on the occasion alluded to, it was empty, while the thirst of the animal was fiercely excited by a burning sun : she first anxiously examined the trough, then put her nose to the spout of the pump, as if endeavouring to suck out the water, which she seemed distinctly to know issued from that aperture. This effort also was in vain: she then moved round to the handle of the pump, which was so low that she could have moved it with her teeth or by her horns; she laid her head along it, as if recollecting the fact that water came when it was moved; but, as Nature had denied her organs of Causality, she was utterly blind to the relation between the motion of that piece of wood and the flow of water, and she continued standing and suffering without making the least attempt to perform the operation of pumping. In this instance there was the strongest desire for the water; there were eyes and other organs of sense capa ble of seeing and feeling as acutely as those of man, and there was an obvious manifestation of observing faculties— for she had noticed and recollected the phenomena which attended the supply of water; but there was a complete destitution of the idea of relation between the motion of the handle and the effect which she so ardently desired. Every human being, who is not an idiot, possesses all the organs to a greater or less extent; and, in the most deficient, there is still enough of reflecting power to give rise to the idea of relation between such obvious instances of cause and effect as this, the moment the phenomena are presented in conjunction to the mind: hence there is an immeasurable gulf between the lower animals and man, which the former can never pass without a fundamental change of their natural constitution.

But, although the power of perceiving the relation of cause and effect in simple occurrences is possessed by all, the talent of tracing it in difficult and complicated phenomena is bestowed on comparatively few; and the more numerous and intricate the causes are which combine towards producing an effect, the more highly gifted in this talent must the mind be which shall be capable of tracing all their relations. In short, the highest development of the upper portion of the forehead is then indispensably necessary to success.

It happens, however, that individuals, who, by the pre

U

dominance of the knowing organs, are admirably fitted for observation, and for handling details, are, from the very same circumstance, little calculated to discover or appreciate the more profound and difficult relations of causation. Hence

such practical men," as they style themselves, have uniformly been the opponents of every new doctrine in science that required a profound and comprehensive intellect to trace its foundation, relations, and results. Abstract truths appear to such minds vague and impalpable, and their conception of them is at the best feeble and incomplete. They imagine that this arises from the nature of the propositions themselves, and hence regard them as uncertain and unsafe. When at length abstract doctrines have been reduced to practice, they are capable of appreciating them in their results; but, while they remain creatures of the mind alone, their intellects cannot reach them.

The late clamour against Political Economy, and the repeal of the combination laws, has, we have perceived, emanated from these knowing heads alone. The speculations which they have given forth on those topics, have been characterized by a destitution of every thing resembling Causality they have seized the surface-views of the questions the first results, as it were; and, incapable of tracing the distant consequences, they have dogmatized with all the arrogance of Self-esteem, unenlightened by real penetration. Every judgment embraces two circumstances the facts presented to the intellect, and the character of the intellect itself. The latter element is almost uniformly overlooked by persons who have not attained to the practical discrimination conferred by Phrenology; and yet it is nearly as important as the former. If every author were required to print a correct account of his cerebral development in his preface, a great saving of discussion might be effected. We would then acknowledge as authorities only such individuals as possess talents calculated to comprehend the subjects on which they write.

ON THE EFFECTS OF OLD AGE ON THE MANIFESTATIONS OF THE MENTAL FACULTIES.*

To the Editor.

SIR,-Several years ago I had occasion to visit an old and venerable clergyman, but who, from his extreme age, was almost in a state of second childhood.-Occasional gleams of intellect manifested themselves; but in general he appeared insensible to every thing around him, and the contrast between what he had been in the days of his vigour and usefulness, and the mental imbecility to which he was now reduced, was as great as it was affecting. I was then at that period of life when the intellect comes into activity; and, utterly unacquainted with the physiology of the brain, I believed that it was the mind, the immaterial principle itself, which was thus hastening to decay-a consideration, however, which distressed and perplexed me, and gave rise to thoughts and reflections, which the more I pursued the less satisfaction I obtained. Often, since the period to which I have alluded, have such thoughts obtruded themselves on my mind, and still I was unable to obtain any satisfactory solution of the difficulties which they presented to me. If it is the mind or the soul which thus increases with our strength, and decays as our body hastens to dissolution,Where, I asked, is the proud distinction of mind over matter, if both are thus subject to disease and decay? Where the boasted difference between the body and the soul, if disease and old age affect them both, and equally impair the functions of the one and of the other? I did not doubt the immortality of the soul; I believed, on the authority of Scripture, that the soul at death passes immediately into another state of existence; but still I felt it difficult to conceive how it should at once recover all its pristine youth and vigour, when in the instant before such fearful ravages had been made on its faculties, so as almost, if not altoge ther, to have destroyed them.

Phrenology has dissipated all these difficulties and perplexities. I no longer believe in the absurd, though popular

• Vol. ii. No. 7, p. 375.

error, that it is the mental faculties themselves which grow, and which afterwards wither and decay. The mind.is a pure immaterial substance, requiring indeed, in this life, corporeal organs, on which its power of manifestation depends, but which remains the same pure essence whether its organs are soft and flaccid, as in children,-hard and rigid, as in old age, or inflamed and diseased, as in fever and insanity. The objections brought against Phrenology on the ground of materialism are fast hastening away; but I have thought that hitherto Phrenologists, in refuting this objection, have too often contented themselves with wielding the shield rather than the sword. But why should they stand merely on the defensive, and not carry the war into the enemy's country? That in old age the mental faculties cease to manifest themselves with their former vigour is a fact, whether that fact is to be explained according to the phrenological or the popular theory. The mind, we are told, is degraded and debased by its supposed close and intimate connexion with material organs, so much so, that the step to absolute materialism is almost imperceptible, if not necessary. But how much more is the mind degraded by these objectors, who admit, as they must admit, that it is susceptible of disease and decay, and that its pure etherial essence is, like the body in which it dwells, impaired by age and all its attendant infirmities? Error, indeed, is ever inconsistent; and you will find men who talk about the body affecting the mind, and the mind the body, who yet seem to start with instinctive alarm at the idea of the mind possessing material organs, and who forthwith, forgetting their own previous admissions, launch forth into high-flown, unintelligible-I had almost said nonsense, about the independence of mind upon matter; and now our spiritual part is so little affected by its alleged material organ, that the former can manifest its powers in all their energy, whatever may be the state or condition of the latter.

I am well aware that there are few, if any, of the physiologists of the present day who dispute the connexion between the mind and the brain, or who do not believe that the latter is the organ of the former. Our dispute with them, therefore, is narrowed to the question, Is there a plurality of organs in the brain? But the public generally have by no means arrived at this point of the controversy. Let an indi

vidual maintain the opinion in general society, that the brain is the organ of the mind, and he is instantly set down as an undoubted Phrenologist, though he may utterly disbelieve the doctrine of a plurality of organs, the belief of which alone constitutes a Phrenologist. The instance to which I have alluded is not a hypothetical one, but one which actually happened in my own experience. Such then being the popular opinion, and, I may add, the opinion of almost all of our metaphysicians, let me again ask, Which system most raises and ennobles our ideas of man's spiritual essence— that which represents it as liable to change and to decay— or that which believes it to be incapable of any change, and refers the apparent loss or disease of the mental faculties, not to the faculties themselves, but to the material organs on which these faculties depend, in this life, for their manifestation?

I know not how others may feel, but I can state from experience, that the phrenological view has removed from my own mind a thousand difficulties which used to distract and perplex me. I lately called with a friend on a gentleman, who was in precisely the same state as the clergyman whom I formerly mentioned. Though they had been on terms of the most intimate friendship for upwards of forty years, the gentleman had lost all recollection of my friend, and did not know him even after his name was mentioned. I could not help contrasting the very different feelings I had experienced on these two occasions;-now I had no occasion to distress myself with the endless unsatisfactory inquiry which had formerly distressed me. I was fully aware of the causes to which the effects were to be ascribed. It was not his mind which was affected-that had remained, as it has ever done, unimpaired ;—its material organ had become stiff and rigid through age, and therefore its power of manifestation had ceased.

I know not if these remarks are worthy of a place in your Journal. They have not the merit of novelty; but sometimes the statement of our experience of the effects which truth produces on our own minds may have an influence on some whom a formal dissertation might fail to convince.I am, Sir, your most obedient servant,

G.