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been discrepancies betwixt the manifestations of the faculties and my dicta; but in every instance, when the real development was ascertained by more accurate observation, the fault was perceived to be wholly mine. Although, therefore, I had stated Mr W.'s Tune to be small, the proper course was for other individuals to have examined the organ, and ascertained whether it was really deficient. There is no philosophy in dwelling on the reports of any observer, regarding a fact in nature, when nature herself is within our reach, and we have the power of checking the statement. If the actual development of Tune in Mr W.'s head had been in opposition to his manifestations, this would have been a valuable truth, just because it was a fact; but if the organ itself had been in perfect accordance with his talents, and my statement of it only had differed, this would have been a matter of no importance in Phrenology; it would have shewed my liability to err, (which was never disputed,) but nothing more.

The case of Mr W., however, is of far higher importance than what would belong to it as a mere trial of skill in observing development. Mr W. is a musician of considerable eminence, and yet his organ of Tune is not developed in the highest degree. How is this fact to be accounted for? At the time when his development was taken, the combination of organs which, along with Tune, enter into the constitution of musical talent, was not ascertained. We owe to Mr Scott this great contribution to phrenological science; and I beg to refer you to the Phrenological Journal, No VIII. Article IX., in which you will find, that, besides Time and Tune, the following organs are necessary to excel in music; namely, Ideality, Secretiveness, Concentrativeness, and Imitation. You state, that Mr W. is distinguished for his vocal powers. Mr Scott, in the article alluded to, says," It is farther to "be noticed, that in vocal music, as well as in acting and recitation, "Secretiveness is indispensably necessary to giving a talent for ex"pression. The manner in which it does so will be explained af"terwards; but the fact is certain, that all singers, who sing with ." feeling and expression, possess a large Secretiveness. Concentra

❝tiveness is also a necessary faculty to be possessed by a musician, "as it enables him to combine the activity of all the other fa"culties to the production of one end."

Now, on looking to the note of Mr W.'s development (which Mr Scott never saw), I find Concentrativeness stated as "very large;" Secretiveness "full;" Ideality "large;" and Imitation "large." This case, therefore, which has been proclaimed so ostentatiously as subversive of Phrenology, turns out to be one of the finest examples of its truth. The development of Mr W. was ascertained four years be. fore the elements of musical genius were discovered; that discovery was completed and published by a gentleman who knew nothing of the combination of organs in Mr W.'s head; but, on referring to Mr W.'s development, the very combination of organs which Mr Scott states as necessary to the manifestations of Mr W.'s powers, is found present, and large in his head. I am, &c.,

GEO. COMBE.

ARTICLE IX.

LETTER FROM DR MURRAY PATERSON TO A FRIEND IN EDINBURGH.

Barrackpore, Head-quarters, Bengal
Army, April 23, 1825.

MY DEAR SIR,-Since my arrival in this country, in the beginning of December, 1824, I have missed no opportunity, inasmuch as my health and personal avocations would permit, to promulgate the truths and strengthen the cause of the new philosophy. I brought out with me about 90 casts from Deville, illustrative of phrenological facts, and the day after I landed them on the shores of India I had them arranged and labelled, and spread out on the tables in the Asiatic Society's Hall in Calcutta, for the inspection of the public. I also

commenced writing phrenological essays in the public prints, to make the subject known as much as possible; for I found no person here at all acquainted with the science. Flocks of visitors went to behold the casts, and I was at last forced, by repeated solicitations, to give a course of public lectures in the city. The members of the Asiatic Society instantly came forward, and liberally offered me the use of their Hall to give my prelections in; and, on the 25th January, 1825, I gave my first lecture, which was numerously and respectably attended. Since that date I have given three more lectures, four in all, which is the half of the course. I pause for the present, the weather being so intensely hot for two months to come,so that I shall begin the second part of the course in the middle of June, when the rainy season sets in, and the air becomes tolerable for such exertion. My lectures will likely be published. They are, in substance, chiefly from Gall's large work, with the results of my own experience regarding organology and combinations.

On the 3d March, 1825, I founded the Phrenological Society of Calcutta, the fourth meeting of which takes place on 1st Monday of May. Our members already amount to about 40. I took the function of Secretary, as no other was fit for it; and we invited to the chair Dr Abel, physician to the Governor-General, Lord Amherst, who, although not an orthodox Phrenologist, is unwilling to shut the windows of his conviction to the many facts accumulated in support of the science, and he is our President. Besides, we have a Vice-President, J. Grant, Esq., Surgeon-General, Hospital; a Treasurer, Assistant Secretary, Librarian; Figure-caster, Mr Manby; Artist, Mr Sevignole; Printer, Mr Smith. We have taken a very large room in Tank Square for our Hall. All this has only been effected by the most unremitted efforts of Combativeness on our part; for the most violent, and most wanton, and most unlettered opposition has occurred. Indeed, it has been matter of astonishment to many how Phrenology has been able to survive the hostilities which

the enemies have made. 66 Magna est veritas" is my reply. Our collection of skulls from different provinces is increasing. Dr Abel sent me the skull of a Burmese soldier lately killed near Rangoon, and the dimensions were as follow::

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From Destructiveness to Destructiveness,.. From Secretiveness to Secretiveness,.. From Cautiousness to Cautiousness,. From Ideality to Ideality.......... Developments are as follow:-Amativeness, large.-Philoprogenitiveness, large.—Adhesiveness, full.-Cautiousness, very large. Destructiveness, very large. Combativeness, large. Secretiveness, very large.-Self-esteem, enormously large.-Love of Approbation, very full.-Firmness, large. -Conscientiousness, left organ moderate; right organ small. -Veneration, rather more than moderate.-Hope, full.— Benevolence, moderate.—Imitation, Ideality, Wonder, all moderate.-Causality and Comparison, neither full nor large. Taken as a whole, the reflecting region retreats; but still the organs are observable in the midst of this retreat, and must exist to a limited extent. All the knowing organs very well developed.--Constructiveness, moderate.--Acquisitiveness,

large.

The Burmese skull presents a wonderful difference if you compare it with the dimensions and developments of the Hindoo, and accords exactly with their alleged difference of propensities and manners. In the late contests and in the present campaigns, the Burmese would laugh at a Hindoo army, were not they led and ordered by British officers and mixed with British regiments. If you will for a moment compare the dimensions of the Hindoo with those of the Burmese, your experienced eye and Form will be almost intuitively sensible of the force of what I say. Far be it from me to say that this skull is an exact type of all other Burmese skulls.

more definite and enlarged. His style, it must be allowed, still admits of improvement in the articles of terseness and elegance, his minuteness occasionally borders upon tediousness, and his love of accuracy and distinctness sometimes betrays him almost into the ludicrous: he is apt also to satisfy himself with giving the sentiments of others, when we would be better pleased to have his own, and he frequently stops short of the last analysis. These, indeed, are not trivial defects; but, upon the whole, the book contains such a variety of original views of human nature, so many ingenious discussions upon the most interesting questions in literature and morals, and there is over the whole such an impress of honesty and good feeling, that we have seldom read a work with greater pleasure, and even though the fundamental principles were erroneous, we conceive that it could scarcely be perused without pleasure and advantage. Indeed, we are inclined to think, that, by the general reader in our own country, this will be received as the most interesting work that has yet appeared upon the subject. Mr Combe has given a succinct view of all that is most interesting in the works of Drs Gall and Spurzheim; to this he has added many valuable illustrations of his own, and his application of the general principles of the system to the current questions, in letters and ethics, is such as could not have been expected from the pen of a foreign writer. He has also presented the work in a form at once commodious and cheap; for it is but justice to observe, that the present edition contains more than double the matter of the first, and the price is not raised to the public.

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In making these remarks, it is not our wish to make any invidious comparison between Mr Combe and the two great individuals whose names we have so often mentioned. It is of the comparative interest of their works, and not of the merits of the authors of which we speak; and Mr Combe himself, we are sure, is the first that would take offence were we to say any thing that might seem to interfere with the

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