a proper extent, the circulation through it becomes animated, it receives more blood, and consequently more nourishment; its nerves act with more tone, and IT BECOMES STRONGER, READIER FOR ACTION, and after a time fitted for repose. If, however, the exercise be not resumed after sufficient repose, then weakness of necessity follows as above.

To apply this principle to the exercise of a bodily power. Suppose that A B walks ten or fifteen miles every Monday morning, and during the other six days of the week not at all, and that, finding himself greatly fatigued by the exertion, he roundly asserts that exercise is hurtful-what answer would be made? He would be told that as he sowed so had he reaped -that as he had infringed all the laws of exercise so had he suffered the punishment due to the infringement: 1st, By walking much farther than his constitution was fit for, he had induced debility from exhaustion; 2dly, By remaining inactive the other six days, he had induced debility, with indisposition to action, dependent on a sluggish circulation and low tone of vitality. Had he wished to strengthen his muscular system, the laws of exercise required that he should employ his muscles to a sufficient degree to increase their tone, and regularly resume the exercise after adequate repose. The very gradual and regular way in which horses are prepared for the race-course or hunting-field is an excellent illustration of the importance attached to the observance of the law of Nature in training animals.

In training the mental powers, precisely the same principle ought to guide our efforts, because God has made the mind as dependent on the brain for its action during life, as he has done the power of motion in the muscles; and therefore we are doubly bound to follow the law which He has given us for our guidance. According to this principle, then, every mental power may be weakened by too little, and also by too much exercise; because the brain, through which it acts, may be left sluggish or be exhausted by excess of exertion. In the first case, the mental faculty becomes indisposed to act; and in the second it becomes incapable of acting vigorously and steadily. It may be excited to action, but the latter will be irritable, and unsteady, and unprofitable-not permanent, enduring, and available, such as attends the medium or righit degree of exercise.

To apply this to moral education. It is evident, that, granting the truth of the principle (which can be demonstrated), every moral feeling which we wish to strengthen and cultivate must be duly, regularly, and systematically exercised before full success can be attained-just as we see done with the intellectual faculties of music, painting, language, and memory of facts. We have no choice in the matter. Either we must obey the law which God has imposed on our constitution, or we must fail in attaining the moral excellence of which he has made us capable. He has connected mind and feeling with organization to fit us for our residence in a material world, and we must either act under its laws or suffer.

Here, then, is the use of teachers being taught this fact. Love of Approbation is a strong and active feeling of the human mind, and it is one to which food is easily administered, and the gratification of which is attended with much pleasure to those who are largely endowed with it. Being a very prominent feeling in society, it is perhaps the most regularly and sedulously educated which we have. Before an infant can walk, or speak, or understand, we begin by praising its beauty, its shoes, its rattle, or its dress: when it cries, we flatter it to silence; when it speaks, reads, sings, or dances, every one is an ecstacy of admiration at its achievement. At school, its vanity is cultivated by places and prizes, and public exhibitions. At college, emulation ill directed is often its bane. In the world, " fame" is its grand prize. With females, emulation, prizes, flattering and compliment are still more effective. The result of this careful education and systematic exercise of an inferior feeling is manifest in every age, and in every rank of life. It predominates everywhere. How much of character and conduct in public and in private circles springs from the single principle of Love of Approbation in its various modifications of emulation, vanity, desire of renown, love of praise, notoriety, or fame! There is, in truth, scarcely an act of any note in which it does not come in as a primary element.

Is it equally so with the sense of justice or religion? Are they called systematically into play in every act which intervenes between the cradle and the grave? And do we find them constantly referred to as rules of conduct as we do emulation, fame, glory, and honour? And do we find them exercising even a tithe of the influence over human conduct which the other does? Far from it; conscience, indeed, is a " still small voice," for its cry is rarely heard, and its voice is easily drowned by less noble sounds. Why is it so? The reason is obvious: not being recognised as a primitive faculty connected with an organ of its own, no one thinks that it requires regular and systematic exercise to give it strength. Being viewed as an offshoot from intellect, it is said, "Cultivate intellect, and the sense of justice will shift for itself." From this error, parents and teachers not only neglect to educate conscience, or the sentiment of justice, but too often violate its dictates, in the belief that the child has not sense enough to see the violation. Instead of being made a ruling principle in every-day life, it is rarely heard of; and hence from inactivity IT BECOMES INDISPOSED TO ACT, because such is the law of its organization.

It is the same with the religious feelings. If these be actively cherished and made to regulate every-day life, their organs acquire readiness and vigour of action, and the feelings become sources of happiness and right conduct. But if their exercise be reserved for the seventh day, and they be laid aside in the intervening six, the law of organization decreed by God is again broken, and from sluggishness indisposition to activity is induced! The separation of belief from practice, which some inculcate, has misled many, and done infinite harm.

From the same principle which requires the regular exercise of all the moral and intellectual faculties, it necessarily happens, that if one or several be greatly cultivated to the exclusion of the rest, all are apt to suffer. Those which are too constantly in action, are apt to pass into that irritable state of excitement which constitutes an almost morbid craving, and is hurt by indulgence; while those which are not sufficiently exercised become sluggish and INDISPOSED to act. This is in truth one of the reasons why persons remarkably gifted with partial talent, are rarely equally remarkable for sound general sense or feeling, or for being proportionably happy. Continual activity in the one direction exalts their irritability, diminishes the healthy tone of the system, and leaves in abeyance all the other faculties of the mind, whether moral or intellectual. Hence in some degree the proverbial irritability of poets, artists, musicians, and authors, whose minds are exercised on one set of objects, and whose moral feelings are not brought sufficiently into play in the ordinary duties of life. And hence, I may add, the danger or deterioration of character in young people from excessive addiction to one line of pursuit, and the neglect of their other and higher faculties.

In short, in attempting to produce moral excellence in the young, we have no royal road to stride over with seven-league boots. We must just submit to cultivate the sense of Justice, and the sentiments of Veneration and Benevolence, on the same principle as we do musical talent, or muscular power; and we may be very thankful in having the guarantee of Omnipotence to assure us of success when we do so. It is a fact which I can explain only by the prevailing neglect of moral education, that, as a general rule, the organ of Conscientiousness is larger in childhood than in mature age. If the sentiment were properly cultivated, I think it would become proportionably stronger instead

ARTICLE VI.

ON THE FUNCTIONS OF THE ORGANS CALLED WEIGHT AND CONSTRUCTIVENESS; being the Substance of a Paper, read before the Members of the Manchester Phrenological Society, June 2. 1835 : with some Observations on Mr SIMPSON'S Views, as given in the 43d Number of the Phrenological Journal. By RICHARD EDMONDSON.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE PHRENOLOGICAL JOURNAL.

Str, The function of the organ called Weight has been the source of considerable discussion among some of the most eminent and talented phrenologists. Sir George Mackenzie and Mr Simpson have both engaged in its elucidation, and have given to the world some brilliant specimens of high intellectual and practical attainments on this subject; and though it may appear great presumption in me to enter the lists against such powerful champions, yet, as we are assured upon high authority that "the race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong," I will venture to break a lance in the cause of what I consider phrenological truth. You have twice favoured me with a clear field in your valuable pages, and I shall feel much obliged by a repetition of your kindness on the present occasion, while I more fully unfold my view of the function of this organ than I have hitherto done, and at the same time offer a few remarks upon Mr Simpson's views, as given in his last most able and valuable essay. I have for the last six years been engaged, more or less, in making observations upon the perceptive organs generally, and especially upon Weight; and the utmost I aim at upon the present occasion is to lay the result before your readers in plain and intelligible language.

This organ, like Individuality, Form, Size, and some others, appears to be put into relation with external objects by two distinct media the optic nerves, and the nerves of muscular sensation; † and through the former to see the direction of the gravitating force in external objects, or, in other words, their state of verticality or inclination to the base on which they rest; and through the latter to perceive the position of our own bodies relative to the base on which they rest, or, in other words, the direction of the gravitating force of our bodies, as well as of any thing in contact with us, and therefore cognizable through this medium. Here, then, is the point of difference between Mr Simpson (and, indeed, all who have published on the subject) ard

• Page 193 of the present volume.

† By the nerves of muscular sensation are here meant the nerves discovered by Sir Charles Bell, the function of which is to make us aware of the state of the muscles, or degree of their contraction.

myself. He considers that its function is to cognize and apply the proper amount of force in each animal movement or muscular action, and also that it is the foundation of mechanics and mechanical improvements; and accordingly he calls it the organ for force or mechanical perception. On the other hand, I hold its function to be confined to the perception of the direction of the gravitating force, both in ourselves and in external objects.

No one will deny that Mr Simpson's last essay does all but demonstrate the existence of an organ of force, and few, I am inclined to think, will differ from him as to the existence of a sense for resistance with its nerve-the point at issue betwixt Sir George Mackenzie and himself. They are both agreed, not only that we have such an organ, but that it is situated, " in man, immediately above the orbitar plate, between the organs of Size and Colouring;" but I trust, Mr Editor, to convince them, not only that it is not situated in that region, but that it occupies a very different place in the cerebral mass. I shall not enter into any illustration of the function of "Weight" as put into relation with external objects by the optic nerve; as my other communications * contain probably sufficient evidence of the justness of my view, and more especially as Mr Simpson acknowledges its correctness, though he must pardon me if I make a remark upon the form of expression he has used. He says, in reference to my view upon the perceptions of the faculty through the sense of sight, "This is quite true, and shews that equilibrium of external objects is observed by the sense of sight," &c. If, in speaking of equilibrium, he refers exclusively to objects at rest, the term is not sufficiently comprehensive; for by this organ we as certainly cognize the state of objects in motion as to verticality to their base, as we do those which are at rest. Take, as examples, the beam and piston of a steam-engine when at work, the masts and rigging of a ship in a heavy sea, the stems and branches of trees in a gale, the pendulum of a clock in motion; none of these objects is strictly in equilibrium, though they are always in some state of verticality or inclination to the earth's surface: and my position is, that, cæteris paribus, just in proportion to the size of the organ of Weight are we able to perceive that state, whether vertical or inclined. Or if Mr S. restricts the term to objects whose position is vertical, the term is equally objectionable; for it is by this organ that we detect deviations from the perpendicular.

In unfolding the view I entertain of the perceptions received by it through the nerves of muscular sensation, I shall take the liberty of using the facts afforded by Mr Simpson himself; as they are most pointed and conclusive evidence in my support, and, from having been adduced in support of a different theory,

Page 349 of the present volume, vol. vii. p. 106; and vol. ix. p. 142.

VOL. IX. - NO. XLVII.

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