he was convinced that a spiritual being acted in magnetism; that it operated at great distances; that no distance indeed presented an obstacle to its action, and that on this account it could sympathize with persons in any part of the world. "It is the same cause," continued he, " which produces appa"ritions. Apparitions and visions are rare, no doubt, but they "undoubtedly exist, and I am acquainted with the laws which "regulate their production. On this occasion," says Dr Gall, "I thought within myself, that my inference from his develop"ment was not so very erroneous as the worthy doctor wished "me to believe."

A man named Halleran, of Vienna, imagined himself continually accompanied by a familiar spirit; he saw the spirit, and conversed with it. When he reached his 60th year, his genius appeared as if he wished to leave him, and only on certain days in the month was he favoured with his presence. At Gersbach, near Durlach, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, Dr Gall knew a curate who was confined because he conceived himself to have a familiar spirit. At Manheim there is a man who sees himself continually attended by several spirits. Sometimes they march at his side, in visible forms; at other times they attend him under ground. In these persons Dr Gall found the part of the brain in question largely developed. He states as questions for consideration, "Does this convolution form part of the organ of Imitation? " and does its extreme development exalt the talent for mimicry "to such a degree as to personify simple ideas, and to give them "a locality thus metamorphosed out of the individual? or does it "constitute parts both of. Ideality and Imagination? or, finally, "does it constitute a separate organ? These points can be de"termined only by farther researches." (Sur les fonctiones du cerveau, tome v. p. 346.)

Mr Combe, in the Elements of Phrenology, when treating of this part of the brain, observes, " Dr Spurzheim states, "that the faculty connected with this organ produces the tendency to believe in inspirations, presentiments, phantoms, &c. ; "and in his French work, he calls it ' Surnaturalité. In giving "it this name, he appears to me to commit an error of the same "kind as that which Dr Gall fell into when he styled Destruc"tiveness the organ of Murder, and Acquisitiveness the organ of Theft; these appellations denoting abuses, and not the primi"tive functions of these faculties. I have met with persons ex"cessively fond of news, which, if extravagant, were the more

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"acceptable; prone to the expression of surprise and astonish"ment in ordinary discourse; deeply affected by tales of won"der; delighting in the Arabian Nights Entertainments, and "the mysterious incidents abounding in the Waverley novels; and in them I have uniformly found the part of the brain in question largely developed. When the organ predominates "in an individual, there is a peculiar and unconscious turning up of the exterior angles of the eyelashes, expressive of surprise. In other persons, I have found the part of the brain in question small; and in them it was accompanied with a staid "soberness of feeling, diametrically the opposite of the mani"festations above described. Such individuals were annoyed "by every thing new or strange; they scarcely felt or expressed surprise, and had no taste for narratives leaving the beaten "tracks of probability or reality, and soaring into the regions of "supernatural fiction. On analyzing these manifestations, they "all appear to be referable to the sentiment of Wonder, an emo"tion which is quite distinguishable from those hitherto enu"merated. This sentiment, in a state of extreme and uncon"trolled energy, may give rise to those extraordinary feelings "and disturbed imaginations which have led Dr Spurzheim to name the faculty Surnaturalité." P. 72.

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According to this view, an extreme exaltation of the sentiment of Wonder would stimulate the knowing and reflecting faculties to conceive objects fitted to gratify it, just as Ideality excites those powers to form magnificent conceptions, and thus to produce poetry. Spectres, apparitions, spirits, &c., are the kind of ideas suited to please an inordinate Wonder; and being congenial to the mind, the reality of such conceptions will meet with a ready belief. Something of the same kind takes place from an extreme intensity of Hope. Persons in whom this organ excessively predominates, believe in the occurrence of future events which they desire to happen, with as absolute a conviction of their certainty, as if they actually saw them with their eyes.

Cases similar to those observed by Dr Gall are not rare. In London Bedlam, we examined the head of a patient whose insanity consisted in seeing phantoms, and being led to act as if they were realities; although, as he himself stated, he was convinced by his understanding at the very time, that they were mere illusions; but could not regulate his conduct on this conviction. In him the organ of Form was well developed, and that of Wonder was decidedly large.

When asked whether he experienced any sensation in the head when afflicted with visions, he pointed to the spot on each side where the organ of Wonder is situated, and said, that he felt an uneasy sensation there. We have been informed that there are two persons in Edinburgh, not in a state of insanity, who also see visions; but we have not yet had an opportunity of examining their heads. A clergyman in the country likewise informed us, that in his parish there are two persons in a similar condition; and at our request he examined their heads, and mentions, "That the men in "question are much and strongly marked in the region either "of Ideality or of Wonder; I think the latter, but am not per"fectly sure, not being very apt in finding the precise regions "on the living head. One of them is a steady and most in"telligent man, and a great reader; the other an exceedingly "clever man, but versatile. Both the men have had spectral "illusions all their days; and in early life were annoyed and "tormented with them."

The facts now stated throw light on some traits in the history of eminent individuals, which have greatly puzzled their biographers. Socrates spoke frequently and very readily to his disciples of a demon or genius which served him for his guide. Dr Gall remarks, that he is quite aware of the common explanation, that Socrates referred only to the force and justness of his own understanding; but adds, that if he had not himself believed in a genius communicating with him, the opinion that he had one would have been lost in the twentythree years, during which Aristophanes had made it a subject of ridicule, and his accusers would not have revived this as a charge against him. Joan of Arc also related an appearance of St Michael to her, who told her that God had pity on France, and that she was commissioned to raise the siege of Orleans, and to instal Charles VII. as king. Tasso also pretended to have been once healed by the interposition of the Virgin and St Scholasticus, who appeared to him in a violent fit of fever. He believed, during his delirium, that he conversed with familiar spirits. Swedenborg also imagined himself miraculously called to reveal to the world the most hidden mysteries. "In 1743," says he," it pleased

"the Lord to manifest himself to me, and to appear to mè "personally, to give me a knowledge of the spiritual world, "and to put me in communication with angels and spirits; " and this power has been continued to me since." The opinion generally entertained of such men is, that they are hypocrites or impostors. The Phrenologist would regard them as sincere believers in what they assert, but as victims of excessive excitement of the organ of Wonder. The visions of those who pretend to the second-sight may probably arise from the same cause; and we think it highly probable, that Joannah Southcote also owed to it her delusion; and that her disciples were individuals in whom this organ was naturally very large, and who thus had a predisposition for the marvellous, on which her prophecies and assertions operated. Such persons might be sound and sensible on every topic that did not excite their predominating Wonder; while, under its influence, they might be quite sincere in their belief of the doctrines which they espoused.

The views which we have now detailed are not new, for Drs Gall and Spurzheim published them many years ago; and we cannot help thinking, that Dr Hibbert would have done better to have put them to the test of observation, and either refuted or admitted them, than to have passed them over as non-existing, and written such a mass of crude speculation as the work before us.

ARTICLE. VIII.

ON THE ACCORDANCE WHICH SUBSISTS BETWEEN PHRENOLOGY AND THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION.

An Essay read at one of the Meetings of the Phrenological Society, by a Gentleman, not a Member, who has kindly allowed us to insert it in our Journal.

No attempt has been made to assail the induction upon which the Phrenologists assert that their science rests. The method taken by their opponents is to start a variety

of speculative objections, the effect of which, as it is couceived, is to show that the system cannot be founded in nature, in respect that it stands opposed to, and is inconsistent with, certain acknowledged and established truths, both in physics and in morals. But this is a very dangerous mode of reasoning. Nothing requires greater caution, at least in the higher and more abstract departments of science, than to infer the falseness of one proposition from its apparent inconsistency with another proposition conceived or known to be true.* The whole history of the human mind demonstrates that this way of philosophizing is full of peril. It is not suitable to our limited faculties, or to the partial and inadequate nature of our conceptions. Until we can take wide and comprehensive views of the whole of general and abstract truth, it is premature to judge of its proportions, or to decide upon the relations and bearings of one part upon another. Seeing so very little as we do, and seeing that little so very imperfectly, if we still venture upon such decisions, we are in imminent hazard of trespassing against the very first lesson of sound philosophy and sound sense, which inculcates the humble exercise of our faculties as the only means of arriving at a single truth.

This much is certain, that the mode of reasoning referred to, is not likely to bring the discussion between the Phrenologists and their opponents to a speedy termination.

It

opens up a scene of debate which may be filled with dust and confusion, so long as the combatants have obstinacy to maintain the strife. It would be far better, therefore, to

We do not participate in the author's apprehensions of the perils attending the mode of reasoning here reprobated. The only real danger seems to us to arise from arguing from a thing as true or consistent, which, if we saw far enough, we would discover to be false or inconsistent. In point of fact, all analogical proof rests on the possibility of inferring the truth of one proposition from its consistency with another which we know to be true, and the evidence derived from this source is second only to that of direct facts. We are not afraid to peril the fate of Phrenology on its consistency with all known truths; and the author himself virtually expresses the same opinion, when he writes an essay to show that its doctrines and those of Scripture harmonize.-EDITOR.