the Edinburgh Review, has the following words: "But we will acquiesce implicitly for the present in the proposition (familiar to physiologists long before the age of Gall and Spurzheim), that there is, in most instances, a general correspondence between the size of the cranium and the quantity of cerebrum; that large heads usually contain large brains, and small heads small brains."-P. 246.

There are, however, cases in which it is not possible to discover the form of the brain by examining the skull. These are instances of disease and old age. In disease, the skull may be enlarged or diminished in volume, by causes other than the developement of the brain; and in old age, the inner table of the skull sometimes sinks, while the outer table preserves its original size; in such individuals, the true developement of the brain cannot be accurately inferred from the developement of the head.

There are parts at the base of the brain, in the middle and posterior regions, the size of which cannot be discovered during life, and whose functions in consequence are still unknown. From analogy, and from some pathological facts, they are supposed to be the organs of the sensations of Hunger and Thirst, Heat and Cold, and of some other mental affections, for which cerebral organs have not been discovered; but demonstrative evidence to this effect being wanting, this conjecture is merely stated to incite to farther investigation.

The sutures also interrupt the absolute parallelism; but their situation is known, and only one of them, called the Lambdoidal, where it passes over the organ of Concentrativeness, presents any

gists have forgotten,-Is the brain constituted in shape with a reference to the future form of the head?" It is difficult to see the importance of this question. Phrenologists maintain that, de facto, at every period previous to the decline of life, the skull is adapted to the form of the brain; that it increases in size when the brain enlarges, and decreases when it diminishes. I have seen one striking instance of the skull decreasing with the brain; it occurred in an individual who died at the age of thirty-two, after having labored under chronic insanity for upwards of ten years, and whose mental weakness augmented in proportion to the diminution of his brain and shrinking of the skull. The diminution of his head in size attracted his own attention during life. His brain was dissected by Dr. A. Combe after death.-See this case fully reported in the Phrenological Journ. vol. iv. 495.

difficulty to the student. The sagittal suture, which runs longi tudinally from the middle of the crown of the head forwards and downwards, sometimes so low as the top of the nose, occasionally presents a narrow prominent ridge, which is sometimes mistaken for developement of the organs of Benevolence, Veneration, Firmness, and Self-esteem. It may, however, be easily distinguished by its narrowness and isolation, from the full broad swell of cerebral developement. In anatomy, projecting bony points are called Processes. The mastoid process of the temporal bone, B in figure, p. 72., which is a small knob immediately behind the ear, serving for the attachment of a muscle, is sometimes mistaken for the indication of large Combativeness. It is, however, merely a bony prominence, and is to be found in every head, and does not indicate developement of brain at all. Another process C, called in anatomy the spinous process of the transverse ridge of the occipital bone, requires to be known. Phrenologists generally name it shortly the occipital spine, and its situation is indicated by C in the figure, p. 72.

There is one part of the skull where the external configuration does not always indicate exactly the size of the subjacent parts of the brain, and upon which objections have been raised, viz. at the top of the nose.

THE FRONTAL SINUS.

The frontal sinus is the dark hole above the nose. This represents it in one individual. It is sometimes larger and sometimes smaller.

At the part of the frontal bone immediately above the top of the nose, a divergence from parallelism is sometimes produced by the existence of a small cavity called the frontal sinus. It is formed between the two plates or tables of the bone, either by the external table swelling out a little, without being followed by the internal, and presenting an appearance like that of a blister on a biscuit, or

by the internal table sinking in without being followed by the external; and hence, as the outer surface does not indicate the precise degree of developement of brain beneath, it has been argued that the existence of a frontal sinus is an insuperable objection to Phrenology in general, because it throws so much uncertainty in the way of our observations as completely to destroy their value; other opponents, however, more rationally, confine their objection to those organs only over which the sinus extends.

The first objection is manifestly untenable. Even granting the sinus to be an insuperable obstacle in the way of ascertaining the developement of the organs over which it is situated, it may be observed, first, That, in ordinary cases, it interferes with only a few, viz. Form, Size, Weight, Individuality, and Locality; and, 2dly, It cannot interfere with the other thirty or thirty-one organs, the whole external appearances of which it leaves as unaltered as if it did not at all exist. It would be quite as logical to speak of a snow-storm in Norway obstructing the high road from Edinburgh to London, as of a small sinus at the top of the nose concealing the developements of Benevolence, Firmness, or Veneration, on the crown of the head.

To enable the reader to form a correct estimate of the value of the objection as applicable to the individual organs particularly referred to, I subjoin a few observations. In the first place, Below the age of twelve or fourteen, the sinus, if it exists at all, rarely extends so high as the base of the brain; 2dly, In adult age, it frequently occurs to the extent above admitted ;* and, 3dly, In old age, and in disease, as chronic idiocy and insanity, it is often of very great extent, owing to the brain diminishing in size, and the inner table of the skull following it, while the outer remains station

* This may seem at variance with a statement given in the first edition of this work, on the authority of a friend in Paris, who, in the course of many months' dissections, had never found a frontal sinus except in old age and in disease. In sawing open the skull for anatomical purposes, the section is almost always made horizontally through the middle of the forehead, or over the organs of Tune, Time, and Eventuality; and in all the cases alluded to by the gentleman in Paris, this line was followed, and as the sinus rarely extends so high up, he could not, and did not, meet with it. On examining vertical sections, however, for the purpose of secing the sinus, he has since frequently found it to the extent mentioned in the text.

ary.

Now, the first cases present no objection, for in them the sinus does not exist so as to interfere with the observation of the size of the brain; the third are instances of disease, which are uniformly excluded in phrenological observations; and thus our attention is limited solely to the cases forming the second class. In regard to them the objection is, that large developement of brain, and large frontal sinus, present so nearly the same appearance that we cannot be sure which is which, and, therefore, that our observations must be inconclusive.

To this the following answer is given :-1st, We must distinguish between the possibility of discovering the functions of an organ, and of applying this discovery practically in all cases, so as to be able, in every instance, to predicate the exact degrees in which every particular mental power is present in each individual. The sinus does not in general extend as high as the base of the brain until after the age of twelve or fourteen, before which is precisely the period when Individuality is most conspicuously active in the mind. If, then, in children, in whom no sinus exists, that mental power is observed to be strong when the part of the head is large, and weak when it is small, we ascertain the function, whatever may subsequently embarrass us. If, in after-life, the sinus comes to exist, this throws a certain impediment in the way of the practical application of our knowledge; and, accordingly, phrenologists admit a difficulty in determining the exact degree of mental power, which, in adult age, will accompany any particular developement of the organs lying immediately above the top of the nose, except in extreme instances, in which even the sinus itself will form but a small fraction of the difference between great developement and deficiency. In the next place, the objection applies only to one set of cases. If there be a hollow or depression in the external surface of the skull at the situation of the organs in question, and the sinus be absent, then the organ must necessarily be deficient in proportion to the depression. If, with such an external appearance, the sinus be present, which is not generally the case, but which, for the sake of argument, I shall suppose, then it must be formed by the inner table receding more than the outer table; and hence a greater deficiency of organ will actually exist

than is externally indicated; and, of course, the deficiency of mental power will be at least equal to the external indication of deficiency in the organ. In cases of this kind, therefore, the sinus forms no objection. Thus the only instances in which it can occasion embarrassment are those in which it causes a swelling of the parts of the skull in question outward, to which there is no corresponding developement of brain within. Now if, in all cases in youth, when no sinus exists, and in all cases in mature age in which a depression is found, the mental power is ascertained to correspond with the external developement; and if, in certain cases, in adult age, an external indication appears to which the mental power does not correspond, what conclusion falls to be drawn according to the rules of a correct logic? Not that the functions of the parts are uncertain; because they have been ascertained in cases not liable to impediment or objection; but only that, in the particular cases in mature age, in which the external developement is large, and the corresponding power absent, there must be a frontal sinus.

Finally, by practice in observing, it is possible, in general, to distinguish between external appearances produced by frontal sinus, and those indicating a large developement of organs. In the first instance, the forms of the elevations are irregular; in the second, they are symmetrical, and correspond to the shapes of the organs delineated on the busts.

If, then, men in general manifest their true and natural sentiments and capacities in their actions; and if, in healthy individuals, the form of the brain may be discovered, by observing the figure of the head, it follows that the true faculties, and the true developement, may be compared in living subjects; and, on these grounds, the proposition is established, That the Phrenological mode of philosophizing is competent to enable us to attain the results sought for.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLES OF PHRENOLOGY,

It has already been mentioned, that there are two hemispheres of the brain, corresponding in form and functions. There are,