subjects much better than she will appear to do at first. She is a good observer, has a fairly good memory, is neat and orderly, and has good arithmetical ability. Very cautious, and yet hopeful. Has large Conscientiousness and Benevolence, the latter making her very tender-hearted. She is quite sociable and very domestic. Has more than a common amount of energy and perseverance, and when she has work to do will not let the grass grow under her feet. Sometimes she shows temper, but it is quickly over, and she hurts herself more than others with her anger. Is frank and rather confiding, and has a trustful disposition, religiously as well as otherwise.

S. C. (W. Bromwich).-You are an oddity; few men are like you; you seldom act like other people, and you rarely act otherwise than like yourself. Are full of wit and humour, and could have got your living by amusing other people, if you had happened to take up that line of life. Are witty, humorous, gifted at imitation and mimicry, a glib talker, and full of a certain kind of imagination. You should practise for public speaking, and take the place of a public lecturer, or something of the kind. You might make a phrenologist, and thrive by the profession; but be careful to be always consistent.

F. W. H. (Sunderland). You have much general intellectual ability, as well as moral power. There is no special criticism to make about you. If you come up to your phrenology, you will be a better man than common, if not a cleverer. You can succeed in almost anything you make up your mind to do if you go at it with a will. But you should "stick your stakes high," and not be contented with a mediocre position, or an easy every-day kind of life.

W. S. (Shrewsbury).—It will not be easy for you to keep straight. You have a great deal of impulse, and you will meet with a good deal of temptation of one kind or another. But you have intelligence and moral sense, and it will be your fault if you fall permanently. You are a good talker, and might make a speaker or preacher; but you need to train your powers carefully. You are best adapted to business, next to teaching, then to farming. You should make a good bookkeeper and accountant.

W. G.-You have a very strong natural character, and you should not be satisfied to be in any ordinary trade, and conduct a small business. You have superior intellectual abilities, amounting in some directions almost to genius, and it depends upon you to make them effective. You have, besides, great moral force, as well as physical vigour, and in a suitable sphere you could exert a powerful and extensive influence. In a sketch like this, one cannot do justice to you. You should study phrenology, if only to find out your powers, and how to turn them to the best advantage. There is the making or the spoiling of a good man in you.

THE

Phrenological Magazine.

NOVEMBER, 1883.

ISAAC PITMAN, INVENTOR OF PHONOGRAPHY.*

HIS organization indicates two very striking features, one is a tenacity of life, power to endure more continuous action and expenditure of life and nervous force than most individuals. It also favours great tenacity of mind, unwillingness to give up a purpose or plan when formed, a disposition to persevere and endure until perfection is attained. He should be characterized for clearness of mind. He has a high state of the mental and nervous temperaments, which gives an unusual degree of mental activity. He is in his element when employed intellectually but is never satisfied with his attainments. Whatever he does opens the way to do more, and better. His order is very prominent, and has a powerful influence on his entire. character; it would dispose him to be methodical and particular in arranging and simplifying, which, joined to his other faculties, would give him superior abilities to organize, arrange, lay out work, and do things according to some system. He is almost too nervous, too nice and particular. He finds it difficult to work with others because they are liable, in his estimation, to be careless and imperfect; hence, he would prefer to do everything himself. He his close in his observations when he pays attention to a subject, but may be a little absent-minded sometimes, and have hobbies, and be absorbed in certain directions. Language appears to be large, which would give him a great command of words, and enable him to express himself with unusual accuracy. He could distinguish himself in the languages, or in grammar, or as a critic of language used by others. As a speaker he would select words with great care, and so present his ideas that

*This delineation was written by Mr. Fowler without any knowledge of the person. The portrait was sent to him to New York, where he at present is, the only note accompanying it being that the person it represented was an educated man.-ED. P.M.

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they would be clearly and distinctly undestood. The intellectual brain, as a whole, is largely developed, and gives him superior power as a student. Whatever studies he pursues he will wish to make himself proficient in that department. As a teacher he would be very careful not to allow his pupils to go faster than they understood. He has great intuitive power, has capacity to analyse, criticise, discriminate, and see differences and resemblances. He may be witty, but his wit is more the result of the action of comparison and intuition than of mere mirthfulness of mind. His moral brain appears to be fully developed, and would give elevation of mind. He cannot enjoy himself in an animal physical way; he will not be likely to mix up with men in wordly pleasures or animal enjoyments. His head, being rather broad, indicates considerable industry, energy, efficiency, spirit, and resolution. The physiognomical indications are favouorable to an affectionate and domestic disposition, although, as a general rule, he prefers to devote himself to study and intellectual pursuits, and to go with a choice selection of company, rather than into general society. The entire organization indicates that he is one by himself, that he has an individuality of his own, and that he is not easily imitated by any one else.

Isaac Pitman, the inventor of the most facile system of shorthand, and the leading advocate of spelling reform, was born on the 4th of January, 1815, at Trowbridge, Wilts, where the poet Crabbe was rector. He was the third of a series of eleven very remarkable sisters and brothers. In early life he was a clerk, then he became a schoolmaster. Having learned Taylor's system of shorthand, he set himself to popularize it, then to improve it, and next, to invent a more perfect system. The art has conferred such blessings upon mankind that Mr. Pitman may justly be called the world's benefactor. The story of his early life, and of the origin of phonography, is extremely interesting, and we cannot do better than reproduce the sketch given by Mr. Pitman himself at a meeting held in Manchester, in 1868. He said :

"From a very early period, from the age of twelve years, I read extensively. One of the earliest circulating libraries was established in the town in which I then resided, and my father became a subscriber. I went regularly to the library for fresh supplies of books, and thus read most of the English classics. I think I was quite as familiar with Addison, and Sir Roger, and Will Honeycomb, and all the club, as I was with my own brothers and sisters. I did not expect that I should ever be an author; in fact a shorthand author is

scarcely to be called one. However, I have appeared in the literary world in this sense; and I may tell you that when reading the 'Spectator' at that early age, I wished that I might be able to do something in letters. From that period up to about the age of sixteen, I continued reading, and had become familiar with the language of books. I had had to give to the words I met with in books, and that I had not heard in conversation, a mental pronunciation of my own. At the age of about sixteen or seventeen I went through Walker's Pronouncing Dictionary, for the sole purpose of ascertaining what these dumb symbols that I knew so well

in books were to be called. This was the first step towards the production of a system of phonetic shorthand, although at that time I did not write shorthand. About a year after, with that instinctive love of knowledge common to boys, I began to study shorthand. I saw it would be a great advantage to write six times as fast as I had been accustomed to; and I borrowed a book, read it through, copied the alphabet and arbitrary words,' and have written shorthand ever since. I was then about seventeen. The system I learned was Taylor's. It is the best of the old systems. At that period there was no cheap system of shorthand in the world. The cheapest was 3s. 6d., and all previous systems had been half a guinea or a guinea. I as a boy did not think it worth while

to spare so much pocket-money, and I therefore borrowed a I wrote Taylor's book of my cousin, instead of buying one. system (Harding's edition) for about seven years, and though it is a very lengthy one, I was, after four years' practice, able to report a slow speaker verbatim. That brings me to about the age of twenty-four. I was at this time teacher of a British school, and I wished that every boy in the kingdom should have an opportunity of learning shorthand, which he could never do so long as the book for teaching it was sold at 3s. 6d. I knew that a little manual could be got up for two or three pence, quite sufficient for the purpose, and I drew up one to be published at 3d."

While he was thus qualifynig himself for the invention of phonography, by studying the English language, the immediate stimulus to his inventive powers came-as his brother, Ben Pitman, of Cincinnati--has pointed out, through his habit of reading the Bible, and referring to its parallel passages. Having an ardent love for truth, and "intolerance of error," he undertook, as a labour of love, the examination and revision of the 500,000 marginal references in Bagster's "Comprehensive Bible." This voluntary labour occupied his leisure time for nearly three years. It established a friendship with Mr. Samuel Bagster, who suggested that instead of publishing an abridgment of Taylor's shorthand, which Mr. Pitmam proposed, it would be better to invent a new system. Thus the desire for improvement, reverence for truth, and hatred of error, with a laudable ambition to place shorthand within the reach of every school-boy, formed the several strands in that providential cord which drew him into the invention of phonography. The first edition was published in 1837, and shortly afterwards Mr. Pitman began a lecturing tour, visiting periodically the principal towns in the United Kingdom. Crowds of persons attended his lectures, and great numbers set to work to master the principles of an art so eloquently expounded. His system has gone through many editions, necessitated by improvements which have suggested themselves in the development of the system. Some of his followers have been too conservative to admit that the changes are improvements, and they continue to use the edition in existence when they commenced the study. The system is almost universally used; and Mr. Proctor, the astronomer, declares it the best, the most easily learned, and the most scientific. Mr. Pitman is, moreover, a spelling reformer, and in the advocacy of reform, he has spared neither time, money, nor the application of great mental powers. That some reform in spelling is needed, is admitted by all, and phonotypy is