the exception of a very deficient Cautiousness, or great rashness. He remarked in several other prisoners the organs of Language, Colour, and Mathematics, in perfect accordance with the manifestations; some of the first spoke several languages; those with large Colour, were fond of showy clothes, flowers, paintings, &c.; and those with Mathematics large, calculated easily from memory.

Testimony in Favour of Phrenology.-Richard Carmichael, of Dublin, Member of the Royal Irish Academy, as well as of several other learned societies, and who is well known in the medical profession as a valuable contributor to medical science, has devoted some attention to the merits of phrenology. In the volume of Mr. Combe's testimonials, published in Edinburgh, we find Mr. Carmichael expressing the following sentiments in relation to the truth and importance of the science:

I feel the highest gratification in stating my firm belief in the principles of phrenology, and conceive that it explains better than any other system of mental philosophy the operations of the mind. From it alone we learn why two persons, educated together, and subjected to the same moral and physical impressions, may be widely different from each other as to their dispositions, talents, and acquirements. It alone explains in a satisfactory manner the various degrees of that reasoning faculty with which the lower animals are gifted, and why they should necessarily follow almost blindly their dispositions, so as to have hitherto given these tendencies to certain actions the name of instincts, but which phrenology has satisfactorily explained as depending upon the peculiar organisation of the brain of each species of animal. Phrenology has alone afforded a satisfactory explanation of the long disputed doctrines of free will and necessity-it teaches us to what degree we are necessitated to obey the impulses arising from organisation, and how far and by what means we are free agents, to act as the superior faculties direct. By it also are satisfactorily accounted for many mental phenomena in man, which all the old systems of metaphysics and morals failed to explain; from it alone we learn why certain individuals should excel in one pursuit or branch of knowledge, and be dull in most others; why some are so disposed to commit breaches in the organic and moral laws to which man is subjected, that they can scarcely be considered as accountable persons, and are therefore better fitted for the seclusion of a lunatic asylum, than for the punishment to which the criminal codes even of civilised countries would subject them; and on this account we have sufficient grounds to assume that the principles of phrenology ought to be consulted in criminal legislation.

In the practice of medicine, Phrenology is of the highest utility, as it is manifestly the true and only physiology of the brain, and therefore upon It ought to hinge its pathology also. When the functions of this important organ are disturbed, as happens in acute and chronic inflammation of the brain, general fever, injuries of the head, and the various grades of apoplexy, from vertigo to the annihilation of the intellect, power of motion, and use of the senses, and, lastly, in monomania and general insanity, phrenology may assist us in the treatment, as I have already exemplified in a paper inserted in the Dublin Medical Journal.

The time seems to us to have now arrived when a careful and conscientious examination of the truth and merits of phrenology has become imperative on every intelligent member of the profession, and when its claims to attention can no longer be safely neglected, even by those who are more concerned about their personal reputation than about the advancement of science and the improvement of mankind. If phrenology be true, its importance to medicine and to philosophy can scarcely be overrated, and no one can be more usefully employed than in advocating its cause; whereas, if it be false, and the observations on which it professes to rest be really incorrect, a great service would be rendered to medicine by at once demonstrating their hollowness, and directing the able and zealous exertions of its misled followers into a safer and more profitable channel. Acting on this conviction, we have ourselves lately bestowed much attention on the subject; and we feel that no apology can be required for now laying the results before our readers.

In contemplating the past history of phrenology, the difference of tone and manner in which it is now spoken of cannot fail to be remarked. Five-and-twenty years ago, when the late Dr. Gordon made his unprovoked and ungenerous attack in the Edinburgh Review on "the man of skulls," whom he imagined to have been slain in the same review twelve years before by the abler hand of the late Dr. Thomas Brown, the public, then profoundly ignorant of the merits of the question, went so heartily along with him in the torrent of invective, abuse, and ridicule, in which he so inconsiderately

* From the British and Foreign Medical Review, edited by John Forbes, M. D., F. R. S.

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indulged, that for years after, the subject was never alluded to without a smile of contempt or a laugh of derision, and the gentlest fate which was assigned for it was that of speedy and eternal oblivion.

How different the state of things is now, few even of its most inveterate opponents require to be told. For years phrenology has ceased to be the subject of drawing-room gossip, or the favourite topic of the ridicule of the shallow. In mixed society it is as little heard of as any other branch of physiological or scientific inquiry, which the rules of good breeding naturally warn us to reserve for a more fitting occasion; and from this circumstance many imagine that it has wholly disappeared. But when we examine a little more closely what is passing around us, the signs of its vitality and growth are found so numerous and palpable as to shadow forth rather a long, and vigorous, and useful existence, than the speedy extinction with which it has been threatened. In proof of this, we would refer, among other things, to the numerous works which have lately appeared, not in this country only, but in America and on the continent, and the titles of some of which are prefixed to the present article, not for review, for that were impossible, but as indications of what is going on. We would refer, also, to the variety of quarters in which phrenology is already received, and more or less acted upon, as established truth. We confess, indeed, that, although far from inattentive to its later progress, we were not prepared for the numerous evidences of its extended diffusion which forced themselves upon our notice, without inquiry, in a late tour through part of England, Scotland, and the north of France, Paris included. In asylums, schools, and factories, we found it recognised and acted upon, where ten years before not a trace of its existence was to be heard of. Not only, however, are works on phrenology rapidly multiplying in number, but they are improving in character; and in accuracy of observation, sobriety of inference, and vigour of thinking, a few of them may bear a comparison with any physiological or philosophical works which have lately appeared. That these qualities have not been without their natural effect in exciting a widely diffused interest in the public mind, is evident from the extraordinary and steady sale which several of the phrenological works, the best, we believe, of their class, have met with, in the face of the active and influential hostility of the leading journals of the day, led on by Lord Jeffrey himself, in the Edinburgh Review, and also by the Quarterly. If this demand had lasted only for a year or two, it might have been plausibly enough ascribed to fashion and a love of novelty; but when it has extended, as in the instance of Mr. Combe's books, over a period of twenty years, it is difficult to account for it, except on the supposition of their possessing

a real and abiding interest, derived either from the inherent nature of the subject, or from the manner in which it is treated. Not to mention the wide diffusion of the works of the founder of phrenology, and his colleague, Spurzheim, we have now before us the sixty-first quarterly number of the Prenological Journal, which has been carried on for upwards of sixteen years, and, as we are told by the editor, is yearly increasing in circulation. We have also before us an advertisement of the last edition of Combe's "Constitution of Man, considered in Relation to External Objects," in which it is mentioned that that work, being an application of phrenology to human improvement, continues in constant demand, after a sale of forty-five thousand copies in Great Britain and Ireland alone, besides large editions in America, and translations into French and German. The "System of Phrenology" of the same author, which contains the best exposition of the doctrine, its evidences and applications, although selling at a guinea, and therefore not likely to be bought without due consideration, has already gone through four editions, and, as we have learned, still continues in increasing demand, to the extent of six hundred copies a year. In like manner, the "Introduction to Phrenology," by the late Dr. Macnish, have sold, as appears from the advertisement, to the very large extent of five or six thousand copies within three years, notwithstanding the increasing number of competitors in the market. We might mention many other evidences, of a similar nature, to prove the progress which phrenology is making in public opinion; but for these we must refer the reader to the curious volume of Mr. Hewett Watson, on "The Statistics of Phrenology," in which an account is given of the various works published, and societies existing, in this country, and in which the reader will find much useful information, of an authentic kind, relating to the past history and present state of phrenology.

As further evidence, of a very unequivocal kind, we may refer to the numerous courses of lectures given on the subject within the last five years in most of our larger towns, and to the intelligent audiences by which they were attended. Even the frequent display of phrenological busts in the windows of shops is a sign not without meaning to reflecting minds. But perhaps more than all, the rapid diffusion of phrenological ideas under the cover of ordinary language, and without any reference to their true source, is a proof not only that the new philosophy is making progress, but that it is found to be of direct utility in questions of nervous disorder, insanity, education, morals, and crime. We are acquainted with medical and educational works which have gained no small repute, from the copious but unacknowledged use they have made of the doctrines of phrenology, and the

reputation of which depends chiefly on their borrowed views. We have sometimes, indeed, been tempted to smile at the ready acceptance which strict phrenological ideas have met with when thus stolen and offered at second-hand, only a little altered in dress to prevent their paternity being traced. But much as we rejoice in the diffusion of useful truth, we cannot refrain from condemning this plan of acquiring a temporary popularity at the expense of science; and we are glad that the risk of detection will soon become so great as to deter most men from such unscrupulous conduct. It may seem at first view a light matter thus to put forth a truth in disguise; but in reality, its forced separation from the principle which alone renders its application safe and advantageous, deprives it of much of its practical value; and it is for this reason, as well as for its dishonesty, that we object to the practice.

If our space permitted, we might further refer to the account given in the last number of the Phrenological Journal of Mr. Combe's progress in the United States, and to the works of Vimont, Broussais, Ferrarese, and other continental authors, to show that, abroad as well as at home, phrenology is exciting the serious attention of men of science. But we must content ourselves with the simple statement that such is the fact; and that, among the more recent of the French medical works, the principles of phrenology are either expressly or tacitly assumed, as if no doubt had been entertained regarding them. Many hesitate, and justly, about the details, but we do not go too far in affirming that a conviction of the truth of the leading principles of the new physiology of the brain is fast diffusing itself over the continent.

With these facts before us, we need scarcely add that our past silence has not arisen either from participating in the contempt with which phrenology was formerly treated, or from having been unobservant of its more recent progress. From the first we saw that, whether true or false, the subject was one of great extent and serious import; and we delayed forming or expressing any opinion till we should have sufficient time and opportunity to verify its principles and scrutinise its details. Having now done so, sufficiently to qualify ourselves for giving an opinion, we should shrink from our duty, both to our readers and to science, were we to hesitate longer in avowing our conviction that phrenology embodies many facts and views of great general interest, and direct practical utility to the physician, the philosopher, and the philanthropist; and that as such, it has established a claim to a more careful, serious, and impartial examination on the part of the profession than it has ever yet received. We do not by this mean to affirm that all the facts and doctrines taught by