probability appear, when made by those who are ignorant of the uses of its different parts.

therefore respectfully maintain, not only that the principles of investigation adopted by phrenologists are sound, and adequate to attain the ends in view in employing them; but that there is no other method by which the primitive faculties attached to particular portions of the brain can be discovered.

ARTICLE VIII.

CASE OF A. P., A DEAF AND DUMB BOY.

THE uneducated deaf and dumb have no knowledge of our language, and can only express their thoughts and desires by gesture, as nearly representative of such as they can make them. Thus deprived, in a great measure, from communicating with their fellow beings, or gaining any knowledge from books, the first and great aim in their education, is to give them the power of comprehending and using language as a means of communication. An instructor, under such circumstances, has a good opportunity for observing the different degrees of aptness, if such exist, in acquiring this knowledge, and whether it be always in proportion to the powers exhibited in acquiring other kinds of knowledge. There is also an opportunity of observing whether these powers, and the development of the phrenological organs, be in harmony.

In the case under consideration, the boy, who is about fifteen years of age, has been at school upwards of four years, and the progress he has made in the knowledge of words is extremely limited. One with a moderate capacity for such acquirement would do as much in half the time. But this want of talent is confined to language. In many other branches of knowledge he is decidedly superior to most of the children in the school. He draws correctly and with ease. In calculations of number he is about on an average with the generality. What, however, he most delights in, is in constructing pieces of mechanism; in this occupation he would be constantly employed, and he is very clever in the use of tools. Any piece of mechanical work he sees, if it be not very complicated, he can comprehend, and imitate. The phrenological development, I think, on examination, you will find in perfect accordance with the character I have shortly given. His perceptive organs are all good, with the exception of Language, which is certainly small. Individuality, Weight, and Size are large, Constructiveness is very large, and in satisfying this propensity is his chief pleasure.

I remarked, that the mode of communication used by the Deaf and Dumb, when unable to apply language, is that of imitative signs. There is in this often a great difference exhibited by different children, in the minuteness and clearness with which they relate what they wish to express. Some give only an outline, as it were, of the circumstances, the more prominent features; others will not only give the outline, but fill up the detail, with striking exactness, putting in every little incident which can illustrate or give character to the representative. This power of minute description I have always found, as might be expected, accompanied with large Individuality-and this organ, combined with Form and Imitation, gives the power of expressing it with character. These organs are well developed in the case under consideration, and the boy has a corresponding power of expression in mimic language.

W. R. SCOTT, Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, Doncaster, Yorkshire.

Cast of the Skull of a New Zealander.

Mr Scott at the same time presented the Phrenological Society with a cast of a skull of a New Zealander, about whom he communicated the following particulars:-" I was told that the savage was one who was a leader in the massacre of the crew of the Boyd, which took place in 1809, and that he was cruel, determined, and cunning. The largeness of the head would indicate a strength and force of character. The largest portion of brain, however, is in the basilar and occipital parts. The coronal having a very pent-house form. You will observe a part on the right parietal bone, which appears like a broken place. The skull in this part was fractured, which occasioned the death of the individual. A little pipe-clay was moulded to the form of the other side, as near as possible, to allow a cast to be taken; but by allowing the mark to remain, you will be able to see the extent of the moulded part."

ARTICLE IX.

DR VIMONT ON CONCENTRATIVENESS, from his Traité de Phrenologie, tome ii. p. 210.

INSTEAD of attempting to convey an idea of the extent and value of Dr Vimont's contributions to Phrenology, by a view of his Traité de Phrénologie, in a single article of our Journal, we, in our last number, announced our intention of presenting, from

time to time, full abstracts or translations of his most important observations for the instruction of our readers, and, in pursuance of this plan, we proceed to notice the seventh section of his second volume, which is entitled "Organe orçant une faculté à continuer son action."

"After having compared," says Dr Vimont," a very considerable number of skulls of persons distinguished by a wellmarked character for Pride, I have been convinced that Drs Gall and Spurzheim have placed the organ of this faculty too far backwards, or, at least, that a great portion of the convolution which constitute it, that is to say, about the two posterior thirds, will belong to another organ. It appears, from my observations, that the space between Self-esteem and Philoprogenitiveness, presents a greater extent than is assigned to it by Dr Gall, and that there are two distinct organs in that situation, the one superior, No. 6, the other inferior, No. 7.* p. 89. fig. 2.

"The first occupies the posterior and superior angle of the parietal bones, and the second the superior angle of the occipital bone. When this

last is much developed, it 3. raises up a little the most distant portion of the posterior and superior angle of the parietal bones. The anatomical remark which I have now made, and of which nobody

has spoken before me, may throw some light on a kind of polemical discussion which arose between Dr Spurzheim and Mr George Combe, and in which the latter shewed much talent. The discussion related to a new faculty, which, according to Mr Combe, had for its function the concentration of the mind on such or such objects. He believed, however, that its influence was more extensive, and that the faculty for the choice of places, or of habitation of Dr Spurzheim, belonged to the same faculty. After having read the observations of Mr Combe, and the objections of Dr Spurzheim, it appeared to me clear that the reasonings of Dr Spurzheim did not at all invalidate the observations of Mr Combe. But I do not agree with the latter in thinking, that the faculty of Inhabitiveness, and that of Concen

* The numbers on the cut indicate the following organs, according to Dr Vimont's arrangement: 3 Destructiveness; 5 Combativeness; 6`Inhabitiveness; 7 Concentrativeness; 8 Attachment for Life. (This is a new organ proposed by Dr Vimont, which we shall describe in a future number); 9 Åd. hesiveness: 10 Amativeness; 11 Philoprogenitiveness; 13 Cautiousness; 33 Love of Approbation; 34 Self-esteem; 35 Firmness; 36 Conscientiousness.

trativeness, depend on the same organ. On the contrary, I am satisfied, that there is a distinct organ for each, the first corresponding to No. 6, and the second, lower down, No. 7. The latter appears to me to be the organ to which Mr Combe gives the name of Concentrativeness. He states, that he had found this organ largely developed in all persons who were capable of arresting, for a long time, their minds on one subject. I copy his own words: "Some persons," says he, 66 possess a natural consciousness of every thing that goes on in their own minds, in which power others seem to be remarkably deficient. The former can detain their feelings and ideas, and deliberately examine their character and consistency; the latter cannot do this; their minds are like the surface of a mirror, on which each feeling and thought appears like the shadow of a moving object, making a momentary impression, and passing away. They experience great difficulty in detaining their emotions and ideas, so as to examine and compare them; and, in consequence, are little capable of taking systematic views of any subject, and of concentrating their views to bear on one point. I have observed this organ to be large in the former, and small in the latter." System of Phrenology, 3d edit. p. 135.

I am the more disposed to admit the soundness of the ideas of Mr Combe on this faculty, but locating its organ differently; that my researches in comparative anatomy afford new evidence in its favour. Long before Mr Combe, I had fixed my attention, as will immediately be seen, on this faculty; only I thought that it was to be met with in the lower animals alone, while I am now disposed to believe that it is to be found also in man."

"One day, when I conversed with a huntsman on the most remarkable faculties of the dogs employed in the chace, he asked me to what faculty I would ascribe the quality which distinguished the setter dog; and by this he meant, as well as I, the faculty which this animal possesses, of stopping short when he has discovered the game. My answer was, that this mode of action was the result of the education which he had received. However, after having remarked that many dogs placed themselves naturally in the attitude of setting, without having received any previous training, and that there were certain spe

• Mr Combe's views of Concentrativeness appeared in the "Outlines of Phrenology," which form part " of the Transactions of the Phrenological Society," published in 1824, and we are not certain whether they were published before that date or not. In these Outlines, Mr Combe adopts the name of Concentrativeness, and, after mentioning Dr Spurzheim's function of Inhabitiveness, adds, "from more enlarged observations, it now seems probable that part of its functions is to maintain two or more powers in simultaneous and combined action, and to determine them towards one object." It is ascribed by him also to the lower animals, p. 68.

cies which could not be educated to this mode of action, I thought that the disposition to set must be referrible to an innate disposition, which education only developed. In studying the conduct of many animals, I found that this faculty was in some sort common to all the species, although some possessed it in a more remarkable degree than others. Thus, I had seen cats and foxes, in going in search of their prey, present all the characteristics of the setter dog. I saw one day in a garden under my window, a cat which watched a sparrow; its body was lengthened out; its head was held high and forward, and, except for the movements of its tail, I should have taken it for a cat stuffed with straw."

“The examination of the skulls of two setter dogs in my collection, also of the skulls of martens, cats, and foxes, in all of which creatures I believed that I recognised similar dispositions, was, at the moment, of no utility. It was by observing the habits of some birds, and the examination of their skulls, that I arrived at the discovery of this faculty, and was enabled to fix definitely its organ.

"I have always been in the practice of opening the stomachs of all the birds which I receive. In doing so, I had particularly in view to discover the substances which composed their food. One day I found in the pharynx and stomach of a crested grebe, (Grêbe cornu, Colymbus cristatus). * Several little birds known in Normandy under the name of de dards.

"How does it happen," said I," that this bird can seize a fish in such a medium as water, the slightest movement of which must be sufficient to enable it to escape? To accomplish such an object, an inconceivable extent of address and circumspection, must be necessary. As this was the first skull of a grebe which I had seen, its singular shape attracted my attention; for, although it presented, in many respects, some analogy with those of other species which I then possessed (1819), it differed from them considerably in other particulars. The circumstance which particularly fixed my attention was, not only the remarkable development of the anterior part of the frontal bone, but also that of the regions situated above the lateral portions of the cerebellum. In 1821 I procured a young cormorant. On opening its stomach, I found in it as in the crested grebe, a multitude of fishes; but a peculiar configuration of its skull also struck me; it was the resemblance of its shape to that of the grebe. In it, as may be seen in Plate LV. fig. 1. the parts situated over the sides of the cerebellum are also very much enlarged, the lateral portions, in particular,

The crested grebe is a very beautiful aquatic bird. The feathers of its abdomen have the brightness of silver, and are used to make tippets and muffs.