and duration, so that men may enjoy and not be oppressed by it. We say enjoy it; because moderate exertion is pleasure, and it has been only labor carried to excess which has given rise to the common opinion, that retirement from active industry is the goal of happiness. It may be objected that a healthy and vigorous man is not oppressed by ten or twelve hours' labor a day; and we grant that, if he be well fed, his physical strength may not be so much exhausted by this exertion as to cause him pain; but this is regarding him merely as a working animal. Our proposition is, that after ten or twelve hours of muscular exertion a-day, continued for six days in the week, and every year of adult life, a man is not in a fit condition for that active exercise of his moral and intellectual faculties, which alone constitutes him a rational creature. This proposition is demonstrable on physiological principles, and is supported by general experience; and, nevertheless, the teachers of mankind have too often neglected it. The first change, therefore, must be to limit the hours of labor.

So far from this limitation being unattainable, it appears to us that the progress of arts, science, and of society, is rapidly forcing its adoption. Ordinary observers appear to conceive man's chief end, in Britain at least, to be to manufacture hard ware, broad cloth, and cotton goods, for the use of the whole world, and to store up wealth collected from all quarters of the globe, in return for such productions. They forget that the same impulse which inspires the British with so much ardor in manufacturing, will sooner or later inspire other nations also; and that, if all Europe shall follow our example, which they are fast doing, the four quarters of the globe will at length be deluged with manufactures, only part of which will be required. When this state of things shall arrive, and it does not appear to be more than a century distant, men will be compelled to abridge their toil from mere necessity, because excessive labor will not be remunerated. The admirable inventions which are the boast and glory of civilized men, are at this moment adding to the misery and degradation of the people. Power-looms, steam-carriages and steam-ships, have all hitherto operated directly in increasing the hours of exertion and abridging the reward of the laborer; and the ultimate effect of them on human society, is not yet divined by the multitude. We hail them as the grand instruments of civilization, but in a manner not commonly perceived. In proportion as they shall be generally dif fused over the world, they will increase the powers of production to such an extent as to supply, by moderate labor, every want of man. Whenever civilized nations shall generally manufacture with efficient machines, superfluity of goods will every where abound, and then the great body of the people will find themselves in possession of reasonable

leisure, in spite of every thing to avoid it. Great misery will probably be suffered in persevering in their present habits, before their eyes shall be opened to this result. The effect will likely be to confer on a larger portion of society superfluity of time, by accumulating in their hands wealth sufficient to exempt them from all active exertion; while the toil of the actual operative shall be increased. This will go on till the disparity of condition shall have become intolerable to both; the laborer being utterly oppressed, and the higher classes harassed by utter insecurity. Then probably the idea may occur, that the real benefit of physical discovery is to give leisure to the mass of the people, and that leisure is the first condition of civilization-knowledge being the second. The science of human nature, now diffusing by means of phrenology, will enable men at length to profit by exemption from excessive toil; and it may be hoped, that after misery shall have been found to increase in proportion to the advancement of machinery, the notion of man being really a rational creature may at last meet with general countenance, and that sincere attempts may be made to find happiness in institutions founded on this basis. Perhaps the discovery may then be made, that knowing faculties have been conferred on man with a view to observing and studying creation; reflecting faculties with a design to tracing its relations and dependencies; and moral sentiments for enjoying refined pleasure in social intercourse, under the guidance of pure religion and morality; and that this is the chief object of existence in the present life, and affords the best preparation for the future.

If such notions ever prevail, it will be seen that the experience of past ages affords no sufficient reasons for limiting our estimate of man's capabilities of civilization; because, 1st, Human nature was not known as a science; 2dly, Physical science was not studied except by a few; 3dly, Printing was not invented till recently, and no adequate means were possessed of communicating to the multitude such knowledge as existed; 4thly, In consequence of this profound ignorance, man in all ages has been directed in his pursuits by the mere impulse of his strongest propensities, formerly to war and conquest, and now to accumulating wealth, without having framed his habits and institutions in conformity with correct and enlightened views of his own nature, and its real interest and wants; 5thly, Up to the present day, the mass of the people in every nation has remained essentially ignorant, the creatures of mere impulse, and unfavorably situated for the developement of their rational nature; and they being the great majority, of necessity influence the condition of all the rest. Finally, the arts and sciences seem to be tending towards abridging human labor, so as to force leisure on the mass of the people, while the elements of useful knowledge are so rapidly increasing, the

capacity of the great mass for instruction is so generally recognized, and the means of communicating it are so powerful and abundant that a new era may fairly be considered as having commenced. Add to these reasons, the discovery that the capacity for civilization may be increased by exercising the moral and intellectual organs in the brain, in conformity with the laws of organization, a fact which has hitherto been unknown, and the happiest results may be anticipated in regard to human improve

ment.

If man has been sent into existence only to manufacture, to live and die, as millions in Britain, rich and poor, live and die, then christianity has never been intended to become practical in this life, because human beings, straining after gain every waking hour of six days in the week, cannot, under the organic and mental laws of the Creator, rise to that state of religious cultivation which essentially constitutes a christian; and, moreover, the institutions and habits of society which are compatible with such a mode of life, are incompatible with any high general advance in christian virtue. If, then, man has been created chiefly to labor, his moral and intellectual powers have not been formed to take the direction of his animal nature; but he has been intended for the slave of toil, ignorance and misery on earth; a most unlikely preparation for a moral and intellectual immortality hereafter. The union, then, which is wanted, is one for diffusion of knowledge of the nature of man, and of what is calculated to lead him to happiness as a rational being.

ARTICLE V.

CHARACTER INFERRED FROM AN EXAMINATION OF THE SKULL, BY DR. J. R. BUCHANAN.

The following interesting experiment in Phrenology was made at Little Rock, in the state of Arkansas. We are induced to copy the results of this examination, not so much for the purpose of proving phrenology as to illustrate two important principles connected with the science-viz. first, that the thickness of the skull varies according to the amount of exercise which the cerebral organs receive; and, secondly, that each hemisphere of the brain directs and controls all the movements of that side of the body to which it is opposite.

The Arkansas Times and Advocate of March 29th, 1841, gives the following sketch of this experiment: The skull of Morgan Williams

was placed in the hands of Dr. Buchanan, by Col. Taylor, without the Doctor's having any idea whose skull it was, or where it had been obtained. Dr. B. pronounced his opinion as to the traits of the character, and remarked the indications of a great difference in the lower extremities. His opinion was committed to writing, and on Monday evening the skull was presented to the audience and the following opinion delivered. At the same time he displayed the inequalities of the skull from which he had inferred the superiority of the left leg, and held the skull of Moses in which a great inequality of the hemispheres of the brain had resulted from the lameness of the left leg. Moses making use chiefly of the right leg, had increased developement in the left hemisphere, and Williams from making use of the left leg, had much larger developement on the right side, in consequence of the fact that the left half of the . brain governs the right half of the body, and the right hemisphere governs the left side of the body. The inequality in the head of Moses, is almost a deformity. If it can thus be established that the different parts of the body have their different organs in the brain, it will certainly be something new in physiology.

The lecturer exhibited in a novel manner, the irregular thickness of the skull, by inserting a candle in the great foramen, which gave a partial light through the thinnest portions. It appeared that the animal organs had encroached upon the skull, while in the moral region, the skull had encroached upon the brain.

Phrenological opinion on the skull of

presented to Dr.

Buchanan by Col. J. K. Taylor, March 21, 1841.

This head is one of those upon whom we may speak with the utmost confidence. There is no doubt that the man who bore it might have been a good citizen-that he was born of worthy parents, and had he followed their monitions, would have been one of the best members of society-generous, brave, shrewd, and of pleasing manners.

Yet it is equally certain that his character had degenerated until he might have been considered one of the worst and most dangerous men in the country. The skull clearly exhibits this change. In the case of

Mr. of Wetumpka, Alabama, I was able to detect by the skull, a change of character which had taken place within the last four years of his life-when by gaming and drinking, he had changed from an honest, careful and respectable mechanic, to a turbulent sot, who was considered a nuisance to the town. In this case under consideration, the change is greater and must have run through a longer period of time. The vicious character which he assumed, must have commenced early in life, and it had become his essential nature. All his animal organs were in

a high state of excitement and active growth; at the same time, we discover on the interior of the skull, that the moral convolutions of the brain have shrunk and yielded place to the growth of bone which almost always follows the retiring brain. Inferring his character, then, from the form of the brain, which we find by the interior of the skull, we discover that his leading traits were pride, obstinacy, combativeness, and destructiveness, selfishness, acquisitiveness, courage, hope, attachment, perseverance, restlessness, resentment, love of liberty, and practical shrewdness.

His temperament was of the most vigorous species of the sanguine bilious-his courage was unquestionable, leading him at times to foolhardy adventures, and his eye never quailed or turned aside from the gaze of any human being. He was dangerous when provoked, and as sure as an Indian to execute his revenge. Although susceptible of pretty strong attachments, not even his friends could exercise control over him. He would never yield to conciliate an opponent, but would urge his point, occasionally to domineer and triumph. At one time of his life, his pride made him honorable, and to the last, he had something of honor but very little common honesty. No scruples of conscience would have restrained him from crimes against property, nor would his compassion have prevented him from committing murders for trifling provocation. If he married, he would treat his wife badly and probably leave her, as his disposition is for a roving and not a settled life. If he stole, it would be by highway robbery in preference to larHe would rather make money by gambling than by, industry; and was in all probability addicted to drinking, but capable of enduring a great deal without being intoxicated or sickened.

ceny.

The only place which such a person can properly fill would be that of a soldier; and even in that, his disposition to mutiny would be a great objection. Whether he would be guilty of robbery, manslaughter, murder or piracy, is a question depending for its answer entirely upon circumstances. In a frontier country manslaughter is most likely to be his first offence. His intellectual organs have not declined so much as his moral. His natural intellect was very superior, and the character which he bore through life must have been that of a man of good sense-keen in every thing that concerned his own interests. His judgment and not his moral principle restrained him from a great many of the excesses to which he was prone. In some respects this head resembles that of Murrel, but it is larger in every respect. It is probable that when Murrel dies we shall discover on the interior of his head the same degeneracy of the moral organs as in the present instance.

We are able to draw another important inference from the unequal