A lecture on the subject of phrenology not opposed to the principles of religion, nor the precepts of Christianity / by William Ingalls.

  • Ingalls, William, 1769-1851.
Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A lecture on the subject of phrenology not opposed to the principles of religion, nor the precepts of Christianity / by William Ingalls. 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.)

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    pie time for a change in the cranium and brain to have taken place ; if it were not so, it is evident, it must have happened in the encephalon of Cain—his first born son—the organ of destructiveness was inordinately de- veloped. It affords me singular satisfaction to find my opin- ion, that the conformation of the head may be alter- ed, and the mind become degenerate, by the irreg- ular excitations of the several mental organs, is corrob- orated by Baron Swedenborg, the author of the system of doctrines of the New Jerusalem Church, in the fol- lowing extract ; which must be peculiarly interesting to the reader, as is every other product of the pen of this illustrious personage. Every man that is born has a disposition to all sorts of evil, which must be checked by education, and as far as is possible rooted out, This is first to be attempted by correction and punishment ; then by good society and example, which lead to imitation ; and at last good is secured upon a true and reasonable religious root. When these con- ditions are all observed, it is indicated by the beautiful skull of the individual. On the contrary, should the ed- ucation be neglected, or no sudden misfortune, nor op- position, hinder the first outbreakings of evil, or disor- der, the evil afterwards becomes habit, and produces peculiar wishes, both in design and practice, which cause the formation of a badly shaped skull. The cause of the difference of the skulls is this : The pe- culiar distinctions of man, will and understanding, have their seats in the brain, which is excited by the fleeting desires of the will, and the ideas of the intellect. Near the various spots where these irritations produce their effects, this or that part of the brain is called into a