ARTICLE VI.

THE PHRENOLOGISTS OWN BOOK.

This is the title of a small work on the Elements of Phrenology, recently published by Kay and Brother, in this city. The design of the work is good, though its title is somewhat novel. Its contents are mostly made up from the writings of Mr. Combe, and are selected and arranged with excellent taste and judgment, and are well calculated to give the reader a general idea of the elementary principles of the science. Says the compiler in the preface, "This Treatise is presented to the public with the humble view of placing within the reach of every one an intelligible sketch of a science which is making daily progress in the opinions of all classes of the community. There must be something worthy of universal attention in Phrenology, when its greatest advocate and profoundest teacher, the eloquent Mr. George Combe, expresses himself in regard to it in such terms as the following: I speak literally and in sincerity when I say, that were I at this moment offered the wealth of India, on condition of Phrenology being blotted from my mind forever, I would scorn the gift; nay, were every thing I possess in the world placed in one hand, and Phrenology in the other, and orders issued for me to choose one, Phrenology, without a moment's hesitation would be preferred.""

This little work opens very properly with the discovery and history of phrenology, giving a brief sketch of the labors of Drs. Gall and Spurzheim. We then have a clear and correct analysis of the several mental faculties, occupying the body of the work, which concludes with some practical directions for making examinations; remarks on size and activity; description of instruments for measuring the head, with engravings, &c., &c. As we deem this little work calculated to promote the interests of the science, we hope it will find an extensive circulation.

MISCELLANY

Anti-Phrenology. It appears that Dr. F. H. Hamilton, Professor of Surgery in the Geneva Medical College, N. Y., has recently delivered a lecture against Phrenology before the Rochester Athenæum. As we have not received a copy of this lecture from the author, and, all our efforts to obtain one either in this city or elsewhere, have proved entirely unavailing, we extract the following notice of this performance from the

cess.

Boston Medical and Surgical Journal of May 12th. The editor after complimenting Dr. Hamilton for his surgical skill, says: "Our friend seems determined to make himself ridiculous by meddling with his old aversion, phrenology—and there is now a fair prospect of ultimate sucIf the science requires stronger evidence of its truth than has yet been arrayed by those illustrious philosophers whose works are spread over the land, it is to be found on or in the head of our intractable friend. With regard to the literature of the lecture, we consider that it falls so much below the standard of Dr. Hamilton's ordinary productions, that were it not for a note entitled "apology to the public," under his own name, it might have been suspected that the whole was an imposition to injure the reputed author, by some mischievous fellow envious of the doctor's success and general reputation. In the second place, the science discoverable in this lecture also shines dimly. Obstinacy and the manifestations of a disposition to blot out of existence whatever does not accord with his own preconceived opinions, characterize this unfortunate Rochester lecture." This last remark in the Boston Journal, in reference to Dr. Hamilton's disposition, we have reason to believe is too true; for his history, if we are correctly informed, has been marked with a continued series of attacks on phrenology ever since he graduated at the University in this city, with an Anti-Phrenological Thesis.

ness.

Interesting Fact, or Practical Phrenology Tested. Dr. Sim, in his Text Book of Phrenology, which is now being published in the Western Phrenological Journal, at Andersontown, Ia., in describing the faculty of Acquisitiveness, relates the following fact: "The writer has very often had occasion to exercise prudence when he has found this faculty indicated in an over-active degree in persons ranking high in the community for honesty of disposition. As an instance of this, it may not be improper to mention here the case of Benjamin Rathbun, once the great financier of the State of New York. Several years ago, I was requested to examine several heads blindfolded. I did so, and the first head submitted was described as that of a very talented man, of great business capacity, deficient in Conscientiousness, which had decreased, very large perceptive faculties and Constructiveness, with inordinate AcquisitiveI described him as prone to dishonesty, but that he would never be a petty thief; that he was capable of being a swindler on the largest possible scale. A byestander asked the question, suppose he was a convict, what crime should you suspect he had committed? I replied forgery. The handkerchief was taken from my eyes, and I was very politely introduced to the gentleman above mentioned! Here was a denouement! The phrenologist had made out the very Rothschild of the West, the most trusted and the most talented business man in the State, a man whom the banks and every body delighted to trust,-a dishonest man, a forger! Loudly did the opponents of phrenology then triumph, and numberless were the jokes passed upon the phrenologist, who in their opinion had made such an egregeous mistake. The newspapers of the day rang changes on it, and the editors thought the opportunity to crack a joke altogether too good a one to pass by. Benjamin Rathbun is now in the Auburn Penitentiary for committing a series of most complicated forgeries."-Were the heads of some of the financiers

and bankers who have recently figured so much in the public prints, submitted to a practical phrenologist, we fear that their cerebral developements might be found to be no better thon those of Rathbun.

Testimony in favor of Phrenology.-Dr. S. G. Howe, Superintendent of the Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind, has, for many years, been an able and decided advocate of Phrenology. The following testimony in favor of the science is copied from the second volume of Mr. Combe's Journal: "Dr. Howe openly acknowledges that he owes whatever success has attended his exertions in improving the education of the blind, (and it is great) to the light derived from phrenological views of mental philosophy. Before I knew phrenology, said he, I was groping my way in the dark, as blind as my pupils; I derived very little satisfaction from my labors, and fear that I gave but little to others. Our upper classes are all instructed in the general principles of intellectual philosophy, and we explain to them both the old and the new systems; but I never knew one of them who did not prefer the latter, while I have known many who have taken a deep interest in the philosophy of phrenology, and heard them avow that they were made happier and better by understanding its principles. Some of our teachers are persons of considerable intellectual attainments, and all of them have. adopted the new philosophy since they joined the institution, not because they were induced to do so by any request of mine, or on any consideration of extrinsic advantage to themselves, but solely because their duties led them to examine all the theories of mental philosophy, and the new system recommended itself forcibly to their understandings, and appeared most susceptible of practical application.""

Anthropological Society-An Association with this name was established in London, 1836, for the purpose of investigating the laws of the Creator in reference to the condition of man. It meets twice every month, the year round. The leading objects of this society are to investigate the principles of Phrenology as exhibited in the animal, intellectual, moral, and religious nature of man, and the application of these laws to the various conditions and circumstances in which he may be placed in life.

Phrenological Discussion.-A public discussion took place on the merits of Phrenology at New Lisbon, Ohio, about the 25th of May. Several physicians were engaged in the debate, which seems to have been conducted with much interest and ability. No decision was passed on the question, as the same discussion is to be resumed again about the 1st of July.

Phrenology applied to Medicine.-Dr. John Epps of London, has recently published a work detailing many cases of Epilepsy, and other Nervous Affections, which he has treated successfully by means of the light that Phrenology has thrown on the functions of the brain.

REVIEW OF DR. ABERCROMBIE ON THE INTELLECTUAL POWERS.

Whenever an individual is about to engage in perusing or examining any work, it is always interesting to know something respecting the life and character of its author. Dr. John Abercrombie, the well known writer on mental science, is a resident of Edinburgh, Scotland; and, although now a little rising sixty years of age, is yet actively and extensively engaged in the practice of Medicine. Dr. Gibson, Professor in the University of Pennsylvania, while on a visit to Great Britain in the year 1839, describes Dr. Abercrombie as follows: "In statue he is about five feet seven inches, stout, and well proportioned. His most striking feature, however, is the head, which is uncommonly large, with all the moral and intellectual organs, to use the language of phrenology, so developed, as to attract, forcibly, the attention of the most common observer. His face, too, is large, eyes dark, full and prominent, nose aquiline, and his whole countenance beaming with intelligence and benevolence. He is very pious, but exhibits so little of the devotee, that it would be difficult to discover a saturnine or ascetic particle in his composition; on the contrary, there is so much cheerful simplicity and playfulness about him, that a stranger would be apt to conclude he was a highly educated country gentleman, instead of a hard-working medical man, visiting patients from morning till night, and composing books on the most difficult and abstruse subjects-most of which have gone through numerous editions, especially his work "on the Intellectual Powers and the Investigation of Truth," his "Researches on Diseases of the Brain and Spinal Cord," and his volume on "Diseases of the Stomach."

The work of Dr. Abercrombie on the "Intellectual Powers" has had VOL. III.-31.

a very extensive circulation* in this country, and is more generally used as a text book on mental science in our schools, seminaries and institutions of learning, than any other work. It is on this account that we wish to present our readers, with a candid and faithful review of some of its leading principles, that they may see and judge for themselves how erroneous and defective many of Dr. Abercrombie's "inquiries" are, when compared with the truths of Phrenology. This review we copy from the twenty-seventh number of the Edinburgh Phrenological Journal; the name of its author is not given, but its merits will readily be perceived.

During life, the human mind comes under our cognizance only as it exists in connection with, and in dependence on, corporeal organs for the power of manifesting itself; and as, in its separate state, it is entirely beyond the reach of our means of research, it is now very generally admitted by philosophers to be a mere waste of time and ingenuity to speculate upon its essence, nature, laws, or modes of operation, as it may be supposed to exist and act if totally disunited with the body. The object of true science is, therefore, simply to investigate the facts and relations of the phenomena of mind, in the form in which these are presented to us by the Author of Nature; in the full conviction that we shall sooner attain the truth, by yielding our attention and assent to what his His wisdom has pronounced to be "very good," than by attempting to penetrate mysteries, or to pursue methods of inquiry, which, in the very nature of things, can lead to no successful result.

In accordance with the innumerable proofs by which we are constantly surrounded, it is also universally agreed, that, during life, the influence of the corporeal organs on the mental operations, those of emotion as well as those of intellect, is prodigious in amount, and incessant in its action, from the first step we make in the path of life to that by which we leave it. In the course of many corporeal maladies, sudden and violent mental disturbance is seen to arise immediately on the invasion of disease, and to terminate only when health is restored; and, vice versa, sudden and extraordinary disturbance of the bodily functions, and even death itself, are often observed to be produced by violent emotions of the mind. Aware, then, as we become from the contemplation of such phenomena, of the extent to which mind and organization reciprocally affect each other, it ought evidently to constitute a primary point in every inquiry into the laws of mind, to determine, so far as can be done, the amount and conditions of the connexion existing between mind and

*The Messrs. Harpers, of New York, have disposed of more than twenty thous and copies of this work.