Objections to Phrenology; Being the Substance of a Series of Papers Communicated to the Calcutta Phrenological Society, with Additional Notes (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1829. Excerpt: ... NOTES. Note A. Pages 4 and 50. I have been disappointed in not being able, as I expected, to procure a paper containing a minute analysis of the skull of King Robert Bruce, whose skeleton was disinterred at Dunfermline, A. D. 1818, in presence of the Barons of Exchequer. The Edinburgh Phrenological Journal, (No. 1, Page 151, ) alluding to this document, which was drawn up by a Mr. W. Scott, insists, as usual, that the character of the man exactly coincides with his cerebral developement. But, in point of fact, we know very little of the minutiae of Bruce's character. After his countrymen, rendered desperate by insult and oppression, had been roused to determined resistance, he abandoned the ranks of his country's foes, and joined issue for the crown of Scotland. It is true he obtained an important victory, and rescued his country from a foreign yoke; but, in times when few could read or write, and when the slaughter of human beings was almost the only study and the only virtue, it would be in vain to look for any data whereon to rest either the merits or demerits of any person. Note B. Page 8. Phrenologists constantly assure us, that theirs is a science purely derived from observation--based on facts, and utterly obnoxious to speculation. It is not a little amusing, therefore, to find them keeping one another in countenance, by searching for proofs of the truth and excellence of their doctrine, among the fleeting visions of imagination and romance A considerable portion of the Edinburgh Phrenological Journal is filled with correct admeasurements of, and profound reflections on, skulls which never existed The poetical creations of Shakspeare Scott, &c. are ransacked and subjected to the nicest test of newly invented callipers; and we are confidently assur..