THE LIBRARY OF T UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLIN THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL ENDOWED BY THE DIALECTIC AND PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETIES Sijjii This book is due at the WALTER R. DAVIS LIBRARY on the last date stamped under "Date Due." If not on hold it he may be renewed by bringing it to the library. be DATE DUE RET. DATE DUE RET. MtilS m hUS 4 2(115 ), 513. >v 1/84 *-«-» & 01 iwz CONSTITUTION OF MAN CONSIDERED IN RELATION TO EXTERNAL OBJECTS. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 i http://archive.org/details/constitutionofmacomb THE CONSTITUTION OF MAN CONSIDERED IN RELATION TO EXTERNAL OBJECTS. BY GEORGE COMBE. " Vain is the ridicule with which one sees some persons will divert them- selves, upon finding lesser pains considered as instances of div ine punish - ment. There is no possibility of answering or evading tijL&*£^fii here intended, without denying all final causes." — ] SECOND EDITION, CORRECTED AND ENLARGED JOHN ANDERSON Jun., EDINBURGH, 55. NORTH BRIDGE STREET j LONGMAN & CO., AND SIMPKIN & MARSHALL, LONDON ; AND HODGES & SMITH, DUBLIN. MfigegXXXV. 9- 0' PRINTED BYNEILL & CO., OLD FISHMARKET, EDINBURGH. V PREFACE. This Essay would not have been presented to the Public, had I not believed that it contains views of the constitution, condition, and prospects of Man, which deserve attention ; but these, I trust, are not ushered forth with any thing approaching to a pre- sumptuous spirit. I lay no claim to originality of conception. My first notions of the natural laws were derived from a manuscript work of Dr Spurzheim, with the perusal of which I was honoured in 1824. This work was afterwards published under the title of " A Sketch of the Natural Laws of Man, by G. Spurzheim, M. D.*" A comparison of the text of it with that of the following pages, will shew to what extent I am indebted to my late excellent and lamented master and friend for my ideas on this sub- ject. All my inquiries and meditations since have impressed me more and more with a conviction of their importance. The materials employed lie open to all. Taken separately, I would hardly say that a new truth has been presented in the following work. The parts have all been admitted and employed again and again, by writers on morals, from Socrates down to the present day. In this respect, there is nothing b 768571 { %i \ VI PREFACE. . new under the sun. The only ncrvelty in this Essay respects the relations which acknowledged truths hold to each other. Physical laws of nature, affecting our physical condition, as well as regulating the whole material system of the universe, are universally ac- knowledged, and constitute the elements of natural philosophy and chemical science. Physiologists, me- dical practitioners, and all who take medical aid, ad- mit the existence of organic laws : And the sciences of government, legislation, education, indeed our whole train of conduct through life, proceed upon the ad- mission of laws in morals. Accordingly, the laws of nature have formed an interesting subject of inquiry to philosophers of all ages ; but, so far as I am aware, no author has hitherto attempted to point out, in a combined and systematic form, the relations between these laws and the constitution of Man ; which must, nevertheless, be done, before our knowledge of them can be beneficially applied : nor has any preceding- author unfolded the independent operation of the se- veral natural laws, and the practical consequences which follow from this fact. The great object of the following Essay is to exhibit these relations and con- sequences with a view to the improvement of educa- tion, and the regulation of individual and national conduct. But although my purpose is practical, a theory of Mind forms an essential element in the execution of the plan. Without it, no comparison can be insti- tuted between the natural constitution of man and PREFACE. VI external objects. Phrenology appears to me to be the clearest, most complete, and best supported sys- tem of Human Nature, which has hitherto been taught ; and I have assumed it as the basis of this Essay. But the practical value of the views now to be unfolded does not depend entirely on Phrenology. The latter, as a theory of Mind, is itself valuable, only in so far as it is a just exposition of what pre- viously existed in human nature. We are physical, organic, and moral beings, acting under the sanction of general laws, whether the connection of different mental qualities with particular portions of the brain, as taught by Phrenology, be admitted or denied. Individuals, under the impulse of passion, or by the direction of intellect, will hope, fear, wonder, perceive, and act, whether the degree in which they habitually do so be ascertainable by the means which it points out or not. In so far, therefore, as this Essay treats of the known qualities of Man, it may be instructive even to those who contemn Phrenology as unfounded ; while it can prove useful to none, if the doctrines which it unfolds shall be found not to be in accordance with the principles of human nature, by whatever system these may be expounded. Some individuals object to all mental philosophy as useless, and argue, that, as Mathematics, Chemistry, and Botany, have become great sciences, without the least reference to the faculties by means of which they are cultivated, so Morals, Religion, Legislation and Political Economy have existed, been improved, and vm PREFACE. may continue to advance with equal success, without any help from the philosophy of mind. Such objec- tors, however, should consider that lines, circles, and triangles,— earths, alkalis and acids, — and also corol- las, stamens, pistils and stigmas, are objects which exist independently of the mind, and may be investi- gated by the application of the mental powers, in ig- norance of the constitution of the faculties themselves; —just as we may practise archery without studying the anatomy of the hand ; whereas the objects of mo- ral and political philosophy are the qualities and ac- tions of the mind itself: These objects have no ex- istence independently of mind ; and they can no more be systematically or scientifically understood without the knowledge of mental philosophy, than optics can he cultivated as a science in ignorance of the struc- ture and modes of action of the eye. I have endeavoured to avoid all religious contro- versy. " The object of Moral Philosophy," says Mr Stewart, " is to ascertain the general rules of a wise and virtuous conduct in life, in so far as these rules may be discovered by the unassisted light of nature ; that is, by an examination of the principles of the human constitution, and of the circumstances in which Man is placed."* By following this method of inquiry, Dr Hutch eson, Dr Adam Smith, Dr Reid, Mr Stewart, and Dr Thomas Brown, have, in succession, produced highly interesting and instruc- tive works on Moral Science ; and the present Essay * Outlines of Moral Philosophy, p. l s PREFACE. IX is a humble attempt to pursue the same plan, with the aid of the new lights afforded by Phrenology. I confine my observations exclusively to Man as he exists in the present world, and beg that, in perusing the subsequent pages, this explanation may be con- stantly kept in view. In consequence of forgetting it, my language has occasionally been misapprehended, and my objects misrepresented. When I speak of man's < ; highest interest," for example, as on page 9, and in other places, I uniformly refer to man as he exists in this world ; but as the same God presides over both the temporal and the eternal interests of the human race, it seems to me demonstrably certain, that what is conducive to the one, will in no instance impede the other, but will in general be favourable to it also. This work, however, does not directly embrace the interests of eternity. These belong to the department of theology, and demand a different line of investigation ; I confine myself exclusively to moral philosophy. Since the first Edition of this work appeared, on 9th June 1828, additional attention has been paid to the study of the laws of Nature, and their importance has been more generally recognised. In "A Discourse on the Studies of the University, by Adam Sedgwick, M. A., Src." of which a third edition was published at Cambridge in 1884, the author remarks, that " we are justified in saying, that, in the moral as in the physi- cal world, God seems to govern by general laws. 1 '* " I am not now, 1 ' says he, " contending for the doc- X PREFACE. trine of moral necessity ; but I do affirm, that the moral government of God is by general laws, and that it is our bounden duty to study these laws, and, as far as we can, to turn them to account." " If there be a superintending Providence, and if his will be manifested by general laws operating both on the physical and moral world, then must a violation of these laws be a violation of his will, and be pregnant with inevitable misery." " Nothing can, in the end, be expedient for man, except it be subordinate to those laws the Author of Nature has thought fit to impress on his moral and physical creation." " In the end, high principle and sound policy will be found in the strictest harmony with each other." 11 These are precisely the views which it is the object of the present work to enforce; and it is gratifying to me to see them so ably and eloquently recom- mended to the attention of the students of the Uni- versity of Cambridge. 23. Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, bth March 1835. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. GENERAL VIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION OF HUMAN NATURE, AND ITS RELATIONS TO EXTERNAL OBJECTS, . Page 1 CHAPTER I. ON NATURAL LAWS, ........ 31 CHAPTER II. ON THE CONSTITUTION OF MAN, AND ITS RELATIONS TO EXTERNAL OBJECTS, 48 Sect. I. Man considered as a Physical Being, . . .50 II. Man considered as an Organised Being, . . 52 III. Man considered as an Animal — Moral — and Intel- lectual Being, oil IV. The Faculties of Man compared with each other; or the Supremacy of the Moral Sentiments and Intellect, 63 V. The Faculties of Man compared with External Ob- jects, . 88 CHAPTER III. ON THE SOURCES OF HUMAN HAPPINESS, AND THE CONDI- TIONS REQUISITE FOR MAINTAINING IT, . . . Of! CHAPTER IV. APPLICATION OF THE NATURAL LAWS TO THE PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS OE LIFE, 113 Xll CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. TO WHAT EXTENT ARE THE MISERIES OF MANKIND REFER- ABLE TO INFRINGEMENTS OF THE LAWS OF NATURE ? 127 Sect. I. Calamities arising from infringements of the Phy- sical Laws, . . . . . . .128 II. On the Evils that Befall Mankind from infringe- ment of the Organic Laws, . . . .134 III. Calamities arising from infringement of the Moral Law, .... ... 235 CHAPTER VI. ON PUNISHMENT, . * . . . . .301 Sect. I. On Punishment as inflicted under the Natural Laws, ib. II. Moral Advantages of Punishment, . . 332 CHAPTER VII. ON THE COMBINED OPERATION OF THE NATURAL LAAVS, 338 CHAPTER VIII. INFLUENCE OF THE NATURAL LAWS ON THE HAPPINESS OF INDIVIDUALS, 362 CHAPTER IX. ON THE RELATION BETWEEN SCIENCE AND SCRIPTURE, 376 CONCLUSION, 33$ APPENDIX. Note I. Natural Laws, 415 II. Organic Laws, 411) III. Hereditary Transmission of Qualities, . .421 IV. Laws Relative to Marriage and Education in Ger- many, 427 V. Death, 431 VI. Infringement of the Moral Laws, . . . 438 Index, . . .441 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. GENERAL VIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION OF HUMAN NA- TURE, AND ITS RELATIONS TO EXTERNAL OBJECTS. In surveying the external world, we discover that every creature and every physical object has received a definite constitution, and been placed in certain relations to other objects. The natural evidence of a Deity and his attributes is drawn from contemplating these arrange- ments. Intelligence, wisdom, benevolence, and power, characterize the works of creation ; and the human mind ascends by a chain of correct and rigid induction to a great First Cause, in whom these qualities must reside. But hitherto this great truth has excited a sublime yet barren admiration, rather than led to beneficial practical results. Man obviously stands pre-eminent among sublunary objects, and is distinguished by remarkable endowments above all other terrestrial beings. Nevertheless no crea- ture presents such anomalous appearances as man. View- ed in one aspect he almost resembles a demon ; in another he still bears the impress of the image of God. Seen in A 2 VIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION OF HUMAN NATURE, his crimes, his wars, and his devastations, he might be mistaken for an incarnation of an evil spirit ; contem- plated in his schemes of charity, his discoveries in science, and his vast combinations for the benefit of his race, he seems a bright intelligence from Heaven. The lower animals exhibit a more simple and regulated constitution. The lion is bold and ferocious, but he is regularly so ; and, besides, is placed in circumstances suited to his na- ture, in which at once scope is given and limits are set to the gratification of his instincts. The sheep, as a con^ trast, is mild, feeble, and inoffensive; but its external condition also is suited to its constitution, and it appa- rently lives and flourishes in as great enjoyment as the lion. The same remarks apply to all the inferior crea- tures ; and the idea which I wish particularly to con- vey is, that their bodily organs, faculties, instincts, and external circumstances, form parts of a system in which adaptation and harmony are discoverable ; and that the enjoyment of the animals depends on the adaptation of their constitution to their external condition. If we saw the lion one day tearing in pieces every animal that crossed its path, and the next oppressed with remorse for the death of its victims, or compassionately healing those whom it had mangled, we should exclaim, what an inconsistent creature ! and conclude that it could not by possibility be happy, owing to this opposition among the principles of its nature. In short, we should be striking- ly convinced that two conditions are essential to enjoy- ment ; first, that the different instincts of an animal must be in harmony with each other ; and, secondly, that its whole constitution must be in accordance with its exter- nal condition. AND ITS RELATIONS TO EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 3 When, keeping these principles in view, we direct our attention to Man, very formidable anomalies present themselves. The most opposite instincts or impulses exist in his mind ; actuated by Combativeness, Destruc- tiveness, Acquisitiveness, and Self- Esteem, the moral sentiments being in abeyance, he is almost a fiend ; on the contrary, when inspired by Benevolence, Veneration, Hope, Conscientiousness, Ideality, and Intellect, the be- nignity, serenity, and splendour, of a highly-elevated nature beam from his eye, and radiate from his counte- nance. He is then lovely, noble, and gigantically great. But how shall these conflicting tendencies be reconciled ? And how can external circumstances be devised that shall accord with such heterogeneous elements ? Here again a conviction of the power and goodness of the Deity comes to our assistance. Man is obviously an essential and most important part of the present sys- tem of creation, and, without doubting of his future destinies, we ought not, so long as our knowledge of his nature is incomplete, to consider his condition here as inexplicable. The nature of man has hitherto, to all philosophical purposes, been unknown, and both the de- signs of the Creator and the situation of man have been judged of ignorantly and rashly. The sceptic has ad- vanced arguments against religion, and crafty deceivers have, in all ages, founded systems of superstition, on the disorder and inconsistency which are too readily admitted to be inseparable attributes of human existence on earth. But I venture to hope that man will yet be found in har- mony with himself and with his condition. I am aware that some individuals, whose piety I re- spect, conceive, that as the great revolutions of human a2 4 VIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION OF HUMAN NATURE? society, as well as all events in the lives of individuals, take place under the guidance of the Deity, it is pre* sumptuous, if not impious, in man to endeavour to scan their causes and effects. But it is obvious that the Crea- tor governs man with reference to the faculties bestowed on him. The young swallow, when it migrates on the approach of the first winter of its life, is impelled by an instinct implanted by the Deity, and it can neither know the causes that prompt it to fly, nor the end to be at- tained by its flight, But its mental constitution is wise- ly adapted to this condition ; for it has no powers sti- mulating it to reflect on itself and external objects, and to inquire whence came its desires, or to what object they tend. Man, however, has been framed differently. The Creator has bestowed on him faculties to observe pheno- mena, and to trace cause and effect ; and he has consti- tuted the external ivorld to afford scope to these powers. We are entitled, therefore, to say, that it is the Creator himself who has commanded us to observe and inquire into the causes that prompt us to act, and the results that will naturally follow ; and to adapt our conduct accord- ing to what we shall discover. To enable us to form a just estimate of our duty and interest as the rational occupants of this world, w r e may inquire briefly into the constitution of external nature, and of ourselves. The constitution of this world does not look like a sys- tem of optimism. It appears to be arranged in all its departments on the principle of gradual and progressive improvement. Physical nature itself has undergone ma- ny revolutions, and apparently has constantly advanced. Geology seems to shew a distinct preparation of it for AND ITS RELATIONS TO EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 5 successive orders of living beings, rising higher and higher in the scale of intelligence and organization, until man appeared. The globe, in the first state in which the imagination can venture to consider it, says Sir II. Davy,* appears to have been a fluid mass, with an immense atmosphere revolving in space round the sun. By its cooling, a por- tion of its atmosphere was probably condensed into wa- ter, which occupied a part of its surface. lii this state no forms of life, such as now belong to our system, could have inhabited it. The crystalline rocks, or, as they are called by geologists, the primary rocks, which contain no vestiges of a former order of things, were the result of the first consolidation on its surface. Upon the farther cooling, the water, which, more or less, had covered it, contracted ; depositions took place ; shell-fish and coral insects were created, and began their labour's. Islands appeared in the midst of the ocean, raised from the deep by the productive energies of millions of zoophytes. These islands became covered with vegetables fitted to bear a Isigh temperature, such as palms, and various spe- cies of plants, similar to those which now exist in the hottest parts of the world. The submarine rocks of these new formations of land became covered with aquatic ve- getables, on which various species of shell-fish, and com- * The description in the text is extracted chiefly from " The Last Days of a Philosopher," by Sir Humphrey Davy, 1831, p. 134, on ac- count of its popular style ; but similar representations may be found in several recent works on Geology, — particularly " A Geological Manual, by H. T. De La Beche ;" the Penny Magazine of 1833, in a very in- structive popular form ; and in Sedgwick's Discourse on the Studies of the University of Cambridge, third edition. Mr Lyell, however, in his Principles of Geology, vol. i. ch. ix, controverts the doctrine of a pro- gressive development of plants and animals. b VIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION OF HUMAN NATURE, raori fishes, found their nourishment. As the tempera- ture of the globe became lower, species of the oviparous reptiles appear to have been created to inhabit it ; and the turtle, crocodile, and various gigantic animals of the Sauri (lizard) kind seem to have haunted the bays and waters of the primitive lands. But in this state of things, there appears to have been no order of events similar to the present. Immense volcanic explosions seem to have taken place, accompanied by elevations and depressions of the surface of the globe, producing mountains, and causing new and extensive depositions from the primitive ocean. The remains of living beings, plants, fishes, birds, and oviparous reptiles, are found in the strata of rocks which are the monuments and evidence of these changes. When these revolutions became less frequent, and the globe became still more cooled, and inequalities of tem- perature were established by means of the mountain- chains, more perfect animals became its inhabitants, such as the mammoth, megalonix, megatherium, and gigantic hyena, many of which have become extinct. Five suc- cessive races of plants, and four successive races of ani- mals, appear to have been created and swept away by the physical revolutions of the globe, before the system of things became so permanent as to fit the world for man. In none of these formations, whether called secondary, tertiary, or diluvial, have the fossil remains of man, or any of his works, been discovered. At last, man was created, and since that period there has been little alte- ration in the physical circumstances of the globe. " In all these various formations," says Dr Buckland, " the coprolites" (or the dung of the saurian reptiles in a fossil state, exhibiting scales of fishes and other traces of the prey which they had devoured) " form records of AND ITS RELATIONS TO EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 7 warfare waged by successive generations of inhabitants of our planet on one another ; and the general law of na- ture, which bids all to eat and be eaten in their turn, is shown to have been co-extensive with animal existence upon our globe, the camivora in each period of the world's history fulfilling their destined office to check excess in the progress of life, and maintain the balance of creation.'' This brief summary of the physical changes of the Globe, is not irrelevant to our present object. The more that is discovered of creation, the more conspicuously does uniformity of design appear to pervade its every de- partment. We perceive here the physical world gra- dually improved and prepared for man. Let us now contemplate Man himself, and his adapta- tion to the external creation. The world, we have seen, was inhabited by living beings, and death and reproduc- tion prevailed before Man appeared. The order of crea- tion seems not to have been changed at his introduction: — he appears to have been adapted to it. He received from his Creator an organized structure, and animal in- stincts. He took his station among, yet at the head of, the beings that existed at his creation. Man is to a cer- tain extent an animal in his structure, powers, feelings, and desires, and is adapted to a world in which death reigns, and generation succeeds generation. This fact, although so trite and obvious as to appear scarcely wor- thy of being noticed, is of importance in treating of Man ; because the human being, in so far as he resembles the inferior creatures, is capable of enjoying a life like theirs : he has pleasure in eating, drinking, sleeping, and exercis- ing his limbs ; and one of the greatest obstacles to im- provement is, that many of the race are contented with 8 VIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION OF HUMAN NATURE, these enjoyments, and consider it painful to be compelled to seek higher sources of gratification. But to man's animal nature, have been added, by a bountiful Creator, moral sentiments and reflecting faculties, which not only place him above all other creatures on earth, but consti- tute him a different being from any of them, a rational and accountable creature. These faculties are his high- est and his best gifts, and the sources of his purest and intensest pleasures. They lead him directly to the great objects of his existence, — obedience to God, and love to his fellow-men. But this peculiarity attends them, that while his animal faculties act powerfully of themselves, his rational faculties require to be cultivated, exercised, and instructed, before they will yield their full harvest of enjoyment. The Creator has so arranged the external world as to hold forth every possible inducement to man to cultivate his higher powers, nay almost to constrain him to do so. The philosophic mind, in surveying the world as prepar- ed for the reception of the human race, perceives in ex- ternal nature a vast assemblage of stupendous powers, too great for the feeble hand of man entirely to control, but kindly subjected within certain limits to the influence of his will. Man is introduced on earth apparently help- less and unprovided for as a homeless stranger ; but the soil on which he treads is endowed with a thousand ca- pabilities of production, which require only to be excited by his intelligence to yield him the most ample returns. The impetuous torrent rolls its waters to the main ; but as it dashes over the mountain-cliff, the human hand is capable of withdrawing it from its course, and bending its powers subservient to his will. Ocean extends over AND ITS RELATIONS TO EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 9 half the globe her liquid plain, in which no path appears, and the rude winds oft lift her waters to the sky ; but, there the skill of man may launch the strong knit bark, spread forth the canvass to the gale, and make the track- less deep a highway through the world. In such a state of things, knowledge is truly power ■ and the highest in- terest of human beings is to become acquainted with the constitutions and relations of every object around them, that they may discover its capabilities of ministering to their own advantage. Farther, where these physical energies are too great to be controlled, man has received intelligence by which he may observe their course, and accommodate his conduct to their influence. This capa- city of adaptation is a valuable substitute for the power of regulating them by his will. Man cannot arrest the sun in its course, so as to avert the wintry storms and cause perpetual spring to bloom around him ; but, by the proper exercise of his intelligence and corporeal energies, he is able to foresee the approach of bleak skies and rude winds, and to place himself in safety from their in- jurious effects. These powers of controlling nature, and of accommodating his conduct to its course, are the di- rect results of his rational faculties ; and in proportion to their cultivation is his sway extended. If the rain falls and the wind blows, and the ocean billows lash against the mere animal, it must endure them all ; because it can- not control their action, nor protect itself by art from their power. Man, while ignorant, continues in a condi- tion almost equally helpless. But let him put forth his proper human capacities, and he then finds himself in- vested with the power to rear, to build, to fabricate, and to store up provisions ; and by availing himself of these 10 VIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION OF HUMAN NATURE, resources, and accommodating his conduct to the course of nature's laws, he is able to smile in safety beside the cheerful hearth, when the elements maintain their fiercest war abroad. Again : We are surrounded by countless beings, in- ferior and equal to ourselves, whose qualities yield us the greatest happiness, or bring upon us the bitterest evil, according as we affect them agreeably or disagree- ably by our conduct. To draw forth all their excellen- cies, and cause them to diffuse joy around us — to avoid touching the harsher springs of their constitution, and bringing painful discord to our ears — it is indispensably necessary that we know the nature of our fellows, and act with a habitual regard to the relations established by the Creator betwixt ourselves and them. Man, ignorant and uncivilized, is a ferocious, sensual, and superstitious savage. The external world affords some enjoyments to his animal feelings, but it confounds his moral and intellectual faculties. External nature ex- hibits to his mind a mighty chaos of events, and a dread display of power. The chain of causation appears too intricate to be unravelled, and the power too stupendous to be controlled. Order and beauty, indeed, occasional- ly gleam forth to his eye, from detached portions of crea- tion, and seem to promise happiness and joy ; but more frequently, clouds and darkness brood over the scene, and disappoint his fondest expectations. Evil seems so mixed up with good, that he regards it either as its di- rect product or its inseparable accompaniment. Nature is never contemplated with a clear perception of its adap- tation to the purpose of promoting the true enjoyment of man, or with a well founded confidence in the wisdom AND ITS RELATIONS TO EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 1 1 and benevolence of its Author. Man, when civilized and illuminated by knowledge, on the other hand, discovers in the objects and occurrences around him, a scheme beautifully arranged for the gratification of his whole powers, animal, moral, and intellectual ; he recognises in himself the intelligent and accountable subject of an all-bountiful Creator, and in joy and gladness desires to study the Creator's works, to ascertain his laws, and to yield to them a steady and a willing obedience. With- out undervaluing the pleasures of his animal nature, he tastes the higher, more refined, and more enduring de- lights of his moral and intellectual capacities, and he then calls aloud for Education as indispensable to the full en- joyment of his rational powers. If this representation of the condition of the human being on earth be correct, we perceive clearly the un- speakable advantage of applying our minds to gain know- ledge of our own constitution and that of external nature, and of regulating our conduct according to rules drawn from the information acquired. Our constitution and our position equally imply, that the grand object of our existence is, not to remain contented with the pleasures of mere animal life, but to take the dignified and far more delightful station of moral and rational occupants of this lower world. If the physical history of the globe clearly indicates progression in an advancing series of changes, the civil history of man equally proclaims the march, although often vacillating and slow, of moral and intellectual im- provement. To avoid too extensive an inquiry, unsuitable to an introductory discourse, let us confine our attention to the aspects presented by society in our native country. 12 VIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION OF HUMAN NATURE, At the time of the Roman invasion, the inhabitants of Britain lived as savages, and appeared in painted skins. After the Norman conquest, one part of the nation was placed in the condition of serfs, and condemned to labour like beasts of burden, while another devoted themselves to war. They fought battles during day, and in the night probably dreamed of bloodshed and broils. These generations severally believed their own condition to be the permanent and inevitable lot of man. Next, how- ever, have come the present arrangements of society, in which millions of men are shut up in cotton and other manufactories for ten or twelve hours a-day ; others la- bour under ground in mines ; others plough the fields ; while thousands of higher rank pass their whole lives in idleness and dissipation. Now, the elementary princi- ples, both of mind and body, were the same in our painted ancestors, in their chivalrous descendants, and in us, their shopkeeping, manufacturing, and money-gather- ing children. Yet how different the external circum- stances of the individuals of these several generations ! If, in the savage state, the internal faculties of man were in harmony among themselves, and if his external con- dition was in accordance with them, he must then have enjoyed all the happiness that his nature admitted of, and he must have erred when he changed ; or, if the in- stitutions and customs of the age of chivalry were cal- culated to gratify his whole nature harmoniously, he must have been unhappy as a savage, and must be mi- serable now ; if his present condition be the perfection of his nature, he must have been far from enjoyment, both as a savage and a feudal warrior ; and if none of AND ITS RELATIONS TO EXTERNAL OBJECTS. IB these conditions have been in accordance with his consti- tution, he must still have his happiness to seek. Every age, accordingly, has testified that it was not in posses- sion of contentment ; and the question presents itself, W human nature has received a definite constitution, and if one arrangement of external circumstances be more suit- ed to yield it gratification than another, — what are that constitution and that arrangement? No one can tell. And in what respects have we in times past departed, and do we now depart, from them ? The answer is in- volved in equal obscurity. How has it happened that, in all their various changes, the British have never succeeded in satisfying themselves with their condition ? Why did they institute the savage state ? It was not fixed by the Creator as the permanent condition of man, otherwise they could not have escaped from it. The bear and the wolf, the ox and the camel, do not change their states and avo- cations as men have done. What prompted them to be- take themselves to war as their most honourable employ- ment ? Again we say that that condition was not the ultimate lot of man, because it also has changed. And what has led us now to spin and weave, to hammer and construct, for all the nations of the globe ? We answer, that this state may also disappear, and then it will not be regarded as the ne plus ultra of human enjoyment. Far- ther, if we have not reached the limits of attainable per- fection, what are we next to attempt ? Are we and our posterity to spin and weave, build ships, and speculate in commerce, as the highest occupations to which human nature can aspire, and persevere in these labours till the end of time ? Or if changes are to follow, we may ask, who instituted the changes which history records ? On 14 VIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION OF HUMAN NATURE, what principles were they regulated ? And who shall guide the helm in our future voyage on the ocean of existence ? The British are here cited as a type of man- kind at large ; for in every age and overy clime similar races have been run, and with similar conclusions. Only one answer can be returned to these inquiries. Man is evidently a progressive being ; and the Creator ha- ving designed a higher path for him than for the lower creatures, has given him intellect to discover his own nature and that of external objects, and left him, by the exercise of it and his other powers, to find out for himself the method of placing his faculties in harmony among themselves, and in accordance with the external world. Time and experience are necessary to accomplish these ends, and history exhibits the human race only in a state of progress towards the full development of their powers, and the attainment of rational enjoyment. As long as man remained ignorant of his own na- ture, he could not of design form his institutions in ac- cordance with it. Until his own faculties became the subjects of his observation, and their relations the objects of his reflection, they operated as mere instincts. He adopted savage habits, because his animal propensities were not at first directed by moral sentiment or en- lightened by reflection. He next adopted the condition of the barbarian, because his higher powers had made some advances, but had not yet attained supremacy ; and he now manufactures, because his constructive faculties and intellect have given him power over physical nature, while his Acquisitiveness and Ambition are predominant, and are gratified by these avocations. Not one of these changes, however, has been adopted from design, or from AND ITS RELATIONS TO EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 15 perception of its suitableness to the nature of man. He has been ill at ease in them all ; but it does not follow that he shall continue for ever equally ignorant of his nature, and equally incapable of framing institutions to harmonize with it. The simple facts, that the Creator has bestowed on man reason capable of discovering his own nature, and its re- lations to external objects; that He has left him to ap- ply it in framing suitable institutions to ensure his hap- piness ; that, nevertheless, man has hitherto been igno- rant of his nature and of its relations, and that, in conse- quence, his modes of life have never been adopted from enlightened views of his whole capacities and qualities, but sprung up from the instinctive ascendency of one blind propensity or another,-^- warrant us in saying, that a new era will begin when man shall be enabled to study his own nature and its relations with success ; and that the future may exhibit him assuming his station as a rational creature, pursuing his own happiness with intelligence and design, and at length attaining higher gratification to his whole faculties than he has hitherto enjoyed. The inquiry next naturally presents itself, What has been the cause of the human race remaining for so many ages unacquainted with their own nature and its rela- tions ? The answer is, that, before the discovery of the functions of the brain, they did not know how to study these subjects in a manner calculated to attain to true principles and practical results. The philosophy of man was conducted as a speculative, and not as an inductive science ; and even when attempts were made at induc- tion, the manner in which they were conducted was at variance with the fundamental requisites of a sound phi- losophy*. In consequence, even the most enlightened * See System of Phrenology, Third Edition, p. 40. 18 VIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION OF HUMAN NATURE, nations have never possessed any practical philosophy of mind, but have been bewildered amidst countless con- tradictory theories. In our own country two views of the constitution of the world and of human nature have long been prevalent, differing widely from each other, and which, if legiti- mately followed out, would lead to distinct practical re- sults. The one is, that the world contains the elements of improvement within itself, which time will evolve and bring to maturity ; it having been constituted by the Creator on the principle of a progressive system, like the acorn in reference to the oak. This hypothesis ascribes to the power and wisdom of the Divine Being the whole phenomena which nature, animate and inanimate, exhi- bits ; because, in conferring on each part the specific qua- Kties and constitution which belong to it, and in placing it in the circumstances in which it is found, He is as- sumed to have designed, from the first, the whole results which these qualities, constitution, and circumstances., are calculated in time to produce. There is no counte- nance given to atheism by this system. On the contrary, it affords the richest and most comprehensive field ima- ginable, for tracing the evidence of Divine power, wis- dom, and goodness in creation. The other hypothesis is, that the world was perfect at the first, but fell into derangement, continues in disor- der, and does not contain within itself the elements of its own rectification. If the former view be sound, the first object of man, as an intelligent being in quest of happiness, must be to study the elements of external nature and their capabili- ties ; the elementary qualities of his own nature, and AND ITS RELATIONS TO EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 17 their applications ; and the relationship between these. His second object will be to discover and carry into ef- fect the conditions, physical, moral, and intellectual, which, in virtue of this constitution, require to be realized before the fullest enjoyment of which he is capable can be attained. According to the second view of creation, nothing- of good can be expected from the evolution of nature's ele- ments, these being all essentially disordered ; and human improvement and enjoyment must be derived chiefly from spiritual influences. If the one hypothesis be sound, man must fulfil the natural conditions requisite to the ex- istence of religion, morality, and happiness, before he can reap full benefit from religious truth : according to the other, he must believe aright in religion, and be the sub- ject of spiritual influences independent of natural causes, before he can become capable of any virtue or enjoyment ; in short, according to the latter hypothesis, sciences, phi- losophy, and all arrangements of the physical, moral, and intellectual elements of nature, are subordinate in their effects on human happiness on earth, to religious faith. It appears to me extremely difficult to reconcile these conflicting views. The theologians who condemned the natural world, lived in an age when there was no sound philosophy, and almost no knowledge of physical science ; they were unavoidably ignorant of the elementary qualities of hu- man nature, and of the influence of organization on the mental powers ; — the great link which connects the mo- ral and physical worlds. They were unacquainted with the relations subsisting between the mind and external B 18 VIEW OP THE CONSTITUTION OF HUMAN NATURE, nature, and could not by possibility divine to what extent individuals and society were capable of being improved by natural means. In the history of man, they had read chiefly of misery and crime, and had in their own age beheld nrach of both. They were, therefore, natural- ly led to form a low estimate of human nature, and to expect little good from the cultivation of its inhe- rent capabilities. These views appear to me to have in- fluenced their interpretations of scripture ; and having once been entwined with religious sentiments, they have de- scended from generation to generation : In consequence, persons of sincere piety have, for several centuries, been induced to look down on this world as a wilderness abound- ing with briars, weeds, and noxious things, and to direct their chief attention, not to the study of its elements and their relations, in the hope of reducing them to order, but to enduring the disorder with patience and resignation, and to securing, by faith and penitence, salvation in a future life. It has never been with them a practical principle, that human nature itself may be vastly im- proved in its moral and intellectual capacities, by those means which Physiology and Phrenology have recently opened up to us ; nor that human nature and the external world are adjusted on the principle of favouring the deve- lopment of the higher powers of our minds ; nor that the study of the constitution of nature is indispensable to human improvement ; nor that this world and its profes- sions and pursuits might be rendered favourable to vir- tue by searching out the natural qualities of its elements, their relationship, and the moral plan on which God has constituted and governs it. Some philosophers and di- AND ITS RELATIONS TO EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 19 vines having failed to discover a consistent order or plan in the moral world, have rashly concluded that none such exists, or that it is inscrutable. It appears never to have occurred to them that it is impossible to compre- hend a whole system without becoming acquainted with its parts ; these persons have been ignorant of the phy- siology of man, of the philosophy of man, of the philo- sophy of external nature, and their relations, and never- theless have not perceived that this extensive ignorance of the details rendered it impossible for them to compre- hend the plan of the whole. Hence they have involved themselves in contradictions ; for while it has been a practical principle with them, that enjoyment in a future state is to be the consequence of the believer attaining to a holy and pious frame of mind in this life ; they have represented the constitution of the world to be so unfa- vourable to piety and virtue, that men in general, who continue attached to it, cannot attain to this right frame of spirit, or act habitually in consistency with it. They have not had philosophy sufficient to perceive that man must live in society to be either virtuous, useful, or hap- py ; that the social atmosphere is to the mind what air is to the lungs ; that while an individual cannot exist to virtuous ends out of society, he cannot exist in a right frame in it, if the moral atmosphere with which he is surrounded be deeply contaminated with vice and error. Individual merchants, for example, cannot act habitually on Christian principles, if the maxims of their trade be not Christian ; and if the world be so unfavourably con- stituted that it does not admit of the rules of trade be- coming Christian, then active life and practical religion are naturally opposed to each other. Divines have labo- 20 VIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION OF HUMAN NATURE^ riously recommended spiritual exercises as means of im- provement in this life and of salvation in the next ; but have rarely dealt with the philosophy of this world, or attempted its rectification, so as to render these exercises truly efficacious. Their minds have been infected with the first great error, that this world is irremediably de- fective in its constitution, and that human hope must be concentrated entirely on the next. This may be attri- buted to the premature formation of a system of theolo- gy in the dawn of civilization, before the qualities of the physical world, and the elements of the moral world and their relationship, were known ; and to erroneous inter- pretations of Scripture in consequence, partly, of that ignorance. Now, if the discovery of the philosophy of mind, founded on the functions of the brain, is to operate at all in favour of human improvement, one of the most striking effects which it will produce, will be the lifting up of the veil which has so long concealed the natural world, its capabilities and importance, from the eyes of divines. To all practical ends connected with theology, the philosophy of nature might as well not exist : With few exceptions, the sermons preached a century ago are equal, if not superior, in sense and suitableness to human nature, to those delivered yesterday ; and yet, in the in- terval, the human mind has made vast advances in know- ledge of the works of creation. Divines have frequent- ly applied scientific discoveries in proving the existence and developing the character of the Deity ; but they have failed in applying either the discoveries themselves, or the knowledge of the Divine character obtained by means of them, to the construction of any practical sys- AND ITS RELATIONS TO EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 21 tern of mental philosophy, capable of combining harmo- niously with religion, and promoting the improvement of the human race. This, however, Phrenology will enable them one day to do. In surveying the world itself, the phrenologist per- ceives that the Creator has bestowed elementary qualities on the human mind, and on external objects, and esta- blished certain relations between them ; that these facul- ties have been incessantly operating according to their in- herent tendencies, generally aiming at good, always de- siring it, but often missing it through pure ignorance and blindness, yet capable of attaining it when enlightened and properly directed. The baneful effects of ignorance are every where apparent. Three-fourths of the mental faculties have direct reference to this world, and in their functions appear to have no intelligible relation to ano- ther, such are Amativeness, Philoprogenitiveness, Com- bativeness, Destructiveness, Constructiveness, Acquisi- tiveness, Secretiveness, Self- Esteem, and others; while the remaining fourth have reference at once to this life and to a higher state of existence, such are Benevolence, Ideality, Wonder, Veneration, Hope, Conscientiousness, and Intellect. To guide and successfully apply the first class of faculties to the promotion of human happiness, it appears indispensable that the faculties themselves, the physical conditions on which their strength and weak- ness, inertness and vivacity, depend, — the relations esta- blished between them and the external world, which is the grand theatre of their action, — and, finally, the rela- tion between them and the superior faculties, which are destined to direct them, should be known ; and yet, scarcely any thing is known in a philosophical and prac- 22 VIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION OF HUMAN NATURE, tical sense by the people at large, on these points. If I am correct in saying that these faculties have, by their constitution, reference chiefly to this world, then useful knowledge for their guidance will be afforded by the phi- losophy of this world ; and the wisdom which is to re- duce them to order, will receive important aid from stu- dying the constitution which it has pleased the Creator to bestow on them, and the relations which he has seen proper to institute between them and the other depart- ments of his works. His wisdom and goodness will be found to pervade them. He has bestowed on us intel- lect to discover, and sentiments to obey, his will in what- ever record its existence is inscribed, and yet little of this knowledge is taught to the people by divines. Knowledge of the constitution, relations, and capabi- lities of this world, is indispensable also to the proper exercise and direction of the superior powers of our minds. In all ages practical men have been engaged for three-fourths of their time in pursuits calculated to gra- tify the faculties which have reference to this world alone, but, unfortunately, the remaining fourth of their time has not been devoted to pursuits bearing reference to their higher faculties. Through want of intellectual education, they have been incapable of deriving pleasure from observing nature, and they have not been furnished with ideas to enable them to think. Owing to the bar- barism which pervaded society in general, there has been no moral atmosphere in which their superior sentiments could play. Ambition, that powerful stimulant in social life, has not been directed to moral objects, but gene- rally the reverse. The hours, therefore, which ought to have been dedicated to the improvement of the higher AND ITS RELATIONS TO EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 23 portion of their faculties, were either devoted to the pur- suit of gain, sensual pleasure, or ambition, or spent in mere trifling amusements and relaxation. There was no practical onward purpose of moral and intellectual advancement abroad in the secular occupations of society; and the divines who formed public opinion, so far from discovering that this disorder was not inherent in the constitution of nature, and that Christianity, in teaching the doctrine of the supremacy of the moral faculties, ne- cessarily implied the practicability of a state of society founded on that principle, fell into the opposite error, and represented the world as deranged in all its parts ; as incapable, by the development of its own elements, of rectification ; and thereby added strength and perma- nence to the evils originating in ignorance and unguided passion. I am far from casting blame on the excellent indivi- duals who fell into these mistakes ; they were inevitable at the time in which they lived, and with the lights which they possessed ; but I point them out as imperfections which ought to be removed. The late Earl of Bridgewater died in February 1829, and left the sum of L.8000, which by his will he direct- ed the President of the Royal Society of London to ap- ply in paying any person or persons to be selected by him, " to write, print, and publish one thousand copies of a work ' On the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as manifested in the creation f illustrating such work by all reasonable arguments, as, for instance, the variety and formation of God's creatures in the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms ; the effect of digestion, and thereby of conversion ; the construction of the hand 24 VIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION OF HUMAN NATURE, of man, and an infinite variety of other arguments ; as also by discoveries, ancient and modern, in arts, sciences, and the whole extent of literature? The President of the Royal Society called in the aid of the Archbishop of Can- terbury and of the Bishop of London, and with their ad- vice nominated eight gentlemen to write eight treatises on different branches of this great subject. The aim of the Earl of Bridgewater appears to have been to ascertain what the character of external nature and the capacities of the human mind really are, and what is the adaptation of the latter to the external world ; questions of vast importance in themselves, and which can be solved only by direct, bold, and unbiassed appeals to Nature herself. The first inquiry that ought naturally to have present- ed itself in the execution of this object was, " What is the constitution of the human mind ;" because, before we can successfully trace the adaptation of two objects to each other, we must be acquainted with each of the ob- jects themselves. But the authors of the Bridgewater Treatises have neglected this branch of inquiry. They disdained to acknowledge Phrenology as the philosophy of mind, and although perfectly aware that there was no other system that could be applied, with any reasonable success, to the investigation in hand, they have never even attempted to assign to human nature any definite or intelligible constitution. In consequence, they appear to me to have thrown extremely little new light on the moral government of the world. In the following work, the first edition of which was published in 1828, before the Earl of Bridgewater's death, I have endeavoured to avoid this inconsistency. AND ITS RELATIONS TO EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 25 Having been convinced, after minute and long continued observation, that Phrenology is the true philosophy of mind, I have assumed it as the basis of my reasoning. In this inquiry it is indispensably necessary to found on some system of mental philosophy in order to obtain one of the elements of the comparison ; but the reader, if he chooses, may regard the phrenological views as hypothe- tical in the mean time, and judge of them by the result. Or he may attempt to substitute in their place any bet- ter system with which he is acquainted, and try how far it will successfully conduct him. In the next place, in instituting the comparison in question, I have brought into view, and endeavoured to substantiate and apply a doctrine which, so far as I have yet been able to discover, is the key to the true theory of the divine government of the world, but which has not hitherto been duly appreciated, — namely, the in- dependent existence and operation of the natural laws of creation. The natural laws may be divided into three great classes, — Physical, Organic, and Moral; and the peculiarity of the new doctrine is, that these operate in- dependently of each other ; that each requires obedience to itself; that each, in its own specific way, rewards obe- dience and punishes disobedience ; and that human beings are happy in proportion to the extent in which they place themselves in accordance with all of these divine in- stitutions. For example, the most pious and benevolent missionaries sailing to civilize and christianize the hea- then, if they embark in an unsound ship, may be drowned by disobeying a physical law, without their destruction being averted by their morality. On the other hand, if the greatest monsters of iniquity were embarked in a 26 VIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION OF HUMAN NATURE, staunch and strong ship, and managed it well, they might and, on the general principles of the government of the world, they would escape drowning in circumstances exactly similar to those which would send the mission- aries to the bottom. There appears something inscruta- ble in these results if only the moral qualities of the men be contemplated ; but if the principle be adopted that ships float in virtue of a purely physical law, — that the physical and moral laws operate independently, each in its own sphere, — the consequences appear in a totally different light. Again, the organic laws operate independently ; and hence, one individual who has inherited a fine bodily con- stitution from his parents, and observes the rules of tem- perance and exercise, will enjoy robust health, although he may cheat, lie, blaspheme, and destroy his fellow men ; while another, if he have inherited a feeble consti- tution, and disregards the rules of temperance and exer- cise, will suffer pain and sickness although he may be a paragon of every christian virtue. These results are fre- quently observed to occur in, the world, and, on every such occasion, the darkness and inscrutable perplexity of the ways of Providence are generally moralised upon ; or a future life is called in as the scene in which these crooked paths are to be rendered straight. But if our views be correct, the Divine wisdom and goodness are abundantly conspicuous in these events ; for we perceive that, by this distinct operation of the organic and moral laws, order is preserved in creation, and the means of discipline and improvement are afforded to all the hu- man faculties. The moral and intellectual laws also operate indepen- AND ITS RELATIONS TO EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 27 dently. The man who cultivates his intellect, and prac- tically obeys the precepts of Christianity, will enjoy with- in himself a fountain of moral and intellectual happiness, which is the appropriate reward of that obedience. By these means he will be rendered more capable of study- ing, comprehending', and obeying, the physical and or- ganic laws, of placing himself in harmony with the whole order of creation, and of attaining the highest degree of perfection, and reaping the highest degree of happiness of which human nature in this world is susceptible. In short, whenever we apply the principle of the independent operation of the natural laws, the apparent confusion of the moral government of the world disappears. These views will be better understood and appreciat- ed after perusing the subsequent chapters, the object of which is to unfold and apply them ; the aim of these in- troductory remarks being merely to prepare the reader for travelling over the more abstruse portions of the work with a clearer perception of their scope and ten- dency. The work itself has now been before the public for six years, and I have seen no criticism which has shaken my conviction of the substantial truth of the prin- ciples maintained in it. Of its value as a contribution to the philosophy of human nature, the public are the only legitimate judges. Some well-meaning individuals have imagined, that this work is hostile to religion, because it is confined to principles which can be discovered by observation and reflection, and to human conduct in this life with- out direct reference to a future state ; but such ideas are entirely unfounded. Human nature and the exter* nal world have both proceeded from the Creator, and c2 '28 VIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION OP HUMAN NATURE, it is impossible, in interpreting their constitution aright, to arrive at any conclusions at variance with a cor- rect interpretation of Scripture. This fundamental truth must be granted, otherwise religion can have no sub- stantial foundation. If two sound interpretations of the divine will, as recorded in Creation and in Scripture, can by possibility contradict each other, we can have no confi- dence in the moral Governor of the world. Assuming, then, that all sound philosophy, and all true religion, nrast harmonize, there will be a manifest advantage in cultivating each by itself, till its full dimensions, limits, and applications shall be brought clearly to light. We may then advantageously compare them, and use the one as a means of elucidating or correcting our views of the other. To the best of my knowledge, there is not one prac- tical result of the natural laws expounded in the sub- sequent pages, which does not harmonize precisely with the practical precepts of the New Testament. Indeed this work has been characterised by some individuals as the philosophy of Christian morality, because they regard it as exhibiting the^natural foundations^af-^he admirable precepts which are taught only dogmatical- ly in the New Testament. It is objected, however, that, by omitting the sanction of future reward and punishment, this treatise leaves out the highest, best, and most efficacious class of motives to virtuous conduct. This objection is founded on a misapprehension of the object of the book. It is my purpose to shew, that the rewards and punishments of human actions are infinitely more complete, certain, and efficacious, in this life, than is generally believed ; but by no means to interfere with AND ITS RELATIONS TO EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 29 the sanctions to virtue afforded by the prospects of fu- ture retribution. It appears to me that every action which is morally wrong, in reference to a future life, is equally wrong and inexpedient with relation to this world; and that it is of essential advantage to virtue to prove this to be the case. Having observed a great tendency in many religious men to overlook the importance of understanding the moral administration of this world, and to turn their attention too exclusively to the next, I have endeavoured to present the administration of the present world in a clear light, calculated to arrest attention, and to draw towards it that degree of con- sideration to which it is justly entitled. This pro- ceeding will be recognised as the more necessary, if one principle largely insisted on in the present work shall be admitted to be sound, viz. that religion operates on the human mind, in subordination, and not in contra- diction, to its natural constitution. If this view be well founded, it will be indispensable that religious teachers shall comply with all the natural conditions required by the human constitution, as preliminaries to moral and re- ligious conduct, before their purely religious teaching can produce its full effects. If, for example, an ill constituted brain be unfavourable to the appreciation and practice of religious truth, it is not an unimportant inquiry, whether any, and what, influence can be exercised by human means in improving the size and proportions of the mental or- gans ? If certain physical circumstances and occupations have a natural tendency to blunt all the higher feelings and faculties of the mind, in consequence of their influ- ence on the nervous system in general, and the brain in particular, and if religious emotions cannot be experi- 30 VIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION OF HUMAN NATURE, enced with full effect by individuals so situate, the as- certainment, with a view to removal, of the nature, causes, and effects, of these impediments to holiness, is not a matter of indifference. This view has not been systematically adopted and pursued by the religious in- structors of mankind in any age, or any country, and for this sole reason, in my humble opinion, that the state of moral and physical science did not enable them either to appreciate its importance or carry it into effect. By pre- senting Nature in all her simplicity and strength, a new impulse and direction may perhaps be given to their un- derstandings ; and they may be induced to consider whe- ther their universally confessed failure to render men as virtuous and happy as they desired, may not to some ex- tent have arisen from their non-fulfilment of the natu- ral conditions instituted by the Creator as preliminaries to success. ( 31 ) CHAPTER I. ON NATURAL LAWS. In natural science, three subjects of inquiry may be dis- tinguished. 1st, What exists ? Idly, What is the purpose or design of what exists ; and, 3dly, Why was what ex- ists designed for such uses as it evidently subserves ? It is matter of fact, for instance, that arctic regions and torrid zones exist, — that a certain kind of moss is most abundant in Lapland in winter, — that the rein-deer feeds on it, and enjoys health and vigour in situations where most other animals would die ; that camels exist in Africa, that they have broad hooves, and stomachs fit- ted to retain water for a length of time, and that they flourish amid arid tracts of sand, where the rein-deer Would not live for a day. All this falls under the inquiry, What exists ? In contemplating these facts, the understanding is na- turally led to infer that one object of the Lapland moss is to feed the rein-deer, and that one purpose of the deer is to assist man : and that broad feet have been given to the camel to allow it to walk on sand, and a retentive 32 ON NATURAL LAWS. stomach to fit it for arid places in which water is found only at wide intervals. These are inquiries into the uses or purposes of what exists ; and they constitute a legiti- mate exercise of the human intellect. But, 3dly, we may ask, Why were the physical ele- ments of nature created such as they are ? Why were summer, autumn, spring, and winter introduced ? Why were animals formed of organised matter ? Why were torrid zones and trackless wastes of snow called into exis- tence ? These are inquiries why what exists was made such as it is, or into the will of the Deity in creation. Now, man's perspective faculties are adequate to the first inquiry, and his reflective faculties to the second ; but it may well be doubted whether he has powers suit- ed to the third. My investigations are confined to the first and second, and I do not discuss the third. In the introduction, p. 9, I have endeavoured to shew that the Creator has bestowed definite constitutions on physical nature and on man and animals, and that they are regulated by fixed laws. A law, in the common ac- ceptation, denotes a rule of action ; it implies a subject which acts, and that the actions or phenomena which it exhibits take place in an established and regular manner ; and this is the sense in which I shall use it, when treat- ing of physical substances and beings. Water, for in- stance, when at the level of the sea, and combined with that portion of heat indicated by 32° of Fahrenheit's thermometer, freezes or becomes solid ; when combined with the portion denoted by 212° of that instrument, it rises into vapour or steam. Here water and heat are the substances, — the freezing and rising in vapour are the ON NATURAL LAWS. 33 appearances or phenomena presented by them ; and when we say that these take place according to a Law of Na- ture, we mean only that these modes of action appear, to our intellects, to be established in the very constitution of the water and heat, and in their natural relationship to each other ; and that the processes of freezing and ris- ing in vapour are their constant appearances, when com- bined in these proportions, other conditions being the same. The ideas chiefly to be kept in view are, 1st, That all substances and beings have received a definite natural constitution ; 2dly, That every mode of action, which is said to take place according to a natural law, is inhe- rent in the constitution of the substance, or being ; and, 3dly, That the mode of action described is universal and invariable, wherever and whenever the substances, or be- ings, are found in the same condition. For example, wa- ter, at the level of the sea, freezes and boils at the same temperature, in China, in France, in Peru, and in England ; and there is no exception to the regularity with which it exhibits these appearances, when all its other conditions are the same : For this last qualification must constantly be attended to in all departments of science. If water be carried to the top of a mountain 20,000 feet high, it will boil at a lower temperature than 212° ; but this depends on its relationship to the air, and takes place also accord- ing to fixed and invariable principles. The air exerts a great pressure on water. At the level of the sea the pressure is every where nearly the same, and in that si- tuation the freezing and boiling points correspond all over the world ; but on the top of a high mountain the pressure is much less, and the vapour not being held down 34 ON NATURAL LAWS. by so great a power of resistance, rises at a lower tem- perature than 212°. But this change of appearances does not indicate a change in the constitution of the wa- ter and the heat, but only a variation in the circumstan- ces in which they are placed ; and hence it is not correct to say, that water boiling on the tops of high mountains, at a lower temperature than 212°, is an exception to the general law of nature : there never are exceptions to the laws of nature ; for the Creator is too wise and too powerful to make imperfect or inconsistent arrangements. The error is in the human mind inferring the law to be y that water boils at 212° in all altitudes ; when the real law is only that it boils at that temperature, at the level of the sea, in all countries ; and that it boils at a lower tem- perature the higher it is carried, because there the pres- sure of the atmosphere is less. Intelligent beings are capable of observing nature and of modifying their actions. By means of their faculties, the laws impressed by the Creator on physical substances become known to them ; and, when perceived, constitute laws to them, by which to regulate their conduct. For example, it is a physical law, that boiling water destroys the muscular and nervous systems of man. This is the result purely of the constitution of the body, and the re- lation between it and heat ; and man cannot alter or sus- pend that law. But whenever the human intellect per- ceives the relation, and the consequences of violating it, the mind is prompted to avoid infringement, in order to shun the torture attached by the Creator to the decom- position of the human body by heat. Similar views have long been taught by philosophers and divines. Bishop Butler, in particular, says : — " An Au- ON NATURAL LAWS.. 35 thor of Nature being supposed, it is not so much a de- duction of reason as a matter of experience, that we are thus under his government, in the same sense as we are under thegevernment of civil magistrates. Because the an- nexing pleasure to some actions, and pain to others, in our power to do or forbear, and giving notice of this appoint- ment beforehand to those whom it concerns, is the pro- per formal notion of government. Whether the pleasure or pain which thus follows upon our behaviour, be owing to the Author of Nature's acting upon us every moment when we feel it, or to his having at once contrived and executed his own part in the plan of the world, makes no alteration as to the matter before us. For, if civil ma- gistrates could make the sanctions of their laws take place, without interposing at all, after they had passed them., without a trial, and the formalities of an execution ; if they were able to make their laws execute themselves, or every offender to execute them upon himself, we should be just in the same sense under their government then as we are now ; but in a much higher degree and more perfect manner. Vain is the ridicule with which one sees some persons will divert themselves, upon find- ing lesser pains considered as instances of divine punish- ment. There is no possibility of answering or evad- ing the general thing here intended, without denying all final causes. For, final causes being admitted, the plea- sures and pains now mentioned must be admitted too, as instances of them. And if they are, if God annexes delight to some actions, with an apparent design to in- duce us to act so and so, then he not only dispenses hap- piness and misery, but also rewards and punishes actions. If, for example, the pain which we feel upon doing what 36 ON NATURAL LAWS. tends to the destruction of our bodies, suppose upon to© near approaches to fire, or upon wounding ourselves, be appointed by the Author of Nature to prevent our doing what thus tends to our destruction ; this is altogether as much an instance of his punishing our actions, and con- sequently of our being under his government, as declar- ing, by a voice from Heaven, that, if we acted so, he would inflict such pain upon us, and inflicting it whether it be greater or less*." If, then, the reader keep in view that God is the crea- tor ; that Nature, in the general sense, means the world which He has made ; and, in a more limited sense, the particular constitution which he has bestowed on any special object, of which we may be treating ; and that a Law of Nature means the established mode in which the actions and phenomena of any creature or object exhibit themselves, and the obligation thereby imposed on intel- ligent beings to attend to it, he will be in no danger of misunderstanding my meaning. Every natural object has received a definite constitu- tion, in virtue of which it acts in a particular way. There must, therefore, be as many natural laws, as there are distinct modes of action of substances and beings, viewed by themselves. But substances and beings stand in cer- tain relations to each other, and modify each other's ac- tion, in an established and definite manner, according to that relationship ; altitude, for instance, modifies the ef- fect of heat upon water. There must, therefore, be also as many laws of nature, as there are relations between different substances and beings. * Butler's Works, vol. i. p. 44. Similar observations by other au- thors will be found in the Appendix, No. I. ON NATURAL LAWS. 37 It is impossible, in the present state of knowledge, to elucidate all these laws: countless years may elapse be- fore they shall be discovered ; but we may investigate some of the most familiar and striking of them. Those that most readily present themselves bear reference to the great classes into which the objects around us may be divided, namely, Physical, Organic, and Intelligent. I shall therefore confine myself to the physical laws, th« organic laws, and the laws which characterise intelligent beings. 1st, The Physical Laws embrace all the phenomena of mere matter ; a heavy body, for instance, when unsup- ported, falls to the ground with a certain accelerating force, in proportion to the distance which it falls, and its own density ; and this motion is said to take place ac- cording to the law of gravitation. An acid applied to a vegetable blue colour, converts it into red, and this is said to take place according to a chemical law. 2dly, Organized substances and beings stand higher in the scale of creation, and have properties peculiar to themselves. They act, and are acted upon, in conform- ity with their constitution, and are therefore said to be subject to a peculiar set of laws, termed the Organic. The distinguishing characteristic of this class of objects, is, that the individuals of them derive their existence from other organized beings, are nourished by food, and go through a regular process of growth and decay. Ve- getables and Animals are the two great subdivisions of it. The organic laws are different from the merely phy- sical. A stone, for example, does not spring from a parent stone ; it does not take food ; it does not increase ki vigour for a time, and then decay and suffer dissolu- 38 ON NATURAL LAWS. tion ; all which processes characterize vegetables and ani- mals. The organic laws are superior to the merely physical. A living man, or animal, may be placed in an oven, along with the carcass of a dead animal, and remain exposed to a heat which will completely bake the dead flesh, and yet come out alive, and not seriously injured. The dead flesh is mere physical matter, and its decomposition by the heat instantly commences ; but the living animal is able, by its organic qualities, to counteract and resist, to a certain extent, that influence. The Organic Laws, there- fore, mean the established modes according to which all phenomena connected with the production, health, growth, decay and death of vegetables and animals, take place. In the case of each animal or vegetable of the same kind their modes of action are always the same, in the same circumstances. Animals are the chief objects of my pre- sent observations, 3dly, Intelligent beings stand still higher in the scale than merely organized matter, and embrace all animals that have distinct consciousness, from the lowest of the inferior creatures up to man. The great divisions of this class are into Intelligent and Animal— and into In- telligent and Moral creatures. The dog, horse, and ele- phant, for instance, belong to the first class, because they possess some degree of intelligence, and certain animal propensities, but no moral feelings ; man belongs to the second, because he possesses all the three. These various faculties have received a definite constitution, and stand in determinate relationship to external objects ; for exam- ple, a healthy palate cannot feel wormwood sweet, nor sugar bitter : a healthy eye cannot see a rod partly plung- ON NATURAL LAWS. 39 ed in water straight, because the water so modifies the rays of light, as to give to the stick the appearance of being crooked : a healthy sentiment of Benevolence can- not feel gratified with murder, nor a healthy Conscien- tiousness with fraud. As, therefore, the mental faculties have received a precise constitution, have been placed in fixed and definite relations to external objects, and act regularly, we speak of their acting according to rules or laws, and call these the Moral and Intellectual Laws. Several important principles strike us very early in attending to the natural laws, viz. 1st, Their independence of each other ; 2dty, Obedience to each of them is attend- ed with its own reward, and disobedience with its own punishment; 3dly y They are universal, unbending, and invariable in their operation ; Athly, They are in harmony with the constitution of man. 1. The independence of the natural laws may be il- lustrated thus : — A ship floats because a part of it being immersed, displaces a weight of water equal to its whole weight, leaving the remaining portion above the fluid. A ship, therefore, will float on the surface of the water as long as these physical conditions are observed ; no matter although the men in it should infringe other natural laws; as, for example, although they should rob, murder, blas- pheme, and commit every species of debauchery ; and it will sink whenever the physical conditions are subverted, however strictly the crew and passengers may obey the moral laws here adverted to. In like manner, a man who swallows poison, which destroys the stomach or intestines, will die, just because an organic law has been infringed, and because it acts independently of others, although he should have taken the drug by mistake, or have been the 40 ON NATURAL LAWS. most pious and charitable individual on earth. Or, thirdly, a man may cheat, lie, steal, tyrannise, and in short break a great variety of the moral laws, and nevertheless be fat and rubicund, if he sedulously observed the organic laws of temperance and exercise ; while, on the other hand, an individual who neglects these, may pine in disease, and be racked with torturing pains, although at the very mo- ment, he may be devoting his mind to the highest duties of humanity. 2. Obedience to each law is attended with its own reward, and disobedience with its own punishment. Thus the mariners who preserve their ship in accordance with the physical laws, reap the reward of sailing in safe- ty ; and those who permit its departure from them, are punished by the ship sinking. Those who obey the moral law, enjoy the intense internal delights that spring from active moral faculties; they render themselves, moreover, objects of aifection and esteem to moral and intelligent beings, who, in consequence, confer on them many other gratifications. Those who disobey that law, are tor- mented with insatiable desires, which, from the nature of things, cannot be gratified; they are punished by the perpetual craving of whatever portion of moral senti- ment they possess, for higher enjoyments, which are never attained ; and they are objects of dislike and ma- levolence to other beings of similar dispositions with them- selves, who inflict on them the evils dictated by their own provoked propensities. Those who obey the organic laws, reap the reward of health and vigour of body, and buoy- ancy of mind ; while those who break them are punish- ed by sickness, feebleness, and languor. 3. The natural laws are universal, invariable, and un- ON NATURAL LAWS. 41 bending. When the physical laws are infringed in China or Kamschatka, there is no instance of a ship floating there more than in England ; and, when they are observ- ed, there is no instance of a vessel sinking in any one of these countries more than in another. There is no exam- ple of men, in any country, enjoying the mild and gene- rous internal joys, and the outward esteem and love that attend obedience to the moral law, while they give them- selves up to the dominion of brutal propensities. There is no example, in any latitude or longitude, or in any age, of men who entered life with a constitution in harmony with the organic laws, and who continued to obey these laws throughout, being, in consequence of this obedience, visited with pain and disease ; and there are no instances of men who were born with constitutions at variance with the organic laws, and who lived in habitual disobedience to them, enjoying that sound health and vigour of body that are the rewards of obedience. 4. The natural laws are in harmony with the whole con- stitution of man, the moral and intellectual powers holding the supremacy. If ships in general had sunk when they were staunch, strong, and skilfully managed, this would have outraged the perceptions of reason ; but as they float, the physical law is, in this instance, in harmony with the moral and intellectual law. If men who rioted in drunkenness and debauchery had thereby established health and increased their happiness, this, again, would have been at variance with our intellectual and moral per- ceptions ; but the opposite result is in harmony with them. It will be subsequently shown, that our moral senti- ments desire universal happiness. If the physical and 42 ON NATURAL LAWS.- organic laws are constituted in harmony with them, it ought to follow that the natural laws, when obeyed, will conduce to the happiness of the moral and intelligent beings, who are called on to observe them ; and that the evil consequences, or punishments, resulting from infringement of them will be calculated to enforce stricter obedience, for the advantage of these creatures themselves. Accor- ding to this view, when a ship sinks, in consequence of a plank starting, the punishment is intended to impress upon the spectators the absolute necessity of having every plank secure and strong before going to sea, this be- ing a condition indispensable to their safety. When sickness and pain follow a debauch, the object of the suf- fering is to urge amore scrupulous obedience to the organic laws, that the individual may escape death, which is the in- evitable consequence of too great and continued disobedi- ence to these laws, — and enjoy health, which is the reward of the opposite conduct. When discontent, irritation, hatred, and other mental annoyances, arise out of infring- ment of the moral law, this punishment is calculated to in- duce the offender to return to obedience, that he may enjoy the rewards attached to it. When the transgression of any natural law is exces- sive, and so great that return to obedience is impossible, one purpose of death, which then ensues, may be to de- liver the individual from a continuation of the punish- ment which could then do him no good. Thus, when, from infringement of a physical law, a ship sinks at sea, and leaves men immersed in water, without the possibility of reaching land, their continued existence in that state would be one of cruel and protracted suffering ; and it is advantageous to them to have their mortal life extin- ON NATURAL LAW*. 43 guished at once by drowning, thereby withdrawing them from farther agony. In like manner, if a man in the vigour of life, so far infringe any organic law as to destroy the function of a vital organ, the heart, for instance, or the lungs, or the brain, it is better for him to have his life cut short, and his pain put an end to, than to have it pro- tracted under all the tortures of an organic existence, without lungs, without a heart, or without a brain, if such a state were possible, which, for this wise reason, it is not. I do not intend to predicate any thing concerning the perfectibility of man by obedience to the laws of nature. The system of sublunary creation, so far as we perceive it, does not appear to be one of optimism ; yet benevo- lent design, in its constitution, is undeniable. Paley says, " Nothing remains but the first supposition, that God, when he created the human species, wished them happi- ness, and made for them the provisions which he has made, with that view and for that purpose. The same argument may be proposed in different terms : Contri- vance proves design ; and the predominant tendency of the contrivance indicates the disposition of the designer. The world abounds with contrivances ; and all the con- trivances which we are acquainted with, are directed to beneficial purposes." Paley's Mor. Phil. Edinb. 1816, p. 51. Many of the contrivances of the Creator, for ef- fecting beneficial purposes, have been discovered by phi- losophers ; but, so far as I am aware, no one has advert- ed to the foregoing principles according to which these contrivances operate, so that nothing like a systematic view of the moral government of the world has hitherto been presented to mankind. 44 ON NATURAL LAWS. I do not intend to teach that the natural laws, discerni- ble by unassisted reason, are sufficient for the salvation of man without revelation. Human interests regard this world and the next. To enjoy this world, I humbly main- tain, that man must discover and obey the natural laws. Revelation does not communicate complete information concerning the best mode of pursuing even our legitimate temporal interests ; — and numerous practicable duties re- sulting from our constitution are discoverable, which are not treated of in detail in the inspired volume ; the mode of preserving health, for example; of pursuing with success a temporal calling ; of discovering the qualities of men with whom we mean to associate our interests ; and many others. This is the case probably because faculties have been given to man to discover arts, sciences, and the na- tural laws, and to adapt his conduct to them ; and that the physical, moral and intellectual nature of man, is itself left open to investigation by these faculties. My object, I repeat, is to investigate the natural constitution of the human body and mind, their relations to external objects and beings in this world, and the courses of action that, in consequence, appear to be beneficial or hurtful in this life. Man's spiritual interests belong to the sphere of reve- ation ; and I distinctly declare, that I do not teach that obedience to the natural laws is sufficient for salvation in a future state. Revelation prescribes certain requisites for salvation, which may be divided into two classes ; first, faith or belief; and, secondly, the performance of certain practical duties not as meritorious of salvation, but as the native result of that faith, and the necessary evidence of its sincerity. The natural laws form no guide as to faith ; but so far as I can perceive, their dictates and those ON NATURAL LAWS. 45 of revelation coincide in all matters relating to practical duties in temporal affairs. It may be asked, whether mere knowledge of the natu- ral laws is sufficient to insure observance of them ? Cer- tainly not. Mere knowledge of music does not enable one to play on an instrument, nor of anatomy to perform skilfully a surgical operation. Practical training, and the aid of every motive that can interest the feelings, are ne- cessary to lead individuals to obey the natural laws. Re- ligion, in particular, may furnish motives highly condu- cive to this obedience. But it must never be forgotten, that although mere knowledge is not all-sufficient, it is a primary and indispensable requisite to regular obser- vance ; and that it is as impossible effectually and syste- matically to obey the natural laws without knowing them, as it is to perform any other complicated and important duty in ignorance of its principles and practical details. Some persons are of opinion, that Christianity alone suf- fices, not only for man's salvation, which I do not dis- pute, but for his guidance in all practical virtues, without knowledge of, or obedience to, the laws of nature ; but from this notion I respectfully dissent. It appears to me, that one reason why vice and misery, in this world, do not diminish in proportion to preaching, is, because the natural laws are too much overlooked, and very rarely considered as having any relation to practical conduct. Before religion can yield its full practical fruits in this world, it must be wedded to a philosophy founded on these laws ; it must borrow light and strength from them, and in return communicate its powerful sanction in enforcing obedience to their dictates. Connected with this subject, it is proper to state, that 46 ON NATURAL LAWS. I do not maintain that the world is arranged on the prin- ciple of Benevolence exclusively ; my idea is, that it is constituted in harmony with the whole faculties of man ; the moral sentiments and intellect holding the suprema- cy. What is meant by creation being constituted in har- mony with the whole faculties of man, is this. Suppose that we should see two men holding a third in a chair, and a fourth drawing a tooth from his head : — While we contemplated this bare act, and knew nothing of the inten- tion with which it was done, and of the consequences that would follow, we would set it down as purely cruel ; and say, that, although it might be in harmony with the propensity which prompts men to inflict pain and de- stroy, it could not be so with Benevolence. But, when we were told that the individual in the chair was a patient* and the operator a dentist ; and that the object of all the parties was to deliver the first from violent torture, we would then perceive that an operation attended with pain had been used as a means to accomplish a benevolent purpose ; or, in other words, that the operator had acted under the supremacy of moral sentiment and intellect, and we would approve of his conduct. If the world had been created on the principle of Benevolence exclusively, the toothach could not have existed ; but, as pain does exist, a mental faculty, called by the phrenologists Destructive- ness, has been given to place man in harmony with it, when used for a benevolent end. To apply this illustration to the works of providence I humbly suggest it as probable, that, if we knew thorough- ly the design and whole consequences of such institutions of the Creator, as are attended with pain, including death itself, we should find that Destructiveness was used as a ON NATURAL LAWS. 47 means, under the guidance of Benevolence and Justice, to arrive at an end in harmony with the moral sentiments and intellect ; in short, that no institution of the Crea- tor has pure evil, or destructiveness alone, for its object. The opposite of this doctrine, viz. that there are in- stitutions of the Creator which have suffering for their exclusive object, is clearly untenable ; for this would be ascribing malevolence to the Deity. As, however, the existence of pain is undeniable, it is equally impossible to believe that the world is arranged on the principle of Benevolence exclusively. The view now presented makes no attempt to explain why pain exists, because I consider this enquiry to surpass the limits of the human understanding. It offers an explanation, however, of the uses which pain serves, namely, to enforce obedience to the natural laws ; and it shews that the human mind is constituted in harmony with this order of creation. Phrenology alone, of all systems of mental philosophy, admits faculties calculated to place us in harmony with difficulty, pain, and death, and thus enhances our per- ceptions of divine wisdom and goodness. ( 48 ) CHAPTER II. ON THE CONSTITUTION OF MAN, AND ITS RELATIONS TO EXTERNAL OEJECTS. Let us next consider the Constitution of Man, and the natural laws to which he is subjected, and endeavour to discover how far the external world is arranged with wisdom and benevolence, in regard to him. Bishop Butler, in the Preface to his Sermons, says, " It is from considering the relations which the several appetites and passions in the inward frame have to each other, and, above all, the supremacy of reflection or conscience, that we get the idea of the system or constitution of human nature. And from the idea itself, it will as fully ap- pear, that this our nature, i. e. constitution, is adapted to virtue, as from the idea of a watch it appears that its nature, i. e. constitution or system, is adapted to mea- sure time." " Mankind has various instincts and principles of ac- tion, as brute creatures have ; some leading most directly and immediately to the good of the community, and some most directly to private good." " Man has several, which brutes have not ; particular- ly reflection or conscience, an approbation of some prin- ciples or actions, and disapprobation of others." " Brutes obey their instincts or principles of action, CONSTITUTION OF MAN. 49 according to certain rules ; suppose, the constitution of their body, and the objects around them," " The generality of mankind also obey their instincts and principles, all of them, those propensities we call good, as well as the bad, according to the same rules, namely, the constitution of their body, and the external circumstances which they are in." " Brutes, in acting according to the rules before men- tioned, their bodily constitution and circumstances, act suitably to their whole nature. " Mankind also, in acting thus, would act suitably to their whole nature, if no more were to be said of man's nature than what has been now said ; if that, as it is a true, were also a complete, adequate account of our na* ture. " But that is not a complete account of man's nature Somewhat further must be brought in to give us an ade- quate notion of it ; namely, that one of those principles of action, conscience, or reflection, compared with the rest, as they all stand together in the nature of man, plainly bears upon it marks of authority over all the rest, and claims the absolute direction of them all, to allow or forbid their gra- tification ;-— a disapprobation on reflection being in itself a principle manifestly superior to a mere propension. And the conclusion is, that to allow no more to this su- perior principle or part of our nature, than to other parts . to let it govern and guide only occasionally, in common with the rest, as its turn happens to come, from the tem- per and circumstances one happens to be in ; this is not to act conformably to the constitution of man: neither can any human creature be said to act conformably to his con- stitution of nature, unless he allows to that superior prin- 50 MAN CONSIDERED AS A PHYSICAL BEING. ciple the absolute authority which is due to it/' — But- ler's Works, vol. ii. Preface. The following Essay is founded on the principles here suggested. Sect. I. MAN CONSIDERED AS A PHYSICAL BEING. The human body consists of bones, muscles, nerves, blood-vessels, besides organs of nutrition, of respiration, and of thought. These parts are all composed of physi- cal elements, and, to a certain extent, are subjected to the physical laws of creation. By the law of gravitation, the body falls to the ground when unsupported, and is liable to be injured, like any frangible substance; by a chemical law, excessive cold freezes, and excessive heat dissipates, its fluids ; and life, in either case, is extin- guished. To discover the real effect of the physical laws of na- ture on human happiness, we would require to under- stand, 1st, The physical laws themselves, as revealed by mathematics, natural philosophy, natural history, chemis- try, and their subordinate branches ; 2dlt/, The anatomi- cal and physiological constitution of the human body ; 3dli/, The adaptation of the former to the latter. These expositions are necessary to ascertain the extent to which it is possible for man to place himself in accordance with the physical laws, so as to reap advantage from them, and also to determine how far the sufferings which he endures fall to be ascribed to the inevitable operation of these laws, or how far to his ignorance and infringe- ment of them. To treat of these views in detail, would require separate volumes, and I therefore confine my- MAN CONSIDERED AS A PHYSICAL BEING. 61 self to a single instance as an illustration of the mode in which the investigation might be conducted *. By the law of gravitation, heavy bodies always tend towards the centre of the earth. Some of the advantages of this law are, that objects, when properly supported, re- main at rest ; that walls, when built sufficiently thick and perpendicular, stand firm and erect ; that water descends from high places, and precipitates itself down the chan- nels of rivers, turns mill-wheels in its course, and sets in motion the most stupendous and useful machinery ; and that ships move steadily through the water with part of their hulls immersed, and part rising moderately above it, their masts and sails towering in the air to catch the inconstant breeze. To place man in harmony with this law, the Creator has bestowed on him bones, muscles, and nerves, con- structed on the most perfect principles, which enable him to preserve his equilibrium, and to adapt his move- ments to its influence ; also intellectual faculties, calcu- lated to perceive the existence of the law, its modes of operation, the relation between it and himself, the bene- ficial consequences of observing this relation, and the painful results of infringing it. When a person falls over a precipice, and is maimed or killed ; when a ship springs a leak and sinks; or when a reservoir of water breaks down its banks and ravages a valley, the evils, no doubt, proceed from the operation of this law ; but we ought to enquire whether they could * The reader will find many valuable illustrations of these laws in ' ' The principles of Physiology applied to the Preservation of Health, and to the Improvement of Physical and Mental Education, "by Andrew Combe, M. D. third edition. Black, Edinburgh ; and Longman & Co., London. 52 MAN CONSIDERED AS A PHYSICAL BEING. or could not have been prevented, by a due exercise of the physical and mental powers bestowed by the Creator on man, to enable him to avoid the injurious effects of gravitation ? By pursuing this course, We shall arrive at sound con- clusions concerning the adaptation of the human mind and body to the physical laws of creation. The subject, as I have said, is too extensive to be here prosecuted in detail, and I am incompetent, besides, to do it justice ; but enough has been said to elucidate the principle con- tended for. And the more minutely any one inquires, the more firm will be his conviction, that, in these rela- tions, admirable provision has been made by the Creator for human happiness, and that the evils which arise from neglect of them, are attributable, to a great extent, to man's not adequately applying his powers to the promo- tion of his own enjoyment. Sect. II. MAN CONSIDERED AS AN ORGANISED BEING. Man is an organised being, and subject to the organic laws. An organised being is one which derives its ex- istence from a previously existing organised being, which subsists on food, which grows, attains maturity, decays, and dies. The first law, then, that must be obeyed, to render an organised being perfect in its kind, is, that the germ, from which it springs, shall be complete in all its parts, and sound in its whole constitution. If we sow an acorn, in which some vital part has been destroyed alto- gether, the seedling plant, and the full grown oak, if it ever attain to maturity, will be deficient in the lineaments MAN CONSIDERED AS AN ORGANISED BEING. 53 which were wanting in the embryo root ; if we sow an acorn entire in its parts, but only half ripened, or damaged by damp or other causes in its whole texture, the seed- ling oak will be feeble, and will probably die early. A similar law holds in regard to man. A second organic law is, that the organised being, the moment it is ushered into life, and so long as it continues to live, must be sup- plied with food, light, air, and every other physical ali- ment requisite for its support, in due quantity, and of the kind best suited to its particular constitution. Obe- dience to this law is rewarded with a vigorous and healthy development of its powers ; and in animals, with a plea- sing consciousness of existence and aptitude for the performance of their natural functions ; disobedience is punished with feebleness, stinted growth, general imper- fection, or death. A single fact will illustrate this ob- servation. At the meeting of the British Association, held in Edinburgh in 1834, an Abstract of a Registry, kept in the Lying-in Hospital of Great Britain Street, Dublin, from the year 1758 to the end of 1833, was read by Dr Joseph Clarke, from which it appeared, that, in 1781, when the hospital was imperfectly ventilated, every sixth child, died within nine days after birth of convulsive disease, and that, after means of thorough ventilation had been adopted, the mortality of infants, within the same time, in five succeeding years, was reduced to nearly one in twenty *. A third organic law, applicable to man, is, that he shall duly exercise his organs, this condition being an indispensable requisite of health. The reward of obe- dience to this law, is enjoyment in the very act of exer- cising the functions, pleasing consciousness of existence, * Edin. New Phil. Jour, Oct. 1834, p. 416, 54 MAN CONSIDERED AS AN ORGANISED BEING. and the acquisition of numberless gratifications and ad- vantages, of which labour, or the exercise of our powers, is the procuring means ; disobedience is punished with derangement and sluggishness of the functions, with general uneasiness or positive pain, and with the denial of gratification to numerous faculties. Directing our attention to the constitution of the hu- man body, we perceive that the power of reproduction is bestowed on man, and also intellect, to enable him to dis- cover and obey the conditions necessary for the transmis- sion of a healthy organic frame to his descendants ; that digestive organs are given to him for his nutrition, and innumerable vegetable and animal productions are placed around him, in wise relationship to these organs. Without attempting to expound minutely the organic structure of man, or to trace in detail its adaptation to his external condition, I shall offer some observations in support of the proposition, that the due exercise of the osseous, muscular, and nervous systems, under the guid- ance of intellect and moral sentiment, and in accordance with the physical laws, contributes to human enjoyment ; and, that neglect of this exercise, or an abuse of it, by carrying it to excess, or by conducting it in opposition to the moral, intellectual, or physical laws, is punished with pain. The earth is endowed with the capability of producing an ample supply for all our wants, provided we expend muscular and nervous energy in its cultivation ; while, in most climates, it refuses to produce, if we withhold this labour and allow it to lie waste : Further, the Creator has presented us with timber, metal, wool, and countless mate- rials, which, by means of muscular power, may be convert- MAN CONSIDERED AS AN ORGANISED BEING. 55 ed into dwelling places, clothing, and all the luxuries of life. The fertility of the earth, and the demands of the body for food and clothing, are so benevolently adapted to each other, that, with rational restraint on population, a few hours' labour each day from every individual capa- ble of labour, would suffice to furnish all with every com- modity that could really add to enjoyment. " It has been computed,'' says Dr Franklin, " by some political arithmetician, that, if every man and woman would work for four hours each day on something useful, that labour would be sufficient to procure all the necessaries and comforts of life ; want and misery would be banished out of the world ; and the rest of the twenty-four hours might be leisure and pleasure." (Dr Franklin, — Essay on Luxury, Idleness, and Industry.) In the tropica] regions of the globe, where a high atmospheric temperature diminishes the quantum of mus- cular energy, the fertility and productiveness of the soil are increased in a like proportion, so that less labour suffices. Less labour, also, is required to provide habi- tations and raiment. In the colder latitudes, muscular energy is greatly increased, and there much higher de- mands are made upon it : The earth is more sterile ; the rude winds render firmer fabrics necessary to resist their violence ; and the piercing frosts command a thicker covering to be used for the body. Farther, the food afforded by the soil in each climate appears to be adapted to the maintenance of the organic constitution of the people in health, and to the supply of the muscular energy necessary for the particular wants of the situation. In the Arctic Regions no farinaceous food ripens ; but on putting the question to Dr Richardson, how 56 MAN CONSIDERED AS AN ORGANISED BEING. he, accustomed to the bread and vegetables of the tem- perate regions, was able to end are the pure animal diet, which formed his only support on his expedition to the shores of the Polar Sea along with Captain Franklin, he re- plied, that the effect of the extreme dry cold to which he and his companions were constantly exposed, living, as they did, in the open air, was to produce a desire for the most stimulating food they could obtain ; that bread in such a climate was not only not desired, but comparative- ly impotent, as an article of diet ; that pure animal food, and the fatter the better, was the only sustenance that maintained the tone of the corporeal system; but that when it was abundant (and the quantity required was much greater than in milder latitudes), a delightful vi- gour and buoyancy of mind and body were enjoyed, that rendered life highly agreeable. Now, in beautiful har- mony with these wants of the human frame, these regions abound, during summer, in countless herds of deer, in rabbits, partridges, ducks, and, in short, in game of every description, and fish ; and the flesh of these dried, consti- tutes delicious food in winter, when the earth is wrap- ped in one wide mantle of snow. In Scotland, the climate is moist and moderately cold, the greater part of the surface is mountainous, well ad- apted for rearing sheep and cattle, while a certain portion consists of fertile plains, fitted for raising farinaceous food. If the same law holds in this country, the diet of the peo- ple should consist of animal and farinaceous food, the former predominating. And on such food, accordingly, the Scotsman thrives best. As we proceed to warmer latitudes, to France for instance, we find the soil and tem- perature less congenial to sheep and cattle, but more fa* MAN CONSIDERED AS AN ORGANISED BEING. 57 vourable to corn and wine ; and the Frenchman inherits a native vigour of body and elasticity of mind, that en- able him to flourish in health on less of animal food, than would be requisite to preserve the Scottish Highlander, in the recesses of his mountains, in a like gay and alert condition. From one of a series of interesting letters on the agriculture of France by M. Lullin de Chateauvieux, publised in the Bibliotheque Universelle, it appears that the consumption of beef in that country relative to the population, is only one-sixth of what it is in England. Journal of Agriculture, No, iii. p. 390. The plains of Hindostan are too hot for the extensive cultivation of the sheep and the ox, but produce rice and vegetable spices in prodigious abundance, and the native is healthy, vi- gorous and active, when supplied with rice and curry, and becomes sick, when obliged to live chiefly on animal diet. He is supplied with less muscular energy from this species of food ; but his soil and climate require far less laborious exertion to maintain him in comfort, than those of Bri- tain, Germany, or Russia. So far, then, the external world appears to be wisely and benevolently adapted to the organic system of man, that is, to his nutrition, and to the development and ex- ercise of his corporeal organs. The natural law appears to be, that every one who desires to enjoy the pleasures of health, must expend in labour the energy which the Creator has infused into his limbs. A wide choice is left to man, as to the mode in which he shall exercise his ner- vous and muscular systems : The labourer, for example, digs the ground, and the squire engages in the chase ; both pursuits exercise the body. The penalty of neglect- ing this law is imperfect digestion and disturbed sleep, 58 MENTAL FACULTIES OF MAN. debility, bodily and mental ; lassitude, and, if carried to a certain length, confirmed bad health and death. The penalty for over-exerting these systems is exhaustion, mental incapacity, the desire of strong artificial stimulants, such as ardent spirits, general insensibility, grossness of feeling and perception, with disease and shortened life. Society has not recognised this law, and, in conse- quence, the higher orders despise labour, and suffer the first penalty ; while the lower orders are oppressed with toil, and undergo the second. The penalties serve to provide motives for obedience to the law, and whenever it is recognised, and the consequences are discovered to be inevitable, men will no longer shun labour as painful and ignominious, but resort to it as a source of pleasure and advantage. Sect. III. MAN CONSIDERED AS AN ANIMAL MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL BEING. I have adverted to the bodily constitution of man, which is essentially animal ; but I observe, in the third place, that man, viewed in regard to his mental constitu- tion, is an animal — moral — and intellectual being. To discover the adaptation of these parts of his nature to his external circumstances, we must first know what are his various animal, moral, and intellectual powers them- selves. Phrenology gives us a view of them, drawn from observation ; and as I have verified the inductions of that science, so as to satisfy myself that it is the most complete and correct exposition of the Nature of Man which has yet been given, I adopt its classification of faculties as the basis of the subsequent observations. Ac- MENTAL FACULTIES OF MAN. 59 cording to Phrenology, then, the Human Faculties are the following : — Order I. FEELINGS. Genus I. PROPENSITIES— Common to Man with the Lower Animals. The Love of Life. An Appetite for Food. — Uses : Nutrition, — Abuses : Gluttony and drunkenness. 1. Amativeness ; Produces sexual love. 2. Philoprogenitiveness. — Uses : Love of offspring. — Abuses: Pam- pering and spoiling children. 3. Concentrativeness. — Uses : It gives the desire for permanence in place, and for permanence of emotions and ideas in the mind. — Abuses : Aversion to move abroad ; morbid dwelling on internal emotions and ideas, to the neglect of external impressions. 4. Adhesiveness. — Uses : Attachment ; friendship and society result from it. — Abuses : Clanship for improper objects, attachment to worthless individuals. It is generally strong in women. 5. Combativeness. — Uses : Courage to meet danger, to overcome dif- ficulties, and to resist attacks. — Abuses : Love of contention, and tendency to provoke and assault. This feeling obviously adapts man to a world in which danger and difficulty abound. 6. Destructiveness.— Uses : Desire to destroy noxious objects, and to kill for food. It is very discernible in carnivorous animals. — Abuses : Cruelty, desire to torment, tendency to passion, rage, harshness and severity in speech and writing. This feeling places man in harmony with death and destruction, which are woven into the system of sublunary creation. 7. Secretiveness. — Uses : Tendency to restrain within the mind the various emotions and ideas that involuntarily present themselves, until the judgment has approved of giving them utterance ; it also aids the artist and the actor in giving expression ; and is an ingre- dient in prudence. Abuses : Cunning, deceit, duplicity, lying, and, joined with Acquisitiveness, theft. 8. Acquisitiveness. — Uses : Desire to possess, and tendency to ac- cumulate articles of utility, to provide against want. — Abuses : Inordinate desire for property ; selfishness ; avarice. 9. Constructiveness, — Uses : Desire to build and construct works of art.— Abuses : Construction of engines to injure or destroy, and fabrication of objects to deceive mankind. / 60 MENTAL FACULTIES OF MAN. Genus II. SENTIMENTS. I. Sentiments common to Man with the Lower Animals. 10. Self-Esteem. — Uses : Self-respect, self-interest, love of inde- pendence, personal dignity. — Abuses : Pride, disdain, overween- ing conceit, excessive selfishness, love of dominion. 11. Love of Approbation Uses : Desire of the esteem of others, love of praise, desire of fame or glory. — Abuses : Vanity, ambi- tion, thirst for praise independently of praiseworthiness. 12. Cautiousness Uses : It gives origin to the sentiment of fear, the desire to shun danger, to circumspection ; and it is an ingredient in prudence Abuses : Excessive timidity, poltroonery, unfounded apprehensions, despondency, melancholy. 13. Benevolence, — Uses : Desire of the happiness of others, universal charity, mildness of disposition, and a lively sympathy with the en- joyment of all animated beings Abuses: Profusion, injurious in- dulgence of the appetites and fancies of others, prodigality, facility of temper. II. Sentiments Proper to Ma,n, 14. Veneration Uses : Tendency to worship, adore, venerate, or respect whatever is great and good ; gives origin to the religious sentiment. — Abuses : Senseless respect for unworthy objects con- secrated by time or situation, love of antiquated customs, abject subserviency to persons in authority, superstition. 15. Firmness. — Uses: Determination, perseverance, steadiness of pur- pose Abuses : Stubbornness, infatuation, tenacity in evil. 16. Conscientiousness. — Uses: It gives origin to the sentiment of justice, or respect for the rights of others, openness to conviction, the love of truth. — Abuses : Scrupulous adherence to noxious principles when ignorantly embraced, excessive refinement in the views of duty and obligation, excess in remorse, or self-condem- nation. 17. Hope.— Uses : Tendency to expect and to look forward to the fu- ture with confidence and reliance ; it cherishes faith.— Abuses : Credulity, absurd expectations of felicity not founded on reason. 18. Wonder.— Uses : The desire of novelty, admiration of the new, the unexpected, the grand, the wonderful, and extraordinary. — . Abuses: Love of the marvellous, astonishment. — Note. Vene- ration, Hope, and Wonder, combined, give the tendency to reli- gion ; their abuses produce superstition and belief in false miracles, in prodigies, magic, ghosts, and all supernatural absurdities. MENTAL FACULTIES OF MAN. Gl 19. Ideality. — Uses : Love of the beautiful and splendid, the desire of excellence, poetic feeling. — Abuses 1 Extravagance and absurd enthusiasm, preference of the showy and glaring to the solid and useful, a tendency to dwell in the regions of fancy, and to neglect the duties of life. 20. Wit— Gives the feeling of the ludicrous. 21. Imitation — Copies the manners, gestures, and actions of others, and nature generally. Order II. INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES. Genus I. EXTERNAL SENSES. Feeling or Touch. Taste. Smell. Hearing. Light. Uses : To bring man into communication with external objects, and to enable him to enjoy them Abuses : Excessive indulgence in the pleasures arising from the senses, to the extent of impairing the organs and debilitating the mind. Genus II. INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES— which perceive existence. 22. Individuality — Takes cognizance of existence and simple facts. 23. Form— Renders man observant of form. 24. Size — Renders man observant of dimensions, and aids perspective. 25. Weight- — Communicates the perception of momentum, weight, re- sistance, and aids equilibrium. 26. Colouring — Gives perception of colours. Genus III. INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES— which perceive the relations of external objects. 27. Locality — Gives the idea of space and relative position. 28. Number — Gives the talent for calculation. 29. Order — Communicates the love of physical arrangement. 30. Eventuality — Takes cognizance of occurrences and events. 31. Time — Gives rise to the perception of duration. 32. Tune. — The sense of Melody arises from it. 33. Language — Gives a facility in acquiring a knowledge of arbitrary signs to express thoughts, — readiness in the use of them ; — and a power of inventing them. 62 MENTAL FACULTIES OF MAN. Genus IV. REFLECTING F ACULTIES— which compare, judge, and discriminate. 34. Comparison — Gives the power of discovering analogies, resem- blances, and differences. 35. Causality — Traces the dependencies of phenomena, and the rela- tion of cause and effect. Observation proves that each of these faculties is con- nected with a particular portion of the brain, and that the power of manifesting- each bears a relation to the size and activity of its organ. The organs differ in re- lative size in different individuals, and hence their dif- ferences of talents and dispositions. This fact is of the greatest importance in the philosophy of man; and the circumstance of its having been unknown until Dr Gall's discovery of the functions of the brain, is sufficient to ex- plain the past barrenness of mental science, and to ren- der probable the assertion, that a great flood of light on this subject is now pouring forth on the world. These faculties are not all equal in excellence and authority ; some are common to man with the lower animals ; and others are peculiar to man. Before comparing the hu- man mind, therefore, with its external condition, it be- comes an object of primary importance to discover the relative rank and authority of these different powers. If the Animal Faculties are naturally or necessarily supreme, in other words, if man is by nature only an animal of superior intelligence, then external nature, if it be wisely constituted, may be expected to bear direct reference, in its arrangements, to this supremacy ; and to be calcu- lated to render him most happy when acting in confor- mity with his animal feelings. If the Moral and Intel- MENTAL FACULTIES OF MAN. 63 lectual Faculties hold the ascendancy, then the constitu- tion of external nature may be expected to be in har- mony with them; or, in other words, to confer the highest degree of enjoyment on man, when he acts under the guidance of his moral and intellectual powers. Sect. IV« THE FACULTIES OF MAN COMPARED WITH EACH OTHER ; OR THE SUPREMACY OF THE MORAL SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. According to the phrenological theory of human na- ture, the faculties are divided into Propensities common to man with the lower animals, Sentiments common to man with the lower animals, Sentiments proper to man, and Intellect. Every faculty stands in a definite rela- tion to certain external objects ; — when it is internal- ly active it desires these objects ; — when they are pre- sented to it they excite it to activity, and delight it with agreeable sensations. Human happiness and misery are resolvable into the gratification, or denial of gratification, of one or more of our faculties, of the external senses, or of the feelings connected with our bodily frame. The faculties, in themselves, are mere instincts ; the moral sentiments and intellect are higher than the animal pro- pensities. Every faculty is good in itself, but all are liable to abuse. Their manifestations are right only when directed by enlightened intellect and moral senti- ment. The faculties may be considered as acting in a variety of ways : First, The lower propensities may be viewed as acting by themselves, each seeking its own gratification, 64 SUPREMACY OF THE but, without transgressing the limits prescribed by en- lightened intellect and the moral sentiments : this gratifi- cation is legitimate and proper, and the fountain of much enjoyment to human beings. Secondly, The pro- pensities may be considered as acting in opposition to the dictates of the moral sentiments and intellect ; a mer- chant, for instance, by misrepresentation of the real qua- lities of his commodities, may obtain a higher price for them than if he spoke the truth ; or, by depreciating un- justly the goods of a rival, he may attract that rival's cus- tomers to himself: By such conduct he would apparent- ly benefit himself, but he would infringe the dictates of the moral sentiments and intellect ; in other words, he would do an injury to the interests of his rival proportionate to the undue benefit which he attempted to secure to himself: All such manifestations of the propensities are abuses, and, when pursued to their results as a system, injure not only the individual against whom they are directed, but him also who practises them. Thirdly, The moral sen- timents may be regarded as acting by themselves, each seeking its own gratification ; thus Benevolence may prompt an individual to do acts of kindness ; and Venera- tion to perform exercises of devotion: When the gratifica- tion sought by any one or more of the sentiments does not infringe the duties prescribed by all the other senti- ments and enlightened intellect, the actions are proper. But any one moral sentiment, acting by itself, may run into excess, — Benevolence, for instance, may instigate to generosity at the expense of justice; Veneration may prompt a person to run after sermons abroad, when he should be instructing his children at home,— and these also are abuses. MORAL SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. 65 Thus there is, 1st, a wide sphere of action provided for the propensities, in which each may seek its gratification in its own way, without exceeding the limits of morality, and this is a good and proper action ; 2dly, There is ample scope for the exercise of each of the moral and in- tellectual faculties, without infringing the dictates of any of the other faculties belonging to the same classes ; and this action also is good : But, on the other hand, the propensities, and also the moral and intellectual faculties, may act singly or in groupes, in opposition to the dic- tates of the whole moral sentiments and intellectual powers enlightened by knowledge, and acting in combi- nation ; and all such actions are wrong. Hence the rule of right conduct is that which is approved of by the whole moral and intellectual faculties fully enlightened, and acting in harmonious combination. This I call the supremacy of the moral sentiments and intellect. In maintaining the supremacy of the moral sentiments and intellect, therefore, 1 do not consider any of them singly, nor even the whole of them collectively, as suf- ficient to direct conduct by their mere instinctive sugges- tions. To fit them to discharge this important duty, they must act in harmonious combination, and be illuminated by knowledge of science and of moral and religious duty. The sources of knowledge are observation and reflection, experience, instruction by books, teachers, and all other means by which the Creator has provided for the im- provement of the human mind. Whenever their dic- tates, thus combined and enlightened, oppose the solici- tations of the propensities, the latter must yield, other- wise, by the constitution of external nature, evil will in- evitably ensue. This is what I mean by nature being 66 SUPREMACY OF THE constituted in harmony with the supremacy of the moral sentiments and intellect. Phrenology shews that different individuals possess the faculties in very different degrees ; I do not mean, therefore, to say that, in each individual, whatever the proportion of his organs may be, the dictates of his moral and intellectual powers are rules of conduct not to be dis- puted. On the contrary, in most individuals one or more of the moral or intellectual organs are so deficient in size, in proportion to the organs of the propensities, that his individual perceptions of duty will be far short of the highest standard. The dictates of the moral and intel- lectual powers, therefore, which constitute rules of con- duct, are the collective dicta of the highest minds illumi- nated by the greatest knowledge. Let us now consider the faculties themselves. First, I shall view the propensities as acting by themselves, un- influenced by the moral and intellectual powers. There is an ample scope for their proper activity in this way, but the great distinction between the animal faculties and the powers proper to man is, that the former do not prompt us to seek the welfare of others, — their object is chiefly the preservation of the individual himself, his fa- mily or tribe ; while the latter have the general happi- ness of the human race, and our duties to God, as their ends. The Love of Life, and The Appetite for Food, have clearly reference to the preservation of the indivi- dual alone. Even the domestic affections, amiable and respectable as they undoubtedly are when combined with the moral feelings, have self as their chief object. The first three MORAL SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. 67 propensities, Amativeness, Philoprogenitiveness, and Adhesiveness, or the group of the domestic affections, desire a conjugal partner, offspring and friends : the ob- taining of these affords them delight, — the removal of them occasions pain. But they do not take an interest in the welfare of their objects on their own account. He who loves from Amativeness alone is sensual, faithless, and negligent of the happiness of its object. He who combines with love, springing from this propensity, Be- nevolence, Veneration, Justice, and Intellect, will dis- interestedly promote the real happiness of the object of his affection. Thus the whole faculties must be gratified harmonious- ly, or at least the gratification of one or more of them must not offend any of the others. For example, suppose the group of the domestic affections to be highly interest- ed in an individual, and strongly to desire to form an al- liance with him, but that the person so loved is improvi- dent and immoral, and altogether an object of whom the higher faculties, if left dispassionately to survey his quali- ties, could not approve ; then, if an alliance be formed with him, under the ungovernable impulses of the lower feel- ings, bitter days of repentance will necessarily follow, when these begin to languish, and the latter faculties receive offence from his qualities. If, on the other hand, the do- mestic affections are guided to an object pleasing to the better powers, these themselves will be gratified, they will double the delights afforded by the inferior faculties, and render the enjoyment permanent. The love of children, springing from Philoprogenitive- ness, when acting alone, is the same in kind as that of the miser for his gold ; an interest in the object, for the sake of 68 SUPREMACY OF THE the gratification it affords to his own mind, without de- siring, or being able to distinguish, what is good for the object on its own account. This truth is recognised by Sir Walter Scott. He says, " Elspat's ardent, though selfish affection for her son, incapable of being qualified by a re- gard for the true interests of the unfortunate object of her attachment, resembled the instinctive fondness of the animal race for their offspring; and, diving little far- ther into futurity than one of the inferior creatures, she only felt that to be separated from Hamish was to die*." In man, this faculty generally acts along with Benevo- lence, and a disinterested desire of the happiness of the child mingles along with, and elevates the mere instinct of, Philoprogenitiveness ; but the sources of these two af- fections are different, their degrees vary in different per- sons, and their ends also are dissimilar. This is exempli- fied every day by the conduct of mothers, who, although actuated by an intense instinctive love of their offspring, nevertheless spoil them by vicious indulgence, and ren- der them completely miserable. If Philoprogenitiveness were capable, by itself, of desiring and perceiving the real welfare of children, the treatment of them would, in all cases, be rational and beneficial, in proportion to the degree in which this faculty was active ; but this is not consistent with experience. Again, Christian mothers, who sincerely believe that, at death, their children pass into everlasting happiness, which is far better for them than sojourning on earth, nevertheless, shew the high- est indications of bereavement and sorrow on their loss ; — thus affording evidence that their love was an instinct which gives pain when disappointed, and not a disinte- * Chronicles of the Canongate, vol. i. p. 281. MORAL SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. 69 rested affection concerned exclusively for the happiness of the being- itself which constituted its object. The same observation applies to the affection proceed- ing from Adhesiveness. When this faculty acts alone, it desires, for its own satisfaction, a friend to love ; but, from its own impulses, it is not interested in the welfare of its object. It feels attached to him as a sheep does to its fellows of the flock ; but, if Benevolence do not act along with it, it does nothing for the happiness of that friend. The horse feels melancholy when his companion is removed ; but the feeling appears to be one of uneasi- ness at the absence of an object which gratified his Ad- hesiveness. His companion may have been led to a richer pasture, or introduced to more agreeable society ; yet this does not assuage the distress suffered by him at his removal ; his tranquillity, in short, is restored only by time causing the activity of Adhesiveness to subside, or by the substitution of another object on which it may exert itself. In human nature, the effect of the faculty, when acting singly, is the same ; and this accounts for the fact of the almost total indifference of many persons who were really attached, by Adhesiveness, to each other, when one falls into misfortune, and becomes a disagree- able object to the pride or vanity of the other. Suppose two persons, elevated in rank, and possessed of affluence, to have each Adhesiveness, Self-Esteem, and Love of Approbation large, with Benevolence and Conscientious- ness moderate, it is obvious that, while both are in pros- perity, they may really like each other's society, and feel a reciprocal attachment, because there will be mutual sympathy in their Adhesiveness, and the Self-Esteem and Love of Approbation of each will be gratified by the 70 SUPREMACY OF THE rank and circumstances of the other ; but imagine one of them to fall into misfortune, and to cease to be an object gratifying- to Self-Esteem and Love of Approbation ; sup- pose that he becomes a poor friend instead of a rich and influential one ; the harmony between their selfish facul- ties will be broken, and then Adhesiveness in the one who remains rich will transfer its affection to another in- dividual who may gratify it, and also supply agreeable sensations to Self-Esteem and Love of Approbation, — to a genteel friend, in short, who will look well in the eye of the world. Much of this conduct occurs in society, and the whin- ing complaint is very ancient, that the storms of adver- sity disperse friends, just as the winter winds strip leaves from the forest that gaily adorned it in the sunshine of summer ; and many moral sentences have been pointed, and episodes finely turned, on the selfishness and corrup- tion of poor human nature. But such friendships were attachments founded on the lower feelings, which, by their constitution, do not regard the welfare of others, and the desertion complained of is the fair and legitimate result of the principles on which both parties acted during the gay hours of prosperity. If we look at a cast of the head of Sheridan, we shall perceive large Adhesiveness, Self-Esteem, and Love of Approbation, with deficient re- flecting organs, and moderate Conscientiousness. Pie has large Individuality, Comparison, Secretiveness, and Imi- tation, which gave him talents for observation and dis- play. When these earned him a brilliant reputation, he was surrounded by friends, and he himself probably felt attachment in return. But he was deficient in morality, and this prevented him from loving his friends with a MORAL SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. 71 true, disinterested, and honest regard ; he abused their kindness ; and, as he sunk into poverty and wretched- ness, and ceased to be an honour to them, or to excite their Love of Approbation, all constituted like himself, deserted him. But the whole connection was founded on selfish principles ; Sheridan honoured them, and they flattered Sheridan ; and the abandonment was the natu- ral consequence of the cessation of gratification to their selfish feelings, I shall by and by point out the sources of a loftier and purer friendship, and its effects. It was only those individuals who acted from Adhesiveness com- bined with the higher feelings, who remained attached to Sheridan through all his misfortunes. Combativeness and Destructiveness, also, when act- ing in combination with the other propensities, do not in their own nature seek the happiness of others. If ag- gression is committed against us, Combativeness draws the sword and repels the attack : Destructiveness inflicts vengeance for the offence ; both feelings are obviously very different from Benevolence. I do not say that, in themselves, they are despicable or sinful ; on the contrary, they are necessary, and, when legitimately employed, highly useful ; but still their first and instinctive object is the preservation of self. The next organ is Acquisitiveness. It blindly desires to possess, is pleased with accumulating, and suffers great uneasiness in being deprived of possessions ; but its ob- ject is not the happiness of others. It is highly useful, like all the other faculties, for even Benevolence cannot give away until Acquisitiveness has acquired. There are friendships, particularly among mercantile men, found- ed on Adhesiveness and Acquisitiveness, just as in fa- 72 SUPREMACY OF THE shionable life they are founded on Adhesiveness and Love of Approbation. Two individuals fall into a course of dealing, by which each reaps profit from transactions with the other: this leads to intimacy; Adhesiveness mingles its influence, and a feeling of attachment is at last produced. The moment, however, that the Ac- quisitiveness of the one suffers the least inroad from that of the other, and their interests clash, they are apt, if no higher principle unite them, to become bitter enemies. It is probable that, while these fashionable and commer- cial friendships last, the parties may profess great recip- rocal esteem and regard, and that, when a rupture takes place, the one who is depressed or disobliged, may recall these expressions and charge the other with hypocrisy ; but they really were not insincere. From Adhesiveness and gratified Love of Approbation, each probably felt something which he coloured over, and perhaps believed to be disinterested friendship; but if each would honest- ly probe his own conscience, he would be obliged to ac- knowledge that the whole basis of the connection was selfish ; and hence, that the result is just what every man ought to expect, who places his reliance for happiness chiefly on the lower feelings. Secretiveness suppresses feelings that are improper to be manifested, and that might injure us with other indi- viduals, and restrains the faculties generally. It also desires to find out secrets that may enable its possessor to guard self against hostile plots or designs. In itself it does not desire, in any respect, the benefit of others. Self-Esteem is, in its very essence and name, selfish ; it is the love of ourselves, and the esteem of ourselves par excellence* MORAL SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. 73 Love of Approbation, although many think otherwise, does not in itself desire the real happiness of others. Its object is applause to ourselves, to be esteemed ourselves ; and if it prompt us to do services, or to say agreeable things to others, it is not from pure love of them, but for the sake of obtaining the self-gratification afforded by their good opinion. Suppose, for example, that we are acquainted with a person who has committed an error in some official duty, who has done or said something that the public disap- prove of, and which we see to be really wrong, — Benevo- lence and Conscientiousness would prompt us to lay be- fore our friend the very head and front of his offending, and conjure him to forsake his error, and make public amends : — Love of Approbation, on the other hand, would simply desire to gain his applause, without looking far- ther. If unenlightened, it would either render us averse to speak to him at all on the subject, lest he should be offended, or prompt us to extenuate his fault, to gloss it over, and represent it either as a simple mistake, or as extremely trivial. If we analyze the motive which prompts to this course, we shall find that it is not love of our friend, or consideration for his welfare ; but fear lest, by our presenting to him disagreeable truths, he should feel offended with us, and deprive us of the gra- tification afforded by his good opinion. Another illustration may be given. A manufacturer in a country town, having acquired a considerable for- tune by trade, applied part of it in building a princely mansion, which he furnished in the richest and most ex- pensive style of fashion. He asked his customers, near o 74 SUPREMACY OF THE and distant, to visit him, and led them into apartments that absolutely dazzled them with splendour. This ex- cited their curiosity and wonder, which was precisely the effect he desired ; he then led them over his whole suite of rooms, and displayed before them his grandeur and taste. In doing so, he imagined that he was con- ferring a high pleasure on them, and filling their minds with an intense admiration of his greatness; but the real effect was very different. The motive of his con- duct was not love of them, or regard for their happi- ness or welfare ; it was not Benevolence to others that prompted him to build the palace ; it was not Venera- tion, nor was it Conscientiousness. The fabric sprung from Self-Esteem and Love of Approbation, combined, no doubt, with considerable Intellect and Ideality. In leading his humble brethren in trade through the prince- ly halls, over the costly carpets, and amidst the gild- ed mirrors, and rich array, that everywhere met their eyes, he exulted in the consciousness of his own impor- tance, and asked for their admiration, not as an ex- pression of respect for any real benefit conferred upon them, but as the much relished food of his own selfish vanity. Let us attend, in the next place, to the effect which this display would produce on those to whom it was ad- dressed. To gain their esteem or affection, it would have been necessary to manifest towards them Benevo- lence, respect, and justice : In short, to cause another in- dividual to love us, we must make him the object of our moral sentiments, which have his good and happiness for their end. Here, however, these were not the inspiring motives of the conduct, and the want of them would be MORAL SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. 75 Instinctively felt. The customers, who possessed the least shrewdness, would ascribe the whole exhibition to the vanity of the owner, and they would either pity, or envy and hate him : — -If their own moral sentiments pre- dominated, they would pity him; if their Self-esteem and Love of Approbation were paramount, they would envy his magnificence, yet be offended at his assumed superiority, and would hate him. It would be only the silliest and the vainest who would be at all gratified ; and their satisfaction would arise from the feeling, that they could now return to their own circle, and boast how great a friend they had, and in how grand a style they had been entertained, — this display being a direct gratification of their own Self-esteem and Love of Approbation, by iden- tifying themselves with him. Even this pleasure would exist only where the admirer was so humble in rank as to entertain no idea of rivalship, and so limited in intel- lect and sentiments as not to perceive the worthlessness of the qualities by which he was captivated. In like manner, when persons, even of more sense than the manufacturer here alluded to, give entertain- ments to their friends, they sometimes fail in their object from the same cause. Their leading motive is a wish to shew off themselves, much more than to confer real happiness upon their acquaintances ; and, by the irrever- sible law of human nature, this must fail in exciting good- will and pleasure in the minds of those to whom it is ad- dressed, because it disagreeably affects their Self-esteem and Love of Approbation. In short, to be really suc- cessful in gratifying our friends, we must keep our own selfish faculties in due subordination, and pour out co- pious streams of real kindness from the higher sentiments, 76 SUPREMACY OF THE animated and elevated by intellect ; and all who have ex- perienced the heart-felt joy and satisfaction attending an entertainment conducted on this principle, will never quarrel with the homeliness of the fare, or feel uneasy about the absence of fashion in the service. Cautiousness is the next faculty, and is a sentiment instituted to prompt us to shun danger. Acting apart from the moral sentiments, it would seek first to protect self from evil, and this is its essential object. This terminates the list of the Feelings common to man with the lower animals *, and which, as we have seen, when acting instinctively, either singly or in combination with each other, apart from the moral powers, do not seek the welfare of others as their aim, but have self- preservation as their leading objects. They are given for the protection and advantage of our individual na- ture, and, when manifested in their proper spheres, are highly useful, and also respectable, viewed with reference to that end ; but they are sources of innumerable evils when allowed to usurp the ascendency over the moral faculties, and to become the leading springs of our social conduct. I proceed to notice the Moral Sentiments, which are pro- per to man, and to point out their objects and relations. Benevolence has direct reference to other beings. It desires purely and disinterestedly the happiness of its ob- * Benevolence is stated in the works on Phrenology as common to man with the lower animals ; but in these creatures it appears to produce rather passive meekness and good nature, than actual desire for each other's happiness. In the human race, this last is its proper functu n ; and, viewed in this light, I treat of it as exclusively a human faculty. MORAL SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. 77 jects ; it loves for the sake of the person beloved ; if he be well, and the sunbeams of prosperity shine warmly around him, it exults and delights in his felicity. It de- sires a diffusion of joy, and renders the feet swift and the arm strong in the cause of charity and love. By the be- neficence of the Creator, when gratified, it is the source of great enjoyment to its possessor; and some authors have asserted, that men are benevolent for the sake of this pleasure ; but this is not correct. The impulse is in- stinctive, and acts before the intellect has anticipated the result. Veneration also has reference to others. It looks up with a pure and elevated emotion to the being to whom it is directed, whether God or our fellow-men, and delights in the contemplation of their venerable and admirable qualities. It desires to find out excellence, and to repose upon it. It renders self lowly, humble, and submissive. God is its highest object. Hope spreads its gay wing in the boundless regions of futurity. It desires good, and expects it to come ; " it incites us indeed to aim at a good which we can live without ;" but its influence is soft, soothing, and happy. When combined with the propensities, it expects good to self; when with the moral sentiments, it anticipates uni- versal happiness. Ideality delights in perfection from the pure pleasure of contemplating it. So far as it is concerned, the pic- ture, the statue, the landscape, or the mansion, on which it abides with intensest rapture, is as pleasing, al- though the property of another, as if all its own. It is a spring that is touched by the beautiful wherever it ex- 78 * SUPREMACY OF THE ists ; and hence its means of enjoyment are as unbounded as the universe is extensive. Wonder seeks the new and the striking, and is de- lighted with change ; but there is no desire of appropria- tion to self in its longings. Conscientiousness stands in the midway between self and other individuals. It is a regulator of our animal feelings, and points out the limit which they must not pass. It desires to do to another as we would have another to do to us, and is the guardian of the wel- fare of our fellow-men, while it sanctions and supports our personal feelings within the bounds of due modera- tion. It is a noble feeling ; and the mere consciousness of its being bestowed upon us, ought to bring home to our minds an intense conviction that the Author of the universe is at once wise and just. The sentiments now enumerated may be erroneously directed, or may act in excess, and, in either case, may give rise to abuses, such as profusion, superstition, or ex- travagant refinement. But the grand distinction between them and the propensities is this : The propensities act- ing even legitimately singly, or in combination with each other, but not in combination with the moral sentiments, have individual interests for their direct objects, and do not actively desire the happiness of other beings for the sake of these beings themselves : The actions of the lower animals afford illustrations in point. The moral powers, on the other hand, acting singly, or in harmonious combi- nation witli each other, and, directed by enlightened intel- lect, desire the welfare of other beings as their direct ob- ject. The purest and the best of men afford in their con- duct examples of the truth of this remark* MORAL SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. 79 Intellect is universal in its applications. It may be- come the handmaid of any of the faculties ; it may devise a plan to murder or to bless, to steal or to bestow, to rear up or to destroy ; but, as its proper use is to observe the different objects of creation, to mark their relations, and direct the propensities and sentiments to their proper and legitimate enjoyments, it has a boundless sphere of acti- vity, and, when properly exercised and applied, is a source of high and inexhaustible delight. The world is so constituted, that all necessary and really advantageous gratifications of the propensities are compatible with the dictates of the moral sentiments and intellectual powers when acting in harmonious combina- tion ; and that all gratifications of the propensities which are disapproved of by the higher powers, are, in their ultimate consequences, hurtful to the individual himself. In like manner, all manifestations of the higher senti- ments, when acting in harmonious combination, and di- rected by enlightened intellect, although they tend di- rectly to the welfare of others, indirectly contribute, in a high degree,^to the enjoyment of the virtuous agent. Keeping in view the great difference now pointed out between the animal and properly human faculties, the reader will perceive that three consequences follow from the constitution of these powers : First, All the faculties, when in excess, are insatiable, and, from the constitution of the world, never can he satisfied. They indeed may be soon satisfied on any particular occasion. Food will soon fill the stomach ; success in a speculation will render Acquisitiveness quiescent for the moment ; a triumph will satisfy for the time Self-esteem and Love of Approbation ; a long concert will fatigue Tune ; and 80 SUPREMACY OF THE a tedious discourse will afflict Causality. But after re- pose they will all renew their solicitations. They must all therefore be regulated ; and, in particular, the lower propensities. These having self as their primary object, and being blind to consequences, do not set limits to their own indulgence ; and, when allowed to exceed the boun- daries prescribed by the superior sentiments and intellect, lead directly to misery to the individual, and injury to society. As this circumstance attending the propensities is of great practical importance, I shall make a few observa- tions in elucidation of it. The births and lives of child- ren depend upon circumstances, over which unenlightened men have but a limited controul ; and hence an individual, whose supreme happiness springs from the gratification of Philoprogenitiveness, may, by the predominance of that propensity, and the inactivity of the higher powers, be led to neglect or infringe the natural laws on which the lives and welfare of children depend, to treat them ir- rationally, and thus to defeat his own desires. He will be in constant danger of anguish and disappoint- ment, by the death of his children, or by their undu- tiful conduct. Besides, Philoprogenitiveness, acting in each parent along with Self-Esteem and Love of Ap- probation, would desire that his children should possess the highest rank, the greatest wealth, and be distinguish- ed for the most splendid talents. Now the highest, the greatest, and the most splendid of any qualities, neces- sarily imply the existence of inferior degrees, and are attainable only by few. The animal faculties, there- fore, must be restrained in their desires, and directed to their objects by the moral sentiments, and by intellect,,. MORAL SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. 81 otherwise they will inevitably lead to disappointment. In like manner, Acquisitiveness desires wealth, and, as nature affords annually only a limited quantity of grain, cattle, fruit, flax, and other articles, from which food, clothing, and wealth, are manufactured ; and as this quan- tity, divided equally among all the members of a state, would afford but a moderate portion to each ; it is self- evident that, if all desire to acquire and possess a large amount, ninty-nine out of every hundred must be disap- pointed. This disappointment, from the very constitution of nature, is inevitable to the greater number ; and when individuals form schemes of aggrandisement, originating from desires communicated by the animal faculties alone, they would do well to keep this law of nature in view. When we look around us, we see how few become rich ; how few succeed in accomplishing all their lofty antici- pations for the advancement of their children ; and how few attain the summit of ambition, compared with the multitudes who fail. The animal faculties exist in all men, and when they act without regulation, they prompt one man to defeat the gratification of another. All this arises, not from error and imperfection in the in- stitutions of the Creator, but from blindness in men to their own nature, to the nature of external objects, and to the relations established between them ; in short, blindness to the principles of the divine administration of the world. Secondly, The animal propensities being inferior in their nature to the human faculties, their gratifications, when not approved of by the latter, leave a painful feel- ing of discontent and dissatisfaction in the mind, occa- sioned by the secret disclamation of their excessive ac^ 82 SUPREMACY OP THE tion by the higher feelings. Suppose, for example, a young person to set out in life, with ardent wishes to acquire wealth and to attain honour and distinction. Imagine him to rise early and sit up late, to put forth all the energies of a powerful mind in buying, selling, and becoming rich ; and that he is successful : it is obvious, that Benevolence, Veneration, and Conscien-» tiousness, had a small share in prompting him to this course of action ; and that, in pursuing it, they have not received direct and intended gratification. They may have anxiously and wearily watched the animal faculties, longing for the hour when they would say Enough ; their whole occupation, in the mean time, having been to restrain them from such gross excesses as would have defeated their own ends. Suppose, then, this individual to have reached the even- ing of life, and to look back on the pleasures and pains of his past existence ; he must feel that there has been vanity and vexation of spirit, — or the want of a satisfy- ing portion ; because, the highest of his faculties have not been the motives of his conduct, and have received no direct and adequate gratification. If an individual has, through life, aimed at acquiring reputation, he will find that the real affection and esteem of mankind which he has gained, will be great or small in proportion to the degree in which he has manifested, in his habitual con- duct, the higher or the lower faculties. If men have seen him selfish in his pursuit of wealth, selfish in his domestic affections, selfish in his ambition ; although he may have pursued his objects without positive encroach- ment on the rights of others, they will still look coldly on him, they will feel no glow of affection towards him, MORAL SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. 83 no elevated respect, and no sincere admiration. If he possess penetration, he will see and feel that this is the case, and may perhaps complain that all is vanity and vexation of spirit. But the fault is his own ; love, es- teem, and sincere respect, arise, by the Creator's laws, from contemplating, not plodding selfish faculties, but Benevolence, Veneration, and Justice, as the motives and ends of our conduct ; and the individual supposed has reaped the natural and legitimate produce of the soil which he cultivated, and the seed which he sowed. Thirdly, The higher feelings, when acting in harmoni- ous combination, and directed by enlightened intellect, have a boundless scope for gratification ; their least in- dulgence is delightful, and their highest activity is bliss ; they cause no repentance ; leave no void ; but render life a scene at once of peaceful tranquillity and sustained fe- licity ; and, what is of much importance, conduct pro- ceeding from their dictates carries in its train the high- est gratification to the animal propensities themselves, of which the latter are susceptible. At the same time, it must be observed, that the sentiments err, and lead also to evil, when not regulated by enlightened intellect ; that intellect in its turn must give due weight to the ex- istence and desires of both the propensities and senti- ments, as elements in the human constitution, before it can arrive at sound conclusions regarding conduct ; and that rational actions and true happiness flow from the gratification of all the faculties in harmony with each other ; the sentiments and intellect bearing the direct- ing sway. This proposition may be shortly illustrated. Imagine an individual to commence life, with the thorough con- 84 SUPREMACY OF THE viction that the higher sentiments are the superior powers, and that they ought to be the sources of his actions, the first effect would be to cause him to look habitually outward on other men and on his Creator, instead of looking inward on himself as the object of his highest and chief regard. Benevolence would infuse into his mind the feeling that there are other human beings as dear to the Creator, and as much entitled to enjoyment as himself, and that his duty is to seek no gratification to himself which is calculated to prove injurious to them ; but, on the contrary, to act so as to confer on them, by his daily exertions, all the services in his power. Veneration would give a strong feeling of reliance on the power and wisdom of God, that such conduct would conduce to the highest gratification of all his faculties ; it would add also an habitual respect for his fellow men, as beings deserving his regard, and to whose reasonable wishes he was bound to yield a willing and sincere obe- dience: Lastly, Conscientiousness would prompt him habitually to restrain his animal desires, so as to prevent the slightest abuse of them which would prove injurious to himself or his fellow men. Let us trace, then, the effect which these principles would produce in ordinary life. Suppose a friendship formed by such an individual : one of his fundamental principles being Benevolence, which inspires with a pure and disinterested regard for other men, he would desire his friend's welfare for his friend's sake ; next Venera- tion, acting along with intellect, would reinforce this love, by the conviction that it was entirely conformable to the law of God, and would be acceptable in His sight. It would add also a habitual deference towards the friend, Moral sentiments and intellect. 85 himself, which would render our manner pleasing to him and our deportment yielding and accommodating in all things proper to be forborne or done. Thirdly, Con- scientiousness, ever on the watch, would proclaim the duty of making no unjust demands on the good nature of our friend, but of limiting our whole intercourse with him to an interchange of kindness, good offices, and reciprocal affection. Intellect, acting along with these principles, would point out, as an indispensable requisite to such an attachment, that the friend himself should be so far under the influence of the moral sentiments as to be able, in some degree, to satisfy them ; for, if he were immoral, sel- fish, vainly ambitious, or, in short, under the habitual in- fluence of the propensities, the sentiments could not love and respect him ; they might pity him as unfortunate, but love him they could not, because this is impossible by the very laws of their constitution. Let us now attend to the degree in which such a friendship would gratify the lower propensities. In the first place, how would Adhesiveness exult and rejoice in such an attachment ? It would be filled with delight, be- cause, if the intellect were convinced that the friend ha- bitually acknowledged the supremacy of the higher senti- ments, Adhesiveness might pour forth all its ardour, and cling to its object with the closest bonds of affection. The friend would not encroach on us for evil, because his Benevolence and Justice would oppose this ; he would not lay aside restraint, and break through the bonds of affection by undue familiarity, because Veneration would forbid this; he would not injure us in our name, person, or reputation, because Conscientiousness, Veneration, and Benevolence, all combined, would prevent such conduct, 86 SUPREMACY OF THE Here, then, Adhesiveness, freed from the fear of evil, of deceit, and of dishonour, because such a friend could not possibly fall into dishonour, would be at liberty to take its deepest draught of affectionate attachment ; it would receive a gratification which it is impossible it could at- tain, while acting in combination with the purely selfish faculties. What delight, too, would such a friendship af- ford to Self- Esteem and Love of Approbation ! There would be a legitimate approval of ourselves, arising from a survey of pure motives, and just and benevolent ac- tions. Love of Approbation also, would be gratified in the highest degree ; for every act of affection, every ex- pression of esteem, from such a friend, would be so puri- fied by Benevolence, Veneration, and Conscientiousness, that it would form the legitimate food on which Love of Approbation might feast, and be satisfied ; it would fear no hollowness beneath, no tattling in absence, no secret smoothing over for the sake of mere effect, no envyings, and no jealousies. In short, friendship founded on the higher sentiments, as the ruling motives, would delight the mind with gladness and sunshine, and gratify all the faculties, animal, moral, and intellectual, in harmony with each other. By this illustration, the reader will understand more clearly what I mean by the harmony of the faculties. The fashionable and commercial friendships of which I spoke gratified the propensities of Adhesiveness, Love of Approbation, Self-Esteem, and Acquisitiveness, but left out, as fundamental principles, all the higher senti- ments : — there was, therefore, in these instances, a want of harmonious gratification to the whole faculties, which want gave rise to a feeling of uncertainty, and of the MORAL SENTIMENTS AND INTELLECT. 87 absence of full satisfaction ; it permitted only a mixed and imperfect enjoyment while the friendship lasted, and led to a feeling of painful disappointment, or of vanity and vexation, when a rupture occurred. The error, in such cases, consists in founding attachment on the lower faculties, seeing that they, by themselves, are not calculated to form a stable basis of affection ; instead of building it on them and the higher senti- ments, which, acting together, afford a foundation for real, lasting, and satisfactory friendship. In complain- ing of the vanity and vexation of attachments, spring- ing from the lower faculties exclusively, we are like men who should try to build a pyramid on its smaller end, and then speak of the unkindness of Providence, and lament the hardness of their fate, when it fell. A similar analysis of all other pleasures, founded on the animal propensities chiefly, would exhibit similar results. In short, happiness must be viewed by men as connected with the exercise of the three great classes of faculties, the moral sentiments and intellect exercising the direct- ing and controlling sway, before it can be permanently attained. Many men, on arriving at the close of life, complain of all its pursuits and enjoyments having proved vanity and vexation of spirit ; but, to my mind, this is just an intimation that the plan of their lives has been selfish, or that they have missed the right method of doing dis- interested good. I cannot conceive that the hour of death should cause the mind to feel all acts of kindness done to others, — all exercises of devotion performed in a right spirit, — all deeds of justice executed, — all rays of know- ledge disseminated, during life, — as vain, unprofitable, 88 FACULTIES OF MAN and unconsoling, even at the moment of our leaving for ever this sublunary scene. On the contrary, such actions appear to me to be those which the mind would then rejoice to pass in review, as having afforded real enjoy- ment, and left behind the greatest permanent good. Sect. V. THE FACULTIES OF MAN COMPARED WITH EXTERNAL OBJECTS. Having considered man as a, physical being, and briefly adverted to the adaptation of his constitution to the phy- sical laws of creation ; having viewed him as an organised being, and traced the relations of his organic structure to his external circumstances ; having taken a rapid survey of Kis faculties, as an animal, moral, and intellectual being, — with their uses and the forms of their abuses, — and having contrasted these faculties with each other, and discovered the supremacy of the Moral Sentiments and Intellect ; I proceed to compare his faculties with external objects, in order to discover what provision has been made for their gratification. 1. Amativeness is a feeling obviously necessary to the continuance of the species ; and one which, properly regulated, is not offensive to reason; — opposite sexes ex- ist to provide for its gratification*. 2. Philoprogenitiveness is given, — and offspring exist. * The nature and sphere of activity of the phrenological faculties is ex- plained at length in the ' ' System of Phrenology,'' to which I beg to re- fer. Here I can only indicate general ideas. COMPARED WITH EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 89 3. Concentrativeness is conferred, — and the other faculties are its objects. 4. Adhesiveness is given, — and country and friends exist. 5. Combativeness is bestowed, — and physical and moral obstacles exist, to meet and subdue which courage is necessary. 6. Destructiveness is given, — and man is constituted with a carnivorous stomach, and animals to be killed and eaten, exist. Besides, the whole combinations of creation are in a state of decay and renovation. In the animal kingdom almost every species of creature is the prey of some other; and the faculty of Destructiveness places the human mind in harmony with this order of creation. Destruction makes way for renovation ; the act of reno- vation furnishes occasion for the activity of our other powers ; and activity is pleasure. That destruction is a natural institution is unquestionable. Not only has na- ture taught the spider to construct a web for the purpose of ensnaring flies, that it may devour them, and consti- tuted beasts of prey with carnivorous teeth ; but she has formed even plants, such as the Drosera, to catch and kill flies, and use them for food. Destructiveness serves also to give weight to indignation, a most important de- fensive as well as vindicatory purpose. It is a check upon undue encroachment, and tends to constrain man- kind to pay regard to the rights aud feelings of each other. When properly regulated, it is an able assistant to justice. 7. Constructiveness is given, — and materials for con- structing artificial habitations, raiment, ships, and various H 90 FACULTIES OF MAN other fabrics that add to the enjoyment of life, have been provided to give it scope. 8. Acquisitiveness is bestowed, — and property exists capable of being collected, preserved, and applied to use. 9. Secretiveness is given, — and our faculties possess internal activity requiring to be restrained, until fit occa- sions and legitimate objects present themselves for their gratification ; which restraint is rendered not only pos- sible but agreeable, by the propensity in question. While we suppress and confine one feeling within the limits of our own consciousness, we exercise and gratify another in the very act of doing so. 10. Self-Esteem is given, — and we have an indivi- dual existence and individual interests, as its objects. 11. Love of Approbation is bestowed, — and we are surrounded by our fellow men, whose good opinion is the object of its desire. 12. Cautiousness is given, and it is admirably adapted to the nature of the external world. The human body is combustible, is liable to be destroyed by violence, to suffer injury from extreme wet and winds, &c; and it is necessary for us to be habitually watchful to avoid these sources of calamity. Accordingly, Cautiousness is bestowed on us as an ever watchful sentinel constantly whispering " Take care." There is ample scope for the legitimate and pleasurable exercise of all our faculties, without running into these evils, provided we know enough, and are watchful enough; and, therefore, Cau- tiousness is not overwhelmed with inevitable terrors. It serves merely as a warder to excite us to beware of sudden and unexpected danger ; it keeps the other fa- culties at their post, by furnishing a stimulus to them to COMPARED WITH EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 91 observe and to trace consequences, that safety may be insured ; and, when these other faculties do their.duty in proper form, the impulses of Cautiousness are not pain- ful, but the reverse : they communicate a feeling of in- ternal security and satisfaction, expressed by the motto Semper paratus ; hence this faculty appears equally be- nevolent in its design, as the others which we have con- templated. Here, then, we perceive a beautiful provision made for supporting the activity of, and affording legitimate gra- tification to, the lower propensities. These powers are conferred on us clearly to support our animal nature, and to place us in harmony with the external objects of creation. So far from their being injurious or base in themselves, they possess the dignity of utility, and are sources of high enjoyment, when legitimately indulged. The phrenologist, therefore, would never seek to extir- pate, or to weaken them too much. He desires only to see their excesses controlled, and their exercise directed in accordance with the great institutions and designs of the Creator. The next class of faculties is that of the Moral Senti- ments proper to man. These are the following : Benevolence is given, — and sentient and intelligent beings are created, whose happiness we are able to in- crease, thereby affording it scope and delight. It is an error to imagine, that creatures in misery are the only objects of benevolence, and that it has no function but the excitement of pity. It is a wide-spreading fountain of generous feeling, desiring for its gratification not only 92 FACULTIES OF MAN" the removal of pain, but the maintenance and augmenta- tion of positive enjoyment ; and the happier it can ren- der its objects, the more complete are its satisfaction and delight. Its exercise, like that of all the other faculties, is a source of great pleasure to the individual himself; and nothing can be conceived more admirably adapted for affording it exercise, than the system of creation ex- hibited on earth. From the nature of the human facul- ties, each individual, without injuring himself, has it in his power to confer prodigious benefits, or, in other words, to pour forth the most copious streams of benevolence on others, by legitimately gratifying their various feelings and intellectual faculties. Veneration. — The legitimate object of this faculty is the Divine Being ; and I assume here the existence of God, as capable of demonstration. The very essay in which I am now engaged, is an attempt at an exposi- tion of some of his attributes, as manifested in this world. If we shall find wisdom and benevolence in his works, unchangeableness, and no shadow of turning in his laws ; perfect harmony in each department of cre- ation ; and shall discover that the evils which afflict us are much less the direct objects of his arrangements than the consequences of ignorant neglect of institutions calculated for our enjoyment, — then we shall acknowledge in the Divine Being an object whom we may love with our whole soul, reverence with the deepest emotions of vene- ration, and on whom Hope and Conscientiousness may repose with a perfect and unhesitating reliance. The exercise of this sentiment is in itself a great positive en- joyment, when the object is in harmony with our other faculties. Farther, its activity disposes us to yield obe~ COMPARED WITH EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 93 dience to the Creator's laws, the object of which is our own happiness ; and hence its exercise, in the highest de- gree, is provided for. Revelation unfolds the character and intentions of God where reason cannot penetrate ; but its doctrines do not fall within the limits prescribed to this Essay. Hope is given, — and our understanding, by discover- ing the laws of nature, is enabled to penetrate into the future. This sentiment, then, is gratified by the abso- lute reliance which Causality convinces us that we may place on the stability and wisdom of the divine arrange- ments ; its legitimate exercise, in reference to this life, is to give us a vivifying faith, that good is attainable if we use the proper means ; that while we suffer evil, we are undergoing a chastisement for having neglected the in- stitutions of the Creator r the object of which punishment is to force us back into the right path. Revelation pre- sents to Hope the certainty of a life to come ; and directs all our faculties in points of Faith. Ideality is bestowed, — and not only is external nature invested with the most exquisite loveliness, but a capacity for moral and intellectual refinement is given to us, by which we may rise in the scale of excellence, and at every step of our progress reap direct enjoyment from this sentiment. Its constant desire is for " something more exquisite still." In its own immediate impulses it is de- lightful, and external nature and our own faculties re- spond to its call. Wonder prompts us to admiration, and desires some- thing new. When we contemplate man endowed with intellect to discover a Deity and to comprehend his works, we cannot doubt of Wonder being provided with objects for its intensest exercise ; and when we view him 94 FACULTIES OF MAN, placed in a world where all old things are constantly passing away, and a system of renovation is incessantly proceeding, we see at once how vast a provision is made for the gratification of his desire of novelty, and how ad- mirably it is calculated to impel his other faculties to action. Conscientiousness exists, — and it has a wide field of exercise in regulating the rights and interests of the in- dividual in relation to other men, and to society. It is ne- cessary to prove that all the divine institutions are found- ed in justice, to afford it full satisfaction. This is a point which many regard as involved in much obscurity : I shall endeavour in this Essay to lift the veil in part, for to me justice appears to flow through every divine institution. One difficulty, in regard to Conscientiousness, long ap- peared inexplicable ; it was, how to reconcile with Bene- volence the institution by which this faculty visits us with remorse, after offences are actually committed, in- stead of arresting our hands by an irresistible veto be- fore sinning, so as to save us from the perpetration alto- gether. The problem is solved by the principle, That happiness consists in the activity of our faculties, and that the arrangement of punishment after the offence, is far more conducive to activity than the opposite. For example ; if we desired to enjoy the highest gratification in exploring a new country, replete with the most exqui- site beauties of scenery, and most captivating natural productions, and if we found in our path precipices that gratified Ideality in the highest degree, but which en- dangered life when, neglecting the law of gravitation, we advanced so near as to fall over them ; whether would it be most bountiful for providence to send an invisible at- tendant with us, who, whenever we were about to ap- COMPARED WITH EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 95 proach the brink, should interpose a barrier, and fairly cut short our advance, without requiring us to bestow one thought upon the subject, and without our knowing when to expect it and when not ; — or to leave all open, but to confer on us, as he has done, eyes fitted to see the pre- cipice, faculties to comprehend the law of gravitation, Cautiousness to make us fear the infringement of it, and then to leave us to enjoy the scene in perfect safety if we used these powers, but to fall over and suffer pain by bruises and death if we neglected to exercise them ? It is obvious that the latter arrangement would give far more scope to our various powers ; and if active facul- ties are the sources of pleasure, as will be shewn in the next chapter, then it would contribute more to our en- joyment than the other. Now, Conscientiousness punish- ing after the fact, is analogous in the moral world, to this arrangement, in the physical. If Intellect, Benevolence, Veneration, and Conscientiousness, do their parts, they will give distinct intimations of disapprobation before commission of offences, just as Cautiousness will give intimations of danger at the sight of the cliff; but if these are disregarded, and we fall over the moral precipice, re- morse will follow as a punishment, just as pain is the chastisement for tumbling over the physical brink. The object of both institutions is to permit and encourage the most vigorous and unrestrained exercise of our faculties, in accordance with the physical, moral, and intellectual laws of nature, and to punish us only when we transgress these limits. Firmness is bestowed, — and the other faculties of the mind are its objects. It supports and maintains their ac- tivity, and gives determination to our purposes. Imitation is bestowed, — and every where man is sur- 96 FACULTIES OF MAN rounded by beings and objects whose actions and appear- ances it may benefit him to copy. The next Class of Faculties is the Intellectual. The provisions in external nature for the gratification of the Senses of Hearing, Seeing, Smelling, Taste, and Touch, or Feeling, are so obvious, that it is unnecessary to enlarge upon them. Individuality and Eventuality, or the powers of observing things that exist, and occurrences, are given, and " all the truths which Natural Philosophy teaches, depend upon matter of fact, and that is learned by obser- vation and experiment, and never could be discovered by reasoning at all." Here, then, is ample scope for the exercise of these powers. ^and the sciences of Geome- try, Arithmetic, Algebra, Geo- graphy, Chemistry, Botany, Mineralogy, Zoology, Ana- tomy, and various others, are the fields of their exercise. Form, Size, Weight, Locality Order, Number, We bestowed/ Colouring, Time, Tune, are given, The first three sciences are al- most the entire products of these faculties ; the others re- sult chiefly from them, when .applied on external objects. (and these, aided by Construc- tiveness, Form, Locality, Ide- ality, and other faculties, find scope in Painting, Sculpture, Poetry, Music, and the other fine arts. COMPARED WITH EXTERNAL OBJECTS. 97 Comparison,! Causality Wit, Language is given, — and our faculties inspire us with lively emotions and ideas, which we desire to communi- cate by its means to other individuals. and these faculties, aided by In- dividuality, Form, Size, Weight, and others already enumerated, exist, \ find ample gratification in Natu- ral Philosophy, in Moral, Politi- cal and Intellectual Science, and ^ their different branches. The general objects and affairs of life, together with our own feelings, conduct, and relations, are also the objects of the knowing and reflecting faculties, and afford them vast opportunities for exercise. ( 99 ) CHAPTER III. ON THE SOURCES OF HUMAN HAPPINESS, AND THE CON- DITIONS REQUISITE FOR MAINTAINING IT. Having now given a rapid sketch of the Constitution of Man, and its relations to external objects, we are pre- pared to inquire into the sources of his happiness, and the conditions requisite for maintaining it. The first and most obvious circumstance which attracts attention, is, that all enjoyment must necessarily arise from activity of the various systems of which the human con- stitution is composed. The bones, muscles, nerves, di- gestive and respiratory organs, furnish pleasing sensa- tions, directly or indirectly, when exercised in confor- mity with their nature ; and the external senses, and in- ternal faculties, when excited, supply the whole remain- ing perceptions and emotions, which, when combined, constitute life and rational existence. If these were ha- bitually buried in sleep, or c< nstitutionally inactive, life, to all purposes of enjoyment, might as well be extinct : Existence would be reduced to mere vegetation, without consciousness. If, then, Wisdom and Benevolence have been employed in constituting Man, we may expect the arrangements of creation, in regard to him, to be calculated, as a leading object, to excite his various powers, corporeal and mental* AND THE CONDITIONS FOR MAINTAINING IT. 99 to activity. This, accordingly, appears to me to be the case ; and the fact may be illustrated by a few examples. A certain portion of nervous and muscular energy is in- fused by nature into the human body every twenty-four hours, which it is delightful to expend. To provide for its expenditure, the stomach has been constituted so as to require regular supplies of food, which can be obtained only by nervous and muscular exertion : The body has been created destitute of covering, yet stand- ing in need of protection from the elements of Heaven ; and nature has been so constituted, that raiment can be easily provided by moderate exercise of the mental and corporeal powers. It is delightful to repair ex- hausted nervous and muscular energy by wholesome aliment; and the digestive organs have been so consti- tuted, as to perform their functions by successive stages and to afford us frequent opportunities of enjoying the pleasures of eating. In these arrangements, the design of supporting the various systems of the body in activity, for the enjoyment of the individual, is abundantly obvi- ous. A late writer justly remarks, that u a person of feeble texture and indolent habits has the bone smooth, thin, and light ; but nature, solicitous for our safety, and in a manner which we could not anticipate, combines with the powerful muscular frame a dense and perfect texture of bone, where every spine and tubercle is completely de- veloped." " As the structure of the parts is originally perfected by the action of the vessels, the function or operation of the part is made the stimulus to those ves- sels. The cuticle on the hand wears away like a glove ; but the pressure stimulates the living surface to force suc- cessive layers of skin under that which is wearing, or, as anatomists call it, desquamating ; by which they mean, 100 ON THE SOURCES OF HUMAN HAPPINESS, that the cuticle does not change at once, but comes off in squamse or scales." Directing our attention to the Mind, we discover that Individuality, and the other Perceptive Faculties, desire, as their means of enjoyment, to know existence, and to become acquainted with external objects ; while the Re- flecting Faculties desire to know the dependences and relations of all objects and beings. " There is some- thing," says an eloquent writer, " positively agreeable to all men, to all, at least, whose nature is not most grovelling and base, in gaining knowledge for its own sake. When you see any thing for the first time, you at once derive some gratification from the sight being new ; your attention is awakened, and you desire to know more about it. If it is a piece of workmanship, as an in- strument, a machine of any kind, you wish to know how it is made ; how it works ; and what use it is of. If it is an animal, you desire to know where it comes from ; how it lives ; what are its dispositions, and, generally, its nature and habits. This desire is felt, too, without at all considering that the machine or the animal may ever be of the least use to yourself practically ; for, in all proba- bility, you may never see them again. But you feel a curiosity to learn all about them, because they are new and unknown to you. You, accordingly, make inquiries ; you feel a gratification in getting answers to your questions, that is, in receiving information, and in knowing more, — in being better informed than you were before. If you ever happen again to see the same instrument or animal, you find it agreeable to recollect having seen it before, and to think that you know something about it. If you see another instrument or animal, in some respects like, but differing in other particulars, you find it pleasing to AND THE CONDITIONS FOR MAINTAINING IT. 101 compare them together, and to note in what they agree, and in what they differ. Now, all this kind of gratification is of a pure and disinterested nature, and has no refer- ence to any of the common purposes of life; yet it is a pleasure — an enjoyment. You are nothing the richer for it ; you do not gratify your palate, or any other bo- dily appetite; and yet it is so pleasing that you would give something out of your pocket to obtain it, and would forego some bodily enjoyment for its sake. The plea- sure derived from science is exactly of the like nature, or rather it is the very same *." This is a correct and forcible exposition of the pleasures attending the active exercise of our intellectual faculties. In the Introduction to this work, pages 8 and 9, F have given several illustra- tions of the mannerin which the external world is adapted to the mental faculties of man, and of the extent to which it is calculated to maintain them in activity, and I need not repeat them here. Supposing the human faculties to have received their present constitution, two arrangements may be fancied as instituted for their gratification ; 1st, Infusing into the intellectual powers at birth, intuitive knowledge of every object which they are fitted ever to comprehend ; and Directing every propensity and sentiment by an infallible instinct to its best mode and degree of gratification : Or, 2dli/, Constituting the intellectual faculties only as capa- cities for gaining knowledge by exercise and application, and surrounding them with objects bearing such relations towards them, that, when observed and attended to, they shall afford them high gratification; and, when unobserved and neglected, they shall occasion them uneasiness and * Objects, Advantages, and Pleasures of Science, p. 1. 102 ON THE SOURCES OF HUMAN HAPPINESS, pain : — And giving* to each propensity and sentiment a wide field Of action, comprehending both use and abuse, and leaving the intellect to direct each to its proper objects, and to regulate its degrees of indulgence. And the ques- tion occurs, Which of these modes would be most con- ducive to enjoyment ? The general opinion will be in fa- vour of the first ; but the second appears to me to be pre- ferable. If the first meal we had eaten had for ever pre- vented the recurrence of hunger, it is obvious that all the pleasures of satisfying a healthy appetite would then have been at an end ; so that this apparent bounty would have greatly abridged our enjoyment. In like manner, if, our faculties being constituted as at present, intuitive directions had been impressed on the propensities and sentiments, and intuitive knowledge had been communicated to the under- standing, so that, when an hour old, we should have been morally, as capable of wise and virtuous conduct, and in- tellectually, as thoroughly acquainted with every object, quality, and relation, as we could ever become, all provi- sion for the sustained activity of many of our faculties would have been done away with. When wealth is ac- quired, the miser's pleasure in it is diminished. He grasps after more with increasing avidity. He is sup- posed irrational in doing so ; but he obeys the instinct of his nature. What he possesses, no longer satisfies Ac- quisitiveness ; it is like food in the stomach, which gives pleasure in eating, and would give pain were it with- drawn, but which, when there, is attended with little po- sitive sensation. The miser's pleasure arises from the active state of Acquisitiveness, and only the pursuit and obtaining of neiv treasures can maintain that state. The same law is exemplified in the case of Love of Approba- AND THE CONDITIONS FOR MAINTAINING IT. 10$ tion. The gratification which it affords depends on its active state and hence the necessity for new incense, and higher mounting in the scale of ambition, is constantly experienced by its victims. Napoleon, in exile, said, " Let us live upon the past :" but he found this impossi- ble ; his predominant desires originated in Ambition and Self- Esteem, and the past did not stimulate them, or main- tain them in constant activity. In like manner, no mu- sician, artist, poet, or philosopher, would reckon himself happy, however extensive his attainments were, if in- formed, Now you must stop and live upon the past ; and the reason is still the same. New ideas, and new emo- tions, excite and maintain the faculties in activity; and activity is enjoyment. If these views be correct, the consequences of imbuing the mind with intuitive knowledge, and instinctive direc- tion as to conduct, would not have been unquestionably beneficial. The limits of our experience and acquire- ments would have been speedily reached ; our first step would have been our last ; every object would have be- come old and familiar ; Hope would have had no object of expectation ; Cautiousness no object of fear; Wonder no gratification in novelty: And monotony, insipidity, and mental satiety, would apparently have been the lot of Man. According to the view now advanced, creation, in its present form, is more wisely and benevolently adapted to our constitution than if instinctive direction and intui- tive instruction had been showered on the mind at birth. By the actual arrangement, numerous noble faculties are bestowed ; and their objects are presented ; these objects are endowed with qualities fitted to benefit and delight us, when properly used, and to injure and punish us when 104 ON THE SOURCES OF HUMAN HAPPINESS, misunderstood or misapplied ; but we are left to find out their qualities by the exercise of our faculties themselves. Provision is thus made for ceaseless activity of the mental powers, and this constitutes delight. Wheat is produced by the earth, and adapted to the nutrition of the body ; but it may be rendered more grateful to the organ of taste, more salubrious to the stomach, and more stimu- lating to the nervous and muscular systems, by being stripped of its external skin, ground into flour, and baked into bread. Now, the Creator pre-arranged all these re- lations, when he endowed wheat with its properties, and the human body with its qualities and functions. In with- holding congenital and intuitive knowledge of these qua- lities and mutual relations, but in bestowing faculties fitted to find them out ; in rendering the exercise of these faculties agreeable ; and in leaving man, in this condition, to proceed for himself, — he appears to me to have con- ferred on him the highest boon. The earth produces also hemlock and foxglove ; and, by the organic law, those substances, if taken in certain moderate quantities, re- move diseases ; if in excess, they occasion death : but, again, man's observing faculties are fitted, when applied under the guidance of Cautiousness and Reflection, to make this discovery ; and he is left to make it in this way, or suffer the consequences of neglect. Water, when elevated in temperature, becomes steam ; and steam expands with prodigious power ; this power, confined by metal, and directed by intellect, is capable of being converted into the steam-engine, the most efficient, yet humble servant of man. All this was clearly pre-ar- ranged by the Creator ; and man's faculties were adapted to it : but still we see him left to observe and discover AND THE CONDITIONS FOR MAINTAINING IT. 105 the qualities and relations of water for himself. This duty, however, must be acknowledged as benevolently imposed, the moment we discover that the Creator has made the very exercise of the faculties pleasurable, and arranged external qualities and relations so beneficially, that, when known, they may carry a double reward in adding by their positive influence to human gratification. The Knowing Faculties, as we have seen, observe the mere external qualities of bodies, and their simpler rela- tions. The Reflecting Faculties observe relations also, but of a higher order. The former discover that the soil is clay or gravel ; that it is tough or friable ; that it is dry or wet, and that excess of water impedes vegetation; that in one season the crop is large, and in the next deficient. The reflecting faculfies take cognizance of the causes of these phenomena. They discover the means by which wet soil may be rendered dry ; clay may be pulverized ; light soil may be invigorated ; and all of them made more productive ; also the relationship of particular soils to particular kinds of grain. The inhabitants of a country who exert their knowing faculties in observing the qua- lities of their soil, their reflecting faculties in discovering its capabilities and relations to water, lime, manures, and the various species of grain, and who put forth their mus- cular and nervous energies in accordance with the dic- tates of these powers, receive a rich reward in a climate improved in salubrity, in an abundant supply of food, be- sides much positive enjoyment attending the exercise of the powers themselves. Those communities, on the other hand, who neglect to use their mental faculties, and muscular and nervous energies, are punished by ague, fever, rheumatism, and a variety of painful affections, 106 ON THE SOURCES OF HUMAN HAPPINESS, arising from damp air ; are stinted in food ; and, in wet seasons, are brought to the very brink of starvation by total failure of their crops. This punishment is a bene- volent admonition from the Creator, that they are ne- glecting a great duty, and omitting to enjoy a great plea- sure ; and it will cease as soon as they have fairly re- deemed the blessings lost by their negligence, and obey- ed the laws of their being. The winds and waves appear, at first sight, to present insurmountable obstacles to man leaving the island or continent on which he happens to be born, and to his holding intercourse with his fellows in distant climes : But, by observing the relations of water to timber, he is enabled to construct a ship ; by observing the influence of the wind on a physical body placed in a fluid medium, he discovers the use of sails ; and, finally, by the application of his faculties, he has found out the expansive quality of steam, and traced its relations until he has produced a machine that enables him almost to set the roaring tem- pest at defiance, and to sail straight to the stormy north, although its loudest and its fiercest blasts oppose. In these instances, we perceive external nature admirably adapted to support the mental faculties in habitual acti- vity, and to reward us for the exercise of them. In surveying external nature with this principle in view, many qualities of physical objects present clear in- dications of benevolent design, which otherwise would be regarded as defects. The Creator obviously intended that man should discover and use coal-gas in illuminat- ing dwelling-houses ; and yet it emits an abominable odour. The bad smell, viewed abstractedly from its con- sequences, would appear to be an unfortunate quality of AND THE CONDITIONS FOR MAINTAINING IT. 107 ( the gas ; but wlien we recollect that gas is invisible, ex- tremely subtile, and liable to escape, and also, when mix- ed in a certain proportion with atmospheric air, to ex- plode, and that the nauseous and penetrating smell is like a voice attached to it proclaiming its escape and warning us, in louder and louder tones, to attend to our safety by confining it, — it presents the aspect of wise and benevolent design. It is objected to this argument, that it involves an in- consistency. Ignorance, it is said, of the natural laws is necessary to happiness, in order that the faculties may obtain exercise in discovering them ; — nevertheless hap- piness is impossible till these laws shall have been dis- covered and obeyed. „ Here, then, it is said ignorance is represented as at once essential to, and incompatible with, enjoyment. The same objection, however, applies to the constitution of the bee. Gathering honey is necessary to its enjoyment ; yet it cannot subsist and be happy till it has gathered honey, and therefore that act is both essential to, and incompatible with, its gratification. The fallacy lies in losing sight of the natural constitution both of the bee and of man. While the bee possesses instinctive tendencies to roam about the fields and flowery mea- dows, and to exert its energies in labour, it is obviously beneficial to it to be furnished with motives and oppor- tunities for doing so ; and so it is with man to obtain scope for his bodily and mental powers. Now, gather- ing knowledge is to the mind of man what gathering* honey is to the bee. Apparently with the view of ef- fectually prompting the bee to seek this pleasure, honey is made essential to its subsistence. In like manner, and probably with a similar design, knowledge is made indis- 108 ON THE SOURCES OF HUMAN HAPPINESS, pensable to human enjoyment. Communicating intuitive knowledge of the natural laws to man, while his present constitution continues, would be the exact parallel of gor- ging the bee with honey in midsummer, when its energies are at their height. When the bee has completed its store, winter benumbs its powers, which resume their vigour only when its stock is exhausted, and spring re- turns to afford them exercise. No torpor resembling that of winter seals up the faculties of the human race ; but their ceaseless activity is amply provided for, be- cause, 1st, The laws of nature, compared with the mind of any individual, are of boundless extent, so that every one may learn something new to the end of the longest life. 'Idly, By the actual constitution of man, he must make use of his acquirements habitually, otherwise he will lose them. Sdly, Every individual of the race is born in utter ignorance, and starts from zero in the scale of knowledge, so that he has the laws to learn for him- self. These circumstances remove the apparent inconsis- tency. If man had possessed intuitive knowledge of all nature, he could have had no scope for exercising his fa- culties in acquiring knowledge, in preserving \t, orin«ww- municating it. The infant would have been as wise as the most revered sage, and forgetfulness would have been necessarily excluded. Those who object to these views, imagine that after the human race has acquired knowledge of all the natu- ral laws, if such a result be possible, they will be in the same condition as if they had been created with intuitive knowledge ; but this does not follow. Although the race should acquire the knowledge supposed, it is not an ine- AND THE CONDITIONS FOR MAINTAINING IT. 109 vitable consequence that each individual will necessarily enjoy it all ; which, however, would follow from intui- tion. The entire soil of Britain belongs to the landed proprietors as a class ; but each does not possess it all ; and hence every one has opportunities for adding to his territories ; with this advantage, however, in favour of knowledge, that the acquisitions of one do not impoverish another. Farther, although the race should have learn- ed all the natural laws, their children would not intui- tively inherit their ideas, and hence the activity of every one, as he appears on the stage, would be provided for ; whereas, by intuition, every child would be as wise as his grandfather, and parental protection, filial piety, and all the delights that spring from difference in knowledge between youth and age, would be excluded. 3d, By the actual state of man, using of acquirements is essential to the preservation as well as the enjoyment of them. By intuition, all knowledge would be habitually present to the mind without effort or consideration. On the whole, therefore, it appears that man's nature being what it is, the arrangement by which he is endowed with powers to acquire knowledge, but left to find it out for himself, is both wise and benevolent. It has been asked, " But is there no pleasure in science but that of discovery ? Is there none in using the know- ledge we have attained? Is there no pleasure in play- ing at chess after we know the moves ?" In answer, I observe, that if we know beforehand all the moves that our antagonist intends to make and all our own, which must be the case if we know every thing by intuition, we shall have no pleasure. The pleasure really consists in discovering the intentions of our antagonist, and in cal- 110 ON THE SOURCES OF HUMAN HAPPINESS, dilating the effects of our own play ; a certain degree of ignorance of both of which is indispensable to gratifica- tion. In like manner, it is agreeable first to discover the natural laws, and then to study " the moves" that we ought to make, in consequence of knowing them. So much, then, for the sources of human happiness. In the second place, To reap enjoyment in the greatest quantity and to maintain it most permanently, the facul- ties must be gratified harmoniously : In other words, if, among the various powers, the supremacy belongs to the moral sentiments, then the aim of our habitual conduct must be the attainment of objects suited to gratify them. For example, in pursuing wealth or fame, as the leading object of existence, full gratification is not afforded to Benevolence, Veneration, and Conscientiousness, and consequently complete satisfaction cannot be enjoyed ; whereas, by seeking knowledge, and dedicating life to the welfare of mankind, and obedience to God, in our several vocations, these faculties will be gratified, and wealth, fame, health, and other advantages, will flow in their train, so that the whole mind will rejoice, and its delight will remain permanent. Thirdly, To place human happiness on a secure basis, the laws of external creation themselves must accord with the dictates of the moral sentiments, and intellect must be fitted to discover the nature and relations of both, and to direct the conduct in harmony with them. Much has been written about the extent of human ignorance ; but we should discriminate between absolute incapacity to know, and mere want of information, arising from not having used this capacity to its full extent. In regard to the first, or our capacity to know, it appears AND THE CONDITIONS FOR MAINTAINING IT. Ill probable that, in this world, we shall never' know the essence, beginning-, or end of things ; because these are points which we have no faculties calculated to discover : But the same Creator who made the external world con- stituted our faculties, and if we have sufficient data for inferring* that His intention is, that we shall enjoy exist- ence here while preparing for the ulterior ends of our being ; and if it be true that we can be happy here only by becoming thoroughly conversant with those natural laws which, when observed, are pre-arranged to contribute to our enjoyment, and which, when violated, visit us with suffering, we may safely conclude that our mental capacities are wisely adapted to the attainment of these objects, whenever we shall do our own duty in bringing them to their highest "condition of perfection, and in ap- plying them in the best manner. Sir Isaac Newton observed, that all bodies were com- bustible which refracted the rays of light, except one, the diamond, which he found to possess this quality, but which he was not able, by any powers he possessed, to consume by burning. He did not conclude, however, from this, that the diamond was an exception to the uni- formity of nature. He inferred, that, as the same Crea* tor had made the refracting bodies, which he was able to burn, and the diamond, and proceeded by uniform laws, the diamond also would, in all probability, be found to be combustible, and that the reason of its resisting his power was ignorance on his part of the proper way to produce its conflagration. A century afterwards, chemists made the diamond blaze with as much vivacity as Sir Isaac Newton had done a wax-candle. Let us proceed, then, on an analogous principle. If the intention of our Crea- 112 OX THE SOURCES OF HUMAN HAPPINESS. tor be, that we should enjoy existence while in this world, then He knew what was necessary to enable us to do so; and He will not be found to have failed in conferring on us powers fitted to accomplish His design, provided we do our duty in developing and applying them. The great motive to exertion is the conviction, that increased know- ledge will furnish us with increased means of happiness and well-doing, and with new proofs of benevolence and wisdom in the Great Architect of the Universe. ( 113 ) CHAP. IV. APPLICATION OF THE NATURAL LAWS TO THE PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS OF LIFE. If a system of living and occupation were to be framed for human beings, founded on the exposition of their na- ture, which I have now given, it would be something like this. 1st, So many hours a-clay should be dedicated by every individual in health, to the exercise of his nervous and muscular systems, in labour calculated to give scope to these functions. The reward of obeying this requisite of his nature would be health, and a joyous animal ex- istence ; the punishment of neglect is disease, low spirits, and death. 2dly, So many hours a-day should be spent in the se- dulous employment of the knowing and reflecting facul- ties ; in studying the qualities of external objects, and their relations ; also the nature of animated beings, and their relations ; not with the view of accumulating mere abstract and barren knowledge, but of enjoying the positive pleasure of mental activity, and of turning every discovery to account, as a means of increasing happiness, or alleviating misery. The leading object should always be, to find out the relationship of every object to our own nature, organic, animal, moral, and intellectual, and to 114 APPLICATION OF THE NATURAL LAWS TO keep tliat relationship habitually in mind, so as to render our acquirements directly gratifying to our various facul- ties. The reward of this conduct would be an incalcula- bly great increase of pleasure, in the very act of acquir- ing knowledge of the real properties of external objects, together with a great accession of power in reaping ul- terior advantages, and avoiding disagreeable affections. 3dly, So many hours a-day ought to be devoted to the cultivation and gratification of our moral and religious sentiments ; that is to say, in exercising these in harmony with intellect, and especially in acquiring the habit of admiring, loving, and yielding obedience to the Creator and his institutions. This last object is of vast import- ance. Intellect is barren of practical fruit, however rich it may be in knowledge, until it is fired and prompted to act by moral sentiment. In my view, knowledge by itself is comparatively worthless and impotent, compared with what it becomes when vivified by elevated emo- tions It is not enough that Intellect is informed ; the moral faculties must simultaneously co-operate, in yielding obedience to the precepts which the intellect recognises to be true. As Creation is one great system of which God is the author and preserver, we may fairly presume that there must be harmony among all its parts, and be- tween it and its Creator. The human mind is a portion of creation, and its constitution must be included in this harmonious scheme. The grand object of the moral a*id intellectual faculties of man, therefore, ought to be, the study of God and of his works. Before philosophy can rise to its highest dignity, and shed on the human race its richest benefits, it must become religious ; that u to say, its principles and their consequences must be THE PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS OF LIFE. 115 viewed as proceeding directly from the Divine Being", and as a revelation of his will to the faculties of man, for the guidance of his conduct. Philosophy, while separated from the moral feelings, is felt by the people at large to be cold and barren. It may be calculated to interest in- dividuals, possessing high intellectual endowments; but as the moral and religious sentiments greatly predominate in energy over the intellectual powers, in the mass of mankind, it fails to interest them. On the other hand, before natural religion can appear in all its might and glory, it must become philosophical. Its foundations must be laid in the system of creation; its authority must be deduced from the principles of that system ; and its applications must be enforced by a demonstration of the power of Providence operating in enforcing the execu- tion of its dictates. While reason and religion are at variance, both are obstructed in producing their full be- neficial effects. God has placed harmony between them, and it is only human imperfection and ignorance that introduce discord. One way of cultivating the senti- ments would be for men to meet and act together, on the fixed principles which I am now endeavouring to unfold, and to exercise on each other in mutual instruction, and in united adoration of the great and glorious Creator, the several faculties of Benevolence, Veneration, Hope, Ide- ality, Wonder, and Justice. The reward of acting in this manner would be a communication of direct and in- tense pleasure to each other ; for 1 refer to every indi- vidual who has ever had the good fortune to pass a day or an hour with a really benevolent, pious, honest, and intellectual man, whose soul swelled with adoration o£ his Creator, whose intellect was replenished with know* 316 APPLICATION OF THE NATURAL LAWS TO ledge of his works, and whose whole mind was instinct with sympathy for human happiness, whether such a day did not afford him the most pure, elevated, and lasting gratification he ever enjoyed. Such an exercise, besides, would invigorate the whole moral and intellectual powers, and fit them to discover and obey the divine institutions. Phrenology is highly conducive to this enjoyment of our moral and intellectual nature. No faculty is bad, but, on the contrary, each has a legitimate sphere of action, and, when properly gratified, is a fountain of pleasure ; in short, man possesses no feeling, of the right exercise of which an en- lightened and ingenuous mind need be ashamed. A party of thorough practical phrenologists, therefore, meets in the perfect knowledge of each other's qualities ; they respect these as the gifts of the Creator, and their great object is to derive the utmost pleasure from their legitimate use, and to avoid every approximation to abuse of them. The distinctions of country and education are broken down by unity of principle ; the chilling restraints of Cautious- ness, Self-esteem, Secretiveness, and Love of Approba- tion, which stand as barriers of eternal ice between hu- man beings in the ordinary intercourse of society, are gently removed ; the directing sway is committed to Be- nevolence, Veneration, Conscientiousness, and Intellect ; and then the higher principles of the mind operate with a delightful vivacity unknown to persons unacquainted with the qualities of human nature. Intellect also ought to be regularly exercised in arts science, philosophy, and observation. I have said nothing of dedicating hours to the direct gratification of the animal powers ; not that they should not be exercised, but that full scope for their activity will. THE PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS OF LIFE. 117 be included in the employments already mentioned. In muscular exercises, Combativeness, Destructiveness, Con- structiveness, Acquisitiveness, Self- Esteem, and Love of Approbation, may all be gratified. In contending- with and surmounting physical and moral difficulties, Comba- tiveness and Destructiveness obtain vent ; in working at a mechanical employment, requiring the exertion of strength, these two faculties, and also Construct! ven ess and Acquisitiveness, will be exercised ; in emulation who shall accomplish most good, Self- Esteem and Love of Approbation will obtain scope. In the exercise of the moral faculties, several of these, and others of the ani- mal propensities, are employed; Amativeness, Philopro- genitiveness,and Adhesiveness, for example, acting under the guidance of Benevolence, Veneration, Conscientious- ness, Ideality, and Intellect, receive direct enjoyment in the domestic circle. From proper direction also, and from the superior delicacy and refinement imparted to them by the higher powers, they do not infringe the mo- ral law, and leave no sting or repentance in the mind. Finally, a certain portion of time would require to be dedicated to taking of food and sleep. All systems hitherto practised have been deficient in providing for one or more of these branches of enjoyment. In the community at Orbiston, formed on Mr Owen's principles, music, dancing, and theatrical entertainments were provided ; but the people soon tired of these. They had not corresponding moral and intellectual instruction. The novelty excited them, but there was nothing sub- stantial behind. In common society, very little either of rational instruction or amusement is provided. The ne- glect of innocent amusement is a great error. 118 APPLICATION OF THE NATURAL LAWS TO If there be truth in these views, they will throw some light on two important questions, that have puzzled phi- losophers in regard to the progress of human improve- ment. The first is, Why should man have existed so long, and made so small an advance in the road to hap- piness ? It is obvious that the very scheme of creation which I have described, implies that man is a progressive being ; and progression necessarily supposes lower and higher conditions of attainment and enjoyment. While men are ignorant, there is great individual suffering. This distresses sensitive minds, and seems inexplicable : they cannot conceive how improvement should so slowly advance. I confess myself incapable of affording any philosophical explanation why man should have been so constituted ; neither can I give a reason why the whole earth was not made temperate and productive, in place of being partially covered with regions of barren sand and eternal snow. The Creator alone can explain these dif- ficulties. When the inhabitants of Britain wore the skins of animals, and lived in huts, we may presume that, in rigorous winters, many of them suffered severe priva- tions, and that some would perish from cold, If there had been among the sufferers a gifted philosopher, who observed the talents that were inherent in the people, al- though then latent, and who, in consequence, foresaw the splendid palaces and warm fabrics with which their de- scendants would one day adorn this island, he might well have been led to deplore the slow progress of improve- ment, and been grieved at the prevalence of so much in- termediate misery. Yet, the explanation that man is a progressive being is all that philosophy can offer; and if this satisfy us as to the past, it must be equally satisfac- THE PRACTICAL A31RANGEMENTS OF LIFE. 119 tory in regard to the present and the future. This dif- ficulty is eloquently adverted to by Dr Chalmers in his Bridge water Treatise. " We might not know the reason/' says he, " why, in the moral world, so many ages of darkness and depravity should have been permitted to pass by, any more than we know the reason why, in the natural world, the trees of a forest, instead of starting all at once into the full efflorescence and stateliness of their manhood, have to make their slow and laborious advance- ment to maturity, cradled in storms, and alternately drooping or expanding with the vicissitudes of the sea- sons. But though unable to scan all the cycles either of the moral or natural economy, yet we may recognise such influences at work, as when multiplied and developed to the uttermost, are abundantly capable of regenerating the world. One of the likeliest of these influences is the power of education, to the perfecting of which so many minds are earnestly directed at this moment, and for the general acceptance of which in society, we have a guar- antee in the strongest affections and fondest wishes of the fathers and mothers of families." (Vol. i. p. 186.) Although, therefore, we cannot explain why Man was constituted a progressive being, and why such a being ad- vances slowly, the principles of this Essay shew that there is at least an admirable adaptation of his faculties to his condition. If I am right in the fundamental proposition, that activity in the faculties is synonymous with enjoyment of existence, — it follows that it would have been less wise and less benevolent towards man, constituted as he is, to have communicated to him intuitively perfect knowledge, thereby leaving his mental powers with diminished mo- tives to activity, than to bestow on him faculties endowed 120 APPLICATION OF THE NATURAL LAWS TO with high susceptibility of action, and to surround him with scenes, objects, circumstances, and relations, calcu- lated to maintain them in ceaseless excitement ; although this latter arrangement necessarily subjects him to suf- fering while ignorant, and renders his first ascent in the scale of improvement difficult and slow. It is interest- ing to observe, that, according to this view, although the first pair of the human race had been created with power- ful and well balanced faculties, but of the same nature as at present ; if they were not also intuitively inspired with knowledge of the whole creation, and its relations, their first movements as individuals would have been retrograde ; that is, as individuals, they would, through pure want of information, have infringed many natural laws, and suffered evil ; while, as parts of the race, they would have been decidedly advancing ; for every pang they suffered would have led them to a new step in knowledge, and prompted them to advance towards a much higher condition than that which they at first ec- cupied. According to the hypothesis now presented, not only is man really benefited by the arrangement which leaves him to discover the natural laws for himself, al- though, during the period of his ignorance, he suffers much evil from want of acquaintance with them ; but his pro- gress towards knowledge and happiness must, from the very extent of his experience, be actually greater than can at present be conceived. Its extent will become more obvi- ous, and his experience itself more valuable, after he has obtained a view of the real theory of his constitution. He will find that past miseries have at least exhausted count- less errors, and he will know how to avoid thousands of paths that lead to pain : in short, he will then discover THE PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS OF LIFE. 121 that errors in conduct resemble errors in philosophy, in this, that they give additional importance and practica- bility to truth, by the demonstration which they afford of the evils attending departures from its dictates. The grand sources of human suffering at present arise from bodily disease and mental anxiety, and, in the next chap- ter, these will be traced to infringement, through igno- rance or otherwise, of physical, organic, moral, or intellec- tual laws, which, when expounded, appear in themselves calculated to promote the happiness of the race. It may be supposed that, according to this view, as knowledge accumulates, enjoyment will decrease ; but ample provi- sion is made against thts event, by withholding intuition from each generation as it appears on the stage. Each successive age must acquire knowledge for itself; and, provided ideas are new, and suited to the faculties, the pleasure of acquiring them from instructors, is only se- cond to that of discovering them for ourselves ; and, pro- bably, countless ages may elapse before all the facts and relations of nature^shall have been explored, and the pos- sibility of discovery exhausted. If the universe be infi- nite, knowledge can never be complete. The second question is, Has man really advanced in happiness, in proportion to his increase in knowledge ? We are apt to entertain erroneous notions of the plea- sures enjoyed by past ages. Fabulists have represented them as peaceful, innocent, and gay ; but if we look nar- rowly into the conditions of the savage and barbarian of the present day, and recollect that these are the states of all individuals previous to the acquisition of knowledge, we shall not much or long regret the pretended diminution of enjoyment by civilization. Phrenology renders the 122 THE PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS OF LIFE. superiority of the latter condition certain, by shewing it to be a law of nature, that, until the intellect is ex- tensively informed, and the moral sentiments assiduous- ly exercised, the animal propensities bear the predomi- nant sway ; and that wherever they are supreme, misery is an inevitable concomitant. Indeed, the answer to the objection that happiness has not increased with knowledge, appears to me to be found in the fact, that until phrenology was discovered, the nature of man was not scientifically known ; and, in consequence, that not one of his institutions, civil or domestic, was cor- rectly founded on the principle of the supremacy of the moral sentiments, or in accordance with the other laws of his constitution. Owing to the same cause, also, much of his knowledge has necessarily remained partial, and inapplicable to use ; but after this science shall have been appreciated and applied, clouds of dark- ness, accumulated through long ages that are past, may be expected to roll away, as if touched by the rays of the meridian sun, and with them many of the miseries that attend total ignorance or imperfect information*. It ought also to be kept constantly in remembrance, that man is a social being, and that the precept " love your neighbour as yourself is imprinted in his constitu- tion. That is to say, so much of the happiness of each individual depends on the habits, practices and opinions * Readers who are strangers to Phrenology, and the evidence on ■which it rests, may regard the observations in the text as extravagant and enthusiastic ; but I respectfully remind them, that, while they judge in comparative ignorance, it has been my endeavour to subject it to the se- verest scrutiny. Having found its proofs irrefragable, and being con- vinced of its importance, I solicit their indulgence in speaking of it as it appears to my own mind. THE PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS OF LIFE. 123 of the society in which he lives, that he cannot reap the full benefits of his own advancement, until similar prin- ciples shall have been embraced and realized in practice by his fellow men. This renders it his interest, as it is his duty, to communicate his knowledge to them, and to carry them forward in the career of improvement. At this moment, there are thousands of persons who feel their enjoyments, physical, moral and intellectual, impaired and abridged by the mass of ignorance and prejudice which every where surrounds them. They are men living before their age, and whom the world neither under- stands nor appreciates. Let them not, however, repine or despair ; but dedicate their best efforts to communi- cating the truths which have opened up to themselves the prospect of happiness, and they shall not be disap- pointed. The law of our constitution which has establish- ed the supremacy of the moral sentiments, renders it im- possible for individuals to attain the full enjoyment of their rational nature, until they have rendered their fel- low men virtuous and happy ; and in the truth and power of this principle, the ignorant and the wretched have a better guarantee for being raised in their condition by the efforts of their more fortunate brethren, than in the establishment of poor laws or other legislative enactments. If all ranks of the people were taught the philosophy which I am now advocating, and if, in so far as it is true, it were enforced by their religious instructors as the will of the Creator communicated to man, through His natural institutions, the progress of general im- provement would probably be accelerated. If the notions now advocated shall ever prevail, it will be seen that the experience of past ages affords no suffi- cient reason for limiting our estimate of man's capabili- 124 THE PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS OF LIFE. ties of civilization ; — he is yet only in the infancy of his existence. In the introduction I mentioned the long and gradual preparation of the globe for man ; and that he appears to be destined to advance only by sta- ges to the highest condition of his moral and intellectual nature. At present he is obviously only in the beginning of his career. Although a knowledge of external nature, and of himself, are indispensable to his advancement to his true station as a rational being, yet four hundred years have not elapsed since the arts of printing and en- graving were invented, without which, knowledge could not be disseminated through the mass of mankind ; and, up to the present hour, the art of reading is by no means general over the world — so that, even now, the means of calling man's rational nature into activity, although dis- covered, are but very imperfectly applied. It is only five or six centuries since the mariner's compass was known in Europe, without which even philosophers could not ascertain the most common facts regarding the size, form, and productions of the earth. It is only three hundred and forty years since one-half of the habitable globe, America, became known to the other half; and considerable portions of it are yet unknown even to the best informed inquirers. It is little more than two hun- dred years since the true theory of the circulation of the blood was discovered ; previous to which it was impos- sible even for physicians to form any correct idea of the uses of many of man's corporeal organs, and of their re- lations to external nature. It is only between forty and fifty years since the true functions of the brain and ner- vous system were discovered ; before which we possessed no adequate means of becoming acquainted with our men- THE PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS OF LIFE. 125 tal constitution, and its adaptation to external circum- stances and beings. It is only fifty-seven years since the study of chemistry, or of the physical elements of the globe, was put into a philosophical condition by Dr Priestley's discovery of oxygen ; and hydrogen was discovered so lately as 1766, or sixty-eight years ago. Before that time, people in general were comparatively ignorant of the qualities and relations of the most import- ant material agents with which they were surrounded^ At present this knovyledge is still in its infancy, as will appear from an enumeration of the dates of several other important discoveries. Electricity was discovered in 1728, galvanism in 1794, gas-light about 1798; and steam-boats, steam-looms, and the safety-lamp, in our own day. It is only of late years that the study of geology has been seriously begun ; without which we could not know the past changes in the physical structure of the globe, a matter of much importance as an element in judging of our present position in the world's progress. This sci- ence also is in its infancy. An inconceivable extent of territory remains to be explored, from the examination of which the most interesting and instructive inferences will probably present themselves. The mechanical sciences are at this moment in full play, putting forth vigorous shoots, and giving the strong- est indications of youth, and none of decay. The sciences of morals and of government are still in the crudest condition. . In consequence, therefore, of this profound ignorance, man, in all ages, has been directed in his pursuits, by the mere impulse of his strongest propensities, formerly to 126 THE PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS OF LIFE. war and conquest, and now to accumulating wealth, with- out having framed his habits and institutions in confor- mity with correct and enlightened views of his own nature, and its real interests and wants. Up to the present day the mass of the people in every nation have remained essentially ignorant, the tools of interested leaders, or the creatures of their own blind impulses, unfavourably situated for the development of their rational nature. They, constituting the great majority, of necessity in- fluence the condition of the rest : — But at last, the arts and sciences seem to be tending towards abridging human labour, so as to force leisure on the mass of the people : while the elements of useful knowledge are so rapidly increasing ; the capacity of the operatives for instruction is so generally recognised ; and the means of communica- ting it are so powerful and abundant ; that a new era may fairly be considered as having commenced. Owing to the want of a practical philosophy of human nature, multitudes of amiable and talented individuals are at present anxious only for preservation of the at- tainments which society possesses ; and dread retrogres- sion in the future. If the views now expounded be correct, this race of moralists and politicians will in time become extinct, because progression being the law of our nature, the proper education of the people will render the desire for improvement universal. ( 127 ) CHAPTER V. TO WHAT EXTENT ARE THE MISERIES OF MANKIND RE- FERABLE TO INFRINGEMENTS OF THE LAWS OF NATURE? In the present chapter, I propose to inquire into some of the evils that have afflicted the human race ; also whether they have proceeded from abuses of institutions benevolent and wise in themselves, and calculated, when observed, to promote the happiness of man, or from a constitution of nature so defective that he cannot supply- its imperfections, or so vicious that he can neither rectify nor improve its qualities. The following extract from the journal of John Locke, contains a forcible statement of the principle which I intend to illustrate in this chap- ter : " Though justice be also a perfection which we must necessarily ascribe to the Supreme Being, yet we cannot suppose the exercise of it should extend farther than his goodness has need of it for the preservation of his crea- tures in the order and beauty of the state that he has placed each of them in ; for since our actions cannot reach unto him, or bring him any profit or damage, the punishments he inflicts on any of his creatures, i. e. the misery or destruction he brings upon them, can be no- thing else but to preserve the greater or more consider- able part, and so being only for preservation, his justice 128 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM is nothing but a branch of his goodness, which is fain by severity to restrain the irregular and destructive parts from doing narm.'' — Lord Kings Life of Locke, p. 122. Sect. L CALAMITIES ARISING FROM INFRINGEMENTS OF THE PHYSICAL LAWS. The proper way of viewing the Creator's institutions, is to look, first, to their uses, and to the advantages that flow from using them aright ; and, secondly, to their abuses, and the evils that proceed from this source. In Chapter II, some of the benefits conferred on man, by the law of gravitation, are enumerated ; and I may here advert to some of the evils originating from that law, when human conduct is in opposition to it. For example, men are liable to fall from horses, carriages, stairs, precipices, roofs, chimneys, ladders, masts, or to slip in the street ;~by which accidents life is often suddenly cut short, or rendered miserable from lameness and pain; and the question arises, Is human nature provided with any means of protection against these evils, at all equal to their frequency and extent ? The lower animals are equally subject to this law; and the Creator has bestowed on them external senses, nerves, muscles, bones, an instinctive sense of equilibrium, the sense of danger, or cautiousness, and other faculties, to place them in accordance with it. These appear to af- ford sufficient protection to animals placed in all ordinary circumstances ; for we very rarely discover any of them, in their natural condition, killed or mutilated by accidents referable to gravitation. Where their mode of life ex- INFRINGEMENTS OF THE PHYSICAL LAWS. 129 poses them to extraordinary danger from this law, they are provided with additional securities. The monkey, which climbs trees, enjoys great muscular energy in its .legs, claws, and tail, far surpassing, in proportion to its gravitating tendency, or its bulk and weight, what is be- stowed on the legs and arms of man ; so that, by means of them, it springs from branch to branch, in nearly com- plete security against the law in question. The goat, which browses on the brinks of precipices, has received a hoof and legs, that giv^e precision and stability to its steps. Birds, which are destined to sleep on branches of trees, are provided with a muscle passing over the joints of each leg', and stretching down to the foot, which, being pressed by their weight, produces a proportionate con- traction of their claws, so as to make them cling the faster, the greater their liability to fall. The fly, which walks and sleeps on perpendicular walls, and the ceilings of rooms, has a hollow in its foot, from which it expels the air, and the pressure of the atmosphere on the out- side of the foot holds it fast to the object on which the inside is placed. The walruss, or sea-horse, which is des- tined to climb up the sides of ice-hills, is provided with a similar apparatus. The camel, whose native region is the sandy deserts of the torrid zone, has broad spreading hooves to support it on the loose soil. Fishes are fur- nished with air-bladders, by dilating and contracting of which they can accommodate themselves with perfect precision to the law of gravitation. In these instances, the lower animals, under the sole guidance of their instincts, appear to be placed admirably in harmony with gravitation, and guaranteed against its infringement. Is Man, then, less an object of love with 130 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM the Creator ? Is he alone left exposed to the evils that spring inevitably from its neglect ? His means of protec- tion are different, but when understood and applied, they will probably be found not less complete. Man, as well as the lower animals, has received bones, muscles, nerves, an instinct of equilibrium*, and faculties of Cautiousness; but not in equal perfection, in proportion to his figure, size, and weight, with those bestowed on them : — The difference, however, is far more than compensated by other faculties, particularly those of Constructiveness and Reflection, in which he greatly surpasses them. Keep- ing in view that the external world, in regard to man, is arranged on the principle of supremacy in the moral sen- timents and intellect, we shall probably find, that the ca- lamities suffered by him from the law of gravitation, are referable to predominance of the animal propensities, or to neglect of proper exercise of his intellectual powers. For example, when coaches break down, ships sink, or men fall from ladders, how generally may the cause be traced to decay in the vehicle, the vessel, or ladder, which a predominating Acquisitiveness alone prevented from being repaired ; or when men fall from houses, scaffolds, or slip on the street, how frequently should we find their muscular, nervous, and mental energies, impaired by pre- ceding debaucheries ; in other words, by predominance of the animal faculties, which for the time diminished their natural means of accommodating themselves to the law from which they suffer. Or, again, the slater, in us- ing a ladder, assists himself by Constructiveness and Re- flection; but, in walking along the ridge of a house, or standing on a chimney, he takes no aid from these facul- • Vide Essay on Weight, Phren. Journ. vol. ii. p. 412. INFRINGEMENTS OF THE PHYSICAL LAWS. 131 ties ; he trusts to the mere instinctive power of equili- brium, in which he is inferior to the lower animals, and, in so doing, clearly violates the law of his nature, that requires him to use reflection, where instinct is deficient. Causality and Constructiveness could invent means, by which, if he slipped from a roof or chimney, his fall might be arrested. A small chain, for instance, attached by one end to a girdle round his body, and the other end fast- ened by a hook and eye to the roof, might leave him at liberty to move, and break his fall, in case he slipped. How frequently, too, do these accidents happen, after disturbance of the faculties and corporeal functions by in- toxication ? The objection will probably occur, that in the gross condition in which the mental powers exist, the great body of mankind are incapable of exerting habitually that degree of moral and intellectual energy, which is indis- pensable to observance of the natural laws ; and that, therefore, they are, in point of fact, less fortunate than the lower animals. I admit that, at present, this repre- sentation is to a considerable extent just; but nowhere do I perceive the human mind instructed, and its powers exercised, in a degree at all approaching to their limits. Let any person recollect how much greater capacity for enjoyment and security from danger he has experienced, at a particular time, when his whole mind was filled with, and excited by, some mighty interest, not only allied to, but founded in, morality and intellect, than in that lan- guid condition which accompanies the absence of elevated and ennobling emotions ; and he may form some idea of what man will be capable of reaching, when his powers shall have been cultivated to the extent of their capacity. 132 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM At the present moment, no class of society is systemati- cally instructed in the constitution of their own minds and bodies, in the relations of these to external objects, in the nature of these objects, in the natural supremacy of the moral sentiments, in the principle that activity of the faculties is the only source of pleasure, and that the higher the powers, the more intense the delight ; and, if such views be to the mind what light is to the eyes, air to the lungs, and food to the stomach, there is no won- der that a mass of inert mentality, if I may use such a word, should every where exist around us, and that countless evils should spring from its continuance in this condition, If active moral and intellectual faculties are the natural fountains of enjoyment, and the external world is created with reference to this state; it is as obvious that misery must result from animal supremacy and in- tellectual torpidity, as that flame, which is constituted to burn only when supplied with oxygen, must inevitably become extinct, when exposed to carbonic acid gas. Finally, if the arrangement by which man is left to dis- cover and obey the laws of his own nature, and of the physical world, be more conducive to activity, than in- tuitive knowledge, the calamities now contemplated ap- pear to be instituted to force him to his duty ; and his duty, when understood, will constitute his delight. While, therefore, we lament the fate of individual vic- tims to the law of gravitation, we cannot condemn that law itself. If it were suspended, to save men from the effects of negligence, not only would the proud creations of human skill totter to their base, and the human body rise from the earth, and hang midway in the air ; but our highest enjoyments would be terminated, and our facul- INFRINGEMENTS OF THE PHYSICAL LAWS. 133 ties become positively useless, by being deprived of their field of exertion. Causality, for instance, teaches that similar causes will always, cceteris paribus, produce simi- lar effects ; and, if the physical laws were suspended or varied, so as to accommodate themselves to man's negli- gence or folly, it is obvious that this faculty would be without an object, and that no definite course of action could be entered upon with confidence in the result. If, then, this view of the constitution of nature were kept steadily in view, the occurrence of one accident of this kind would stimulate reflection to discover means to pre- vent others. Similar illustrations and commentaries might be given, in regard to the other physical laws to which man is sub- ject ; but the object of the present Essay being merely to evolve principles, I confine myself to gravitation, as the most obvious and best understood. I do not mean to say, that, by the mere exercise of in- tellect, man may absolutely guarantee himself against all accidents ; but only that the more ignorant and careless he is, the more he will suffer, and the more intelligent and vigilant, the less ; and that I can perceive no limits to this rule. The law of most civilized countries recog- nises this principle, and subjects owners of ships, coaches, and other vehicles, in damages arising from gross in- fringements of the physical laws. It is unquestionable that the enforcement of this liability has given increased security to travellers in no trifling degree. 134 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM Sect. II. ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. It is a very common error, not only among philoso- phers, but among practical men, to imagine that the feel- ings of the mind are communicated to it through the me- dium of the intellect ; and, in particular, that if no indeli- cate objects reach the eyes, or expressions penetrate the ears, perfect purity will necessarily reign within the soul; and, carrying this mistake into practice, they are prone to object to all discussion of the subjects treated of un- der the " Organic Laws," in works designed for general use. But their principle of reasoning is fallacious, and the practical result has been highly detrimental to so- ciety. The feelings have existence and activity distinct from the intellect ; they spur it on to obtain their own gratification; and it may become either their guide or slave, according as it is, or is not, enlightened concerning their constitution and objects, and the laws of nature to which they are subjected. The most profound philosophers have inculcated this doctrine ; and, by phrenological ob- servation, it is demonstratively established. The organs of the feelings are distinct from those of the intellectual faculties ; they are larger; and, as each faculty, ceteris pa- ribus, acts with a power proportionate to the size of its organs, the feelings are obviously the active or impelling powers. The cerebellum, or organ of Amativeness, is the largest of the whole mental organs ; and, being en- dowed with natural activity, it fills the mind spontaneously with emotions and suggestions which may be directed, controlled, and resisted, in outward manifestation, by in- INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 135 tellect and moral sentiment, but which cannot be pre- vented from arising, or eradicated after they exist. The whole question, therefore, resolves itself into this, Whether it is most beneficial to enlighten and direct that feeling, or (under the influence of an error in philosophy, and false delicacy founded on it), to permit it to riot in all the fierceness of a blind animal instinct, withdrawn from the eye of reason, but not thereby deprived of its vehemence and importunity. The former course appears to me to be the only one consistent with reason and mo- rality ; and I have adopted it in reliance on the good sense of my readers, that they will at once discriminate between practical instruction concerning this feeling ad- dressed to the intellect, and lascivious representations addressed to the mere propensity itself ; with the latter of which the enemies of all improvement may attempt to confound my observations. Every function of the mind and body is instituted by the Creator; each has a legiti- mate sphere of activity ; but all may be abused ; and it is impossible regularly to avoid abuse of them, ex- cept by being instructed in their nature, objects, and re- lations. This instruction ought to be addressed exclu sively to the intellect ; and, when it is so, it is science of the most beneficial description. The propriety, nay ne- cessity, of acting on this principle, becomes more and more apparent, when it is considered that the discussions of the text suggest only intellectual ideas to individuals in whom the feeling in question is naturally weak, and that such minds perceive no indelicacy in knowledge which is calculated to be useful ; while, on the other hand, per- sons in whom the feeling is naturally strong, are precisely those who stand in need of direction, and to whom, of all others, instruction is the most necessary. 136 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM Ail organised being is one which derives its existence from a previously existing organised being, which sub- sists on food, grows, attains maturity, decays, and dies. Whatever the ultimate object of the Creator, in consti- tuting organised beings, may be, it will scarcely be de- nied, that part of His design is, that they should enjoy their existence here ; and, if so, the object of every par- ticular part of their structure ought to be found to con- duce to this end. The first law, then, that must be obey- ed, to render an organised being perfect in its kind, is, that the germ from which it springs shall be complete in all its parts, and sound in its whole constitution ; the se- cond is, that the moment it is ushered into life, and as long as it continues to live, it shall be supplied with food, light, air, and every physical aliment necessary for its support ; and the third law is, that it shall duly exercise its functions. When all these laws are obeyed, the be- ing should enjoy pleasure from its organised frame, if its Creator is benevolent ; and its constitution should be so adapted to its circumstances, as to admit of obedience to them, if its Creator is wise and powerful. Is there, then, no such phenomenon on earth, as a human being existing in full possession of organic vigour, from birth till ad- vanced age, when the organised system is fairly worn out ? Numberless examples of this kind have occurred, and they shew to demonstration, that the corporeal frame of man is so constituted as to admit the possibility of his enjoying organic health and vigour, during the whole pe- riod of a long life. In the life of Captain Cook it is men- tioned, that "one circumstance peculiarly worthy of no- tice is, the perfect and uninterrupted health of the inha- bitants of New Zealand. In all the visits made to their INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS 137 towns, where old and young-, men and women, crowded about our voyagers, they never observed a single person who appeared to have any bodily complaint ; nor among the numbers that were seen naked, was once perceived the slightest eruption upon the skin, or the least mark which indicated that such an eruption had formerly exi- sted. Another proof of the health of these people is the facility with which the wounds they at any time receive are healed. In the man who had been shot with the musket ball through the fleshy part of his arm, the wound seemed to be so well digested, and in so fair a way of being perfectly healed, that if Mr Cook had not known that no application had been made to it, he declared that he should certainly have inquired, with a very interested curiosity, after the vulnerary herbs and surgical art of the country. An additional evidence of human nature's being untainted with disease in New Zealand, is the great number of old men with whom it abounds. Many of them, by the loss of their hair and teeth, appeared to be very ancient, and yet none of them w r ere decrepid. Al- though they were not equal to the young in muscu- lar strength, they did not come in the least behind them with regard to cheerfulness and vivacity. Water, as far as our navigators could discover, is the universal and on- ly liquor of the New Zealanders. It is greatly to be wished that their happiness in this respect may never be destroyed by such a connection with the European na- tions, as shall introduce that fondness for spirituous li- quors which hath been so fatal to the Indians of North America." — Kippis s Life of Captain Cook. Dublin, 1788, p. 100. Now, as a natural law never admits of an exception, M * 138 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM this excellent health could not occur in any individuals unless it were fairly within the capabilities of the race. The sufferings of women in childbed have been cited as evidence that the Creator has not intended the human being, under any circumstances, to execute all its func- tions entirely free from pain. But, besides the obvious answer, that the objection applies only to one sex, and is therefore not to be readily presumed to have its origin in nature, there is good reason to deny the assertion, and to ascribe the suffering in question to departures from the natural laws, either in the structure or habits of the individuals who experience it.* The advantage of the study of the finest models of the human figure, as exhibited in painting and sculpture, is to raise our ideas of the excellence of form and propor- tion to which our nature is capable of attaining ; for, other conditions being equal, the most perfect forms and proportions are always the best adapted for health and activity. Let us hold, then, that the organised system of man, in itself, admits of the possibility of health, vigour, and organic enjoyment, during the full period of life ; and proceed to inquire into the causes why these advantages are not universal. One organic law is, that the germ of the infant being must be complete in all its parts, and perfectly sound in its coudition, as an indispensable requisite to its vigorous development and full enjoyment of existence. If the corn that is sown is w r eak, wasted, and damaged, the plants that spring from it will be feeble, and liable to speedy decay. The same law holds in the animal king- * See Appendix, No. I. INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 139 dom ; and I would ask, has it hitherto been observed by man ? It is notorious that it has not. Indeed, its exist- ence has been either altogether unknown, or in a very high degree disregarded by human beings. The feeble, the sickly, the exhausted with age, and the incompletely developed, through extreme youth, marry, and, without the least compunction regarding the organization which they shall transmit to their offspring, send into the world miserable beings, the very rudiments of whose existence are tainted with disease. If we trace such conduct to its source, we shall find it to originate either in animal pro- pensity, intellectual ignorance, or more frequently in both. The inspiring motives are generally mere sensual appe- tite, avarice, of ambition, operating in the absence of all just conceptions of the impending evils. The punish- ment of this offence is debility and pain, transmitted to the children, and reflected back in anxiety and sorrow on the parents. Still the great point to be kept in view is, that these miseries are not legitimate consequences of observance of the organic laws, but the direct chastise- ment of their infringement These laws are unbending, and admit of no exception ; they must be fulfilled, or the penalties of disobedience will follow. On this subject profound ignorance reigns in society. From such obser- vations as I have been able to make, I am convinced that the union of certain temperaments and combinations of mental organs in the parents, are highly conducive to health, talent, and morality in the offspring, and vice versa; and that these conditions may be discovered and taught with far greater certainty, facility, and advantage, than is generally imagined. It will be time enough to 140 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM conclude that men are naturally incapable of obedience to the organic laws, when, after their intellectual facul- ties and moral sentiments have been trained to observ- ance of the Creator's institutions, as at once their duty, their interest, and a grand source of their enjoyment, they shall be found to continue to rebel. A second organic law regards nutriment, which must he supplied of a suitable kind, and in due quantity. This law requires also free air, light, cleanliness, and attention to every physical arrangement by which the functions of the body may be favoured or impaired. Have mankind, then, obeyed or neglected this institution ? I need scarcely answer the question. To be able to obey insti- tutions, we must first know them. Before we can know the organic constitution of our body, we must study that constitution, and the study of the human constitution is ana. tomy and physiology. Before we can become acquainted with its relations to external objects, we must learn the existence and qualities of these objects, (unfolded by chemistry, natural history, and natural philosophy), and compare them with the constitution of the body. When we have fulfilled these conditions, we shall be better able to discover the laws which the Creator has instituted in regard to our organic system.* It will be said, however, that such studies are imprac- ticable to the great bulk of mankind, and, besides, do not appear much to benefit those who pursue them. They are impracticable only while mankind prefer founding their public and private institutions on the basis of the * In " Physiology applied to Health and Education," hy Dr A. Combe, many striking examples of the infringement of these laws, and of the in- jurious consequences, are given, to which 1 refer. INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 141 propensities, instead of on that of the sentiments. I have mentioned, that exercise of the nervous and muscular systems is required of all the race by the Creator's fiat, that if all, who are capable, would obey this law, a mo- derate extent of exertion, agreeable and salubrious in it- self, would suffice to supply our wants, and to surround us with every beneficial luxury ; and that a large portion of unemployed time would remain. The Creator has bestowed on us Knowing Faculties, fitted to explore the facts of these sciences, Reflecting Faculties to trace their relations, and Moral Sentiments calculated to feel inte- rest in such investigations, and to lead us to reverence and obey the laws which they unfold ; and, finally, he has made this occupation, when entered upon with the view of tracing His power and wisdom in the subjects of our studies, and of obeying His institutions, the most delight- ful and invigorating of all vocations. In place, then, of such a course of education being impracticable, every ar- rangement of the Creator appears to be prepared in di- rect anticipation of its actual accomplishment. The second objection, that those who study these sciences are not more healthy and happy, as organised beings, than those who neglect them, admits of an easy answer. Parts of these sciences have been taught to a few individuals, whose main design in studying them has been to apply them as means of acquiring wealth and fame ; but they have nowhere been taught as connected parts of a great system of natural arrangements, fraught with the highest influences on human enjoyment ; and in no instance have the intellect and sentiments been syste- matically directed to the natural laws, as the grand foun-. 142 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM tains of happiness and misery to the race, and trained to observe and obey them as the institutions of the Creator. A third organic law, is, that all our functions shall be duly exercised; and is this law observed by mankind? Many persons are able, from experience, to attest the severity of the punishment that follows from neglecting to exercise the nervous and muscular systems, in the las- situde, indigestion, irritability, debility, and general un- easiness that attend a sedentary and inactive life : But the penalties that attach to neglect of exercising the brain are much less known, and, therefore, I shall notice them more at length. The brain is the fountain of nervous energy to the whole body, and many individuals are habitual invalids, without actually labouring under any ordinary recog- nised disease, solely from defective or irregular exercise of the nervous system. In such cases, not only the mind, in its feelings and intellectual capacities, suffers debility, but all the functions of the body participate in its lan- guor, because all of them receive a diminished and vi- tiated supply of the nervous stimulus, a due share of which is essential to their healthy action. The mode of increasing the strength and energy of any organ and function, is to exercise them regularly and judiciously, according to the laws of their constitution *. The brain is the organ of the mind ; different parts of it manifest distinct faculties ; and the power of manifestation in re- gard to each is proportionate, cceteris paribus, to the size and activity of the organ. The brain partakes of the general qualities of the organised system, and is strength- ened by the same means as the other organs. When the * See Phren. Journ. vol. vi. p. 109. INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 143 muscles are called into vivacious activity, an increased influx of blood and nervous stimulus takes place in them, and their vessels and fibres become at once larger, firmer, and more susceptible of action. Thought and feeling are to the brain what bodily exercise is to the muscles ; they put it in motion and cause increased action in its blood- vessels, and an augmented elaboration of nervous energy. In a case reported by Dr Pierquin, observed by him in one of the hospitals of Montpelier, in 1831, he saw, in a female patient in whom part of the skull had been re- moved, the brain motionless and lying within the cranium when she was in a dreamless sleep ; in motion and pro- truding without the skull when she was agitated by dreams ; more protruded in dreams reported by herself to be vivid ; and still more so when perfectly awake, and especially if engaged in active thought or sprightly con- versation. Similar cases are reported by Sir Astley Cooper and Professor Blumenbach *. Those parts of the brain which manifest the feelings constitute by far the largest portions of it, and they are best exercised by discharging the active duties of life and of religion ; the parts which manifest the intellect are smaller, and are exercised by the application of the un- derstanding in practical business in the arts, sciences, or literature. The first step, therefore, towards establishing the re- gular exercise of the brain, is to educate and train the mental faculties in youth ; and the second is to place the individual habitually in circumstances demanding the discharge of useful and important duties. * See American Annals of Phrenology, No. I. p. 37. Sir A. Cooper's Lectures on Surgery, by Tyrrel, vol. i. p. 279. Elliotson's Blumenbach, 4th edition, p. 283. 144 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM I have often heard the question asked, What is the use of education ? The answer might be illustrated by explaining to the inquirer the nature and objects of the various organs of the body, such as the limbs, lungs, eyes, and then asking him, if he could perceive any advantage to a being so constituted, in obtaining access to earth, air, and light. He would, at once, declare, that they were obviously of the very highest utility to him, for they af- forded the only conceivable means by which these organs could obtain scope for action, which action we suppose him to know to be pleasure. To those, then, who know the constitution of the brain as the organ of the moral and intellectual powers of man, I need only say, that the objects presented to the mind by education, stimulate it in the same manner that the physical elements of nature do to the nerves and muscles ; they afford the faculties scope for action, and yield them delight. The meaning which is commonly attached to the word education in such cases, is Greek and Latin ; but I employ it to signify knowledge of nature in all its departments. Again, the signification generally attached to the word use in such questions, is how much money, influence, or consideration, will education bring ; these being the only objects of strong desire with which uncultivated minds are acquaint- ed ; and they do not perceive in what way education can greatly gratify such propensities. But the moment the mind is opened to the perception of its own constitution and to the natural laws, the great advantage of moral and intellectual cultivation, as a means of exercising and in- vigorating the brain and mental faculties, and also of di- recting the conduct in obedience to these laws, becomes apparent. But there is an additional benefit arising from healthy INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 145 activity of brain, which is little known. Different modi- fications of the nervous energy elaborated by the brain, appear to take place, according to the mode in which the faculties and organs are affected. For example, when misfortune and disgrace impend over us, the organs of Cautiousness, Self-Esteem, and Love of Approbation are painfully excited ; and appear to transmit an impaired, or positively noxious, nervous influence to the heart, sto- mach, intestines, and thence to the rest of the body ; di- gestion is deranged, the pulse becomes feeble and irregu- lar, and the whole corporeal system wastes. When, on the other hand, the cerebral organs are agreeably affect- ed, a benign and vivifying nervous influence pervades the frame, and all the functions of the body are per- formed with increased pleasure and success. Now, it is a law, that the quantum of nervous energy increases with the number of cerebral organs roused to activity, In the retreat of the French from Moscow, for example, when no enemy was near, the soldiers became depressed in courage, and enfeebled in body ; they nearly sunk to the earth through exhaustion and cold ; but no sooner did the fire of the Russian guns sound in their ears, or the gleam of their bayonets flash in their eyes, than new life seemed to pervade them. They wielded powerfully the arms, which, a few moments before, they could scarcely carry or trail on the ground. No sooner, how- ever, was the enemy repulsed, than their feebleness re- turned. The theory of this is, that the approach of the combat called into activity a variety of additional facul- ties ; these sent new energy through every nerve ; and, while their vivacity was maintained by the external stimulus, they rendered the soldiers strong beyond their 146 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM merely physical condition. Many persons have probably experienced the operation of the same principle. If, when sitting- feeble and listless by the fire, we have heard of an accident having occurred to some beloved friend, who required our instantaneous aid, or, if an unexpected visitor has arrived, in whom our affections were bound up, in an instant our lassitude was gone, and we moved with an alertness and animation that seemed surprising to ourselves. The cause was the same ; these events roused Adhesiveness, Benevolence, Love of Approbation, Intellect, and a variety of faculties, which were previously dormant, into action, and their influence invigorated the limbs. Dr Sparrman, in his Voyage to the Cape, men- tions, that " there was now again a great scarcity of meat in the waggon ; for which reason my Hottentots began to grumble, and reminded me that we ought not to waste so much of our time in looking after insects and plants, but give a better look out after the game. At the same time, they pointed to a neighbouring dale over- run with wood, at the upper edge of which, at the dis- tance of about a mile and a quarter from the spot where we then were, they had seen several buffaloes. Accord- ingly, we went thither ; but, though our fatigue was lessened by our Hottentots carrying our guns for us up a hill, yet we were quite out of breath, and overcome by the sun, before we got up to it. Yet, what even now appears to me a matter of wonder is, that as soon as we got a glimpse of the game, all this languor left us in an in- stant. In fact, we each of us strove to fire before the other, so that we seemed entirely to have lost sight of all prudence and caution." — " In the mean time, our te- merity, which chiefly proceeded from hurry and igno- INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 147 ranee, was considered by the Hottentots as a proof of spirit and intrepidity hardly to be equalled." It is part of the same law, that the more agreeable the mental stimulus, the more benign is the nervous in- fluence transmitted to the body. An individual who has received from nature a large and tolerably active brain, but who, from possessing wealth sufficient to remove the necessity for labour, is engaged in no profession, and who has not enjoyed the advantages of a scientific or extensive education, so as to take an in- terest in moral and intellectual pursuits for their own sake, is in general a victim to infringement of the natural laws. Persons of this description, ignorant of these laws, will, in all probability, neglect nervous and muscu- lar exercise, and suffer the miseries arising from impeded circulation and impaired digestion. In entire want of every object on which the energy of their minds might be expended, the stimulating influence of their brains on their bodies will be withheld, and the effects of muscular inactivity will be thereby aggravated ; all the functions will, in consequence, become enfeebled; lassitude, uneasi- ness, anxiety, and a thousand evils, will arise ; and life, in short, will become a mere endurance of punishment for in- fringement of institutions calculated in themselves to pro- mote happiness and afford delight when known and obey- ed. This fate frequently overtakes uneducated females, whose early days have been occupied with business, or the cares of a family, but which occupations have ceased before old age has diminished corporeal vigour : It over- takes men also, who, uneducated, retire from activ e busi- ness in the prime of life. In some instances, these evils accumulate to such a degree that the brain itself gives n 2 148 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM way, its functions become deranged, aud insanity is the* consequence. It is worthy of remark, that the more elevated the objects of our study, the higher in the scale are the men- tal organs which are exercised, and the higher the organs the more pure and intense is the pleasure : hence, a vi- vacious and regularly supported excitement of the moral sentiments and intellect, is, by the organic law, highly favourable to health and corporeal vigour. In the fact of a living animal being able to retain life in an oven that will bake dead flesh, we see an illustration of the organic law rising above the purely physical ; and, in the circumstance of the moral and intellectual organs trans- mitting the most favourable nervous influence to the whole bodily system, we have an example of the moral and intellectual law rising higher than the merely organic No person, after having his intellect and sentiments imbued with a perception of, and belief in, the natural laws, as now explained, can possibly desire idleness, as a source of pleasure ; nor can he possibly regard muscular exertion and mental activity, when not carried to excess, as any thing else than enjoyments, kindly vouchsafed to him by the benevolence of the Creator. The notion that mo- derate labour and mental exertion are evils, can originate only from ignorance, or from viewing the effects of over- exhaustion as the result of the natural law, and not as the punishment for infringing it. If, then, we sedulously inquire* in each particular in- stance, into the cause of the sickness, pain, and premature death, or the derangement of the corporeal frame in youth and middle life, which we see so common around us, and endeavour to discover whether it has originated in obe- INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 149 dience to the physical and organic laws, or sprung from infringement of them, we shall he able to form some esti- mate how far bodily suffering is justly attributable to imperfections of nature, and how far to our own igno- rance, and neglect of divine institutions. The foregoing principles being of much practical im- portance, may, with propriety, be elucidated by a few actual cases. Two or three centuries ago, various cities in Europe were depopulated by the plague, and, in parti- cular, London was visited by an awful mortality from this cause, in the reign of Charles the Second. The peo- ple of that age attributed this scourge to the inscrutable decrees of providence, and some to the magnitude of the nation's moral iniquities. According to the views now presented, it must have arisen from infringement of the organic laws, and been intended to enforce stricter obe- dience to them in future. There was nothing inscrutable in its causes or objects. These, when clearly analysed, appear to have had no direct reference to the moral con- dition of the people ; I say direct reference to the moral condition of the people, because it would be easy to shew that the physical, organic, and all the other natural laws, are connected indirectly, and constituted in harmony, with the moral law ; and that infringement of the latter often leads to disobedience to other laws, and brings a double punishment on the offender. The facts recorded in history exactly correspond with the theory now pro- pounded. The following is a picture of the condition of the cities of Western Europe in the 15th century : — " The floors of the houses being commonly of clay, and strewed with rushes or straw, it is loathsome to think of the filth collected in the hovels of the common 150 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM people, and sometimes in the lodgings even of the supe- rior ranks, from spilled milk, beer, grease, fragments of bread, flesh, bones, spittle, excrements of cats, dogs, &c To this Erasmus, in a letter 432, c. 1815, ascribes the plague, the sweating, sickness, &c, in London, which, in this respect, resembled Paris and other towns of any magnitude in those times." — Ranken's History of France, vol. v« 416. The streets of London were excessively nar- row, the habits of the people dirty, and no adequate provi- sion was made for removing the filth unavoidably produced by a dense population. The great fire in that city, which happened soon after the pestilence, afforded an oppor- tunity of remedying, in some degree, the narrowness of the streets ; and habits of increasing cleanliness abated the filth ; these changes brought the people into a closer obedience to the organic laws, and no plague has since returned. Again, till very lately, thousands of children died yearly of the small-pox ; but, in our day, vaccine ino- culation saves ninety-nine out of a hundred, who, under the old system, would have died. The theory of its ope- ration is not known, but we may rest assured that it places the system more in accordance with the organic laws, than it was in the cases where death ensued. A gentleman, who died about ten years ago at an ad- vanced period of life, told me, that, six miles west from Edinburgh, the country was so unhealthy in his youth, that every spring the farmers and their servants were seized with fever and ague, and needed regularly to undergo bleeding, and a course of medicine, to prevent attacks, or restore them from their effects. At that time, these visitations were believed to be sent by Providence, and to be inherent in the constitution of things. After, INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 151 however, said my informant, an improved system of agri- culture and draining was established, and vast pools of stagnant water, formerly left between the ridges of the fields, were removed, dunghills carried to a distance from the doors, and the houses themselves made more spaci- ous and commodious, every symptom of ague and marsh- fever disappeared from the district, and it became highly salubrious. In other words, as soon as the gross infringe- ment of the organic laws was abated by a more active exertion of the muscular and intellectual powers of man, the punishment ceased. Another friend informed me, that, about forty-two years ago, he commenced farm- ing in a high and uncultivated district of East-Lothian • that the crops at first suffered severely from cold fogs ; that the whole region, however, has been since reclaimed and drained; that the climate has greatly improved, and, in particular, that the destructive mists have disappeared. The same results have followed in Canada and the United States of America, from similar operations. In like manner, many calamities occurred in coal- pits, in consequence of infringement of a physical law, viz. by introducing lighted candies and lamps into places filled with hydrogen gas, that had emanated from seams of coal, and which exploded, scorched, and suffocated the men and animals within its reach, until Sir Humphrey Davy discovered that the Creator had established such a relation between flame, wire-gauze, and hydrogen gas that, by surrounding the flame with gauze, its power of exploding hydrogen was suspended. By the simple ap- plication of a covering of wire-gauze, over and around the flame, it is prevented from igniting gas beyond it, and colliers are now able to carry, with safety, lighted 152 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM lamps into places highly impregnated with inflammable air. I have been informed, that the accidents from ex- plosion, which still occasionally occur in coal mines, arise from neglecting to keep the lamps in perfect condition. It is needless to multiply examples in support of the proposition, that the organised eystem of man, in itself, admits of a healthy existence from infancy to old age, provided its germ has been healthy, and its subsequent condition uniformly in harmony with the physical and organic laws ; but it has been objected, that, although the human faculties may perhaps be adequate to dis- cover these laws, and to record them in books, they are totally incapable of retaining them in the memory, and of formally applying them in every act of life. If, it is said, we could not move a step without calculating the effects of the law of gravitation, and adjusting the body to its influence; and could never eat a meal without squar- ing our appetite by the organic laws, life would be oppress- ed by the pedantry of knowledge, and rendered miser- able by the observance of trivial details. The answer to this objection is, that our faculties are adapted by the Creator to the external world, and act instinctively when their objects are properly placed before them. In walk- ing during day on a foot-path in the country, we adjust our steps to the inequalities of the surface, without being overburdened by mental calculation. Indeed, we perform this adjustment with so little trouble, that we are not aware of having made any particular mental or muscular effort. But, on returning by the same path at night, when we cannot see, we stumble, and discover, for the first time, how important a duty our faculties had been performing during day, without our having adverted to INFRINGEMENT OP THE ORGANIC LAWS. 153 their labour. Now, the simple medium of light is suffi- cient to bring clearly before our eyes the inequalities of the ground ; but to make the mind equally familiar with the nature of the countless objects which abound in external nature, and their relations, an intellectual light is neces- sary, which can be struck out only by exercising and ap- plying the knowing and reflecting faculties ; but, when that light is obtained, and the qualities and relationships in question are clearly perceived, our faculties, so long as the light lasts, will act instinctively in adapting our con- duct to the nature of the objects, just as they do in ac- commodating our movements to the unequal surface of the earth. After the poisonous qualities of hemlock are known, it is no more necessary for us to go through a course of physical, botanical, and chemical reasoning, in order to be able to abstain from eating it, than it is to go through a course of mathematical investigation, before lifting the one foot higher than the other, in ascending a stair. At present, physical and political science, morals, and religion, are not taught as parts of one connected system; nor are the relations between them and the consti- tution of man pointed out to the world. In consequence, theoretical and practical knowledge are often widely se- parated. This ought not to be the case ; for many ad- vantages would flow from scientific education. Some of these would be the following : — In theirs* place, the physical and organic laws, when truly discovered, appear to the mind as institutions of the Creator ; wise and salutary in themselves, unbending in their operation, and universal in their application. They interest our intellectual faculties, and strongly impress our sentiments. The necessity of obeying them comes 154 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM home to us with all the authority of a mandate from God. While we confine ourselves to mere recommendations to beware of damp, to observe temperance, or to take ex- ercise, without explaining the principle, the injunction carries only the weight due to the authority of the indivi- dual who gives it, and is addressed to only two or three faculties, Veneration and Cautiousness, for instance, or Self-love in him who receives it. But if we are made acquainted with the elements of the physical world, and with those of our organised system, — with the uses of the diiferent parts of the latter, — and the conditions ne- cessary to their healthy action, — with the causes of their derangement, and the pains thereon consequent : and if the obligation to attend to these conditions be enforced on our moral sentiments and intellect, as a duty which is imposed on us by the Creator, and which we cannot ne- glect without suffering punishment, then the motives to observe the physical and organic laws, as well as the power of doing so, will be prodigiously increased, Before we can dance well, we must not only know the motions, but our muscles must be trained to execute them. In like manner, to enable us to act on precepts, we must not only compi'ehend their meaning, but our intellects and senti- ments must be disciplined into actual performance. Now, the very act of acquiring connected scientific information concerning the natural world, its qualities, and their re- lations, is to the intellect and sentiments what practical dancing is to the muscles ; it invigorates them ; and, as obedience to the natural laws must spring from them, exercise renders it more easy and delightful. 2. It is only by being taught the principle on which consequences depend, that we become capable of perceiv- INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 155 ing the invariableness of the results of the physical and organic laws ; acquire confidence in, and respect for the laws themselves ; and fairly endeavour to accommodate our conduct to their operation. Dr Johnson defines " principle" to he " fundamental truth ; original postu- late ; first position from which others are deduced £ and in these senses I use the word. The human faculties are instinctively active, and desire gratification ; but Intellect itself must have fixed data, on which to reason, otherwise it is itself a mere impulse. The man in whom Construc- tiveness and Weight are powerful, will naturally betake himself to constructing machinery ; but, if he be ignorant of the principles of mechanical science, he will not direct his efforts to ends equally important, or attain them with equal success, as if his intellect had been stored with such knowledge. Scientific principles are deduced from the laws of nature. A man may make music by the instinc- tive impulses of Time and Tune ; but there are immutable laws of harmony, of which, if he be ignorant, he will not perform so correctly and in such good taste, as he would do if he knew them. In every art and science, there are principles referable solely to the constitution of nature, but these admit of countless applications. A musician may produce gay, grave, solemn, or ludicrous tunes, all good of their kind, by following the laws of harmony ; but he will never produce one good piece by violating them. While the inhabitants west of Edinburgh allowed the stagnant pools to deface their fields, some seasons would be more healthy than others ; and, while the cause of the disease was unsuspected, this would confirm them in the notion that health and sickness were dispensed by an overruling Providence, on inscrutable principles, which 156 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND they could not comprehend : but the moment the cause was known, it would be found that the most healthy sea- sons were those that were cold and dry, and the most sickly those that were warm and moist ; and they would then discover, that the superior salubrity of one year, and unwholesomeness of another, were clearly referable to one principle ; and after perceiving this truth, they would both be more strongly prompted to apply the remedy, and be rendered morally and intellectually more capable of doing so. If some intelligent friend had merely told them to drain their fields, and remove their dunghills, they would not probably have complied with his recom- mendation ; but whenever their intellects were led to the perception that the evil would continue until they acted in this manner, the improvement would become easy. The truth of these views may be still farther illustrated by examples. A young gentleman of Glasgow, whom I knew, went out, as a merchant, to North America. Business required him to sail from New York to St Do- mingo. The weather was hot, and he, being very sick, found the confinement below deck, in bed, as he said, in- tolerable ; that is, this confinement was, for the moment, more painful than the course which he adopted, of laying himself down at full length on the deck, in the open air. He was warned by his fellow passengers, and the officers of the ship, that he would inevitably induce fever by this proceeding ; but he was utterly ignorant of the physical and organic laws ; his intellect had been trained to re- gard only wealth and present pleasure as objects of real importance ; it could perceive no necessary connection between exposure to the mild and grateful sea breeze of a warm climate, and fever, and he obstinately refused to FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 157 quit his position. The consequence was, that he was ra- pidly taken ill, and lived just one day after arriving at St Domingo. Knowledge of chemistry and physiology would have enabled him, in an instant, to understand that the sea air, in warm climates, holds a prodigious quantity of water in solution, and that damp and heat, operating together on the human organs, tend to derange their healthy action, and ultimately to destroy them entirely : and if his sentiments had been deeply imbued with a feel- ing of the indispensable duty of yielding obedience to the institutions of the Creator, he would have actually enjoy- ed, not only a greater desire, but a greater power, of sup- porting the temporary inconvenience of the heated cabin, and might, by possibility, have escaped death. Captain Murray, R.N. mentioned to Dr A. Combe, that, in his opinion, most of the bad effects of the climate of the West Indies might be avoided by care and atten- tion to clothing ; and so satisfied was he on this point, that he had petitioned to be sent there in preference to the North American station, and had no reason to regret the change. The measures which he adopted, and their effects, are detailed in the following interesting and in- structive letter : " My Dear Sir, << Assynt, April 22. 1827. " I should have written to you before this, had I not been anxious to refer to some memorandums, which I could not do before, my return home from Coul. I at- tribute the great good health enjoyed by the crew of his Majesty's ship Valorous, when on the West India station, during the period I had the honour of commanding her, to the following causes, 1st, To the keeping the ship per- 158 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND fectly dry and clean ; 2d, To habituating the men to the wearing of flannel next the skin ; Sd, To the precaution I adopted, of giving each man a proportion of his allow- ance of cocoa before he left the ship in the morning, either for the purpose of watering, or any other duty he might be sent upon ; and, 4th, To the cheerfulness of the crew. " The Valorous sailed from Plymouth on the 24th December 1823, having just returned from the coast of Labrador and Newfoundland, where she had been sta- tioned two years, the crew, including officers, amounting to 150 men. I had ordered the purser to draw two pairs of flannel drawers, and two shirts extra for each man, as soon as I knew that our destination was the West Indies; and, on our sailing, I issued two of each to every man and boy in the ship, making the officers of each division responsible for the men of their respective divisions wearing these flannels during the day and night; and, at the regular morning nine o'clock musters, I in- spected the crew personally ; for you can hardly conceive the difficulty I have had in forcing some of the men to use flannel at first ; although I never yet knew one who did not, from choice, adhere to it, when once fairly adopted. The only precaution after this, was to see that, in bad weather, the watch, when relieved, did not turn in in their wet clothes, which the young hands were apt to do, if not looked after ; and their flannels were shifted every Sunday. " Whenever fresh beef and vegetables could be pro- cured at the contract price, they were always issued in preference to salt provisions. Lime juice was issued whenever the men had been fourteen days on ship's pro- FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 159 visions ; and the crew took all their meals on the main deck, except in very bad weather, " The quarter and main decks were scrubbed with sand and water, and wet holy-stones, every morning at day- light. The lower deck, cock -pit, and store-rooms were scrubbed every day after breakfast, with dry holy-stones and hot sand, until quite white, the sand being carefully swept up, and thrown overboard. The pump-welLwas also swabbed out dry, and then scrubbed with holy-stones and hot sand ; and here, as well as in every part of the ship which was liable to damp, Brodie-stoves were con- stantly used, until every appearance of humidity vanish- ed. The lower-deck and cock-pit were washed once every week in dry weather ; but Brodie-stoves were con- stantly kept burning in them, until they were quite dry- again. " The hammocks were piped up, and in the nettings, from 7 a.m. until dusk, when the men of each watch took down their hammocks alternately, by which means, only one-half of the hammocks being down at a time, the tween-decks were not so crowded, and the watch reliev- ed was sure of turning into a dry bed on going below. The bedding was aired every week, once at least. The men were not permitted to go on shore in the heat of the sun, or where there was a probability of their getting spirituous liquors ; but all hands were indulged with a run on shore, when out of reach of such temptation. " I was employed on the coast of Caraccas, the West India Islands, and Gulf of Mexico; and, in course of service, I visited Trinidad, Margarita, Cocha, Cumana, Nueva Barcelona, Laguira, Porto Cabello, and Maracai- bo, on the coast of Caraccas ; all the West India Islands, 160 OK THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND from Tobago to Cuba, both inclusive; as also Caracoa and Aruba, and several of those places repeatedly ; also to Vera Cruz and Tompico, in the Gulf of Mexico, which you will admit must have given a trial to the constitu- tions of my men, after two years among the icebergs of Labrador, without an intervening summer between that icy coast and the coast of Caraccas ; yet I arrived in England on June 24th, without having buried a single man or officer belonging to the ship, or indeed having a single man on the sick list ; from which I am satisfied that a dry ship will always be a healthy one in any cli- mate. When in command of the Recruit, of 18 guns, in the year 1809, I was sent to Vera Cruz, where I found the 46, the 42, the 18, and gun-brig ; we were joined by the 36, and the 18. During the period we re- mained at anchor (from 8 to 10 weeks), the three fri- gates lost from 30 to 50 men each, the brigs 16 to 18, the ■ — most of her crew, with two different com- manders ; yet the Recruit, although moored in the mid- dle of the squadron, and constant intercourse held with the other ships, did not lose a man, and had none sick. Now, as some of these ships had been as long in the West Indies as the Recruit, we cannot attribute her singularly healthy state to seasoning, nor can I to superior cleanli- ness, because even the breeches of the carronades, and all the pins, were polished bright in both and , which was not the case with the Recruit. Perhaps her healthy state may be attributed to cheerfulness in the men ; to my never allowing them to go on shore in the morning, on an empty stomach ; to the use of dry sand and holystone for the ship; to never working them in FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 161 the sun ; perhaps to accident. Were I asked my opi- nion, I would say that I firmly believe that cheerfulness contributes more to keep a ship's company healthy, than any precaution that can be adopted ; and that, with this attainment, combined with the precautions I have men- tioned, I should sail for the West Indies, with as little anx- iety as I would for any other station. My valorous fellows were as cheerful a set as I ever saw collected together." Suppose that two gentlemen were to ascend one of the Scottish mountains, in a hot summer day, and to arrive at the top, bathed in perspiration, and exhausted with fatigue : that one of them knew intimately the physical and organic laws, and that, all hot and wearied as he was, he should button up his coat closer about his body, wrap a handkerchief about his neck, and continue walking, at a quick pace, round the summit, in the full blaze of the sun : that the other, ignorant of these laws, should ea- g-erly run to the base of a projecting cliff; stretch him- self at full length on the turf, under its refreshing shade ; open his vest to the grateful breeze ; and, in short, give himself up entirely to the present luxuries of coolness and repose ; — the former, by warding off the rapid chill of the cold mountain air, would descend with health un- impaired ; while the latter would carry with him, to a certainty, the seeds of rheumatism, consumption, or fever, from permitting perspiration to be instantaneously check- ed, and the surface of the body to be cooled with an in- jurious rapidity. I have put these cases hypothetical! y, because, although I have seen and experienced the bene- fits of the former method, I have not directly observed the opposite. No season, however, passes in the High- * 162 ON THE EVl£s THAT BEFALL MANKIND lands, in which some tragedy of the latter description does not occur ; and, from the minutest information that I have been able to obtain, the causes have been such as are here described. The following case is illustrative of the points under consideration, and is one which I have had too good an opportunity of observing in all its stages. An individual in whom it was my duty as well as plea- sure to be greatly interested, had resolved on carrying- Mr Owen's views into practical effect, and got an esta- blishment set agoing on his principles, at Orbiston, in Lanarkshire. The labour and anxiety which he under- went at the commencement of the undertaking, gradually impaired an excellent constitution ; and, without perceiv- ing the change, he, by way of setting an example of in- dustry, took to digging with the spade, and actually worked for fourteen days at this occupation, although previously unaccustomed to labour. This produced hae- moptysis. Being unable now for bodily exertion, he gave up his whole time to directing and instructing the people, about 250 in number, and for two or three weeks spoke the whole day, the effusion of blood from his lungs continuing. Nature rapidly sunk under this irrational treatment ; and at last he came to Edinburgh for medical advice. When the structure and uses of his lungs were explained to him, and when it was pointed out that his treatment of them had been equally injudicious as if he had thrown lime or dust into his eyes, after inflammation, he was struck with the extent and consequences of his own ignorance, and exclaimed, How greatly he would have been benefited if one month of the five years which he FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 163 had been forced to spend in a vain attempt at acquiring a mastery over the Latin tongue, had been dedicated to conveying to him information concerning the structure of his own body, and the causes which preserve and impair its functions. He had departed too widely from the or- ganic laws to admit of an easy return ; he was seized with inflammation of the lungs, and with great difficulty got through that attack ; but it impaired his constitution so grievously, that he died, after a lingering illness of eleven months. He acknowledged, however, even in his severest pain, that he suffered under a just law r . The lungs, he saw, were of the first-rate importance to life, and their proper treatment was provided for by this tre- mendous punishment, inflicted for neglecting the condi- tions requisite to their health. Had he given them rest, and returned to obedience to the organic law, at the first intimation of departure from it, the way to health was open and ready to receive him ; but, in utter ignorance, he persevered for weeks in direct opposition to that law, till the fearful result ensued. This last case affords a striking illustration of the in- dependence of the different institutions of the Creator, and of the necessity of obeying all of them, as the only condition of safety and enjoyment. The individual here alluded to, was deeply engaged in a most benevolent and disinterested experiment for promoting the welfare of his fellow creatures ; and superficial observers would say that this was just an example of the inscrutable decrees of Providence, which visited him with sickness, and ulti- mately with death, in the very midst of his most virtuous exertions. But the institutions of the Creator are wiser 164 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND. than the imaginations of such men. The first principle on which existence on earth and all its advantages de- pend, is obedience to the physical and organic laws. The benevolent Owenite neglected these, in his zeal to obey the moral Jaw ; and, if it were possible to dispense with the one by obeying the other, the whole scheme of man's existence wonld speedily become deranged, and involved in inexplicable disorder. The following case was furnished to me by an actual observer : — A gentleman far advanced in years fell into a state of bodily weakness, which rendered the constant presence of an attendant necessary. A daughter, in whom Adhesiveness, Benevolence, and Veneration were largely developed, devoted herself to this service with the most ceaseless assiduity. She was his companion for month after month, and year after year, happy in cheer- ing the last days of her respected parent, and knowing no pleasure equal to that of solacing and comforting him. For months in succession she did not go abroad from the house ; her duty became dearer to her the longer she discharged it; till at length her father became the sole object on earth of her feelings and her thoughts. The superficial observer would say that such conduct was admirable, and that she must have received a rich reward from heaven for such becoming and virtuous devotion. But providence rules by other laws, and never yields. Her enjoyment of mental happiness and vigour depended on the condition of her brain, and her brain was sub- ject to the organic laws. These laws demand, as an in- dispensable condition of health, exercise in the open air, and variety of employment, calculated to maintain FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 165 all the faculties in activity. She neglected the first in her constant attendance in her father's chamber ; and she overlooked the second in establishing him as the exclu- sive object of her consideration. The result was, that she fell into bad health, accompanied by weakness of brain, extreme irritability, and sussceptibility of mind, excessive anxiety, hysteria, and even symptoms of insa- nity. Some judicious friends at last interfered, and by forcing her to leave for a time, although much against her inclination, the object of her solicitude, rescued her from death, or confirmed mental derangement. If this case had been allowed to proceed uninterruptedly to its natural termination, many pious persons would have mar- velled at the mysterious dispensations of Providence in afflicting so dutiful a daughter ; whereas, when the prin- ciple of the divine government is understood, the result appears neither wonderful nor perplexing. In the works of religious authors, many erroneous views of divine dispensations may be found traceable to ignorance of the natural laws. The Reverend Ebenezer Erskine, speaking of the state of his wife's mind, says, " For a month or two the arrows of the Almighty were within her, the poison whereof did drink up her spirits ; and the terrors of God did set themselves in array against her." He called in the assistance of some neigh- bouring clergymen to join in prayers on her behalf, and she was induced to pray with them ; but " she still con- tinued to charge herself with the unpardonable sin, and to conclude that she was a cast-away." Such feelings occurring in a woman of blameless life, clearly indicated diseased action in the organs of Cautiousness, " Before 166 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND she fell into these depths," he continues, " she told me that the Lord gave her such a discovery of the glory of Christ as darkened the whole creation, and made all things appear as dung and dross in comparison of him." These expressions indicate excessive excitement of the organs of Wonder and Veneration. She subsequently re- covered her mental serenity ; and her husband treats of the whole phenomena as purely mental and religious. He, however, afterwards incidentally mentions that she was subject to bad health, and that " melancholy was a great ingredient in her disease." We now know that melancholy is a diseased affection of the organs of Cau- tiousness. At the time when Mr Erskine lived and wrote, the physiology of the brain was unknown ; the occurrences which he describes had a real existence ; and he had been taught to attribute them to the agency of the divine spirit, or of the devil, according to their different char- acters. He is, therefore, not deserving of censure for the errors into which he unavoidably fell ; but now when the facts which he describes, and analogous occurrences in our own day, can be traced to diseased action of the organs of the mind, we are authorised to view the pro- vidence of God in a different light. While it would be subversive of all religion to throw any doubt what- ever on the reality and importance of religious feelings, sound in their character, and directed to proper objects, it is nearly equally injurious to the sacred cause, to mis- take the excitement and depression of disease for the influence of the Holy Spirit, or the agency of the enemy of mankind. FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 167 It is mentioned also in the life of Mr Erskine, that his wife bore several children to him while in precarious health, and that the situation " of the manse, or parson- age house, was unwholesome" We are told, also, that in the year 1713, three of his children died ; that one died in 1720, and that, in 1723, a fifth was on the brink of death, but recovered.* He treats of all these events as " severe trials," and " sore afflictions," without having the least glimpse of their true causes and objects, or their relation to the natural laws. Again, Hannah More, in a letter to the Rev. John Newton, dated Cowslip's Green, 23d July 1788, says, " When I am in the great world, 1 consider myself as in an enemy's country, and as beset with snares, and this puts me upon my guard." " Fears and snares seem necessary to excite my circumspection ; for it is certain that my mind has more languor, and my faith less energy here, where I have no temptations from without, and where I live in the full and constant perusal of the most beautiful objects of inanimate nature, the lovely wonders of the munificence and bounty of God. Yet, in the midst of his blessings, I should be still more tempted to forget him, were it not for frequent nervous headaches and low fevers, which I find to be wonderfully whole- some for my moral health j." This passage contains several propositions that merit attention. First, according to the natural laws, " the most beautiful objects of inanimate nature," and " the lovely wonders of the munificence and bounty of God," are * Life and Diary of the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, 1831, pp. 266, 301, 286, 290, 320. f Memoirs of H, More, Vol. II. p. 110, 111. 168 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND calculated to invigorate the moral, religious, and intel- lectual faculties, in all well constituted and rightly in- structed minds ; yet Hannah More's mind " had more languor, and her faith less energy," amidst such objects, than " when beset with snares." Secondly, According both to the natural laws and scripture, " evil communi- cations corrupt good manners ;" but " when in the great world," and " in an enemy's country," her faith was im- proved : and, thirdly, " Nervous headaches and low fe- vers," are the consequences of departures from the or- ganic laws, and are intended to reclaim the sufferer to obedience that the pain may cease ; yet she " found them wonderfully wholesome for her moral health," and they prevented her from " forgetting God !" Only disease or errors in education could have pro- duced such perverted experience in a woman so talented, so pious, and so excellent, as Hannah More. Can we wonder that the profane should sneer, and that practical religion should slowly advance, when piety exhibits itself in such lamentable contradiction to the divine institu- tions ? And still more so, when, from proceeding on a false theory, it contradicts itself ? Hannah More, in her Journal in 1794, says, " confined this week with four days' headache — an unprofitable time — thoughts wandering — little communion with God. / see by every fresh trial, that the time of sickness is seldom the season for religious improvement. This great work should be done in health, or it will seldom be done well," vol. ii. p. 418. This pas- sage is full of sound sense ; but it is in contradiction to her previous assertion, that " nervous headaches and low fevers were wonderfully wholesome for her moral health." FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 169 These examples, to which many more might be added, may serve as illustrations of the proposition, That without a philosophy of human nature, even religious authors, when treating of sublunary events, cannot always preserve con- sistency either with reason or themselves, and hence that religion can never become thoroughly practical, nor put forth its full energies for human improvement, until it is wedded to philosophy. In proportion as men shall be- come acquainted with the natural laws, and apply them as tests to theological writings relative to this world, they will become convinced of the truth of this obser- vation. Having traced bodily suffering, in the case of indivi- duals, to neglect of, or opposition to, the organic laws, by their progenitors or by themselves, I next advert to another set of calamities, which may be called social mi- series, and which obviously spring from the same causes ; although of this latter fact complete evidence was not pos- sessed until Phrenology was discovered. And first, in regard to evils of a domestic nature : — One fertile source of unhappiness arises from persons uniting in marriage, whose tempers, talents, and disposi- tions do not harmonize. If it be true that natural talents and dispositions are connected by the Creator with par- ticular configurations of brain, then it is obviously one of His institutions that, in forming a compact for life, these should be attended to. The following facts I regard to be fully established by competent evidence. The portion of the brain before the line A A, Fig. 1, manifests the in- tellect, that above B manifests the moral sentiments, and all the rest the animal propensities ; and each part acts, p* 170 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND, ceteris paribus, with a degree of energy corresponding to its size. The following figures exhibit these regions existing in different proportions in different individuals ; and the lives of the persons represented bear testimony to their possessing the corresponding dispositions. The first is a view of the head of William Hare, the associate of Burke, who, acting in concert with him, strangled sixteen individuals in Edinburgh for the pur- pose of selling their bodies for dissection. Fig. I. Hare. In this head the organs which manifest the animal pro- pensities decidedly preponderate over those which mani- fest the moral sentiments and intellect. Another example of the same kind is afforded by the head of Williams, who was executed along with the no- torious Bishop, in London, for the same crime as that of Hare *. * S«e Phrenological Journal, vol. vii. p. 446. FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 171 Fig. 2. Williams. In the head of the celebrated Richard Brinsely Sheri- dan, we find an example of the three regions of the brain in question, existing nearly in a state of equilibrium. The natural tendencies of such an individual are equally strong towards vice and virtue ; and his actual conduct is generally determined by the influence of external cir- cumstances. Fig. 3. Sheridan. ^ji>^ - 172 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND, The life of Sheridan shews, that while he possessed high mental qualities, he was also the slave of degrading and discreditable vices. The head of the celebrated Philip Melancthon the re- former, and associate of Luther, furnishes an example of the decided predominance of the moral and intellectual regions over that of the animal propensities. The draw- ing is copied from a portrait by Albert Durer. Fig. 4. Melancthon. The following description of the head is given in Dr Spurzlieim's work, " Phrenology in Connexion with the Study of Physiognomy." " It is the brain of an extra- ordinary man. The organs of the moral and religious feelings predominate greatly, and will disapprove of all violence, irreverence, and injustice. The forehead be- , FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 173 tokens a vast and comprehensive understanding- ; and the ensemble a mind the noblest, the most amiable, and the most intellectual that can be conceived." He was born in 1495, and rendered great services to the cause of the reformation by his admirable abilities and great modera- tion. " He was humane, gentle, and readily won upon by mild and generous treatment ; but when his adversa- ries made use of imperious and menacing language, he rose superior to his general meekness of disposition, and shewed a spirit of ardour, independence, nay, of intrepi- dity — looking- down with contempt upon the threats Of power, and the prospect even of death.'' The demarcations in the figures are not arbritrary. The space before A A corresponds to the anterior lobe of the brain ; and the space above B includes all the convo- lutions that lie on the upper surface of the brain, and rise higher than the organs of Cautiousness, correspond- ing to nearly the middle of the parietal bones, and of Causality, situated in the upper part of the forehead. It is not difficult to distinguish these regions ; and a com- parison of their relative proportions with the talents and dispositions of individuals, will convince any intelligent, honest, and accurate observer of the truth of the fore- going statements. 1 have examined the heads, or casts of the heads or skulls, of several hundred criminals, in various countries, and found them all to belong to the classes represented by the figures of the heads of Hare or of Sheridan, and never saw one of them with a brain like that of Melancthon. Neither have I ever seen a man distinguished by moral and intellectual qualities like those of Melancthon, presenting a brain like that of Hare. The figures represent Nature, not a casual appearance^ 1 74 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND, but forms which are found constantly in combination with the qualities here named : and I ask why Nature, when she speaks to a geologist or chemist, should be listened to with profound attention, and her revelations treasured for human improvement, — but scouted and despised when she speaks to and is interpreted by phrenologists ? It is God who speaks from Nature in all her departments : and the brain is as assuredly his workmanship as the Milky Way, with all its myriads of suns. If the doc- trine before expounded be true, that every faculty is good in itself, that the folly and crime which disgrace human society spring from abuses of the faculties, and that the tendency to abuse them originates in the disproportion of certain parts of the brain to each other, and in moral and intellectual ignorance of the proper mode of manifesting them, how completely do these considerations go to the root of theology and morals ! At present the influ- ence of organization in determining the natural disposi- tions is altogether neglected or denied by the common school of divines, moralists, and philosophers ; yet it is of an importance exceeding all other terrestrial influences and considerations. If we imagine an individual endowed with the splen- did cerebral development of Melancthon, under the in- fluence of youthful passion and inexperience, uniting himself for life to a female possessing a head like that of Hare or Bishop, the effects could not fail to be most disastrous, with respect both to his own happiness, and to the qualities of his offspring. In the first place, after the animal feelings were gratified, and their ardour had subsided, the two minds could not by any possibility sympathize. Many marriages are unhappy in conse- FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 175 quence of an instinctive discord between the modes of feeling and thinking of the husband and wife ; the cause of which they themselves cannot explain. The mental differences will be found to arise from different develop- ments of brain. If the husband be deficient in the organ of Conscientiousness, and the wife possess it in a high degree, she will be secretly disgusted with the dishonesty and inherent falsehood of hih character, which she will have many opportunities of observing, even when they are unknown to the world. " What," says Dr Johnson, " can be expected but disappointment and repentance from a choice made in the immaturity of youth, in the ardour of desire, without judgment, without foresight, without inquiry after conformity of opinions, similarity of manners, rectitude of judgment, or purity of sentiment ? Such is the common process of marriage. A youth and maiden meeting by chance, or brought together by arti- fice, exchange glances, reciprocate civilities, go home, and dream of one another. Having little to divert at- tention, or to diversify thought, they find themselves un- easy when they are apart, and therefore conclude that they shall be happy together. They marry, and discover what nothing but voluntary blindness before had con- cealed ; they wear out life in altercations, and charge nature with cruelty." Until Phrenology was discovered, no natural index to mental qualities, that could be practically relied on, was possessed, and each individual, in directing his conduct, was left to the guidance of his own sagacity ; but the natural law never bended one iota to accommodate itself to that state of ignorance. Men suffered from unsuitable alliances, and they will continue to do so, until they 176 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND shall avail themselves of the means of judging afforded by Phrenology, and act in accordance with its dictates. In the play of the Gamester, Mrs Beverly is represented as a most excellent wife, acting habitually under the guidance of the moral sentiments and intellect ; but married to a being who, while he adores her, reduces her to beggary and misery. His sister utters an excla- mation to this effect : — Why did just Heaven unite such an angel to so heartless a thing ! The parallel of this case occurs too often in real life ; only it is not " just Heaven" that makes such matches, but ignorant and thoughtless human beings, who imagine themselves ab- solved from all obHgation to study and obey the laws of Heaven, as announced in the general arrangement of the universe. The justice and benevolence of rendering the indivi- duals themselves unhappy who neglect this great institu- tion of .the Creator, become more striking when, in the next place, we consider the effects, by the organic law, of such conduct on the children of these ill-assorted unions. Physiologists, in general, are agreed, that a vigorous and healthy constitution of body in the parents, commu- nicates existence in the most perfect state to the off- spring *, and vice versa. The following instances of the transmission of defects are given in the Athenaeum : — " Many persons who have never known any, or perhaps not more than one, deaf and dumb individual in the immediate circle in which they lived, would be astonished to read the lists of ap- plications circulated by the committee for the asylum in * See Appendix, No. II. FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 177 the Kent Road, so ably conducted by Mr Watson, which usually contain nearly a hundred names. The most re- markable fact, however, which these lists present, is the number of deaf and dumb children frequently found in the same families, evidently in consequence of the con- tinued operation of some unknown cause connected with the parents. Three, four, and five, deaf and dumb children are not uncommonly met with in one family, and in some instances there have been as many as seven. In the fa- mily of Martain, a labourer, out of ten children seven were deaf and dumb ; in the family of Kelly, a porter, seven out of eight were deaf and dumb ; and in the family of Aldum, a weaver, six out of twelve were deaf and dumb. The result of a table of twenty families, given in the i Historical Sketch of the Asylum,' published by Powell, Dowgate-hill, is ninety deaf and dumb out of one hundred and fifty-nine children *." Many observers of mankind, as well as medical authors, have remarked also the transmission, by hereditary de- scent, of mental talents and dispositions. Dr King, in speaking of the fatality which attended the House of Stuart, says, " If I were to ascribe their calamities to another cause (than an evil fate), or endea- vour to account for them by any natural means, 1 should think they were chiefly owing to a certain obstinacy of temper, which appears to have been hereditary and inherent in all the Stuarts, except Charles II." It is well known that the caste of the Brahmins is the highest in point of intelligence as well as rank of all the castes in Hindostan ; and it is mentioned by the mis- sionaries as an ascertained fact, that their children are * Athenseum, 28th May 1828, p. 489. 178 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND naturally more acute, intelligent, and docile, than the children of the inferior castes, age and other circumstances being equal. Dr Gregory, in treating of the temperaments in his Conspectus Medicince Theoreticce, says, " Hujusmodi va- rietates non corporis modo, verum et animi quoque, ple- rumque congenita?, nonnunquam hereditaria?, observan- tur. Hoc modo parentes saepe in proles reviviscunt ; cert& parentibus liberi similes sunt, non vultum modo et corporis formam, sed animi indolem, et virtutes, et vitia. Imperiosa gens Claudia diu Roma? floruit, impigra, ferox, superba; eadem illachrymabilem Tiberium, tristissimum tyrannum, produxit ; tandem in immanem Caligulam, et Claudium, et Agrippinam, ipsumque demum Neronem, post sexcentos annos, desitura *." — Cap. i. sect. 16. The following remarks by Professor John Gregory, are extracted from his Comparative View of the State and Faculties of Man with those of the Animal World. " By a proper attention we can preserve and improve the breed of horses, dogs, cattle, and indeed all other animals. Yet it is amazing this observation was never transferred to the human species, where it would be equally applicable. It is certain that, notwithstanding our promiscuous marriages, many families are distin- guished by peculiar circumstances in their character. This family character, like a family face, will often be lost in one generation and appear again in the succeeding. Without doubt, education, habit, and emulation, may con- * Parents frequently live again in their offspring. It is quite certain that children resemble their parents, not only in countenance and the form of their body, but also in their mental dispositions, ia their virtues and vices, &c. FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 179 tribute greatly in many cases to keep it up ; but it will be generally found that, independent of these, Nature has stamped an original impression on certain minds, which education may greatly alter or efface, but seldom so entirely as to prevent its traces being seen by an ac- curate observer. How a certain character or constitu- tion of mind can be transmitted from a parent to a child, is a question of more difficulty than importance. It is indeed equally difficult to account for the external re- semblance of features, or for bodily diseases being trans- mitted from a parent to a child. But we never dream of a difficulty in explaining any appearance of nature which is exhibited to us every day. A proper attention to this subject would enable us to improve, not only the constitutions but the characters of our posterity. Yet we every day see very sensible people, who are anxiously attentive to preserve or improve the breed of their horses, tainting the blood of their children, and entailing on them not only the most loathsome diseases of the body, but madness, folly, and the most unworthy dispositions, and this too when they cannot plead being stimulated by ne- cessity or impelled by passion *." A celebrated French writer, who has written much sound as well as false philosophy, observes, that " physi- cal organization, of which moral is the offspring, transmits the same character from father to son through a succes- sion of ages. The Apii were always haughty and inflexi- ble, the Catos always severe. The whole line of the Guises were bold, rash, factious ; compounded of the most insolent pride and the most seductive politeness. From Francis de Guise, to him who alone and in silence * Comparative View, &c. 3d edit. Lond. 1766, pp. 18, 19. 180 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND went and put himself at the head of the people of Naples, they were all, in figure, in courage, and in turn of mind, above ordinary men. I have seen whole-length portraits of Francis de Guise, of the Balafre, of his son : they are all six feet high, with the same features, the same cou- rage and boldness in the forehead, the eye, and the atti- tude. This continuity, this series of beings alike, is still more observable in animals ; and if as much care were taken to perpetuate fine races of men, as some nations still take to prevent the mixing of the breeds of their horses and hounds, the genealogy would be written in the countenance and displayed in the manners *." Phrenology reveals the principle on which these phe- nomena take place. Mental talents and dispositions are determined by the size and constitution of the brain. The brain is a portion of our organized system, and, as such, is subject to the organic laws,, by one of which its qualities are transmitted by hereditary descent. This law, however faint or obscure it may appear in indivi- dual cases, becomes absolutely undeniable in nations. When we place the collection of Hindoo, Carib, Negro, New Holland, North American, and European skulls, possessed by the Phrenological Society, in juxtaposition, we perceive a national form and combination of organs in each actually obtruding itself upon our notice, and cor- responding with the mental characters of the respective tribes ; the cerebral development of one tribe is seen to differ as widely from that of another, as the European mind does from that of the New Hollander. Here, then, each Hindoo, Chinese, New Hollander, Negro, and Ca- rib, obviously inherits from his parents a certain general * Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary, art. Cato. FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 181 type of head ; and so does each European. If, then, the general forms and proportions are thus so palpably trans- mitted, can we doubt that the individual varieties follow the same rule, modified slightly by causes peculiar to the parents of the individual ? The differences of national character are equally conspicuous as those of national brains, and it is surprising how permanently both endure. It is observed by an author in the Edinburgh Review, that w the Vicentine district is, as every one knows, and has been for ages, an integral part of the Venetian domi- nions, professing the same religion, and governed by the same laws, as the other continental provinces of Venice ; yet the English character is not more different from the French, than that of the Vicentine from the Paduan; while the contrast between the Vicentine and his other neighbour, the Veronese, is hardly less remarkable." — No. Ixxxiv. p. 459. If, then, form, size, and constitution of brain, are trans- mitted from parents to children, if these determine na- tural mental talents and dispositions, which in their turn exercise the greatest influence over the happiness of in- dividuals through the whole of life, it becomes extremely important to discover according to what laws this trans- mission takes place. At the first aspect of the ques- tion, three principles present themselves to our consi- deration. Either, in tBe first place, the constitution and qualities of brain, which the parents themselves inherited at birth, are transmitted absolutely, so that the children, sex following sex, are exact copies, without variation or modification, of the one parent or the other ; or, secondly, the natural and inherent qualities of the father and mo- ther combine, and are transmitted in a modified form to 182 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND the offspring ; or, thirdly, the qualities of the children are determined jointly by the constitution of the stock, and by the faculties which predominate in power and activity in the parents, at the particular time when the organic existence of each child commences. Experience shews that the first cannot be the law ; for, as often mentioned, a real law of nature admits of no exceptions, and it is well established, that the minds of children are not exact copies, without variation or mo- dification, of those of the parents, sex following sex. Neither can the second be the law, because it is equally certain that the minds of children, although sometimes, are not always, in talents and dispositions exact blended reproductions of those of the father and mother. If this law prevailed, no child would be a copy of the father, none a copy of the mother, nor of any collateral relation, but each would be invariably a compound of the two pa- rents, and all the children would be exactly alike, sex alone excepted. Experience shews that this is not the law. What, then, does experience say to the third idea, that the mental character of each child is determined by the particular qualities of the stock, combined with those which predominated in the parents when its existence commenced. I have already adverted to the influence of the stock, and shall now illustrate that of the condition of the pa- rents, when existence is communicated. A strong illustration, in the case of the lower animals, appeared in the Edinburgh Review, No. lxxxiv. p. 457. " Every one conversant with beasts," says the reviewer, " knows, that not only their natural, but that many of FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 183 their acquired qualities, are transmitted by the parents to their offspring. Perhaps the most curious example of the latter fact may be found in the pointer. " This animal is endowed with the natural instinct of Ending game, and stealing upon his prey, which he sur- prises, having first made a short pause, in order to launch himself upon it with more security of success. This sort of semicolon in his proceedings, man converts into a full stop, and teaches him to be as much pleased at seeing the bird or beast drop by the shooter s gun, as at taking it himself. The stanchest dog of this kind, and of the original pointer, is of Spanish origin, and our own is derived from this race, crossed with that of the foxhound, or other breed of dog, for the sake of improving his speed. This mixed and factitious race, of course, natu- rally partakes less of the true pointer character ; that is to say, is less disposed to stop, or at least he makes a shorter stop at game. The factitious pointer is, however, disci- plined, in this country, into stanchness / and, what is most singular, this quality is, in a great degree, inherited by his puppy, who may be seen earnestly standing at swallows or pigeons in a farm-yard. For intuition, though it leads the offspring to exercise his parent's faculties, does not instruct him how to direct them. The preference of his master afterwards guides him in his selection, and teaches him what game is better worth pursuit. On the other hand, the pointer of pure Spanish race, unless he happen to be well broke himself, which in the south of Europe seldom happens, produces a race which are all but un- teachable, according to our notions of a pointer's busi- ness. They will make a stop at their game, as natural instinct prompts them, but seem incapable of being drilled T. 184 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND into the habits of the animal, which education has formed in this country, and has rendered, as I have said, in some degree, capable of transmitting his acquirements to his descendants." " Acquired habits are hereditary in other animals be- sides dogs. English sheep, probably from the greater richness of our pastures, feed very much together ; while Scotch sheep are obliged to extend and scatter themselves over their hills, for the better discovery of food. Yet the English sheep, on being transferred to Scotland, keep their old habit of feeding in a mass, though so little adapt- ed to their new country ; so do their descendants ; and the English sheep is not thoroughly naturalized into the necessities of his place till the third generation. The same thing may be observed as to the nature of his food, that is observed in his mode of seeking it. When turnips were introduced from England into Scotland, it was on- ly the third generation which heartily adopted this diet, the first having been starved into an acquiescence in it." In these instances, long continued impressions on the parents appear to have at last eifected change of disposi- tion in the offspring. " We have seen,'' says an author whom I have already quoted, " how wonderfully the bee works — according to rules discovered by man thousands of years after the in- sect had followed them with perfect accuracy. The same little animal seems to be acquainted with principles of which we are still ignorant. We can, by crossing, vary the forms of cattle with astonishing nicety ; but we have no means of altering the nature of an animal, once born, by means of treatment and feeding. This power, however, is undeniably possessed by the bees. When FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 185 the queen-bee is lost, by death or otherwise, they choose a grub from among those who are born for workers ; they make three cells into one, and, placing the grub there, they build a tube round it ; they afterwards build another cell, of a pyramidal form, into which the grub grows : they feed it with peculiar food, and tend it with extreme care. It becomes, when transformed from the worm to the fly, not a worker, but a queen-bee." — Ob- jects, Advantages, and Pleasures of /Science, p. 33. It is difficult to conceive that man will ever possess such a power as this last. Man, however, as an organized being, is subject to laws similar to those which govern the organization of the lower animals. Dr Pritchard, in his Researches into the Physical History of Mankind, has brought forward a va- riety of interesting facts and opinions on the subject of transmission of hereditary qualities in the human race. He says, " Children resemble, in feature and constitu- tion, both parents, but, I think, more generally the fa- ther. In the breeding of horses and oxen, great import- ance is attached, by experienced propagators, to the male. In sheep, it is commonly observed that black rams beget black lambs. In the human species, also, the complexion chiefly follows that of the father ; and I be- lieve it to be a general fact, that the offspring of a black father and white mother is much darker than the progeny of a white father and a dark mother " — Vol. ii. p. 55 L These facts appear to me to be referable to both causes. The stock must have had some influence, but the mo- ther, in all these cases, is not impressed by her own co- lour, because she does not look on herself; while the/a-* ther's complexion must strikingly attract her attention, q * 186 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND and may, in this way, give the darker tinge to the off- spring*. Dr Pritchard states the result of his investigations to be, First, That the organization of the offspring is al- ways modelled according to the type of the original structure of the parent ; and, secondly, " That changes, produced by external causes in the appearance or consti- tution of the individual are temporary; and, in general, acquired characters are transient ; they terminate with the individual, and have no influence on the progeny." — Vol. ii. p. 536. He supports the first of these proposi- tions by a variety of facts occurring " in the porcupine family/' " in the hereditary nature of complexion," and " in the growth of supernumerary fingers or toes, and corresponding deficiencies." " Maupertuis has mentioned this phenomenon ; he assures us, that there were two fa- milies in Germany, who have been distinguished for se- veral generations by six fingers on each hand, and the same number of toes on each foot," &c. He admits, at the same, that the second proposition is of more difficult proof, and that an opinion contrary to it has been main- tained by some writers, and a variety of singular facts have been related in support of it." But many of these relations, as he justly observes, are obviously fables. In regard to the foregoing propositions, I would ob- serve, that a manifest distinction exists between transmis- sion of monstrosities, or mutilations, which constitute ad- ditions to, or abstractions from, the natural lineaments of the body, and transmission of a mere tendency in parti- cular organs to a greater or less development in point of size, and of energy in their natural functions. This last * Black hens lay dark-coloured eggs. FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 187 appears to me to be influenced by the state of the pa- rents at the time when existence is communicated to the offspring". On this point Dr Pritchard says, " The opi- nion which formerly prevailed, and which has been en- tertained by some modern writers, among" whom is Dr Darwin, that at the period when organization commences in the ovum, that is, at or soon after the time of concep- tion, the structure of the foetus is capable of undergoing modification from impressions on the mind or senses of the parent, does not appear altogether so improbable. It is contradicted, at least, by no fact in physiology. It is an opinion of very ancient prevalence, and may be traced to so remote a period, that its rise cannot be at- tributed to the speculations of philosophers, and it is dif- ficult to account for the origin of such a persuasion, un- less we ascribe it to facts which happened to be ob- served."— P. 556. A striking and undeniable proof of the effect on the character and dispositions of children, produced by the form of brain transmitted to them by hereditary descent, is to be found in the progeny of marriages between Euro- peans, whose brains possess a favourable development of the moral and intellectual organs, and Hindoos, and na- tive Americans, whose brains are inferior. All authors agree, and report the circumstance as singularly striking, that the children of such unions are decidedly superior in mental qualities to the native, while they are still in- ferior to the European parent. Captain Franklin says, that the half-breed American Indians " are upon the whole a good looking people ; and, where the experi- ments have been made, have shewn much expertness in learning, and willingness to be taught ; they have, how- 188 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIND ever, been sadly neglected." — P. 86. He adds, " It has been remarked, I do not know with what truth, that half breeds shew more personal courage than the pure breeds." Captain Basil Hall, and other writers on South America, mention, that the offspring of native American and Spanish parents, constitute the most active, vigorous, and powerful portion of the inhabitants of these coun- tries ; and many of them rose to high commands during the revolutionary war. So much is this the case in Hin- dostan, that several writers have already pointed to the mixed race there, as obviously destined to become the future sovereigns of India. These individuals inherit from the native parent a certain adaptation to the cli- mate, and from the European parent a higher develop- ment of brain, the two combined constituting their supe- riority. Another example of the same law occurs in Persia* In that country, it is said that the custom has existed for ages among the nobles, of purchasing beautiful female Circassian captives, and forming alliances with them as wives. It is ascertained that the Circassian form of brain stands comparatively high in the development of the moral and intellectual organs.* And it is mentioned by some travellers, that the race of nobles in Persia is the most gifted in natural qualities, bodily and mental, of any class of that people ; a fact diametrically opposite to that which takes place in Spain, and other European * In Mr W. Allan's picture of the Circassian Captives, the form of the head is said to be a copy from nature, taken by that artist, when he visited the country. It is engraved by Mr James Stewart with great beauty and fidelity, and may be consulted as an example of the superi- ority of Circassian development of the brain. PROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 189 countries, where the nobles intermarry constantly with each other, and set the organic laws altogether at de- fiance. The degeneracy and even idiocy of some of the noble and royal families of Spain and Portugal, from marrying nieces, and other near relations, is well known ; and de- fective brains, in ail these cases, are observed. Many facts illustrate the influence of the state of the parents, particularly of the mother, at the time when the existence of the child commenced, on its mental talents and dispositions.* The father of Napoleon Buonaparte, says Sir Walter Scott, " is stated to have possessed a very handsome per- son, a talent for eloquence, and a vivacity of intellect, which he transmitted to his son." " Jt was in the mid- dle of civil discord, fights, and skirmishes, that Charles Buonaparte married Lsetitia Ramolini, one of the most beautiful young women of the island, and possessed of a great deal of firmness of character. She partook of the dangers of her husband during the years of civil war, and is said to have accompanied him on horseback on some military expeditions, or perhaps hasty flights, shortly be- fore her being delivered of the future Emperor." — Life of Napoleon Buonaparte, vol. iii. p. 6. The murder of David Rizzio was perpetrated by armed nobles, with many circumstances of violence and terror, in the presence of Mary, Queen of Scotland, shortly be- fore the birth of her son, afterwards James the First of England. The constitutional liability of this monarch to emotions of fear, is recorded as a characteristic of his * See Appendix, No. II. 190 ORGANIC LAWS. mind ; and it has been mentioned that he even started involuntarily at the sight of a drawn sword. Queen Mary was not deficient in courage, and the Stuarts, both before and after James the First, were distinguished for this quality ; so that his dispositions were an excep- tion to the family character. Napoleon and James form striking contrasts ; and it may be remarked that the mind of Napoleon's mother appears to have risen to the danger to which she was exposed, and braved it ; while the circumstances in which Queen Mary was placed, were calculated to inspire her with fear alone. Farther evidence of the same law may still be men- tioned. Esquirol, the celebrated French medical writer, in adverting to the causes of madness, mentions that many children whose existence dated from periods when the horrors of the French Revolution were at their height, turned out subsequently to be weak, nervous, and irritable in mind, extremely susceptible of impres- sions, and liable, by the least extraordinary excitement, to be thrown into absolute insanity. A medical practi- tioner of Douglas, in the Isle of Man, mentions the fol- lowing case : — A man's first child was of sound mind ; afterwards he had a fall from his horse, by which his head was much injured. His next two children proved to be both idiots. After this he was trepanned, and had other children, and they turned out to be of sound mind. A lady of considerable talent wrote as follows to a phre- nological friend : — " From the age of two I foresaw that my eldest son's restlessness would ruin him ; and it has been even so. Yet he was kind, brave, and affectionate. I read the Iliad for six months before he saw the light. TRANSMISSION OF HEREDITARY QUALITIES. 191 and have often wondered if that could have any influence on him. He was actually an Achilles."* In a case which fell under my own observation, the father of a family had been sick, had a partial recovery, but relapsed, declined in health, and in two months died. Seven months after his death, a son was born, of the full age ; and the origin of whose existence was referable to the period of the partial recovery. At that time, and during the subsequent two months, the faculties of the mother were in high excitement, in ministering to her husband, to whom she was greatly attached ; and, after his death, the same excitement continued to ope- rate, as she was then loaded with the charge of a nume- rous family, but not depressed ; for her circumstances were comfortable. The son is now a young man ; and, while his constitution is the most delicate, the develop- ment and activity of the mental organs are decidedly greater in him than in any other member of the family. Another illustration of the same law is found in the fact, that, when two parties marry very young, the eldest of their children inherits a less favourable develop- ment of the moral and intellectual organs, than those produced in more mature age. The animal organs in men, in general, are most vigorous in early life, and this energy appears to cause them to be then most rea- dily transmitted to offspring. Indeed it is difficult to account for the wide varieties in the form of the brain in children of the same family, unless on the principle, that the organs which predominate in vigour and activity in * This lady's head is large; in particular, the organs of Combative - ness, Self- Esteem, and Firmness, are very large ; those of Destructive- ness and Adhesiveness are large ; and the Temperament is very active. - 192 ORGANIC LAWS. the parents, at the time when existence is communicated, determine the tendency of corresponding organs to de- velope themselves largely in the children. Since the first edition of this work was prepared, so many facts illus- trative of the truth of this principle, have been commu- nicated to me, and observed by myself, that I now re- gard it as probable. Several of these cases will be sub- sequently mentioned, and others will be found stated in the appendix. If this be really the law of nature, as there is great reason for believing, then parents, in whom Combative- ness and Destructiveness are in habitual activity, will transmit these organs, in a state of high development and excitement, to their children ; and those in whom the moral and intellectual organs exist in supreme vigour, will transmit these in greatest perfection. This view is in harmony with the fact, that children generally, although not universally, resemble their pa- rents in their mental qualities; because the largest organs being naturally the most active, the general and habitual state of the parents will be determined by those which predominate in size in their own brains; and on the prin- ciple that predominance in activity and energy causes the transmission of similar qualities to the offspring, the children will, in this way, very generally resemble the parents. But they will not always do so ; because, even very inferior characters, in whom the moral and intellec- tual organs are deficient, may be occasionally exposed to external influences which, for the time, may excite these organs to unwonted vivacity ; and, according to the rule now explained, a child, dating its existence from that period, may inherit a higher organization of brain than the parent. Or, a person with an excellent moral de- TRANSMISSION OF HEREDITARY QUALITIES. 193 velopment, may, by some particular occurrence, have his animal propensities roused to unwonted vigour, and his moral sentiments thrown, for the time, into the shade ; and any offspring connected with this condition, would prove inferior to himself in the development of the moral organs, and greatly surpass him in the size of those of the propensities. I repeat, that I do not present these views as ascer- tained phrenological science, but as inferences strongly supported by facts, and consistent with known pheno- mena. If we suppose them to be true, they will greatly strengthen the motives for preserving the habitual supre- macy of the moral sentiments and intellect, when, by doing so, improved moral and intellectual capacities may be conferred on offspring. If it be true that this lower world is arranged in harmony with the supremacy of the higher faculties, what a noble prospect would this law open up of the possibility of man ultimately becoming ca- pable of placing himself more fully in accordance with the Divine institutions, than he has hitherto been able to do ; and, in consequence, of reaping numberless enjoyments that appear destined for him by his Creator, and avoiding thousands of miseries that now render life too often only a series of calamities. The views here expounded also harmonize with the second principle of this Essay, namely, That, as activity in the faculties is the fountain of enjoy- ment, the whole constitution of nature is designedly fram- ed to support them in ceaseless action. What scope for observation, reflection, the exercise of moral sentiments, and the regulation of animal impulse, does not this picture of nature present ! R* 194 ORGANIC LWAS. I cordially agree, however, with Dr Pritchard, that this subject is still involved in great obscurity. " We know not," says he, " by what means any of the facts we remark are effected ; and the utmost we can hope to at- tain is, by tracing the connection of circumstances, to learn from what combinations cf them we may expect to witness particular results." — Vol. ii. p. 542. Much of this darkness, however, may be traced to ignorance of the functions of the brain. If we consider that, in rela- tion to mind, the brain has all along been the most im- portant organ of our system ; that mental impressions in the parents must almost necessarily have exercised a powerful influence over the development of the cerebral organs in the children, and that the relative size of the organs determines the predominance of particular talents and dispositions ; but that, nevertheless, all past observa- tions have been conducted without the knowledge of these facts; it will not appear marvellous that hitherto much con- fusion and contradiction have existed in the cases recorded, and in the inferences drawn from them on this subject. At the present moment, almost all that phrenologists can pretend to accomplish is, to point out the mighty void ; to offer an exposition of its causes, and to state such con- clusions as their own very limited observations have hitherto enabled them to deduce. Far from pretending to be in possession of certain and complete knowledge on this topic, I am inclined to think, that, although every conjecture now hazarded were founded in nature, centu- ries of observation might probably be necessary to ren- der the principles fully practical. At present we have almost no information concerning the effects, on the children, of different temperaments, of different combi- TRANSMISSION OF HEREDITARY QUALITIES. 195 nations in the cerebral organs, and of differences of age in the parents. It is astonishing, however, to what extent mere pecu- niary interests excite men to investigate and observe the Natural Laws, while moral and rational considerations appear to exert so small an influence in leading them to do so. Before a common insurance company will under- take the risk of paying L. 100, on the death of an indivi- dual, they require the following questions to be answered by credible and intelligent witnesses : — " 1. How long have you known Mr A. B. ? " 2. Has he had the gout ? " 3. Has he had a spitting of blood, asthma, consump- tion, or other pulmonary complaint ? " 4. Do you consider him at all predisposed to any of these complaints ? " 5. Has he been afflicted with fits, or mental derange- ment? " 6. Do you think his constitution perfectly good, in the common acceptation of the term ? " 7. Are his habits in every respect strictly regular and temperate ? " 8. Is he at present in good health ? " 9. Is there any thing in his form, habits of living, or business, which you are of opinion may shorten his life ? " 10. What complaints are his family most subject to? "11. Are you aware of any reason why an insurance might not with safety be effected on his life ?" A man and woman about to marry, have, in the gene* rality of cases, the health and happiness of five or more human beings depending on their attention to considera** tions, essentially the same as the foregoing, and yet how 96 ORGANIC LAWS. much less scrupulous are they than the mere speculators in money ? It is pleasing, however, to observe, that, in Wurtemberg, there are two excellent laws calculated to improve the moral and physical condition of the people which other states would do well to adopt. First, " It is illegal for any young man to marry before he is twenty- five, or any young woman before she is eighteen ; and a young man, at whatever age he wishes to marry, must shew to the police and the priest of the commune where he resides, that he is able, and has the prospect, to pro- vide for a wife and family/' The second law compels parents to send their children to school, from the age of six to fourteen *. There is no moral difficulty Readmitting and admiring the wisdom and benevolence of the institution by which good qualities are transmitted from parents to children ; but it is frequently held as unjust to the latter, that they should inherit parental deficiencies, and so be made to suffer for sins which they did not commit. In treating of this difficulty, I must again refer to the supremacy of the moral sentiments, as the theory of the constitution of the world. The animal propensities are all selfish, and regard only the immediate and apparent interest of the individual ; while the higher sentiments delight in that which communicates the greatest quantity of enjoy- ment to the greatest number. Now, let us suppose the law of hereditary descent to be abrogated altogether, that is to say, that each individual of the race were, at birth, en- dowed with fixed natural qualities, without the slightest reference to what his parents had been or done; — this form of constitution would obviously cut off every possi- • Sec Appendix, No. III. TRANSMISSION OF HEREDITARY QUALITIES. 197 bility of improvement in the race. Every phrenologis knows, that the brains of the New Hollanders, Charibs, and other savage tribes, are distinguished by great defi- ciencies in the moral and intellectual organs*. New Hollander. Charib. ¥■■«■ ?M If, however, it be true that a considerable development of the intellectual organs is indispensable to the compre- hension of science, and the practice of virtue, it would, on the present supposition, be impossible to raise the New Hollanders, as a people, one step higher in capacity fou intelligence and virtue than they now are. We might cultivate each generation up to the limit of its powers, but there the improvement, and a low one it would be, would stop ; for the next generation, being produced witb brains equally deficient in the moral and intellectual re- gions, no principle of increasing amelioration could exists The same remarks are applicable to every tribe of man- kind. If we assume modern Europeans as the standard, then, if the law of hereditary descent were abrogated, every deficiency that at this moment is attributable to imperfect or disproportionate development of brain, would be irremediable, and continue as long as the race existed* Each generation might be cultivated till the summit level of its capacities were attained, but there each succeeding generation would remain. When we contrast with this * This fact is demonstrated by specimens in most Phrenological Col- lections. 13 in the above cut is the organ of benevolence. 108 OI'CANIC LAWS. prospect the very opposite effects flowing from the law of hereditary transmission of qualities in an increasing ratio, the whole advantages are at once perceived to be on the side of the latter arrangement. According to this rule, the children of the individuals who have obeyed the organic, the moral, and the intellectual laws, will not only start from the highest level of their parents in acquired knowledge, but they will inherit a tendency towards an enlarged development of the moral and intellectual or- gans, and thereby enjoy an increasing capability of dis- covering and obeying the Creator's institutions. It appears to me that the native American savages, and native New Hollanders, cannot, with their present brains, adopt European civilization ; and the same con- clusion seems to have been drawn by an intelligent mis- sionary, from long continued and intimate observation of their mental qualities. Mr Timothy Flint, a Pres- byterian clergyman, who passed ten years, commencing in 1815, in wanderings and preaching in the valley of the Mississippi, says that he has " inspected the north- ern, middle, and southern Indians for a length of ten years, that he has been forcibly struck with a general resemblance in their countenance, make, conformation, manners, and habits ;" " you may easily discover striking differences in their stature, strength, intellect, acuteness, and consideration among themselves : but a savage of Canada, and he of the Rio del Norte, have substantially the same face, the same form, and, if I may say so, the same instincts. They are all, in my mind, unquestionably from a common stock." " They have not the same acute and tender sensibilities with the other races of men. They seem callous to every passion but rage." " Their TRANSMISSION OF HEREDITARY QUALITIES. 199 impassible fortitude and endurance of suffering, which have been so much vaunted, are, after all, in my mind, the result of a greater degree of physical insensibility." " No ordinary stimulus excites them to action. None of the common excitements, endearments, or motives, operate upon them at all. They seem to hold most of the things that move us in proud disdain. The horrors of their warfare, — the infernal rage of their battles, — the de- moniac fury of gratified revenge, — the alternations of hope and despair in their gambling, to which they are addicted far beyond the whites, — the brutd exhilaration of drunkenness, — these are their excitements." He con- cludes, " It strikes me that Christianity is the religion of civilized man, that the savages must first be civilized, and that, as there is little hope that the present genera- tion of Indians can ba civilized, there is but little more that they will be christianized." The reader will find, in the Phrenological collections, specimens of the skulls of these savages ; and, on com- paring them with those of Europeans, he will observe that, in the Indians, the organs of reflecting intellect, and of all the moral feelings, are greatly inferior in size to the same organs in the Europeans. The moral and intel- lectual organs are decidedly larger in the Sandwich Islanders than in the Indians, and they have received European civilization with greater cordiality and suc- cess. If, by obeying the organic laws, the moral and intellectual organs of the American savages could be con- siderably enlarged, they would desire civilization, and would adopt it when offered. If this view be well founded, all means used for their cultivation, which are not calculated at the same time to improve their cerebral 200 ORGANIC LAWS. organization, will be limited in their effects by the nar- row capacities attending their present development. In youth, all the organs of the body are more susceptible of modification than in advanced age; and hence the effects of education on the young may arise from the greater susceptibility of the brain to impressions at that period than later. This improvement will, no doubt, have its limits ; but it may probably extend to that point at which man will be capable of placing himself in harmony with the natural laws. The effort necessary to maintain him- self there, will still provide for the activity of his facul- ties. 2dly, We may suppose the law of hereditary descent to be limited to the transmission of good, and abrogated as to the transmission of bad qualities ; and it may be thought that this arrangement would be more benevolent and just. There are objections to this view, however, which do not occur without reflection to the mind. We see as matter of fact, that a vicious and debased parent is actually defective in the moral and intellectual organs. Now, if his children should take up exactly the same de- velopment as himself, this would be the transmission of imperfections, which is the very point objected to ; or, If he were to take up a development fixed by nature, and not at all referable to that of the parent ; this would render the whole race stationary in their first condition, without the possibility of improvement in their capaci- ties, which also we have seen would be an evil greatly to be deprecated ; or, Sdlf/y The bad development might be supposed to transmit, by hereditary descent, a good development ; l>ut this would set at nought the supremacy of justice and TRANSMISSION OF HEREDITARY QUALITIES. 201 benevolence ; it would render the consequences of con- tempt for, and violation of the divine laws, and of obe- dience to them, in this particular, precisely alike. The debauchee, the cheat, the murderer, and the robber, would, according to this view, be able to look upon the prospects of his posterity, with the same confidence in their welfare and happiness, as the pious intelligent chris- tian, who had sought to know God and to obey his in- stitutions during his whole life. Certainly no individual, in whom the higher sentiments prevail, will for a moment regard this imagined change as any improvement on the Creator's arrangements. What a host of motives to moral and religious conduct would at once be withdrawn, were such a spectacle of divine government exhibited to the world ! 4l7ilf/, It may be supposed that human happiness would have been more completely secured, by endowing all in- dividuals at birth with that degree of development of the moral and intellectual organs, which would have best fitted them for discovering and obeying the Creator's in- stitutions, and by preventing all aberrations from this standard ; just as the lower animals appear to have re- ceived instincts and capacities, adjusted with the most perfect wisdom to their conditions. Two remarks occur on this supposition. First, We are not competent at present to judge correctly how far the development ac- tually bestowed on the human race is, or is not, wisely adapted to their circumstances ; for there may, by possi- bility, be departments in the great system of human so- ciety, exactly suited to all existing forms of brain, not imperfect through disease, if our knowledge were suffi- cient to discover them. The want of a natural index to 202 ORGANIC LAWS. the mental dispositions and capacities of individuals, and of a true theory of the constitution of society, may have hitherto precluded philosophers from arriving at sound conclusions on this question. It appears to me probable, that, while there may be great room for improvement in the talents and dispositions of vast numbers of indivi- duals, the imperfections of the race in general may not be so great, as we, in our present state of ignorance of the aptitudes of particular persons for particular situa- tions, are prone to infer. But, secondly, On the principle that activity in the faculties is the fountain of enjoyment, it may be considered whether additional motives to the exercise of the moral and intellectual powers, and, conse- quently, greater happiness, are not conferred by leaving men (within certain limits) to regulate the talents and tendencies of their descendants, than by endowing each individual with the best qualities, independently of the conduct of his parents. On the whole, therefore, there seems reason for con- cluding, that the actual institution, by which both good and bad qualities* are transmitted, is fraught with higher advantages to the race, than the abrogation of the law of transmission altogether ; or than the supposed change of it, by which bad men would transmit good qualities to their children. The actual law, when viewed by the moral sentiments and intellect, both in its principles and * In using the popular expressions " good qualities" and " bad quali- ties," I do not mean to insinuate, that any of the tendencies bestowed on man are essentially bad in themselves. Destructiveness and Acquisitive- ness, for example, are in themselves essential to human welfare in this world, and, when properly directed, produce effects unquestionably good ; but they become the sources of evil, when they are ill directed, which may result either from moral and intellectual ignorance, or from their organs being too large, in proportion to those of the superior sentiments and intellect. TRANSMISSION OF HEREDITARY QUALITIES. 203 consequences, appears beneficial and expedient. When an individual sufferer, therefore, complains of its opera- tion, he regards it through the animal faculties alone ; his self-love is annoyed, and he carries his thoughts no further. He never stretches his mind forward to the con- sequences which would ensue to mankind at large, if the law which grieves him were reversed. The animal facul- ties regard nothing beyond their own immediate and ap- parent interest, and they do not even discern it correctly ; for no arrangement that is beneficial for the race can be injurious to individuals, if its operations in regard to them were distinctly traced. The abrogation of the rule, therefore, under which they complain, would, we may be certain, bring ten thousand times greater evils, even upon themselves, than its continuance. On the other hand, an individual sufferer under here- ditary pain, in whom the moral and intellectual faculties predominate, who should see the principle and conse- quences of the institution of hereditary descent, as now explained, would not murmur at them as unjust ; he would bow with submission to an institution, which he perceived to be fraught with blessings to the race, when it was known and observed, and the very practice of this reverential acquiescence would be so delightful, that it would diminish, in a great degree, the severity of the evil. Besides, he would see the door of mercy standing widely open, and inviting his return ; he would perceive that every step which he made in his own person towards exact obedience to the Creator's institutions, would re- move by so much the organic penalty transmitted through his parent's transgressions, and that his posterity would reap the full benefits of his more dutiful observance. 204 ORGANIC LAWS. It may be objected to the law of hereditary transmis- sion of organic qualities, that the children of a blind and lame father have sound eyes and limbs : But, in the 1st place, these defects are generally the result of accident or disease, occurring either during pregnancy, or posterior to birth, and seldom or never the operation of nature ; and, consequently, the original physical principles re- maining entire in the constitution, the bodily imperfec- tions are not transmitted to the progeny. 2d, Where the defects are congenital or constitutional, it frequently happens that they are transmitted through successive ge- nerations. This is exemplified in deafness, of which I have cited several examples on page 177, in blindness, and even in the possession of supernumerary fingers or toes. The reason why such peculiarities are not trans- mitted to all the progeny, appears to be simply that, in general, only one parent is defective. If the father, for instance, be blind or deaf, the mother is generally free from that imperfection, and her influence naturally ex- tends to, and modifies the result in, the progeny. If the law of hereditary transmission of mental quali- ties he, as now explained, dependent on the organs in highest excitement in the parents, it will account for the varieties, along with the general resemblance, that occur in children of the same marriage. It will account also for the circumstance of genius being sometimes trans- mitted and sometimes not. Unless both parents possess the development of brain and temperament of genius, the law would not certainly transmit these qualities to the children ; and even although both did possess these en- dowments, they would be transmitted only on condition of the parents obeying the organic laws, one of which for- TRANSMISSION OF HEREDITARY QUALITIES. 205 bids that excessive exertion of the mental and corporeal functions, which exhausts and debilitates the system ; an error almost universally committed by persons endowed with high original talent, under the present condition of ignorance of the natural laws, and erroneous fashions and institutions of society. The supposed law would be dis- proved by cases of weak, imbecile, and vicious children, being born to parents whose own constitution and habits had been in the highest accordance with the organic, moral, and intellectual laws ; but no such cases have hitherto come under my observation. Further, after birth, it is quite certain, that the organs most active in the parents have a decided tendency to cause an increase in the size of corresponding organs in the children, by habitually exciting and exercising them, which favours their growth. According to this law, ha- bitual severity, chiding and imperious conduct, proceed- ing from over-active Self-esteem and Destructiveness in the parents, rouse the same faculties in the children, pro- duce hatred and resistance, and increase the activity of the same organs, while those of the moral sentiments and intellect are left in a state of apathy. Rules, however, are best taught by examples ; and I shall, therefore, proceed to mention some facts that have fallen under my own notice, or been communicated to me from authentic sources, illustrative of the practical con- sequences of infringing the law of hereditary descent. A man, aged about 50, possessed a brain, in which the animal, moral, and knowing intellectual organs, were all strong, but the rejecting weak. He was pious, but des- titute of education ; he married an unhealthy young wo- man, deficient in moral development, but of considerable 206 MISERIES ARISING FROM force of character ; and several children were born. The father and mother were far from being happy ; and, when the children attained to eighteen or twenty years of age, they were adepts in every species of immorality and profligacy ; they picked their father's pocket, stole his goods, and got them sold back to him, by accomplices, for money, which was spent in betting and cock-fighting, drinking, and low debauchery. The father was heavily grieved ; but knowing only two resources, he beat the children severely as long as he was able, and prayed for them ; his own words were, that " if, after that, it pleased the Lord to make vessels of wrath of them, the Lord's will must just be done." I mention this last observation, not in jest, but in great seriousness. It was impossible not to pity the unhappy father ; yet, who that sees the institutions of the Creator to be in themselves wise, but in this instance to have been directly violated, will not acknowledge that the bitter pangs of the poor old man were the consequences of his own ignorance ; and that it was an erroneous view of the divine administration, which led him to overlook his own mistakes, and to attribute to the Almighty the purpose of making vessels of wrath of his children, as the only explanation which he could give of their wicked dispositions. Who that sees the cause of his misery must not lament' that his piety should not have been enlightened by philosophy, and directed to obedi- ence, in the first instance, to the organic institutions of the Creator, as one of the prescribed conditions, without observance of which he had no title to expect a blessing upon his offspring. In another instance, a man, in whom the animal organs, particularly those of Combativeness and Destructiveness, NEGLECT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS IN MARRIAGE. 207 were very large, but with a pretty fair moral and intel- lectual development, married, against her inclination, a young woman, fashionably and shewily educated, but with a very decided deficiency in Conscientiousness. They soon became unhappy, and even blows were said to have passed between them, although they belonged to the mid- dle rank of life. The mother, in this case, employed the children to deceive and plunder the father, and, latterly, spent the produce in ardent spirits. The sons inherited the deficient morality of the mother, and the ill temper of the father. The family fireside became a theatre of war, and, before the sons attained majority, the father was glad to get them removed from his house, as the only means by which he could feel even his life in safety from their violence ; for they had by that time retaliated the blows with which he had visited them in their younger years ; and he stated, that he actually considered his life to be in danger from his own offspring. In another family, the mother possesses an excellent development of the moral and intellectual organs, while, in the father, the animal organs predominate in great ex- cess. She has been the unhappy victim of ceaseless mis- fortune, originating from the misconduct of her husband. Some of the children have inherited the father's brain, and some the mother's; and" of the sons whose heads resembled the father's, several have died through mere debauchery and profligacy under thirty years of age ; whereas those who resemble the mother are alive and little contaminated, even amidst all the disadvantages of evil example. On the other hand, I am not acquainted with a single instance in which the moral and intellectual organs predo- 208 ORGANIC LAWS. minated in size, in both father and mother, and whose external circumstances also permitted their general acti- vity, in which the whole children did not partake of a moral and intellectual character, differing slightly in degrees of excellence one from another, but all presenting the de- cided predominance of the human over the animal facul- ties. A lady possessing a large brain and active tempera- ment, was employed professionally as a teacher of music. Her husband also had a fine temperament, and well con- stituted brain, but his talents for music were only mode- rate. They had several children, all of whom were pro- duced while the mother was in the full practice of her profession, and they all now indicate superior musical abilities. They have learned to play on several instru- ments, as if by instinct, and promise to excel. In this case the original endowments of the mother, and her ac- tive exercise of them, conspired to transmit them to her children. There are other instances in which the character of particular children appears to bear relation to the condi- tion of the parents, or of one or other of them, at the time of their production. A friend told me that in his youth he lived in a county in which the gentlemen were much addicted to hard drinking ; and that he, too fre- quently, took a part in their revels. Several of his sons, born at that time, although subsequently educated in a very different or moral atmosphere, turned out strongly addicted to inebriety ; whereas the children born after he had removed to a large town, and formed more cor- rect habits, were not the victims of this propensity. An- other individual, of superior talents, described to me the ORGANIC LAWS. 209 wild and mischievous revelry in which he indulged at the time of his marriage, and congratulated himself on his sub- sequent domestication and moral improvement. His eldest son, born in his riotous days, notwithstanding a strictly moral education, turned out a personification of the fa- ther's actual condition at that time ; and his younger children were more moral in proportion as they were re- moved from the period of vicious frolics. The mother, in this case, possessed a favourable development of brain, There are well-known examples of the children of re- ligious and moral fathers exhibiting dispositions of a very inferior description; but in all of these instances that I have been able to observe, there has been a large deve- lopment of the animal organs in the one parent, which was just controlled, but not much more, by the moral and intellectual powers ; and in the other parent, the moral organs did not appear to be in large proportion The unfortunate child inherited the large animal develop- ment of the one, with the defective moral development of the other ; and, in this way, was inferior to both. The way to satisfy one's self on this point, is to examine the heads of the parents. In all such cases, a large base of the brain, which is the region of the animal propensities^ will very probably be found in one or other of them. Another organic law of the animal kingdom deserves attention, viz. that by which marriages betwixt blood re- lations tend decidedly to the deterioration of the physi- cal and mental qualities of the offspring. In Spain kings marry their nieces, and, in this country, first and second cousins marry without scruple ; although every philoso- phical physiologist will declare that this is in direct opposi- tion to the institutions of nature. This law holds also in the ORGANIC LAWS. vegetable kingdom. "A provision, of a very simple kind, is, in some cases, made to prevent the male and lemale blossoms of the same plant from breeding together, this being found to hurt the breed of vegetables, just as breeding in and in does the breed of animals. It is con- trived, that the dust shall be shed by the male blossom before the female is ready to be affected by it, so that the impregnation must be performed by the dust of some other plant, and in this way the breed be crossed." — Objects, Sfc. of Science, p. 33. On the same principle, it is found highly advantageous in agriculture not to sow grain of the same stock in con- stant succession on the same soil. In individual instances, if the soil and plants are both possessed of great vigour and the highest qualities, the same kind of grain may be reaped in succession twice or thrice, with less perceptible deterioration than where these elements of reproduction are feeble and imperfect ; and the same fact occurs in the animal kingdom. If the first individuals connected in near relationship, who unite in marriage, are uncom- monly robust, and possess very favourably developed brains, their offspring may not be so much deteriorated below the common standard of the country as to attract particular attention, and the law of nature is, in this in- stance, supposed not to hold ; but it does hold, for to a law of nature there never is an exception. The offspring are uniformly inferior to what they would have been, if the parents had united with strangers in blood of equal vigour and cerebral development. Whenever there is any remarkable deficiency in parents who are related in blood, these appear in the most marked and aggravated forms in the offspring. Tikis fact is so well known, and so CHOICE OF SERVANTS, &C. 211 easily ascertained, that I forbear to enlarge upon it. So much for miseries arising from neglect of the organic laws in forming the domestic compact. I proceed to advert to those evils which arise from overlooking the operation of the same laws in the ordi- nary relations of society. How many little annoyances arise from the miscon- duct of servants and dependents in various departments of life; how many losses, and sometimes ruin, arise from dishonesty and knavery in confidential clerks, partners, and agents. A mercantile house of great reputation, in London, was ruined and became bankrupt, by a clerk having embezzled a prodigious extent of funds, and ab- sconded to America; another company in Edinburgh, sus- tained a great loss by a similar piece of dishonesty ; a company in Paisley was ruined by one of the partners ha- ving collected the funds, and eloped with them to the United States ; and several bankers, and other persons, suffered severely in Edinburgh, by the conduct of an in- dividual, some time connected with the public press. It is said that depredations are constantly committed in the Post-offices of the United Kingdom, in spite of every ef- fort made to select persons of the best character, and of the strictest vigilance exercised over their conduct. If it be true that the talents and dispositions of individuals are indicated and influenced by the development of their brains, and that their actual conduct is the result of this development, and of their external circumstances, includ- ing in the latter every moral and intellectual influence coming from without, it is obvious, that one and all of the evils here enumerated might, to a great extent, be ob- 212 ORGANIC LAWS. viated by the application of Phrenology. These misfor- tunes can he traced to the error of having placed human beings decidedly deficient in moral or intellectual qualities, in situations which demanded these in a higher degree than they possessed them ; and any certain means by which the presence or absence of these qualities could be predicated, before their appointment, would go far to prevent the occurrence of the evils. The three following figures, for example, represent several of the organs most important in practical conduct in opposite states of devel- opment, and the dispositions of the individuals exactly corresponded with them. Mrs H» John Gibson. : ' tSM! VJHIBH IS 15. Firmness small ; 16. Conscientiousness large ; 12. Cautious- ness full. 15. Firmness, and 16. Conscientiousness both deficient: 12. Cautious- ness, and, 7. Secretive- ness, both large. D. Haggart. 15. Firmness large ; 16. Conscientiousness de- ficient; 12. Cautious- ness rather large. CHOICE OF SERVANTS, &C. 213 If individuals having brains resembling those of Gib- son and Haggart, both of whom were remarkable for dis- honesty, should be placed in situations of trust, in which temptations to deception and embezzlement should be presented to them, which could be resisted only by strong sentiments of justice, their misconduct, sooner or later, would be almost certain, owing to the great size of their animal organs, and the deficiency of their organs of Con- scientiousness. I have seen so many instances of dis- honest practices in concomitance with similar combina- tions, that I cannot doubt of their connection. Where external circumstances remove from persons thus con- stituted all temptation to pilfering, their deficient per- ceptions of justice will still be discernible in the laxness of their notions of morality, in their treatment of infe- riors, and in their general conduct. Again, if a person were wanted for any situation in which great decision of character, steadiness and perse- verance were necessary, and we selected a candidate whose brain, in the organ of Firmness, resembled that of Mrs H., we should assuredly be disappointed. This lady was remarkable for vacillation of purpose ; and I have never seen a single instance of decision of mind combined with such a defect of brain as is here repre- sented. These cases are introduced merely as examples and illustrations. The reader who wishes to pursue the subject farther, is referred to the common treatises on Phrenology and the Phrenological Journal for additional information. If any man were to go to sea in a paper boat, which the very fluidity of the element would dissolve, no one would be surprised at his being drowned : and, in like 214 ORGANIC LAWS. manner, if the Creator has constituted the brain so as to exert a great influence over the mental dispositions, and if, nevertheless, men are pleased to treat this fact with neglect and contempt, and to place individuals, naturally deficient in the moral organs, in situations where a great degree of these sentiments is required, they have no cause to be surprised if they suffer the penalties of their own misconduct, in being plundered and defrauded. Although I can state, from experience, that it is pos- sible, by the aid of Phrenology, to select individuals whose moral qualities may be relied on, yet, the ex- tremely limited extent of our practical knowledge in re- gard to the intellectual talents that fit persons for parti- cular duties, falls to be confessed. We must have seen a variety of combinations tried in particular departments and observed their effects, to be able to judge accurately what combination of natural talents and dispositions in an individual will best fit him for any given employment. It is impossible, at least for me, to anticipate with un- erring certainty, what these effects will be : but I have ever found nature constant ; and after once discovering, by experience, an assortment of qualities suited to a par- ticular duty, I have found no subsequent exception to the rule. Cases in which the predominance of particular regions of the brain, such as the moral and intellectual, is very decided, present fewest difficulties ; although, even" in them, the^very deficiency of animal organs may sometimes incapacitate an individual for important sta- tions. Where the three classes of organs, the animal, moral, and intellectual, are nearly in cequilibrio, the most opposite results may ensue by external circumstances exciting the one or the other to decided predominance CHOICE OF SERVANTS, &C. 215 in activity, and little reliance ought to be placed on indi- viduals thus constituted, unless when temptations are removed, and strong motives to virtue presented, Having now adverted to calamities by external vio- lence, — to bad health, — unhappiness in the domestic circle, arising from ill advised unions, and viciously dis- posed children, — to the evils of placing individuals, as servants, clerks, partners, or public instructors, in situa- tions for which they are not suited, by their natural qua- lities, and traced all of them to infringements or neglect of the physical or organic laws, I proceed to advert to the last, and what is reckoned the greatest of all calami- ties, death, and which itself is obviously a part of the organic law. In the introduction, page 6, to which I refer, I have stated briefly the changes which occurred in the globe before man was introduced to inhabit it. Baron Cuvier, after stating that the world we inhabit was at first fluid, and that highly crystalline rocks were deposited before animal or vegetable life began, has demonstrated, that then came the lowest orders of zoophytes and of vege- tables, — next fishes and reptiles, — and trees in vast fo- rests, giving origin to our present beds of coal, then quadrupeds and birds, and shells and plants, resembling those of the present era, but all of which, as species, have utterly perished from the earth ; that next came alluvial rocks, containing bones of mammoths, and other gigantic animals, and that last of all came man.* Dr Buckland has shewn that certain long, rounded, stoney bodies, like ob- * Cuvier's Preface to his Ossemens Fossiles, and papers by Dr Flem- ing in Chalmers's Journal. 216 ORGANIC LAWS. long pebbles or kidney potatoes, scattered on the shore at Lyme Regis, and frequently lying beside the bones of the saurians, or lizard-like reptiles, there discovered, are the dung of these animals in a fossil state. Many speci- mens of them contained scales, teeth, and bones of fishes, that seem to have passed undigested through the body of the animals ; just as the enamel of the teeth and frag- ments of bone are found undigested in the dung of the ravenous hyena. Similar fossils (scientifically named coprolites) are found also on the shore of the Frith of Forth, about a mile westward from Newhaven. These facts shew that death or destruction of vegetable and ani- mal life was an institution of nature before man became an inhabitant of the globe. Physiologists in general regard the organic frame of man also as containing within itself the seeds of dissolu- tion. " The last character," says a popular author, " by which the living body is distinguished, is that of termi- nating its existence by the process of death. The vital energies by which the circle of actions and reactions ne- cessary to life is sustained, at length decline, and finally become exhausted. Inorganic bodies preserve their ex- istence unalterably and for ever, unless some mechanical force, or some chemical agent, separate their particles or alter their composition. But, in every living body, its vital motions inevitably cease sooner or later, from the operation of causes that are internal and inherent. Thus, to terminate its existence by death, is as distinctive of a living being as to derive its origin from a pre-existing germ *." It is beyond the compass of philosophy to explain why * Animal Physiology, p. 7, Library of Useful Knowledge. DEATH. 217 the world was constituted in the manner here represent- ed. I therefore make no inquiry why death was insti- tuted, and refer, of course, only to the dissolution of or- ganized hodies, and not at all to the state of the soul or mind after its separation from the body. These belong- to Revelation. Let us first view the dissolution of the body abstract- edly from personal considerations, as a mere natural ar- rangement. Death, then, appears to be a result of the constitution of all organized beings ; for the very defini- tion of the genus is, that the individuals grow, attain ma- turity, decay, and die. The human imagination cannot conceive how the former part of this series of move- ments could exist without the latter, as long as space is necessary to corporeal existence. If all the vegetable and animal productions of nature, from creation down- wards, had grown, attained maturity, and there remained, this world would not have been capable of containing the thousandth part of them ; so that, on this earth, decaying and dying appear indispensably necessary to admit of re- production and growth. Viewed abstractedly, then, or- ganized beings live as long as health and vigour continue ; but they are subjected to a process of decay, which im- pairs gradually all their functions, and at last terminates in their dissolution. Now, in the vegetable world, the effect of this law is, to surround us with young, in place of everlasting stately full grown trees, standing forth in awful majesty, without variation in leaf or bough; — with the vernal bloom of spring, changing gracefully into the vigour of summer, and the maturity of autumn ; — with the rose, first simply and delicately budding, then luxu- riant and lovely in its perfect evolution. In short, when 218 ORGANIC LAWS. we advert to the law of death, as instituted in the vege- table kingdom, and as related to our own faculties of Ideality and Wonder, which desire and delight in the very changes which death introduces, we, without hesi- tation, exclaim, that all is wisely and wonderfully made. Turning, again, to the animal kingdom, the same funda- mental principle prevails. Death removes the old and decayed, and the organic law introduces in their place the young, the gay, and the vigorous, to tread the stage with renewed agility and delight. This transfer of existence may readily be granted to be beneficial to the young ; but, at first sight, it appears the opposite of benevolent to the old. To have lived at all, is felt as giving a right to continue to live ; and the ques- tion arises, how can the institution of death, as the result of the organic law, be reconciled with Benevolence and Justice ? I am aware that theologically death is regarded as the punishment of sin, and that the attempt to reconcile our minds to it by reason is objected to as at once futile and dangerous to revelation. But I beg leave to observe, that philosophers have established by irrefragable evi- dence, that before man was created, death prevailed among the lower animals, not only by natural decay and the operation of physical forces, but by the express in- stitution of carnivorous creatures destined to prey on living beings ; that man himself is carnivorous, and ob- viously framed by the Creator for a scene of death ; that his organic constitution, in its inherent qualities, implies death as its final termination ; and that if these facts be admitted to be undeniable on the one hand, and we are prohibited, on the other, from pointing out, from the re- DEATH. 219 cords of creation itself, the wise adaptation of the human sentiments and intellect to this state of things, neither the cause of revelation nor of reason can be thereby be- nefitted. The foregoing facts can neither be disputed nor concealed ; and the only effect of excluding the in- vestigation on which I propose to enter, would be to close the path of reason, and to leave the constitution of the external world and of the human mind apparently in a state of contradiction to each other. Let us rather trust to the inherent consistency of all truths, and rely on all sound conclusions of reason being in accordance with every correct interpretation of scripture. In treating of the supremacy of the moral sentiments, I pointed out, that the grand distinction between the sentiments and the propensities, consists in this, that the former are in their nature disinterested, generous, and fond of the general good, while the latter aim only at the welfare or gratification of the individual. It is ob- vious, that death, as an institution of the Creator, must affect these two classes of faculties in the most different manner. A being endowed only with propensities and intellect, and enabled, by the latter, to discover death and its consequences, would probably regard it as an ap- palling visitation. It would see in it only the utter ex- tinction of enjoyment to itself ; for, although it perceiv- ed existence transferred to other beings, who would en- joy life after its removal from the scene, this would af- ford it no consolation, in consequence of its wanting all the faculties which derive pleasure from disinterestedly contemplating the enjoyments of other creatures. The lower animals, then, whose whole being is composed of the inferior propensities, and several knowing faculties, would probably see death, if they could at all anticipate 220 ORGANIC LAWS. it, in this light, It would appear to them, as the extin- guisher of every pleasure which they had ever felt, and apparently the bare prospect of it would render their lives so wretched, that nothing could alleviate the de- pressing gloom with which an habitual consciousness of it would inspire them. But, by depriving them of re- flecting organs, the Creator has kindly and effectually withdrawn from them this evil. He has thereby render- ed them completely blind to its existence. There is not the least reason to believe, that any one of the lower animals, while in health and vigour, has the slightest conception that it is a mortal creature, any more than a tree has that it will die. In consequence, it lives in as full enjoyment of the present, as if it were assured of every agreeable sensation being eternal. Death always takes the individual by surprise, whether it comes in the form of violence, suppressing life in youth, or of slow decay by age ; and really operates as a transference of existence from one being to another, without conscious- ness of the loss in the one which dies. Let us, how- ever, trace the operation of death, in regard to the lower animals, a little more in detail. Philosophy, as already remarked, cannot explain why Death was instituted at first, but, according to the views maintained in this Essay, we should expect to find it con- nected with, and regulated by, benevolence and justice ; that is to say, that it should not be inflicted for the sole purpose of extinguishing the life of individuals, to their damage, without any other result ; but that the general system under which it takes place should be, on the whole, favourable to the enjoyment not only of the race, but of each individual animal while life is given ; and this accordingly is the fact. Violent death, and the de- DEATH. 221 vouring of one animal by another, are not purely bene- volent, because pure benevolence would never inflict pain ; but they are instances of destruction leading to beneficial results ; that is, wherever death is introduced under the institutions of nature, it is accompanied with enjoyment or beneficial consequences to the very ani- mals that are subsequently to become the subjects of it. While the world is calculated to support only a limited number of living creatures ; — the lower animals have received from nature powers of reproduction far beyond what is necessary to supply the waste of natural decay ; and they do not possess intellect sufficient to restrain their numbers within the limits of their means of sub- sistence. Herbivorous animals, in particular, are ex- ceedingly prolific, and yet the supply of vegetable food is limited. Hence, after multiplying for a few years, extensive starvation, the most painful and lingering of all deaths, and the most detrimental to the race, would inevitably ensue ; but carnivorous animals have been insti- tuted who kill and eat them ; and by this means not only do carnivorous animals reap the pleasures of life, but the numbers of the herbivorous are restrained within such limits, that the individuals among them enjoy existence while they live.* The destroyers, again, are limited in * St Pierre states this argument forcibly " By their production without restraint," says he, " creatures would be multiplied beyond all limits, till even the globe itself could not contain them. The preserva- tion of every individual produced, would lead to the ultimate destruction of the species. Some will answer, that the animals might live always, if they observed a proportion suitable to the territory which they inhabited. But, according to this supposition, they must at last cease to multiply ; and then adieu to the loves and alliances, the building of nests, and all the harmonies which reign in their nature."* * St Pierre, Etude de la Nature, Paris, 1791, p. 17- 222 ORGANIC LAWS. their turn : The moment they become too numerous, and carry their devastations too far, their food fails them, and, in their conflicts for the supplies that remain, they extin- guish each other, or die of starvation. Nature seems averse from inflicting death extensively by starvation, probably because it impairs the constitution long before it extin- guishes life, and has the tendency to produce degeneracy in the race. It maybe remarked, also, speculatively, that herbivorous animals must have existed in considerable numbers before the carnivorous began to exercise their functions, for many of the former must die, that one of the latter may live. If a single sheep and a single tiger had been placed together at first, the tiger would have eaten up the sheep at a few meals, and thereafter died itself of starvation. In natural decay, the organs are worn out by mere age, and the animal sinks into gradual insensibility, unconscious that dissolution awaits it. Farther, the wolf, the tiger, the lion, and other beasts of prey, instituted by the Creator as instruments of violent death, are provided, in addition to Destructiveness, with large organs of Cau- tiousness and Secretiveness, that prompt them to steal upon their victims with the unexpected suddenness of a mandate of annihilation, and they are impelled also to in- flict death in the most instantaneous and least painful method ; the tiger and lion spring from their covers with the rapidity of the thunderbolt, and one blow of their tremendous paws, inflicted at the junction of the head with the neck, produces instantaneous death. The eagle is taught to strike its sharp beak into the spine of the birds which it devours, and their agony endures scarcely for an instant. It has been objected, that the cat plays with the unhappy mouse, and prolongs its tortures ; but DEATH. the cat that does so, is the pampered and well fed inha- bitant of a kitchen; the cat of nature is too eager to de- vour, to indulge in such luxurious gratifications of De- structiveness and Secretiveness. It kills in a moment, and eats. Here, then, is actually a regularly organized process for withdrawing individuals of the lower animals from existence, almost by a fiat of destruction, and thereby providing for the comfortable subsistence of the creatures themselves while they live, and thereafter making way for a succession of new occupants. " Nature/' says St. Pierre, " does nothing in vain, she intends few animals to die of old age ; and I believe that she has permitted to none except man to run the entire course of life, be- cause in his case alone can old age be useful to the race. What would be the advantage of old animals, incapable of reflection, to a posterity born with instincts holding the place of experience ; and how, on the other hand, would decrepid parents find support among offspring, which instinctively leave them whenever they are able to swim, to fly, or to run ? Old age would prove to such creatures a burden ; of which beasts of prey merci- fully deliver them." Man, in his mode of putting the lower creatures to death, is not so tender as beasts of prey : but he might be so. Suppose the sheep to be guillotined, and not mal- treated before its execution, the creature would never know that it had ceased to live. And, by the law which I have already explained, man does not with impunity add one unnecessary pang to the death of the inferior animals. In the butcher who inflicts torments on calves, sheep, and cattle, while driving them to the slaughter, 224 OUGANIC LAWS. and who puts them to death in the way supposed to be most conducive to the gratification of his Acquisitiveness, such as bleeding them to death, by successive stages, prolonged for days to whiten their flesh, — the animal faculties of Destructiveness, Acquisitiveness, and Self- Esteem, predominate so decidedly in activity, over the moral and intellectual powers, that he is necessarily ex- cluded from all the enjoyments attendant on the supre- macy of the human faculties : He, besides, goes into so- ciety under the influence of the same base combination, and suffers at every hand animal retaliation ; so that he does not escape with impunity for his outrages against the moral law. Here, then, we can perceive nothing malevolent in the institution of death, in so far as regards the lower ani- mals. A pang certainly does attend it ; but while De- structiveness must be recognised in the pain, Benevolence is equally perceptible in its effects. I mentioned formerly, that the organic law rises above the physical, and the moral and intellectual law above the organic ; and the present occasion affords an addi- tional illustration of this fact. Under the physical law, no remedial process is instituted by nature. If a mirror falls, and is smashed, it remains ever after in fragments ; if a ship sinks, it lies still at the bottom of the ocean, chained down by the law of gravitation. Under the or- ganic law, on the other hand, a distinct remedial process is established. If a tree is blown over, every root that remains in the ground, will double its exertions to pre- serve life ; if a branch is lopped off, new branches will shoot out in its place ; if a leg in an animal is broken, DEATH. 225 the bone will reunite ; — if a muscle is severed, it will grow together ; if an artery is obliterated, the neigh- bouring arteries will enlarge their dimensions, and per- form its functions. The Creator, however, not to en- courage animals to abuse this benevolent institution, has established pain as an attendant on infringement of the organic law, and made them suffer for the violation of it, even while he restores them. It is under this law that death has received its organic pangs. Instant death is not attended with pain of any perceptible duration ; and it is only when a lingering death occurs in youth and middle age, that the suffering is severe ; dissolution, however, does not occur at these periods as a direct and intentional result of the organic laws, but as the conse- quence of infringement of them. Under the fair and le- gitimate operation of these laws, the individual whose constitution was at first sound, and whose life has been in accordance with their dictates, will live till old age fairly wears out his organised frame, and then the pang of expiration is little perceptible,* The pains of pre- mature death, then, are the punishments of infringement of the organic law, and the object of that chastisement probably is to impress upon us the necessity of obeying them that we may live, and to prevent our abusing the remedial process inherent to a great extent in our con- stitution. Let us now view death as an institution appointed to man. If it be true, that the organic constitution of man, when sound in its elements, and preserved in accordance * The following table is copied from an interesting article by Mr Wil- liam Fraser, on the History and Constitution of Benefit or Friendly So- cieties, published in the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal for Oc- 226 ORGANIC LAWS. with the organic laws, is fairly calculated to endure in health from infancy to old age, and that death, when it occurs during the early or middle periods of life, is the consequence of departures from the physical and organic laws, it follows, that, even in premature death, a benevo- lent principle is discernible. Although the remedial pro- cess restores animals from moderate injuries, yet the very nature of the organic law must place a limit to it. If life had been preserved, and health restored, after the brain had been blown to atoms, by a bomb shell, as ef- fectually as a leg that is broken, and a finger that is cut are healed, this would have been an actual abrogation of the organic law ; and all the curbs which that law im- poses on the lower propensities, and all the incitements which the observance of it affords to the higher senti- ments, and intellect, would have been lost. The limit, then, is this, — that any departure from the law against which restoration is permitted, shall be moderate in ex- tent, and shall not involve, to a great degree, any organ essential to life, such as the brain, the lungs, the stomach, or intestines. The very maintenance of the law, with all tober 1827, and is deduced from Returns by Friendly Societies in Scot- land for various years, from 1750 to 1821. It shews how much sickness is dependent on age, and how little there is of it in youth, even in the present disordered state of human conduct. We may expect its quantity to decrease, at all ages, in proportion to the increase of obedience to the organic laws. Average Sickness for Each Individual. Proportion of Sick Members. 1 in 136.95 1 ... 87.89 1 ... 75.74 1 ... 50.61 1 ... 27.65 1 ... 9.23 1 ... 3.14 Age. w eetcs ana Decimals. Weeks. Days. Hours. Under 20 0.3797 2 16 20-30 0.5916 4 3 30-40 0.6865 4 19 40-50 1.0273 1 4 50-60 1.8808 1 6 3 60-70 5.6337 5 4 10 Above 70 16.5417 16 3 19 DEATH. 227 its advantages, requires that restoration from grievous derangement of these organs should not be permitted. When we reflect on the hereditary transmission of qua- lities to children, we clearly perceive benevolence to the race, in the institution which cuts short the life of an in- dividual in whose person disease of essential organs has become so great as to have exceeded the limits of the remedial process ; for the extension of the punishment of his errors over an innumerable posterity is thereby pre- vented. In premature death, then, we see two objects accomplished, first, the individual sufferer is withdrawn from agonies which could serve no beneficial end to himself; he has transgressed the limits of recovery, and prolonged life would be protracted misery; secondly, the race is guaranteed from the future transmission of his disease by hereditary descent. The disciple of Mr Owen, formerly alluded to, who had grievously transgressed the organic law, and suffered a punishment of equal intensity, observed, when in the midst of his agony, — " Philosophers have urged the in- stitution of death, as an argument against divine good- ness, but not one of them could experience, for five mi- nutes, the pain which I now endure, without looking upon it as a most merciful arrangement. I have depart- ed from the natural institutions, and suffered the punish- ment ; but, in death, I see only the Creator's benevolent hand, stretched out to terminate my agonies, when they cease to serve any beneficial end." On this principle, the death of a feeble and sickly child is an act of mercy to it. It withdraws a being, in whose person the organic laws have been violated, from useless suffering ; cutting short, thereby, also, the transmission of its imperfections 228 ORGANIC LAWS. to posterity. If, then, the organic institutions which in- flict pain and disease as punishments for transgressing them, are founded in benevolence and wisdom ; and, if death, in the early and middle periods of life, is an ar- rangement for withdrawing the transgressor from farther suffering, after return to obedience is impossible, and protecting the race from the consequences of his errors, it also is in itself wise and benevolent. This, then, leaves only death in old age as a natural and unavoidable institution of the Creator. It will not be denied, that, if old persons, when their powers of en- joyment are fairly exhausted, and their cup of pleasure full, could be removed from this world, as we have sup- posed the lower animals to be, in an instant, and without pain or consciousness, to make way for a fresh and vi- gorous offspring, about to run the career which the old have terminated, there would be no lack of benevolence and justice in the arrangement. At present, while we live in habitual ignorance and neglect of the organic in- stitutions, death probably comes upon us with more pain and agony, even in advanced life, than might be its legi- timate accompaniment, if we placed ourselves in accord- ance with these ; so that we are not now in a condition to ascertain the natural quantity of pain necessarily at- tendant on death. Judging from analogy, we may con- clude, that the close of a long life, founded at first, and afterwards spent, in accordance with the Creator's laws, would not be accompanied with great organic suffering, but that an insensible decay would steal upon the senses. Be this, however, as it may, I observe, in the next place, that as the Creator has bestowed on man animal faculties that fear death, and reason that carries home to DEATH. 229 him the conviction that he must die, it is an interesting inquiry, Whether he has provided any natural means of relief, from the consequences of this combination of ter- rors ? " And what thinkest thou," said Socrates to Aristodemus, " of this continual love of life, this dread of dissolution, which takes possession of us from the mo- ment that we are conscious of existence ?" " I think of it," answered he, " as the means employed by the same great and wise artist, deliberately determined to preserve what he has made." Lord Byron strongly expresses the same opinion, and is struck with the energetic efforts which he instinctively made in a moment of danger, to preserve his own life, although in his hours of calm reflection, he felt so unhappy that he wished to die. There are reasons for believing not only that the love of life is a special instinct, but that it is connected with a particular organ, which is supposed to be situate at the base of the brain, and that, cateris paribus, the feeling va- ries in intensity in different individuals, according to the size of the organ. I have ascertained, by numerous con- fidential communications, as well as by observation, that even when external circumstances are equally prosperous and happy, there are great differences in the desire of life in different minds. Some persons have assured me, that death, viewed even as the extinction of being, and without reference to a future state, did not appear to them at all appalling, or calculated, when contemplated as their certain fate, to impair the enjoyment of life ; and these were not profligate men, whose vices might make them desire annihilation as preferable to future punishment, but persons of pure lives and pious dispositions. This experience is so different from the feelings commonly en- 230 ORGANIC LAWS. tertained by ordinary persons, that I have been led to ascribe it to a very small development of the organ of the Love of Life in these individuals. A medical gen- tleman who was attached to the native army in India, in- formed me, that in many of the Hindoos, the love of life was by no means strong. On the contrary, it was frequently found necessary to interpose force to compel them to make even moderate exertions, quite within the compass of their stength, to avoid death. That part of the base of the brain which lies between the ear and the anterior lobe, is generally narrow, measuring across the head, in such individuals. If there be an organ for the love of life, the vivacity of the instinct will diminish in proportion as the organ decays, so that age, which in- duces the certain approach of death, will, in a correspond- ing degree, strip him of his terrors. The apparent ex- ceptions to this rule will be found in cases in which this organ predominates in size and activity, and preserves an ascendency over the other organs, even in decay. These ideas, however, are thrown out only as specu- lations, suggested by the facts before described. What- ever may be thought of them, it is certain that the Crea- tor has bestowed moral sentiments on man, and arranged the whole of his existence on the principles of their su- premacy ; and these, when duly cultivated and enlight- ened, are calculated to withdraw from him the terrors of death, in the same manner as unconsciousness of its ex- istence saves the lower animals from its horrors. The Moral Sentiments and Intellect perceive, 1st, That Amativeness, Philoprogenitiveness, and Ad- hesiveness, are provided with direct objects of gratifica- tion, in consequence of the institution of death. If the DEATH. 231 same individuals had lived here for ever, there would have been no field for the enjoyment that flows from the domestic union, and the rearing of offspring. The very institution of these propensities prove, that producing and rearing young form part of the design of creation ; and the successive production of young appears neces- sarily to imply removal of the old. 2d, All the other faculties would have been limited in their gratifications. Conceive, for a moment, how much exercise is afforded to our intellectual and moral powers, in acquiring knowledge, communicating it to the young, and in providing for their enjoyments ; also, what a de- lightful exercise of the higher sentiments is implied in the intercourse between the aged and the young ; all which pleasures would have been unknown, if there had been no young in existence, which there could not have been, without a succession of individuals. 3d, Constituted as man is, the succession of individuals withdraws beings whose physical and mental constitutions have run their course, and become impaired in sensibility, and substitutes, in their place, fresh and vigorous minds and bodies, far better adapted for the enjoyment of crea- tion. 4th, If I am right in the position, that the organic laws transmit, in an increasing ratio, the qualities most active in the parents to their offspring, the law of succes- sion provides for a far higher degree of improvement in the race than could have been reached by the permanency of a single generation possessing the present human con- stitution. Let us inquire, then, how the moral sentiments are af- fected by death in old age, as a natural institution. 232 ORGANIC LAWS. Benevolence, glowing with a disinterested desire for the diffusion and increase of enjoyment, utters no com- plaint against death in old age, as a transference of ex- istence from a being impaired in its capacity for useful ness and pleasure, to one fresh and vigorous in all its powers, and fitted to carry forward, to a higher point of improvement, every beneficial measure previously begun. Conscientiousness, if thoroughly enlightened, perceives no infringement of justice in a guest, satiated with enjoy- ment, being called on to retire from the banquet, to per- mit a stranger with a keener and more youthful appetite to partake ; and Veneration, when instructed by intellect that this is the institution of the Creator, and made ac- quainted with its objects, bows in humble acquiescence to the law. Now, if these powers have acquired, in any in- dividual, that complete supremacy which they are clearly intended to hold, he will be placed by them as much above the terror of death as a natural institution, as the lower animals are, by being ignorant of its existence. And un- less the case were so, man would, by the very knowledge of death, be rendered, during his whole life, more miser- able than they. In these observations, I have said nothing of the pros- pects of a future existence as a palliative of the evils of dissolution, because I was bound to regard death, in the first instance, as the result of the organic law, and to treat of it as such. But no one who considers that the prospects of a life to come, are directly addressed to Veneration, Hope, Benevolence, and Intellect, can fail to perceive that this consolation also is clearly founded on the principle, that supremacy in the sentiments is intend- ed by the Creator to protect man from its terrors. ORGANIC LAWS, 233 The true view of death, then, as a natural institution, is, that it is an essential part of the very system of or- ganization ; that birth, growth, and arrival at maturity as completely imply decay and death in old age, as morn- ing and noon imply evening and night, as spring and summer imply harvest, or as the source of a river im- plies its termination. Besides, organized beings are con- stituted by the Creator to be the food of other organized beings, so that some must die that others may live. Man, for instance, cannot live on stones, or earth, or wa- ter, which are not organized, but must feed on vegetable and animal substances ; so that death is as much, and as essentially, an inherent part of organization as life itself. If vegetables, animals, and men, had been destined for a duration like that of mountains, — instead of creating a primitive pair of each, and endowing these with exten- sive powers of reproduction, so as to usher into existence young beings destined to grow up to maturity by insen- sible degrees, we may presume, from analogy, that the Creator would have furnished the world with its definite complement of living beings, perfect at first in all their parts and functions, and that these would have remained, like hills, without diminution, and without increase. To prevent, then, all chance of being misapprehended, I repeat, that I do not at all allude to the state of the soul or mind, after death, but merely to the dissolution of organized bodies ; that, according to the soundest view which I am able to obtain of the natural law, pain and death in youth and middle age, in the human species, are consequences of departure from the Creator's laws; while death in old age, by insensible decay, is an essential and apparently indispensable part of the system of organized 234 ORGANIC LAWS. existence ; that this arrangement admits of the succession of individuals, substituting the young and vigorous for the feeble and decayed ; that it is directly the means by which organized beings live, and indirectly the means by which Amativeness, Philoprogenitiveness, and a variety of our other faculties obtain gratification ; that it admits of the race ascending in the scale of improvement, both in their organic and mental qualities; that the moral sen- timents, when supreme in activity, and enlightened by in- tellect, so as to perceive its design and consequences, are calculated to place man in harmony with it ; while reli- gion addresses its consolation to the same faculties, and completes what reason leaves undone. If the views now unfolded be correct, death, in old age, will never be abolished, as long as man continues an organized being ; but pain and premature death will con- stantly decrease, in the exact ratio of his obedience to the physical and organic laws. It is interesting to ob- serve, that there is already some evidence of this process being actually in progress. About seventy years ago, tables of the average duration of life, in England, were compiled for the use of the Life Insurance Companies ; and from them it appears, that the average duration of life was then 28 years ; that is, 1000 persons being born, and the years which each of them lived being added to- gether, and divided by 1000, gave 28 to each. By recent tables, it appears that the average is now 32 years to each; that is to say, by superior morality, cleanliness, knowledge, and general obedience to the Creator's insti- tutions, fewer individuals now perish in infancy, youth, and middle age, than did seventy years ago. Some per- sons have said, that the difference arises from errors in ORGANIC LAWS. 235 compiling the old tables, and that the superior habits of the people are not the cause. It is probable that there may be a portion of truth in both views. There may be some errors in the old tables, but it is quite natural that increasing knowledge and stricter obedience to the or- ganic laws should diminish the number of premature deaths. If this idea be correct, the average duration of life should go on increasing ; and our successors, two centuries hence, may probably attain to an average of 40 years, and then ascribe to errors in our tables our low average of 32 *. Sect. III. CALAMITIES ARISING FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. We come now to consider the Moral Law, which is proclaimed by the higher sentiments and intellect acting harmoniously, and holding the animal propensities in sub- jection; In surveying the moral and religious codes of different nations, and the moral and religious opinions of different philosophers, every reflecting mind must have been struck with their diversity. Phrenology, by de- monstrating the differences of combination in their facul- ties, enables us to account for these varieties of sentiment. The code of morality framed by a legislator, in whom the animal propensities were strong, and the moral sen- timents weak, would be very different from one insti- * An interesting article on the " Diminished Mortality in England," appeared in the Scotsman newspaper, of 16th April 1828, which coin- cides with the views of the text ; and, as it proceeds on scientific data, it is printed in the Appendix, No. IV. 236 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM tuted by another lawgiver, in whom this combination was reversed. In like manner, a system of religion, founded by an individual, in whom Destructiveness, Wonder, and Cautiousness were very large, and Veneration, Benevo- lence, and Conscientiousness deficient, would present views of the Supreme Being widely dissimilar to those which would be promulgated by a personin whom th e last three faculties and intellect decidedly predominated. Phrenology shews, that the particular code of morality and religion, which is most completely in harmony with the whole faculties of the individual, will necessarily appear to him to be the best, while he refers only to the dictates of his individual mind, as the standard of right and wrong. But if we are able to shew, that the whole scheme of external creation is arranged in harmony with certain principles, in preference to others, so that enjoyment flows upon the in- dividual from without, when his conduct is in conformity with them, and that evil overtakes him when he departs from them, we shall then obviously prove, that the for- mer is the morality and religion established by the Crea- tor; and that individual men, who support different codes, must necessarily be deluded by imperfections in their own minds. That constitution of mind, also, may be pronounced to be the best, which harmonizes^most com- pletely with the morality and religion established by the Creator's arrangements. In this view, [morality becomes a science, and departures from its dictates may be de- monstrated as practical follies, injurious to the real inte- rest and happiness of the individual, just as errors in lo- gic are capable of refutation to the satisfaction of the un- derstanding. Dugald Stewart most justly remarked,^that " the im- INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 237 portarice of agriculture and of religious toleration to the prosperity of states ; the criminal impolicy of thwarting the kind arrangements of Providence, by restraints upon commerce ; and the duty of legislators to study the laws of the moral world as the ground-work and standard of their own, appear, to minds unsophisticated by inveterate pre- judices, as approaching nearly to the class of axioms ; — yet, how much ingenious and refined discussion has been employed, even in our own times, to combat the preju- dices which every where continue to struggle against them ; and how remote does the period yet seem, when there is any probability that these prejudices will be com- pletely abandoned *." The great cause of the long con- tinuance of these prejudices, is the want of an intelligible and practical philosophy of morals. Before ordinary minds can perceive that the world is really governed by divine laws, it is obvious that they must become ac- quainted with, first, The nature of man, physical, animal, moral, and intellectual ; secondly, The relations of the different parts of that nature to each other ; and, thirdly, The relationship of the whole to God and external ob jects. The present Essay is an attempt, (a very feeble and imperfect one indeed), to arrive, by the aid of phre- nology, at a demonstration of morality as a science. The interests dealt with in the investigation are so elevating, and the effort itself is so delightful, that the attempt carries its own reward, however unsuccessful in its re- sults. I am not without hope, that if phrenology, as the science of mind, and the doctrine of the natural laws, were taught to the people as part of their ordinary education, the removal of these prejudices would be considerably accelerated. * Prelim. Dissert, to Sup. Ency, Brit. p. 127. 238 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM Assuming, then, that, among- the faculties of the mind, the higher sentiments and intellect hold the natural su- premacy, I shall endeavour to shew, that obedience to the dictates of these powers is rewarded with pleasing emo- tions in the mental faculties themselves, and with the most beneficial external consequences ; whereas disobe- dience is followed by deprivation of these emotions, by painful feelings within the mind, and great external evil. First, Obedience is accompanied by pleasing emotions in the faculties. It is scarcely necessary to dwell on the circumstance, that every propensity, sentiment, and in- tellectual faculty, when gratified in harmony with all the rest, is a fountain of pleasure. How many exquisite thrills of joy arise from Philopvogenitiveness, Adhe- siveness, Acquisitiveness, Constructiveness, Love of Ap- probation, and Self-esteem, when gratified in accordance with the moral sentiments ; who that has ever poured forth the aspirations of Hope, Ideality, Wonder, and Veneration, directed to an object in whom Intellect and Conscientiousness also rejoiced, has not experienced the deep delight of such an exercise? Or, Who is a stranger to the grateful pleasures attending an active Benevo- lence ? Turning to the intellect, again, what pleasures are afforded by the scenery of nature, by painting, poetry, and music, to those who possess the combination of fa- culties suited to these studies ? And how rich a feast does not philosophy yield to those who possess high re- flecting organs, combined with Concentrativeness and Conscientiousness ? The reader is requested, therefore, to keep steadily in view, that these exquisite rewards are attached by the Creator to the active exercise of our fa- culties, in accordance with the moral law ; and that one INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 239 punishment, clear, obvious, and undeniable, inflicted on those who neglect or infringe that law, is deprivation of these pleasures. This is a consideration very little at- tended to ; because mankind, in general, live in such ha- bitual neglect of the moral law, that they have, to a very partial extent, experienced its rewards, and do not know the enjoyment they are deprived of by its infringement. Before its full measure can be judged of, the mind must be instructed in its own constitution, in that of external objects, and in the relationship established between it and them, and between it and the Creator. Until a tolerably distinct perception of these truths is obtained, the facul- ties cannot enjoy repose, nor act in full vigour or har- mony : while, for example, our forefathers regarded the marsh fevers, to which they were subjected, from defi- cient draining of their fields, — and the outrages on per- son and property, attendant on the wars waged by the English against the Scots, or by one feudal lord against another, even on their own soil, — not as punishments for particular infringements of the organic and moral laws, to be removed by obedience to these laws, but as inscru- table dispensations of God's providence, which it behoved them meekly to endure, but not to avert, — the full en- joyment which the moral and intellectual faculties were fairly calculated by the Creator to afford, could not be experienced. Benevolence would pine in dissatisfaction ; Veneration would flag in its devotions ; and Conscientious- ness would suggest endless surmises of disorder and in- justice in a schemeof creation, under which such evils oc- curred, and were left without a remedy : — in short, the full tide of moral, religious, and intellectual enjoyment could not possibly flow, until views, more in accordance with 240 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM the constitution and desires of the moral faculties were obtained. The same evil afflicts mankind still to a pro- digious extent. How is it possible for the Hindoo, Mus- sulman, Chinese, or the native American, while they con- tinue to worship deities, whose qualities outrage Bene- volence, Veneration, and Conscientiousness, — and remain in profound ignorance of almost all the Creator's natural institutions, in consequence of infringing which they suf- fer punishment without ceasing, — to form even a concep- tion of the gratifications which the moral and intellectual nature of man is calculated to enjoy, when exercised in harmony with the Creator's real character and institu- tions ? This operation of the moral law is not the less real, because many do not recognise it. Sight is not a less excellent gift to those who see, because some men born blind have no conception of the extent of pleasure and advantage from which the want of it cuts them off. The qualities manifested by the Creator may be in- ferred from the works of creation ; but it is obvious, that, to arrive at the soundest views, we would need to know his institutions thoroughly. To a grossly ignorant people, who suffer hourly from transgression of his laws, the Deity will appear infinitely more mysterious and se- vere than to an enlightened nation, who trace the prin- ciples of his government, in many departments of his works, and who, by observing his laws, avoid the penal- ties of infringement. The character of the Divine Be- ing, under the natural system, will go on rising in human apprehension, in exact proportion as his works shall be understood. The low and miserable conceptions of God formed by the vulgar among the Greeks and Romans, were the reflections of their own ignorance of natural, INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 241 moral, and political science. The discovery and im- provement of phrenology must necessarily have a great effect on natural religion. Before phrenology was known, the moral and intellectual constitution of man was unas- certained ; — in consequence, the relations of external na- ture towards it could not be competently judged of; and, while these were involved in obscurity, many of the ways of Providence must have appeared mysterious and severe, which in themselves were quite the reverse. Again, as bodily suffering and mental perplexity would bear a proportion to this ignorance, the character of God would appear to the natural eye in that condition, much more unfavourable than it will after these clouds of darkness shall have passed away. Some persons, in their great concernment about a fu- ture life, are liable to overlook the practical direction of the mind in the present. When we consider the nature and objects of the mental faculties, we perceive that a great number of them have the most obvious and unde- niable reference to this life ; for example, Amalivenc-ss, Philoprogenitiveness, Combativeness, Destruetiveness, Acquisitiveness, Secretiveness, Cautiousness, Self-esteem, and Love of Approbation, with Size, Form, Colouring, Weight, Tune, Wit, and probably other faculties, stand in such evident relationship to tins particular world, with its moral and physical arrangements, that if they were not capable of legitimate application here, it would be difficult to assign a reason for their being bestowed on us. We pos- sess also Benevolence, Veneration, Hope, Ideality, Won- der, Conscientiousness, and Reflecting Intellect, all of which appear to be particularly adapted to a higher sphere. But the important consideration is, that here on 242 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM earth these two sets of faculties are combined ; and, on the same principle that led Sir Isaac Newton to infer the combustibility of the diamond, I am disposed to expect that the external world, when its constitution and rela- tions shall be sufficiently understood, will be found to be jn harmony with all our faculties, and of course that the character of the Deity, as unfolded by the works of cre- ation, will more and more gratify our moral and intellec- tual powers, in proportion as knowledge shall advance. The structure of the eye is admirably adapted to the laws of light ; that of the ear to the laws of sound ; that of the muscles to the laws of gravitation ; and it would be strange if our mental constitution were not as wisely adapted to the general order of the external world. The principle is universal, and admits of no exception, that want of power and activity in every faculty, is at- tended with deprivation of the pleasures attendant on its vivacious exercise. He who is so deficient in Tune that he cannot distinguish melody, is cut off from a vast source of gratification enjoyed by those who possess that organ in a state of vigour and highly cultivated ; and the same principle holds in the case of every other organ and fa- culty. Criminals and profligates of every description, therefore, from the very constitution of their nature, are excluded from great enjoyments attendant on virtue ; and this is the first natural punishment to which they are inevitably liable. Persons also, who are ignorant of the constitutions of their own minds, and the relations be- tween external objects, not only suffer many direct evils on this account, but, through the consequent inactivity of their faculties, are, besides, deprived of many exalted enjoyments. The works of creation, and the character INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 243 of the Deity, are the legitimate objects of our highest powers ; and hence he who is blind to their qualities, loses nearly the whole benefit of his moral and intellec- tual existence. If there is any one to whom these gra- tifications are unknown, or appear trivial, either he must, to a very considerable degree, be still under the dominion of the animal propensities, or his views of the Creator's character and institutions cannot be in harmony with the natural dictates of the moral sentiments and intellect. The custom of teaching children to regard with the highest ad- miration the literature and history of the Greeks and Romans, stained with outrages on all the superior facul- ties of man, and diverting their minds away from the study of the Creator and his works, has had a most per- nicious effect on the views of this world, entertained by many excellent and intellectual individuals. This is truly preferring the achievements of barbarous men to the glo- rious designs of God ; and we need not be surprised that no satisfaction to the moral sentiments is experienced while this course of education is pursued. But, in the second place, as the world is arranged on the principle of the supremacy of the moral sentiments and intellect, observance of the moral law is attended with external advantages, and infringement of it with positive evil consequences ; and from this constitution arises the second natural punishment of misconduct. Let us trace the advantages of obedience. — In the do- mestic circle ; if we preserve habitually Benevolence, Conscientiousness, Veneration, and Intellect supreme, it is quite undeniable, that we shall rouse the moral and in- ., tellectual faculties of children, servants, and assistants, to love us, and to yield us willing service, obedience, and 244 CALAMITIES AIMSI.VG FROM aid. Our commands will then be reasonable, mild, and easily executed, and the commerce will be that of love. With our equals, again, in societ)', what would we not give for a friend in whom we were perfectly convinced of the supremacy of the moral sentiments ; what love, confi- dence, and delight, would we not repose in him ! To a merchant, physician, lawyer, magistrate, or an individual in any public employment, how invaluable would be the habitual supremacy of these sentiments ! The Creator has given different talents to different individuals, and limited our powers, so that we execute any work best by confining our attention to one department of labour, — an arrangement which amounts to a direct institution of se- parate trades and professions. Under the natural laws, then, the manufacturer may pursue his calling with the entire approbation of all the moral sentiments, for he is dedicating his talents to supply the wants of his fellow men ; and how much more successful will he not be, if his every wish is accompanied by the desire to act bene- volently and honestly towards those who are to consume and pay for the products of his labour ! He cannot gra- tify his Acquisitiveness half so successfully by any other method. The same remark applies to the merchant, the lawyer, and physician. The lawyer and physician whose whole spirits breathe a disinterested desire to consult, as a paramount object, the interests of their clients and patients, not only obtain the direct reward of gratifying their own moral faculties, which is no slight enjoyment, but also reap a positive gratification to their Self-esteem and Love of Approbation, in a high and well-founded reputation, and to their Acquisitiveness, in increasing emolument, not grudgingly paid but willingly offered, INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. i245 from persons who feel the worth of the services be- stowed. There are three conditions required by the moral and intellectual law, which must all be observed to insure its rewards. 1st, The department of industry selected must be really useful to human beings : Benevolence demands this ; 2d, The quantum of labour bestowed must bear a just proportion to the natural demand for the commodity produced : Intellect requires this ; and 3d, In our social connections, we must imperatively attend to the organic law, that different individuals possess different develop- ments of brain, and in consequence different natural ta- lents and dispositions, and we must rely on each, only to tlie extent warranted by his natural endowment. If, then, an individual have received, at birth, a sound organic constitution and favourably developed brain, and if he live in accordance with the physical, the organic, the moral, and the intellectual laws, it appears to me that, in the constitution of the world, he has received an assur- ance from the Creator, of provision for his animal wants, and a high enjoyment in the legitimate exercise of his various mental powers. I have already observed, that before we can obey the Creator's institutions we must know them ; that the science which teaches the physical laws is natural philo- sophy ; and that the organic laws belong to the depart- ment of anatomy and physiology : and I now add, that it is the business of the Political Economist to unfold the kinds of industry that are really necessary to the welfare of mankind, and the degrees of labour that will meet with a just reward. The leading object of political economy, 246 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM as a science, is to increase enjoyment, by directing the application of industry. To attain this end, however, it is obviously necessary that the nature of man, — the con- stitution of the physical world, — and the relations between these, should be known. Hitherto, the knowledge of the first of these elementary parts has been very deficient, and, in consequence, the whole superstructure has been weak and unproductive, in comparison of what it may be- come, when founded on a more perfect basis. Political Economists have never taught that the world is arranged on the principle of supremacy of the moral sentiments and intellect — that consequently, to render man happy, his leading pursuits must be such as will exercise and gra- tify these powers, — and that his life will necessarily be miserable, if devoted entirely to the production of wealth. They have proceeded on the notion, that the accumula- tion of wealth is the summum bonum ; but all history testifies, that national happiness does not invariably in- crease in proportion to national riches ; and until they shall perceive and teach, that intelligence and morality are the foundation of all lasting prosperity, they will never interest the great body of mankind, nor give a va- luable direction to their efforts. If the views contained in the present Essay be sound, it will become a leading object with future masters in that science, to demonstrate the necessity that civilized man should limit his physical, and increase his moral and intellectual occupations, as the only means of saving him- self from ceaseless punishment under the natural laws. The idea of men in general being taught natural phi- losophy, anatomy, and physiology, political economy, and INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 247 the other sciences that expound the natural laws, has been sneered at, as utterly absurd and ridiculous *. But I would ask, in what occupations are human beings so urgently engaged, that they have no leisure to bestow on the study of the Creator's laws ? A course of natural philosophy would occupy sixty or seventy hours in the delivery ; a course of anatomy and physiology the same ; and a course of phrenology can be delivered pretty fully in forty hours ! These, twice or thrice repeated, would serve to initiate the student so that he could afterwards advance in the same paths, by the aid of observation and books. Is life, then, so brief, and are our hours so ur- gently occupied by higher and more important duties, that we cannot afford these pittances of time to learn the laws that regulate our existence ? No ! The only diffi- culty is in obtaining the desire for the knowledge ; for when that is attained, time will not be wanting. No idea can be more preposterous, than that of human be- ings having no time to study and obey the natural in- stitutions. These laws punish so severely, when ne- glected, that they cause the offender to lose tenfold more time in undergoing his chastisement, than would be re- quisite to obey them. A gentleman extensively engaged in business, whose nervous and digestive systems have been impaired by neglect of the organic laws, was de- * It is pleasing to observe, that great progress has been made in ap- preciating the importance of the kind of education here recommended, since the first edition of this work was published. In Edinburgh an associa- tion of the industrious classes has been formed for obtaining instruction in useful and entertaining knowledge, and it has met with the greatest en- couragement. Under its superintendence, lectures have been delivered on all the sciences enumerated in the text, to audiences consisting of both sexes, and with eminent success. A notice of its constitution will be found in the Appendix, No. V. 248 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM sired to walk in the open air at least one hour a-day ; to repose from all exertion, bodily and mental, for one full hour after breakfast, and another full hour after dinner, because the brain cannot expend its energy in thinking and in aiding digestion at the same time ; and to prac- tise moderation in diet, which last injunction he regu- larly observed ; but he laughed at the very idea of his having three hours a-day to spare for attention to his health. The reply was, that the organic laws admit of no exception, and that he must either obey them, or take the consequences ; but that the time lost in en- during the punishment would be double or treble that requisite for obedience ; — and, accordingly, the fact was so. Instead of attending an appointment, it is quite usual for him to send a note, perhaps at two in the after- noon, in these terms : — " I was so distressed with head- ache last night, that I never closed my eyes, and to-day I am still incapable of being out of bed." On other oc- casions, he is out of bed, but apologises for incapacity to attend to business, on account of an intolerable pain in the region of the stomach. In short, if the hours lost in these painful sufferings were added together, and distri- buted over the days when he is able for duty, he would find them far outnumber those which would suffice for obedience to the organic laws — and with this difference in the results : by neglect he loses both his hours and his enjoyment ; whereas, by obedience, he would be reward- ed by aptitude for business, and a pleasing consciousness of existence. We shall, however, understand the operation of the moral and intellectual laws more completely, by attend- ing to the evils which arise from neglect of them. INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 249 I. Let us consider Individuals. At present, the almost universal persuasion of civilized man, is, that happiness consists in the possession of wealth, power, and external splendour; objects related to the animal faculties and in- tellect much more than to the moral sentiments. In con- sequence, each individual sets out in the pursuit of these as the chief business of his life ; and, in the ardour of the chase, he recognises no limitations on the means which he may employ, except those imposed by the municipal law. He does not perceive or acknowledge the existence of na- tural laws, determining not only the sources of his happi- ness, but the steps by which it may be attained. From this moral and intellectual blindness, merchants and ma- nufacturers, in numberless instances, hasten to be rich beyond the course of nature ; that is to say, they engage in enterprises far exceeding the extent of their capital, or capacity ; they place their property in the hands of debtors, whose natural talents and morality are so low, that they ought never to have been entrusted with a shil- ling ; they send their goods to sea without insuring them, or leave them uninsured in their warehouses ; they ask pecuniary accommodation from other merchants, to enable them to carry on undue speculations, and become security for them in return, and both fall into misfortunes ; or they live in splendour aud extravagance, far beyond the extent of the natural return of their capital and talents, and speedily reach ruin as their goal. In every one of these instances, the calamity is obviously the consequence of infringement of the moral and intellectual law. The lawyer, medical practitioner, or probationer in the church, who is disappointed in his reward, will be found erro- neously to have placed himself in a profession for which 250 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM his natural talents and dispositions did not fit him, or to have pursued his vocation under the guidance chiefly of the lower propensities ; preferring selfishness to honour- able regard for the interests of his employers. Want of success in these professions, appears to me to be owing, in a high degree, to three causes. First, the brain may be too small, or constitutionally lympathic, so that the mind does not act with sufficient energy to make an impres- sion. Secondly, some particular organs indispensably re- quisite to success, may be very small, as Language, or Causality, in a lawyer — the deficiency of the first render- ing him incapable of ready utterance, and that of the se- cond, destitute of that intuitive sagacity, which sees at a glance the bearing of the facts and principles founded on by his adversary, so as to estimate the just inferences that follow, and to point them out. A lawyer, who is weak in this power, appears to his client like a pilot who does not know the shoals and the rocks. His deficiency is perceived whenever difficulty presents itself, and he is pronounced unfit to take charge of great interests ; he is then passed by, and suffers the penalties of having made an erroneous choice of a profession. The third cause is predominance of the animal and selfish faculties. The client and the patient discriminate instinctively between the cold, pitiless, but pretending manner of Acquisitive- ness and Love of Approbation, and the unpretending genuine warmth of Benevolence, Veneration, and Con- scientiousness ; and they discover very speedily that the intellect inspired by the latter sees more clearly, and manages more successfully, their interests, than when ani- mated only by the former. The victim of selfishness either never rises, or quickly sinks, wondering why his merits are neglected. INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 251 In all of these instances, the failure of the merchant, and the bad success of the lawyer and physician, are the consequences of having infringed the natural laws; so that the evil they suffer is the punishment for having failed in a great duty, not only to society, but to them- selves. II. Some of the Calamities arising from infringe- ment of the Social Law may next be considered. The greatest difficulties present themselves in tracing the operation of the moral and intellectual laws, in the wide field of social life. An individual may be made to comprehend how, if he commits an error, he should suf- fer a particular punishment ; but when calamity over- takes whole classes of the community, each person ab- solves himself from all share of the blame, and regards himself simply as the victim of a general but inscru- table visitation. Let us then examine briefly the Social Law. In regarding the human faculties, we perceive that numberless gratifications spring from the social state. The muscles of a single individual could not rear the ha- bitations, build the ships, forge the anchors, construct the machinery, or, in short, produce the countless enjoyments that everywhere surround us, and which are attained in consequence of men being constituted so as instinctively to combine their powers and skill, to obtain a common end. Here, then, are very great advantages resulting di- rectly from the social law ; but, in the next place, social intercourse is the means of affording direct gratification to a variety of our mental faculties. If we lived in soli- tude, the propensities, sentiments, and reflecting facul- 252 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM ties, would be deprived, some of them absolutely, and others of them nearly, of all opportunities of gratifica- tion. The social law, then, is the source of the highest delights of our nature, and its institution indicates the greatest benevolence towards us, and wisdom in the Creator. Still, however, this law" does not suspend or subvert the laws instituted for the regulation of the conduct of man as an individual. If an individual go to sea in a ship, the natural laws require that his intellectual facul- ties shall be instructed in navigation, and in the features of the coasts and seas which he shall traverse ; that he shall know and avoid the shoals, currents, and eddies; that he shall trim his canvas in proportion to the gale ; and that his animal faculties shall be kept so much under subjection to his 'moral sentiments, that he shall not abandon himself to drunkenness, sloth, or any animal in- dulgence, when he ought to be watchful at his duty. If lie obey the natural laws, he will be safe ; and if he dis- obey them he may be drowned.* It is obvious that it must be a small vessel, and bound only on a short voyage, that could be managed by one man ; for he must eat and j-deep ; and he could not perform these functions, and manage his sails at the same time. It is the interest, therefore, of individuals who wisli to go to sea, to avail themselves of the social law, that is, to combine their powers under one leader ; — by doing so, they may sail in a larger ship, have more ample stores of provisions, obtain intervals for rest, and enjoy each other's society. * I waive at present the question of stoims, which he could not foresee, as these fall under the head of ignorance of natural laws, which may be subsequently discovered. INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 253 If at the same time they fulfil the moral and intellectual laws, by placing in the situation of captain an individual fully qualified for the duty, they will enjoy the reward in sailing safely and in comfort ; if they disregard these laws, and place an individual in charge of the ship, whose intellectual faculties are weak, whose animal propensities are strong, whose moral sentiments are in abeyance, and who, in consequence, habitually neglects the natural laws, they may suffer the penalty in being wrecked. I know it will be objected that the crew and passen- gers do not appoint the captain ; but, in every case, ex- cept impressment in the British navy, they may go into, or stay out of, a particular ship, according as they discover the captain to possess the natural qualities or not. This, at present, I am aware, ninety-nine individuals out of an hundred never inquire into ; but so cTb ninety-nine out of an hundred neglect many other of the natural laws, and suffer the penalty, because their moral and intellectual faculties have never yet been instructed in the existence and effects of these, or trained to observe and obey them. But they have the power from nature of obeying them, if properly taught and trained ; and, besides, I give this merely as an illustration of the mode of operation of the social law. Another example may be given : By employing ser- vants, the labours of life are rendered less burdensome to the master ; but he must employ individuals who know the moral law, and who possess the desire to act under it ; otherwise, as a punishment for neglecting this requi- site, he may be robbed, cheated, or murdered. Phreno- logy 'presents the means of observing this law, in a degree quite unattainable without it, by the facility which it af- 254 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM fords of discovering the natural talents and dispositions of individuals. By entering into copartnerships, merchants and other persons in business may extend their employment, and gain advantages beyond those they could reap if labour- ing as individuals. But, by the natural law, each must take care that his partner knows, and is inclined to obey, the moral and intellectual laws, as the only condition on which the Creator will permit him securely to reap the advantages of the social compact. If a partner in China be deficient in intellect and moral sentiment, another in London may be utterly ruined. It is said that this is an example of the innocent suffering for, or at least along with, the guilty ; but it is not so. It is an example of a person seeking to obtain the advantages of the social law, without conceiving himself bound to obey the conditions required by it ; the first of which is, that those indivi- duals of whose services he avails himself, shall be capa- ble and willing to observe the moral and intellectual laws. Let us now advert to the calamities which overtake whole classes of men, or communities, under the social J aw? — trace their origin, and see how far they are attri- butable to infringement of the Creator's laws. If I am right in representing the whole faculties of man as intended by the Creator to be gratified, and the moral sentiments and intellect as the higher and direct- ing powers, with which all natural institutions are in har- mony ; it follows, that if large communities of men, in their systematic conduct, habitually seek the gratification of the inferior propensities, and allow either no part, or too small and inadequate a part, of their time to be de- INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 255 voted to the regular employment of the higher powers, they will act in direct opposition to the natural institu- tions ; and will, of course, suffer the punishment in sor- row and disappointment. Now, to confine ourselves to our own country, it is certain that, until within these few years, the labouring population of Britain were not taught that it was any part of their duty, as rational creatures, to restrain their propensities, so as not to mul- tiply their numbers beyond the demand for their labours and the supply of food for their offspring ; and up to the present hour this most obvious and important doctrine is not admitted by one in a thousand, and not acted upon as a practical principle by one in ten thousand of those whose happiness or misery depends on observance of it. The doctrine of Malthus, that " population cannot go on perpetually increasing, without pressing on the limits of the means of subsistence, and that a check of some kind or other must, sooner or later, be opposed to it," just amounts to this, — that the means of subsistence are not susceptible of such rapid and unlimited increase as population, and in consequence that the Amative propen- sity must be restrained by reason, otherwise it will be checked by misery. This principle is in accordance with the views of human nature maintained in this Essay, and applies to all the faculties. Thus Philoprogenitiveness, when indulged in opposition to reason, leads to spoiling children, which is followed directly by misery both to them and to their parents. Acquisitiveness; when un- controlled by reason, leads to avarice or theft, and these again carry suffering in their train. But so far from attending to such views, the lives of the inhabitants of Britain generally are devoted to the 256 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM acquisition of wealth, of power and distinction, or of ani- mal pleasure : in other words, the great object of the labouring classes, is to live and gratify the inferior pro- pensities ; of the mercantile and manufacturing popula- tion, to gratify Acquisitiveness and Self-esteem; of the more intelligent class of gentlemen, to gratify Self-esteem and Love of Approbation, in political, literary, or philo- sophical eminence ; and of another portion, to gratify Love of Approbation, by supremacy in fashion — and these gratifications are sought by means not in accordance with the dictates of the higher sentiments, but by the joint aid of the intellect and propensities. If the supremacy of moral sentiment and intellect be the natural law, then, as often observed, every circumstance connected with human life must be in harmony with it ; that is to say, first. After rational restraint on population, and the pro- per use of machinery, such moderate labour as will leave ample time for the systematic exercise of the higher powers, will suffice to provide for human wants ; and.. secondly, If this exercise be neglected, and the time which ought to be dedicated to it be employed in labour to gra- tify the propensities, direct evil will ensue ; and this ac- cordingly appears to me to be really the result. By means of machinery, and the aids derived from science, the ground can be cultivated, and every imagin- able necessary and luxury produced in ample abundance, at a moderate expenditure of labour by any population not in itself superabundant. If men were to stop when- ever they had readied this point, and dedicate the resi- due of each day to moral and intellectual pursuits, the consequence would be, ready and steady, because not overstocked, markets. Labour, pursued till it provided INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 257 abundance, but not superfluity, would meet with a cer- tain and just reward, and would also yield a vast in- crease of happiness ; for no joy equals that which springs from the moral sentiments and intellect excited by the contemplation, pursuit, and observance, of the Creator's institutions. Farther, morality would be improved ; for men, being happy, would cease to be vicious ; and, lastly, there would be improvement in the organic, moral, and in- tellectual capabilities of the race; for the active moral and intellectual organs in the parents would tend to increase the volume of these in their offspring; so that each gene- ration would start not only with greater stores of acquir- ed knowledge than its predecessors possessed, but with higher natural capabilities of turning them to account. Before merchants and manufacturers can be expected to act in this manner, a great change must be effected in their sentiments and perceptions; but so was a striking re- volution effected in the ideas and practices of the tenantry west of Edinburgh, when they removed the stagnant pools between each ridge of land, and banished ague from their district. If any reader will compare the state of Scotland during the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fif- teenth centuries, correctly and spiritedly represented in Sir Walter Scott's Tales of a Grandfather, with its pre- sent condition, in regard to knowledge, morality, religion, and the comparative ascendency of the rational over the animal part of our nature, he will perceive so great an improvement in later times, that the commencement of the millennium itself, in five or six hundred years hence, would scarce be a greater advance beyond the present, than the present is over the past. If the laws of the Creator be really what are here represented, and if they 258 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM were once taught as elementary truths to every class of the community, and the sentiment of Veneration called in to enforce obedience to them, a set of new motives and principles would be brought into play, calculated to ac- celerate the change ; especially if it were seen, what, in the next place, I proceed to shew, that the consequences of neglecting these laws are the most serious visitations of suffering that can well be imagined. If the views ad- vocated in this work be correct, the system on which the manufactures of Britain are at present conducted, is as great an aberration from the laws of nature as the his- tory of the world has ever presented. It implies not only that the vast body of the people shall for ever re- main in a condition little superior to that of mere work- ing animals, in order that, by means of cheap labour, our traders may undersell the merchants of all other nations ; but also that our manufactures and commerce shall en- joy an indefinite extension — this being essential to their prosperity, as now conducted, although, in the nature of things, impossible. On 13th May 1830, Mr Slaney, M. P. called the attention of the House of Commons to " the increase which had taken place in the number of those employed in manufacturing and mechanical occupations, as compared with the agricultural class." He stated, that " in England, the former, as compared with tie latter, were 6 to 5 in 1801 ; they were as 8 to 5 in 1821 ; and, tak- ing the increase of population to have proceeded in the same ratio, they were now as 2 to 1. In Scotland the increase had been still more extraordinary. In that country they were as 5 to 6 in 1801 ; as 9 to 6 in 1821 ; and now they were as 2 to 1. The increase in the gene- ral population during the last twenty years had been 30 INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 259 per cent.; in the manufacturing population it had been 40 percent.; in Manchester, Coventry, Liverpool, and Birmingham, the increase had been 50 per cent.; in Leeds it had been 54 per cent. ; in Glasgow, it had been 100 per cent." Here we perceive that a vast population has been called into existence, and trained to manufacturing industry. I do not doubt that the skill and labour of this portion of the people have greatly contributed to the wealth of the nation ; but I fear that the happiness of the laborious individuals who have conferred this boon, has not kept pace with the riches which they have creat- ed. The causes of this circumstance appear to be the fol- lowing : — Several millions of human beings have been trained to manufactures, and are unfit for any other occupation. In consequence of the rapid increase of their numbers, and of vast improvements in machinery, the supply of la- bour has, for many years, outstripped the demand for it, and wages have fallen ruinously low. By a coincidence which at first sight appears unfortunate, much of the machinery of modern invention may be managed by children. The parent, who, by his own labour for twelve hours a-day, is able to earn only seven shillings a week, adds to his income one shilling and sixpence or two shil- lings a week, for each child whom he can send to the manufactory ; and, by the united wages of the family, a moderate subsistence may be eked out. Both parents and children, however, are reduced to a hopeless condi- tion of toil ; for their hours of labour are so long, and their remuneration is so small, that starvation stares each of them in the face when they either relax from exertion or cease to live in combination. Mental culture, and mo- ral and intellectual enjoyment are excluded, and their 260 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM place supplied by penury and labour. Dr Chalmers re- ports, that in our great towns whole masses of this class of the people are living in profound ignorance and prac- tical heathenism. The system tends constantly to in- crease the evils of which it is the source. Young persons, when they arrive at manhood, find themselves scarcely able to subsist by their individual exertions ; whereas, if they can add the scanty income of three or four children to their own, their condition is, in some degree, improved. House-rent, and the expenses of furniture and fuel, are not increased by the wants, — in proportion to the contri- butions — of the young. Adults are thus tempted — nay, almost driven by necessity — to contract early marriages, to rear a numerous offspring, devoted to the same em- ployments with themselves, and in this way to add to the supply of labour, already in excess. The children grow up, and in their turn follow the same course ; and thus, however widely the manufactures of Britain may have extended, a still farther, and indeed an indefinite exten- sion of them seems to be demanded ; for the system pro- duces a constantly increasing, yet ignorant, starving, and miserable population, more than adequate to the supply of all the labour that can be profitably expended. The consequence is, that markets are overstocked with pro- duce ; prices first fall ruinously low ; the operatives are then thrown idle, and left in destitution, until the surplus produce of their formerly excessive labours, and perhaps something more, are consumed ; after this, prices rise too high in consequence of the supply falling rather below the demand ; the labourers then resume their toil, on their former system of excessive exertion; they again overstock the market ; are again thrown idle, and suffer dreadful misery. INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAAV. 261 In 1 825-6-7, this operation of the natural laws was strikingly exhibited ; large bodies of starving and unem- ployed labourers were supported on charity. How many hours did they not stand idle, and how much of excessive toil would not these hours have relieved, if distributed over the periods when they were overworked ! The re- sults of that excessive exertion were seen in the form of untenanted houses and of shapeless piles of goods decaying in warehouses — in short, in every form in which mis- applied industry could go to ruin. These observations are strikingly illustrated by the following official report. " Slate of the Unemployed Operatives resident in Edin- burgh, who are supplied with ivork by a Committee consti- tuted/or that purpose, according to a list made up on Wed- nesday, the 14th March 1827. " The number of unemployed operatives who have been remitted by the Committee for work, up to the 14th of March, are 1481 " And the number of cases they have rejected, after having heen particularly investigated, for being bad characters, giving in false statements, or being only a short time out of work, &c. &c. are 446 Making together, 1927 " Besides those, several hundreds have been rejected by the Committee, as, from the applicants' own statements, they were not considered as cases entitled to receive re- lief, and were not, therefore, remitted for investigation. " The wages allowed is 5s. per week, with a peck of meal to those who have families. Some youths are only allowed 3s. of wages. 262 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM " The particular occupations of those sent to work are as follows : — 242 masons, 634 labourers, 66 joiners, 19 plasterers, 76 sawyers, 1 9 slaters, 45 smiths, 40 painters, 36 tailors, 55 shoemakers, 20 gardeners, 229 various trades. Total 1481." Edinburgh is not a manufacturing city, and if so much misery existed in it in proportion to its population, what must have been the condition of Glasgow, Manchester, and other manufacturing towns ? Here, then, the Creator's laws shew themselves para- mount, even when men set themselves systematically to infringe them. He intended the human race, under the moral law, not to pursue Acquisitiveness excessively, but to labour only a certain and a moderate portion of their lives ; and although they do their utmost to defeat this intention, they cannot succeed ; they are constrained to remain idle as many days and hours, while their surplus produce is consuming, as would have served for the due exercise of their moral and intellectual faculties, and the preservation of their health, if they had dedicated them regularly to these ends from day to day, as time passed over their heads. But their punishment proceeds : the extreme exhaustion of nervous and muscular energy, with the absence of all moral and intellectual excitement, create the excessive craving for the stimulus of ardent spirits which distinguishes the labouring population of the present age ; this calls into predominant activity the or- gans of the Animal Propensities; these descend to the children by the law already explained; increased crime, and a deteriorating population, are the results ; and a moral and intellectual incapacity for arresting the evils becomes greater with the lapse of every generation. INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 263 According to the principles of the present Essay, what are called by commercial men " times of prosperity," are seasons of the greatest infringement of the natural laws, and precursors of great calamities. Times are not reckon- ed prosperous, unless all the industrious population is employed during the whole day, hours of eating and sleep- ing only excepted, in the production of wealth. This is a dedication of their whole lives to the service of the propensities, and must necessarily terminate in punish- ment, if the world is constituted on the principle of su- premacy of the higher powers. This truth has already been illustrated more than once in the history of commerce. The following is a recent example. By the combination laws, workmen were punishable for uniting to obtain a rise of wages, when an extraordi- nary demand occurred for their labour. These laws, be- ing obviously unjust, were at length repealed. In sum- mer and autumn 1825, however, commercial men con- ceived themselves to have reached the highest point of prosperity, and the demand for labour was unlimited. The operatives availed themselves of the opportunity to better their condition; formed extensive combinations; and, because their demands were not complied with, struck work, and continued idle for months in succession. The master manufacturers clamoured against the new law, and complained that the country would be ruined, if combinations were not again declared illegal, and suppress- ed by force. According to the principles of this Essay, the just law must from the first have been the most beneficial for all parties affected by it ; and the result amply confirmed tins idea. Subsequent events proved that the extraordi- 2G4 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM nary demand for labourers in 1825 was entirely factiti- ous, fostered by an overwhelming issue of bank paper, much of which ultimately turned out to be worthless ; in short, that, during the combinations, the master manu- facturers were engaged in an extensive system of specu- lative over-production, and that the combinations of the workmen presented a natural check to this erroneous pro- ceeding. The ruin that overtook the masters in 182G arose from their having accumulated, under the influence of unbridled Acquisitiveness, vast stores of commodities which were not required by society ; and to have com- pelled the labourers, by force, to manufacture more at their bidding, would obviously have been to aggravate the evil. It is a well known fact, accordingly, that those masters whose operatives most resolutely refused to work, and who, on this account, clamoured loudest against the law, were the greatest gainers in the end. Their stocks of goods were sold off at high prices during the specula- tive period : and when the revulsion came, instead of be- ing ruined by the fall of property, they were prepared, with their capitals at command, to avail themselves of the depreciation, to make new and highly profitable in- vestments. Here again, therefore, we perceive the law of justice vindicating itself, and benefiting by its opera- tion, even those individuals who blindly denounced it as injurious to their interests. A practical faith in the doctrine that the world is arranged by the Creator in harmony with the moral sentiments and intellect, would be of unspeakable advantage both to rulers and subjects ; for they would then be able to pursue with greater con- fidence the course dictated by moral rectitude, convinced that the result would prove beneficial, even although, INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 2v)5 when they took the first step, they could not distinctly perceive by what means. In the whole system of the education and treatment of the labouring population, the laws of the Creator, such as I have now endeavoured to expound them, are neglected or infringed. Life with them is spent to so great an ex- tent in labour, that their moral and intellectual powers are stinted of exercise and gratification ; and hence their mental enjoyments are chiefly those afforded by the ani- mal propensities: in other words, their existence is too little rational ; they are rather organized machines than moral and intellectual beings. The chief duty performed by their higher faculties is not to afford predominant sources of enjoyment, but to communicate so much intel- ligence and honesty, as to enable them to execute their labours with fidelity and skill. I speak, of course, of the great body of the labouring population ; there are many individual exceptions, who possess higher attain- ments ; and I mean no disrespect even to this most de- serving portion of society ; on the contrary, I represent their condition in what appears to me to be a true light, only with a view to excite them to amend it. Does human nature, then, admit of such a modification of the employments and habits of this class, as to raise them to the condition of beings whose chief pleasures shall be derived from their rational natures ? — that is, creatures whose bodily powers and animal propensities shall be subservient to their moral and intellectual facul- ties, and who shall derive their leading enjoyment from the latter. To attain this end, it would not be necessary that they should cease to labour ; on the contrary, the ne- cessity of labour to the enjoyment oflife is imprinted in z* 266 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM Strong characters on the structure of man. The osseous, muscular, and nervous systems of the body, all require exercise as a condition of health ; while the digestive and sanguiferous apparatus rapidly fall into disorder, if due exertion is neglected. Exercise of the body is la- bour ; and labour directed to a useful purpose is as bene- ficial to the corporeal organs, and far more pleasing to the mind, than when undertaken for no end but the pre- servation of health. Commerce is rendered advantage- ous by the Creator, because different climates yield dif- ferent productions. Agriculture, manufactures, and com- merce, therefore, are adapted to man's nature, and I am not their enemy. But they are not the ends of human existence, even on earth. Labour is beneficial to the whole human economy, and it is a mere delusion to re- gard it as in itself an evil ; but the great principle is, that it must be moderate both in severity and duration, in order that men may enjoy, and not be oppressed by it. I say enjoy it ; because moderate exertion is pleasure, and it has been only labour carried to excess, which has given rise to the common opinion that retirement from active industry is the goal of happiness. It may be objected that a healthy and vigorous man is not oppressed by ten or twelve hours' labour a-day ; and I grant that, if he be well fed, his physical strength may not be so much ex- hausted by this exertion as to cause him pain. But this is regarding him merely as a working animal. My pro- position is, that after ten or twelve hours of muscular exertion a-day, continued for six days in the week, the labourer is not in a fit condition for that active exercise of his moral and intellectual faculties which alone consti- tutes him a rational being. The exercise of these powers INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 267 depends on the condition of the brain and nervous sys- tem ; and these are exhausted and deadened by too much muscular exertion. The fox- hunter and ploughman fall asleep when they sit within doors, and attempt to read or think. The truth of this proposition is demonstrable on physiological principles, and is supported by general experience ; nevertheless, the teachers of mankind have too often neglected it. The first change, therefore, must be to limit the hours of labour, and to dedicate a portion of time daily to the exercise of the mental facul- ties. So far from this limitation being unattainable, it ap- pears to me that the progress of arts, sciences, and so- ciety, is rapidly forcing its adoption. Ordinary observers appear to conceive man's chief end, in Britain at least, to be to manufacture hard-ware, broad cloth, and cotton goods, for the use of the whole world, and to store up wealth. They forget that the same impulse which in- spires the British with so much ardour in manufacturing, will sooner or later inspire other nations also; and that, if all Europe shall follow our example, and employ effi- cient machinery and a large proportion of their popula- tion in our branches of industry, which they are fast do- ing, the four quarters of the globe will at length be de- luged with manufactured goodt only part of which will be required. When this state of things shall arrive, — and in proportion as knowledge and civilization are dif- fused it will approach, — men will be compelled, by dire necessity, to abridge their toil, because excessive labour will not be remunerated. The admirable inventions which are the boast and glory of civilized men, are be- lieved by many persons to be at this moment adding to 268 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM the misery and degradation of the people. Power-looms, steam-carriages, and steam-ships, it is asserted, have all hitherto operated directly in increasing the hours of ex- ertion, and abridging the reward of the labourer ! Can we believe that God has bestowed on us the gift of an almost creative power, solely to increase the wretched- ness of the many, and minister to the luxury of the few? Impossible ! The ultimate effect of mechanical inven- tions on human society appears to be not yet divined. I hail them as the grand instruments of civilization, by giving leisure to the great mass of the people to culti- vate and enjoy their moral, intellectual, and religious powers. One requisite to enable man to follow pursuits referri- ble to his higher endowments, is provision for the wants of his animal nature, viz. food, raiment, and comfortable lodging. It is clear that muscular power, intellect, and mechanical skill, have been conferred on him, with the design that he should build houses, plough fields, and fa- bricate commodities. But assuredly we have no war- rant from reason or revelation for believing that any por- tion of the people are bound to dedicate their whole lives and energies, aided by all mechanical discoveries, to these ends, as their proper business, to the neglect of the study of the works and will of the Creator. Has man been permitted to discover the steam-engine, and apply it in propelling ships on the ocean and carriages on railways, in spinning, weaving, and forging iron, — and has he been gifted with intellect to discover the astonishing powers of physical agents, such as are revealed by chemistry and mechanics, — only that he may be enabled to build more houses, weave more cloth, and forge more iron, without INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 269 any direct regard to nis moral and intellectual improve- ment ? If an individual, unaided by animal or mecha- nical power, had wished to travel from Manchester to Liverpool, a distance of thirty miles, he would have been under the necessity of devoting ten or twelve hours of time, and considerable muscular energy, to the task. When roads and carriages were constructed, and horses trained, he could, by their assistance, have accomplished the same journey in four hours, with little fatigue ; and now, when railways and steam-engines have been suc- cessfully completed, he may travel that distance, without any bodily fatigue whatever, in an hour and a half: And I ask, for what purpose has Providence bestowed the nine hours, which are thus set free as spare time to the individual ? I humbly answer, for the purpose of cul- tivating his moral, intellectual, and religious nature. Again, before steam-engines were applied to spinning and weaving, a human being would have needed to la- bour, say for a month, in order to produce linen, woollen, and cotton cloth, necessary to cover his own person for a year ; or, in case of a division of labour, a twelfth part of the population would have required to be constantly engaged in this employment : by the application of steam, the same ends may be gained in a day. I repeat the in- quiry ; for what purpose has Providence bestowed the twenty-nine days out of the month, set free by the in- vention of the steam-engine and machinery? These pro- portions are not stated as statistically correct, but as mere illustrations of a proposition, that every discovery in na- tural science, and invention in mechanics, has a direct tendency to increase the leisure of man, and to enable 2?0 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM him to provide for his physical wants with less labori- ous exertion. The question recurs, whether, in thus favouring the human race, the object of Providence be, to enable only a portion of them to enjoy the highest luxuries, while the mass shall continue labouring animals ; or whether it be not to enable all to cultivate and enjoy their rational nature ? In proportion as mechanical inventions shall be gene- rally diffused over the world, they will increase the powers of production to such an extent, as to supply, by moderate labour, every want of man ; and then the great body of the people will find themselves in possession of reasonable leisure, in spite of every exertion to avoid it. Great misery will probably be suffered in persevering in the present course of action, before their eyes shall be opened to this result. The first effect of these stupen- dous mechanical inventions threatens to be to accumulate great wealth in the hands of a few, without proportion- ally abridging the toil, or greatly adding to the comforts of the many. This process of elevating a part of the community to affluence and power, and degrading the rest, threatens to proceed till the disparity of condition shall have become intolerable to both, the labourer being utterly oppressed, and the higher classes harassed by in- security. Then, probably, the idea may occur, that the real benefit of physical discovery is to give leisure to the mass of the people, and that leisure for mental improve- ment is the fii>t condition of true civilization, knowledge being the second. The science of human nature will en- able men at length to profit by exemption from exces- INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 271 sive toil ; and it may be hoped that, in course of time, the notion of man being really a rational creature, may meet with general countenance, and that sincere attempts may be made to render all ranks prosperous and happy, by institutions founded on the basis of the superior fa- culties. The same means will lead to the realization of practi- cal Christianity. An individual whose active existence is engrossed by mere bodily labour, or by the pursuits of gain or ambition, lives under the predominance of facul- ties that do not produce the perfect Christian character. The true practical Christian possesses a vigorous and en- lightened intellect, and moral affections glowing with gratitude to God and love to man ; but how can the people at large be enabled to realize this condition of mind, if stimulus for the intellect and the nobler senti- ments be excluded by the daily routine of their occupa- tions ? In some districts of England, the operatives lately de- manded an abridgment of labour without abatement of wages. This project was unjust, and proved unsuccess- ful. They ought to have given up first one hour's labour, and the price of it, and waited till the increase of capital and of demand brought up wages to their former rate, which, if they had restrained population, would certainly have happened. They ought to have then abated a se- cond hour, submitting again to a reduction, and again waited for a re-action ; and so on, till they had limited their labour to eight or nine hours a-day. The change must be gradual, and the end must be obtained by moral means, else it will never be accomplished at all. The objection has been stated, that, even in the most 272 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM improved condition of the great body of the people, there will still be a considerable proportion of them so deficient in talent, so incapable of improvement, and so ignorant, that their labour will be worth little ; that, as they must obtain subsistence, no alternative will be left to them but to make up by long hours of exertion what they want in skill ; and that their long-continued labour, furnished at a cheap rate, will affect all the classes above them, and indeed prevent the views now taken from ever being generally realized. This objection resolves itself into the proposition, That the people have been destined by the Creator to be labouring animals, and that, from their in- herent mental defects, they are incapable generally of being raised to any more honourable station ; which is just the great point at issue between the old and the new philosophy. If mankind at large (for the industrious classes constitute so very great a majority of the race, that I may be allowed to speak of them as the whole), had been intended for mere hewers of wood and drawers of water, I do not believe that the moral and intellectual faculties which they unquestionably possess, would have been bestowed on them ; and as they do enjoy the rudi- ments of all the feelings and capacities which adorn the highest of the race, and as these faculties themselves are improvable, I do not subscribe to the doctrine of the per- manent incapacity of the race. I consider the operatives, in successive generations, quite capable of learning to act as rational beings ; and whenever the great majority of them shall have acquired a sense of the true dignity of their nature, and a relish for the enjoyments afforded by their higher capacities, they will become capable of so regulat- ing the supply of labour in reference to the demand, as INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 273 to obtain the means of subsistence in return for moderate exertion. In short, I hope that few of the imbeciles al- luded to in the objection will exist ; and that these few will be directed and provided for by the multitude of gene- rous and enlightened minds which will exist around them. At the same time there is great force in the objection, considered in reference to the present and several suc- ceeding generations. In throwing out these views, I em- brace centuries of time. I see the slow progress of the human race in the past, and do not anticipate miracles in the future. If a sound principle is developed — one having its roots in nature — there is a certainty that it will wax strong and bear fruit in due season ; but that season, from the character of the plant, is a distant one. All who aim at benefiting mankind, ought to keep this truth constantly in view. Almost every scheme is judg- ed of by its effects on the living generation ; whereas, no great fountain of happiness ever flowed clear at first, or yielded its full sweets to the generation which discovered it. It is now an established principle in political economy, that Government ought not to interfere with industry. This maxim was highly necessary when governors were grossly ignorant of all the natural laws which regulate production and the private conduct of men ; because their enactments, in general, were then absurd, they often did much harm, and rarely good. But if the science of hu- man nature were once fully and clearly developed, it is probable that this rule might, with great advantage, be relaxed, and that the legislature might considerably acce- lerate improvements, by adding the constraining autho- rity of human laws to enactments already proclaimed by the Creator. Natural laws do exist, and the Creator 274 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM punishes if they are not obeyed. The evils of life are these punishments. Now, if the great body of intelligent men in any state saw clearly that a course of action pur- sued by the ill-informed of their fellow-subjects was the source of continual suffering, not only to the evil-doers themselves but to the whole community, it appears to me allowable, that they should stop its continuance by legislative enactment. If the majority of the middle classes resident in towns were to petition Parliament, at present, to order shops in general to be shut at eight o'clock, or even at an earlier hour, to allow time for the cultivation of the rational faculties of the men and women engaged in them, it would be no stretch of power to give effect to the petition : that is to say, it would lead to no evil, if the ignorant and avaricious were prevented by law from continuing ignorant, and forcing all their com- petitors in trade to resemble them in their defects. If the Creator have so constituted the world that men may execute all necessary business, and still have time to spare for the cultivation of their rational faculties, any enact- ment of the legislature calculated to facilitate arrange- ments for accomplishing both ends would be beneficial and successful, just because it was in accordance with na- ture ; although the prejudiced and ignorant of the pre- sent generation would complain, and probably resist it. This principle of interference would go much farther ; its only limits seem to me to be the boundaries of the real knowledge of nature : as long as the legislature en- acts in conformity with nature, the result will be success- ful. At present, ignorance is too extensive and preva- lent to authorize Parliament to -venture far. From in- dications which already appear, however, I think it pro- INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 275 bable that the labouring classes will ere long- recognise Phrenology, and the natural laws, as deeply interesting to themselves ; and whenever their minds shall be open- ed to rational views of their own constitution as men, and their condition as members of society, I venture to pre- dict that they will devote themselves to improvement, with a zeal and earnestness that in a few generations will change the aspect of their class. The consequences of the present system of departing from the moral law, on the middle orders of the commu- nity, are in accordance with its effects on the lower. Uncertain gains, continual fluctuations in fortune, the absence of all reliance, in their pursuits, on moral and intellectual principles, a gambling spirit, an insatiable appetite for wealth, alternately extravagant joys of ex- cessive prosperity and bitter miseries of disappointed ambition, render the lives of manufacturers and mer- chants, to too great an extent, scenes of mere vanity and vexation of spirit. As the chief occupations of the British nation, manufactures and commerce are disowned by reason ; for as now conducted, they imply the perma- nent degradation of the great mass of the people. They already constitute England's weakness ; and, unless they shall be regulated by sounder views than those which at present prevail, they will involve her population in un- speakable misery. The oscillations of fortune, which al- most the whole of the middle ranks of Britain experi- ence, in consequence of the alternate depressions and ele- vation of commerce and manufactures, are attended with extensive and severe individual suffering. Deep, though often silent agonies, pierce the heart, when ruin is seen stealing, by slow but certain steps, on a young and help- 276 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM less family; the mental struggle often undermines the parent's health, and conducts him prematurely to the grave. No death can he imagined more painful than that which arises from a broken spirit, robbed of its trea- sures, disappointed in its ambition, and conscious of fail- ure in the whole scheme of life. The best affections of the soul are lacerated and agonized at the prospect of leaving their dearest objects to struggle without provi- sion, in a cold and selfish world. Thousands of the middle ranks of Britain unfortunately experience these miseries in every passing year. Nothing is more essen- tial to human happiness than fixed principles of action, on which we can rely for our present safety and future welfare ; and the Creator's laws, when seen and follow- ed, afford this support and delight to our faculties in the highest degree. It is one, not the least, of the punish- ments that overtake the middle classes for neglect of these laws, that they do not, as a permanent condition of mind, feel secure and internally at peace with themselves. In days of prosperity, they continue to fear adversity. They live in a constant struggle with fortune; and when the excitement of business has subsided, vacuity and craving are felt within. These proceed from the moral and intellectual faculties calling aloud for exercise ; but, through ignorance of their own nature, either pure idle- ness, gossipping conversation, fashionable amusements, or intoxicating liquors, are resorted to, and with these, a vain attempt is made to fill up the void of life. I know that this class ardently desires a change that would re- move the miseries described, and will zealously co-ope- rate in diffusing knowledge, by which means alone it can be introduced. INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 277 The punishment which overtakes the higher classes is equally obvious. If they do not engage in some ac- tive pursuit, so as to give scope to their energies, they suffer the evils of ennui, morbid irritability, and exces- sive relaxation of the functions of mind and body, which carry in their train more suffering than is entailed even on the operatives by excessive labour. If they pursne ambition in the senate or the field, in literature or phi- losophy, their real success is in exact proportion to the approach which they make to observance of the supre- macy of the sentiments and intellect. Franklin, Wash- ington, and Bolivar, may be contrasted with Sheridan and Buonaparte, as illustrations. Sheridan and Napo- leon did not, systematically, pursue objects sanctioned by the higher sentiments and intellect, as the end of their exertions; and no person, who is a judge of human emo- tions, can read their lives, and consider what must have passed within their minds, without coming to the conclu- sion, that, even in their most brilliant moments of exter- nal prosperity, the canker was gnawing within, and that there was no moral relish of the present, or reliance on the future, but a mingled tumult of inferior propensities and intellect, carrying with it an habitual feeling of un- satisfied desires. Let us now consider the effect of the moral law on national prosperity. If the Creator has constituted the world in harmony with the dictates of the moral sentiments, the highest prosperity of each particular nation should be thoroughly compatible with that of every other : that is to say, Eng- land, by sedulously cultivating her own soil, pursuing 278 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM her own courses of industry, founding her internal insti- tutions and her external relations on the principles of Be- nevolence, Veneration, and Justice, which imply absti- nence from wars of aggression, from conquest, and from all selfish designs of commercial monopoly, would be in the highest condition of prosperity and enjoyment that nature would admit of; and every step that she deviated from these principles, would carry an inevitable punish- ment along with it. The same statement might be made relative to France and every other nation. According to this principle, also, the Creator should have conferred on each nation some peculiar advantages of soil, climate, situation, or genius, which would enable it to carry on amicable intercourse with its fellow states, in a beneficial exchange of the products peculiar to each ; so that the higher one nation rose in morality, intelligence, and rich- es, it ought to become so much the more estimable and valuable as a neighbour to all the surrounding states. This is so obviously the real constitution of nature, that proof of it would be superfluous. England, however, as a nation, has set this law at ab- solute defiance. She has led the way in taking the pro- pensities as her guides, in founding her laws and insti- tutions on them, and in following them out in her practi- cal conduct. England placed restrictions on trade, and carried them to the greatest height ; she conquered colo- nies, and ruled them in the full spirit of selfishness ; she encouraged lotteries, fostered the slave trade, and carried paper money and the most avaricious spirit of manufac- turing and speculating in commerce to their highest pitch ; defended corruption in Parliament, and distributed church- es and seats on the bench of justice, on principles purely INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 27^ selfish ; all in direct opposition to the supremacy of the moral law. If the world had been created in harmony with the predominance of the animal faculties, England should have been a most felicitous nation ; but as the re- verse is the case, it was natural that a severe national retribution should follow these departures from the di- vine institutions ; and grievous accordingly has been, and, I fear, will be, the punishment. The principle which regulates national chastisement is, that the precise combination of faculties which leads to the transgression, carries in its train the punishment. Nations are under the moral and intellectual law, as well as individuals. A carter who half starves his horse, and unmercifully beats it, to supply, by the stimulus of pain, the vigour that nature intended to flow from abundance of food, may be supposed to practise this barbarity with impunity in this world, if he evade the eye of the police ; but this is not the c^se. The hand of Providence reaches him by a direct punishment : He fails in his object, for blows cannot supply the vigour which, by the constitution of the horse, will flow only from sufficiency of wholesome food. In his conduct, he manifests excessive Acquisitiveness and Destructiveness, with deficient Benevolence, Veneration, Justice, and In- tellect ; and he cannot reverse this character, by merely averting his eyes and his hand from the horse. He car- ries these dispositions into the bosom of his family and into the company of his associates, and a variety of evil consequences ensue. The delights that spring from ac- tive moral sentiments and intellectual powers, are neces- sarily unknown to him ; and the difference between these pleasures, and the sensations attendant on his moral and 280 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM intellectual condition, are as great as between the exter- nal splendour of a king and the naked poverty of a beg- gar. It is true that he has never felt the enjoyment, and does not know the extent of his loss ; but still the differ- ence exists; we see it, and know that, as a direct conse- quence of this state of mind, he is excluded from a very great and exalted pleasure. Farther, his active animal faculties rouse the Combativeness, Destructiveness, Self- Esteem, Secretiveness, and Cautiousness, of his wife, children, and associates, against him, and they inflict on him animal punishment. He, no doubt, goes on to eat, drink, blaspheme, and abuse his horse, day after day, ap- parently as if Providence approved of his conduct ; but he neither feels, nor can any one who attends to his condition believe him to feel, happy ; he is uneasy, dis- contented, and conscious of being disliked, — all which sensations are his punishment, and it is owing solely to his own grossness and ignorance that he does not connect it with his offence. Let us apply these remarks to nations. England, under the impulses of excessively strong Ac- quisitiveness, Self Esteem, and Destructiveness, for a long time protected the slave trade. According to the law which I am explaining, during the periods of greatest sin in this respect, the same combination of faculties ought to be found working most vigorously in her other insti- tutions, and producing punishment for that offence. There ought to be found in these periods a general spirit of do- mineering and rapacity in her public men, rendering them little mindful of the welfare of the people ; injus- tice and harshness in her taxations and public laws; and a spirit of aggression and hostility towards other nations, provoking retaliation of her insults. And, accordingly, INFRINGEMENT OP THE MORAL LAW. 281 I have been informed, as a matter of fact, that, while these measures of injustice were publicly patronised by the government, its servants vied with each other in injustice towards it, and its subjects dedicated their ta- lents and enterprise towards corrupting its officers, and cheating it of its due. Every trader who was liable to excise or custom duties evaded the one-half of them, and felt no disgrace in doing so. A gentleman, who was subject to the excise laws fifty years ago, described to me the condition of his trade at that time. The excise offi- cers, he said, regarded it as an understood matter, that at least one-half of the goods manufactured were to be smuggled without being charged with duty; but then, said he, " they made us pay a moral and pecuniary penalty that was at once galling and debasing. We were constrained to ask them to our table at all meals, and place them at the head of it in our holiday parties ; when they fell into debt, we were obliged to help them out of it ; when they moved from one house to another, our ser- vants and carts were in requisition to transport their ef- fects. By way of keeping up discipline upon us, and also to make a show of duty, they chose every now and then to step in and detect us in a fraud, and get us fined ; if we submitted quietly, they told us that they would make us amends, by winking at another fraud, and gene- rally did so; but if our indignation rendered passive obedience impossible, and we spoke our mind of their character and conduct, they enforced the law on us, while they relaxed it on our neighbours ; and these; being rivals in trade, undersold us in the market, carried away our customers, and ruined our business. Nor did the bond- age end here. We could not smuggle without the aid 282 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM of our servants ; and as they could, on occasion of any offence given to themselves, carry information to the head quarters of excise, we were slaves to them also, and were obliged tamely to submit to a degree of drunken- ness and insolence, that appears to me now perfectly in- tolerable, Farther, this evasion and oppression did us no good ; for all the trade were alike, and we just sold our goods so much cheaper the more duty we evaded; so that our individual success did not depend upon supe- rior skill and superior morality, in making an excellent article at a moderate price, but upon superior capacity for fraud, meanness, sycophancy, and every possible base- ness. Our lives were any thing but enviable, Con- science, although greatly blunted by practices that were universal, and viewed as inevitable, still whispered that they were wrong ; our sentiments of self-respect very frequently revolted at the insults to which we were ex- posed, and there was a constant feeling of insecurity from the great extent to which we were dependent upon wretches whom we internally despised. When the go- vernment took a higher tone, and more principle and greater strictness in the collection of the duties were en- forced, we thought ourselves ruined ; but the reverse has been the case. The duties, no doubt, are now exces- sively burdensome from their amount; but that is their least eviL If it was possible to collect them from every trader with perfect equality, our independence would be complete, and our competition would be confined to su- periority in morality and skill. Matters are much nearer this point now than they were fifty years ago; but still they would admit of considerable improvement." The same individual mentioned, that, in his youth, now seventy INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 283 years ago, the civil liberty of the people of Scotland was held by a weak tenure. About 1760, he knew instances of soldiers being sent, in time of war, to the farm houses, to carry off, by force, young men for the army ; and as this was against the law, they were accused of some ima- ginary offence, such as a trespass, or an assault, which was proved by false witnesses, and the magistrate, per- fectly aware of the farce, and its object, threatened the victim with transportation to the colonies, as a felon, if he would not enlist ; which, unprotected and overwhelmed by power and injustice, he was, of course, compelled to do. If the same minute representation were given of other departments of private life, during the time of the great- est immoralities on the part of the government, we would find that this paltering with conscience and character in the national proceedings, tended to keep down the mo- rality of the people, and fostered in them a rapacious and gambling spirit, to which many of the evils that have since overtaken us have owed their origin. But we may take a more extensive view of the sub- ject of national responsibility. In the American war England desired to gratify her Acquisitiveness and Self-Esteem, in opposition to Bene- volence and Justice, at the expense of her transatlantic colonies. This roused the animal resentment of the lat- ter, and the lower faculties of the two nations came into collision ; that is to say, they made war on each other — ■ England, to support a dominion in direct hostility to the principles which regulate the moral government of the world, in the expectation of becoming rich and powerful by success in that enterprise ; the Americans, to assert 284 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM the supremacy of the higher sentiments, and to become free and independent. According to the principles which I am now unfolding, the greatest misfortune that could have befallen England would have been success, and the greatest advantage, failure in her attempt ; and the re- sult is now acknowledged to be in exact accordance with these views. If England had subdued the colonies in the American war, every one must see to what an extent her Self-Esteem, Acquisitiveness, and Destructiveness would have been let loose upon them. This, in the first place, would have roused their animal faculties, and led them to give her all the annoyance in their power, and the fleets and armies requisite to repress this spirit would have far counterbalanced, in expense, all the profits she could have wrung out of the colonists, by extortion and oppression. In the second place, the very exercise of these animal faculties by herself, in opposition to the mo- ral sentiments, would have rendered her government at home an exact parallel of that of the carter in his own family. The same malevolent principles would have overflowed on her own subjects ; the government would have felt uneasy, and the people rebellious, discontented, and unhappy ; and the moral law would have been amply vindicated by the suffering which would have every where abounded. The consequences of her failure have been the reverse. America has sprung up into a great and moral nation, and actually contributes ten times more to the wealth of Britain, standing as she now does, in her natural relation to this country, than she ever could have done, as a discontented and oppressed colony. This ad- vantage is reaped without any loss, anxiety, or expense; it flows from the divine institutions, and both nations INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 285 profit by and rejoice under it. The moral and intellec- tual rivalry of America, instead of prolonging the predo- minance of the propensities in Britain, tends strongly to excite the moral sentiments in her people and govern- ment ; and every day that we live, we are reaping the benefits of this improvement in wiser institutions, deli- verance from endless abuses, and a higher and purer spirit pervading every department of the executive ad- ministration of the country. Britain, however, did not escape the penalty of her attempt at the infringement of the moral laws. The pages of her history, during the American war, are dark with suffering and gloom, and at this day we groan under the debt and difficulties then partly incurred. If the world be constituted on the principles of the supremacy of the moral sentiments and intellect, the method of one nation seeking riches and power, by conquering, devastating, or obstructing the prosperity of another, must be essentially futile : Being in opposition to the moral constitution of creation, it must occasion mi- sery while in progress, and can lead to no result except the impoverishment and mortification of the people who pursue it. It is narrated that Themistocles told the Athe- nians that he had conceited a project which would be of the greatest advantage to Athens, but that the profound- est secrecy was necessary to ensure its success. They desired him to communicate it to Aristides, and promised, if he approved, to execute it. He took Aristides aside, and told him that he proposed, unawares, to burn the ships of the other Grecian states, then in profound peace with the Athenians, and not expecting an attack ; which would render Athens master of them all. Aristides re- 286 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM ported, that nothing could be more advantageous, but no- thing more unjust than the project in view. The people refused to hear or to execute it. Here the intellect of Aristides appears to have viewed the execution of the scheme as beneficial, while his sentiment of Conscien- tiousness distinctly denounced it as morally wrong ; and the question is, Whether external nature is so constituted, that the intellect can, in any case, possess sufficient data for inferring actual benefit from conduct which is disowned and denounced by the moral sentiments ? It appears to me that it cannot. Let us trace the project of Themistocles to its results. In the inhabitants of the other Grecian states, the fa- culties of Self-Esteem, Combativeness, Destructiveness, Intellect, Benevolence, and Conscientiousness existed. The proposed destruction of their ships (in time of pro- found peace), would have outraged the higher sentiments and intellect, and these would have kindled Combative- ness and Destructiveness into the most intense activity. The greater the injustice of the act, the fiercer would the flame of opposition, retaliation, and revenge have glowed; and not only so, but the more grossly and wantonly the higher sentiments were outraged by che act, the higher would have been the class of minds which would instinc- tively have burned with the desire of revenge. The Athenians, then, by the very constitution of nature would have been assailed by this fearful storm of moral indig- nation and animal resentment, rendered doubly terrible by the most virtuous and intelligent being converted into the most determined of their opponents. Turning to their own state again, only those individuals among them- selves in whom intellect and moral sentiment were infe- INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 287 rior to Acquisitiveness and Self-Esteem, which give rise to selfishness and the lust of power, could have cordially- approved of the deed. The virtuous would have turned from the contemplation of it with shame and sorrow, and thus both the character and number of the defenders would have been diminished in the very ratio of the atrocity of the crime, while the power of the assailants,, as we have seen, would, by that very circumstance, have been pro- portionally encreased. It was impossible, therefore, that advantage to Athens could ultimately have resulted from such a flagrant act of iniquity ; and the apparent opposi- tion, in the judgment of Aristides, between the benefits to be expected from it and the justice of the deed, arose from his intellect not being sufficiently profound and comprehensive to grasp the whole springs which the en- terprise would excite into action, and to trace them to their legitimate consequences. In point of fact, there would have been no opposition between the dictates of an intellect which could have accurately surveyed the whole causes and effects which the unjust enterprise would have set in motion, and the dictates of Conscien- tiousness, but quite the reverse; and the Athenians, in following the suggestions of the latter faculty, actually adopted the most advantageous course which it was pos- sible for them to pursue. The trite observation, that honesty is the best policy, thus becomes a profound phi- losophical maxim, when traced to its foundation in the constitution of human nature. The national debt of Britain has been contracted chief- ly in wars, originating in commercial jealousy and thirst of conquest; in short, under the suggestions of Com- bativeness, Destructiveness, Acquisitiveness, and Self- 288 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM Esteem *. Did not our ancestors, therefore, impede their own prosperity and happiness, by engaging in these con- tests ? and have any consequences of them reached us, except the burden of paying nearly thirty millions of taxes annually, as the price of the gratification of their propensities ? Would a statesman, who believed in the doctrines of this Essay, have recommended these wars as essential to national prosperity 9 If the twentieth part of the sums had been spent in objects recognised by the moral sentiments, — for example, in instituting seminaries of education and penitentiaries, and in making roads, canals, and public granaries, — how different would have been the present condition of the country ! After the American followed the French revolutionary war. Opinions are at present more divided upon this * Of 127 years, terminating in 1815, England spent 65 in war and 62 in peace. The war of 1688, after lasting nine years, and raising our expenditure in that period 36 millions, was ended by the treaty of Ryswick in 1697. Then came the war of the Spanish succession, which began in 1702, concluded in 1713, and absorbed 62J millions of our money. Next was the Spanish war of 1739, settled finally at Aix- la-Chapelle in 1748, after costing us nearly 54 millions. Then came the seven years' war of 1756, which terminated with the treaty of Paris in 1763, and in course of which we spent 112 millions. The next was the American war of 1775, which lasted eight years. Our national expenditure in this war was 136 millions. The French Revolutionary war began in 1793, lasted nine years, and exhibited an expenditure of 464 millions. The war against Bonaparte began in 1803, and ended in 1815 ; during these twelve years, we spent 1159 millions, 771 of which were raised by taxes, and 388 by loans. In the revolutionary war we borrowed 201 millions; in the American, 104 millions; in the seven years' war 60 millions ; in the Spanish war of 1739, 29 millions ; in the war of the Spanish succession 32^ millions ; in the war of 1688, 20 mil- lions. Total borrowed in the seven wars during 65 years, about 834 millions. In the same time, we raised by taxes 1 189 millions, thus form- ing a total expenditure on war of two thousand and twenty-three millions o? rouKDr. S75F.X.2XG. — Weekly Review. INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 28 9 subject : but my view of it, offered with the greatest de- ference, is the following. When the French Revolution broke out, the domestic institutions of England were, to a considerable extent, founded and administered on prin- ciples in opposition to the supremacy of the sentiments. A clamour was raised by the nation for reform of abuses. If my leading principle is sound, every departure from the moral law in nations, as well as in individuals, car- ries its punishment with it, from the first hour of its com- mencement till its final cessation ; and if Britain's insti- tutions were then 5 to any extent, corrupt and defective, she could not too speedily have abandoned them, and adopted purer and loftier arrangements. Her govern- ment, however, clung to the suggestions of the propensi- ties, and resisted every innovation. To divert the na- tional mind from causing' a revolution at home, they em- barked in a war abroad ; and, for a period of twenty-three years, let loose the propensities on France with head- long fury, and a fearful perseverance. France, no doubt, threatened the different nations of Europe with the most violent interference with their governments; a menace wholly unjustifiable, and one which called for resistance. But the rulers of that country were preparing their own destruction, in exact proportion to their departures from the moral law ; and a statesman, who knew and had con- fidence in the constitution of the world, as now explained, could have listened to the storm in complete composure, prepared to repel actual aggression, and have left the exploding of French infatuation to the Ruler of the Un^ verse, in unhesitating reliance on the efficacy of his laws. England preferred a war of aggression. If this conduct ub* CALAMITIES ARISING FROM were in accordance with the sentiments, we should now, like Ameria, be reaping the reward of our obedience to the moral law, and plenty and rejoicing should flow down our streets like a stream. But mark the contrast. This island exhibits the spectacle of millions of men, toiled to the extremity of human endurance, for a pittance scarcely sufficient to sustain life ; weavers labouring for fourteen or sixteen hours a-day for eightpence, and frequently un- able to procure work, even on these terms ; other arti- sans, exhausted almost to death by laborious drudgery, who, if better recompensed, seek compensation and en- joyment in the grossest sensual debauchery, drunkenness, and gluttony; master-traders and manufacturers anxiously labouring for wealth, now gay in the fond hope that all their expectations will be realised, then sunk in deep de- spair by the breath of ruin having passed over them ; landholders and tenants now reaping unmeasured returns from their properties, then pining in penury, amidst an overflow of every species of produce ; the government cramped by an overwhelming debt and the prevalence of ignorance and selfishness on every side, so that it is im- possible for it to follow with a bold step the most obvi- ous dictates of reason and justice, owing to the countless prejudices and imaginary interests which every where obstruct the path of improvement. This much more re- sembles punishment for transgression, than reward for obedience to the divine institutions. If every man in Britain will turn his attention inwards, and reckon the pangs of disappointment which he has felt at the subversion of his own most darling schemes, by un- expected turns of public events, or the deep inroads on INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 291 his happiness which such calamities, overtaking his dearest relations and friends, have occasioned to him ; the number- less little enjoyments in domestic life, which he is forced to deny himself, in consequence of the taxation with which they are loaded ; the obstructions to the fair exercise of his industry and talents presented by stamps, licences, excise laws, custom-house duties, et hoc genus omne ; he will dis- cover the extent of responsibility attached by the Creator to national transgressions. From my own observation, I would say, that the miseries inflicted upon individuals and families, by fiscal prosecutions, founded on excise laws, stamp-laws, post-office laws, &c. all originating in the necessity of providing for the national debt, are equal to those arising from some of the most extensive natural calamities. Jt is true, that few persons are prosecuted without having offended ; but the evil consists in pre- senting men with enormous temptations to infringe mere financial regulations, not always in accordance with natu- ral morality, and then inflicting ruinous penalties for transgression. Men have hitherto expected the punish- ment of their offences in the thunderbolt, or the yawning earthquake ; and believed, that because the sea did not swallow them up, or the mountains fall upon them and crush them to atoms, heaven was taking no cognizance of their sins ; while, in point of fact, an omnipotent, an all- just, and an all- wise God, had arranged, before they erred, an ample retribution in the very consequences of their transgressions. It is by looking to the principles in the mind, from which transgressions flow, and attending to their whole operations and results, that we discover the real theory of the divine government. When men 292 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM shall be instructed in the laws of creation, they will dis- criminate more accurately than heretofore between natu- ral find factitious evils, and become less tolerant of the latter. Since the foregoing observations were written, the great measure of Parliamentary Reform has been carried into eiFect in Britain and Ireland, and already consider- able progress has been made in rectifying our national institutions. For the first time in the annals of the world, a nation has voluntarily contributed a large sum of money for the advancement of pure benevolence and justice. We have agreed to pay twenty millions sterling for the freedom of 800,000 human beings, whom our unprin- cipled forefathers had led into hopeless slavery. Sinecures have been abolished, monopolies destroyed, unmerited pensions checked, and taxation lightened ; and there is a spirit abroad which demands the reform of all other abuses both in Church and State. The great gratification which I experience in these changes arises from the per- ception that they have all the tendency to place the insti- tutions of the country, and the administration of them, in harmony with the dictates of reason and the moral senti- ments ; the effect of which will infallibly be, not only to increase the physical enjoyments, but greatly to advance the moral, intellectual, and religious condition of the people. Example is the most powerful means of instruc- tion, and it was in vain for a priesthood allied to the state to preach truth, justice, and benevolence to the people, while force, oppression, and every species of abuse, were practised by our rulers and the church itself. No more effectual means of purifying the hearts of the people can INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 293 be devised than that of purifying all public institutions, and exhibiting justice and kindly affection as the animat- ing motives of public men and national measures. Of all national enormities, that of legalising the pur- chase of human beings, and conducting them into slavery, is probably the most atrocious and disgraceful ; and Eng- land was long chargeable with this iniquity. The cal- lous inhumanity, the intense selfishness, and the utter disregard of justice, implied in the practice, must have overflown in numerous evils on the people of England themselves. Indeed, the state of wretched destitution in which the Irish peasantry are allowed to remain, and the unheeded increase of ignorance, poverty, and toil, in the manufacturing districts, appear to be legitimate fruits of the same spirit which patronized slavery, and these pro- bably are preparing punishment for the nation, if re- pentance does not speedily appear. Slavery, however, has now been abolished by Britain, and I hail this as the first step in a glorious career of moral legislation. The North Americans have been left behind by England, for once, in the march of Christian practice. In the United States, negro slavery continues to deface the moral bright- ness of her legislative page ; and on no subject does pre- judice appear to be so inveterately powerful in that coun- try as on slavery. Greatly as I respect the character of the Americans, it is impossible to approve of their treat- ment of the Negro population. The ancestors of the pre- sent American people stole, or acquired by an unprincipled purchase, the ancestors of the existing Negroes, and doom- ed them to a degrading bondage. This act was utterly at variance with the dictates of the moral sentiments, and of Christianity. Their posterity have retained the blacks 294 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM in thraldom, treated them with contumely, and at this day- regard them as scarcely human beings. This also is a grievous transgression of the natural and revealed law of moral duty. Evil and suffering must flow from these transgressions to the American people themselves, if God really governs the world. The argument that the negroes are incapable of ci- vilization and freedom, is prematurely urged, and not relevant, although it were true. The negro head pre- sents great varieties of moral and intellectual develop- ment, and I have seen several which appeared fully equal to the discharge of the ordinary duties of civi- lized man. But the race has never received justice from its European and American masters ; and until its treat- ment shall have become moral, its capabilities cannot be fairly estimated, and the judgment against it is there- fore premature. Besides, whatever be its capabilities, it was a heinous moral transgression to transport it, by violent means, from the region where a wise and bene- volent God had placed it, and to plant it in a new soil, and amidst institutions, for which it was never intended ; and the punishment of this offence will not be averted, but aggravated, by losing sight of the source of the trans- gression, and charging the consequences of it on the ne- groes, as if they were to blame for their alleged incapa- city to glide gracefully into the ranks of American civilization. The negroes must either be improved by culture and intermarriages with the European race, or retransferred to their native climate, before America can escape from the hands of divine justice. I am not suffi- ciently acquainted with the details of American social life, to be able to point out the practical form in which INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 295 the punishment is inflicted ; but if there be truth in the principles now expounded, I cannot doubt of its ex- istence. The alternative of incorporating the negroes, by inter- marriage, with the European race, appears revolting to the feelings of the latter ; while they also declare it to be impossible to retransport the blacks to Africa, on account of their overwhelming numbers. There is much force in both of these objections, but there is still greater weight in the following considerations :— that the white race is exclusively to blame for the origin of the evil, and for all its consequences ; that the natural laws never relax in their operation ; and that, therefore, the existing evils will go on augmenting, until a remedy be adopted, which will become more painful the longer it is delayed. If the present state of things shall be continued for a cen- tury, it is probable that it will end in a war of exter- mination between the black and the white population } or in an attempt by the blacks to conquer and exclusive* ly possess one or more of the southern states of the Union, as an independent kingdom for themselves. At the time when I write these pages, the planters of Jamaica and of the other West India Islands are complain* ing of the ruinous consequences to them of negro eman- cipation, and blaming the British Government for having abrogated slavery. These men apparently do not believe in the moral government of the world, or they do not know the manner in which it is administered. If they did, they would acknowledge that those who sow the wind have no right to complain when they reap the whirl- wind. The permanency of negro slavery in the West Indies was impossible ; because it was a system of gross 296 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM injustice, cruelty, and oppression, and no such social fa- bric can permanently endure. Its fruits have long been poisonous and bitter, and the planters are now suffering" the evils of having reared them. They ought, however, to thank the justice and repentant generosity of the mo- ther country, which has purchased the freedom of the slaves, that their punishment is so greatly mitigated ; for they may rest assured, that the annoyances now suffer- ed are light and transient compared with the calamities which would have befallen them from the prolongation of slavery, until it had wrought out its own termination. Another generation will probably see and acknowledge this truth. But, in the mean time, I remark, that be the sufferings of the West Indian planters at present what they may, they, as the representatives of the original transgressors, are justly sustaining the penalty, and that, in their instance, as in that of a patient undergoing a severe operation to escape from a dangerous"disease, de- lay would only have protracted affliction, and augmented ultimate pain and the danger of the remedy. The Spaniards, under the influence of selfish rapacity and ambition, conquered South America, inflicted upon its wretched inhabitants the most atrocious cruelties, and continued to weigh, for 300 years, like a moral incubus, upon that quarter of the globe. The punishment is now endured. By the laws of the Creator, nations must obey the moral law to be happy ; that is, to cultivate the arts of peace, to be industrious, upright, intelligent, pious, and humane. The reward of such conduct is individual happiness, and national greatness and glory. There shall then be none to make them afraid. The Spaniards dis- obeyed all these laws in the conquest of America, they INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 297 looked to rapine and foreign gold, and not to industry, for wealth ; this fostered avarice and pride in the govern- ment, baseness in tim nobles, indolence, ignorance, and mental depravity in the people ; and led them to imagine happiness to consist, not in the exercise of the moral and intellectual powers, but in the gratification of all the in- ferior feelings to the outrage of the higher. Intellectual cultivation was utterly neglected, the sentiments ran as- tray into bigotry and superstition, and the propensities acquired a fearful ascendancy. These causes made them the prey of internal discord and foreign invaders ; and Spain, at this moment, suffers an awful retribution. Cowper recognises these principles of divinef govern- ment as to nations, and has embodied them in the follow- ing powerful verses : The hand that slew till it could slay no more, Was glued to the sword-hilt with Indian gore. Their prince, as justly seated on his throne As vain imperial Philip on his own, Tricked out of all his royalty by art, That stript him bare, and broke his honest heart, Died by the sentence of a shaven priest, For scorning what they taught him to detest. How dark the veil, that intercepts the blaze Of Heaven's mysterious purposes and ways ; Gon stood not, though he seemed to stand aloof; And at this hour the conqueror feels the proof : The wreath he won drew down an instant curse, The fretting plague is in the public purse, The cankered spoil corrodes the pining state, Starved by that indolence their minds create. Oh ! could their ancient Incas rise again, How would they take up Israel's taunting strain ! Art thou too fallen, Iberia ? Do we see The robber and the murd'rer weak as we ? Thou that has wasted Earth, and dared despise Alike the wrath and mercy of the skies, 298 CALAMITIES ARISING FROM Thy pomp is in the grave, thy glory laid Low in the pits thine avarice has made. We come with joy from our eternal rest, To see th' oppressor in his turn oppressed. Art thou the god, the thunder of whose hand Rolled over all our desolated land, Shook principalities and kingdoms down, And made the mountains tremble at his frown ? The sword shall light upon thy boasted powers, And waste them, as the sword has wasted ours. 'Tis thus Omnipotence his law fulfils, And Vengeance executes what Justice wills. Cowpers Poems. — Charity. In surveying- the present aspect of Europe, we perceive astonishing improvements achieved in physical science. How much is implied in the mere names of the steam- engine, power-looms, rail-roads, steam-boats, canals, and gas-lights ; and yet of how much misery are several of these inventions at present the direct sources, in conse- quence of being almost exclusively dedicated to the gra- tification of the propensities. The leading purpose to which the steam-engine in almost all its forms of applica- tion is devoted, is the accumulation of wealth, or the gra- tification of Acquisitiveness and Self-esteem ; and few have proposed, by its means, to lessen the hours of toil to the lower orders of society, so as to afford them op- portunity and leisure for the cultivation of their moral and intellectual faculties, and thereby to enable them to render a more perfect obedience to the Creator's institu- tions. Physical has far outstripped moral science ; and, it appears to me, that, unless the lights of Phrenology open the eyes of mankind to the real constitution of the world, and at length induce them to regulate their con- duct in harmony with the laws of the Creator, their future physical discoveries will tend only to deepen their INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAW. 299 wretchedness. Intellect, acting as the ministering ser- vant of the propensities, will lead them only farther astray The science of man's whole nature, animal, moral, and intellectual, was never more required to guide him than at present, when he seems to wield a giant's power, but in the application of it to display the ignorant selfishness, wilfulness, and absurdity of an overgrown child. History has not yielded, and cannot yield, half her fruits, until mankind shall be possessed of a true theory of their own nature. Many persons believe that they discover evidence against the moral government of the world, in the suc- cess of individuals not greatly gifted in moral and intel- lectual qualities, in attaining to great wealth, rank, and social consideration, while men of far superior merit re- main in obscurity and poverty. But the solution of this difficulty is to be found in the consideration, that success in society depends on the possession, in the greatest de- gree, of the qualities which society needs and appreciates, and that these bear reference to the state in which so- ciety finds itself at the time when the observation is made. In the savage and barbarous conditions, bodily strength, courage, fortitude, and skill in war, lead a man to the highest honours ; in a society like that of modern Eng- land, commercial or manufacturing industry may crown an individual with riches ; and great talents of debate may carry him to the summit of political ambition. In proportion as society advances in moral and intellectual acquirements, it will make larger demands for similar qua- lities in its favourites. The reality of the moral govern- ment of the world is to be found in the degree of happi- ness which individuals and society enjoy in these differ- 300 ent states. If unprincipled commercial and political ad- venturers were happy, in proportion to their apparent success ; or if nations were as prosperous under the do- minion of reckless warriors as under that of benevolent and enlightened rulers ; or if the individuals who com- pose a nation enjoyed as much serenity and joy of mind when they advanced the bold, selfish, and unprincipled to places of trust and power, as when they chose the upright, benevolent, and pious, — the dominion of a just Creator might well be doubted. But the facts are the reverse of these. ( 301 ) CHAP. VI. ON PUNISHMENT. Sect. I ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. The last point connected with the Natural Laws, which I consider, is the principle on which punishment for infringement of them is inflicted in this world. Every law presupposes a superior, who establishes it, and requires obedience to its dictates. The superior may be supposed to act on the principle of the propensities, or on that of the sentiments. The former being selfish, whatever they desire is for selfish gratification. Hence laws instituted by a superior inspired by the propensi- ties, would have for their leading object, the individual advantage of the lawgiver, with no systematic regard to the enjoyment or welfare of those who were called on to obey. The moral sentiments, on the other hand, are alto- gether generous, disinterested, and just ; they delight in the happiness of others, and do not seek individual advan- tage as their supreme end. Laws, instituted by a law- giver, inspired by them, would have, for their grand ob- 302 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED ject, the advantage and enjoyment of those who were called on to obey. The story of William Tell will illus- trate my meaning. Gessler, an Austrian governor of the canton of Uri, placed his hat upon a pole, and re- quired the Swiss peasants to pay the same honours to it that were due to himself. The object of this requisition was obviously the gratification of the Austrian's Self- esteem, in witnessing the humiliation of the Swiss. It was framed without the least regard to their happiness ; because such abject slavery could gratify no faculty in their minds, and ameliorate no principle of their nature ; but, on the contrary, was calculated to cause the greatest pain to their feelings. Before punishment for breaking this law could be justly inflicted, it would be indispensably necessary to shew, that those who were called on to obey it, not only possessed the power of doing so, but were to be bene- fited by it. If it could be established, that, by the very consitution of their minds, it was impossible for them to reverence the hat of the tyrant, and that, if they had pre- tended to do so, they would have manifested only base- ness and hypocrisy; then the law was unjust, and all punishment for disobedience would have been pure ty- ranny and oppression on the part of the governor. In punishing, he would be calling in Destructiveness to mi- nister to the gratification of his own Self-esteem. Let us imagine, on the other hand, a law promulgated by a sovereign, whose sole motive was the happiness of his subjects, and that the edict was, Thou shalt not steal. If the lawgiver were placed far above the reach of theft by his subjects, and if respect to each other's rights were indispensable to the welfare of his people themselves, UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 303 then it is obvious, that, so far as he was personally con- cerned, their stealing or not stealing would be of no im- portance to him, while it would be of the highest moment to themselves. Let us suppose, then, that, in order to prevent the evils which the subjects would bring upon themselves by stealing, he were to add as a penalty, that every man who stole should be locked up, and instructed in his duty, until he clearly felt the necessity of abstain- ing from theft ; the justice and benevolence of this sen- tence would rest securely on the circumstance, that it was in the highest degree advantageous, at once to so- ciety at large, and to the offender himself. Suppose that he was born with large organs of Acquisitiveness and Se- cretiveness, and deficient Conscientiousness, and that at the time he committed the offence, he really could not help stealing, still there would be no cruelty and no in- justice in locking him up, and instructing him in moral duty, until he learned to abstain from theft ; because if this were not done, and if all men were to follow his ex- ample and only steal, the human race, and he, as a mem- ber of it, would necessarily starve and become extinct. Now, the Creator's natural laws, so far as I have been able to perceive them, are instituted solely on the latter principle ; that is to say, there is not the slightest indica- tion of the object of any of the arrangements of creation being to gratify an inferior feeling in the Creator him- self. No well constituted mind, indeed, could conceive Him commanding beings, whom he called into existence, and whom he could annihilate in a moment, to do any act of homage which had reference solely to the acknow- ledgment of his authority, solely for his gratification, and §04 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED without regard to their own welfare and enjoyment. We cannot, in short, without absolute outrage to the sentiments and intellect, imagine Him doing any thing analogous to the act of the Swiss governor, — placing an emblem of his authority on high, and requiring his crea- tures to obey it, merely to gratify himself by their homage, to their disparagement and distress. Accordingly, every natural law, so far as I can discover, appears clearly in- stituted for the purpose of adding to the enjoyment of the creatures who are called on to obey it. The object of the punishment inflicted for disobedience is to arrest the of- fender in his departure from the laws ; which departure, if permitted to proceed to its natural termination, would involve him in tenfold greater miseries : this arrangement greatly promotes the activity of the faculties ; and active faculties being fountains of pleasure, the penalties them- selves become benevolent and just. For example, Under one of the physical laws, all organised bodies are liable to combustion. Timber, coals, oils, and animal substances, when heated to a certain extent, catch fire and burn. The question occurs, Was this quality be- stowed on them for a benevolent purpose or not ? Let us look to the advantages attending it : By means of fire we obtain warmth in cold latitudes, and light after the sun has set ; we are enabled to cook, thereby rendering our food more wholesome and savoury ; and to soften and fuse the metals. I need go no farther ; every one will acknowledge, that, by the law under which organised bodies are liable to combustion, countless benefits are con- ferred on the human race. The human body itself, however, is organised, and in UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 305 consequence is subject to this law, so that, if placed in a great fire, it is utterly dissipated in a few minutes. Some years ago, a woman, in a fit of insanity, threw herself into an iron smelting furnace, in full blaze. She was observed by a man working on the spot, who instantly put off the steam-engine that was working the bellows, and came to take her out ; but he then saw only a small black speck on the surface of the fire, and in a few minutes more even it had disappeared. The effect of a less degree of heat is to disorganize the texture of the body. What mode, then, has the Creator followed, to preserve men from the danger to which they are subject by fire. He has caused their nerves to communicate sensations from heat, agreeable while the temperature is such as to benefit the body ; slightly uneasy, when it becomes so high as to be in some measure hurtful; positively painful when the heat ap- proaches that degree at which it would seriously injure the organised system, and horribly agonizing whenever it becomes so elevated as to destroy the organs. The principle of all this is very obviously benevolent. Com- bustion brings us innumerable advantages ; and when we place ourselves in accordance with the law intended to regulate our relation to it, we reap unmingled benefits and 'pleasure. But we are in danger from its excessive action; and so kind is the Creator, that he does not trust to the guardianship of our own cautiousness and intel- lect alone to protect us from infringement, but has esta- blished a monitor in every nerve, whose admonitions in- crease in intensity through imperceptible gradations, ex- quisitely adjusted to the degrees of danger, till at last, in pressing circumstances, they urge in a note so clamant, as to excite the whole physical, animal, and mental energy c c * 306 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED of the offender, to withdraw him from the impending de- struction. Many persons imagine that this mode of admonition would be altogether unexceptionable, if the offender al- ways possessed the power to avoid incurring it ; but that, on the other hand, when a child, or an aged person, stumbles into the fire, through mere lack of physical strength to keep out of it, it cannot be just and benevo- lent to visit him with the tortures that follow from burn- ing. This is a short-sighted objection. If, to remedy the evil supposed, the law of combustion were altogether suspended as to children and old men, so that, so far as they were concerned, fire did not exist, then they would be deprived of the light and warmth, and many other be- nefits which it affords. This would be an awful depri- vation ; for warmth is more grateful and more necessary to them, in consequence of the very feebleness of their frames. Or, we may suppose that their nerves were constituted, so as to feel no pain from burning, — an ar- rangement which would effectually guarantee them against the tortures of falling in the fire ; but, in the jirst place, nerves feel pain under the same law that enables them to feel pleasure ; the agony of burning arises al- together from an excessive degree of the stimulus of heat, which, when moderate, is genial and grateful : and, 2dly, If no pain were felt when in the fire, the child and old man would have no motive to get out of it. Under the present system, the pain would rouse every principle in their minds to escape ; it would increase their muscular energy, or make them roar aloud for assistance ; in short, it would compel them to get out of the fire, by some means or other, and thereby, if possible, to escape from UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 307 death. As they fell into the fire in consequence of a de- ficiency of mental and physical power to keep out, it would follow, that if no pain attended their contact with the flames, they might repose there as contentedly as on a bed of down ; and the fond mother might find a black cinder for her child, or a pious daughter a half chared mass of bones for her father, although they had been only in an adjoining apartment, whence the slightest cry or groan would have brought them to arrest the calamity. In this instance, then, the punishment for neglecting and infringing the law of combustion, is both benevolent and just, even when it falls upon offenders who were completely incapable of avoiding the offence ; and it is so, because its object is the welfare of these very unconscious offenders themselves, so that if the principles on which punishment is inflicted were subverted, they would be greatly injured, and would loudly petition for their re- establishment. Let us take another example. Opium, by its inhe- rent qualities, and the relationship established by the Creator betwixt it and the nervous system of man, ope- rates, if taken in one proportion, as a stimulant ; if the proportion is increased it becomes a sedative ; and if still increased, it paralyses the nervous system altogether, and death ensues. Now, it is generally admitted, that there is no want of benevolence and justice, when a full grown and intelligent man loses his life, if he deliberately swallow an overdose of opium, knowing its qualities and their effects ; because, it is said, he embraced these ef- fects voluntarily : when, however, an ignorant child, groping about for something to eat and drink, to satisfy the craving of its natural curiosity and appetite, stumbles 308 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED on a phial of laudanum, intended for the use of some sick relative, pulls the cork, drinks, and dies, — many persons imagine that it is more difficult to discover justice and benevolence in this severe, and, as they say, unmerited catastrophe. But the real view of the law under which both events happen, appears to me to be this : The inherent qualities of opium, and its relationship to the nervous system, are very obviously benevolent, and are the sources of mani- fest advantages to man. Imagine that, to avoid every chance of accidents, opium, in so far as children are con- cerned, were deprived of its qualities, or that their ner- vous systems received no greater impression from it than from tepid water, it is clear that they would be de- cidedly sufferers. The greatest advantages of the drug are derived from its scale of efficiency, by which it can be made to produce, first a stimulating effect, then a gently seda- tive, and afterwards a higher and a higher degree of se- dative influence, until, by insensible degrees, absolute paralysis may ensue. A dose, which kills in health, will cure when in disease ; and, if its range were limited to effects beneficial in health, its advantages in disease, arising from higher action, would be necessarily lost ; and children, by the supposed arrangement, would be cut off from its beneficial administration. The parallel between it and the law of combustion is complete. If we could never have commanded a degree of heat higher than that which would gently warm the human body, we must have passed without the whole advantages now derivable from the intense heats used in cooking, baking, and ma- nufacturing. If we could never have commanded more than the gently stimulant and sedative effects of opium UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 309 on the body, in a state of health, we should necessarily have been deprived of its powerful remedial action in cases of disease. The proper question then is, Whether it is more benevolent and just, that children, after they have been exposed, from whatever cause, to that high degree of its influence, which, although beneficial in disease, is adverse to the healthy action of the nervous system, should be preserved alive in this miserable con- dition, or that life should at once be terminated ? If, appears obviously advantageous to the offender himself, that death should relieve him from the unhappy condi- tion into which his organized frame has been brought, by the abuse of this substance, calculated, when discreetly used, to confer on him no mean advantages. The principle that divine punishments are founded in Benevolence, even to the sufferer, is strongly elucidated in the case of the organic r laws. When inflammation, for example, has seized any vital organ, if there was no pain, there would be no intimation that an organic law had been infringed, the disease would proceed quietly in its progress, and death would ensue, without the least previ- ous intimation. The pain, therefore, attending an acute disease, is obviously instituted to warn the sufferer, by the most forcible of all admonitions, to return to obedience to the law which he has infringed. In the case of a broken limb, or a deep cut, the principle becomes ex- ceedingly obvious. The bone of the leg will re-unite, if the broken edges are preserved in close contact ; and the subsequent serviceable condition of the limb will de- pend much upon the degree of exactness with which they have been made to re-approach, and been preserved in their natural position. Now, tho pain attending- a 310 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED broken limb, in the first place, gives the most clamant intimation, that an injury has been sustained ; secondly, It excites the individual most forcibly to the reparation of it ; and, thirdly, As it recurs with a degree of violence exactly proportioned to the disturbance of the parts, after the healing process has commenced, it officiates like a sentinel with a drawn sword, compelling the patient to avoid every thing that may impede his recovery. The same observations apply to a flesh wound. The pain serves to intimate the injury, and to excite to its removal. The dissevered edges of the skin, nerves, and muscles, if skilfully made to re-approach, will, by the organic law, reunite, if left in repose. An accession of pain follows every disturbance of their condition, when in the process of healing ; and it serves, therefore, as a most effectual and benevolent guardian of the welfare of the individual. If these views be correct, what person would dispense with the pain which attends the infringement of the or- ganic laws, although such a boon were in his offer ? It is obvious, that, if he possessed the least glimmering of un~ derstanding, he would thank the Creator for the institu- tion, and beg in mercy to be allowed the benefits attend- ing it ; especially when taken in connection w r ith the fact, that, after the possibility of recovery ceases, death steps in to terminate the suffering. The point to which I request the reader's particular attention is, that the power of the individual to avoid, or not to avoid, the infringement of the law in the particu- lar instance which brings the punishment, is not an indis- pensable circumstance in rendering the infliction benevo- lent and just. The infliction is approved of by the moral sentiments and intellect, because the law, in its legiti- UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 31 1 mate operation, is calculated altogether for the advantage of the subject ; and because the punishment has no object but to bring him back to obedience for his own welfare, or to terminate his sufferings when he has erred too widely to return. Let us now enquire whether the same principle pre- vails in regard to the infringement of the Moral and In- tellectual Laws. This investigation is attended with great difficulty ; and it may be best elucidated by attending, in the first place, to the liability to punishment under which the lower animals are placed as to their actions. The physical and organic laws operate on them in the same manner as on man, so that nothing need be said on these points. The lower animals, however, possess pro- pensities impelling them to act, and a certain degree of intellect enabling them to perceive the consequences of their actions. These faculties prompt them to inflict pu- nishment on each other for infringement of their rights* although they possess no sentiments pointing out the mo- ral guilt of their conduct. For example, dogs possess Acquisitiveness, w r hich gives them the sense of property. When one is in possession of a bone, and another at- tempts to steal it, this act instinctively excites the Com- bativeness and Destructiveness of the proprietor of the bone, and he proceeds to worry the assailant. Or a cock, on a dunghill, finds a rival intruding on his domain, and under the instinctive inspiration of offended Self-Love and Combativeness, he attacks him, and drives him off. I call this inflicting animal punishment. In these cases it is not supposed that the aggressors possess moral fa- culties, intimating that their trespass is wrong ; or free 312 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED will, by which they could avoid it, if they chose. I view them as inspired by their propensities, and rushing blind- ly to gratification. Nevertheless, in the effect which the aggression produces on the propensities of the animal assailed, we perceive an arrangement instituted by the Creator for checking outrage, and arresting its progress. Before the penalty inflicted could be viewed by man as just in such cases, it would be -necessary to perceive that it was instituted for the benefit of the aggressors themselves ; and, accordingly, it is so. If all dogs ne- glected to seek bones, and dedicated themselves solely to stealing ; and if cocks, in general, deserted their own domains, and gave themselves up only to felonious in- roads on each other's territories, it is self-evident that the races of these animals would soon become extinct. It follows, also, that any individual among them who should habitually abandon himself to such transgressions, would speedily lose his life by starvation. If, then, it is bene- ficial for the race, and also for the individual offender him- self, in these instances, to be arrested in his progress, his chastisement is decidedly benevolent and just. It is interesting to observe, that various provisions are made under the animal law for bringing about substantial justice, even in creatures destitute of the sentiment of Conscientiousness. The lower animals make perfectly sure of punishing only the real offender ; for he must be caught in the fact, otherwise he is not visited by their resentment. In the next place, it appears to be the ge- neral law of animal nature, that, unless the offender has carried his inroad to an extreme extent, the punishment is relaxed the moment he desists ; that is to say, the UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 313 master of the bone or dunghill is generally satisfied with simple defence, and rarely abandons his treasure to pur- sue the offender for the sake of mere revenge. Farther, the animals, in inflicting punishment, make no inquiry into the cause of the offence. With them it af- fords no alleviation that the aggressor is himself in a state of the greatest destitution, or that his appetite is irresisti- ble ; neither do they concern themselves with his fate after they have made him undergo the penalty. He may die of the wounds they have inflicted upon him, or of abso- lute starvation before their eyes, without their enjoyment being in the least disturbed. This arises from their fa- culties consisting chiefly of perceptive powers and pro- pensities, which regard only self. They are destitute of the faculties which inquire into causes and trace conse- quences ; and of the moral sentiments, which desire, with a disinterested affection, the welfare of other beings. Nevertheless, the punishment which they inflict is in itself just, and serves, as we have seen, a decidedly bene- ficial end. Let us now direct our attention to man. Man possesses the same animal propensities as those of the lower creatures, and, under their instigation, he, too, inflicts punishment on principles precisely analogous to those under which they chastise. Indeed, it is curious to remark, that hitherto the criminal laws, even of the most civilized nations, have been framed on the principles of animal punishment exclusively. A thief, for example, breaks into a dwelling-house, and steals. The reflecting faculties are employed to discover the offender, and find evidence of the offence. Judges and juries assemble to determine whether the evidence be sufficient ; and if they find it to be so, the offender is ordered to be flogged, to * d d 314 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED be imprisoned, or to be hanged. We are apt to imagine that there is something moral in the trial. But the sole object of it is to ascertain that a crime has been commit- ted, and that the accused is the real offender. The dog and cock make equally certain of both points ; because they never punish except when the individual is caught in the offence. Guilt being ascertained, and the offender identified, the dog shakes and worries, and then lets him go ; and man scourges his back, or makes him mount the steps of a tread-mill, and then turns him adrift. If the offender has been very presumptuous and pertinacious in his aggression, the dog sometimes, although very rarely, throttles him outright ; and man, in similar cir- cumstances, very generally strangles him with a rope, or cuts off his head. In his proceeding the dog makes no inquiry into the causes which led to the crime, nor into the consequences upon the offender of the pu- nishment which he inflicts. Man imitates him in this also. He inflicts his vengeance with as little inquiry into the causes which led to the offence, and, except when he puts him to death, he turns the culprit adrift upon the world, after he has undergone his punishment, with as little concern about what shall next befall him, as is shewn by his canine prototype. The dog acts in this manner, because he is inspired by animal propensities, and higher faculties have been denied him. Man imitates him, be- cause he, too, has received animal faculties ; and although he possesses moral sentiments and reflecting intellect in addition, he has not yet discovered the practical applica- tion of them to the subject of criminal legislation. The animal punishment is not without advantage even in the case of man, although it is far short, in this respect, UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 315 of what he might obtain by following the guidance of his moral sentiments. Man as a mere animal could not exist in society, unless some check were instituted against abuses of the propensities ; and hence it is quite obvious, that animal vengeance, rude as it is, carries with it re- sults beneficial even to the offender, except where it puts him to death, — a degree of punishment which, as we have seen, the lower animals very rarely inflict on each other of the same species. Unless the outrages of Destructive- ness, Acquisitiveness, and Self-Esteem, and the other ani- mal propensities, were checked, human society would be dissolved, and by that result the offenders themselves would suffer more grievous calamities than under any moderate form of animal infliction. The world is arranged, in so far as regards the lower animals, with a wise relation to the faculties bestowed on them. Accordingly animal resentment is really effective in their case. In consequence of their not possessing re- flecting faculties, they are incapable of forming deep or extensive schemes for mutual aggression, and are not led to speculate on the chances of escaping detection in their misdeeds. Their offences are limited to casual overflow- ings of their propensities when excited by momentary temptation; which are checked by counter overflowings of other propensities, momentarily excited in the ani- mals aggrieved. In regard to man, however, the world has been ar- ranged on the principle of supremacy of the moral senti- ments and intellect, and, in consequence, animal retribu- tion is not equally effectual in his case. For example, a human offender employs his intellect in devising means to enable him to escape detection, or to defend himself against punishment ; and, in consequence, although he 816 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED sees punishment staring- him in the face, his hope deludes him into the belief that he may escape it. Farther, if the real cause of human offences be excessive size and activi- ty in the organs of the animal propensities, it follows that mere punishment cannot put a stop to crime, because it overlooks the cause, and leaves it to operate with un- abated energy, after the infliction has been endured. The history of the world, then, presents us with a regular succession of crimes and punishments, and at present the series appears to be as far removed from a termina- tion as at any previous period of the annals of the race. If the world, in regard to man, has been arranged on the plan of supremacy of the moral sentiments and intel- lect, we might expect better success, were moral retri- bution, of which I now proceed to treat, resorted to. The motive which prompts the dog to worry, or the cock to peck and spur his assailant, is, as we have seen, mere animal resentment. His propensities are disagree- ably affected, and Combativeness and Destructiveness in- stinctively start into activity to repel the aggression. The animal resentment of man is precisely analogous. A thief is odious to Acquisitiveness, because he robs it of its treasures ; a murderer is offensive to all our feelings, because he extinguishes life. And these faculties being offended, Combativeness and Destructiveness rush to their aid in man while under the animal dominion, as in- stinctively as in the dog, and punish the offender on principles, and in a way, exactly similar. The case is different with the proper human faculties. Benevolence, contemplating outrage and murder, disap- proves of them, because they are hostile to its inherent constitution, because they occasion calamities to those who are their objects, and misery to the perpetrators UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 317 themselves. Conscientiousness is pained by the percep- tion of theft, because its very nature revolts at every in- fringement of right, and because justice is essential to the welfare of all intelligent beings. Veneration is of- fended at reckless insult and indignity, because, from its very constitution, it desires to respect the intelligent creatures of the God whom it adores, believing that they are all the objects of his love. When crime is presented before the moral sentiments, therefore, they all ardently and instinctively desire that it should be stopped, and its recurrence prevented, just because it is in direct opposi- tion to their very nature, and this impression on their part is not dependent on the power of the criminal to offend or to forbear offence. Benevolence grieves at death inflicted by a madman, and calls aloud that it should be averted : Conscientiousness disavows all theft, although committed by an idiot, and requires that he should be restrained ; while Veneration recoils at the ir- reverences even of the phrenzied. The circumstance of the offenders being involuntary agents, quite incapable of restraining their propensities, does not alter the aversion of the moral faculties to their actions ; and the reasons of this are obvious : first, the sentiments hate evil, because it is contrary to their nature, no matter from what source it springs ; and, secondly, the circumstance of the ag- gressor being a necessary agent, does not diminish the calamity inflicted on the sufferer. It is as painful to be killed by a madman as by a deliberate assassin ; and it is as destructive to property to be robbed by a cunning idiot, as by an acute and practised thief. We perceive, therefore, as the first feature of the moral and intellectual law, that the sentiments, absolutely and 318 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED in all circumstances, declare against offences, and demand imperatively, that they shall be brought to an end. There is a great difference, however, between the means which they suggest for accomplishing this object, and those prompted by the propensities. The latter blindly inflict animal resentment without the slightest re- gard to the causes which led to the crime, or the conse- quences of the punishment. They seize the aggressor, worry, bite, or strangle him, and there they begin and terminate. The moral and intellectual faculties, on the other hand, embrace even the criminal himself within the range of their sympathies. Benevolence desires to render him virtuous, and thereafter happy, as well as to rescue his victim. Veneration desires that he should be treated as a man ; and Conscientiousness declares that it cannot with satisfaction acquiesce in any administration towards him that does not tend to remove the motives of his miscon- duct, and to prevent their recurrence. The first step, then, which the moral and intellectual faculties combine in demanding, is a full exposition of the causes of the offence, and the consequences of the mode of treatment proposed. Let us, then, pursue this investigation ; and here let me observe, that we are now in condition to do so, with something like a chance of success ; for, by the aid of Phrenology, we have obtained a tolerably clear view of the elementary faculties of the mind, and the effects of organization on their manifestations. The very first fact, then, that arrests our attention in this inquiry, is, that every crime proceeds from an abuse of some faculty or another. The question next arises, Whence UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 319 does the tendency to abuse arise ? Phrenology enables lis to answer, from three sources ; first, from particular organs being too large and spontaneously active ; second- ly, from excessive excitement from external causes ; or, thirdly, from intellectual ignorance of what are uses and what are abuses of the faculties. The moral and intellectual powers next demand, What is the cause of particular organs being too large and active in individuals ? Phrenology, for answer, points to the law of hereditary descent, by which the organs most en- ergetic in the parents determine those which shall predo- minate in the child. Intellect, then, infers that, accord- ing to this view, certain individuals are unfortunate at birth, in having received organs from their parents so ill proportioned, that abuse of some of them is almost an in- evitable consequence, if they are left to the sole guidance of their own suggestions. Phrenology replies, that the fact appears to be exactly so. In the Phrenological Hall is exhibited a large assemblage of skulls and casts of the heads of criminals, collected from Europe, Asia, Africa, and America ; and an undeniable feature in them all, is a great preponderance of the organs of the animal propensities over those of the moral sentiments and in- tellect. In the next place, excessive excitement from without may arise from the individual being pressed by animal want, stimulated by intoxicating liquors, or seduced by evil example, and from a variety of similar causes. And, thirdly, abuses may arise from sheer want of in- formation concerning the constitution of the mind, and its relations to external objects. I have examined the cere- bral development, and inquired into the external circum- 320 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED stances, of a considerable number of criminals; and have no hesitation in saying, that if, in the case of every of- fender, the three sources of crimes here enumerated were investigated, reported on, and published, the conviction would become irresistible, that the individual was the victim of his nature and external condition, and that peni- tentiaries would be resorted to as the only means of at once abating crime and satisfying the moral feelings of the public. The public err through ignorance, and need only to know better to ensure their going into the right path. Farther, intellect perceives, and the moral sentiments acknowledge, that these causes subsist independently of the will of the offender. The criminal, for example, is not the cause of the unfortunate preponderance of the animal or- gans in his own brain, neither is he the cause of the ex- ternal excitement which seduces his propensities into abuse, or of the intellectual ignorance in which he is in- volved. Nevertheless, the moral and intellectual facul- ties of the indifferent spectator of his condition, do not, on this account, admit that he ought, either for his own sake or for that of society, to be permitted to proceed in an unrestricted course of crime. They absolutely insist on arresting his progress, and their first question is, How may this best be done ? Intellect answers, by removing the causes which produce the offences. The first cause — the great preponderance of ani- mal organs — cannot, by any means yet known, be sum- marily removed. Intellect, therefore, points out another alternative, viz to supply, by moral and physical restraint, the control which, in a brain better constituted, is afford- ed by large moral and intellectual organs ; in short, to place the offender under such a degree of effective con- UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 321 trol as absolutely to prevent the abuses of his faculties. Benevolence acknowledges this to be kind, Veneration to be respectful, and Conscientiousness to be just, at once to the offender himself and to society ; and Intellect per- ceives that, whenever it is adopted, it w r ill form an im- portant step towards preventing- a repetition of crimes. The second cause, viz. great external excitement, may be removed by withdrawing the individual from its influ- ence. The very restraint and control which serve to remedy the first, will directly tend to accomplish this se- cond object at the same time. The third cause, being moral and intellectual ignorance, may be removed by conveying instruction to the higher faculties of the mind. If these principles be sound, the measures now recom- mended ought, when viewed in all their consequences, to be not only the most just and benevolent, but, at the same time, the most advantageous that could be adopted. Let us contrast them with the results of the animal method. Under the animal system, we have seen that no mea- sures are taken to prevent crimes. Under the moral method, as soon as a tendency to abuse the faculties should be perceived in any individual, instant measures of prevention would be resorted to, because the senti- ments could not be satisfied unless this were done* Under the animal system, no inquiry is made into the future proceedings of the offender, and he is turned loose on society, under the unabated influence of all the causes which led to his infringement of the law, and, as effects never cease while their causes continue to operate, he re- peats his offence, and again becomes the object of a new 322 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED animal infliction. Under the moral system the causes would be removed, and the evil effects would cease. Under the animal system, the lower propensities of the offender and society are maintained in habitual excite- ment, for the punishment proceeds from the propensities, and is addressed to the propensities. Flogging, for in- stance, proceeds from Destructiveness, and is addressed solely to self-love and fear. The tread-mill springs from Destructiveness in a milder form, and, as its sole object is to cause annoyance to the offender, it is obviously address- ed only to Cautiousness and his selfish feelings. Hang- ing and decapitation undeniably spring from Destructive- ness, and are administered a3 terrors to the propensities of persons criminally disposed. These punishments, again, especially the latter, are calculated to excite the animal faculties, and none else, in the spectators who witness them. A capital execution obviously interests and gratifies Destructiveness, Cautiousness and Self- love, in the beholder, and nothing can be farther re- moved than such exhibitions from the proper food of Benevolence, Veneration, and Conscientiousness. Under the moral system, again, the whole faculties exercised and addressed in restraining and instructing the offender, are the human powers. The propensities are employed merely as the servants of the moral sentiments in accomplishing their benignant purposes, and Benevo- lence is as actively engaged in behalf of the offender as of society at large. The whole influence of the proceed- ing is ameliorating and elevating. Under the animal system, children produced of parents who have been recently engaged in either suffering, in- UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 323 flicting, or witnessing punishment, will, by the organic law, inherit large and active animal organs, occasioned by the excitement of similar organs in the parents. Thus a public execution, from the violent stimulus which it produces in the lower faculties of the spectators, may, within twenty-four hours of its exhibition, be the direct cause of a new crop of victims for the gallows. Under the moral system, children born of parents ac- tively engaged in undergoing, executing, or witnessing the elevating and ennobling process of moral reformation, will, by the organic law, inherit an increased develop- ment of the moral and intellectual organs, and be farther removed than their parents from the risk of lapsing into crime. Under the animal system, spectators of crime, and ac- complices, need to be bribed with large rewards to in- duce them to communicate their knowledge of the of- fence ; and witnesses require to be compelled by penalties to bear testimony to what they have seen concerning it. Many will recollect the affecting picture of mental agony drawn by the author of Waverly, when Jeanie Deans, at the bar of the High Court of Justiciary, gives evidence against her sister, which was to deprive that sister of life. Parallel cases occur too frequently in actual experience. The real cause of this aversion to betray, and internal re- pugnance to give evidence, is, that the moral sentiments are revolted at the delivery of the culprit to the cruelty of animal resentment. Under the moral system, the sentiments and intellect of the spectator of a crime, and those of the nearest rela- tives of the offender, would unite, along with those of society at large, in an unanimous desire to deliver him up 324 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED with the utmost speed to the ameliorating influence of moral reformation, as the highest benevolence even to himself. Under the animal system, the office of public execu- tioner is odious, execrable, and universally contemned. If it were necessary by the Creator's institutions, it would present the extraordinary example of a necessary duty being execrated by the moral sentiments. This would be a direct inconsistency between the dictates of the su- perior faculties and the arrangement of the external world. But the animal executioner is not acknowledged as necessary by the human faculties. Under the moral system, the criminal would be committed to persons whose duties would be identical with those of the clergy- man, the physician, and the teacher. These are the ex- ecutioners under the moral law ; and just because their avocations are highly grateful to the sentiments, these are the most esteemed of mankind. The highest and the most important object of this long exposition of the principles of punishment under the na- tural laws, remains to be unfolded. We are all liable to abuse our faculties ; and the in- quiry is exceedingly interesting, what, in our cases, are the causes of the infringement of the moral law. The offences which we daily commit, are neither more nor less than minor degrees of abuse of the very same facul- ties of which crimes are the greater. For example, if in private life we backbite or slander our neighbour, we commit abuses of Self-esteem and Destructiveness, which, if increased merely in intensity, without at all changing their nature, might end, as in Ireland, in maiming his cattle, or, as in Spain or Italy, in murdering him outright. UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 325 If, in any transaction of life, we deliberately give false representations as to any article we have for sale, or overcharge it in price, this is just a minor abuse of Secre- tiveness and Acquisitiveness, acting in absence of the moral sentiments, of which pocket-picking and stealing are higher degrees. I need not carry the parallel far- ther. It is so obvious that every offence against the mo- ral law is an abuse of some faculty or other, and that great crimes are just great abuses, and smaller offences lesser aberrations, that every one must perceive the fact to be so. Reverting to what I observed in regard to crime, I repeat, that every infringement of the moral law, the smallest as well as the greatest, is denounced by the sen- timents and intellect, just because it is opposed to their nature, and they desire absolutely to bring all abuses to an end, from whatever source they spring, be they vo- luntary or involuntary. Animal resentment is, by the present practice of so- ciety, resorted to as the chief method of dealing with the minor, just as it is with the higher, abases of our facul- ties. If one gentleman insults another, the offended party makes no inquiry into the state of mind and other causes that produced the insult, but proceeds to knock him on the head, to challenge, and thereafter to shoot him, or to prosecute him in a jury court, and inflict pain by depriving him of money. These are the common me- thods by which men inflict animal retribution on each other, and in essential character they do not much differ from those followed by the lower creatures. I do not say that these proceedings are absolutely without beneficial effect. The animal faculties are sel- 326 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED fish, and these inroads upon their enjoyment have un- doubtedly a tendency to check them. It is painful to a gentleman to be knocked down or shot, and, in conse- quence, some individuals whose moral principles are low, are induced to manage matters so as to avoid these forms of retaliation, who would not be restrained from insult- ing their neighbours by the dictates of their own feel- ings ; but here the benefit terminates. The infliction of the chastisement excites only the animal faculties of the offended party, and it is addressed exclusively to the ani- mal part of the offender's mind. Habitual morality, how- ever, cannot exist without supreme activity of the moral sentiments ; and the whole code of animal law, and ani- mal punishment, does nothing whatever to establish this as a permanent condition of mind. Under the moral and intellectual law, every thing is different. The intellectual faculties enquire into the causes of abuses, and the sentiments desire to remove them with kindness and respect, even for the offender himself. If one person insult another, intellect, aided by Phrenology, perceives that he must of necessity do so, either from excessive predominance of Combativeness, Destructiveness, and Self-Esteem in his own brain, so that lie has an instinctive tendency to insult, just as some ill natured dogs and horses have a tendency to bite with- out provocation ; or from excessive external stimulus, that is to say, from some aggression offered to these lower organs by other people ; or, thirdly, from intellectual ig- norance, that is, erroneously supposing motives and in- tentions in the party whom he insults, which really do not belong to him. If one person cheats another, Intel- lect, aided by Phrenology, perceives that he can do so, UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 327 only because Acquisitiveness and Secretiveness predomi- nate in him over Conscientiousness ; because the exter- nal temptation to cheat is too powerful for his combina- tion of faculties to resist ; or because he is intellectually ignorant that cheating is equally fatal to his own interest as injurious to that of his victim. In short, intellect, aided by Phrenology, comes to an irresistible conclusion, that no abuse of the animal faculties can be committed, that may not be traced to these or similar causes. But intellect and the moral sentiments desire to re- move the causes as the most effectual way of putting an end to the effects, and their method is one congenial to their own constitution. If a man by nature is irritable, and prone to injure every one with whom he comes in- to contact, they desire most sedulously to remove every cause that may tend to exasperate his propensities, and also to surround him with a high moral and intellectual atmosphere. If he is exposed to temptation, they desire to withdraw it ; if he is misinformed, ignorant, or de- ceived, they desire to instruct him, and give him correct information. After we have suffered injury from another, if we perceive the causes from which it proceeded to be really such as I have now explained, and if we compre- hend and believe in the supremacy of the moral law, it it will be impossible for us to prefer the method of re- dress by animal resentment. The question naturally presents itself, What is the dis- tinction between right and wrong, under this system ? If offences proceed from unfortunate development of brain, not fashioned by the individual himself; from ex- ternal temptations which he did not make ; or from want of knowledge which he never possessed, how are the dis- 328 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED tinctions between right and wrong, merit and demerit, to be explicated and maintained ? The answer is simple. The natural distinction betwixt right and wrong, so far as man is concerned, depends on the constitution of the moral and intellectual faculties. The act of wantonly- killing another is wrong ; because it is in direct opposi- tion to the dictates of Benevolence. The act of appro- priating to ourselves effects belonging to another is wrong, because it is distinctly denounced by Conscientiousness, and so with all other offences. The authority of the mo- ral law, in forbidding these offences, depends on the whole arrangements of creation being constituted to en- force its dictates. If Benevolence and Conscientiousness denounce murder, and if the whole other faculties of the mind, and the external order of things, harmonize with their dictates, and combine to punish the offender, the foundation and sanctions of the moral law appear abun- dantly strong. It has been objected, that, in Tartary, theft is honourable ; but Dr T. Brown has well answered this objection. There are more principles in the mind than Benevolence, Veneration and Conscientiousness ; and it is quite possible to misinform the intellect, and thereby misdirect the propensities and sentiments. For example, the Tartars are taught, as matter of fact, that all men beyond their own tribes are their enemies, and would rob and murder them if they could ; as long as this intellectual conviction lasts, strangers become the objects of their animal resentment. They are criminals, in their eyes, clearly convicted of deliberate purpose to rob and murder. In England, under Lord Ellenborough's act, when men are convicted in a court of this intention^ they are delivered over to the hangman to be executed ; UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 329 and we might as well maintain, as an abstract proposition, that the English are fond of hanging one another, as that the Tartars approve of robbery and murder. Strangers whom the latter maltreat in this manner, actually stand convicted in their minds of an intention of using them in that way if they could. The real method of arriving at a correct view of the question is to suppose the convic- tion complete in a Tartar's mind that other men love him, and make him an object of their most sedulous benevo- lence, and then ask him whether he approves of robbing and murdering a benefactor ? There is no instance of human nature, in a state of sanity, regarding such a deed as virtuous. The moral law, therefore, when cleared of other principles that may act along with it, but are not part of it, is obviously universal and inflexible in its dic- tates. The views contained in this chapter were printed and distributed amongst a few friends in 1 827, and I have been favoured by them with several remarks. Two of these appear to me to merit a reply. It is objected, that, according to the moral system of treating offenders, punishment would be abrogated and crime encouraged. I respectfully answer, that if this system be right in itself, and suited to the nature of man, it will carry in itself all the punishment that will be needed, or that can serve any beneficial end. I believe that to an individual whose mind consists chiefly of animal propensities and in- tellect, confinement, compulsory labour, and the enforce- ment of moral conduct, will be highly disagreeable, and that this is the punishment which the Creator designed should attend that unfortunate combination of mental 330 ON PUNISHMENT AS INFLICTED qualities. It is analogous to the pain of a wound; the object of which is to induce the patient to avoid injuring himself again. The irksomeness and suffering to a cri- minal, inseparable from confinement and forced labour, are intended as inducements to him to avoid infringe- ments of the moral law ; and when perceived by himself to arise from the connection established by the Creator, between crime and the most humane means of restrain- ing it, he will learn to submit to its infliction, without those rebellious feelings which are generally excited by pure animal retribution. It appears to me that the call for more suffering than would accompany the moral method of treatment, proceeds to a great extent from the yet untamed barbarism of our own minds ; just as it was the savageness of the hearts of our ancestors which led them to demand torture and burning, as elements in their administration of criminal justice. In proportion as the higher sentiments shall gain ascendancy in society, seve- rity will be less in demand, and its inutility will be more generally perceived. The Americans, in their peniten- tiaries, have set an admirable example to Europe in re- gard to criminal legislation. Their views still admit of improvement, but they have entered on the right path by which success is to be attained. Dr Caldwell, of Lexing- ton, has offered them excellent counsel, which I hope they will appreciate and follow. Another objection is, that the views now advocated, even supposing them to be true, are Utopian, and cannot be carried into effect in the present condition of society. I deny the first branch of this objection ; but admit the second to be well founded. No system of morals which is true, can be Utopian, meaning by this term, visionary UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. 331 and impracticable. But a true system may not be prac- ticable, on its first announcement, by a people who do not know one word of its principles, and whose guides sedu- lously divert their minds from studying it. Christianity itself has not yet been generally practised ; but does any rational man on this account denounce it as Utopian and worthless ? It would be folly to expect judges and juries to abandon the existing practice of criminal jurisprudence, and to adopt that which is here recommended, before they, and the society for whom they act, understand and approve of its principles ; and no one who bears in mind by what slow and laborious efforts truth makes its way, and how long a period is necessary before it can develope itself in practice, will expect any new system to triumph in the age in which it was first promulgated. I have frequently repeated in this work, that, by the moral law, we cannot enjoy the full fruits, even of our own intelli- gence and virtue, until our neighbours shall have heen rendered as wise and amiable as ourselves. No reason- able man, therefore, can expect to see the principles of this work, although true, generally diffused and adopted in society, until after the natural means of communicat- ing a knowledge of them, and producing a general con- viction of their truth and utility, shall have been perse- veringly used, for a period sufficient to accomplish this end. In the mean time, the established practices of so- ciety must be supported, if not respected, and he is no friend to the real progress of mankind, who, the moment after he lias sown his moral principles, would insist on gathering the fruit before he has allowed summer and autumn to bring the produce to maturity. The ra- tional philanthropist will zealously teach his principles, 332 MORAL ADVANTAGES OF PUNISHMENT. and introduce them into practice as favourable opportu- nities occur, not doubting but that he will thereby sooner accomplish his object, than by making premature attempts at realizing them, which must inevitably end in disap- pointment *. Sect. II. MORAL ADVANTAGES OF PUNISHMENT. After the intellect and moral sentiments have been brought to recognise the principles of the Divine admi- nistration, so much wisdom, benevolence, and justice, are discernible in the natural laws, that our whole nature is ameliorated in undergoing the punishments annexed to them. Punishment endured by one individual also serves to warn others against transgression. These facts afford another proof that a grand object of the arrangements of creation is the improvement of the moral and intellectual nature of man. So strikingly conspicuous, indeed, is the ameliorating influence of suffering, that many persons have supposed this to be the primary object for which it is sent ; a notion which, with great deference, appears to me to be unfounded in principle, and dangerous in prac- tice. If evils and misfortunes are mere mercies of Pro- * The leading ideas of this chapter have been most ably and eloquently followed out by Dr Charles Caldwell of Lexington, Kentucky, in his " New Views of Penitentiary Discipline and Moral Education, and Re- formation of Criminals," published at Philadelphia in 1829, and reprinted in the Phrenological Journal, vol. viii. pp. 385, 493. Mr Simpson also has treated the subject with great ability in the Phrenological Journal, vol. ix p. 481, and in the appendix to his work on the " Necessity of Popular Education," — a work in which he has expounded and applied the principles of the present essay with much acuteness and felicity of illus- tration. MORAL ADVANTAGES OF PUNISHMENT. 333 vidence, it follows that a headach consequent on a de- bauch, is not intended to prevent repetition of drunken- ness, so much as to prepare the debauchee for " the invi- sible world;" and that shipwreck in a crazy vessel is not designed to render the merchant more cautious, but to lead him to heaven. It is however undeniable, that in innumerable instances pain and sorrow are the direct consequences of our own misconduct ; at the same time it is obviously benevolent in the Deity to render them beneficial directly, as a warning against future transgression, and indirectly, as a means of purifying the mind. Nevertheless, if we shall imagine that in some instances it is dispensed as a direct punishment for particular transgressions, and in others, only on ac- count of sin in general, and with the view of ameliorat- ing the spirit of the sufferer, we shall ascribe inconsis- tency to the Creator, and expose ourselves to the danger of attributing our own afflictions to his favour, and those of others to his wrath ; thus fostering in our minds self- conceit and uncharitableness. Individuals who entertain the belief that bad health, worldly ruin, and sinister acci- dents, befalling them, are not punishments for infringe- ment of the laws of nature, but particular manifestations of the love of the Creator towards themselves, make slight inquiry into the natural causes of their miseries, and bestow few efforts to remove them. In consequence, the chastisements endured by them, neither correct their own conduct, nor deter others from committing similar transgressions. Some religious sects, who espouse these notions, literally act upon them, and refuse to inoculate with the cow-pox to escape contagion, or take other means of avoiding natural calamities. Regarding these 334 MORAL ADVANTAGES OF PUNISHMENT. as dispensations of Providence, sent to prepare them for a future world, they conceive that the more of them that befal them the better. Further, these ideas, besides be- ing repugnant to the common sense of mankind, are at variance with the principle that the world is arranged so as to favour virtue and discountenance vice ; because fa- vouring virtue means obviously that the favoured virtu- ous will positively enjoy more happiness, and, nega- tively, suffer fewer misfortunes than the vicious. The view, then, 4 now advocated, appears less exceptionable, viz. that punishment serves a double purpose — directly to warn us against transgression, and indirectly, when rightly apprehended, to subdue our lower propensities, and purify and vivify our moral and intellectual powers. Bishop Butler coincides in this interpretation of natu- ral calamities. " New," says he. " in the present state, all which we enjoy, and a great part of what we suf- fer, is pat in our power.* For pleasure and pain are tfie consequences of our actions; and we are endued by the Author of our nature with capacities of foreseeing these consequences." " I know not that we have any one kind or degree of enjoyment, but by the means of our own actions. And, by prudence and care, we may, for the most part, pass our days in tolerable ease and quiet ; or, on the contrary, we may, by rashness, ungoverned passion, wilfulness, or even by negligence, make ourselves as mise- rable as ever we please. And many do please to make themselves extremely miserable ; i. e. they do what they knew beforehand will render them so. They follow those ways, the fruit of which they know, by instruction, * These words are printed in Italics in the original. MORAL ADVANTAGES OP" IXNISHMENT. 335 example, experience, will be disgrace, and poverty, and sickness, and untimely death. This every one observes to be the general course of things ; though it is to be al- lowed, we cannot find by experience, that all our suffer- ings are owing to our own follies." — Analogy, p. 40. In accordance with this last remark, I have treated of here- ditary diseases ; and evils resulting from convulsions of physical nature may be added to the same class. It has been objected that physical punishments, such as the breaking of an arm by a fall, are often so dispro- portionately severe, that the Creator must have had some other and more important object in view in appointing them, than for them to serve as mere motives to physical observance; and that that object must be to influence the mind of the sufferer, and draw his attention to con- cerns of higher import. In answer, I remark, that the human body is liable to destruction by severe injuries ; and that the degree of suffering, in general, bears a just proportion to the dan- ger connected with the transgression. Thus, a slight surfeit is attended only with headach or general uneasi- ness, because it does not endanger life ; a fall on any muscular part of the body is followed either with no pain, or only a slight indisposition, for the reason that it is not seriously injurious to life ; but when a leg or arm is broken, the pain is intensely severe, because the bones of these limbs stand high in the scale of utility to man. The human body is so framed that it may fall nine times and suffer little damage, but the tenth time a limb may be broken, which will entail a painful chastisement. By this arrangement the mind is kept alive to danger to such an extent as to ensure general safety, while at the same 336 MORAL ADVANTAGES OF PUNISHMENT. time it is not overwhelmed with terror by punishments too severe and too frequently repeated. In particular states of the body, a slight wound may be followed by inflammation and death ; but these are not the results simply of the wound, but the consequences of a previous derangement of health, occasioned by departures from the organic laws. On the whole, therefore, no adequate reason appears for regarding the consequences of physical accidents in any other light than as direct punishments for infringe- ment of the natural laws, and indirectly as a means of accomplishing moral and religious improvement. In the preceding chapters we have obtained glimpses of some of the sanctions of the moral law, which may be briefly recapitulated. If we obey it, we enjoy, in the first place, the highest gratifications of which our nature is susceptible, in habitual and sustained activity of our noblest faculties. Secondly, We become objects of esteem and affection to our fellow men, and enjoy exalted so- cial pleasure. Thirdly, Whatever we undertake, be- ing projected in harmony with the course of nature, will prosper. Fourthly, By observing the moral law we shall place ourselves in the most favourable condition for obey- ing the organic law, and then enjoy health of body and buoyancy of mind. Fifthly, By obeying the moral, in- tellectual, and organic laws, we shall place ourselves in the best condition for observing the physical laws, and thereby reap countless benefits conferred by them. We need just to reverse the picture, to perceive, on the other hand, the penalties by which the Creator punishes infringements of the moral law. There is de- MORAL ADVANTAGES OF PUNISHMENT. 337 nial of that elevated, refined, and steady enjoyment which springs from the supreme activity of the moral sentiments and intellect, and from the perception of the harmony be- tween them and the institutions of creation. By infringing the moral law we become objects of dislike and aversion to our fellow men ; and this carries denial of gratification to many of our social faculties. Whatever we under- take in opposition to the moral law, being an enterprise against the course of nature, cannot succeed ; and its fruits must therefore be disappointment and vexation. Inatten- tion to the moral and intellectual law incapacitates us for obedience to the organic and physical laws ; and sickness, pain and poverty overtake us. The whole scheme of creation, then, appears constituted for the purpose of en- forcing obedience to the moral law ; — virtue, religion and happiness, seem to be founded in the inherent constitu- tion of the human faculties, and in the adaptation of the external world to them ; and not to depend on the fancies, the desires, or the mere will of man. pf ( 338 ) CHAPTER VII. ON THE COMBINED OPERATION OF THE NATURAL LAWS. Having now unfolded several of tlie natural laws, and their effects, and having also attempted to shew that each is inflexible and independent in itself, and requires abso- lute obedience, (so that a man who shall neglect the phy- sical law will suffer the physical punishment, although he may be very attentive to the moral law ; that one who infringes the organic law will suffer organic punishment, although he may obey the physical law ; and that a person who violates the moral law will suffer the moral punishment, although he should observe the other two ;) I proceed to shew the mutual relationship among these laws, and to adduce some instances of their joint ope- ration. The defective administration of justice is a fertile source of human suffering in all countries ; yet it is sur- prising how rude are the arrangements which are still in use, even in a free and enlightened country, for accom- plishing this important end. A Scotch Jury in a civil cause, even in Edinburgh, now frequently presents the following particulars for ON THE OPERATION OF THE NATURAL LAWS- 339 observation. It consists of twelve men, eight or ten of whom are collected from the country, within a distance of twenty or thirty miles to the west, south, and east of the capital. These individuals hold the plough, wield the hammer or hatchet, or carry on some other useful and respectable but laborious occupation, for six days in the week. Their muscular systems are in constant exer- cise, and their brains are rarely called on for any great exertion. They are not accustomed to read, beyond the Bible and a weekly newspaper ; they are still less prepar- ed to think ; and in general they live much in the open air. In this condition, they are placed in the Jury-box at ten o'clock in the morning, after having travelled proba- bly from seven to twenty-five miles to reach the court : counsel address long speeches to them ; numerous wit- nesses are examined ; and the cause is branched out into complicated details of fact, and wire-drawn distinctions in argument. The court is a small apartment, ill venti- lated, and in consequence is generally crowded and over- heated, y/ithout being allowed to take air, exercise, or food y they are confined to their seats till eight or ten in the evening, when they retire to return a verdict, by which they may dispose of thousands of pounds, and in which by law they must be unanimous. There is here a tissue of errors which could not exist for a day, if the natural laws were generally understood. First, The physical habits of such Jurors render their brains inactive, and their intellects in consequence incapa- ble of attending to, and comprehending, complicated cases of fact and argument. Secondly, Their memories cannot retain the facts, while their skill in penmanship and litera- ture is not sufficient to enable them to take notes; and 340 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION their reflecting faculties are not capable of generalizing. Their education and daily pursuits, therefore, do not fur- nish them with principles of thinking, and power of men- tal action, sufficient to enable them to unravel the web of intricacies presented to their understandings. Thirdly, Protracted confinement in a close apartment, amidst vi- tiated air, operates injuriously on the most vivacious temperaments : — On such men it has a tenfold effect in lowering the action of the brain, and inducing mental incapacity, because it is diametrically opposed to their usual condition. Add to these considerations, that occa- sionally a jury trial lasts two, three, or even four days, each of which presents a repetition of the circumstances here described ; and then the reader may judge whether such jurors are the fittest instruments, and in the best condition, for disposing of the fortunes of a people who boast of their love of justice, and their admirable institu- tions for obtaining it. The influence of the physical condition of a human being on his mental capacity seems never to have entered the imaginations of our legislators as a matter of impor- tance in the administration of justice. In the Circuit Courts of Scotland, the judges frequently sit for several days in succession in a crowded apartment, intently en- gaged in business, from ten o'clock in the morning till eight, ten, or twelve at night, without any proper inter- mission or exercise. They go to their hotel at these late hours, dine, take wine, go to bed, and next morning re- sume their seats on the bench. Now, by the laws of their nature, which never cease to operate, the effect of this con- duct is to impair the vigour of the moral and intellectual organs, and by constraint, want of exercise, and obstrnc- OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 34 1 tion of the bodily functions, to irritate and exalt the acti- vity of the animal organs ; so that at the close of a circuit, the most excellent individual is physically deteriorated, and mentally incapacitated for the distribution of justice, compared with himself when he began his labours. It is accordingly matter of observation, that in proportion as a long and heavy session in circuit advances, irritability, impatience, and intellectual obscuration proceed pari passu. The accused, therefore, who go to trial first, have a far higher chance of obtaining justice, than those who ap- pear last on the roll. In these instances we observe infringements of the or- ganic and moral laws, and the combined result is, the maladministration of justice, of which the country so loudly complains. The proper remedies will be found in educating more effectually the people, in training them to the exercise of their mental faculties, and in observing the organic laws in the structure of court-rooms, and in the proceedings that take place within them. Another example of the combined operation of the na- tural laws is afforded by the great fires which occurred in Edinburgh in November 1824, when the Parliament Square and a part of the High Street were consumed. That calamity may be viewed in the following light : — The Creator constituted England and Scotland, with such qualities, and placed them in such relationship, that the individuals of both kingdoms would be most happy in acting towards each other, and pursuing their separate vocations, under the supremacy of the moral sentiments. We have lived to see this practised, and to reap the re- wards of it. But the ancestors of the two nations did not believe in this constitution of the world, and they 342 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION preferred acting on the principles of the propensities ; that is to say, they waged furious wars, and committed wasting devastations on each other's properties and lives. It is obvious from history, that the two nations were equally ferocious, and delighted reciprocally in each other's calamities. This was clearly a violent infringement of the moral law ; and one effect of it was to render personal safety an object of paramount importance. The hill on which the Old Town of Edinburgh is built, was natu- rally surrounded by marshes, and presented a perpendi- cular front to the west, capable of being crowned with a castle. It was appropriated with avidity, and the metro- polis of Scotland was founded there, obviously and unde- niably under the inspiration purely of the animal faculties. It was fenced round, and ramparts built to exclude the fierce warriors who then inhabited the country lying south of the Tweed, and also to protect the inhabitants from the fendal banditti who infested their own soil. The space within the walls, however, was limited and narrow ; the attractions to the spot were numerous ; and to make the most of it, our ancestors erected the enormous masses of high, confused, and crowded buildings which now com- pose the High Street of this city, and the wynds, or al- leys, on its two sides. These abodes, moreover, were constructed, to a great extent, of timber ; for not only the joists and floors, but the partitions between the rooms, were made of massive wood. Our ancestors did all this in the perfect knowledge of the physical law, that wood ignited by fire not only is consumed itself, but enve- lopes in inevitable destruction every combustible object Avithin its influence. Farther, their successors, even when necessity had ceased, persevered in the original error ; OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 343 and, in the perfect knowledge that every year added to the age of such fabrics increased their liability to burn, they not only allowed them to be occupied as shops filled with paper, spirits, and other highly combustible mate- rials, but let off the upper floors for brothels, intro- ducing thereby into the heart of this magazine of con- flagration, the most reckless and immoral of mankind. The consummation was the two tremendous fires of No-, vember 1824, the one originating in a whisky-cellar, and the other in a garret-brothel, which consumed the whole Parliament Square and a part of the High Street, destroying property to the extent of many thousands of pounds, and spreading misery and ruin over a consi- derable part of the population of Edinburgh. Wonder, consternation, and awe, were forcibly excited at the vast- ness of this calamity ; and in the sermons that were preached, and the dissertations that were written upon it, much was said of the inscrutable ways of Providence, that sent such visitations on the people, enveloping the innocent and the guilty in one common sweep of destruc- tion. According to the exposition of the ways of Providence which I have ventured to give, there was nothing won- derful, nothing vengeful, nothing arbitrary, in the whole occurrence. The surprising thing was, that it did not take place generations before. The necessity for these fabrics originated in gross violation of the moral law ; they were constructed in high contempt of the physical law ; and, latterly, the moral law was set at defiance, by placing in them inhabitants abandoned to the worst ha- bits of recklessness and intoxication. The Creator had bestowed on men faculties to perceive all this, and to 344 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION avoid it, whenever they chose to exert them ; and the destruction that ensued was the punishment of following the propensities, in preference to the dictates of intellect and morality- The object of the destruction, as a natu- ral event, was to lead men to avoid repetition of the of- fences : but the principles of the divine government are not yet comprehended; — Acquisitiveness whispers that jftore money may be made of houses consisting of five or six floors, under one roof, than of only two ; and erections, the very counterparts of the former, have since reared their heads on the spot where the others stood, and, sooner or later, they also will be overtaken by the natural laws, which never slumber or sleep. The true method of arriving at a sound view of cala- mities of every kind, is to direct our attention, in the first instance, to the law of nature, from the operation of which they have originated ; then to find out the uses and advantages of that law, when observed ; and to dis- cover whether the evils under consideration have arisen from violation of it. In the present instance, we ought never to lose sight of the fact, that the houses in ques- tion stood erect, and the furniture in safety, by the very same law of gravitation which made them topple to the foundation when it was infringed ; that mankind enjoy all the benefits which result from the combustibility of timber as fuel, by the very same law which renders it a devouring element, when unduly ignited ; that, by the same moral law, which, when infringed, leads to the ne- cessity of ramparts, fortifications, crowded lanes, and ex- travagantly high houses, we enjoy, now that we observe it better, that security of property and life which dis- tinguishes modern Scotland from ancient Caledonia. OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 345 This instance affords a striking illustration of the man- ner in which the physical and organic laws are constitut- ed in harmony with, and in subserviency to, the moral law. We see clearly that the leading cause of the con- struction of such erections as the houses in the Old Town of Edinburgh (with the deprivation of free air, and lia- bility to combustion that attend them), arose from the excessive predominance of Combativeness, Destructive- ness, Self-esteem, and Acquisitiveness, in our ancestors; and although the ancient personages who erected these monuments of animal supremacy, had no conception that, in doing so, they were laying the foundations of a severe punishment on themselves and their posterity, — yet, when we compare the comforts and advantages that would have accompanied dwellings constructed under the inspiration of Benevolence, Ideality, and enlightened Intellect, with the contaminating, debasing, and dangerous effects of their workmanship, we perceive most clearly that our ances- tors actually were the instruments of chastising their own transgressions, and of transmitting that chastisement to their posterity so long as the animal supremacy shall be prolonged. Another example may be given. Men, by uniting under one leader, may, in virtue of the social law, acquire prodigious advantages to them- selves, which singly they could not obtain ; and I stated, that the condition under which the benefits of that law were permitted, was, that the leader should know and obey the natural laws that were conducive to success ; that if he neglected these, then the same principle which gave the social body the benefit of his observing them, involv- ed them in the punishment of his infringement ; and that this was just, because, under the natural law, the leader 346 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION must necessarily be chosen by the social body, and they were responsible for not attending to his natural quali- ties. Some illustrations of the consequences of neglect of this law may be stated, in which the mixed operation of the physical and moral laws will appear. During the French war, a squadron of English men-of- war was sent to the Baltic with military stores, and, in re- turning home up the North Sea, they were beset, for two or three days, by a thick fog. It was about the middle of December, and no correct information was possessed of their exact situation. Some of the commanders pro- posed lying-to all night, and proceeding only during day, to avoid running ashore unawares. The commodore was exceedingly attached to his wife and family, and stated his determination to pass Christmas with them in Eng- land, if possible, and ordered the ships to sail straight on their voyage. The very same night they all struck on a sand-bank off the coast of Holland ; two ships of the line were dashed to pieces, and every soul on board perished. The third ship drew less water, was forced over the bank by the waves and stranded on the beach ; the crew was saved, but led to a captivity of many years' dura- tion. Now, these vessels were destroyed under the phy- sical laws ; but this calamity owed its origin to the pre- dominance of the animal over the moral and intellectual faculties in the commodore. The gratification which he sought to obtain was individual and selfish ; and, if his Benevolence, Veneration, Conscientiousness, and Intel- lect, had been as alert, and carried as forcibly home to his mind the operation of the physical laws, and the wel- fare of the men under his charge ; nay, if these faculties had been sufficiently alive to see the danger to which he OF THE NATURAL LAW'S. 347 exposed his own life, and the happiness of his own wife and children, — he never could have followed the preci- pitate course which consigned himself, and so many brave men, to a watery grave, within a few hours after his re- solution was formed. Very lately the Ogle Castle East Jndiaman was offered a pilot coming up the Channel, but the captain refused assistance, professing his own skill to be sufficient. In a few hours the ship ran aground on a sand-bank, and every human being on board perished in the waves. This also arose from the physical laws, but the unfavourable operation of it sprung from Self-esteem, pretending to knowledge which the intellect did not possess ; and, as it is only by the latter that obedience can be yielded to the physical laws, the destruction of the ship was indi- rectly the consequence of infringement of the moral and intellectual laws. An old sailor, whom I lately met on the Queensferry passage, told me, that he had been nearly fifty years at sea, and once was in a fifty gun ship in the West Indies. The captain, be said, was a " fine man ;" he knew the climate, and foresaw a hurricane coming, by its natural signs ; and, on one occasion, in particular, he struck the topmasts, lowered the yards, lashed the guns, and made each man supply himself with food for thirty-six hours ; and scarcely was this done when the hurricane came. The ship lay for four hours on her beam ends in the water, but all was prepared ; the men were kept in vigour du- ring the storm, and fit for every exertion ; the ship at last righted, suffered little damage, and proceeded on her voyage. The fleet which she convoyed was dispersed, and a great number of the ships foundered. Here we 348 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION see the supremacy of the moral and intellectual faculties, and discover to what a surprising extent they present a guarantee, even against the fury of the physical elements in their highest state of agitation. A striking illustration of the kind of protection afford- ed by high moral and intellectual qualities, even amidst the most desperate physical circumstances, is furnished by the following letter written by the late Admiral Lord Exmouth to a friend. " Why do you ask me to relate the wreck of the Button ?" says his Lordship. " Susan (Lady Exmouth) and I were driving to a dinner party at Plymouth, when we saw crowds running to the Hoe, and learning it was a wreck, I left the carriage to take her on, and joined the crowd. I saw the loss of the whole five or six hundred men was inevitable without some- body to direct them, for the last officer was pulled on shore as I reached the surf. I urged their return, which was refused ; upon which I made the rope fast to myself, and was hauled through the surf on board, — established order, and did not leave her until every soul was saved but the boatswain, who would not go before me. I got safe, and so did he, and the ship went all to pieces.'* Indeed there is reason to believe that the human in- tellect will, in time, be able, by means of science and ob- servation, to arrive at a correct anticipation of approach- ing storms, and thus obtain protection against their ef- fects. " The New Zealanders, it is said, by the accuracy of their observations, predict the changes of the weather with extraordinary skill. One evening when Captain Cruise and some of his friends were returning from a long excursion up one of the rivers, although the sky was at the time without a cloud, a native, who sat in the OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 349 boat with them, remarked, that there would be heavy- rain the next day ; a prediction which they were the more inclined to believe by finding, when they returned on board the ship, that the barometer had fallen very much, and which the deluge of the following morning complete- ly confirmed."* The utility of the marine barometer, or the sympie- someter, in indicating approaching storms, is strikingly illustrated by the following extract from the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal. 11 The correspondent (Mr Stevenson, civil engineer) to whom we are indebted for the notice regarding the Scotch fisheries, inserted in this number (p. 129), informs us, that having occasion, towards the conclusion of his voyage, in the beginning of September last, to visit the Isle of Man, he beheld the interesting spectacle of about three hundred large fishing-boats, each from fifteen to twenty tons' burden, leaving their various harbours at that island in an apparently fine afternoon, and standing directly out to sea, with the intention of prosecuting the fishery under night. He at the same time remarked, that both the common marine barometer, and Adie's sympiesometer, which were in the cabin of his vessel, in- dicated an approaching change of weather, the mercury falling to 29.5 inches. It became painful, therefore, to witness the scene ; more than a thousand industrious fishermen, lulled to security by the fineness of the day, scattering their little barks over the face of the ocean, and thus rushing forward to imminent danger, or pro- bable destruction. At sunset, accordingly, the sky be- came cloudy and threatening ; and in the course of the * Library of Entertaining Knowledge; the New Zealanders, p 381. 350 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION night it blew a very hard gale, which afterwards con- tinued for three days successively. This gale completely dispersed the fleets of boats, and it was not without the utmost difficulty that many of them reached the various creeks of the island. It is believed no lives were lost on this occasion; but the boats were damaged, much tackle was destroyed, and the men were unnecessarily exposed to danger and fatigue. During the same storm, it may be remarked, thirteen vessels were either totally lost or stranded between the Isle of Anglesey and St Bee's Head in Lancashire. Mr Stevenson remarks how much it is to be regretted that the barometer is so little in use in the mercantile marine of Great Britain, com- pared with the trading vessels of Holland ; and observes, that though the common marine barometer is perhaps too cumbersome for the ordinary run of fishing and coast- ing vessels, yet Adie's sympiesometer is so extremely portable, that it may be carried even in a Manx boat. Each lot of such vessels has a commodore, under whose orders the fleet sails : it would therefore be a most de- sirable thing that a sympiesometer should be attached to each commodore's boat, from which a preconcerted sig- nal of an expected gale or change of weather, as indi- cated by the sympiesometer, could easily be given." — Edin. Phil. Journ. ii. 196. See also Dr Neil Arnolds Elements cf Physics, vol. i. p. 350. One of the most instructive illustrations of the connec- tion between the different natural laws is presented in Captain Lyon's Brief Narrative of an unsuccessful attempt to reach Repulse Bay, in his Majesty's ship Griper, in the year 1824. Captain Lyon mentions, that he sailed in the Griper OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 351 on 13th June 1824, in company with his Majesty's sur- veying vessel Snap, as a store-tender. The Griper was 180 tons burden, and " drew 16 feet 1 inch abaft, and 15 feet 10 inches forward.'' — On the 26th, he " was sorry to observe that the Griper, from her great depth and sharpness forward, pitched very deeply." — She sail- ed so ill, that, " in a stiff breeze, and with studding- sails set, he was unable to get above four knots an hour out of her, and she was twice whirled round in an eddy in the Pentland Firth, from which she could not escape." — On the 3d July, he says, " being now fairly at sea, I caused the Snap to take us in tow, which I had declined doing as we passed up the east coast of England, although our little companion had much difficulty in keeping under sufficiently low sail for us, and by noon we had passed the Stack Back." " The Snap was of the greatest as- sistance, the Griper frequently towing at the rate of five knots, in cases where she would have not gone three." — " On the forenoon of the 16th, the Snap came and took us in tow; but, at noon on the 17th, strong breezes and a heavy swell obliged us again to cast off. We scudded while able, but our depth in the water caused us to ship so many heavy seas, that I most reluctantly brought to under storm stay-sails. This was rendered exceedingly mortifying, by observing that our companion was per- fectly dry, and not affected by the sea." — " When our stores were all on board, we found our narrow decks completely crowded by them. The gangways, forecastle, and abaft the mizen-mast, were filled with casks, haw- sers, whale-lines, and stream-cables, while on our strait- ened lower decks we were obliged to place casks and other stores, in every part but that allotted to the ship's 352 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION company's mess-tables ; and even my cabin had a quantity of tilings stowed away in it." — " It may be proper to mention, that the Fury and Hecla, which were enabled to stow three years' provisions, were each exactly double the size of the Griper, and the Griper carried two years' and a-halfs provisions." Arrived in the Polar Seas, they were visited by a storm, of which Captain Lyon gives the following de- scription : — " We soon, however, came to fifteen fathoms, and I kept right away, but had then only ten ; when, being unable to see far around us, and observing, from the whiteness of the water, that we were on a bank, I round- ed to at 7 a. M., and tried to bring up with the starboard- anchor and seventy fathoms chain, but the stiff breeze and heavy sea caused this to part in half an hour, and we again made sail to the north- eastward ; but, finding we came suddenly to seven fathoms, and that the ship could not possibly work out again, as she would not face the sea, or keep steerage- way on her, I most reluctantly brought her up with three bowers and a stream in suc- cession, yet not before we had shoaled to five and a-lialf. This was between 8 and 9 a. m., the ship pitching bows under, and a tremendous sea running. At noon, the star- board-bower anchor parted, but the others held. " As there was every reason to fear the falling of the tide, which we knew to be from twelve to fifteen feet on this coast, and in that case the total destruction of the ship, I caused the long-boat to be hoisted out, and, with the four smaller ones, to be stored to a certain extent with arms and provisions. The officers drew lots for their respective boats, and the ship's company were sta- tioned to them. The long-boat having been filled full OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 353 of stores which could not he put below, it became requi- site to throw them overboard, as there was no room far them on our very small and crowded decks } over which heavy seas were constantly sweeping. In making these prepara- tions for taking to the boats, it was evident to all, that the long-boat was the only one that had the slightest chance of living under the lee of the ship, should she be wrecked ; but every man and officer drew his lot with the greatest composure, though two of our boats would have swamped the instant they were lowered. Yet, such was the noble feeling of those around me, that it was evident, that, had I ordered the boats in question to be manned, their crews would have entered them without a murmur. In the afternoon, on the weather clearing a little, we dis- covered a low beach all around astern of us, on which the surf was running to an awful height, and it appeared evident that no human power could save us. At 3 p« m., the tide had fallen to twenty-two feet, (only six more than we drew,) and the ship, having been lifted by a tremendous sea, struck with great violence the length of her keel. This we naturally conceived was the forerunner of her total wreck, and we stood in readiness to take the boats, and endeavour to hang under her lee. She continued to strike with sufficient force to have burst any less fortified ves- sel, at intervals of a few minutes whenever an unusual heavy sea passed us. And, as the water was so shallow, these might be called breakers rather than waves, for each in passing burst with great force over our gangways, and, as every sea " topped," our decks were continually, and frequently deeply, flooded. All hands took a little refreshment, for some had scarcely been below for twenty- four hours, and I had not been in bed for three nights* eg* 354 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION Although few or none of us had any idea that we should survive the gale, we did not think that our comforts should be entirely neglected, and an order was therefore given to the men to put on their best and warmest cloth- ing, to enable them to support life as long as possible. Every man, therefore, brought his bag on deck, and dressed himself; and in the fine athletic forms which stood before me, I did not see one muscle quiver, nor the slight- est sign of alarm. The officers each secured some useful instrument about them, for the purpose of observation, although it was acknowledged by all that not the slight- est hope remained. And now that every thing in our power had been done, I called all hands aft, and to a merciful God offered prayers for our preservation. I thanked every one for his excellent conduct, and cau- tioned them, as we should, in all probability, soon appear before our Maker, to enter his presence as men resigned to their fate. We then all sat down in groups, and, sheltered from the wash of the sea by whatever we could find, many of us endeavoured to obtain a little sleep. Never, perhaps, was witnessed a finer scene than on the deck of my little ship, when all the hope of life had left us. Noble as the character of the British sailor is always allowed to be in cases of danger, yet I did not believe it to be possible, that, amongst forty-one persons, not one repining word should have been uttered. The officers sat about, wherever they could find a shelter from the sea, and the men lay down conversing with each other with the most perfect calmness. Each was at peace with his neighbour and all the world, and I am firmly per- suaded that the resignation which was then shewn to the will of the Almighty, was the means of obtaining his OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 355 mercy. At about 6 p. m., the rudder, which had already received some very heavy blows, rose, and broke up the after-lockers, and this was the last severe shock that the ship received. We found by the well that she made no water, and by dark she struck no more. God was merciful to us, and the tide, almost miraculously, fell no lower. At dark heavy rain fell, but was borne in patience, for it beat down the gale, and brought with it a light air from the northward. At 9 p. m. the water had deepened to five fathoms. The ship kept off the ground all night, and our exhausted crew obtained some broken rest." — P. 76. In humble gratitude for his deliverance, he called the place " The Bay of God's mercy," and " offered up thanks and praises to God, for the mercy he had shewn to us." On 12th September, they had another gale of wind, with cutting showers of sleet, and a heavy sea. " At such a moment as this" says Captain Lyon, " we had fresh cause to deplore the extreme dulness of the Griper s sailing ; for though almost any other vessel would have worked off this lea-shore, we made little or no progress on a wind, but remained actually pitching, forecastle under, zvith scarcely steerage-way, to preserve which, I was ultimately obliged to keep her nearly two points off the wind." — P, 98. Another storm overtook them, which is described as follows : — " Never shall I forget the dreariness of this most anxious night. Our ship pitched at such rate, that it was not possible to stand, even below ; while on deck we were unable to move, without holding by ropes, which were stretched from side to side. The drift snow flew in such sharp heavy flakes, that we could not look to windward, and it froze on deck to above a foot in depth. 356 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION The sea made incessant breaches quite fore and aft the ship, and the temporary warmth it gave while it washed over us, was most painfully checked, by its almost imme- diately freezing on our clothes. To these discomforts were added the horrible uncertainty as to whether the cables would hold until daylight, and the conviction also, that if they failed us, we should instantly be dashed to pieces, the wind blowing directly to the quarter in which we knew the shore must lie. Again, should they con- tinue to hold us, we feared, by the ship's complaining so much forward, that the bitts would be torn up, or that she would settle down at her anchors, overpowered by some of the tremendous seas which burst over her. At dawn on the 13th, thirty minutes after four a.m., we found that the best bower cable had parted ; and, as the gale now blew with terrific violence from the north, there was little reason to expect that the other anchors would hold long ; or, if they did, we pitched so deeply, and lifted so great a body of water each time, that it was feared the windlass and forecastle would be torn up, or she must go down at her anchors : although the ports were knocked out, and a considerable portion of the bulwark cut away, she could scarcely discharge one sea before shipping an- other, and the decks were frequently flooded to an alarm- ing depth. " At six a. M. all farther doubts on this particular ac- count were at an end ; for, having received two over- whelming seas, both the other cables went at the same moment, and we were left helpless, without anchors, or any means of saving ourselves, should the shore, as we had every reason to expect, be close astern. And here? again, I had the happiness of witnessing the same gene - OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 357 ral tranquillity as was shewn on the 1st of September. There was no outcry that the cables were gone ; but my friend Mr Manico, with Mr Carr the gunner, came aft as soon as they recovered their legs, and, in the lowest whisper, informed me that the cables had all parted. The ship, in trending to the wind, lay quite down on her broadside, and, as it then became evident that nothing held her, and that she was quite helpless, each man in- stinctively took his station ; while the seamen at the leads, having secured themselves as well as was in their power, repeated their soundings, on which our preservation de- pended, with as much composure as if we had been en- tering a friendly port. Here, again, that Almighty power, which had before so mercifully preserved us, granted us his protection." — P. 100. Nothing can be more interesting and moving than this narrative ; it displays a great predominance of the moral sentiments and intellect, but sadly unenlightened as to the natural laws. I have quoted, in Captain Lyon's own words, his description of the Griper, loaded to such ex- cess that she drew 16 feet water; that she was incapable of sailing ; that she was whirled round in an eddy in the Pentland Frith ; that seas broke over her which did not wet the deck of the little Snap, not half her size. Cap- tain Lyon knew all this, and also the roughness of the climate to which he was steering ; and, with these out- rages of the physical law staring him in the face, he pro- ceeded on his voyage, without addressing, so far as we perceive, one remonstrance to the Lords of the Admi- ralty on the subject of this infringement of every prin- ciple of common prudence. My opinion is, that Captain Lyon was not blind to the errors committed in his equip- 358 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION ment, or to their probable consequences ; but that his powerful sentiment of Veneration, combined with Cau- tiousness and Love of Approbation (misdirected in this instance), deprived him of courage to complain to the Admiralty, through fear of giving offence : or that, if he did complain, they have prevented him from stating the fact in his narrative. To the tempestuous north he sailed ; and his greatest dangers were clearly referable to the very infringements of the physical laws which he de- scribes. When the tide ebbed, his ship reached to with- in six feet of the bottom, and, in the hollow of every wave, struck with great violence : but she was loaded at least four feet too deeply, by his own account, so that, if he had done his own duty, she would have had four feet of additional water, or ten feet in all, between her and the bottom, even in the hollow of the wave,— a matter of the very last importance, in such a critical situation. In- deed, with four feet more water, she would not have struck. Besides, if less loaded, she would have struck less violently. Again, when pressed upon a lea shore, her incapability of sailing was a most obvious cause of danger : in short, if Providence is to be regarded as the cause of these calamities, there is no impropriety which man can commit, that may not, on the same principles, be charged against the Creator. But the moral law again shines forth in delightful splendour, in the conduct of Captain Lyon and his crew, when in the most forlorn condition. Piety, resignation, and manly resolution, then animated them to the noblest efforts. On the principle, that the power of accommo- dating our conduct to the natural laws, depends on the activity of the moral sentiments and intellect, and that the OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 359 more numerous the faculties that are excited, the greater is the energy communicated to the whole system, I would say, that while Captain Lyon's sufferings were, in a great degree, brought on by his infringements of the physical laws, his escape was, in a great measure, promoted by his obedience to the moral law ; and that Providence, in the whole occurrences, proceeded on the broad and general principle, which sends advantage uniformly as the reward of obedience, and evil as the punishment of infringement, of every particular law of creation. That storms and tempests have been instituted for some benevolent end, may, perhaps, be acknowledged, when their causes and effects are fully known, which at present is not the case. But, even amidst all our ignorance of these, it is surprising how small a portion of evil they would occasion, if men obeyed the laws which are actual- ly ascertained. How many ships perish from being sent to sea in an old worn out condition, and ill equipped, through mere Acquisitiveness ; and how many more, from captains and crews being chosen who are greatly deficient in knowledge, intelligence, and morality, in con- sequence of which they infringe the physical laws. The London Courier, of 29th April 1834, contained a list of ten British brigs of war, mostly employed as packet ships, which had foundered at sea within the preceding twelve years, owing to bad construction and bad condition ; while, it remarked, that not one American private packet ship, out of the vast number constantly sailing between Liverpool and New York, is recollected to have perished in that manner. Such facts shew in how small a degree nature is to blame for the calamities of shipwreck, and to how great an extent they arise from human negligence 3G0 ON THE COMBINED OPERATION and folly. We ought to look to all these matters, before complaining of storms as natural institutions. The last example of the mixed operation of the natu- ral laws which I shall notice, is that which followed from the mercantile distresses of 1825-6. I have traced the origin of that visitation to excessive activity of Acquisi- tiveness, and a general ascendency of the animal and sel- fish faculties over the moral and intellectual powers. The punishments of these offences were manifold. The excesses infringed the moral law, and the chastisement for this was deprivation of the tranquil steady enjoyment that flows only from the sentiments, with severe suffering in the ruin of fortune and blasting of hope. These dis- appointments produced mental anguish and depression ; which occasioned unhealthy action in the brain. The action of the brain being disturbed, a morbid nervous in- fluence was transmitted to the whole corporeal system ; bodily disease was superadded to mental sorrow, and, in some instances, the unhappy sufferers committed suicide to escape from these aggravated evils. Under the orga- nic law, the children produced in this period of mental depression, bodily distress, and organic derangement, will inherit weak bodies, with feeble and irritable minds ; — a hereditary chastisement of their fathers' transgressions. In the instances now given, we discover the various laws acting in perfect harmony, and in subordination to the moral and intellectual. If our ancestors had not for- saken the supremacy of the moral sentiments, such fa- brics as the houses in the old town of Edinburgh never would have been built ; and if the modern proprietors had returned to that law, and kept profligate and drunken inhabitants out of them, the conflagration might still OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 361 have been avoided. In the case of the ships, we saw, that wherever intellect and sentiment had been relaxed, and animal motives permitted to assume the supremacy, evil had speedily followed ; and that where the higher powers were called forth, safety had been obtained. And, finally, in the case of the merchants and manufac- turers, we traced their calamities directly to placing Acquisitiveness and Ambition above Intellect and Moral Sentiment. Formidable and appalling, then, as these punishments are, yet, when we attend to the laws under which they occur, and perceive that the object and legitimate opera- tion of every one of these laws, when observed, is to pro- duce happiness to man ; and that the punishments have the sole object in view of forcing him back to this enjoyment, we cannot, under the supremacy of the moral sentiments and intellect, fail to bow in humility before them, as at once wise, just, and benevolent. Hh* ( 332 ) CHAPTER VIII, INFLUENCE OF THE NATURAL LAWS ON THE HAPPINESS OF INDIVIDUALS. A formidable objection has often been stated against the Natural Laws, namely, that although, when viewed abstractly, they appear beneficent and just, yet, when applied to individuals, they are undeniably the causes of extensive, severe, and unavoidable suffering ; so that while, theoretically, the moral horizon appears to be cleared up, nevertheless, practically and substantially, the obscurity and intricacy remain undiminished. Jn answer, I have to observe, that, as the whole is just an aggregate of all the parts, if any natural institution, when viewed in its operation in regard to the race, is found to be just and beneficent, it cannot well be cruel and unjust to individuals, who are the component parts of that whole ; and this, accordingly, I humbly conceive to admit of something approaching to demonstration. The form of dialogue is perhaps the best way of illustrating the sub- ject, and if, in imitation of some of the classic fables, we suppose the suffering individuals to make an appeal to Jupiter, the law of gravitation may be thus exemplified. It happened in a remote period, that a slater slipped INFLUENCE OF THE NATURAL LAWS, &C. 363 from the roof of a high building, in consequence of a stone of the ridge having given way as he walked upright along it; he fell to the ground, had a leg broken, and was otherwise severely bruised. As he lay in bed suffering severe pain from his misfortune, he addressed Jupiter in these words : " O Jupiter, thou art a cruel god, for thou hast made me so frail and imperfect a being, that I had not faculties to perceive my danger, nor power to arrest my fall when its occurrence shewed how horrible an evil awaited me. It were better for me that I had never been." Jupiter, graciously bending his ear, heard the address, and answered: " Of what law of mine dost thou complain ?" " Of the law of gravitation," replied the slater; " by its operation, the slight slip which my foot made upon the stone, which, quite unknown to me, was loose, precipitated me to the earth, and crushed my or- ganized frame, never calculated to resist such violence."' " I restore thee to thy station on the roof," said Jupiter, " heal all thy bruises, and, to convince thee of my bene- volence, I suspend the law of gravitation as to thy body and all that is related to it ; art thou now content ?" The slater, in deep emotion, offered up gratitude and thanks, and expressed the profoundest reverence for so just and beneficent a deity. In the very act of doing so, he found himself in perfect health, erect upon the ridge of the roof, and, rejoicing, gazed around. His wonder, at so strange an event, having at last abated, he endea- voured to walk along the ridge to arrive at the spot which he intended to repair : But the law of gravitation was suspended ; and his body did not press upon the roof. There being no pressure, there was no resistance, and his legs moved backwards and forwards in the air -364 INFLUENCE OF THE NATURAL LAWS without his body making 1 progress in space. Alarmed at this occurrence, he stooped, seized his trowel, lifted it full of mortar, and made the motion of throwing it on the slates ; but the mortar, freed from the trowel, hung in mid air ; the law of gravitation was suspended as to it also. Nearly frantic with terror at such unexpected novelties of existence, he endeavoured to descend to seek relief; but the law of gravitation was suspended as to his body, and it hung poised at the level of the ridge, like a bal- loon in the air. He tried to fling himself headlong down, to get rid of the uneasy sensation, but his body floated erect, and would not move downwards. In an agony of consternation, he called once more upon Jupiter. He, ever kind and compassionate, heard his cry and pitied his distress, and asked, " What evil hath befallen thee now, that thou art not yet content ; have I not suspended, at thy request, the law which made thee fall ? Now thou art safe from bruises and from broken limbs ; why, then, dost thou still complain ?" The slater answered, " In deep humiliation, I acknow- ledge my ignorance and presumption ; restore me to my couch of pain, but give me back the benefits of thy law of gravitation.'' rt Thy wish is granted," said Jupiter in reply. The slater in a moment lay on his bed of sickness, endured the visitation of the organic law, was restored to health, and again mounted to the roof that caused his recent pain. He thanked Jupiter anew from the depths of his soul, for the law of gravitation, with its countless bene- fits ; and applied his faculties to study and obey it du- ring the remainder of his life. This study opened up to him new and wonderful perceptions of the Creators ON THE HAPPINESS OF INDIVIDUALS. 365 beneficence and wisdom, of which he had never even dreamed before; these views so excited and gratified his moral and intellectual powers, that he seemed to himself to have entered on a new existence. Even after he ob- served the law of gravitation, and, in a good old age, when bis organic frame was fairly worn out by natural decay, he transmitted his trade, his house, and much ex- perience and wisdom, to his son, and died thanking and blessing Jupiter for having opened his eyes to the true theory of bis scheme of creation. The attention of Jupiter was next attracted, by the loud groans and severe complaints of a husbandman, who addressed him thus : " O Jupiter, I lie here racked with pain, and pass the hours in agony without relief. Why hast thou created me so miserable a being ?" Ju- piter answered, " What aileth thee, and of what institu- tion of mine dost thou complain ?" The husbandman replied, " The earth which thou hast made will yield me no food, unless I till and sow it ; and no increase, except it be watered by thy rain. While I guided my plough in obedience to thy law, thy rain came, and it fell not only on the earth, but on me ; it penetrated through the clothes which I had been obliged to make for myself, because thou hadst left me naked ; it cooled my skin, which thou hadst rendered delicate and sensible; it disordered all the functions of my organised frame, and now rheumatic fever parches my blood, and agonises every muscle. O Jupiter, thou art not a kind father to thy children." Jupiter heard the complaint, and graciously replied, " My physical and organic laws were established for thy advantage and enjoyment, and thou hast grievously in- fringed them ; the pain thou sufFerest is intended to 386 INFLUENCE OF THE NATURAL LAWS reclaim thee to thy duty, and I have constituted thy duty the highest joy of thy existence ; but say, what dost thou desire ?" The husbandman answered, " What, O Jupiter, sig- nify the purposes of thy laws to me, when thou hast denied me faculties to discover and obey them ? — Frail and fallible as I am, they cause me only pain ; deliver me from their effects, and I ask no other boon/' " Thy prayer is granted," said Jupiter ; " I restore thee to perfect health, and, for thy gratification, I sus- pend the laws that have offended thee. Henceforth wa- ter shall not wet thee or thine, thy skin shall feel cold no more, and thy muscles shall never ache. Art thou now contented ?" " Most gracious Jupiter," said the husbandman, " my soul is melted with deepest gratitude, and I now adore thee as supremely good." While he spoke he found himself afield behind his team, healthful and vigorous, jocund and gay, and again blessed Jupiter for his merciful dispensation. The sea- son was spring, when yet the chill blast of the north, the bright blaze of a powerful sun, and rain, interchange in quick and varying succession. He drove his plough along, the rain descended, but it wet not him ; the sharp winds blew, but they chilled no fibre in his frame ; the flood of heat next poured upon his brow, but no sweat started from its pores ; the physical and organic laws were suspended as to him. Rejoicing in his freedom from annoyance and pain, he returned gladly home to meet his smiling family, after the labours of the day. It had been his custom in the evening to put off the garments in which during day he ON THE HAPPINESS OF INDIVIDUALS. 367 had toiled, to clothe himself in linen fresh from the fold ; to sup on milk prepared by his wife, with savoury fruits and spices ; and to press his children to his bosom with all the fervour of a parent's love : and he used to feel a thrill of pleasure pervading every nerve, as they acknowledged and returned the affectionate embrace. He looked to find the linen clean, cool, delicately dress- ed, and lying in its accustomed place ; but it was not there. He called to his wife to fetch it, half chiding her for neglect. With wonder and dismay depicted in every feature, she narrated a strange adventure. With the morning sun she had risen to accomplish her wonted duty, but, although the water wetted every thread that clothed other individuals, it moistened not a fibre of his. She boiled it on a powerful fire, and applied every means that affection, enlightened by intellect, could devise, but the result was still the same; water glided over his clothes, and would not wet them. " The physical law" (said the husbandman within himself) " is suspended as to me ; henceforth water wetteth not me and mine." He said no more, but placed himself at table, and smiled over his lovely family. He lifted his youngest child upon his knee, a girl just opening in her bloom, pressed her to his bosom, and kissed her ruddy cheek. But he started when lie experienced no sensation. He saw her with his eyes, and heard her speak, but had no feeling of her pre- sence. His knee was as stone ; his bosom as marble ; and his lips as steel ; no sensation penetrated through his skin. He placed her on the floor, looked wistfully on her form, graceful, vivacious, and instinct with love ; and, as if determined to enjoy the well remembered pleasure now withheld, he clasped her to his bosom with an embrace 368 INFLUENCE OF THE NATURAL LAWS so ardent that she screamed with pain. Still he was all adamant ; no sensation reached his soul. He sent her away, heaved a deep sigh, and again the thought entered his very soul, that " the organic law is suspended as to me." Recollecting well the sweet gratifications of his evening meal, he seized a bowl, and delicately began to sip, exciting every papilla of the tongue to catch the grateful flavour. But no flavour reached his mind ; the liquid glided over his gustatory organs like quicksilver over the smooth surface of a mirror, without impression, and without leaving a trace behind. He started now in horror, and his spirit sank within him, when he thought that henceforth he should live without sensation. He rushed into the fields, and called alond on Jupiter, " O Jupiter, I am the most miserable of men ; I am a being without sensation. Why hast thou made me thus ?'' Jupiter heard his cry, and answered, " I have sus- pended the physical and organic laws, to which thou ascribedst thy fever and thy pain ; henceforth no pang- shall cause thy nerves to shrink, or thy muscles to qui- ver ; why, then, art thou thus unhappy, and why dis- contented with thy new condition ?" " O Jupiter," replied the husbandman, " but thou hast taken away from me sensation ; I no longer feel the grateful breath of morn fanning my cheek as I drive my team afield ; the rose diffuses its fragrance for me in vain; the ruddy grape, the luscious fig, the cooling orange, and the fresh fountain, to me are now savourless as ada- mant or air ; my children are as stones ; O, Jupiter, I am utterly wretched, I am a man without sensation !" " Unhappy mortal," replied the god, how can I af- ford thee satisfaction ? When I gave thee nerves to feel, ON THE HAPPINESS OF INDIVIDUALS. 369 and muscles to execute the purposes of tliy mind, and bestowed on thee water to refresh thy palate, and made thy whole frame one great inlet of enjoyment, thou wert not content. I made thy nerves liable to pain, to warn thee when thou departedst from my laws. The rain that was sent fell to fructify and refresh the earth, and not to injure thee. I saw thee, while the showers descended, stay abroad, regardless of its influence on thy corporeal frame. The northern blast received from me its piercing- cold, to warn thee of its effects ; and yet I saw thee, wet and shivering, stand in its course, regardless of its power. In the voice of the storm I spake to thy understanding, but thou didst not comprehend. The fever that parched thy blood was sent to arrest thee in thy departures from my organic laws. If I restore to thee my institutions, thou mayst again forget my ways, and in misery impeach my justice." " O most gracious Jupiter," cried the husbandman, " now I see thy power and wisdom, and my own folly and presumption. I accept thy laws, and gratefully ac- knowledge, that, even in the chastisements they inflict, they are beneficent. Restore to me the enjoyments of sensation ; permit me once more to reap the advantages that flow from the just uses of my nerves and muscles, and I bow with resignation to the punishment of misap- plying them." Jupiter granted his request. His fever and pains returned; but by medicine were relieved. He slowly recovered health and strength, and never after embraced his children, or enjoyed a meal, but he poured forth a deeper offering of gratitude than he had ever done before. He was now instructed concerning the source of his enjoyments ; he studied the laws of his nature and 370 INFLUENCE OF THE NATURAL LAWS obeyed them ; and when he suffered for occasional devi- ations he hastened back to the right path, and never again underwent so severe a punishment as the first. Just as the husbandman resumed his wonted labours, a new voice was heard calling loudly to Jupiter for relief. It proceeded from a young heir writhing in agony, who cried, " O Jupiter, my father committed debaucheries, for which my bones are pierced with liquid fire, gout teareth my flesh asunder ; thou art not just to punish me for his transgressions ; deliver me, O Jupiter, or renounce thy character for benevolence and justice." " Thou complainest of my law of hereditary descent," said Jupiter ; " Hast thou derived from thy father any other quality besides gout ?" " O Jupiter," said the suf- ferer, " I have derived nerves that feel sweet pleasure, when the gout ceasethits gnawing ; muscles that execute the purposes of my will ; senses that are inlets of joy ; and faculties that survey and rejoice in thy fair creation : But why didst thou permit gout to descend from him who sinned, to me ?" " Short-sighted mortal," said Jupiter ; " thy father was afflicted because he infringed my institutions ; by my or- ganic law, thou has received a frame constituted as was that of thy father, when thy life commenced ; the de- licate sensibility of his nerves transmitted the same sus- ceptibility to thine ; the vigour of his muscles has been transferred into thine ; and by the same law, the liability to pain that existed in his bones from debauchery, con- stituted an inseparable element of thine : If this law afflict thee speak the word, and I shall suspend it as to thee." " Bountiful Jupiter !" said the sufferer ; " but tell me first, if thou suspendest thy law, shall I lose all that I in- ON THE HAPPINESS OF INDIVIDUALS. 371 herited by it from my father ; nerves, muscles, senses, faculties, and all that constitute my delight, when the gout afflicteth me not ?" — " Assuredly thou shalt/' said Jupiter, " but thou shalt have no organic pain." " Forbear, most bounteous deity,'' replied the sufferer ; " I gratefully accept the gift cf thy organic laws, with all their chastisements annexed : But say, O Jupiter, if this pain was inflicted on my father for transgressing thy law, may it not be lessened or removed, if I obey ?" " The very object of my law," said Jupiter, " is that it should. Hadst thou proceeded as thy father did, thy whole frame would have become one great centre of dis- ease. The pain was transmitted to thee to guard thee by a powerful monitor from pursuing his sinful ways, that thou mightest escape this greater misery. Adopt a course in accordance with my institutions, thy pain shall abate, and thy children shall be free from its effects." The heir expressed profound resignation to the will of Jupiter, blessed him for his organic law, and entered upon a life of new and strict obedience. His pain through time diminished, and his enjoyments increased. Ever after he was grateful for the law. A feeble voice next reached the vault of Heaven : It was that of an infant, sick and in pain. " What is thy distress, poor child," said Jupiter, " and of what dost thou complain ?" Half drowned in sobs, the feeble voice replied, " I suffer under thy organic law. A father's sickness, and a mother's disordered frame, have been transmitted and combined in me. I am all over exhaus- tion and pain." — " Hast thou received no other gift," said Jupiter, " but sickness and disease, no pleasure to thy nerves, thy muscles, or thy mental powers?" " All 372 INFLUENCE OF THE NATURAL LAWS are so feeble," replied the child, " that I exist not to enjoy but to suffer.'' " Poor infant," said Jupiter, " my organic law will soon deliver thee, and I shall take thee to myself." The organic law instantly operated, the body of the child lay a lifeless mass, but suffered no more ; its spirit dwelt with Jupiter. The next prayer was addressed by a merchant strug- gling on the Mediterranean waves, and nigh sinking in their foam. " What evil dost thou charge against me," said Jupiter, " and what dost thou require ?" " O, Jupiter," said the supplicant, " I sailed from Tyre to Rome, in a ship, which thou seest on fire, loaded with all the merchandise acquired by my previous toils. As 1 lay here at anchor off the port of Syracuse, whither business called me, a sailor, made by thee, thirsted after wine, stole it from my store, and, in intoxication, set my ship and goods on fire ; and I am now plunged in the blue waves to die by water, to escape the severer pain of being consumed by fire. Why, if thou are just, should the innocent thus suffer for the guilty ?" " Thou complainest, then," said Jupiter, " of my social law ? Since this law displeaseth thee, 1 restore thee to thy ship, and suspend it as to thee." The merchant, in a moment, saw his ship entire ; the blazing embers restored to vigorous planks ; himself and ail his crew sound in limb, and gay in mind, upon her deck. Joyous and grateful, he addressed thanksgiving to the god, and called to his crew to weigh the anchor, set the sails, and turn the helm for Rome. But no sailor heard him speak, and no movement followed his words. Astonished at their indolence and sloth, he cried, in a yet louder voice, and inquired why none obeyed his call. ON THE HAPPINESS OF INDIVIDUALS. 373 But no answer was given. He saw the crew move and speak, act and converse ; but they seemed not to observe him. He entreated, remonstrated, and upbraided ; but no reply was given. All seemed unconscious of his pre- sence. Unconscious of his presence ! The awful thought rushed into his mind, that the social law was suspended as to him. He now saw, in all its horror, the import of the words of Jupiter, which before he had not fully compre- hended. Terrified, he seized a rope, and set a sail. Every physical law was entire, and obeyed his will. The sai. filled, and strained forward from the mast. He ran to the helm, it obeyed his muscles, and the ship moved as he directed it. But its course was short, the anchor was down, and stopt its progress in the sea. He lowered the sail, seized a handspoke, and attempted to weigh ; but in vain. The strength of ten men was required to raise so ponderous an anchor. Again he called to his crew : but the social law was suspended as to him ; he was ab- solved thenceforth from all suffering, caused by the mis- conduct of others, but he was cut off from every enjoy- ment and advantage from their assistance. In despair he seized the boat, rowed it into the port of Syracuse, and proceeded straight to his commercial correspondent there, to beg his aid in delivering him from the indolence of his crew. He saw his friend, ad- dressed him, and told him all his labours to leave the anchorage ; but his friend seemed quite unconscious of his presence. He did not even look upon him, but proceeded in business of his own, with which he seemed entirely occupied. The merchant, wearied with fatigue, and almost frantic with alarm, hurried to a tavern ou the quay, where he used to dine, and entering, called 374 INFLUENCE OF THE NATURAL LAWS for wine, to recruit his exhausted strength. But the servants seemed unconscious of his presence; no move- ment was made ; and he remained, as it were, in a vast solitude, amidst large companies of merchants, servants and assistants, who all bustled in active gaiety, each ful- filling his duty in his own department. The merchant noAV comprehended all the horrors of his situation, and called aloud to Jupiter. " O Jupiter, death in the blue waves, or even by consuming flame, were better than the life thou hast assigned me. Let me die, for my cup of misery is full beyond endurance. Restore me the enjoy- ments of thy social law, and I hail its pains as bless- ings." " But," said Jupiter, " if I restore to thee my social law, thy ship will be consumed, thou and thy crew will escape in thy boat, but thou shalt be a very beggar ; and, in thy poverty, thou wilt upbraid me for dealing thus un- justly by thee." " O bountiful Jupiter," replied the merchant, " I never knew till now what enjoyments I owed to thy so- cial law ; how rich it renders me, even when all else is gone ; and how poor I would be, with all the world for a possession, if denied its blessings True, I shall be poor ; but my nerves, muscles, senses, propensities, senti- ments and intellect will be left me : now I see that em- ployment of these is the only pleasure of existence ; po- verty will not cut me off from exercising these powers in obedience to thy laws, but will rather add new excite- ments to my doing so. Under thy social law, will not the sweet voice of friendship cheer me in poverty, the ecsta- tic burst of adoration of thee lift my soul to heaven ; will not the aid of kindred and of my fellow-men soothe the ON THE HAPPINESS OF INDIVIDUALS. 375 remainder of my days ? and, besides, now that I see thy designs, J shall avoid employing my fellow-men in situa- tions unsuitable to their talents, and thereby escape the penalties of infringing thy social law. Most merciful Ju- piter, restore to me the benefit of all thy laws, and I ac- cept the penalties attached to their infringement." His request was granted ; ever after he made Jupiter's laws and the nature of man his study ; he obeyed them, be- came moderately rich, and found himself happier than he had ever been in his days of selfishness and ignorance. Jupiter was assailed by many other prayers from un- fortunate sufferers under infringement of his laws ; but, instead of hearing each in endless succession, he assem- bled his petitioners, and introduced to them the slater, the husbandman, the young heir, and the merchant, and requested them to narrate their knowledge and experience of the natural laws ; and he intimated, that if, after listen- ing to their account, any petitioner was not satisfied with his condition, he would suspend for him the particular law which caused him discontent. But no application fol- lowed. Jupiter saw his creatures employ themselves with real earnestness to study and observe his institu- tions, and ever after they offered up to him only grati- tude and adoration for his infinite goodness and wisdom. ( 376 ) CHAPTER IX. ON THE RELATION BETWEEN SCIENCE AND SCRIPTURE. Since the first edition of this work was published, ob- jections have been stated that the views maintained in it are at variance with Revelation, and hostile to the inte- rests of Religion. It is gratifying, however, to know, that they have not been urged by any individual of the least eminence in theology, or countenanced by persons of enlarged views of Christian doctrine. On the con- trary, many excellent individuals, of unquestionable piety and benevolence, have widely recommended this work as containing the philosophy of practical Christianity, and have aided in its distribution. It is therefore rather on account of the interest of the inquiry itself, than from any feeling of the necessity of a defence, that I enter into the following discussion of the relation between Scripture and Science ; and as in a question of this nature authori- ties are entitled to great weight, I shall commence by citing the opinion of one of the most learned, talented, and accomplished divines of the present day, the Arch- bishop of Dublin. A few years ago, a Professorship of Political Economy SCIENCE AND SCRIPTURE. 377 was founded in Oxford by Mr Drummond, with a novel constitution. The professor holds his office for only five years, and it is a condition that one lecture, at least, shall be published every year. Dr Whately, now Arch- bishop of Dublin, was the second individual elected to the chair, and, in compliance with the statute, he, in 1831, published eight lectures on the science. They are intro- ductory in their character, being intended chiefly to dis- pel popular prejudices against political economy, and to unfold its objects. They contain several admirable ob- servations, calculated to remove prejudices against the pursuit of new truths, which are directly applicable to the subject of this work, and on this account I present them to the readers. " It has been my first object," says Dr Whately, in his preface, " to combat the prevailing prejudices against the study, and especially those which represent it as unfa- vourable to religion." " In proportion," he continues, " as any branch of study leads to important and useful results, in proportion as it gains ground in public estimation, — in proportion as it tends to overthrow prevailing errors — in the same de- gree it may be expected to call forth angry declamation from those who are trying to despise what they will not learn, and wedded to prejudices which they cannot de- fend. Galileo probably would have escaped persecution, if his discoveries could have been disproved, and his reasonings refuted." " That political economy should have been complained of as hostile to religion, will pro- bably be regarded a century hence (should the fact be then on record) with the same wonder, almost approach- ing to incredulity, with which we, of the present day, ii * 378 ON THE RELATION BETWEEN hear of men sincerely opposing, on religious grounds, the Copernican system. But till the advocates of Christia- nity shall have hecome universally much better acquaint- ed with the true character of their religion, than, univer- sally, they have ever yet been, we must always expect that every branch of study, every scientific theory that is brought into notice, will be assailed on religious grounds, by those who either have not studied the subject, or who are incompetent judges of it ; or again, who are address- ing themselves to such persons as are so circumstanced, and wish to excite and to take advantage of the passions of the ignorant. Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta mo- vebo. Some there are who sincerely believe that the Scriptures contain revelations of truths the most distinct from religion. Such persons procured, accordingly, a formal condemnation (very lately rescinded) of the theory of the earth's motion, as at variance with Scripture. In Protestant countries, and now, it seems, even in Popish, this point has been conceded ; but that the erroneous principle — that of appealing to revelation on questions of physical science — has not yet been entirely cleared away, is evident from the objections which most of you proba- bly may have heard to the researches of geology. The objections against astronomy have been abandoned, ra- ther, perhaps, from its having been made to appear, that the Scripture accounts of the phenomena of the heavens may be reconciled with the conclusions of science, than from its being understood that Scripture is not the test by which the conclusions of science are to be tried." " It is not a sign of faith — on the contrary, it indicates rather a want of faith, or else a culpable indolence — to decline meeting any theorist on his own ground, and to cut short SCIENCE AND SCRIPTURE. 379 the controversy by an appeal to the authority of Scrip- ture. For, if we really are convinced of the truth of Scripture, and consequently of the falsity of any theory, (of the earth, for instance) which is really at variance with it, we must needs believe that that theory is also at variance with observable phenomena ; and we ought not therefore to shrink from trying the question by an appeal to these." " God has not revealed to us a system of mo- rality, such as would have been needed for a being who had no other means of distinguishing right and wrong. On the contrary, the inculcation of virtue and reproba- tion of vice in Scripture, are in such a tone as seem to presuppose a natural power, or a capacity for acquiring the power to distinguish them. And if a man, denying or renouncing all claims of natural conscience, should prac- tise without scruple every thing he did not find express- ly forbidden in Scripture, and think himself not bound to do any thing that is not there expressly enjoined, ex- claiming at every turn — " Is it so nominated in the Bond ?" he would be leading a life very unlike what a Christian's should be. Since, then, we are bound to use our own natural faculties in the search after all truth that is within the reach of those faculties, most especially ought we to try, by their own proper evidence, questions which form no part of revelation properly so called, but which are incidentally alluded to in the Sacred Writings. If we appeal to the Scriptures on any such points, it should be merely as to an ancient book, not in reference to their sacred character ; in short, not as Scripture." — Pp. 29 to 36. These observations are highly philosophical and wor- 380 ON THE RELATION BETWEEN thy of attention ; the more so that their author is a divine, and now a high dignitary in the church of Ireland. The science of geology also, has been fiercely attacked as hostile to religion, and been ably defended by the Rev. Adam Sedgwick, one of its most eminent professors. In the Appendix to his Discourse on the studies of the University of Cambridge, he has added some valuable and instructive notes, in the last of which he reproves, with great eloquence and severity, the bigoted and igno- rant individuals who " dare to affirm that the pursuits of natural science are hostile to religion." He also chastises those writers who have endeavoured to falsify the facts and conclusions of Geology, for the purpose of flatter- ing the religious prejudices of the public. " There is another class of men,'' says he, " who pursue geology by a nearer road, and are guided by a different light. Well intentioned they may be ; but they have betrayed no small self-sufficiency, along with a shameful want of knowledge of the fundamental facts they presume to write about ; hence they have dishonoured the literature of this country by Mosaic geology, Scripture geology, and other works of cosmogony with kindred titles, wherein they have overlooked the aim and end of revelation, tortured the book of life out of its proper meaning, and wantonly contrived to bring about a collision between natural phe- nomena and the word of God." (P. 150.) The following observations of the same author are ex- ceedingly just, and completely applicable to the principles expounded in the present work, as well as to geology. " A Brahmin crushed with a stone the microscope that first shewed him living things among the vegetables of his daily food. The spirit of the Brahmin lives in Christendom. SCIENCE AND SCRIPTURE. 381 The bad principles of our nature are not bounded by caste or climate ; and men are still to be found, who. if not re- strained by the wise and humane laws of their country, would try to stifle by personal violence, and crush by brute force, every truth not hatched among their own conceits, and confined within the narrow fences of their own ignorance." (P. 151.) " We are told by the wise man not to answer a fool ac- cording to his folly ; and it would indeed be a vain and idle task to engage in controversy with this school of false philosophy — to waste our breath in the forms of exact reasoning, unfitted to the comprehension of our antagonists — to draw our weapons in a combat where victory could give no honour. Before a geologist can condescend to reason with such men, they must first learn geology.* It is too much to call upon us to scat- ter our seed on a soil at once both barren and unreclaim- ed — it is folly to think, that we can in the same hour be stubbing up the thorns and reaping the harvest. All the writers of this school have not indeed sinned against plain sense to the same degree. With some of them there is perhaps a perception of the light of natural truth, which may lead them after a time to follow it in the right road ; but the case of others is beyond all hope from the powers of rational argument. Their position is impregnable while they remain within the fences of their ignorance, which is to them as a wall of brass ; for (as was well said, if I remember right, by Bishop Warburton, of some bustling fanatics of his own day) there is no weak side • This remark is peculiarly applicable to those who oppose Phrenology, and the doctrine of the Natural Laws. Such of them as are serious do so in profound ignorance of the whole subject. 382 ON THE RELATION BETWEEN of common sense whereat we may attack them. If cases like these yield at all, it must be to some treatment which suits the inveteracy of their nature, and not to the weapons of reason. As psychological phenomena, they are, however, well deserving of our study ; teaching us among other things, how prone man is to turn his best faculties to evil purposes — and how, at the suggestions of vanity and other bad principles of his heart, he can be- come so far deluded, as to fancy that he is doing honour to religion, while he is sacrificing the common charities of life, and arraigning the very workmanship of God." (Pp. 151, 152.) After the examples which these passages afford, of mis- directed zeal for religion leading to opposition to the most useful and interesting investigations, we need not be surprised that the doctrine of the natural laws also has met with a similar reception. The charge is made that it leads to infidelity, and that its principles are ir- reccncileable with Scripture. It may be useful to observe, that in all ages new doc- trines have been charged with impiety, and that Chris- tianity itself has offered no exception to this rule. The Greeks and Romans charged Christianity with " impiety and novelty." In Cave's Primitive Christianity, we are informed that " the Christians were every where account- ed a pack of Atheists, and their religion the Atheism? They were denominated " mountebank impo?tors, M and " men of a desperate and unlawful faction." They were represented " as destructive and pernicious to human society," and were accused of " sacrilege, sedition, and high treason." The same system of misrepresentation and abuse was practised by the Roman Catholics against SCIENCE AND SCRIPTURE. the Protestants, at the Reformation, — " Some called their dogs Calvin ; and others transformed Calvin into Cain." In France, " the old and stale calumnies, for- merly invented against the first Christians, were again revived by Demochares, a doctor of the Sorbonne, pre- tending that all the disasters of the state were to be at- tributed to Protestants alone." If the views of human nature expounded in this work be untrue, the proper answer to them is a demonstration of their falsity. If they be true, they are mere enun- ciations of the institutions of the Creator, and it argues superstitious and not religious feelings, to fear evil con- sequences from the knowledge of what Divine Wisdom has appointed. The argument that the results of the doc- trine are obviously at variance with Scripture, and that therefore the doctrines cannot be true, is not admissible, " for/ in the words of Dr Whate]y, " if we really are convinced of the truth of Scripture, and consequently of the falsity of any theory (of the earth for instance), which is really at variance with it, we must needs be- lieve that that theory is also at variance with observable phenomena; and we ought not therefore to shrink from trying the question by an appeal to theseo" Galileo was told from high authority in the church, that his doctrine of the revolution of the globe was obvi- ously at variance with Scripture, and that therefore it could not be true ; but, as his opinions were founded on physical facts, which could neither be concealed nor de- nied, they necessarily prevailed. If there had been a real opposition between Scripture and nature, the only result would have been a demonstration, that Scripture in this particular instance was erroneously interpreted? 384 ON THE RELATION BETWEEN* because the evidence of physical nature is imperishable and insuperable, and cannot give way to any authority whatever. The same consequence will evidently happen in regard to phrenology. If it were possible that any facts in physiology did actually and directly contradict any interpretation of Scripture, it is not difficult to per- ceive which must yield. The human understanding can- not resist evidence founded on nature, and even if it did resist, Nature would not bend, but continue to operate in her own way in spite of the resistance, and a new and more correct interpretation of Scripture would ultimately become inevitable. Opposition between science and re- velation I sincerely believe to be impossible, when the facts in nature are correctly observed, and divine truth is correctly interpreted ; but I put the case thus strongly to call the serious attention of religious persons to the mis- chievous consequences to religion, of rashly denouncing any doctrine professing to be founded on natural facts, as adverse to revelation. Every instance in which the charge is made falsely, is a gross outrage against revela- tion itself, and tends to lead men to regard Scripture as an obstacle to the progress of science and civilization, in- stead of being a system of divine wisdom, in harmony with all natural truth. All existing interpretations of Scripture have been adopted in ignorance of the fact, that, cteteris paribus, a brain in which the animal organs preponderate greatly over the moral and intellectual organs, has a native and instinctive tendency to immoral conduct, and vice versa; and that the influence of the organization is fun- damental — that is to say, that no means are yet known in nature, by w T hich a brain of the inferior combination SCIENCE AND SCRIPTURE. 385 may be made to manifest the moral and intellectual facul- ties with the same success as a brain of the superior com- bination. Only phrenologists, who have observed, for many years, in various situations, and under different in- fluences, the practical conduct of individuals constituted in these different ways, can conceive the importance of the combinations of the organs ; but after it is discover- ed, the inferences from it are irresistible. The religious teachers of mankind are yet ignorant of the most mo- mentous fact in regard to the moral and intellectual im- provement of the race which nature contains. I have heard it said that Christianity affords a better and a more instantaneous remedy for human depravity, than improvement in the cerebral organization ; because the moment a man is penetrated by the love of God in Christ, his moral and religious affections and intellect become far stronger and more elevated, whatever his brain may be, than those of any individual whatever without that love, however high his cerebral development, and how- ever much he may be instructed in natural knowledge. I observe, however, that in this life a man cannot be- come penetrated by the love of God, except through the aid of sound and sufficient material organs. This fact is directly proved by cases of madness and idiocy. Disease in the organs is the cause of insanity, and mere deficiency in size in them, is one, and an invariable cause of idiocy. In neither of these states can the mind receive the ad- vantages of the Christian doctrine. These facts shew that the power of receiving and appreciating Christianity itself is modified by the condition of the brain, and I ven- ture to affirm, that the influence of the organs does not terminate with these extreme cases, but operates in all 386 ON THE RELATION BETWEEN circumstances j raid in every individual, aiding or imped- ing the reception and efficacy even of [revelation. If this were not the case, there would be a power in opera- tion capable of influencing the human mind, during life, without the intervention of material organs ; and, accord- ingly, many excellent persons believe this to be Scriptu- ral truth, and matter of experience also: But those who entertain this opinion are not instructed in the functions of the brain ; are not aware of the universally admitted facts, which establish, that while life continues, the mind cannot act or be acted upon except through the medium of organs ; nor do they bring forward one example of idiots and madmen being rendered pious, practical, and enlightened Christians by this power, notwithstanding of the state of their brains. Cases indeed occur in which religious feelings co-exist with partial idiocy or partial insanity ; but in them the organs by means of which these sentiments are manifested, will be discovered to be well developed, — and if the feelings be sound, the organs will be found to be unaffected by disease. Serious persons who are offended by this doctrine con- stantly forget that the reciprocal influence of the mind and the brain is not of man's devising, but that God him- self established it, and conferred on the organs those qua- lities which He saw to be necessary for executing the purposes to which he had appointed them. If the state- ments now made be unfounded, I shall be the first to give them up ; but believing them to be true, I cannot avoid adhering to them. When, therefore, I add, that I have never seen an individual with large animal, and small moral and intellectual organs, whose conduct was stea- dily moral, under the ordinary temptations of life, how- SCIENCE AND SCRIPTURE. 387 ever high his religious professions might be, I merely- state a fact which the Creator himself has decreed to exist. Indeed, I have seen several striking instances of persons, who, after making a great profession of religion, ultimately disgraced it ; and I have observed, without one exception, that, in all these instances, the organs of the inferior propensities were large, and those of one or more of the moral sentiments deficient ; and I am con- vinced that the same conclusion, after sufficiently accurate and extensive observation, will force itself upon all can- did and reflecting minds. My inference, therefore, is, that the Divine Spirit, re- vealed in Scripture as a power influencing the human mind, invariably acts in harmony with the laws of orga- nization ; because the latter, as emanating from the same source, can never be in contradiction with the former ; and that a well constituted brain is a condition essential to the due manifestation of Christian dispositions. If this be really the fact, and if the constitution of the brain be in any degree regulated by the laws of physiology, it is impossible to doubt that a knowledge of the natural laws is destined to exercise a vast influence in rendering men capable of appreciating and practising Christianity. The manner in which it will do so, is explained in Dr Combe's work on " Physiology applied to Health and Education," already alluded to. It contains an exposition of the laws of action of the brain and its connection with and influence on the rest of the system, and therefore its application generally to human improvement. An admirable portion of Christianity is that in which the supremacy of the moral sentiments is explained and enforced as a practical doctrine. " Love thy neighbour as thyself;" all mankind are thy neighbours; blessed are 383 ON THE RELATION BETWEEN the meek and the merciful ; love those that hate you and despitefully use you ; seek that which is pure and holy, and of good report ; — these are precepts of Scripture. Now, I have endeavoured to shew, that the human fa- culties, and external nature, are so constituted as to ad- mit of this becoming a practical doctrine on earth, an idea which it has rarely entered into the heart of man to con- ceive as a possibility without miraculous interference. If the philosophy now explained shall carry home to the conviction of rational men, that the order of nature, by the development of its inherent resources, fairly admits of the practical exemplification of these precepts, a new direction must necessarily be given to the pursuits of the religious instructors of mankind. Christianity, after its establishment by Constantine, was left to exert its own influence over the Roman Empire, unaided by printing and natural science. It is recorded in history, that it did not suffice to arrest the decline of morals and the downfall of the State, but was itself corrupted and perverted. In the dark ages which followed the sub- version of that Empire, it was again left, unaided by human learning, to do its best for the regeneration of mankind ; and it became a vast system of superstition. Tt was only after the invention of printing, and the re- vival of letters, that the barbarous superstructures which had been raised on the simple foundations of the Gospel, were cleared away. But the period from the revival of letters to the present day, has been the age of scholastic learning, as contradistinguished from that of philosophy and science. Christianity stands before us, therefore, at present, as interpreted by men who knew extremely little of the science, either of external nature or of the hu- man mind. They have conceived it to be a system of SCIENCE AND SCRIPTURE. 389 spiritual influences, of internal operations on the soul, and of repentant preparation for another world, rather than an exposition of pure and lofty principles inherent in hu- man nature itself, and capable of being largely developed and rendered practical in this world. It is a common accusation against philosophy, that the study of it renders men infidels : and this alleged fact is brought forward as a proof that human nature is cor- rupt, blind, and perverse, turning what ought to be its proper food into mortal poison. But if this were really a well founded charge, the conclusion which I would draw from it would be, that there must be essential er- rors in the popular interpretations of revelation, when the effect of a knowledge of nature on the mind is to lead to disbelief of its truth. Science is of modern growth, and, down to the present hour, the mass of Christians in every country have embraced their faith without the possibility of comparing it with the revelation of the Di- vine Will contained in the constitution of external nature, which, philosophically speaking, was unknown to them. The facts unfolded by science were unknown to the di- vines who first denied the capability of mankind to attain, by the development of their natural powers, to a higher moral condition than any they have hitherto exhibited ; and, hence, their decision against the capabilities of hu- man nature has been pronounced causa non cognitd, and must be open for reconsideration. If Christianity was freed from many errors by the revival and spread of mere scholastic learning in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, much more may we expect that the interpretations of it will be farther purified, correct- ed, and elucidated, by the flood of light which the 390 ON THE RELATION BETWEEN sciences of human and physical nature, now in the course of cultivation, will one day shed upon it. According to my view, the study of the human con- stitution, and of external nature, and of their relations, will become an object of paramount importance, with re- ference to a just appreciation of the true meaning of Scripture. Civilized man sees infinitely more of true and practical wisdom in Scripture than the savage of the wilderness, even supposing that the latter could read and understand the words of the sacred volume ; and, in like manner, man, when thoroughly instructed in his own con- stitution, and in that of external nature, will discover still profounder truth and more admirable precepts in that record, than are found in it by ignorant, contentious, blind, and conceited man, such as he has hitherto existed. History is full of instruction concerning the insuffi- ciency of mere religious instructions to protect men from practical errors, when their understandings are unenlight- ened in regard to philosophy and the constitution of na- ture ; and the part which the religious teachers of Europe acted in regard to witchcraft, affords one striking proof of the truth of this remark. It was not till towards the close of the 15th century, says the Foreign Quarterly Review, No. XI, that per- secutions for witchcraft began to prevail in Europe. By a bull of Pope Innocent VIII. in 1484, death was, for the first time, denounced without mercy to all who should be convicted of witchcraft, or of dealings with Satan; and a form of process for the trial was regularly laid down by a wretch of the name of Sprenger, whom the Pope placed at the head of a commission of fire and sword. The succeeding popes, Alexander VI. and even Leo X, SCIENCE AND SCRIPTURE. 391 lent their aid in accelerating the course of tin's havoc- spreading engine. So far, however, were these commis- sion from being attended with beneficial consequences, that their only effect was to render the evil every day more and more formidable ; till, at last, if we are to believe the testimony of contemporary historians, Europe was little better than a large suburb of Pandemonium. One half of the population was either bewitching or bewitched* About the year 1515, 500 witches were executed in Ge- neva in three months. 1000 were executed in one year in the diocese of Como ; and they went on burning at the rate of 100 per annum for some time after. In Lorraine, from 1580 to 1595, Remigius boasts of having burned 900. In France, the multitude of executions about 1520 is incredible. One historian calls it " an almost infinite number of sorcerers." Germany was so fertile a soil for the supernatural, that, from the publication of Innocent's bull, to the sup- pression of persecution for witchcraft, the number of victims could not be less than 100,000 ! In the town of Wurtzburg alone, in the course of two years — 1627-29 — there were twenty-nine acts of conflagration, and 157 persons burnt, including not only old women, but even children as young as nine years. Other places furnished their full contingent ; and so familiarized was the public with these atrocious scenes, that it relished and gloried in them ; singing the events of them to popular airs ; re- presenting them in hideous engravings, with devils drag- ging away " their own;" while the clergy preached solemn discourses, called " witch-sermons," upon occasion of every sacrifice — the effect of which was, of course, to in- spire with fresh zeal to collect fuel for another. England was not free from the same madness. Three 392 ON THE RELATION BETWEEN thousand victims were executed during the reign of the Long Parliament alone ; and it is a melancholy spectacle to find a man like Sir Matthew Hale condemning wret- ches to destruction, on evidence which a child would now he disposed to laugh at. A better order of things com- menced with the Chief-justiceship of Holt, in consequence of whose firm charge to the jury on one of these trials, a verdict of not guilty — almost the first then on record in a trial for witchcraft — was found. In about ten other trials by Holt, from 1694 to 1701, the result was the same. Yet, in 17 J 6, a Mrs Hicks and her daughter, aged nine, were hanged at Huntingdon for selling their souls to the devil, and raising a storm by pulling oft their stockings and making a lather of soap ! With this crown- ing atrocity, the catalogue of murders in England closes, the penal statutes against witchcraft being repealed in 1736, and the pretended exercise of such arts being pu- nished in future by imprisonment and pillory. Barrington, in his observations on the statute of 20th Henry VI., does not hesitate to estimate the number of those put to death in England, on the charge of riding through the air on a broomstick, at 30,000 ! Scotland, too, must bear her share of the bloody stain of these abominable doings. Till the Reformation, little or no regard was paid to this subject ; but soon after that event, a raving thirst for destruction took possession of the nation. In 1563, an act of Parliament was passed, enacting the punishment of death against witches, or con- suiters of witches. The consequences of this authorita- tive recognition of the creed of witchcraft became imme- diately obvious in the reign of James VI. which followed. Witchcraft became the all-engrossing topic of the day; and it was the ordinary accusation resorted to, whenever SCIENCE AND SCRIPTURE. 393 it was the object of one individual to ruin another. A number of the trials are reported in Mr Pitcairn's recent and valuable publication of the records of the Court of Justiciary. The first case is in 1572, of which no parti- culars are given, except the name of the unfortunate woman, and the doom — " convict and brynt.'' Thirty- five trials are recorded subsequently to the end of James's reign, in all of which the horrid result is the same. The trials proceed, in the course of years, and confessions are obtained by torture with thumb-screws and boots, and pricking with sharp instruments ; while stranglings and burnings follow of course. The scene darkens towards the reign of Charles J., with the increasing dominion of the puritans. In 1640, the General Assembly passed an act, that all ministers should take particular note of witches and charmers, and that the commissioners should recom- mend to the supreme judicature the unsparing application of the laws against them. In 1643, after setting forth the increase of the crime, they recommended the grant- ing of a standing commission from the Privy Council or Justiciary, to " any understanding gentlemen or magis- trates/' to apprehend, try, and execute justice on the de- linquents. By the urgency of the General Assembly, who resumed the subject in 1644-45, and 1649, an act of Parliament was passed in the last named year, confirm- ing and extending the statute of Queen Mary, passed in 1563. As was to be expected, convictions, which had been fewer since James's time, increase, and the cases of course are more horrible. Thirty trials appear on the record between 1649 and 1660, in which there seems to have been only one acquittal ; while at one western cir- cuit, in 1659, seventeen persons were convicted and 394 ON THE RELATION BETWEEN burned for the imputed crime. Numerous, however, as are the cases in the records of Justiciary, these afford a most inadequate idea of the extent to which this pest pre- vailed over the country; for the Privy Council was in the habit of granting commissions to resident gentlemen and ministers to examine, and afterwards to try and ex- ecute, witches all over Scotland ; and so numerous were these commissions, that one author expresses his asto- nishment at the number found in the registers. Under these commissions, multitudes were burnt in every part of the kingdom. It is matter of history, that, in every case of the kind, the clergy displayed the most intemperate zeal. It was before them that the poor wretches were first brought for examination, in most cases after a preparatory course of solitary confinement, cold, famine, want of sleep, or ac- tual torture. On some occasions, the clergy themselves actually performed the part of the prickers, and inserted long pins into the fl^sh of the witches; and in all, they laboured with the most persevering investigations to ob- tain from the accused a confession which might after- wards be used against them on their trial, and which, in more than one instance, although retracted, formed the sole evidence on which the conviction proceeded. After 1662, the mania in Scotland began to decline in its violence ; and to the great lawyers of the time is due the merit of first stemming the foul torrent. " From the horridness of the crime," says Sir George Mackenzie in his Criminal Law, " I do conclude, that of all crimes it requires the clearest relevancy and most convincing pro- bative; and 1 condemn, next to the wretches themselves, those cruel and too forward judges, who burn persons by SCIENCE AND SCRIPTURE. 395 thousands as guilty of that crime." The trials after this became fewer and fewer, and the last execution took place at Dornoch in 1722. The statutes were finally re- pealed in 1735. So little light did the Bible afford regarding the atro- city of the proceedings against witches, that the Seces- sion Church of Scotland, comprising many intelligent clergymen and a large number of the most serious and religious of the people, " complained, in their annual Confession of Personal and National Sins, against * the penal statutes against witches having been repealed by Parliament, contrary to the express law of God.' " — ( See Brewster s Edinburgh Encyclopedia, voce Witchcraft.) This defection is classed by Dr John Brown of Had- dington, one of the great leaders of the Secession Church about the middle and end of last century, among " the practical backslidings from the once attained to and co- venanted work of reformation, which have happened in the preceding and present age, as abuses of the singular favours of God." During the whole of these proceedings, the clergy, both Catholic and Protestant, were in possession of re- velation as fully and freely as they are at the present day ; and in Scotland, in particular, the Reformation had been completed, and the people put in possession of the Bible for nearly a century before the cessation of these prosecutions. Not only so, but the Bible itself was per- versely used as the warrant of the atrocities, and religion employed to fan the flame of cruelty and superstition. If any facts can prove that the Creator intended man to use his intellectual faculties, and to study the revelation of His will contained in the works of nature, in addition to 396 ON THE RELATION BETWEEN, &C. the Bible, as a guide to his conduct, and that the Bible was never intended to supersede the necessity of all other knowledge, those now detailed must have this ef- fect. The great difference between Christians of the present day who regard these executions as great crimes, and the pious ministers who inflicted, and the serious people who witnessed them, consists in the superior knowledge possessed by the moderns, of physical science, which has opened up to their understandings views of nature and of God, widely different from those enter- tained by their ancestors under the guidance of the Bible alone. In these remarks I do not depreciate the importance of the Bible; I only very humbly endeavour to vindi- cate the study of the Creator's will in his works as well as in his word, and to shew that the human mind needs illumination from both to direct its conduct towards vir- tue. In the words of Archbishop Whately, I conclude, that " we are bound to use our own natural faculties in the search after all that is within the reach of these faculties ; and that most especially ought we to try, by their own proper evidence, questions which form no part of revelation properly so called, but which are in- cidentally alluded to in the Sacred Writings." " If it be true that man's duty coincides with his real interest, both in this world and in the next, the better he is qualified by intellectual culture and diffusion of knowledge, to un- derstand his duty and his interests, the greater prospect there would seem to be (other points being equal) of his moral improvement." ( 397 ) CONCLUSION. The question has frequently been asked, What is the practical use of Phrenology, even supposing it to be true ? A few observations will enable us to answer this inquiry, and, at the same time, to present a brief summary of the doctrine of the preceding Essay. Prior to the age of Copernicus, the earth and sun pre- sented to the eye phenomena exactly similar to those which they now exhibit; but their motions appeared in a very different light to the understanding. Before the age of Newton, the revolutions of the pla- nets were known as matter of fact ; but the understand- ing was ignorant of the principle of their motions. Previous to the dawn of modern chemistry, many of the qualities of physical substances were ascertained by observation, but their ultimate principles and relations were not understood. Knowledge, as I observed in the Introduction, may be rendered beneficial in two ways, — either by render- ing the substance discovered directly subservient to hu- man enjoyment ; or, where this is impossible, by mo- difying human conduct in harmony with its qualities. While knowledge of any department of nature remains imperfect and empirical, the unknown qualities of the objects belonging to it, may render our efforts either to apply or to accord with those which are known, alto- gether abortive. Hence it is only after ultimate prin- ciples have been discovered, their relations ascertained, and this knowledge systematised, that science can at- tain its full character of utility. The merits of Coper- 398 CONCLUSION. nicus and Newton consist in having rendered this service to astronomy. Before the appearance of Drs Gall and Spurzheim, mankind were practically acquainted with the feelings and intellectual operations of their own minds, and ana- tomists knew the appearances of the brain. But the science of Mind was very much in the same state as that of the heavenly bodies prior to the times of Copernicus and Newton. First, No unanimity prevailed among philosophers con- cerning- the elementary feelings and intellectual powers of man. Individuals deficient in Conscientiousness, for instance, denied that the sentiment of justice was a pri- mitive mental quality of mind. Others, deficient in Ve- neration, asserted that man was not naturally prone to worship, and ascribed religion to the invention of priests. Secondly, The extent to which the primitive faculties differ in relative strength, was matter of dispute, or of vague conjecture; and concerning many attainments there was no agreement among philosophers, whether they were the gifts of nature, or the results of mere cultivation. Thirdly, Different modes or states of the same feeling were often mistaken for different feelings ; and modes of action of all the intellectual faculties were mistaken for distinct faculties. Fourthly, The brain, confessedly the most important organ of the body, and that with which the nerves of the senses, of motion, and of feeling directly communicate, had no ascertained functions. Mankind were ignorant of its uses, and of its influence on the mental faculties. They indeed still dispute that its different parts are the organs of different mental powers, and that the vigour of mani- CONCLUSION. 399 festation bears a proportion, cceteris paribus, to the size of the organ. If, in physics, imperfect and empirical knowledge ren- ders the unknown qualities of bodies liable to frustrate the efforts of man to apply or to accommodate his con- duct to their known qualities ; and if only a complete and systematic exhibition of ultimate principles, and their relations, can confer on science its full character of uti- lity, — the same doctrine applies with equal or greater force to the philosophy of man. Politics embrace forms of government, and the rela- tions between different states. All government is de- signed to combine the efforts of individuals, and to regu- late their conduct when united. To arrive at the best means of accomplishing this end, systematic knowledge of the nature of man seems highly important. A des- potism, for example, may restrain some abuses of the lower propensities, but it assuredly impedes the exercise of reflection, and others of the highest and noblest powers. A form of government can be suited to the nature of man only when it is calculated to permit the legitimate use, and to restrain the abuses, of all his mental feelings and capacities ; and how can such a government be devised, while these principles with their spheres of action, and external relations, are imperfectly ascertained ? Again, all relations between different states must also be in ac- cordance with the nature of man, to prove permanently beneficial; and the question recurs, How are these to be framed while that nature is matter of conjecture ? Na- poleon disbelieved in a sentiment of justice as an innate quality of the mind, and, in his relations with other states, relied on fear and interest as the grand motives of con- 400 CONCLUSION. duct : but that sentiment existed, and, combined with other faculties which he outraged, prompted Europe to burl him from his throne. If Napoleon had comprehend- ed the principles of human nature, and their relations, as forcibly and clearly as the principles of mathematics, in which he excelled, his understanding would have great- ly modified his conduct, and Europe would have escaped prodigious calamities. Legislation, civil and criminal, is intended to regu- late and direct the human faculties in their efforts at gra- tification ; and laws, to be useful, must accord with the constitution of these faculties. But how can salutary laws be enacted, while the subject to be governed, or human nature, is not accurately understood ? The in- consistency and intricacy of the laws even in enlightened nations, have aiforded themes for the satirist in every age; and how could the case be otherwise? Legislators provided rules for directing the qualities of human na- ture, which they conceived themselves to know ; but either error in their conceptions, or the effects of other qualities unknown or unattended to, defeated their in* tentions. The law, for example, punishing heresy with burning, was addressed by our ancestors to Cautiousness, Self-Love, and other inferior feelings ; but Intellect, Ve- neration, Conscientiousness, and Firmness, were omitted in their estimate of human principles of action ; and theso set their law at defiance. There are many laws still in the statute book, equally at variance with the nature of man. Education is intended to enlighten the intellect, to train it and the moral sentiments to vigour, and to re- press the too great activity of the selfish feelings. But how CONCLUSION. 401 can this be successfully accomplished, when the faculties and sentiments themselves, the laws to which they are subjected, and their relations to external objects, are un- ascertained. Accordingly, the theories and practices ob- served in education are innumerable and contradictory, which could not happen if men knew the constitution of the object which they were training. In the " Essai surla Statistic] ue morale de la France," par A. M. Guerry (a Paris chez Crochard Libraire, 1833), it is stated, that crimes against property and per- son are most numerous in proportion to the population in those departments of France — the north and east — in which the people are the best educated, the richest, and most industrious. This must be owing in part to the increased power which education gives of doing either good or evil, and partly to defects in the education af- forded. The philosophy of man being unknown, chil- dren are not taught any rational views of the plan of life ; they are not instructed in the constitution of so- ciety ; and have no sufficient information afforded con- cerning the sources of real enjoyment. They are not taught any system of morals, based on the nature of man and his social relations ; but left each to grope his way to happiness, according to the dictates of his indi- vidual mind. They see the rich pursuing pleasure and fashion, and if they follow such examples, they must resort to crime for the means of gratification ; yet there is no solid instruction given to them, sufficient to satisfy their understandings that the rich themselves are stray- ing from the paths that lead to solid and lasting happiness, and that it is to be found only in other and higher occu- pations. l1* 402 CONCLUSION. Morals and Religion, also, cannot assume a syste- matic and demonstrable character, until the elementary qualities of mind, and their relations, shall be ascertained. It is presumable that the Deity, in creating the moral powers and the external world, really adapted the one to the other; so that individuals and nations, in pursuing morality, must, in every instance, be promoting their best interests, and, in departing from it, must be sacrificing them to passion or to illusory notions of advantage. But, until the nature of man, and the relationship between it and the external world, shall be scientifically ascertain- ed, and systematically expounded, it will be impossible to support morality by the powerful demonstration of interest coinciding with it. The tendency in most men to view expediency as not always coincident with justice, affords a striking proof of the limited knowledge of the constitution of man and the external world still existing in society. The diversities of doctrine in religion also, obviously owe their origin to ignorance of the primitive faculties and their relations. The faculties differ in relative strength in different individuals, and each person is most alive to objects and views connected with the powers predomi- nant in himself. Hence, in reading the Scriptures, one is convinced that they establish Calvinism ; another, pos- sessing a different combination of faculties, discovers in them Lutheranism ; and a third is satisfied that Socini- anism is the only true interpretation. These individuals have, in general, no distinct conception that the views which strike them most forcibly, appear in a different light to minds differently constituted. A correct inter- pretation of revelation must harmonize with the dictates of the moral sentiments and intellect, holdm? the animal CONCLUSION. 403 propensities in subordination. It may legitimately go beyond what they, unaided, could reach ; but it cannot contradict them; because this would be setting the reve- lation of the Bible in opposition to the inherent dictates of the faculties constituted by_the Creator, which cannot be admitted ; as the Deity is too powerful and wise to be inconsistent. But mankind will never be induced to bow to such interpretations, while each takes his indivi- dual mind as a standard of human nature in general, and conceives that his own impressions are synonimous with absolute truth. The establishment of the nature of man, therefore, on a scientific basis, and in a systematic form, must aid the cause of both morality and religion. The PROFESSIONS, PURSUITS, HOURS OF EXERTION, and amusements of individuals, ought also to bear reference to their physical and mental constitution ; but hitherto no guiding principle has been possessed to regulate prac- tice in these important particular — another evidence that the science of man has been unknown. In consequence of the want of a philosophy of man, there is little harmony between the different departments of human pursuit. God is one ; and as He is intelligent, benevolent, and powerful, we may reasonably conclude that creation is one harmonious system, in which the phy- sical is adapted to the moral, the moral to the physical, and every department of these grand divisions, to the whole. But at present, many principles clearly revealed by philosophy are impracticable, because the institutions of society have not been founded with a due regard to their existence. An educated lady, for example, or a member of the learned professions, may perceive with the clearest conviction that God, by the manner in which, he has constituted the body, and connected the mind with 404 CONCLUSION. the brain, has positively enjoined muscular exertion as indispensable to the possession of sound health, the enjoy- ment of life, and the rearing of a healthy offspring ; and, nevertheless, they may find themselves so hedged round by routine of employment, the fashions of society, the in- fluence of opinion, and the positive absence of all ar- rangements suited to the purpose, that they shall be ren- dered nearly as incapable of yielding this obedience to God's law as if they were imprisoned in a dungeon. By religion we are commanded to set our affections on things above, and not to permit our minds to be engrossed with the cares of the world; we are desired to seek God- liness, and eschew selfishness, contention, and the vani- ties of life. These precepts must have been intended to be practically followed, otherwise it was a mockery of mankind to give them forth : But if they were intended to be practised, God must have arranged the inherent constitution of man, and of the world, in such a manner as to admit of mankind following them, and not only so, but to render men happy in proportion as they should practise, and miserable as they should neglect them. Nevertheless, when we survey human society in the forms in which it has hitherto existed, and in which it now ex- ists, these precepts appear to have been, and to be now, absolutely impracticable to ninety-nine out of every hun- dred of civilized men. Suppose the most eloquent and irresistibly convincing discourse on the Christian duties to be delivered on Sunday to a congregation of Manchester manufacturers and their operatives, or to London mer- chants, Essex farmers ; or Westminster lawyers, how would they find their respective spheres of life adapted for acting practically on their convictions? They are all commanded to love God with their whole heart and soul, CONCLUSION. 405 and to resist the world and the flesh, or, in philosophical language, to support their moral affections, and intellec- tual powers, in habitual activity, to direct them to noble, elevating, and beneficial objects, and to resist the subju- gation of these higher attributes of their minds to animal pleasure, sordid selfishness, and worldly ambition. The moral and intellectual powers assent to the reasonable- ness of these precepts, and rejoice in the prospect of their practical application ; but, on Monday morning, the manufacturers, owing to the institutions of society, and the department of life into which they have been cast, before they had either reason or moral perception to di- rect their choice, must commence a course of ceaseless toil, — the workmen that they may support life, and the masters that they may avoid ruin, or accumulate wealth. Saturday evening finds them worn out with mental and physical exertion, continued through all the intermediate days, and directed to pursuits connected with this world alone. Sunday dawns upon them in a state of mind widely at variance with the Christian condition. In like manner, the merchant must devote himself to his bar- gains, the farmer to his plough, and the lawyer to his briefs, with corresponding assiduity ; so that their moral powers have neither objects presented to them, nor vi- gour left, for enjoyments befitting their nature and de- sires. It is in vain to say to individuals that they err in acting thus : individuals are carried along in the great stream of social institutions and pursuits. The operative labourer is compelled to follow his routine of toil under pain of absolute starvation. The master manufacturer, the merchant, the farmer, and the lawyer, are pursued by competitors so active, that if they relax in selfish ar- 406 CONCLUSION. dour, they, too, will be speedily plunged into ruin. If God has so constituted the human mind and body, and so arranged external nature, that all this is unavoidably necessary for man, then the Christian precepts are scarcely more suited to human nature and circumstances in this world, than the command to fly would be to the nature of the horse. If, on the other hand, man's nature and circumstances do in themselves admit of the Christian precepts being realised, it is obvious that a great revolu- tion must take place in our notions, principles of action, practices, and social institutions, before this can be ac- complished. That many Christian teachers believe this improvement possible, and desire its execution, I cannot doubt; but through want of a knowledge of the consti- tuent elements of human nature, and their relations, — through want, in short, of a philosophy of mind, and of physical nature, they have never been able to perceive intellectually, what God has rendered man capable of at- taining, how it may be attained, or on what principles the moral and physical government of the world in regard to man is conducted. Consequently, they have not acted generally on the idea of religion being a branch of an all- comprehending philosophy ; they have relied chiefly on inculcating the precepts of their Master, threatening fu- ture punishments for infringement, and promising future rewards for observance, without proving to society phi- losophically, not only that its institutions, practices, and principles, must be formed on higher data than they are at present, before it can become truly Christian, but that these improvements are actually within the compass of human nature, aided by revelation. Individuals in whom there is a strong aspiration after the realisation of' the Christian state of society, but whose intellects cannot CONCLUSION. 407 perceive any natural means by which it can be produced, take refuge in the regions of prophecy, and expect a mi- raculous reign of saints in the Millennium. How much more profitable would it be to study the philosophy of man's nature, which is obviously the work of God, and en- deavour to introduce morality and happiness by the means appointed by Him in creation ! Supernatural agency has long since ceased to interfere with human affairs, and whenever it shall operate again, we may presume that it will neither be assisted nor retarded by human opinions and speculations. We need only attend to the scenes daily presenting themselves in society, to obtain irresistible demonstration of the many evil consequences resulting from the want of a true theory of human nature, and its relations. Every preceptor in schools, every professor in colleges, every author, editor, and pamphleteer, every member of Parliament, councillor and judge, has a set of notions of his own, which, in his mind, hold the place of a system of the philosophy of man ; and although he may not have methodised his ideas, or even acknowledged them to himself as a theory, yet they constitute a standard to him by which he practically judges of all questions in morals, politics, and religion ; he advocates whatever views coincide with them, and condemns all that differ from them, with as unhesitating a dogmatism as the most pertinacious theorist on earth. Each also despises the notions of his fellows, in so far as they differ from his own. In short, the human faculties too generally ope- rate simply as instincts, exhibiting all the confliction and uncertainty of mere feeling, unenlightened by perception of their own nature and objects. Hence public measures in general, whether relating to education, religion, trade, 408 CONCLUSION. manufactures, the poor, criminal law, or to any other of the dearest interests of society, instead of being- treated as branches of one general system of economy, and ad- justed on scientific principles each in harmony with all the rest, are supported or opposed on narrow and empi- rical grounds, and often call forth displays of ignorance, prejudice, selfishness, intolerance and bigotry, that greatly obstruct the progress of improvement. Indeed, any im- portant approach to unanimity, even among- sensible and virtuous men, will be impossible, so long as no standard of mental philosophy is admitted to guide individual feel- ings and perceptions. But the state of things now de- scribed could not exist, if education embraced a true sys- tem of human nature and its relations. If, then, the doctrine of the natural laws here expound- ed be true, it will, when matured, supply the deficiencies just pointed out. But, here, another question naturally presents itself, How are the views explained in this work, supposing them to contain some portion of truth, to be rendered practical ? Sound views of human nature and of the divine government come home to the feelings and intellects of men ; they perceive them to possess a substantive existence and reality which rivet attention and command respect. If the doctrine unfolded in this work be in any degree true, it is destined to operate proportionally on the character of clerical instruction. Individuals whose minds have embraced the views which it contains, inform me that many sermons appear to them inconsistent in their dif- ferent propositions, at variance with sound views of hu- man nature, and so vague as to have little practical rela- tion to life and conduct. They partake of the abstract- edness of the scholastic philosophy. The first divine of CONCLUSION. 409 comprehensive intellect and powerful sentiments who shall take courage and introduce the natural laws into his dis- courses, and teach the people the works of the Creator and his institutions, will reap a great reward in useful- ness and pleasure. If this course shall, as heretofore, be neglected, the people, who are daily increasing in use- ful and scientific knowledge, will in a few years look clown with disrespect on their clerical guides, and proba- bly remodel the entire system of pulpit instruction. The institutions and manners of society indicate the state of mind of the influential classes at the time when they prevail. The trial and burning of old women as witches, point out clearly the predominance of Destructiveness and Wonder over Intellect and Benevolence, in those who were guilty of such cruel absurdities. The prac- tices of wager of battle, and ordeal by fire and water, in- dicate Combativeness, Destructiveness, and Veneration, to have been in great activity in those who permitted them, combined with much intellectual ignorance of the natural constitution of the world. In like manner, the enormous sums willingly expended in war, and the small sums grudgingly paid for public improvements ; the in- tense energy displayed in the pursuit of wealth ; and the general apathy evinced in the search after knowledge and virtue, unequivocally proclaim activity of Combativeness, Destructiveness, Acquisitiveness, Self-Esteem, and Love of Approbation ; with comparatively moderate vivacity of Benevolence and Intellect, in the present generation. Before, therefore, the practices of mankind can be al- tered, the state of their minds must be changed. No practical error can be greater than that of establishing in- stitutions greatly in advance of the mental condition of M rn * 410 CONCLUSION. the people. The rational method is, first to instruct the intellect, then to interest the sentiments, and, last of all, to form arrangements in harmony with, and resting on, these as their basis. The views developed in the preceding chapters, if founded in nature, may be expected to lead, ultimately, to considerable changes in many of the customs and pur- suits of society ; but to accomplish this effect, the prin- ciples themselves must first be ascertained to be true, and then they must be sedulously taught. It appears to me that a long series of years will be necessary to bring even civilized nations into a condition to obey systematically the natural laws. The preceding chapters may be regarded, in one sense, as an introduction to an Essay on Education. If the views unfolded in them be in general sound, it will follow that education has scarcely yet commenced. If the Creator has bestowed on the body, on the mind, and on external nature, determinate constitutions, and arranged them so as to act on each other, and to produce happi- ness or misery to man, according to certain definite prin- ciples, — and if this action goes on invariably, inflexibly, and irresistibly, whether men attend to it or not, — it is obvious that the very basis of useful knowledge must con- sist in an acquaintance with these natural arrangements, and that education will be valuable in the exact degree in which it communicates such information, and trains the faculties to act upon it. Reading, writing, and ac- counts, which make up the instruction enjoyed by the lower orders, are merely means of acquiring knowledge, but do not constitute it. Greek, Latin, and mathematics, which are added in the education of the middle classes, CONCLUSION. 411 are still only means of obtaining information : so that, with the exception of the few who pursue physical science, society dedicates very little attention to the study of the natural laws. In following out the views now dis- cussed, therefore, each individual, according as he becomes acquainted with the natural laws, ought to obey them, and to communicate his experience of their operations to others ; avoiding at the same time, all attempts at sub- verting, by violence, established institutions, or outrag- ing public sentiment by intemperate discussions. The doctrine now unfolded, if true, authorizes us to predicate that the most successful method of ameliorating the con- dition of mankind, will be that which appeals most di- rectly to their moral sentiments and intellect ; and, I may add from experience and observation, that, in pro- portion as any individual becomes acquainted with the real constitution of the human mind, will his conviction of the efficacy of this method increase. The next step ought to be to teach those laws to the young *, Their minds, not being occupied by preju- dices, will recognise them as congenial to their consti- tution ; the first generation that has embraced them from infancy will proceed to modify the institutions of society into accordance with their dictates ; and in the course of ages they may at length be acknowledged as practically useful. A perception of the importance of the natural laws will lead to their observance, and this will be at- tended with an improved development of brain, thereby increasing the desire and capacity for obedience. All true theories have ultimately been adopted and influenced * Some observations on Education will be found in tbe Phrenologi- cal Journal, vol. iv. p. 407. 412 CONCLUSION. practice ; and I see no reason to fear that the present, if true, will prove an exception. The failure of all previous systems is the natural consequence of their being unfound- ed; if this one shall resemble them, it will deserve, and assuredly will meet with, a similar fate. Finally, If it be true that the Natural Laws must be obeyed as a preliminary condition to happiness in this world, and if virtue and happiness be inseparably allied, the religious instructors of mankind may probably dis- cover in the general and prevalent ignorance of these laws, one reason of the limited success which has hitherto attended their own efforts at improving the condition of mankind ; and they may perhaps perceive it to be not in- consistent with their sacred office, to instruct men in the natural institutions of the Creator, in addition to his re- vealed will, and to recommend obedience to both. They exercise so vast an influence over the best members of society, that their countenance may hasten, or their op- position retard, by a century, the practical adoption of the natural laws, as sound guides of human conduct. If the excessive toil of the manufacturer be inconsistent with that elevation of the moral and intellectual faculties of man which is commanded by religion, and if the moral and physical welfare of mankind be not at variance with each other (which they cannot be), the institutions of society out of which the necessity for that labour arises, must, philosophically speaking, be pernicious to the inte- rests of the state as a political body, and to the tempo- ral welfare of the individuals who compose it ; and when ever we shall be in possession of a correct knowledge of the elements of human nature, and the principles on which God has constituted the world, the philosophical evidence CONCLUSION. 413 that these practices are detrimental to our temporal wel- fare, will be as clear as their inconsistency with our reli- gions duties. Until, however, divines shall become ac- quainted with this relation between philosophy and reli- gion, they will not possess adequate means to render their precepts practical in this world ; they will not carry the intellectual perceptions of their hearers fully along with them ; they will be incapable of controlling the force of the animal propensities ; and they will never lead society to fulfilment of its highest destinies. At present, the animal propensities are fortified in the strong entrenchments of social institutions ; Acquisitiveness, for example, is protected and fostered by our arrangements for accumulating wealth ; a worldly spirit, by our con- stant struggle to obtain the means of subsistence ; pride and vanity by our artificial distinctions of rank and fashion ; and Combativeness and Destructiveness by our warlike professions. The divine assails these powers by the denunciations of the Gospel ; but as long as society shall be animated by different principles, and maintain in vigour, institutions in diametrical opposition to its doctrines, so long will it be difficult for him to realize his precepts in practice. But, it appears to me, that by teaching mankind the philosophy of their own nature, and of the world in which they live, by proving to them the coincidence between the dictates of this philosophy and Christian morality, and the inconsistency of their own institutions with both, they may be induced to mo- dify the latter, and to entrench the moral powers, and then the triumph of virtue and religion will be more com- plete. Those who advocate exclusively the importance of spiritual religion for the improvement of mankind, ap- 414 CONCLUSION. pear to me to have erred in overlooking to too great an extent the necessity of complying with the natural con- ditions on which all improvement depends ; and I antici- pate that when schools and colleges shall expound the various branches of philosophy as portions of the insti- tutions of the Creator ; when the pulpit shall deal with the same principles, shew their practical application to man's duties and enjoyments, and add the sanctions of religion to enforce their observance ; and when the busy scenes of life shall be so arranged as to become the field for the practice at once of our philosophy and our reli- gion, then man will have assumed his station as a ra- tional being, and Christianity will have achieved her tri- umph. APPENDIX. NATURAL LAWS Text, p. 31. In the text it is mentioned, that many philosophers have treat- ed of the Laws of Nature. The following are examples : — Mr Stewart says, " To examine the economy of nature in the phenomena of the lower animals, and to compare their instincts with the physical circumstances of their external situation, forms one of the finest speculations of Natural History ; and yet it is a speculation to which the attention of the natural historian has seldom been directed. Not only BufFon, but Ray and Derham, have passed it over slightly ; nor, indeed, do I know of any one who has made it the object of a particular consideration but Lord Kames, in a short Appendix to one of his Sketches." — Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind, vol. iii. p. 3G8. Mr Stewart also uses the following words : — " Numberless ex- amples shew that Nature has done no more for man than was ne- cessary for his preservation, leaving him to make many acquisi- tions for himself, which she has imparted immediately to the brutes. " My own idea is, as I have said on a different occasion, that both instinct and experience are here concerned, and that the share which belongs to each in producing the result, can be ascertained by an appeal to facts alone." — Vol. iii. ch. 338. Montesquieu introduces his Spirit of Laws by the following observations : — " Laws, in their most general signification, are the necessary relations derived from the nature of things. In this sense, all beings have their laws ; the Deity has his laws ; the material world its laws ; the intelligences superior to man have their laws ; the beasts their laws ; man his laws. 416 APPENDIX NATURAL LAWS. " Those who assert that a blind fatality produced the various effects we behold in this world, are guilty of a very great absurdity ; for can any thing be more absurd than to pretend that a blind fata- lity could be productive of intelligent beings ? " There is, then, a primitive reason ; and laws are the relations which subsist between it and different beings, and the relations of these beings among themselves. " God is related to the universe as creator and preserver ; the laws by which he has created all things are those by which he preserves them. He acts according to these rules, because he knows them : he knows them because he has made them ; and he made them be- cause they are relative to his wisdom and power, &c. " Man, as a physical being, is, like ether bodies, governed by inva- riable laws.'"'' — Spirit of Laws, b. i. c. i. Justice Blackstone observes, that " Lav/, in its most general and comprehensive sense, signifies a rule of action ; and is applied indiscriminately to all kinds of action, lohether animate or inanimate, rational or irrational. Thus we say, the laws of motion, of gravi- tation, of optics, or mechanics, as well as the laws of nature and of nations. Thus, when the Supreme Being formed the universe, and created matter out of nothing, he impressed certain principles upon that matter, from which it can never depart, and without which it would cease to be. When he put that matter into mo- tion, he established certain laws of motion, to which all moveable bodies must conform." — " If we farther advance from mere inac- tive matter to vegetable and animal life, we shall find them still governed by laws ; more numerous, indeed, but equally fixed and invariable. The whole progress of plants, from the seed to the root, and from thence to the seed again ; — the method of animal nutrition, digestion, secretion, and all other branches of vital economy ; — are not left to cliance, or the will of the creature itself, but are performed in a wondrous involuntary manner, and guided by unerring rules laid down by the great Creator. This, then, is the general signification of law, a rule of action dictated by some superior being ; and in those creatures that have neither power to think, nor the will, such laws must be invariably obeyed, so long as the creature itself subsists ; for its existence depends on that obedience." — Blackstone 's Commentaries on the Lairs of England, vol. i. sect. 2. " The word law" says Mr Erskine, " is frequently made use of, both by divines and philosophers, in a large acceptation, to ex- press the settled method of God's providence, by which he preserves APPENDIX. NATURAL LAWS. 417 the order of the material world in such a manner, that nothing in it may deviate from that uniform course which he has appointed for it. And as brute matter is merely passive, without the least de- gree of choice upon its part, these laws are inviolably observed in the material creation, every part of ivhich continues to act, immuta- bly, according to the rides that were from the beginning prescribed to it by infinite wisdom. Thus philosophers have given the appellation of law to that motion which incessantly pervades and agitates the universe, and is ever changing the form and substance of things, dissolving some, and raising others, as from their ashes, to fill up the void: Yet so, that amidst all the fluctuations by which par- ticular things are affected, the universe is still preserved without diminution. Thus also they speak of the laws of fluids, of gravi- tation, &a and the word is used, in this sense, in several passages of the sacred writings ; in the book of Job, and in Proverbs viii. 29, where God is said to have given Ms law to the seas that they should not pass his commandment." — Er shine's Institutes of the Luvj of Scotland, book i. tit. i. sect. 1. Discussions about the Laws of Nature, rather than inquiries in- to them, were common in France, during the Revolution : and, having become associated, in imagination, with the crimes and horrors of that period, they continue to be regarded, by some in- dividuals, as inconsistent with religion and morality. A coinci- dence between the views maintained in the preceding Essay, and a passage in Volney, has been pointed out to me, as an objection to the whole dcctrine. Volney's words are the following : — " It is a law of nature, that water flows from an upper to a lower si- tuation ; that it seeks its level ; that it is heavier than air ; that all bodies tend towards the earth ; that flame rises towards the sky ; that it destroys the organization of vegetables and animals ; that air is essential to the life of certain animals : that, in cer- tain cases, water suffocates and kills them ; that certain juices of plants, and certain minerals, attack their organs, and destroy their life;— and the same of a yariety of facts. " Now, since these facts, and many similar ones, are constant, regular, and immutable, they become so many real and positive commands, to which man is bound to conform, under the express penalty of punishment attached to their infraction, or well-being connected with their observance. So that if a man were to pre- tend to see clearly in the dark, or is regardless of the progress of the seasons, or the action of the elements ; if he pretends to exist under water, without drowning ; to handle fire without burning 418 APPENDIX. NATURAL LAWS. himself: to deprive himself of air without suffocating; or to drink poison without destroying himself; he receives, for each in- fraction of the law of nature, a corporal punishment proportioned to his transgression. If, on the contrary, he observes these laws, and founds his practice on the precise and regular relation which they bear to him, he preserves his existence, and renders it as happy as it is capable of being rendered : and since all these laws, considered in relation to the human species, have in view only one common end, that of their preservation and their happiness : whence it has been agreed to assemble together the different ideas, and express them by a single word, and call them collectively by the name of the " Law of Nature.'"— Volney's Law of Nature, 3d edit. ]). 21, 24. I feel no embarrassment by this coincidence; but remark, first, That various authors, quoted in the text and in this note, advc- cated the importance of the laws of nature, long before the French Revolution was heard of; secondly, That the existence of the laws of nature is as obvious to the understanding, as the existence of the external world, and of the human mind and body themselves to the senses ; thirdly, That these laws, being inherent in crea- tion, must have proceeded from the Deity : fourthly, That if the Deity is powerful, just, and benevolent, they must harmonize with the constitution of man ; and, lastly, That if the laws of na- ture have heen instituted by the Deity, and been framed in wise, benevolent, and just relationship to the human constitution, they must at all times form the highest and most important subjects of human investigation, and remain altogether unaffected by the errors, follies, and crimes of those who endeavour to expound them ; just as religion continues holy, venerable, and uncontami- nated, notwithstanding of the hypocrisy, wickedness, and incon- sistency of individuals professing themselves her interpreters and friends. That the views of the natural laws themselves, advocated in this Essay, are diametrically opposite to^he practical conduct of the French revolutionary ruffians, requires no demonstration. My fundamental principle is, that man can enjoy happiness on earth only by placing his habitual conduct under the supremacy of the moral sentiments and intellect, and that this is the law of his na- ture. No doctrine can be more opposed than this to fraud, rob- bery, blasphemy, and murder. It may be urged, that all past speculations about the Jaws of na- ture have proved more imposing than useful ; and that, while the APPENDIX ORGANIC LAWS. 419 laws themselves afford materials for elevated declamation on the part of philosophers, they form no secure guides even to the learn- ed, and much less to the illiterate, in practical conduct. In an- swer, I would respectfully repeat what has frequently been urged in the text, that, before we can discover the laws of nature, ap- plicable to man, we must know, first, The constitution of man himself; secondly, The constitution of external nature ; and, third- ly, We must compare the two. But, previous to the discovery of Phrenology, the mental constitution of man was a matter of vague conjecture, and endless debate ; and the connection between his mental powers and his organized system, was involved in the deepest obscurity. The brain, the most important organ of the body, had no ascertained functions. Before the introduction of this science, therefore, men were rather impressed with the un- speakable importance of the knowledge of the laws of nature, than acquainted with the laws themselves ; and even the know- ledge of the external world actually possessed, could not, in many instances, be rendered available, on account of its relationship to the qualities of man being unascertained, and unaseertainable, so long as these qualities themselves were unknown. No. I ORGANIC LAWS. Text. p. 138. On the subject of the sufferings of women in childbed, the fol- lowing authorities may be referred to : — " One thing," says Mr Alison, " is very remarkable, and occurs in most cases of concealment and childmurder, viz. the strength and capability for exertion evinced by women in the inferior ranks shortly after childbirth, — appearances so totally different from those exhibited in the higher orders, that, to persons ac- quainted only with cases among the latter, they would appear incredible. In the casejustmentioned (that of Catharine Butler or Anderson, at Aberdeen, in spiing 1829), the mother, two or three days after her delivery, walked from Inverury to Huntly, a distance of twenty-eight miles, in a single day, with her child on her back. Similar' occurrences daily are proved in cases of this description. It is not unusual to find women engaged in reaping retire to a little distance, effect their delivery by themselves, return to their fellow-labourers, and go on with their work during the remainder of the day, without any other change of appearance but looking a 420 APPENDIX ORGANIC LAWS. little paler and thinner. Such a fact occurred in the case cf Jean Smith, Ayr, spring 1824. Again, in the case of Ann Macdou- gall, Aberdeen, spring 1823, it appeared that the pannel, who was sleeping in bed with two other servants, rose, was delivered, and returned to bed, without any of them being conscious of what had occurred. Instances have even occurred in which women have walked six and eight miles on the very day of their delivery, without any sensible inconvenience. Many respectable medical practitioners, judging from what they have observed among the higher ranks, would pronounce such facts impossible; but they occur so frequently among the labouring classes as to form a point worthy of knowledge in criminal jurisprudence ; and to render perfectly credible what is said of the female American In- dians, that they fall behind for a little, on their journeys through the forests, deliver themselves, and shortly make up to their hus- bands, and continue their journey with their offspring on their back." — Alison's Principles of the Criminal Law of Scotland, pp. 161- 162. Mr Lawrence observes, " that the very easy labours of ne- gresses, native Americans, and other women in the savage state, have been often noticed by travellers. This point is not explica- ble by any prerogative of physical formation; for the pelvis is rather smaller in these dark-coloured races than in the European and other white people. Simple diet, constant and laborious ex- ertion, give to these children of nature a hardiness of constitu- tion, and exempt them from most of the ills which afflict the in- dolent and luxurious females of civilized societies. In the latter, however, the hard-working women of the lower classes in the country often suffer as little from child-birth as those of any other race. Analogous differences, from the like causes, may be seen in the animal kingdom. Cows kept in towns, and other animals, deprived of their healthful exercise, and accustomed to unnatural food and habits, often have difficult labours, and suffer much in parturition." — Lawrence's Lectures on Physiology, Zoology, and the Natural History of Man. 1822. Vol. ii. p. 190. Among the Araucanian Indians of South America, " a mother, immediately on her delivery, takes her child, and going down to the nearest stream of water, washes herself and it, and returns to the usual labours of her station." — Steve?ison's Twenty Years' Re- sidence in South America. Vol. i. p. 9. APPENDIX. ORGANIC LAWS. 421 Note II. — hereditary transmission of qualities. Text, p. 176. Fortified by the observations made in the text, I venture to cite some additional authorities, and to record some farther facts communicated by persons on whose accuracy reliance may be placed, in support of the doctrine of the transmission of qualities by hereditary descent. " The advice which I am now about to give, is indeed no other than what hath been given by those who have undertaken this argument before me. You will ask me, what is that ? 'Tis this, that no man keep company with his Avife for issue sake, but when he is sober — as not having before either drunk any wine, or, at least, not to such a quantity as to distemper him ; for they usual- ly prove wine-bibbers and drunkards whose parents begot them when they were drunk : wherefore Diogenes said to a stripling somewhat crack-brained and half-witted, Surely, young man, thy father beget thee when he was drunk." — Plutarch's Morals, trans- lation published at London, 1718, vol. i. p. 2. It is remarked by Burton in his Anatomy of Melancholy, that " if a drunken man gets a child, it will never, likely, have a good brain." The following case fell under my own observation : — W, B. shoemaker in Portsburgh, called and shewed me his son, aged 18, who is in a state of idiocy. He is simple and harmless, but never could do any thing for himself. His father said that his wife was sound in mind ; that he has other three children all sound, and that the only account he could ever give of the condition of this son was, that he kept a public-house, and some months before the birth of this boy an idiot lad came round with a brewer's drayman and helped him to lift the casks off the cart ; that that idiot made a strong impression on his wife; that she complained that she could not get his appearance removed from her mind ; and that she kept out of the way when he came to the house afterwards ; that his son was weak in body from birth, and silly in mind, and had the slouched and slovenly appearance of the idiot. The following cases are recorded in the Phrenological Journal : " I now proceed to give some facts strongly illustrative of the doc- trine, that the faculties which predominate in power and activity in the parents, when the organic existence of the child com- mences, determine its future mental dispositions. This is a doc- trine to which, from its great practical importance, I would beg 422 APPENDIX ORGANIC LAWS. leave to call your serious attention. It was remarked by the celebrated Esquirol, c that the children whose existence dated from the horrors of the first French Revolution, turned out to be weak, nervous, and irritable in mind, extremely susceptible of impressions, and liable to be thrown by the least extraordinary excitement into absolute insanity/ Sometimes, too, family cala- mities produce serious effects upon the offspring. A very intel- ligent and respectable mother, upon hearing this principle ex- pounded, remarked that there was a very wide difference in the intellectual and moral development between one of her children and the others ; and accounted for this difference by the fact, that, during pregnancy, she received intelligence that the crew of the ship, on board of which was her son, had mutinied — that when the ship arrived in the West Indies, some of the mutineers, and also her son, had been put in irons, — and that they were all to be sent home for trial. This intelligence acted so strongly upon her, that she suffered a temporary alienation of judgment. The re- port turned out to be erroneous, but this did not avert the conse- quences of the agitated state of the mother's feelings upon the daughter she afterwards gave birth to. That daughter is now a woman, but she is and will continue to be a being of impulses, incapable of reflection, and in other respects greatly inferior to her sisters. " The following is a melancholy instance of the operation of this principle, which was communicated to me by a respectable medi- cal practitioner, and which I have since found from inquiries in the neighbourhood, and from seeing the subject of it, to be sub- stantially correct. In the summer of 1827, the practitioner al- luded to was called upon to visit professionally a young woman in the immediate neighbourhood, who was safely delivered of a male child. As the parties appeared to be respectable, he made some inquiries regarding the absence of the child's father; when the old woman told him that her daughter was still unmarried, that the child's father belonged to a regiment then in Ireland ; that last autumn he had obtained leave of absence to visit his relations in this part of the country ; and that on the eve of his departure to join his regiment, an entertainment was given, at which her daughter attended. During the whole evening, she and the sol- dier danced and sang together; when heated by the toddy and the dance, they left the cottage, and after the lapse of an hour were found together in a glen, in a state of utter insensibility, from the effects of their former festivity ; and the consequence APPENDIX. ORGANIC LAWS. 423 of this interview was the birth of an idiot. He is now nearly six years of his age, and his mother does not believe that he is able to recognise either herself or any other individual. He is quite incapable of making signs, whereby his wants can be made known — with this exception, that when hungry he gives a wild shriek. This is a case upon which it would be painful to dwell ; and I shall only remark, that the parents are both intelligent, and that the fatal result cannot be otherwise accounted for than by the almost total prostration or eclipse of the intellect of both parties from in- toxication." — Phren. Journ. vol. viii. p. 471. The following case affoids an example of the effect on the chil- dren of unfavourable physical circumstances operating on the pa- rents previous to birth. w There are about Paris a number of beggars, twelve or thir- teen of them at least, all deformed in various ways, and all born at Lille, in certain dark caverns under the fortifications. The effect of these places, from their want of light, producing mal- formed births, is so notorious, that the Magistrates of Lille have issued strict orders to prohibit the poor from taking up their abode in them. It is added by the writer, that he had a conver- sation with Mr Edwards on the subject, and that gentleman was greatly struck with the confirmation which the above circumstan- ces afford to his views, stated in his work, ' Sur l'lnfluence des Agens Physiques sur la Vie.' Mr Edwards' experiments of de- taining tadpoles in darkness, and thus causing them to grow into gigantic and monstrous tadpoles, instead of their being transform- ed into frogs, is well known — From London Medical Gazette, Sep- tember 1832, as quoted in Arcana of Science and Art, 1833, p. 198. The operation of the same laws in the case of the lower ani- mals appears to be indubitable. The following cases will serve as examples. " In Europe, the constant practice of milking cows has enlar- ged the udder greatly beyond its natural size, and so changed the secretions, that the milk does not cease when the calf is removed. In Colombia, where circumstances are entirely different, nature shews a strong tendency to resume its original type. A cow gives milk there only while the calf is with her." " It is worthy of notice, that the amble, the pace to which the domestic horse in Spanish America is exclusively trained, become, in the course of some generations, hereditary, and is assumed by the young ones without teaching." — Encyc. Brit. 7ih edit. vol. ii. p. 653, Art. Ame rica. The writer refers to a paper by M. Roulin, entitled 424 APPENDIX.— ORGANIC LAWS. " Sur les Changemens survenus," fyc. in the Bulletin des Sciences Na- turelles, Avril 1829. A gentleman, who has paid much attention to the rearing of horses, informed me, that the male race-horse, when excited, but not exhausted, by running, has been found, by experience to be in the most favourable condition for transmitting swiftness and vivacity to his offspring. Another gentleman stated, that he was himself present when the pale grey colour of a male horse was ob- jected to ; that the groom thereupon presented before the eyes of the male another female from the stable, of a very particular but pleasing, variety of colours, asserting, that the latter would determine the complexion of the offspring ; and that in point of fact it did so. The experiment was tried in the case of a second female, and the result was so completely the same, that the two young horses, in point of colour, could scarcely be distinguished although their spots were extremely uncommon. The account of Laban and the peeled rods laid before the cattle to produce spotted calves, is an example of the same kind. Portal mentions the hereditary descent of blindness and deaf- ness. His words are : " Morgagni has seen three sisters dumb 1 d'origine.' Other authors also cite examples, and I have seen like cases myself." In a note, he adds, " I have seen three chil- dren out of four of the same family blind from birth by amaurosis, or gutta serena." — Portal, Memoires sur Plusieurs Maladies, torn. iii. p. 193. Paris, 1808. In the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, No. I., there are se- veral valuable articles illustrative of the Organic Laws in the in- ferior animals. I select the following examples : tl Every one knows that the hen of any bird will lay eggs al- though no male be permitted to come near her ; and that those eggs are only wanting in the vital principle which the impregna- tion of the male conveys to them. Here, then, we see the female able to make an egg, with yolk and white, shell and every part, just as it ought to be, so that we might, at the first glance, sup- pose that here, at all events, the female has the greatest influence. But see the change which the male produces. Put a Bantam cock to a large- sized hen, and she will instantly lay a small egg; the chick will be short in the leg, have feathers to the foot, and put on the appearance of the cock : so that it is a frequent complaint where Bantams are kept, that they make the hens lay small eggs, and spoil the breed, lteverse the case ; put a large dunghill cock to Bantam hens, and instantly they will lay larger eggs, and the APPENDIX. ORGANIC LAWS. 425 chicks will be good-sized birds, and the Bantam will have nearly disappeared. Here, then, are a number of facts known to every one, or at least open to be known by every one, clearly proving the influence of the male in some animals ; and as I hold it to be an axiom that nature never acts by contraries, never outrages the law clearly fixed in one species, by adopting the opposite course in another, — therefore, as in the case of an equilateral triangle, on the length of one side being given, we can with certainty demon- strate that of the remaining ; so, having found these laws to exist in one race of animals) we are entitled to assume that every spe- cies is subjected to the self-same rules, — the whole bearing, in fact, the same relation to each other as the radii of a circle." Very young hens lay small eggs ; but a breeder of fowls will never set these to be hatched, because the animals produced would be feeble and imperfectly developed. They select the largest and freshest eggs, and endeavour to rear the healthiest stock possible. " A Method of obtaining a greater number of One Sex, at the option of the Proprietor, in the Breeding of Live Stock.' 1 '' — Extracted from the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, No. I. p. 63. " In the Annales de 1' Agriculture Fran9aise, vols. 37 and 38, some very interesting experiments are recorded, which have lately been made in France, on the Breeding of Live Stock. M. Charles Girou de Buzareingues proposed, at a meeting of the Agricultu- ral Society of Severac, on the 3d of July 1826, to divide a flock of sheep into two equal parts, so that a greater number of males or females, at the choice of the proprietor, should be produced from each of them. Two of the members of the Society offered their flocks to become the subjects of his experiments, and the results have now been communicated, which are in accordance with the author's expectations." tl The first experiment was conducted in the following manner : He recommended very young rams to be put to the flock of ewes, from which the proprietor wished the greater number of females in their offspring ; and also, that, during the season when the rams were with the ewes, they should have more abundant pas- ture than the other ; while, to the flock from which the proprie- tor wished to obtain male lambs chiefly, he recommended him to put strong and vigorous rams four or five years old. The follow- ing tabular view contains the result of this experiment. N II * 426 APPENDIX. — ORGANIC LAWS. Flock for Female Lambs. Flock for Male Lambs. Age of the Mothers. Sex of the Lambs. Age of the Mothers. Sex of the Lambs. Males. Females. Two years, - 14 26 Three years, - - 16 29 Four years, 5 21 Males Females. Two years, - - 7 3 Three years, - - 15 14 Four years, - 33 14 Total, ... 35 76 Five years and older, 18 8 Total, ... 55 31 Five years and older, 25 24 Total, ... 53 84 Total, -, - - 80 55 N. B. — There were three twin-births in this flock. Two rams s°rved it, one fifteen months, the other nearly two years old. N. B. — There were no twin" births in this flock. Two strong rams, one four, the other five years old, served it. (i The general law, as far as we are able to detect it, seems to be, that, when animals are in good condition, plentifully supplied with food, and kept from breeding as fast as they might do, they are most likely to produce females. Or, in other words, when a race of animals is in circumstances favourable for its increase, na- ture produces the greatest number of that sex which, in animals that do not pair, is most efficient for increasing the numbers of the race : But, if they are in a bad climate, or on stinted pasture, or if they have already given birth to a numerous offspring, then nature, setting limits to the increase of the race, produces more males than females. Yet, perhaps, it may be premature to attempt to deduce any law from experiments which have not yet been suffi- ciently extended. M. Girou is disposed to ascribe much of the ef- fect to the age of the ram, independent of the condition of the ewe." Mr W. B. Stevenson, in his " Narrative of Twenty Years' re- sidence in South America," vol. i. p. 286, says, Cs he has always re- marked, that in cases where parents are of different castes, the child receives more of the colour of the father than of the mother.'' Ke made extensive observations during a long residence in Lima ; a place, he remarks, than which there cannot be any more favour- able for an examination of the influence of " the configuration of the human face, or of its colour, on the intellectual faculties." He gives the following table, showing the mixture of the diffe- rent castes, under their common or distinguishing names. But " this table, 1 ' says he, " which I hnve endeavoured to make as cor- rect as possible, from personal observation, must be considered as general, and not including particular cases." APPENDIX — ORGANIC LAWS. 427 Father. Mother. Children. Colour. European, European, Creole, White. Creole, Creole, Creole, White. White, Indian, Mestiso, | White, | Indian — Fair. Indian, White, Mestiso, | White, | Indian. White, Mestiso, Creole, White — often very fair. Mestiso, White, Creole, White — but rather sallow. Mestiso, Mestiso, Creole, Sallow — often light hair. White, Negro, Mulatto, 1 White, 1 Negro— often fair. Negro, White, Zambo, | White, | Negro — dark copper. White, Mulatto, Quarteron, | White, | Negro. — Fair. Mulatto, White, Mulatto, § White, | Negro — Tawny. White, Quarteron, Quinteron, | White, i Negro — very fair. Quarteron, White, Quarteron, | White, | Negro — Tawny. White, Quinteron, Creole, White — light Eyes, fair hair. Negro, Indian, Chino, | Negro, | Indian. Indian, Negro, Chino, | Negro, | Indian. Negro, Mulatto, Zambo, § Negro, | White. Mulatto, Negro, Zambo, | Negro, | White. Negro, Zambo, Zambo, }§ Negro. T * t White— Dark. Zambo, Negro, Zambo, 1 Negro, | White. Negro, Chino, < Zambo- 1 Chino, J {| Negro, j'g Indian. Chino, Negro, -1 Zambo- I Chino, j | Negro, | Indian. Negro, Negro, J Negro. Note III. — laws relative to marriage and education in GERMANY. Text, p. 196. "It cannot be altogether foreign to natural history, to notice the influence of climate, food, and political and religious regula- tions on the human species; and we are unwilling to leave Ger- many without saying something on so interesting a people as the Germans. It will not be denied that man is subject to the same laws as other animals, and that his natural or inborn character must depend principally on the climate and products of the soil where he is placed. His factitious, or civilized character, will as certainly depend on his education, taking that word in its most extensive sense, as including parental care and example, scholas- tic tuition, religion, and government. In warm fertile countries, where nature produces every thing spontaneously, man becomes inactive, and has naturally few labours and few enjoyments. In 428 APPENDIX ORGANIC LAWS. extremely cold and inhospitable climates, the enjoyments of man are also few, because the labour necessary to overcome natural objects is too great for his powers. It would seem, therefore, that intermediate climates are more favourable for human happiness than either extremes ; but whether such are at all times tem- perate, as those of many parts of Italy and Spain, or such as are alternately temperate and severe, as those of the south of Ger- many and the north of France, are the best, may perhaps be doubted. It appears that a climate where the winters are severe? has a considerable influence on the human character, by the ne- cessity which it induces of forethought, in the laying up a provi- sion of food for winter, and the greater attention and labour that are requisite in the article of clothing for that season. It is cer- tain, on the other hand, that, in climates at all times temperate, the health, other circumstances being alike, must be better than in severe climates, where it is impaired by the artificial atmo- sphere of apartments during the winter season ; and constant good health must necessarily have a considerable influence on the cha- racter. Supposing, therefore, all the artificial circumstances to be the same in two climates, such as that of the south of Ger- many, and that of Italy or the central parts of France, it seems reasonable to conclude that man would attain to a higher degree of perfection in the latter climates than in the former. So much for our theory of the influence of soil and climate on man ; and, for farther details, we refer the reader to Dr Falconar's work on the subject. " Of all the artificial or accidental circumstances which influence the character, personal education must be allowed to be the great- est, and next, religion and government. Manner of life, occupa- tions, and pursuits, and even amusements, have an important in- fluence. To do more than premise these matters, would be un- suitable to this Magazine ; but what has been said became ne- cessary as an introduction to what is to follow. " Applying the above theory to the three states of Germany which we have passed through, Wurtemberg, Bavaria, and Baden, the climate and soil of these states seem favourable in the second degree ; education, to a certain extent, is there universal ; reli- gion is, on the whole, more simple than in some other countries ; and the laws and governments seem, at least, equal, in constitu- tional merits and impartial administration, to those of any people in Europe. The manner of life, or occupation, is chiefly agricul- tural ; which, though not favourable to luxury or refinement, !>2ems. without doubt, for the great mass of the people, the hap- APPENDIX ORGANIC LAWS. 4lJ9 piest mode of existence. Local and personal attachments are universally felt to be essential sources of happiness : and in no way can this feeling be gratified so easily and effectually as by the possession of land. In the three countries named, the great ma- jority of the population are occupiers in perpetuity, of a portion of the soil, either as absolute proprietors or as perpetual renters. This state of things is far from being favourable to what is call- ed making money ; but it is highly favourable to health and con- tentment. It is a great deal for a poor man to have something which he can call his own ; something on which he can bestow la- bour, and from which he can, in consequence, extract enjoyment. The absolute necessities of life are few, and derived directly from the soil ; the labouring man, therefore, who has a house and a few roods of land, is certain of a home and food; he increases the interest of his home by a wife ; and parental care and solicitude, with connubial and filial attachment, fill up the measure of his happiness. These are the essential purposes and enjoyments of life, which nature intended for all men ; which the poor man can enjoy as well as the rich ; and for which no other enjoyment, either of the rich or the poor, the wise or the learned, can en- tirely compensate. In'no part of Europe have Ave seen, or thought we have seen, these enjoyments so generally diffused as in the countries we have recently passed through, and more especially Wurtemberg. We entered on these countries, expecting to find, the people not much better off than in France ; but we could not resist the conviction produced by constant observation, and the result of various inquiry, that comfort and happiness exist to a much greater degree among the labouring classes of society in the south of Germany, than they do in Bi-itain. The people, at first sight, have a milder and more civilised aspect. The dress of the country labourers, male and female, does not consist of such fine materials as in England ; but one part of the dress is of a quality consistent with the others, and the whole is in a superior style, compared with the dress of the other classes of society. There is no such thing, in this part of Germany, as a man or woman in rags, or with a coat or gown of the best quality, and the hat or stockings in tatters, as is frequently the case, not only among la- bourers, but even among mechanics, in England. In short, the dress in Germany is in much better keeping. Both men and women of the labouring class here are more intelligent in their aspect, much more civil and polite on a first acquaintance, and much better furnished with conversation, than the British la- bourers. What struck us particularly were, the great rarity of 430 APPENDIX. ORGANIC LAWS. exceptions to this general description, the general uniformity of manner and character throughout the whole country, and the to- tal absence of public beggars. On inquiry, we found that there were few or no poor supported publicly, though every parish is obliged to support its poor when unable to work ; and, also, that there were few people in prison, either for debt or for crime of any kind. " This state of things more particularly applies to Wurtemberg ; and the causes, we think, may be very easily traced. The first and principal cause is a law respecting schools, which has existed, more or less, in the states of the south of Germany, for above a century, but which has been greatly improved within the last thirty years. By this law, parents are compelled to send their children to school, from the age of six to fourteen years, where they must be taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, but where they may acquire as much additional instruction in other branches as their parents choose to pay for. To many of the schools of Bavaria large gardens are attached, in which the boys are taught the principal operations of agriculture and gardening m their hours of play ; and, in all the schools of the three states, the girls ill addition to the same instruction as the boys, are taught knit- ting, sewing, embroidery, &c. It is the duty of the police and priest (which may be considered equivalent to our parish ves- tries) of each commune or parish, to see that the law is duly exe- cuted, the children sent regularly, and instructed duly. If the parents are partially or wholly unable to pay for their children, the commune makes up the deficiency. Religion is taught by the priest of the village or hamlet; and where, as is frequently the case in Wurtemberg, there are two or three religions in one pa- rish, each child is taught by the priest of its parents; all of which priests are, from their office, members of the committee or vestry of the commune. The priest or priests of the parish have the regular inspection of the schoolmaster, and are required by the government to see that he does his duty ; while each priest, at the same time, sees that the children of his flock attend regularly. After the child has been the appointed number of years at school, it receives from the schoolmaster, and the priest of the religion to which it belongs, a certificate, without which it cannot procure employment. To employ any person under twenty-one, without such a certificate, is illegal, and punished by a fixed fine, as is al- most every other offence in this part of Germany ; and the fi.es are never remitted, which makes punishment always certain. The schoolmaster is paid much in the same way as in Scotland ; APPENDIX. ORGANIC LAWS. 431 by a house, a garden, and sometimes a field, and by a small sa- lary from the parish ; and by fixed rates for the children. ■* A second law, which is coeval with the school law, renders itiU legal for any young man to marry before he is twenty-flve, or any young woman before she is eighteen ; and a young man, at whatever age he wishes to marry, must shew to the police and the priest of the commune where he resides, that he is able, and has the prospect, to provide for a wife and family. " There are minor causes, but these two laws, and the general possession of land both by labourers and tradesmen, are the chief. Amongst the minor causes are the general simplicity of their forms of religion, and universal toleration ; even the Catholic faith in Wurtemberg, is unattended with the ceremony and spectacle with which it is exhibited in various parts of Germany and France. The equal footing on which the different religions are placed, is also favourable to liberality of sentiment and good neighbourhood. That particular mildness of feature and charac- ter, so different from what is met with in the labouring classes in England, is no doubt partly owing to the greater proportion of ve- getables and fruits which enter into the general diet of the popu- lation ; the almost total abstinence from strong liquors or spirits, the general drink being wine ; and, perhaps, to the almost unre- mitted smoking of tobacco from morning to night From the Ma- gazine of Natural History. Note IV. death — Text, p. 235. The decreasing Mortality of England is strikingly supported by the following extract from the Scotsman of 16'th April 1828. It is well known that this paper is edited by Mr Charles Maclaren, a gentleman whose extensive information, and scrupulous regard to accuracy and truth, stamp the highest value on his statements of fact ; and whose profound and comprehensive intellect warrants a well-grounded reliance on his philosophical conclusions. "Diminished Mortality in England — The diminution of the annual mortality in England amidst an alleged increase of crime, misery, and pauperism, is an extraordinary and startling fact, which merits a more careful investigation than it has receiv- ed. We have not time to go deeply into the subject; but we shall offer a remark or two on the question, how the apparent an- nual mortality is affected by the introduction of the cow-pox. and 432 APPENDIX. DEATH. the stationary or progressive state of the population. In 1780, according to Mr Rickman, the annual deaths were 1 in 40, or one- fortieth part of the population died every year; in 1821, the pro- portion was 1 in 58. It follows, that, out of any given number of persons, 1000 or 10,000, scarcely more than two deaths take place now for three that took place in 1780, or the mortality has diminished 45 percent. The parochial registers of burials in Eng- land, from which this statement is derived, are known to be incor- rect, but as they continue to be kept without alteration in the same way, the errors of one year are justly conceived to balance those of another, and they thus afford comparative results, upon which considerable reliance may be placed. " A community is made up of persons of many various ages, among whom the law of mortality is very different. Thus, ac- cording to the Swedish tables, the deaths among children from the moment of birth up to 10 years of age, are I in 22 per annum ; from 10 to 20, the deaths are only 1 in 185. Among the old again, mortality is of course great. From 70 to 80, the deaths are 1 in 9 ; from 80 to 90 they are 1 in 4- Now, a community like that of New York or Ohio, where marriages are made early and the births are numerous, necessarily contains a large proportion of young persons, among whom the proportional mortality is low, and a small proportion of the old who die off rapidly. A commu- nity in which the births are numerous, is like a regiment receiv- ing a vast number of young and healthy recruits, and in which, of course, as a whole, the annual deaths will be few compared with those in another regiment chiefly filled with veterans, though, among the' persons at any particular age, such as 20, 40, or 50, the mortality will be as great in the one regiment as the other. It may thus happen, that the annual mortality among 1000 per- sons in Ohio, may be considerably less than in France, while the Expectation of Life, or the chance which an individual has to reach to a certain age, may be no greater in the former country than in the latter ; and hence we see that a diminution in the rate of mor- tality is not a certain proof of an increase in the value of life, or an improvement in the condition of the people. " But the effect produced by an increased number of births is less than might be imagined, owing to the very great mortality among infants in the first year of their age. Not having time for the calculations necessary to get at the precise result, which are pretty complex, we avail ourselves of some statements given by Mr Milne in his work on Annuities. Taking the Swedish tables as a basis, and supposing the law of mortality to remain the same A£>ENDIX. DEATH- 433 for each period of life, he has compared the proportional number of deaths in a population which is stationary, and in one which in- creases 15 per cent, in 20 years. The result is, that when the mortality in the stationary society is one in 36.13, that in the pro- gi*essive society is one in 37.33, a difference equal to 3| per cent. Now, the population of England and Wales increased 34.3 per cent, in the 20 years ending in 1821, but in the interval from 1811 to 1821, the rate was equivalent to 39£ per cent, upon 20 vears ; and the apparent diminution of mortality arising from this circumstance must of course have been about 8| per cent. We are assuming, however, that the population was absolutely station- ary at 1780, which was not the case. According to Mr Milne (p. 437), the average annual increase in the five years ending 1 784, was 1 in 155; in the ten years ending 1821, according to the cen- sus, it was 1 in 60. Deducting, then, the proportional part cor- responding to the former, which is 3£, there remains 54-. If Mr Milne's tables, therefore, are correct, we may infer that the progres- sive state of the population causes a diminution of b\ per cent, in the annual mortality — a diminution which is only apparent, because it arises entirely from the great proportion of births, and is not ac- companied with any real increase in the value of human life. " A much greater change — not apparent but real — was pro- duced by the introduction of vaccination in 1 798. It was com- puted, that, in 1795, when the population of the British Isles was 15,000,000, the deaths produced by the small-pox amounted to 36,000, or nearly 11 per cent, of the whole annual mortality. (See article Vaccination in the Supplement to Encyclopaedia Bri- tannica, p. 713). Now, since not more than one case in 330 ter- minates fatally under the cow-pox system, either directly by the primary infection, or from the other diseases supervening : the whole of the young persons destroyed by the small-pox might be considered as saved, were vaccination universal, and always pro- perly performed. This is not precisely the case, but one or one and a half per cent, will cover the deficiencies ; and we may therefore conclude, that vaccination has diminished the annual mor- tality fully nine per cent. After we had arrived at this conclusion by the process described, we found it confirmed by the authority of Mr Milne, who estimates in a note to one of his tables, that the mortality of 1 in 40 would be diminished to 1 in 43-5, by ex- terminating the small-pox. Now, this is almost precisely 9 per cent. " We stated, that the diminution of the annual mortality be- tween 1790 and 1821 was 45 per cent., according to Mr Bickman. OO* 434 APPENDIX DEATH. If we deduct from this 9 per cent, for the effect of vaccination., and 5 per cent, as only apparent, resulting from the increasing proportion of births — 31 per cent, remains, which, we apprehend, can only be accounted for by an improvement in the habits, morals, and physical condition of the people. Independently, then, of the two causes alluded to, the value of human life since 1780, has increas- ed in a ratio which would diminish the annual mortality from 1 in 40 to 1 in 52|, — a fact which is indisputably of great importance, and worth volumes of declamation in illustrating the true situa- tion of the labouring classes. We have founded our conclusion on data derived entirely from English returns ; but there is no doubt that it applies equally to Scotland. It is consoling to find, from this very unexceptionable species of evidence, that though there is much privation and suffering in the country, the situation of the people has been, on the whole, progressively improving during the last forty years. But how much greater would the advance have been, had they been less taxed, and better ti*eated ? and how much room is there still for future amelioration, by spreading in- struction, amending our laws, lessening the temptations to crime, and improving the means of correction and reform ? In the mean time, it ought to be some encouragement to philanthropy to learn, that it has not to struggle against invincible obstacles, and that even when the prospect was least cheering to the eye, its efforts were silently benefitting society." Extract from Edinburgh Advertiser 13th January 1829 : " The following comparative table of the average duration of life at Geneva, during the last 260 years, is very remarkable. The growing improvement affords a striking proof of the benefits re- sulting from the progress of civilization and the useful arts. Average Duration Years. Months. 1560 to 1G00, . 18 5 1601 to 1700, . 23 5 1701 to 1760, . 32 8 1761 to 1800, . 33 7 1801 to 1814, . 38 6 1815 to 1826, . 38 10 It has been mentioned to me, that the late Dr Monro, in his anatomical lectures, stated, that, as far as he could observe, the human body, as a machine, was perfect, — that it bore within it- self no marks by which we could possibly predicate its decay,— that it was apparently calculated to go on for ever, — and that we learned only by experience that it would not do so ; and some persons have conceived this to be an authority against the doc- APPENDIX DEATH. 435 trine maintained in Chap. III. Sect. 2, that death is apparently inherent in organization. In answer, I beg to observe, that if we were to look at the sun only for one moment of time say at noon, no circumstance, in its appearance, would indicate that it had ever risen, or that it would ever set ; but, if we had traced its progress from the horizon to the meridian, and down again till the long shadows of evening prevailed, we should have ample grounds for inferring, that, if the same causes that had produced these changes continued to operate, it would undoubtedly at length disappear. In the same way, if we were to confine our observations on the human body to a mere point of time, it is cer- tain that, from the appearances of that moment, we could not in- fer that it had grown up, by gradual increase, or that it would decay ; but this is the case only, because our faculties are not fitted to penetrate into the essential nature and dependencies of things. Any man, who had seen the body decrease in old age, could, without hesitation, predicate, that, if the same causes which had produced that effect went on operating, dissolution would at last inevitably occur ; and, if his Causality were well developed, he would not hesitate to say that a cause of the decrease and dis- solution must exist, although he could not tell by examining the body what it was. By analyzing alcohol, no person could predi- cate, independently of experience, that it would produce intoxi- cation ; and, nevertheless, there must be a cause in the constitu- tion of the alcohol, in that of the body, and in the relationship between them, why it produces this effect. The notion, there- fore, of Dr Monro, does not prove that death is not an essential, law of organization, but only that the human faculties are not able, by dissection, to discover that the cause of it is inherent in the bodily constitution itself. It does not follow, however, that this inference may not be legitimately drawn from phenomena collected from the whole period of corporeal existence. Note V. EDINBURGH ASSOCIATION FOR PROCURING INSTRUCTION IN USEFUL AND ENTERTAINING SCIENCES Text p. 247. The history of this Association is briefly stated in one of its Reports. " In the summer of 1 832, several individuals, engaged in mercantile and trading avocations, and who were then attend- ing Mr Combe's evening course of lectures on Phrenology, ex- 436 APPENDIX.— EDINBURGH ASSOCIATION. pressed a strong desire for a more extended course during winter, along with lectures on some other subjects of natural science. With this view, they resolved to form themselves into an Asso- ciation for procuring such instruction, at convenient hours and on moderate terms ; and in order to make the public acquainted with their intentions, as well as to ascertain the support likely to be obtained, they printed and circulated a ' Proposal for Courses of Lectures on Natural History, Chemistry, and Phrenology com- bined with Physiology.' " These lectures were intended for the instruction of persons of both sexes, belonging chiefly to the mid- die classes of society. They have been completely successful. The regulations of the Association are the following : — " I. The name of the Institution shall be, The Edinburgh Association for providing Instruction in Useful and Entertaining Sciences. " II. The subjects for lectures shall be left to the judgment of the Directors for the time being. " III. There shall be twenty -four Directors, one-half of whom shall be annually changed, and an equal number elected, by a ge- neral meeting of the members ; and the said Directors shall, from among their own number, choose a President, Treasurer, and Se- cretary. " IV. An annual payment of one guinea shall entitle the con- tributor to free tickets for all the lectures, to vote in the election of Directors, and to enjoy all the other privileges of an ordinary member. " V. Individuals shall be allowed to purchase tickets for ad- mission to one or more of the lectures, without becoming regular members. " VI. The funds shall be deposited in a respectable bank, (at present being so lodged,) in the names of the President, Treasurer, and Secretary. " VII. After the present season, the annual meeting of mem- bers for the election of office-bearers, and other general business, shall be held in the month of March." The last report of the Association, dated October 1834, men- tions, that " in November 1832, lectures on Phrenology, Chemis- try, and Geology, were commenced, under the auspices of the Association. At this early period the number of subscribers ex- ceeded all expectation ; and the courses which have since been given on Botany, Popular Education, Natui'al Philosophy, Astro- nomy, and Physiology, have likewise met with the most marked success. The following abstract of the pecuniary transactions to APPENDIX. EDINBURGH ASSOCIATION. 437 the close of last session, will shew the great interest which has been taken by the public in the proceedings of the Association : — " Total Receipt and Expenditure for Sessions 1832-3, and 1833-4. CLASSES. Tickets Sold. Visitors ad- mitted at 6d. each. Receipts. 225 229 251 60 192 245 311 309 993 387 142 242 at Is. 33 do. 163 340 406 231 at Is. 330 £115 16 4 100 7 9 73 2 2 12 2 38 5 75 12 8 10 110 3 113 8 9 95 17 9 Three Lectures on Education, given sepa-\ rately in April 1833, / Botany, day class, Three Lectures on Education, given in No-A vember 1833 (in addition to the holders of t Tickets to any of the other classes, who > were admitted to the Lectures on Educa- 1 Interest from Ba 1822 nk, 3267 r charges, tie 1834, £743 2 5 10 Paid Lecturers, and othe £748 3 605 12 4 Surplus at 26th Ju £142 10 8 " In comparison with some other institutions, the pecuniary means of this Association have been limited ; but still they have been more than sufficient for defraying all necessary expenses. These expenses, too, have been considerable, particularly for room-rent, fittings, advertising, and printing ; for, besides the original prospectus, the Directors have already printed, and widely circulated, four detailed reports, comprehensive syllabuses for the three season courses of lectures, and a tabular view of the Lin- nean system of classification of plants, with explanatory remarks, amounting in all to 7500 copies. Certain fundamental principles have been steadily kept in view, viz. that no reliance should be placed on eleemosynary aid — that the Directors should be regu- larly changed — that the instruction should be interesting, practi- cal, and useful — that it should be applicable to both sexes from twelve years of age and upwards — and that ful] value should be given to the subscribers for their money, as well as a reasonable remuneration to the lecturers for their services. By continuing to act upon these principles, and by securing the aid of well qua- lified teachers, the directors confidently hope for a continuance of public support." 438 APPENDIX. Note VI. INFRINGEMENT OF THE MORAL LAWS Text p. 261. The deterioration of the operative classes of Britain, which I attribute to excessive labour, joined with great alternations of high and low wages, and occasionally with absolute idleness and want, is illustrated by the following extract from a "Report on Emigration by a Committee of the House of Commons : — " Joseph Foster, a weaver, and one of the deputies of an emi- gration society in Glasgow, states that the labour is all paid by the piece ; the hours of working are various, sometimes eighteen or nineteen out of twenty-four, and even all night once or twice a-week ; and that the wages made by such labour, after deducting the necessary expences, will not amount to more than 4s. 6'd. to 7s. per week, some kinds of work paying better than others. When he commenced as a weaver, from 1800 to 1805, the same amount of labour that now yields 4s. 6d. or 5s. would have yielded 20s. There are about 11,000 hand-looms going in Glasgow and its suburbs, some of which are worked by boys and girls, and he estimates the average net earnings of each hand- weaver at 5s. 6d. The principal subsistence of the weavers is oatmeal and potatoes, with occasionally some salt herrings. " Major Thomas Moodie, who had made careful inquiries into the state of the poor at Manchester, states, that the calico and other light plain work at Bolton and Blackburn yields the weaver from 4s. to 5s. per week, by fourteen hours of daily labour. In the power-loom work, one man attends two looms, and earns from 7s. 6d. to Hs. per week, according to the fineness of the work. He understood that during the last ten years, weavers' wages had fallen on an average about 15s. per week. " Mr Thomas Hutton, manufacturer, Carlisle, states, that there are in Carlisle and its neighbourhood about 5500 families, or from 18,000 to 20,000 persons dependent on weaving. They are all hand-weavers, and are now in a very depressed state, in consequence of the increase of power-loom and factory weaving * in Manchester and elsewhere. Taking fifteen of his men, he finds that five of them, who are employed on the best work, had * In what is called factory-weaving, an improved species of hand-loom is em- ployed, in which the dressing and preparation of the web is effected by machinery and the weaver merely sits and drives the shuttle. APPENDIX. — MORAL LAWS. 439 earned 5s. (id. per week for the preceding month, deducting the necessary expenses of loom-rent, candles, tackling, &c. ; the next five, who are upon work of the second quality, earned 3s. lid. ; and the third five earned 3s. 7^d. per week. They work from fourteen to sixteen hours a-day, and live chiefly on potatoes, butter- milk, and herrings. " Mr W. H. Hyett, Secretary to the Charity Committee in London, gives a detailed statement, to shew, that, in the Hun- dred of Blackburn, comprising a population of 150,000 persons, 90,000 were out of employment in 1826 ! In April last, when he gave his evidence before the Committee, these persons had gene- rally found work again, but at very low wages. They were la- bouring from twelve to fourteen hours a-day, and gaining from 4s. to 5s. 6d. per week." " Extract from Lord Advocate Sir William Rae*s Speech in the House of Commons, Wth March 1828, on the additional Circuit Court of Glasgow. " The Lord-Advocate, in rising to move for leave to bring in a bill to ' authorize an additional Court of Justiciary to be held at Glasgow, and to facilitate criminal trial in Scotland,' said he did not anticipate any opposition to the motion. A great deal had been- said of the progress of crime in this country, but he was sorry to say crime in Scotland had kept pace with that increase. A return had been made of the number of criminal commitments in each year, so far back as the year 1 805. In that year the num- ber of criminal commitments for all Scotland amounted only to 85. In 1809 it had risen to between 200 and 300 ; in 1819-20, it had increased to 400 ; and, by the last return, it appeared, that, in 1827, 061 persons had been committed for trial. He was in- clined to think that the great increase of crime, particularly in the west of Scotland, was attributable, in no small degree, to the num- ber of Irish who daily and weekly arrived there. He did not mean to say that the Irish themselves were in the habit of com- mitting more crime than their neighbours ; but he was of opinion, that their numbers tended to reduce the price of labour, and that an increase of crime was the consequence. Another cause was the great disregard manifested by parents for the moral edu- cation of their children. Formerly the people of Scotland were remarkable for the paternal care which they took of their offspring. That had ceased in many instances to be the case. Not only were 440 APPENDIX. — MORAL LAWS. parents found who did not pay attention to the welfare of their children, but who were actually parties to their criminal pursuits, and participated in the fruits of their unlawful proceedings. When crime was thus on the increase, it was necessary to take measures for its speedy punishment. The great city of Glasgow, which contained 150,000 inhabitants, and to which his proposed measure was meant chiefly to apply, stood greatly in need of some additional jurisdiction. This would appear evident, when it was considered that the court met there for the trial of capital offences, had also to act in the districts of Renfrew, Lanark, and Dumbarton. In 1812, the whole number of criminals tried in Glasgow was only 31 ; in 1820, it was 83; in 1823, it was 8f> ; and in 1827, 211. — The learned lord concluded by moving for leave to bring in a bill to authorize an additional circuit court of justiciary to be held at Glasgow, and to facilitate criminal trial in Scotland." ERRATA. Page 32, line 12, for perspective read peiceptivi Page 61, line 9 from bottom, delete space and Page 290, line 2, for Ameria read America^ i 441 > INDEX. Acquisitiveness, 59, 71, 81, 90. Adhesiveness, 59, 69, 84. Alison, Mr, on the easy childbirths among the lower orders, 419. Amativeness, 59, 67, 88, 134. America, evils anticipated from slavery in the United States of, 293. Cruelties of the Spaniards in, 296, Penitentiaries in, 330. American Indians, character of the, 198. American war, 283. Animals, their constitution compared with that of man, 2, 4, 48, 128. Hereditary transmission of their qualities, 183, 423, 425. Punish- ment inflicted by them on each other, 312, et seq. Aristides's advice as to the burning of the Grecian ships, 285. Aristocracy, source of the unhappiness of the, 277. Barometer, its utility in foretelling storms, 349. Benevolence, sentiment of, 60, 76, 91. Blackstone on the laws of nature, 416. Bonaparte's mother, a woman of superior talent and courage, 189. Brahmins, their children naturally superior to those of other Hindoo castes, 177. Brain the organ of the mind, 142. Necessity of exercising it, 142, et seq. Its form and qualities transmissible from parents to children, 180, 319, 360, 421. By improving the brain we may im- prove human character, 385. Breeding of live stock, 425; Bridgewater bequest, 23. Britain too exclusively manufacturing and commercial, 267, 275. Corruption of her government arising indirectly from the slave trade, 280. Strictures on her conduct in entering on the Ameri- can war, 283. Her national debt the punishment of foolish wars, 288. Brown, Dr John, of Haddington, his complaint about the repeal of penal statutes against witches, 394. Butler, Bishop, on the government of Got!, 34. On the supremacy of conscience, 49. On the extent to which suffering results from our own conduct, 334. Caldwell, Dr Charles, 330, 332. Cautiousness, 60, 76, 90. Chalmers, Dr, on the means of human improvement, 119. Childbirth, pains of, 138, 419. Children, resemblance of, to their parents, 176, et seq., 421. See Hereditary transmission. Christianity'has proved itself insufficient, while unaided by physical science, to produce moral conduct among men, 387. "Practical Christianity, how to be realized, 271, 404, 413. 442 INDEX. Christians, primitive, charged with atheism and impiety, 382. Circassian brain, 188. Clergy, their zeal in persecuting and tormenting witches, 303. Ought they to teach the natural as well as revealed laws of God ? 411. See Religion. Clerks, evils arising from a bad choice of, 211. Combination laws, 263. Combativeness, 59, 71. Commercial prosperity and distress, 263, 360, 438. Conscientiousness, 60, 78, 94. Constitution of man, general view of the, and its relations to ex- ternal objects, 1. Constructiveness, 59, 89. Cowper on the punishment of the Spaniards for their cruelties in America, 297. Crime, origin of, 318. How to be prevented, 320. Increase of, in Scotland, 439. Criminals, punishment of, 313. Brains of, 319. Deafness and dumbness hereditary, 177. Death, 42, 431. A natural institution, 216, 235. Depravity of the human mind, 385. Destructiveness, 59, 71, 89. Disease, predisposing causes of, 149, et seq. At different ages, 226. Dogs, acquired habits of, hereditary, 183. Drunken fathers produce inferior children, 421. Edinburgh, great fires in, 341. Edinburgh Association for procuring Scientific Instruction, 435. Education, Dr Chalmers on its power to improve the human race, 119. Utility 'of, 144. Classical and scientific compared, 243. Scientific, 247. Utility of phrenology in relation to, 399. What it ought to be, 409. State of, in Wurtemberg, 430. Eggs of hens, 424. Emancipation of the Negro slaves, 292, 295. Erskine on the laws of nature, 416. , Ebenezer, his account of the despondency of his wife, 165. Evil. See Miseries. Excise laws, their oppressive and unjust operation fifty years ago, 281. Exercise indispensable to happiness, 54, 98, et seq. 142, 268. ^ Expediency and justice always accordant, 285. Faculties of man, summary of the, 59, 66 et seq. Compared with each other, 63. Compared with external objects, 88. Fall of man, 16, et seq. 218. Fire, benefits accruing from its proper use, and evils from its mis- application, 304. Fires in Edinburgh in 1824, causes of, 341. Firmness, one of the faculties, 60, 95. Flint's account of the American Indians, 198. Food, relation of, to climate, 55. French Revolution, 289. Philosophers of the, 417. Friends, faithless, 70. Friendship, 69, 84. Future state, 29, 232, 241. Geology, truths revealed by, 5, 215. Scripture geology, 380. INDEX. 443 Germany, burning of witches in, 390. State of the lower orders in, 429. Education in, 430. Globe, progressively adapted for the reception of man, 5, 21.5. God, existence and attributes of, discoverable from his works, 1, 92. Professor Sedgwick and Bishop Butler on his government, xii. 35. Locke on his benevolence and justice, 127. Principles on which his laws seem to be instituted, 303. Government, ought it to interfere with industry ? 273. Gravitation, law of, results of obedience to, and neglect of, 50, 128, 363. Gregory, Drs James and John, on the hereditary transmission of mental qualities, 178. Happiness, how attainable, 9, 10, 98, 238. Why so little advance has been made in the pursuit of, 118. Influence of the natural laws on that of individuals, 362. Hare, murderer, engraving of his head, 170. Harmonious gratification of the faculties necessary to happiness, 67, 81, 110. Head, different forms of, 169. See Brain. Phrenology. Health, prerequisites of, 52, 54, 136. Hens, their eggs how made to vary in size, 424. Hereditary transmission of bodilv and mental qualities, 138, 176, et seq. 319, 360, 370, 421 ; and of acquired habits, 183, 423. Advan- tage of crossing the breed, 209. History exhibits man progressively improving, 12, 257. Honesty the best policv, 287. Hope, sentiment of, 60," 77, 93. Human nature. See Man. Constitution of Man. Ideality, 61, 77, 93. Imitation, one of the faculties, 61, 95. Independence of the natural laws, 25, 39. Intellectual faculties, 61, 96. Intended to be exercised, 103. In- tellectual laws, 38. James I. of England, his pusillanimity accounted for, 189. Johnson, Samuel, on the evils arising from hasty marriages, 175. Jurv trial in Scotland, errors in the mode of conducting it pointed out, 338. Justice always in accordance with expediency, 285. Defective ad- ministration of, 338. Knowledge, acquisition of, agreeable, 100. Happiness advances with, 121. Knowledge of science necessary for rightly interpret- ing Scripture, 376, et seq. Labour, man intended for, 54, 268. Evils arising attending its ex- cess, 259, 266, 438. Lawrence, Mr, on the easy child-births of savages, 420. Laws of Nature, 31. Three great classes of, 25, 37. Their indepen- dence, 25, 39. Definition of the term, 32. Obedience to each re- warded, and neglect punished, 40. Universal, invariable, and unbending, ib. In harmony with the whole constitution of man, 41. Application of, to the practical arrangements of life, 113. Punishment inflicted under the, 301. Instituted for the benefit of created beings, 303. Moral advantages of punishment under them, 332. Their combined operation, 338. Their influence on the happiness of individuals, 362. Extracts from authors who have treated of, 415. 444 INDEX. Legislation, utility of Phrenology in relation to, 399. Life, love of, 59, 66, 229. Duration of, increasing, 234, 431. Plan of, Locke on the objects of divine punishments, 127. Love of Approbation, 60, 73, 90. " Love thy neighbour as thyself," 122. Lyon, Captain, unsuccessful result of his attempt to reach Repulse Bay traced to its causes, 350. Machinery, anticipated moral effects from employment of, in manu- factures, 268. Maclaren, Charles, on the diminution of mortality in England, 431. Malthus's principle of population, 255. Man, doctrine of the fall of, 16, et seq. Man considered as a phy~ sical being, 50 ; as an organized being, 52 ; as an animal, moral, and intellectual being, 58. Intended for activity, 54, 98, 268. Summary of his mental faculties, 59, 66, et seq. These com- pared with each other, 63, and with external objects, 88. A pro- gressive being, 11, 118. Apparently but in the infancy of his ex- istence, 124. Slowness of his progress, 273. Manufacturing population, source of miseries of the, 259, 438. Marriage, 67, 139, 169, et seq. Miseries arising from neglect of the organic laws in, 205. Prohibited before the age of twenty-five in Wurtemberg, 431. Melancthon, engraving of his head, 172. Miseries of mankind, how far referrible to infringements of the laws of nature, 127. Misery and evil, sources of, particularlv mentioned in this work Ill- sorted and too early marriages, 67, 139, 169, 174, 195, 205, 209, 422. Ignorance, 118, 151. Breach of the physical laws, 130, 351. Idle- ness, 147, 277. Filth, and impurity of air, 149. Ignorance of the organic laws, or physiology, 156, 161, 162, 248, 307. Bad choice of servants, clerks, partners," and agents, 211,253. Rash mercantile speculation, 249. Mistaken choice of a profession, 249. Excess of population, 255. Too severe and long continued labour, 266. Oscillations of trade and manufactures, 275. National selfishness and, unjust wars, 278-300. The slave trade, 280, 293. Errors in the mode of conducting Jury trials, 339 ; and in the proceedings of judges in the Circuit Courts, 340. Scotch and English hosti- lity, 341, Selfishness in captains of ships, 346. Montesquieu on the laws of nature, 415. Moral laws, 25, 38. Calamities arising from their infringement, 235. Moral sentiments and intellect, supremacy of the, 63. Moral science outstripped by physical, 298. More, Hannah, on the effects of sickness on the religious character, 167. Mortality, diminution of, 53, 234, 431. Moscow, French retreat from, 145. Murray, Captain, his mode of preserving the health of seamen, 157; National brains and character, 180, 187, 197. prosperity, effect of the moral law on, 277. wars absurd, 285. debt of Britain the result of her wars, 288. Natural Laws. See Laws of Nature. Navigation, dangers of, 252. Negro slavery, 280, 293. Nervous energy, 145. New doctrines often charged with impiety, 382. INDEX. •445 New Hollanders, 197. New Zealanders, their excellent health, 136. Prognosticate storms, 348. Operatives, causes of their depressed condition, 259, 438. Opium, benefits accruing from its pioper, and evils from its impro- per use, 307. Optimism, 4, 43. Organic laws, 25, 37. Evils that befal mankind from infringing them, 134, 248, 364. Organized being, man considered as an, 52. Owen, Mr, 117. Pain, utility of, 309. Paley, on the contrivances in creation, 43. Parliamentary reform, 292. Partners, evils arising from a bad choice of, 211, 254. Penitentiaries, 330. Pestilence, 149. Philoprogenitiveness, 59, 67, 80, 88. Phrenology, ix. 21, 122, 174, 212, et seq., 235-7, 319, 385. Human fa- culties according to, 59. Practical utility of, 396. Physical laws, 25, 37. How man may be placed in accordance with them, 50. Calamities arising from their infringement, 128. Physiology ought to be generally studied, 140. Plutarch, on the children of drunken parents, 421. Politics, utility of phrenology in relation to, 398. Population, Malthus's principle of, 255. Increase of, in manufac- turing towns, 258. Principles, utility of a knowledge of, 154. Prichard, Dr, on the hereditary descent of bodily peculiarities, 185. Profession, choice of a, 250. Propagation, laws of, 135, et seq. 176, et seq. Advantage of crossing the breed, 209. See Hereditary Transmission. Punishment for breach of the natural laws, 301. Punishment in- flicted by the lower animals compared with that inflicted by man, 312, et seq. Of criminals, ib. Flogging, the treadmill, executions. 322. Moral advantages of punishment, 332. Reform of Parliament, 292. Religion and religious opinions, 28, 44, 114, 165-9, 271, 333, 376, 401, 403. See Clergy. Revelation. Scripture. Remorse, its occurrence after offences, how reconcilable with bene- volence, 94. Retirement from business generally followed by unhappiness, 147. Revelation, 44. Cannot be at variance with true science, 384. Right and wrong, natural distinction between, 328. Royal families, degeneracy of, 189, 209. Safety-lamp, 151. Savages, easy child-births among, 420. Science, physical, has far outstripped moral, 298. Relation between science and scripture, 376. Progress of scientific discovery, 124. Scotland, persecution of witches in, 391. Increase of crime in, 439. Scripture, interpretation of, 18, 28. A knowledge of science neces- sary for correctly interpreting it, 376 et seq. Its meaning appears different to different minds, 401. Seamen, Captain Murray's mode of preserving the health of, 157; 446 INDEX. Seceders, their solemn complaint as to the repeal of penal statutes against witches, 394. Secretiveness, 57, 72, 90. Sedgwick, Professor, on God's government of the world by general laws, xii. On scripture and science, 380. Self-esteem, 60, 72, 90. Servants, choice of, 211, 253. Sheep, acquired habits hereditary in, 184. Sheridan, R. JB, 170. Engraving of his head, 171. Shipwreck from neglect of the natural laws, 346, 359. Sickness, amount of, at different ages, 226. Slave-trade, corruption of the British government indirectly flow- ing from the, 280, 293. Slavery in the United States, evils anticipated from, 293. Social law, calamities from infringement of the, 251. Society, advantages resulting from, 251 Spaniards punished under the natural laws for their cruelties in America, 296. Spurzheim on the natural laws, vii. St Pierre on death, 221, 223. Stevenson, Mr W. 33. on the colours of mixed American breeds, 426. Storms at sea, often prognosticate, 347 et seq. Stuarts, hereditary character of the, 177. Supremacy of the moral sentiments and intellect, 49, 63. Happi- ness arising therefrom, 243. Tell, William, 302. Truth, slow progress of, 331. Wages, lowness of, 259, 271, 438. War, the American, 283. Wars absurd, 285. French revolution- ary Avar, 289. National punishment for engaging in wars, 290. Wealth, engrossing pursuit of, 249, 267, 275. Whately, Archbishop, on scripture and science, 377. Williams, murderer, engraving of his head, 171. Witches, appalling atrocities perpetrated against them in Germany, 390, England, ib. and Scotland, 391. Women, their pains in childbirth, 138, 419. Wonder, sentiment Of, 60, 78, 93. Wurtemburg, laws in, rendering a educat,ion indispensable, and prohi- biting marriage before the age of twenty-five, 430. Vaccination, diminution of mortality bv, 433. Vanity, 73. Veneration, 60, 77, 92. Ventilation and health, 53, 340. Virtue conducive to happiness, 19. Volney on the laws of nature, 417. rRTNTKD BV NT.ILL & CO. OLD FISHMAKKE T. BOOKS PUBLISHED. A SYSTEM of PHRENOLOGY. By GEORGE COMBE, Third Edition. In one vol. 8vo. pp. 722. With numerous Figures. Price 15s. A Translation of this Work has been published in Germany. ELEMENTS of PHRENOLOGY. By GEORGE COMBE. Third Edition, Improved and Enlarged. With Two Engravings. 12mo. Price 4s, Shortly will be published, price Is., a New and Enlarged Edition, illustrated by Engravings, of OUTLINES of PHRENOLOGY. By GEORGE COMBE. John Anderson, Jim. 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