GENUS III-INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES WHICH PERCEIVE THE RELATIONS OF EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 27.-LOCALITY. DR GALL mentions, that the taste which he had for natural history induced him frequently to go into the woods to catch birds, or to discover their nests; and although he was expert in accomplishing these objects, yet, when he wished to return to the nests, he generally found it impossible to retrace his way, or to light upon the tree which he had marked, or the snares which he had placed. This dif ficulty did not arise from inattention, for, before quitting the spot, he stuck branches in the ground, and cut marks on trees, to guide him in his return, but all in vain. He was obliged to take constantly along with him one of his school-fellows, named SCHEIDLER, who, with the least possible effort of attention, went always straight to the place where a snare was set, even although they had sometimes placed ten or fifteen in a quarter that was not familiarly known to them. As this youth possessed only very ordinary talents in other respects, Dr GALL was much struck with his facility in recollecting places, and frequently asked him how he contrived to guide himself so surely; to which he replied by asking GALL, in his turn, how he contrived to lose himself everywhere. In the hope of one day obtaining some explanation of this peculiarity, Dr GALL moulded his head; and endeavoured to discover persons who were distinguished by the same faculty. The celebrated landscape-painter SCHENBERGER told him, that, in his travels, he was in the custom of making only a very general sketch of countries which interested him, and that afterwards, when he wished to produce a more complete picture, every tree, every group of bushes, and every stone of any considerable magnitude, presented itself spontaneously to his mind. About the same period Dr GALL became acquainted with M. MEYER, author of the romance of "Dia-na-Sore," a person who found no pleasure except in a wandering life. Sometimes he went from house to house in the country, and at other times attached himself to some man of fortune, to accompany him in extended travels. He had an astonishing faculty in recollecting the different places which he had seen. Dr GALL moulded his head also; he then placed it and the other two together, and compared them attentively; they presented great differences in many points, but he was struck with the singular form which appeared in all the three a little above the eyes, and on the two sides of the organ of Individuality, viz. two large prominences commencing near each side of the nose, and going obliquely upwards and outwards, almost as high as the middle of the forehead. From that time he was led to suppose, that the talent for recollecting places depended on a primitive faculty, of which the organ was situated under this part of the skull; innumerable subsequent observations confirmed this inference. Dr SPURZHEIM states, that "the special faculty of this organ, and the sphere of its activity, remain to be determined. It makes the traveller, geographer, and landscapepainter, recollect localities, and gives notions of perspective. It seems to me, says he, that it is the faculty of Locality in general. As soon as we have conceived the existence of an object and its qualities, it must necessarily occupy a place, and this is the faculty that conceives the places occupied by the objects that surround us." Sir GEORGE S. MACKENZIE considers the primitive faculty to be that of perceiving relative position. Dr SPURZHEIM states, that "notions of perspective" are given by Locality, but certain facts, already noticed, appear to shew that these depend rather on Size: in other respects his observations coincide with my own experience. Persons in whom this organ is large, form vivid and dis tinct conceptions of situations and scenery which they have seen or heard described, and they have great power in recalling such conceptions. When the faculty is active from internal excitement of the organ, such ideas are presented to them involuntarily. In the mask of Sir WALTER SCOTT the organ is large. Readers, similarly endowed, are almost as much delighted with his descriptions of scenery, as by a tour made by themselves amid the mountain glens; while those in whom the organ is small, are quite uninterested by his most splendid poetical landscapes. This author writes so pictorially, that he almost saves an artist, who means to illustrate his pages, the trouble of invention. An author, in whom this organ is moderately developed, treats of places in a very different manner. Mr TENNANT, the author of Anster Fair and the Thane of Fife, merely designates, by appropriate epithets, the leading features of a landscape, in a way which excites a pleasing and distinct recollection of it in those who have seen it, but which calls up no picture in the mind of a reader who was not familiar with it before; and in his head the organ of Locality is below an average size. The following lines are characteristic of his manner: "Next them the troopers each on fervent steed That dwell within the warm and flowery dales Voluminous and broad his waters down To meet the briny sea by bulwark'd Berwick town.” The organ is large in the busts and portraits of all eminent navigators and travellers, such as COLUMBUS, COOK, and MUNGO PARK; also in great astronomers and geographers, as KEPLER, GALILEO, TYCHO BRACHE', and NEWTON. In TASSO the poet, it appears also to have been very large, and he manifested the faculty in a high degree. This faculty gives what is called "Coup d'œil," and judgment of the capabilities of ground. It is necessary to the military draughtsman, and is of great importance to a general in war. Dr GALL mentions, that he had observed the organ large in distinguished players at chess; and he conceived their talent to consist in the faculty of conceiving clearly a great number of the possible positions of the men. Some persons have an instinctive tact at discriminating and recollecting the situation of the organs on the Phrenological bust, while others experience the greatest difficulty in doing so. The former have Locality and Form large, the latter small, indicated by a general narrowness at the top of the nose. The latter state their own inability as an objection against the system; but this is equally logical as if Mr MILNE were to deny the existence of a variety of colours, because his own organ of Colouring is so defective that he cannot perceive them. Locality appears to be an element in a genius for geometry. In the heads or busts of six or seven eminent mathematicians which I have carefully examined, this organ, and also those of Size, Individuality and Comparison, are large. Indeed, pure geometry treats only of the relations of space, and does not imply agency, or any relation, except that of proportion; and hence it might be legitimately inferred to belong to the sphere of the organs now mentioned. Negative cases also coincide with these positive observations. ZHERO COLBURN, the American youth who was celebrated for his arithmetical powers, turned his attention to mathematics, but with very little success. stated to me that he had been taught the first six books of Euclid, and understood the propositions, but felt no interest in the study. He liked algebra much better; and he has the organ of Number large, but that of Locality deficient. The gentleman who had taken charge of his education, it is said, at first intended him for a mathematician, but afterwards, finding that his genius did not lie that way, directed his attention to law. Mr GEORGE D d He BIDDER, when a mere child, displayed such astonishing talent as a mental calculator, that several gentlemen in Edinburgh were induced to take charge of his education; and, on the supposition that his abilities extended to mathematical science generally, selected for him the profession of an engineer. Having heard of this intention, and having observed that in his head the organs of the mathematical faculties were not developed in any extraordinary degree, I inferred that his eminence as a mathematician would not equal that which he had attained as a calculator, and communicated this conviction in writing to Principal BAIRD, one of his patrons. Mr BIDDER subsequently pursued the study of mathematics; but, at the end of two years, both he himself and Professor WALLACE informed me, that he was not distinguished for more than common ability in the class. I have since heard that Mr BIDDER has not prosecuted the profession of an engineer; but obtained employment in a public office, in which his great talent for computation renders him particularly useful. When the group of organs situated at the top of the nose, namely, Individuality, Form, Size, Weight, and Locality, are all large, there is generally a strong talent for dynamics. Persons thus endowed excel in turning, and in archery; and if Constructiveness be also full, and they have been bred to professions in which they find no scope for these faculties, they frequently set up private workshops, and become inventors and improvers of machinery. The organ of Locality is generally much larger in men than in women; and the manifestations correspond. Dr GALL cites several cases of diseased affection of this organ; and in the Phrenological Journal*, Mr SIMPSON gives a highly interesting detail of symptoms attending disorder of this and the other knowing organs already treated of. This organ is possessed by the lower animals, and many interesting facts are recorded of their manifestations of the No. vii. p. 426. |