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Basil Hall, and suggested an inferred general development; which led to an interesting discussion,

2d December Mr Daniel Noble read a paper on the means, physical and moral, of estimating human character." So highly were the merits of this essay appreciated by the members present on the second evening of discussion, that they determined upon its publication in the form of a pamphlet. This resolution has since been carried into effect, and a copy is herewith forwarded.

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9th December.Previously to entering into the farther discussion of Mr Noble's paper read at the last meeting, Mr Noble begged to make some remarks upon the critique contained in the last number of the Journal, upon his paper on the temperaments, therein published, and forwarded by this Society to the Editors. After some discussion upon those remarks, it was resolved unanimously, "That the Secretary is directed to communicate to the Editors of the Journal the objections of this Society to the critique on the abridgement of Mr D. Noble's paper on the temperaments, contained in the December number of that publication." In accordance with this resolution, I may be allowed respectfully to remark, that Mr Noble does not state in the essay that" indolence and mental inactivity in the absence of any very powerful motive" are the result of the sanguine temperament; but that this condition of things is most commonly associated with it, and for the reasons stated by Mr Noble in the succeeding paragraph, viz. "in consequence of the predominant energy usually possessed in these instances by the organs of vegetative life," leading most generally to the state of bodily constitution which you, in your critical illustration, allow to be productive of "mental indolence and inactivity." It was conceived by the Society, that had the whole sentence within the periods, relative to this matter, been quoted, your half-condemnatory remarks would not have been deemed so appropriate. In your concluding remarks in the critique in question, you observe, that "Temperament, therefore, besides influencing the activity of the organs, affects their power also, to a greater extent than Mr Noble seems inclined to allow." The Society apprehends, that had not a very important paragraph been abstracted, in the process of abridgement, this objection could not have appeared to hold good. In the draft of the paper in the possession of Mr Noble, the paragraph alluded to runs thus," The practical inference which I would deduce from all these circumstances is, that, in forming an opinion of mental peculiarity from corporeal structure, we should in all cases take into the account, not only the size of the brain generally and the cerebral organs individually, but also the kind of temperament with which they

are associated; for as this latter very materially modifies the degree of exercise to which the power may have been submitted, it will be absolutely impossible to form a correct idea of the actual energy of any power, without our attention being directed to its probable training, over which the temperament exerts such a manifest influence. We are all well aware that the vigour of any faculty is obviously increased by its due exercise, and certainly before any corresponding increase in the size of the organic material can have taken place," &c. &c. In conclusion, it appears to us that the views expressed in Mr Noble's paper are, that exercise increases the energy of the powers, and that such exercise is promoted by a favourable temperament...

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We feel it incumbent upon us thus to declare ourselves upon the foregoing subject, having unanimously adopted Mr Noble's essay on the temperaments, and having originally forwarded the same for insertion in your valuable Journal.

16th December: Mr Prentice read a paper "on the comparative cerebral endowment of successful and unsuccessful tradesmen," in which several instances and facts, valuable to the -science, were contributed. He has promised additional commu-nications upon the subject at his earliest convenience.

19th December.-The Rev. Henry Halford Jones in the chair. This being an especial annual meeting of the Society for receiving the report of the past year, and for the election of officers for the ensuing one, the reports of the Treasurer and Secretary were read and received, and the balloting then took place. Ultimately the following results were announced by the chairman:Mr Daniel Noble, surgeon, President; Mr George Inglis, Treasurer; Mr Jonathan N. Rawson, Secretary; Mr William Bally, artist, Curator; Rev. H. H. Jones, Mr George Plant, surgeon, Mr Richard Anderson, surgeon, Mr Edmondson, Mr James Edmondson, and Mr John Stansfield, Councillors. The thanks of the Society were then given to the officers of the past year, and the Society adjourned to the 6th January 1835.

6th January 1835.-The Secretary read a paper "on the character and source of the disagreeable feeling suggested by the observation of uncleanliness of the person;" in which the Society ultimately thought, after two evenings' discussion, that he had successfully shewn that the five external senses possess, like the intellectual faculties, perception, memory, and, probably, imagination. He examined the sources to which peculiar regard to cleanliness of the person is usually attributed, and shewed the deductions or conclusions to be unsatisfactory. After a brief description of the nature of the feeling experienced in uncleanliness, and the process of annoyance it occasions, he expressed the conclusion at which he had arrived to be, "that the source of

that abhorrence which some display at the sight of uncleanliness, or of extreme regard to cleanliness at the same time manifested, is the peculiar acuteness of the sense of touch or feeling in some degree, in joint operation with the observing powers."

27th January. The life of Caspar Hauser was read by the Secretary, with a view to the eliciting of the opinions of the members, and inducing attention to that most interesting case. It is expected that it will lead to a more particular notice in the form of an essay. Your attention to these communications will oblige, Sir, your most obedient servant, for the Manchester Phrenological Society, JON. N. RAWSON, Sec.

We insert with much pleasure the foregoing communication. The Manchester phrenologists continue to prosecute their investigations with most commendable zeal and perseverance; and we rejoice to find that they are presided over by such an intelligent and well-informed phrenologist as Mr Noble appears to be. His "Essay on the Means, Physical and Moral, of Estimating the Human Character," a copy of which Mr Rawson has kindly sent us, is excellently fitted to rectify the crude notions entertained by some as to the extent to which character is ascertainable from the mere size and form of the head, without regard to temperament, or inquiry into the kind of society in which the individual has moved, and his moral, religious, literary, and scientific education. The important influence of these circumstances in modifying the natural tendencies, though treated of in all the standard works on Phrenology, is too frequently neglected in practice; and the consequence is, that grave errors are committed, which, instead of being ascribed to the ignorance or rashness of the manipulator, are often regarded as demonstrative of the unsoundness of Phrenology itself. The present essay, therefore, in which these modifying circumstances are insisted on in detail, is calculated to be of great service in checking the folly of unthinking phrenologists; and we heartily recommend it to our readers, both for this reason and on account of its intrinsic excellence and soundness of doctrine. The pamphlet is sold by all the booksellers in Manchester, and also by our Edinburgh publisher. A short specimen may be given here.

With respect to the modifying effects of example, Mr Noble observes: We all know how much mankind, especially in youth, are the creatures of imitation, and how much example influences the disposition in early years. We all know how habits, from this source, become formed, to which there was not any especial predisposition; and how, when they have become so formed, they exist almost as a second nature, and this either for good or for evil. The great tendency in the inferior feelings of our nature to obtain a predominance is well known, and we may

almost infer with certainty, that, in the very great majority of instances, an undue activity and improper direction will have been communicated to these, if subjected in early life to the influence of evil association. This will hold good, not only in respect of those whose tendencies to immorality are naturally considerable, but in respect also of those who possess from nature a fair average of moral endowment; and indeed I may go further, and assert, with the highest confidence, that even those who are the most favourably gifted of nature will lose that high sense of Christian virtue, which is the perfection of the moral code, if in early life they have been engulfed in the allurements of vicious society. For, as the apostle emphatically observes, evil communications corrupt good manners.' And, in like manner, an individual of no great moral strength by his nature, will often pass through life with more true honour to himself than one more eminently endowed in a moral point of view, whose opportunities as to early association have not been so favourable. But the influence of society is not alike upon all: moral example will have infinitely more effect upon one who is possessed of a high cerebral organization, than upon one whose head is villanously low; and whilst I believe that an individual of this latter character will, from his earliest years, be almost sure to run riot if evil communication be not studiously prevented, I am yet satisfied that even such an one may, by dint of an excellent moral training, be rendered a tolerably respectable character.* And the intermediate results may always be anticipated under intermediate circumstances; the proper proceeding, in the estimate, being always to compare the predisposition with the external agents by which it is modified, and to deduce the legitimate conclusion from a consideration of their reciprocal influence."

There is considerable force in what Mr Noble says in commendation of the study of literature, which he conceives to polish the manners by cultivating Ideality. We think him mistaken, however, in supposing that it is against sound literary education that the public mind is now so generally excited. There is a great difference between the mere acquisition of synonymous words in different languages, and the gaining of a relish for the beauties of native or foreign literature. Of twenty boys who receive what passes for a literary education, probably not more than one really appreciates, follows out, and is improved by the study of belles lettres.

After mentioning that the function of the perceptive faculties is to observe external objects and their qualities and phenomena, Mr Noble adds, with great truth,-" But the kind of knowledge

* This statement appears too broad. Heads of the lowest class are in no circumstances accompanied by a tolerably respectable character.-ED.

sought after, and its effects upon individuals, will vary with variations in thedegree of mental endowment in other respects, and with their general education. Thus, for example, a person may have great powers in the acquisition of knowledge, but shall be of moderate reflective endowment if such am one be deft to himself, the great probability is, that his whole soul will be bent -upon petty gossip and trifling detail, in which he may abound to tediousness; whilst, on the other hand, the same individual, by the communication of some powerful influence in early life, might have acquired much useful information, and, as a referee for those more highly endowed with reflective power, have constituted no unimportant member of society. And if some one were to predicate, from a mere observance of cerebral development, that a person with great individuality and eventuality would make great progress in physical science, and be very fond of natural history, and so on, it might happen that a very great error should be committed, as love of tea-table talk, or of village politics, or of some other objects of trivial import, contracted by neglect of education, might have created an actual distaste to the very things in which, under other circumstances, he would have been a respectable proficient. And in regard to those instances where, with strength of perception, a powerful reflective -faculty exists, it will depend very much upon the education whether such a mind be honourably directed in its pursuits. I have seen individuals, with great intellectual power, presenting instances of mental excellence far inferior to many whose cerebral organization was much beneath their own; and, in these cases, the result might readily be traced to the education. The former class of individuals I have generally observed to be very expert in their ordinary avocations; very clever at a bargain, or in arranging some scheme relative to the ordinary affairs of life; well informed, and happy in reasoning, upon the politics of the day; and, in a case or two which I have now in mind, decided-ly ignorant upon, and entertaining distaste to, most of those subjects to the cultivation of which their own minds might, by their nature, be considered prone. And persons of the opposite-class -I have seen, whose cerebral organization, though respectable indeed, has not been indicative of any first-rate power, but who, by the influence of an excellent training, have distinguished themselves before the whole scientific world; and this, too, un-assisted by patronage and undue influence. These illustrations are intended to convey an idea as to the method in which the direction of the intellectual faculties may modify the results."

Due consideration has been given to the Society's remarks on our critique of Mr Noble's essay on the Temperaments; but

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