to be only 3 lbs. 5 oz. 1 dr., or 3 oz. above the lowest European average; and the highest Negro brain falls 5 oz. short of the highest average European, and no less than 10 oz. short of Cuvier's brain, which weighed 4 lbs. 11 oz. 4 dr. 30 grs.; Dupuytren's 4 lbs. 11 oz. If we take the average of the length of the brains of the four Negroes, it will be found to be 5 inches 11 lines; but that of seven European males, which he examined for comparison, 6 inches 24 lines. The average greatest breadth, 4 inches 8 lines in the former, 5 inches 14 lines in the latter. The average height is 2 inches 11 lines in three of the four Negroes; 3 inches 4 lines in the Europeans. He adds that "the anterior portion of the hemispheres is somewhat narrower than is usually the case of Europeans."

The average capacity of forty-one Negro skulls, in his tables will be found to be 37 oz. 1 dr. 20 grs., or, if those which were female are subtracted, 37 oz. 6 dr. 18 grs.; that of seventy-seven European skulls of every nation, in his own tables, 41 oz. 2 dr. 30 grs. Dr. Morton, however, after examination of twenty-nine skulls of unmixed Negroes, nine of them native Africans, states the mean internal capacity of Caucasian skulls to be 87 cubic inches; and of the Negro to be only 78. The most capacious European skull was 109; the least, 75. The most capacious Negro skull, 98; the least, 65. In face of his own results, Dr. Tiedeman declares that the opinion of Camper, Soemmerring, Lawrence, Virey, Cuvier, &c.—that the Negro has a smaller skull and brain than the European-is "ill founded and He declares that the weight entirely refuted by my researches!" and the size of the Negro brain is as great as those of Europeans!" "Here, then, on Tiedeman's own showing," says Dr. Andrew Combe, "we have, first, an inferiority in the dimensions of the Negro brain, and a greater narrowness of its anterior lobe; and secondly, a marked inferiority in the capacity of the Negro skull to the extent of about one tenth; and yet he very strangely infers that both are equal, to the European; and the Royal Society, and half our scientific men and journals, adopt and propagate both facts and inferences as literally correct and of vast importance! If the phrenologists had perpetrated such a series of blunders, Sir William Hamilton and his allies would have shouted in triumph over their stupidity."-Elliotson's Phy siology.

ARTICLE VII.

CASE OF INSANITY.

(The following case of insanity was communicated to us by Dr. H. A. Buttolph, in a letter dated Sharon, Ct., March 6th, 1841; its bearings on phrenology will be obvious to the reader.-ED.)

Mrs. P, of ―, Ct., aged eighty-four, of nervous bilious temperament, had been deranged about eleven years at the time of her decease, which occurred early in February last. Prior to the date of her derangement, she had suffered much from functional disease of the stomach. She naturally possessed decided practical business talents as a landlady, and was fond of the pecuniary avails of her

She was affectionate in her family, kind and hospitable to strangers; uniformly consistent in her moral and religious character, and although reserved in her manners, yet generally cheerful. The first indications of derangement which her daughters (with whom she lived) observed, was a fear that she was losing her property, and that they (her daughters) were secretly appropriating it to their own use.

This suspicion was at first cautiously expressed, but she grew more and more bold in her accusations that they were taking her property unjustly, until at length she became entirely alienated in her feelings towards them-would say she meant to kill them, and would frequently, by open and by secret means, attempt to injure them. For a length of time, however, she would converse rationally with her neighbours when they called in to see her, and would manifest her usual degree of interest in their welfare. During the latter part of her derangement, she became exceedingly violent in her temper, making unceasing efforts to injure and destroy every thing in her way. Her language was rarely profane, though often extremely vulgar. Near the close of her life, the powers of her mind were greatly enfeebled, and finally she died in a state of almost complete fatuity.

Her brain was about the medium size, with no greatly disproportionate developement in any particular part, except that of Cautiousness, which was decidedly large in proportion to either the coronal or the superior frontal regions. The posterior and lateral regions, embracing the phrenological organs of Philoprogenitiveness, Adhesiveness, Combativeness, Destructiveness, and Acquisitiveness, were full; and a preponderance somewhat of the perceptive over the reflective organs in the anterior region.

Anatomical Appearances.-On piercing the dura mater, there was an escape of a watery fluid to the amount of from three to four ounces;

the vessels of the pia mater were highly and universally engorged with blood. The general consistence of the brain was much increased. Effusion of from two to four drams was found in the lateral ventricles; and softening, with change of colour to a greenish yellow, of the posterior portion of the middle lobe of the left hemisphere. The softened portion embraced the organs of Philoprogenitiveness, Adhesiveness, Combativeness, and a part of Destructiveness.

It may also be remarked, that the internal carotid arteries were pretty firmly ossified for three fourths of an inch after leaving the carotid canal, through which they pass to the brain.

MISCELLANY.

Progress of Phrenology.-Dr. Elliotson, late Professor of Medicine in the London University, has recently published the fifth edition of his large work on Human Physiology, in which he has boldly and most ably vindicated the truth of phrenology. He has devoted nearly a hundred pages to a consideration of the functions of the brain, and made very numerous references to, as well as quotations from, phrenological writers. Dr.Elliotson is one of the most distinguished physicians in Great Britain, and has always been indefatigable in his labours for the promotion of science generally, as well as for the elevation of medicine in particular. He was one of the first to embrace phrenology, and has contributed many excellent articles to various periodicals in exposition and defence of its principles. In his work on physiology (p. 402), we find the following note:-Says Dr. Elliotson, "When I wrote, advocating phrenology, in 1817, the year of my appointment to St. Thomas's Hospital, I did not know six phrenologists in England; and when I founded the Phrenological Society of London, there was none in England or abroad. They now exist in many parts of Scotland, Ireland, America, Denmark, and Paris. In Paris, the most distinguished members of our profession are phrenologists. To the everlasting honour of Edinburgh, not only was the first phrenological society established there, but the first phrenological journal; and a treatise on the science by Mr. Combe has passed through several editions, and made its hundreds of converts. Thousands of wellinformed persons in this country are now phrenologists-a very large number in my own profession. Though the pope put Gall's works into the Index Expurgatorius, phrenological treatises have lately been permitted in the states of his holiness, as well as by Austria, in Milan and Pavia. Phrenological language is of daily use with our best writers and teachers; though they, too, often fear to declare their conviction. I have never known an individual write or speak against phrenology, without betraying a total misconception of it, or an ignorance of the facts of which he spoke."

Political Ethics.-We learn that E. P. Hurlbut, Esq., has just closed an interesting course of lectures on Political Ethics, at the Mechanics'

Institute, New York. The New York Courier and Inquirer, for February 16th, gives the following synopsis of Mr. Hurlbut's lectures; which, it will be seen, involve topics of inquiry of the greatest value and importance. We sincerely hope Mr. H. will be induced to present the public, ere long, with a work on the subject:

"In the first lecture he maintained

That the sentiments, faculties, and passions of the human mind are innate-are dependant on man's physical organisation, and are manifested by means of the brain.

That all sane human beings are endowed with the same mental powers; that they differ in the degree, but not in the kind of their mental manifestaions.

That as all external nature is adapted to the developement, gratification, and exercise of the powers and dispositions of the human mind, it is to be inferred as the natural design, that every power of the mind should be employed, and every native desire of it be gratified.

That the fundamental rights of mankind are, 1st, The right of life; 2d, The right of happiness.

That the means of attaining happiness, are to be found in the healthy and harmonious activity, exercise and gratification of the native sentiments, faculties and desires of the human mind.

That human rights can only be understood by means of a mental philo sophy which should accurately define the innate powers and dispositions of the human mind and their true relation to external nature; and he adopted phrenological science as unfolding the true mental philosophy.

That all rights and duties are ordained by natural laws-that the only proper function of human laws, is to protect and enforce them—and that whatever is indifferent to the laws of nature, should be left undisturbed by human legislation.

He next endeavoured to show that the social state is the natural condition of the human race-that certain powers of the mind can find no appropriate exercise, except in general society, and that man had a right to live in that condition.

That this right must not oppose any other right, equally incident to his nature-and that, in the social state, man could not properly be required to sacrifice a solitary natural right.

This led to the means to be employed for the protection of rights, and to the consideration of government, as an instrument adopted by men being in the social condition, for the declaration and defence of the rights of humanity.

The second lecture treated of the origin and nature of government. The third lecture treated of the organisation of government, and of the persons who might participate in its affairs. He excluded four classes only of persons from the exercise of the elective franchise.

1st, All persons of immature age. 2d, Intellectual idiots. 3d, Moral. idiots. 4th, The grossly ignorant.

The fourth lecture was upon rights not recognised, and rights imperfectly protected by laws.

The lecture for Monday evening was devoted to the discussion of the rights of woman. In this we are informed that he contested almost every principle of the common law in regard to the matrimonial statefrom the doctrine of marriage being a civil contract, to the end of the chapter. He examined the moral condition of woman under the common law, and treated of the right of divorce and the right of property.

The sixth and last lecture will be upon Friday night upon the right of property, in which he purposes to show it to be founded in nature: its

relation to man's moral sentiments; the causes of the inequality of men's estates; to inquire into the propriety of laws which affect the acquisition of property; and to discuss corporations, internal improvements, speculations, credit systems, &c."

Mental Science in England.-The state of mental science in England appears to have been nearly stationary for the last half century, with the exception of what contributions have been made to it by the discoveries and labours of phrenologists. Says the writer of an able article in the American Biblical Repository for January, 1841, while speaking (p. 151) of the present state of literature in England, "whatever the causes may be, the fact is indisputable, that in the department of ethical and mental philosophy there is no living writer of note. There has been no contribution to these sciences of any considerable value since the days of Tucker and Paley; for Sir James Mackintosh was a Scotsman, and Coleridge's Remains are disjecta membra. Loud complaints have long been uttered against Dr. Paley's system, yet no one has arisen to supply the deficiency. The most that the professor of moral philosophy at Cambridge (who dislikes Paley) promises, is a reprint of Bishop Butler's Sermons on Human Nature, with excerpts from other authors, and illustrative notes from his own pen."

Laws of Hereditary Descent.-In the Mothers' Magazine for February -a religious periodical, published monthly at New York, and having an extensive circulation-may be found an interesting article on the Laws of Hereditary Descent, contributed by a lady. It is truly gratifying to find such sentiments as the following in a mother's magazine-" Mr. Combe says, if the same amount of knowledge and care that has been taken to improve the domestic animals, had been bestowed upon the human species during the last century, there would not have been so many moral patients for the lunatic asylums, or the prisons, at present. That the human species are as susceptible of improvement as the domestic animals, who can deny? Then is it not strange that man, possessing so much information on this subject, and acknowledging the laws that govern such matters, should lose sight of these laws in perpetuating his own species? Yet how short-sighted is that individual who, in forming a matrimonial connection, overlooks the important consideration of the quality of the physical and mental constitution which his children will be likely to inherit; and also that a great portion of the happiness, or misery of his future life, will depend upon the conduct of those children; and again, that their manifestations, whether good or evil, will be the effect of the mental, moral, and physical organisation which they inherit. The time is fast approaching when men will have to pay more attention to this subject, for the science is taking deep root by which these matters can be tested, and the parent will not be so much pitied as blamed for the bad morals of his child."

Growth of the Brain.-Dr. Elliotson, in his physiology, remarking on the growth of the brain, says, "The truth is, the brain grows for a great many years. If you examine the heads of children seven years and upwards, you will find the average size much below that of the adult head. Every hatter knows that the sons of most of his customers require hats of larger and larger sizes every year till they are men. Nay, the head grows in some instances to a late period-till near or past forty.