The melancholy tidings of his situation were conveyed to his friends, on his removal to them; the facts having been disclosed, partly by the confession of the servant-boy, and partly by the unfortunate youth himself, during the few lucid intervals which occurred in the course of the first year after his misfortune. His father and mother were then living; but they are now both dead: and the little property they left to support him is now nearly exhausted, together with a small subscription, which was also raised, to furnish him with necessaries, and to remunerate a person to take care of him. He is perfectly harmless and gentle, being rather in a state of idiotcy, than insanity, seldom betraying any symptoms of violent emotion; except, occasionally, about midnight (the time of his unhappy disaster)-when, full of indescribable terror, he exclaims, "Oh! they are coming! they are coming!"-All hope of recovery is at an end more than twenty years having elapsed since the catastrophe happened. My motives, Sir, for requesting its insertion in your valuable pages, are these: 1st. That it may stand a chance of meeting the eye of him who was the contriver and chief agent of the fatal mischief; that, if living, he may make the only practicable amends in his power, by contributing towards an alleviation of the misery which he himself has occasioned.-His name and that of the school (though no blame attaches to the latter) are withheld, from a principle of delicacy.-1 am told he was then a young gentleman of large expectations:perhaps he is now in possession of affluence. If so, his own heart will dictate what he ought to do. A second motive for thus giving publicity to the pitiable Casè is, that it may prove a warning to inconsiderate youth, by showing what dread ful effects may follow such wanton sorts of mischief. Lastly, my hope is, that the simple narrative may move the good hearts of some of your Readers, to assist with their Charity the wretched object, whose case is thus laid before them. Perhaps their humane feelings may be somewhat more interested con cerning him, when they are informed that his mother was remotely related. to the Royal House of Stuart:-and her person, since the writer of this could remember, bore evident traits of dignity, as well as of beauty. Her grandfather, Thomas Ward, esq. who had a residence in London, another at Warwick, and a mansion and seat at Kenilworth, expended large sums of money in the cause of Charles the IInd. Her husband's father possessed large landed property at Eastham in Worcestershire. Her maiden name was Lucy Ward. She survived her husband some years: and, upon her death bed, became (as it was natural she should) most tenderly solicitous about the welfare of this her only son. Having herself been a mere annuitant with a scanty income, which ceased with her, she most earnestly prayed that Divine Providence would raise hip up sufficient friends to afford him "food and raiment,"-shelter and protec tion from further injury.-May her prayer be heard! May HE who be comes the Father of the Orphan temper the blast" to this shorn sufferer! 66 The smallest donations will be re ceived with thankfulness, and applied with integrity, for his use, transmitted to Messrs. Masterman and Co. Bankers, in London; or to, Sir, Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, L. BOOKER, Vicar of Dudley. Nov. 20. Ia Prior notice of the new system of Craniology. Should you think the following summary of "A Demonstrative Course of Lectures on Drs. Gall and Spurzheim's Physiognomical System" now delivering by Dr. Spurzheim in Rathbone-place, worthy of insertion, it is at your service. Whatever may be the fate of the system itself, which professes to be founded, like all our knowledge of natural phenomena, on logical in ductions from observation and ex perience, it must be admitted that its illustrations present us with many original and important views of the nature and operations of the human mind, and that it unfolds the characters of the passions and affections more completely and satisfactorily than than all our metaphysical writers from Aristotle to Dr. Cogan. "The object of these inquiries is, the examination of the Nervous System in general, and the Brain in particular; the determination of the primitive faculties of the mind, and of the material conditions necessary to their manifesting themselves; and the art of distinguishing by external signs both the innate dispositions, and the activity of those dispositions. As the nature of man is so little known, as this knowledge concerns ourselves, and as it is the basis of all the institutions of society, it is evident that these inquiries are of the highest importance to mankind, to the philosopher, the artist, physician, teacher, moralist, and legislator." In the Introductory Lecture, Dr. Spurzheim, who, although a German, and only a few months in this country, speaks extempore with a fluency of language, and often with a felicity of expression, which surprizes even his philosophical auditors, proved the existence of Physiognomy, with Lavater, from the fact that every man is a physiognomist. He exhibited a great variety of skulls, busts, and heads of philosophers or great men; exposed the erroneous theories which have been proposed to account for the diversity of genius; refuted the humoral system of temperaments influencing the faculties; shewed the characters of idiotism and of great mental powers; stated the distinction between the skulls of males and females, by shewing that the latter are always longer, smaller, and project more backwards. The ancients were acquainted with these sexual characters, and formed their statues accordingly. The moralists and divines possess most knowledge, reason most, and best know human nature; they are the observers of human actions and passions; whereas philosophers, wholly occupied with some particular study, judge of all men from their own feelings, and not from observation and experience. Yet, physical and moral truth are the same; both must be equally permanent. Mind is always the same, however it cannot manifest itself at all times. Nature is constant; and laws and religious opinions are permanent according as they are founded in nature. The mind, however, manifests itself only by the organization; we cannot perceive the mind, but only its effects on the body, and from these effects we judge of its existence and its powers. When the same effects are uniformly attended with the same characters of mind, we necessarily deduce the latter from the former, although, in truth, the physical effects are only the visible conse quences of the operations of the mind, which is invisible. Hence the deduction of the characters of mind from the physical appearances of the body, neither favours materialism nor fatalism; as the mind is proved to be dis tinct from matter, and although it influences the body, it is not by necessity, as the sense of smell may exist without being necessarily indulged always with fine odours. The First Lecture of the course Dr. S. began by observing, that he proposed to treat of the anatomical demonstration of the brain, and to prove that mind manifests itself only by the organization. Mind is not material, aud the brain is only its organ or instrument; hence, as the bone or cranium is not the brain, neither is craniology to be understood as treating of it, but of the physiology of the brain; the skull only bears marks of the brain, whence its existence and form are inferred. The brain contains all the faculties, but we do not know the faculties themselves, we only know their manifestations; one may possess the faculty of musick, but we cannot say whether he excels in sacred or profane musick; we can only discover the power or susceptibility of such and such a skill, but not the precise character or quality of that power; it is the latent, not the determinate action which is indicated by the brain, Diseases of the brain are not accompanied by equal diseases of the mind, because all the central parts are double; as we have two eyes, two ears, &c. so is the brain double; hence the reason why loss of brain is not immediately followed by a loss of intellect. Here, however, Dr. S. re, marked, that all our observations on this case are very imperfect, and that many facts may have escaped the no. tice of medical and other persons. He refuted the error hitherto commonly received by anatomists respect, ing the ossification of the brain, shewed that the supposed ossified brains are often much larger, and always of a form different from real brains, and that they are merely bony excrescences formed in the skull. This discovery is important to the Professor's physiognomical system, as he makes the brain not only the seat of mind, but of all the moral sentiments and affections. It is not the viscéra, but the brain, in which feeling exists; and, although all languages have the expres sion" a good heart," feeling is in the head. Shame manifests itself by the skin of the face, yet we never say that shame exists in the skin; sorrow, by tears, yet we never suppose its seat to be in the lachrymal glands; and so of all the other affections, the effects of which are produced by sympathy; consequently the brain is the seat of both intellect and moral feelings. Dr. S. then refuted the common errors of artists, respecting the proportions of the head; proved that size furnishes no rule, as ele phants have larger brains than men; that Camper's facial angle is erroneous; and that women, having generally less powers of reason and more feeling, have also less brain in front and more behind than men. Dr. S. then explained the phenomena of Sleep when all the organs are at perfect rest, then is complete sleep; when only a part, then dreaming takes place; somnambulism occurs when more of the organs are awake, but not sufficient to give a will to the person, who sometimes can see and hear as well as walk. Dreams are most common in the morning when all the organs have had some repose. Visions are occasioned by transferring internal sensations to external objects; this practice, if permanent, becomes actual disease, real insanity. This diseased state, when the patient is rational on every subject but one, proves the plurality of the organs, and at the same time the necessity of them all to make a perfectly rational being. Here Dr. S. related a number of cases illustra tive of his general principle. Lect. II. This lecture was chiefly anatomical, and the lecturer demonstrated, even to those but little versed in such researches, the errors of nearly all preceding anatomists, when dissecting the brain. The profes sional gentlemen present (being all the best anatomists and most distin. guished physicians in the metropolis) admitted the justness and originality of the Professor's observations. The error of dissectors, who have hitherto made sections of the brain, instead of tracing every organ through all its ramifications, the same as in other parts of the body, appears extraor dinary. No inferences, said Dr. S. can be drawn from partial sections of the living brain, as the animal is thereby injured and cannot evince its natural functions. No general organs of feeling and sensation can be indicated; yet the functions of the brain and the signs of the disposition of the mind are the same. Every thing in nature is powerful in proportion to its mass; the more considerable the nerve, the more energetic the function. But we must distinguish between functions and their condi tions, as they may be active or passive; temperament adds to energy, exercise improves the faculties, consequently the general principles of judging are very compound and complex. We must always observe individuals of the same species, and also the same individual. All the organs may be discovered by the functions, and pointed out by the external characters. Skulls too large or too small, indicate disease or idiotism. The size of the antique not found in nature. The configurations of the skull are solely to be relied on; but bony projections, such as those at the back of the head, are not to be confounded with organic developements, which consist of little elevations on the different parts of the cranium. Every man has all the organs, but some with one more developed than another, according to the peculiar bias of mind. In examining a skull, notice the most prominent parts, if there be only one prominence or roundish elevation, it is easily discovered; if many, greater attention is necessary; according as the convolutions of the brain are transverse or lateral, so are the ele vations on the skull; and its most ele vated point, when placed in different positions, is always the centre of the organ. Great clevations on the skull always indicate some great bias of the mind. Lect. III. Dr. S. observed, that there are three states to which this physio physiognomical system cannot be rigorously applied: infancy, disease, and old age; in children, the brain grows like the other parts of the body; in disease, such as in chronic insanity or in hydrocephalus, its form is changed by the water interposing in the ventricles; and in old age the brain is partially absorbed. He exhibited a variety of skulls to prove that insane persons have the skull generally thicker and denser than sane people; suicides have often the same character; the latter is sometimes a disease, and occasionally an epidemic. In Austria last year only 33 suicides existed, in Paris there were more every month. The Lecturer then proceeded to detail the process by which the bone of the skull is formed, its radiations from a centre, &c. With respect to the cause of cranial configurations, it was foreign to his inquiry: it is immaterial to the physiognomist whether these forms be produced by the muscles, brain, &c. it is enough that he knows such and such appearances are always accompanied by such and such characters of mind. It is, however, certain that the muscles cannot produce these configurations of the skull, as they are found in children before birth, and consequently before the muscles come into action. Nor can mechanical pressure produce the peculiar configuration in the skulls of Caribs, as reported by travellers; the figure of the skull is admirably contrived to resist all external injuries, and it would require a very great force to modulate into any other form than that of nature. The Lecturer here related the circumstances which led to the discovery of this new system. Dr. Gall, while he followed the opinions of the schools, laboured in vain to acquire any positive knowledge; there is no organ of instinct, and the language of philosophers respecting memory, judgment, imagination, passions, and affections, is very erroneous. His greatest difficulty was to ascertain the real faculties of the human mind: he began by studying man, as a botanist does a new plant, or a naturalist a new animal; he observed men's actions, and compared them with their cerebral organization; he examined an individual who excelled in some one thing only, and endeavoured to trace the relation between his peculiar character and some prominent part of his head. Having continued his observations on an immense number of heads, he ascertained that the same external configuration of the head is uniformly accompanied by sameness of character. He next directed his attention to negative characters, and by multiplying his observations on the developed organ and the intellectual faculties, he succeeded in forming his physiognomical system, which may be learned and improved by every succeeding student of human nature, who should always begin with the most simple and proceed to the more complex, from a head which has only one highly developed organ, to that which has many, and finally to those whose or gans are all equally developed. Experience and incessant observation, assisted by numerous collections of skulls and busts, are necessary to make an expert physiognomist. This science is also improved by a knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the brain, by comparative anatomy, by partial insanities, and by mimickry, or those insensible motions of the body whenever expe riencing any lively emotion. Hence this system has assumed all the characters of a regular science, and rests on the basis of experience and observation, the foundation of nearly all our knowledge. If such an energy or faculty of mind be always attended, as it unquestionably is, by certain organs or configurations of the skull, then we must draw the same conclusion, by induction, as in every other branch of natural science, that the characters of the mind are deducible from the organization of the head. These principles are equally applicable to men and to animals, according to their respective facul ties. It is not, however, expected that the physiognomist should be a prophet, or that he should tell by the skull whether a man may ever become mad; madness is merely a disease, which may and does occur without any change of configuration, the same as the eye, the thorax, or any part of the body may be inflamed without necessarily changing its form. But, if one faculty, such as self-love or pride, be indulged more than all the others, and the person become become diseased, insanity may be the consequence. Lect. IV. After observing that the brain is an aggregation of organs which grow from birth to the age of puberty, and decline in old age, he proceeded to detail his new divisions of the intellectual faculties. Gall denominated the organs according as they indicated men's characters; thus, in a mathematician, he called the prominent part of the skull, the organ of ma thematics, and hence his nomenclature is defective. Dr. Spurzheim proceeds differently; he considers the buman mind, like naturalists, as a class, which he divides into two orders, or faculties; the first, intellect or understanding; the second, moral feelings. These orders he subdivides into four genera, which have each their respective species or organs. 1st. Propensities, of which there are nine species, or organs. 2d. Sentiments, the like number. 3d. Knowing or perceiving faculties, eleven species. 4th. Reflecting faculties, only four species. This classification consists of 33 organs, all of which manifest themselves by little eminences on the outside of the skull from the ears upwards. Every faculty has a propensity, but not vice versa, nor has every sentiment a propensity. Organic life is one, but composed of many parts; bence very few actions are the result of one faculty alone. By the laws of reason and observation we may confirm the fact, that every faculty has its corresponding organ; that all the faculties are necessary to the perfectly organized being; and that in every faculty, its aim, abuses, and effects of its activity or inactivity are to be considered, with respect to the discovery of the name and place of its organ. When one propensity predominates, its organ becomes more conspicuous. This led to the discovery that the cerebellum or little brain is the seat of sexual appetite. Dr. S. detailed a great variety of observations and circumstances interesting to the anatomist and physician respecting the cerebellum and spinal marrow; related the effects of wounds received in the neck of a young French soldier, whose beard never grew, nor voice became masculine, in consequence; stated that the an tients were acquainted with this fact; that they cured erotic madness by bleeding behind the ear; and that the cerebellum in all males is larger than in females, demonstrating that this propensity, from the mouse to the elephant and man, is much greater in the male than the female sex. The dimensions of the cerebellum are ascertained by the distance between the ears, and the breadth of the back part of the head and neck. Dr. S. answered the objections made to this opinion, that animals have fixed periods of rutting, by observing that the same argument applies to the whole faculty, and consequently cannot overturn facts, however inexplicable in themselves. This propensity to propagate the species, he designates by the organ of Amativeness or physical love; he was obliged to make a new word to express his idea, and therefore proposed a Latin or Greek root, amativeness or erotiveness, formed from amo, and the particle if, and substantive termination mess, agreeable to the genius of the English language. Lect. V. The skulls of males and females are very different in Germany, much more so than in England, and still more than in France; in the latter country the heads of inen and women are almost similar. The Second propensity is denominated the organ of Philoprogenitiveness, or love of offspring. (English patholo gists have naturalized the Greek term storgé for this feeling.) The func tion of this organ was discovered in monkies, which are excessively fond. of their young; it is situated at the centre of the hinder part of the head, and appears much more conspicuous in females than males; even in little girls it is apparent. Dr. S. traced its existence through a vast variety of animals and birds; noticed those which neglect their offspring, like the cuckow, and mothers who kill their children, in all of which it was not developed; and shewed that by the wise provisions of nature infanticide is very rare in consequence of this feeling, which is also so much stronger in females than males. He observed that some men love children, others are annoyed by them; a fact which is inexplicable without admitting a peculiar and innate propen sity. Boys like whips, dogs, &c.; girls |