symptoms indicating them during life were regarded by his judges as insufficient, and he was accordingly executed.

An outline of Benoit's history and crimes would have added very much to the value of M. Dumoutier's paper; and its meaning would have been clearer had the author indicated the position of the wounds by a reference to the organs over which they were situated, instead of merely describing it in general terms.

The next article, by Dr Sarlandière, on the means of discovering the organs situated at the base of the brain, is worthy of perusal, although perhaps too theoretical. He thinks the organs over the eye ought so to affect the bony socket, as to give it a different form and appearance, according to the development of each of the organs. Form, for example, ought to widen the distance between the eyes, and push the latter towards the temples; while Number, on the other hand, ought to push the eye inward towards the nose, and diminish the width between the one eye and the other; and so on. We agree with the author in thinking, that the appearance of the bone varies with the development of the part beneath, and that all the indications thus afforded ought to be carefully ascertained. But we are of opinion that the way to succeed is to observe what is, and not to fancy what ought to be. Dr Spurzheim, who, according to the author, has not sufficiently adverted to these differences, nevertheless states as a fact, in regard to Form, what Sarlandière gives merely as an inference; and, if he has not said that a large organ of Number pushes the eye towards the nose, and diminishes the distance between the eyes, it is because observation proves this not to be the case. The width between the eyes depends, not on the development of the organ of Number, but on the size of the organs there situated, chiefly on that of Form and even if we are to be guided by what ought to be, is there any good reason why Number should push the other organs inwards towards the nose, when it has ample space, and no resistance opposed to it in growing outwards in the region of the temple?

;

We pass over Dr Sarlandière's notions of an organ of Hatred or Aversion, and of Amativeness being situated in the posterior lobes of the brain, and not in the cerebellum; these, like the others above alluded to, being unsupported by facts sufficient to give them any probability. It is a very unsafe and unphilosophical proceeding to decide what ought to be, when we are so ignorant about what is.

The third article, containing a long analysis of the second volume of this Journal, is followed by a Discourse pronounced at the Public Annual Meeting of 22d August 1831, by M. Harel, the Treasurer," on the subject of Robert St Clair, a robber and murderer of rather a singular character. St Clair's head presented the enormous development of the propensities

The

which is remarked in all the criminals of the same stamp. organs of Veneration and Conscientiousness were unusually depressed. Destructiveness was very prominent, but Acquisitiveness still more so, and it appears that murder was resorted to as the means of obtaining money. In 1808, St Clair was condemned to hard labour for robbery and violence; and in 1816, to hard labour for life, on account of another robbery. On the latter occasion, after he and his accomplice had murdered a young man and his wife, and carried off 3000 francs in money, besides the gold watches, and even the clothes of the victims, they mutilated the finger of the wife to take from it the marriage-ring.

It is to be regretted that we have not a cast of St Clair's head. He is described as having been" audaciously perverse." In effecting his escape from confinement at Rochefort, he had the boldness to take a leap of forty feet, after which he presented himself at the prefect's office with false papers; and, although suspected, succeeded, by pure impudence, in getting them signed. At St Denis, the gens-d'arme sent in search of him came into the inn where he was, and being again suspected, he was carried before the police, where he produced his papers, and the description given of him not being very precise, he was once more successful in obtaining his liberty.

St Clair's Amativeness was extremely developed; and it appears that immediately after the murder, he betook himself to his haunts of debauchery as if nothing had happened. He himself laughed heartily when told that the cerebellum indicated, by its great size, the strength of this feeling. Secretiveness was both very much developed and very active. He not only long defied all the efforts of the police to find him out, but escaped from the galleys when under the strictest surveillance, and travelled over the greater part of France with false passports; and, lastly, even when immured in an isolated dungeon, and loaded with chains, he still contrived to form a plan of escape, which was nearly successful.

From this account it is evident that St Clair must have differed from the majority of murderers, in being a man of intellect as well as of low and brutal passions; and therefore a fuller statement of his cerebral development would have been instructive. The size of the intellectual organs is not even alluded to. We think also that our Parisian brethren should give more of the history of their cases, and not suppose that their readers are as well acquainted with the facts as themselves. The deeds of such men as Benoit and St Clair may be familiar to the Parisians, but they are unknown to readers at a distance, and one half of the interest is thus lost from the meagreness of the narrative. It would be desirable also to have a note of the dimensions of each head of which a description is given.

Necrological notices of Messrs Fontaneilles, Legallois, Desmarest, and Uccelli, all of them members of the Phrenological Society of Paris, follow next, from the pen of M. Casimir Broussais. A translation of the notice of Uccelli's death was published in our last Number.

The May number of the French Journal opens with a critical examination, by Dr Sarlandière, of the classification and names of the mental faculties adopted by Gall and Spurzheim; which contains some good remarks. It is followed by an excellent analysis of our own Journal; next to which appears a review by M. Bouillaud, of Dr. Vimont's admirable work on Human and Comparative Phrenology. As we propose to take an early opportunity of doing justice to the valuable labours of Dr Vimont, we shall defer till then a few remarks which occur to us on Dr Bouillaud's review.

to

The Number terminates with a 66 Phrenological Bulletin," extracted from the National of 3d May, giving an account of M. Dumoutier being summoned by the public authorities give his opinion on a skull, supposed to be that of a woman murdered some years ago in the Rue Vaugirard. In the presence of the Procureur du Roi and the other authorities, Dumoutier pronounced the skull to be that of a woman of a hasty and violent temper and avaricious dispositions, and mentioned other characteristics, which were found to harmonize exactly with the known qualities of the woman whose skull it was supposed to be; thus establishing the identity of the victim in a way which the Procureur du Roi said would, two centuries ago, have sent Dumoutier to the stake. We have again occasion to lament the meagreness of detail arising from supposing the reader to be familiar with the facts. M. Dumoutier, we observe, has given a very successful course of lectures to the Society.

We perceive a statement that Mr George Combe had lectured on Phrenology at the Royal Institution, London. This is one of the slight inaccuracies occasionally fallen into in the analyses of our Journal given by our Parisian friends. The lectures alluded to were delivered in Edinburgh, and were unconnected with any public institution.

In taking leave of our contemporary, we would suggest the propriety of the price being diminished. At present, the French Journal, with half the quantity of matter, costs three francs or half a crown, the same as our own; although French books are on an average twice as cheap as English. We do not know what the circulation of the French Journal is; but we feel assured that were it cheaper, its sale would be greatly increased, and much more good done to the science.

66

ARTICLE X.

PHRENOLOGY IN AMERICA.

WE are indebted to a friend in Albany for a parcel of American Magazines and Newspapers, containing articles on the subject of Phrenology, and shewing at once the progress the science is making in the new world, the extent of knowledge already acquired by many of its disciples, and the zeal and talent with which it is cultivated. Among those sent we find the May number of the American Monthly Review, published at Boston, and two numbers (for April and May) of the Parthenon or Academian's Magazine, published at Union College, Schenectady. The first contains a very favourable review of Combe on the Constitution of Man," and the two last open with leading articles on Phrenology, the one being an exposition of its doctrines, and the other an admirably written digest, said to be from the pen of Dr Hunn, of its applications to education. Dr Hunn does not pretend to offer any new views, but he shews so much judgment and soundness of moral perception in selecting and advocating what is practically important, and so little tendency to be led away by mere speculation, that we anticipate much benefit to the cause from his future labours. The articles in the New York and Albany newspapers are also interesting, and shew that the sensation caused by Dr. Spurzheim's sudden death was not confined to Boston.

We have received a "Prospectus for publishing a quarterly periodical, to be entitled ANNALS OF PHRENOLOGY; to consist of articles from the Edinburgh, Paris, and London Phrenological Journals, and of such original papers as may be selected and approved by the Boston Phrenological Society." Each number is to contain 128 octavo pages, with such engravings as the subject introduced may require; and the first will be put to press as soon as sufficient patronage is secured. The Prospectus is issued by Messrs Marsh, Capen, and Lyon, of Boston, and the object of the publication is thus stated:-" Since the visit of Dr Spurzheim to this country, the science of Phrenology has assumed an interesting aspect, and intelligent men of every class have become engaged in the investigation of it. This Journal is proposed with a view to facilitate free and general inquiry into the truths and objects of Phrenology,-to ascertain its bearings upon the physical, moral, and intellectual condition of man.' It has our best wishes, and will, we doubt not, meet with due encouragement. The conductors have an abundant supply of materials before them, and their only difficulty will be to select judiciously what is most valuable.

Dr Samuel Jackson, lecturer on Therapeutics and Materia Medica in the Medical Institute of Philadelphia, takes occasion in his late work, entitled, "The Principles of Medicine, founded on the Structure and Functions of the Animal Organism," to state his opinions regarding Phrenology. In the truth of the general and fundamental doctrines of the science, as expounded by Gall and Spurzheim, he expresses his unqualified belief. He admits, inter alia, that the brain is the general organ of the intellect-that the intellect has a plurality of faculties, each with an appropriate cerebral organ-that, other things being equal, the strength of the faculty is in proportion to the size of its organ-that some organs are frequently much more developed than others-and that the organs of the intellectual and moral faculties occupy the anterior and superior compartments of the brain. After admitting all this, however, he is so inconsistent as to question the details by which these very principles were originally established.-1st, He conceives that the passions have their origin and seat, in part, in the belly; 2dly, He says that "some circumstances," which induced Gall "to assign to the cerebellum the instinct of propagation," "are far from possessing conclusiveness;" 3dly, He maintains that, "in these views (those of the plurality of the organs and functions of the brain) Gall cannot be regarded as absolutely original. Many writers have clearly announced similar opinions; and, 4thly, He is of opinion that "the possibility of recognising on the exterior of the cranium the seats of particular organs, or intellectual and moral faculties," is "a proposition probably more curious than useful." A writer in an American Medical Journal has criticised these and other parts of Dr Jackson's work with a degree of vigour and ability, which at once indicates the review to be from the hand of that stanchest and best informed of all the transatlantic defenders of the phrenological faith-Professor Caldwell of Lexington. His answers to the objections which we have mentioned, occupy thirteen octavo pages, and are exceedingly powerful. We can only allude to them :

1st, If the passions, as Dr Jackson imagines, have their origin and seat, in part, in the abdominal viscera, because they are strengthened and rendered more intense by abdominal irritation, we must, to be consistent, maintain, that the intellectual powers also have their seat, in part, in the bowels; since they are highly vivified by wine, alcohol, or opium, acting upon the stomach. Gastric excitement is the cause of both classes of pheThat excitement produces, by sympathy, an augmented cerebral excitement; and increased activity of the feelings or intellect is the result.

nomena.

2dly," Does Dr Jackson know," asks the reviewer, "what