“ assured, that if the history of this criminal could be got at, it “ would be found in perfect harmony with the principles and ob« servations of Phrenology." Scotsman, 2d May, 1827.

This statement had been published nearly a year before Mr Stone's pamphlet appeared ; no history of the life and conduct of the Bali murderer had been given in the interval; and although Mr Combe had publicly called on Sir William Hamilton to produce, at least, the letter which accompanied the skull, yet not even this had been done ; so that not a shadow of philosophical evidence regarding the character of this individual has ever been, or now is, accessible to the public; nevertheless Mr Stone has returned to this case, and cited it as adverse to Phrenology! This shows to what a miserable shift opponents are reduced for want of facts. It would be a waste of words to reply to such lucubrations.

ARTICLE X.

The Elements of Physiology, by J. F. Blumenbach, M.D.

F.R.S. Professor of Medicine in the University of Gottingen, translated from the Latin by John Elliotson, M.D. Cantab., Physician to St Thomas's Hospital, fc. fc.

Fourth Edition. Longman & Co. 1828. It does not lie within our province to criticise the text of the work before us; suffice it to say, that Blumenbach enjoys a well-earned reputation as being one of the first physiologists of his day, and that the translation is every way worthy of the original. But Blumenbach is one of those men of une questionable talent, whose misfortune it has been to acquire a certain eminence in physiological science before Dr Gall's great discovery of the functions of the brain was promulgated, who have felt it humiliating to their self-love to be surpassed by a contemporary, and who have, therefore, rem solutely avoided all serious investigation of the evidence on which the new philosophy is founded, and have acted the melancholy part of depreciating and denying the merits of Dr Gall, which they instinctively perceive would overshadow their own greatness. Accordingly Blumenbach denies Phrenology, and he is referred to by minor opponents as an authority against it. Phrenology, however, is the doctrine of the functions of the brain, and as Blumenbach does not pretend to know more of the uses of that organ than other physiologists who reject Dr Gall's discovery, it follows that in his works vague generalities or positive ignorance hold the place of scientific information relative to the functions of the brain. In so far, therefore, his work is imperfect, and behind the lights of his age.

Dr Elliotson, however, his translator, is a distinguished Phrenologist. He has enriched the present edition with numerous, copious, and interesting notes on Phrenology; supplying the deficiency of the original work, and presenting to the student one of the best manuals of physiology extant. He has added notes on a great variety of other subjects connected with the text, and altogether rendered the work eminently creditable to himself and useful to the medical profession.

ARTICLE XI.

DR SPURZHEIM'S VISIT TO MR WOOD's (SESSIONAL)

SCHOOL, EDINBURGH.

John Wood, Esq., advocate, Sheriff-depute of Peebles-shire, has acquired an extensive and well-merited reputation for his indefatigable exertions and great success in teaching the children of the poor in this city. English reading, including definitions, arithmetic, and writing, are the leading branches taught in Mr Wood's School; and nothing can be more pleasing than the animated industry and respectable attainments exhibited by the pupils under Mr Wood's benevolent charge.

Dr Spurzheim visited this school during his late stay in Edinburgh, and made remarks on the development of the scholars; but Mr Wood and his assistants being profoundly ignorant of and even hostile to Phrenology, (Mr Wood himself indeed scarcely concealing his decided enmity and contempt towards it, his assistants not doing so at all,) and the exercises of the children giving small scope to their general intellectual faculties, the result was not satisfactory to either party. Dr Spurzheim, for instance, pointed to a boy whose large anterior lobe, and nervous teinperament, promised general intellectual superiority, and mentioned the particular talents in which he ought to excel; but Mr Wood knew only how he could read, how he could add, subtract, divide, and multiply, and how far he could repeat the definitions and explanations of words which he had been taught, and therefore could not tell how far Dr S.'s inferences were cor. rect. It appeared also, that in teaching arithmetic, mechanical rules were made to supply to an amazing extent the exercise of thought, and that problems of apparently portentous difficulty were solved as fast as the figures which expressed them could be written down, not by mental power, such as was exhibited by George Bidder, but by dealing with single figures in succession, according to fixed rules: the sum of difficulty surmounted scarcely exceeding that of subtracting one unit from another. This mode of making arithmetic easy is highly commendable in itself ; but we notice it, to observe that those persons who do not trace the mechanism are apt to imagine far higher talents to be involved in it than are actually required.

On a subsequent day, Dr Spurzheim again visited the school, with the intention of requesting Mr Wood to point out the individual scholars most distinguished for any particular talent, and those least gifted with it, and then directing his attention to their heads. Dr Spurzheim remarked

to a friend, that he found it impossible to make Mr Wood comprehend what he meant by the phrenological faculties, but that he hoped he would be able to render obvious to his eyes differences of development of brain. We are not informed whether Mr Wood was aware of what Dr Spurzheim intended to do or not; but Mr Wood and his assistants put in practice the following device :-A boy of very limited powers had been attending for some time, whom they had in vain attempted to teach. With much tutoring and difficulty, this poor creature was drilled into so much steadiness as to stand without betraying his condition, and, having thus been passed off as one of the pupils, Dr Spurzheim was asked his opinion of his talents. Dr Spurzheim examined him cursorily, and with great kindness (wishing to avoid hurting the boy's feelings) turned round to Mr Wood, and, preventing his words, by placing his hand before his mouth, from reaching the boy's ears, said, that he was of a very inferior tempera ment, and, pointing to a boy with a superior head, said, he would be much beneath that individual; but the Doctor. did not say that he was an absolute idiot.

This appears to have been precisely what Mr Wood desired; exulting in the success of the ruse, he proclaimed over the town, that Dr Spurzheim had mistaken an idiot for an ordinary boy belonging to his highest class, and had thus given the coup de grace to Phrenology.

When Mr Combe heard this story circulated, he asked Mr Wood if it was correct; who at once admitted that it was substantially true, viz. that he had passed off a boy known in the school as "Daft Geordie" on Dr Spurzheim as one of his ordinary scholars, and that Dr S. had not detected the deception. Mr C. expressed his surprise, and mentioned to Mr Wood that he must have resorted to such a proceeding in profound ignorance of the first principles of Phrenology; because, in all the works on the science, it is stated, that "the proper subjects for observation are healthy "individuals below the middle period of life," and that "the brain, "like other parts of the body, may be affected with certain diseases

be

"*

“ which do not diminish or increase its magnitude, and yet impair “ its functions; and in such cases, great size may

present, and “ very imperfect manifestations appear;"* that Dr Spurzheim was entitled to assume that no trick would be attempted on him, but that the boys presented to him were in health, and really pupils in the classes in which they appeared; that no Phrenologist pretended to detect chronic idiocy by merely examining the external appearance of a skull; and that, therefore, he, Mr Wood, had really expended his ingenuity to little purpose, for the result was a demonstration of his own ignorance of what Phrenologists professed to do, without the least derogation from Dr Spurzheim's reputation as an ob

a

server.

Mr Wood acknowledged himself not at all skilled in phrenological science, and said he thought Dr Spurzheim professed to know people's talents by their heads, and, of course, to discover an idiot when presented to him.

Notwithstanding of this explanation, however, Mr Wood, as we are informed, continues widely to diffuse his story, and we hold ourselves not only authorised, but called upon in defence of Dr Spurzheim, and of the science itself, to state the facts as they occurred. Very few remarks are necessary. We observe,

1st, Dr Spurzheim, on entering the school, was authorised, by Mr Wood's rank in life and character as a gentleman, to rely on the most perfect fair dealing being observed towards him.

2d, The principles of Phrenology exclude idiots, as subjects by whom the truth or falsehood of the science can be legitimately established. There is only one exception to this rule: Where the brain is unusually small in size, idiocy is the invariable concomitant; but the brain may be of full size and diseased, and then idiocy will not be distinguishable by external signs. This was the case of the boy in question.

System of Phrenology, pp. 29 and 47. VOL. V. -No XVIII.

T