Phrenology, or, The doctrine of the mental phenomena (Volume 2).

  • Spurzheim, J. G. (Johann Gaspar), 1776-1832.
Date:
1832
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Phrenology, or, The doctrine of the mental phenomena (Volume 2). Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

    19/224
    death. Piety, in short, is nothing but a quiet submission to irre- sistible fate. Man's duty with respect to himself is to subdue his passions of joy and sorrow, hope and fear, and even pity. It is virtuous self-denial and self-command. Man may withdraw from life be- cause Ufe and death are indifferent things, and death may be more consistent with nature than life. Our duty towards others is to love all men, even our enemies. A wise man will injure no one, will feel pleasure in protecting and serving others. He will not think himself born for himself alone, but for the common good of mankind. He is rewarded for his good by itself without applause or recompense. The wise man will disdain sorrow from sympathy as well as from personal suf- fering. He is ready to exercise lenity and benignity, and to at- tend to the welfare of others and to the general interest of man- kind, but pity towards a criminal is weakness. Another great branch of Greek philosophy sprung from Pytha- goras and sprouted out into the Eleatic, Heraclitean, Epicurean, and Sceptic sects. Pythagoras, probably from Samos, went to Egypt, spent there 22 years, underwent at Thebes many severe and troublesome ceremonies in order to gain the confidence of the priests and to be instructed in their most concealed doctrines. His method of teaching was mysterious and after the example of the Egyptian priests. He even boasted to be capable of doing miracles, and to have received his doctrine from heaven. He had pubhc and private disciples. The oath of secrecy was given by the initiated concerning the doctrine of God and nature. He taught theoretical and practical philosophy. The former con- templates things of an immutable, eternal and incorruptible na- ture, the other teaches things necessary for the purposes of hfe. Theoretical or contemplative wisdom could not be obtained with- out a total abstraction from the ordinary afTairs of life and a per- fect tranquillity of mind; hence the necessity of a society separated from the world for the purpose of contemplation. Man was com- posed of body and soul, the soul of a rational principle, seated