following is Mr Mylne's account of what took place upon the occasion:

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"On the first boy presented to Dr Spurzheim, on his entering "the shop, he observed, that he would excel in any thing he was "put to. In this he was perfectly correct, as he was one of the "cleverest boys I ever had. On proceeding farther, Dr S. re"marked of another boy, that he would make a good workman. "In this instance also his observation was well founded. An "elder brother of his was working next him, who, he said, would "also turn out a good workman, but not equal to the other. I " mentioned, that in point of fact the former was the best, al"though both were good. In the course of farther observa❝tion, Dr S. remarked of others, that they ought to be ordinary tradesmen, and they were so. At last he pointed out one, "who, he said, ought to be of a different cast, and of whom I "would never be able to make any thing as a workman, and this "turned out to be too correct; for the boy served an apprenticeship "of seven years, and when done, he was not able to do one-third "of the work performed by other individuals, to whose instruction "no greater attention had been paid. So much was I struck with "Dr Spurzheim's observations, and so correct have I found the "indications presented by the organization to be, that when work"men, or boys to serve as apprentices, apply to me, I at once give "the preference to those possessing a large Constructiveness; and "if the deficiency is very great, I would be disposed to decline receiving them, being convinced of their inability to succeed.”

Dr Gall mentions, that at Mulhausen, in Switzerland, the manufacturers do not receive into their employment any children except those who, from an early age, have displayed a talent for the arts in drawing or clipping figures, because they know, from experience, that such subjects alone become expert and intelligent workmen.

These are positive facts in regard to this organ. We shall now notice a few circumstances, illustrative of the existence of a talent for construction, as a distinct power of the mind apart from the general faculties of the understanding, from which the reader may form an opinion of the extent to which the phrenological views agree or disagree with the common phenomena of human nature.

Among the lower animals, it is clear that the ability to construct is not in proportion to the endowment of understanding. The dog, horse, and elephant, who in sagacity approach very closely to the more imperfect specimens of

the human race, never, in any circumstances, attempt a work of art. The bee, the beaver, the swallow, on the contrary, with far less general intellect, rival the productions of man. Turning our attention to man, we observe, that while among the children of the same family, or the same school, some are fond of a variety of amusements unconnected with art, others constantly devote themselves, at their leisure hours, to designing with chalk various objects on the boards of books, walls, paper, &c., or occupy themselves with fashioning in wax or clay, or clipping in paper, the figures of animals, trees, or men. Children of a very tender age have sometimes made models of a ship of war, which the greatest philosopher would in vain strive to imitate. The young Vaucanson had only seen a clock through the window of its case, when he constructed one in wood, with no other utensils than a bad knife. A gentleman, with whom we were intimately acquainted, invented and constructed, at six years of age, a mill for making pot-barley, and actually set it in operation by a small jet from the main stream of the Water of Leith. Lebrun drew designs with chalk at three years of age, and at twelve he made a portrait of his grandfather. Sir Christopher Wren, at thirteen, constructed an ingenious machine for representing the course of the planets. Michael Angelo, at sixteen, executed works which were compared with those of antiquity.

The greater number of eminent artists have received no education capable of accounting for their talents; but, on the contrary, have frequently been compelled to struggle against the greatest obstacles, and to endure the most distressing privations, in following out their natural inclinations. Other individuals, again, educated for the arts, on whom every advantage has been lavished, when destitute of genius, have never surpassed mediocrity. Frequently, too, men, whom external circumstances have prevented from devoting themselves to occupations to which they were naturally inclined, have occupied themselves with mechanics as a pas

time and amusement. An eminent advocate at the Scotish bar, on whom Constructiveness is very largely developed, informed us, that occasionally, in the very act of composing a written pleading on the most abstract questions of law, vivid conceptions of particular pieces of mechanism, or of new applications of some mechanical principle, dart into his mind, and keep their place so as to interrupt the current of his voluntary thoughts until he had embodied them in a diagram or description, after which he is able to dismiss them and proceed with his professional duties. Leopold the Ist., Peter the Great, and Louis XVI. constructed locks. The organs of Constructiveness were largely developed in the late Lord President Blair of the Court of Session, as appears from a cast of his head and statue, and also from his portraits; and we have been informed, that he had a private workshop at Avondale, in Linlithgowshire, in which he spent many hours during the vacations of the Court constructing pieces of mechanism with his own hands. The predilection of such individuals for the practice of mechanical arts cannot reasonably be ascribed to want, or to their great intellectual faculties; for innumerable objects more directly fitted to gratify or relieve the understanding must have presented themselves to their notice had they not been led by a special liking to the course they followed, and felt themselves inspired by a particular talent for such avocations. Not only so, but we see examples of an opposite description; namely, of men of great depth and comprehensiveness of intellect who are wholly destitute of manual dexterity. Lucien and Socrates renounced sculpture, because they felt that they possessed no genius for it. M. Schurer, formerly professor of natural philosophy at Strasburg, broke every article he touched. There are persons who can never learn to make a pen or sharp a razor; and Dr Gall mentions, that two of his friends, the one an excellent teacher, the other "grand ministre," were passionately fond of gardening, but he could never teach them to engraft a tree. As a contrast to these, men

of considerable mechanical dexterity are frequently found to be remarkably destitute of talent for every other pursuit, and to possess very limited understandings.

Cases of disease also tend to prove that Constructiveness depends on a special faculty, and is not the result merely of general intellect. Dr Rush mentions two cases in which a talent for design had unfolded itself during a fit of insanity ; and he adds, that there is no insane hospital in which examples are not found of individuals, who, although they never shewed the least trace of mechanical talent previously to their loss of understanding, have constructed the most curious machines, and even ships completely equipped. These cases are at utter variance with the notion that the intellectual faculties produce this talent; for in them they were deranged, while they accord with the phrenological doctrine of this power depending on a separate faculty and organ which may remain sound when the others are diseased. Fodere, in his Traité du Goitre et de la Cretinisme, p. 133, remarks, "That, by an inexplicable singularity, some of these individuals "(Cretins), endowed with so weak minds, are born with a particular "talent for copying paintings, for rhyming, or for music. I have "known several who taught themselves to play passably on the or"gan and harpsichord; others, who understood, without ever having "had a master, the repairing of watches, and the construction of 66 some pieces of mechanism."

He adds, that these powers could not be attributed to the intellect,

"for these individuals not only could not read books which treated "of the principles of mechanism, mais ils etaient deroutés lorsqu'on "en parlait, et ne se perfectionaient jamais."

Constructiveness confers only the power of constructing in general, and the results which it is capable of producing are influenced by other faculties. For example, intellect alone, with extreme deficiency of Constructiveness, will never enable an individual to become an expert mechanician; but, if the development of Constructiveness be equal in two individuals, and the intellectual organs be large in the one and small in the other, the former will accomplish much higher

designs than the latter; and the reason is obvious. The primitive talent for construction is the same in both; but the one, by means of reflection, is endowed with the perception of the relation of means to an end, and hence is able to select from the wide circle of nature and of art every object and appliance that may extend and elevate his conceptions and their execution, while the latter is limited to a mere mechanical talent like that displayed by the beaver, the spider, or the bee, admirable in itself as far as it goes, but never stretching beyond imitation of objects previously existing.

The DIRECTION of Constructiveness depends also upon the other faculties with which it is combined. The greatest development of this organ would not be sufficient to constitute a musical instrument-maker without Tune to judge of tones. Constructiveness, with Number and Size large, would constitute a good mathematical instrument-maker. Constructiveness, Ideality, and Veneration, would prompt the possessor to design places of religious worship. Join Constructiveness with much Combativeness and Destructiveness, and delight would be experienced in making ships of war, cannons, mortars, or bomb-shells. Constructiveness combined with Secretiveness, Imitation and Form large, give a talent for sculpture; add Colouring, and a genius for portraitpainting is produced; add Locality, and a talent for landscape painting is the result. The organs of Size, Lower Individuality, and Locality, all large (indicated by a general fulness of the head at the top of the nose), combined with Constructiveness, are essential to a genius for operating machinery in contradistinction to still mechanism. We have observed, that, where the former organs were large, the individual was fond of every thing connected with weight, momentum and motion, and delighted in machines in which active powers and principles were displayed. If Constructiveness was also larger, he could embody his conceptions in models made by his own hands; but if this organ was small, he was obliged to resort to other individuals to execute