Page:Sixty Phrenological Specimens 1831.pdf/16

4 SHERIDAN In accordance with his great force of intellect and ready observing powers, the organs of the perceptive faculties are very large, as also those of destructiveness, secretiveness and cautiousness. These unaccompanied, (as in his case) with moral sentiments, indicate circumspection cunning and cruelty, which was displayed by the bitter sarcasm for which he was remarkable. Mrs, G. The organs of the perceptive faculties in this head are very small as may be seen bu the flat and empty appearance of the lower part of the forehead, so very different from that of Sheridan. On the contrary--the organs of the reasoning faculties are very full, and cause that high and overhanging appearance of the upper part of the forehead, which to the non-experienced observer, might be supposed to indicate great intellectual power. Though persons so organized may know a great deal, it will be found that their learning has not bee been acquired by experience but from mere hearsay. Hence, their knowledge will be such as the blind may have of colours, who may know that grass is green, or, that blood is red, from having heard, not from having seen. It is very probably that this is the kind of head mentioned in the following anecdote :-- Coleridge, the poet, being seated at dinner, opposite a silent gentleman with a high forehead, theorized himself into an exalted opinion of that person's intellectual powers. I was impatient to hear the stranger speak, feeling almost certain that when he did, he would utter something profound and original. This wish was presently fulfilled. A dish of apple dumplings having been placed before them, the rigid feature of the supposed intellectual gentleman gradually relaxed from a smile to a grin and rubbing his hands he exclaimed, "Them's the jockeys for my money!" LORD ELDON Was remarkable for his intellectual capacities, more so than for his moral or social qualities. Be this as it may, his head shows that the organs of the intellectual faculties are more perfectly developed than those of the moral sentiments or those of the animal propensities, for while destructiveness and secretiveness is exceedingly small. Whether this betrays any secret or unknown feature of his character or nor, remains for his biographer to say but such is his phrenological character, which, if not generally known, may be easily accounted for by his powerful intellect, and his great cunning which enabled him to conceal his moral defect in such a manner as to make it impossible even for the most scrupulous to detect, or even to suppose otherwise than that he was most honourable person of his age. By comparing this head with that