air of authority. His hair, in his youthful days, was of a light colour, but care and trouble, according to Las Casas, soon turned it gray; and at thirty years of age it was quite white."

We cannot but regret that the elegant historian has in this description omitted the most important feature of all, and made no mention of the head of Columbus, or only noticed it incidentally. We would have been pleased with a finished portrait from his graceful and graphic pen. Many might have sat for the above picture, but few for the head of the great navigator. So, at least, we must believe, judging from the character of the man, and from the fine old engraving before us. We are so accustomed to look at all portraits phrenologically, that our eye instinctively rests upon the forehead. This is so striking and every way remarkable, that the most indifferent observer would soon pass over the general features of the face -the well formed nose-the firm and compressed lip, and the air of conscious power cast over all-and dwell exclusively upon the deep, clear, and expanded brow. The thoughtful introspective eyes might for a moment arrest us, but they evidently derive their chief expres sion from those instruments of thought which swell out between the temples. As a whole, the head is rather long and high, showing large intellectual and moral organs. It has not the breadth of brow, and expansion at the sides, which we see in the likenesses of Milton and Shakspeare. The difference is of course owing to the greater Ideality of the two masters of song.

In its general appearance, his head bears no small resemblance to that of Franklin. Both are distinguished by great size, as well as great Causality. In both, Firmness and Self-esteem are prominently marked; while in neither is Ideality much above the average developement. In several other points, the likeness, in their phrenological conditions, is very striking. Nor is the correspondence in the lives and characters of these extraordinary men much less remarkable. Although neither of them could boast of his family, or vaunt the deeds of his ancestors, both lived to render their names illustrious. The youth and early manhood of both were passed amid poverty and privation. But not want, with all its concomitant evils, truly termed the imprisonment of mind, could reconcile either to ignorance. The journeyman printer and the humble map maker were as eager in their pursuit of knowledge as the most aspiring youth, born to lofty hopes, surrounded with flattering incitements, and cheered onward, at every step of his career, by the plaudits of fond and exulting friends.

Columbus was no genius, in the common acceptation of the word. His peculiar excellence lies neither in the variety nor the depth of

his knowledge; not so much in any particular art or science, for even in his favourite pursuits, geometry and cosmography, he was equalled, and perhaps surpassed, by many of his cotemporaries. Yet was he unquestionably a great man, and great because of his capacious intellect. Take away, then, from his brain the phrenological condition of size, by which it was so eminently distinguished, diminish the organs of Causality and Comparison, and the discoverer of the new world dwindles into an ordinary man, and sinks to the level of the herd. As suddenly dwarfed in his huge stature, as were the fallen angels on entering pandemonium.

But the student of nature, confident in her consistency, and in her unvarying laws, is well assured that those important conditions did, in fact, exist in the organisation of the ancient mariner, although he could find no evidence of the truth, either in any portraits of him, or in the descriptions of his historians. He is, indeed, as firmly convinced of it, as was Columbus himself of the existence of the unknown world he once could not descry, but which he at length discovered. And he is convinced by means of the same severe, but yet much more cautious and unerring, induction.

The moral organs, as we have intimated, were large-Benevolence, Veneration, and Marvellousness, are greatly developed. These faculties would at first sight appear to have little influence in forming his character and inspiring his actions. But without them, it would be incomplete. It is the peculiar beauty and excellence of the phrenological analysis, that it has omitted in its classification not instinct, no sentiment, no intellectual power that can possibly enter into the nature of man, or naturally affect his conduct. And herein appears its very great superiority over every other system of mental philosophy, showing it is indeed what it professes to be, a true interpreter of nature, and expounder of the mysteries of mind.

"When Columbus," says Irving, "had formed his theory, it is singular the firmness with which it became fixed in his mind, and the effect it produced upon his character and conduct. He never spoke in doubt or hesitation, but with as much certainty as if his eyes had beheld the promised land. A deep religious sentiment mingled with his meditations, and gave them, at times, a tinge of superstition, but it was of a sublime and lofty kind. He looked upon himself as standing in the hand of Heaven, chosen from among men for the acomplishment of its high purpose. He read, as he supposed, his contemplated discovery foretold in Holy Writ, and shadowed forth darkly in the mystic revelations of the prophets. The ends of the earth were to be brought together, and all nations, and tongues, and languages, united under the banners of the

Redeemer." It is not our design to dwell in detail upon the developement of each separate organ, but we cannot refrain from selecting the two primitive faculties of Hope and Firmness for a passing remark. They enter into his character as essential ingredients, absolutely necessary to form and complete it, and fit it for the accomplishment of its great destiny. By means of his intellectual faculties, his vast schemes could have been conceived and matured, but without Hope and Firmness in unusual developement, those schemes would never have been realised in his own person. They would have been left at last for some more determined spirit to achieve. Disgusted and sickened with hopeless delay and repeated rebuffs, he would have returned with indignation from a world that refused to be benefited by his services, have buried his disappointment in some cloister, and consumed the remainder of his days in bitter and unavailing regrets. "Let those," says his biographer, "who are disposed to faint under difficulties in the prosecution of any great and worthy undertaking, remember that eighteen years elapsed after the time that Columbus conceived his enterprise, before he was enabled to carry it into effect; that most of that time was passed in almost hopeless solicitation-amidst poverty, neglect, and taunting ridicule; that the prime of his life had wasted away in the struggle, and that when his perseverance was finally crowned with success, he was about his fifty-sixth year. His example should encourage the enterprising never to despair."

In reflecting upon the reception which the grand theory of Columbus met with from the learned of his day, the phrenologist may be excused for comparing it with the very similar treatment experienced by Gall, at a much more advanced stage of civilisation, in an age proud of its superiority over all other times, in wisdom, in love of science, in devotion to the cause of truth, constantly proclaiming its great liberality, and especially its singular freedom from all religious bigotry and scholastic prejudice.

W.

ARTICLE IV.

ON THE HARMONY BETWEEN PHRENOLOGY AND CHRISTIANITY.

The relation between Christianity and phrenology appears to us to be the following. The communications of the Bible may be divided into two great classes: the one relating to matters which the human intellect could never, by its own powers, have discovered; and the other consisting of descriptions of beings which exist in this world, and of rules of duty to be observed by those beings-which rules and beings appear to be subjected to the examination of every ordinary understanding. To the former class belong the character and offices of Jesus Christ, and the state of man after death; and in the latter are comprehended human nature such as it now exists, and all moral and religious duties which bear relation to human happiness in this world.

The Calvinist, Arminian, and Unitarian, entertain views widely different regarding the character and offices of Jesus Christ. On such subjects phrenology can throw no light whatever, and therefore it would be unphilosophical to mix up a discussion of the one with a treatise on the other; and this observation is equally applicable to every announcement contained in the Bible regarding matters which are not permanent portions of ordinary nature.

The Bible, however, contains numerous descriptions of human nature, and numerous rules for the guidance of human conduct; all of which may be compared with the constitution of the mind as it is revealed to us by observation, and with the inferences which may be drawn from that constitution concerning its most becoming and advan tageous modes of action. The result of this comparison appears to us to establish the harmony between phrenology and the representations of Scripture on the points alluded to. But let us come to details:

We are informed in Matthew's Gospel (xv. 19), that “out of the heart" (clearly meaning the mind) "proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies;" and statements essentially to the same effect are made in the Epistles of St. Paul to the Romans (i. 29-31), and to the Galatians (v. 19-21). Now, according to phrenology, excessive and irregular action of

* The above article is the substance of a review (in the forty-fourth number of the Edinburgh Phrenological Journal) of three lectures, by Rev. Henry Clarke, of Dundee, on the Teachings of the New Testament respecting the Animal, Moral, and Intellectual Nature of Man.-ED.

various faculties produces evil thoughts; an abuse of Destructive. ness occasions murder; an abuse of Amativeness gives rise to adul teries and fornications; an abuse of Acquisitiveness produces thefts; an abuse of Secretiveness leads to falsehood; and an abuse of Destructiveness and Self-esteem is the origin of blasphemies.

Here, then, is a striking accordance; and the harmony will be more fully appreciated if we put the faculties enumerated by Mr. Dugald Stewart to the test of a similar constrast. Mr. Stewart's "active and moral powers" are the following:

I. APPETITES.-Hunger; thirst; appetite of sex.

II. DESIRES.-The desire of knowledge; of society; of esteem; of power; of superiority.

III. AFFECTIONS.-Parental and filial affection; affections of kindred; love; friendship; patriotism; universal benevolence; gratitude; piety.

Malevolent Affections.-"The names which are given to these in common discourse," says Mr. Stewart, "are various :-habit; jealousy; envy; revenge; misanthropy. But," continues he, "it may be doubted if there be any principle of this kind implanted by nature in the mind, excepting the principle of resentment; the others being grafted on this stock by our erroneous opinions and criminal habits."

IV. SELF-LOVE.

V. THE MORAL FACULTY.

VI. PRINCIPLES WHICH CO-OPERATE WITH OUR MORAL POWERS IN THEIR INFLUENCE ON CONDUCT: viz. decency, or regard to character; sympathy; the sense of the ridiculous; and taste.

These faculties, then, joined with intellect, compose the human mind, according to Mr. Stewart; and it will be found much more difficult to account, by means of his single malevolent affection of resentment, or the abuse of any of the other powers enumerated by him, for such actions as those mentioned in the quotation from St. Matthew, or as we see daily around us.

Secondly, Christ says, in the Gospel of St. Luke, that "every tree is known by its own fruit: for of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble-bush gather they grapes. A good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man, out of the evil treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that which is evil; for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh." (Luke vi. 44, 45.) And in Matthew's gospel, he counsels his followers thus: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven;" and again, “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to