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NOTICES.

Mr GEORGE CCMBE of this City intends to deliver a Course of Lectures on Phrenology in London, in April 1824.

Prepared or preparing, inter alia, for our next Number,—

Phrenological Review of Quentin Durward.

Eden.

A Phrenological Tour.

of the Trials of Margaret Lindsay.

of Mr Owen's New Views of Society.

of Parliamentary Report on Millbank Peniten

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CONTENTS

ARTICLE I.-Cranioscopy,......

Page

165

II.-Louis XI. and Charles the Bold, as delineated in

Quentin Durward,................................

176

III.-Dugald Stewart, Esq. on Milton's Garden of Eden,... 195
IV.-Second Dialogue between a Philosopher of the Old

School and a Phrenologist,.......................

....... 200

......... 218

V.-Phrenological Analysis of Mr Owen's New Views of

Society,.....................

VI.-Burke, Fox, and Pitt,.............................

238

VII.-On the Organ and Faculty of Constructiveness,...... 247
VIII.-Practical Application of Phrenology on a Voyage,..... 259

IX.-Biblical Fragments,..........

X.-Captain Franklin's Journey,.....

XI.-Shakspeare's Character of Iago,........

XII.-On the Frontal Sinus,...........

269

274

287

..... 292

. XIII.-Effects of Size and Activity in the Organs,............. 297 XIV.-General Directions for observing Development,....... 305 XV.-Phrenology and the Medical Society,.............

XVI.-Signs of the Times,.........

XVII.-Our First Number,..........

XVIII. Proceedings of the Phrenological Society,...

307

316

319

XIX.-Remarks on the Cerebral Development and Disposi-
tions of John Thurtell,...................................

326

NOTICES.

THE PHRENOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.-This Society has received a great increase of numbers in the present session, and decidedly flourishes. In our next Number we shall give a report of its proceedings.

Dr ROBERT WILLIS, member of the Phrenological Society of London, having, since the publication of our first Number, commenced a course of lectures on phrenology in London, and intimated his intention of giving lectures regularly in future; Mr G. Combe considers the leading object of his intended visit to the metropolis as thereby accomplished, and will not deliver a course there in April, as formerly announced.

Mr G. COMBE is preparing a second edition of his Essays on Phrenology. They will be corrected and greatly enlarged, and are intended to present a condensed but comprehensive view of phrenology at the date of publication.

A report is in circulation that Mr G. Combe means to leave Edinburgh, and settle in London permanently as a lecturer; but we are authorised to state, that it is altogether unfounded, no such intention having at any time been entertained.

Our FIFESHIRE CORRESPONDENT is respectfully informed, that his communication has been received, and that, with his consent, it shall be published, provided he entrust his name and address to the Editor. He is farther informed, that a cast or written development of the head of "My Landlord" would be reckoned a valuable acquisition. Phrenology rests on facts, and these cannot be too carefully authenticated. The HORRORS of PHRENOLOGY will hardly be believed; but we shall try.

VERACITY is stupid. We say the Sieur Donnerblitzenhausen was in town at the time we mentioned. Did V. ever visit the Fives Court to inquire?

When SKYLARK soars a little higher, he will see more clearly. It is essential to clear vision, to get out of the dust.

PERTINAX is too short of temper for us; and TANDEM too long in harness. Are we at liberty to sweeten and shorten?

The price of our Journal has been complained of as too high. We may mention, that the quantity of letter-press, 10 sheets given in each Number, is in the same ratio to the price as the size of other periodicals is to the price of them. The paper is equally good, and the matter will speak for itself. Our first Number contained two extra sheets, comprising the Introductory Statement, which was paged separately from the Journal.

We have just heard, that in a debate in a Literary Society, (not the Medical,) a person boasted of being an apostate from Phrenology, that is, of his having once believed, and subsequently seen cause to abandon it. This story is obtaining a wide circulation, as evidence that the science is unfounded. Now, Phrenology professes to be a system founded on observations in nature; either, then, the gentleman in question believed at first, through weak credulity, without the authority of facts and philosophical reflection, or NATURE has changed since his first investigation. We leave him and his admirers to choose that horn of the dilemma which is most inviting.

In our First Number we intimated our intention to reserve a corner of our Work as a pillory, for the exposure and punishment of all who, under the guise of attacking phrenology, should henceforth be guilty of certain enormities inadmissible in fair discussion or philosophical argu

ment. And we mentioned various descriptions and gradations of offence, which, we conceive, would be justly visited by such an infliction. Since the publishing of this, our proclamation, we have the satisfaction to say, that the offences so denounced by us have visibly diminished both in number and importance, though the enemies of our science may still indulge in the secret pleasure of uttering their sottises and betises on the subject in private society, but it would appear that the majority of them have lost all appetite for figuring in print. A few stray impertinences did, indeed, reach us, but these were either so insignificant in themselves, or so utterly unknown and unnoticed by the public, that we conceived it would be doing them by far too much honour to drag them into light; and, upon the whole, it occurred to us, that we should more effectually consult our own dignity by proclaiming a maiden sessions. Just as our last sheet was going to press, we happened to cast our eyes on a late number of the "MORNING HERALD," containing an article which, for sheer stupidity, is perhaps not to be equalled by any thing the public has yet seen. After perusing the statement we have given of the case of Thurtell, our readers will know how to appreciate the following exquisite morceau, of which our friend, the Sieur Donnerblitzenhausen, if he wrote it, would, we should imagine, be, by this time, heartily ashamed- "Some months ago, a most desperate and "concerted murder was executed, and the criminal, on the clearest evi"dence, was convicted, and underwent the last penalty of the law. "The craniologists were all agog to get a feel at his skull; and when the "body arrived at one of our public hospitals, about seventy learned men "were assembled to feel the head; it was a sort of touching for the "skull-evil; the wisest man in the room approached the corpse at a "grave pace, and insinuated his finger and thumb behind the left ear, "the usual place for murder to occupy; but the devil a bump was there "to be found. The professor would not believe his finger : he stooped "down and stared with all his eyes, but no mark was there, save "that of

"Edge of penny cord, and vile reproach!'

"The professor shook his head, and a universal groan pervaded the as"sembly; the professor shut his eyes in thought-the whole assembly "was blind: the professor again took heart, and opened his fist-the "whole assembly cried courage;' but, misfortune on misfortune! not "only was the big bump of murder minus, but the bumps of caution " and benevolence were big to conviction. The professor turned on his "heel, and departed in peace-the whole assembly made their exit." "Ha, ha, ha, ha!'

"Nay, prithee, laugh not; for a noble science perishes at the sound. "Why, what a superseding of nature would it have been, had the pro❝fessor, with his wisdom at his fingers' ends, been able to say, This man was a murderer; but the devil take the bumps, he was only left "the choice to exclaim, This man was a philanthropist and a prudent "fellow,' or to say nothing at all.

66

The following, which, we imagine, is also intended for wit, is so execrably bad, that we shall not make a single remark upon it.

"Another late instance of failure, was a gentleman waiting upon one " of the learned in the art, and requesting him to feel a young lady's "skull: 'but,' said the gentleman, as she has some doubt of the infallibility of the system, she has instructed me to bargain for your feel"ing her head through a veil, that you may not be guided by her countenance. The professor agreed, and his fee was to be (the pro❝fessor was an honourable man)-a kiss. A hackney coach was called, " and in ten minutes the doctor and his disciple were landed at a hand

"

"

some house in Cavendish-square.-The gentleman ushered the philosopher into the drawing-room, where the young lady was sitting in "anxious expectancy on an ottoman, in a long black veil, which covered "her from head to foot. The doctor looked with all his eyes, but the "long black veil defied his keenest researches; he thought he could "make out the tip of her nose, and he was sure she had a pretty figure; "she had her muff too in her hand: the professor made his bow and "commenced his search: the first lump he hit upon was genius-devel"oped in an extraordinary degree: then there was bashfulness-quite "enough, and a moderate proportion of the tender passion: her music "was not quite made out, but that, quoth the doctor, dwells in the "spheres, and he laid his hand on his bosom. How gallant of the doc"tor! He could not think of any thing prettier to say, so he demand"ed his fee with another bow. Certainly,' said his conductor, and "you have fairly earned it.' The veil was snatched away; the doctor put his best foot forward for his prize, and extending his arms, found " in them—a stuffed monkey, holding above its head a barber's block, "with-genius-developed in an extraordinary degree! The professor "forgot to make his third bow, but shot out of the house like an arrow." "Ha! ha! ha!-Barber's blocks are made of wood; and so I think "was the doctor's."

These are specimens of antiphrenological wit; and this is the way in which the enemies of the subject think to put down and extinguish an inductive science!

N. B. Authors and Publishers are respectfully invited to avail them. selves of the circulation of our Journal, to advertise any work in which they are engaged. Their Notices, which may be printed either on our covers or in a separate form, require to be sent in at least a fortnight before the times of our appearance.

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