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three great
modifying conditions. Without taking these modifying conditions into
account, a correct estimate of brain-power is impossible. And it is
because these modifying conditions have been ignored by many
professed teachers of Phrenology, and but poorly expressed by others
who did recognize them, that many eminent physiologists have
condemned phrenology hastily, as having no sound basis in physiology.
The exponents of Phrenology are themselves to blame for this. They
have been too content to rest under the imputation of feeling heads for
bumps. They have not been sufficiently versed, in many instances, in
physiological science to dare to debate the ground with high authorities.
I challenge the world to bring one single natural fact to militate against
the principles here announced. I will debate the question with any
skilled medical, legal or clerical authority, and I claim, without fear of
contradiction, that the world does not hold a head whose character will
differ from that which Phrenology ascribes to it, when the
developments of the brain are measured in the light of these modifying

conditions.
When I was lecturing in Indiana in 1885, Gov. Will Cumback of that
state, propounded this question:
"Professor, what would you do if you found a man whose head, in the
light of Phrenological principles, showed a certain character, and you
found on intimate acquaintance and positive proof that he, in fact,
possessed a character radically different."
"My dear Governor," I replied, "I would wait until the sun rose in the
west, and then watch to see what you would do and follow suit. Such
men do not exist, they never have existed, and they never will exist
until the order of nature is reversed."
These three great modifying conditions which must be taken into
consideration before we estimate the brain itself, are as follows:
1st. The State of the Health. 2nd. The Quality of the Organization. 3rd.
The Temperament of the Constitution.
And we will consider them in the order named, therefore first,
THE STATE OF THE HEALTH.
It is a great fact in the constitution of man, that whatever affects the
body, affects the manifestations of intelligence, and conversely,
whatever affects intelligence affects the body. The body is the harp of a
thousand strings, manifesting its intelligence by different degrees of
vibration. If either the musician or his instrument is out of order, the
music will be discordant. It is not necessary for me to argue that a man
must be in perfect health to exhibit perfect mentality. But as perfect
health is the exception and not the rule, we rarely find mentality even
approximating perfection. We are obliged, in our estimate of the
character of men, to allow for various bodily infirmities, in a word, for
the eccentricities of disease. These diseases may be inherited or
acquired since birth; they may be acute or chronic in their stages; they
may be mild or malignant in type; they may produce long, continued

illness, terminating in death, or they may be only what we call a
temporary indisposition, like that of the country boy, who went to
Boston for the first time to see the sights. As he wandered around he
became hungry, and, entering a restaurant began to experiment with
strange dishes. He ate first a porterhouse steak, then some fried oysters,
then a lobster salad, a lot of pickles, ice cream, cake and bologna
sausage, drank a bottle of champagne and retired to his lodgings, and
dreamed that he was lying on Boston Common, and that the devil was
sitting on his stomach, holding Bunker Hill monument in his lap.
If you eat an indigestible meal, you are unable to perform good
brain-work after it. If you feed the body on material that will not
nourish it, the brain refuses to work. If you are in the clutches of
disease, we cannot expect of you a high measure of brain-power; in
other words, the manifestations of the mind are weakened by the
disorder of its instrument, the body.
The phrenologist, therefore, who essays to read your character, must be
able to trace the signs of disease in your appearance. He must needs be
an expert Physiologist and Anatomist. He must understand Pathology.
He must have the diagnosing skill to detect disease and allow for it in
his estimate of your mentality, or his delineation is worth less than
nothing; nay, more, he may do you a positive damage, by advising you
to adopt a course of life which would be disastrous to your constitution.
He must be able to do all this and do it rapidly and with precision.
Never trust yourself under the hands of a professed phrenologist unless
you are confident of his skill in estimating and diagnosing your
physical condition.
QUALITY.
The second step in a phrenological examination is the