became equally red. Do not these facts seem to indicate that only one of the cerebral hemispheres (or the brains, as Dr Wigan would say) was excited during the passion?

Hysteria and epilepsy have been frequently induced in persons of a nervous temperament by mental irritation, of which occurrence Mr Pettigrew relates several instances. He concludes the chapter with the following remarks:

"The consideration of such cases as those now referred to should lead all who practise medicine to look particularly to the mental condition of their patients. There is no subject of greater importance to the medical man, as well as to the philosopher in general, than the consideration of the influence exerted by the mind upon the vital functions of the body. The operation of the moral feelings and emotions in the production of corporeal disease, is far from being yet understood. I have but briefly touched upon it in these pages, as a means of explaining many circumstances which have been formerly attributed to miraculous and supernatural causes; and I have given evidence only of those stronger and more remarkable cases or events which have appeared to me to shew most conspicuously the connection I have endeavoured to point out. The minuter shades of disease produced by mental condition would, however, form a topic of vast interest and importance to the medical philosopher, and it is very much to be regretted that so little attention has hitherto been paid to the subject. Research in such a field of inquiry, I doubt not, would display many phenomena which, in ancient times, were attributed to celestial or supernatural agency, and latterly, to magnetic and other causes, which might be satisfactorily referred to the operations of the nervous system, without the supervention of other agency. The modus operandi is not understood, and the opinions entertained by physiologists are various. Bichat contended, that Grief, Anger, Dread, and Melancholy all acted not upon the brain, but upon the heart and the organs of the circulation, and that whatever lesion in the brain or nervous system could be discovered, was dependent upon the intermediate influence of the heart. The influence of the passions, in modifying the nutritive processes, is indeed very remarkable, and has been characterized in ordinary language. Thus we constantly hear of pining with envy,' being gnawed by remorse,' or 'wasted by melancholy.' Hence, it will be seen how essential it is that medical practitioners should attend with patience to the recital of the maladies of those by whom they are consulted, and cheer their depressed spirits by sympathy and consolation. This can be done without any

6

sacrifice of character, or abatement of self-respect and independence.

"The instances I have cited are sufficient to shew the power of the mind over the body, and the influence it exercises in health and in disease. To apply them to the cases in which charms, &c. have been employed, we must look at the character of the diseases, and we shall not fail to find that all, or nearly all, are such as to be especially under the influence of the nervous and sanguiferous systems. I have no intention of explaining all the narratives I have given in this manner. That would be impossible, and the attempt ridiculous; for I hold with Southey, that there is no truth, however pure, and however sacred, upon which falsehood cannot fasten, and engraft itself thereon."

"The charms for agues, and the cures vouched for, we have already seen are most numerous. They are, perhaps, to be attributed to the operation of fear or horror, occasioned by their odious and disgustful nature, being composed of spiders, toads, and lizards; or to the confidence reposed in the pomp and ceremony of a magical process, by which tone is imparted to the system.

"The hope entertained, by the possession of a charm, to avert pestilence, may have operated, in many instances, so as to counteract the taking of the plague, for which disease such numerous amulets have been found.

"Hæmorrhage is known to be suppressed by fright, which throws back the blood from the extreme branches to the larger vessels about the heart. Syncope produces the same effect.

66

Epilepsy and the other nervous disorders have frequently been produced by fright, and are especially under the control of mental emotions. Hysteria may be considered in the same point of view. The relief afforded in these cases, and in others of a convulsive nature, by relics of saints, charms, &c., can only be attributed to the prepossession entertained of their efficacy in curing the disease.

"Hiccup is a convulsive action, and commonly checked by effecting surprise or alarm.

"The cures attributed to Prince Hohenlohe were all cases of a nervous character,-palsy, lameness, defect of sight, &c. Dr Pfeuffer, the directing physician of the Universal Hospital of Bamberg, in his Psychological and Medical Researches respecting these cases (See Horn's Archives for 1822), asserts that they were all chronic disorders, not one of an acute character. The cures were undertaken without ostentation or mystery, nor was there any particular manipulation exer

cised. The zeal and energy and self-confidence of the prince increased with the various cases that pressed upon him, and the crowd of applicants participated with him in the feeling and excitement. In short, all miraculous cures are of the same description; the disorders are similar, and the effects described are precisely the same. It is faith which works the miracle, and in the Hohenlohe cases depended entirely upon the degree of religious feeling or enthusiasm entertained by

the sick.

"In the Journal of George Fox (vol. i., p. 103, edit. Lond. 1794), a case of lameness, suddenly relieved by an unexpected address under a state of religious ecstasy, is thus recorded: After some time I went to a meeting at Arnside, where Richard Mayer was. Now he had been long lame of one of his arms, and I was moved of the Lord to say unto him, amongst all the people, Prophet Myer, stand up upon thy legs (for he was sitting down); and he stood up, and stretched out his arm, that had been lame a long time, and said, Be it known unto you, all people, that this day I am healed. But his parents could hardly believe it; but after the meeting was done had him aside, and took off his doublet, and then they saw it was true. He came soon after to Swarth-more meeting, and there declared how that the Lord had healed him. Yet after this the Lord commanded him to go to York with a message from him, and he disobeyed the Lord; and the Lord struck him again, so that he died about three quarters of a year after.'

"An attentive consideration of the various sympathies. would, I doubt not, enable us to explain many of the phenomena that have been recorded, and which, without a due knowledge of the human economy, may justly be looked upon as of a miraculous nature.”

III. Elements of Phrenology. By GEORGE COMBE. Sixth Edition. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co.; and Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., London. 12mo. Pp. 223. 1845.

In this edition, Mr Combe has added a chapter on the “Relations between the structure and functions of the brain ;" in which the connexions of the brain with the spinal cord and nerves are expounded, and the cerebral structure of man is shewn to be in harmony with his actions, which are here divided into reflex, sensational, instinctive or emotional, and voluntary. The subject is so interesting, that we shall pro

bably devote an article to it in a future Number; contenting ourselves in the mean time with referring to the work under notice, and to a correspondence lately carried on by Mr Combe with Professor Reid of St Andrews and Dr Laycock of York, "on the Reflex Anatomy and Physiology of the Brain," and which is published in the Lancet of 30th August 1845, and several following Numbers. Professor Reid, we observe, has supplied Mr Combe with an abstract of Foville's description of the anatomy of the brain; it is inserted in the present edition of the Elements.

IV. The Power of the Soul over the Body, considered in Relation to Health and Morals. By GEORGE MOORE, M.D., Member of the Royal College of Physicians, London, &c. &c. London: Longman & Co. 1845. Post 8vo. Pp. 305.

Dr Moore is evidently a philanthropic and amiable man, and his book contains many sound and useful doctrines; but as a writer he wants precision and method, and in some of his chapters mixes up physiology with theological and fanciful speculations, which detract materially from the value of the work, and tend greatly to lower in our estimation his character as a philosopher. These remarks apply especially to the first half of the volume, which, it appears, " was written several years since, during the unwelcome but valuable leisure of disease, for the purpose of being addressed to a few young men;" but which, when addressed to the public at large, ought on that account to have been re-written, and not only brought into harmony with more advanced physiology, but rendered more consistent with itself. As the work now stands, Dr Moore at one time speaks of the fallen state and disordered nature" of man, and at another represents the human race as endowed with noble qualities which are incompatible with the corrupt state in which he theoretically holds us to exist. Materialism he regards with extreme horror-principally, it seems to us, because, like many other really intelligent persons who have not bestowed due consideration on the subject, he believes, on the one hand, that immortality is incompatible with materialism, and, on the other, that it is certainly deducible from immaterialism. Both notions we humbly conceive to be ill-founded, for reasons which have been sufficiently given on former occasions. (See p. 333 of this Number; also vol. xv. p. 348, and vol. xvi. p. 60.) In holding that Scripture is an authority in science,

66

Dr Moore shews himself to have lagged behind the age; and his idea that we have that "highest authority" for believing "that many spirits may occupy and employ the same body' (p. 293), may well excite a smile.

Throughout Dr Moore's volume many examples are given of the mutual influence of the mental and the digestive, respiratory, and other functions; but they might be equally adduced as proofs of the power of the body over the soul as that of the soul over the body." Having already, in our present Number, dwelt at some length upon this subject in noticing a work by Mr Pettigrew, we shall merely add, that although it would have been satisfactory to see fewer outrages on philosophy in Dr Moore's treatise, we are comforted by the reflection, that many useful physiological truths may be disseminated by its means in quarters which otherwise they were not likely to reach.

III. INTELLIGENCE, &c.

Lectures on Phrenology.-In June and July, Mr C. Donovan delivered a course of nine lectures in Cork; and a wish having been expressed, chiefly by young men engaged in business, for a second course, he delivered six lectures in August, to an audience of from 150 to 200 persons. At the close of the latter course, thirty gentlemen, including three physicians, formed a class for the purpose of receiving instructions in manipulating the head. Thirteen ladies formed a similar class; and Mr D. had, besides, several private pupils. Immediately after the first course, an open meeting, to which admission was free, was held in the theatre of the Philosophical Institution; and parties opposed to Phrenology were invited to attend. Only one of the prominent opponents appeared, and he, it seems, was totally unprepared with any kind of hostile argument. In the middle of September Mr Donovan was to deliver three lectures in Youghal, and he means to commence a course in Belfast early in October.-Mr Goyder lately delivered a few lectures on Phrenology to the Sunderland Literary and Philosophical Society, and has been invited to give another course.

Lectures on Mesmerism and Phreno-Mesmerism continue to be occasionally delivered. A paragraph in the Sun of 29th July states that "Mr Spencer T. Hall's third lecture on Mesmerism at the Western Literary Institution, Leicester Square, was delivered on Thursday evening to a numerous and approving audience. We perceive that Mr Hall has announced his farewell lectures for the season, and the friends of Mesmerism cannot fail to be gratified by the progress it has made in his hands during his residence in town."-During the same month, Mr Adair lectured on Mesmerism at Chester and Nantwich. At the latter place, as we learn from the Chester Courant, "the lecturer experimented on several persons, natives of Nantwich, most successfully, and which proved highly interesting, as the subjects were known to the company. The course throughout was attended by a numerous and highly respectable audience, and was listened to with marked attention." In the beginning