ing. They testified much pleasure at our visit, and placed before us several dishes, among which were two of their choicestthe entrails of a fine seal, and a bowl of coagulated blood." Farther on, the people were found "extremely diminutive, dirty, and forbidding. Some were blind, others decrepit; and, dressed in greasy worn out clothes, they looked perfectly wretched. Their hospitality, however, was even greater than we could desire; and we were dragged away by the wrists to their hovels, on approaching which we passed between heaps of filth and ruined habitations, filled with stinking water, to a part of the village which was in better repair." To crown the whole, we may quote from Captain Lyon a specimen of the cleanliness and delicate taste of the Esquimaux at Winter Island. A lamp having been pur chased by Captain Parry while it was burning, "the woman who sold it instantly extinguished the light, and vigorously commenced cleaning the lamp, which contained as much soot as oil, by scraping it with her fingers, which, with their load of sweets, she conveyed rapidly to her mouth. The tongue finished the operation; the lamp was licked perfectly clean, while in return it covered her face with soot, and caused us all a laugh at her uncouth figure, in which she joined most heartily." The children, he adds, "were as dirty as human creatures could possibly be." Details like these will not surprise the phrenologist who contemplates the deficient Ideality and Order, and the lymphatic temperament, which characterise the Esquimaux.

The organ of NUMBER, also, is remarkably small ‡. None of the skulls exhibit more than a "moderate" development; and both Parry and Lyon notice that the eyes of the Esquimaux are turned up at the exterior angle-they have the peculiarity of "not being horizontal as with us, but coming much lower at the end next the nose than at the other §." This “remarkable formation of the eye," says Captain Lyon, "is in all alike ." This configuration accords with their " imperfect arithmetic, which resolves every number above ten into one comprehensive word." The Arctic Highlanders are unable to reckon farther than five; and in answer to Captain Ross's inquiries concerning the numbers of the tribe, they could only

* Beechey's Narrative, pp. 263, 266.

+ Lyon's Private Journal, p. 119. See Cartwright, i. 55.

"Moderate" in three of Mr Collie's skulls; "full" in the other. Beechey says, that " in appearance and manners also, and indeed in every particular," the natives of St Lawrence Island very closely resemble the other Esquimaux. They were, if any thing, less dirty." P. 224.

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§ Parry, v. 184.

|| Private Journal, p. 309.-The Chaymas

"the

of South America, as Humboldt mentions, have a similar peculiarity: corner of the eye is sensibly raised up towards the temples;" and they "have great difficulty in comprehending any thing that belongs to numerical relations." Humboldt's Pers. Narr. iii. 223, 241, 242.

¶ Parry, v. 319.

say that there were "plenty people." Others, however, could reckon ten*. Nor is the skill of the Greenlanders materially greater. Their numerals, says Crantz, "fall very short, so that they verify the German proverb, that they can scarce count five: however, they can make a shift with difficulty to mount as high as twenty, by counting the fingers of both hands, and the toes of both feet." "When the number is above twenty, they say it is innumerable +.""

The Esquimaux display no great amount of musical talent. They attempt to sing and dance, but with very little success. Captain Parry concludes his account of one of their exhibitions by observing that "nothing can be poorer in its way than this tedious singing recreation t." An attempt was made by Ross to amuse some of the natives who had gone on board his ship, by ordering tunes to be played on the violin: "they, however, paid no attention to this, seeming quite unconcerned about the words or the performer §." Cartwright" did not admire the tunes" of the people of Labrador; and " as to their dancing, one would have supposed," says he, “that they had learned that art from the bears of the country." The organs of Tune and Time are very moderately developed ¶.

With REFLECTIVE INTELLECT the Esquimaux are not highly gifted, and no manifestations of a profound understanding have been discovered amongst them. Many of the Winter Islanders, however, were arch, good-humoured, and jocular **, and hardly liable to the charge of stupidity.

Such are the peculiarities of this singular race; and no candid reader will deny that the more uniform and strongly marked features of their character correspond in a remarkable manner with the general shape of their skulls. In describing the dispositions of this people, we have endeavoured to ensure accuracy by uniformly quoting the words of actual observers; and as the skulls may at all times be inspected in the Museum of the Phrenological Society, it is in the power of every one who takes an interest in the subject to verify what has been said regarding their configuration. Though, as already remarked, the comparison of national character with a limited collection of skulls, can never be so satisfactory as the comparison of a single head with its concomitant character, enough, it is hoped, has been said in the preceding pages to demonstrate, that even in the former case Phrenology is far from being inapplicable.

• Ross's Voyage, pp. 95, 127. Parry, v. 301.

Cartwright's Journal, i. 145.

ROBERT Cox.

+ Crantz, i. 225.

§ Ross's Voyage, p. 94.

This is the case also with the skulls from St Lawrence Island, already repeatedly alluded to.

**

Parry, iii. 237; and v. 283.

ARTICLE VI.

ON THE INJURY OF SKINS OF CATTLE, FROM WANT OF

CLEANLINESS.

(To the Editor of the Phrenological Journal.)

57. FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH, 7th May 1833.

SIR,-In perusing the article in your 34th Number, on the "Nature and Functions of the Skin," in which the evils resulting from want of cleanliness are set forth, an observation which I had often previously made in the exercise of my trade immediately recurred to me,-which is, that the skins of animals are much deteriorated, when sufficient attention is not paid to their cleanliness during life. It is a general enough practice, especially in the north of Scotland, to put cattle into straw-yards, and allow them to wallow among their filth, which often adheres to their skin and becomes quite hard; and as no care is taken to have it removed, it seems to act most powerfully on the animal. I regret that I am not acquainted with the chemical properties of the dung and its operation on the skin, but I fear it must have a most prejudicial effect, as that part of the skin which has been subjected to its influence is entirely destroyed in its texture and tenacity, and rendered totally unfit for any purpose when the skins are dressed for leather. What is much to be regretted is, that the parts of the skin which are most destroyed are nearly the best, being generally the butts, although often the bellies are affected also. To shew you the effect produced, I send you a specimen of leather cut out of the butt of a skin; it will be observed that the cuticle and parts next it, appear as if they had been destroyed by suppuration or some such cause, probably occasioned by the perspiration being checked in the first instance, and by the putrid action of the dung on the cuticle in the second; for the disease, though it must have commenced in the cuticle, seems to have entered farther and penetrated the true skin. It appears a fair conclusion, that if that part of the skin is so very much destroyed, the rest of the skin cannot fail to be also injured, as the remaining parts are always what is termed "slack," that is-open and porous in the texture, and ill filled in the substance of the skin; nor can the animal be so healthy, or its flesh afford such wholesome food, as if cleanliness had been duly attended to.

In December 1831 I sent a few remarks on the subject to the Highland Society of Scotland, at the suggestion of John Robison, Esq. They were remitted to a committee, a meeting of which I was desired to attend, but was unexpectedly prevented

by indisposition. I therefore do not know whether the Society was previously aware of it or not; my object, however, in so doing, was, in case they were ignorant of the extent of the evil, to inform them of it, and to suggest the remedy of currying them as is done with horses, whose skins almost never present any appearance of the kind. Since I sent the paper to the Highland Society, Mr Robison informed me, that, in a conversation which he had with Sir John Sinclair, Bart. on the subject, Sir John said he was not aware of the evil done to the skins in the manner before described, though he was aware of the great advantage the cattle received from their being curried. I think these few remarks embrace all that is important on the subject, that I am acquainted with; but should any thing else occur, I will feel happy in giving every explanation in my power. I am, &c. JAMES DOWIE.

[The foregoing communication, which is from a respectable and intelligent tradesman, is of some importance, both in a commercial point of view, and as affording a striking illustration of the principles expounded in the article referred to by our correspondent. We set a high value on the observations of practical men, and will always be happy to receive from them illustrations, similar to that now published, of principles inculcated in our pages.-EDIT.Í

ARTICLE VII.

THE CHARACTERS OF THEOPHRASTUS; ILLUSTRATED

BY PHYSIOGNOMICAL SKETCHES. To which are subjoined, HINTS ON THE INDIVIDUAL VARIETIES OF HUMAN NATURE, AND GENERAL REMARKS. London, 1831. (Family Classical Library, No. XVI.)

OUR inducement to notice this edition of the Characters of Theophrastus, is the circumstance that it has been made the vehicle of an attack against Phrenology, which, if passed over in silence, may excite prejudice and foster error. But before offering any remarks on that subject, we shall briefly advert to the "Characters" themselves.

Theophrastus was the successor of Aristotle, as teacher of the Peripatetic philosophy at Athens. He was born in Lesbos, about 395 years before Christ, and lived to an advanced age, His writings were very numerous: of these the Characters are by far the most celebrated; but the mutilated condition in which the text now appears, has severely tried the ingenuity of commentators, A paraphrastic translation into French, seasoned by numerous allusions to contemporary persons, was published in 1687 by the satirist La Bruyere, and continues to maintain its popularity among our continental neighbours. The

▪,

present English version is executed with considerable spirit. It is illustrated by fifty well-executed engravings of heads, which, however, are mostly caricatures, and frequently present a marked inconsistency between the form of the head. and the character illustrated. The "Ruffian" is very accurately por

trayed.

Theophrastus was a patient and accurate observer of nature, and the pictures which he has drawn of the mental peculiarities of some of his fellow-citizens, shew how little alteration the dispositions of mankind have undergone since the days of Alexander the Great." The phrases and the actions described by the successor of Aristotle," says the translator, "are precisely the phrases and the actions of beings with whom we are ourselves conversant. These faithful records of human nature serve to prove, that, under every changing influence of time and climate, of institutions, and opinions, and manners, Mind, with all its shades of difference, is the same." Thirty characters-some of them, however, presenting hardly a shade of difference-are successively described. These are, the Dissembler, the Adulator, the Garrulous, the Rustic, the Plausible, the Ruffian, the Loquacious, the Fabricator of News, the Sordid, the Shameless, the Parsimonious, the Impure, the Blunderer, the Busybody, the Stupid, the Morose, the Superstitious, the Petulant, the Suspicious, the Filthy, the Disagreeable, the Vain, the Penurious, the Ostentatious, the Proud, the Fearful, the Old Trifler, the Detractor, the Oligarch, and the Malignant. Many of the descriptions are exceedingly amusing; and, as a picture of the manners of the Athenians, they possess the highest interest. They are, in many cases, happy illustrations of particular faculties, or combinations of faculties, occurring in excess. In the "Garrulous Man," for instance, we find a humorous example of activity of mind without power-of a character resulting from a head of moderate size, with powerful Individuality and Language, but no great endowment of Secretiveness and the reflective faculties. The temperament is active, and there is an almost total destitution of the faculty of Concentrativeness. The individual seems incapable of keeping his mind fixed on one object for three seconds together, and his conversation wanders from topic to topic with admirable disregard of coherency and sequence. "The garrulous man," says Theophrastus, "happening to sit beside one with whom he has no acquaintance, begins by recounting the various excellences of his wife; then he says that last night he dreamed a dream, which he narrates at length; this leads him to mention, one by one, the dishes that were placed within his reach at supper. By this time his tongue has gained velocity in going, and he proceeds in a loftier strain: Alas!' saith he, how much more de

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