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ing passage, in which he has, we think, been particularly happy in obviating an objection which has often been most ignorantly and absurdly made to Phrenology.

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"It has been objected, that nature cannot have placed a faculty of Benevolence, and another of Destructiveness, in the: same mind; but man is confessedly an assemblage of contra"dictions. The great unknown novelist speaks of the well"known cases of those men of undoubted Benevolence of cha"racter and disposition, whose principal delight is to see a "miserable criminal, degraded alike by his previous crimes, "' and the sentence which he has incurred, conclude a vicious "and a wretched life by an ignominious and cruel death.' (St "Ronan's Well.) This indicates Benevolence co-existing in the 66 same individual with Destructiveness. The greatest of poets "has said,

O thou goddess,

"Thou divine Nature, how thyself thou blazon'st,
"In these two princely boys. They are as gentle
"As zephyrs blowing below the violet,

"Not wagging his sweet head; and yet as rough,
"Their royal blood enchafed, as the rud'st wind
"That by the top doth take the mountain-pine,
"And make him stoop to the vale."

"Here Shakspeare informs us that these boys manifested much "Combativeness and Destructiveness, combined with great "Benevolence. The sword is one of the emblems of State, and "what is it but the symbol of Destruction ready to fall on the "heads of those who offend against the laws? ministering thus, "in its very severity, to purposes of Benevolence and Justice. "What are the implements of war but instruments of destruc"tion; and for what end do soldiers take the field, but to de

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stroy their enemies? And yet surgeons and numerous assist"ants attend on armies, to succour those on whom the calamities "of war have fallen;* the two faculties which are deemed incompatible, being thus manifested together, with deliberate design. Without Combativeness and Destructiveness there "would be no war; and without Benevolence, if these existed, "there would be neither mercy nor compassion. Instead, there"fore, of the co-existence of these faculties forming an objec"tion to the phrenological system, it shows its harmony with "nature."

We shall also quote the following statement of the func tion of Individuality, as distinct from those of the other known faculties. Those who have not allowed themselves to

Lord Nelson's celebrated prayer before the battle of Trafalgar might be eited as another instance, in which he expresses a hope, that humanity to the conquered may always be the characteristic of Britons.

give due attention to this subject, whether learned or unlearned as to other matters, have made themselves particularly merry with this faculty of Individuality,-which they conceive to be a mere invention of the phrenologists, and which they affect not to understand, or represent as a piece of unintelligible absurdity. We refer any one whose mind is not warped by preconceived opinions to the following statement, and we ask whether it is not intelligible, and, indeed, whether it is not in the highest degree consistent with our constant and every-day experience in regard to the observing powers of the mind?

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"In the preceding pages, it is stated, that the faculty of Form "perceives the forms of objects;-Colouring their colour;"Size their dimensions;-and that Individuality takes cognizance of existences and events in general. The question na"turally occurs, if the minor knowing powers apprehend all the "separate qualities of external objects, what purpose does In"dividuality serve in the mental economy? Its function is to "form a single intellectual conception out of the different items "of information communicated by the other knowing faculties. "In perceiving a tree, the object apprehended by the mind is "not colour, form, and size, as separate qualities, but a single "thing or being, named a tree. The mind having, by means of "Individuality, obtained the idea of a tree, as an individual "existence, may analyze it, and resolve it into its constituent "parts of form, colour, magnitude; but the contemplation of it "in this manner is at once felt to be widely different from the "conception attached to the word tree as a whole. The func "tion of Individuality, therefore, is to embody the separate ele"ments furnished by the other knowing faculties into one, "and to produce out of them conceptions of aggregate objects "as a whole; which objects are afterwards viewed by the mind "as individual existences, and are remembered and spoken of "as such, without thinking of their constituent parts. Children early use and understand abstract terms, such as tree, man, "ship; and the organ of Individuality is very prominently de❝veloped in them. Form, Colour, and Size, furnish certain "elementary conceptions, which Individuality unites and con"ceives, as the being called a man. The faculty of Number "called into action gives the idea of plurality; that of Order "furnishes the idea of gradations of rank and arrangement. "Now, Individuality, receiving the intimations of all these se"parate faculties, combines them again, and contemplates the "combination as an individual object, and this is an army. After "the idea of an army is thus formed, the mind drops the recol"lection of the constituent parts, and afterwards thinks of the

"aggregate only, or of the combined conception formed by In"dividuality; and regards it as a single object.

"It is interesting to observe the Phrenological System, which "at first sight appears rude and unphilosophical, harmonizing "thus simply and beautifully with Nature. Had it been con"structed by imagination or reflection alone, it is more than "probable that the objection of the minor knowing faculties "rendering Individuality superfluous, would have appeared so strong and unsurmountable, as to have ensured the exclusion "of one or the other as unnecessary; and yet, until both were "discovered and admitted, the function of such terms as these "we have considered, was altogether inexplicable."

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The next section contains an account of the different modes of activity of the faculties, and it is here shewn, in a manner to us the most distinct and convincing, that the faculties assumed by the metaphysicians, such as perception, memory, judgment, imagination, and the rest, are merely certain modes of the separate faculties discovered by the Phrenologists. Thus Perception is shewn not to be a separate faculty, but merely the lowest degree of activity of the observing powers. The faculty of Tune perceives melody, the faculty of Colouring perceives colours, the faculty of Causality perceives the logical steps of an argument, or the connexion between cause and effect.-Memory is the second degree of ac tivity;-Tune remembers music;-Individuality facts. Dr Watts, it is mentioned, seems to have anticipated, by a very acute conjecture, the real philosophy of memory. He says, "It is most probable, that those very fibres of the brain which "assist at the first idea or perception of an object, are the same "which assist also at the recollection of it; and then it will fol"low that the Memory has no special part of the brain devoted "to its own service, but uses all those in general which subserve our sensation as well as our thinking and reasoning "powers." This is just the Phrenological doctrine. The notion of past time, which is implied in memory, is held to be supplied by the faculty of Time. Thus Individuality recalling circumstances, without the notion of time, would produce Conception only;-if the idea of past time be added, it would be Memory.

When the faculties are powerfully active, from internal excitement, whether by the will, or from natural activity, the ideas they have previously formed are vividly and rapid

ly called up to review, and this active state of mind is styled Conception or Imagination. This is the third degree of activity, and in this state new combinations are formed in all possible varieties; but no idea is produced which is positively new, or which had not previously existed in the mind. Thus the poet may imagine seas of milk and ships of amber, which, however bold exertions of the imagination, are merely new combinations of previously existing ideas, arising from the high state of excitement to which the faculties are raised.

Lastly, Judgment, in the philosophical sense, belongs to the reflecting faculties alone, and is merely one of the states of their activity. These faculties have memory and imagination also,—and he who possesses them powerfully, perceives, remembers, and imagines processes of deduction, or ideas of abstract relations, with facility and correctness.

Attention is not a faculty of the mind, but merely consists in a vivid application of the faculties which form ideas. Asso ciation, which makes so great a figure in the works of some metaphysicians, expresses only the mutual influence of the faculties on each other, and which, so far from being subject to any general laws, is different in every different individual, according as any particular faculty or faculties happen to be predominant. The tender mother, in whom Philoprogenitiveness is strong, will be led, by almost every possible circumstance, to think of her children,-the thoughts of the warrior. will run on deeds of arms,-those of the poet, on images of beauty, while those of the philosopher will be chiefly connected by the relations of strict logical reasoning. Habit, which, next to association, makes the most conspicuous figure: in Mr Stewart's philosophy, is merely the continued, exercise of faculties already possessed;-and its power only the increased readiness which continued exercise confers on all our movements, bodily and mental. Taste is the result of the harmonious action of the faculties generally, and the just balance which maintains among them in a well-organized mind. If any one is too powerful it destroys this balance, and intro.

duces some offence against good taste. If Ideality is in ex cess, it produces bombast;-too great Causality produces unintelligible refinement. If Wit is excessive, it degenerates into impertinence.

This section, which contains much valuable matter besides what we have adverted to, will probably be regarded as the newest portion of the work; not that it is altogether new, for it is merely an extension of Dr Spurzheim's speculations upon the same subject,-but because it applies accurately to that particular system of the intellectual faculties which has been generally received in this country,-and which has received the name of Scotch metaphysics,-the system, namely, of Reid and Stewart. The system of these philosophers is not founded on any recondite examination of the operations of mind, as revealed by consciousness, or elaborated by intense meditation, but adopts the most obvious and the broadest distinctions which are recognised by the ordinary intellect, or what these philosophers call common sense. In fact, this system is founded, in a great measure, if not entirely, upon the common vernacular terms of our language,-expressive of mental manifestations; and instead of inventing terms to express the faculties, faculties are assumed to suit the terms already existing. Thus, because Memory was a term applicable to a certain class of mental operations, they have assumed a general faculty of Memory; the same with Imagination, Judgment, Taste, and the rest. They have, indeed, guarded us against supposing that what they thus assume as faculties are separate portions of mind, or, indeed, any thing separate from the mind itself;-and some who have wished to speak with the greatest accuracy, have defined a faculty to be merely the mind existing in a certain state. This definition is perfectly accurate as applied to the faculties of the commonsense system, and Mr Combe's analysis of them has shown it to be in entire correspondence with Phrenology; and that what is called Memory, Imagination, Taste, &c., are nothing more than the faculties revealed by Phrenology, "existing in " a certain state." We think, that if the disciples of Reid VOL. I.-No IV.

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