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Untitled Article
nature . While engaged , however , in the study of such subjects , even those who have no faith in phrenology , must derive some facilities for thought and argument , from the definite character which its arrangements are calculated to confer on
mental science . The subdivisions of the brain , and assigned localities of the faculties , even if believed to be but imaginary lines of demarcation , will be found , like the delineations of the supposed
equator , meridian , and degrees of latitude marked on the artificial globes , greatly to assist minds little accustomed to
abstract reasoning , iu performing the else too speculative task of arranging , with anything like order , the subtle materials of which consciousness and experience are made . Whilst , as to the value of phrenology itself , society has , no doubt , on manyaccounts , a deep interest in its doctrines being known and believed . For instance , in the present infancy of useful and rational education , in other words , deficient cultivation of the
intellectual powers of man , how many millions are there of those whom it is of the utmost importance to instruct in
mental science , not , indeed , as something extraordinary , of a nominal knowledge of which to be vain ; but , for the sake of its momentous , practical application , namely , the right government of their own propensities , training of their own moral sentiments , and cultivation of their own intellectual powers ; who , notwithstanding , are as yet not merely little accustomed
to abstruse reasoning , but who are absolutely unable to conceive anything to be a valuable possession , unless it be also a tangible possession ! Now , with such persons , the phrenological doctrine , assuring them that after persisting for a certain length of time in the performance of virtuous and the avoidance of vicious actions , they will become internally furnished with a better and more efficient set of mental
instruments than they before possessed , in the form , size , strength , and activity of certain organs of the brain , which , if tlieir heads were opened , might be actually seen and handled , must
naturally prove an argument of infinitely greater force in inducing self-discipline , than the vague , though by experience proved to be true assurance , that every successful effort to do right , or to avoid wrong , makes success in the next similar effort ( for some reason or other ) easier of attainment . But to return to Mr . Combe ' s views independent of phrenology ; views which , though they will , no doubt , be most highly appreciated by phrenologists , are yet even more necessary to those who , in their researches after virtue and
happiness , do not themselves possess that valuable clue through the labyrinths of mental science .
Mr . Combe explains , in the ablest and clearest inanner , that the Creator has bestowed on the body , on the mind , and on
Untitled Article
154 On the Constitution of Man .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1836, page 154, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2655/page/26/
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