lectures on phrenology,

7
358 ease, the cause of that condition called dropsy must be investigated, and the prognosis deduced from that, and the state of the patient in other respects. Dr. ARMSTRONG concluded this course of Lectures by expressing his regret, that the dangerous iliness which he -had in October IS24, and the great debility which it left for some time afterwards, should have compelled him to compress the lec- ,--tures on chronic affections into a smaller compass than usual, ttough he trusted that he had exhibited idl the more important particnlars and principles with respect to their patho- logy and treatment. His health being confirmed, it was his intention to sim- plify his arrangement with reference to acute affections, which would en- able him considerably to extend his lectnres on chronic affections, and also to give a series of lectures, in the beginning of the course, on the phy- siological and pathological method of ascertaining the existence and seat of acute and,chronic- affections. (The conclusion of this course of Lectures called forth the enthusiastic plaudits of a numerous class of stu- dents.] LECTURES ON PHRENOLOGY, BY DR. SPURZHEIM. LECTURE 18. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I come to-day to a very important application of phrenology, nanlely, to Education. Look at man in general, and see what a wretched state he is in, be requires to be treated almost as a child, and yet writers have told us, that the world wishes for education. Many books have been written on education, whole libraries have been compiled, various jnstitutions esta- blished, yet very little improvement has taken place. Can man be per- fected by cdttcation, or can lie not! It is cer tain that the improvement is aot propairtionate to the troitble which some individuals have taken. There- fore I repeat, can man be.perfected or not ? Or sltall he remain eternally what he is? In speaking of the per- fectioii of man, I do not mean to say that man can, by any power whatever, acquire any one of the fundamental powers of the mind, because the num- ber of them is determinate; but the questton is, whether these powers can become more or less active, and wue- tlier they can he directed in a way likely to be most useful to the indiri- diial ? Commonly, in speaking of edu- cation, it is divided into two parts, phy- sical and moral. Since we admit that the moral, part of man, or, in other words, the mental part, depends upon the organization, and since we do not admit of any intlnence independent of the cerebral organizatiou, I do not like this division, and therefore shall unt speak nt’it: However, I shall speak of educa tion under two heads. I shall nrst examine how far it is possible to give more or less activity to the fundamental powers with which man is endowed, since we admit in phte- nology that man has received from the hands of the Creator a certain number of pors, and that these powers aie manifested under certain conditions. Now we see that many powers are more active than others, and that, in a general way, the ani- mal powers are more active than the powers proper to man. Is it possi- ble to give more or less activity to the individual powers? that will be the first question. I shall, seconclly, examine how far it is possible to direct these powers ? What shall we do if we find per- sons born more-active than others? There are various conditions whictt must be observed. Man is a created being, and lie must be btudied in the same way as all other created beings, by observation. Nature makes no ex- ception to her general laws, although we wish to make exceptions much more frequently than is necessary. Atthotfgh the subject may appear deli- cate, I shall insist upon it. Man must be ianproved in many respects, as all other created beings. Are we not sure to have good cattle, a good breed of any description, by attending to certain conditions ; but are we Bare ot

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Page 1: LECTURES ON PHRENOLOGY,

358

ease, the cause of that condition calleddropsy must be investigated, and theprognosis deduced from that, and thestate of the patient in other respects.

Dr. ARMSTRONG concluded thiscourse of Lectures by expressing hisregret, that the dangerous ilinesswhich he -had in October IS24, andthe great debility which it left forsome time afterwards, should have

compelled him to compress the lec-,--tures on chronic affections into a

smaller compass than usual, ttoughhe trusted that he had exhibited idlthe more important particnlars andprinciples with respect to their patho-logy and treatment. His health beingconfirmed, it was his intention to sim-plify his arrangement with referenceto acute affections, which would en-able him considerably to extend hislectnres on chronic affections, andalso to give a series of lectures, in thebeginning of the course, on the phy-siological and pathological method ofascertaining the existence and seat ofacute and,chronic- affections.(The conclusion of this course of

Lectures called forth the enthusiasticplaudits of a numerous class of stu-dents.]

LECTURESON

PHRENOLOGY,BY

DR. SPURZHEIM.

LECTURE 18.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,I come to-day to a very important

application of phrenology, nanlely, to

Education.Look at man in general, and see

what a wretched state he is in, berequires to be treated almost as a

child, and yet writers have told us,that the world wishes for education.Many books have been written on

education, whole libraries have beencompiled, various jnstitutions esta-

blished, yet very little improvementhas taken place. Can man be per-fected by cdttcation, or can lie not!It is cer tain that the improvement isaot propairtionate to the troitble which

some individuals have taken. There-fore I repeat, can man be.perfectedor not ? Or sltall he remain eternallywhat he is? In speaking of the per-fectioii of man, I do not mean to saythat man can, by any power whatever,acquire any one of the fundamentalpowers of the mind, because the num-ber of them is determinate; but thequestton is, whether these powers canbecome more or less active, and wue-tlier they can he directed in a waylikely to be most useful to the indiri-diial ? Commonly, in speaking of edu-cation, it is divided into two parts, phy-sical and moral. Since we admit thatthe moral, part of man, or, in otherwords, the mental part, depends uponthe organization, and since we do notadmit of any intlnence independent ofthe cerebral organizatiou, I do notlike this division, and therefore shallunt speak nt’it:

However, I shall speak of education under two heads. I shall nrstexamine how far it is possible togive more or less activity to thefundamental powers with which manis endowed, since we admit in phte-nology that man has received fromthe hands of the Creator a certainnumber of pors, and that these

powers aie manifested under certainconditions. Now we see that manypowers are more active than others,and that, in a general way, the ani-mal powers are more active than thepowers proper to man. Is it possi-ble to give more or less activity tothe individual powers? that will be

the first question.I shall, seconclly, examine how far

it is possible to direct these powers ? What shall we do if we find per-sons born more-active than others?There are various conditions whicttmust be observed. Man is a created

being, and lie must be btudied in the

same way as all other created beings,by observation. Nature makes no ex-ception to her general laws, althoughwe wish to make exceptions muchmore frequently than is necessary.Atthotfgh the subject may appear deli-cate, I shall insist upon it. Man mustbe ianproved in many respects, as allother created beings. Are we notsure to have good cattle, a good breedof any description, by attending to

certain conditions ; but are we Bare ot

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having good children. We can calcn.late in a general way that we shallsucceed just as we like with ani-mals, but can any one say I will havesuch and snch children ? We are thetolers of nature; man knows that hettust submit to certain conditions, forhe does not find that he can create,hence he subenita to conditions. Withrespect to his own race, he thinks heis capable of making exceptions, andhe is punished for his pride. Thematter is delicate, and I shall inquireonly into the laws of creation. Withrespect to our being, we must submitto the will of our Heavenly Father,but we wish to become the masters.If an agriculturist wishes to cultivateplants, trees, and fruits, how does heproceed ? Does he not train his trees,and place them in certain situationsfavourable for his purpose, and he isSure to succeed. To come to animals,we know that they are submitted tocertain natural laws, and these lawsmust be submitted to trials. I cometo the most delicate point that can beconceived by those who have attend-ed to the laws of the body. Now itis certain that the whole constitutionis propagated from parents to chil-dren, and you may perceive that I al-Inde to the laws of propagation. Thisis the most important of any thing a

man can attend to; and if the timeshould come when the laws of propa-gation shall be attended to, more goodwill be done to perfect man than hi-therto has been done by all the in-

stitutions, and by all the teacher, ofthe present or past ages, -not onlywith respect to individuals, but fami-lies and nations. The body has itslaws, and if the manifestations of themind depend upon the body, the lawsof the body must be observed, if wewish to arrive at a perfection of form,or of the endowments of the mind.The ancient legislators were all awareof this, and the ancient Spartans werecelebrated for their symmetry andstrength ; but I shall not enter intothe subject here; I merely caUBourattention to it to show that we mustsubmit to certain natural laws. Thebody, you see, has its laws, and arethere not various hereditary diseases ?But x-ie look to a fine form and to mo-ney, and forget all the other things.People are satisfied with a fiue figure

and money, I say ; very well, do notcomplain of the consequences evenwith respect to intellectual powers ; ;bnt if you regard merely the physicaldevelopment, son.ething more thanmoney and a fine figure must be at-tended to. Some beings appear bornfor each other, bnt the longer theyare together the less they tike eachother. (A laugb.) I shall merely en-ter into this matter in a general way.The powers wish to be satisfied, andas some of these powers are active,and and they cannot be satisfied, thenthe parties are displeased, and evenwhen persons live together in society,and find the powers cannot bt’ satis-fied, they are displeased. A villaindoes not like to see an honest man,

, and a just man does not like onewho is unjust. Every one inut knowhis own powers, and he must look, for the same powers in another, andthen such persons will live in peace.Moreover, the diseases of the body

exist, and have an influence on thechildren, and if every one will reflectfor himself, he must see that theretare certain conngorations propagatedI ttom parents to offspring, and if pa-rents have small brains, small brainswill come. There are talents in alls families, but are there certain facul-r ties more active in certain families ?You will, perhaps, be inclined to ad-mit that there are. Now if you see

persons who in the third generationhave a great tendency to become con-snmptive, and perhaps like their pre-f decessors die of consumption, do youthink that Moses was right in pre-- venting promiscuous marriages with5 even the third and fourth generationsof such famiiies ? The ancient legis-s lators attended to the laws of propa-gation and degeneration. Some fa-, milies intermarry with each other,and have you been attentive to the

result, a result attempted to be guard-? ed against by the Mosaic Jaw? De-i generation is the consequence. What? do you do in nature ? Does the natu-r ralist continually sow the same seed ?t Does the same tree thrive in the samee soil, or does he find it nece’-ary toe change the seed and change the soil?Does he not find it neces-aty to crossthe breed in animals, if he wish to pre-.. serve the integrity of the race ? Bute nothing of the kind is attended tu in

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man. I might go so far and ask,whether those families in which thebreed is crossed show more talentsthan those in which it is not? Or Imight perhaps even go to nations.Those who have the opportunities ofobserving will see that the humanform is influenced, and that the feel.ings and intellectual powers are mo-dified hy certain conditions, and thuswe arrive at the confirmation of thatwith which we set out, that the liu-man form does change and must

change.

I come to the second consideration,or to that which is commonly calledphysical education, but since this isspoken of in many books, I shall saynothing of it. As soon as a child isborn, and even before, the physical

,education must be attended to, for ifptoper nourishment be not afforded,the brain will not be developed with ’,,vigour, no more than other parts ofthe body. There are some who say,that the milk by which a child is nou-rished can give certain dispositions,but I doubt it. I say, that if themilk could produce such results, thenmany adults might be excused if theyreturned to their original article ofdiet. (A laugh.) You may feed a

child with the milk of other animals.but that will not produce in it thefeelinas of those animals. Perhapswe may presume that the climate has ’,,an influence on the constitution. Theclimate is often spoken of, and, intreating of the intellectual powers, Iadmit the influence of climate in pro-ducing peculiarities of organization,inasmuch as some climates are moreunfavonrable to the growth of thebody than others ; and that it mayencourage the development of certainpowers, and retard others. I caneonceive, that in the milder climatesthe intellectual powers arc cà1culatedto act with mere activity, and so farI am disposed to admit the influenceof climate on that power. Nourish-ment, then, contributes to the greaterdevelopment of the individual or-

gans, and as some climates also favourthe growth, and since the powers de-pend upon the organization for theirperfect action, we can see how, in asecondary way, the mind dependsupon the climate; but climate is not

every thing. Is it, however, merelyclimate that makes the difference be-tween the Hindoos and English? or isit done by propagation ? The Jewsare distributed all over Europe, buthave they changed their features;they are so peculiar, that they may be! known from every other people, andwhat is rather singular, even the twotribes of Judah and Benjamin may be

! distinguished from each other, al.though many thousand years haveelapsed since their separation.How many years are necessary to

change the constitution and the pow-ers of man, the laws of propagationbeing attended to ? Perhaps it maybe that certain aliments are more con-genial to certain parts of our bodies;we observe the influence of variousagents on the nervous, vascular, andmuscular systems, and this is a pointto be attended to, to see if somethingmore cannot be done for the educa-tion of the mental powers, by phre-nology, than has hitherto been done.I come now to another point which islittle understood, although apparentlyso simple, I mean the exercice of thepowers. We must admit that our

powers may be exercised, and thatthey may be made stronger by ex-

ercise. We can do so with the mus-cular actions and we can do the samewith the external senses. Everypower being exercised acquires morestrength, hence, if we wish to givemore activity to the intellectual facul-ties, let them be exercised and theywill become stronger. If they be toostrong, let them be quiet, and if not

strong enongh, exercise them. Butthis is not done by the present modeof education, and this serves to show

that the fundamental powers of themind are not understood. Teachers

complain that they cannot cultivate. the feelings so much as the intellec.tual powers ; that may be ; if a pro-per method onlv be adopted, theymay be exercised even more than theintellectual, but not in the way now

done. Suppose I see an individualwho has a perfect figure and goodmuscular action, and I wish him tobecome a rope dancer ; I say to him,here is a book on rope dancing, youwill learn from this how to exercise

your muscles, how to acquire the artof balancing, read it through very

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carefully, and in the end I’hope yon : :will be a good rope dancer; I would IHty to another, here is a treatise on mnsic, read it through, it is a perfect treatise, learn it by heart, and you 1will become a good musician ; toanother I say, here is a work on

painting, you will learn from it howto mix colours, and in the end yon,will become a good painter ; but givethe woutd be rope dancer no exercise, Jet the young musician hear no tunes,and let the young painter see no co-tours, and w ill the education producethe intended effect?

Again, we have works written uponthe feelings; we are told to have

charity, to cultivate veneration andbenevolence, and children at madeto learn them by heart; by doing sothe verbal memory merely is exercis-ed, but the feelings remain as before.Exercise is the putting into action.Speak to a chiid of hunger and thirst,and give him very correct explana-tions of the terms, yet be will neverknow what they are by such expla- c nations; but give him little to eat and s

to drink, and he will soon know what I

they are. Say nothing about benevo-lence and charity to a child, and take him to see poor suffering beings and make him suffer a little alio, and hewill soon learn what benevolence and charity are. The powers must be put into action, and when you recollect

Bthat there are thirty five powers to

be exercised, you will see the im ,portance of attending to this mode of education. In the saine way the re- flective powers may be exercised.Each power must be exercised for ! itself in order to perfect it, and it can never be done by exercising another power. In learning by heart, the re- flective pov.ers are not exercised,’;only a mere verbal memory ; words Iare retained without any ideas beingattached to them. Now it is an im-portant point hi education to knowwhat degree of exercise to give to

each power, not too mnch nor too

little, bnt just as much as it can bearwithout tdtigne ; just as some personscan walk two miles, others onl) one,and others again are fatigued withhalf a mile. The power, being indi-vidually more or les,; active, let thembe exercised according to the degreeof their natural strength. We are

sometimes astonished at the prema.tnre genius displayed by some chil-’dren; the talent is encouraged toorapidly, it reaches speedily to the

highest degree, and then as saddentysinks. Whenever you see great pow-ers manifested by children, take carethat yon do not too rapidly exhaustthem. It is a general rule, that theweal.,cr children are the more pre-coce, and they often die, too, soon ;hut the object should be rather to re-press that inordinate activity of thetalents, and manage the growth andsupport the animal powcrs a littlemore, and then the future man will,,with a strong body, display power-fully the manifestations of the mind.It is a saying of the ancients, " menasana in corpore sano," and the bodymust be attended to, and the periodfor exciting the intellectual powersmust be attended to ? All teachersmust be aware, that one power be-comes active at one period and ano-ther at another, but see here whatcan he done by edncation. We haveshown that the organa of individua-lity and sensuality are first active

among the intellectnal powers, andwe observe how anxious children are

) to acquire a knowledge of the beings around them. They look atteutivelyto things amound them, and endeavourto become acquainted with their na-ture and qualities, and then they be-

gin to pay attention to signs andwords; but in the omiinary mode ofeducation, words and signs are attend-ed to and the meaning is lost sight of.You will see some children amused!with learning words, whilst others, will look for plants, and stones, andminerals, and so on, and are b tterplea-ed with them than books, but then the master comes and punishes

, i them for their talent, and makesthen) go to seliool to learn Latin and! Creek. The powers may each he; cultivated by attending to circnm- stances; and -urne situations and liur-suits are more favourable to the ex-ercise of certain powers than others.A man may study the ancient lan-

guag s and may succeed very welli with them, but must eBelY man be aclassical scholar t) become a greatt man ? Or can you exercise reason,

that is to say, the powers of compa- rison and causa.ity in any other way

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than by learning languages ? You maysee a great mathematician, a man ofdeep mind perhaps, will yon say thatevery man must study mathematicsin order to obtain a reflective mind?I say that comparison and causalitymay be exercised in mathematics aswell as in languages; but might theybe exercised in any other way, bynatural history or various branchesof philosophy? But shall we condemnan individnal to learn Latin andGreek if the power of language be--very smalt, and who will never be-come a good scholar ? We shouldknow the value of all the powers, andcultivate them, but not make everyman cultivate them in the same way.If a man have the powers of languagelarge, let him study the ancient and modern languages ; and which are themost useful? I am very sorry to saythat we judge of a man, who has re-ceived a liberal education, by hisknowledge of Latin and Greek ratherthan if he ’have cultivated his own

language. I should like to knowwhether the modern langnages havethe same spirit as the ancient, whetherwe write English as they formerlywrote Greek. Bnt do not misunder-stand me; I have no objection to anybranch of knowledge, but my obser-vations are now limited to children.Do not let the useful knowledge be

neglected; if there are many powers,let them all be exercised, I have noobjection to that ; bnt let the powerswhich exist, provided they are butirew, be cnltivatf-d in reference to thefnture destinies of the individual bywhich they may be made most usefulto him. Every power must be exer-cised for itself, but I would ask,whether every man must study ma-thematics to become a preacher ofmorali tv and religion or even to be- come a medical man ? If this be true,after the necessary knowledge hasbeen acquired, let the other subjectsbe studied. Whilst all the books werewritten in Latin it was necessary toknow that language, and if a manwish to read the doctrines of physic in the original language, as by Hip- POCRATES, he must learn Greek, and i

so it will be necessary to learn themodern, more particularly the Frenchand German ; and comparison andcausality may be exercised bv each.

One observation more with respectto exercise. Is it probable that theindividual organs of the cerebral fnne-tions increase by exercise ? I admitthat the brain is an organised parr,and submitted to natural laws incommon with every other part of’ the

body ; it is nourished by the circula.tion of the blood, and there is moreblood runs to it than to any part ofthe body of eqnat size; and in pro-portion as any part is exercised, sothere is more blood sent to it and itis found to increase in size, but thisis not the most important thing. Thefaculties show more energy by exer-cise, and a greater energy if the vo-lume of the organ increases; there is noratio between the increase of activitof a faculty and the increase in bulkof the organ. The muscular powermay be increased wonderfully bvdaily exercise, and a person may, byexercise, be able to accomplish a jour-ney which he would not at first havedared to attempt ; but there is no pro-portional increase in bulk. The fibresof the brain become also strengthenedby exercise. Do not teachers find,when children return from the holi-days for four or five weeks, thatthey are not able to get through thesame lessons which thov riiti when they

left school ? It requires some timefor them to come in again, and thenthere is activity. Exercise has someinfluence on the development of theorgan, but its greatest influence is ottits degree of activity. Hence thenthe point should be to attend to theexercise of the fundamental powers,and to exercise each power for itself.

I come to another considerationwhich contributes to give greater ac-tivity, which is that of the 1/Illtuallll-fluence of the powers. Many powersare always active by their naturalenergy, and we may excite otlieis bythem. We all know what emulationis ; the love of approbation is plit intoexercise to excite other powers, to

give activity to them. The love of

approbation may be excited to makea soldier figlit; it may be ernployed

;to excite benevolence, and even inthis way we may employ one powerto excite another. The solicitation ofthe powers belongs, in a great mea-sure, to the science of ,

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namely, that of one power excitinganother. Now what is memory, ac-

cording to ,bnt a higherdegree of activity in the individualintellectual pavaers. These who teachthis art take first one power and thencombine it with other.. Suppose wesee a certain object which recals tothe mind the recollection of somethingwhich ought to be done; this is anexample of what may be done byapemonics. I know a gentleman whotold me that he could never think ofany thing without coloiir, I should

say, that in him the organ of colourwould be the exciting organ for theexercise of mnemonics. Then comesthe intettectuat powers, and then wehave to try how these can be

brought together in order to excite orprevent the others, and to do this

phrenology most be pert’ectly understood. -Then we have to set the ani-mal feelings against the feelings pro-per to man; the feelings against theintellect, and the intellect against thefeelings, and the reetings againstthemselves. These then are the fonrmeans of giving more or less acti-

vity.

Let us proceed to the second part ofeducation,to the direction of the powers.How sball we direct them? Shall theanimal predominate, or shall man atence become the master; I would

say, let the powers be employed un-der the direction of man, let all theether powers be subservient to snchas are proper to man; these must beguided, or they must guide. Vene-ration is not to go atone, nor benevo.lence alone, but they must go altoge.ther. I know that this will be a longtime in performing, if it be accom-plished, but I consider that in all situ-ations this direction is impertaut to thehappiness of man, and as long as theanimal feelings remain unsubdued, solong will the misory of mankind con-tinue. Hence BBe want to know howit is to be accomplished. We mustall be aware, that every one in in-

fancy acts by motives; and it yon wishchildren or adults to act in a certain

way, you must present some motiveto them. Now although the powersare essentially the same in the mindof every man, yet as some powersare inclined to be more active than

others, the same motives will not suc-ceed with iill. To some, the mere

justice of an act may be a sufficientmotive to perform it; others musthave different motives ; they wouldnot look to conscientiousness only;they would be inclined to act withaequisitivcnes-s, and so with the rest.There are varions motives, and thesediffer in their i’n6l1encc on indivi-duals, according to circumstances. As-we are directed by the apostolicmaxim to adapt ourselves in-oitr con-duct to the capacities of others, audbe tfll things to all men, so it wonldhe of no use for me to speak to any-one of causalitv. If people were toconsider this subject more, much ofthe time thrown away in educationmight be saved. We must know thatthe motives are active according tothe degree of the different feelings,then we must know that each powergives a tendency to an action, and thatthese tendencies must not be con--

founded with their application. I have! seen a child very proud ; the parents prohibited him front commanding theservants, and told him he must be

kind to the servants, and this childhas the power of commanding -very’ strong, and when that is the case, 1

should say, take care, and you shouldtake further rneasures to prevent it.We often lament the inflnence of va-nity in the adntt, but we forget thatit exists in children; if we praise achild for his fine air, his fine dancing,and comptiments, do not praise himtoo much, and do not flatter him toomuch; it is often, by encouraginglittle things, that habits become con-firmed. It you see a child inclined totetl lies, or fibs as they are called, in

! joke, do not encourage such fibs, forif you do, he will grow np a con-

firmed liar. A child may begin bTstealing an apple, and afterwardsother things of more ronseauence. Donot let the powers in their directionbe confounded with their application.As soon as a power becomes too act-

ive, exercise a check over it, by ex-

citing another power, and then donot confound the power with its ap-plication.Another important object to be at-

! tended to in education i, that ’veryindividual is endowed with different

degrees of faculties, that is, a great

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study, and that education gives nopower, therefore we have to cultivatethe powers as they exist. We lamentvery much in society that so manythings are done as they are ; we findeven that education does not controlsufficiently the natural propensities,even in those persons who have strongintellectual talents. It must be bornein mind, that the powers are given,and that education, althongh it may,if properly directed, cultivate the

powers, that it can never create them.

Again, the powers being observed,sholild be directed into a proper chan-nel, and this can never be done, untilpersons are acquainted with the na-ture of the fundamental powers of themind. A man may be a good mathe-matician, but a bad moralist, and yetsuch a man is brought up to the church,and you know there are many preach-ers who say yon must do as 1 say, andnot as I do. Persons fitted by naturefor soldiers are brought up to thegown,and the reverse. Employ every indi-vidual according to his natural gifts.The priests, who, during the dark

ages, had the management of educa-tion, knew the importance of attend-ing to this, and they directed the

youths submitted to their cate intosuch pursuits as they saw they werebest fitted for.

I am obliged to give but a generalview of education, and so far I havefulfilled my promise; but before I’take leave, let me remind you of thedifference between the dispositions ofthe mind, of which I have spoken,and the actions of man. As fii- asexamining the. dispositions may go,I would say that yon can judge ofthem by the general size of the head,and by the constitution, and you willbe able to judge of their activity bythe natural language before describ-ed. But if you dare to speak of

actions, as beginners in phrenologyare disposed to do, or to arrive at a knowledge of character, then youmust not only consider the size and other conditions, but yon must takeinto acconnt all the particulars, such ’as natural dispositions, exercise their !mutual influence, and the excitingcauses. Do not confound the powerswith their applications, and I am sa-tisfied, that vshoever studies phreno-

logy will be convinced that it is a -

science founded on nature, and will

prove beneticial to mankind.Vehement applause from a very

crowded ariditory, attonded the Doctor’sexit. )

. [The above Lecture, which con-cludes the course, was inadvertentlypublished in a part of the impressionof a former number. A few erratathat have found their way into theselectures will be corrected and printedwith the Index to the present Volume,which will be distributed gratuitouslyin the course of a week or two. Our

promised remarks on these lectureswe shall defer until we review thewhole of Dr. SPURZHEIM’S works.-

ED]

REVIEWS FROM THE WEST.

Observations on the htcute and ChronicDysentery of Ireland, &c. &c. ByJOHN O’BRIEN, M.D. &c.

THE climate of Ireland, the poverty

and consequent dietetic irregularityof its inhabitants, have cast a melan-

choly gloom over the introduction to

every medical record ef the various

epidemics which have been generated,from time to time, in that vast labo-

ratory of human misery. That the

authors of those appalliug legends ofwretchedness and disease, at which

the heart sickens, have performedtheir duty, professionally, by describ-ing symptoms, pointing ont remedies,and by explaining the immediate

causes of these national visitations,there can be no doubt; but whetherthey have acted their part as Irish-

men, impressed with a sense of theobvious connexion between these evils

and the political degradation of their