the other. Wit being excited, produced immoderate laughter, and a ludicrous tale about his grandfather's steam wheelbarrow making off with his grandmother, since when, though advertised, and a handsome reward offered for its discovery, it had never been heard of, and was supposed to have been changed by some evil genii to an aerial steam-ship, and had paid a visit to the moon. Self-Esteem being touched, he folded his arms, raised his head, and, looking big, observed, "I care for no man; I'm superior in every sense, infinitely superior any day." Love of Approbation excited, led to a defence of himself from some imaginary imputation of an unpleasant kind; Firmness, to clenched hands, and a look of fierce and stern determination; Amativeness, to clasping to his bosom the imagined lady of his love; Melody, to singing the Old Hundredth Psalm; Combativeness, to a hard blow on the operator's face; Destructiveness, to the utterance of a resolution" to kill every one, for the honour of his country;" Causality, to the inquiry, "who was the founder of a charity Comparison, to the comparing of two houses with each other; Eventuality, to talking about the corn-laws, and the Corn-law League, to which he is no friend; "?" at the back of Ideality, to the most sublime language and attitude; and the whole of the other organs marked on the bust, to their correspondent manifestations. All this was produced on my part without the least suggestion, or exercise of the will, and on his without the slightest knowledge of Phrenology, even of the names of the organs; his attention having been directed to languages, rather than the sciences. Of Mesmerism he did not believe a syllable when he sat down to be mesmerised, and his provoking incredulity alone induced me to make the attempt.

school;

CASE III.

On the 4th of September last, in the presence of Messrs Braund, Jones, Trueman, Hopkins, Webb, and others, I mesmerised Pamela Price, a servant girl of Mr Webb's, Stourbridge. She was sent into the coma in three minutes; this being the first operation, and she being a perfect stranger to Mesmerism and me. While in the comatose state, I succeeded in producing the most beautiful manifestations of every one of the organs marked on the bust. Ideality being excited, she talked of the earth, the sea, and the sky, and repeated poetry; and all this without my finger being shifted in the least from the exact point where I first placed it. In touching Colour, too, I never moved my finger from one point, though she spoke of several colours. As to

Philoprogenitiveness, if I touched the lower part of it, it produced the manifestation of fondness for animals; and if I touched the upper part of the organ, fondness for children : but when I touched the same places again, the direct reverse effects were produced, and the same uncertainty manifested itself if I touched the centre. This I have noticed in all my patients; which seems to favour the idea of Philoprogenitiveness being but a single organ, devoted to the love of offspring [and other feeble creatures] in general, as it has hitherto been considered, and not as a group of organs as some have imagined. So, again, with Alimentiveness; when excited, it produces the desire for food in one instance, and in another for drink, though you touch the very same portion of the organ, be it the upper, lower, or central part. These facts should lead us to make further experiments before we admit that the subdivision of most of the present organs made by Mr Spencer Hall, and partially adopted by Mr W.. R. Lowe, any existence in nature.*

has

III. Observations on the Size and Shape of the Head in the Insane. By AMARIAH BRIGHAM, M.D., Medical Superintendent of the Retreat for the Insane at Hartford, Connecticut.

We have carefully measured the heads of 116 insane persons-61 men and 55 women; and also the heads of 20 sane men, and 20 sane women. They were measured in three different directions:-1st, Around the head-its largest circumference; 2d, From the opening in one ear over the head to the other; 3d, From the root of the nose, or lower part of the forehead, to the nape of the neck, or occipital protuberance. The points from which we measured were the same

* Mr Braid of Manchester, in a communication with which he has lately favoured us, dissents altogether from Mr Hall's doctrine here alluded to. "Mr Lowe's paper," says he, "went to support this, in reference to Colour; but I can make patients go over the colours of the spectrum, without shifting the point of contact, or even without contact at all. When the idea of colour has been excited, ask, What colour is it? The patient will name some colour. Then say, But what colour is it now? and the question will suggest a different colour; and thus you may go on to any extent you choose, owing to the vivid state of imagination. If you associate these ideas in the mind with contact with any parts of the body, the mere touch of such parts may be sufficient ever after to recall the ideas. These are curious and important facts, and give no countenance to such notions as those advanced by Mr Hall, and others of the multiplication school."-ED.

in all, and we carefully guarded against any difference from the varying quantity of hair, &c. We found that the two last measurements-that over the head, from ear to ear, and that from the forehead to the nape of the neck,—in the same individuals, were nearly alike. We also found, with scarcely an exception, that those whose heads were the largest in one direction, were also in the others.

In 4 insane men, the largest circum. was 24 inches; other directions, 15

In 4 insane women, the largest circum. was 224; other directions,

14 14 131

14

21

13

...

55

In 3 sane men, the largest circum. was 234 inches; other directions, 15}

In 8 sane women, the largest circum. was 22 inches; other directions 14

Although, according to these admeasurements, the size of the head of the insane is similar to that of the sane, yet I have always noticed in lunatic asylums some whose heads were of an unnatural shape. We have a few such. Still, a large majority of our patients have what would and should be called good-sized, and good-shaped, heads. This, however, has no bearing on the doctrine, which I consider established, that the brain consists of a plurality of organs, each engaged in a separate distinct office, the production of a special intellectual or moral faculty; as insanity is caused by the disease, not the size of an organ, though I apprehend unusual size of any one organ may have an influence in predisposing to this disease.-Eighteenth Report on the Hartford Retreat, 1842.

VOL, XVII.-N. S. No. XXVI.-APRIL 1844.

M

IV. Cases Confirmatory of the Proposition that the Anterior Cerebral Lobes are the seat of the Intellect. (Extracted from Dr BRIGHAM'S Inquiry concerning the Functions and Diseases of the Brain).

Pathological investigations have not only shewn us that different parts of the brain have different functions, but have rendered it probable that the anterior lobes of the brain are the seat of the more important of the intellectual faculties. "M. Breschet," says Andral, "has published the remarkable case of a girl, fifteen years of age, in whom the two anterior lobes were wanting. At the bottom of, and behind the membranous pouch which replaced them, the two corpora striata were seen exposed. The head was very well formed. The girl was plunged into a complete state of idiocy; it was necessary to dress her and feed her; she was averse to walk, though she had the power of moving all her limbs with ease, and with equal facility; she was usually sitting, and remained so for entire days, alternately inclining the head from one shoulder to the other; vision was entire; the most perfect indifference existed for the quality of odours."

In the 14th volume of the Medico-Chirurgical Review is the following notice of a case of congenital absence of the anterior lobes of the brain. "In the annual report of the New Anatomical Society of Paris, a preparation was shewn by M. Lacroix, exemplifying the above malorganization. The secretary of the society makes use of the following words :-" If the opinion which assigns to the anterior lobes of the brain the privilege of presiding over the higher intellectual operations, needed any new confirmation, it would find a powerful argument in its favour, in the case reported by M. Lacroix. In that case there was a complete congenital absence of the anterior lobes of the cerebrum, which were replaced by a collection of transparent serum, communicating freely with the ventricles. This physical condition was accompanied, not by a perversion, but by an almost entire nullity, of the intellect and moral functions. Here was an experiment made by nature, more valuable for physiology than any vivisections of the anatomist. The secretary remarks that this case tells both for and against phrenologists; for them, as shewing the seat of intelligence to be in the anterior part of the brain; against them, as shewing that their skill could not have detected the cause of the idiocy; since the forehead was well formed,

though full of water, and all the prominences well marked.* Almost at the same time that the above preparation was shewn, another came under view, where the left hemisphere of the brain was found atrophied to one half its original volume, without any loss of intellectual faculties, † the other lobe being entire. The atrophy was occasioned by an accumulation of fluid in the lateral ventricle of the side, and the opposite half of the body was completely paralytic." Otto remarks, in his Compendium of Pathological Anatomy, that in idiots the front lobes are usually small and shallow. This is confirmed by the observation of others. I do not know of any case on record of the anterior lobes of the brain being diseased without manifest disturbances of the intellect; but cases of disease of portions of both posterior lobes have been witnessed without producing any noticeable change in the mental powers.

III.-NOTICES OF BOOKS.

I. Mental Hygiene, or an Examination of the Intellect and Passions, designed to illustrate their Influence on Health and the Duration of Life. By WILLIAM SWEETSER, M.D., late Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic, and Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. New York, 1843. 12mo, pp. 270.

Although the very important subject of this volume has already been treated of pretty largely by medical writers,‡ there is, unquestionably, too much truth in the statement of Dr Sweetser, that not only has the influence of intellect and passion upon health and longevity been but imperfectly understood and appreciated, in its character and importance, by mankind at large, but those of the medical profession, even,

*No phrenologist has claimed the power of detecting every cerebral disease, by observing the form of the head.-ED.

+ " Any known loss," would probably be a more accurate statement.

ED.

See, in particular, Dr Falconer's Dissertation on the Influence of the Passions upon Disorders of the Body, 1784; Dr Brigham's Remarks on the Influence of Mental Cultivation and Mental Excitement upon Health, 1832; the same author's Observations on the Influence of Religion upon the Health and Physical Welfare of Mankind, 1835; the works of Dr Andrew Combe on Physiology applied to Health and Education, and on Digestion and Diet; and Mr Newnham's Reciprocal Influence of Body and Mind Considered, 1842.