Phrenology : how to read the head.

Date:
[between 1890 and 1899?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Phrenology : how to read the head. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    18/68 (page 16)
    3.—Concentrativeness. The organ is situated immediately above Philoprogenitive¬ ness and below Self-Esteem. ROBERT BURNS. NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN. Observation proves that this is a distinct organ, because it is sometimes large, when the organs of Philoprogenitive¬ ness and Self-Esteem lying below and above it are small, and sometimes small when these are large. Dr. Spurzheim observed it to be large in those animals and persons who seemed attached to particular places; and he thence termed it the organ of Inhabitiveness. The function, however, is stated by him to be only conjectural. From more enlarged observations, it now seems probable, that its function is to maintain two or more powers in simultaneous and combined activity, so that they may be directed towards one object; and it is, in consequence, named Concentrativeness. The first step in the discovery of this last function was the observation, that certain individuals are naturally prone to sedentary habits, and find it painful to stir abroad, without a special motive, and this, too, of considerable urgency. Other persons experience equal difficulty in settling; their strongest desire is to engage in some active employment, in which their attention shall be carried, as it were, out of themselves, and occupied with external objects and occurrences. The former were perceived to