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December 10, 1853.] THE LEADER. 1193
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LAMARTIN.IO: THK (lONST.ITl/KNT ASSEMBLY...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Phrenology And Phrenologists. Elements O...
must always be shifty and imperfect—take Medicine and PLysioloev as illustrations . . & J We reject what Phrenologists scramble up into a hasty system , because we say , 1 st . Their basis is unsteady ., - their cerebral physiology at ^ ? ri S are W ivooal - 2 nd . Their" psychology is imperfect 3 rd . They pretend to give us a fixed unalterable system , carried out into details ,, and that , too , in a science of all others the most corrrolex , of all others the least broadly fixed on a positive basis . It is a grave fact , that all those great physiologists who have given special attention ^ to the nervous system in man and animals , have , without hesitation , rejected Phrenological doctrinesand the " facts" on which
, they are founded . Ihis is really enough to give us pause . Serres , ilffi ' -feTC * ' J ]? die > Flourens , Lelut , Lafargue , Johannes von M r , ' , 'Valentin , and Owen—these men , to our knowledge , reject the 'facts of phrenology . Observe , we do not say the system , but the facts . Authority , even the highest , would with an ill grace be brought against phrenology , unless it were against the facts . But here we find the men most thoroughly acquainted with the physiology and anatomy of the nervous system , instead of gaining increased confidence in phrenological doctrines , reject them , and mostly with scorn .
" Wot one of the facts , " says Valentin , but in this he exaggerates , which constitute their foundation will survive a careful examination The exterior of the skull is by no means an exact cast of the brain , but is modified by many intermediate conditions ; such as the frontal sinuses , the thickness of the skull , and the form of its surfaces . . . . If to these considerations we add that the topographical subdivision of many of the phrenological organs is based upon misinterpreted facts of comparative anatomy the reader will understand why physiologists are compelled to reject phrenology ; and that only the more emphatically the more violently it is defended by some educated persons . " It is the imperfect state Of our knowledge of nervous centres which renders , and -prill long continue to render , Phrenolony illusory in its
details . -We-cited a fact the other day which alone suffices to indicate this imperfection , namely , that all organic substances are indeterminate in their composition , and nervous tissue , of all others , is the most so . To take but one element , water : the brain varies in different individuals , and at different ages , so much that its water sometimes constitutes three-fourths of its weight , sometimes four-fifths , and sometimes even seven-eighths ! Phosphorus varies from O 80 to T 65 and T 80 ; cerebral fat from 3 ^ 45 to 5 ' 30 and 6-10 . So -that in . truth one may say there is nervous tissue and nervous tissue ! On the same occasion we cited the fact , that the grampus had larger and deeper convolutions of the grey vesicular matter , of ' the
brain than man , which is a stumbling-block in the way of determining intellect from amount of vesicular matter ; moreover , the brain of a cretin often exhibits large and complicated convolutions , while its cavities are distended by copious fluid exudations . We may add , that the ordinary statement about man having the greatest relative weight of brain is inaccurate , many of the smaller mammals , and some birds , have brains of greater proportional weight . In short , turn which way we will , the fact is forced upon us , that wo are as yet only on the threshold of the physiology of the nervous system . But then as an Art P Crn . rnnsp . mTu- Loa nnvfni-ni-rT- 1-v . r ^>^» -., :,. ;„„! ~ i- ± 5 ut then as an Art r Cranioscopy has certainlb irical observa
_ y y emp - tion achieved some results and promises more . T " he general distribution of intellect , emotions , and propensities is confirmed . What thenP Does that prove phrenological details to be true P Not so . Without any physiology , observation might have assigned to broad chests the character of strong frames ; the observed coneurrenco of broad chests and strength would suffice . TIicn conies tho physiologist with his explanation ( which may bo wrong ); he points out tho relation between costal capacity and greater oxygenation of the blood , which produces greater muscular vigour . It all seems clear , till a wiry little man with a chest not broad . steps in and boats tho biV-dxsted fellow out of the field . Physiology is posed , and begins to suspect that there are other elements at work besides
oxygonafcion of the blood—that perhaps the fiery , wiry little man , whoso chest is small , derives his vigour from sonic other source . Physiology goes hack to school . Meanwhile , as an empirical generalization , broad chests , do stand as signs of strong frames . Brit if anyone attempt to " improve on the occasion , " and localize on particular parts of tho chest , particular organ < for tho various manifestations of strength , such as JiiUmg , pulling . ! itt . ing , and l . h . it without demonstrating the connexion of the muscles employed and the spots selected , we should toll him , as wo tell the phronoi . m'i . HtH , the attempt is premature .
I < rom fhetie on . vrvaLions , necessarily no mom than more points of indication , the rem ! :-r will son why wo reject tho chums of phrenologists and the doctrines of phrenology , jilMiough we admit tho tentative made by <~* all iva the first : ; ii < l grcnl . csl ; . sl . ep taken towards the creation of a , positive psychology , ln .-. ' rad of a Kcionoo settled and complete , wo have as yet only ( ho rough , -k > lch of a science to be completed ? iges hence , in a future .-irtirlc ! wo will return to Dr . Noble's book .
December 10, 1853.] The Leader. 1193
December 10 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 1193
Lamartin.Io: Thk (Lonst.Itl/Knt Assembly...
LAMARTIN . IO : THK ( lONST . ITl / KNT ASSEMBLY . Jl ' isfort / of the Conslitiuwt Assembly ( 1780 ) . By AlphoiiHo do Lamm-line . Vol . I , J ¦ r « «/»« - _ . ' " . Vi ^ idlyundOo . J . . HKKK is Hoincthin ;>; inexpressibly painful in wooing a man of genius ( l <\ ' ? nuling his nnino and deluding the public , by the rapid manufacture of works as insignificant as the ;/ are venal ; aiid such a- Hpoelaelo does yaiiui . rtiiM ) present at this moineut . lie is as impudent an Human , jih in-A luerenl ; | , o " conscience ' as' a , penny-a-liner , lie tumbles from bud to worso , from laxity lo niter disregard of literary morals , lie wrolo the ^' U'oikUiih : " its Huocess \ vnn immeiiHe . . Ho wrote the " llofltorafioii : " »< n nucocmh was nio < . li < xrre . HO now wril . es the early history of the Kovo-J'll . ion , and wo venture lo predict for it wide-spreading contempt . The ¦ " <> loniHM- works hud almost every vico history could have , but tliey had "luleiimble . ^ tnictioiiH . This present work , lo jud ^ o from Uio Jirs t volume , _! " ' t / UO , vires , l ) ut Juim not tho attractions . it has the name suaineleHH van tor venoavoh , ami careless servility of copying tho first book which 108 ati Jlail < l ; tho siiiuo BiipproBbion of tho truth in . favour of mythical and
theatrical versions ; the same want of honest labour and conscientiousness ; the same rose-pink affectation of style ; but not the same power of narrative andpor trait painting . l What possessed Lamartirie to write a history of the French Revolution ? Money ; nothing but money . He had no new documents , he Lad ' made no researches , he had no aovelty of fact or principle which could urge and justify such aii undertaking The public did not need a history . The public had Tliiers Mignet , Buchez and Boux , Micliolet , Louis Blanc , Villaume , with endless monographs ; and for any man to come forward to re-Avnte that history without some novelty < rf material or of doctrine with nothing but his style pour loutpotac / e , is enough to make tho most lenient critic mditrnn / nt .
Money , awn sacra fames ; has ere now been the stimulus to many a work which otherwise would have been unwritten ; but men with a conscience work for money as honestly as they would for fame . Granting- that Iiamartme ' s needs were great , we have still the obvious remark to make that he might have chosen one of two things , —First , either to have earned that money by some book not requiring much labour , or , —Second , to have honestly devoted the requisite labour . Ho has done neither . He has phosen a subject in . which immense research was indispensable , and he has contented himself with a cursory glance at a few popular books . Any one who has made himself in the ' least familiar with the details of this epoch , will at once see how disgracefully superficial is Lamartine ' s
knowledge . He doe 3 not even know what tho current literature of the day could teach him . For example , he gives a long narrative of Mirabeau ' s early life , and his passion for Sophie . The falsification is abiding , and results from that detestable romancist style which caunot leave history to its severity , But . he need only have read Sainto Beuve ' s articles in the Constitutionnel ( subsequently reprinted in the four volumes of Zes Causeries d ^™? h ™ made a " sensation , " to have corrected both his narrative of feoplnes history and of the denouement of their passion . Laraartino wants a " victim "—he wants , for pathetic purposes , a creature whom he can drape sentimentally , and , without caring to ascertain the truth , he makes her what lie wants . Head this
—'The death of M . de Monnier had given Sophie her liberty ; but , surrounded as she was by the scandal heaped upon her by Mirabeau , and disheartened with life altogether , she remained voluntarily in the convent of Grien . A small house adjoining- the monastery-which-iacl been her prison , enabled her to live at the same time m the society of its pious inhabitants , who had been a consolation to her and m the restricted society of the world . Two priests , belonging to the convent ' endeavoured to take advantage of her happy position , and their clamorous importunities had occasioned some odious calumnies on their victim which reached the ears of Mirabeau . Since the liberation of the latter , under the superintendence of his father , a secret interview , facilitated by a member of the convent of Gien had brought the lovers together for a moment , to have a mutual explanation ' This explanation , which took place in the presence of their religious accomplice was
heart-rending , full of reproaches , of accusations , of anger , of tears —almost tragical , in short . After this interview they never met again , and all correspondence ceased between these -two lovora , whose sighs ha < f pierced the walls of Vmcennes . Deceived and blighted , Sophie , in the first moment of bitterness only looked forward to the tomb ; but , some time after , her heart felt the flame of a more pure and constant passion for M . de Poterafc , a younjr Gentleman of tho neighbourhood of Gien . In him she found the absolute devotion which she had vainly borne towards Mirabeau . She wan about to be united in marriage with tins gentleman when death snatched away from her her last friend . JVE tie Poterat breathed bin last sigh in her arras , and thus everything she bad loved in tho world had been torn from her by ingratitude or the tomb . Life , both in the past and tlu « future , was now a source of perpetual misery . Tier ardent soulwhich had all the
, strength of passion , had not the forbearance of resignation . After lvvying the last duties to tho remains of her betrothed , she dismissed , under vague nrotencc-s her friends and servants , burnt her lottera , wrote down bur last wishes with < -rent ' coolnens and a firm hand , and . shutting herself up in a closet , the doors oAvbich she closed hermetically , she put a period to her existence with the fumes of charcoal holding m her hand the portrait of the husband hIio bad lost . There she wis found ' dead , with her feet tied to her bed-posts , as if she had determined to provide thus beforehand rigamst her own irresolution or tho struggles of her last moments . ihiiH died this intrepid woman , —who had felt and inspired the moat tra-ical pasmon of the affiv- -t . l , 0 victim of her own delirium , but , above all , a victim to tho delirium , the genius , and the ingratitude of Mirabeau . "
lliis is history a hi Dumas or a la Larnartme . Tho fuel , is , fclmf , SopInVa lovo had cooled m absence ; her Ust Jotters indicalo it , WliiJo in that convent slio had iransfurrodAwr aU ' rct / iona to M . Polornl ; very wisely wo dare say , only not aa Lmrmrliiuo represents it ., some timo after " lur liaison . Avilh Miraboau , hut during it . It is quite probablo Iliat . LaniartiiK ! knew Hiis , hut ignored it . ' IToiinifonnly proforn " oflov . t" to trull . ; like his colcbralod couidrymim , lie jisks , — - " What is Irulli lo a stmsation F" Tims if . is Mini , lio roprntn I he absurd phrano al , tril > ulo ( l to M . iml > e : ui , — " ( Jo and say lo your niHsl . orl . linJ ; woaro hero by fho will of tho nation , and ( luil , we shall " no ! , quit , our post milil we arc expelled b y tho bayonet . " Now Miis phrntw is not lo lie ibuiul in Mliraboau ' H own journal—nor in tho Monitcnr ~ - \\ or in ( . he Memoirs of JJailly , who whh present— nor in the . Point n ' jour of Harero , who wan also present . What Miraboau hjhM w . is simply , ' " . ! declare to you that if you are ordered to turn iih from hence , you nninl , aslc for orders to employ force , for we will only emit our weals at " the point of the bayonet . " The hiHolence of " jr <> und ' toll .. vour master , " and the anl . itheniH of " \\ ill of the
nation , are , as Louis JJIane snyn , in Ihe nole from which wo copy ( he rectification ( IlLsl . dc l « . Hvv . Frim ^ mav . , II ., (; . viii . ) , eniinently nilhintoriojil , fo | - i ] lO y " ^ iVe n completely ful . se idea of the state of Ihe bourgeois mind no less than of IVIirabeau ' H . " We are nol , at all convinced that it was ignorance which made liainnrtine repeat the \ vron < r ] i ] irase ; but it aviis oiUiet'iinpanloiiulxle ignoranceoi \ iiiipnrdoimble lov <« of epigram ' V \ ui Jtititon / of tli o ( . faustifur / it Ax . scmhh / i , s a , boo If , however , which ilumlis to its Kiibji ^ cl ,, will be rn \ d with inferouL Thin ( irsl , voluinn opens with tho convocation of the Hl , nteM- < j ! oiioni , l , tiud ( v ndn with the destruction of tho . Ba . Htille . if , appears in lOnglish Ixifore I In * original ajmoars in France , and will doiibllens ho en ^ crly noughl : the fascination of tho Htory and tho name of Lainnrtino will secure a public . . ' But wo ( dose our notic ' o i fl wo began il ; , with uu e . xprensiou of regret a I ; bein ^ forced into contempt of a gum ofgoniue .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 10, 1853, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10121853/page/17/
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