✓'■-A .r'i ■: i it J A B^W^i'S^**1^**'**'- |S^CTj^wWljra one. He must have known that they possess a central mass of cere- bral matter performing the office of a brain, to which, as just mentioned, the nerves of sense are but ministering appen- dages. Or if he was unapprized of this, his stock of anatomi- cal and physiological knowledge was more limited than we have thought it, though we have always been aware that it was not great, his attention having been engrossed by other pursuits. He also denies to insects "ears" and "nostrils." By this, however, he could not have meant that they can nei- ther hear nor smell; for many of them are exceedingly acute in both functions. And functions universally indicate ap- propriate organs, and never exist without them. His mean- ing, therefore, must have been, that they are destitute of organs technically called ears and nostrils from their forms and situations. Respecting the brain, the same, we think, must have been true. He could have intended no more, in the expression used, than that insects have nothing, which, from its figure and location, can be called, in techni- cal language, a brain. A brain of some sort is just as in- dispensable to a nerve of sense, to render it efficient, as the nerve itself is to the organ of sense. A brain we mean is as necessary to give efficiency to the optic and the auditory nerves, as they are to give efficiency to the eye and the ear. And a tongue and a nose can taste and smell as well, with- out gustatory and olfactory nerves, as they can without a mass of cerebral matter constituting a brain, or forming a substitute for it. An animal of any description possessing five external senses, and no brain, would be as great an anomaly, as a human being alive, and performing all the functions of life, without a head. External senses indicate 64 Phrenology Vindicated. a brain as certainly as a stream of water indicates a fountain, or a beam of light a luminous body. All this, we think, Lin- nasus must have known. Be that, however, as it may, we shall show presently, under the sanction of anatomical and physiological authority much weightier than his, that insects do possess a brain. But to return from this digression, if such it be. The foregoing high-wrought flourish of our author, we say, rests on the allegation, that Phrenologists contend, that the "amount of mind manifested" by man and other animals, is always proportioned to the quantity of brain possessed by them. Than this representation, nothing can be more un- true; nor can any thing more fully expose the want of know- ledge, or the want of candour, or both, in its authors and propagators. Phrenologists have never, as their writings evince, contended for the notion here ascribed to them; but the reverse. They expressly deny that the abstract bulk of brain is necessarily the measure of the amount of mind dis- played by its possessor. Better still; they prove it not to be so; for they do not, like our author and his anti-phrenologi- cal associates allow their positions to rest on mere arbitrary assertion. They back their assertions by facts and argu- ments not to be overthrown. Their doctrine in the present case, is, that all other things being equal, the larger the brain, the stronger are the manifestations, in which it is concerned. And this is as true and as plain, as that the whole is greater than a part. In fact, it is substantially the same axiom ex- pressed in different words, and in reference to a different subject. No physiologist can deny it but at the hazard of his reputation, or rather with the loss of it, so far as a palpable error may affect it, and that error of such a nature, as noth- ing but ignorance of his calling could make him commit; nor can any one deny it, but in defiance of common sense. This simple contradiction is the only reply, to which the writer's objection is entitled. Respect, however, to the subject and the reader induces us to subjoin a few further remarks, bear- ing somewhat of an analytical character. Phrenology Vindicated. 65 The writer alleges truly for once, that in several sorts of "vertebrated animals, the proportion of the brain to the rest of the body is larger than in man." But what of that? Have not Phrenologists said the same? Have they not even taken the lead in overthrowing the opposite doctrine inculcated on this point by other physiologists? Certainly they have. Have they, on the contrary, ever contended, that the superi- ority of man's intellect arises from the superior proportional size of his brain to that of the rest of his body? Never. They were also the chief subverters of error on that topic. All they have contended for on the subject is, that, other things being alike, the larger the intellectual organs are, Whether in man or in the inferior animals, the stronger is the intellect. And, as far as suitable investigations have been Carried, that position is susceptible of proof, and has already received it. No matter how large the animal Organs of the brain are. They confer no intellect; because they are de- signed for a different purpose. They are the seat of animal appetency, and furnish therefore no knowledge themselves, but the mere impulse to some sorts of action, subservient as well to the acquisition of knowledge, as to its application. They are, in fact, but the breeze that urges the vessel.on- ward, the compass, chart, and rudder being furnished by the intellectual and moral organs. The difference between the human brain and that of the inferior animals consists in the presence or absence, and the difference in size, of the several classes of organs, and perhaps also in their temperament and tone. In the former, the intellectual, more especially the reflec- tive organs, and the moral ones, are comparatively large; whereas, in the latter, they are small, or entirely wanting. Hence man is a moral being, while the animals beneath him are not; and hence also his superiority in other high modes of mental manifestation. Let the moral and reflecting organs be removed from the brain of man, and what remains will be an animal brain, and he will be nothing but an animal in ac- tion. His morality and reflection Will be extinct. Were the whole brain of an ox made as large as all the rest of his I 66 Phrenology Vindicated. body, its intellectual organs retaining their present size, he would derive from the augmentation no increase of intellec- tual power. Of man the same may be affirmed. Were his brain tenfold its present size, in its animal compartment, the intellectual and moral continuing as they are, the change Would only convert him info a greater and grosser animal. His intellectual and moral faculties, receiving no increase of power, would be swallowed up, or held at least in deeper Subjection, by his inordinately augmented animal ones. These are facts which should be remembered and acted on, by those who aim at practical craniology. The mistakes made on that score, by ignorant pretenders, are among the most pro- ductive sources of mischief to the science. On this topic we shall offer two remarks. We have never seen a skilful crani- ologist officiously forward in displaying his skill, and very rare- ly an individual with a head worthy of examination, importu- nate to have it examined. In a special manner, we have never known an advertising craniologist, who was not a char- latan. Our country is threatened with a brood of phreno- logical Peripatetics, that promise to rank with Steam Doctors in medicine, and Pedlers in traffic. The vertebrated animals, then, to which our author refers, as possessing large brains, derive from that cause no increase of intellectual vigour. The reason is plain. The animal Compartment only of their brain is large, the intellectual compartment being diminutive, or partially wanting. These are some of the truisms of Phrenology, familiar to every one, who has any correct acquaintance with it. If they are hew to the writer, his ignorance is the cause. And in him Such ignorance is culpable. He has made it a ground of misleading others. Yet he might have easily removed it, by consulting the works of phrenological writers. And he should have done so, before becoming himself a writer on the science. Nor will his appeal to insects and reptiles avail him, in his difficulties. Far from it. It has only confounded and en- tangled him the more, and rendered his condition the more hopeless. What does he know about the anatomy or the Phrenology Vindicated. 67 functions of bees, spiders, common ants, and termites? Just as much as he knows about the size and colour of his own mind—and no more. His ignorance here is, if possible, more striking, than in relation to most other points; and its culpability is aggravated, by the perfect ease, with which it might be removed. To say nothing of the mistakes he is constantly committing, his narrow-mindedness ;ind illiberal feelings are proof conclusive that he is no naturalist. A cor^ rect knowledge of nature never fails to liberalize the mind, and improve in it the love of truth. But that such is not the condition of our author's mind, has been already shown. Does he know that there is not, in the insects he has mention- ed, a perfect correspondence between cerebral development and mental manifestations?- No, he does not; nor, rash and reckless as he is in his deviations from truth, will he deny our assertion. He knows nothing of the matter. And, unfortu- nately for him, some of the writers, to whom he refers, and on whose statements he confidently relies, were not much better informed on the subject than himself. This is espe- cially true of Linnasus, to whom he looks, as his Magnus Apollo, neglecting the works of later and better informed writers easily accessible to him. That illustrious man was far from being distinguished as an anatomist or physiologist. Nor did he pretend to such distinction. His knowledge and fame were derrved from a different quarter. It is well known that his attayiments in those branches of science were but limited, even in his own day. They were greatly inferi- or to those of some of his contemporaries; though, at that pe- riod, neither comparative nor minute anatomy had much more than a name. Nobody at least was eminent in them; nor did any one, we believe, claim such eminence. It would hardly be extravagant to say, that both of those branches, as well as sound physiology, are the growth of the present cen- tury. Linnasus, at any rate, had but a superficial acquain- tance with them, and was great chiefly, if not only, as a classical botanist and zoologist, and from his knowledge of the insfincts and habits of animals and plants. He was fa- 68 Phrenology Vindicated. miliar with the exterior of organized matter, but left the scrutiny of its interior to others. Capacious as his mind was, and untiring his industry, he neither was nor could be great in every department of natural science. His denial of brain to insects, therefore, has no weight with the naturalists of the present day, who are much better informed on the sub- ject than he was, and know, from inspection, that the notion is groundless. Fortunately for the overthrow of error, and the accuracy and soundness of knowledge, the votaries of science are now in the habit, much more than formerly, of recurring to first principles, and consulting the book of na- ture, as authority, in preference to written books. And were our author to follow their example, the practice might make him less of a bigot, and more of a man of correct information, and a lover of truth. A philosopher he can never be. His ref- erence to Linnaeus, on the point we are considering, in the capacity of a "physiologist," is but another proof of his igno- rance. A knowledge of the existence or non-existence of cerebral matter in animals, belongs to anatomy, not to physir ology. As well might the gentleman refer to an itinerant sermon-maker, as authority on some intricate point in Hebrew) literature, on account of his being able to recite by memory long passages from his English Bible. In truth he has shown wherever he has touched them, such broad ignorance of bdth anatomy and physiology, that none of his notions respecting them are entitled to the least credit or consideration. In mercy to himself, and in justice to others, he should either study them, or never again refer to them. One of the most abundant sources of error and mischief is the prurient and unconquerable propensity of sciolists, and petti-foggers in knowledge to be constantly dabbling in what they do not un- derstand. Too weak-minded to be made sensible of their - weakness, and too pragmatical to remain quiet, or confine themselves to their own affairs, they not only corrupt science and contribute to retard its progress, but often sow discord among friends, and disturb the general harmony of society. To such meddlers, "Me sutor!" should be the standing precept Phrenology Vindicated. 69 -^-repeated by every one, till rendered effectual. We trust our author will not neglect it in time to come, as he did when he engaged in the composition of his Article. With the subject, on which he has undertaken to instruct others, the Rev. gentleman is too little acquainted, to com- prehend the plain fact, that brain is brain, whatever shape it may bear, by whatever name it may be known, or in what- ever part of the body it may be situated, whether the head, the thorax, or the abdomen; and that therefore a ganglion, in inferior animals, may be to them precisely what a brain properly so-called is to those of a higher order. Nor does he know, wre presume, that, even in man, the brain is regard- ed, by. many anatomists, as nothing but an aggregation of ganglions, each ganglion constituting a distinct organ, differ- ing in its functions from every other. According to this view of the matter, the moral organs are moral ganglions, the intellectual organs intellectual ganglions, and the animal or- gans animal ganglions. The name produces no effect on the function of the organ, any more than its situation. To all these things he is probably a stranger, because he is a stran- ger to the very elements of Phrenology, and likewise, as al- ready mentioned, to those of anatomy and physiology, as well in themselves as their bearings. Yet he pretends to discuss these branches, and rails at those who do not think of (hem as he does! in other words, who are not as ignorant of them as himself! So did Jack Cade rail at and conspire to destroy every one not as illiterate as he was. And so, at all times, do the vulgar hate and malign their superiors. On another point vitally important in the present, discus- sion, he is equally ignorant; namely, that, as relates to pow- er, in all forms of living organized matter, superior intensity is an efficient substitute for a want of extensily. In language perhaps more easily understood, that an elevation of tone and temperament in an organ, makes amends for a want of size in it. Abundant evidence in favour of this could be adduced, were it necessary to dwell on it, and had we leisure to do so. It is as susceptible of proof, as any other tenet in physiology. 70 Phrenology Vindicated. Let us apply it to the insect tribe, and see whether it will not do something toward the removal of our author's objection, and the explanation of the mental phenomena manifested by that order of beings. The muscular power of insects, in proportion to their size, is astonishing. Nor is this more s'trikingly-true of any of them, than of common ants and termites. One of the former is known to be able to move with Case and rapidity, under a burden of many times its own weight. Nor is this less the case, we believe, with regard to the labouring class of the latter. But, according to the most approved views now en- tertained on the subject, muscular strength disproportioned to size arises from one of two causes, or from both united— muscles very firmly knit and organized; or muscles rendered highly vivid and intense, by an inordinate supply of cerebral influence; or, better still, we say, from the union of both. That there exists brarn, moreover, wherever voluntary mus- cular motion connected with design exists, no body of intelli- gence doubts. The position is received as a physiological axiom. That our author doubts it, or cavils at it, therefore, is but a farther mark of his ignorance or perversity, or both. He might as well deny the necessity of cerebral matter to the attribute of sensibility. It is well known that the insect tribe, see, hear, taste, smell, and feel, many of them very acutely. This is strikingly true of the bee, the ant, the termes, and also of the spider, which, in some respects,"has the character of an insect But, that in all animals, whose anatomy is understood, the senses are nervous and cerebral functions, is universally admitted. Apart, jthen, from the discoveries made by entomological anatomists, we are justifi- ed in inferring, with entire positiveness, that insects also are indebted for their senses and power of voluntary motion, to cerebral substance. As matter of opinion, to deny or contro- vert this is absurd; none but a perfect ignoramus in anatomy and physiology will do it; and, as matter of fact, Cuv.ier, as already intimated, whose authority our author will not call in question, puts it out of dispute. His words are as follows. Phrenology Vindicated. 71 "Le systeme nerveux de la plus part des insectes, est generalement compose d' un cerveau forme de deux gangli- ons opposes, reunis par leur bases, donnant huit pairs des nerfs et deux nerfs solitaires, et de douze ganglions, tous inferieures." See "Regne Animal," Tome IV. p. p. 293-4. Nor is it from Cuvier alone that we derive this knowledge. To every thorough-bred entomologist of the day it is as fa- miliar as household words. Kirby and Spence, whose works are in hundreds of libraries in our country, have diffused it Very amply. Is it not amazing, then, that our author should so expose his ignorance, touching information which even courts his acceptance!—No; it is not amazing—it is but in character with the conduct of all such pretenders to science as he is. To this scheme of cerebral anatomy, common to a large class of the insect tribe, neither the bee, the ant, nor the termes is an exception. The spider also has a ganglionic brain. In fact, vision without light, hearing without sound, or smelling without odorous matter, would not be a greater anomaly, than the existence and exercise of any sense, or of any form of voluntary muscular motion, without a brain—To return. In ants and termites, we say, there exists surprising mus- cular strength, in proportion to size, in consequence of high muscular intensity; that intensity being derived in part from the inordinate motive energy of the brain and nerves. Why then may not the same be true of other cerebral functions? Why may not they also be inordinately powerful, on account of inordinate cerebral intensity? We might vary the ques- tion, and ask, is it not altogether probable that they are so? We usually find a congenialness pervading all parts of the same animal—intensity and energy in one organ and its functions associated with the same qualities in others. Whenever then we discover, in an animal, great power in proportion to size, in one form of cerebral matter, we are authorized, if not com- pelled, to infer the same in relation to others. Spiders are also exceedingly vigorous in proportion to their size, a fact 72 Phrenology Vindicated. denoting in them high cerebral and muscular intensity. So are bees; else, slender as their wing-muscles are, they could not bear their cumbrous bodies and burdens through the air, to great distances, and rise with them to the tops of lofty trees, as they are known to do. It is a fair inference, then* that a,similar intensity in the intellectual organs of those in- sects may bestow on them a corresponding degree of sagacity and art. By "intensity" here, we mean nearly the same that We would by the words high temperament, or compactness, which is noi confined to a part of the body, but pervades the whole of it. This view of the subject is intended for fair-minded and reasoning men. From them it will receive a caiidid con- sideration. From our author we know it will not. Nor will his treatment of it be a matter of any concern to us. With the anatomy, especially the minute anatomy of in- sects, our acquaintance, as yet, is very limited. As far, how- ever, as investigations on the subject have been Carried, it clearly appears, that, like all other kinds of living matter* the different species of that tribe of animated nature act in accordance with their form and organisation. Thev have organs fitted specifically for the performance of their func- tions. Nor is this more strikingly true of any sort of insects, than of the termites. That family, in the first place, differs not a little from every other known one, in figure, habits, and general policy. But this is not all. The family consists of three classes, breeders, labourers, and warriors, each class dif- fering widely from the other two. The warriors will not and cannot labour, the labourers cannot breed, nor can the breeders either fight or labour. Why? Because each class* as far as if has been examined, is organized exclusively for its own mode of life and action. The warriors have shields artd armour, the labourers instruments to work with, and the breeders are supplied with generative organs. Of the pecu- liar cerebral aptitudes of these animals, but very little is khown. As the cerebral developments, however, of all other animals that have been sufficiently examined, have been uni- formly found to correspond with their structure, propensities, Phrenology Vindicatedi 73 and modes of life, it is reasonable to conclude, until the con- trary shall have been made appear, that the same is true with regard to the termites. Indeed, under the present economy of things, it would hardly be extravagant to pro- nounce it impossible for the case to be otherwise. We every where find organization as perfectly adapted to function, as luminous bodies are to give light, or as any other causes are adapted to their effects. We wish it to be understood, that we are now writing extra scholam, and therefore on our own responsibility. Phrenolo- gy, which deals only in facts, does not yet expressly sanction us in the views we have given; though we think reason does; and we doubt not that Phrenology will hereafter. For any mistakes we may have committed, then, the science is not answerable. They are our own; and we acknowledge and . assume them, with all their consequences. Supposing them to exist, they are certainly less glaring, than those into which our author has plunged, on the same subject. By denying brain to. termites, ants, bees, and spiders, and abstracting their minds entirely from their matter, he makes them more spiritual than man himself, some of whose mental faculties he acknowledges to be, in some degree, referable to his cerebral organization. To insects, therefore, he awards the superior- ity; mind or spirit being superior to matter. His views on this subject, fairly carried out, would lead to very singular and ludicrous consequences. But we forbear to trace them. To take leave of this head of our subject, on which we have perhaps bestowed already too much time. Phrenology has been pushed to some extent among the animals inferior to man, but has not yet, as far as we are informed, been applied, with much effect, to the exposition of the propensities and other mental qualities of the insect race. On whatever class- es, however, it has been brought fairly to bear, it has been found as true in relation to them, as to the human race. This appears clearly from the superb work of Dr. Vimonton Comparative Phrenology, one of the most interesting produc- tions of the age. Nor are we inclined to doubt, that it will K 74 Phrenology Vindicated. be found hereafter as applicable to insects and reptiles, as to the higher orders of animated nature. Indeed under the present organization and endowment of the animal kingdom, we deem it, as already mentioned, scarcely possible for the case to be otherwise. In those humbler ranks of being, mus- cles, joints, stomachs, teeth, claws, and respiratory and gen- erative organs serve the same purposes as in the more eleva- ted. Each apparatus, moreover, is fitted precisely to the form, character, and mode of life of the animal possessing it. And, in the progress of our knowledge of nature, the same will, no doubt, be discovered to be true of the brain. In each species and variety of the insect and reptile tribes, where that organ exists at all, its special aptitude to the modes of subsistence and action of the beings endowed with it, will be found to be complete. But we repeat, that, in making these remarks, we are not, perhaps, fully backed by what Phrenology has yet done. Our errors, therefore, should we fall into any, are not to be charged to the discredit of the science. They are to be treated as our own. Nor is there any fairness in attempting to derive objections against Phre- nology from the mental phenomena of the insect races, ex- cept so far as the science may have spoken of them. Has it committed any mistakes respecting them? If so, let them be cited and exposed, and, as far as they may avail, they will weaken its claim to entire credibility—they will show, at least, that it is not yet perfect. But it is unjust to ran- sack, for objections to it, a department of nature, into which its researches have not yet been carried. Its basis is obser- vation; and that has not yet been pushed into every depart- ment of the animal kingdom. It will be soon enough to test the truth of Phrenology by the lower orders of animals, when it shall have included them in its researches. To attempt this at present, is premature, and comports perfectly with the uniform injustice the science has sustained from the measures of its opponents. On this ground, therefore, we might, with- out being chargeable with shrinking from the contest, have declined replying to our author's objections drawn from the Phrenology Vindicated. 75 mental phenomena of insects. Phrenology is answerable only for what it has done, or attempted to do, not for what it has not done or attempted. The gentleman's remarks on in- sects and spiders, therefore, which he has made and bruited with such an air of triumph, and seems to think so withering to our science, are out of joint and quite innocent—certainly they injure nothing but his own reputation and that of his philosophy. Into the scale opposed to Phrenology, our author has thrown the name and authority of Dr. Prichard, of England, and seems to consider them surpassingly ponderous. Nor are we inclined to deny them their due weight. With us, however, names pass for nothing but names, and opinions but for opinions. We estimate their value and authority only by the amount of fact they carry along with them. Dr. Prichard, we are told, by the writer of the Article, acknowl- edges the inferiority in size of the African brain—its inferi- ority, we mean, to the brain of the Caucasian. Yet, relying, not on his own observation, which, in relation to that point, seems to have been very limited, but on intelligence collec- ted from West India planters, and practitioners of medicine, he pronounces the intellect (meaning, we presume, the native capacity) of the negro equal in all respects to that of the white-man. Of course, under equal cultivation, the African and the Caucasian ought to attain the same rank in all that depends on the products of mind. To the respectability of Dr. Prichard, as a writer, we cheerfully testify. On the score of erudition, and general information, few memhers of the Profession surpass him. Of the depth of his researches, however, and the soundness of his views in natural, physiolo- gical, and psychological science, we cannot speak so favour- ably. In those points we think him wanting; and, we need hardly add, that, as respects the philosophy of human nature, or rather his fitness to expound it, such knowledge is indis- pensable. The Doctor has written a large and elaborate work, on the history and philosophy of man-, in which, as just observed, 76 Phrenology Vindicated. among many statements of a similar caste, he has asserted the intellectual equality of the African and the Caucasian. But he has only asserted it. He has neither proved it, nor rendered it plausible. The gloss of popularity, founded on prejudice, is all he has been able to bestow on it; and that it is so perishable, that it cannot abide the finger of scrutiny. In fact,popularity of opinion, in times of excitement, and on subjects that appeal to feeling more than to judgment, is too generally synonymous with fallacy of opinion. In a word, the Doctor's work is a failure, as has been shown in a review of it, published in New York, in 1829, in a small volume, en- titled, "Thoughts on the Unity of the Human Race." It is there made appear, that Dr. Prichard is unacquainted with the full extent of the cerebral and other differences of the two races; at least that he has not correctly stated them. Not only is the brain of the African smaller and therefore feebler than the brain of the Caucasian; it is also worse balanced, its ani- mal compartment, being much more preponderant over its in- tellectual and moral. This is so striking, as to show itself on the slightest examination and comparison of the heads of the two races. From this cause, the brain being the ruling or- gan of the system, the African has in him far more of the an- imal and less of the man than the Caucasian, and is therefore less fit for an elevated and comprehensive sphere of action. Jn fact, some of the African tribes, especially the Boschese- men, and certain castes of the natives of Oceanica do not appear to approach nearer to the Caucasians, than the Golok does to them. We speak from observation—not hearsay or conjecture. Nor do we mean what we say to have any ref- erence to man's origin. We speak of him as we find him now. But, for views on this subject expressed more fully, accom- panied by the facts by which they are sustained, we refer those, who are curious in respect to it, to the work just cited. In that production it is shown, we think satisfactorily, that the Negro race has never produced a truly great man, either in the capacity of a moralist, an artist, a lawgiver, or a sage. Like other races, it has its grades and castes; and it has giv- Phrenology Vindicated. 77 en birth to great Megroes. But a first rate negro can scarce- ly rank with a third or fourth rate whiteman—perhaps still lower. No real African community has ever risen of itself above barbarism—scarcely above savagism. Three or four centuries ago, the inhabitants of Western and Central Africa were in about the same condition with some of the northern hordes, when they invaded and overthrew the Roman em- pire. And they are in that condition still, having made no progress, during so long a period, in the arts of civilization. Far different, however, is the case with the descendants of the northern barbarians. They are now the best cultivated and the most enlightened portion of the human family. For this there must be a deep-rooted cause; and it is to be looked for and found in the constitutional differences of the two races. True; we are told that the people of Africa have had no op- portunities or means of improvement. They have had nei- ther books to read, learned and wise men to converse with and be counselled by, paintings and statuary to admire, study, imitate, and improve by, agriculture and manufac- tures to take example from and practise, nor architectural monuments to build after. All this is true; but why have they not had such things? The cause is in themselves, not in external and prohibiting circumstances. A period has doubtless existed, when the Caucasian race was as barbarous and uninstructed, and as destitute of any artificial means of instruction, as the African. Previously to the era of their own writing of books, producing of men of learning and wisdom, executing of paintings and statuary, and erecting costly and elegant edifices, they possessed none of those fruits and means of improvement. The reason is plain. There was no par- ent people, from whom they could inherit them. But they had within themselves, derived from the favouring munifi- cence of nature, that which ennabled them to effect all these things; to become themselves, we mean, the parents of the products and sources of cultivation just enumerated. Hence, in progress of time, they were supplied with them, as the is- sue of their own genius and industry. And so would the 78 Phrenology Vindicated. African race, had nature endowed them with equal talents, and dispositions to employ them- No reason but a want of such talents and dispositions can be assigned for the great and uniform inferiority of the negroes to the whites. Had nature placed the two races on a par, in relation to intellect, and morals, their bodily powers being, as they are, nearly equal, it is not possible, that, in the round of events, some community of the former would not have had an ascendency over some like community of the latter. A phenomenon of the kind, however, has never presented itself, and would be considered anomalous and wonderful, were it now to occur. Wherever found in societies by themselves, Africans are as uniformly inferior to Caucasians, as apes and monkeys are to them—and, we believe, by as immutable a law. And when the two races are mingled in the same society, the Caucasian superiority is still more striking. For all this, we repeat, there must be a deep-rooted cause. And it is found in the native inferiority of the African Intellect. Between the Caucasians and the other races of men there exists one very remarkable difference, which does not ap- pear to be sufficiently noticed and appreciated, if indeed it has been noticed at all, by those who have undertaken to in- vestigate the subject. To the progress of the Caucasians in the arts of civilization, there seems to be no limit. Each succeeding generation shoots ahead of preceding ones, wifh such certainty and regularity, that their capacity to improve appears indefinite. Hence the high and brilliant condition to which the race has already attained, and the boundless prospect of farther improvement still unfolding to them. The Africans present a very different aspect. Advancing to a given point, scarcely beyond the limit of savagism, if be- yond it at all, there they stop, and there remain, from cen- tury to century, without progressing a step farther in the march of civilization. As far as is known, the inhabitants of Central and Western Africa, as has been already intimated, are as barbarous and uncultivated now, as they were five hundred years ago. As respects the Caucasians, a fact to Phrenology Vindicated. 79 which reference has been also made, the case is different. Within the period just cited, they have revolutionized the face of a large portion of the globe. Europe is immensely changed and ameliorated in its condition, and America is converted from a rude wilderness into a cultivated world. The cause is plain. The Caucasians, we repeat, have with- in themselves an ever-living and exhaustless fountain of im- provement, which is denied to the other races. Reduce a community of them to an uncultivated condition, their native powers remaining, and place it in a solitude, where only Na- ture and her works abide, without books, or any of the other products of civilization, and it will, in the lapse of time, be- come again cultivated. From such a state of degradation, in which the race must, at some remote period have found itself, the Caucasians have attained their present standing. The reason, we say, is manifest. They have a capacity to read the book of nature, which is constantly open to them, interpret its pages, and turn to their improvement and bene- fit the matter it contains. But of such capacity the Africans are destitute; at least they possess it in a very limited de- gree. Hence their deficiencies. Select a colony of the most cultivated Africans in the United States or the West Indies, only let it be full-blooded, and plant it in the heart of their native land, entirely apart from Caucasian influence, and., instead of advancing in cultivation and improvement, it will retrograde and degenerate, In a few generations it will re- turn to barbarism. Such, we seriously apprehend, will be the backward and downward course of the Liberian colony, with all the aid the whites can give it. There is reason to fear, if not to believe, that, as a community, the colonists are not improving—and the condition of man is never stationary. The island of St. Domingo presents a melancholy picture of the want of intellect and general efficiency in the African race. We say "general efficiency"; for the moral, social, and per- sonal conditions of the present population of that once splen- did colony are all deteriorated. From the mental deficiency of those who occupy it, a spot on which nature has bestowed, 80 Phrenology Vindicated. in profusion, her choicest bounties, and which, when cultiva- ted and governed by Caucasians, was the paradise and pride of the American seas—from this cause, we say, that garden- spot of the western hemisphere is fast declining from its Cau- casian splendour, into a comparative desert. Agricultural and commercial industry and enterprise are at an end; and, instead of the lively and flourishing aspect, which the island once presented, there is little seen in it now but unproductive fields, dilapidating edifices, half depopulated towns and cities, warehouses empty and sinking into ruins, harbours de- serted by their shipping, and a people ignorant and degrad- ed, indolent and wretched. And this desolation, we say again, can be traced directly to the native inferiority of the African mind. Yet no little aid is derived there, in the superintendence and management of affairs, as well from the counsels, as the example of Caucasians. Were St. Domingo secluded entirely from Caucasian influence, we have cause to apprehend, that the barbarism of its inhabitants would soon be complete. And, were it not for the abundant productive- ness of the soil and climate, almost without cultivation or care, famine would aid in the depopulation of the island. Nor, from present appearances, is there reason to believe, that, in future years, when the African population shall have attained the sovereignty in the other West India Islands, their condition will be any better. That the negro is entitled to his personal freedom, we are neither prepared nor inclined to deny. As soon, therefore, as it can be done with safety, let the shackles of his slavery be stricken off. But, from the best estimate we have been able to form of his character and competencies, after having attentively observed and faithfully studied him, for many years, we are convinced of his unfitness for political freedom. He can subsist in peace and comfort only under some form of positive if not despotic rule. He has not intellect sufficient to enable him to frame and administer a system of wise and salutary laws, for the government of himself and others in a large community. And he has too much of the animal in him, Phrenology Vindicated* 81 to be a peaceful, industrious, and orderly citizen, except as the result of actual compulsioni We speak of the Africaiis as a race^ without regard to individual exceptions, which could not materially modify the result. However heterodox this sentiment may be deemed, and however unpopular it may ac- tually be, at present* time and experience will prove it to be true. And the Whole matter is explicable on phrenological principles. The cerebral development of the negro is in fault. The animal compartment of his brain is too prepon- derant for the purposes of true political freedom* We have admitted that the African race are erititled to their personal freedom* There are not wanting, however, grave considerations, which render the correctness of this sentiment, in its full extent, more perhaps than doubtful* Man is a moral and social, as well as an individual being. In other words, he is a human being, no less than an animal. He was formed and intended, therefore, to be as useful as practicable both to himself and to others, which necessarily includes his doing to himself and others, the least possible harm. Men form and maintain societies, as well on account of the mutual benefits thus secured* as from the strength and permanency of their social feelings. In every community* therefore* the most effectual rules and regulations for the at- tainment of these ends should be adopted and reduced to practice. Those who will not perform their duty td them- selves and others voluntarily, should be compelled to do it; and those inclined to the commission of vice should be re- strained. These are propositions not likely, we think* to be seriously controverted. And they apply to Africans as Well as to Caucasians* They apply even to the inferior animals* which ought to be turned to the most useful purposes, to which they are, or can be rendered, competent. In what does the high- est usefulness of man, as a member of society, consist? The answer is easy. In steady, persevering, and well directed industry, corporeal, or mental, or both, according to the char- acters and competencies of individuals, and the wants of the community. Let the African be fairly tried and judged of L 82 Phrenology Vindicated. on these principles, and we strongly apprehend, that he will be found unfit for the enjoyment of entire personal freedom— such freedom, we mean, as may be safely and usefully pos- sessed by the Caucasian. That the African race, as a people, can, without compulsion, be rendered industrious, beyond the pressure and gratifica- tion of their immediate wants—that they can be thus induced to struggle for independence, by laying up a supply of the products of their industry, for future contingences, and as a means of raising them to consequence and influence, and equalizing them with the Caucasian race, is a problem yet to be demonstrated. And facts have been hitherto unfavour- able to its affirmation. The fallen condition of the island of St. Domingo, as already mentioned, is in direct opposition to it. So, as all facts concur to inform us, is the already chang- ed and still further changing condition of the island of Ja- maica. Since the Abolition Act went into operation there, the negroes are represented as becoming discontented and refractory, and sinking into idleness, instead of growing more orderly and exemplary, and rising in industry, to improve their condition. This representation has reached us so often, and through so many respectable channels, that we do not feel justified in questioning its correctness. And of a great majority of the manumitted Africans in the United States, it cannot be denied that the same is true. Their condition and characters are both deteriorated, by the attainment of their freedom. Of the correctness of this latter statement, abundant testimony is furnished by the conduct and condi- tion of liberated Africans in Philadelphia and New York. From upper Canada evidence to the same effect has reached us. Some years ago, two or three colonies of manumitted ne- groes from the United States were planted there, under the most favourable and promising circumstances. The colonists were supplied, on easy terms, with excellent land and all the implements requisite for cultivating it. By the government of the country the same rights and privileges, personal, civil, and political, were vested in them, as in European and other Phrenology Vindicated. 83 white settlers. By industry, perseverance, and economy, it was in their power to be comfortable from the beginning, and, in time, to become independent, and perhaps wealthy. But how different is their condition already! and it is still growing worse. As a people they are idle, poor, vicious, and miserable—and of course discontented and despised. Many of them are selling their lands, on which they have made few if any improvements, with a view to return to the United States, or wander somewhere else. They amalgamate with the Indians, and conform to their slovenly and indolent hab- its, much more readily than with whitemen. About the same periods, settlements on adjacent lands of similar qualities, were made by the lowest orders of emigrants from Ireland and Scotland. Of these settlers many were poorer and worse supplied with agricultural implements than the negroes. Their condition however now is widely differ- ent. They are nearly all comfortable, many of them inde- pendent, and some of them growing rich. And what has made them so? Steady industry, and a laudable economy. These facts speak a language not to be misunderstood; and it is unfavourable to the fitness of the Africans for freedom. We are aware that the sentiments here expressed are in opposition to those that generally prevail on this subject. Nor do we say that they are fully entertained by the Phre- nological School. Though Phrenology satisfactorily accounts for the mental inferiority of the African race that exists at present, and has existed since the earliest period of history, by showing a deficiency in their moral and intellectual or- gans, and a predominance of their animal ones, the profes- sors of that science, as a body, do not, we believe, maintain, that that inferiority will necessarily be permanent. As far as we are informed, they have no where contended, that edu- cation will not remove it. Should the sentiment we have advanced, therefore, prove erroneous, the responsibility of it rests on ourselves; and we cheerfully assume it. As already intimated, we believe, and have long believed, after the most deliberate examination of the subject, that no 84 Phrenology Vindicated, form or degree of education that man can bestow, aided by all other earthly causes, can ever raise the African to a level with theCaucasian mind. And assuredly all experiments hitherto made are in favour of the belief. By no training he could receive has any African ever been made great— great, we mean, according to the Caucasian standard. True; we are told that some of the brown men of Jamaica and other West India islands, who have been well educated, have shown intellectual cleverness. To that height they may have risen, but no higher. Not one of them has ever attained to any hing approaching intellectual eminence. Nor, if they even had, could our opponents strengthen their hypoth- esis by the fact—On the contrary, their cause would be in- jured by the event, rather than benefited. The brown men referred to are not Africans, but belong to a mixed race, which occupies a higher or lower rank, according to its amount of the Caucasian nature, Nor can the African ever reach the Caucasian standard,, but by such a mixture. And even the mixture cannot effect a perfect equality, until the African character shall have been worn out. In no instance is the Caucasian improved by the blood of the Africans; but the reverse. The improvement is uniformly on the part of the latter—precisely as the mule is superior to the ass, but inferior to the horse. Nor has an attempt thus to amend the Caucasian race ever been thought of; while the African race has never been amended in any other way. Hence it does appear that the native and permanent inferiority of the latter pannot be reasonably or even plausibly questioned. Let it be distinctly understood, that this discussion neither has necessarily, nor is intended to have, the slightest bearing on either of the questions—the origin of man—or the aboli- tion of slavery. Such a construction would be equally forced and contrary to our wishes. Our object is to speak of the Af- rican and Caucasian races, as we find them; and we protest against being held responsible for any inferences, except such as we deduce ourselves, or such as flow naturally and necessarily from the premises laid down. Phrenology Vindicated. 85 We make these remarks to guard against the misconstruc- tions and wanton injustice, by which we have been often assailed. When an argument is so sound and clear, that it cannot be met by a counter argument, the practice of the day is to en- deavour to destroy its influence by some false construction, or sinister inference. Thus is prejudice arrayed against rea- son, and prevarication or falsehood brought into collision with truth. A prevailing disposition of the day is that of equalization. To such an extent is this carried by some per- sons, as to amount almost to a Procrustean bed. Hence, when a writer contends, that the Caucasian race is constitutionally superior to the African, he is pronounced an aristocrat, an immoralist, or an infidel—or, in some other way, unsound in his sentiments, and dangerous in his example. Instead of being met by argument and manly discussion, he is assailed with charges against the purity of his motives, and the ten- dencies of his opinions. The truth of his doctrines is disre- garded. The struggle is for victory, not for science. But this not all, nor perhaps even the strongest evidence that can be adduced, in favour of the opinion for which we are contending. Wherever it is populated by negroes, the continent of Africa testifies conclusively to the same result. Though by nature one of the most productive portions of the globe, and capable of yielding boundless wealth, under skil- ful cultivation, it is but little better than a wilderness, and a land of poverty. Yet it has been the residence of its pe- culiar race, for thousands of years. And, for its rude and desolate state it is indebted exclusively to the ignorance and indolence that degrade them, and their grovelling content under a bare subsistence. Nor does it appear practicable to elevate their views perhaps by any means, or amend their condition except by compulsion. Had they task-masters over them, who would force them to labour, allowing them, as their reward, a fair proportion of the products of their indus- try, not only would they be more useful to others; their per- sonal comforts would be greatly multiplied and improved. §6 Phrenology Vindicated. In a special manner, though we confidently believe that they could never, as a branch of the human family, be made to attain either rank or influence, they might be rescued from the domination of some of their brutal and vicious practices. They might be taught at least to abandon the unnatural and nefarious traffic of selling one another into hopeless slavery, and to subsist on the product of unforbidden industry. As has been said respecting St. Domingo, nothing but the spon- taneous productiveness of Africa, renders it habitable to the negro race. Did human subsistence there require the same degree of industry and economy it does in Europe and many parts of America, famine would soon do the work of desolation. We have been often told that the state of slavery, in which the negroes of the United States have been immersed for many generations, is the cause of their inferiority to the whites, in native capacity. Were this the case, it might be fairly employed, as a strong argument in defence of Phrenolo- gy. But we have two reasons for not availing ourselves of it. It is not true; and Phrenology neither needs nor admits in its support any spurious or equivocal matter. Truth alone is congenial to it, and is sufficient for its establishment. The negroes that were originally imported into the United States had not been slaves in Africa, though they had been under perhaps a stern despotic government, which they had not the talent and energy to throw off. Wherefore then were they deficient in capacity at that period? for that they were deficient is not to be questioned. They were inferior even to their descendants born in the United States. A fair comparison gave proof of this. Under slavery they improved in native intellect rather than deteriorated. The reason is plain. In the performance of their tasks their brains were more excited and more effectually thrown into action, than they would have been, in a state of savage indolence, in the wilds of Africa. And as we have already stated, the brain is improved in vigour and activity by exercise, in common with every other part of the body—and becomes a better in- strument for the operations of the mind. Phrenology Vindicated. 87 By careful cultivation, then, through successive genera-- tions, the African brain and concomitant mental capacity can be improved. But there is no reason to believe that they can be raised to an equality with those of the Caucasian* Individually we feel confident that they never can. Come from what source it may, the inequality between the races cannot be removed by earthly means. No form or degree of training can give to the brain of the negro the size, strength, and balance of parts, that are possessed by the brain of the white man. Since the foregoing pages were written, we have seen a letter from the author of the Article in the Christian Exami- ner, published in the March number, 1835, of the New Eng- land Magazine, which, if possible, is more offensive and con- temptible as a production, and more insulting to Phrenology and its advocates, than the Article itself. It audaciously charges the Phrenological School with infidelity, impiety, and foolishness!—the imputations to be dealt out, we presume, and appropriated to the members individually, according to the author's views of their demerits. For he admits that alls Phrenologists are not "necessarily irreligious men." But, in making this admission, he fairly implies, that those who* are not "irreligious," are fools; for he again asserts, that he "cannot but regard it" (Phrenology) as "foolish and im- pious." Again; "I am well aware," says he, "that though this system (Phrenology) has spread chiefly among infidels, it has also been embraced by many professors and even teacher* of religion." Of course, all the latter, if not hypocrite*, and> therefore "impious," are necessarily "foolish." Once more- "Could the half-reasoning Phrenologist discern the remoter bearings of his own system, he would arrive at conclusions utterly irreconcilable with its (Christianity's) high philoso- phy."—Arrogant sciolist! to conceit that he can descry "bearings" beyond the ken of all Phrenologists, many of whose keen and searching vision is to his purblindness, as the eye of the eagle to that of the screech-owl! Having assail- ed Phrenologists in these and other terms of like indignity, 88 Phrenology Vindicated. he has the impudence to observe (as if his tdngue were still pure and his pen unpolluted;) "As to abuse and vilification" (in reply to his pasquinade) "I have nothing to apprehend on that score. In the hands of respectable opponents, such weapons are never found; and in the hands of any other they are powerless." Indeed!—then, taken in connexion with its context in the Letter and the Article, this clause is a commentary on itself and its author, which no words of ours could strengthen. The gentleman's "abuse and vilification" of Phrenology and its disciples are emphatically "powerless." He has shown himself any thing but a "respectable opponent." On this point, therefore, we leave him under his own suicidal ban^ Plunging once more into bathos, cant and mysticism, which* next to prevarication and abuse, he most delights in, the Rev. gentleman sketches the following picture of man—a likeness peradventure exclusively of himself drawn by his "conscious^ ness"; for it resembles no one else we have ever beheld. Cal- iban himself is a less monstrous type of humanity—certainly he is a much more definite and intelligible one. " Man is something more than an animal of a higher or the highest order; he is likewise an angelic nature and a son of God." (We think it is said, on high authority, that man is somewhat "lower than the angels." Nor is it within our re- collection, that the Deity, who knows him best, has ever hon- ored him with the epithet "angelic," or any other resembling it. On what more intimate knowledge of him, then, does our author thus apply it? But we pass this by, as the issue of the gentleman's jaded Ideality.) "There belong to the spirit that dwells within him (man) whole provinces and large kingdoms, which have nothing to do with his animal nature, or with the faculties that connect him with the outward world." Such are the fustian and balderdash, with which this bluster* ing compound of rant and conceit assails Phrenologists, and then prates about "respectable opponents," and boasts his dis- regard of "abuse and vilification," and the sacred shield of vir- Phrenology Vindicated^ 89 tue and innocence which protects him from them. This re- minds us of the drab in the play, who, after the commission of every act that can degrade woman, clamorously invokes the observance and protection due to female purity and hon- our! "There belong to the spirit that dwells within him (man) whole provinces and large kingdoms, which have nothing to do with his animal nature, or with the faculties that connect him with the outward world." ! It was our design, at one time, to make this singular clause the subject of a few remarks; but we feel ourselves compelled to abandon the project. The task is too repulsive. We can- not mingle in a matter so mystically and disgustingly absurd and nonsensical. It is as untangible to analysis, reason, common sense, and every other power belonging to man, as spirit is to our external senses. In the language of a late eccentric character, respecting a man he held in abhorrence, we would not willingly come "near enough it to touch it with a pitch-fork." Our chief aversion toward it arises* in part, from the spirit of cant and fanaticism that dictated it* but more especially from its outrage on truth. In another point of view the pretensions of the writer are superlatively arrogant. We allude to the reason assigned by him, in his Letter, for writing his Article in the Christian Examiner. As it is scarcely possible for the reader to con- ceive of such inflated presumptuousness, especially in a crea- ture of powers so limited, we here insert his own "precious confession" on the subject. "/ was anxious to redeem a work" (the Christian Examin- er) "in whose religious character /am much interested, from the imputation of a philosophy, which appears to me to be irreligious in its tendency." * •■•/''__ye's, even "/," nameless as 1 am, and destitute in an equal degree of power and reputation—"/ was anxious to redeem"—what? the Christian Examiner, with Channing and Walker and their distinguished associates, marshalled as a wall of fire around it! — and from what was this ably con- M 90 Phrenology Vindicated. ducted Periodical to be "redeemed"? The curse of irreligion. The Evil One, eluding the vigilance of the guards, had made his way into this beauteous garden of religious literature, in the form of Phrenology, and our sainted and inspired author felt himself commissioned to wage a crusade against him, de- feat his usurpation, and purify the consecrated spot from his pollution! That the length and breadth of the gentleman's arrogance may be the more readily measured, let this point be briefly analyzed. To be in a state to need redemption, the thing to be redeemed must be not merely endangered, but lost. The Christian Examiner, then, though the product of the pens of the most pious and enlightened of the New England clergy, was, notwithstanding, in a lost condition. The work of irre- ligion and corruption was complete! To change our figure; the Augean stable was full; and this Jack the giant-killer, turned Hercules in presumption, cleansed it of its abomina- tions with a flourish of his pen! Is it possible, that the Phrenologists of New England, al- ready a very large and respectable body, and daily increas- ing, will allow themselves to be thus publicly bearded and branded with imputed infidelity, folly, and impiety, and still suffer their assailant to strut and swagger in his lion's hide? This can hardly be, while there are other beasts and birds, that bray, hoot, and cackle like himself, from whose coverings a more suitable costume may be prepared for him. But perhaps the most disgusting features of the gentleman's letter remain to be noticed. They are made up of its affect- ed wisdom, mystified abstractions, and canting meditations. They are composed, in fact, of things undefinable in words, and which can be made known only by being exhibited. Here are some of them fresh from the workshop of our author^ brain, "breast," "belly," "fingers," or "toes;" or of whatever other part of his carcass he chooses to designate as the domi- cil of his mind. "Truth is not the product of reasoning; if it were, it might be manufactured to any amount, by the mechanical operation Phrenology Vindicated. 91 of logic. It is not made by argument—it is a pure inspira- tion of the universal reason"; (what does that mean?) "no chain of sequences can bind it"—(and that?)—"no sophistry can loose it." (still unintelligible.) * * * * "To prove, to demon- strate, is not to produce truth." * * * * "In the Phaedon of Plato, there are many inconclusive arguments; and vet no believer, I presume, ever read that book, without having his faith in immortality confirmed." What is the interpretation of all this straining, gasping and panting to appear wise? A word discloses it. Reasoning may discover and fortify truth, but not create it. And who does not know that, without our author's Delphic revelation? Who does not know that truth consists in things as they are, not as they may be grouped in logical syllogisms—in things,we mean, as God has made, endowed, and arranged them; not as man may choose to misrepresent them? It had been well for the Rev. writer, had he remembered and conformed to this, when he un- dertook to descant on Phrenology; and we earnestly commend it to him, as a rule of action, during the remainder of his life. Nor ought he, perhaps, as a christian minister, to for- get, that "life and immortality are brought to light," and the "believer's faith in them confirmed," not by the Phaedon of Plato, but by the writing and preaching of the Evangelists and Apostles—or rather by the teaching of the Messiah himself. In truth, there is nothing in Phasdon confirmatory of the immortality of the soul. Though, in the words of Cato, the pagan philosopher "reasoned well" on the subject; still he left it in "shadows, clouds, and darkness," which were dissi- pated only by the sun of revelation. Though hope, which is the "divinity that stirs within us," "points out an hereafter," "and intimates eternity to man,"—and earnestly longs for it, it is far from proving it. Whatever display of reading, there- fore, the gentleman may have made, by his reference to Plato, he has given but a flimsy manifestation of judgment. And he ought to be aware, that, in these plain common-sense times, a man is estimated much more according to what he says and does himself, than from his knowledge of the doings and say- ings of others. 92 Phrenology Vindicated. But we can pursue this unpleasant discussion no farther, though many errors and faults in the Article remain untouch- ed. We therefore take leave of it and its Rev. author, un- concerned whether the parting be final or not. Final it cer- tainly is, on our part, as relates to Phrenology, unless his Rev- ence appear hereafter under his proper signature, and pro- duce something worthy of a reply. Whatever we may be in- duced to do, with regard to others, neither his sophistry nor misrepresentations, denunciation nor abuse, shall again tempt us to notice them, even by a glance of our eye. Injustice toward him we have endeavoured to avoid; and if we have treated him with severity, it is because he de- serves it. Whether we have accurately apportioned our chastisement to the measure of his demerit, it is not our pur- pose very anxiously to inquire. Of that the public is compe- tent to judge; and we ;ie willing to believe that they will do so impartially. One tiling is certain; he has causelessly and wantonly insulted and wronged Phrenology and its ad- vocates—a class of men, as heretofore stated, ranking in in- tellect and morals, science and learning, with the foremost of the age. That he deserves to be rebuked, therefore, will hardly be denied. Yet to administer the rebuke, in the terms and manner we deemed suitable, has been repulsive to us. We take no delight in any contest, where harsh charges are preferred, discourteous language employed, or feelings of un- friendliness called into action. On the contrary, such con- tests are in the highest degree disagreeable to us. Still, however, as often as a sense of duty may summon us to them, we shall not decline them. While, therefore, as Phrenolo- gists, we should infinitely prefer discussing the science calm- ly and mildly, with such as may oppose it it in a similar spir- it, and while we pledge ourselves never to depart from strict courtesy, in a discussion of the kind—under these feelings, and with this resolution, we notwithstanding hold ourselves prepared, as often as the conceited daw may annoy us, by pecking and calling names, or the viper by hissing and driv- elling its venom in our path, to spurn the one, and tread in- Phrenology Vindicated. 93 dignantly on the head of the other. Though we shall in no case be the assailant; yet, when causelessly and rudely at- tacked, we claim the privilege of carrying the war into the enemy's territory, and defending Rome under the walls of Carthage. An unprovoked and merciless assault not only justifies stern retaliation, but often enjoins it as a duty. It is thus that petty and troublesome meddlers, who are stran- gers to high and honorable motives, are compelled to keep the peace, from the dread of punishment. Nor should the clerical character ever be suffered to serve as a shield to cov- er the delinquent. On the contrary, the stain his delinquen- cy, in defiance of the voice of his sacred calling, affixes on religion, magnifies the offender's fault, and deepens its col- ouring, and justly calls down on him a more unsparing ret- ribution. And when he even desecrates his profession, by converting it into a stronghold and place of annoyance, to injure others, and protect himself in his assaults and malefac- tions, his offence assumes a character, from which we turn with abhorrence; and on which, from motives of delicacy, we decline bestowing a suitable name. Influenced by these considerations, and regardless of the opinion of any one to the contrary, we feel that we have inflicted no unbecoming or unmerited chastisement on the Rev. defamer of Phre- nology AND ITS ADVOCATES.