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says he, "has instructed these animals to follow such different "methods, and always so perfectly appropriate to the nature of "the animal to be slain? Could the teeth, or the claws do so?"

Hitherto we have spoken only of the difference betwixt the crania of carnivorous and herbivorous animals. The same difference is found to exist betwixt the brains of these different classes. Dr Gall exhibits a plate of the brain of the lion and tiger, and of the calf and kangaroo, and the convolutions which are marked as the organs of Destructiveness exist in the former, while in the latter, they are absolutely wanting.

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"At the same time," says Dr Gall, "it is proper to observe, "that the organ is not, in all carnivorous animals, situated with rigorous exactness, above the external opening of the ear. "Among some species of birds, for example, in the stork, "the cormorant, the heron, the gull, &c., the external opening of the ear is considerably drawn back, and the organ "of the propensity to kill is placed immediately behind the "orbits, forming a large prominence upon each side, the size "of which is found to bear an uniform proportion to the degree in which the animal manifests the propensity to kill. "In comparing the crania of carnivorous birds with the skulls "of those that can live indifferently either upon animals or vege "tables, this prominence is found to be less conspicuous in the "latter; in the duck, for example, and in the different species "of thrushes; and it becomes less and less prominent in pro"portion as the birds exhibit a more distinct preference for vegetables, such as the swan, the goose," &c. The differences are illustrated by plates in Dr Gall's work.

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These distinguishing characteristics of development vary not only in different species, but in different individuals, exactly in proportion to the greater or less predominance of the carnivorous instinct. For example, the portion of brain, above alluded to, is perceptibly larger in the eagle and the falcon, than in the crow and the magpie, larger in the wolf than in the dog, and in the tiger than in the lion. In illustration of the difference among individuals, Dr Gall mentions, that he possesses a considerable collection of the heads of cats and dogs,

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in forming which, he‍ paid particular attention to the degree in which the carnivorous instinct had manifested itself in each individual; and he states it as a fact, that in those cats which were ardent hunters, this region of the cranium is decidedly more developed than in those which were contented to receive their food in kitchens and parlours. The same circumstance holds in regard to dogs: those which had a large development of this part of the head were known to pursue and kill with avidity mice, rats, hares, and foxes, while those which were not naturally given to such pursuits, had a smaller development of the same part. He mentions, that it is impossible for any one to make a collection of the skulls of cats and dogs, paying attention to this difference of their dispositions, without being convinced, beyond the possibility of doubt, of the truth of these remarks. So much for the lower animals: The following are a few of the facts stated by Dr Gall, in proof of the existence of the propensity and organ in Man. human head, at the temporal and lower part of the parietal bone, and is about two inches and a half in length, and an inch and a quarter in breadth. This organ is very apparent in the crania of two of the accomplices of Schinderhannes, who had committed more than twenty murders. It was large in a soldier of Berlin, who experienced an irresistible propensity to commit murder, and who, upon the approach of paroxysm, of which he was sensible, before it attained its height, caused himself to be pinioned, to prevent deeds of violence. It was found large in a young woman who had assisted her mother to murder her father: In a young man, nearly an idiot, who had killed a child without any rational motive, under the impulse of a blind propensity:It was large in the skull of a man named HommeDieu, exhibited by M. Brüggmanns at Leyden. This wretch had precipitated a number of persons from the banks of the canals into the water, to enjoy their dying struggles.—It was also large in a man of Brunswick, who, without any other motive than the pleasure of killing, had committed two murders, the second on a child; also in twenty-five women, whom Drs Gall and Spurzheim found confined in different prisons, for infanti

man, whom he had seduced. In the heads of David Haggart (No 32, skulls, and No 17, busts) and Mary Mackinnon (No 31, busts), executed at Edinburgh, and of Booth (No 75, skulls), a poacher, executed at York, all for murders committed on the impulse of the moment, it appears considerably developed; while in them Combativeness is also very large.

In the whole of these skulls and heads now enumerated, the distance in a direct line, measured by means of callipers, from the external opening of the ear to the middle of the surface of Philoprogenitiveness on the skull, i. e. about half an inch above the spinous process of the occipital bone, is equal to the distance from the external opening of the ear to the external surface of the head at lower Individuality, corresponding to the top of the nose; and the coronal surface is narrow. This indicates a great preponderance of the animal organs situate in the lower and back part of the brain, over the organs of the moral sentiments, and of intellect, situate in the coronal and frontal regions of the head. On the other hand, in several hundred individuals of gentle dispositions and good intellects, whose heads we have examined, we found, with few exceptions, the distance before the ear, according to the above measurement, to exceed the distance behind it to a considerable extent, in many cases amounting to an inch, and, in every instance, the coronal surface was large and ample in proportion to the base and posterior part of the brain. Any person who wishes to put this fact to the test, may try the experiment upon the casts of the criminals before alluded to, and upon the busts Nos 3, 11, 12, 26, 27, 29, 32, 36, 37, 38, and 39, of the Society's collection, the latter being casts of virtuous individuals. We may state, that the whole are open to public scrutiny every Saturday from one to three o'clock, in Clyde Street Hall.

The Society possesses casts of the skulls of five Caribs (Nos 12, 13, 14, 15, 16), who are well known to have been a ferocious tribe, and in all of them the organ of Destructiveness is decidedly large. On the other hand, Dr George Murray Paterson, surgeon in the Honourable East India Company's Service, mentions, as the result of three thousand actual exami

nations, that the organ is small in the heads of the Hindoos in general, who are known to be extremely tender in regard to animal life. In the skulls of fourteen Hindoos (Nos 60 to 73), twelve of which were presented to the Society by this gentleman, and two by Dr Combe of Leith, the development of the organ will be found to be decidedly less than in the skulls of Europeans in general.

Several years ago, Peter Somners was tried before the High Court of Justiciary, and found guilty of wantonly murdering, in a fit of intoxication, an old man with whom he was amusing himself on the road. We were informed by a gentleman, who had an opportunity to know the fact, that this young man had manifested great cruelty to animals at previous periods of his life. We saw him in prison, and his organs of Destructiveness were very large. In the country, we saw a boy, who had watched the progress of a brood of swallows, and when they were fully fledged, delivered them alive, one by one, into the mouth of a sow, without any other motive than the barbarous pleasure of seeing them devoured; and in him the organ was very large. We have read a full account of this case in the Society's MS. Book of Reports, which we found open to public inspection in the Society's Hall. In the collection of Dr Barclay, there is the skull of a Negro who committed several murders, and in it Destructiveness is very large.

Hitherto, however, we have contemplated Destructiveness only when acting with excessive and uncontrolled energy, and producing abuses of its legitimate function. We have seen it raging, in brutes and in man," without check or limitation, "without either pity or remorse." It is quite obvious that it was precisely in such cases that the organ and the propensity were most likely to force themselves upon the notice of the observer, because they were present in that high degree of development and activity, which produced a predominance of this feeling over the other faculties of the mind. Destructiveness, however, when directed by the higher sentiments, serves a valuable purpose in the mental economy. The form in which it manifests itself when opposed by obstacles from with

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cide:-It was large in a criminal of Frankfort, who was exccuted, after having committed a second murder; in Bouhours, who felled his victims with a mallet, to rob them of their money; in the crania of all the murderers in the collections of Messieurs Haberl, Sax, Weigel. In Lepelrey-des-Longchamps, the organ was largely developed, and the organ of Combativeness very little; and this person conceived the project of a murder, which he bribed Héluin, who was more courageous than himself, to execute. In the latter, the organ of Acquisitiveness was large. A man named Valet murdered his grandmother and three aunts; and Mercier, under promise of a sum of money, assisted him, by preventing the women from escaping, but without inflicting a single blow. In the cranium of Valet, the organ of Destructiveness is well developed; in that of Mercier it is not so. In the latter, the organs of Combativeness, Cautiousness, and Benevolence are very small, while the organ of Acquisitiveness is, on the contrary, very prominent. These skulls are preserved in the Museum at the Jardin du Roi*, and Dr Gall possesses casts of them. The cranium of a man named Voirin, a hatter, guillotined in Paris about the year 1808, for having committed two murders, is exceedingly remarkable. The organ is much developed, and prominent. Dr Gall gives an extract from the act of accusation, which indicates exceeding barbarity in his conduct. The organs of Benevolence and Reflection were also small. The head of Doutun, who had murdered his brother, presents almost the same appearance. The skull of a criminal of Tarn, condemned to death on 21st January 1809, for having assassinated his brother-in-law, presents a very large development of the organ. Dr Contèle narrates the circumstances, and certifies the development to be such as is now described: Observations sur la Constitution Médicale de l'Année 1808, à Albi, second partie, 163. and 165. In the head of Madelaine Albert de Moulins, the organ is prodigiously developed, and this woman murdered,

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• We are informed by a gentleman, to whom casts of these skulls were shewn by Mr Royer of the Jardin du Roi, that he pointed out the characteristic indications of each precisely as here stated. without knowing that such a crime had been committed, much less the share which each had had in its commission.

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