Extract from an Address delivered at the First Anniversary Meeting of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, July 19. 1833, by Edward Barlow, M. D., Physician to the Bath United Hospital and Infirmary, &c. &c., published in the Transactions of the Association. to he next death which I have to record, is one on which, if I was to yield impulse of my own feelings, I should dwell with deep and painful interest. In December, died at Boston, in the United States of America, Dr J. G. Spurzheim, the coadjutor of Dr Gall, and the able advocate and expositor of the doctrines which Dr Gall first promulgated. It would be out of place here to enter on any vindication of the science which these distinguished fellow-labourers established by evidences sufficient to carry conviction to every unprejudiced mind. "Of the rancour with which it was early assailed, and of the puny endeavours still made from time to time to decry it through means of ridicule and abuse, I take little account, being well assured that its truths will survive, and be acknowledged when its objectors shall have passed into oblivion. My own faith was no effect of raised imagination, but the result of calm and deliberate judgment; and, after two and twenty years of observation and reflection, it remains unshaken. However the doctrines of Spurzheim may be im. pugned, his personal merits will be readily acknowledged by all who ever had the happiness of holding intercourse with him. With a vigorous intellect were combined moral qualities of the highest order, and dispositions the most amiable; and it was impossible to know him, without blending with the admiration due to the profound philosopher, sincere esteem and the warmest affection for the man." ITINERANT PHRENOLOGISTS.-Complaints have reached us from various quarters, both in this country and in America, against illiterate persons who go about lecturing on Phrenology and taking developments for a fee, and whose proceedings are such as to injure Phrenology in the eyes of persons unacquainted with the subject. One of them, we are told, has published in the newspapers a narrative of a visit said to have been made by him to a prison in a distant town, and of his success in divining the dispositions and talents of a criminal there confined; and this narrative is suspected to be a fabrication. Of this matter, and the individuals alluded to, we have personally no means of judging; but we are certain that, in Phrenology as in medicine, illiterate pretenders can impose only on the weak and ignorant, and that no rational man will identify their merits with those of the science which they profess to teach. PARIS. We have just received the April number of the Parisian Phrenological Journal, the contents of which are of an interesting nature, and will be fully noticed hereafter. We intended to publish at present a review of some of the recent numbers of the French Journal, but have been compelled to postpone it for want of room. The chief contents of the April number are-A translation, from the German, by Dr Fossati, of Dr Gall's letter, in 1798, to Baron de Retzer, concerning his views on the functions of the brain, and which is curious as being the first account of them published by Gall; Translation of Mr Combe's Outlines of Phrenology; A paper on Idiocy, by Dr Felix Voisin; Discourse pronounced at the Annual Meeting of the Phrenological Society of Paris, 22d August 1834, by Professor Andral, President ; Account of the proceedings of the Society during the year 1833-4, by Dr Casimir Broussais, Secretary; and notice respecting the Negro Eustache, by M. Duchesne. The object of Professor Andral, in his Address, is to shew that Phrenology "ought henceforth to form a part of the grave and serious studies of physiology." He states that, though not a single organ in the brain had been determined by Gall, "the foundations of the science would not on that account have existed the less." He regards exceptions to well established principles as apparent only; and quotes with approbation the remark of M. Bouillaud, that, "while every theory which is contradicted by a well observed fact is false, it is not less true that every fact which is in contradiction with a rigorously demonstrated theory, has been ill observed.”—“ If Phrenology," he adds, "be true, give yourselves no uneasiness about its future success; for there is no example on record of any truth which, once launched into the world, has failed there to make its way." The following extract from the account of the Society's proceedings by Dr Casimir Broussais, shews that the members take a sound view of their duties:-"I affirm and repeat, in the name of my colleagues, that we study Phrenology with the completest independence: we are as fully convinced of the reality of its fundamental principles as of our own existence, because this is to us an observation of every day and every instant; but, far from pretending that the science is complete and perfect, we rely upon its future progress, and do all in our power to contribute to bring about such a result." Dr B. adverts to a number of casts of heads of remarkable persons, which the Society had acquired during the preceding year, most of them through the attention of that indefatigable phrenologist M. Dumoutier, PHRENOLOGICAL ALLUSIONS IN ANCIENT GREEK WRITERS.-A correspondent has called our attention to the following passages in Homer and Apollonius. - αἴσχιστος δὲ ἀνὴρ ὑπὸ Ἴλιον ἦλθε And pinch'd before, and on his tap'ring head Such is the description of the personal appearance of that low-minded vulgar blackguard Thersites, as given by Homer in the second book of the Iliad, verses 216-17-18-19; and by Homer's close English translator, Cowper. The chief phrase, "ogos xipaan," is translated by Damm, in his Lexicon Homericum, into German, spitzkopf-Anglicè, spit-head, having a head in the form of that of a spit, tapering to a point. There is a sort of obscure allusion to the organ of Amativeness in Appollonius' Account of the Expedition of the Argonauts. Medea, deeply enamoured of Jason, lies sleepless and restless on her solitary couch, thinking amorously of him in his absence: See Book iii. verses 761, et seq. of Apollonius. The translation of which may be given as follows:-"The fire which devours her, fastens upon all her nerves, and makes itself felt even at the back of her head, in that place where pain is most keenly felt when violent love takes possession of all the senses." UNITED STATES-The third and fourth numbers of the Annals of Phrenology, published at Boston in November and December 1834, are now before us. No. 3 contains several original articles, particularly an essay "On the study of Human Nature as a branch of Popular Education," and a Report on Infant Schools." There are also two long papers extracted from our own pages,—1st, On the Character and Cerebral Development of Rammohun Roy; and, 2d, On the Phrenological causes of the different degrees of Liberty enjoyed by different nations. The editors have borrowed still more largely from us in No. 4, where we observe not fewer than five articles quoted from this Journal; among others, Mr Simpson's Phrenological Analysis of Eloquence, and Mr Cox's Essay on the Character and Cerebral Development of Robert Burns. This number contains two original articles, which we have not room to notice at present. The first volume of the Annals, extending to 528 well filled 8vo pages, is now complete. With respect to the future, it is mentioned in the December number that "the first number of the second volume will be put to press immediately, and the subsequent numbers will appear regularly every three months. Men of talent have been engaged to contribute to the work, and no pains or expense will be spared to render it worthy of the cause to which it is devoted." The Lectures of the Boston Phrenological Society, at the Masonic Temple, " continue to excite interest, and to be well attended. There is a lecture every Friday evening at seven o'clock." The Society's collection of casts, skulls, and drawings, is gradually increasing. The subjoined is an extract from the "Notices" in the Annals: "The Second Anniversary of the Boston Phrenological Society was celebrated at Boylston Hall, December 31. 1834. The following was the order of exercises: Voluntary on the organ. Prayer. Reading of the Scriptures. “Original Ode (by I. Maclellan jun. Esq.) on the Birth-Day of Spursheim. I. We bear no garlands now, Nor song of praise! II. But o'er the noble head Our notes shall burst, In that pure frame enshrined, III. Land of the golden vine, In his pure hand. Air-America. "Address by the Rev. Geo. Bradburn. luntary. "The Address of Mr Bradburn was on the utility of Phrenology. The subject was ably elucidated by the orator, and much to the edification of the audience. We shall have occasion to notice it hereafter more fully. "Officers of the Boston Phrenological Society for 1835.-Rev. JOHN PIERPONT, President; Wm. B. Fowle, Vice-President; S. G. Howe, M. D., Cor. Secretary; M. S. Perry, M. D., Rec. Secretary; Joseph White, Treasurer; E. P. Clark, Nahum Capen, J. F. Flago, M. D., John Flint, M. D., Councillors; N. B. Shurtleff, M. D., H. T. Tuckerman, Curators." The publication of a series of duodecimo volumes, entitled "The Phrenological Library," is about to be commenced at Boston; the first six volumes to contain an English translation of Dr Gall's work on the Functions of the Brain. Dr Epps' "Horæ Phrenologica" has been reprinted in the same town. Among a variety of articles necessarily postponed till our next Number, are Reviews of Dr Caldwell's Thoughts on Physical Education, and of Dr Brigham's Remarks on the Influence of Mental Cultivation and Excitement upon Health ; the case of G. B. of Belfast, and Mr Hancock's excellent letter on the organs of Wit and Comparison. We have received Mr Rondeau's Elements of Truth. EDINBURGH, 1st June 1835. 1. CHRISTIAN ETHICS; OR MORAL PHILOSOPHY ON THE PRINCIPLES OF DIVINE REVELATION. BY RALPH WARDLAW, D. D. 2d Edition. London: Jackson and Walford. 1834. 8vo. 2. A GENERAL VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF ETHICAL PHILOSOPHY, &c. By Sir JAMES MACKINTOSH. Being Dissertation Second, prefixed to the Seventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. 3. A FRAGMENT ON MACKINTOSH; BEING STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES IN HIS DISSERTATION. London: Baldwin and Cradock. 1835. 8vo. WE intend to confine our remarks on these publications chiefly to the views of their authors about the existence and nature of conscience. On the ground of the corruption of human nature by the fall, Dr Wardlaw denies the possibility of establishing, by means of observation, a sound ethical philosophy. "To show you, in part at least," says he, " my reason for enlarging, as I have done, on the hazard arising, in questions of morals, from the theories of human philosophy, I now come at once to the point which I have had principally in view, and to which I alluded in the close of the former lecture. It is this,That in by much the larger proportion of these theories, there is an entire, or almost entire, overlooking of a fundamental article in the statements of fact and of doctrine contained in divine revelation, relative to the character and condition of man as a subject of God's moral government:-I refer to the innate depravity of human nature.”—(P. 37.) "I argue," he continues, "at present hypothetically. I assume the fact of man's depra VOL. IX.-NO. XLV. Bb vity of the natural and inveterate alienation of his heart from God. Now this state of his nature brings with it two distinct sources of error. Man, let it be remembered, is, in our present inquiry, both the investigator, and, in part at least, the subject of investigation. In each of these views of him, there is a source of error; the first arising from the influence of his depravity on his character as an investigator; and the second from the disposition to make his own nature, without adverting to its fallen state, his standard of moral principles, and his study in endeavouring to ascertain them."-(P. 40.) "Let me illustrate my meaning by a simple comparison. Suppose a chemist were desirous to ascertain the ingredients of water. What estimate should we form of his judgment, if, with this view, he were to subject to his analysis a quantity of what had just passed, in the bed of a sluggish river, through the midst of a large manufacturing city, from whose common sewers, and other outlets of impurity, it had received every possible contamination which, either by simple admixture or by chemical affinity, had become incorporated with the virgin purity of the fountain; and if, proceeding on such analysis, he were to publish to the world his thesis on the composition of water? Little less preposterous must be the conduct of those philosophers, who derive their ideas of what constitutes rectitude in morals from human nature as it is. They analyze the water of the polluted river; and refuse the guide that would conduct them to the mountain spring of its native purity."—(P. 44.) "According to Bishop Butler's theory, human nature is 'adapted to virtue' as evidently as a watch is adapted to measure time.' But, suppose the watch, by the perverse interference of some lover of mischief, to have been so thoroughly disorganized, its moving and its subordinate parts and powers so changed in their collocation and their mutual action, that the result has become a constant tendency to go backward instead of forward, or to go backwards and forwards with irregular, fitful, evershifting alternation, so as to require a complete remodelling, and especially a readjustment of its great moving power, to render it fit for its original purpose;―would not this be a more appropriate analogy for representing the present character of fallen man? The whole machine is out of order. The mainspring has been broken; and an antagonist power works all the parts of the mechanism. It is far from being with human nature, as Butler, by the similitude of the watch, might lead his reader to suppose. The watch, when duly adjusted, is only, in his phrase, liable to be out of order.' This might suit for an illustration of human nature at first, when it received its constitution from its Maker. But it has lost its appropriateness now. That nature, alas! is not now a machine that is merely apt to |