Dr Spurzheim's skull was therefore prepared and bleached by Dr Lewis and myself, and is now preserved, with the brain, in a fire-proof safe in the society's hall, equally free to be seen by the friends and calumniators' of iw the great spirit of its late posses sor. This skull is much larger isthan the average of large crania, as may be inferred by the immense weight of the brain which it contained, and much the greatest portion of which was situated in the part of the cavity of the cranium, anterior to the auditory orifices. Indeed, with the exception of two or three, it is the largest skull that I have ever seen. That there may be no misunderstanding with regard to the dimensions of the skull, I have taken the measurements in inches, and, as far as practicable, from anatomical points. Greatest circumference (measured horizontally), length from occipital protuberance to the frontal sinuses, Distance from occipital protuberance to the naso-frontal articulation measured over the heard, naso-frontal articulation to superior angle of the occipi- Inches. 221 74 1318 710 occipital protuberance to superior angle of the occipi naso-frontal articulation to the anterior extremity of the sagittal suture, 47% 21% tal bone, occipital protuberance to anterior extremity of the Greatest breadth of skull, measured between the temporal bones, 1 Distance from mastoid process to mastoid process, inch above the orifices of the ears, 4 Dr S. died on the 10th of Nov. 1832. His brain was weighed on the 12th. Being present, I took an account of the weight, which, after deducting for that of the napkins, &c. which were used, was exactly 3 pounds 7 ounces and 1 dram, or 55 ounces avoirdupois. The brain was previously deprived of its liquors, and divested of the dura-mater, anterior extremity of sagittal suture, 51⁄2 51% 41 14 11 Distance from ear to ear around the back of the skull at the occipital protuberance, parietal protuberance to parietal protuberance, Inches. 92 51 between the anterior inferior angles of the parietal bones, 51% 61 degrees. 豪 Camper's facial angle, The other measurements agree with the following, published in No. XXXIX. of the Edinburgh Phrenological Journal, taken from the cast which the Society sent to Edinburgh. "Greatest circumference of head (measured horizontally over Individuality, Constructiveness, Destructiveness, and Philoprogenitiveness), ... From occipital spine to Individuality, over the top of the head Ear to Philoprogenitiveness, Individuality, Benevolence, Firmness, Destructiveness to Destructiveness, Ideality to Ideality, Acquisitiveness to Acquisitiveness, 224 13 The discrepancies between these two lists of measurements are of very little importance. All the measurements in that from the skull were taken several times, and found to agree with others that I took from a cast in my collection, which I made at the same time, and in the same mould, with those sent to Europe. The errors are therefore in the list of our Edinburgh friends, and may have arisen from the accidental moving of their callipers. dis The texture of the skull is fine, and the substance compact; with little or no diploe. Externally, the sutures are very tinct; but internally they are so obliterated as to be scarcely visible. I have never seen the interior of a cranium where the digital impressions, adapted to the exterior of the convolutions of the brain, are so well marked; on this account a mould, particularly of the anterior region, would give as good an idea of the form and size of the convolutions as the best possible cast of the brain. Such a mould would also give a correct idea of the form of the encephalon. I have in my collection a cast of the brain, which I took soon after Dr Spurzheim's decease Notwithstanding the prominence of the forehead, this measurement is taken correctly. Two causes combine to make this angle small in the head of Dr Spurzheim; 1st, the great length of the face; and, 2d, the extra high si tuation of the ear. This is another fact which goes against the intellectual angle of Camper. and which is the best that could be obtained; nevertheless, on account of its flattened appearance and indistinctness, I have never multiplied it. Moulds representing the form of the cavity of the cranium, or rather the contents of this cavity, have been taken; one from the base and another from the vault. These, however, have been joined together by an unskilful artist, more intent upon getting money than giving a true representation of the interior of the skull. The result, therefore, is, that the cast which we possess in the cabinet, and which has been circuIated, is from half of an inch to an inch higher than the cavity of which it pretends to be a mould. By the aid of casts which I took at the same time, together with the skull itself and the original incorrect cast (which I had the good fortune to obtain), I have been able, in a great degree, to rectify the mistake. Nevertheless, I would not have this considered otherwise than an approximation to the truth. If a cast of this cavity is really needed, another should be taken and that by responsible workmen, that accuracy, so essential to phrenological observation, be secured. may In point of thickness, with a few exceptions, which will be mentioned as each bone is considered, this skull does not vary from the standard measure. As is the case in ninety-nine out of one hundred skulls, the orbitar portion of the frontal bone, the squamous of the temporal, and the inferior of the occipital, are so thin as to be translucent, and the other portions thick and opake. ; Of the frontal bone, the superior lateral portions on both sides, lying against the coronal suture above the temporal ridges, and moulded on the organs of Marvellousness and Imitation, are somewhat thicker than the other parts of the same bone while the portion lying directly between the above-mentioned parts and over the organs of Benevolence, is of the usual standard thickness. Those portions called the frontal eminences, particularly the innermost parts which form the wall before the organs of Causality, and also the portions over the organ of Tune, on both sides of the head, notwithstanding the ridge. passing over the latter, are, from the thinness of the bone, translucent, and very distinctly defined within. The frontal sinuses, though prominent, are small for a man of Spurzheim's age, (56 years,) and extend only over the organs of Individuality, Form, Size, and Weight, whose developments are very obviously moulded by the inner plate of the skull. It was the opinion of Dr S. that his own frontal sinuses were small: this judgment is verified by the skull itself. The orbitar plates of this bone are peculiar for the depth of their digital impressions, and for the definiteness and agreement of these with the divisions on the marked busts. Could it have been possible for either Gall or Spurzheim himself to have marked the division lines of the organs on the outside of this skull from these impressions within, I believe he would have been astonished at the exactness of the correspondence just mentioned. This is partly shewn in the horizontal section (fig. 1.)* which I have traced with the greatest accuracy from the skull, its vault being divided in such a manner as to allow it to be done without any chance of error. The section from which the drawing is traced is marked by the dotted line in figure 2, and is made (fig. 1.) in the range of the developments of the organs of Eventuality, Locality, Time, Tune, Constructiveness, Acquisitiveness, Secretiveness, Destructiveness, Combativeness, and Philoprogenitiveness. Figure 2. represents the vertical section, likewise traced from the skull, giving a profile view of the skull. As this drawing was made in the median line, the inner plate was not traced, for the reason, that the bone, being thicker in that part and forming a ridge for the attachment of the falciform process of the dura-mater, would not communicate a correct idea of its thickness. Of the sphenoidal bone, nothing is peculiarly worthy of remark, except the greater than usual extent and depth of the sella turcica, the cavity in which lay the pituitary body, and the greater prominence of the clinoid processes. The temporal bones are thin, except at their occipital portions, which are thicker than common, and their mastoid and petrous portions, which, though generally thick, are here more bulky than usual. Nothing uncommon exists with respect to the occipital bone, except the great size of the foramen ovale, or hole in which the medulla oblongata lay. The width of this hole is one inch and six twentieths; the length one inch and eleven twentieths. The parietal bones are the most irregular in point of thickness of all the bones in Dr Spurzheim's cranium. At their posterior inferior angles, over the organs of Combativeness, they are much thicker than we usually see parietal bones. This is well shewn in the drawing of the horizontal section of the cranium. The portions of these bones over the organs of SelfEsteem and Love of Approbation are also more thick, while their posterior portions lying over the organs of Firmness are very thin, even to translucency. Again, there are portions. running from the anterior inferior angles of these bones to the thin portion just mentioned, which are moulded on the organs of Acquisitiveness and Conscientiousness, which are much thickened. Having completed, in as few words as possible, a description of the skull committed to me, I shall, without drawing any conEngraved in the Annals, to which the reader is referred.-Ed. P. J. clusion, ask the following question. From the knowledge which we possess relating to the characteristics of Dr Spurzheim, together with the fact that the bones of the frontal region and part of the sincipital are thinner than usual, and more distinctly marked with digital impressions, may we not infer that the organs on which these bones are formed, continually changing and forming anew, are more active than those on which the bone has become thickened without other marks than those in. distinctly determined by the boundaries of organs ? ARTICLE VII. * PATHOLOGICAL CONTRIBUTION TO PHRENOLOGY-Case of a Patient in the Montrose Lunatic Asylum. By W. A. F. BROWNE. Two centuries past, the Royal Society included among its inquiries the study of witchcraft, and Glanvil, one of its most staunch supporters, composed an erudite treatise on the subject. In this he denounced scepticism of sorcery as equivalent to heresy of faith; for the man who doubted the existence of witches, must, he argued, disbelieve the existence of Deity-patriots and philosophers, saints and sages, united in the opinion, that the half, if not the whole, of the evils of the time, could be traced to the machinations, and could be removed only by the extirpation, of these miscreants. Those who differed on every other topic, agreed in this; those who hated each other, plotted against each other, persecuted each other, were bound together as if by a tie of love or common danger in this the common and national cause; and a crusade was declared against those who believed too much and those who believed too little. If with the philosopher of the day it was believed that supernatural powers could be acquired and exercised in virtue of the performance of certain rites; and if in a philosophic spirit the experiment of evocation was tried; whether it succeeded or not, the ordeal, condemnation, and the stake followed inevitably. But if, on the contrary, a doubt was suggested as to the reality of such powers, the sceptic was treated as a malignant, and burning or drowning as inevitably prescribed. This singular mode of making justice even-handed, is satirized by Butler, in allusion to the ordeal, when recording― "that within a year Three score were hanged within one shire It is difficult to determine under which category my patient * See Gorton's Biographical Dictionary, and Conolly's Inquiry, p. 416. + Hudibras, part ii. canto iii. line 143. |