Phrenology, its nature and uses : an address to the students of Anderson's University, at the opening of Dr. Weir's first course of lectures on phrenology in that institution, January 7th, 1846 / by Andrew Combe.

  • Combe, Andrew, 1797-1847.
Date:
1846
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Phrenology, its nature and uses : an address to the students of Anderson's University, at the opening of Dr. Weir's first course of lectures on phrenology in that institution, January 7th, 1846 / by Andrew Combe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    use its words. The document referred to is a prospectus just issued by the Phrenological Society of Paris, offering a prize of 1000 francs (called, from the name of the donor, the Prix Pecoul) for the best essay on the application of Phrenology to metaphysical analysis. After alluding to the contradictory vagueness of most metaphysical speculations, the writer continues:— It is important to remark, that the propositions of Phrenology concerning the nature of man, and that of the animals most near ly allied to him, are precise, and have the great merit of resting upon real data, easily tested by facts which everybody can observe; while in the philo- sophy of the schools, human nature remains an enigma, or at least a purely ideal conception, abounding so much in hy- potheses wholly unconnected with experience, that neither teacher nor moralist, nor judge nor legislator, can derive from them any of the principles which are so much wanted to guide them in the action they exercise on each other, on individuals, and on society. In the justice of these remarks I entirely concur; and I would add, that, from the light which Phrenology throws upon many of the most intricate pheno- mena of human nature, there is scarcely any situation in which a man can be placed which does not afford opportuni- ties for interesting and useful phrenological observation. From its very nature, it is in society and in our daily inter- course with the sick, and not in the closet, that we are to look for most of its evidences, and that we find ample scope for its applications ; and in this way it becomes an object of interest, and almost of amusement, in the very hours which would otherwise be often thrown away. Let no one, then, who is possessed of a strong love of truth, combined with even average powers of intellect, fear to engage in the study; for although, in its applications to human improve- ment, Phrenology affords full scope for the exercise of the highest mental endowments ever vouchsafed to man, it also presents much that is at once intelligible, and in a high de- gree useful, to minds of an ordinary calibre. I know some persons of this description who, by patient perseverance, have not only thoroughly mastered its principles, but succeeded in applying them in the affairs of every-day life with so much tact and success, as to have added largely to their usefulness, comfort, and happiness. In making these remarks regarding the utility of Phre- nology, and the increasing interest now felt in its diffusion, I ought, perhaps, to warn you, that, as a system or body of doc- trine, it is far from being regarded by its adherents as either perfect or complete. On the contrary, no one knows so well as