Excerpt from A New System of Phrenology Tm: study of human nature has in all ages been deemed of thl very first importance, and called into vigorous action the master minds of every civilized nation. But the numerous systems that have been successively produced and abandoned, afford sufficient evidence that the great fundamental principles of human nature had never been discovered. Some philosophers have shut themselves in their closets, and endeavored, by re ecting upon the operations of their own minds, to frame a system of mental philosophy, which would apply to all man kind: but the result was, that they only acquired an imperfect history of a few of their own mental powers, while they remained in total ignorance of the causes which produce the great diversity of human character. Others endeavored to acquire a knowledge of man by tra veiling, and mingling with all classes and conditions of the human race. These were more successful; but however much knowledge might, by the experience of a whole life, be acquired in this manner, it necessarily died with the individual, as it was of such a nature that it could not be communicated. Anatomical investigation, was another mode of studying human nature; but although this led to more correct notions concerning the functions of the body, it shed no light upon the nature of the mind. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."