in their religious contemplations. The result was the establishment of the part of the brain in question as the organ of Veneration.

Catholic countries afford particularly favorable opportunities for such observations. Dr. Bright, a traveller in Lower Hungary, informs us, that, in Vienna, "The churches are almost constantly open, and enter them when you will, servants, who have been sent on errands, are seen kneeling before the altars or the images, with their baskets or parcels by their sides. Thus prayer, by its frequency, becomes a habit and recreation, rather than the performance of a duty; and I have often been truly astonished to observe, in the coldest weather, little children, when far from the restraints of their parents, fall down upon their knees before the images which adorn many of the corners of the streets and passages in Vienna, and there remain fixed for several minutes, as in serious devotion."* I have observed similar facts in Catholic cities on

the Continent.

The function of the faculty is to produce the sentiment of Veneration in general; or an emotion of profound and reverential respect, on perceiving an object at once great and good. It is the source of natural religion, and of that tendency to worship a superior power, which manifests itself in every nation yet discovered. The faculty, however, produces merely an emotion, and does not form ideas of the object to which it ought to be directed; and hence, if no revelation have reached the individual, and if the understanding be extremely limited, the unfortunate being may worship the genius of the storm; the sun, as the source of light, heat, and vegetable life; or, if more debased in intellect, he may worship brutes, and stocks, and stones;

"Lo! the poor Indian, whose untutored mind,

Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind."

The organ is large in Negroes, and also in Mary Macinnes, who was extremely prone to superstition.

It has been objected, that, if an organ and faculty of Veneration exists, revelation was unnecessary. But Dr. Gall has well answer

ed, that the proposition ought to be exactly reversed, for unless a natural capacity of feeling religious emotion had been previously bestowed, revelation would have been as unavailing to man as it would be to the lower animals; while, if a mere general feeling of devotion, or an instinctive but blind tendency to worship, which Veneration truly is, was given, nothing was more reasonable than to add instruction how it ought to be directed. Dr. Gall observes, farther, that the existence of the organ is an indirect proof of the existence of God. Destructiveness is implanted in the mind, and animals exist around us to be killed for our nourishment: Adhe siveness and Philoprogenitiveness are given, and friends and chil dren are provided as objects on whom they may be exercised: Benevolence is conferred on us, and the poor and unhappy, on whom it may shed its soft influence, are everywhere present with us; in like manner, the instinctive tendency to worship is implanted in the mind, and, conformably to these analogies of nature, we may reasonably infer that a God exists whom we may adore.

The organ is possessed by all men, but in different degrees by different persons: and, on the principle, that the natural power of experiencing an emotion bears a proportion to the size of its organ, every sane individual will be naturally capable of joining in religious worship; but the glow of devotional feeling experienced by each, will be greater or less in intensity, according to the developement of this part of his brain. The difference in the feeling is certain, independently of Phrenology, so that this science only reveals the relation between its intensity and the size of the organ.

The organ is large in King Robert Bruce, who, it is mentioned in History, was strongly alive to religious feelings, and ordered his heart to be carried to the Holy Land, because he had not been able to fulfil a vow to visit it in person. It is large also in Raphael, and the subjects which chiefly occupied his pencil were connected with devotion and the Church.

Dr. Gall mentions, that, in the portraits of Saints remarkable for devotional feeling, this organ is represented as large, and that the same configuration of head has been given by the ancient artists to their High Priests. It is large in the portraits of Constantine,

Marcus Aurelius, St. Ambrose, Charles I. of England, and Malebranche. It is also greatly developed in philosophers and poets who are distinguished for piety, as in Newton, Milton, and Klopstock; while it is flat in the head of Spinosa, who professed atheism, The same configuration is found in the heads of Christ, represented by Raphael. In these, the parts behind the ear, or the organs common to man and the lower animals, are small; whereas the organs, situated in the forehead and in the coronal region, connected with intellect and the moral sentiments, are very large. This organization indicates great intellectual penetration, with exalted Benevolence and Veneration. Dr. Gall puts the question, Has this divine form of head been invented, or may we presume that it is a faithful copy of the original? It is possible, says he, that the artists may have imitated the heads of the most virtuous, just, and benevolent men whom they could find, and thence drawn the character of the head of Christ. In this case, the observation of the artists coincides with that of Dr. Gall, a circumstance which either supposes a kind of presentiment of Organology on their part, or an accuracy of observation scarcely admissible. He considers it more probable, that the general type, at least, of the head of Christ has been transmitted to us. St. Luke was a painter, and how should he fail to preserve the features of his Master? It is certain that this form of the head of Christ is of a very high antiquity. It is found in the most ancient pictures and specimens of mosaic work. The Gnostics of the second century possessed images of Christ and of St. Paul; hence Dr. Gall concludes, that neither Raphael nor any other artist has invented this admirable configuration.*

The metaphysicians in general do not admit Veneration as an original emotion; they trace the belief in God to the perceptions of the understanding. We perceive order, beauty, power, wisdom, harmony, in the works of Creation, and infer from these qualities that a supreme creating and directing Mind exists. In this view

* Sur les Fonctions du Cerveau, tome v. p. 389. See also a Brief Notice of some Ancient Coins and Medals, as illustrating the Progress of Christianity, by the Rev. R. Walsh, LL. D. Chaplain to the Embassy at Constantinople.

the phrenologists concur: the understanding, however, only perceives facts and draws inferences, but does not feel emotions; and, therefore, after this deduction was completed, it would experience no tendency to adore the God whom it had discovered. Now, in point of fact, the tendency to worship is a stronger principle than the understanding itself; for the most ignorant and stupid are prone to venerate, while their intellects are incapable of directing them to an object worthy of their homage. Under the influence of a blind Veneration, men cut branches from trees, and fall down and worship them; or they adore monsters and reptiles as deities,— facts which were utterly inexplicable, till Phrenology pointed out an instinctive tendency to venerate, altogether apart from understanding. This tendency is produced by the faculty in question, and it is a great omission of the old philosophers, that no such power is to be found in their systems.

Hitherto we have considered Veneration only when directed to religion, which is undoubtedly its noblest end; but it has also many other objects, and a wide sphere of activity, in the present world. It produces the feeling of deference and respect in general; and hence may be directed to every object that seems worthy of such regard. In children, it is a chief ingredient in filial piety, and produces that soft and almost holy reverence with which a child looks up to his parent as the author of his days, the protector of his infancy, and the guide of his youth. A child in whom this organ is small, may, if Benevolence and Adhesiveness be large, entertain great affection for his parent as a friend; but, in his habitual intercourse, there will be little of that deferential respect which is the grand feature of the mind, when the organ is large. Children who are prone to rebellion, little attentive to command, and regardless of authority, will generally be found to have Self-Esteem large, and this organ proportionally deficient.

Veneration leads to deference for superiors in rank as well as in years; and prompts to the reverence of authority. This organ is generally largely developed in the Asiatic head, and the tendency to obedience is strong in the people of that quarter of the globe. Indeed, the hereditary slavery which has descended among them

through so many generations, may be connected with the preva lence of this disposition.

A lady who is in the habit of examining the heads of servants before hiring them, told me, that she has found, by experience, that those in whom Veneration is large, are the most deferential and obedient; and that one with large Combativeness and Destructiveness, and small Veneration, became angry and abusive, when her conduct was censured. This occurred, even although Love of Approbation and Conscientiousness were both large; but the passion speedily subsided, and was followed by self-reproach and repentance. If Veneration also had been large, it would have produced that instinctive feeling of respect, which would have operated as instantaneously as Combativeness and Destructiveness, and restrained the ebullitions.

Veneration may also produce respect for titles, rank and power; for a long line of ancestry, or mere wealth; and it frequently manifests itself in one or other of these forms, when it does not appear in religious fervor, Individuals in whom Love of Approbation and Veneration are very large, and Conscientiousness and intellect not in proportion, venerate persons of higher rank than their own, and are fond of their society. Persons of rank, who do not possess high virtues or talents, are fondest of the society of those in whom this combination occurs. It inspires its possessor with an habitual deference towards them, which is felt as a constant homage. On occasion of King George the Fourth's visit to Scotland in 1822, some individuals experienced the profoundest emotion of awe and respect on beholding him; while others were not conscious of any similar excitement, but were surprised at what appeared to them to be the exaggerated enthusiasm of the first. I examined the heads of several of both classes, and, in the former, found the organ of Veneration uniformly larger, in proportion to the other organs, than in the latter.

This faculty is likewise the source of the profound awe which some persons feel in visiting ancient temples, gothic cathedrals, and places of sepulture for the illustrious dead. It gives reverence for church-yards, and other burial-places of our ancestors. A person