Fourthly, The size of the whole brain measures, OTHer things BEING EQUAL, the power of the whole mind; and the size of the individual cerebral organs measures, in like manner, the energy of the individual mental faculties. Fifthly, the situation of the individual organs is susceptible of ascertainment, and has been made known by the labors of phrenologists. Sixthly, Mental character, or the absolute and relative strength of the elementary faculties, may be readily discovered, by observing the prominence or development of certain regions of the head, which have been marked out.

These propositions may be said to comprehend the whole phrenological doctrine. They have, as will be perceived, a natural and very obvious dependence upon each other; each one of the series being based upon, and involving the truth of, those which preceded it. Taken as a whole, they may be said to constitute a system which may justly claim for itself the appellation of new, whatever may be the claims of its individual parts to the like distinction, (if it is a dictinction.) Phrenologists acknowledge,-what has often been proclaimed with a needless flourish of trumpets,that there is much in their system that was known, and far more that was conjectured, before they saw the light, as a philosophical sect but they at the same time declare, that they have added, and added largely too, to the knowledge of their predecessors; that they have illustrated anew, and more fully, every material point embraced in the body of their doctrine; that they have classified and explained much, in physiological and mental science, which, up to their time, had been anomaly, paradox, and inextri cable confusion; that they have rescued from oblivion, and gathered together from the ends of the earth, a thousand important facts, shown more clearly than had been done before, their mutual connections,-pointed out among them new relations and dependencies,-combined and arranged them in something like a philosophical method, and deduced from them principles, hitherto unknown or unnoticed, of no contemptible value and magnitude. This is their declaration, and we conceive them authorized to make it. But though the honor of discoverers be unrighteously denied to them; even though, in the strictness of language, they had not extended the boundaries of knowledge a single inch; they still, as a body, have the humble merit of honest laborers,-of productive laborers too, in one of the most interesting fields of science,―a field in which no man can well work, without turning up something valuable. Phrenologists, at least, deserve the lasting gratitude of the world, for their unwearied zeal in dragging to light. illustrating, and rendering intelligible and popular, certain unheeded truths, which we deem of vast moment to the cause of humanity and genuine philosophy. They have done more than any other set of men, to incorporate sound physiology with the general mass

of knowledge, to show its fundamental position in the great temple of science, and to point out with clearness, its particular relations to metaphysical and mental truth, to education and the affairs of ordinary life; and in doing this, in our way of thinking, they have done immeasurable good. They have studied man after a method which may be considered novel, and after the only method, as we conceive, which promises to develop his compound nature,which does not present him, in fact, as an inexplicable enigma. They have studied him as an organic being, as well as an intellectual, moral and social one. They have investigated, profoundly and successfully, the organic laws; shown their influence upon mental development, and character, and action; pointed out their bearing upon the economy of society, and their beautiful adaptation to the circumstances of man, and the laws of the material world. To convince our readers that here is no exaggeration, we would refer to the works of Mr. George Combe, (among others,) and particularly to the volume "On the constitution of man, considered in relation to external objects." We would name also, in this connection, The Edinburgh Phrenological Journal, as a vast repository of curious and interesting facts and observations,--a work replete with original views, novel suggestions, and ingenious reasoning upon every subject relating to the science of man.

It is true it may be contended, that the discoveries, and improvements, and method of study, to which we have referred, are physiological but it may well be replied, that they are also, and more appropriately, phrenological; inasmuch as they especially relate to and elucidate the doctrine of the mind, and have been principally the result of the labors of phrenologists. And here let it be recollected, that the phrenology of the present day is somewhat different from the early craniology of Gall, or the science of bumps, as it has been sarcastically called; inasmuch as it embraces the whole science of organized beings, so far as this serves to detect and explain the number, constitution and development of the mental faculties, and their modes of action. The first is a term far more comprehensive, and far more expressive of the thing signified, than the second. The last was long ago discarded by Spurzheim and his followers, as too limited in its meaning, and as otherwise conveying false impressions; though it has been carefully retained by the reviewers, for no very worthy purpose it is feared.

Though we have not unlimited confidence in the practical details of phrenology, that part of it which relates to bumps, depressions, etc.; though we believe that there is much in the analysis, the numbering and the locating of the faculties, which is fanciful and absurd; though we thoroughly despise the tyros and empirics of phrenology, who go about with graduated rules and empty skulls,

lecturing on heads, and reading fortunes in inches and decimals; though we are free to say all this, and hope to find room to say more in the same spirit by and by; we still think, that phrenologists have merit, and that justice has not been done them. They have been zealous and not unsuccessful laborers in the mines of truth. If they have sometimes been carried away by the ardor of their devotion; if they have now and then dreamed, or raved, or had a fit of somnambulisın; if they have sometimes mistaken their own vivid conceptions for realities, and under the influence of this delusion, presented us with dirt, and dross, and common stone, for the more precious metals; let it also be recollected, that they have now and then turned up and placed in the general treasury of the nations, masses of the purest gold, which no man can overlook, who knows gold, and can estimate its worth, or who can appreciate the uncertainties and hardships of miners. Truth, like wheat, generally first comes to our hands mixed with chaff. In neither case would a wise man reject the valuable, because it was accompanied with the valueless. He would rather have recourse to the winnowing process, to effect their separation. Wheat is no less wheat, because it is mingled with some husks; nor is truth the less itself, because it is combined with error. The philosopher, like the farmer, will always find, that the worthless is also the lightest, and will be wafted away on the winds, while the purer element will remain.

But we must make some remarks on the individual propositions, on which we have said phrenology is based.

That the mind as a whole is dependent on organization for its exercise, is a truth so generally received, both by the learned and the ignorant, that it may seem a superfluous work to adduce arguments to prove it. Still it is a truth, though thus generally admitted in the abstract, which is but partially acknowledged in its par ticular applications, or its obvious and necessary consequences; as if the mind as a whole, were different from the mind in all its parts, so that in the former sense it could be thus dependent, and in the latter sense not so. When a man swallows a dose of opium or brandy, or is seized with a nervous fever, or is deprived of food or drink, or feels the decay and decrepitude of old age, and experiences as the invariable result, an entire change in his mental economy, in his intellect, his sentiments and his desires; it is without hesitation confessed, that this change is the natural effect of certain organic changes which the opium, the fever, the fasting, or the old age, has produced in the body. But when an inference from premises like this is attempted to be drawn ; when it is argued, (on the valid ground, that like effects proceed from and imply like causes,) that consequently every modification of the mind, and its powers and modes of action,-that every thought and sensation and passion, requires as its immediate and invariable

antecedent, a corresponding modification or state of organization, the real principle in question is most unphilosophically abandoned. The folly of this most illogical proceeding, and the importance of having correct and definite notions of the relations of our mental to our physical nature, will appear more conspicuous during the consideration of the next point to be noticed.

The general truth, that the brain, and not the whole body, is the residence of the mind, has been long, indeed, perhaps always, known; but it has been left to the labors of phrenologists, (more especially,) to show the meaning of this very vague but important truth, to illustrate it in all its bearings and applications, and to point out definitely, what and how much it contains. The manner of ascertaining the seat of thought and feeling, is sufficiently simple and easy; though the idea, that it is whispered into our ears by a certain questionable power, called consciousness,* is abundantly absurd. For our own part, we are not ashamed to declare, that we are no more conscious of thinking with our brain, than with our diaphragm, or os calcis. Antecedently to experience, (we mean, observation and experiment,) we know no more of the seat of thought, than we do of that of the biliary or urinary secretion;-no more of our own brains, than we do of our neighbor's. Simple consciousness and all our powers of reflection united, cannot so much as acquaint us with the fact, that our mind has any organ at all; much more, what or where that organ is. The knowledge in question involves the notion of space, and the material quality of resistance, at least; which knowledge does not come by thinking, or by feeling ourselves think, or by reflecting on our feelings, or by any other conceivable internal process. The newborn infant, very evidently, has yet to learn, that it has any body at all, or parts of any kind. In surgical operations, it manifests a complete ignorance of its own corporeal frame. It does not move its hand towards the wound which the surgeon is making, as the adult will do, who has learned the existence and situation of his organs. It has a sensation of a specific kind, which we have agreed to call pain, and nothing more;-a feeling which does not involve or resemble the idea of space, or extension, or resistance, or any property of matter, (however much it may be associated with it, and thereby become the sign or representative of it,) any more than it involves or resembles the truths of geometry, or the rules of family government.

We prove the seat of the mental faculties, just as we do that of any of our corporeal functions,-digestion, for instance.

Consciousness, or feeling, localizes the mind in the head, and gives us a full conviction, that it is situated there." (Combe's System, p. 10.) "We have a vague consciousness, that thinking is confined to the head." (Dean's Lectures, p. 21.) "Every one feels, that he thinks by means of his brain." (Spurzheim's Phrenology)

And in the first place, experience acquaints us with the fact, that every organ of the human body (indeed every thing in nature,) has assigned to it certain uses for which it is fitted. In the economy of life, the bones perform a part, the muscles a part, the blood-vessels and kidneys each a part, and so on. All this has been ascertained. Well then, if it is a settled principle, that no portion of our corporeal fabric has been made in vain, (a thing not to be disputed), that each part has its particular office; and if, at the same time, it is true, that the brain is not the organ of the mind, there is left for it nothing to do,-no purpose to answer in economy; (for no one has yet suspected, that it has any other function than that connected with mental manifestation.) Thus, (on this supposition,) we are compelled to consider one of the largest and the most delicately formed of all organized structures; so strikingly defended against every species of injury, external and internal; so liberally, nay profusely, supplied with blood,* (a precious fluid, of which nature is ever sparing;) so well adapted for the worthiest and noblest of purposes,-the fit mansion of a lord; -there is forced upon us the necessity, we repeat, of supposing, that this exquisite structure, apparently nature's chef d'œuvre, is made for nothing, subserves no end, performs no function,—is a palace without a king, a dwelling without a tenant!

Again, experience teaches us, that each of our organs executes but a single function. The liver secretes bile, but does not circulate the blood. The lungs are for respiration, but not for digestion or locomotion. The mucous membranes secrete mucus; the kidneys, urine, etc. Every considerable corporeal organ, (the brain out of the account,) has one distinct office which is known; and to suppose, that any of these parts, in addition to its ascertained office, can be the instrument of thought and passion, is to suppose, that single organs can execute double functions, which, as has been said, is contrary to experience. The cerebral apparatus, therefore, must be the organ of the mind; or, the mind has no organ, and consequently no relation to organization; which, again, is contrary to experience.

In this manner may be framed a powerful presumptive argument in favor of the position, that the cerebral mass is the seat and source of mental manifestation; but there are other proofs that bear more directly upon the point under consideration, to which we shall very briefly allude.

*The quantity of blood furnished to any organ, is a pretty correct criterion by which to determine the dignity and importance of its office. Now, though the brain constitutes but about the one fortieth or fiftieth part of the whole human body, it is estimated to receive more than one fifth of the amount of blood distributed to the entire system! Can there be a stronger analogical argument to prove, that the member under consideration is not a useless appendage-a terminal and rounded nob merely, on which some very worthy men choose "to hang broad-brimmed hats?"