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ARTICLE XVII.

MUSIC,-PERCEPTION OF BY THE DEAF AND DUMB.

SEVERAL cases are on record of persons deaf and dumb perceiving and being delighted with music. Mr G. Combe was informed, that a Mr Burns of Edinburgh was an example in point, and having procured an interview with him, the following conversation took place in writing :

Mr Combe. "I have heard that you are fond of music, and wish you to describe how the influence of it reaches you, and how you feel, that an account of it may be published in the Phrenological Journal.”

Mr Burns. "It was my sense," (touching his arms.)

Mr C. "Did your whole body feel, or only your hands and arms?"

Mr B. "My whole body."

Mr C. "Does the music excite your feelings,make you gay, sad, &c. ?"

Mr B. "Sometimes it raises my soul to the sky.".

Mr C." Do you hear any sound of the instrument at all?" Mr B. "When I met the military drums I felt the sound delightfully, as well as the report of a cannon, quick and sharp, particularly like the sound of a whip."

Mr C." But did this sound come in by the ear, or by the body ?"

Mr B. "I sometimes could hear."

Mr C. "Can you hear a common piano-forte or violin by the ear?"

Mr B. "Yes, sometimes, whenever I stood near them."

Mr C. “Have you ever pleasure from music, when you hear no sound by the ear,-I mean, do the impressions made by musical instruments on your body give you pleasure when no sound is heard by your ear?"

Mr B. "No."

Mr C. "Then your ear must always be affected by the sound before you have pleasure from music ?"

Mr B. "Yes, whenever I felt the sound of the warlike instruments, or music, drums, &c. they always excited my sense as powerfully as if I was in battles. I have displayed my fondness for music and the piano-forte since my boyhood. I used to play on an organ belonging to a friend of mine when I was a little boy,-it delighted my sense very much." Mr C." You mean your ear?”

Mr B. “Yes, I sometimes could hear very well, but not at a great distance."

Mr C. "Were you deaf from birth ?"

Mr B. "I lost my hearing by a fall from my old nurse's arms, accidentally, at the age of seven months, according to the information of my mother and sisters, and also several of my old friends at Dundee, and my ears bled very much after my fall,"

Edinburgh, 15th December, 1827.

The organs of Tune and Time are largely developed in Mr Burns, and, by the reports that had reached us, we were led to believe that the musical vibrations of the air on the nerves of Touch conveyed to him the perception of melody; but the foregoing dialogue shows that the sound reaches his ear, and that although that organ is impaired, it is not destroyed. It is highly probable that, if a minute investigation were made into other cases of a similar kind, the result would be the same.

NOTICES.

SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON AND PARENOLOGY.

SIR WILLIAM has not yet published his “ Facts and Fictions," announced several months ago. Our contributor, who was preparing a review of Sir William's correspondence with Dr Spurzheim and Mr Combe, was suddenly called to London on business, when only part of his article was prepared, and he did not return in time to complete it for this Number. It shall appear, however, in our next publication.

COPENHAGEN.—We have received the June Number of the Danish Phrenological Journal ; and Dr Hoppe has sent an Iceland skull, with an interesting account of the national character, to Mr G. Combe, for the Phrenological Journal.

NOTTINGHAM.-A medical member of the literary society of Nottingham lately read an essay “On the Theory of Dr Gáll," which excited an animated debate, and brought forth an essay against the science from the pen of a clerical gentleman, who subsequently printed the pith of his objections in a newspaper. We have read the article, and find it, almost verbatim, a repetition of the objections urged by the opponents in Edinburgh six or seven years ago, but long since abandoned as untenable and absurd. Opponents would save themselves a great deal of trouble by looking into our earlier numbers, where they will find every sort of objections ready stated, and answers also. If the latter do not suit their purpose, they may follow the example of some of their coadjutors, and omit them. A smart reply appeared in another Nottingham newspaper, and there the con. troversy, so far as we have heard, terminated.

MANCHESTER.-Dr Holland has published a work “On “ Education," in which the subject is treated on phrenological principles. The science is rapidly gaining ground in Manchester. Dr Holland lately delivered a course of lectures at Halifax, where he received the most flattering encouragement from the first families.

HULL-We are informed that Phrenology is here the subject of a public controversy at present, but we have not seen any the articles. Truth always gains by discussion, and the pertinacity of attack shows that the deepest interest is excited by the science.

WEST INDIES.—We were called upon lately by Mr J. from Trinidad, who offered to send us some Charib and negro skulls. He said his attention had been drawn to Phrenology by the following occurrence :-In sailing in a steam-boat from one West India island to another, Phrenology had been started as a subject of con

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versation. A lady, who was a passenger, defended it, and at last examined the head of a gentleman who travelled with him, and also his own head. Her account of his friend's character was strikingly accurate, and in his own case she was equally successful. He never saw the lady before nor since ; but was convinced that the principles of the science must be founded in nature before such results could be exhibited. We mention this anecdote as a proof of the manner in which Phrenology is insensibly diffusing itself. We were not aware that it had a single disciple in the West Indies.

CUPAR-FiFE.-The interesting case of Dr A— is unavoidably postponed till next Number, our pages having been filled up before we had completed some necessary inquiries. Our correspondent has our best thanks.

LANCASTER.—Sir James Gardiner, Bart., has kindly forwarded the skull of Jane Scott (lately executed for murder), to have a cast taken from it, and presented, in his name, to the Phrenological Society. In a letter to Dr A. Combe, accompanying the skull, Sir James mentions, that he will shortly send his notes of the case, and of the appearances of the brain on dissection, with as much of her previous history as he can obtain, in order that a regular report may be drawn up and published in our Journal, as he considers the case one of the most valuable that has ever occurred. We hope to be able to present this report in our next Number.

EAST INDIES.—Sir George S. Mackenzie, Bart., of Coul, who may justly be styled the founder of the Phrenological Society's museum, has just enriched its stores by the donation of no less than TWENTY-ONE skulls, specimens of different Asiatic tribes, procured at Madras by his second son, William Mackenzie, Esq., H. E. I. C. S., and selected for him with great care from the burying-places of the respective castes, by a native on whom he believed he could rely. This may not be sufficient to establish their authenticity, but they nevertheless form a nucleus for future collectors, and are highly valuable so far as they go. They are unquestionably Asiatic. Among the number are five Moors, four Gentoos, three Parias, three Armenians, five Brahmins, and one not marked. The Society's museum has been already considered as one of the richest extant in national skulls; and, allowing the above to be genuine specimens, it would, we believe, surpass all others in that particular branch of natural history. Such arguments as these skulls are a very appropriate answer to the allegation, that Phrenology is never heard of out of Edinburgh.

THE LONDON Medical and Surgical Journal has just published the first part of a clever and conclusive but smart answer to Mr Stone. The other part is promised next month.

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THE

PHRENOLOGICAL JOURNAL. .

No XIX.

ARTICLE I.

I.-A Sketch of the Natural Laws of Man, by G. Spurz

heim, M.D. 12mo, pp. 220. II.-The Constitution of Man considered in Relation to Ex

ternal Objects, by George Combe. 12mo, pp. 319.

The reception of Phrenology by the generation which witnessed its discovery forms an interesting object of contemplation. Old and young, grave and gay, learned and unlearned, almost unanimously treated it with derision. Nevertheless they could not themselves rely on the judgment of condemnation, which they had so confidently pronounced. In their opposition, a pertinacity of hatred and a depth of vituperation appeared, never excited by a trivial subject, or manifested where the mind is at ease as to its own opinions. Phrenology carried with it a weight of reason and an array of facts that made a deep impression on reflecting men, even while they publicly scoffed ; and we appeal to the con. sciousness of many, whether in their inward thoughts the idea did not more frequently present itself, that “this doctrine may be true," than they had courage to avow ?

In a few years, when the truth of the science shall have ceased to be a subject of debate, the envious will end our to detract from its importance, by asserting that it communi,

Vol. V. -No XIX.

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