ment to the present time, and he will be satisfied. He will there find every objection to Phrenology contained in his "Two Lectures," together with substantial and conclusive replies to them; and several others of equal validity, and equally refuted, which have not perhaps occurred to him I should rather say, which he has not seen. For I verily believe that none of Dr. Sewall's objections are his own. He has too little originality of mind to conceive and frame them himself. He has collected them from books, and done them up into lectures, not to dissipate error from the minds of Phrenologists; but to plant or perpetuate error in the minds of those who are ignorant of Phrenology.

In 1826 he did not, as already mentioned, lecture to Phrenologists. He refused to lecture to them even when invited and challenged to that effect. It is far from being probable, therefore, that he delivered to Phrenologists his "Two Lectures," in February, 1837. He delivered them to college youths, who, it is presumable, were strangers to the science. Nor has he published them for Phrenologists; but for those whom he wishes to keep blind to the true knowledge of Phrenology; and with whom he is solicitous to acquire popularity, and build up a reputation for science and learning-perchance also to increase among them his professional business. Dr. Sewall would not dare to deliver his " Two Lectures' to a phrenological audience. He knows too well the reception he would encounter. Nor, I venture to say, has he presented a copy of his "Lectures" to any Phrenologist in either Europe or America. He is apprized that the act would bring down on him ridicule-not to say a harsher feeling, and a heavier infliction. I am told, however, that he has circulated his pamphlet to no

small extent among those who are already immersed in ignorance or error respecting the science. And the report is no doubt correct. I shall only add, under this

head, that it would have been well for the reputation and standing of the Professor, had no Phrenologist ever opened his pamphlet. But to proceed to an analysis of his "Two Lectures ;" and establish against them the truth of the charges, preferred in the second paragraph of my essay. And first, of

66

Plagiarism, Literary Garbling, and Perverted
Quotation."

A large portion of Lecture I. is taken verbatim, without acknowledgment, and therefore by plagiarism, from two works. The first of these is the " Biography of Dr. Gall," prefixed to the Boston edition of his works, translated into English by Winslow Lewis, M. D. &c. and edited by Nahum Capen, Esq. It is some of the matter of this production in particular, that Dr. Sewall has garbled, changed, and perverted, the better to accommodate it to his purposes of deception. The second work on which he has played the plagiarist, and garbled deeply, but without, I believe, making any perversion of its meaning, is the "Elements of Phrenology," published by myself, in 1827. Proof of these charges shall now be produced. In "Lecture I." when speaking of the early years of Dr. Gall, Dr. Sewall says: ·

"His (Dr. Gall's) attention was at first drawn to this subject (the conformation of the cranium) by observing, while quite a youth, that each of his brothers and sisters, his school fellows and companions in play, possessed some peculiarity of talent or disposition, some aptitude or propensity, which distinguished them from others." * "Some amused themselves by

cutting figures in wood, or drawing them on paper, in painting, or the cultivation of a garden; while others abandoned themselves to the noisy games, or traversed the woods in pursuit of flowers, bird's nests, and butterflies." ******* "Some were distinguished for the beauty of their penmanship, some for their success in arithmetic, others for the talent of acquiring a knowledge of natural history and languages. composition of one was remarkable for elegance, while the style of another was stiff and dry; a third connected his reasoning in the closest manner, and clothed his arguments in the most forcible language.”

The

So much for the first and second pages of "Lecture I." Let us now turn to its prototype, the " Biography of Dr. Gall."

"From an early age he (Dr. Gall) was given to observation, and was struck with the fact, that each of his brothers and sisters, companions in play, and schoolfellows, possessed some peculiarity of talent or disposition, which distinguished him from others. Some of his schoolmates were distinguished for the beauty of their penmanship, some by their success in arithmetic, and others by their talent for acquiring a knowledge of natural history, or of languages. The compositions of one were remarkable for elegance, while the style of another was stiff and dry; and a third connected his reasonings in the closest manner, and clothed his argument in the most forcible language." ******* "Some cut figures in wood, or delineated them on paper; some devoted their leisure to painting, or the cultivation of a garden, while their comrades abandoned themselves to noisy games, or traversed the woods to

gather flowers, seek for bird's nests, or catch butterflies."

Such are a few, and but a few, compared with the number that might be adduced, of Professor Sewall's acts of piracy committed on the "Biography of Dr. Gall. And it will be observed that, with a view to conceal those acts, he has garbled and transposed some of the passages, inserting between them a few words or lines of his own, or something drawn from other clauses of the "Biography," like mortar between bricks, to fill the crevices. True; the effort at concealment is a very shallow one; resembling not a little that which the ostrich makes, by placing its head under a bramble, to escape from the hunter, its body and limbs remaining exposed. Still however it is an effort, and shows at once the studied trickery, and the puerile weakness of its author. He would have concealed his plagiarism and barrenness of intellect, had it been in his power. The worst however is to come.

up

In relation to the passages just quoted, Dr. Sewall has acted without much disguise, and taken them as he found them. He has neither omitted any thing material in them, nor altered their meaning, to subserve sinister purposes, by palming on his hearers or readers artful misrepresentations or false constructions. Though he has shown much weakness therefore, and reprehensible unfairness in the proceeding, he can hardly be said to have committed treachery in it, or any other act of moral turpitude. But in the following case, his fault is far different in amount, and much darker in colour. Depravity alone could have led to its perpetration.

"In 1808," says he, Lect. I, pp. 8-9, "Gall and

Spurzheim presented a joint memoir, on the Anatomy and Physiology of the Brain, to the French Institute, which at that time was in full glory, and one of the first scientific societies in Europe. The chief of the anatomical department was M. Cuvier, and the first member of this learned body to whom Drs. Gall and Spurzheim addressed themselves. He received the German Doctors with politeness, attended their lectures, and witnessed their dissections of the brain.

"A committee was appointed by the Institute to report upon the memoir, consisting of Tenon, Portal, Sabbatier, Pinel, and Cuvier; all men of known candour and ability. M. Cuvier drew up an elaborate report, containing within a short compass the whole substance of the memoir; but while it was approved by the Institute, it was not such as to satisfy Gall and Spurzheim, or to inspire confidence in their views of the anatomy and physiology of the brain. Some merit was awarded to them for their method of dissecting the brain, and for some other improvements they had made; but many of the discoveries which they claimed as original were traced to anatomists who had preceded them, and their main positions were regarded as extremely hypothetical. Such was the reception which Phrenology met with from the French Institute."

Such is the account of this truckling manœuvre (for that it was a piece of truckling will be presently made appear) of the Institute of France, given by Dr. Sewall. Let us now turn to it, in the pages of the "Biography," and see it there depicted as it was.

"In 1808, they (Gall and Spurzheim,) presented a joint memoir on the anatomy of the brain, to the French