and said: “Parson, (hic) I don’t know what the question, is (hic) before the house, but you and I (hic) are in the smallest minority that ever I saw.”

So it is with you, my friends. If you don’t believe in Phrenology when I dismiss you to-night, remember that you are in the minority in this audience, and a very small minority at that, composed of unprogressive mossbacks and persons of small mental capacity, and if you will call at my rooms to-morrow, I’ll tell you to which of these classes you belong.

In the study of scientific topics it is well in the outset to establish definitions. I will, therefore, commence by looking our subject squarely in the face, and establishing a concise definition of Phrenology.

Phrenology is the science of intelligence. It is derived from two Greek words—Phren intelligence Logos “discourse” or science. But before we can properly understand this definition we must have a definition of the term “Science,” which is about as often misused as any word I know.

Science is classified knowledge. The word itself in its etymology signifies what we know about a particular  subject. And whenever we learn two facts about any subject, and we differentiate and classify those two facts, we have a science of that subject. Thus we have the science of Astronomy, containing the classified facts that intelligent observers have learned concerning the stars. The science of Mathematics, a classification of knowledge concerning numbers, and the science of Phrenology, which simply means the facts that intelligent observers have collected concerning intelligence, classified and reduced to rules to serve a practical purpose.

Before I leave this term “Science,” I wish to draw a distinction between a science and an art. The science is the classified knowledge; the art is the process of turning that knowledge to practical account. The science of Astronomy never discovered a star, the science of Arithmetic never computed the value of a fraction. The sciences are merely icebergs of cold, hard facts piled up in crystallized principles and rules. Art is the warm, living application of these principles and rules to serve the needs of mankind. The art of Astronomy, with the assistance of its handmaiden, the art of Mathematics, astounds the world with its achievements, and holds in one hand the balances with which it weighs the sun, and in the other the chain with which it surveys the distance to the Pleiades.

So with the Science and Art of Phrenology. The science is as absolute as Mathematics. In its principles  there are no fallacies. To its rules there are absolutely no exceptions. The Art of Phrenology, on the other hand, is estimative, and the results of its application will depend on the graces, the gifts and the abilities of him who seeks to apply it. As we have brilliant astronomers and poor astronomers, as we have correct mathematicians and incorrect ones, so we may have phrenologists whose discoveries and whose workmanship may command the admiration of the world, those whose talents are of the order of mediocrity, and those who blunder on all occasions.

You have had Phrenology defined to you as the Science of Intelligence, and you naturally ask for a definition of intelligence itself.

Intelligence is the result of the radiation of magnetism from every object in the universe. Magnetism is radiated by different bodies in different degrees of intensity. Man is provided with seven distinct organs of sense, which receive and interpret these radiations. The lowest rate of vibration is received and interpreted by the sense of gender and the next stage by the sense of touch. Above that we have the senses of taste, hearing, sight, smell and clairvoyance. So that the human body is in reality a magnetic musical instrument of seven octaves, each octave constituting a separate sense and each sense subdivided into seven degrees. The radiation of magnetism from exterior objects strikes the human body in these different degrees of vibration and it is the ability of  the body to receive these vibrations and of the brain to analyze them, which constitutes the intelligence of the individual. The absence of any organ of sense or the absence of any part of the brain needed in its analysis is accompanied by the corresponding absence or diminution of intelligence. Reasoning therefor from these premises it follows that by inspection of the organization of an individual and by careful examination of his organs of sense and brain capacity we are able to determine how much intelligence he possesses and in what direction it will be projected.

When we study its development and its deterioration, its faculties and their manifestation, we amass a glittering pile of brilliant facts; we classify those facts, reduce them to rules to serve the needs of the human race, and we have the science of Phrenology; and when we apply those rules in the practical delineation of character, we have the Art.

In regard to Phrenology being an exact science, I have shown you that the distinction must be drawn between the principles of the science and the results of their estimative application. The principles of the science are absolute. In his application of them the examiner is hampered by the frailties and fallibilities of the human intellect, just to the same extent that the skilled surgeon or the bright astronomer is subject to the same drawbacks. Would any sensible man decline the services of a skilled surgeon in the  hour of need, because surgeons differ in judgment, or, in some cases, make mistakes. Astronomy is regarded as a wonderfully exact science because an eclipse can be computed one hundred years in advance to the fraction of a second, yet astronomers differ in regard to the distance of the sun from the earth to the trifling extent of six million miles. Shall we therefore reject astronomy?

Phrenology is not a fully-developed science. I am glad it is not. I would regret it if a bar should be set to the acquisition of knowledge upon this subject. As long as human intelligence advances, as long as the race improves, as long as men have eyes to see and intellects to comprehend scientific facts, Phrenology will advance. But when you ask me whether Phrenology is sufficiently developed to be of practical value to mankind in its application; when you ask me to compare its development with that of any other science, I answer unhesitatingly that Phrenology is the queen regnant of all sciences, of greater value to the human race than all other sciences combined, because it is the science of humanity itself. Greater than Astronomy because humanity is worth more than all the stars that scintillate in the heavens. Greater than Mathematics, because humanity is better than numbers. Greater than Geology and Zoology, as humanity is above the rocks and animals. Greater than Theology, because it teaches man to know himself, instead of  presumptively speculating upon gods and dogmas. Greater than all combined because Phrenology bears upon her resplendent crown the jewels of knowledge, virtue, morality, culture, temperance, wealth and progress, and is pregnant with possibilities of good, beyond the present comprehension of the human imagination.

And when you ask me if Phrenology is developed in the number of practical facts at her command, I answer, that for every principle and rule of Mathematics that are serviceable, I will give you two in Phrenology. For every discovery in Geology, I will give you four in the domain of the mind. For every fact in Zoology, Entomology or Botany that has been of value, I will give you six in the science of humanity. Then you may begin to comprehend the appeal which