blemata Aristotelis." Among these problems the following "De Capite" are proposed and solved: "Quæritur, Quare caput non est directe rotundum sed oblongum? Respondetur, Ut in ipso tres cellulae aptius possunt (possint?) distingui; scilicet fantasia in fronte, logistica sive rationalis in media, et memoria in posteriori cellula.--Quæritur, Quare homo imaginando erigit caput sursum sive versus coelum? Respondetur, Quia imaginatio est in anteriori parte capitis sive cerebri : ideo erigitur sursum ut cellulae imaginationis aperiuntur (aperiantur ?), et ut spiritus animalis concurrendo facere possit imaginationem.-Quæritur, Quare homo cogitans et recogitans de praeteritis caput suum inclinat ad terram? Respondetur, Quia cellula posterior est memorativa; ergo illa erigitur versus coelum cum caput inclinatur ad terram, et sic aperitur illa cellula ut spiritus animales perficientes memoriam intrarent." I am, Sir, your obedient servant,-W. COKE. [The work of Albertus Magnus is noticed by Dr Gall, Sur les Fonctions du Cerveau, ii. 354. Of the speculations of Aristotle and others on the foregoing topics, we ourselves gave some account in vol. ii. of this Journal, p. 378.—ED.]

Alphabets for the Blind.-It would be an interesting and useful exercise for some phrenologist to compare the proposed alphabets for the Blind (transmitted to the Society for the Encouragement of the Useful Arts in Scotland, and copies of which have been lately circulated by that Society to the different institutions for the Blind for farther information on the subject), with the phrenological development of the several proposers. Form and Locality would seem to have given the basis of most of the alphabets; but there are some striking differences. In the alphabet of Mr Simpson, the forms of his letters are very little varied. They are a set of objects, less distinguished by differences of configuration, than by the direction of their angles; their solidity; or the appendage of other objects, as dots in a triangle or square. Does this alphabet proceed from Individuality and some other organ (Weight or Locality) which gives rise to ideas of direction? The alphabet of Dr Greville may have sprung chiefly from Individuality and Imitation, perhaps with Constructiveness. That of Mr Henderson seems to call for the activity of Number and Individuality, in the reader, more than either Form or Locality. Why are the alphabets of Mr Lucas and the Rev. E. Craig almost destitute of angular figures, so prominent in most of the others? Some faculty cognizant of direction or perpendicularity would appear to have been at work here. It is remarkable that so little attempt at classification should have been made. In Mr Simpson's alphabet, the vowels are all four sided figures, and

the only four-sided figures he has employed. In some of the others, the vowels are partially distinguished; otherwise, the order of sequence seems almost the only clew to their applica tion of the figures to our regular letters.

H. C. W.

ARTICLE XII.

SHORT NOTICES OF BOOKS.

An Examination of Mr Scott's Attack upon Mr Combe's " Constitution of Man." By Hewett C. Watson.-Longman & Co., London; Maclachlan & Stewart, Edinburgh. 1836. 18mo, pp. 38.

The motives which have induced Mr Watson to come forward on the present occasion, are thus stated by himself:-" I perfectly agree with Mr Scott's friends that any published work ought to be answered, if containing serious moral errors. And if the real motive of Mr Scott's undertaking be a desire of refuting the errors contained in the work of Mr Combe, with the hope of counteracting an injury thus threatened to others, I also may plead the call of duty, urging me to examine the errors contained in Mr Scott's work, and to expose its utter unfitness to give evidence against Mr Combe's views. The notice in the forty-ninth number of the Phrenological Journal must be construed as an intimation that Mr Combe entertains no intention of doing this himself; nor should I have felt any desire to obtrude myself into a position declined by him, had it not been rumoured that a cheap edition of Mr Scott's work is preparing for circulation among the people ;-to return the words of Mr Scott upon himself, among a class of readers not the best fitted to detect its fallacies. Much better fitted are they, however, than Mr Scott appears to believe, though a little assistance may do them no harm, as a preventive antidote." "Mr Scott's treatise," he continues, "is divided into twelve chapters, and occupies 332 pages, besides a long preface. To go regularly through the whole, and expose all the misconceptions and errors contained in it, would be an unprofitable waste of time, type, paper, and every thing else. I shall therefore take the preface and first chapter for examination; and shall presume the whole work morally overturned, if I am successful in shewing from these that Mr Scott has greatly misconceived the statements and opinions of Mr Combe (such misconception being proved by the strange manner in which Mr Combe's essay is misquoted and misrepresented), and has made numerous errors and inconsistencies in his own arguments." We have only room to say that Mr Watson has admirably performed the task which he has

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imposed upon himself. The perversions and inconsistencies exposed by him are almost inconceivable. One specimen will suffice. "On the next page," says he," there is a far worse misrepresentation, induced by the suppression of part of a passage quoted, the portion given by Mr Scott conveying quite a different meaning when seen by itself. He has it thus 'He labours to shew that his system is in harmony with the precepts of Christianity; and yet he most inconsistently declares, that these precepts are 'scarcely more suited to human nature and circumstances in this world, than the command to fly would be to the nature of the horse!' Any reader may judge of the fairness of this representation, by seeing the whole passage. Mr Combe remarks that the people hear the precepts of Christianity in churches, on Sunday, but that the great body of the community-lawyers, merchants, manufacturers, farmers, mechanics, and others-spend their whole energies, in their several callings, during the rest of the week, devoting little or no leisure time to religion; and that Sunday again dawns upon them in a state of mind widely at variance with the Christian condition.' And he adds, afterwards: It is in vain to say to individuals that they err in acting thus: individuals are carried along in the great stream of social institutions and pursuits. The operative labourer is compelled to follow his routine of toil under pain of absolute starvation. The master-manufacturer, the merchant, the farmer, and the lawyer, are pursued by competitors so active, that if they relax in selfish ardour, they will be speedily plunged into ruin. Ir God has so constituted the human mind and body, and so arranged external nature, that all this is unavoidably necessary for man, THEN the Christian precepts are scarcely more suited to human nature and circumstances in this world, than the command to fly would be to the nature of the horse.' The words, as quoted by Mr Scott, are the words of Mr Combe, but they are not the whole words, and herein lies all the difference. Any candid reader must see, that Mr Combe's intention was to shew that the habits of society are at fault, not that Christianity is to be rejected as unsuitable to man. By omitting the previous words, and especially the doubtful or conditional IF and THEN, Mr Scott has given an entirely opposite signification to the passage. This might be held an ingenious trick in pleading a cause; but let others decide how far it is justifiable.'

Mr Watson sums up his little work in the following terms :"I have now gone over the Preface of Mr Scott's book, almost paragraph by paragraph, and have shewn how greatly it distorts and exaggerates Mr Combe's statements; and that even in the paragraphs which give truth, the whole truth is not shewn. I have also gone, though less closely, over the First

Chapter, and have shewn that similar defects characterise that part of the book. I have further shewn that the author so far has utterly failed in his attempts to refute Mr Combe's views, whether those views be right or wrong in themselves; and that he has equally failed of establishing his own. I have, moreover, exhibited glaring contradictions and inconsistencies between one part of the work and another, and even between passages almost immediately following one the other. And I have also shewn that where his reasoning may appear conclusive, it is really worthless from being founded on very doubtful or inaccurate premises. Having established such defects in the very outset of the work, I may consider myself to have proved the book to be utterly unfit to give evidence against Mr Combe; and that it cannot be necessary to go into further examination of its contents. Suffice it to say, that examples of such defects can be doubled, trebled, or quadrupled, if it become necessary. But I rest here; and will conclude by expressing my astonishment-though little apt to be astonished at aught-that any person of Mr Scott's ability should have put forth such a book; and should have been able to coax himself into a notion, that he could thereby overthrow The Constitution of Man,' or cast down its author from his throne of intellectual and moral eminence. If a writer of much ability-and such we cannot deny Mr Scott to be-is found able to do so little against Mr Combe's Essay, people will be disposed to think that Mr Scott has a wee bit exaggerated its multitude of errors.'

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A System of Phrenology. By George Combe. Fourth Edition. Maclachlan & Stewart, and J. Anderson jun., Edinburgh; Longman & Co. London. 2 vols. 8vo. pp. 933.

This edition of Mr Combe's "System" contains numerous additions, interspersed throughout its pages; new cuts have been used; and, in treating of topics of interest, he has added references to other phrenological works in which they are discussed or illustrated, so as to render this edition an index, as far as possible, to the general literature of the science. The illustrative engravings and cuts are not only more numé rous than in the last edition, but of greatly superior quality; the coloured plate illustrating the four temperaments will be particularly useful. A section of ten pages is inserted, “On the importance of including development of brain as an element in statistical inquiries into the manifestations of the animal, moral, and intellectual faculties of man." Among the answers to arguments against Phrenology, the author has given some pungent remarks on the objections of Sir Charles Bell. The volume is excellently printed, and embodies the latest improvements in Phrenology.

Elements of Phrenology. By George Combe. Fourth Edition. Maclachlan & Stewart, Edinburgh; Longman & Co. London. 12mo. pp. 194.

Considerable additions have been made to this edition, and the value of the work has been augmented by the insertion of

numerous cuts.

Outlines of Phrenology. By George Combe. Sixth edition. 1836. 8vo. These "Outlines" are intended for readers who, though desirous to know something of Phrenology, are unwilling or unable to bestow much time or money in gratifying their curiosity. The work is closely printed, and contains a good deal of matter in a small space.

The Philosophy of Education, with its Practical Application to a System and Plan of Popular Education as a National Object. By James Simpson, Advocate. Second Edition. A. & C. Black, Edinburgh; Longman & Co. &c. London. 1836. 12mo. pp. 288.

By omitting a portion of the Appendix, and using a closer type, Mr Simpson has been enabled to reduce the price of his work to little more than one-half of that of the first edition. He has likewise given the volume a more appropriate title. In the preface he says, "The subject of education being progressive, and increased attention having been given to it since the date of the first edition of this work, it is none of the least of the advantages of a new edition, that it can illustrate principles from the latest cases of an extending experience. Of this the author has not failed to avail himself; and while he has added to the number of his facts, he has modified and corrected some of his statements." We think that Mr Simpson has much improved his work. One suggestion, however, we would offer that, in future editions, he should not class among the moral sentiments the faculties of Hope, Firmness, Wonder, Ideality, Wit, and Imitation. A moral faculty is one from which a sense of right and wrong, of duty and criminality, originates; and it seems to us more than questionable whether there be any such faculties except Conscientiousness, Veneration, and Benevolence.

O'servations upon the Instinct of Animals. By Sir John Sebright, Birt. London: Gogsling and Egley, 1836. 8vo. Pp. 16.

Sir John Sebright appears to be altogether unacquainted with Phrenology, and labours under a great consequent disadvantage in treating of Instinct. With much acuteness of observation, he fails in his attempt at explaining the peculiar modifications of instinct, under altered circumstances. The actions of animals are carefully noted, but the causes of those actions are unknown.