have undergone a careful revision, and the names of the authors are now attached to them. In making the selection, the editor has endeavoured so to diversify the subjects treated of, as to shew, in a forcible manner, the extensive applications of which Phrenology is susceptible to human affairs. There were five principal contributors to the early volumes of the Phrenological Journal, and it was the editor's wish to include the most valuable productions of each. Having ascertained, however, that two of the gentlemen were averse from the publication of their essays in the present volume, he has confined his attention to those of Mr COMBE, Mr SIMPSON, and Dr ANDREW COMBE, among the conductors; with the addition of a few articles contributed by correspondents. EDINBURGH, 15th August 1836. CONTENTS. I. Dialogue between a Philosopher of the Old School and a Phrenologist. By GEORGE COMBE, III. Phrenological Explanation of the Vocal Illusions com- IV. Practical Application of Phrenology on a Voyage, V. Master James Hubard. By WILLIAM RITCHIE, VI. Comparative Influence of Nature and Circumstances in the Formation of Human Character. By GEORGE VII. Observations on Spectral Illusions, and other Illusive Perceptions of the Knowing Organs when in Morbid Excitement; illustrated by a recent Case. By JAMES IX. Observations on some Objections to Phrenology, founded on a part of the Cerebral Development of Voltaire. By XI. Scolding of Juries. By GEOrge Combe, XII. Cases of W. C. M. of Edinburgh, and Miss W. of Lon- don, farther illustrative, respectively, of the Phreno- XVI. Result of an Examination, by Mr James De Ville, of the Heads of 148 Convicts, on board the Convict Ship England, when about to sail for New South Wales in the Spring of 1826. By JAMES SIMPSON, XXI. On the Size of Hats used by the different Classes of Society. By a Hat-Maker of Dundee, XXIV. Additional Remarks on Dr Thomas's Theory of the Temperaments. By ANDREW COMBE, M. D., XXV. Glasgow Bridewell. By GEORGE COMBE, XXVI. Education-Mr Wood's School. By JAMES SIMPSON, 215 XXVII. Estimate of the Authority of Clever Practical Men in the profounder and more abstract Departments XXIX. Observations on the Faculty of Time, and on the Deaf and Dumb Dancing. By JAMES SIMPSON, XXX. On the Seat and Nature of Hypochondriasis as Illus- trated by Phrenology. By ANDREW COMBE, M. D. XXXI. On the Best Means of Making Converts to Phre- XXXIII. Phrenology applied to the Education of a Youth. By XXXIV. Case of a Mechanical Genius. By ANDREW COMBE, M. D., XXXVI. Some Observations on the Character of Cromwell, as delineated in the Novel of Woodstock. By XXXVII. Historical Notice of Early Opinions regarding the Functions of different Parts of the Brain. By W. C. of the Organ of Tune. By Dr G. D. CAMERON, -XL. Essay on the Question,-Does Phrenology afford a satisfactory Explanation of the Moral and Intellec- tual Faculties of Man? By ANDREW COMBE, M. D. 276 317 يا SELECTIONS. DIALOGUE BETWEEN A PHILOSOPHER OF THE OLD SCHOOL AND A PHRENOLOGIST.* Phil. Do you believe in Phrenology? Phren. Yes, I do. Do you not believe in it? Phil. No, indeed. It is most ridiculous nonsense. Phren. How do you know? Have you studied it? Phil. Not I. It is too absurd to merit a moment's attention. Phren. In saying so, do you not resemble a person ignorant of geometry, declaring that he does not believe in Euclid's demonstrations ? Phil. This is quite in the usual strain of dogmatic absurdity, in which the phrenologists are so fond of indulging. Phren. I beg pardon the absurdity is all on the other side. Phil. So you are pleased to say; but you never shew us that it is so. Have not the anatomists dissected the brain these two thousand years, and discovered no such organs as those you speak of; and have not the most eminent metaphysicians carefully analyzed every thought and sentiment of the mind, and never discovered such absurd propensities as Destructiveness, Acquisitiveness, and Secretiveness? A person cannot know what Euclid's Elements contain who has not studied them, and any declaration that he did not believe in the demonstrations would be a piece of gratuitous absurdity on his part, at which we might smile, but By George Combe.-Vol. i. No. 1, p. 65; and No. 2, p. 200. A with which we could not be angry; but certainly the brain and the mind have been subjected to examination ere the days of Gall and Spurzheim, and there is nothing ridiculous in saying, on the faith of these investigations, that their doctrines are mere extravagancies, unworthy of the least consideration. Phren. It is quite true that the brain has been dissected, and the mental phenomena have been analyzed, by very acute men, for a very long period of time; but, were the phrenologists to point out fundamental errors in the methods of investigation followed by all previous philosophers, and to shew that they themselves proceed by a surer path to truth, they would reduce all the opinions on which you found to absolute insignificance, while they would be entitled to challenge a becoming attention to their own discoveries. Phil. I grant you this; but these are mere general declamations in which your sect habitually indulges, without condescending to lay before us tangible and intelligible principles of philosophy. Phren. "Tangible and intelligible principles of philosophy," as you term them, have been repeated in every work on phrenology, from Gall's first publication to the present day; but you and those on your side of the question have either deliberately shut your eyes against them, or, if you have seen them, have never met them fairly in argument. You have neither refuted nor admitted them, but kept them back in all the discussions, and concealed them from the world, as if they had never been announced. Phil. with warmth. Sir, I am not aware of any such statements as those you now allude to. Phren. I beg pardon for any degree of temper appearing in these remarks. They were made more in sorrow than in anger; but, to return to the point, Did you ever hear the principle announced, that "dissection alone is not sufficient to reveal the vital functions of any corporeal part?" For example, that although anatomists have dissected the human body for ages, they never discovered in its structure the least indication of the fact, that of two sets of nervous fibres running undistinguishably in the same sheath, one is the organ of motion, and the other the organ of feeling, and that one may be injured, and feeling be impaired, while, if |