der a mere delusion. We ask none to believe any thing if they prefer not to do so, and only reply-The case is equally marvellous either way; either that this our poor patient should be thus afflicted, or that eighteen or nineteen persons of my family and friends, in the daily habit of seeing her, should fancy she is, for every twelve hours out of twenty-four, doing, at intervals, that which she is not doing. There are many exhibitions of extravagant powers which she possesses, that we talk of to no one; for, finding it difficult to acquire credit for lesser things, we do not venture on the greater. Her powers entirely cease the moment the attack passes off. A considerable swelling has at times been visible at the back of the head, which has yielded to the treatment.

This is a most hasty sketch of a case which would fill a folio. Some false things are reported, such as, that she can tell the colours when in our pockets! &c. All absurdities. All she does consists with our general natural powers. For myself, I can only say, that, much as I was confounded at first at what seemed contrary to nature, I now only see nature run loose, as it were, in the unrestrained powers of some of the senses, when others are suspended.

It is certainly a case which would be an instructive one in the consideration of the physiology of the human frame; but she, poor thing, is most averse to experiments being purposely made on her: but in her every-day life among us, we have no lack of proof, for all we believe and know.

Between the attacks she is as perfectly in a natural state as ever she was in her life. There is but one paradox in her state, and that is, that she can at such times hear some sounds and not others, though very much louder, and see some things and yet not others, though placed before her. She could hear a tune whistled when she would not hear a gun fired close to her. It is certainly the absorption or absence of mind that occasions this; absent to some things, though present to others, like any absent man; and thus Dr Y- accounts for it.

In making this communication to you, in part to vindicate the testimony of my friend Mr M, I have really exceeded my usual custom and resolution, for I do not think it fair to the poor sufferer herself to make her too much the talk of others. Very few believe what we tell them, and, therefore, we are in no degree anxious to open our lips on the subject. All I know is, that I should not have believed it myself, had I been only told of it. I must beg, therefore, that you will not make any undue use of this communication, by handing my letter about to any one. The friend for whom you ask the in

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formation is perfectly welcome to read it, or I should not have written it. If the case were my own, the world should be welcome to it; but a young female of much sensibility might be much embarrassed by finding the world at large in possession of all particulars on her recovery, should God so please to permit.-I am, &c.

[The following case of uncommon acuteness of the sense of touch is extracted from Southey's Omniana, vol. ii. p. 18.ED.]

"When I was in Germany, in the year 1798, I read at Hanover, and met with two respectable persons, one a clergyman, the other a physician, who confirmed to me, the account of the upper-stall master at Hanover, written by himself, and countersigned by all his medical attendants. As far as I recollect, he had fallen from his horse on his head, and in consequence of the blow lost both his sight and hearing for nearly three years, and continued for the greater part of this period in a state of nervous fever. His understanding, however, remained unimpaired and unaffected; and his entire consciousness, as to outward impressions, being confined to the sense of touch, he at length became capable of reading any book (if printed as most German books are, on coarse paper) with his fingers, in much the same manner in which the pianoforte is played, and latterly with an almost incredible rapidity. Likewise by placing his hand, with the fingers all extended, at a small distance from the lips of any person that spoke slowly and distinctly to him, he learnt to recognise each letter by its different effects on his nerves, and thus spelt the words as they were uttered; and then returned the requisite answers, either by signs of finger-language to those of his own family, or to strangers by writing. It was particularly noticed, both by himself from his sensations, and by his medical attendants from observation, that the letter R, if pronounced full and strong, and recurring once or more in the same word, produced a small spasm or twitch in his hand and fingers. At the end of three years he recovered both his health and senses, and, with the necessity, soon lost the power which he had thus acquired."

III. NOTICES OF BOOKS.

I. Zeitschrift für Phrenologie, &c. &c. Drittes Heft. September 1843. Heidelberg: Karl Groos.

The German Phrenological Journal. Edited by GUSTAV VON STRUVE and EDWARD HIRSCHFELD, M.D. No. III. September 1843. Heidelberg: Karl Groos. 8vo.

We observe with pleasure the steady progress of our German contemporary. The present Number contains a va riety of interesting communications, the matter of some of which, though new in Germany, it would be superfluous to lay fully before our readers. Article I. is a translation of that section of Dr Gall's work "Sur les Fonctions du Cerveau," which expounds the anatomical evidences in favour of a plurality of the organs of the mind.-Article II., "On the Reflective Faculties, by Gustav Von Struve," is a clear exposition of the functions of the organs of Comparison and Causality, compiled from other phrenological works, and enriched by some acute observations of the author, a portion of which has already been published by Mr Combe, in the 5th edition of his System of Phrenology, vol. i. p. 181.—Article III.-Account of Traugott Julius Schönberg, a musical genius, who died at the age of five years, by R. R. Noel, Esq. The cerebral development of this boy is strongly confirmatory of Phrenology.-Article IV. Cases of morbid excitement of different organs, by Dr Hirschfeld. The first case reported is that of a coachmaker at Bremen, the inventor of a new kind of self-moving carriage, and whose Constructiveness became so much excited, that whenever he thought of the least thing related to that faculty, he felt a severe headache in the situation assigned to its organ. Two other cases of cerebral disease are extracted from the American Phrenological Journal and our own pages.-Article V. is a paper by Mr Von Struve, entitled "Johannes Müller and Phrenology." This we consider to be by far the most important contribution to the present Number. Johannes Müller, as many of our readers must be aware, is an eminent physiologist and professor in the university of Berlin. In his particular science, he occupies the highest rank among its living cultivators. His Elements of Physiology is familiar to the English student in the translation of Dr Baly. In. that work, the learned professor unintentionally furnishes many striking proofs of the soundness of phrenological doc

trines, whilst he himself is still an opponent of Phrenology, and builds on his physiological researches an altogether arbitrary speculative system of psychology, which is mainly copied from Spinoza. Mr Von Struve endeavours to prove in the article under our notice-and we think he has very successfully done so-the inconsistency of Müller's speculations with the results of his investigations based upon facts. Perhaps we shall find an opportunity of laying before our readers, in the form of a translation, the greatest part of Mr Von Struve's article, as the arguments adduced in it do not admit of being well exhibited by extracts. We have no doubt that this paper will tell with excellent effect upon those readers who are open to conviction.

Mr Von Struve seems to be indefatigable in his exertions to spread Phrenology in his native country; for most of the articles contained in this Number are the productions of his pen. In one" Upon Primitive Christianity, Protestantism, and Catholicism," he shews the close relation which creeds bear to the cerebral development of the general body of their professors. "Communications on Phreno-Magnetism continued," are likewise by the same writer. They are extracted from English and American publications, with which we have already made our readers acquainted.

The department entitled "Review of Books" has again been provided for by Dr Scheve. He first refutes the errors of Mr Förg, a medical man, it seems, who, in a review of Mr Von Struve's work on " Phrenology in and out of Germany," still clings to the old notion that Phrenology is nothing but craniology. The first books noticed-we cannot say reviewed-are Mr Combe's System of Phrenology, and his Constitution of Man, both of which are praised, and recommended to the attention of the German public. In our opinion, the latter work would have a better chance of becoming popular in Germany, if, besides the existing translation by Dr Hirschfeld (who is also the translator of the System of Phrenology), a German edition were prepared by Mr Combe, especially intended for German readers. In such an edition we conceive he might with advantage omit all the theological matter; for this, referring, as it does, chiefly to the opinions of British divines, is quite unpalatable to the Germans, however suitable such discussions may be in our own country.

Under the head "Miscellanies," we find little that demands particular notice in this place. The concluding article is a translation of a letter from Dr Charles Caldwell to Mr Von Struve, in which the writer expresses his conviction

that the time is at hand when Phrenology will be fully appreciated in the country of its birth. There is published in this Number, an invitation signed by ten individuals (Gustav Von Struve, Drs Hirschfeld and Scheve, Professors Cotta, Friedreich, and Grohmann, Messrs Noel and Schatler, and Counts Thun and Wartensleben), to form a Phrenological Association in Germany. Should this be, as we expect, accomplished soon, the fulfilment of Dr Caldwell's prophecy will be greatly hastened.

II. The Object of the Sunday Lectures at the Philosophical Institution, Beaumont Square, Mile-End, London: Stated in a Lecture delivered in the Chapel of the above-named Institution, May 15. 1842. By PHILIP HARWOOD. London: C. Fox.

A short notice of this Institution, founded and endowed by the late J. T. Barber Beaumont, Esq., was inserted in our 14th volume, p. 389; but many readers may be pleased to see a more ample statement of its nature and objects. These are so clearly and comprehensively set forth in the Report issued by Mr Beaumont's Trustees in January 1842, that we cannot do better than present it entire :

"In entering on the second year of the existence of this Institution, the Trustees on whom the duty has devolved of carrying into effect the intentions of the Founder, are desirous of obtaining the attention of the principal inhabitants of the neighbourhood to the important and beneficial purposes contemplated in this foundation.

"The practice of meeting together for mental improvement and recreation, by means of Lectures, Reading-Rooms, Concerts, Choral Classes, and other such arrangements, is favourable alike to intellectual culture and to the social virtues and affections. As a means of moral amelioration, it is more powerful and salutary than either vehement denunciations or stringent penal enactments. The mind that has learned to interest itself in objects connected with the higher intellectual and moral faculties, gradually acquires a distaste for gross and coarse indulgences, and thus vice and misery are assailed in the surest and most effectual manner, by suppressing the causes in which they originate, and cultivating habits with which they cannot permanently co-exist. The perception of this truth has of late years been rapidly gaining ground with thoughtful