4. The Phrenological Association :— 1. Report of the Committee, June 1841, ". Page 333 2. Account of the Committee's Receipts and Disbursements, 336 3. Laws of the Association, 336 4. List of Additional Members, 338 5. Letter from Sir G. S. Mackenzie, Bart., 340 6. Mr Hudson Lowe on the Function of the Organ of Imitation, (Continued), 342 SECT. II. CASES AND FACTS. 1. Case of Exposure of the Brain, and its Movements during Functional Activity. By GEORGE COMBE, 356 2. Case of Inability to distinguish certain Colours, 358 360 5. Cases Illustrative of the Pathology of the Brain. By SAMUEL SOLLY, F.R.S., &c. SECT. III. NOTICES OF Books. 361 364 1. Illustrations of Phrenology. By G. R. LEWIS. No. I. Courvoisier, 367 2. Report from the Poor-Law Commissioners on the Training of Pauper Children, 3. The British Medical Journals:- Medico-Chirurgical Review, British and Foreign Medical Review, Edinburgh Monthly Journal of Medical Science, Lancet, 4. Our Library Table,. SECT. IV. 369 370 374 379 380 382 383 INTELLIGENCE. Lectures on Phrenology-Mr Barber's Visit to the Portsmouth Jail 386-390 France by the Astrolabe-Peruvian Skulls--Methods of Taking Books and Newspapers Received, To Correspondents, INDEX, . 390 390 391 ENGRAVINGS IN THIS VOLUME. Flat-headed Indian, 42-Idiot, 56-Human and Feline Brains, 189Skulls of Cat, Spaniel, and Crow, 266, 267-Linn and Hare, 301 -Maxwell and John Adam, 302-Melancthon, 307—Greenacre and Rev. Mr. M., 361. TO THE BINDER. The Engravings of Greenacre and Rev. Mr M. to face page 361. THE PHRENOLOGICAL JOURNAL. No. LXVI. NEW SERIES.-No. XIII. 1. MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. I. Report of the Proceedings of the Phrenological Association, at its Third Annual Session at Glasgow, in September 1840. In accordance with an announcement extensively circulated, and a copy of which was inserted in the thirteenth volume of this Journal, p. 242, the Phrenological Association held its third session during the week commencing Thursday 17th September 1840, in the Hall of the Glasgow Phrenological Society, 104 Brunswick Street, at one o'clock. At a preliminary meeting of the General and Local Councils, it was determined that ten shillings should be the sum payable by members attending the meetings, and that each should have the privilege of introducing a lady. At the meeting on Thursday, Mr GEORGE COMBE, the President of the Association, delivered the following Opening Address. GENTLEMEN,-In acknowledging with grateful feelings the honour which you have done me in electing me President of the Phrenological Association, and in sincerely expressing my conviction of my own inability to do that justice to the situation which its importance demands, I beg to add, that no effort, within the scope of my abilities, shall be wanting to render the meetings instructive and agreeable to all its members; in which object I know that I shall be warmly seconded by every gentleman whom I now address. I am bound, however, to mention, that no portion of the merit of forming the Association belongs to me. In March 1835, that early, stedfast, and indefatigable friend to the science, Sir George Mackenzie, published in the VOL. XIV.-N. S. NO. XIII. A Phrenological Journal a prospectus of a "British Association for the advancement of Mental Science." This was the first public suggestion offered on the subject. At a meeting of phrenologists held in Dublin on the 17th August of the same year, Professor Evanson moved, and Sir Henry Marsh, M. D., seconded the motion, "That it appears desirable that there should be formed a General Association of the Phrenologists of Great Britain and Ireland, to meet annually, for the purpose of advancing the science of Phrenology, giving publicity to its doctrines, and effecting a mutual co-operation among phrenologists." On the 25th of August 1838, a meeting of phrenologists was held in the lecture-room of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle, Professor Gregory in the chair; at which a Phrenological Association was instituted, and "declared to consist of those gentlemen (either members of established phrenological societies, or members of the British Association for the Advancement of Science) who enrol their names as members, and engage to obey the regulations from time to time adopted by the governing body." A provisional committee was appointed for the general management of the Association for the time being, who were instructed to frame laws," and arrange the proceedings of the Association, on a scale as liberal in spirit, and as economical in outlay, as is compatible with the well-being of the Association." It was resolved to meet annually, at the same times and places as should be appointed for the meetings of the British Association, and to request the attendance of phrenologists at the meeting of the Association to be held at Birmingham in 1839. During the meetings of the British Association at Birmingham in August 1839, the provisional committee proceeded to frame a code of laws, and to arrange the other business of the Phrenological Association. The Association adopted these laws (which were subsequently published in the Phrenological Journal), and then proceeded to hold regular meetings, at which topics of interest were brought forward by the members and discussed. The meeting elected office-bearers for the present year, and named this day, the 17th of September 1840, as the time, and this city, Glasgow, as the place, for the next assembling of the Association. I have said that, individually, I took no part in the proceedings which have now been briefly detailed. The honour of them belongs to the gentlemen whose names I have already mentioned, and to the others who formed the provisional committee. Allow me to add, that engagements in promoting the advancement of phrenology on the American Continent rendered my attendance at Newcastle and Birmingham nearly impossible. I sailed from Edinburgh, on my way to the United States, on the 1st, and from Bristol on the 8th, of September 1838, and did not return to England till the 17th of June 1840. The meeting at Newcastle was held only five days before my departure, and this is the first that has taken place since my return. Allow me to congratulate you who are here assembled, and phrenologists generally, on the great object which has been accomplished by the institution of this Association. The first difficulties have been surmounted, the machinery has been devised and set in motion, and we have before us a splendid field of exertion. Phrenology, as a branch of physical science, gives scope to the talents of those who are fond of observation, and love to approach Nature in her most palpable forms. The structure and connections of the brain; the indications of the development of this organ presented by the skull; its modifications in the different classes of animals; the effects of age, temperament, and disease, on its functions-are subjects of high importance, and well calculated to exercise a mind capable of scientific research. By the accurate observation of nature, the real foundation of phrenology as a science may be discovered by every intelligent inquirer who will bestow on it adequate attention. Far from shunning the scrutiny of a minute investigation of the facts on which we rest our inductions, phrenologists are constantly inviting, nay ardently soliciting, such a trial. In proportion to the extent and accuracy of any individual's observations, is the strength of his conviction of the truth of the doctrines which we are now met to advance. It will be a leading object with the members of this Association to bring forward facts and illustrations as numerously as possible. I respectfully recommend to every gentleman to become a close observer and rigid investigator, and, while he listens with becoming attention to the facts adduced by his fellow-labourers in the science, to omit no opportunity of verifying them himself by a direct appeal to nature. One difficulty in the department of observation has been experienced by every practical phrenologist. While ours is really a science of observation, we possess no instrument or other means for giving precise indications of the size of the different parts of the brain. This deficiency is a constant theme of objection in the mouths of our opponents, and is a subject of regret with those of our own members who, trained in the rigid school of experiment and observation applicable to inorganic, and even to organic but nonsentient matter, de sire to see the same certainty of admeasurement introduced into phrenology. Many endeavours have been made by ingenious individuals to invent instruments for measuring accurately the size of the different parts of the brain in the living head, but none of them, within my knowledge, has been entirely successful. When I was in Philadelphia, in the beginning of 1839, this subject engaged much of the attention of Dr Morton, author of the splendid work on the "Crania Americana;" of Mr John Phillips, a gentleman possessed of high mechanical talents, who devoted himself to the subject in conjunction with Dr Morton; and of myself: and a mode of measurement was devised by Mr Phillips, which is described in Dr Morton's work, and which was practised by them with a view to determine scientifically the size, not of each minute portion, but of the great divisions of the brain, the anterior, the coronal, and basilar regions; but even these endeavours led only to approximations to precise results. We remain, therefore, still in the condition of judging of the size of the different parts of the brain only by observation and estimation. We possess rules, however, to direct us in our estimates, and these I regard as sufficient to enable us to distinguish, with little danger of mistake, the relative proportions of the anterior, the coronal, and the basilar regions of the brain. In regard to the individual organs, I solicit your attention to two points that should always be distinguished, although they are often confounded, especially by our opponents; namely, the possibility of discovering the functions of particular parts of the brain, and the possibility of applying our discoveries in all instances. In a strictly scientific inquiry, it is only the first that we are bound to establish. If we can shew that it is possible, in a sufficiently large number of instances, to distinguish the size of particular organs without risk of mistake, and to observe accurately the manifestations that accompany different degrees of size, phrenology may justly claim that degree of certainty which constitutes knowledge a science, although some difficulties should lie in the way of its practical application to individual cases. It will be admitted by every practical phrenologist, that it is possible to discriminate the size of each organ if we resort to extreme cases. I cannot conceive the condition of a mind unable to distinguish between the size of the organ of Ideality in the head of Dr Chalmers and its size in that of David Haggart; I mean so to distinguish the difference as to arrive at as positive a conviction of the organ being large in the former and small in the latter, as he could reach in con |