press it. Every stranger is considered as a spy, whose object is to discover their wealth, that a heavier impost may be exacted. Paper money was attempted, without success, to be introduced amongst them; fathers then concealed their gold and silver in the cavities of rocks, and forgot sometimes to tell their children where the wealth was deposited,,, This distrust is accompanied with great avarice and selfishness; he who has any thing to sell always tries to cheat the purchaser, and the cunning Russian is often the dupe of the Laplander." (Vol. vi. p. 466.) Destructiveness renders them passionate, Cautiousness, timid, Acquisitiveness avaricious, and Secretiveness suspicious and dissembling. הי ARTICLE VI and Deleted 100 REMARKS ON INHABITIVENESS AND CONCENTRA140L 10 OH TIVENESS, THE few observations now to be offered on the function of the organ No. III., we shall introduce in the shape of a commentary on a section devoted to this subject by Mr Dean, in his recently published Lectures on Phrenology. That writer starts objections to the views both of Dr Spurzheim and of Mr Combe. As these two phrenologists have left this faculty open for consideration, and as the best mode of arriving at truth is to listen to the suggestions of every honest inquirer, we subjoin all that Mr Dean says on the subject. "The function ascribed to this faculty by Dr Spurzheim, is the propensity to inhabit a particular place. He grounds the existence of the propensity upon the assumption that nature intended every region should be inhabited, and has, therefore, bestowed upon all her animated productions an inhabitive propensity.. "The objection that occurs to me goes to the existence of a faculty possessing this kind of function. The original intention of nature, that different climates should be inhabited by different animals, and that, in this manner, every region should be peopled, is clearly indicated by the fact that she has adapted the physical constitution and capacities of the animal to the climate she intends it to inhabit. The same great system of adaptation that fits man to be a tenant of this earth, fits the various races of animals to inhabit the varied climates, where we actually find them. The disposition to inhabit, therefore, is a general and not a particular result. A faculty possessing this specific function, for the purpose of being a faculty, must be independent. If, in the exercise of that independence, it should select a climaté to which the constitution and capacities of the animal are adapted, its exercise would be useless; because the animal possesses an original tendency to such selection. If it should select one to which the animal is not adapted, its exercise would be worse than useless. To bestow a faculty that at best can do no good, and at worst can do harm, never could have been originally intended. este fito 9934 1 Mr' Combe' and the Edinburgh Plirenological School, name the 'faculty which they locate in this part, Concentrativeness; and ascribe to it the function of concentrating and continuing the exercise of mental power upon one particular object; or rather, perhaps, of holding up the object itself as the only subject of contemplation, at the same time excluding all others from interference. They observe that some individuals are much more abstracted than others, and possess, to a great extent, the power of concentrating and continuing upon one object their intellects and feelings/170 "There are objections to the existence of a faculty possessing the function here ascribed to it. "The functions of the several faculties are nothing more than their several modes of action, consequent upon the relations existing between them and the objects upon which they are destined to act, and be acted upon. These relations have the force and effect of natural laws. To allow the existence of a faculty, the function of which is of a supervisory character, and the office of which is to combine, concentrate, and continue the action of the different faculties, when nature has already established the relations between them and their objects, would seem to be nothing more in effect, than to suppose that nature made a second provision for the purpose of controlling and thus rendering nugatory the first, or to save her credit by its efficiency, supposing the first should fail. "If one faculty of mind predominates, its stimulus will arouse, and in some measure direct, the energies of other faculties, the peculiar action of whose functions can assist it in its investigations. If this stimulus be what is meant by the function of this faculty, it could not, perhaps, be deemed objectionable. But we are precluded from making this supposition, for the reason that if it were, this faculty would be dependent upon the predominating faculty for any the least operation of its peculiar function, and if dependent, could not fall within the definition of a faculty, which is defined to be an independent power. " Between other faculties and external objects, relations exist, and consequent upon those relations are the operations of their functions. But here relations can only exist between this and other faculties, not external objects. What these relations are, I am unable to perceive, unless they consist in the stimulus of a predominating facultyy exciting the function of this into action. But if this be their nature, the function itself is clearly dependent on the stimulus, and therefore, no facultynatmall! Suppose this faculty alone possessed of inordinate strength in a head in which every other organ was equally well developed, and, consequently, every other faculty possessed of equal strength, could it, under those circumstances, act at all? If lits action were obedient to stimulus, lit clearly could not, because herë there is none. Its dependence must preclude it from ruling, and, under this state of things, leave it to rust in its mansion, a lord in the garb of a menial, a monarch in the bonds of a slave. "But if no dependence exist, its action must be of an arbitrary nature; and an arbitrary power, to coerce two or more faculties to combine, and concentrate, and continue their energies, I should regard as an innovator upon existing relations, and hence doubt the propriety or necessity of its services. Not to urge that the possession of this arbitrary power, which is not intel lectual, and, therefore, not susceptible of being enlightened, would be of dangerous tendency.. If it be urged that the funetion of the faculty is rather to continue the object as the single subject of contemplation for the faculties, to the exclusion of every other; it may be answered, that the same original power that is competent to apprehend or seize upon the object, is also competent to retain it as the subject of contemplation, for all the purposes for which it was apprehended. "I have thus given my views somewhat at large în relation to the alleged functions of this faculty. I consider the whole as open to future investigation. An appeal on all sides is made to facts, for the phrenologist is ever more solicitous to have the truth established, than his own particular views." P. 82-86. The objection here urged against the views of Dr Spurzheim, appears to us of no force whatever, and indeed is fully answered by Dr Spurzheim himself in his work entitled "Phrenology." It is true that the constitution and capacities of animals are adapted to the circumstances in which they live; but as observation shews, it is equally true, that there is a special instinct directing them to choose the situations to which their constitutions are adapted. This is a blind instinct, and is followed before any opportunity has been enjoyed by the animal of ascertaining what place is most suitable for its abode. Nor is such an instinct superfluous; for the understanding is in many animals insufficient to serve as a guide, and even where the case is otherwise, half a lifetime might be spent before discovering the appropriate habitation. Moreover, without supposing the existence of such an instinct, it is impossible to explain why animals with similar constitutions-different varieties of the same species, for instance-often choose to live in dissimilar localities. So far as the lower animals are concerned, therefore, we have no doubt of the existence of the faculty contended for by Dr Spurzheimt in whatever part of the brain its organ may be situated. As to the possession of a peculiar faculty of this description by the human race, we are not without scruples, for attachment to the place in which a person happens to have been born, or to have lived for many years, is, in our view, essentially different from a propensity to choose an abode, and appears to fall naturally enough within the sphere of Adhesiveness. Mr-Dean's objections to Mr Combe's opinion are, for the most part, purely metaphysical, and apply with equal force to the organ of Firmness, whose function is beyond the reach of controversy. It appears to us, however, that Mr Combe has laid himself open to some of the objections of Mr Dean, and also of Dr Spurzheim, by ascribing to the organ two radically different functions, one of which he passes over in a very cursory way, without illustrating it fully as he does the other "Concentrativeness," says he," acts along with the feelings as well as the intellect, and prolongs emotions." Now, to prolong eтоtions is just to prolong the period of activity of the feelings; an operation of Concentrativeness by no means the same in kind with that which it is said to perform in relation to the intellect, namely, the detention of particular ideas in the mind the fastening of the attention on a particular subject of thought. An intellectual faculty might have its activity prolonged to any extent, and yet be all the while engaged with a quick succession of straggling and unconnected ideas. In reality, therefore, Concentrativeness seems to influence the intellectual faculties alone; attention being a mode of activity peculiar to them. Its function, we conceive, is, in the words of Cowper, 1 1 To arrest the fleeting images that fill But though unable to see how Concentrativeness can prolong emotions by acting along with the feelings," we have no difficulty in understanding that this result may indirectly flow from it. If Acquisitiveness be grieved by loss of fortune, the grief will, in all probability, be more enduring where Concentrativeness is large, than where it is small. The idea, circumstance, or fact, of the pecuniary misfortune, will be maintained by Concentrativeness before the mind; the attention will be rivetted upon it; and thus, through the medium of the intellectual faculties, will Acquisitiveness be affected and kept in a state of excitement. In other words, we are far more apt to grieve when thinking of a misfortune than when the thoughts are employed on a totally different subject. It would be difficult to find a better illustration of what we conceive to be the true influence of Concentrativeness on the intellectual faculties, than a case of its morbid impairment, re lated by Sir A. Crichton, in his work on Mental Derangement, vol. i. p. 281. The patient (attended by Dr Pitcairn and Sir Alexander himself) was a young gentleman of large fortune, who, till the age of twenty-one and he does not seem to have been much more at the time of describing his case had enjoyed a tolerable share of health, though of a delicate frame. His absence of mind was extreme, and he would sometimes willingly sit for a whole day without moving: yet he was in no de gree melancholy; and it was easy to discover, by his countenance, that a multiplicity of thoughts were constantly succeeding each other in his mind, many of which were gay and cheerful; for he would laugh heartily at times, not with an unmeaning countenance, but evidently from internal merriment. He was occasionally so strangely inattentive, that, when pushed by some want which he wished to express, if he had begun a sentence, he would suddenly stop short after getting half way through it, as though he had forgotten what else he had to say Yet, when his attention was roused and he was induced to speak, he always expressed himself in good language and with much propriety; and if a question were proposed to him which required the exercise of judgment, and he could be made to attend to it, he judged correctly. It was with difficulty he could be made to take any exercise; but he was at length prevailed upon to drive his curricle, in which Sir Alexander at times accompanied him. At first he could not be induced to go beyond half a mile; but, in succeeding attempts, he consented to go farther. He drove steadily, and, when about to pass a carriage, took pains to avoid it; but when at last he became familiarized with this exercise, he would often fall into desultory and wandering thoughts, and allow the reins to hang loose in his hands. His ideus seemed to be for ever varyiny. When any one came across his mind, which excited anger, the horses suffered for it; but the spirit they exhibited at such an unusual and unkind treatment made him soon desist, and re-excited his attention to his own safety. As soon as they were quieted, he would relapse into unsettled thought: if his ideas were melancholy, the horses were allowed to walk slow; if they were gay and cheerful, they were generally encouraged to go fast. Here the intellect seems to have been perfectly sound, and capable of judgment and thought; but, apparently from some derangement of Concentrativeness, the subjects thought on underwent a perpetual change. The case resembles closely that of Dr John Walker, noticed in our 8th volume, p. 400. It would appear that although attention is undoubtedly a mode of activity of the intellect, yet Concentrativeness is essentially necessary to keep the intellectual faculties at their duty in this sort of employment. If this view be sound, inability to fasten the attention upon a subject of thought may arise either from deficiency |