyage, that could be managed by one man; for he must eat and sleep; and he could not perform these functions, and manage his sails at the same time. It is the interest, therefore, of individuals who wish to go to sea, to avail themselves of the social law, that is, to combine their powers under one leader;—by doing so, they may sail in a larger ship, have more ample stores of provisions, obtain intervals for rest, and enjoy each other's society. If at the same time they fulfil the moral and intellectual laws, by placing in the situation of captain an individual fully qualified for the duty, they will enjoy the reward in sailing safely and in comfort; if they disregard these laws, and place an individual in charge of the ship, whose intellectual faculties are weak, whose animal pro- pensities are strong, whose moral sentiments are in abey- ance, and who, in consequence, habitually neglects the nat- ural laws, they may suffer the penalty in being wrecked. I know it will be objected that the crew and passengers do not appoint the captain; but, in every case, except im- pressment in the British navy, they may go into, or stay * I waive at present the question of storms, which he could not foresee, as tliese fall under the head of ignorance of natural laws, which may be subse- quently discovered. 214 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM out of, a particular ship, according as they discover the captain to possess the natural qualities or not. This, at present, I am aware, ninety-nine individuals out of an hun- dred never inquire into; but so do ninety-nine out of an hundred neglect many other of the natural laws, and suffer the penalty, because their moral and intellectual faculties have never yet been instructed in the existence and effects of these, or trained to observe and obey them. But they have the power from nature of obeying them, if properly taught and trained; and, besides, I give this merely as an illustration of the mode of operation of the social law. Another example may be given: By employing servants, the labors of life are rendered less burdensome to the master; but he must employ individuals who know the mo- ral law, and who possess the desire to act under it; other- wise, as a punishment for neglecting this requisite, he may be robbed, cheated, or murdered. Phrenology presents the means of observing this law, in a degree quite unat- tainable without it, by the facility which it affords of dis- covering the natural talents and dispositions of individuals. By entering into copartnerships, merchants and other persons in business may extend their employment, and gain advantages beyond those they could reap if laboring as individuals. But, by the natural law, each must take care that his partner knows, and is inclined to obey, the moral and intellectual laws, as the only condition on which the Creator will permit him securely to reap the advantages of the social compact. If a partner in China be deficient in intellect and moral sentiment, another in London may be utterly ruined. It is said that this is an example of the innocent suffering for, or at least along with, the guilty; but it is not so. It is an example of a person seeking to obtain the advantages of the social law, without conceiving himself bound to obey the conditions required by it; the first of which is, that those individuals of whose services he avails himself, shall be capable and willing to observe the moral and Intellectual laws. INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 215 Let us now advert to the calamities which overtake whole classes of men, or communities, under the social law,—trace their origin, and see how far they are attri- butable to infringement of the Creator's laws. If I am right in representing the whole faculties of man as intended by the Creator to be gratified, and the moral sentiments and intellect as the higher and directing powers, with which all natural institutions are in harmony; it fol- lows, that if large communities of men, in their systematic conduct, habitually seek the gratification of the inferior propensities, and allow either no part, or too small and in- adequate a part, of their time to be devoted to the regular employment of the higher powers, they will act in direct opposition to the natural institutions; and will, of course, suffer the punishment in sorrow and disappointment. Now, to confine ourselves to our own country, it is certain that, until within these few years, the laboring population of Britain were not taught that it was any part of their duty, as rational creatures, to restrain their propensities, so as not to multiply their numbers beyond the demand for their labors and the supply of food for their offspring; and up to the present hour this most obvious and important doctrine is not admitted by one in a thousand, and not acted upon as a practical principle by one in ten thousand of those whose happiness or misery depends on observance of it. The doctrine of Malthus, that 'population cannot go on per petually increasing, without pressing on the limits of the means of subsistence, and that a check of some kind or other must, sooner or later, be opposed to it,'just amounts to this,—that the means of subsistence are not susceptible of such rapid and unlimited increase as population, and in consequence that the Amative propensity must be restrain- ed by reason, otherwise it will be checked by misery. This principle is in accordance with the views of human nature maintained in this Essay, and applies to all the faculties. Thus Philoprogenitiveness, when indulged in opposition to reason, leads to spoiling children, which is 216 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM followed directly by misery both to them and to their parents. Acquisitiveness, when uncontrolled by reason, leads to avarice or theft, and these again carry suffering in their train. But so far from attending to such views, the lives of the inhabitants of Britain generally are devoted to the acquisition of wealth, of power and distinction, or of animal pleasure: in other words, the great object of the laboring classes, is to live and gratify the inferior pro- pensities; of the mercantile and manufacturing popula- tion, to gratify Acquisitiveness and Self-Esteem; of the more intelligent class of gentlemen, to gratify Self-Esteem and Love of Approbation, in political, literary, or phi- losophical eminence; and of another portion, to gratify Love of Approbation, by supremacy in fashion—and these gratifications are sought by means not in accordance with the dictates of the higher sentiments, but by the joint aid of the intellect and propensities. If the supremacy of moral sentiment and intellect be the natural law, then, as often observed, every circumstance connected with human life must be in harmony with it; that is to say, first, After rational restraint on population, and the proper use of machinery, such moderate labor as will leave ample time for the systematic exercise of the higher powers, will suffice to provide for human wants; and, secondly, If this exercise be neglected, and the time which ought to be dedicated to it be employed in labor to gratify the propen- sities, direct evil will ensue; and this accordingly appears to me to be really the result. By means of machinery, and the aids derived from science, the ground can be cultivated, and every imagin- able necessary and luxury produced in ample abundance, at a moderate expenditure of labor by any population not in itself superabundant. If men were to stop whenever they had reached this point, and dedicate the residue of each day to moral and intellectual pursuits, the conse- quence would be, ready and steady, because not over- INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 217 stocked, markets. Labor, pursued till it provided abun- dance, but not superfluity, would meet with a certain and ust reward, and would also yield a vast increase of hap- piness; for no joy equals that which springs from the moral sentiments and intellect excited by the contempla- tion, pursuit, and observance, of the Creator's institutions. Farther, morality would be improved; for men, being happy, would cease to be vicious; and, lastly, there would be improvement in the organic, moral, and intellectual capabilities of the race; for the active moral and intellec- tual organs in the parents would tend to increase the volume of these in their offspring; so that each generation would start not only with greater stores of acquired know- ledge than its predecessors possessed, but with higher natural capabilities of turning them to account. Before merchants and manufacturers can be expected to act in this manner, a great change must be effected in their sentiments and perceptions; but so was a striking revolution effected in the ideas and practices of the tenant- ry west of Edinburgh, when they removed the stagnant pools between each ridge of land, and banished ague from their district. If any reader will compare the state of Scotland during the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, correctly and spiritedly represented in Sir Wal- ter Scott's Tales of a Grandfather, with its present condi- tion, in regard to knowledge, morality, religion, and the comparative ascendency of the rational over the animal part of our nature, he will perceive so great an improve- ment in later times, that the commencement of the millen- nium itself, in five or six hundred years hence, would scarce be a greater advance beyond the present, than the present is over the past. If the laws of the Creator be really what are here represented, and if they were once taught as elementary truths to every class of the commu- nity, and the sentiment of Veneration called in to enforce obedience to them, a set of new motives and principles would be brought into play, calculated to accelerate tho 19 218 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM change; especially if it were seen, what, in the next place, I proceed to show, that the consequences of neg- lecting these laws are the most serious visitations of suf- fering that can well be imagined. If the views advocated in this work be correct, the system on which the manufac- tures of Britain are at present conducted, is as great an aberration from the laws of nature as the history of the world has ever presented. It implies not only that the vast body of the people shall for ever remain in a condition little superior to that of mere working animals, in order that, by means of cheap labor, our traders may undersell the merchants of all other nations; but also that our manufactures and commerce shall enjoy an indefinite ex- tension—this being essential to their prosperity, as now conducted, although, in the nature of things, impossible. On 13th May 1830, Mr. Slaney, M. P. called the attention of the House of Commons to ' the increase which had taken place in the number of those employed in manufac- turing and mechanical occupations, as compared with the agricultural class.' He stated, that ' in England, the former, as compared with the latter, were 6 to 5 in 1801; they were as 8 to 5 in 1821 ; and, taking the increase of population to have proceeded in the same ratio, they were now as 2 to 1. In Scotland the increase had been still more extraordinary. In that country they were as 5 to 6 in 1801; as 9 to 6 in 1821; and now they were as 2 to 1. The increase in the general population during the last twenty years had been 30 per cent.; in the manufactur- ing population it had been 40 per cent.; in Manchester, Coventry, Liverpool, and Birmingham, the increase had been 50 per cent.; in Leeds it had been 54 per cent.; in Glasgow, it had been 100 per cent.' Here we perceive that a vast population has been called into existence, and trained to manufacturing industry. I do not doubt that the skill and labor of this portion of the people have greatly contributed to the wealth of the nation; but I fear that the happiness of the laborious individuals who have con- INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 219 ferred this boon, has not kept pace with the riches which they have created. The causes of this circumstance appear to be the following:— Several millions of human beings have been trained to manufactures, and are unfit for any other occupation. In consequence of the rapid increase of their numbers, and of vast improvements in machinery, the supply of labor has, for many years, outstripped the demand for it, and wages have fallen ruinously low. By a coincidence which at first sight appears unfortunate, much of the machinery of modern invention may be managed by children. The parent, who, by his own labor for twelve hours a-day, is able to earn only seven shillings a week, adds to his income one shilling and sixpence or two shil- lings a week, for each child whom he can send to the manufactory; and, by the united wages of the family, a moderate subsistence may be eked out. Both parents and children, however, are reduced to a hopeless condi- tion of toil; for their hours of labor are so long, and theii remuneration is so small, that starvation stares each of them in the face when they either relax from exertion 01 cease to live in combination. Mental culture, and mora and intellectual enjoyment are excluded, and their place supplied by penury and labor. Dr. Chalmers reports, that in our great towns whole masses of this class of the people are living in profound ignorance and practical heathenism. The system tends constantly to increase the evils of which it is the source. Young persons, when they arrive at manhood, find themselves scarcely able to subsist by their individual exertions; whereas, if they can add the scanty income of three or four children to their own, their condition is, in some degree, improved. House-rent, and the expenses of furniture and fuel, are not increased by the wants,—in proportion to the contri- butions—of the young. Adults are thus tempted—nay, almost driven by necessity—to contract early marriages, to rear a numerous offspring, devoted to the same employ- 220 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM ments with themselves, and in this way to add to the supply of labor, already in excess. The children grow up, and in their turn follow the same course; and thus, however widely the manufactures of Britain may have extended, a still farther, and indeed an indefinite extension of them seems to be demanded; for the system produces a con- stantly increasing, yet ignorant, starving, and miserable population, more than adequate to the supply of all the la- bor that can be profitably expended. The consequence is, that markets are overstocked with produce; prices first fall ruinously low; the operatives are then thrown idle, and left in destitution, until the surplus produce of their formerly excessive labors, and perhaps something more, are con- sumed; after this, prices rise too high in consequence of the supply falling rather below the demand; the laborers then resume their toil, on their former system of excessive exertion; they again overstock the market; are again thrown idle, and suffer dreadful misery. In 1825-6-7, this operation of the natural laws was strikingly exhibited; large bodies of starving and unem- ployed laborers were supported on charity. How many hours did they not stand idle, and how much of excessive toil would not these hours have relieved, if distributed over the periods when they were overworked! The results of that excessive exertion were seen in the form of unten- anted houses and of shapeless piles of goods decaying in ware-houses—in short, in every form in which misapplied industry could go to ruin. These observations are strik- ingly illustrated by the following official report. * State of the Unemployed Operatives resident in Edinburgh, who are sup- plied with work by a Committee constituted for that purpose, according to a list made up on Wednesday, the 14th March 1827. ' The number of unemployed operatives who have been remitted by the Committee for work, up to the 14th of March, are ... 1451 ' And the number of cases they have rejected, after having been par- ticularly investigated, for being bad characters, giving in false statements, or being only a short time out of work, &c. &c. are 446 Making together, 1921 INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW 221 ' Besides those, several hundreds have been rejected by the Committee, as, from the applicants'1 own statements, they were not considered as cases en- titled to receive relief, and were not, therefore, remitted for investigation. ' The wages allowed is 5s. per week, with a peck of meal to those who have families. Some youths are only allowed 3s. of wages. ' The particular occupations of those sent to work are as follows:—242 masons, 634 laborers, 66 joiners, 19 plasterers, 76 sawyers, 19 slaters, 45 smiths, 40 painters, 36 tailors, 55 shoemakers, 20 gardeners, 229 various trades. Total 1131.' Edinburgh is not a manufacturing city, and if so much misery existed in it in proportion to its population, what must have been the condition of Glasgow, Manchester, and other manufacturing towns? Here, then, the Creator's laws show themselves para- mount, even when men set themselves systematically to infringe them. He intended the human race, under the moral law, not to pursue Acquisitiveness excessively, but to labor only a certain and a moderate portion of their lives; and although they do their utmost to defeat this intention, they cannot succeed; they are constrained to remain idle as many days and hours, while their surplus produce is consuming, as would have served for the due exercise of their moral and intellectual faculties, and the preservation of their health, if they had dedicated them regularly to these ends from day to day, as time passed over their heads. But their punishment proceeds: the ex- treme exhaustion of nervous and muscular energy, with the absence of all moral and intellectual excitement, create the excessive craving for the stimulus of ardent spirits which distinguishes the laboring population of the present age; this calls into predominant activity the organs of the Animal Propensities; these descend to the children by the law already explained; increased crime, and a deteriorat- ing population, are the results; and a moral and intellec- tual incapacity for arresting the evils becomes greater with the lapse of every generation. According to the principles of the present Essay, what are called by commercial men 'times of prosperity,' are 19* 222 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM seasons of the greatest infringement of the natural laws, and precursors of great calamities. Times are not reckon- ed prosperous, unless all the industrious population is employed during the ivhole day, hours of eating and sleep- ing only excepted, in the production of wealth. This is a dedication of their whole lives to the service of the pro- pensities, and must necessarily terminate in punishment, if the world is constituted on the principle of supremacy of the higher powers. This truth has already been illustrated more than once in the history of commerce The following is a recent example. By the combination laws, workmen were punishable for uniting to obtain a rise of wages, when an extraordinary demand occurred for their labor. These laws, being ob- viously unjust, were at length repealed. In summer and autumn 1825, however, commercial men conceived them- selves to have reached the highest point of prosperity, and the demand for labor was unlimited. The operatives availed themselves of the opportunity to better their con- dition; formed extensive combinations; and, because their demands were not complied with, struck work, and contin- ued idle for months in succession. The master manufac- turers clamored against the new law, and complained that the country would be ruined, if combinations were not again declared illegal, and suppressed by force. Accord- ing to the principles of this Essay, the just law must from the first have been the most beneficial for all parlies affected by it; and the result amply confirmed this idea. Subse- quent events proved that the extraordinary demand for laborers in 1825 was entirely factitious, fostered by an overwhelming issue of bank paper, much of which ulti- mately turned out to be worthless; in short, that, during the combinations, the master manufacturers were engaged in an extensive system of speculative over-production, and that the combinations of the workmen presented a natural check to this erroneous proceeding. The ruin that over- INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 223 took the masters in 1826 arose from their having accumu- lated, under the influence of unbridled Acquisitiveness, vast stores of commodities which were not required by society; and to have compelled the laborers, by force, to manufacture more at their bidding, would obviously have been to aggravate the evil. It is a well known fact, ac- cordingly, that those masters whose operatives most reso- lutely refused to work, and who, on this account, clamored loudest against the law, were the greatest gainers in the end. Their stocks of goods were sold off at high prices during the speculative period: and when the revulsion came, instead of being ruined by the fall of property, they were prepared, with their capitals at command, to avail themselves of the depreciation, to make new and highly profitable investments. Here again, therefore, we per- ceive the law of justice vindicating itself, and benefiting by its operation, even those individuals who blindly de- nounced it as injurious to their interests. A practical faith in the doctrine that the world is arranged by the Creator in harmony with the moral sentiments and intellect, would be of unspeakable advantage both to rulers and subjects; for they would then be able to pursue with greater confi- dence the course dictated by moral rectitude, convinced that the result would prove beneficial, even, although, when they took the first step, they could not distinctly perceive by what means. In the whole system of the education and treatment of the laboring population, the laws of the Creator, such as I have now endeavored to expound them, are neglected or infringed. Life with them is spent to so great an extent in labor, that their moral and intellectual powers are stinted of exercise and gratification; and hence their mental enjoyments are chiefly those afforded by the animal propensities: in other words, their existence is too little rational; they are rather organized machines than moral and intellectual beings. The chief duty performed by their higher faculties is not to afford predominant sources 224 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM of enjoyment, but to communicate so much intelligence and honesty, as to enable them to execute their labors with fidelity and skill. I speak, of course, of the great body of the laboring population; there are many individ- ual exceptions, who possess higher attainments; and I mean no disrespect even to this most deserving portion of society; on the contrary, I represent their condition in what appears to me to be a true light, only with a view to excite them to amend it. Does human nature, then, admit of such a modification of the employments and habits of this class, as to raise them to the condition of beings whose chief pleasures shall be derived from their rational natures?—that is, creatures whose bodily powers and animal propensities shall be subservient to their moral and intellectual facul- ties, and who shall derive their leading enjoyment from the latter. To attain this end, it would not be necessary that they should cease to labor; on the contrary, the ne- cessity of labor to the enjoyment of life is imprinted in strong characters on the structure of man. The osseous, muscular, and nervous systems of the body, all require exercise as a condition of health; while the digestive and sanguiferous apparatus rapidly fall into disorder, if due exertion is neglected. Exercise of the body is labor; and labor directed to a useful purpose is as beneficial to the corporeal organs, and far more pleasing to the mind, than when undertaken for no end but the preservation of health. Commerce is rendered advantageous by the Creator, because different climates yield different produc- tions. Agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, there- fore, are adapted to man's nature, and I am not their enemy. But they are not the ends of human existence, even on earth. Labor is beneficial to the whole human economy, and it is a mere delusion to regard it as in itself an evil; but the great principle is, that it must be moderate both in severity and duration, in order that men may enjoy, and not be oppressed by it. I say enjoy it; INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 225 because moderate exertion is pleasure, and it has been only labor carried to excess, which has given rise to the common opinion that retirement from active industry is the goal of happiness. It may be objected that a healthy and vigorous man is not oppressed by ten or twelve hours' labor a-day; and I grant that, if he be well fed, his physical strength may not be so much exhausted by this exertion as to cause him pain. But this is regarding him merely as a working animal. My proposition is, that after ten or twelve hours of muscular exertion a-day, continued for six days in the week, the laborer is not in a fit condi- tion for that active exercise of his moral and intellectual faculties which alone constitutes him a rational being. The exercise of these powers depends on the condition of the brain and nervous system; and these are exhausted and deadened by too much muscular exertion. The fox- hunter and ploughman fall asleep when they sit within doors, and attempt to read or think. The truth of this proposition is demonstrable on physiological principles, and is supported by general experience; nevertheless, the teachers of mankind have too often neglected it. The first change, therefore, must be to limit the hours of labor, and to dedicate a portion of time daily to the exercise of the mental faculties. So far from this limitation being unattainable, it appears to me that the progress of arts, sciences, and society, is rapidly forcing its adoption. Ordinary observers appear to conceive man's chief end, in Britain at least, to be to manufacture hard-ware, broad cloth, and cotton goods, for the use of the whole world, and to store up wealth. They forget that the same impulse which inspires the British with so much ardor in manufacturing, will sooner or later inspire other nations also; and that, if all Europe shall follow our example, and employ efficient machinery and a large proportion of their population in our branches of industry, which they are fast doing, the four quarters of the globe will at length be deluged with matiufactured 226 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM goods, only part of which will be required. When this state of things shall arrive,—and in proportion as know- ledge and civilization are diffused it will approach,—men will be compelled, by dire necessity, to abridge their toil, because excessive labor will not be remunerated. The admirable inventions which are the boast and glory of civilized men, are believed by many persons to be at this moment adding to the misery and degradation of the people. Power-looms, steam-carriages, and steam-ships, it is asserted, have all hitherto operated directly in increas- ing the hours of exertion, and abridging the reward of the laborer! Can we believe that God has bestowed on us the gift of an almost creative power, solely to increase the wretchedness of the many, and minister to the luxury of the few? Impossible! The ultimate effect of mechanical inventions on human society appears to be not yet divined. I hail them as the grand instruments of civilization, by giving leisure to the great mass of the people to cultivate and enjoy their moral, intellectual, and religious powers. One requisite to enable man to follow pursuits referable to his higher endowments, is provision for the wants of his animal nature, viz. food, raiment, and comfortable lodging. It is clear that muscular power, intellect, and mechanical skill, have been conferred on him, with the design that he should build houses, plough fields, and fabricate commodi- ties. But assuredly we have no warrant from reason or revelation for believing that any portion of the people are bound to dedicate their whole lives and energies, aided by all mechanical discoveries, to these ends, as their proper business, to the neglect of the study of the works and will of the Creator. Has man been permitted to discover the steam-engine, and apply it in propelling ships on the ocean and carriages on railways, in spinning, weaving, and forging iron,—and has he been gifted with intellect to discover the astonishing powers of physical agents, such as are revealed by chemistry and mechanics, —only that he may be enabled to build more houses, INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 227 weave more cloth, and forge more iron, without any direct regard to his moral and intellectual improvement? If an individual, unaided by animal or mechanical power, had wished to travel from Manchester to Liverpool, a distance of thirty miles, he would have been under the necessity of devoting ten or twelve hours of time, and considerable muscular energy, to the task. When roads and carriages were constructed, and horses trained, he could, by their assistance, have accomplished the same journey in four hours, with little fatigue; and now, when railways and steam-engines have been successfully completed, he may travel that distance, without any bodily fatigue whatever, in an hour and a half: And I ask, for what purpose has Providence bestowed the nine hours, which are thus set free as spare time to the individual? I humbly answer, for the purpose of cultivating his moral, intellectual, and religious nature. Again, before steam-engines were ap- plied to spinning and weaving, a human being would have needed to labor, say for a month, in order to produce linen, woollen, and cotton cloth, necessary to cover his own person for a year; or, in case of a division of labor, a twelfth part of the population would have required to be constantly engaged in this employment: by the application of steam, the same ends may be gained in a day. I repeat the inquiry; for what purpose has Providence bestowed the twenty-nine days out of the month, set free by the invention of the steam-engine and machinery? These proportions are not stated as statistically correct, but as mere illustrations of a proposition, that every discovery in natural science, and invention in mechanics, has a direct tendency to increase the leisure of man, and to enable him to provide for his physical wants with less laborious exertion. The question recurs, whether, in thus favoring the human race, the object of Providence be, to enable only a portion of them to enjoy the highest luxuries, while the mass shall continue laboring animals; or whether it be 228 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM not to enable all to cultivate and enjoy their rational nature? In proportion as mechanical inventions shall be gene- rally diffused over the world, they will increase the powers of production to such an extent, as to supply, by moderate labor, every want of man; and then the great body of the people will find themselves in possession of reasonable leisure, in spite of every exertion to avoid it. Great misery will probably be suffered in persevering in the present course of action, before their eyes shall be opened to this result. The first effect of these stupendous me- chanical inventions threatens to be to accumulate great wealth in the hands of a few, without proportionally abridg- ing the toil, or greatly adding to the comforts of the many. This process of elevating a part of the community to affluence and power, and degrading the rest, threatens to proceed till the disparity of condition shall have become intolerable to both, the laborer being utterly oppressed, and the higher classes harassed by insecurity. Then, probably, the idea may occur, that the real benefit of physical discovery is to give leisure to the mass of the people, and that leisure for mental improvement is the first condition of true civilization, knowledge being the second The science of human nature will enable men at length to profit by exemption from excessive toil; and it may be hoped that, in course of time, the notion of man being really a rational creature, may meet with general counte- nance, and that sincere attempts may be made to render all ranks prosperous and happy, by institutions founded on the basis of the superior faculties. The same means will lead to the realization of practical Christianity. An individual whose active existence is engrossed by mere bodily labor, or by the pursuits of gain or ambition, lives under the predominance of faculties that do not produce the perfect Christian character. The true practical Christian possesses a vigorous and enlightened intellect, and moral affections glowing with gratitude to INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 229 God and love to man; but how can the people at large be enabled to realize this condition of mind, if stimulus for the intellect and the nobler sentiments be excluded by the daily routine of their occupations? In some districts of England, the operatives lately de- manded an abridgment of labor without abatement of wages. This project was unjust, and proved unsuccess- ful. They ought to have given up first one hour's labor, and the price of it, and waited till the increase of capital and of demand brought up wages to their former rate, which, if they had restrained population, would certainly have happened. They ought to have, then abated a second hour, submitting again to a reduction, and again waited for a re-action; and so on, till they had limited their labor to eight or nine hours a-day. The change must be grad- ual, and the end must be obtained by moral means, else it will never be accomplished at all. The objection has been stated, that, even in the most improved condition of the great body of the people, there will still be a considerable proportion of them so deficient in talent, so incapable of improvement, and so ignorant, that their labor will be worth little; that, as they must obtain subsistence, no alternative will be left to them but to make up by long hours of exertion what they want in skill; and that their long-continued labor, furnished at a cheap rate, will affect all the classes above them, and indeed prevent the views now taken from ever being generally realized. This objection resolves itself into the proposition, That the people have been destined by the Creator to be laboring animals, and that, from their in- herent mental defects, they are incapable generally of being raised to any more honorable station; which is just the great point at issue between the old and the new phi- losophy. If mankind at large (for the industrious classes constitute so very great a majority of the race, that I may be allowed to speak of them as the whole), had been in- tended for mere hewers of wood and drawers of water, I 20 230 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM do not believe that the moral and intellectual faculties which they unquestionably possess, would have been be- stowed on them; and as they do enjoy the rudiments of all the feelings and capacities which adorn the highest of the race, and as these faculties themselves are improvable, I do not subscribe to the doctrine of the permanent incapa- city of the race. I consider the operatives, in successive generations, quite capable of learning to act as rational beings; and whenever the great majority of them shall have acquired a sense of the true dignity of their nature, and a relish for the enjoyments afforded by their higher capacities, they will become capable of so regulating the supply of labor in reference to the demand, as to obtain the means of subsistence in return for moderate exertion. In short, I hope that few of the imbeciles alluded to in the objection will exist; and that these few will be directed and provided for by the multitude of generous and en- lightened minds which will exist around them. At the same time there is great force in the objection, considered in reference to the present and several suc- ceeding generations. In throwing out these views, I em- brace centuries of time. I see the slow progress of the human race in the past, and do not anticipate miracles in the future. If a sound principle is developed—one having its roots in nature—there is a certainty that it will wax strong and bear fruit in due season; but that season, from the character of the plant, is a distant one. All who aim at benefiting mankind, ought to keep this truth constantly in view. Almost every scheme is judged of by its effects on the living generation; whereas, no great fountain of happiness ever flowed clear at first, or yielded its full sweets to the generation which discovered it. It is now an established principle in political economy that Government ought not to interfere with industry This maxim was highly necessary when governors were grossly ignorant of all the natural laws which regulate production and the private conduct of men; because their INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 231 enactments, in general, were then absurd, they often did rr.uch harm, and rarely good. But if the science of human nature were once fully and clearly developed, it is proba- ble that this rule might, with great advantage, be relaxed, and that the legislature might considerably accelerate improvements, by adding the constraining authority of human laws to enactments already proclaimed by the Cre- ator. Natural laws do exist, and the Creator punishes if they are not obeyed. The evils of life are these punish- ments. Nov/, if the great body of intelligent men in any state saw clearly that a course of action pursued by the ill-informed of their fellow subjects was the source of con- tinual suffering, not only to the evil-doers themselves but to the whole community, it appears to me allowable, that they should stop its continuance by legislative enactment. If the majority of the middle classes resident in towns were to petition Parliament, at present, to order shops in general to be shut at eight o'clock, or even at an earlier hour, to allow time for the cultivation of the rational facul- ties of the men and women engaged in them, it would be no stretch of power to give effect to the petition: that is to say, it would lead to no evil, if the ignorant, and avari- cious were prevented by law from continuing ignorant, and forcing all their competitors in trade to resemble them in their defects. If the Creator have so constituted the world that men may execute all necessary business, and still have time to spare for the cultivation of their rational faculties, any enactment of the legislature calculated to facilitate arrangements for accomplishing both ends would be beneficial and successful, just because it was in ac- cordance with nature; although the prejudiced and igno- rant of the present generation would complain, and pro- bably resist it. This principle of interference would go much farther; its only limits seem to me to be the bounda- ries of the real knowledge of nature: as long as the legis- lature enacts in conformity with nature, the result will be successful. At present, ignorance is too extensive and 232 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM prevalent to authorize Parliament to venture far. From indications which already appear, however, I think it pro- bable that the laboring classes will ere long recognise Phrenology, and the natural laws, as deeply interesting to themselves; and whenever their minds shall be opened to rational views of their own constitution as men, and their condition as members of society, I venture to predict that they will devote themselves to improvement, with a zeal and earnestness that in a few generations will change the aspect of their class. The consequences of the present system of departing from the moral law, on the middle orders of the commu- nity, are in accordance with its effects on the lower. Un- certain gains, continual fluctuations in fortune, the absence of all reliance, in their pursuits, on moral and intellectual principles, a gambling spirit, an insatiable appetite for wealth, alternately extravagant joys of excessive prosperity and bitter miseries of disappointed ambition, render the lives of manufacturers and merchants, to too great an ex- tent, scenes of mere vanity and vexation of spirit. As the chief occupations of the British nation, manufactures and commerce are disowned by reason; for as now conducted, they imply the permanent degradation of the great mass of the people. They already constitute England's weak- ness; and, unless they shall be regulated by sounder views than those which at present prevail, they will involve her population in unspeakable misery. The oscillations of fortune, which almost the whole of the middle ranks of Britain experience, in consequence of the alternate de- pressions and elevation of commerce and manufactures, are attended with extensive and severe individual suffering. Deep, though often silent agonies, pierce the heart, when ruin is seen stealing, by slow but certain steps, on a young and helpless family; the mental struggle often undermines the parent's health, and conducts him prematurely to the grave. No death can be imagined more painful than that which arises from a broken spirit, robbed of its treasures, INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 233 disappointed in its ambition, and conscious of failure in the whole scheme of life. The best affections of the soul are lacerated and agonized at the prospect of leaving their dearest objects to struggle without provision, in a cold and selfish world. Thousands of the middle ranks of Britain unfortunately experience these miseries in every passing year. Nothing is more essential to human happiness than fixed principles of action, on which we can rely for our present safety and future welfare; and the Creator's laws, when seen and followed, afford this support and delight to our faculties in the highest degree. It is one, not the least, of the punishments that overtake the middle classes for neglect of these laws, that they do not, as a permanent condition of mind, feel secure and internally at peace with themselves. In days of prosperity, they con- tinue to fear adversity. They live in a constant struggle with fortune; and when the excitement of business has subsided, vacuity and craving are felt within. These pro- ceed from the moral and intellectual faculties calling aloud for exercise; but, through ignorance of their own nature, either pure idleness, gossipping conversation, fashionable amusements, or intoxicating liquors, are resorted to, and with these, a vain attempt is made to fill up the void of life. I know that this class ardently desires a change that would remove the miseries described, and will zealously co-operate in diffusing knowledge, by which means alone it can be introduced. The punishment which overtakes the higher classes is equally obvious. If they do not engage in some active pursuit, so as to give scope to their energies, they suffer the evils of ennui, morbid irritability, and excessive relaxa- tion of the functions of mind and body, which carry in their train more suffering than is entailed even on the operatives by excessive labor. If they pursue ambition in the senate or the field, in literature or philosophy, their real success is in exact proportion to the approach which they make to observance of the supremacy of the sentiments and intel- 20* 234 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM lect. Franklin, Washington, and Bolivar, may be con- trasted with Sheridan and Bonaparte, as illustrations. Sheridan and Napoleon did not, systematically, pursue objects sanctioned by the higher sentiments and intellect, as the end of their exertions; and no person, who is a judge of human emotions, can read their lives, and consider what must have passed within their minds, without coming to the conclusion, that, even in their most brilliant moments of external prosperity, the canker was gnawing within, and that there was no moral relish of the present, or reliance on the future, but a mingled tumult of inferior propensities and intellect, carrying with it an habitual feeling of unsatisfied desires. Let us now consider the effect of the moral law on national prosperity. If the Creator has constituted the world in harmony with the dictates of the moral sentiments, the highest prosperity of each particular nation should be thoroughly compatible with that of every other: that is to say, England, by sedu- lously cultivating her own soil, pursuing her own courses of industry, founding her internal institutions and her exter- nal relations on the principles of Benevolence, Veneration, and Justice, which imply abstinence from wars of aggres- sion, from conquest, and from all selfish designs of com- mercial monopoly, would be in the highest condition of prosperity and enjoyment that nature would admit of; and every step that she deviated from these principles, would carry an inevitable punishment along with it. The same statement might be made relative to Fiance and every other nation. According to this principle, also, the Crea- tor should have conferred on each nation some peculiar advantages of soil, climate, situation, or genius, which would enable it to carry on amicable intercourse with its fellow states, in a beneficial exchange of the products pecu- liar to each; so that the higher one nation rose in morality, intelligence, and riches, it ought to become so much the INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 235 more estimable and valuable as a neighbor to all the sur- rounding states. This is so obviously the real constitution of nature, that proof of it would be superfluous. England, however, as a nation, has set this law at abso- lute defiance. She has led the way in taking the propensi- ties as her guides, in founding her laws and institutions on them, and in following them out in her practical conduct. England placed restrictions on trade, and carried them to ,the greatest height; she conquered colonies, and ruled them in the full spirit of selfishness; she encouraged lotteries, fostered the slave trade, and carried paper money and the most avaricious spirit of manufacturing and speculating in commerce to their highest pitch; defended corruption in Parliament, and distributed churches and seat3 on the bench of justice, on principles purely selfish; all in direct opposition to the supremacy of the moral law. If the world had been created in harmony with the predominance of the animal faculties, England should have been a most felici- tous nation; but as the reverse is the case, it was natural that a severe national retribution should follow these depart- ures from the divine institutions; and grievous accordingly has been, and, I fear, will be, the punishment. The principle which regulates national chastisement is, that the precise combination of faculties which leads to the transgression, carries in its train the punishment. Nations are under the moral and intellectual law, as well as individ- uals. A carter who half starves his horse, and unmercifully beats it, to supply, by the stimulus of pain, the vigor that nature intended to flow from abundance of food, may be supposed to practise this barbarity with impunity in this world, if he evade the eye of the police; but this is not the case. The hand of Providence reaches him by a direct punishment: He fails in his object, for blows cannot supply the vigor which, by the constitution of the horse, will flow only from sufficiency of wholesome food. In his conduct, he manifests excessive Acquisitiveness and Destructive- ness, with deficient Benevolence, Veneration, Justice, and 236 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM Intellect; and he cannot reverse this character, by merely averting his eyes and his hand from the horse. He carries these dispositions into the bosom of his family and into the company of his associates, and a variety of evil consequen- ces ensue. The delights that spring from active moral sentiments and intellectual powers, are necessarily un- known to him; and the difference between tliese pleasures, and the sensations attendant on his moral and intellectual condition, are as great as between the external splendor of a king and the naked poverty of a beggar. It is true that he has never felt the enjoyment, and does not know the extent of his loss; but still the difference exists; we see it, and know that, as a direct consequence of this state of mind, he is excluded from a very great and exalted pleasure. Farther, his active animal faculties rouse the Combativc- ness, Destructiveness, Self-Esteem, Secretiveness, and Cautiousness, of his wife, children, and associates, against him, and they inflict on him animal punishment. He, no doubt, goes on to eat, drink, blaspheme, and abuse his horse, day after day, apparently as if Providence approved of his conduct; but he neither feels, nor can any one who attends to his condition believe him to feel, happy; he is uneasy, discontented, and conscious of being disliked,— all which sensations are his punishment, and it is owing solely to his own grossness and ignorance that he does not connect it with his offence. Let us apply these remarks to nations. England, under the impulses of excessively strong Ac- quisitiveness, Self-Esteem, and Destructiveness, for a long time protected the slave trade. According to the law which I am explaining, during the periods of greatest sin in this respect, the same combination of faculties ought to be found working most vigorously in her other institutions, and producing punishment for that offence. There ought to be found in these periods a general spirit of domineering and rapacity in her public men, rendering them little mind- ful of the welfare of the people; injustice and harshness in INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 237 her taxations and public laws; and a spirit of aggression and hostility towards other nations, provoking retaliation of her insults. And, accordingly, I have been informed, as a matter of fact, that, while these measures of injustice were publicly patronised by the government, its servants vied with each other in injustice towards it, and its subjects dedicated their talents and enterprise towards corrupting its officers, and cheating it of its due. Every trader who was liable to excise or custom duties evaded the one-half of them, and felt no disgrace in doing so. A gentleman, who was subject to the excise laws fifty years ago, described to me the condition of his trade at that time. The excise offi- cers, he said, regarded it as an understood matter, that at least one-half of the goods manufactured were to be smug- gled without being charged with duty; but then, said he, ' they made us pay a moral and pecuniary penalty that was at once galling and debasing. We were constrained to ask them to our table at all meals, and place them at the head of it in our holiday parties; when they fell into debt, we were obliged to help them out of it; when they moved from one house to another, our servants and carts were in requi- sition to transport their effects. By way of keeping up discipline upon us, and also to make a show of duty, they chose every now and then to step in and detect us in a fraud, and get us fined; if we submitted quietly, they told us that they would make us amends, by winking at another fraud, and generally did so; but if our indignation rendered passive obedience impossible, and we spoke our mind of their character and conduct, they enforced the law on vs, while they relaxed it on our neighbors; and these, being rivals in trade, undersold us in the market, carried away our customers, and ruined our business. Nor did the bond- age end here We could not smuggle without the aid of our servants; and as they could, on occasion of any offence given to themselves, carry information to the headquarters of excise, we were slaves to them also, and were obliged tamely to submit to a degree of drunkenness and insolence, 238 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM that appears to me now perfectly intolerable. Farther, this evasion and oppression did us no good; for all the trade were alike, and we just sold our goods so much cheaper the more duty we evaded; so that our individual success did not depend upon superior skill and superior morality, in making an excellent article at a moderate price, but upon superior capacity for fraud, meanness, sycophancy, and every possible baseness. Our lives were any thing but enviable. Conscience, although greatly blunted by practi- ces that were universal, and viewed as inevitable, still whis- pered that they were wrong; our sentiments of self-respect very frequently revolted at the insults to which we were exposed, and there was a constant feeling of insecurity from the great extent to which we were dependent upon wretches whom we internally despised. When the government took a higher tone, and more principle and greater strictness in the collection of the duties were enforced, we thought our- selves ruined; but the reverse has been the case. The duties, no doubt, are now excessively burdensome from their amount; but that is their least evil. If it was possible to collect them from every trader with perfect equality, our independence would be complete, and our competition would be confined to superiority in morality and skill. Matters are much nearer this point now thar they were fifty years ago; but still they would admit of considerable improvement.' The same individual mentioned, that, in his youth, now seventy years ago, the civil liberty of the people of Scotland was held by a weak tenure. About 1760, he knew instances of soldiers being sent, in time of war, to the farm houses, to carry off, by force, young men for the army; and as this was against the law, they were accused of some imaginary offence, such as a trespass, or an assault, which was proved by false witnesses, and the magistrate, perfectly aware of the farce, and its object, threatened the victim with transportation to the colonies, as a felon, if he would not enlist; which, unprotected and overwhelmed by power and injustice, he was, of course, compelled to do. INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 239 If the same minute representation were given of other departments of private life, during the time of the greatest immoralities on the part of the government, we would find that this paltering with conscience and character in the national proceedings, tended to keep down the morality of the people, and fostered in them a rapacious and gambling spirit, to which many of the evils that have since overtaken us have owed their origin. But we may take a more extensive view of the subject of national responsibility. In the American war England desired to gratify her Ac- quisitiveness and Self-Esteem, in opposition to Benevolence and Justice, at the expense of her transatlantic colonies. This roused the animal resentment of the latter, and the lower faculties of the two nations came into collision; that is to say, they made war on each other — England, to sup- port a dominion in direct hostility to the principles which regulate the moral government of the world, in the expec- tation of becoming rich and powerful by success in that enterprise; the Americans, to assert the supremacy of the higher sentiments, and to become free and independent. According to the principles which I am now unfolding, the greatest misfortune that could have befallen England would have been success, and the greatest advantage, failure in her attempt; and the result is now acknowledged to be in exact accordance with these views. If England had subdued the colonies in the American war, every one must see to what an extent her Self-Esteem, Acquisitiveness, and Destructiveness would have been let loose upon them. This, in the first place, would have roused their animal faculties, and led them to give her all the annoyance in their power, and the fleets and armies requisite to repress this spirit would have far counterbalanced, in expense, all the profits she could have wrung out of the colonists, by extortion and oppression. In the second place the very exercise of these animal faculties by herself, in opposition to the moral sentiments, would have rendered he* govern- 240 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM ment at home an exact parallel of that of the carter in his own family. The same malevolent principles would have overflowed on her own subjects; the government would have felt uneasy, and the people rebellious, discontented, and unhappy; and the moral law would have been amply vindicated by the suffering which would have every where abounded The consequences of her failure have been the reverse. America has sprung up into a great and moral nation, ana actually contributes ten times more to the wealth of Britain, standing as she now does, in her natural relation to this country, than she ever could have done, as a discontented and oppressed colony. This advantage is reaped without any loss, anxiety, or expense; it flows from the divine institutions, and both nations profit by and rejoice under it. The moral and intellectual rivalry of America, instead of prolonging the predominance of the propensities in Britain, tends strongly to excite the moral sentiments in her people and government; and every day that we live, we are reaping the benefits of this improvement in wiser institutions, deliverance from endless abuses, and a higher and purer spirit pervading every department of the execu- tive administration of the country. Britain, however, did not escape the penalty of her attempt at the infringement of the moral laws. The pages of her history, during the American war, are dark with suffering and gloom, and at this day we groan under the debt and difficulties then partly incurred. If the world be constituted on the principles of the su- premacy of the moral sentiments and intellect, the method of one nation seeking riches and power, by conquering, devastating, or obstructing the prosperity of another, must be essentially futile. Being in opposition to the moral constitution of creation, it must occasion misery while in progress, and can lead to no result except the impoverish- ment and mortification of the people who pursue it. It is narrated that Themistocles told the Athenians that he had conceived a project which would be of the greatest ad- INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 241 vantage to Athens, but that the profoundest secrecy was necessary to ensure its success. They desired him to communicate it to Aristides, and promised, if he approved, to execute it. He took Aristides aside, and told him that he proposed, unawares, to burn the ships of the other Grecian states, then in profound peace with the Athenians, and not expecting an attack; which would render Athens master of them all. Aristides reported, that nothing could be more advantageous, but nothing more unjust than the project in view. The people refused to hear or to execute it. Here the intellect of Aristides appears to have viewed the execution of the scheme as beneficial, while his senti- ment of Conscientiousness distinctly denounced it as morally wrong; and the question is, Whether external nature is so constituted, that the intellect can, in any case, possess sufficient data for inferring actual benefit from conduct which is disowned and denounced by the moral sentiments? It appears to me that it cannot. Let us trace the project of Themistocles to its results. In the inhabitants of the other Grecian states, the facul- ties of Self-Esteem, Combativeness, Destructiveness, In- tellect, Benevolence, and Conscientiousness existed. The proposed destruction of their ships (in time of profound peace,) would have outraged the higher sentiments and intellect, and these would have kindled Combativeness and Destructiveness into the most intense activity. The greater the injustice of the act, the fiercer would the flame of opposition, retaliation, and revenge have glowed; and not only so, but the more grossly and wantonly the higher sentiments were outraged by the act, the higher would have been the class of minds which would instinctively have burned with the desire of revenge. The Athenians, then, by the very constitution of nature would have been assailed by this fearful storm of moral indignation and animal resentment, rendered doubly terrible by the most virtuous and intelligent being converted into the most determined of their opponents. Turning to their own 21 242 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM state again, only those individuals among themselves in whom intellect and moral sentiment were inferior to Ac- quisitiveness and Self-Esteem, which give rise to selfish- ness and the lust of power, could have cordially approved of the deed. The virtuous would have turned from the contemplation of it with shame and sorrow, and thus both the character and number of the defenders would have been diminished in the very ratio of the atrocity of the crime, while the power of the assailants, as we have seen, would, by that very circumstance, have been proportionally increased. It was impossible, therefore, that advantage to Athens could ultimately have resulted from such a flagrant act of iniquity; and the apparent opposition, in the judgment of Aristides, between the benefits to be expected from it and the justice of the deed, arose from his intellect not being sufficiently profound and compre- hensive to grasp the whole springs which the enterprise would excite into action, and to trace them to their legiti- mate consequences. In point of fact, there would have been no opposition between the dictates of an intellect which could have accurately surveyed the whole causes and effects which the unjust enterprise would have set in motion, and the dictates of Conscientiousness, but quite the reverse; and the Athenians, in following the sugges- tions of the latter faculty, actually adopted the most advantageous course which it was possible for them to pursue. The trite observation, that honesty is the best policy, thus becomes a profound philosophical maxim, when traced to its foundation in the constitution of human nature. The national debt of Britain has been contracted chiefly in wars, originating in commercial jealousy and thirst of conquest; in short, under the suggestions of Combative- ness, Destructiveness, Acquisitiveness, and Self-Esteem. * * Of 127 years, terminating in 1815, England spent 65 in war and 62 in peace. The war of 1688, after lasting nine years, and raising our expendi- ture in that period 36 millions, was ended by the treaty of Ryswick in 1697 INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 24S Did not our ancestors, therefore, impede their own pros- perity and happiness, by engaging in these contests? and have any consequences of them reached us, except the burden of paying nearly thirty millions of taxes annually, as the price of the gratification of their propensities? Would a statesman, who believed in the doctrines of this Essay, have recommended these wars as essential to nation- al prosperity? If the twentieth part of the sums had been spent in objects recognised by the moral sentiments,—for example, in instituting seminaries of education and peni- tentiaries, and in making roads, canals, and public grana- ries,—how different would have been the present condition of the country! After the American followed the French revolutionary war. Opinions are at present more divided upon this sub- ject: but my view of it, offered with the greatest deference, is the following. When the French Revolution broke out, the domestic institutions of England were, to a considera- ble extent, founded and administered on principles in op- position to the supremacy of the sentiments. A clamoi was raised by the nation for reform of abuses. If my Then came the war of the Spanish succession, which began in 1702, concluded in 1713, and absorbed 62^ millions of our money. Next was the Spanish war of 1739, settled finally at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, after costing us nearly 54 millions. Then came the seven years' war of 1756, which ter- minated with the treaty of Paris in 1763, and in course of which we spent 112 millions. The next was the American war of 1775, which lasted eight years. Our national expenditure in this war was 136 millions. The French Revolutionary war began in 1793, lasted nine years, and exhibited an expen- diture of 464 millions. The war against Bonaparte began in 1803, and ended in 1315; during these twelve years, we spent 1159 millions, 771 of which were raised by taxes, and 388 by loans. In the revolutionary war we borrowed 201 millions; in the American, 10-1 millions; in the seven years' war 60 millions; in the Spanish war of 1739, 29 millions; in the war of the Spanish succession 32^ millions; in the war of 168S, 20 millions. TotaJ borrowed in the seven wars during 65 years, about 834 millions. In the game time, we raised by taxes 1189 millions, thus forming a total expenditure on war of two thousand and twenty-three millions of pounds ST.EELi.NG.—Weekly Review. 244 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM leading principle is sound, every departure from the moral law in nations, as well as in individuals, carries its punish- ment with it, from the first hour of its commencement till its final cessation; and if Britain's institutions were then, to any extent, corrupt and defective, she could not too speedily have abandoned them, and adopted purer and loftier arrangements. Her government, however, clung to the suggestions of the propensities, and resisted every innovation. To divert the national mind from causing a revolution at home, they embarked in a war abroad; and, for a period of twenty-three years, let loose the propensi- ties on France with headlong fury, and a fearful perseve- rance. France, no doubt, threatened the different nations of Europe with the most violent interference with their governments; a menace wholly unjustifiable, and one which called for resistance. But the rulers of that country were preparing their own destruction, in exact proportion to their departures from the moral law; and a statesman, who knew and had confidence in the constitution of the world, as now explained, could have listened to the storm in complete composure, prepared to repel actual aggres- sion, and have left the exploding of French infatuation to the Ruler of the Universe, in unhesitating reliance on the efficacy of his laws. England preferred a war of aggres- sion. If this conduct were in accordance with the sen- timents, we should now, like America, be reaping the reward of our obedience to the moral law, and plenty and rejoicing should flow down our streets like a stream. But mark the contrast. This island exhibits the spectacle of millions of men, toiled to the extremity of human endu- rance, for a pittance scarcely sufficient to sustain life; weavers laboring for fourteen or sixteen hours a-day for eightpence, and frequently unable to procure work, even on these terms; other artisans, exhausted almost to death by laborious drudgery, who, if better recompensed, seek compensation and enjoyment in the grossest sensual debauchery, drunkenness, and gluttony; master-traders INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 245 and manufacturers anxiously laboring for wealth, now gay in the fond hope that all their expectations will be realized, then sunk in deep despair by the breath of ruin having passed over them; landholders and tenants now reaping unmeasured returns from their properties, then pining in penury, amidst an overflow of every species of produce; the government cramped by an overwhelming debt and the prevalence of ignorance and selfishness on every side, so that it is impossible for it to follow with a bold step the most obvious dictates of reason and justice, owing to the countless prejudices and imaginary interests which every where obstruct the path of improvement. This much more resembles punishment for transgression, than reward for obedience to the divine institutions. If every man in Britain will turn his attention inwards, and reckon the pangs of disappointment which he has felt at the subversion of his own most darling schemes, by un- expected turns of public events, or the deep inroads on his happiness which such calamities, overtaking his dear- est relations and friends, have occasioned to him; the numberless little enjoyments in domestic life, which he is forced to deny himself, in consequence of the taxation with which they are loaded; the obstructions to the fair exercise of his industry and talents presented by stamps, licenses, excise laws, custom-house duties, et hoc genus omnc; he will discover the extent of responsibility attached by the Creator to national transgressions. From my own obser- vation, I would say, that the miseries inflicted upon indi- viduals and families, by fiscal prosecutions, founded on excise laws, stamp-laws, post-office laws, &c. all originat- ing in the necessity of providing for the national debt, are equal to those arising from some of the most extensive natural calamities. It is true, that few persons are prose- cuted without having offended; but the evil consists in presenting men with enormous temptations to infringe mere financial regulations, not always in accordance with natural morality, and then inflicting ruinous penalties for 21* 246 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM transgression. Men have hitherto expected the punish ment of their offences in the thunderbolt, or the yawning earthquake; and believed, that because the sea did not swallow them up, or the mountains fall upon them and crush them to atoms, heaven was taking no cognizance of their sins; while, in point of fact, an omnipotent, an all- just, and an all-wise God, had arranged, before they erred, an ample retribution in the very consequences of their transgressions. It is by looking to the principles in the mind, from which transgressions flow, and attending to their whole operations and results, that we discover the real theory of the divine government. When men shall be instructed in the laws of creation, they will discriminate more accurately than heretofore between natural and fac- titious evils, and become less tolerant of the latter. Since the foregoing observations were written, the great measure of Parliamentary Reform has been carried into effect in Britain and Ireland, and already considerable pro- gress has been made in rectifying our national institutions. For the first time in the annals of the world, a nation has voluntarily contributed a large sum of money for the advancement of pure benevolence and justice. We have agreed to pay twenty millions sterling for the freedom of 800,000 human beings, whom our unprincipled forefathers had led into hopeless slavery. Sinecures have been abo- lished, monopolies destroyed, unmerited pensions checked, and taxation lightened; and there is a spirit abroad which demands the reform of all other abuses both in Church and State. The great gratification which I experience in these changes arises from the perception that they have all the tendency to place the institutions of the country, and the administration of them, in harmony with the dictates of reason and the moral sentiments; the effect of which will infallibly be, not only to increase the physical enjoy- ments, but greatly to advance the moral, intellectual, and religious condition of the people. Example is the most powerful means of instruction, and it was in vain for a INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 247 priesthood allied to the state to preach truth, justice, and benevolence to the people, while force, oppression, and every species of abuse, were practised by our rulers and the church itself. No more effectual means of purifying the hearts of the people can be devised than that of purify- ing all public institutions, and exhibiting justice and kindly affection as the animating motives of public men and na- tional measures. Of all national enormities, that of legalizing the pur- chase of human beings, and conducting them into slavery, is probably the most atrocious and disgraceful; and Eng- land was long chargeable with this iniquity. The callous inhumanity, the intense selfishness, and the utter disregard of justice, implied in the practice, must have overflown in numerous evils on the people of England themselves. Indeed, the state of wretched destitution in which the Irish peasantry are allowed to remain, and the unheeded in- crease of ignorance, poverty, and toil, in the manufactur- ing districts, appear to be legitimate fruits of the same spirit which patronized slavery, and these probably are preparing punishment for the nation, if repentance does not speedily appear. Slavery, however, has now been abolished by Britain, and I hail this as the first step in a glorious career of moral legislation. The North Americans have been left behind by England, for once, in the march of Christian practice. In the United States, negro slavery continues to deface the moral brightness of her legislative page; and on no subject does prejudice appear to be so inveterately powerful in that country as on slavery. Greatly as I respect the character of the Americans, it is impossible to approve of their treatment of the Negro population. The ancestors of the present American peo- ple stole, or acquired by an unprincipled purchase, the ancestors of the existing Negroes, and doomed them to a degrading bondage. This act was utterly at variance with the dictates of the moral sentiments, and of Chris- tianity. Their posterity have retained the blacks iu thral- 248 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM dom, treated them with contumely, and at this day regard them as scarcely human beings. This also is a grievous transgression of the natural and revealed law of moral duty. Evil and suffering must flow from these transgres- sions to the American people themselves, if God really governs the world. The argument that the negroes are incapable of civili- zation and freedom, is prematurely urged, and not rele- vant, although it were true. The negro head presents great varieties of moral and intellectual development, and I have seen several which appeared fully equal to the discharge of the ordinary duties of civilized man. But the race has never received justice from its European and American masters; and until its treatment shall have be- come moral, its capabilities cannot be fairly estimated, and the judgment against it is therefore premature. Be- sides, whatever be its capabilities, it was a heinous moral transgression to transport it, by violent means, from the region where a wise and benevolent God had placed it, and to plant it in a new soil, and amidst institutions, for which it was never intended; and the punishment of this offence will not be averted, but aggravated, by losing sight of the source of the transgression, and charging the con- sequences of it on the negroes, as if they were to blame for their alleged incapacity to glide gracefully into the ranks of American civilization. The negroes must either be improved by culture and intermarriages with the Euro- pean race, or transferred to their native climate, before America can escape from the hands of divine justice. I am not sufficiently acquainted with the details of American social life, to be able to point out the practical form in which the punishment is inflicted; but if there be truth in the principles now expounded, I cannot doubt of its ex- istence. The alternative of incorporating the negroes, by inter- marriage, with the European race, appears revolting to the feelings of the latter; while they also declare it to be INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 249 impossible to retransport the blacks to Africa, on account of their overwhelming numbers. There is much force in both of these objections, but there is still greater weight in the following considerations:—that the white race is exclusively to blame for the origin of the evil, and for a!l its consequences; that the natural laws never relax in their operation; and that, therefore, the existing evils will go on augmenting, until a remedy be adopted, which will become more painful the longer it is delayed. If the present state of things shall be continued for a century, it is probable that it will end in a war of extermination between the black and the white population; or in an attempt by the blacks to conquer and exclusively possess one or more of the southern states of the Union, as an independent kingdom for themselves. At the time when I write these pages, the planters of Jamaica and of the other West India Islands are com- plaining of the ruinous consequences to them of negro emancipation, and blaming the British Government for having abrogated slavery. These men apparently do not believe in the moral government of the world, or they do not know the manner in which it is administered. If they did, they would acknowledge that those who sow the wind have no right to complain when they reap the whirl- wind. The permanency of negro slavery in the West Indies was impossible; because it was a system of gross injustice, cruelty, and oppression, and no such social fa- bric can permanently endure. Its fruits have long been poisonous and bitter, and the planters are now suffering the evils of having reared them. They ought, however, to thank the justice and repentant generosity of the mother country, which has purchased the freedom of the slaves, that their punishment is so greatly mitigated; for they may rest assured, that the annoyances now suffered are light and transient compared with the calamities which would have befallen them from the prolongation of slavery, until it had wrought out its own termination. Another genera- 250 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM tion will probably see and acknowledge this truth. But, in the meantime, I remark, that be the sufferings of the West Indian planters at present what they may, they, as the representatives of the original transgressors, are justly sustaining the penalty, and that, in their instance, as in that of a patient undergoing a severe operation to escape from a dangerous disease, delay would only have protract- ed affliction, and augmented ultimate pain and the danger of the remedy. The Spaniards, under the influence of selfish rapacity and ambition, conquered South America, inflicted upon its wretched inhabitants the most atrocious cruelties, and continued to weigh, for 300 years, like a moral incubus, upon that quarter of the globe. The punishment is now endured. By the laws of the Creator, nations must obey the moral law to be happy; that is, to cultivate the arts of peace, to be industrious, upright, intelligent, pious, and humane. The reward of such conduct is individual happi- ness, and national greatness and glory. There shall then be none to make them afraid. The Spaniards disobeyed all these laws in the conquest of America, they looked to rapine and foreign gold, and not to industry, for wealth; this fostered avarice and pride in the government, baseness in the nobles, indolence, ignorance, and mental depravity in the people; and led them to imagine happiness to con- sist, not in the exercise of the moral and intellectual powers, but in the gratification of all the inferior feelings to the outrage of the higher. Intellectual cultivation was utterly neglected, the sentiments ran astray into bigotry and superstition, and the propensities acquired a fearful ascendency. These causes made them the prey of inter- nal discord and foreign invaders; and Spain, at this moment, suffers an awful retribution. Cowper recognises these principles of divine govern- ment as to nations, and has embodied them in the follow- ing powerful verses: The hand that slew till it could slay no more, Was glued to the sword-hilt with Indian gore. INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 251 Their prince, as justly seated on his throne As vain imperial Philip on his own, Tricked out of all his royalty by art, That stripped him bare, and broke his honest heart, Died by the sentence of a shaven priest, For scorning what they taught him to detest. How dark the veil, that intercepts the blaze Of Heaven's mysterious purposes and ways; God stood not, though he seemed to stand aloof; And at this hour the conqueror feels the proof: The wreath he won drew down an instant curse, The fretting plague is in the public purse, The cankered spoil corrodes the pining state, Starved by that indolence their minds create. Oh! could their ancient Incas rise again, How would they take up Israel's taunting strain! Art thou too fallen, Iberial Do we see The robber and the murderer weak as wel Thou that hast wasted Earth, and dared despise Alike the wrath and mercy of the skies, Thy pomp is in the grave, thy glory laid Low in the pits thine avarice has made. We come with joy from our eternal rest, To see th' oppressor in his turn oppressed. Art thou the god, the thunder of whose hand Rolled over all our desolated land, Shook principalities and kingdoms down, And made the mountains tremble at his frownl The sword shall light upon thy boasted powers, And waste them, as the sword has wasted ours. 'T is thus Omnipotence his law fulfils, And Vengeance executes what Justice wills. Cowper's Poems.—Charity. In surveying the present aspect of Europe, we perceive astonishing improvements achieved in physical science. How much is implied in the mere names of the steam- engine, power-looms, rail-roads, steam-boats, canals, and gas-lights; and yet of how much misery are several of these inventions at present the direct sources, in con- sequence of being almost exclusively dedicated to the gratification of the propensities. The leading purpose to which the steam-engine in almost all its forms of applica- 252 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM tion is devoted, is the accumulation of wealth, or the gra- tification of Acquisitiveness and Self-Esteem; and few have proposed, by its means, to lessen the hours of toil to the lower orders of society, so as to afford them opportu- nity and leisure for the cultivation of their moral and in- tellectual faculties, and thereby to enable them to render a more perfect obedience to the Creator's institutions. Physical has far outstripped moral science; and, it appears to me, that, unless the lights of Phrenology open the eyes of mankind to the real constitution of the world, and at length induce them to regulate their conduct in harmony with the laws of the Creator, their future physical disco- veries will tend only to deepen their wretchedness. Intel- lect, acting as the ministering servant of the propensities, will lead them only farther astray. The science of man's whole nature, animal, moral, and intellectual, was never more required to guide him than at present, when he seems to wield a giant's power, but in the application of it to display the ignorant selfishness, wilfulness, and ab- surdity of an overgrown child. History has not yielded, and cannot yield, half her fruits, until mankind shall be possessed of a true theory of their own nature. Many persons believe that they discover evidence against the moral government of the world, in the success of individuals not greatly gifted in moral and intellectual qualities, in attaining to great wealth, rank, and social consideration, while men of far superior merit remain ki obscurity and poverty. But the solution of this difficulty is to be found in the consideration, that success in society depends on the possession, in the greatest degree, of the qualities which society needs and appreciates, and that these bear reference to the state in which society finds itself at the time when the observation is made. In the savage and barbarous conditions, bodily strength, cou- rage, fortitude, and skill in war, lead a man to the highest honors; in a society like that of modern England, com- mercial or manufacturing industry may crown an indivi- INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 253 dual with riches; and great talents of debate may carry him to the summit of political ambition. In proportion as society advances in moral and intellectual acquirements, it will make larger demands for similar qualities in its favorites. The reality of the moral government of the world is to be found in the degree of happiness which individuals and society enjoy in these different states. If unprincipled commercial and political adventurers were happy, in proportion to their apparent success; or if na- tions were as prosperous under the dominion of reckless warriors as under that of benevolent and enlightened rulers; or if the individuals who compose a nation enjoyed as much serenity and joy of mind when they advanced the bold, selfish, and unprincipled to places of trust and power, as when they chose the upright, benevolent, and pious,— the dominion of a just Creator might well be doubted. But the facts are the reverse of these. 22 ( 254 ) CHAPTER VI. ON PUNISHMENT. SECTION I. ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. The last point connected with the Natural Laws, which I consider, is the principle on which punishment for in- fringement of them is inflicted in this world. Every law presupposes a superior, who establishes it, and requires obedience to its dictates. The superior may be supposed to act on the principle of the propensities, or on that of the sentiments The former being selfish, what- ever they desire is for selfish gratification. Hence laws instituted by a superior inspired by the propensities, would have for their leading object, the individual advantage of the lawgiver, with no systematic regard to the enjoyment or welfare of those who were called on to obey. The moral sentiments, on the other hand, are altogether gene- rous, disinterested, and just; they delight in the happiness of others, and do not seek individual advantage as their supreme end. Laws, instituted by a lawgiver, inspired by them, would have, for their grand object, the advantage and enjoyment of those who were called on to obey. The story of William Tell will illustrate my meaning. Gessler, an Austrian governor of the canton of Uri, placed his hat upon a pole, and required the Swiss peasants to pay the same honors to it that were due to himself. The object of this requisition was obviously the gratification of the Aus- trian's Self-Esteem, in witnessing the humiliation of the Swiss. It was framed without the least regard to their happiness; because such abject slavery could gratify no faculty in their minds, and ameliorate no principle of their THE NATURAL LAWS. 255 nature; but, on the contrary, was calculated to cause the greatest pain to their feelings. Before punishment for breaking this law could be justly inflicted, it would be indispensably necessary to show, that those who were called on to obey it. not only possess- ed the power of doing so, but were to be benefited by it. If it could be established, that, by the very constitution of their minds, it was impossible for them to reverence the hat of the tyrant, and that, if they had pretended to do so, they would have manifested only baseness and hypocrisy; then the law was unjust, and all punishment for disobe- dience would have been pure tyranny and oppression on the part of the governor. In punishing, he would be call- ing in Destructiveness to minister to the gratification of his own Self-Esteem. Let us imagine, on the other hand, a law promulgated by a sovereign, whose sole motive was the happiness of his subjects, and that the edict was, Thou shalt not steal If the lawgiver were placed far above the reach of theft by his subjects, and if respect to each other's rights were indispensable to the welfare of his people themselves, then it is obvious, that, so far as he was personally concerned, their stealing or not stealing would be of no importance to him, while it would be of the highest moment to them- selves. Let us suppose, then, that, in order to prevent the evils which the subjects would bring upon themselves by stealing, he were to add as a penalty, that every man •who stole should be locked up, and instructed in his duty, until he clearly felt the necessity of abstaining from theft; the justice and benevolence of this sentence would rest securely on the circumstance, that it was in the highest degree advantageous, at once to society at large, and to the offender himself. Suppose that he was born with large organs of Acquisitiveness and Secretiveness, and deficient Conscientiousness, and that at the time he committed the offence, he really could not help stealing, still there would be no cruelty and no injustice in locking him up, and h> 256 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED structing him in moral duty, until he learned to abstain from theft; because if this were not done, and if all men were to follow his example and only steal, the human race, and he, as a member of it, would necessarily starve and become extinct. Now, the Creator's natural laws, so far as I have been able to perceive them, are instituted solely on the latter principle; that is to say, there is not the slightest indication of the object of any of the arrangements of creation being to gratify an inferior feeling in the Creator himself. No well constituted mind, indeed, could conceive Him com- manding beings, whom he called into existence, and whom he could annihilate in a moment, to do any act of homage, which had reference solely to the acknowledgment of his authority, solely for his gratification, and without regard to their own welfare and enjoyment. We cannot, in short, without absolute outrage to the sentiments and intellect, imagine Him doing any thing analogous to the act of the Swiss governor, — placing an emblem of his authority on high, and requiring his creatures to obey it, merely to grat- ify himself by their homage, to their disparagement and distress. Accordingly, every natural law, so far as I can discover, appears clearly instituted for the purpose of add- ing to the enjoyment of the creatures who are called on to obey it. The object of the punishment inflicted for dis- obedience is to arrest the offender in his departure from the laws; which departure, if permitted to proceed to its natural termination, would involve him in tenfold greater miseries: this arrangement greatly promotes the activity of the facul- ties; and active faculties being fountains of pleasure, the penalties themselves become benevolent and just. For example, Under one of the physical laws, all organized bodies are liable to combustion. Timber, coals, oils, and animal sub- stances, when heated to a certain extent, catch fire and burn. The question occurs, Was this quality bestowed on them for a benevolent purpose or not ? Let us look to the UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 257 advantages attending it: By means of fire we obtain warmth in cold latitudes, and light after the sun has set; we are enabled to cook, thereby rendering our food more whole- some and savory; and to soften and fuse the metals. I need go no farther; every one will acknowledge, that, by the law under which organized bodies are liable to combus- tion, countless benefits are conferred on the human race. The human body itself, however, is organized, and in consequence is subject to this law, so that, if placed in a great fire, it is utterly dissipated in a few minutes. Some years ago, a woman, in a fit of insanity, threw herself into an iron smelting furnace, in full blaze. She was observed by a man working on the spot, who instantly put off the steam-engine that was working the bellows, and came to take her out; but he then saw only a small black speck on the surface of the fire, and in a few minutes more even it had disappeared. The effect of a less degree of heat is to disorganize the texture of the body. What mode, then, has the Creator followed, to preserve men from the danger to which they are subject by fire. He has caused their nerves to communicate sensations from heat, agreeable while the temperature is such as to benefit the body; slightly uneasy, when it becomes so high as to be in some measure hurtful; positively painful when the heat approaches that degree at which it would seriously injure the organized system, and horribly agonizing whenever it becomes so elevated as to destroy the organs. The principle of all this is very ob- viously benevolent. Combustion brings us innumerable advantages; and when we place ourselves in accordance with the law intended to regulate our relation to it, we reap unmingled benefits and pleasure. But we are in danger from its excessive action; and so kind is the Creator, that he does not trust to the guardianship of our own cautiousness and intellect alone to protect us from infringement, but has established a monitor in every nerve, whose admonitions increase in intensity through imperceptible gradations, exquisitely adjusted to the degrees of danger, till at last, 258 ON "PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED*, in pressing circumstances, they urge in a note so clamant, as to excite the whole physical, animal, and mental energy of the offender, to withdraw him from the impending de- struction. Many persons imagine that this mode of admonition would be altogether unexceptionable, if the offender always possessed the power to avoid incurring it; but that, on the other hand, when a child, or an aged person, stumbles into the fire, through mere lack of physical strength to keep out of it, it cannot be just and benevolent to visit him with the tortures that follow from burning. This is a short-sighted objection. If, to remedy the evil supposed, the law of com- bustion were altogether suspended as to children and old men, so that, so far as they were concerned, fire did not exist, then they would be deprived of the light and warmth, and many other benefits which it affords. This would be an awful deprivation; for warmth is more grateful and more necessary to them, in consequence of the very feebleness of their frames. Or, we may suppose that their nerves were constituted, so as to feel no pain from burning, — an arrangement which would effectually guarantee them against the tortures of falling in the fire; but, in the first. place, nerves feel pain under the same law that enables them to feel pleasure; the agony of burning arises altogeth- er from an excessive degree of the stimulus of heat, which, when moderate, is genial and grateful: and 2dly, If no pain were felt when in the fire, the child and old man would have no motive to get out of it. Under the present system, the pain would rouse every principle in their minds to escape; it would increase their muscular energy, or make them roar aloud for assistance; in short, it would compel them to get out of the fire, by some means or other, and thereby, if possible, to escape from death. As they fell into the fire in consequence of a deficiency of mental and physical power to keep out, it would follow, that if no pain attended their contact with the flames, they might repose there as contentedly as on abed of down; and the fond UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 259 mother might find a black cinder for her child, or a pious daughter a half charred mass of bones for her father, although they had been only in an adjoining apartment, whence the slightest cry or groan would have brought them to arrest the calamity. In this instance, then, the punishment for neglectino- and infringing the law of combustion, is both benevolent and just, even when it falls upon offenders who were com- pletely incapable of avoiding the offence; and it is so, because its object is the welfare of these very unconscious offenders themselves, so that if the principles on which punishment is inflicted were subverted, they would be greatly injured, and would loudly petition for their re- establishment. Let us take another example. Opium, by its inherent qualities, and the relationship established by the Creator betwixt it and the nervous system of man, operates, if taken in one proportion, as a stimulant; if the proportion is increased it becomes a sedative; and if still increased, it paralyses the nervous system altogether, and death ensues. Now, it is generally admitted, that there is no want of benevolence and justice, when a full grown and intelligent man loses his life, if he deliberately swallow an overdose of opium, knowing its qualities and their effects; because, it is said, he embraced these effects voluntarily: when, however, an ignorant child, groping about for something to eat and drink, to satisfy the craving of its natural curi- osity and appetite, stumbles on a phial of laudanum, in- tended for the use of some sick relative, pulls the cork, drinks, and dies,—many persons imagine that it is more difficult to discover justice and benevolence in this severe, and, as they say, unmerited catastrophe. But the real view of the law under which both events happen, appears to me to be this: The inherent qualities of opium, and its relationship to the nervous system, are very obviously benevolent, and are the sources of manifest advantages to man. Imagine that, to avoid every chance 260 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED of accidents, opium, in so far as children are concerned, were deprived of its qualities, or that their nervous sys- tems received no greater impression from it than from tepid water, it is clear that they would be decidedly suf- ferers. The greatest advantages of the drug are derived from its scale of ejficiency, by which it can be made to pro- duce, first a stimulating effect, then a gently sedative, and afterwards a higher and a higher degree of sedative influ- ence, until, by insensible degrees, absolute paralysis may ensue. A dose, which kills in health, will cure when in disease; and, if its range were limited to effects beneficial in health, its advantages in disease, arising from higher action, would be necessarily lost; and children, by the supposed arrangement, would be cut off from its beneficial administration. The parallel between it and the law of combustion is complete. If we could never have com- manded a degree of heat higher than that which would gently warm the human body, we must have passed with- out the whole advantages now derivable from the intense heats used in cooking, baking, and manufacturing. If we could never have commanded more than the gently stimu- lant and sedative effects of opium on the body, in a state of health, we should necessarily have been deprived of its powerful remedial action in cases of disease. The proper question then is, Whether it is more benevolent and just, that children, after they have been exposed, from whatever cause, to that high degree of its influence, which, although beneficial in disease, is adverse to the healthy action of the nervous system, should be preserved alive in this miser- able condition, or that life should at once be terminated? It appears obviously advanf».geous to the offender himself, that death should re.ieve him from the unhappy condition into which his organized frame has been brought, by the abuse of this substance, calculated, when discreetly used, to confer on him no mean advantages. The principle that divine punishments arc founded in Benevolence, even to the sufferer, is strongly elucidated UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 261 in the case of the organic laws. When inflammation, for example, has seized any vital organ, if there was no pain, there would be no intimation that an organic law had been infringed, the disease would proceed quietly in its pro- gress, and death would ensue, without the least previous intimation. The pain, therefore, attending an acute dis- ease, is obviously instituted to warn the sufferer, by the most forcible of all admonitions, to return to obedience to the law which he has infringed. In the case of a broken limb, or a deep cut, the principle becomes exceedingly obvious. The bone of the leg will re-unite, if the broken edges are preserved in close contact; and the subsequent serviceable condition of the limb will depend much upon the degree of exactness with which they have been made to re-approach, and been preserved in their natural posi- tion. Now, the pain attending a broken limb, in the first place, gives the most clamant intimation, that an injury has been sustained; secondly, It excites the individual most forcibly to the reparation of it; and, thirdly, As it recurs with a degree of violence exactly proportioned to the disturbance of the parts, after the healing process has commenced, it officiates like a sentinel with a drawn sword, compelling the patient to avoid every thing that may impede his recovery. The same observations apply to a flesh wound. The pain serves to intimate the injury, and to excite to its removal. The dissevered edges of the skin, nerves, and muscles, if skilfully made to re-approach, will, by the organic law, reunite, if left in repose. An accession of pain follows every disturbance of their condi- tion, when in the process of healing; and it serves, there- fore, as a most effectual and benevolent guardian of the welfare of the individual. If these views be correct, what person would dispense with the pain which attends the in- fringement of the organic laws, although such a boon were in his offer? It is obvious, that, if he possessed the least glimmering of understanding, he would thank the Creator for the institution, and beg in mercy to be allowed tho 262 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED benefits attending it; especially when taken in connection with the fact, that, after the possibility of recovery ceases, death steps in to terminate the suffering. The point to which I request the reader's particular at- tention is, that the power of the individual to avoid, or not to avoid, the infringement of the law in the particular in- stance which brings the punishment, is not an indispensa- ble circumstance in rendering the infliction benevolent and just. The infliction is approved of by the moral senti- ments and intellect, because the law, in its legitimate operation, is calculated altogether for the advantage of the subject; and because the punishment has no object but to bring him back to obedience for his own welfare, or to terminate his sufferings when he has erred too widely to return. Let us now inquire whether the same principle prevails in regard to the infringement of the Moral and Intellectual Laws. This investigation is attended with great difficulty; and it may be best elucidated by attending, in the first place, to the liability to punishment under which the lower animals are placed as to their actions. The physical and organic laws operate on them in the same manner as on man, so that nothing need be said on these points. The lower animals, however, possess pro- pensities impelling them to act, and a certain degree of intellect enabling them to perceive the consequences of their actions. These faculties prompt them to inflict pun- ishment on each other for infringement of their rights, although they possess no sentiments pointing out the moral guilt of their conduct. For example, dogs possess Acquis- itiveness, which gives them the sense of property. When one is in possession of a bone, and another attempts to steal it, this act instinctively excites the Combativeness and Destructiveness of the proprietor of the bone, and he pro- ceeds to worry the assailant. Or a cock, on a dunghill, finds a rival intruding on his domain, and under the instinc- tive inspiration of offended Self-Love and Combativeness, UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 263 he attacks him, and drives him off. I call this inflicting animal punishment. In these cases it is not supposed that the aggressors possess moral faculties, intimating that their trespass is wrong; or free will, by which they could avoid it, if they chose. I view them as inspired by their propen- sities, and rushing blindly to gratification. Nevertheless, in the effect which the aggression produces on the propen- sities of the animal assailed, we perceive an arrangement instituted by the Creator for checking outrage, and arrest- ing its progress. Before the penalty inflicted could be viewed by man as just in such cases, it would be necessary to perceive that it was instituted for the benefit of the aggressors them- selves; and, accordingly, it is so. If all dogs neglected to seek bones, and dedicated themselves solely to stealing; and if cocks, in general, deserted their own domains, and gave themselves up only to felonious inroads on each other's territories, it is self-evident that the races of these animals would soon become extinct. It follows, also, that any individual among them who should habitually abandon limself to such transgressions, would speedily lose his life >y starvation. If, then, it is beneficial for the race, and also for the individual offender himself, in these instances, to be arrested in his progress, his chastisement is decidedly benevolent and just. It is interesting to observe, that various provisions are made under the animal law for bringing about substantial justice, even in creatures destitute of the sentiment of Conscientiousness. The lower animals make perfectly sure of punishing only the real offender; for he must be caught in the fact, otherwise he is not visited by their resentment. In the next place, it appears to be the general law of animal nature, that, unless the offender has carried his inroad to an extreme extent, the punishment is relaxed the moment he desists; that is to say, the master of the bone or dunghill is generally satisfied with simple defence, and rarely abandons his treasure to pursue the offender for the sake of mere revenge. 264 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED Farther, the animals, in inflicting punishment, make no inquiry into the cause of the offence. With them it affords no alleviation that the aggressor is himself in a state of the greatest destitution, or that his appetite is irresistible; neither do they concern themselves with his fate after they have made him undergo the penalty. He may die of the wounds they have inflicted upon him, or of absolute starva- tion before their eyes, without their enjoyment being in the least disturbed. This arises from their faculties consisting chiefly of perceptive powers and propensities, which regard only self. They are destitute of the faculties which inquire into causes and trace consequences; and of the moral sen- timents, which desire, with a disinterested affection, the welfare of other beings. Nevertheless, the punishment which they inflict is in itself just, and serves, as we have seen, a decidedly bene- ficial end. Let us now direct our attention to man. Man possesses the same animal propensities as those of the lower creatures, and, under their instigation, he, too, inflicts punishment on principles precisely analogous to those under which they chastise. Indeed, it is curious to remark, that hitherto the criminal laws, even of the most civilized nations, have been framed on the principles of animal punishment exclusively. A thief, for example, breaks into a dwelling-house, and steals. The reflecting faculties are employed to discover the offender, and find evidence of the offence. Judges and juries assemble to determine whether the evidence be sufficient; and if they find it to be so, the offender is ordered to be flogged, to be imprisoned, or to be hanged. We are apt to imagine that there is something moral in the trial. But the sole object of it is to ascertain that a crime has been committed, and that the accused is the real offender. The dog and cock make equally certain of both points; because they never punish except when the individual is caught in the offence. Guilt being ascertained, and the offender iden- tified, the dog shakes and worries, and then lets him go; UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 265 and man scourges his back, or makes him mount the steps of a tread-mill, and then turns him adrift. If the offender has been very presumptuous and pertinacious in his aggres- sion, the dog sometimes, although very rarely, throttles him outright; and man, in similar circumstances, very gen- erally strangles him with a rope, or cuts off his head. In his proceeding the dog makes no inquiry into the causes which led to the crime, nor into the consequences upon the offender of the punishment which he inflicts. Man imitates him in this also. He inflicts his vengeance with as little inquiry into the causes which led to the offence, and, except when he puts him to death, he turns the culprit adrift upon the world, after he has undergone his punishment, with as little concern about what shall next befall him, as is shown by his canine prototype. The dog acts in this manner, because he is inspired by animal propensities, and higher faculties have been denied him. Man imitates him, because he, too, has received animal faculties; and although he possesses moral sentiments and reflecting intellect in addi- tion, he has not yet discovered the practical application of them to the subject of criminal legislation. The animal punishment is not without advantage even in the case of man, although it is far short, in this respect, of what he might obtain by following the guidance of his moral sentiments. Man as a mere animal could not exist in soci- ety, unless some check were instituted against abuses of the propensities; and hence it is quite obvious, that animal vengeance, rude as it is, carries with it results beneficial even to the offender, except where it puts him to death,— a degree of punishment which, as we have seen, the lower animals very rarely inflict on each other of the same spe- cies. Unless the outrages of Destructiveness, Acquisitive- ness, and Self-Esteem, and the other animal propensities, were checked, human society would be dissolved, and by that result the offenders themselves would suffer more grievous calamities than under any moderate form of ani- mal infliction. 23 266 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED The world is arranged, in so far as regards the lower animals, with a wise relation to the faculties bestowed on them. Accordingly animal resentment is really effective in their case. In consequence of their not possessing reflecting faculties, they are incapable of forming deep or extensive schemes for mutual aggression, and are not led to speculate on the chances of escaping detection in their misdeeds. Their offences are limited to casual overflow- ings of their propensities when excited by momentary temptation; which are checked by counter overflowings of other propensities, momentarily excited in the animals aggrieved. In regard to man, however, the world has been arrang- ed on the principle of supremacy of the moral sentiments and intellect, and, in consequence, animal retribution is not equally effectual in his case. For example, a human offender employs his intellect in devising means to enable him to escape detection, or to defend himself against punishment; and, in consequence, although he sees pun- ishment staring him in the face, his hope deludes him into the belief that he may escape it. Farther, if the real cause of human offences be excessive size and activity in the organs of the animal propensities, it follows that mere punishment cannot put a stop to crime, because it over- looks the cause, and leaves it to operate with unabated energy, after the infliction has been endured. The history of the world, then, presents us with a regular succession of crimes and punishments, and at present the series appears to be as far removed from a termination as at any previous period of the annals of the race. If the world, in regard to man, has been arranged on the plan of supremacy of the moral sentiments and intel- lect, we might expect better success, were moral retribu- tion, of which I now proceed to treat, resorted to. The motive which prompts the dog to worry, or the cock to peck and spur his assailant, is, as we have seen, mere animal resentment. His propensities are disagree- UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 267 ably affected, and Combativeness and Destructiveness in- stinctively start into activity to repel the aggression. The animal resentment of man is precisely analogous. A thief is odious to Acquisitiveness, because he robs it of its trea- sures; a murderer is offensive to all our feelings, because he extinguishes life. And these faculties being offended, Combativeness and Destructiveness rush to their aid in man while under the animal dominion, as instinctively as in the dog, and punish the offender on principles, and in a way, exactly similar. The case is different with the proper human faculties. Benevolence, contemplating outrage and murder, disap- proves of them, because they are hostile to its inherent constitution, because they occasion calamities to those who are their objects, and misery to the perpetrators them- selves. Conscientiousness is pained by the perception of theft, because its very nature revolts at every infringement of right, and because justice is essential to the welfare of all intelligent beings. Veneration is offended at reckless insult and indignity, because, from its very constitution, it desires to respect the intelligent creatures of the God whom it adores, believing that they are all the objects of his love. When crime is presented before the moral sentiments, therefore, they all ardently and instinctively desire that it should be stopped, and its recurrence pre- vented, just because it is in direct opposition to their very nature, and this impression on their part is not dependent on the power of the criminal to offend or to forbear offence. Benevolence grieves at death inflicted by a madman, and calls aloud that it should be averted: Conscientiousness disavows all theft, although committed by an idiot, and requires that he should be restrained; while Veneration recoils at the irreverences even of the frenzied. The circumstance of the offenders being involuntary agents, quite incapable of restraining their propensities, does not alter the aversion of the moral faculties to their actions; and the reasons of this are obvious: first, the sentiments 268 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED hate evil, because it is contrary to their nature, no matter from what source it springs; and, secondly, the circum- stance of the aggressor being a necessary agent, does not diminish the calamity inflicted on the sufferer. It is a3 painful to be killed by a madman as by a deliberate assassin; and it is as destructive to property to be robbed by a cunning idiot, as by an acute and practised thief. We perceive, therefore, as the first feature of the moral and intellectual law, that the sentiments, absolutely and in all circumstances, declare against offences, and demand imperatively, that they shall be brought to an end. There is a great difference, however, between the means which they suggest for accomplishing this object, and those prompted by the propensities. The latter blind- ly inflict animal resentment without the slightest regard to the causes which led to the crime, or the consequences of the punishment. They seize the aggressor, worry, bite^ or strangle him, and there they begin and terminate. The moral and intellectual faculties, on the other hand, embrace even the criminal himself within the range of their sympathies. Benevolence desires to render him virtuous, and thereafter happy, as well as to rescue his victim. Veneration desires that he should be treated as a man; and Conscientiousness declares that it cannot with satisfaction acquiesce in any administration towards him that does not tend to remove the motives of his miscon- duct, and to prevent their recurrence. The first step, then, which the moral and intellectual faculties combine in demanding, is a full exposition of the causes of the offence, and the consequences of the mode of treatment proposed. Let us, then, pursue this investigation; and here let me observe, that we are now in condition to do so, with something like a chance of success; for, by the aid of Phrenology, we have obtained a tolerably clear view of the elementary faculties of the mind, and the effects of organization on their manifestations. UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 269 The very first fact, then, that arrests our attention in this inquiry, is, that every crime proceeds from an abuse of some faculty or another. The question next arises, Whence does the tendency to abuse arise? Phrenology enables us to answer, from three sources; first, from par- ticular organs being too large and spontaneously active; secondly, from excessive excitement from external causes; or, thirdly, from intellectual ignorance of what are uses and what are abuses of the faculties. The moral and intellectual powers next demand, What is the cause of particular organs being too large and active in individuals? Phrenology, for answer, points to the law of hereditary descent, by which the organs most energetic in the parents determine those which shall predominate in the child. Intellect, then, infers that, according to this view, certain individuals are unfortunate at birth, in hav- ing received organs from their parents so ill proportion- ed, that abuse of some of them is almost an inevitable consequence, if they are left to the sole guidance of their own suggestions. Phrenology replies, that the fact ap- pears to be exactly so. In the Phrenological Hall is ex- hibited a large assemblage of skulls and casts of the heads of criminals, collected from Europe, Asia, Africa, and America; and an undeniable feature in them all, is a great preponderance of the organs of the animal propensities over those of the moral sentiments and intellect. In the next place, excessive excitement from without may arise from the individual being pressed by animal want, stimulated by intoxicating liquors, or seduced by evil example, and from a variety of similar causes. And, thirdly, abuses may arise from sheer want of in- formation concerning the constitution of the mind, and its relations to external objects. I have examined the cere- bral development, and inquired into the external circum- stances, of a considerable number of criminals, and have no hesitation in saying, that if, in the case of every offen- der, the three sources of crimes here enumerated were 23* 270 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED investigated, reported on, and published, the conviction would become irresistible, that the individual was the victim of his nature and external condition, and that peni- tentiaries would be resorted to as the only means of at once abating crime and satisfying the moral feelings of the public. The public err through ignorance, and need only to know better to ensure their going into the right path. Farther, intellect perceives, and the moral sentiments acknowledge, that these causes subsist independently of the will of the offender. The criminal, for example, is not the cause of the unfortunate preponderance of the animal organs in his own brain, neither is he the cause of the external excitement which seduces his propensities into abuse, or of the intellectual ignorance in which he is in- volved. Nevertheless, the moral and intellectual faculties of the indifferent spectator of his condition, do not, on this account, admit that he ought, either for his own sake or for that of society, to be permitted to proceed in an unre- stricted course of crime. They absolutely insist on ar- resting his progress, and their first question is, How may this best be done? Intellect answers, by removing the causes which produce the offences. The first cause—the great preponderance of animal organs—cannot, by any means yet known, be summarily removed. Intellect, therefore,-points out another alterna- tive, viz. to supply, by moral and physical restraint, the control which, in a brain better constituted, is afforded by large moral and intellectual organs; in short, to place the offender under such a degree of effective control as abso- lutely to prevent the abuses of his faculties. Benevolence acknowledges this to be kind, Veneration to be respectful, and Conscientiousness to be just, at once to the offender himself and to society; and Intellect perceives that, when- ever it is adopted, it will form an important step towards preventing a repetition of crimes The second cause, viz. great external excitement, may be removed by withdrawing he individual from its influ- UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 271 ence. The very restraint and control which serve to remedy the first, will directly tend to accomplish this second object at the same time. The third cause, being moral and intellectual ignorance, may be removed by conveying instruction to the higher faculties of the mind. If these principles be sound, the measures now recom- mended ought, when viewed in all their consequences, to be not only the most just and benevolent, but, at the same time, the most advantageous that coidd be adopted. Let us contrast them with the results of the animal method. Under the animal system, we have seen that no measures are taken to prevent crimes. Under the moral method, as soon as a tendency to abuse the faculties should be per- ceived in any individual, instant measures of prevention would be resorted to, because the sentiments could not be satisfied unless this were done. Under the animal system, no inquiry is made into the future proceedings of the of- fender, and he is turned loose on society, under the una- bated influence of all the causes which led to his infringe- ment of the law, and, as effects never cease while their causes continue to operate, he repeats his offence, and again becomes the object of a new animal infliction. Un- der the moral system, the causes would be removed, and the evil effects would cease. Under the animal system, the lower propensities of the offender and society are maintained in habitual excitement, for the punishment proceeds from the propensities, and is addressed to the propensities. Flogging, for instance, proceeds from Destructiveness, and is addressed solely to self-love and fear. The tread-mill springs from Destruc- tiveness in a milder form, and, as its sole object is to cause annoyance to the offender, it is obviously addressed only to Cautiousness and his selfish feelings. Hanging and decapitation'undeniably spring from Destructiveness, and are administered as terrors to the propensities of persons criminally disposed. These punishments, again, 272 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED especially the latter, are calculated to excite the animal faculties, and none else, in the spectators who witness them. A capital execution obviously interests and grati- fies Destructiveness, Cautiousness and Self-Love, in the beholder, and nothing can be farther removed than such exhibitions from the proper food of Benevolence, Venera- tion, and Conscientiousness. Under the moral system, again, the whole faculties ex- ercised and addressed in restraining and instructing the offender, are the human powers. The propensities are employed merely as the servants ef the moral sentiments in accomplishing their benignant purposes, and Benevo- lence is as actively engaged in behalf of the offender as of society at large. The whole influence of the proceed- ing is ameliorating and elevating. Under the animal system, children produced of parents who have been recently engaged in either suffering, in- flicting, or witnessing punishment, will, by the organic law, inherit large and active animal organs, occasioned by the excitement of similar organs in the parents. Thus a public execution, from the violent stimulus which it produ- ces in the lower faculties of the spectators, may, within twenty-four hours of its exhibition, be the direct cause of a new crop of victims for the gallows. Under the moral system, children born of parents active- ly engaged in undergoing, executing, or witnessing the elevating and ennobling process of moral reformation, will, by the organic law, inherit an increased development of the moral and intellectual organs, and be farther removed than their parents from the risk of lapsing into crime. Under the animal system, spectators of crime, and ac- complices, need to be bribed with large rewards to induce them to communicate their knowledge of the offence; and witnesses require to be compelled by penalties to bear testimony to what they have seen concerning it. Many will recollect the affecting picture of mental agony drawn by the author of Waverly, when Jeanie Deans, at the bar UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 273 of the High Court of Justiciary, gives evidence against her sister, which was to deprive that sister of life. Paral- lel cases occur too frequently in actual experience. The real cause of this aversion to betray, and internal repug- nance to give evidence, is, that the moral sentiments are revolted at the delivery of the culprit to the cruelty of animal resentment. Under the moral system, the sentiments and intellect of the spectator of a crime, and those of the nearest relatives of the offender, would unite, along with those of society at large, in an unanimous desire to deliver him up with the utmost speed to the ameliorating influence of moral refor- mation, as the highest benevolence even to himself. Under the animal system, the office of public execu- tioner is odious, execrable, and universally contemned. If it were necessary by the Creator's institutions, it would present the extraordinary example of a necessary duty be- ing execrated by the moral sentiments. This would be a direct inconsistency between the dictates of the superior faculties and the arrangement of the external world. But the animal executioner is not acknowledged as necessary by the human faculties. Under the moral system, the criminal would be committed to persons whose duties would be identical with those of the clergyman, the physician, and the teacher. These are the executioners under the moral law; and just because their avocations are highly grateful to the sentiments, these are the most esteemed of man- kind. The highest and the most important object of this long exposition of the principles of punishment under the natu- ral laws, remains to be unfolded. We are all liable to abuse our faculties; and the inquiry is exceedingly interesting, what, in our cases, are the causes of the infringement of the moral law. The offen- ces which we daily commit, are neither more nor less than minor degrees of abuse of the very same faculties of which crimes are the greater For example, if in private life we 274 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED backbite or slander our neighbor, we commit abuses of Self-Esteem and Destructiveness, which, if increased mere- ly in intensity, without at all changing their nature, might end, as in Ireland, in maiming his cattle, or, as in Spain or Italy, in murdering him outright. If, in any transac- tion of life, we deliberately give false representations as to any article we have for sale, or overcharge it in price, this is just a minor abuse of Secretiveness and Acquisitive- ness, acting in absence of the moral sentiments, of which pocket-picking and stealing are higher degrees. I need not carry the parallel farther. It is so obvious that every offence against the moral law is an abuse of some faculty or other, and that great crimes are just great abuses, and smaller offences lesser aberrations, that every one must perceive the fact to be so. Reverting to what I observed in regard to crime, I repeat, that every infringement of the moral law, the small- est as well as the greatest, is denounced by the sentiments and intellect, just because it is opposed to their nature, and they desire absolutely to bring all abuses to an end, from whatever source they spring, be they voluntary or involuntary. Animal resentment is, by the present practice of society, resorted to as the chief method of dealing with the minor, just as it is with the higher, abuses of our faculties. If one gentleman insults another, the offended party makes no inquiry into the state of mind and other causes that pro- duced the insult, but proceeds to knock him on the head, to challenge, and thereafter to shoot him, or to prosecute him in a jury court, and inflict pain by depriving him of money. These are the common methods by which men inflict animal retribution on each other, and in essential character they do not much differ from those followed by the lower creatures. I do not say that these proceedings are absolutely with- out beneficial effect. The animal faculties are selfish, and these inroads upon their enjoyment have undoubtedly a UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 275 tendency to check them. It is painful to a gentleman to be knocked down or shot, and, in consequence, some indi- viduals whose moral principles are low, are induced to manage matters so as to avoid these forms of retaliation, who would not be restrained from insulting their neighbors by the dictates of their own feelings; but here the benefit terminates. The infliction of the chastisement excites only the animal faculties of the offended party, and it is ad- dressed exclusively to the animal part of the offender's mind. Habitual morality, however, cannot exist without supreme activity of the moral sentiments; and the whole code of animal law, and animal punishment, does nothing whatever to establish this as a permanent condition of mind. Under the moral and intellectual law, every thing is different. The intellectual faculties inquire into the causes of abuses, and the sentiments desire to remove them with kindness and respect, even for the offender him- self. If one person insult another, intellect, aided by Phrenology, perceives that he must of necessity do so, either from excessive predominance of Combativeness, Destructiveness, and Self-Esteem in his own brain, so that he has an instinctive tendency to insult, just as some ill natured dogs and horses have a tendency to bite without provocation; or from excessive external stimulus, that is to say, from some aggression offered to these lower organs by other people; or, thirdly, from intellectual ignorance, that is, erroneously supposing motives and intentions in the party whom he insults, which really do not belong to him. If one person cheats another, Intellect, aided by Phrenology, perceives that he can do so, only because Acquisitiveness and Secretiveness predominate in him over Conscientiousness; because the external temptation to cheat is too powerful for his combination of faculties to resist; or because he is intellectually ignorant that cheat- ing is equally fatal to his own interest as injurious to that of his victim In short, intellect, aided by Phrenology, 276 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED comes to an irresistible conclusion, that no abuse of the animal faculties can be committed, that may not be traced to these or similar causes. But intellect and the moral sentiments desire to remove the causes as the most effectual way of putting an end to the effects, and their method is one congenial to their own constitution. If a man by nature is irritable, and prone to injure every one with whom he comes into contact, they desire most sedulously to remove every cause that may tend to exasperate his propensities, and also to surround him with a high moral and intellectual atmosphere. If he is exposed to temptation, they desire to withdraw it; if he is misinformed, ignorant, or deceived, they desire to in- struct him, and give him correct information. After we have suffered injury from another, if we perceive the causes from which it proceeded to be really such as I have now explained, and if we comprehend and believe in the supremacy of the moral law, it will he impossible for us to prefer the method of redress by animal resentment. The question naturally presents itself, What is the distinction between right and wrong, under this system? If offences proceed from unfortunate development of brain, not fashioned by the individual himself; from external temptations which he did not make; or from want of knowledge which he never possessed, how are the distinc- tions between right and wrong, merit and demerit, to be explicated and maintained? The answer is simple. The natural distinction between right and wrong, so far as man is concerned, depends on the constitution of the moral and intellectual faculties. The act of wantonly killing another is wrong; because it is in direct opposition to the dictates of Benevolence. The act of appropriating to ourselves effects belonging to another is wrong, because it is distinctly denounced by Conscientiousness, and so with all other oftences. The authority of the moral law, in forbidding these offences, depends on the whole arrange- ments of creation being constituted to enforce its dictates. UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 277 If Benevolence and Conscientiousness denounce murder, and if the whole other faculties of the mind, and the external order of things, harmonize with their dictates, and combine to punish the offender, the foundation and sanctions of the moral law appear abundantly strong. It has been objected, that, in Tartary, theft is honorable; but Dr. T. Brown has well answered this objection. There are more principles in the mind than Benevolence, Vene- ration and Conscientiousness; and it is quite possible to misinform the intellect, and thereby misdirect the propen- sities and sentiments. For example, the Tartars are taught, as matter of fact, that all men beyond their own tribes are their enemies, and would rob and murder them if they could; as long as this intellectual conviction lasts, strangers become the objects of their animal resentment. They are criminals, in their eyes, clearly convicted of deliberate purpose to rob and murder. In England, under Lord Ellenborough's act, when men are convicted in a court of this intention, they are delivered over to the hang- man to be executed; and we might as well maintain, as an abstract proposition, that the English are fond of hanging one another, as that the Tartars approve of robbery and murder. Strangers whom the latter maltreat in this man- ner, actually stand convicted in their minds of an intention of using them in that way if they could. The real method of arriving at a correct view of the question is to suppose the conviction complete in a Tartar's mind that other men love him, and make him an object of their most sedulous benevolence, and then ask him whether he approves of robbing and murdering a benefactor? There is no instance of human nature, in a state of sanity, regarding such a deed as virtuous. The moral law, therefore, when cleared of other principles that may act along with it, but are not part of it, is. obviously universal and inflexible in its dic- tates. The views contained in this chapter were printed and distributed amongst a few friends in 1827, and I have been 24 278 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED favored by them with several remarks. Two of these appear to me to merit a reply. It is objected, that, according to the moral system of treating offenders, punishment would be abrogated and crime encouraged. I respectfully answer, that if this system be right in itself, and suited to the nature of man, it will carry in itself all the punishment that will be needed, or that can serve any beneficial end. I believe that to an individual whose mind consists chiefly of animal propensities and intellect, confinement, compulsory labor, and the enforce- ment of moral conduct, will be highly disagreeable, and that this is the punishment which the Creator designed should attend that unfortunate combination of mental qualities. It is analogous to the pain of a wound; the object of which is to induce the patient to avoid injuring himself again. The irksomeness and suffering to a crimi- nal, inseparable from confinement and forced labor, are intended as inducements to him to avoid infringements of the moral law; and when perceived by himself to arise from the connection established by the Creator, between crime and the most humane means of restraining it, he will learn to submit to its infliction, without those rebellious feelings which are generally excited by pure animal retri- bution. It appears to me that the call for more suffering than would accompany the moral method of treatment, proceeds to a great extent from the yet untamed barbarism of our own minds; just as it was the savageness of the hearts of our ancestors which led them to demand torture and burning, as elements in their administration of criminal justice. In proportion as the higher sentiments shall gain ascendency in society, severity will be less in demand, and its inutility will be more generally perceived. The Americans, in their penitentiaries, have set an admirable example to Europe in regard to criminal legislation. Their views still admit of improvement, but they have entered on the right path by which success is to be attained. Dr UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 279 Caldwell, of Lexington, has offered them excellent coun- sel, which I hope they will appreciate and follow. Another objection is, that the views now advocated, even supposing them to be true, are Utopian, and cannot be carried into effect in the present condition of society. I deny the first branch of this objection; but admit the second to be well founded. No system of morals which is true, can be Utopian, meaning by this term, visionary and impracticable. But a true system may not be prac- ticable, on its first announcement, by a people who do not know one word of its principles, and whose guides sedu- lously divert their minds from studying it. Christianity itself has not yet been generally practised; but does any rational man on this account denounce it as Utopian and worthless? It would be folly to expect judges and juries to abandon the existing practice of criminal jurisprudence, and to adopt that which is here recommended, before they, and the society for whom they act, understand and approve of its principles; and no one who bears in mind by what slow and laborious efforts truth makes its way, and how long a period is necessary before it can develope itself in practice, will expect any new system to triumph in the age in which it was first promulgated. I have frequently repeated in this work, that, by the moral law, we cannot enjoy the full fruits, even of our own intelli- gence and virtue, until our neighbors shall have been rendered as wise and amiable as ourselves. No reason- able man, therefore, can expect to see the principles of this work, although true, generally diffused and adopted in society, until after the natural means of communicating a knowledge of them, and producing a general conviction of their truth and utility, shall have been perseveringly used, for a period sufficient to accomplish this end. In the meantime, the established practices of society must be supported, if not respected, and he is no friend to the real progress of mankind, who, the moment after he has sown his moral principles, would insist on gathering the fruit 280 MORAL ADVANTAGES OF PUNISHMENT. before he has allowed summer and autumn to bring the produce to maturity. The rational philanthropist will zealously teach his principles, and introduce them into practice as favorable opportunities occur, not doubting but that he will thereby sooner accomplish his object, than by making premature attempts at realizing them, which must inevitably end in disappointment.* SECTION II. MORAL ADVANTAGES OF PUNISHMENT. After the intellect and moral sentiments have been brought to recognise the principles of the divine adminis- tration, so much wisdom, benevolence, and justice, are discernible in the natural laws, that our whole nature is ameliorated in undergoing the punishments annexed to them. Punishment endured by one individual also serves to warn others against transgression. These facts afford another proof that a grand object of the arrangements of creation is the improvement of the moral and intellectual nature of man. So strikingly conspicuous, indeed, is the ameliorating influence of suffering, that many persons have supposed this to be the primary object for which it is sent; a notion which, with great deference, appears to me to be unfounded in principle, and dangerous in practice. If evils and misfortunes are mere mercies of Providence, it follows that a headache consequent on a debauch, is not intended to prevent repetition of drunkenness, so much as to prepare the debauchee for ' the invisible * The leading ideas of this chapter have been most ably and eloquently followed out by Dr. Charles Caldwell of Lexington, Kentucky, in his ' New Views of Penitentiary Discipline and "Moral Education, and Reformation of Criminals,' published at Philadelphia in 1820, and reprinted in the Phreno- logical Journal, vol. viii. pp. 385, 493. Mr. Simpson also has treated the subject with great ability in the Phrenological Journal, vol. ix. p. 481, and in the appendix to his work on the ' Necej-ity of Popular Education,'— a work in which he has expounded and applied the principles of the present essay with much acuteness and felicity of illustration. MORAL ADVANTAGES OF PUNISHMENT. 281 world;' and that shipwreck in a crazy vessel is not design- ed to render the merchant more cautious, but to lead him to heaven. It is however undeniable, that in innumerable instances pain and sorrow are the direct consequences of our own misconduct; at the same time it is obviously benevolent in the Deity to render them beneficial directly, as a warning against future transgression, and indirectly, as a means of purifying the mind. Nevertheless, if we shall imagine that in some instances it is dispensed as a direct punish- ment for particular transgressions, and in others, only on account of sin in general, and with the view of ameliorat- ing the spirit of the sufferer, we shall ascribe inconsisten- cy to the Creator, and expose ourselves to the danger of attributing our own afflictions to his favor, and those of others to his wrath; thus fostering in our minds self-con- ceit and uncharitableness. Individuals who entertain the belief that bad health, worldly ruin, and sinister accidents, befalling them, are not punishments for infringement of the laws of nature, but particular manifestations of the love of the Creator towards themselves, make slight inqui- ry into the natural causes of their miseries, and bestow few efforts to remove them. In consequence, the chas- tisements endured by them, neither correct their own con- duct, nor deter others from committing similar transgres- sions. Some religious sects, who espouse these notions, literally act upon them, and refuse to inoculate with the cow-pox to escape contagion, or take other means of avoiding natural calamities. Regarding these as dispen- sations of Providence, sent to prepare them for a future world, they conceive that the more of them that befall them the better. Further, these ideas, besides being repugnant to the common sense of mankind, are at vari- ance with the principle that the world is arranged so as to favor virtue and discountenance vice; because favoring virtue means obviously that the favored virtuous will posi- tively enjoy more happiness, and, negatively, suffer fewer 24* 282 MORAL ADVANTAGES OF PUNISHMENT. misfortunes than the vicious. The view, then, now advo- cated, appears less exceptionable, viz. that punishment serves a double purpose—directly to warn us against transgression, and indirectly, when rightly apprehended, to subdue our lower propensities, and purify and vivify our moral and intellectual powers. Bishop Butler coincides in this interpretation of natural calamities. 'Now,' says he, 'in the present state, all which we enjoy, and a great part of what we suffer, is put in our power* For pleasure and pain are the conse- quences of our actions; and we are endued by the Author of our nature with capacities of foreseeing these consequen- ces.' ' I know not that we have any one kind or degree of enjoyment, but by the means of our own actions. And, by prudence and care, we may, for the most part, pass our days in tolerable ease and quiet; or, on the contrary, we may, by rashness, ungoverned passion, wilfulness, or even by negligence, make ourselves as miserable as ever we please. And many do please to make themselves extremely mise- rable; i. e. they do what they know beforehand will render them so. They follow those ways, the fruit of which they know, by instruction, example, experience, will be disgrace, and poverty, and sickness, and untimely death. This every one observes to be the general course of things; though it is to be allowed, we cannot find by experience, that all our sufferings are owing to our own follies.' Ana- logy, p. 40. In accordance with this last remark, I have treated of hereditary diseases; and evils resulting from convulsions of physical nature may be added to the same class. It has been objected that physical punishments, such as the breaking of an arm by a fall, are often so dispro- portionately severe, that the Creator must have had some Other and more important object in view in appointing them, than for them to serve as mere motives to physical * These words are printed in Italics in the original. MORAL ADVANTAGES OF PUNISHMENT 283 observance; and that that object must be to influence the mind of the sufferer, and draw his attention to concerns of higher import. In answer, I remark, that the human body is liable to destruction by severe injuries; and that the degree of suf- fering, in general, bears a just proportion to the danger connected with the transgression. Thus, a slight surfeit is attended only with headache or general uneasiness, be- cause it does not endanger life; a fall on any muscular part of the body is followed either with no pain, or only a slight indisposition, for the reason that it is not seriously injurious to life; but when a leg or arm is broken, the pain is intensely severe, because the bones of these limbs stand high in the scale of utility to man. The human body is so framed that it may fall nine times and suffer little damage, but the tenth time a limb may be broken, which will entail a painful chastisement. By this arrangement the mind is kept alive to danger to such an extent as to ensure general safety, while at the same time it is not overwhelmed with terror by punishments too severe and too frequently repeated. In particular states of the body, a slight wound maybe followed by inflammation and death; but these are not the results simply of the wound, but the consequences of a previous derangement of health, occa- sioned by departures from the organic laws. On the whole, therefore, no adequate reason appears for regarding the consequences of physical accidents in any other light than as direct punishments for infringement of the natural laws, and indirectly as a means of accomplish- ing moral and religious improvement. In the preceding chapters we have obtained glimpses of some of the sanctions of the moral law, which may be briefly recapitulated. If we obey it, we enjoy, in the first place, the highest gratifications of which our nature is susceptible, in habitual and sustained activity of our no- blest faculties. Secondly, We become objects of esteem 284 MORAL ADVANTAGES OF PUNISHMENT. and affection to our fellow men, and enjoy exalted social pleasure. Thirdly, Whatever we undertake, being pro- jected in harmony with the course of nature, will prosper. Fourthly, by observing the moral law we shall place our- selves in the most favorable condition for obeying the organic law, and then enjoy health of body and buoyancy of mind. Fifthly, By obeying the moral, intellectual, and organic laws, we shall place ourselves in the best condi- tion for observing the physical laws, and thereby reap countless benefits conferred by them. We need just to reverse the picture, to perceive, on the other hand, the penalties by which the Creator punishes infringements of the moral law. There is denial of that elevated, refined, and steady enjoyment which springs from the supreme activity of the moral sentiments and intellect, and from the perception of the harmony between them and the institutions of creation. By infringing the moral law we become objects of dislike and aversion to our fellow men; and this carries denial of gratification to many of our social faculties. Whatever we undertake in opposition to the moral law, being an enterprise against the course of nature, cannot succeed; and its fruits must therefore be disappointment and vexation. Inattention to the moral and intellectual law incapacitates us for obedi- ence to the organic and physical laws; and sickness, pain and poverty overtake us. The whole scheme of creation, then, appears constituted for the purpose of enforcing obedience to the moral law;—virtue, religion and hap- piness, seem to be founded in the inherent constitution of the human faculties, and in the adaptation of the exter- nal world to them; and not to depend on the fancies, the desires, or the mere will of man. ( 285 ) CHAPTER VII. ON THE COMBINED OPERATION OF THE NATURAL LAWS. Having now unfolded several of the natural laws, and their effects, and having also attempted to show that each is inflexible and independent in itself, and requires abso- lute obedience, (so that a man who shall neglect the phy- sical law will suffer the physical punishment, although he may be very attentive to the moral law; that one who in- fringes the organic law will suffer organic punishment, although he may obey the physical law; and that a person who violates the moral law will suffer the moral punish- ment, although he should observe the other two;) I pro- ceed to show the mutual relationship among these laws, and to adduce some instances of their joint operation. The defective administration of justice is a fertile source of human suffering in all countries; yet it is surprising how rude are the arrangements which are still in use, even in a free and enlightened country, for accomplishing this important end. A Scotch Jury in a civil cause, even in Edinburgh, now frequently presents the following particulars for obser- vation. It consists of twelve men, eight or ten of whom are collected from the country, within a distance of twenty or thirty miles to the west, south, and east of the capital. These individuals hold the plough, wield the hammer or hatchet, or carry on some other useful and respectable but laborious occupation, for six days in the week. Their muscular systems are in constant exercise, and their brains are rarely called on for any great exer- tion. They are not accustomed to read, beyond the Bible 286 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION and a weekly newspaper; they are still less prepared to think; and in general they live much in the open air. In this condition, they are placed in the jury-box at ten o'clock in the morning, after having travelled probably from seven to twenty-five miles to reach the court: coun- sel address long speeches to them; numerous witnesses are examined; and the cause is branched out into compli- cated details of fact, and wire-drawn distinctions in argu- ment. The court is a small apartment, ill ventilated, and in consequence is generally crowded and over-heated. Without being allowed to take air, exercise, or food, they are confined to their seats till eight or ten in the evening, when they retire to return a verdict, by which they may dispose of thousands of pounds, and in which by law they must be unanimous. There is here a tissue of errors which could not exist for a day, if the natural laws were generally understood. First, The physical habits of such jurors render their brains inactive, and their intellects in consequence incapa- ble of attending to, and comprehending, complicated cases of fact and argument. Secondly, Their memories cannot retain the facts, while their skill in penmanship and litera- ture is not sufficient to enable them to take notes; and their reflecting faculties are not capable of generalizing. Their education and daily pursuits, therefore, do not fur- nish them with principles of thinking, and power of mental action, sufficient to enable them to unravel the web of in- tricacies presented to their understandings. Thirdly, Pro- tracted confinement in a close apartment, amidst vitiated air, operates injuriously on the most vivacious tempera- ments:—On such men it has a tenfold effect in lowering the action of the brain, and inducing mental incapacity, because it is diametrically opposed to their usual condition. Add to these considerations, that occasionally a jury trial lasts two, three, or even four days, each of which presents a repetition of the circumstances here described; and then the reader may judge whether such jurors are the OF THE NATURAL LAWS 287 fittest instruments, and in the best condition, for disposing of the fortunes of a people who boast of their love of justice, and their admirable institutions for obtaining it. The influence of the physical condition of a human being on his mental capacity seems never to have entered the imaginations of our legislators as a matter of impor- tance in the administration of justice. In the Circuit Courts of Scotland, the judges frequently sit for several days in succession in a crowded apartment, intently en- gaged in business, from ten o'clock in the morning till eight, ten, or twelve at night, without any proper inter- mission or exercise. They go to their hotel at these late hours, dine, take wine, go to bed, and next morning re- sume their seats on the bench. Now, by the laws of their nature, which never cease to operate, the effect of this conduct is to impair the vigor of the moral and intellectual organs, and by constraint, want of exercise, and obstruc- tion of the bodily functions, to irritate and exalt the activ- ity of the animal organs; so that at the close of a circuit, the most excellent individual is physically deteriorated, and mentally incapacitated for the distribution of justice, compared with himself when he began his labors. It is accordingly matter of observation, that in proportion as a long and heavy session in circuit advances, irritability, impatience, and intellectual obscuration proceed pari passu. The accused, therefore, who go to trial first, have a far hioher chance of obtaining justice, than those who appear last on the roll. In these instances we observe infringements of the organic and moral laws, and the combined result is, the maladministration of justice, of which the country so loudly complains. The proper remedies will be found in educat- ing more effectually the people, in training them to the exercise of their mental faculties, and in observing the organic laws in the structure of court-rooms, and in the proceedings that take place within them. Another example of the combined operation of the na 288 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION tural laws is afforded by the great fires which occurred in Edinburgh in November 1824, when the Parliament Square and a part of the High Street were consumed. That calamity may be viewed in the following light:— The Creator constituted England and Scotland, with such qualities, and placed them in such relationship, that the individuals of both kingdoms would be most happy in acting towards each other, and pursuing their separate vocations, under the supremacy of the moral sentiments. We have lived to see this practised, and to reap the re- wards of it. But the ancestors of the two nations did not believe in this constitution of the world, and they preferred acting on the principles of the propensities; that is to say, they waged furious wars, and committed wasting devastations on each other's properties and lives. It is obvious from history, that the two nations were equally ferocious, and delighted reciprocally in each other's calamities. This was clearly a violent infringe- ment of the moral law; and one effect of it was to render personal safety an object of paramount importance. The hill on which the Old Town of Edinburgh is built, was naturally surrounded by marshes, and presented a perpen- dicular front to the west, capable of being crowned with a castle. It was appropriated with avidity, and the metro- polis of Scotland was founded there, obviously and unde- niably under the inspiration purely of the animal faculties It was fenced round, and ramparts built to exclude the fierce warriors who then inhabited the country lying south of the Tweed, and also to protect the inhabitants from the feudal banditti who infested their own soil. The space within the walls, however, was limited and narrow; the attractions to the spot were numerous; and to make the most of it, our ancestors erected the enormous masses of high, confused, and crowded buildings which now com- pose the High Street of this city, and the wynds, or alleys, on its two sides. These abodes, moreover, were con- structed, to a great extent, of timber; for not only the OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 289 joists and floors, but the partitions between the rooms, were made of massive wood. Our ancestors did all this in the perfect knowledge of the physical law, that wood ignited by fire not only is consumed itself, but envelopes in inevitable destruction every combustible object with- in its influence. Farther, their successors, even when necessity had ceased, persevered in the original error; and, in the perfect knowledge that every year added to the age of such fabrics increased their liability to burn, they not only allowed them to be occupied as shops filled with paper, spirits, and other highly combustible materials, but let off the upper floors for brothels, introducing there- by into the heart of this magazine of conflagration, the most reckless and immoral of mankind. The consum- mation was the two tremendous fires of November 1824, the one originating in a whiskey-cellar, and the other in a garret-brothel, which consumed the whole Parliament Square and a part of the High Street, destroying property to the extent of many thousands of pounds, and spreading misery and ruin over a considerable part of the population of Edinburgh. Wonder, consternation, and awe, were forcibly excited at the vastness of this calamity; and in the sermons that were preached, and the dissertations that were written upon it, much was said of the inscrutable ways of Providence, that sent such visitations on the people, enveloping the innocent and the guilty in one com- mon sweep of destruction. According to the exposition of the ways of Providence which I have ventured to give, there was nothing won- derful, nothing vengeful, nothing arbitrary, in the whole occurrence. The surprising thing was, that it did not take place generations before. The necessity for these fabrics originated in gross violation of the moral law; they v/ere constructed in high contempt of the physical law; and, latterly, the moral law was set at defiance, by placing in them inhabitants abandoned to the worst habits of reck- lessness and intoxication. The Creator had bestowed on 25 290 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION men faculties to perceive all this, and to avoid it, when- ever they chose to exert them; and the destruction that ensued was the punishment of following the propensities, in preference to the dictates of intellect and morality. The object of the destruction, as a natural event, was to lead men to avoid repetition of the offences: but the prin- ciples of the divine government are not yet comprehended; —Acquisitiveness whispers that more money may be made of houses consisting of five or six floors, under one roof, than of only two; and erections, the very counterparts of the former, have since reared their heads on the spot where the others stood, and, sooner or later, they also will be overtaken by the natural laws, which never slumber or sleep. The true method of arriving at a sound view of cala- mities of every kind, is to direct our attention, in the first instance, to the law of nature, from the operation of which they have originated; then to find out the uses and advan- tages of that law, when observed; and to discover whether the evils under consideration have arisen from violation of it. In the present instance, we ought never to lose sight of the fact, that the houses in question stood erect, and the furniture in safety, by the very same law of gravi- tation which made them topple to the foundation when it was infringed; that mankind enjoy all the benefits which result from the combustibility of timber as fuel, by the very same law which renders it a devouring element, when unduly ignited; that, by the same moral law, which, when infringed, leads to the necessity of ramparts, fortifications, crowded lanes, and extravagantly high houses, we enjoy, now that we observe it better, that security of property and life which distinguishes modern Scotland from ancient Caledonia. This instance affords a striking illustration of the man- ner in which the physical and organic laws are constituted in harmony with, and in subserviency to, the moral law. We see clearly that the leading cause of the construction OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 291 of such erections as the houses in the Old Town of Edin- burgh (with the deprivation of free air, and liability to combustion that attend them), arose from the excessive predominance of Combativeness, Destructiveness, Self- Esteem, and Acquisitiveness, in our ancestors; and although the ancient personages who erected these monu- ments of animal supremacy, had no conception that, in doing so, they were laying the foundations of a severe punishment on themselves and their posterity,—yet, when we compare the comforts and advantages that would have accompanied dwellings constructed under the inspiration of Benevolence, Ideality, and enlightened Intellect, with the contaminating, debasing, and dangerous effects of their workmanship, we perceive most clearly that our an- cestors actually were the instruments of chastising their own transgressions, and of transmitting that chastisement to their posterity so long as the animal supremacy shall be prolonged. Another example may be given. Men, by uniting under one leader, may, in virtue of the social law, acquire prodigious advantages to themselves, which singly they could not obtain; and I stated, that the condition under which the benefits of that law were per- mitted, was, that the leader should know and obey the natural laws that were conducive to success; that if he neglected these, then the same principle which gave the «ocial body the benefit of his observing them, involved them in the punishment of his infringement; and that this was just, because, under the natural law, the leader must necessarily be chosen by the social body, and they were responsible for not attending to his natural qualities. Some illustrations of the consequences of neglect of this law may be stated, in which the mixed operation of tho physical and moral laws will appear. During the French war, a squadron of English men-of- war was sent to the Baltic with military stores, and, in re- turning home up the North Sea, they were beset, for two or three days, by a thick fog. It was about the middle of 292 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION December, and no correct information was possessed of their exact situation. Some of the commanders proposed lying-to all night, and proceeding only during day, to avoid running ashore unawares. The commodore was exceedingly attached to his wife and family, and stated his determination to pass Christmas with them in England, if possible, and ordered the ships to sail straight on their voyage. The very same night they all struck on a sand- bank off the coast of Holland; two ships of the line were dashed to pieces, and every soul on board perished. The third ship drew less water, was forced over the bank by the waves and stranded on the beach; the crew was saved, but led to a captivity of many years' duration. Now, these vessels were destroyed under the physical laws; but this calamity owed its origin to the predominance of the ani- mal over the moral and intellectual faculties in the com- modore. The gratification which he sought to obtain was individual and selfish; and, if his Benevolence, Venera- tion, Conscientiousness, and Intellect, had been as alert, and carried as forcibly home to his mind the operation of the physical laws, and the welfare of the men under his charge; nay, if these faculties had been sufficiently alive to see the danger to which he exposed his own life, and the happiness of his own wife and children,—he never could have followed the precipitate course which consign- ed himself, and so many brave men, to a watery grave, within a few hours after his resolution was formed. Very lately the Ogle Castle East Indiaman was offered a pilot coming up the Channel, but the captain refused assistance, professing his own skill to be sufficient. In a few hours the ship ran aground on a sand-bank, and every human being on board perished in the waves. This also arose from the physical laws, but the unfavorable opera- tion of it sprung from Self-Esteem, pretending to know- ledge which the intellect did not possess; and, as it is only by the latter that obedience can be yielded to the physi- cal laws, the destruction of the ship was indirectly the ON THE NATURAL LAWS. 293 Consequence of infringement of the moral and intellectual laws. An old sailor, whom I lately met on the Queensferry passage, told me, that he had been nearly fifty years at sea, and once was in a fifty-gun ship in the West Indies. The captain, he said, was a ' fine man;' he knew the cli- mate, and foresaw a hurricane coming, by its natural signs; and, on one occasion, in particular, he struck the top- masts, lowered the yards, lashed the guns, and made each man supply himself with food for thirty-six hours; and scarcely was this done when the hurricane came. The ship lay for four hours on her beam ends in the water, but all was prepared; the men were kept in vigor during the storm, and, fit for every exertion; the ship at last righted, suffered little damage, and proceeded on her voy- age. The fleet which she convoyed was dispersed, and a great number of the ships foundered. Here we see the supremacy of the moral and intellectual faculties, and discover to what a surprising extent they present a guar- antee, even against the fury of the physical elements in their highest state of agitation. A striking illustration of the kind of protection afforded by high moral and intellectual qualities, even amidst the most desperate physical circumstances, is furnished by the following letter written by the late Admiral Lord Exmouth to a friend. ' Why do you ask me to relate the wreck of the Dutton?' says his Lordship. ' Susan (Lady Exmouth) and I were driving to a dinner party at Plymouth, when we saw crowds running to the Hoe, and learning it was a wreck, I left the carriage to take her on, and joined the crowd. I saw the loss of the whole five or six hundred men was inevitable without somebody to direct them, for the last officer was pulled on shore as I reached the surf. I urged their return, which was refused; upon which I made the rope fast to myself, and was hauled through the surf on board,—established order, and did not leave her until every soul was saved but the boatswain, who would 25* 294 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION not go before me. I got safe, and so did he, and the ship went all to pieces.' Indeed there is reason to believe that the human intel- lect will, in time, be able, by means of science and obser- vation, to arrive at a correct anticipation of approaching storms, and thus obtain protection against their effects. 'The New Zealanders, it is said, by the accuracy of their observations, predict the changes of the weather with ex- traordinary skill. One evening when Captain Cruise and some of his friends were returning from a long excursion up one of the rivers, although the sky was at the time without a cloud, a native, who sat in the boat with them, remarked, that there would be heavy rain the next day; a prediction which they were the more inclined to believe by finding, when they returned on board the ship, that the barometer had fallen very much, and which the deluge of the fol owing morning completely confirmed.'* The utility of the marine barometer, or the sympie- someter, in indicating approaching storms, is strikingly illustrated by the following extract from the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal. 'The correspondent (Mr. Stevenson, civil engineer) to whom we are indebted for the notice regarding the Scotch fisheries, inserted in this number (p. 129), informs us, that having occasion, towards the conclusion of his voyage, in the beginning of September last, to visit the Isle of Man, he beheld, the interesting spectacle of about three hundred large fishing boats, each from fifteen to twenty tons' bur- den, leaving their various harbors at that island in an ap- parently fine afternoon, and standing directly out to sea, with the intention of prosecuting the fishery under night. He at the same time remarked, that both the common marine barometer, and Adie's sympiesometer, which were in the cabin of his vessel, indicated an approaching change of weather, the mercury falling to 29.5 inches * Library of Entertaining Knowle^e; the New Zealat lers, p. 3S1 OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 295 It became painful, therefore, to witness the scene; more than a thousand industrious fishermen, lulled to security by the fineness of the day, scattering their little barks over the face of the ocean, and thus rushing forward to imminent danger, or probable destruction. At sunset, accordingly, the sky became cloudy and threatening; and in the course of the night it blew a very hard gale, which afterwards continued for three 'days successively. This gale completely dispersed the fleets of boats, and it was not without the utmost difficulty that many of them reach- ed the various creeks of the island. It is believed no lives were lost on this occasion; but the boats were dam- aged, much tackle was destroyed, and the men were un- necessarily exposed to danger and fatigue. During the same storm, it may be remarked, thirteen vessels were either totally lost or stranded between the Isle of Anglesey and St. Bee's Head in Lancashire. Mr. Stevenson re- marks how much it is to be regretted that the barometer is so little in use in the mercantile marine of Great Britain, compared with the trading vessels of Holland; and ob- serves, that though the common marine barometer is per- haps too cumbersome for the ordinary run of fishing and coasting vessels, yet Adie's sympiesometer is so extreme- ly portable, that it may be carried even in a Manx boat. Each lot of such vessels has a commodore, under whose orders the fleet sails: it would therefore be a most desira- ble thing that a sympiesometer should be attached to each commodore's boat, from which a preconcerted signal of an expected gale or change of weather, as indicated by the sympiesometer, could easily be given.'—Edin. Phil. Journ. ii. 196. See also Dr. Neil Arnot's Elements of Physics, vol. i. p. 350. One of the most instructive illustrations of the connec- tion between the different natural laws is presented in Captain Lyon's Brief Narrative of an unsuccessful at- tempt to reach Repulse Bay, in his Majesty's ship Griper, in the year 1824. 296 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION Captain Lyon mentions, that he sailed in the Griper on 13th June 1824, in company with his Majesty's sur- veying vessel Snap, as a store-tender. The Griper was 180 tons burden, and ' drew 16 feet 1 inch abaft, and 15 feet 10 inches forward.'—On the 26th, he ' was sorry to observe that the Griper, from her great depth and sharp- ness forward, pitched very deeply.'—She sailed so ill, that, ' in a stiff breeze, and with studding-sails set, he was unable to get above four knots an hour out of her, and she was twice whirled round in an eddy in the Pentland Frith, from which she could not escape.'—On the 3d July, he says, ' being now fairly at sea, I caused the Snap to take us in tow, which I had declined doing as we passed up the east coast of England, although our little companion had much difficulty in keeping under sufficiently low sail for us, and by noon we had passed the Stack Back.' ' The Snap was of the greatest assistance, the Griper frequently towing at the rate of five knots, in cases where she would have not gone three.'—' On the forenoon of the 16th, the Snap came and took us in tow; but, at noon on the 17th, strong breezes and a heavy swell obliged us again to cast off. We scudded while able, but our depth in the water caused us to ship so many heavy seas, that I most reluctantly brought to under storm stay-sails. This was rendered exceedingly mortifying, by observing that our companion was perfectly dry, and not affected by the sea.'—'When our stores were all on board, we found our narrow decks completely crowded by them. The gang- ways, forecastle, and abaft the mizzen-mast, were filled with casks, hawsers, whale-lines, and stream-cables, while on our straitened lower decks we were obliged to place casks and other stores, in every part but that allotted to the ship's company's mess-tables; and even my cabin had a quantity of things stowed away in it.'—' It may be pro- per to mention, that the Fury, and Hecla, which were enabled to stow three years' provisions, were each exactly double the size of the Griper, and the Griper carried two years' and a half's provisions.' OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 297 Arrived in the Polar Seas, they were visited by a storm, of which Captain Lyon gives the following description:— ' We soon, however, came to fifteen fathoms, and I kept right away, but had then only ten; when, being unable to see far around us, and observing, from the whiteness of the water, that we Were on a bank, I rounded to at 7 a. m,. and tried to bring up with the starboard-anchor and seven- ty fathoms chain, but the stiff breeze and heavy sea caused this to part in half an hour, and we again made sail to the north-eastward; but, finding we came suddenly to seven fathoms, and- that the ship could not possibly work out again, as she would not face the sea, or keep steerage- way on her, I most reluctantly brought her up with three bowers and a stream in succession, yet not before we had shoaled to five and a-half. This was between 8 and 9 A. m., the ship pitching bows under, and a tremendous sea running. At noon, the starboard-bower anchor parted, but the others held. ' As there was every reason to fear the falling of the tide, which we knew to be from twelve to fifteen feet on this coast, and in that case the total destruction of the ship, I caused the long-boat to be hoisted out, and, with the four smaller ones, to be stored to a certain extent with arms and provisions. The officers drew lots for their respective boats, and the ship's company were stationed to them. The long-boat having been filled full of stores which could not be put below, it became requisite to throw them overboard, as there was no room for them on our very small and crowded decks, over which heavy seas were con- stantly sweeping. In making these preparations for taking to the boats, it was evident to all, that the long-boat was the only one that had the slightest chance of living under the lee of the ship, should she be wrecked; but every man and officer drew his lot with the greatest composure, though two of our boats would have swamped the instant they were lowered. Yet, such was the noble feeling of those around me, that it was evident, that, had I ordered 298 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION the boats in question to be manned, their crews would have entered them without a murmur. In the afternoon on the weather clearing a little, we discovered a low beach all around astern of us, on which the surf was running to an awful height, and it appeared evident that no human power could save us. At 3 p. m., the tide had fallen to twenty-two feet, (only six more than we drew,) and the ship, having been lifted by a tremendous sea, struck with great violence the length of her keel. This we naturally conceived was the forerunner of her total wreck, and we stood in readiness to take the boats, and endeavor to hang under her lee. She continued to strike with sufficient force to have burst any less fortified vessel, at intervals of a few minutes whenever an unusually heavy sea passed us. And, as the water was so shallow, these might be called breakers rather than waves, for each in passing burst with great force over our gangways, and, as every sea ' top- ped,' our decks were continually, and frequently deeply, flooded. All hands took a little refreshment, for some had scarcely been below for twenty-four hours, and I had not been in bed for three nights. Although few or none of us had any idea that we should survive the gale, we did not think that our comforts should be entirely neglected, and an order was therefore given to the men to put on their best and warmest clothing, to enable them to support life as long as possible. Every man, therefore, brought his bag on deck, and dressed himself; and in the fine athletic forms which stood before me, I did not see one muscle quiver, nor the slightest sign of alarm. The officers each secured some useful instrument about them, for the purpose of observation, although it was acknowledged by all that not the slightest hope remained. And now that every thing in our power had been done, I called all hands aft, and to a merciful God offered prayers for our preser- vation. I thanked every one for his excellent conduct, and cautioned them, as we should, in all probability, soon appear before our Maker, to enter his presence as men OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 299 resigned to their fate. We then all sat down in groups, and, sheltered from the wash of the sea by whatever we could find, many of us endeavored to obtain a little sleep. Never, perhaps, was witnessed a finer scene than on the deck of my little ship, when all the hope of life had left us. Noble as the character of the British sailor is always allowed to be in cases of danger, yet I did not believe it to be possible, that, amongst forty-one persons, not one repining word should have been uttered. The officers sat about, wherever they could find a shelter from the sea, and the men lay down conversing with each other with the most perfect calmness. Each was at peace with his neighbor and all the world, and I am firmly persuaded that the resignation which was then shown to the will of the Almighty, was the means of obtaining his mercy. At about 6 p. m., the rudder, which had already received some very heavy blows, rose, and broke up the after-lock- ers, and this was the last severe shock that the ship receiv- ed. We found by the well that she made no water, and by dark she struck no more. God was merciful to us, and the tide, almost miraculously, fell no lower. At dark heavy rain fell, but was borne in patience, for it beat down the gale, and brought with it a light air from the north- ward. At 9 p. m. the water had deepened to five fathoms. The ship kept off the ground all night, and our exhausted crew obtained some broken rest.'—P. 76. In humble gratitude for his deliverance, he called the place, ' The Bay of God's mercy,' and ' offered up thanks and praises to God, for the mercy he had shown to us ' On 12th September, they had another gale of wind, with cutting showers of sleet, and a heavy sea. ' At such a moment as this,' says Captain Lyon, ' we had fresh cause to deplore the extreme dulness of the Griper's sailing; for though almost any other vessel would have ivorked off this lea-shore, we made little or no progress on a wind, but re- mained actually pitching, forecastle under, with scarcely steerage-way, to preserve which, I was ultimately obliged to keep her nearly two points off the wind.'—P 98. 300 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION Another storm overtook them, which is described as follows:—' Never shall I forget the dreariness of this most anxious night. Our ship pitched at such a rate, that it was not possible to stand, even below; while on deck we were unable to move, without holding by ropes, which were stretched from side to side. The drift snow flew in such sharp heavy flakes, that we could not look to wind- ward, and it froze on deck to above a foot in depth. The sea made incessant breaches quite fore and aft the ship, and the temporary warmth it gave while it washed over us, was most painfully checked, by its almost immediately freezing on our clothes. To these discomforts were added the horrible uncertainty as to whether the cables would hold until daylight, and the conviction also, that if they failed us, we should instantly be dashed to pieces, the wind blowing directly to the quarter in which we knew the shore must lie. Again, should they continue to hold us, we feared, by the ship's complaining so much forward, that the bitts would be torn up, or that she would settle down at her anchors, overpowered by some of the tremen- dous seas which burst over her. At dawn on the 13th, thirty minutes after four a. m., we found that the best bower cable had parted; and, as the gale now blew with terrific violence from the north, there was little reason to expect that the other anchors would hold long; or, if they did, we pitched so deeply, and lifted so great a body of water each lime, that it was feared the windlass and forecastle would be torn up, or she must go down at her anchors: al- though the ports were knocked out, and a considerable portion of the bulwark cut away, she could scarcely dis- charge one sea before shipping another, and the decks were frequently flooded to an alarming depth. ' At six a. m. all farther doubts on this particular ac- count were at an end; for, having received two over- whelming seas, both the other cables went at the same moment, and we were left helpless, without anchors, or any means of saving ourselves, should the shore, as we OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 301 had every reason to expect, be close astern. And here, again, I had the happiness of witnessing the same general tranquillity as was shown on the 1st of September. There was no outcry that the cables were gone; but my friend Mr. Manico, with Mr. Carr the gunner, came aft as soon as they recovered their legs, and, in the lowest whisper, informed me that the cables had all parted. The ship, in trending to the wind, lay quite down on her broadside, and, as it then became evident that nothing held her, and that she was quite helpless, each man instinctively took his station; while the seamen at the leads, having secured themselves as well as was in their power, repeated their soundings, on which our preservation depended, with as much composure as if we had been entering a friendly port. Here, again, that Almighty power, which had before so mercifully preserved us, granted us his protection."— P. 100. Nothing can be more interesting and moving than this narrative; it displays a great predominance of the moral sentiments and intellect, but sadly unenlightened as to the natural laws. I have quoted, in Captain Lyon's own words, his description of the Griper, loaded to such excess that she drew 16 feet water; that she was incapable of sailing; that she was whirled round in an eddy in the Pent- land Frith; that seas broke over her which did not wet the deck of the little Snap, not half her size. Captain Lyon knew all this, and also the roughness of the climate to which he was steering; and, with these outrages of the physical law staring him in the face, he proceeded on his voyage, without addressing, so far as we perceive, one remonstrance to the Lords of the Admiralty on the subject of this infringement of every principle of common pru- dence. My opinion is, that Captain Lyon was not blind to the errors committed in his equipment, or to their prob- able consequences; but that his powerful sentiment of Veneration, combined with Cautiousness and Love of Approbation (misdirected in this instance), deprived him 26 302 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION of courage to complain to the Admiralty, through fear of giving offence: or that, if he did complain, they have pre- vented him from stating the fact in his narrative. To the tempestuous north he sailed; and his greatest dangers were clearly referable to the very infringements of the physical laws which he describes. When the tide ebbed, his ship reached to within six feet of the bottom, and, in the hollow of every wave, struck with great violence: but she was loaded at least four feet too deeply, by his own account, so that, if he had done his own duty, she would have had four feet of additional water, or ten feet in all, between her and the bottom, even in the hollow of the wave,—a matter of the very last importance, in such a critical situation. Indeed, with four feet more water, she would not have struck. Besides, if less loaded, she would have struck less violently. Again, when pressed upon a lea shore, her incapability of sailing was a most obvious cause of danger: in short, if Providence is to be regarded as the cause of these calamities, there is no impropriety which man can commit, that may not, on the same princi- ples, be charged against the Creator. But the moral law again shines forth in delightful splen- dor, in the conduct of Captain Lyon and his crew, when in the most forlorn condition. Piety, resignation, and manly resolution, then animated them to the noblest ef- forts. On the principle, that the power of accommodating our conduct to the natural laws, depends on the activity of the moral sentiments and intellect, and that the more numerous the faculties that are excited, the greater is the energy communicated to the whole system, I would say, that while Captain Lyon's sufferings were, in a great de- gree., brought on by his infringements of the physical laws, his escape was, in a great measure, promoted by his obe- dience to the moral law; and that Providence, in the whole occurrences, proceeded on the broad and general principle, which sends advantage uniformly as the reward of obe- dience, and evil as the punishment of infringement, of every particular law of creation. OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 303 That storms and tempests have been instituted for some benevolent end, may, perhaps, be acknowledged, when their causes and effects are fully known, which at present is not the case. But, even amidst all our ignorance of these, it is surprising how small a portion of evil they would occasion, if men obeyed the laws which are actually ascertained. How many ships perish from being sent to sea in an old worn out condition, and ill equipped, through mere Acquisitiveness; and how many more, from captains and crews being chosen who are greatly deficient in know- ledge, intelligence, and morality, in consequence of which they infringe the physical laws. The London Courier, of 29th April 1834, contained a list of ten British brigs of war, mostly employed as packet ships, which had founder- ed at sea within the preceding twelve years, owing to bad construction and bad condition; while, it remarked, that not one American private packet ship, out of the vast number constantly sailing between Liverpool and New York, is recollected to have perished in that manner. Such facts show in how small a degree nature is to blame for the calamities of shipwreck, and to how great an extent they arise from human negligence and folly. We ought to look to all these matters, before complaining of storms as natural institutions. The last example of the mixed operation of the natural laws which I shall notice, is that which followed from the mercantile distresses of 1825-6. I have traced the origin of that visitation to excessive activity of Acquisitiveness, and a general ascendency of the animal and selfish faculties over the moral and intellectual powers. The punishments of these offences were manifold. The excesses infringed the moral law, and the chastisement for this was depriva- tion of the tranquil steady enjoyment that flows only from the sentiments, with severe suffering in the ruin of fortune and blasting of hope. These disappointments produced mental anguish and depression; which occasioned unhealthy action in the brain. The action of the brain being dis- 304 OPERATION OF THE NATURAL LAWS. turbed, a morbid nervous influence was transmitted to the whole corporeal system; bodily disease was superadded to mental sorrow, and, in some instances, the unhappy suffer- ers committed suicide to escape from these aggravated evils. Under the organic law, the children produced in this period of mental depression, bodily distress, and or- ganic derangement, will inherit weak bodies, with feeble and irritable minds;—a hereditary chastisement of their fathers' transgressions. In the instances now given, we discover the various laws acting in perfect harmony, and in subordination to the moral and intellectual. If our ancestors had not forsaken the supremacy of the moral sentiments, such fabrics as the houses in the old town of Edinburgh never would have been built; and if the modern proprietors had returned to that law, and kept profligate and drunken inhabitants out of them, the conflagration might still have been avoided. In the case of the ships, we saw, that wherever intellect and sentiment had been relaxed, and animal motives per- mitted to assume the supremacy, evil had speedily follow- ed; and that where the higher powers were called forth, safety had been obtained. And, finally, in the case of the merchants and manufacturers, we traced their calamities directly to placing Acquisitiveness and Ambition above Intellect and Moral Sentiment. Formidable and appalling, then, as these punishments are, yet, when we attend to the laws under which they occur, and perceive that the object and legitimate opera- tion of every one of these laws, when observed, is to pro- duce happiness to man; and that the punishments have the sole object in view of forcing him back to this enjoyment, we cannot, under the supremacy of the moral sentiments and intellect, fail to bow in humility before them, as at once wise, just, and benevolent. ( 305 ) CHAPTER VIII. INFLUENCE OF THE NATURAL LAWS ON THE HAPPI- NESS OF INDIVIDUALS. A formidable objection has often been stated against the Natural Laws, namely, that although, when viewed abstractly, they appear beneficent and just, yet, when applied to individuals, they are undeniably the causes of extensive, severe, and unavoidable suffering; so that while, theoretically, the moral horizon appears to be cleared up, nevertheless, practically and substantially, the obscurity and intricacy remain undiminished. In answer, I have to observe, that, as the whole is just an aggregate of all the parts, if any natural institution, when viewed in its operation in regard to the race, is found to be just and beneficent, it cannot well be cruel and unjust to individuals, who are the component parts of that whole; and this, accordingly, I humbly conceive to admit of something approaching to demonstration. The form of dialogue is perhaps the best way of illustrating the subject, and if, in imitation of some of the classic fables, we suppose the suffering individuals to make an appeal to Jupiter, the law of gravitation may be thus exemplified. It happened in a remote period, that a slater slipped from the roof of a high building, in consequence of a stone of the ridge having given way as he Avalked upright along it; he fell to the ground, had a leg broken, and was otherwise severely bruised. As he lay in bed suffering severe pain from his misfortune, he addressed Jupiter in these words: ' O Jupiter, thou art a cruel god, for thou hast made me so frail and imperfect a being, that I had not 26* 306 INFLUENCE OF THE NATURAL LAWS faculties to perceive my danger, nor power to arrest my fall when its occurrence showed how horrible an evil awaited me. It were better for me that I had never been.' Jupiter, graciously bending his ear, heard the address, and answered: 'Of what law of mine dost thou complain?' 'Of the law of gravitation,' replied the slater; 'by its operation, the slight slip which my foot made upon the stone, which, quite unknown to me, was loose, precipitated me to the earth, and crushed my organized frame, never calculated to resist such violence.' 'I restore thee to thy station on the roof,' said Jupiter, ' heal all thy bruises, and, to convince thee of my benevolence, I suspend the law of gravitation as to thy body and all that is related to it; art thou now content?' The slater, in deep emotion, offered up gratitude and thanks, and expressed the profoundest reverence for so just and beneficent a deity. In the very act of doing so, he found himself in perfect health, erect upon the ridge of the roof, and, rejoicing, gazed around. His wonder, at so strange an event, having at last abated, he endeavored to walk along the ridge to arrive at the spot which he in- tended to repair: But the law of gravitation was suspended; and his body did not press upon the roof. There being no pressure, there was no resistance, and his legs moved backwards and forwards in the air without his body making progress in space. Alarmed at this occurrence, he stooped, seized his trowel, lifted it full of mortar, and made the motion of throwing it on the slates; but the mortar, freed from the trowel, hung in mid air; the law of gravitation was suspended as to it also. Nearly frantic with terror at such unexpected novelties of existence, he endeavored to descend to seek relief; but the law of grav- itation was suspended as to his body, and it hung poised at the level of the ridge, like a balloon in the air. He tried to fling himself headlong down, to get rid of the uneasy sensation, but his body floated erect, and would not move downwards. ON THE HAPPINESS OF INDIVIDUALS 307 In an agony of consternation, he called once more upon Jupiter. He, ever kind and compassionate, heard his cry and pitied his distress, and asked, ' What evil hath be- fallen thee now, that thou art not yet content; have I not suspended, at thy request, the law which made thee fall? Now thou art safe from bruises and from broken limbs; why, then, dost thou still complain?' The slater answered, ' In deep humiliation, I acknow- ledge my ignorance and presumption; restore me to my couch of pain, but give me back the benefits of thy law of gravitation.' 'Thy wish is granted,' said Jupiter in reply. The slater in a moment lay on his bed of sickness, endured the visitation of the organic law, was restored to health, and again mounted to the roof that caused his recent pain. He thanked Jupiter anew from the depths of his soul, for the law of gravitation, with its countless benefits; and ap- plied his faculties to study and obey it during the remain- der of his life. This study opened up to him new and wonderful perceptions of the Creator's beneficence and wisdom, of which he had never even dreamed before; these views so excited and gratified his moral and intellec- tual powers, that he seemed to himself to have entered on a new existence. Ever after he observed the law of gravitation, and, in a good old age, when his organic frame was fairly worn out by natural decay, he transmitted his trade, his house, and much experience and wisdom, to his son, and died thanking and blessing Jupiter for hav- ing opened his eyes to the true theory of his scheme of creation. The attention of Jupiter was next attracted, by the loud groans and severe complaints of a husbandman, who ad- dressed him thus: ' O Jupiter, I lie here racked with pain, and pass the hours in agony without relief. Why hast thou created me so miserable a being?' Jupiter answered, ' What aileth thee, and of what institution of mine dost thou complain?' The husbandman replied, 'The earth which 308 INFLUENCE OF THE NATURAL LAWS thou hast made will yield me no food, unless I till and sow it; and no increase, except it be watered by thy rain. While I guided my plough in obedience to thy law, thy rain came, and it fell not only on the earth, but on me; it penetrated through the clothes which I had been obliged to make for myself, because thou hadst left me naked; it cooled my skin, which thou hadst rendered delicate and sensible; it disordered all the functions of my organized frame, and now rheumatic fever parches my blood, and agonizes every muscle. O Jupiter, thou art not a kind father to thy children.' Jupiter heard the complaint, and graciously replied, ' My physical and organic laws were established for thy advantage and enjoyment, and thou hast grievously in- fringed them; the pain thou sufferest is intended to reclaim thee to thy duty, and I have constituted thy duty the high- est joy of thy existence; but say, what dost thou desire?' The husbandman answered, ' What, O Jupiter, signify the purposes of thy laws to me, when thou hast denied mo faculties to discover and obey them?—Frail and fallible as I am, they cause me only pain; deliver me from their effects, and I ask no other boon?' 1 Thy prayer is granted,' said Jupiter; 'I restore thee to perfect health, and, for thy gratification, I suspend the laws that have offended thee. Henceforth water shall not wet thee or thine, thy skin shall feel cold no more, and thy muscles shall never ache. Art thou now contented?' ' Most gracious Jupiter,' said the husbandman, ' my soul is melted with deepest gratitude, and I now adore thee as supremely good.' While he spoke he found himself afield behind his team, healthful and vigorous, jocund and gay, and again blessed Jupiter for his merciful dispensation. The season was spring, when yet the chill blast of the north, the bright blaze of a powerful sun, and rain, interchange in quick and varying succession. He drove his plough along, the rain descended, but it wet not him; the sharp winds ON THE HAPPINESS OF INDIVIDUALS. 309 blew, but they chilled no fibre in his frame; the flood of heat next poured upon his brow, but no sweat started from its pores; the physical and organic laws were suspended as to him. Rejoicing in his freedom from annoyance and pain, he returned gladly home to meet his smiling family, after the labors of the day. It had been his custom in the evening to put off the garments in which during day he had toiled, to clothe himself in linen fresh from the fold; to sup on milk prepared by his wife, with savory fruits and spices; and to press his children to his bosom with all the fervor of a parent's love: and he used to feel a thrill of pleasure pervading every nerve, as they acknowledged and returned the affectionate embrace. He looked to find the linen clean, cool, delicately dressed, and lying in its accustomed place; but it was not there. He called to his wife to fetch it, half chiding her for neglect. With wonder and dismay depicted in every feature, she narrated a strange adventure. With the morning sun she had risen to accomplish her wonted duty, but, although the water wetted every thread that clothed other individuals, it moistened not a fibre of his. She boiled it on a powerful fire, and applied every means that affection, enlightened by intellect, could devise, but the result was still the same; water glided over his clothes, and would not wet them. ' The physical law ' (said the hus- bandman within himself) ' is suspended as to me; hence- forth water wetteth not me and mine.' He said no more, but placed himself at table, and smiled over his lovely family. He lifted his youngest child upon his knee, a girl just opening in her bloom, pressed her to his bosom, and kissed her ruddy cheek. But he started when he experienced no sensation. He saw her with his eyes, and heard her speak, but had no feeling of her presence. His knee was as stone; his bosom as marble; and his lips as steel; no sensation penetrated through his skin. He plac- ed her on the floor, looked wistfully on her form, graceful, 310 INFLUENCE OF THE NATURAL LAWS vivacious, and instinct with love; and, as if determined to enjoy the well remembered pleasure now withheld, he clasped her to his bosom with an embrace so ardent that she screamed with pain. Still he was all adamant; no sen- sation reached his soul. He sent her away, heaved a deep sigh, and again the thought entered his very soul, that 'the organic law is suspended as to me.' Recollecting well the sweet gratifications of his evening meal, he seized a bowl, and delicately began to sip, exciting every papilla of the tongue to catch the grateful flavor. But no flavor reached his mind; the liquid glided over his gustatory organs like quicksilver over the smooth surface of a mir- ror, without impression, and without leaving a trace be- hind. He started now in horror, and his spirit sank within him, when he thought that henceforth he should live without sensation. He rushed into the fields, and called aloud on Jupiter, ' O Jupiter, I am the most miserable of men; I am a being without sensation. Why hast thou made me thus?' Jupiter heard his cry, and answered, ' I have suspended the physical and organic laws, to which thou ascribedst thy fever and thy pain; henceforth no pang shall cause thy nerves to shrink, or thy muscles to quiver; why, then, art thou thus unhappy, and why discontented with thy new condition?' 'O Jupiter,' replied the husbandman, 'but thou hast taken away from me sensation; I no longer feel the grate- ful breath of morn fanning my cheek as I drive my team afield; the rose diffuses its fragrance for me in vain; the ruddy grape, the luscious fig, the cooling orange, and the fresh fountain, to me are now savorless as adamant or air; my children are as stones; O, Jupiter, I am utterly wretched, I am a man without sensation! ' 'Unhappy mortal,' replied the god, 'how can I afford thee satisfaction? When I gave thee nerves to feel, and muscles to execute the purposes of thy mind, and bestowed on thee water to refresh thy palate, and made thy whole ON THE HAPPINESS OF INDIVIDUALS. 311 frame one great inlet of enjoyment, thou wert not content. I made thy nerves liable to pain, to warn thee when thou departedst from my laws. The rain that was sent fell to fructify and refresh the earth, and not to injure thee. I saw thee, while the showers descended, stay abroad, re- gardless of its influence on thy corporeal frame. The northern blast received from me its piercing cold, to warn thee of its effects; and yet I saw thee, wet and shivering, stand in its course, regardless of its power. In the voice of the storm I spake to thy understanding, but thou didst not comprehend. The fever that parched thy blood was sent to arrest thee in thy departures from my organic laws. If I restore to thee my institutions, thou mayst again forget my ways, and in misery impeach my justice.' ' O most gracious Jupiter,' cried the husbandman, 'now I see thy power and wisdom, and my own folly and pre- sumption. I accept thy laws, and gratefully acknowledge, that, even in the chastisements they inflict, they are beneficent. Restore to me the enjoyments of sensation; permit me once more to reap the advantages that flow from the just uses of rny nerves and muscles, and I bow with resignation to the punishment of misapplying them.' Jupiter granted his request. His fever and pains returned; but by medicine were relieved. He slowly recovered health and strength, and never after embraced his chil- dren, or enjoyed a meal, but he poured forth a deeper offering of gratitude than he had ever done before. He was now instructed concerning the source of his enjoy- ments; he studied the laws of his nature and obeyed them; and when he suffered for occasional deviations he hastened back to the right path, and never again under- went so severe a punishment as the first. ■ Just as the husbandman resumed his wonted labors, a new voice was heard calling loudly to Jupiter for relief. It proceeded from a young heir writhing in agony, who cried, ' O Jupiter, my father committed debaucheries, for -which my bones are pierced with liquid fire, gout teareth 312 INFLUENCE OF THE NATURAL LAWS my flesh asunder; thou art not just to punish me for his transgressions; deliver me, O Jupiter, or renounce thy character for benevolence and justice.' 'Thou complain- est of my law of hereditary descent,' said Jupiter; ' Hast thou derived from thy father any other quality besides gout?' 'O Jupiter,' said the sufferer, 'I have derived nerves that feel sweet pleasure, when the gout ceaseth its gnawing; muscles that execute the purposes of my will; senses that are inlets of joy; and faculties that survey and rejoice in thy fair creation: But why didst thou permit gout to descend from him who sinned, to me?' 'Short-sighted mortal,' said Jupiter; 'thy father was afflicted because he infringed my institutions; by my or- ganic law, thou hast received a frame constituted as was that of thy father, when thy life commenced; the delicate sensibility of his nerves transmitted the same susceptibility to thine; the vigor of his muscles has been transferred into'thine; and by the same law, the liability to pain that existed in his bones from debauchery, constituted an in- separable element of thine: If this law afflict thee speak the word, and I shall suspend it as to thee.' 'Bountiful Jupiter!' said the sufferer; 'but tell me first, if thou suspendest thy law, shall I lose all that I inherited by it from my father; nerves, muscles, senses, faculties, and all that constitute my delight, when the gout afflicteth me not?'—' Assuredly thou shalt,'said Jupiter, 'but thou shalt have no organic pain.' ' Forbear, most bounteous deity,'replied the sufferer; ' I gratefully accept the gift of thy organic laws, with all their chastisements annexed: But say, O Jupiter, if this pain was inflicted on my father for transgressing thy law, may it not be lessened or removed, if I obey?3 'The very object of my law,' said Jupiter, 'is that it should. Hadst thou proceeded as thy father did, thy whole frame would have become one great centre of dis- ease. The pain was transmitted to thee to guard thee by a powerful monitor from pursuing his sinful ways, that ON THE HAPPINESS OF INDIVIDUALS. 313 thou mightest escape this greater misery. Adopt a course in accordance with my institutions, thy pain shall abate, and thy children shall be free from its effects.' The heir expressed profound resignation to the will of Jupiter, blessed him for his organic law, and entered upon a life of new and strict obedience. His pain through time diminished, and his enjoyments increased. Ever after he was grateful for the law. A feeble voice next reached the vault of Heaven: It was that of an infant, sick and in pain. ' What is thy distress, poor child,' said Jupiter, ' and of what dost thou complain?' Half drowned in sobs, the feeble voice replied, * I suffer under thy organic law. A father's sickness, and a mother's disordered frame, have been transmitted and combined in me. I am all over exhaustion and pain.'— 'Hast thou received no other gift,' said Jupiter, 'but sickness and disease, no pleasure to thy nerves, thy mus- cles, or thy mental powers?' 'All are so feeble,' replied the child, 'that I exist not to enjoy but to suffer.' 'Poor infant,' said Jupiter, ' my organic law will soon deliver thee, and I shall take thee to myself.' The organic law instantly operated, the body of the child lay a lifeless mass, but suffered no more; its spirit dwelt with Jupiter. The next prayer was addressed by a merchant strug- gling on the Mediterranean waves, and nigh sinking in their foam. ' What evil dost thou charge against me,' said Jupiter, 'and what dost thou require?' ' O, Jupiter,' said the supplicant, ' I sailed from Tyre to Rome, in a ship, which thou seest on fire, loaded with all the merchandise acquired by my previous toils. As I lay here at anchor off the port of Syracuse, whither business called me, a sailor, made by thee, thirsted after wine, stole it from my store, and, in intoxication, set my ship and goods on fire; and I am now plunged in the blue waves to die by water, to escape the severer pain of being consumed by fire. Why, if thou are just, should the innocent thus suffer for the guilty?' 27 314 INFLUENCE OF THE NATURAL LAWS ' Thou complainest, then,' said Jupiter, ' of my social law? Since this law displeaseth thee, I restore thee to thy ship, and suspend it as to thee.' The merchant, in a moment, saw his ship entire; the blazing embers restored to vigorous planks; himself and all his crew sound in limb, and gay in mind, upon her deck. Joyous and grateful, he addressed thanksgiving to the god, and called to his crew to weigh the anchor, set the sails, and turn the helm for Rome. But no sailor heard him speak, and no movement followed his words. Astonished at their indolence and sloth, he cried, in a yet louder voice, and inquired why none obeyed his call. But no answer was given. He saw the crew move and speak, act and converse; but they seemed not to observe him. He entreated, remonstrated, and upbraided; but no reply was given. All seemed unconscious of his presence. Unconscious of his presence! The awful thought rushed into his mind, that the social law was suspended as to him. He now saw, in all its horror, the import of the words of Jupiter, which before he had not fully comprehended. Terrified, he seized a rope, and set a sail. Every physi- cal law was entire, and obeyed his will. The sail filled, and strained forward from the mast. He ran to the helm, it obeyed his muscles, and the ship moved as he directed it. But its course was short, the anchor was down, and stop- ped its progress in the sea. He lowered the sail, seized a handspike, and attempted to weigh; but in vain. The strength of ten men was required to raise so ponderous an anchor. Again he called to his crew: but the social law was suspended as to him; he was absolved thenceforth from all suffering, caused by misconduct of others, but he was cut off from every enjoyment and advantage from their assistance. In despair he seized the boat, rowed it into the port of Syracuse, and proceeded straight to his commercial cor- respondent there, to beg his aid in delivering him from the indolence of his crew. He saw his friend, addressed him, ON THE HAPPINESS OF INDIVIDUALS. 315 and told him all his labors to leave the anchorage; but his friend seemed quite unconscious of his presence. He did not even look upon him, but proceeded in business of his own, with which he seemed entirely occupied. The mer- chant, wearied with fatigue, and almost frantic with alarm, hurried to a tavern on the quay, where he used to dine, and entering, called for wine, to recruit his exhausted strength. But the servants seemed unconscious of his presence, no movement was made; and he remained, as it were, in a vast solitude, amidst large companies of merchants, servants and assistants, who all bustled in active gaiety, each fulfilling his duty in his own department. The merchant now comprehended all the horrors of his situation, and called aloud to Jupiter. ' O Jupiter, death in the blue waves, or even by consuming flame, were better than the life thou hast assigned me. Let me die, for my cup of misery is full beyond endurance. Restore me the enjoyments of thy social law, and I hail its pains as blessings.' ' But,' said Jupiter, ' if I restore to thee my social law, thy ship will be consumed, thou and thy crew will escape in thy boat, but thou shalt be a very beggar; and, in thy poverty, thou wilt upbraid me for dealing thus unjustly by thee.' ' O bountiful Jupiter,' replied the merchant, ' I never knew till now what enjoyments I owed to thy social law, how rich it renders me, even when all else is gone; and how poor I would be, with all the world for a possession, if denied its blessings. True, I shall be poor; but my nerves, muscles, senses, propensities, sentiments and in- tellect will be left me: now I see that employment of these is the only pleasure of existence; poverty will not cut me off from exercising these powers in obedience to thy laws, but will rather add new excitements to my doing so. Under thy social law, will not the sweet voice of friend- ship cheer me in poverty, the ecstatic burst of adoration of thee lift my soul to heaven; will not the aid of kindred 316 INFLUENCE OF THE NATURAL LAWS and of my fellow men soothe the remainder of my days? and, besides, now that I see thy designs, I shall avoid employing my fellow men in situations unsuitable to their talents, and thereby escape the penalties of infringing thy social law. Most merciful Jupiter, restore to me the benefit of all thy laws, and I accept the penalties attached to their infringement.' His request was granted; ever after he made Jupiter's laws and the nature of man his study; he obeyed them, became moderately rich, and found himself happier than he had ever been in his day3 of selfishness and ignorance. Jupiter was assailed by many other prayers from unfor- tunate sufferers under infringement of his laws; but, in- stead of hearing each in endless succession, he assembled his petitioners, and introduced to them the slater, the hus- bandman, the young heir, and the merchant, and request- ed them to narrate their knowledge and experience of the natural laws; and he intimated, that if, after listening to their account, any petitioner was not satisfied with his condition, he would suspend for him the particular law which caused him discontent. But no application follow- ed. Jupiter saw his creatures employ themselves with real earnestness to study and observe his institutions, and ever after they offered up to him only gratitude and adora- tion for his infinite goodness and wisdom. C 317 ) CHAPTER IX. ON THE RELATION BETWEEN SCIENCE AND SCRIPTURE. Since the first edition of this work was published, ob- jections have been stated that the views maintained in it are at variance with Revelation, and hostile to the inter- ests of Religion. It is gratifying, however, to know, that they have not been urged by any individual of the least eminence in theology, or countenanced by persons of enlarged views of Christian doctrine. On the contrary, many excellent individuals, of unquestionable piety and benevolence, have widely recommended this work as con- taining the philosophy of practical Christianity, and have aided in its distribution. It is therefore rather on account of the interest of the inquiry itself, than from any feeling of the necessity of a defence, that I enter into the follow- ing discussion of the relation between Scripture and Science; and as in a question of this nature authorities are entitled to great weight, I shall commence by citing the opinion of one of the most learned, talented, and ac- complished divines of the present day, the Archbishop of Dublin. A few years ago, a Professorship of Political Economy was founded in Oxford by Mr. Drummond, with a novel constitution. The professor holds his office for only five years, and it is a condition that one lecture, at least, shall be published every year. Dr. Whately, now Archbishop of Dublin, was the second individual elected to the chair, and, in compliance with the statute, he, in 1831, published eight lectures on the science. They are introductory in their character, being intended chiefly to dispel popular prejudices against political economy, and to unfold its 27* 318 ON THE RELATION BETWEEN objects. They contain several admirable observations, calculated to remove prejudices against the pursuit of new truths, which are directly applicable to the subject of this work, and on this account I present them to the readers. 'It has been my first object,' says Dr. Whately, in his preface, ' to combat the prevailing prejudices against the study, and especially those which represent it as unfavor- able to religion.' ' In proportion,' he continues, ' as any branch of study leads to important and useful results, in proportion as it gains ground in public estimation,—in proportion as it tends to overthrow prevailing errors—in the same degree it may be expected to call forth angry declamation from those who are trying to despise what they will not learn, and wedded to prejudices which they cannot defend. Gali- leo probably would have escaped persecution, if his dis- coveries could have been disproved, and his reasonings refuted.' 'That political economy should have been com- plained of as hostile to religion, will probably be regarded a century hence (should the fact be then on record) with the same wonder, almost approaching to incredulity, with which we, of the present day, hear of men sincerely opposing, on religious grounds, the Copernican system. But till the advocates of Christianity shall have become universally much better acquainted with the true character of their religion, than, universally, they have ever yet been, we must always expect that every branch of study, every scientific theory that is brought into notice, will be assailed on religious grounds, by those who either have not studied the subject, or who are incompetent judges of it; or again, who are addressing themselves to such persons as are so circumstanced, and wish to excite and to take advantage of the passions of the ignorant. Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo. Some there are who sincerely believe that the Scriptures contain revelations of truths the most distinct from religion. Such persons pro- cured, accordingly, a formal condemnation (very lately SCIENCE AND SCRIPTURE. 319 rescinded) of the theory of the earth's motion, as at vari- ance with Scripture. In Protestant countries, and now, it seems, even in Popish, this point has been conceded; but that the erroneous principle—that of appealing to revela- tion on questions of physical science—has not yet been entirely cleared away, is evident from the objections which most of you probably may have heard to the researches of geology. The objections against astronomy have been abandoned, rather, perhaps, from its having been made to appear, that the Scripture accounts of the phenomena of the heavens may be reconciled with the conclusions of science, than from its being understood that Scripture is not the test by which the conclusions of science are to be tried.' ' It is not a sign of faith—on the contrary, it indicates rather a want of faith, or else a culpable indolence—to decline meeting any theorist on his own ground, and to cut short the controversy by an appeal to the authority of Scripture. For, if we really are convinced of the truth of Scripture, and consequently of the falsity of any theory, (of the earth, for instance) which is really at variance with it, we must needs believe that that theory is also at vari- ance with observable phenomena; and we ought not there- fore to shrink from ti} ing the question by an appeal to these.' ' God has not revealed to us a system of morality, such as would have been needed for a being who had no other means of distinguishing right and wrong. On the contrary, the inculcation of virtue and reprobation of vice in Scripture, are in such a tone as seem to presuppose a natural power, or a capacity for acquiring the power to distinguish them. And if a man, denying or renouncing all claims of natural conscience, should practise without scruple every thing he did not find expressly forbidden in Scripture, and think himself not bound to do any thing that is not there expressly enjoined, exclaiming at every turn— ' Is it so nominated in the Bond"?' he would be leading a life very unlike what a Christian's should be. Since, then, we are bound to use our own 320 ON THE RELATION BETWEEN natural faculties in the search after all truth that is within the reach of those faculties, most especially ought we to try, by their own proper evidence, questions which form no part of revelation properly so called, but which are incidentally alluded to in the Sacred Writings. If we appeal to the Scriptures on any such points, it should be merely as to an ancient book, not in reference to their sa- cred character; in short, not as Scripture.'—Pp. 29 to 36. These observations are highly philosophical and worthy of attention; the more so that their author is a divine, and now a high dignitary in the church of Ireland. The science of geology also, has been fiercely attacked as hostile to religion, and been ably defended by the Rev. Adam Sedgwick, one of its most eminent professors. In the Appendix to his Discourse on the Studies of the Uni- versity of Cambridge, he has added some valuable and instructive notes, in the last of which he reproves, with great eloquence and severity, the bigoted and ignorant individuals who ' dare to affirm that the pursuits of natural science are hostile to religion.' He also chastises those writers who have endeavored to falsify the facts and con- clusions of geology, for the purpose of flattering the reli- gious prejudices of the public. ' There is another class of men,' says he, 'who pursue geology by a nearer road, and are guided by a different light. Well intentioned they may be; but they have betrayed no small self-sufficiency, along with a shameful want of knowledge of the fundamen- tal facts they presume to write about; hence they have dishonored the literature of this country by Mosaic geology, Scripture geology, and other works of cosmogony with kindred titles, wherein they have overlooked the aim and end of revelation, tortured the book of life out of its proper meaning, and wantonly contrived to bring about a collision between natural phenomena and the word of God.' (P. 150.) The following observations of the same author are ex- ceedingly just, and completely applicable to the principles SCIENCE AND SCRIPTURE. 321 expounded in the present work, as well as to geology. 'A Brahmin crushed with a stone the microscope that first showed him living things among the vegetables of his daily food. The spirit of the Brahmin lives in Christendom. The bad principles of our nature are not bounded by caste or climate; and men are still to be found, who, if not re- strained by the wise and humane laws of their country, would try to stifle by personal violence, and crush by brute force, every truth not hatched among their own conceits, and confined within the narrow fences of their own igno- rance.' (P. 151.) ' We are told by the wise man not to answer a fool ac- cording to his folly; and it would indeed be a vain and idle task to engage in controversy with this school of false philosophy—to waste our breath in the forms of exact rea- soning, unfitted to the comprehension of our antagonists— to draw our weapons in a combat where victory could give no honor. Before a geologist can condescend to reason with such men, they must first learn geology.* It is too much to call upon us to scatter our seed on a soil at once both barren and unreclaimed—it is folly to think, that we can in the same hour be stubbing up the thorns and reap- ing the harvest. All the writers of this school have not indeed sinned against plain sense to the same degree. With some of them there is perhaps a perception of the light of natural truth, which may lead them after a time to follow it in the right road; but the case of others is beyond all hope from the powers of rational argument. Their po- sition is impregnable while they remain within the fences of their ignorance, which is to them as a wall of brass; for (as was well said, if I remember right, by Bishop Warbur- ton, of some bustling fanatics of his own day) there is no weak side of common sense whereat we may attack them. If cases like these yield at all, it must be to some treatment * This remark is peculiarly applicable to those who oppose Phrenology, and the doctrine of the Natural Laws. Such of them as are serious do so ia profound ignorance of the whole subject, 322 ON THE RELATION BETWEEN which suits the inveteracy of their nature, and not to the weapons of reason. As psychological phenomena, they are, however, well deserving of our study; teaching us among other things, how prone man is to turn his best fac- ulties to evil purposes—and how, at the suggestions of van- ity and other bad principles of his heart, he can become so far deluded, as to fancy that he is doing honor to religion, while he is sacrificing the common charities of life, and arraigning the very workmanship of God.' (Pp. 151, 152.) After the examples which these passages afford, of mis- directed zeal for religion leading to opposition to the most useful and interesting investigations, we need not be sur- prised that the doctrine of the natural laws also has mel with a similar reception. The charge is made that it leads to infidelity, and that its principles are irreconcilable with Scripture. It may be useful to observe, that in all ages new doc- trines have been charged with impiety, and that Chris- tianity itself has offered no exception to this rule. The Greeks and Romans charged Christianity with ' impiety and novelty.' In Cave's Primitive Christianity, we are in- formed that ' the Christians were every where accounted a pack of Atheists, and their religion the Atheism.' They were donominated ' mountebank impostors,' and ' men of a desperate and unlawful faction.' They were represented ' as destructive and pernicious to human society,' and were accused of ' sacrilege, sedition, and high treason.' The same system of misrepresentation and abuse was practised by the Roman Catholics against the Protestants, at the Reformation,—' Some called their dogs Calvin; and others transformed Calvin into Cain.' In France, ' the old and stale calumnies, formerly invented against the first Chris- tians, were again revived by Demochares, a doctor of the Sorbonne, pretending that all the disasters of the state were to be attributed to Protestants alone.' If the views of human nature expounded in this work be untrue, the proper answer to them is a demonstration of SCIENCE AND SCRIPTURE. 323 their falsity. If they be true, they are mere enunciations of the institutions of the Creator, and it argues supersti- tious and not religious feelings, to fear evil consequences from the knowledge of what Divine Wisdom has appointed. The argument that the results of the doctrine are obviously at variance with Scripture, and that therefore the doctrines cannot be true, is not admissible, ' for,' in the words of Dr Whately, ' if we really are convinced of the truth of Scrip- ture, and consequently of the falsity of any theory (of tho earth for instance), which is really at variance with it, we must needs believe that that theory is also at variance with observable phenomena; and we ought not therefore to shrink from trying the question by an appeal to these.' Galileo was told from high authority in the church, that his doctrine of the revolution of the globe was obviously at variance with Scripture, and that therefore it could not be true; but, as his opinions were founded on physical facts, which could neither be concealed or denied, they neces- sarily prevailed. If there had been a real opposition between Scripture and nature, the only result would have been a demonstration, that Scripture in this particular in- stance was erroneously interpreted, because the evidence of physical nature is imperishable and insuperable, and cannot give way to any authority whatever. The same consequence will evidently happen in regard to phrenology. If it were possible that any facts in physiology did actually and directly contradict any interpretation of Scripture, it is not difficult to perceive which must yield. The human understanding cannot resist evidence founded on nature, and even if it did resist, Nature would not bend, but con- tinue to operate in her own way in spite of the resistance, and a new and more correct interpretation of Scripture would ultimately become inevitable. Opposition between science and revelation I sincerely believe to be impossible, when the facts in nature are correctly observed, and divine truth is correctly interpreted; but I put the case thus strongly to call the serious attention of religious persons to 324 ON THE RELATION BETWEEN the mischievous consequences to religion, of rashly de- nouncing any doctrine professing to be founded on natural facts, as adverse to revelation. Every instance in which the charge is made falsely, is a gross outrage against rev- elation itself, and tends to lead men to regard Scripture as an obstacle to the progress of science and civilization, in- stead of being a system of divine wisdom, in harmony with all natural truth. All existing interpretations of Scripture have been adop- ted in ignorance of the fact, that, cceteris paribus, a brain in which the animal organs preponderate greatly over the moral and intellectual organs, has a native and instinctive tendency to immoral conduct, and vice versa; and that the influence of the organization is fundamental—that is to say, that no means are yet known in nature, by which a brain of the inferior combination may be made to manifest the moral and intellectual faculties with the same success as a brain of the superior combination. Only phrenologists, who have observed, for many years, in various situations, and under different influences, the practical conduct of individuals constituted in these different ways, can con- ceive the importance of the combinations of the organs; but after it is discovered, the inferences from it are irresis- tible. The religious teachers of mankind are yet ignorant of the most momentous fact in regard to the moral and intellectual improvement of the race which nature contains. I have heard it said that Christianity affords a better and a more instantaneous remedy for human depravity, than improvement in the cerebral organization; because the moment a man is penetrated by the love of God in Christ, his moral and religious affections and intellect become far stronger and more elevated, whatever his brain may be, than those of any individual whatever without that love, however high his cerebral development, and however much he may be instructed in natural knowledge. I ob- serve, however, that in this life a man cannot become penetrated by the love of God, except through the aid of SCIENCE AND SCRIPTURE, 325 sound and sufficient material organs. This fact is directly proved by cases of madness and idiocy. Disease in the organs is the cause of insanity, and mere deficiency in size in them, is one, and an invariable cause of idiocy. In neither of these states can the mind receive the advantao-es of the Christian doctrine. These facts show that the power of receiving and appreciating Christianity itself is modified by the condition of the brain, and I venture to affirm, that the influence of the organs does not terminate with these extreme cases, but operates in all circumstances, and in every individual, aiding or impeding the reception and efficacy even of revelation. If this were not the case, there would be a power in operation capable of influencing the human mind, during life, without the intervention of material organs; and, accordingly, many excellent persons believe this to be Scriptural truth, and matter of experience also: But those who entertain this opinion are not instruc- ted in the functions of the brain; are not aware of the universally admitted facts, which establish, that while life continues, the mind cannot act or be acted upon except through the medium of organs; nor do they bring forward one example of idiots and madmen being rendered pious, practical, and enlightened Christians by this power, not- withstanding the state of their brains. Cases indeed occur in which religious feelings co-exist with partial idiocy or partial insanity; but in them the organs by means of which these sentiments are manifested, will be discovered to be well developed,—and if the feelings be sound, the organs will be found to be unaffected by disease. Serious persons who are offended by this doctrine con- stantly forget that the reciprocal influence of the mind and the brain is not of man's devising, but that God himself established it, and conferred on the organs those qualities which He saw to be necessary for executing the purposes to which He had appointed them. If the statements now made be unfounded, I shall be the first to give them up; but believing them to be true, I cannot avoid adhering to 28 326 ON THE RELATION BETWEEN them. When, therefore, I add, that I have never seen an individual with large animal, and small moral and intellec- tual organs, whose conduct was steadily moral, under the ordinary temptations of life, however high his religious professions might be, I merely state a fact which the Cre- ator himself has decreed to exist. Indeed, I have seen several striking instances of persons, who, after making a great profession of religion, ultimately disgraced it; and I have observed, without one exception, that, in all these instances, the organs of the inferior propensities were large, and those of one or more of the moral sentiments deficient; and I am convinced-that the same conclusion, after sufficiently accurate and extensive observation, will force itself upon all candid and reflecting minds. My inference, therefore, is, that the Divine Spirit, re- vealed in Scripture as a power influencing the human mind, invariably acts in harmony with the laws of organi- zation; because the latter, as emanating from the same source, can never be in contradiction with the former; and that a well constituted brain is a condition essential to the due manifestation of Christian dispositions. If this be really the fact, and if the constitution of the brain be in any degree regulated by the laws of physiology, it is im- possible to doubt that a knowledge of the natural laws is destined to exercise a vast influence in rendering men capable of appreciating and practising Christianity. The manner in which it will do so, is explained in Dr. Combe's work on 'Physiology applied to Health and Education,' already alluded to. It contains an exposition of the laws of action of the brain and its connection with and influence on the rest of the system, and therefore its application gen erally to human improvement. An admirable portion of Christianity is that in which the supremacy of the moral sentiments is explained and enforced as a practical doctrine. ' Love thy neighbor as thyself;' all mankind are thy neighbors; blessed are the meek and the merciful; love those that hate you and SCIENCE AND SCRIPTURE. 327 despitefully use you; seek that which is pure and holy, and of good report;—these are precepts of Scripture. Now, I have endeavored to show, that the human faculties, and external nature, are so constituted as to admit of this becoming a practical doctrine on earth, an idea which it has rarely entered into the heart of man to conceive as a possibility without miraculous interference. If the philos- ophy now explained shall carry home to the conviction of rational men, that the order of nature, by the development of its inherent resources, fairly admits of the practical ex- emplification of these precepts, a new direction must ne- cessarily be given to the pursuits of the religious instruc- tors of mankind. Christianity, after its establishment by Constantine, was left to exert its own influence over the Roman Empire, unaided by printing and natural science. It is recorded in history, that it did not suffice to arrest the decline of morals and the downfall of the State, but was itself corrupted and perverted. In the dark ages which followed the subversion of that Empire, it was again left, unaided by human learning, tb do its best for the regener- ation of mankind; and it became a vast system of supersti- tion. It was only after the invention of printing, and the revival of letters, that the barbarous superstructures which had been raised on the simple foundations of the Gospel, were cleared away. But the period from the revival of letters to the present day, has been the age of scholastic learning, as contradistinguished from that of philosophy and science. Christianity stands before us, therefore, at present, as interpreted by men who knew extremely little of the science, either of external nature or of the human mind. They have conceived it to be a system of spiritual influences, of internal operations on the soul, and of re- pentant preparation for another world, rather than an ex- position of pure and lofty principles inherent in human nature itself, and capable of being largely developed and rendered practical in this world. It is a common accusation against philosophy, that the 328 ON THE RELATION BETWEEN study of it renders men infidels: and this alleged fact is brought forward as a proof that human nature is corrupt, blind, and perverse, turning what ought to be its proper food into mortal poison. But if this were really a well founded charge, the conclusion which I would draw from it would be, that there must be essential errors in the popular interpretations of revelation, when the effect of a knowledge of nature on the mind is to lead to disbelief of its truth. Science is of modern growth, and, down to the present hour, the mass of Christians in every country have embraced their faith without the possibility of compar- ing it with the revelation of the Divine Will contained in the constitution of external nature, which, philosophically speaking, was unknown to them. The facts unfolded by science were unknown to the divines who first denied the capability of mankind to attain, by the development of their natural powers, to a higher moral condition than any they have hitherto exhibited; and, hence, their de- cision against the capabilities of human nature has been pronounced causa non cognila, and must be open for recon- sideration. If Christianity was freed from many errors by the revival and spread of mere scholastic learning in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, much more may we expect that the interpretations of it will be farther purified, corrected, and elucidated, by the flood of light which the sciences of human and physical nature, now in the course of cultivation, will one day shed upon it. According to my view, the study of the human constitu- tion, and of external nature, and of their relations, will become an object of paramount importance, with reference to a just appreciation of the true meaning of Scripture. Civilized man sees infinitely more of true and practical wisdom in Scripture than the savage of the wilderness, even supposing that the latter could read and understand the words of the sacred volume; and, in like manner, man, when thoroughly instructed in his own constitution, and in that of external nature, will discover still profounder truth SCIENCE AND SCRIPTURE. 329 and more admirable precepts in that record, than are found in it by ignorant, contentious, blind, and conceited man, such as he has hitherto existed. History is full of instruction concerning the insufficiency of mere religious instructions to protect men from practi- cal errors, when their understandings are unenlightened in regard to philosophy and the constitution of nature; and the part which the religious teachers of Europe acted in regard to witchcraft, affords one striking proof of the truth of this remark. It was not till towards the close of the loth century, says the Foreign Quarterly Review, No. XI, that persecu- tions for witchcraft began to prevail in Europe. By a bull of Pope Innocent VIII in 1484, death was, for the first time, denounced without mercy to all who should be con- victed of witchcraft, or of dealings with Satan; and a form of process for the trial was regularly laid down by a wretch of the name of Sprenger, whom the Pope placed at the head of a commission of fire and sword. The succeeding popes, Alexander VI, and even Leo X, lent their aid in accelerating the course of this havoc-spreading engine. So far, however, were these commissions from being attend- ed with beneficial consequences, that their only effect was to render the evil every day more and more formidable, till, at last, if we are to believe the testimony of contem- porary historians, Europe was little better than a large suburb of Pandemonium. One half of the population was either bev.itching or bewitched. About the year 1515, 500 witches were executed in Geneva in three months. 1000 were executed in one year in the diocese of Como; and they went on burning at the rate of 100 per annum for some time after. In Lorraine, from 1580 to 1595, Remi- gius boasts of having burned 900. In France, the multi- tude of executions about 1520 is incredible. One historian calls it ' an almost infinite number of sorcerers.' Germany was so fertile a soil for the supernatural, that, from the publication of Innocent's bull, to the suppression 28* 330 ON THE RELATION BETWEEN of persecution for witchcraft, the number of victims could not be less than 100,000! In the town of Wurtzburg alone, in the course of two years—162V29—there were twenty-nine acts of conflagration, and 157 persons burnt, including not only old women, but even children as young as nine years. Other places furnished their full contingent; and so familiarized was the public with these atrocious scenes, that it relished and gloried in them; singing the events of them to popular airs; representing them in hide- ous engravings, with devils dragging away 'their own;' while the clergy preached solemn discourses, called 'witch-sermons,' upon occasion of every sacrifice — the effect of which was, of course, to inspire with fresh zeal to collect fuel for another. England was not free from the same madness. Three thousand victims were executed during the reign of the Long Parliament alone; and it is a melancholy spectacle to find a man like Sir Matthew Hale condemning wretches to destruction, on evidence which a child would now be disposed to laugh at. A better order of things commenced with the Chief-justiceship of Holt, in consequence of whose firm charge to the jury on one of these trials, a verdict of not guilty—almost the first then on record in a trial for witchcraft—was found. In about ten other trials by Holt, from 1694 to 1701, the result was the same. Yet, in 1716, a Mrs. Hicks and her daughter, aged nine, were hanged at Huntingdon for selling their souls to the devil, and raising a storm by pulling off their stockings and making a lather of soap! With this crowning atrocity, the catalogue of murders in England closes, the penal statutes against witchcraft being repealed in 1736, and the pretended exercise of such arts being punished in future by imprisonment and pillory. Barrington, in his observations on the statute of 20th Henry VI, does not hesitate to estimate the number of those put to death in England, on the charge of riding through the air on a broomstick, at 30,000! SCIENCE AND SCRIPTURE. 331 Scotland, too, must bear her share of the bloody stain of these abominable doings. Till the Reformation, little or no regard was paid to this subject; but soon after that event, a raving thirst for destruction took possession of the nation. In 1563, an act of Parliament was passed, enacting the punishment of death against witches, or con- suiters of witches. The consequences of this authoritative recognition of the creed of witchcraft became immediate'y obvious in the reign of James VI. which followed. Witch- craft became the all-engrossing topic of the day; and it was the ordinary accusation resorted to, whenever it was the object of one individual to ruin another. A number of the trials are reported in Mr. Pitcairn's recent and valuable publication of the records of the Court of Justi- ciary. The first case is in 1572, of which no particulars are given, except the name of the unfortunate woman, and the doom,—'convict and brynt.' Thirty-five trials are recorded subsequently to the end of James's reign, in all of which the horrid result is the same. The trials pro- ceed, in the course of years, and confessions are obtained by torture with thumb-screws and boots, and pricking with sharp instruments; while stranglings and burnings follow of course. The scene darkens towards the reign of Charles I, with the increasing dominion of the Puritans. In 1640, the General Assembly passed an act, that all ministers should take particular note of witches and charm- ers, and that the commissioners should recommend to the supreme judicature the unsparing application of the laws against them. In 1643, after setting forth the increase of the crime, they recommended the granting of a standing commission from the Privy Council or Justiciary, to ' any understanding gentlemen or magistrates,' to apprehend, try, and execute justice on the delinquents. By the urgency of the General Assembly, who resumed the subject in 1644—45, and 1649, an act of Parliament was passed in the last named year, confirming and extending the statute of Queen Mary, passed in 1563. As was to be expected, 332 ON THE RELATION BETWEEN convictions, which had been fewer since James's time, increase, and the cases of course are more horrible. Thirty trials appear on the record between 1649 and 1660, in which there seems to have been only one acquittal; while at one western circuit, in 1659, seventeen persons were convicted and burned for the imputed crime. Nu- merous, however, as are the cases in the records of Jus- ticiary, these afford a most inadequate idea of the extent to which this pest prevailed over the country; for the Privy Council was in the habit of granting commissions to resident gentlemen and ministers to examine, and after- wards to try and execute, witches all over Scotland; and so numerous were these commissions, that one author expresses his astonishment at the number found in the registers. Under these commissions, multitudes were burnt in every part of the kingdom. It is matter of history, that, in every case of the kind, the clergy displayed the most intemperate zeal. It was before them that the poor wretches were first brought for examination, in most cases after a preparatory course of solitary confinement, cold, famine, want of sleep, or actual torture. On some occasions, the clergy themselves ac- tually performed the part of the prickers, and inserted long pins into the flesh of the witches; and in all, they labored with the most persevering investigations to obtain from the accused a confession which might afterwards be used against them on their trial, and which, in more than one instance, although retracted, formed the sole evidence on which the conviction proceeded. After 1662, the mania in Scotland began to decline in its violence; and to the great lawyers of the time is due the merit of first stemming the foul torrent. ' From the horridness of the crime,' says Sir George Mackenzie in his Criminal Law, ' I do conclude, that of all crimes it requires the clearest relevancy and most convincing pro- bature; and I condemn, next to the wretches themselves, those cruel and too forward judges, who burn persons by SCIENCE AND SCRIPTURE. 333 thousands as guilty of that crime.' The trials after this became fewer and fewer, and the last execution took place at Dornoch in 1722. The statutes were finally repealed in 1735. So little light did the Bible afford regarding the atrocity of the proceedings against witches, that the Secession Church of Scotland, comprising many intelligent clergy- men and a large number of the most serious and religious of the people, ' complained, in their annual Confession of Personal and National Sins, against "the penal statutes against witches having been repealed by Parliament, con- trary to the express law of God." '—(See Brewster's Edin- burgh Encyclopedia, voce Witchcraft.) This defection is classed by Dr. John Brown of Haddington, one of the great leaders of the Secession Church about the middle and end of last century, among ' the practical backslidings from the once attained to and covenanted work of reforma- tion, which have happened in the preceding and present age, as abuses of the singular favors of God.' During the whole of these proceedings, the clergy, both Catholic and Protestant, were in possession of revelation as fully and freely as they are at the present day; and in Scotland, in particular, the Reformation had been com- pleted, and the people put in possession of the Bible for nearly a century before the cessation of these prosecutions. Not only so, but the Bible itself was perversely used as the warrant of the atrocities, and religion employed to fan the flame of cruelty and superstition. If any facts can prove that the Creator intended man to use his intellectual faculties, and to study the revelation of his will contained in the works of nature, in addition to the Bible, as a guide to his conduct, and that the Bible was never intended to supersede the necessity of all other knowledge, those now detailed must have this effect. The great difference be- tween Christians of the present day who regard these executions as great crimes, and the pious ministers who inflicted, and the serious people who witnessed them, 334 ON THE RELATION BETWEEN, &C consists in the superior knowledge possessed by the mod- erns, of physical science, which has opened up to their understandings views of nature and of God, widely differ- ent from those entertained by their ancestors under the guidance of the Bible alone. In these remarks I do not depreciate the importance of the Bible; I only very humbly endeavor to vindicate the study of the Creator's will in his works as well as in his word, and to show that the human mind needs illumination from both to direct its conduct towards virtue. In the words of Archbishop Whately, I conclude, that ' we are bound to use our own natural faculties in the search after all that is within the reach of these faculties; and that most especially ought we to try, by their own proper evidence, questions which form no part of revelation properly so called, but which are incidentally alluded to in the Sacred Writings.' 'If it be true that man's duty coincides with his real interest, both in this world and in the next, the better he is qualified by intellectual culture and diffusion of knowledge, to understand his duty and his interests, the greater prospect there would seem to be (other points being equal) of his moral improvement.' ( 335 ) CONCLUSION. The question has frequently been asked, What is the practical use of Phrenology, even supposing it to be true? A few observations will enable us to answer this inquiry, and, at the same time, to present a brief summary of the doctrine of the preceding Essay. Prior to the age of Copernicus, the earth and sun presented to the eye phenomena exactly similar to those which they now exhibit; but their motions appeared in a very different light to the understanding. Before the age of Newton, the revolutions of the planets were known as matter of fact; but the understanding was ignorant of the principle of their motions. Previous to the dawn of modern chemistry, many of the qualities of physical substances were ascertained by obser- vation, but their ultimate principles and relations were not understood. Knowledge, as I observed in the Introduction, may be rendered beneficial in two ways,—either by rendering the substance discovered directly subservient to human enjoy- ment; or, where this is impossible, by modifying human conduct in harmony with its qualities. While knowledge of any department of nature remains imperfect and empir- ical, the unknown qualities of the objects belonging to it, may render our efforts either to apply or to accord with those which are known, altogether abortive. Hence it is only after ultimate principles have been discovered, their relations ascertained, and this knowledge systematized, that science can attain its full character of utility. The merits of Copernicus and Newton consist in having ren- dered this service to astronomy. Before the appearance of Drs. Gall and Spurzheim, mankind were practically acquainted with the feelings and 336 CONCLUSION. intellectual operations of their own minds, and anatomists knew the appearances of the brain. But the science of Mind was very much in the same state as that of the heav- enly bodies prior to the times of Copernicus and Newton. First, No unanimity prevailed among philosophers con- cerning the elementary feelings and intellectual powers of man. Individuals deficient in Conscientiousness, for in- stance, denied that the sentiment of justice was a primitive mental quality of mind. Others, deficient in Veneration, asserted that man was not naturally prone to worship, and ascribed religion to the invention of priests. Secondly, The extent to which the primitive faculties differ in relative strength, was matter of dispute, or of vague conjecture; and concerning many attainments there was no agreement among philosophers, whether they were the gifts of nature, or the results of mere cultivation. Thirdly, Different modes or states of the same feeling were often mistaken for different feelings; and modes of action of all the intellectual faculties were mistaken for distinct faculties. Fourthly, The brain, confessedly the most important organ of the body, and that with which the nerves of the senses, of motion, and of feeling directly communicate, had no ascertained functions. Mankind were ignorant of its uses, and of its influence on the mental faculties. They indeed still dispute that its different parts are the organs of different mental powers, and that the vigor of manifesta- tion bears a proportion, cceteris paribus, to the size of the organ. If, in physics, imperfect and empirical knowledge ren- ders the unknown qualities of bodies liable to frustrate the efforts of man to apply or to accommodate his conduct to their known qualities; and if only a complete and syste- matic exhibition of ultimate principles, and their relations can confer on science its full character of utility, — the game doctrine applies with equal or greater force to the philosophy of man. CONCLUSION. 337 Politics embrace forms of government, and the rela- tions between different states. All government is design- ed to combine the efforts of individuals, and to regulate their conduct when united. To arrive at the best means of accomplishing this end, systematic knowledge of the nature of man seems highly important. A despotism, for example, may restrain some abuses of the lower propensi- ties, but it assuredly impedes the exercise of reflection, and others of the highest and noblest powers. A form of government can be suited to the nature of man only when it is calculated to permit the legitimate use, and to restrain the abuses, of all his mental feelings and capacities; and how can such a government be devised, while these prin- ciples with their spheres of action, and external relations, are imperfectly ascertained? Again, all relations between different states must also be in accordance with the nature of man, to prove permanently beneficial; and the question recurs, How are these to be framed while that nature is matter of conjecture? Napoleon disbelieved in a senti- ment of justice as an innate quality of the mind, and, in his relations with other states, relied on fear and interest as the grand motives of conduct: but that sentiment exist- ed, and, combined with other faculties which he outraged, prompted Europe to hurl him from his throne. If Napo- leon had comprehended the principles of human nature, and their relations, as forcibly and clearly as the principles of mathematics, in which he excelled, his understanding would have greatly modified his conduct, and Europe would have escaped prodigious calamities. Legislation, civil and criminal, is intended to regulate and direct the human faculties in their efforts at gratifica- tion; and laws, to be useful, must accord with the consti- tution of these faculties. But how can salutary laws be enacted, while the subject to be governed, or human nature, is not accurately understood? The inconsistency and intricacy of the laws even in enlightened nations, have afforded themes for the satirist in every age; and how 29 338 CONCLUSION. could the case be otherwise? Legislators provided rules for directing the qualities of human nature, which they conceived themselves to know; but either error in their conceptions, or the effects of other qualities unknown or unattended to, defeated their intentions. The law, for example, punishing heresy with burning, was addressed by our ancestors to Cautiousness, Self-Love, and other inferior feelings; but Intellect, Veneration, Conscientious- ness, and Firmness, were omitted in their estimate of human principles of action; and these set their law at defiance. There are many laws still in the statute book, equally at variance with the nature of man. Education is intended to enlighten the intellect, to train it and the moral sentiments to vigor, and to repress the too great activity of the selfish feelings. But how can this be successfully accomplished, when the faculties and sentiments themselves, the laws to which they are subject- ed, and their relations to external objects, are unascer- tained. Accordingly, the theories and practices observed in education are innumerable and contradictory, which could not happen if men knew the constitution of the object which they were training. In the ' Essai sur la Statistique morale de la France,' par A. M. Guerry (a Paris chez Crochard Libraire, 1833), it is stated, that crimes against property and person are most numerous in proportion to the population in those departments of France—the north and east—in which the people are the best educated, the richest, and most indus- trious. This must be owing in part to the increased power which education gives of doing either good or evil, and partly to defects in the education afforded. The phi- losophy of man being unknown, children are not taught any rational views of the plan of life; they are not in- structed in the constitution of society; and have no suffi- cient information afforded concerning the sources of real enjoyment. They are not taught any system of morals, CONCLUSION 339 based on the nature of man and his social relations; but left each to grope his way to happiness, according to the dictates of his individual mind. They see the rich pursu- ing pleasure and fashion, and if they follow such examples, they must resort to crime for the means of gratification; yet there is no solid instruction given to them, sufficient to satisfy their understandings that the rich themselves are straying from the paths that lead to solid and lasting hap- piness, and that it is to be found only in other and higher occupations. Morals and Religion, also, cannot assume a syste- matic and demonstrable character, until- the elementary qualities of mind, and their relations, shall be ascertained. It is presumable that the Deity, in creating the moral powers and the external world, really adapted the one to the other; so that individuals and nations, in pursuing morality, must, in every instance, be promoting their best interests, and, in departing from it, must be sacrificing them to passion or to illusory notions of advantage. But, until the nature of man, and the relationship between it and the external world, shall be scientifically ascertained, and systematically expounded, it will be impossible to sup- port morality by the powerful demonstration of interest coinciding with it. The tendency in most men to view expediency as not always coincident with justice, affords a striking proof of the limited knowledge of the constitution of man and the external world still existing in society. The diversities of doctrine in religion also, obviously owe their origin to ignorance of the primitive faculties and their relations. The faculties differ in relative strength in different individuals, and each person is most alive to objects and views connected with the powers predominant in himself. Hence, in reading the Scriptures, one is con- vinced that they establish Calvinism; another, possessing a different combination of faculties, discovers in them Lutheranism; and a third is satisfied that Socinianism is the only true interpretation. These individuals have, in 340 CONCLUSION. general, no distinct conception that the views which strike them most forcibly, appear in a different light to minds differently constituted. A correct interpretation of reve- lation must harmonize with the dictates of the moral senti- ments and intellect, holding the animal propensities in subordination. It may legitimately go beyond what they, unaided, could reach; but it cannot contradict them; be- cause this would be setting the revelation of the Bible in opposition to the inherent dictates of the faculties consti- tuted by the Creator, which cannot be admitted; as the Deity is too powerful and wise to be inconsistent. But mankind will never be induced to bow to such interpreta- tions, while each takes his individual mind as a standard of human nature in general, and conceives that his own impressions are synonymous with absolute truth. The establishment of the nature of man, therefore, on a scien- tific basis, and in a systematic form, must aid the cause of both morality and religion. The PROFESSIONS, PURSUITS, hours of exertion, and amusements of individuals, ought also to bear reference to their physical and mental constitution; but hitherto no guiding principle has been possessed to regulate practice in these important particulars,—another evidence that the science of man has been unknown. In consequence of the want of a philosophy of man, there is little harmony between the different departments of human pursuit. God is one; and as He is intelligent, benevolent, and powerful, we may reasonably conclude that creation is one harmonious system, in which the physical is adapted to the moral, the moral to the physi- cal, and every department of these grand divisions, to the whole. But at present, many principles clearly revealed by philosophy are impracticable, because the institutions of society have not been founded with a due regard to their existence. An educated lady, for example, or a member of the learned professions, may perceive with the clearest conviction that God, by the manner in which he CONCLUSION 341 has constituted the body, and connected the mind with the brain, has positively enjoined muscular exertion as indis- pensable to the possession of sound health, the enjoyment of life, and the rearing of a healthy offspring; and, never- theless, they may find themselves so hedged round by routine of employment, the fashions of society, the influ- ence of opinion, and the positive absence of all arrange- ments suited to the purpose, that they shall be rendered nearly as incapable of yielding this obedience to God's law as if they were imprisoned in a dungeon. By religion we are commanded to set our affections on things above, and not to permit our minds to be engrossed with the cares of the world; we are desired to seek god- liness, and eschew selfishness, contention, and the vani- ties of life. These precepts must have been intended to be practically followed, otherwise it was a mockery of mankind to give them forth: But if they were intended to be practised, God must have arranged the inherent consti- tution of man, and of the world, in such a manner as to admit of mankind following them, and not only so, but to render men happy in proportion as they should practise, and miserable as they should neglect them. Nevertheless, when we survey human society in the forms in which it has hitherto existed, and in which it now exists, these pre- cepts appear to have been, and to be now, absolutely im- practicable to ninety-nine out of every hundred of civilized men. Suppose the most eloquent and irresistibly con- vincing discourse on the Christian duties to be delivered on Sunday to a congregation of Manchester manufacturers and their operatives, or to London merchants, Essex far- mers, or Westminster lawyers, how would they find their respective spheres of life adapted for acting practically on their convictions? They are all commanded to love God with their whole heart and soul, and to resist the world and the flesh, or, in philosophical language, to support their moral .affections, and intellectual powers, in habitual 29* 342 CONCLUSION. activity, to direct them to noble, elevating, and beneficial objects, and to resist the subjugation of these higher attri- butes of their minds to animal pleasure, sordid selfishness, and worldly ambition. The moral and intellectual powers assent to the reasonableness of these precepts, and rejoice in the prospect of their practical application; but, on Mon- day morning, the manufacturers, owing to the institutions of society, and the department of life into which they have been cast, before they had either reason or moral percep- tion to direct their choice, must commence a course of ceaseless toil,—the workmen that they may support life, and the masters that they may avoid ruin, or accumulate wealth. Saturday evening finds them worn out with men- tal and physical exertion, continued through all the inter- mediate days, and directed to pursuits connected with this world alone. Sunday dawns upon them in a state of mind widely at variance with the Christian condition. In like manner, the merchant must devote himself to his bar- gains, the farmer to his plough, and the lawyer to his briefs, with corresponding assiduity; so that their moral powers have neither objects presented to them, nor vio-or left, for enjoyments befitting their nature and desires. It is in vain to say to individuals that they err in acting thus: individuals are carried along in the great stream of social institutions and pursuits. The operative laborer is com- pelled to follow his routine of toil under pain of absolute starvation. The master manufacturer, the merchant, the farmer, and the lawyer, are pursued by competitors so active, that if they relax in selfish ardor, they, too, will be speedily plunged into ruin. If God has so constituted the human mind and body, and so arranged external nature, that all this is unavoidably necessary for man, then the Christian precepts are scarcely more suited to human nature and circumstances in this world, than the command to fly would be to the nature of the horse. If, on the other hand, man's nature and circumstances do in themselves CONCLUSION. 343 admit of the Christian precepts being realized, it is obvious that a great revolution must take place in our notions, prin- ciples of action, practices, and social institutions, before this can be accomplished. That many Christian teachers believe this improvement possible, and desire its execution, I cannot doubt; but through want of a knowledge of the constituent elements of human nature, and their relations, —through want, in short, of a philosophy of mind, and of physical nature, they have never been able to perceive intellectually, what God has rendered man capable of at- taining, how it may be attained, or on what principles the moral and physical government of the world in regard to man is conducted. Consequently, they have not acted generally on the idea of religion being a branch of an all- comprehending philosophy; they have relied chiefly on inculcating the precepts of their Master, threatening fu- ture punishments for infringement, and promising future rewards for observance, without proving to society phi- losophically, not only that its institutions, practices, and principles, must be formed on higher data than they are at present, before it can become truly Christian, but that these improvements are actually within the compass of human nature, aided by revelation. Individuals in whom there is a strong aspiration after the realization of the Christian state of society, but whose intellects cannot perceive any natural means by which it can be produced, take refuge in the regions of prophecy, and expect a mi- raculous reign of saints in the Millennium. How much more profitable would it be to study the philosophy of man's nature, which is obviously the work of God, and en- deavor to introduce morality and happiness by the means appointed by Him in creation! Supernatural agency has long since ceased to interfere with human affairs, and whenever it shall operate again, we may presume that it will neither be assisted nor retarded by human opinions and speculations. 344 CONCLUSION. We need only attend to the scenes daily presenting themselves in society, to obtain irresistible demonstration of the many evil consequences resulting from the want of a true theory of human nature, and its relations. Every preceptor in schools, every professor in colleges, every author, editor, and pamphleteer, every member of Parlia- ment, counsellor and judge, has a set of notions of his own, which, in his mind, hold the place of a system of the phi- losophy of man; and although he may not have methodized his ideas, or even acknowledged them to himself as a theory, yet they constitute a standard to him by which he practically judges of all questions in morals, politics, and religion; he advocates whatever views coincide with them, and condemns all that differ from them, with as unhesitat- ing a dogmatism as the most pertinacious theorist on earth. Each also despises the notions of his fellows, in so far as they differ from his own. In short, the human faculties too generally operate simply as instincts, exhibiting all the confliction and uncertainty of mere feeling, unenlightened by perception of their own nature and objects. Hence public measures in general, whether relating to education, religion, trade, manufactures, the poor, criminal law, or to any other of the dearest interests of society, instead of being treated as branches of one general system of economy, and adjusted on scientific principles each in harmony with all the rest, are supported or opposed on narrow and em- pirical grounds, and often call forth displays of ignorance, prejudice, selfishness, intolerance and bigotry, that greatly obstruct the progress of improvement. Indeed, any im- portant approach to unanimity, even among sensible and virtuous men, will be impossible, so long as no standard of mental philosophy is admitted to guide individual feelings and perceptions. But the state of things now described could not exist, if education embraced a true system of human nature and its relations. If, then, the doctrine of the natural laws here expounded CONCLUSION. 345 be true, it will, when matured, supply the deficiences just pointed out. But, here, another question naturally presents itself, How are the views explained in this work, supposing them to contain some portion of truth, to be rendered practical? Sound views of human nature and of the divine govern- ment come home to the feelings and intellects of men; they perceive them to possess a substantive existence and reality which rivet attention and command respect. If the doctrine unfolded in this work be in any degree true, it is destined to operate proportionally on the character of clerical instruction. Individuals whose minds have em- braced the views which it contains, inform me that many sermons appear to them inconsistent in their different pro- positions, at variance with sound views of human nature, and so vague as to have little practical relation to life and conduct. They partake of the abstractedness of the scho- lastic philosophy. The first divine of comprehensive intel- lect and powerful sentiments who shall take courage and introduce the natural laws into his discourses, and teach the people the works of the Creator and his institutions, will reap a great reward in usefulness and pleasure. If this course shall, as heretofore, be neglected, the people, who are daily increasing in useful and scientific know- ledge, will in a few years look down with disrespect on their clerical guides, and probably remodel the entire sys- em of pulpit instruction. The institutions and manners of society indicate the state of mind of the influential classes at the time when they prevail. The trial and burning of old women as witches, point out clearly the predominance of Destructiveness and Wonder over Intellect and Benevolence, in those who were guilty of such cruel absurdities. The practices of wager of battle, and ordeal by fire and water, indicate Combativeness, Destructiveness, and Veneration, to have been in great activity in those who permitted them, com- 346 CONCLUSION. bined with much intellectual ignorance of the natural con- stitution of the world. In like manner, the enormous sums willingly expended in war, and the small sums grudgingly paid for public improvements; the intense energy displayed in the pursuit of wealth; and the general apathy evinced in the search after knowledge and virtue, unequivocally proclaim activity of Combativeness, Destructiveness, Ac- quisitiveness, Self-Esteem, and Love of Approbation; with comparatively moderate vivacity of Benevolence and In- tellect, in the present generation. Before, therefore, the practices of mankind can be altered, the state of their minds must be changed. No practical error can be great- er than that of establishing institutions greatly in advance of the mental condition of the people. The rational meth- od is, first to instruct the intellect, then to interest the sentiments, and, last of all, to form arrangements in harmony with, and resting on, these as their basis. The views developed in the preceding chapters, if founded in nature, may be expected to lead, ultimately, to considerable changes in many of the customs and pur- suits of society; but to accomplish this effect, the princi- ples themselves must first be ascertained to be true, and then they must be sedulously taught. It appears to me that a long series of years will be necessary to bring even civilized nations into a condition to obey systematically the natural laws. The preceding chapters may be regarded, in one sense, as an introduction to an Essay on Education. If the views unfolded in them be in general sound, it will follow that education has scarcely yet commenced. If the Creator has bestowed on the body, on the mind, and on external nature, determinate constitutions, and arranged them so as to act on each other, and to produce happiness or misery to man, according to certain definite principles, —and if this action goes on invariably, inflexibly, and irre- sistibly, whether men attend to it or not,—it is obvious CONCLUSION. 347 that the very basis of useful knowledge must consist in an acquaintance with these natural arrangements, and that education will be valuable in the exact degree in which it communicates such information, and trains the faculties to act upon it. Reading, writing, and accounts, which make up the instruction enjoyed by the lower orders, are merely means of acquiring knowledge, but do not constitute it. Greek, Latin, and mathematics, which are added in the education of the middle classes, are still only means of obtaining information: so that, with the exception of the few who pursue physical science, society dedicates very little attention to the study of the natural laws. In follow- ing out the views now discussed, therefore, each individual, according as he becomes acquainted with the natural laws, ought to obey them, and to communicate his experience of their operations toothers; avoiding at the same time, all attempts at subverting, by violence, established institu- tions, or outraging public sentiment by intemperate discus- sions. The doctrine now unfolded, if true, authorizes us to predicate that the most successful method of ameliorat- ing the condition of mankind, will be that which appeals most directly to their moral sentiments and intellect; and, I may add from experience and observation, that, in pro- portion as any individual becomes acquainted with the real constitution of the human mind, will his conviction of the efficacy of this method increase. The next step ought to be to teach those laws to the young.* Their minds, not being occupied by prejudices, will recognise them as congenial to their constitution; the first generation that has embraced them from infancy will proceed to modify the institutions of society into accord- ance with their dictates; and in the course of ages they may at length be acknowledged as practically useful. A * Some observations on Education will be found in the Phrenological Journal, vol. iv. p. 407. 348 CONCLUSION. perception of the importance of the natural laws will lead to their observance, and this will be attended with an im- proved development of brain, thereby increasing the de- sire and capacity for obedience. All true theories have ultimately been adopted and influenced practice; and I see no reason to fear that the present, if true, will prove an exception. The failure of all previous systems is the natural consequence of their being unfounded; if this one shall resemble them, it will deserve, and assuredly will meet with, a similar fate. Finally, If it be true that the Natural Laws must be obeyed as a preliminary condition to happiness in this \yorld, and if virtue and happiness be inseparably allied, the religious instructers of mankind may probably disco- ver in the general and prevalent ignorance of these laws, one reason of the limited success which has hitherto at- tended their own efforts at improving the condition of mankind; and they may perhaps perceive it to be not in- consistent with their sacred office, to instruct men in the natural institutions of the Creator, in addition to his re- vealed will, and to recommend obedience to both. They exercise so vast an influence over the best members of society, that their countenance may hasten, or their oppo- sition retard, by a century, the practical adoption of the natural laws, as sound guides of human conduct. If the excessive toil of the manufacturer be inconsistent with that elevation of the moral and intellectual faculties of man which is commanded by religion, and if the moral and physical welfare of mankind be not at variance with each other (which they cannot be,) the institutions of society out of which the necessity for that labor arises, must, philosophically speaking, be pernicious to the inter- ests of the state as a political body, and to the temporal welfare of the individuals who compose it; and whenever we shall be in possession of a correct knowledge of the elements of human nature, and the principles on which CONCLUSION. 349 God has constituted the world, the philosophical evidence that these practices are detrimental to our temporal wel- fare, will be as clear as their inconsistency with our religious duties. Until, however, divines shall become •acquainted with this relation between philosophy and reli- gion, they will not possess adequate means to render their precepts practical in this world; they will not carry the intellectual perceptions of their hearers fully along with them; they will be incapable of controlling the force of the animal propensities; and they will never lead society to fulfilment of its highest destinies. At present, the animal propensities are fortified in the strong intrench- ments of social institutions; Acquisitiveness, for example, is protected and fostered by our arrangements for accu- mulating wealth; a worldly spirit, by our constant struggle to obtain the means of subsistence; pride and vanity by our artificial distinctions of rank and fashion; and Comba- tiveness and Destructiveness by our warlike professions. The divine assails these powers by the denunciations of the Gospel; but as long as society shall be animated by different principles, and maintain in vigor, institutions in diametrical opposition to its doctrines, so long will it be difficult for him to realize his precepts in practice. But, it appears to me, that by teaching mankind the philosophy of their own nature, and of the world in which they live, by proving to them the coincidence between the dictates of this philosophy and Christian morality, and the incon- sistency of their own institutions with both, they may be induced to modify the latter, and to intrench the moral powers, and then the triumph of virtue and religion will be more complete. Those who advocate exclusively the importance of spiritual religion for the improvement of mankind, appear to me to have erred in overlooking to too great an extent the necessity of complying with the natu- ral conditions on which all improvement depends; and I anticipate that when schools and colleges shall expound 30 350 CONCLUSION. the various branches of philosophy as portions of the in- stitutions of the Creator; when the pulpit shall deal with the same principles, show their practical application to man's duties and enjoyments, and add the sanctions of religion to enforce their observance; and when the busy scenes of life shall be so arranged as to become the field for the practice at once of our philosophy and our religion, then man will have assumed his station as a rational being, and Christianity will have achieved her triumph. (351 ) ADDITIONAL CHAPTER. ON THE HARMONY BETWEEN THE SCRIPTURES AND PHRENOLOGY. That there does exist an harmonious connection be- tween Scriptural Christianity, and the Science of Phre- nology, will not be questioned by those who believe that the former is of divine origin, and that the latter is true. For the God of Nature is the God of Revelation, and, of course, the works of his hand, and the revelation of his mind, must be in harmony with each other. Philosophical Christians,who have made Phrenology an object of their attention, have perceived this harmony, and have been de- lighted with the discovery; and one among the strongest of their reasons for believing Phrenology to be true, is the perception of its accordance with Scripture, rightly interpreted. Yet it must be acknowledged that these Christians have not been as anxious as they should have been to make known their discoveries; and to lead other minds to the participation of the pleasures of which they were themselves the subjects. They have either not promulged, from the press, or otherwise, the views into which they have been led; or if they have, those views have been presented by them, rather as Philosophers than as Christians: the char- acteristic features of evangelical religion have been very sparingly introduced into their writings; and consequently, those who hold evangelical Christianity in the estimation which is its due, have been afraid to look at Phrenology; fearing that it had little which was in accordance with the word of God,—that it was a system of Philosophy inimical to revelation; and tending to Materialism, Fatalism, and Infidelity. A firm conviction that these fears are without 352 ON THE HARMONY BETWEEN foundation, has induced the writer to present a brief view of some important points of agreement between Phrenolo- gy and Scriptural Christianity; in the hope that the sci- ence of Phrenology may receive from the pious portion of the community a measure of their attention; and that they may not yield the advantages connected with the study of that science to those, exclusively, who, being strangers to vital religion, must be insensible to some of the greatest beauties of the system which they highly admire, and loudly eulogize. A portion of the communications which our Creator has made to us in his word, consist of truths which man never could have discovered by the unaided efforts of his own powers; and some of which, even now that they are re- vealed, he cannot fully comprehend. There is, however, another class, which have reference to ourselves, and the beings and things existing around us, and to the duties incumbent on us, towards those beings, and towards the Author of our existence,—a dim outline of which might be perceived by means of powers imparted to us by our Creator. (Rom. 2: 14, 15.) Among things included in the former class, may be men- tioned, whatever relates to the plurality of subsistences, or persons, in the Divine Nature;—the union of the divine and human natures in the person of Christ;—the offices he sustains, and the work he performs, in man's redemp- tion. Of course, on such subjects, Phrenology cannot be expected to cast any light; and if any be furnished by the analogies which it affords, it is, at best, only that of illustration, proving them not absurd; and not that of ex- planation, teaching us how they are. On the latter class of Scripture truths, however,—such as relate to human nature (as it is, and as it is required to become) and to human duty,—light may, perhaps, be cast by Phrenology. For the truths may be compared with human nature, as Phrenology teaches us to observe it, in ourselves and others; and if it is seen to harmonize, we shall have an THE SCRIPTURES AND PHRENOLOGY. 353 additional reason for believing the divine origin of the Christian Scriptures; (viz. their correspondence with nature) and a strong presumption in favor of Phrenology, (viz. its correspondence with divine revelation.) Phrenology * presents man to us, as comprehending with- in his single self, the animal, and intellectual, and moral natures;—or it exhibits him as an animal, an intellectual, and a moral being. The peculiarities of his animal nature, or those impulses by which he is actuated, in common with the lower animals, Phrenology terms ' Propensities;'—the powers which constitute him an intelligent being, are term- ed ' Intellectual Faculties;' and those which belong to his highest, or bis moral nature, are called ' Moral Sentiments.' Perhaps nearly all of the powers and faculties which Phrenology ascribes to man, under this threefold classifi- cation, have been seen to exist in him, by those who wrote before that science was taught: but it is believed that to Phrenology belongs the honor of thus classifying his pow- ers; and all reflecting men to whom the classification is proposed, approve it, as philosophical and true. It was a great and valuable service, then, which Phrenology has performed, if it were the only one, that it has philosophi- cally classified the powers of human nature. But in doing this, it has done more: it has, by this classification of the powers of human nature, analogically illustrated a truth of revelation, in a manner in which it was never before illustrated: a truth, too, belonging to the first great class of truths, which revelation makes known to us: those not originally discoverable by human powers, nor fully com- prehensible by human capacity. Nothing can be plainer or more true to nature, than the distinction between the animal, the intello:tual, and the moral nature of man;— no one confounds them with each other; and each per- ceives them all to exist in himself. Every man knows himself to be an animal being, an intellectual being, and a * The reader will observe that we here say nothing of Organology, or the doctrine of separate organs in the brain. 30* 354 ON THE HARMONY BETWEEN moral being; yet no man can tell how these exist, distinct- ly, yet unitedly, in his single self; while, yet, he is con- scious that they do thus exist. Now Revelation tells us that God created man in his own image and likeness: and though it is true that this image is said to be ' righteous- ness and true holiness,' and that this was the most impor- tant point of resemblance, it is nowhere said to have been the only one; and might not this constitution of human nature be another adumbration of that image? The New Testament clearly teaches a threefold personal distinction in the Divine Nature. By some, who profess to receive that holy volume, this distinction is rejected, as absurd Its absurdity we deny; and refer such persons to their own nature, not for an explanation in quo modo this thing is; but as an illustration, proving that it is not absurd to con- ceive that it is: for, in our own nature, we see what is analogous; though we know, perfectly, that it is not par- allel. Now as it is Phrenology which reveals to us that real and natural division of the elements of our own nature, which has furnished this illustration of a myste- rious truth of revelation, it is plain that, so far at least, Phrenology and revelation harmonize; and that the friends of Revelation have no reason to fear that Phrenology is inimical to revealed religion. But further: Revelation requires of man, a course of conduct exactly such as Phrenology marks out, as being in accordance with the laws of his nature. Phrenology teaches that the animal nature of man was designed by his Creator to be in subjection to the moral, and that the intel- lectual nature should enlighten the moral, so that it might command intelligently. In exact accordance with this view of the law of man's nature, do wo find the law of God's word: It is the animal nature which is controlled in commands like the following. ' If any man will be my disciple, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me. Thou shalt not kill; Thou shalt not steal; Thou shalt not commit adultery,' and, in one word, in all THE SCRIPTURES AND PHRENOLOGY. 355 prohibitory sentences. And while the understanding, or the intellectual nature, is enlightened by the scripture record of facts which especially reveal the benevolence of God, the moral nature is addressed with a view to excite it to the exercise of its proper function,—command,—in lan- guage like the following: ' Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor.' 'Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us; that we should be called the sons of God.' 'God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish; but have everlasting life. ' Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. What then, shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid.' ' The grace of God that bringeth salvation— teacheth us that, denying ungodliness, and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in the pre- sent world.' 2 Cor. 8:9. 1 John 3: 1. John 3: 16 Rom. 5: 20. 6: 1. Tit. 2: 11. These passages, which are indeed a mere sample of those which could be cited, may, perhaps, suffice, to show that while, by the facts of Christianity (especially that lead- ing one, the mission and death of Christ for sinners,) the un- derstanding is enlightened with a knowledge of the Divine benevolence, this light is designed to be transmitted to the moral nature; and to excite in it, that energetic action, which the apostle so beautifully describes, when he says, ' For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge; that, if one died for all, then were all dead; and that he died for all, that they which live, should not hence- forth live unto themselves; but unto him who died for them and rose again.' (2 Cor. 5: 14.) Here we see the moral nature, with a strong hand, not only controlling and subjugating the animal nature; but roused to resistless effort, in all positive excellence; and all this, from a per- ception of the benevolence of God which the understanding, or the intellectual faculties, have discovered in the cross of Christ 356 ON THE HARMONY BETWrEEN There is another proof of the harmony between Phre- nology and the Bible, which it would be pleasant to exhibit at large; but which we must be satisfied with presenting, only in epitome: viz. the fact that, while Phrenology, as a system, was not framed to adapt it to revelation; but, is a system of nature, framed from multiplied observations, the Bible addresses man, as Phrenology sketches him. This position may be considered as sustained, by the considera- tions adduced under the preceding particular: where we have seen light imparted to the intellect; and restraint im- posed on the propensities; and impulse given to the sen- timents; by the revelations, and prohibitions, and motives, respectively, of the book of God. But it may be much more fully sustained: for we may take the individual powers, Intellectual, Moral, and Animal, and find each of them appropriately addressed in the sacred volume; whence the inference is irresistible, that they exist in the nature of man; or, that the system which ascribes them to him, is a true system: i. e. that Phrenology is in harmony with Revelation. It would extend this chapter to a length disproportionate to its character, as such, were a full and particular reference to be made to all the powers and faculties; and the passages of Scripture, addressing each, to be presented. Yet, it may be well, just to show briefly, by reference to some of them, the existence of the har- mony for which we contend. Phrenology teaches us that man has propensities which have an appropriate sphere of action; but that they must be confined within that sphere. Among these are, Destruc- tiveness, Secretiveness, Amativeness, Acquisitiveness, &c. Now the Bible recognises the existence of these; prescribes the limits within which they may operate; and forbids the overstepping of those limits. Destructiveness is allowed to operate so far as to destroy animal life for the sustenta- tion of the life of man, and the increase of his comfort: and the Scripture warrant for it is found, Gen. 9: 3. 'Every moving thing that liveth, shall be meat for you; THE SCRIPTURES AND PHRENOLOGY. 357 even as the green herb have I given you all things.' But its rampant activity is forbidden in the commandment, 'Thou shalt do no murder;' and even, in the declaration, 'A merciful man regardeth the life of his beast.' Secre- tiveness has its appropriate sphere, and within that it is allowed to act; and the absence of it Revelation severely censures; ' A fool uttereth all his mind; but a wise man keepeth it in, till afterwards;' i. e. ' concealeth his feelings and purposes.' But Secretiveness may be abused, to purposes of deceit and falsehood; and, accordingly, the Bible addresses it in the prohibition, 'Lie not one to another.' Amativeness may be lawfully active in its own sphere, under the direction of the moral sentiments; and what that sphere is, appears from the institution of marriage by the Creator, and from the command, ' Increase and multiply.' But it is liable to abuse; and hence the declaration, ' Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge:' and the prohibition, ' Thou shalt not commit adultery.' Acquisi- tiveness has its own proper sphere of activity: hence the command, ' Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds;' and in short, all the com- mands to industry and enterprise, in the book of Proverbs. Yet it is liable to abuse* and hence the law, ' Thou shalt not steal;' and still more, ' Thou shalt not covet:'—stealing and covetousness being abuses of Acquisitiveness. It would be a waste of time and pains, to prove that the Bible addresses man as an intelligent, and reflecting being; —it is presumed this will not be questioned; and, of course, that none will doubt the harmony between the Scriptures and Phrenology in this particular. Yet it may be well, in passing, to observe that distinct addresses are made to the faculties of Comparison and Causality, in numerous portions of the holy Scriptures. What are all the beautiful parables of our Lord Jesus Christ, but so many appeals to the heart, through the faculty of Compari- son? And what are the long, and connected, and logical arguments of the apostle Paul in his epistles, but so many 358 ON THE HARMONY BETWEEN addresses to that power (Causality) which appreciates argument; and can trace effects up to their causes; and causes, out to their consequences? This is the use of the faculty; and this is encouraged: ' I speak as unto men of understanding; judge ye what I say.' (1 Cor. 10: 15.) But it is liable to abuse; and is abused when men will exalt it to the dominion in the soul; and believe nothing, the causes, and consequences, and mode of existence of which, they cannot comprehend. And how severely do the Scriptures reprove such a perversion of it! ' Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection? It is high as heaven; what canst thou do? Deeper than hell; .what canst thou know?' (Job 11:7,8. See also Job 38: to 41:) But there is an ornamental attribute of the intellectual nature of man, the design of which appears to have been, principally, to delight and to refine him;—-viz. The sense of the beautiful, and perfect, and vast. This faculty Phre- nology terms ' Ideality.' The existence of this faculty the Bible recognises, and to it a large portion of that volume is addressed. It is well known that the Bible abounds in poetry, of the boldest, and of the most beautiful character: —this, then, must be addressed bo that attribute in man which is capable of appreciating it: but the only such attribute is Ideality, or the sense of the sublime and beau- tiful: the fact, therefore, that a large portion of Scripture is addressed to that faculty, is proof of its existence, or that Phrenology and the Scriptures are in harmony. Phrenology ascribes to man the possession of an original and special attribute, the activity of which renders him desirous of the approbation of others. This sentiment it designates, ' Approbativeness,' or ' Love of Approbation;' and, like all the others, it has an appropriate sphere and degree of operation; and operating beyond which, it is abused. The word of God recognises the existence of this sentiment in man; and even appeals to it, to stimulate him to holy action, and stern self denial, and patient endur- THE SCRIPTURES AND PHRENOLOGY. 359 ance. Our Redeemer and his apostles call us to realize the solemnities of a coming judgment, in order to brace us up to this action and endurance, holding out to our view the ' Well done, good and faithful servant,' i. e. the ap- proving sentence of the Judge, as our reward. And what is this but an appeal to the ' Love of Approbation?' It is an appeal to it, tending to rouse it to its highest, holiest action; an action under the direction of the moral senti- ments. But it is liable to abuse; and this abuse is, in the holy Scriptures, sedulously guarded against, and strictly forbidden. Ostentation results from such an abuse; and the language of Revelation is, ' Take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them.' Shame also, sometimes results from such an abuse; and accordingly, the Scriptures carefully guard against it: 'Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels.' (Mat. 8: 38.) It is the Phrenological sentiment, ' Firmness,' which the Saviour addresses, when he bids his disciples to ' Fear not them who, when they have killed the body, have no more that they can do:' and he here calls them to the legitimate exercise of this sentiment. But it may be abus- ed; and then it degenerates into obstinacy. This abuse, therefore, the Scriptures forbid, and threaten. It is only when enlightened by intellect, and under the guidance of the moral nature, that it performs its appropriate duties; and then it is an essential constituent in the character of a martyr. When not thus enlightened and directed, it forms a striking element in the character of an enthusiast, or a bigot. The abuse of Firmness is thus threatened, in the volume of inspiration: ' He that, being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed; and that without remedy.' (Prov. 29: 1.) It is evident, then, that the Scriptures recognise the existence of Firmness, and of Approbativeness; for they address them;—it is fur- 360 ON THE HARMONY BETWEEN thermore evident that they recognise a use, and an abuse of them; but this is exactly what Phrenology does; there- fore the Scriptures and Phrenology are in harmony. Let us now consider, briefly, man's moral nature, and we shall find that, respecting it, the harmony between Revelation and Phrenology is quite as striking. Man's moral nature is, by general consent, that which enables and inclines him to revere, admire, and love, whatever is great, and venerable, and good in the character of other beings; and, especially, in God;—to believe implicitly all which He makes known,—to perceive, as it were instinc- tively, the difference between the character of actions,— to hope for the fruition of all which God has promised, and to cherish kindly and benevolent feelings towards all his fellow beings. This corresponds, exactly, with what Phre- nology terms the ' Moral Sentiments:' viz. Reverence, Mar- vellousness, (or the tendency to believe, on evidence which satisfies the intellect, what may, nevertheless, be above the comprehension of reason,) Conscientiousness, Hope, Benevolence, and some others. The doctrine of Phrenolo- gy is, that this is man's highest nature; and that it was de- signed to control the whole man: and, certainly, this is the doctrine of Revelation. Phrenology says, moreover, that the Moral Sentiments are blind in their impulses; as truly so as the Propensities; and that, therefore, the man may mistake wrong for right;—may revere an idol or a relic;— may believe a lie;—may hope for what there is no founda- tion for expecting, S:.c. And does not Revelation in this, harmonize with Phrenology? 'The time cometh, when whosoever killeth you, will think that he doeth God ser- vice.' (John 16: 2.) Blind Conscientiousness is here de- scribed; as it is also in the following passage: ' I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contra- ry to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.' (Acts 26: 9.) Blind Reverence, and Marvellousness are described in all the exhibitions of idolatry, and its fables, which the Scrip- tures contain. (See Isa. 44: 9—20.) Furthermore, Phre- THE SCRIPTURES AND PHRENOLOGY. 361 nology says, that the moral sentiments must be enlight- ened by intellect; but that intellect itself is dark; and needs to be enlightened by Revelation. Can any one doubt the accordance of this doctrine with Revelation? Let them read the following passages, and they will doubt no longer. ' Their foolish heart was darkened.' Rom.. 1: 21. This is said of philosophical idolaters, who, ' profess- ing themselves to be wise, became fools.' Christians, on the contrary, are said to have had ' the eyes of their under- standing enlightened:' and, Is it asked by what means? This is the answer; 'We have a sure word of prophecy, unto which ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place.' (Eph. '1:18. 2 Pet. 1: 19.) Again, Phrenology gives to the moral sentiments supre- macy over the whole man; and consequently, over even the intellectual powers, to which the moral nature owes its light. And reasonably: for, on moral subjects, the light of intellect is borrowed from Revelation, i. e. from God: and it is right and fit that the light derived to the moral senti- ments from God, should be held superior to the native light of intellect, which on such subjects, is dark, without the aid of Revelation. Intellect may be employed in ascer- taining that it is God who speaks in Revelation; and also, in inquiring what he communicates; but, beyond this point, has no jurisdiction: It is, subsequently, to be in subjection to the moral sentiments. Of these, one is Marvellousness, or the capacity for believing, and the tendency to believe, what, nevertheless, Ave cannot comprehend. I need not say that the possession, by man, of such a sentiment, is in harmony with Revelation: for it is this, indeed, which adapts him to receive a revelation, such as the Bible pre- sents to him. A large portion of the contents of the sacred volume, contains information, not only on subjects which reason could not have discovered; but which, now that they are revealed, reason cannot understand. Such are the deity of Christ, the doctrine of the trinity, divine omniscience, and omnipresence, 8cc. Had our Maker 31 362 ON THE HARMONY BETWEEN not formed us with a sentiment of marvellousness, we could not have believed these particulars, in the revelation which he has given us. But, being endowed with such a sentiment, we are not only capable of receiving the infor- mation he has communicated; but have even a tendency, a. predisposition, to receive it. In this view, Phrenology exhibits the benevolence of our Creator. Our belief of these mysterious truths was, doubt- less, necessary, in order to our highest advantage; and our Maker saw it to be so. To have rendered us capable of believing them, then, seems (with reverence, be it said) an act of justice to his creatures; or, at least, an act declara- tive of his justice, in his dealings with them: but to give us a tendency toward such a belief, was an act of spontane- ous benevolence. Such a tendency, the sentiment of Mar- vellousness imparts; and its existence is a proof of Divine benevolence. But it is Phrenology which makes us ac- quainted with Marvellousness; and which, therefore, gives this proof of the goodness of our Creator. There is another thought connected with this subject; viz: That Phrenology exhibits the justice of God in the punishment of unbelievers. It is, plainly, a righteous demand which our Creator makes on us, that we believe his communications; seeing he has made us, not only capable of so doing, but tending so to do; by the bestow- ment, on us, of the sentiment of Marvellousness. Now, as this is found in all persons, in a greater or less degree, it is in vain that men allege that they cannot believe what they cannot comprehend; and that therefore there is no sin in disbelieving. They not only can believe; but, according to the constitution of their nature, are inclined to believe such truths; and if they are not so inclined in fact, it is because intellect is not in subjection, but in dominion; not controlled by the moral sentiment, Marvel- lousness, but controlling it. Now this is a violation of the appointment of the Creator; — a subjection of the moral to the intellectual nature,—of the superior to the inferior: i. e. it is sin; and it merits punishment: and pun THE SCRIPTURES AND PHRENOLOGY. 363 tshment the more severe, because the sin is not only against the righteousness of God, in giving us powers capable of believing; but against the goodness of God, in giving us also a tendency to believe. Such is the doctrine of Phre- nology;—how nearly it is in harmony with Revelation, let the following passages show. * He that believeth not God, hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.' (1 John 5: 10.) ' He that believeth not shall be damned.' (Mat. 16: 16.) Phre- nology, then, proves that God is not arbitrary, ' reaping where he had not sown; and gathering where he had not strawed;' in demanding the belief of mysterious, and in- comprehensible truths; since the nature of man is adapted, and even predisposed to receive them; and also, that the punishment threatened against unbelief, is not threatened in wantonness, but in righteousness, and equity. It would be equally easy to show the harmony of Phre- nology with Revelation, by a detailed examination of the other moral sentiments, Hope, Reverence, Conscientious- ness, Benevolence, &c.; but, this examination must be omitted; as well as that of some (the Propensities) of which we have not mentioned even the names. Enough has, however, been said, to satisfy a candid mind of the truth of our position; 'That the Bible addresses man as Phrenology sketches him;' and, therefore, that these are in perfect harmony with each other. We proceed now, therefore, to show the harmony between Phrenology and Revelation, with regard to some of the leading doctrines of evangelical religion. Of the present moral condition of human nature, Reve- lation teaches us that it is depraved: that men 'are all gone aside; that they are all together become filthy;—that there is none that doeth good, no, not one.' (Ps. 14: 3.) With this statement, and similar ones in other parts of the sacred volume, it is not exactly obvious that the doctrines of Phrenology are in harmony. Phrenology maintains that as human nature is the production of Infinite Wisdom and 364 ON THE HARMONY BETWEEN Goodness, it cannot be, in its own nature evil; and that no propensity or faculty or sentiment in its own nature is evil, nor is the legitimate use of any of them evil. Appar- ently, then, Phrenology and Revelation are at issue on the subject of the actual condition of human nature. But allow Revelation and Phrenology mutually to explain; and it will be found, that their disagreement is nothing more than apparent. Revelation nowhere asserts that the elements of man's nature are in themselves evil;—nor that they were imparted to the end that they might produce evil. Revelation traces the evil of human nature to the abuse of its powers; and in asserting the fact of human depravity, asserts only that all men, without exception, do abuse or pervert their faculties. To this Phrenology assents, most cordially; and declares, that men generally are not (as they ought to be, and as they were designed to be,) guided by enlightened intellect, and the moral senti- ments; but hy the propensities: i. e. that 'they are gone aside ' from the line of duty, and the laws of their Maker; and that they have thus degraded their moral nature from dominion to vassalage. This is what Revelation means, when it designates men as 'all together become filthy;' and therefore though there is a difference in phraseology, between a scriptural description of human nature, as it actually exists, and a Phrenological description of it; it is in phraseology alone, and not in the state of human nature, which both recognise. It is certain that the introduction of sin produced a great and lamentable change in the moral character of man; but, it is also certain, that it did not produce any essential change in his nature. Previous to the introduc- tion of sin, man was an animal, an intellectual, and a moral being; and, it is evident, that he is just such a being to the present hour. Is it asked, then, ' In what consists his sinfulness, or depravity?' The answer is perfectly easy. It consists not in the annihilation of any single power, or faculty, which he possessed in the day of his THE SCRIPTURES AND PHRENOLOGY. 365 creation; nor in the addition of a single power, or faculty, to those with which he was originally endowed. It con- sists in the destruction of the instituted balance between them. The harmony of man's powers was destroyed by sin; and that harmony constituted his innocence and his happiness. We have seen that Revelation and Phrenology agree that the design of the Creator was that the moral nature of man should rule;—it was originally invested with the dominion of the soul: of that dominion sin has deprived it, and subsequently to the entrance of sin, human nature has presented various phases of moral disorder; accord- ing as the animal, or the intellectual nature has assumed the government; or as it has been divided between them. If the animal and selfish part has obtained the ascendency, the man has been ' earthly and sensual;' and if the intel- lectual and animal nature have held unitedly the sceptre of the soul, the character of the man has been 'devilish:' for what other conception do we form of Satan himself, than that of a mighty intellect broken loose from the restraints of morality. Such were the cultivated Greeks and Romans of antiquity. Phrenology and Revelation are in harmony, then, as far as regards what man was, and what he is; nor does the correspondence terminate here: it extends to what he must become. Phrenology sees man, in the grosser speci- mens of our nature, under the dominion of his mere animal feelings; or it contemplates him as virtually a brute. In the more refined part of our species, if they be merely refined, (such as were the philosophical Greeks and Ro- mans, in whom Intellect and the Propensities were the predominant powers,) Phrenology sees a character which must be acknowledged to be Satanic. Now Phrenology declares that, in each of these cases, the law of God, as impressed on man's nature, is transgressed; and that, as a consequence, he cannot be happy; — happiness being inseparable from obedience to God's laws. In order to his restoration to happiness, Phrenology declares that the 31* 366 ON THE HARMONY BETWEEN prostrated moral powers must be elevated to the dominion; and the dominant animal or intellectual powers reduced to subjection: that man must cease to be either a brute, or a demon; and must become human; which he can only be, by the dominion of those moral sentiments which are pe- culiar to the human animal, and which ally him to higher and holier beings. The agreement of Revelation with Phrenology relative to the former portion of these its declarations, has already been indirectly shown, in the reference made to the apostle James's description of human nature; as ' earthly, sensual, and devilish.' Nor is it less obvious with respect to the latter portion of them — those which declare what man must become, in order to his happiness. On this point the voice of Revelation is ' Ye must be born again; except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.' Now man has received his present nature with his birth; and when the Scriptures assert the necessity of his pos- sessing another nature, it is quite natural to say (strong as is the figure,) ' Ye must have another birth, or be born again.' Where is the difference between the language of Phrenology ' that the human faculties, the Moral Senti- ments, must rule, or that man must become human,' and that of Revelation that he must be ' renewed in the spirit of his mind.' It is true that Phrenological writers have not extended their observations particularly to individuals; they have regarded the species generally: and hence we may say that Phrenology, in so far as it is a system of philosophy laid down in their writings, treats only of human nature; and not of the individuals who are partakers of it. But if Phrenology be a true system of the philosophy of man, we are not to consider it as fully developed in the works which are already extant:—it is merely sketched in bold, but just outline; and the artists who have drawn the sketch, have left it to posterity to fill up the picture, and bring it to perfection. Thus Phrenology, as found in the books, THE SCRIPTURES AND PHRENOLOGY. 367 almost overlooks the great work of restoring the dominion of the Moral Sentiments in individuals; or, to speak in Bcriptural language, of converting the soul: and looks for- ward, as to the only hope of improving the race, to such measures as shall physically tend to improve the cerebral organization. This, however, is the bearing of Phrenolo- gy, as found in the books; or these are the views of those Phrenologists who have, as yet, written and published their opinions; and not, necessarily, as that of Phrenology itself. Nay, the bearing of Phrenology itself, in fact, is such, as to favor attempts at the restoration of the dominion of the Moral Sentiments in individuals; and, here again, the harmony of Phrenology with Revelation is strikingly and beautifully conspicuous. Phrenology teaches us, not only that there are many more fundamental powers and faculties in man, than he was formerly supposed to possess; but, that these are capable of activity, independent of each other; and that, consequently, the extreme activity of one set of faculties, may overbear that of the others: Indeed, that this is actu- ally the case, in all men, naturally; for, that the Moral Sentiments are overborne, by the propensities, or the Intel- lect. Now, in teaching us that the powers and faculties of men are capable of activity, independent of each other, Phrenology teaches us that the Moral Sentiments can be thus active; and, moreover, that, on presenting to them their proper stimuli, they will be thus active; and will overbear, or reduce to subordination, the propensities and the Intellect. Should this be done the man is changed, renewed, converted, born again; and even Phrenology itself teaches us the possibility of individual improvement; which the Scriptures term personal conversion. Now that Revelation and Phrenology are in harmony, on this point, is evident, from the fact, that the Scriptures present these stimuli to the Moral Sentiments, on almost every page. They are presented by the light which Revelation affords to the Intellect, relative to the dignity of our moral nature, 368 ON THE HARMONY BETWEEN and the degradation it suffers, when in subjection to the inferior powers. They thus tend to rouse it to the asser- tion of its rights; and to command the actually dominant powers into subjection. But they are more especially pre- sented, by the displays which Revelation makes, of those great subjects which are adapted, especially, to stimulate them; for example,—of the love of God, in the gift of his Son; thus exciting Benevolence to unwonted activity, and discovering itself in lively gratitude:—of the real evil of sin, since, to avert its consequences, and vindicate the honor of the violated law, the death of Christ, as a sacri- fice, was rendered necessary; thus calling forth a proper activity of Conscientiousness, with regard to the rights of God, to uniform and perfect obedience from man:—of the inflexible rectitude, and immaculate purity of the divine character, in visiting, upon the person of his Son, when standing in the sinner's place, the transgression of his law, with the inflictions of his displeasure; thus powerfully ap- pealing to our Reverence; and, since he spared not his own Son, bidding us never hope that he will compromise justice, by suffering the impenitent sinner to escape;—of the riches of mercy, extended to the chief of sinners; thus calling into exercise our Hope, and increasing the energy of its operation, by the assurance that ' the eye of the Lord is on them that hope in his mercy, to deliver their soul from death;'—and of the harmony of the apparently con- flicting attributes of Deity, in the salvation of sinners by Jesus Christ; thus appropriately addressing our Wonder, or Marvellousness, by the spectacle of Christ ' set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood; to declare the righteousness of God in the forgiveness of sins;' so that he appears manifestly just, while he, yet, justifies the transgressors of his law, who believe in Jesus. The agreement of all this with fact, or experience, every reno- vated soul is able to testify. He knows that he loves the Savior 'because he first loved him;' or, that his Benevo- lence has been roused to activity by the perception of the THE SCRIPTURES AND PHRENOLOGY. 369 benevolence of God. He knows that his most clear per- ceptions of the evil of sin, have consisted in the discovery that it had been committed against God, (Ps. 51: 4.) i. e. that, in its commission, the rights of God had been violated; while the extent of those rights, and the consequent evil of violating them, was especially apparent, in connection with the death of Christ as an atoning sacrifice. And while his hope though humble, is yet unshaken, in the riches of divine mercy, he feels that a merciful God is yet ' glorious in holiness, and to be feared even while he is praised;' or, Phrenologically speaking, that God is such, viewed in connection with the economy of redemption, as to call into combined, and simultaneous exercise, his Reverence and his Hope. And while some, in whom intellect claims the dominion of the soul, may pity, and perhaps, ridicule his reception of the doctrine of Christ crucified, as harmonizing the apparently antagonist attri- butes of Deity, his intellect, chastened by Wonder, has embraced it, as adapted both to his nature, and his neces- gjties:—thus, though this truth is 'to them that perish foolishness; it is, to them that believe, the wisdom of God, and the power of God;' and ' Christ of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.' The harmony of Revelation with Phrenology, relative to the doctrine of personal conversion, is here: Phrenology teaches us the possibility of the activity of the moral sen- timents, independent of the other powers; and also, that they may be excited, by appropriate stimuli, to overbear and subjugate those powers: and Revelation teaches us that, in the case of every converted person, these phe- nomena actually present themselves. The Moral Senti- ments, roused and excited by the appropriate moral stim- uli with which Revelation, and especially Christianity, abounds, assume the dominion of the soul; and subjugate the Animal Propensities, and the Intellectual Powers to its authority; and ' the grace of God which bringethsalvation, 370 ON THE HARMONY BETWEEN teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts; to cru- cify the flesh with the affections and lusts; and to cast down imaginations, or reasonings, and every high thing, that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God; and to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.' (Tit. 2: 12. Gal. 5: 24. 2 Cor. 10: 5.) But let it not be supposed that this supremacy of the Moral Sentiments is either acquired, or retained, without an effort. Far from it: the struggle is long, and painful, before the propensities, long accustomed to command, will give up the dominion; and when it has been surren- dered, they are still on the alert to recover the ascendency; and require to be kept down by a strong hand. This is the doctrine of Phrenology; and what is that of Revela- tion? Why, that the restoration of the dominion to the higher sentiments, is a point of difficulty so great, as that it is almost a moral impossibility. ' Can the Ethiopian change his skin? or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, who are accustomed to do evil.' (Jer. 13: 23.) Nor is it less explicit, relative to the difficulty with which the propensities, even when reduced to subjection, are retained in subordination to the Moral Sentiments: especially in persons in whom their developments are con- siderable. Paul the apostle was such a person. All that is recorded of him, previous to his conversion, represents him, not only as a person under the dominion of the lower feelings; but as one in whom those feelings were extreme- ly active and powerful. He kept the clothes of Stephen's murderers ;—' he breathed threatenings and slaughter' against the disciples of Jesus;—' he entered every house' where they were found; and delivered them to the autho- rities, to be imprisoned, or put to death;—' he punished them oft, in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme;' and was so * exceedingly mad against them, that he persecuted them even unto strange cities.' The ascendency over propensities so strong, and so active, was not given to the Moral Sentiments in his case but by mi- THE SCRIPTURES AND PHRENOLOGY. 371 raculous interference; yet the energy of action to which that interference excited his Moral Sentiments, was such, that they were made to predominate, notwithstanding. But it was not, of course, without a preternatural struggle; and so strong were the lower feelings, even when enchain- ed, so to speak, that they gave no little trouble, to the great apostle, during life; and, occasionally, they gained the ascendency. This is evident from his language in the seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. ' Sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence.—That which I do I allow not' for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. —For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, (or animal nature,) dvvelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I do not; and the evil that I would not, that I do.—I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man; but I see another law in my members, (viz. the Propensities,) warring against the law of my mind, (viz. the Moral Sentiments,) and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. O, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' (Rom. 7: 8. et seq.) And what this apostle experienced in himself, he recognised in his fellow Christians; and, accordingly, affords them an an- alysis of their own painful experience; and gives them suitable instructions for their conduct. ' The flesh (or Pro pensities) lusteth against the spirit, (or the Moral Senti- ments,) and the spirit against the flesh; and these are con trary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.' ' If ye live after the flesh, (yield the dominion to the Propensities) ye shall die; but if ye, through the spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye 6hall live.' 'For they that are Christ's, have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts.' (Gal. 5: 17. Rom. 8: 13. Gal. 5:24.) It is thus rendered evident, that, on the subject of an internal conflict in the breast of 372 ON THE HARMONY BETWEEN a good man, between antagonist principles, and which ia commonly termed ' indwelling sin,' the harmony between Revelation and Phrenology, is satisfactorily established. Another point, on which this harmony is no less com- plete, is that of the diversity between the original endow- ments, and consequent advantages of individuals, and their correspondently various responsibility. It is asserted by Phrenology, in opposition to the declared opinions of phi- losophers of other schools, in every age, that there is an original difference in the capacities and powers of men, whether intellectual or moral; as there is seen to be in their physical Constitution. Phrenology does not acknow- ledge that all the differences actually existing, between the intellectual power, and moral principle of men, are purely accidental; and the effects of intellectual and moral culture. It is, indeed, admitted, that this can accomplish much; and that it ought to be carried to the highest pos- sible point of perfection; and to embrace, moreover, the propensities, within its sphere, which should be trained to obey, while Intellect is taught to enlighten, and the Moral Sentiments to command. But it is not admitted that edu- cation can impart, or create powers, intellectual, or moral; nor that it can eradicate, though it may tame and control, the propensities. Phrenology, then, is on this point, at va- riance with other systems of philosophy; but is in harmony with Revelation, to which those other systems are opposed. For, what is the doctrine of the Bible upon this subject? It teaches us the inequality of the distribution of the in- tellectual and moral, and even animal, elements of our nature; and the consequent variety in our moral accounta- bility. The parable of the Talents does this: one servant received five, and another two, and another one; for the design of the Lord was to show that each was accountable for what was entrusted to him; and that the accountability varied with the trust. If it be said, that, in the kindred parable of the pounds, all the servants are said to have received an equal amount, this does not invalidate the statement above made; for, in this parable, our Lord's THE SCRIPTURES AND PHRENOLOGY. 373 intention was different; namely, to show that future re- ward would be in proportion to present diligence: and thus he whose diligence had converted his pound into ten pounds, was invested with authority over ten cities; and he who had gained five pounds, over five cities. But accountability is proportioned to the amount entrusted; and hence, he who, in the former parable, had received five talents, comes not to render his account of two; nor is he who had received two, called on to account for five. And, in both the parables, the servant who is condemned, incurs the displeasure of his master, not because one pound, or talent, had not become, in his hands, ten, or five, or even two; but because he had indolently failed to attempt improving it. This is the doctrine of Phrenology, exactly: that the endowments of men are unequal; and that, as their circumstances vary, their faculties for the cultivation of their powers, vary also; and consequently, that their responsibility varies; while, in any given endow- ment, and under any given circumstances, success will be proportionate to effort, and guilt to negligence. And mark the harmony of Scripture with this: ' If I had not come and spoken to them, they had not had sin; (i. e. they would have been, comparatively, guiltless;) but now they have no cloak for their sin.' And upon the same principle was the wo greater which should fall on Capernaum, and Chorazin and Bethsaida, than on Tyre and Sidon, and Sodom. And, agreeing on the variety of intellectual and moral endowment in individuals, Revelation and Phre- nology agree,, also, in the claim they make on men, for the exercise of candor and forbearance and charity towards others; both as to their opinions and feelings; and as to their practices. They both see that two men, differently Constituted, cannot view a given subject in the same light; nor feel towards it, with the same intenseness of interest. Neither Phrenology nor Revelation, therefore, insists that all men shall see with the same eyes; nor brands, as wil- fulness and obstinacy, what may be indeed infirmity, and 32 374 ON THE HARMONY BETWEEN even, misguided Conscientiousness. They, on the contra- ry, agree in saying to us all, respecting those that differ from us, ' What hast thou to do, to judge another man's servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth: yea, he shall be holden up; for God is able to make him stand. Judge not, that ye be not judged.' (Rom. 14:4. Mat. 7: 1.) Phrenology and Revelation harmonize, also, in their estimate of virtue. It is the doctrine of Phrenology that no action can be termed virtuous of which self is, in any way, the object: but that it must be confined to those actions which involve the relations of man to his Maker, and to his fellow beings. In several of those powers which are termed Moral Sentiments, Phrenology teaches us that the object which they regard is self, in one or other of its modifications. For example, that Self-Esteem is affected by every thing which has a tendency to increase or dimin- ish the importance of self;—that Approbativeness is affect- ed by the light in which self may be regarded by others; that Cautiousness is excited by whatever appears pregnant with personal injury, or which threatens the well-being of self: and so of the rest, and that, in short, there are only three of our Moral Sentiments which are truly unselfish in their character: viz. Conscientiousness, Reverence, and Benevolence. These, therefore, Phrenology terms the Superior Sentiments, and the others (though termed sen- timents) are distinguished as Inferior Sentiments. Now how strictly in accordance Revelation is with Phrenology, in this estimate, will appear, if we compare it, either with the summary of all virtue,—our Lord's epitome of the law,—with the details of that law, in the decalogue;—or with the compendium of all duty, given by the prophet. Our Lord's epitome of the law, embraces only the relations of man to God, and his fellows; and prescribes a course of conduct, which should perfectly fulfil the obligations arising out of them. ' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength; and thy neighbor as thy- self.' If we proceed another step, and examine the details THE SCRIPTURES AND PHRENOLOGY. 375 of the law thus epitomized; we shall perceive, that obedi- ence to the first four precepts of the decalogue, involves the duties arising out of the relation of man to his Creator; and obedience to them will flow from enlightened Con- scientiousness and Veneration: for it is Conscientiousness which acknowledges the justice of homage to such a Be- ing; and it is Veneration, or Reverence, which inspires the emotion in which that homage is rendered. The fifth pre- cept is obeyed when Conscientiousness, and Veneration, and Benevolence, act in harmony, towards those who stand in the specified, or implied relations which the com- mand contemplates. The sixth is obeyed by the united activity of Benevolence and Conscientiousness; maintained in activity by Reverence: and the remaining four by Con- scientiousness, either alone, or in combination with Benev- olence, and Veneration. Let us now pass on to the com- pendium of moral excellence, given by the prophet Micah; (6: 8,) where we find the harmony of Phrenology with Revelation to be, even critical. Conscientiousness dic- tates Justice, Benevolence, Kindness, and Veneration, Hu- mility; and now listen to the prophet; ' He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord re- quire of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God ?' There is one other point on which the harmony between Phrenology and Revelation is equally conspicuous as in the last; and with a brief notice of this point we shall bring this subject to a elose: viz. The estimate which both put, upon the merit of human virtue. On this subject Phrenology is the only system of Moral Philosophy (not based on Revelation) which harmonizes with the word of God. It is scarcely necessary to say, that the Holy Scriptures are explicit, in their declarations, that there is, and can be, no merit in human actions; be they never so perfect, and never so disinterested in their character. Not only are the actual deeds of men who ' esteem them- selves to be righteous, and despise others,' declared to be abominable in the sight of God:—not only are the most 376 ON THE HARMONY BETWEEN perfect works of the saints, declared to be defiled with such an admixture of sin, as renders their ' righteousness, filthy rags:'—but, moreover, the Scriptures take the high ground of declaring, that absolutely perfect obedience to all which God requires of man, and this, through the whole period of his existence, could not merit any thing at the hand of God. ' When ye have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable ser- vants; we have done that which was our duty to do.' ' Can a man be profitable to God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself ? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him that thou makest thy way perfect ? ' 'If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him ? or if thy transgressions be multi- plied, what doest thou unto him? If thou be righteous what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand? Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art; and thy righteousness may profit the son of man.' ' How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean which is born of a woman? Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; and the stars are not clean in his sight: how much less man that is a worm, and the son of man which is a worm.' (Luke 17: 10. Job 22: 2, 3. 35: 6—8. 25: 4—6.) It is admitted that the quotations here made from the book of Job, may, with greater propriety, be adduced to disprove the existence of perfect rectitude in man, than to prove its destitution of merit; (and in this they harmo- nize with Phrenology,) but they are, yet, apposite to the latter subject; as they show the Divine independence of such rectitude, even if it did exist; and that, consequent- ly, he could not be indebted to its possessors; or they must be devoid of merit before him. But the quotation from Luke is entirely appropriate; and it asserts, explicitly, the utter absence of merit, even in absolutely perfect virtue. This, then, is the doctrine of Revelation on the subject: what is that of Phrenology ? For an answer to this question, we beg the reader to bear in mind, that Phrenology considers only that course Missing Pages: P. 377-380 missing APPENDIX. NATURAL LAWS. —Text, p. 27. In the text it is mentioned, that many philosophers have treated of the Laws of Nature. The following are examples :— Mr. Stewart says, ' To examine the economy of nature in the phenomena of the lower animals, and to compare their instincts with the physical circumstances of their external situation, forms one of the finest speculations of Natural History; and yet it is a speculation to which the attention of the natural historian has sel- dom been directed. Not only Buffon, but Ray and Derham, have passed it over slightly; nor, indeed, do I know of anyone who has made it the object of a particular consideration but Lord Kames, in a short Appendix to one of his Sketches.'—Elements of the Philoso- phy of the Human Mind, vol. iii. p. 368. Mr. Stewart also uses the following words :—' Numberless ex- amples show that Nature has done no more for man than was nec- essary for his preservation, leaving him to make many acquisitions for himself, which she has imparted immediately to the brutes. ' My own idea is, as I have said on a different occasion, that both instinct and experience are here concerned, and that the share which belongs to each in producing the result, can be ascertained by an appeal to facts alone.'—Vol. iii. eh. 338. Montesquieu introduces his Spirit of Laws by the following observations :—' Laws, in their most general signification, are the necessary relations derived from the nature of things. In this sense, all beings have their laws ; the Deity has his laws ; the material world its laws ; the intelligences superior to man have their laws; the beasts their laws ; man his laws. ' Those who assert that a blind fatality produced the various effects we behold in this world, are guilty of a very great absurdity ; for can any thing be more absurd than to pretend that a blind fatality could be productive of intelligent beings ? ' There is, then, a primitive reason; and laws are the relations which subsist between it and different beings, and the relations of these beings among themselves. 'God is related to the universe as Creator and preserver; the laws by which he has created all things are those by which he preserves them. He acts according to these rules, because he knows them: he 382 APPENDIX.--NATURAL LAWS. knows them because he has made them; and he made them because they are relative to his wisdom and power, &c. ' Man, as a physical being, is, like other bodies, governed by inva- riable laws.'—Spirit of Laws, b. i. c. i. Justice Blackstone observes, that' Law, in its most general and comprehensive sense, signifies a rule of action; and is applied in- discriminately to all kinds of action, whether animate or inanimate, rational or irrational. Thus we say, the laws of motion, of gravi- tation, of optics, or mechanics, as well as the laws of nature and of nations. Thus, when the Supreme Being formed the universe, and created matter out of nothing, he impressed certain principles upon that matter, from which it can never depart, and without which it would cease to be. When he put that matter into motion, he established certain laws of motion, to which all movable bodies must conform.' — 'If we farther advance from mere inactive matter to vegetable and animal life,we shall, find them still governed by laws ; more numerous, indeed, but equally fixed and invariable. The whole progress of plants, from the seed to the root, and from thence to the seed again ;—the method of animal nutrition, diges- tion, secretion, and all other branches of vital economy ;—are not left to chance, or the will of the creature itself, but are performed in a wondrous involuntary manner, and guided by unerring rules laid down by the great Creator. This, then, is the general signification of law, a rule of action dictated by some superior being; and in those creatures that have neither power to think, nor the will, such laws must be invariably obeyed, so long as the creature itself sub- sists ; for its existence depends on that obedience.'—Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, vol. i. sect. 2. ' The word law,' says Mr. Erskine, ' is frequently made use of, both by divines and philosophers, in a large acceptation, to express the settled method of God's providence, by which he preserves the order of the material world in such a manner, tlutt nothing in it may deviate from that uniform course which he has appointed for it. And as brute matter is merely passive, without the least degree of choice upon its part, these laivs are inviolably observed in the material creation, every part of which continues to act, immutably, according to the rules that were from the beginning prescribed to it hy Infinite Wisdom. Thus philosophers have given the appellation of law to that motion which incessantly pervades and agitates the universe, and is ever changing the form and substance of things, dissolving some, and raising others, as from their ashes, to fill up the void: Yet so, that amidst all the fluctuations by which partic- ular things are affected, the universe is still preserved without dim- APPENDIX.--NATURAL LAWS. 383 inution. Thus also they speak of the laws of fluids, of gravitation, &c. and the word is used, in this sense, in several passages of the sacred writings; in the book of Job, and in Proverbs viii. 29, where God is said to have given his laio to the seas that they should not pass his commandment.'—Erskine's Institutes of the Law of Scot- land, book i. tit. i. sect. 1. Discussions about the Laws of Nature, rather than inquiries into them, were common in France, during the Revolution : and, having become associated, in imagination, with the crimes and horrors of that period, they continue to be regarded, by some individuals, as inconsistent with religion and morality. A coincidence between the views maintained in the preceding Essay, and a passage in Volney, has been pointed out to me, as an objection to the whole doctrine. Volney's words are the following : — 'It is a law of nature, that water flows from an upper to a lower situation; that it seeks its level; that it is heavier than air ; that all bodies tend towards the earth ; that flame rises towards the sky; that it de- stroys the organization of vegetables and animals; that air is es- sential to the life of certain animals: that, in certain cases, water suffocates and kills them; that certain juices of plants, and certain minerals, attack their organs, and destroy their life ;—and the same of a variety of facts. ' Now, since these facts, and many similar ones, are constant, regular, and immutable, they become so many real and positive commands, to which man is bound to conform, under the express penalty of punishment attached to their infraction, or well-being connected with their observance. So that if a man were to pretend to see clearly in the dark, or is regardless of the progress of the seasons, or the action of the elements ; if he pretends to exist under water, without drowning ; to handle fire without burning himself; to deprive himself of air without suffocating; or to drink poison without destroying himself; he receives, for each infraction of the law of nature, a corporal punishment proportioned to his transgres- sion. If, on the contrary, he observes these laws, and founds his practice on the precise and regular relation which they bear to him, he preserves his existence, and renders it as happy as it is capable of being rendered ; and since all these laws, considered in relation to the human species, have in view only one common end, that of their preservation and their happiness : whence it has been agreed to assemble together the different ideas, and express them by a single word, and call them collectively by the name of the "Law of Nature." '—Volney's Law of Nature, 3d edit. pp. 21, 24. 384 APPENDIX.--NATURAL LAWS. I feel no embarrassment by this coincidence ; but remark, first, That various authors, quoted in the text and in this note, advocat- ed the importance of the laws of nature, long before the French Revolution was heard of; secondly, That the existence of the laws of nature is as obvious to the understanding, as the existence of the external world, and of the human mind and body themselves to the senses; thirdly, That these laws, being inherent in creation, must have proceeded from the Deity : fourthly, That if the Deity is powerful, just, and benevolent, they must harmonize with the constitution of man ; and, lastly, That if the laws of nature have been instituted by the Deity, and been framed in wise, benevolent, and just relationship to the human constitution, they must at all times form the highest and most important subjects of human in- vestigation, and remain altogether unaffected by the errors, follies, and crimes of those who endeavor to expound them ; just as religion continues holy, venerable, and uncontaminated, notwithstanding the hypocrisy, wickedness, and inconsistency of individuals professing themselves her interpreters and friends. That the views of the natural laws themselves, advocated in this Essay, are diametrically opposite to the practical conduct of the French revolutionary ruffians, requires no demonstration. My fundamental principle is, that man can enjoy happiness on earth only by placing his habitual conduct under the supremacy of the moral sentiments and intellect, and that this is the law of his nature. No doctrine can be more opposed than this to fraud, robbery, blas- phemy, and murder. It may be urged, that all past speculations about the laws of nature have proved more imposing than useful; and that, while the laws themselves afford materials for elevated declamation on the part of philosophers, they form no secure guides even to the learned, and much less to the illiterate, in practical conduct. In answer, I would respectfully repeat what has frequently been urged in the text, that, before we can discover the laws of nature, appli- cable to man, we must know, first, The constitution of man him- self; secondly, The constitution of external nature ; and, thirdly, We must compare the two. But, previous to the discovery of Phrenology, the mental constitution of man was a matter of vague conjecture, and endless debate; and the connection between his mental powers and his organized system, was involved in the deep- est obscurity. The brain, the most important organ of the body, had no ascertained fuctions. Before the introduction of this sci- ence, therefore, men were rather impressed with the unspeakable importance of the knowledge of the laws of nature, than acquainted APPENDIX.--ORGANIC LAW'S. 385 with the laws themselves; and even the knowledge of the external world actually possessed, could not, in many instances, be rendered available, on account of its relationship to the qualities of man be- ing unascertained, and unascertainable, so long as these qualities themselves were unknown. NOTE I. ORGANIC LAWS. —Text, p. 116. On the subject of the sufferings of women in childbed, the follow- ing authorities may be referred to:— ' One thing,' says Mr. Alison, ' is very remarkable, and occurs in most cases of concealment and childmurder, viz. the strength and capability for exertion evinced by women in the inferior ranks shortly after childbirth,—appearances so totally different from those exhibited in the higher orders, that, to persons acquainted only with cases among the latter, they would appear incredible. In the case just mentioned (that of Catharine Butler or Anderson, at Aberdeen, in spring 1829), the mother, two or three days after her .delivery, walked from Inverury to Huntly, a distance of twenty- eight miles, in a single day, with her child on her back. Similar occurrences daily are proved in cases of this description. It is not unusual to find women engaged in reaping, retire to a little dis- tance, effect their delivery by themselves, return to their fellow laborers, and go on with their work during the remainder of the day, without any other change of appearance but looking a little paler and thinner. Such a fact occurred in the case of Jean Smith, Ayr, spring 1824. Again, in the case of Ann Macdougall, Aber- deen, spring 1823, it appeared that the panel, who was sleeping in bed with two other servants, rose, was delivered, and returned to bed, without any of them being conscious of what had occurred. Instances have even occurred in which women have walked six and eight miles on the very day of their delivery, without any sensible inconvenience. Many respectable medical practitioners, judging from what they have observed among the higher ranks, would pro- nounce such facts impossible; but they occur so frequently among the laboring classes as to form a point worthy of knowledge in criminal jurisprudence; and to render perfectly credible what is said of the female American Indians, that they fall behind for a little, on their journeys through the forests, deliver themselves, and shortly make up to their husbands, and continue their journey with their offspring on their back.'—Alison's Principles of the Criminal Law of Scotland, pp. 161, 1G2. 33 386 APPENDIX.--ORGANIC LAWS. Mr. Lawrence observes, ' that the very easy labors of negresses, native Americans, and other women in the savage state, have been often noticed by travellers. This point is not explicable by any prerogative of physical formation ; for the pelvis is rather smaller in these dark-colored races than in the European and other white people. Simple diet, constant and laborious exertion, give to these children of nature a hardiness of constitution, and exempt them from most of the ills which afflict the indolent and luxurious females of civilized societies. In the latter, however, the hard-working women of the lower classes in the country often suffer as little from child-birth as those of any other race. Analogous differences, from the like causes, may be seen in the animal kingdom. Cows kept in towns, and other animals, deprived of their healthful exercise, and accustomed to unnatural food and habits, often have difficult labors, and suffer much in parturition.'—Lawrence's Lectures on Physiology, Zoology, and the Natural History of Man. —1822. Vol. ii. p. 190. Among the Araucanian Indians of South America, 'a mothei, immediately on her delivery, takes her child, and going down to the nearest stream of water, washes herself and it, and returns to the usual labors of her station.'—Stevenson's Twenty Years' Resi- dence in South America. Vol. i. p. 9. NOTE II. HEREDITARY TRANSMISSION OF QUALITIES. — Text, p. 14b Fortified by the observations made in the text, I venture to cite some additional authorities, and to record some farther facts com- municated by persons on whose accuracy reliance may be placed, in support of the doctrine of the transmission of qualities by hered- itary descent. ' The advice which I am now about to give, is indeed no other than what hath been given by those who have undertaken this argument before me. You will ask me, what is that ? 'T is this, that no man keep company with his wife for issue sake, but when he is sober—as not having before either drunk any wine, or, at least, not to such a quantity as to distemper him; for they usually prove wine-bibbers and drunkards whose parents begot them when they were drunk: wherefore Diogenes said to a stripling, some- what crack-brained and half-witted, Surely, young man, thy father begot thee when he was drunk.' — Plutarch's Morals, translation published at London, 1718, vol. i. p. 2. It is remarked by Burton in his Anatomy of Melancholy, that APPENDIX.--ORGANIC LAWS. 387 ' if a drunken man gets a child, it will never, likely, have a good brain.' The following case fell under my own observation:—W. B. shoemaker in Portsburgh, called and showed me his son, aged 18, who is in a state of idiocy. He is simple and harmless, but never could do any thing for himself. His father said that his wife was sound in mind; that he has other three children all sound, and that the only account he could ever give of the condition of this son was, that he kept a public-house, and some months before the birth of this boy an idiot lad came round with a brewer's drayman and help- ed him to lift the casks off* the cart; that that idiot made a strong impression on his wife ; that she complained that she could not get his appearance removed from her mind ; and that she kept out of the way when he came to the house afterwards ; that his son was weak in body from birth, and silly in mind, and had the slouched and slovenly appearance of the idiot. The following eases are recorded in the Phrenological Journal: ' I now proceed to give some facts strongly illustrative of the doc- •trine, that the faculties which predominate in power and activity in the parents, when the organic existence of the child commences, determine its future mental dispositions. This is a doctrine to which, from its great practical importance, I would beg leave to call your serious attention. It was remarked by the celebrated Esquirol, ' that the children whose existence dated from the horrors of the first French Revolution, turned out to be weak, nervous, and irritable in mind, extremely susceptible of impressions, and liable to be thrown by the least extraordinary excitement into absolute in- sanity.' Sometimes, too, family calamities produce serious effects upon the offspring. A very intelligent and respectable mother, upon hearing this principle expounded, remarked that there was a very wide difference in the intellectual and moral development be- tween one of her children and the others; and accounted for this difference by the fact, that, during pregnancy, she received intelli- gence that the crew of the ship, on board of which was her son, had mutinied—that when the ship arrived in the West Indies, some of the mutineers, and also her son, had been put in irons,— and that they were all to be sent home for trial. This intelligence acted so strongly upon her, that she suffered a temporary alienation of judgment. The report turned out to be erroneous, but this did not avert the consequences of the agitated state of the mother's feelings upon the daughter she afterwards gave birth to. That daughter is now a woman, but she is and will continue to be a 388 APPENDIX.--ORGANIC LAWS. being of impulses, incapable of reflection, and in other respects greatly inferior to her sisters. 1 The following is a melancholy instance of the operation of this principle, which was communicated to me by a respectable medical practitioner, and which I have since found from inquiries in the neighborhood, and from seeing the subject of it, to be substantially correct. In the summer of 1827, the practitioner alluded to was called upon to visit professionally a young woman in the immediate neighborhood, who was safely delivered of a male child. As the parties appeared to be respectable, he made some inquiries regard- ing the absence of the child's father; when the old woman told him that her daughter was still unmarried, that the child's father belonged to a regiment then in Ireland; that last autumn he had obtained leave of absence to visit his relations in this part of the country ; and that on the eve of his departure to join his regiment, an entertainment was given, at which her daughter attended. During the whole evening, she and the soldier danced and sang together; when heated by the toddy and the dance, they left the cottage, and after the lapse of an hour were found together in a glen, in a state of utter insensibility, from the effects of their former festivity; and the consequence of this interview was the birth of an idiot. He is now nearly six years of his age, and his mother does not believe that he is able to recognise either herself or any other individual. He is quite incapable of making signs, whereby his wants can be made known—with this exception, that when hungry he gives a wild shriek. This is the case upon which it would be painful to dwell; and I shall only remark, that the parents are both intelligent, and that the fatal result cannot be otherwise accounted for than by the almost total prostration or eclipse of the intellect of both parties from intoxication.'—Phren. Journ. vol. viii. p. 471. The following case affords an example of the effect on the chil- dren of unfavorable physical circumstances operating on the parents previous to birth. ' There are about Paris a number of beggars, twelve or thirteen of them at least, all deformed in various ways, and all born at Lille, in certain dark caverns under the fortifications. The effect of these places, from their want of light, producing malformed births, is so notorious, that the Magistrates of Lille have issued strict orders to prohibit the poor from taking up their abode in them. It is added by the writer, that he had a conversation with Mr. Edwards on the subject, and that gentleman was greatly struck with the confirma- tion which the above circumstances afford to his views, stated in his APPENDIX.--ORGANIC LAWS. 389 work. " Sur l'lnfluence des Agens Physiques sur la Vie." Mr. Edwards' experiments of detaining tadpoles in darkness, and thus causing them to grow into gigantic and monstrous tadpoles, instead of their being transformed into frogs, is well known.'—From Lon- don Medical Gazette, September 1832, as quoted in Arcana of Science and Art, 1833, p. 198. The operation of the same laws in the case of the lower animals appears to be indubitable. The following cases will serve as ex- amples. ' In Europe, the constant practice of milking cows has enlarged the udder greatly beyond its natural size, and so changed the secre- tions, that the milk does not cease when the calf is removed. In Colombia, where circumstances are entirely different, nature shows a strong tendency to resume its original type. A cow gives milk there only while the calf is with her.' 'It is worthy of notice, that the amble, the pace to which the domestic horse in Spanish America is exclusively trained, become, in the course of some gen- erations, hereditary, and is assumed by the young ones without teaching.'—Encyc. Brit. 1th edit. vol. ii. p. 653, Art. America. The writer refers to a paper by M. Roulin, entitled ' Sur les Chan- gemens swvenus,' &c. in the Bulletin des Sciences Naturelles, Avril, 1829. A gentleman, who has paid much attention to the rearing of horses, informed me, that the male race-horse, when excited, but not exhausted, by running, has been found by experience to be in the most favorable condition for transmitting swiftness and vivacity to his offspring. Another gentleman stated, that he was himself present when the pale gray color of a male horse was objected to; that the groom thereupon presented before the eyes of the male another female from the stable, of a very particular but pleasing, va- riety of colors, asserting, that the latter would determine the com- plexion of the offspring ; and that in point of fact it did so. The experiment was tried in the case of a second female, and the result was so completely the same, that the two young horses, in point of color, could scarcely be distinguished although their spots were ex- tremely uncommon. The account of Laban and the peeled rods laid before the cattle to produce spotted calves, is an example of the same kind. Portal mentions the hereditary descent of blindness and deafness. His words are : ' Morgagni has seen three sisters dumb " d'ori- gine." Other authors also cite examples, and I have seen like cases myself. In a note, he adds, ' I have seen three children out of four 33* 390 APPENDIX.--ORGANIC LAWS. of the same family blind from birth by amaurosis, or gutta serena.' —Portal, Memoires sur Plusieurs Maladies, torn. iii. p. 193. Paris, 1808. In the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, No. I., there are several valuable articles illustrative of the Organic Laws in the inferior ani- mals. I select the following examples : ' Everyone knows that the hen of any bird will lay eggs although no male be permitted to come near her ; and that those eggs are only wanting in the vital principle which the impregnation of the male conveys to them. Here, then, we see the female able to make an egg, with yolk and white, shell and every part, just as it ought to be, so that we might, at the first glance, suppose that here, at all events, the female has the greatest influence. But see the change which the male produces. Put a Bantam cock to a large-sized hen, and she will instantly lay a small egg; the chick will be short in the leg, have feathers to the foot, and put on the appearance of the cock: so that it is a frequent complaint where Bantams are kept, that they make the hens lay small eggs, and spoil the breed. Re- verse the case ; put a large dunghill cock to Bantam hens, and in- stantly they will lay larger eggs, and the chicks will be good-sized birds, and the Bantam will have nearly disappeared. Here, then, are a number of facts known to every one, or at least open to be known by every one, clearly proving the influence of the male in some animals; and as I hold it to be an axiom that Nature never acts by contraries, never outrages the law clearly fixed in one spe- cies, by adopting the opposite course in another,—therefore, as in the case of an equilateral triangle on the length of one side being given, we can with certainty demonstrate that of the remaining ; so, having found these laws to exist in one race of animals, we are entitled to assume that every species is subjected to the self-same rules,—the whole bearing, in fact, the same relation to each other as the radii of a circle.' Very young hens lay small eggs ; but a breeder of fowls will never set these to be hatched, because the animals produced would be feeble and imperfectly developed. They select the largest and fresh- est eggs, and endeavor to rear the healthiest stock possible. ' A method of obtaining a greater number of One Sex, at the option of the Proprietor, in the breeding of Lire Stock.'—Extracted from the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, No. I. p. 63. 'In the Annalesde l'Agriculture Fran?aise, vols. 37and 38,some very interesting experiments are recorded, which have lately been APPENDIX.--ORGANIC LAWS. 391 made in France, on the Breeding of Live Stock. M. Charles Girou de Buzareingues proposed, at a meeting of the Agricultural Society of Soverac, on the 3d of July 1826, to divide a flock of sheep into two equal parts, so that a greater number of males or females, at the choice of the proprietor, should be produced from each of them. Two of the members of the Society offered their flocks to become the subjects of his experiments, and the results have now been com- municated, which are in accordance with the author's expectations.' ' The first experiment was conducted in the following manner : He recommended very young rams to be put to the flock of ewes, from which the proprietor wished the greater number of females in their offspring; and also, that, during the season when the rams were with the ewes, they should have more abundant pasture than the other ; while, to the flock from which the proprietor wished to obtain male lambs chiefly, he recommended him to put strong and vigorous rams four or five years old. The following tabular view contains the result of this experiment. Flock for Female Lambs. Flock for Male Lambs. Age of the Mothers. Sex of the Lambs. Age of the Mothers. Sex of the Lambs. Males. Females. Two years, - - 14 26 Three years, - - 16 29 Four years, 5 21 Total, 35 76 Five years and older, 18 8 Total, 53 84 N. B.—There were three twin-births in this flock. Two rams served it, one fifteen months, the other nearly two years old. Males. Females. Two years, 7 3 Three years, - - 15 14 Four years, - 33 14 Total, - 55 31 Five years and older, 25 24 Total, -.- 80 55 N. B.—There were no twin-births in this flock. Two strong rams, one four, the other five years old, served it. 1 The general law, as far as we are able to detect it, seems to be, that, when animals are in good condition, plentifully supplied with food, and kept from breeding as fast as they might do, they are most likely to produce females. Or, in other words, when a race of ani- mals is in circumstances favorable for its increase, nature produces the greatest number of that sex which, in animals that do not pair, is most efficient for increasing the numbers of the race : But, if they are in a bad climate, or on stinted pasture, or, if they have already given birth to a numerous offspring, then nature, setting limits to the increase of the race, produces more males than females. Yet, 392 APPENDIX.--ORGANIC LAWS. perhsps, it may be premature to attempt to deduce any law from experiments which have not yet been sufficiently extended. M. Girou is disposed to ascribe much of the effect to the age of the ram, independent of the condition of the ewe.' Mr. W. B. Stevenson, in his ' Narrative of Twenty Years' resi- dence in South America,' vol. i. p. 286, says, ' he has always re- marked, that in cases where parents are of different castes, the child receives more of the color of the father than of the mother.' He made extensive observations during a long residence in Lima ; a place, he remarks, than which there cannot be any more favorable for an examination of the influence of 'the configuration of the human face, or of its color, on the intellectual faculties.' He gives the following table, showing the mixture of the different castes, under their common or distinguishing names. But' this table,' says he, ' which I have endeavored to make as correct as possible, from personal observation, must be considered as general, and not includ- ing particular cases.' Father. Mother. Children. Color. European, European, Creole, White. Creole, Creole, Creole, White. White, Indian, Mestiso, | White, ? Indian—Fair. Indian, White, Mestiso, 4 White, i Indian. White, Mestiso, Creole, White—often very fair. Mestiso, White, Creole, White—but rather sallow. Mestiso, Mestiso, Creole, Sallow—often light hair. White, Negro, Mulatto, 1 White, l Negro—often fair. Negro, White, Zambo, 1 White, ^ Negro—dark copper. White, Mulatto, Quarteron, 5 White, ? Negro—Fair. Mulatto, White, Mulatto, 5 White, 2 Negro—Tawny. White, Quaiteron, Quinteron, 1 White, 1 Negro—very fair. Quarteron, White, Quarteron, 6 White, ? Negro—Tawny. White, Quinteron, Creole, White—light Eves, fair hair. Negro, Indian, Chino, g Negro, | Indian. Indian, Negro, Chino, | Negro, £ Indian. Negro, Mulatto, Zambo, | Negro, a White. Mulatto, Negro, Zambo, 1 Negro, 4 White. 8 ° 5 15 Negro* _i_ White—Dark. I Negro, | White. Negro, Zambo, Zambo, Negro, Zambo, Zambo, Negro, Chino, \ Zambo- ) Chino, ( is Negro, i Indian. Chino, Negro, \ Zambo- f Chino, I Z Negro, i Indian. Negro, 1 Negro. Negro. APPENDIX.--ORGANIC LAWS. 393 NOTE III. LAWS RELATIVE TO MARRIAGE AND EDUCATION IN GERMANY. Text, p. 165. It cannot be altogether foreign to natural history, to notice the influence of climate, food, and political and religious regulations on the human species ; and we are unwilling to leave Germany without saying something on so interesting a people as the Germans. It will not be denied that man is subject to the same laws as other animals, and that his natural or inborn character must depend principally on the climate and products of the soil where he is placed. His facti- tious, or civilized character, will as certainly depend on his educa- tion, taking that word in its most extensive sense, as including parental care and example, scholastic tuition, religion, and govern- ment. In warm fertile countries, where nature produces every thing spontaneously, man becomes inactive, and has naturally few labors and few enjoyments. In extremely cold and inhospitable climates, the enjoyments of man are also few, because the labor necessary to overcome natural objects is too great for his powers. It would seem, therefore, that intermediate climates are more favorable for human happiness than either extremes ; but whether such are at all times temperate, as those of many parts of Italy and Spain, or such as are alternately temperate and severe, as those of the south of Germany and the north of France, are the best, may perhaps be doubted. It appears that a climate where the winters are severe, has a conside- rable influence on the human character, by the necessity which it induces of forethought, in the laying up a provision of food for winter, and the greater attention and labor that are requisite in the article of clothing for that season. It is certain, on the other hand, that, in climates at all times temperate, the health, other circum- stances being alike, must be better than in severe climates, where it is impaired by the artificial atmosphere of apartments during the winter season; and constant good health must necessarily have a considerable influence on the character. Supposing, therefore, all the artificial circumstances to be the same in two climates, such as that of the south of Germany, and that of Italy or the central parts of France, it seems reasonable to conclude that man would attain to a higher degree of perfection in the latter climates than in the former. So much for our theory of the influence of soil and climate on man ; and, for farther details, we refer the reader to Dr. Falcon- ar's work on the subject. 394 APPENDIX.--ORGANIC LAWS. ' Of all the artificial or accidental circumstances which influence the character, personal education must be allowed to be the greatest, and next, religion and government. Manner of life, occupations, and pursuits, and even amusements, have an important influence. To do more than premise these matters, would be unsuitable to this Magazine; but what has been said became necessary as an intro- duction to what is to follow. ' Applying the above theory to the three states of Germany which we have passed through, Wurtemberg, Bavaria, and Baden, the cli- mate and soil of these states seem favorable in the second degree; education, to a certain extent, is there universal; religion is, on the whole, more simple than in some other countries ; and the laws and governments seem, at least, equal, in constitutional merits and im- partial administration, to those of any people in Europe. The manner of life, or occupation, is chiefly agricultural; which, though not favorable to luxury or refinement, seems, without doubt, for the great mass of the people, the happiest mode of existence. Local and personal attachments are universally felt to be essential sources of happiness: and in no way can this feeling be gratified so easily and effectually as by the possession of land. In the three countries named, the great majority of the population are occupiers in perpe- tuity, of a portion of the soil, either as absolute proprietors or as perpetual renters. This state of things is far from being favorable to what is called making money ; but it is highly favorable to health and contentment. It is a great deal for a poor man to have some- thing which he can call his own ; something on which he can bestow lanor, and from which he can, in consequence, extract enjoyment. The absolute necessities of life are few, and derived directly from the soil; the laboring man, therefore, who has a house and a few roods of land, is certain of a home and food ; he increases the interest of his home by a wife; and parental care and solicitude, with con- nubial and filial attachment, fill up the measure of his happiness. These are the essential purposes and enjoyments of life, which nature intended for all men; which the poor man can enjoy as well as the rich ; and for which no other enjoyment, either of the rich or the poor, the wise or the learned, can entirely compensate. In no part of Europe have we seen, or thought we have seen, these enjoyments so generally diffused as in the countries we have recently passed through, and more especially Wurtemberg. We entered on these countries, expecting to find the people not much better off than in France ; but we could not resist the conviction produced by constant observation, and the result of various inquiry, that comfort and hap- APPENDIX.--ORGANIC LAWS. 395 piness exist to a much greater degree among the laboring classes of society in the south of Germany, than they do in Britain. The peo- ple, at first sight, have a milder and more civilized aspect. The dress of the country labourers, male and female, does not consist of such fine materials as in England ; but one part of the dress is of a quality consistent with the others, and the whole is in a superior style, compared with the dress of the other classes of society. There is no such thing, in this part of Germany, as a man or woman in rags, or with a coat or gown of the best quality, and the hat or stockings in tatters, as is frequently the case, not only among laborers, but even among mechanics, in England. In short, the dress in Germany is in much better keeping. Both men and women of the laboring class here are more intelligent in their aspect, much more civil and polite on a first acquaintance, and much better furnished with con- versation, than the British laborers. What struck us particularly were, the great rarity of exceptions to this general description, the general uniformity of manner and character throughout the whole country, and the total absence of public beggars. On inquiry, we found that there were few or no poor supported publicly, though every parish is obliged to support its poor when unable to work ; and, also, that there were few people in prison, either for debt or for crime of any kind. ' This state of things more particularly applies to Wurtemberg; and the causes, we think, may be very easily traced. The first and principal cause is a law respecting schools, which has existed, more or less, in the states of the south of Germany, for above a century, but which has been greatly improved within the last thirty years. By this law, parents are compelled to send their children to school, from the age of six to fourteen years, where they must be taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, but where they may acquire as much additional instruction in other branches as their parents choose to pay for. To many of the schools of Bavaria large gardens are attached, in which the boys are taught the principal operations of agriculture and gardening in their hours of play ; and, in all the schools of the three states, the girls in addition to the same instruction as the boys, are taught knitting, sewing, embroi- dery, &c. It is the duty of the police and priest, (which may be considered equivalent to our parish vestries) of each commune or parish, to see that the law is duly executed, the children sent regu larly, and instructed duly. If the parents are partially or wholly unable to pay for their children, the commune makes up the defi ciency. Religion is taught by the priest of the village or hamlet; 396 APPENDIX.--ORGANIC LAWS. and where, as is frequently the case in Wurtemberg, there are two or three religions in one parish, each child is taught by the priest of its parents; all of which priests are, from their office, members of the committee or vestry of the commune. The priest or priests of the parish have the regular inspection of the schoolmaster, and are required by the government to see that he does his duty ; while each priest, at the same time, sees that the children of his flock attend regularly. After the child has been the appointed number of years at school, it receives from the schoolmaster, and the priest of the religion to which it belongs, a certificate, without which it cannot procure employment. To employ any person under twenty- one, without such a certificate, is illegal, and punished by a fixed fine, as is almost every other offence in this part of Germany ; and the fines are never remitted, which makes punishment always cer- tain. The schoolmaster is paid much in the same way as in Scot- land ; by a house, a garden, and sometimes a field, and by a small salary from the parish ; and by fixed rates for the children. ' A second law, which is coeval with the school law, renders it illegal for any young man to marry before he is twenty-five, or any young woman before she is eighteen; and a young man, at whatever age he wishes to marry, must show to the police and the priest of the commune where he resides, that he is able, and has the prospect, to provide for a wife and family. 'There are minor causes, but these two laws, and the general possession of land both by laborers and tradesmen, are the chief. Amongst the minor causes are the general simplicity of their forms of religion, and universal toleration ; even the Catholic faith in Wurtemberg, is unattended with the ceremony and spectacle with which it is exhibited in various parts of Germany and France. The equal footing on which the different religions are placed, is also favorable to liberality of sentiment and good neighborhood. That particular mildness of feature and character, so different from what is met with in the laboring classes in England, is no doubt partly owing to the greater proportion of vegetables and fruits which enter into the general diet of the population; the almost total abstinence from strong liquors or spirits, the general drink being wine; and, perhaps, to the almost unremitted smoking of tobacco from morning to night.'—From the Magazine of Natural History. APPENDIX.--DEATH. 397 NOTE IV. DEATH. —Text, p. 198. The decreasing Mortality of England is strikingly supported by the following extract from the Scotsman of 16th April, 1828. It is well known that this paper is edited by Mr. Charles Maclaren, a gentleman whose extensive information, and scrupulous regard to accuracy and truth, stamp the highest value on his statements of fact; and whose profound and comprehensive intellect warrants a well-grounded reliance on his philosophical conclusions. ' Diminished Mortality in England.—The diminution of the annual mortality in England amidst an alleged increase of crime, misery, and pauperism, is an extraordinary and startling fact, which merits a more careful investigation than it has received. We have not time to go deeply into the subject; but we shall offer a remark or two on the question, how the apparent annual mortality is affected by the introduction of the cow-pox, and the stationary or progressive state of the population. In 1780, according to Mr. Rickman, the annual deaths were 1 in 40, or one-fortieth part of the population died every year; in 1821, the proportion was 1 in 58. It follows, that, out of any given number of persons, 1,000 or 10,000, scarcely more than two deaths take place now for three that took place in 1780, or the mortality has diminished 45 per cent. The parochial registers of burials in England, from which this statement is derived, are known to be incorrect, but as they continue to be kept without alteration in the same way, the errors of one year are justly conceived to balance those of another, and they thus afford comparative results, upon which considerable reli- ance may be placed. ' A community is made up of persons of many various ages, among whom the law of mortality is very different. Thus, ac- cording to the Swedish tables, the deaths among children from the moment of birth up to 10 years of age, are 1 in 22 per annum ; from 10 to 20, the deaths are only 1 in 185. Among the old again, mortality is of course great. From 70 to 80, the deaths are 1 in 9 ; from 80 lo 90 they are 1 in 4. Now, a community like that of New York or Ohio, where marriages are made early and the births are numerous, necessarily contains a large proportion of young per- sons, among whom the proportional mortality is low, and a small proportion of the old who die off rapidly. A community in which the births are numerous, is like a regiment receiving a vast number of young and healthy recruits, and in which, of course, as a whole, 34 398 APPENDIX.--DEATH. the annual deaths will be few compared with those in another regi- ment chiefly filled with veterans, though, among the persons at any particular age, such as 20, 40, or 50, the mortality will be as great in the one regiment as the other. It may thus happen, that the annual mortality among 1,000 persons in Ohio, may be considerably less than in France, while the Expectation of Life, or the chance which an individual has to reach to a certain age, may be" no greater in the former country than in the latter; and hence we see that a diminution in the rate of mortality is not a certain proof of an in- crease in the value of life, or an improvement in the condition of the people. ' But the effect produced by an increased number of births is less than might be imagined, owing to the very great mortality among infants in the first year of their age. Not having time for the calculations necessary to get at the precise result, \vhich are pretty complex, we avail ourselves of some statements given by Mr. Milne in his work on Annuities. Taking the Swedish tables as a basis, and supposing the law of mortality to remain the same for each period of life, he has compared the proportional number of deaths in a population which is stationary, and in one which increases 15 per cent, in 20 years. The result is, that when the mortality in the stationary society is one in 36.13, that in the pro- gressive society is one in 37.33, a difference equal to 3£ per cent. Now, the population of England and Wales increased 34.3 per cent, in the 20 years ending in 1821, but in the interval from 1811 to 1821, the rate was equivalent to 39£ per cent, upon 20 years; and the apparent diminution of mortality arising from this circumstance must of course have been about 8^ per cent. We are assuming, however, that the population was absolutely station- ary at 1780, which was not the case. According to Mr. Milne (p. 437), the average annual increase in the five years ending 1784, was 1 in 155; in the ten years ending 1821, according to the cen- suss, it was 1 in 60. Deducting, then, the proportional part cor- responding to the former, which is 3£, there remains 5^. If Mr. Milne's tables, therefore, are correct, we may infer that the progres- sive state of the population causes a diminution of 5£ per cent, in the annual mortality—a diminution which is only apparent, because it arises entirely from the great proportion of births, and is not ac- companied with any real increase in the value of human life. ' A much greater change—not apparent but real—was produced by the introduction of vaccination in 1798. It was computed, that, in 1795, when the population of the British Isles was APPENDIX.--DEATH. 399 15,000,000, the deaths produced by the small-pox amounted to 36,000, or nearly 11 per cent, of the whole annual mortality. (See article Vaccination in the Supplement to Encyclopaedia Britannica, p. 713.) Now, since not more than one case in 330 terminates fatally under the cow-pox system, either directly by the primary infection, or from the other diseases supervening: the whole of the young persons destroyed by the small-pox might be considered as saved, were vaccination universal, and always properly performed. This is not precisely the case, but one or one and a half per cent. will cover the deficiencies; and we may therefore conclude, that vaccination has diminished the annual mortality fully nine per cent. After we had arrived at this conclusion by the process described, we found it confirmed by the authority of Mr. Milne, who estimates in a note to one of his tables, that the mortality of 1 in 40 would be diminished to 1 in 43-5, by exterminating the small-pox. Now, this is almost precisely 9 per cent. ' We stated, that the diminution of the annual mortality between 1790 and 1821 was 45 per cent., according to Mr. Rickman. If we deduct from this 9 per cent, for the effect of vaccination, and 5 per cent, as only apparent, resulting from the increasing proportion of births—31 per cent, remains, which, we apprehend, can only be accounted for by an improvement in the habits, morals, and physica- condition of the people. Independently, then, of the two causes alluded to, the value of human life since 1780, has increased in a ratio which would diminish the annual mortality from 1 in 40 to 1 m 52£,—a fact which is indisputably of great importance, and worth volumes of declamation in illustrating the true situation of the labor ing classes. We have founded our conclusion on data derived en tirely from English returns; but there is no doubt that it applies equally to Scotland. It is consoling to find, from this very unex- ceptionable species of evidence, that though there is much privation and suffering in the country, the situation of the people has been, on the whole, progressively improving during the last forty years. But how much greater would the advance have been, had they been less taxed, and better treated? and how much room is there still for future amelioration, by spreading instruction, amending our laws, lessening the temptations to crime, and improving the means of correction and reform ? In the meantime, it ought to be some encouragement to philanthropy to learn, that it has not to struggle ao-ainst invincible obstacles, and that even when the prospect w°as least cheering to the eye, its efforts were silently benefitting gociety.' 400 APPENDIX.--DEATH. Extract from Edinburgh Advertiser 13th January 1829: 'The following comparative table of the average duration of life at Geneva, during the last 260 years, is very remarkable. The growing improvement affords a striking proof of the benefits re- sulting from the progress of civilization and the useful arts. Average Duration. Years. Months. From 1S60 to 1600, ... 185 1601 to 1700, - - - 23 5 1701 to 1760, ... 32 8 1761 to 1800, - 33 7 1801 to 1814, - 38 6 1815 to 1826, - - - 38 10 It has been mentioned to me, that the late Dr. Monro, in his anatomical lectures, stated, that, as far as he could observe, the human body, as a machine, was perfect,—that it bore within itself no marks by which we could possibly predicate its decay,—that it was apparently calculated to go on for ever,—and that we learned only by experience that it would not do so ; and some persons have conceived this to be an authority against the doctrine maintained in Chap. III. Sect. 2, that death is apparently inherent in organi- zation. In answer, I beg to observe, that if we were to look at the sun only for one moment of time, say at noon, no circumstance, in its appearance, would indicate that it had ever risen, or that it would ever set; but, if we had traced its progress from the horizon to the meridian, and down again till the long shadows of evening prevail- ed, we should have ample grounds for inferring, that, if the same causes that had produced these changes continued to operate, it would undoubtedly at length disappear. In the same way, if we were to confine our observations on the human body, to a mere point of time, it is certain that, from the appearances of that mo- ment, we could not infer that it had grown up, by gradual increase, or that it would decay ; but this is the case only, because our facul- ties are not fitted to penetrate into the essential nature and depen- dences of things. Any man, who had seen the body decrease in old age, could, without hesitation, predicate, tnat, if the same causes which had produced that effect went on operating, dissolu- tion would at last inevitably occur ; and, if his Causality were well developed, he would not hesitate to say that a cause of the decrease and dissolution must exist, although he could not tell by examining the body what it was. By analyzing alcohol, no person could predicate, independently of experience, that it would produce in- toxication ; and, nevertheless there must be a cause in the constitu- tion of the alcohol, in that of the body, and in the relationship between them, why it produces this effect. The notion, therefore. APPENDIX.--EDINBURGH ASSOCIATION. 401 of Dr. Monro, does not prove that death is not an essential law of organization, but only that the human faculties are not able, by dissection, to discover that the cause of it is inherent in the bodily constitution itself. It does not follow, however, that this inference may not be legitimately drawn from phenomena collected from the whole period of corporeal existence. NOTE V. EDINBURGH ASSOCIATION FOR PROCURING INSTRUCTION IN USEFUL AND ENTERTAINING SCIENCES.—Text p. 208. The history of this Association is briefly stated in one of its reports. ' In the summer of 1832, several individuals, engaged in mercantile and trading avocations, and who were then attending Mr. Combe's evening course of lectures on Phrenology, expressed a strong desire for a more extended course during winter, along with lectures on some other subjects of natural science. With this view, they resolved to form themselves into an Association for procuring such instruction, at convenient hours and on moderate terms; and in order to make the public acquainted with their in- tentions, as well as to ascertain the support likely to be obtained, they printed and circulated a " Proposal for Courses of Lectures on natural History, Chemistry, and Phrenology combined with Physiology."' These lectures were intended for the instruction of persons of both sexes, belonging chiefly to the middle classes of society. They have been completely successful. The regulations of the Association are the following :— ' I. The name of the Institution shall be, The Edinburgh Association for providing Instruction in Useful and Entertaining Sciences. 1 II. The subjects for lectures shall be left to the judgment of the Directors for the time being. «III. There shall be twenty-four Directors, one-half of whom shall be annually changed, and an equal number elected, by a general meeting of the members ; and the said Directors shall, from among their own number, choose a President, Treasurer, and Secretary. < IV An annual payment of one guinea shall entitle the contri- butor to free tickets for all the lectures, to vote in the election of Directors, and to enjoy all the other privileges of an ordinary ^.^Individuals shall be allowed to purchase tickets for admi* 34* 402 APPENDIX.--EDINBURGH ASSOCIATION sion to one or more of the lectures, without becoming regular members. ' VI. The funds shall be deposited in a respectable bank, (at present being so lodged,) in the names of the President, Treasurer, and Secretary. ' Vn. After the present season, the annual meeting of members for the election of office-bearers, and other general business, shall he held in the month of March.' The last report of the Association, dated October 1834, mentions, that ' in November 1832, lectures on Phrenology, Chemistry, and Geology, were commenced, under the auspices of the Association. At this early period the number of subscribers exceeded all expec- tation ; and the courses which have since been given on Botany, Popular Education, Natural Philosophy, Astronomy, and Physiolo- gy, have likewise met with the most marked success. The follow- ing abstract of the pecuniary transactions to the close of last session, will show the great interest which has been taken by the public in the proceedings of the Association :— ' Total Receipt and Expenditure for Sessions 1832-3, and 1833-4. CLASSES. Phrenology, ...--. Chemistry, ------- Geology, ------ Three Lectures on Education, given sepa- ? rately in April 1833, - - - J Botany, day class, - Botany, evening class, .... Three Lectures on Education, given in No-"* vember 1833 Jn addition to the holders of Tickets to any of the other classes, \ who were admitted to the Lectures on Education free', - - - - - J Natural Philosophy, - - - - - Astronomy, ------ Physiology ------- Interest from Bank, Tickets Sold. Visiters ad- mitted at 6d. each. 225 229 251 60 192 245 311 309 993 387 142 33 do. 163 406 231 at Is. 320 £115 16 4 100 7 9 73 2 2 38 5 75 12 110 0 113 8 95 17 Paid Lecturers, and other charges, Surplus, at 26th June 1834, £743 2 0 5 10 £748 3 0 605 12 4 £142 10 8 ' In comparison with some other institutions, the pecuniary means of this Association have been limited; but still they have been more than sufficient for defraying all necessary expenses. These expenses, too, have been considerable, particularly for room-rent, APPENDIX.--MORAL LAWS. 403 fittings, advertising, and printing; for, besides the original prospec- tus, the Directors have already printed, and widely circulated, four detailed reports, comprehensive syllabuses for the three season courses of lectures, and a tabular view of the Linnean system of classification of plants, with explanatory remarks, amounting in all to 7500 copies. Certain fundamental principles have been steadily kept in view, viz. that no reliance should be placed on eleemosynary aid—that the Directors should be regularly changed—that the in- struction should be interesting, practical, and useful—that it should be applicable to both sexes from twelve years of age and upwards —and that full value should be given to the subscribers for their money, as well as a reasonable remuneration to the lecturers for their services. By continuing to act upon these principles, and by securing the aid of well qualified teachers, the directors confidently hope for a continuance of public support.' NOTE VI. INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAWS —Text p. 220. The deterioration of the operative classes of Britain, which I attribute to excessive labor, joined with great alternations of high and low wages, and occasionally with absolute idleness and want, is illustrated by the following extract from a Report on Emigra- tion by a Committee of the House of Commons :— 1 Joseph Foster, a weaver, and one of the deputies of an emi- gration society in Glasgow, states that the labor is all paid by the piece; the hours of working are various, sometimes eighteen or nineteen out of twenty-four, and even all night once or twice a-week ; and that the wages made by such labor, after deducting the necessary expenses, will not amount to more than 4s. 6d. to 7s. per. week, some kinds of work paying better than others. When he commenced as a weaver, from 1800 to 1805, the same amount of labor that now yields 4s. 6d. or 5s. would have yielded 20s. There are about 11,000 hand-looms going in Glasgow and its suburbs, some of which are worked by boys and girls, and he estimates the average net earnings of each hand-weaver at 5s. 6d. The principal subsistence of the weavers is oatmeal and potatoes, with occasionally some salt herrings. < Major Thomas Moodie, who had made careful inquiries into the Btate of the poor at Manchester, states, that the calico and other ight plain work at Bolton and Blackburn yields the weaver from 404 APPENDIX.--MORAL LAWS. 4s. to 5s. per week, by fourteen hours of daily labor. In the power- loom work, one man attends two looms, and earns from 7s. 6d. to 14s. per week, according to the fineness of the work. He under- stood that during the last ten years, weavers' wages had fallen on an average about 15s. per week. ' Mr. Thomas Hutton, manufacturer, Carlisle, states, that there are in Carlisle and its neighborhood about 5500 families, or from 18,000 to 20,000 persons dependent on weaving. They are all hand-weavers, and are now in a very depressed state, in conse- quence of the increase of power-loom and factory weaving* in Man Chester and elsewhere. Taking fifteen of his men, he finds that five of them, who were employed on the best work, had earned 5s. 6d. per week for the preceding month, deducting the necessary ex- penses of loom-rent, candles, tackling, &c. ; the next five, who are Upon work of the second quality, earned 3s. lid.; and the third five earned 3s. 7£d. per week. They work from fourteen to sixteen hours a-day, and live chiefly on potatoes, buttermilk, and herrings. (Mr. W. H. Hyett, Secretary to the Charity Committee in London, gives a detailed statement, to show, that, in the Hundred of Blackburn, comprising a population of 150,000 persons, 90,000 were out of employment in 1826 ! In April last, when he gave his evidence before the Committee, these persons had generally found work again, but at very low wages. They were laboring from twelve to fourteen hours a-day, and gaining from 4s. to 5s. 6d. per week.' 1 Extract from Lord Advocate Sir William Rae's Speech in the House of Commons, 11th March 1828, on the additional Circuit Court of Glasgow. ' The Lord-Advocate, in rising to move for leave to bring in a bill to "authorize an additional Court of Justiciary to be held at Glasgow, and to facilitate criminal trial in Scotland," said he did not anticipate any opposition to the motion. A great deal had been said of the progress of crime in this country, but he was sorry to say crime in Scotland had kept pace with that increase. A return had been made of the number of criminal commitments in each year, so far back as the year 1805. In that year the number of criminal commitments for all Scotland amounted only to 85. In * In what is called factory-weaving, an improved species of hand-loom is em- ployed, in which the dressing and preparation of the web is effected by machinery, and the weaver merely sits and drives the shuttle. APPENDIX.--MORAL LAWS. 405 1809 it had risen to between 200 and 300; in 1819-20, it had in- creased to 400; and, by the last return, it appeared, that, in 1827, 661 persons had been committed for trial. He was inclined to think that the great increase of crime, particularly in the west of Scotland, was attributable, in no small degree, to the number of Irish who daily and weekly arrived there. He did not mean to say that the Irish themselves were in the habit of committing more crime than their neighbors; but he was of opinion, that their num- bers tended to reduce the price of labor, and that an increase of crime was the consequence. Another cause was the great disre- gard manifested by parents for the moral education of their child- ren. Formerly the people of Scotland were remarkable for tho paternal care which they took of their offspring. That had ceased in many instances to be the case. Not only were parents found who did not pay attention to the welfare of their children, but who were actually parties to their criminal pursuits, and participated in the fruits of their unlawful proceedings. When crime was thus on the increase, it was necessary to take measures for its speedy punishment. The great city of Glasgow, which contained 150,000 inhabitants, and to which his proposed measure was meant chiefly to apply, stood greatly in need of some additional jurisdiction. This would appear evident, when it was considered that the court met there for the trial of capital offences, had also to act in the dis- tricts of Renfrew, Lanark, and Dumbarton. In 1812, the whole number of criminals tried in Glasgow was only 31 ; in 1820, it was 83 ; in 1823, it was 85; and in 1827, 211.—The learned lord concluded by moving for leave to bring in a bill to authorize an additional circuit court of justiciary to be held at Glasgow, and to facilitate criminal trial in Scotland ' INDEX. Acquisitiveness, 51, 61, 69, 76. ------;-------------its activity permitted and limited in the bible, 357. Adhesiveness, 50, 59, 73. Adumbration of the doctrine of the Trinity, in the nature of man, 353. Alison, Mr., on the easy childbirths among the lower orders, 385. Amativeness, 50, 57, 75, 113. -----;--------its activity permitted, and limited m the bible, 357. America, evils anticipated from slavery in the United States of,247. Cru- elties of the Spaniards in, 250. Penitentiaries in, 278. American Indians, character of the, 167. American war, 239. Animals, their constitution compared with that of man, 2, 3, 41, 10S. Hereditary transmission of their qualities, 154, 389, 390. Punishment inflicted hy them on each other, 263, et seq. Animal nature of man addressed, in the bible, in prohibitions, 354. Approbaliveness addressed, appealed to, and its activity limited, in the bible, 358, 359. Aristides's advice as to the burning of the Grecian ships, 241. Aristocracy, source of the unhappiness of the, 233. Barometer, its utility in foretelling storms, 294. Benevolence, sentiment of, 51, 05, 77. Blackstone on the laws of nature, 3S2. Blindness of the moral sentiments admitted in the bible, 360. ---------of the intellectual powers admitted by Phrenology, 361. Bonaparte's mother, a woman of superior talent and courage, 159. Brahmins, their children naturally superior to those of other Hindoo castes, 150. Brain the organ of the mind, 120. Necessity of exercising it, 120, et seq. Its form and qualities transmissible from parents to children, 152, 269, 304, 386. By improving the brain we may improve human character, 324. Breeding of live stock, 390. Bridgewater bequest, 19. Britain too exclusively manufacturing and commercial, 225, 232. Corrup- tion of her government arising indirectly from the slave trade, 236. Strictures on her conduct in entering on the American war, 239. Her national debt the punishment of foolish wars, 243. Brown, Dr. John, of Haddington, his complaint about the repeal of penal statutes against witches, 333. Butler, Bishop, on the government of God, 30. On the supremacy of con- science, 42. On the extent to which suffering results from our own conduct, 282. Caldwell, Dr. Charles, 279, 280. Causality addressed in the bible, 358. Cautiousness, 51, 65, 76. Chalmers, Dr., on the means of human improvement, 100. Childbirth, pains of, 116, 385. Children, resemblance of, to their parents, 149, et seq., 386. See Heredi- tary transmission. Christianity has proved itself insufficient, while unaided by physical sci- ence, to produce moral conduct among men, 327. Practical Christianity, how to be realized, 228, 341, 349. Christians, primitive, charged with atheism and impiety, 322. Circassian brain, 159. 408 INDEX. Clergy, their zeal in persecuting and tormenting witches, 331. Ought they to teach the natural as well as revealed laws of God! 348. See Religion. Clerks, evils arising from a bad choice of, 178. Combination laws, 222. Combativeness, 50, 61. Commercial prosperity and distress, 222, 303, 403. Comparison, addressed in the bible, 357. Conscientiousness, 51, 66, 72. Constitution of man, general view of the, and its relations to external ob- jects, 1. Constructiveness, 51, 76. Conversion, its necessity asserted by Revelation, aud admitted by Phr6n> ology, 365, 366, 369,*370. ----------of individuals, Phrenological works silent on it, 366, 367. Cowper on the punishment of the Spaniards for their cruelties in America, 250. Crime, origin of, 269. How to be prevented, 270. Increase of, in Scot- land, 404. Criminals, punishment of, 264. Brains of, 269. Deafness and dumbness hereditary, 149. Death, 36, 397. A natural institution, 1S2, 198. Depravity of the human mind, 324. --------human, admitted alike by Phrenology and Revelation, 363-365. Destructiveness, 50, 61, 75. ------------ its activity permitted, and limited in the bible, 356. Disease, predisposing causes of, 125, et seq. At different ages, 190. Dogs, acquired habits of, hereditary, 154. Drunken fathers produce inferior children, 386. Edinburgh, great fires in, 288. Edinburgh Association for procuring Sci- entific Instruction, 404. Education, Dr. Chalmers on its power to improve the human race, 100. Utility of, 121. Classical and scientific compared, 205. Scientific, 208. Utility of phrenology in relation to, 336. What it ought to be, 345. State of, in Wurtemberg, 395. Eggs of hens, 390. Emancipation of the Negro slaves, 246, 249. Endowments, original, unequal in men, admitted alike by Phrenology and Revelation, 372, 373. Erskine on the laws of nature, 382. ------, Ebenezer, his account of the despondency of his wife, 139. Evil. See Miseries. Excise laws, their oppressive and unjust operation fifty years ago, 237. Exercise indispensable to happiness, 46, 82, et seq. 119, 226. Expediency and justice always accordant, 240. Faculties of man, summary of the, 50, 57, et seq. Compared with each other, 54. Compared with external objects, 75. Fall of man, 14, et seq. 184. Fire, benefits accruing from its proper use, and evils from its misapplica- tion, 256. Fires in Edinburgh in 1324, causes of, 288. Firmness, one of the faculties, 51, 80. --------addressed in the bible, and its activity limited, 359. Flint's account of the American Indians, 167. Food, relation of, to climate, 47. French Revolution, 243. Philosophers of the, 383. Friends, faithless, 60. Friendship, 59, 72. Future state, 24, 196, 203. INDEX. 409 Geology, truths revealed hy, 4, 181. Scripture geology, 320. Germany, burning of witches in, 329. State of the lower orders in, 394. Education in, 395. Globe, progressively adapted for the reception of man, 4, 181. God, existence and attributes of, discoverable from his works, 1, 78. Professor Sedgwick and Bishop Butler on his government, x. 30. Locke on his benevolence and justice, 107. Principles on which his laws seem to be instituted, 256. Government, ought it to interfere with industry? 230. Gravitation, law of, results of obedience to, and neglect of, 42, 108, 306. Gregory, Drs. James and John, on the hereditary transmission of mental qualities, 150. Happiness, how attainable, 8, 9, 82, 201. Why so little advance has been made in the pursuit of, 99. Influence of the natural laws on that of individuals, 305. Hare, murderer, engraving of his head, 143. Harmonious gratification of the faculties necessary to happiness, 57, 69, 92. Harmony between Phrenology and Christianity, 351. Head, different forms of, 143. See Brain. Phrenology. Health, prerequisites of, 44, 46, 115. Hens, their eggs how made to vary in size, 390. Hereditary transmission of bodily and mental qualities, 117, 148, et seq. 269, 304, 312, 386; and of acquired habits, 154, 388. Advantage of crossing the breed, 177. History exhibits man progressively improving, 10, 217. Honesty the best policy, 242. Hope, sentiment of, 52, 66, 78. Human nature. See Man. Constitution of Man. Ideality, 52, 66, 78. ------ addressed in the bible, 358. Imitation, one of the faculties, 52, 80. Independence of the natural laws, 21, 34. Intellectual faculties, 52, 80. Intended to be exercised, 86. Intellectual laws, 33. James I. of England, his pusillanimity accounted for, 160. Johnson, Samuel, on (he evils arising from hasty marriages, 147. Jury trial in Scotland, errors in the mode of conducting it pointed out, 285 Justice alwavs in accordance with expediency, 240. Defective adminis- tration of, 285. Knowledge, acquisition of, agreeable, 83. Happiness advances with, 102. Knowledge of science necessary for rightly interpreting Scripture, 317, et seq. Labor, man intended for, 46, 226. Evils arising attending its excess, 218, 225, 403. Lawrence, Mr., on the easy child-births of savages, dSb. Laws of Nature, 27. Three great classes of, 21, 32. Their indepen- dence 21,33. Defmition of the term, 28. Obedience to each re- warded, and neglect punished, 34. Universal, invariable, and unbend- in°- 35 In harmony with the whole constitution of man, o&. Appli- cation of, to the practical arrangements of life, 95. Punishment in- flicted under the, 254. Instituted for the benefit of created beings, 25a. Sora advantages of punishment under them, 280. Their combiiaed operation, 285? Their influence on the happiness of individuals, 305. Extracts from authors who have treated of, 381. Legislation, utility of Phrenology in relation to 337. Life love of, 50, 57, 193. Duration of, increasing, 198, 397. Plan of, 95. 410 INDEX. Locke on the objects of divine punishments, 107. Love of Approbation, 51,62, 76. " Love thy neighbor as thyself," 103. Lyon, Captain, unsuccessful result of his attempt to reach Repulse Bay traced to its causes, 285. Machinery, anticipated moral effects from employment of, in manufactures, 226. Maclaren, Charles, on the diminution of mortality in England, 397. Malthus's principle of population, 215. Man, doctrine of the fall of, 13, et seq. Man considered as a physical being, 42; as an organized being, 44; as an animal, moral, and intel- lectual being, 49. Intended for activity, 46, 82, 226. Summary of his mental faculties, 50, 56, et seq. These compared with each other, 54, and with external objects, 75. A progressive being, 9, 99. Appa- rently but in the infancy of his existence, 104. Slowness of his pro- gress, 230. Manufacturing population, source of miseries of the, 219, 403. Marriage, 57, 117, 143, et seq. Miseries arising from neglect of the oi ganic laws in, 173. Prohibited before the age of twenty-five in Wur- temberg, 396. Marvellousness, frequently addressed in the bible, 361. ------------- its existence in man proves the benevolence of God, 362. --------■----- its existence in man, shows the justice of the future pun- ishment of unbelievers, 362, 363. Melancthon, engraving of his head, 145. Miseries of mankind, how far referrible to infringements of the laws of nature, 107. Misery and evil, sources of, particularly mentioned in this work.—Ill-sorted and too early marriages, 57, 117, 143, 147, 165, 173, 176, 388. Igno- rance, 99, 127. Breach of the physical laws, 109, 296. Idleness, 124, 233. Filth, and impurity of air, 126. Ignorance of the organic laws, or physiology, 132, 136, 137, 209, 259. Bad choice of servants, clerks, partners, and agents, 178, 213. Rash mercantile speculation, 210. Mistaken choice of a profession, 211. Excess of population, 215. Too severe and long continued labor, 225. Oscillations of trade and manu- factures, 232. National selfishness and unjust wars, 235—253. The slave trade, 236, 247. Errors in the mode of conducting Jury trials, 275; and in the proceedings of judges in the Circuit Courts, 287. Scotch and English hostility, 288. Selfishness in captains of ships, 292. Montesquieu on the laws of nature, 381. Moral laws, 21, 33. Calamities arising from their infringement, 198. Moral nature of man, iis supremacy asserted alike by Scripture and Phrenology, 354, 355, 360. Moral sentiments and intellect, supremacy of the, 54. Moral science outstripped by physical, 252. More, Hannah, on the effects of sickness on the religious character, 141. Mortality, diminution of, 45, 198, 397. Moscow, French retreat from, 122. Murray, Captain, his mode of preserving the health of seamen, 133. National brains and character, 152, 158, 166. ------ prosperity, effect of the moral law on, 234. ■------ wars absurd, 240. —— debt of Britain the result of her wars, 242. Natural Laws. See Laws of Nature. Navigation, dangers of, 213. Negro slavery, 236, 247. Nervous energy, 122. New doctrines often charged with impiety, 322. New Hollanders, 166. New Zealauders, their excellent health, 115. Prognosticate storms, 294. INDEX. 411 Operatives, causes of their depressed condition, 219, 403. Opium, benefits accruing from its proper, and evils from its improper use, 259. Optimism, 4, 37. Organic laws, 21, 32. Evils that befall mankind from infringing them, 113, 209, 307. Organized being, man considered as an, 44. Owen, Mr., 99. Pain, utility of, 261. Paley, on the contrivances in creation, 37. Parliamentary reform, 246. Partners, evils arising from a bad choice of, 178, 214. Penitentiaries, 278. Pestilence, 125. Philoprogenitiveness, 50, 57,68, 75. Phrenology, viii. 17, 102, 147, 178, et seq., 19S-200, 269, 324. faculties according to, 50. Practical utility of, 334. Physical laws, 21, 32. How man may be placed in accordance with them, 42. Calamities arising from their infringement, 108. Physiology ought to be generally studied, 118. Plutarch, on the children of drunken parents, 386. Politics utility of phrenology in relation to, 337. Population, Malthus's principle of, 215. Increase of, in manufacturing towns, 218. Principles, utility of a knowledge of, 130. Prichard, Dr., on the hereditary descent of bodily peculiarities, 156. Profession, choice of a, 211. Propagation, laws of, 113, et seq. 148, et seq. Advantage of crossing the breed, 177. See Hereditary Transmission. Propensities, activity permitted "to them, and its limits prescribed by Scripture, 356. . Punishment for breach of the natural laws, 254. Punishment inflicted by the lower animals compared with that inflicted hy man, 263, et seq. Of criminals, ib. Flogging, the treadmill, executions, 271. Moral advan- tages of punishment, 280. __________future, of unbelievers, admitted to be just, and proved so, by Phrenology, 362, 363. R^n°. Jd «!igTS options, 23, 37, 96,139-142, 228, 281, 317, 338, 340. See Clergy. Revelation. Scripture. Remorse, its occurrence after offences, how reconcilable with benevolence, 79 Responsibility, various, admitted alike by Phrenology and Revelation, 373 374. Retirement from business generally followed by unhappiness, 124. Revelation, 38. Cannot be at variance with true science, 323. .. ________ its necessity, to enlighten the intellectual powers, admitted b^ Phrenology, 361. ... oc-r quo its truths, the stimuli of the moral sentiments, 367-rfbtf. Right and wrong, natural distinction between, 276 Royal families, degeneracy of, 159, 177. Safety-lamp, 128. Savao-ps easv child-births among, 385. ISce phjsical.has far outstripped moral, 252 Relation between sc ence and scripture, 317. Progress of scientific discovery, 104 Scotland nersecution of witches -in, 331. Increase of crime in, 404. Ku™,TnS«lation of, 15, 23. A knowledge of science necessary for correcUy interpreting it, 317, et seq Its meaning appears different to different minds, 338. 412 INDEX. Scriptures recognise and address the powers and faculties which Phren- ology ascribes to man, 356-362. Seauen, Captain Murray's mode of preserving the health of, 133. Seceders, their solemn complaint as to the repeal of penal statutes against witches, 333. Secretiveness, 59, 62, 76. ■------■------its activity permitted, and limited in the bible, 357. Sedgwick, Professor, on God's government of the world by general law*, x. On scripture and science, 320. Self-esteem, 51, 62, 76. Servants, choice of, 178, 214. Sheep, acquired habits hereditary in, 155. Sherklan, R. B., 144. Engraving of his head, 144. Shipwreck from neglect of the natural laws, 292, 303. Sickness, amount of, at different ages, 190. Slave-trade, corruption of the British government indirectly flowine from the, 236, 247. J B Slavery in the United States, evils anticipated from, 247. Social law, calamities from infringement of the, 212. Society, advantages resulting from, 212. Spaniards punished under the natural laws for their cruelties in America, Spurzheim on the natural laws, vii. St. Pierre on death, 187, 18S. Stevenson, Mr. W. B. on the colors of mixed American breeds, 392. Storms at sea, often prognosticate, 293, et seq. Stuarts, hereditary character of the, 149. Supremacy of the moral sentiments and intellect, 42, 54. Happiness arising therefrom, 205. Tell, William, 254. Truth, slow progress of, 279. Wages, lowness of, 219, 229, 403. War, the American, 239. Wars absurd, 240. French revolutionary war, 243. National punishment for engaging in wars, 244. ----in the members, Paul's description of, eminently Phrenological, 370, ------------------Phrenological analysis of, in the bible, 371. Wealth, engrossing pursuit of, 210, 225, 232. Whately, Archbishop, on scripture and science, 318. Williams, murderer, engraving of his head, 144. Witches, appalling atrocities perpetrated against them in Germany, 329. England, 330. and Scotland, 331. Women, their pains in child-birth, 116, 385. Wonder, sentiment of, 52, 66, 78. Wurtemburg, law in, rendering education indispensable, and prohibiting marriage before the age of twenty-five, 395. Vaccination, diminution of mortality by, 398. Vanity, 62. Veneration, 51, 66, 78. Ventilation and health, 45, 286. Virtue conducive to happiness, 16. ------(or good works) its destitution of merit, admitted by Phrenology, as taught by Revelation, 375-380. ts nature the same, as drawn by Revelation, and by Phrenology, 374, 375 Volney on the laws of nature, 383 ^* Jr^fiS