proportioned brain, and that these qualities should be chosen in preference, in families where they have been the accompaniment of generations; as where a good individual appears in a bad or indifferent race, the chance of the re-appearance in the offspring of the indifferent qualities of the stock is very great. Hence the importance attached to pedigree is in reality founded in a law of nature; and hence also the value attached to it in the case of the lower animals, where each parent has been selected for his peculiar excellencies. man, it is by no means so sure an index of the possession of the virtues of the original stock, as the choice of partners is scarcely attended to.

In

The age of the parents, their health, and especially that of the mother, and their state of mind, all exercise much influence on the destinies of their progeny-but this is not the place to enter further into detail.

Having pointed out the means likely to secure a good constitution to those unborn, Dr Spurzheim proceeds, in the second chapter, to lay down the principles which ought to guide us in our endeavours to improve that which nature has already given. With this view, he discusses the laws which regulate the existence of the human being after birth, and those which influence the growth or development of the different systems or parts of the body. And even in a purely mental training, a knowledge of these is of much importance; because, during life, the mental manifestations are so dependent on organic conditions, and the action and reaction between mind and body are so immediate and so constant, as to render abortive any attempts at improving the mind which are not made in harmony with the laws of the animal system. And as no part should be favoured at the expense of the rest, our first object should be to secure to the child the best health and most perfect development of all his parts, which his natural constitution will permit. This will be best done by attending to the rules which Dr S. lays down for the regulation of Temperature, Nourishment, Choice of Nurse, Clothing, Air, Light, Cleanliness, Sleep, Repose, and Exercise, on each

of which he offers many most judicious and practical observations, but upon which we cannot now dwell. The effects of them on the general health have alone been attended to, but they are highly deserving of more particular study; for there is no doubt that modifications of them-of diet, for instance, favour the development of different systems; and it is extremely probable that, in the same way, some may operate more immediately than others in the development of different parts of the brain, and consequently on that of the different mental powers.

In the next chapter Dr Spurzheim discusses "the Laws of Exercise," by observing which, the different faculties may be made to act with the greatest ease and energy, of which the natural constitution, improved by a proper management of the modifying causes last mentioned, is susceptible. This, indeed, includes all that is generally embraced under the name of Education, or, properly speaking, it includes a great deal more, for it treats of the cultivation of the moral as well as of the intellectual faculties.

The first circumstance which Phrenology points out as deserving of attention in attempting the cultivation of the mental powers is, that the capacity for improvement of each of the internal faculties, like that of each of the external senses, is exactly proportioned to and is limited by the degree of development and healthy condition of its own organ, and that the result of education is merely an increased facility of operation in that organ, and not a change in the mind itself, independent of the organization, as is generally supposed. Whence the Phrenologists contend, that just as we habitually regard the power of vision, and the degree of improvement of which it is susceptible, as in exact relation to the native constitution of the eye, and the superior quickness of sight consequent upon its judicious exercise, as always referable to a change produced, not in the unembodied principle of mind, but in the organ of vision itself, so we ought to regard each and all of the internal faculties, ex. g. the reasoning power, or the faculties of Tune or of Language, and the degree of

improvement of which they are susceptible, as in exact relation to the natural constitution of their respective cerebral organs, and the superior aptitude for deep thinking, for Music, or for Language, consequent upon their exercise, as the result of a change in the state of these organs, and not in the immaterial principle alone; and hence that we should, in every instance, adapt our means to the kind of faculties and organization possessed; and that, as we cannot bend the mental character to suit any circumstances, we should therefore adapt the profession and circumstances to the character and dispositions of the individual, in so far as conduces to his happiness and utility. Hence also the absurdity of seeking for laws of mind as distinct and separate from the laws which regulate the union and the mutual influence of mind and body, since, so long as life remains, not a moment passes over our heads which is not pregnant with proof of their inseparable connexion; and hence it is the very basis of our success, 1st, that we must employ each primitive mental faculty which we wish to cultivate directly upon its own objects, and not trust to its improvement following that of a faculty altogether different; and, 2dly, that we must proportion the degree of exercise of each to the original constitution of its own organ.

1st, It is a very common mistake in our schools, and in the received systems of education, to suppose that, by cultivating one faculty, we necessarily exercise the others; that by studying languages or mathematics, for instance, we necessarily cultivate the reasoning powers, or that, by cultivating the latter, we necessarily improve the moral sentiments. Phrenology puts an end to this delusion, by showing that each faculty depends, for its power of acting, upon the state of its own organ; and that thus whole pages may be learned by rote in virtue of the activity of the organ and faculty of Language alone, without exciting, in any degree, those of Causality or Comparison, upon which reflection depends. It shows that mathematics, being a science of relative proportions and numbers, exercises almost exclusively the organs

and faculties of Locality, Form, Size, Individuality, Comparison, and Number, while it leaves Causality almost inactive. It shows that the memory of facts and details depends on a good endowment of Individuality, and, consequently, that the mere acquisition of knowledge does not exercise the reasoning powers or moral sentiments. It shows that the latter, as well as the intellect, depend upon particular organs, and that each, in order to be cultivated, must be excited directly by its own object, and, in short, that it would be as philosophical to attempt to educate sight by listening to the sounds of a violin, or hearing by reading a treatise on acoustics, or touch by smelling a nosegay, as to attempt to improve the reasoning powers by learning a collection of words, or the moral sentiments, by objects exclusively addressed to the intellect.

Hence, when we wish to cultivate the reasoning powers, let us employ them directly in tracing the relation of cause and effect, and in the discovery of general principles. When we mean to cultivate the knowing faculties, let us exercise Number, for example, in the study of arithmetic and alge, bra; Language in the acquisition of the dead and living Languages, and in the structure of their sentences; Locality and Individuality in the study of Geography and the Natu, ral History of different countries of the world. And again, when we intend to cultivate the moral sentiments, let us exercise Conscientiousness in the habitual practice and example of even-handed justice, instead of thinking to enforce it by precepts adapted to the organs of intellect alone; let us excite the activity of Benevolence in our children, by practis ing it towards others, rather than by bare words, with which our conduct is at variance, and let us not complain of a want of respect in our children depending on inactive Veneration, when we ourselves habitually treat others as if it were a sin to be respectful. In short, let us always exercise directly the faculty we wish to cultivate, for it is only by so doing that we shall at all succeed.

2d, As some faculties are possessed in greater proportion

than others, and as the most powerful are always the most capable of exercise, we must proportion the degree of exercise of each to its original constitution, so as neither to weaken it by too little action, nor to exhaust it by too much. In weak, delicate subjects, and at periods of growth, the faculties should be left a good deal to themselves, and more attention be paid to the general health and consolidation of the system. Precocious talent is frequently, from neglect of this, very soon exhausted. No general rule can be laid down, but the same principle applies as in the exercise of weak muscles, stomach, eyes, or any other part. In order to employ all the faculties to the best advantage, it thus becomes extremely desirable to know, before-hand, the proportions in which they are respectively possessed, so that no time nor labour need be lost in attempting to force those which nature has given in sparing quantity, nor mischief produced by the over-exercise or complete neglect of others, in which she has been more liberal. Phrenology puts the means of obtaining this knowledge completely in our power, and it is our own fault if we do not make use of it. And as we would never dream of giving a blind man the education of a painter, or a deaf man that of a musician, so Phrenology teaches us not to expect philosophic profundity from a person to whom nature has denied a large endowment of Causality, and therefore not to attempt to educate him for a profession in which great reasoning power is essential for success. It also teaches us not to set down as a fool or a dunce, the boy, whose depth of mind, depending on great Comparison and Causality, is merely hidden by the difficulty which, owing to small Language, he feels in clothing his ideas with words; for where the reflecting power is present, it will, in after-life, place its possessor far above his more superficial companion who excelled him at school, merely from having a much greater endowment of Language and Individuality. Phrenology thus enables us to avoid the mischief so often resulting from misdirected talents, and to select, with discrimination, the sphere in which each is fitted to move.