Summary
No. I.—Referred to on p. 45.
CERTIFICATES IN FAVOUR OF DR SEWALL'S “ERRORS OF PHRENOLOGY EXPOSED.”
1. From Mr John Quincy Adams to Dr Sewall, dated Washington, 5th April 1839.
“I have read with great satisfaction your two lectures upon the science of Phrenology, which I have never been able to prevail upon myself to think of as a serious speculation. I have classed it with alchymy, with judicial astrology, with augury; and, as Cicero says that he wonders how two Roman Augurs could ever look each other in the face without laughing, I have felt something of the same surprise that two learned Phrenologists can meet without the same temptation.” Thus qualified to judge, Mr Adams congratulates Dr Sewall on the success of his work, and thanks him for “furnishing him with argument to meet the doctors who pack up the five senses in thirtyfive parcels of the brain!”
2. From the Honourable Daniel Webster, dated 8th March 1839.
“I read your Examination of Phrenology when first published. Of the accuracy of the physical and anatomical facts which you state, I am no competent judge; but if your premises be well founded, the argument is conclusive.” Mr Webster here candidly states his own inability to form any judgment through want of knowledge of the subject.
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- Notes on the United States of North America during a Phrenological Visit in 1838–39–40 , pp. 437 - 474Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1841