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    » w-- "iir 7 wrmrvrq > * -f ^ ™" M "l " "" ' — """ n' * "T " " " - * " * ' ~*^ . Mr . Jolin Chapman is . publishing , in a neat octavo , a History of the Session 1852-3 , which we find is neither more nor less than a collection of the sketches contributed to the Leader during the last session by our correspondent , " A Stranger in . Parliament . " Those who remember the Articles will understand , the sort of history they would make , and with how much greater clearness of view we should approach the consideration of the next session after possessing such a reminder of the events of the last . The" Stranger , " it will be seen by his dedication and his preface , is intensely in earnest in pointing out that the moral of his book is—Let usJiave a real Reform Bill .

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    BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . The Poetical Works of Robert Montgomery , M . A . Collected and Revised by the Author . Price 20 s . Chapman and Hall . ROBERT Montgomery has his admirers , as successive editions prove . _ Here , in a compact double-columned volume of six hundred and fifty pages , the said admirers will find " corrected" all that the poet deems worthy of immortality . We cannot say that three" successive efforts to read the poems enabled us to travel over many pages ; but in the notes we recognised a kindly spirit , and especially a generous appreciation of Shelley , which give us a more amiable idea of Mr . Montgomery than we had before . Those for whom this volume is destined we may inform that it is a handsome volume , of legible type , furnished with a good index . It is too late now to discuss the merits or demerits cf the works .

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    PHRENOLOGY AND PHRENOLOGISTS . Elements of Psychological Medicine . An Introduction to the practical study of Insanitv adapted , for Students and junior Practitioners . By Daniel Noble . Price 7 * . 6 d . . Churchill . It is notorious that a knowledge of Insanity forms no part of the medical student ' s curriculum ; it is notorious that only the keepers of private asylums , and the officers employed in general lunatic asylums , have any special knowledge of this subject , and nevertheless it is also notorious , it is law of the land , that any person ' s freedom may be taken away , his children and property withdrawn from him , if two medical men certify to the fact of his being " insane . . ' _'"¦ .. , . ' . '

    ,, , To state these facts is to justify JJr . IN oble s work , wjnch is designed to instruct the student in the elements of Psychological Medicine ; to point out in what Insanity , rightl y so-called , consists , thereby distinguishing it from Delirium ; to connect it as far -as maybe with the present state of cerebral physiology ; and to explain the principles of treatment by constant reference to those more general principles applicable in ordinary medical practice . Although addressed principally to students , it is a book which all philosophic readers will gladly possess . ^ The importance and interest of the subject will not suffer us to pass it over with a cursory indication of what Dr . Noble has attempted , we must pause awhile to consider some of the questions raised .

    And , first , of Phrenology . If the claims of Phrenologists are admitted , Insanity ceases to be a delicate and difficult branch of investigation , for the Phrenologists , who find little difficulty in anything , have explained it to their satisfaction . But Dr . Noble has in this work emphatically . avowed his conviction that Phrenology is not an acceptable system . He was once a phrenologist . His former work On the Brain was written in support of Phrenology , and is often quoted as an authority . But although thus openly " committed" to the system , although he bad gained some kudos as a teacher , yet Years which bring the philosophic mindyears , and multiplied experience , acting iji conjunction with the force of objections started by his critics , have made him abandon Phrenology , and openly avow bis former error .

    This recantation will make some stir in both camps . But do not let us exaggerate its significance . Dr . Noble avows that he embraced Phrenology on very insuflicicnl " . evidence . It is not clear , however , that he abandoned it on evidence which to other minds would have been conclusive . We note this , in passing , as a serious defect , in the work beforo us . To take such a stop was bravo und honourable ; but for his own Hake , and the sake of truthjhe should have boon explicit , to the minutest detail . "Wo must all desire to know what was the evidence which convinced him of his error . He has only given us generalities ; but what guarantee , is there for his not having been an hasty in throwing down as in taking up Phrenology F It is desire for ; i clear and open arena , in which the battle may bo fought , which makes us challenge \) r . Noble on thin head . We are not Phrenologists , never wove . Hut fail . * play and fair light ban always been

    our motto . That you may boar Dr . Noble ' s reasons , we will give all that have cogency ( omitting for his own Hake such reasons as those adduced at p . 49 and p . 52 ) :

    "Ifpersonal character , an dependent purely upon natural deposition , wen : Home-thing readily aHcertainablo ; and if tli <> share wliieli the individual faculties of the mind possess in contributing to the formation of character , worts detcnninable with something like moderate precision ; if , ; it the h ; uiio time , the size of distinct portions of . the bruin could be verified to tho same extent : mid . if multiplied observations had demonstrated Home uniformity in the results , ' as claimed by phrenologists ; this cerebral physiology , it must bo admitted , would have been established as a- fact . And this in a circumstance <| iiito independent of the question , as to how far phrenology may , in thin eaHo , be practically available in tho business of life ; that is to nay , phrenology may be trim as a physiology of the brain , and yofc phrenologists may have perverted its truths in reasoning upon its applicability , In attempting to traee it to its remote consequences . "Now my own e ' ouviction in , ruul has always boon , that . Phrenologists , in

    reasoning concerning the facts of phrenology , havo gone sadly in advance of the premiflOH : that Phrenology , in a word , as it , in popularly understood , constitutes a mixture of error and truth , tin . ) former preponderating largely . I have no faith and never bad , in the notion that science and philosophy , by the uid of phrenology , would regenerate tho world , or , in any extraordinary degree , contribute to iioeial progress . Conviction in the justice and accuracy of much that (' Jail it * cord < ' < l ' »¦» a- f'M ' t , ' have had l \> r ninny yy . irn j but 1 had m > vor very much faith

    ^^^ YT ^ ' ' "TFn ''"'~ ' ^ ' ^'"'"^^^ " rwn—— --J" " * in the additional facts professed to have been discovered by his successors . The leading phenomena that were cited by the earlier school of phrenolo gists , I have myself verified , — a matter quite apart frdm any interpretation which the phenomena themselves may rightly receive . For-example : any one , who with moderate attention will examine the forms and dimensions of different heads , will very soon perceive that one which is excessively diminutive can never exercise ordinary ¦ intelligence ; that a very small forehead never characterises persons eminent for their thinking , but that usually a capacious front and vigorous , intellect go together ; that a head very high and broad in the coronal region , is commonly associated with great natural morality in particular individuals ; and , on the contrary

    that a low contracted head is most ordinarily found upon the shoulders of depraved criminals . Again , it will be seen that a large occipital and basilar '' 'development is very generally found in persons of strong animal propensities . More particular correspondences , indeed , may be noticed ; for instance , the crown of the head is usually very much elevated from the opening of the ear , in persons of great natural self-reliance ; again , as regards the intellect and the forehead , the higher region comes out principally in those who are remarkable for their powers of though and reflection , and the lower region in such as are inquisitive and distinguished for their stores of knowledge . Some other coincidences , moreover , are observable between mental c haracter and configuration of head ; but the foregoing illustrations sufficiently exemplify the facts that may be verified without difficulty .

    " The enquiry next arises { - —What conclusions become fairly deducible from such circumstances ? Can the phrenological theory be sustained , of separate organs for the individual faculties of the mind ? - —IJpon these points I would observe that , reasoning from abundant data , it has already been admitted , as a scientific truth , that the brain is the organ of the mind . And there is ho Ph ysiologist , who experiences a difficulty in admitting that its different parts may fulfil different functions . Independently of direct observations , there is an tecedent probability , indeed , thatSdivisions of the brain have some correspondence with particular mental aptitudes . And it is quite certain that , in a very large proportion of cases , the form of the head shows the direction in which the cerebral hemispheres are developed . These propositions , which will generally be admitted ,

    must lead every candid mind to allow that there maybe some truth in phrenology . For my own part , I conceive the inference to be warranted , that , in some way or another , the anterior lobe of brain maintains an especial connexion with the intellect ; that the superior convolutions , in like manner , have some organic association wifchlihe higher sentiments ; and that the posterior portion of the cerebral mass , is peculiarly connected with the more animal propensities of our nature . But admitting these conclusions as true , I am far from believing that , even to the extent of the three regions , we have , in the size and configuration of the head , anything like an exact measure of the respective psychical capacities and inherent tendencies ; for it may be certainly predicated that intimate conditions of quality , inappreciable by external signs , largely effect both functional power and activity .

    - " But what remains to be said concerning the theory of separate cerebral organs ? Influenced by the present advanced state of our knowledge of the brain and nervous system in man , and still more by certain facts in comparative anatomy , I have been led to the conclusion that it should at least be rejected as nnjJroved . Yet I formerly thought differently , and freely avowed my opinion . If without adequate grounds I adopted this opinion , my doing so was largely owing to the confidence which I had in the observations and reasonings of others . And , truly , if all that is -recorded in phrenological books could bo relied upon , much of the argument that is founded upon it would not only be plausible but just . My own later observations , conducted as they have been , without bias or prepossession , do not certainly satisfy me ; for I have been quite unable to establish the minute distinctions , and to verify the more detailed statements , set forth by thorough-going partisans . I cannot , under these altered circumstances , now profess myself to be an adherent of what is commonly understood by the phrenological system .

    " For some years , indeed , my confidence in the scientific character of phrenology has gradually weakened . As I have grown older , I havo had occasion to become better acquainted with the difficulties of determining , with anything like precision , the inherent and relative strength of particular talents and dispositions in different individuals ; and I have found that accurate estimates of cerebral development , according to the phrenological theory , are not so very readily made , even by those most experienced in cranioscopic investigations . Indeed , the perpetual variation amongst phrenologists themselves , in tins respect , demonstrates that the process of verifying or falsifying their statements , is much more difficult than they themselves would represent it . It is obvious , moreover , upon

    reflection , that , in many instances , it is impossible to determine from actions what is their source in the recesses of the human breast ; and it is a fact that we are all prone to attribute the conduct of persons to motives which we associate with the character we havo in our own minds assigned to them . Phrenologists , seeing the development of sonic particular organ in undue proportion , havo no difficulty in recognising its assumed mental associate , even in the most indifferent circumstances . Altogether , I fuel myself bound to any , the organology of Gall ' s doctrine must be abandoned . Honesty and candour compel me to this admission , though with some reluctance , for it involves tho recantation of opinions for many years entertained and avowed . "

    The reader will distinguish between our approbation of the act and our approbation , of tho alloyed motives . We think Dr . Noble right in renouncing the phrenological system as unproven ; but whether ho can marshal ! his evidence bo as to make it carry the same conviction to other minds remains to be seen ; all we have to note here ia , that at present he has not done so . Wo believe in Phrenology but not in-tho Phrenologists : a paradox : which may cease if you consider tho somewhat analogous case of a man believing m X'hysiology as a , Science , yet not believing in its particular applications to medicine . Wo believe in Phrenology and in Physiology , both as sciences having a positive basis ; but even in Physiology there are tliinirs taught which wo reject , things which advaneingknowlerlgodaily throws

    into the . old rubbish corner ; still more is this the case with Phrenology . 'Further " , there are medical doctrines which protend to a Physiological basis , and which nevertheless we reject ; so also do we reject Phrenological teachings 'which protend to havo u basis in what Phrenology has established . ... a n Phrenology has two aspects—it is a Science and it is an Art . m < professes to " be a , cerebral Physiology , and also an art of reading character for the purpose of directing it . " As a matter of science only the most superficial acquaintance with the present state of j'hysiology could for a , moment permit acquiescence in " Phrenology as a system ; "liu although an Art is not always commenHurato with its corresponding ( Science ( in many respects being empirically in advance of it ) yet every " one must admit that until tho Science ia dolinitely established , the Art

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• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 10, 1853, page 1192, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2016/page/16/