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    The readers of Blackwood will hear with regret that one of the most constant and most favoured contributors , Delta , died this week , in the fiftythird year of his age . Associated as he had been with so many of the writers of our day , especially in Scotland , where he was greatly esteemed , Dr . Moir will be missed more perhaps than one more celebrated .

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    Albert Smith ' s new periodical , which we announced some weeks ago , is now before the world , and promises to be a very lively chat and quiz upon the fleeting follies of The Month , aided by the designs of the inimitable Leech . Pleasantry without personality runs through its pages . Beside this , the newest of our monthlies , lies on our table that oldest of the monthlies , the Gentleman ' s Magazine , which , among other papers of interest , contains Peter Cunningham ' s Story of Nell Givynne . Another new quarterly , The Architectural Quarterly Review , has just appeared . The articles are well chosen ; and , though of course mainly addressed to professional people and connoisseurs , it contains matter to attract even the general reader .

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    We have received the first number of the Leader , a paper published at New York ; but cannot say that we feel any prjde in our follower . In the first place , it is a Protectionist organ , which makes the name singularly inappropriate ; in the next place , it has a feeble imitation of our " Open Council , " wherein , although the editor declares he will fetter no man in the expression of his opinion ,

    it seems pretty evident that only opinions agreeable to the journal will find expression there . Moreover , the proprietors declare that their paper is " managed , edited , and produced in a style of literary and typographical execution commensurate with the grand ends of its institution and the advanced _ intelligence of its reading community "which , if true , says veryJUttle for that same advanced intelligence .

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    Miciielet is publishing in the Evenemcnt his new work , Ltgcndes dc la Democratic , which we shall notice fully on its completion . The preface Will cause every Englishman to smile at its naivete . " This book , " he says , " is the true Ltgcnde d'Or ( golden legend)—free from all alloy , and where will be found nothing but the truth . " Nay more , every one who reads it will become a wiser and a better man—the author guarantees it . How a man of genius like Mi cue let can be so deplorably deficient in taste , is matter for comment !

    J ' . mile me ( xir a it din announces anew pamphlet , the title of which sets one thinking , La Revolution I by ale . par la I * residence d ' un Ouvrier . Who is the workman Cjirardin has in his eye ? The publishers of ( j ijizot's last work have printed a cheap edition , for sale out of France , to combat the Belgian pirates ; and Lamartink

    seems to have made arrangements for niinul ( aneous publication of original and translation , so as not only to thwart the Belgians , but to forestall translators . What a disgraceful state of things , when nations cannot ; secure even a copyright with each other ! but tradesmen have to outwit , tradesmen , and the universal motto is not " Justice , " but " Sharp Practice . "

    Among the new works let us not forget to notice Cksakk Cvntu ' h admirable historical compendium , Storie dc , Cento Anni 17 M )—lHf > 0 ; compiled with care , and written with great , elegance . Our readers may not be sorry to learn that ( JIuai . tkiuo lias at last , produced his IJItimi Itivolgimenti Italiani ; and that Dijmah has added a third volume to his amtibing Angc Pitou .

    At the Thedlre Francais it is not the manager who accepts plays , it is the actors themselves ; a comite" de lecture is formed , and its decision is absolute . Of course , no committee of this kind can help falling into abuses ; but all the dramatic authors have submitted to it , hitherto , in spite of abuses . George Sand and Ponsard refuse . They decline submitting their pieces to the judgment of the comitS . If that is the only medium through which their pieces must pass to reach the Thi&tre Francais , they will prefer keeping the pieces athome . George Sand has just issued a letter on this subject , addressed to her friend and publisher , Hetzel .

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    SYSTEMS OF PSYCHOLOGY . Elements of Catholic Philosophy : or . Theory of the Natural System of the Human Mind . Longman and Co . Manual of the Anatomy and Physiology of the Human Mind . By the Reverend James Carlile , D . D . Arthur Hall , Virtue , and Co . In England Psychology has but two schools : that of Reid , Stewart , Brown , and Mill , commonlv styled " the Scotch School ; " and that of Phreno " - logy . Both claim to be inductive , although the first is rather analytic than inductive . That the science of Mind should be in a very incomplete and unsatisfactory state will surprise no one acquainted with the hierarchy of the sciences—the

    superior complexity of the phenomena renders their explanation more difficult than any other . If you reflect upon the intimate connection between psychology and physiology ( and whatever your views respecting the nature of mind may be , you cannot resist the overwhelming evidence of mind ' s dependence upon the condition of the brain ) , at once it will become clear that , rightly to understand the phenomena of mind , you must first understand the phenomena of organic matter j and then again , before organic matter can be rightly considered , you must understand chemistry , organic and inorganic , no less than physics ; in short , the state of mental science will depend upon the condition of all the other sciences which lead up to and

    minister to it . It were unwise , therefore , to pooh pooh all systems of psychology , because they are at present but rude outlines of a science . It is equally unwise to assume that either the Phrenological or the Scotch School has settled the great questions . They are no more to be accepted as the Science of Mind than the Chemistry of Lavoisier ' s day was to be accepted as the settlement of chemical questions . Before us are two recent works on Phrenology and Psychology , both written by thoughtful serious men , although not of equal value . The one has an ambitious aim , the other an aim of modest usefulness . The Elements of Catholic Philosophy propounds a great " discovery "—the Manual professes to he no more than a record of the existing- state of the science . We have read the Elements of Catholic Philosophy with attention and with pleasure ; but we have not discovered the great novelty winch its author claims for his system , nor do we distinctly see wherein he believes that novelty to consist , unless it be in the modification he has given to the phrenological arrangement of the faculties . But he nhall state his own position as regards the " discovery " announced in this work : — - " It was in the endeavour to sketch the outline of n scheme of education which , embracing in its rudimentary tench ing the humblest classes , should be gradually extended , as year after year could be rescued , for the purpose of improving and furnishing the mind , from the importunate claim of labour for daily bread , that it occurred to the writer of these ; pages to inquire , whether any light on the question of what successive cultivation of the different powers of the mind would be most in accordance with their natural development , might be afforded by phrenology . A Htudy of works on the subject produced the

    conviction , that valuable information might be derived from the nltaervMtioiiH of Dr . ( Jail and hiH

    " riiin done , the remainder of the task was of easy Accomplishment . It was idle to think of constructing « system , when that of nature heruolf wiih unveiled ; una it became evident that the great Author of nature , who in all his material works has wrought by

    number , by weight , and by measure , in making man in his own image , stamped upon the outline , not only the 6 ure indications of individual character , but also those of the unvarying system of the human mind . , " It will occur to every man of thought , that the system thus arrived at is by no means such as he would himself have drawn out , and does not , at the first glance , carry with it conviction of its certain and all-comprehending truth . On reflection , he will find in this unexpected character of the theory a sure consequence of that truth . Had it been easy , or even possible , to anticipate the true system of the mind , or to arrive at its outline by any other method than by that of induction from observation , metaphysics would have long since taken the rank of a positive science . "

    The oftener we read this the more impossible it becomes to get at the precise meaning- of the writer . Are we to suppose that the substitution of Greek names for phrenological organs , and the laying down on paper of an external map of the head , were the triumphs of this Natural System , so that " this done , the remainder of the task was of easy accomplishment" ? The sentences which follow are so extremely vague that they perplex instead of enlightening us .

    When we come to the laying out of this Natural System we find that it divides the Human Mind into three classes : — 1 . The Impulsive Faculties ( under which are ranged the senses of Taste , Smell , Touch , Hearing , and the Consciousness of life and sexual feeling—the Instincts of Destruction , Wrath , and Parental feeling—and the Volitional Faculties of Self-control , Perseverance , Concentration ); 2 . The Organic or Instrumental Faculties ( under which are ranged the Powers of Physical Perception Geometrical and Chemical , the Powers of Mixed

    Perception , the Powers of Intellectual Perception , the Practic Powers of Art , and the Ideal Powers ); and 3 . The Regulating or Directive Faculties ( under which are ranged the Political Faculties or Social Virtues , the Moral Faculties or Ethical Virtues , and the Religious Faculties or Theologic Virtues ) . There is ample novelty of arrangement and nomenclature in this scheme ; but we see therein no " discovery , " and certainly no seminal germs of Catholic philosophy . But let us hear the author : —

    " The human mind , according to the theory of the natural system , consists of forty-two distinct primary faculties , corresponding to as many divisions or features of the head , by the successive operation of which faculties , all feeling , thought , and action are produced . While admitting arrangement in various groups , the simplest and most natural distribution of these faculties is into three classes . Each class contains three orders , respectively con . - posed of twelve , twenty-one , and nine distinct genera . The three classes are , the Appetites , the 1 ' owers , and the Sentiments , which correspond to the Oreetic , the Dianoetic , and the . Ethical parts of the mind , according to the division of Aristotle .

    " In a division of the primary mental faculties into classes , orders , and genera , wo must not expect to find the boundaries of the approximating orders more distinctly limited than is the case in the animal ami vegetable kingdoms . Considerable difficulties me occasionally encountered by the naturalist who oeekn to interpolate a new animal , or a new plant , in any existing system . We thus find that the third order might be ranked under the second class , almost <\\ appropriately as under the first , and that the sixth order , ranked under the second , is very closely connected with those of the third class .

    " In regarding the clashes as composed of nppetiteH , powers , and sentiments , or as impulsive , instrumental , and regulating , it must also be borne in mind , that we mention these characteristics as leading and distinctive , but not rts exclusively peculiar . The pleasure ! experienced by the peitioii who uses any instrument , is proportioned to the excellence ; of the instrument itself , and to the facility with which he can handle ! it .. The ; same remark applies to the

    exercise of any intellectual power . ' 1 he- poet , the sculptor , the musician , re-jeuccs in bis work . Tl »<; more perfect and Mibtlo is any faculty of the mind , the * more freely and pleasuruhly will its possessor call it into action . Thus , the possession etf any power products an appetite for it . s exertion , and ji sentiment regarding its object ; und each diittiuct primary faculty will comprehend appetite 1 , power , and sentiment , although one- of the three mode * of operation will appear te > be : most eharaete-riutic .

    " A e . lassie-al difference in the ; fue-ultics of tho mind , of much importance , lemaiiiN to be pe > inted out , in order te > simplify the explanation of which we must refer to the law of « HHticin ( ion . " Observatiem iuforiiiu uh , thnt , where two e > r moro faculties have been strongly and uimultaneouBly excited , a subsequent Minihir excitement of one ig communicable ; to th « other . Thus , if the improKiiou of heat be strongly produced on tho faculty of touch , i multuneoucly with the impression of light on the

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    Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . — Edinburgh Review .

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    July 12 , 1851 . ] 1 & \) t SrtafrttV 659 I I ¦ ¦ - ¦¦ T - I I ¦ I ¦ II ¦ ' II It .,.., . . — . _ . . _ ¦ f . ... __ - ¦ ¦ .. - .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 12, 1851, page 659, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1891/page/15/