ever he wished. He therefore was unable to eat all he had taken nevertheless, he took it, and distributed it among his play-fellows. When playing with them, some of their playthings frequently disappeared in a moment; and he contrived to conceal them for days, and often for weeks, with a slyness and sagacity remarkable for his age. When about five years old, he began to steal copper coins: at the age of six years, when he began to know something of the value of money, he looked out for silver pieces; and in his eighth year he only contented himself with larger coins, and proved to be, on public promenades, an expert pickpocket. He was early apprenticed to learn a trade; but his master, being constantly robbed by him, soon dismissed him. This was the case with several other tradesmen, till at last, in his fourteenth year, he was committed to the House of Correction. Whether that Institution was fortunate enough to correct this ill-fated youth, the writer of this essay is unable to state.

This case proves, as we have seen in the former examples with respect to the disposition to commit suicide, that the inclination for stealing had been transmitted by inheritance from the father to the son and the grandson; just as we find physical complaints and bodily diseases propagating themselves by inheritance from one generation to another. Similar instances of an inherited disposition to some moral defect, or to some mental aberration, are not at all rare, and have been noticed by many. *

But, however striking these instances may be, still we must not be misled by them, to believe that there is an unavoidable necessity that the vices and immoralities of parents shall be inherited by their children, and that a man must necessarily become a slave to vice, and to the demons of despair, merely because he is under the fatality of being the son of a vicious or otherwise ill-fated father. Experience abounds in examples which distinctly shew the contrary in this respect, as well as with respect to bodily diseases. How often do we meet with casest in which unhealthy parents have children who are quite the contrary throughout their whole lives. Further, we must consider, that many, if not most, individuals are, by their birth, placed in a position which opposes the greatest obstacles to the free development of their mental capacities, and often even endangers the purity of their souls. Most of those great men, perhaps, who have acquired immortality by their high services to Church and State, to Sciences and Arts, were

* Mr Frederic Hill, Inspector of Scottish Prisons, states, in his Second and Third Reports, that he has "found crime, to a considerable extent, running in families, and apparently hereditary."-ED.

† Exceptions, however, from the general rule.-ED.

*

born in circumstances environed with difficulties, but which they conquered by the strength of their own will, which made way for them through the darkness of superstition, and removed those bars which checked their course; till at last, strengthened and encouraged more and more by continual strife and attainment of victory, they obtained that position of mental independence in which the qualities of their minds could unfold themselves in their pure and shining brightness. Every man, with whatever fatal soul-endangering disposition he may have been born, is equally able to conquer the same, by the concentrated unremitting strength of his own will, and by a deeply founded confidence in the assistance of the Almighty, the source of all that is pure and good; and thus every one is able to divest his soul of all impurity, and to let it shine in the original sanctity with which it streamed forth from the Divine source :—and, therefore, every man also remains accountable for his own bad actions; for they are not the unavoidable consequences of necessity. The simple, sincere, and earnest belief in God drives away all thought of sin: but to forget God, or never to have known him, this it is which throws man into the arms of sin and despair.

II-NOTICES OF BOOKS.

I. Zeitschrift für Phrenologie. No. VII. Heidelberg: Karl Groos, 1844.

The German Phrenological Journal. No. VII.

Sept. 1844. Edited by GUSTAV VON STRUVE and EDWARD HIRSCHFELD, M.D.

The first article of this Number is the conclusion of Dr Hirschfeld's paper on "the Laws of the Nervous System considered in relation to Phrenology." After discussing the spinal column, and the nerves of motion and feeling, he proceeds to observe, that "the cutting through of the pons Variolii, as also of the middle nervous bundles proceeding to the cerebellum, produces, in the lower animals, movements in the form of a circle round their own axis. Similar circular motions ensue on cutting the large crura of the brain. Longet and Lafargue have shewn, by their experiments, that these circular motions are always directed towards the injured side. Magendie, who maintains the opposite proposi

*No phrenologist will admit the soundness of this statement. Experience tells a totally different tale. Dr Steinau himself speaks of the "irresistible inclination" of Charles P-to steal. A short communication on this subject will be found among the articles of "Intelligence" in a subsequent part of our present Number.-ED.

tion, viz. that they are directed to the uninjured side, appears to have been too hasty in his observations. The wounded animal first sinks down on the injured side, and then commences turning round on this side, as its axis, with great celerity of motion. How are these phenomena to be accounted for, in contradistinction to the simple result of laming, which ensues on cutting the deep-lying portions of the spinal cord? In my opinion, the cause of the difference is this,that fibres from the cerebral ganglia enter into the structure of the crura and pons Variolii, and, like the nerves of motion and feeling in the spinal cord, there interlace with each other, with a view to their combined action by means of the grey matter. The pons Variolii contains grey matter all through its structure, and with it encircles the crura. It thus presents the conditions necessary to an interchange of functional communications. The section of these parts, therefore, is no longer limited to the nerves merely of sensation and motion; but injures and excites also fibres which stand in closer connection with the mental functions. In consequence of this connection, involuntary mental action accompanies the excitement of these parts, and this mental agitation communicates the impulse to muscular action to those parts of the body which, after the cutting, still remain under the influence of the mental functions. The involuntary mental action excited by cutting the cerebral fibres may consist of fear, of desire to oppose, to escape from the danger, or of any other emotion which impels to muscular motion; and it is this which causes the animal to exhaust itself in vigorous muscular efforts by means of the limbs still under the influence of the will. The muscles of the uninjured side are stimulated into powerful action, while those of the injured side are entirely disabled. The former strive to move in the forward direction; but as this motion is confined to one side, the circular movement round the axis of the injured side is an inevitable consequence. On the other hand, when the nerves of motion are divided, in parts where they are not interwoven with cerebral fibres, no such excitement of the mental functions takes place; these, therefore, do not act involuntarily on the uninjured portions of the spinal marrow, and the animal lies simply disabled, without endeavouring to execute movements which are inadequate to accomplish their object.'

These views may be regarded as hypothetical; but Dr Hirschfeld acutely and justly remarks, that one great detraction from the value of experiments performed on the lower animals is the inability of those creatures to describe their

sensations; from which circumstance it is impossible to ascertain accurately to what extent their movements, produced by vivisections, arise from muscular irritability, from sensations of pain, or from mental agitation acting voluntarily or involuntarily on the motor column. Only from man can we learn with precision the effects produced by injuries of particular parts of the cerebrum; for he alone can distinguish and convey by speech clear ideas of what mental powers he has lost, and what he retains; what he feels, and what he does not feel; and to what extent he retains, or has lost, the power of motion.

Dr Hirschfeld adds the remark, that those physiologists who reject Phrenology, advance nothing beyond hypotheses regarding the functions of the different portions of the cerebrum; and that, from the great differences of opinion prevailing among them, it is obvious that, on this subject, no one of them has confidence in the conclusions of another. He demonstrates, that by no other method than that pursued by Dr Gall, is it possible, so far as experience has yet extended, to discover the functions of the different cerebral parts.

The second article of the Journal is a continuation of George Combe's letters on the application of Phrenology to the Fine Arts, which have already appeared in our pages.

The next article is entitled, "Phrenology Considered in Relation to the Church," by Mr Von Struve. He remarks, that in our day it becomes more and more evident that little can be effected by the application of mere physical force to the human mind, and that hence it is proportionately necessary for those who aim at influencing the public will, either in large or narrow spheres, by moral means, to study Phrenology. It is the science of human nature which teaches us the manner and means by which men must be acted on, if we expect to succeed in leading their minds towards wisdom and virtue. In this point of view, Phrenology is of great importance to the clergy. He describes the division of the brain into the regions of the animal propensities, the moral sentiments, and the intellect, and proceeds: Man exists in a twofold world, the inner world of his own thoughts and emotions, and the outer world of physical and animated beings. The one of these corresponds and is adapted to the other." "The organ of Causality impels men to inquire into the causes of the various phenomena of life." "By this means we arrive at a conviction of a First Cause-at Godwhose existence those only will deny in whom Causality is in an abnormal condition. The higher sentiments of our souls, on the other hand, will impel us to connect our inner being

more closely with the Godhead, to adore Him, and to trust in Him.

"The two great provinces of the Church are those of morals and religion. Let us first advert to that of morals. The obscurity and contradiction which have hitherto prevailed in matters of faith, have also spread their baneful influence on morals. Teachers have strayed from nature." "The organs on which morality rests are Benevolence and Conscientiousness, acting in harmony with an enlightened intellect. These cannot be exercised by mere words, or precepts, but by scenes and actions in which their activity is involved." "So long as the animal propensities and the inferior sentiments play so great a part in our lives as they now do, it is impossible for Benevolence and Conscientiousness to produce practical effects. In our schools and institutions for education, the teachers content themselves with giving instruction in morals; that is, they speak to their pupils about morals, they explain to them works on morals, and recommend to them a moral life. Our youth, generally speaking, learn nothing more than this instruction communicates, namely, to speak, when occasion requires, on moral subjects, to explain works on morality, and to admonish others to live virtuously. In consequence of this method of teaching, morals remain in the domain of theory, and do not bring forth practical fruits in social life. On the other hand, the enticements of fashion, the love of wealth, and the dictates of a false honour strike in practically, and act so powerfully on the youthful mind, that no merely theoretical morality is capable of contending successfully with all these realities.

"Many complaints are made of the depraved morals and unproductiveness of our age. Both, although appearing different, have nevertheless the same cause,-namely, deficiency of moral power. The moral sentiments do not sufficiently restrain the animal propensities, and hence arises laxity of morals; and they do not adequately warm and excite the intellect, and hence comes the deficiency of practical goodness and usefulness. In our day, intellect has been carried to a high point, but which only renders its hollowness, when separated from morality, the more conspicuous. It has become the servant of vice, and of every inferior propensity, and has failed to fulfil the expectations formed of it. Intellect, as the executive power of the moral sentiments, becomes as conspicuously useful as it is injurious when the handmaid of the propensities. There is nothing so low and so worthless that intellect will shrink, in our day, from defending. As it defended slavery, gladiatorial combats, and unnatural practices.