Kellogg

Foundation

11-25-40

THE discovery and early history of all principles in science are identified, to some extent, with individual life and character. And a full and minute account of the former cannot be given, without involving, more or less, the merits of the latter. For as there necessarily exists a relationship between the agent and the subject, in bringing each into public notice, so in recording a history of its results, this connection should be duly acknowledged and fairly stated. We propose, therefore, to present in this article, a brief history of the life of Dr. Gall, with a critical analysis of his character, and some few remarks upon his merits, in connection with the nature and importance of his discoveries. The facts stated in this biographical notice are derived from the most authentic sources.

François Joseph Gall was born in the village of Tiefenbrunn, within the district of the Grand Duchy of Baden, on the ninth of March, 1758. His father was a merchant by profession, and a man of considerable distinction and character for his circumstances. Scarcely any information whatever can be gleaned from the writings of Gall, or from any other source, respecting the character of his mother, or the history of his brothers and sisters. It appears that his parents were professors of the Roman Catholic religion, and, for some reasons, had intended him for the service of that church. His education was therefore early attended to, and his studies directed in accordance with his future pursuits.

In the ninth year of his age, Gall was placed by his parents under the care and tuition of an uncle, who was a clergyman, residing at a place not far distant, called the Black Forest. Here he remained for some years, a diligent and successful scholar. Afterwards, he prosecuted his studies for some time at Baden, then at Brucksal, and VOL. II.-1

also at Strasburgh. As a student, Gall was distinguished more for originality and solidity of talent, than for display and brilliancy. As a scholar, he was respectable, but excelled most in branches involving principles of science and philosophy. He was passionately fond of the studies of nature, and frequently resorted into the country and the forests to make observations on butterflies, insects, birds, and other tribes of the animal kingdom. This spirit of enquiry and observation was undoubtedly the key which opened to him the way to his future discoveries. Having arrived at the age of manhood, it was necessary for him to make preparations more directly appertaining to his profession. Though his parents had intended him for the church, yet his natural dispositions were averse to such a course; and having become already interested in studies connected with medical science, he was led to turn his attention to the healing art.

Vienna, at this time, contained the most distinguished medical school which could be found in the interior part of Europe. Hither Gall repaired, while in the twenty-third year of his age. Here he enjoyed very superior advantages for obtaining a thorough knowledge of his profession; and his future career evidently shows that they were neither neglected nor unimproved. After completing his studies at the University, Gall entered upon the practice of medicine in Vienna. In the year 1796, he commenced giving public lectures on his new discoveries respecting the functions of the brain. We will here present a brief account of the manner in which he was led into this course of discovery and investigation.

"From my earliest youth," says Dr. Gall, "I lived in the bosom of my family, composed of several brothers and sisters, and in the midst of a great number of companions and schoolmates. Each of these individuals had some peculiarity, talent, propensity, or faculty, which distinguished him from the others. This diversity determined our indifference, or our mutual affection and aversion, as well as our contempt, our emulation, and our connections. In childhood, we are rarely liable to be led astray by prejudice; we take things as they are. Among our number, we soon formed a judgment who was virtuous or inclined to vice, modest or arrogant, frank or deceitful, a truth-teller or a liar, peaceable or quarrelsome, benevolent, good or bad, &c. Some were distinguished for the beauty of their penmanship; some by their facility in calculation; others by their aptitude to acquire history, philosophy, or languages. One shone in composition by the elegance of his periods; another had always a dry, harsh style; another reasoned closely, and expressed himself with force. A large number manifested a talent or a taste for subjects not within our assigned course.

Some carved, and drew well; some devoted their

leisure to painting, or to the cultivation of a small garden, while their comrades were engaged in noisy sports; others enjoyed roaming the woods, hunting, seeking birds' nests, collecting flowers, insects, or shells. Thus each one distinguished himself by his proper characteristic; and I never knew an instance, when one who had been a cheating and faithless companion one year, became a true and faithful friend the next."*

Gall had observed that those scholars with whom he found the greatest difficulty in competing in verbal memory, were distinguished for large prominent eyes. He made very extensive observations on this point, and was finally led to suspect that there must be some necessary connection between memory for words and the size and projection of the eye. "In following out, by observations, the principle which accident had thus suggested, he for some time encountered difficulties of the greatest magnitude. Hitherto, he had been altogether ignorant of the opinions of physiologists, touching the brain, and of the metaphysicians, respecting the mental faculties, and had simply observed nature. When, however, he began to enlarge his knowledge of books, he found the most extraordinary conflict of opinions prevailing; and this, for the moment, made him hesitate about the correctness of his own observations. He found that the moral sentiments had, by an almost general consent, been consigned to the thoracic and abdominal viscera; and that, while Pythagoras, Plato, Galen, Haller, and some other physiologists, placed the sentient soul, or intellectual faculties, in the brain, Aristotle placed it in the heart, Van Helmont in the stomach, Des Cartes and his followers in the pineal gland, and Drelincourt and others in the cerebellum.

"He observed, also, that a great number of philosophers and physiologists asserted, that all men are born with equal mental faculties; and that the differences observable among them are owing either to education, or to accidental circumstances in which they are placed. But being convinced, by facts, that there is a natural and constitutional diversity of talents and dispositions, he encountered, in books, a still greater obstacle to his success in determining the external signs of the mental powers. He found that, instead of faculties for languages, drawing, distinguishing places, music, and mechanical arts, corresponding to the different talents which he had observed in his schoolfellows, the metaphysicians spoke only of general powers, such as perception, conception, memory, imagination, and judgment; and when he endeavoured to discover external signs in the head, corresponding to these general faculties, or to determine the correctness of

• Introduction to the "Anatomie &c. du Cerveau."

the physiological doctrines regarding the seat of the mind, as taught by the authors already mentioned, he found perplexities without end, and difficulties insurmountable.

"Dr. Gall, therefore, abandoning every theory and preconceived opinion, gave himself up entirely to the observation of nature. Being physician to a lunatic asylum at Vienna, he had opportunities, of which he availed himself, of making observations on the insane. He visited prisons, and resorted to schools; he was introduced to the courts of princes, to colleges, and the seats of justice; and whenever he heard of an individual distinguished in any particular way, either by remarkable endowment or deficiency, he observed and studied the development of his head. In this manner, by an almost imperceptible induction, he conceived himself warranted in believing that particular mental powers are indicated by particular configurations of the head. "The successive steps by which Dr. Gall proceeded in his discoveries, are particularly deserving attention. He did not, as many have imagined, first dissect the brain, and pretend by that means to have discovered the seats of the mental powers; neither did he, as others have conceived, first map out the skull into various compartments, and assign a faculty to each, according as his imagination led him to conceive the place appropriate to the power. On the contrary, he first observed a concomitance between particular talents and dispositions, and particular forms of the head; he next ascertained, by removal of the skull, that the figure and size of the brain are indicated by these external forms; and it was only after these facts were determined, that the brain was minutely dissected, and light thrown on its structure."*

It was thus not until after more than twenty years of observations, and with the best facilities for making researches, that Gall first ventured to present his peculiar views to the public. He had, during most of this time, extensive practice as a physician at Vienna-ranked high as a man of science-associated with the first men of the place and the nation, and was connected with several public institutions. His lectures were continued from 1796 to 1802, and were attended by audiences the most intelligent and respectable. Many distinguished strangers, as well as some of the foreign ambassadors at the court of Vienna, encouraged him in his labours privately, and honoured him with their attendance publicly. Prince Metternich was a pupil of Dr. Gall, and afterwards renewed his acquaintanceship with him in Paris, during his residence there as ambassador to Napoleon. Con

From the Biography of Gall, by the editor of his works on the Functions of the Brain.