ed my mode of life and
thought during the period embraced in the foregoing extracts were
Fowler's "Phrenology" and Combe's "Constitution of Man." It may
appear strange to the reader if a system so completely exploded as
that of phrenology should have any value as a mental discipline.
Its real value consisted, not in what it taught about the position
of the "organs," but in presenting a study of human nature which,
if not scientific in form, was truly so in spirit. I acquired the
habit of looking on the characters and capabilities of men as the
result of their organism. A hot and impulsive temper was checked
by the reflection that it was beneath the dignity of human nature
to allow a rush of blood to the organs of "combativeness" and
"destructiveness" to upset one's mental equilibrium.

That I have gotten along in life almost without making (so far as I am
aware) a personal enemy may be attributed to this early discipline,
which led me into the habit of dealing with antagonism and personal
opposition as I would deal with any physical opposition--evade it,
avoid it, or overcome it. It goes without saying, however, that no
discipline of this sort will avail to keep the passions of a youth
always in check, and my own were no exception. When about fifteen I
once made a great scandal by taking out my knife in prayer meeting
and assaulting a young man who, while I was kneeling down during
the prayer, stood above me and squeezed my neck. He escaped with a
couple of severe though not serious cuts in his hand. He announced
his intention of thrashing me when we should meet again; so for
several days thereafter I tried, so far as possible, in going afield
to keep a pitchfork within reach, determined that if he tried the job
and I failed to kill him, it would be because I was unable to do so.
Fortunately for both of us he never made the attempt.

I read Combe's "Constitution of Man" when between ten and twelve
years of age. Though based on the ideas of phrenology and not,
I believe, of high repute as a system of philosophy, it was as good
a moral tonic as I can imagine to be placed in the hands of a youth,
however fallacious may have been its general doctrines. So far as I
can recall, it taught that all individual and social ills were due
to men's disregard of the laws of Nature, which were classified as
physical and moral. Obey the laws of health and we and our posterity
will all reach the age of one hundred years. Obe