fit for presenting to their view the baneful effects of improper conduct, whether it consist of unkindness to each other, or of deceit, or of falsehood, or of theft, as when some one of their companions has been guilty of one of these offences? Their feelings will become tender on the occasion, and while they learn to detest the committal of a wrong, they may be taught to pity the individual who thus suffers on account of it.

As children advance in years and acquirements to that period when their reasoning powers may safely be brought into active operation, they may be led on to higher subjects, which may require a greater exercise of their intellectual faculties. And when the period arrives for them to turn their attention from substances to shadows, from things to their signs, from real objects to the characters by which they are represented, we should recommend a course very different from that usually adopted in our schools. Instead of commencing with the alphabet, which conveys no definite ideas to the mind of the child, we would commence with words-words, with the signification of which the child was already familiarly acquainted-and having the representation of the thing signified attached to the word in the form of a picture, he would soon acquire a knowledge of its other representation, viz. the word itself; and a few minutes' examination of the individual characters of which it was composed, would so firmly impress them upon his mind that they never would be forgotten. In this way we would have him proceed, from simple words to those more complex in their character, taking care to let the child possess a thorough understanding of the meaning of each one that is presented to his consideration. Let this be exemplified by his making repeated applications of it in conversation. The first sentences that he attempts to read, should be such as he can easily understand, and all his books should be suited to his intellectual capacity, and calculated to interest his feelings. We should then have no difficulty in teaching a child to read understandingly, and he would feel the greatest delight and pleasure in the pursuit.

But while he is thus advancing in intellectual acquirements, his physical education should not be neglected. On the contrary, their progress should be simultaneous, with a leaning of partiality towards the developement of the corporeal frame.

We have thus given the imperfect outlines of a plan for the amusement and instruction of youth during the early periods of their exist

ence.

Of its superiority over those usually pursued in our schools, we feel perfectly satisfied. By it, the great object aimed at in sending children early to school is fully accomplished, without the evils usually attendant upon it. Their physical powers, which we have

endeavoured to show should receive our first attention, are in this way duly exercised by every variety of innocent and appropriate performance which the ingenuity of their instructors can devise; and, consequently, their physical growth, and strength, and healthy action, are duly promoted, while their minds become disciplined and stored with a fund of the most useful kinds of knowledge, which they imperceptibly acquire in the form of amusement, without an undue exertion of their intellectual faculties-knowledge, of which most children, and too many adults, are entirely ignorant, but which, in every situation and condition of life in which they may be placed, will be of the utmost importance-knowledge, obtained as a substitute for an acquaintance with words and theories, which can be of no practical utility in the early periods of existence, but which are acquired at the risk of the health, the life, and the intellect of the children. We might have pursued the subject much farther, but we have already greatly exceeded the limits we designed occupying, when we commenced our remarks. If we have been successful in throwing out any suggestions that may be considered of use to the present or succeeding generations in lessening the amount of suffering, or saving a single individual from an early or an untimely grave, or if we have been successful in exposing the defects of existing institutions, or in hinting at any plan which may render knowledge more attractive, or its acquisition more easily attained, we have done all that we expect. It is to parents and instructors that we would particularly address our remarks. If their reason can be operated upon, and their feelings of affection for their young and tender charge, whose health and whose lives are undoubtedly dear to them, can be reached by these appeals to facts, and to the principles of their own organisation, we shall feel happy in the performance of our duty. If we have been unsuccessful in our endeavours, we shall have the satisfaction of knowing that our motives were pure, and that our best efforts were directed to the health, happiness, and welfare of our fellow-beings.

ARTICLE V.

History and Progress of Phrenology. By R. W. HASKINS, A. M.¡

The above is the title of a small volume of 216 pages, recently published at Buffalo, in western New York. The object, as stated by the author, is "not to demonstrate what phrenology is, but rather to unfold, concisely, the history of its discovery and its progress."

This object appears to be very fully and faithfully carried out. The author seems no where to have forgotten, or overlooked, the broad distinction between the simple narration of historical facts connected with the origin and progress of a science, or great moral movement among men, and an exposition of the principles in which it essentially consists. He commences at a very early period in the history of mental philosophy, alluding to the idealism of Plato, the commonsense of Reid, the facial angle of Camper, the physiognomical deductions of Lavater, the phrenological discoveries of Gall, with the view of showing the gradual advance of mind in the attainment of a knowledge of itself, and especially in the constantly improving means of that attainment, by gradually enlisting observation, as well as consciousness, in the discovery and elucidation of its powers and faculties.

He then proceeds to give rather a minute and detailed account of the means and method of discovery of the several organs and faculties enumerated by Dr. Gall, and of the additional discoveries and classification of Dr. Spurzheim. Of the incessant and invaluable labours of Dr. Spurzheim and Mr. George Combe, on both the eastern and western continents, and the numerous popular works they have published on the science, and its applications, we have here a brief but generally accurate account. Other phrenological writers, both European and American, receive also their due share of attention. Among these, the long and efficient labours of Dr. Charles Caldwell, the first American phrenologist, justly claim and receive their proper share of attention. The proposed improvements of Mr. Grimes, in a work of his recently published, are briefly and succinctly stated. We are also treated with some highly entertaining and splendid specimens of the mode of warfare with which the science, at its earlier periods, was attempted to be demolished, and, in some instances, with the answers made to them. Mr. Haskins has certainly evinced a very extensive knowledge of the efforts made by phrenologists, and of the numerous publications, both elementary and periodical, relating to that science, that have at different times issued from the press, on this and the eastern continent. His style is extremely well fitted for historical communication, and conveys, with great clearness and perspicuity, a knowledge of the facts he designs to record. In some instances, he resorts to what might be deemed by many an unnecessary minuteness of detail, as in the case of introducing a paragraph from the "American Phrenological Journal and Miscellany," followed by remarks, somewhat protracted, both of his own and Dr. Caldwell's. His quotations may also be thought by some both too long and of too frequent occurrence, although, rightly considered, they form a part of his history. The reader of this little volume will, however, find himself possessed

with very accurate ideas of the origin of the science; the obstacles it has had to contend with in its progress; the exertions of its advocates; the method and style of attacks that have been made upon it; the works that have been written in the unfolding of its principles; and the sources of information to which recourse may be had by those desirous of extending their knowledge of it. attempt we are aware of that has been made to present an entire history of the science, we doubt not it will receive (as it really merits) a large share of attention from the American public.

As this is the first

ARTICLE VI.

PREDOMINANce of certaIN ORGANS IN THE BRITISH POETS.-NO. 4.

COLERIDGE.

Phrenology would say of Coleridge, in giving a condensed view of his character, that he was a man of extraordinary intellectual and moral powers, with not enough of the propensities to give him sufficient energy and vigour; that he possessed intense feelings, a temperament, which, though not the most active, was one of peculiar delicacy; that he was influenced by the purest motives in all his actions, and capable of labouring with much more of ardour and enthusiasm for the good of others, than for his own individual aggrandisement. A reference to his actual life will confirm the truth of our science, and give him an elevated niche in that rare temple which history consecrates to the wise and good.

His Causality and Comparison were remarkably developed; to which may be attributed his exceeding fondness for metaphysics. He describes himself as delighting, even in boyhood, in the most abstruse speculations, seizing upon any one with whom he might

'Reason high

Of Providence, fore-knowledge, will and fate;
Fix'd fate, free-will, fore-knowledge absolute."

Having convinced, or puzzled all about him, he would sally forth into the high road, and, by a species of metaphysical instinct, select from the wayfarers any one who wore a black coat, had dark brows, and a sallow face, and at once engage him in religious disputation; and woe to any travelling brother, whether Baptist, Methodist, or Presbyterian, who, when driven hard by the youthful champion, hoped to silence

him by retailing the arguments of popular controversialists. The young polemic had read and sifted them all, and often overwhelmed his opponents with all kinds of ingenious queries, strange doubts, and startling deductions.

In his early manhood he visited Germany, and imbibed the philosophy of Kant; which, blended with other theories, and somewhat idealised, lost in him much of its severity, and became, when his hopes of the advancement of mankind were added to that mountain pile of withered prospects left by the disastrous events of the French Revolution, a solace and a charm. Nothing in his character is more beautiful than the philanthropy he still continued, even amid his own sad sufferings, to cherish to the last; and there can be little doubt, if phrenology had sooner displayed its beauties to the world, or he had not become entangled in the labyrinths of metaphysics, he would have discovered in its principles what he had sought so long in vain in every other system, and lent it the advocacy of his sincere and powerful mind. The moral and intellectual organs, as we have intimated, greatly predominated over other portions of his head, and with this fact before us, we shall have little difficulty in understanding why he was not a very popular author. Had he bowed to the prejudices of the day, or possessed the Combativeness and Destructiveness of Byron and Scott, his success might have been equal to theirs. More original in his conceptions than either, his mind was far more highly cultured and severely disciplined. Drinking from the wells of all knowledge, ancient and modern, and realising every dream of metaphysics, from Plato down to Kant, elegant learning, science, and art, conspired to polish, strengthen, and refine the genius which even they could not altogether eclipse. It is easy to suppose that a mind thus rich in wisdom, and endowed with moral perception no less acute and comprehensive than that of his intellect, would not readily assent to the conflicting theology of the schools, but would anxiously seek repose for his hopes in a religion pure and perfect, in its every principle, as the immortality to which it points.

He had won the right to think for himself upon all subjects, and exercised it without fear or favour. Thus he was as heterodox in religion as in politics and literature, and the very superiority and elevation of his mind, contracted, by the disparity it interposed between him and the bulk of mankind, its own legitimate influence. Neither church nor state, nor the public at large, would extend its patronage to one who could not, without some invidious reservation, subscribe to the entire creed, party, or prejudice of either; and the most gifted man of his day consumed his summer prime and vigour in the severest struggles of poverty, to lament at last in strains like the following: