feeling, unto which it hath become in his own mind habitually instrumental. In his descriptions of children this is particu larly the case, because of his firm belief in a doctrine, more poetical, perhaps, than either philosophical or christian, that

Heaven lies about us in our infancy.

Though the tenderness and beauty resulting from this opinion be to us a rich overpayment for the occasional strainings and refinements of sentiment to which it has given birth, it has yet often served to make the author ridiculous in common eyes, in that it has led him to state his own fairy dreams as the true interpretation and import of the looks and movements of children, as being even really in their minds.

Such are the faults of composition, into which the habit of associating what we see and hear with what we believe and hope will be most apt to betray a mind, that can think and feel intensely. But there is an error in conduct to which it often leads, which it may be pardonable to mention here, because it is closely connected with the course and object of this work. That root of bitterness which lies soo deeply imbedded in our nature, putting forth its shoots to lay hold of every wholesome plant, and poison it in return for its support-our original corruptionhath not failed to mingle itself even with our habits of pure and devout meditation, enticing us to rest satisfied with ourselves, if we have formed holy imaginations, and longed after heavenly things, though we have not embodied our feelings in activé zeal and charity. This is the sin which most easily besets the fervid and melancholy mind, smitten with the love of scenery and poetical meditation: and if not duly checked by a strong practical sense of duty, its effects are but the more lamentable for the nobleness of the heart in which it abides. At once restless and indolent, ever turning giddily round in a maze of his own making, without advancing a single step in the race of glory and benevolence; if ever human mind became pitiable in the eyes of men and angels, it is that man's, who spends his life in beating the air with the strength of right principles habitually separate from his practice. The Excursion, however, though its subject be so dangerous, is so far from deserving any censure in this kind, that all its tendencies are strong in encouragement of real, industrious, social virtue. The two men of sentiment, the Pastor and the Wanderer, are both represented as doing good to all within their sphere. And in the following passage the exercise of duty is recommended to the solitary as the chief and only comfort of the sick soul.

What then remains ?-To seek

Those helps, for his occasions ever near,
Who lacks not will to use them: vows, renew'd

On

On the first motion of a holy thought;
Vigils of contemplation; praise; and prayer,
A stream, which, from the fountain of the heart
Issuing, however feebly, no where flows
Without access of unexpected strength.
But, above all, the victory is most sure
To him, who seeking faith by virtue, strives
To yield entire submission to the law

Of conscience; conscience reverenc'd and obey'd;
As God's most intimate presence in the soul,
And his most perfect image in the world.
Endeavour thus to live; these rules regard,
These helps solicit; and a steadfast seat
Shall then be yours among the happy few
Who dwell onearth yet breathe empyreal air,
Sons of the morning. For your nobler part,
Ere disencumber'd of her mortal chains,
Doubt shall be quell'd and trouble chas'd away;
With only such degree of sadness left
As may support longings of pure desire,
And strengthen love, rejoicing secretly
In the sublime attractions of the grave."

P. 151.

Who can estimate the advantage which would result to mankind, if all men endowed with Mr. Wordsworth's talents would devote them to the expression, by their life and writings, of sentiments pure and ennobling like these? Is it indeed for purposes of vanity or applause, or to be the plaything of an idle hour, that Poetry was sent into the world? that a few are gifted above their fellows with eyes that can see deep into their own minds, and wide around them on the operations of Nature and Providence with a tongue that can wield all the powers of language for gracefulness or terror; with the port and march almost of superior beings, bowing all hearts to receive their words as it were an oracle? Are all these things for our amusement, or are they talents, for the use of which we shall be called to a severer account, in proportion as they are more rare and precious than those even of the monarch or conqueror. These are awful questions, and it nearly concerns every man of poetical genius to ask them of his own heart, and to act conscientiously up to the answer he receives: that the noblest faculties of our nature may be employed to the noblest ends, and the reason, the fancy, and the affections concur in doing good to mankind, and giving glory to God.

ART. II. The Physiognomical System of Drs. Gall and Spurzheim, founded on an anatomical and physiological Examination of the Nervous System in general, and of the Brain in particular; and indicating the Dispositions and Manifes tations of the Mind. By J. G. Spurzheim, M.D. 8vo. Plates. pp. 567. 11. 10s. Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy.

1815.

SOME months ago, when Cranology first became a subject of general interest, we were desirous therefore, from the several publications which were sanctioned either by the names or by the authority of Drs. Gall and Spurzheim, to inform our readers concerning the nature of their doctrines. From the perusal of these works, we were enabled to collect a short history of the authors and their labours, to give a general view of their system, to state the kind of reasoning which they adopted, and the facts which they employed in maintaining it, and to refute those objections, which a priori might be raised against the system. To this we afterwards added their discoveries respecting the anatomy of the brain, both because these are admitted by the best anatomists in this country and on the continent, and because they served to illustrate certain phenomena, hitherto unexplained, which occur in several diseases of that organ; and because they were thought by Drs. Gall and Spurzheim not to contradict, and perhaps to confirm the new Physiology. Upon the whole, we saw nothing so egregiously absurd in the system as to justify us in condemning and rejecting it without examination. We were convinced, and we endeavoured to convince our readers, that it led to no conclusion really hostile to religion, or subversive of good morals. In short we allowed, that the Physiology of Drs. Gall and Spurzheim, which divides the brain into a number of organs, each having a separate office in the production of a particular faculty, was by no means irrational, and that it might possibly be true; and that the doctrine of Cranology, which divines the moral and intellectual capacity of man from the external figure of the skull, might perhaps be a verifiable theory, but that infinity of facts and observations were required for its confirmation.

Concerning the actual existence of the particular faculties, and the external marks by which they are indicated, we have hitherto purposely abstained from making any observation, intending to make this part, which is indeed the material and essential part of the whole, the subject of a separate Article. ́ It remains therefore, that we at present confine ourselves to that

which is called the Organology, of which we propose to give as faithful and ample a detail as our limits will allow.

The work of Dr. Spurzheim, which has lately appeared, must of course be considered by its author to contain the most complete summary of facts and observations in confirmation of the Physiognomical System. We have prefixed its title to the head of this Article, and to it we have confided for the information, by which we form our estimate of the doctrines which it professes to teach.

Drs. Gall and Spurzheim maintain, that the brain is the instrument of the moral and intellectual faculties; and that it consists of as many organs as there are different faculties; moreover that the faculties possess an energy each according to the size of its appropriate organ, and that the external surface of the head indicates the degree of developement which belongs to the brain in general, and to its particular parts, and consequently indicates the energy of the faculties. Let it first be enquired how the cranium affords a faithful representation of the brain.

It is a law of the animal economy, that hard parts follow the form and direction of those which are soft, when the latter are inclosed by the former, Thus the brain determines the form of the skull; for immediately after conception, it is found to exist covered by its membranes, but without any investment from the bony case, which afterwards envelopes it. Soon, however, points of ossification are formed on a cartilaginous membrane, which extend in a radiant direction, and by their assemblage constitute the bones of the skull. After birth the skull increases in proportion as the brain expands, not the whole simultaneously, but different parts at different periods, according to the partial developement of the cerebral organs. At first the forehead is narrow and flat, but becomes wider and prominent from the age of three months to that of eight or ten years. After this period, the middle part of the forehead is less developed in proportion to other parts. The neck of children is very small, because the cerebellum is not yet expanded. The diseased state of the brain contributes to prove the position relative to the form of the skull. In monsters born without brain, the cranium is wanting. The ideot's brain, which is preternaturally small, and that of the hydrocephatic patient, which is preternaturally distended, exhibit correspondent varieties in the conformation of the skull. In old age too, the cranium follows the changes, which the brain is said naturally to undergo at that period of life. The fact however of the brain losing its accustomed firmness in advanced life, and sinking below its ordinary

4

level, and that the internal table of the skull follows its depres. sion, has escaped the notice of anatomists in general.

It is maintained, that the size of the brain may be distinguished by the size of the skull, from birth to the period when. its convolutions begin to sink. Hence Cranology confines its observation to the young and middle-aged, and regards the old as unfit subjects of speculation. But although the internal table of the skull sinks in proportion as the brain's surface is depressed, yet the external table, losing neither its form nor its situation, but remaining in every respect the same, the Cranologist ought to determine, even in an old man, what had been his moral and intellectual capacity in earlier life. It is said of chronic, maniacal disorders, that they occasion a diminution of the volume of the brain, and cause the correspondent changes in the lower table of the skull, by which the diploic matter interposed between the two tables is increased, and the whole cranium is augmented in density and weight, a circumstance which subjects cranological researches to some uncertainty. Our own observation, however, is far from confirming the universality of the fact. In cases of insanity consequent upon blows and injuries of the head, it is not unusual to find a thickened and altered state of the cranium, which is the natural consequence of inflammatory action, but such changes are by no means uniformly seen in cases of spontaneous madness. Upon the whole, however, it must be admitted, that, with a few exceptions, the size and figure of the brain is faithfully represented by the external sur face of the skull.

Now the figure of the brain is determined by the degree of prominence which belongs to its convolutions; and these are considered by our author to be the exterior terminations of particular organs, which are appropriated to the production of separate mental faculties. The size of the organ is thought to indicate the energy of the function: and thus from the exterual cranium, according as it is more or less elevated in particular parts, is inferred the degree to which certain organs are developed, and the extent to which they are capable of exercising their functions. Hence the configuration of the skull becomes the index of moral and intellectual capacity.

Before it is shewn how our author distributes the functions of the brain into feelings and propensities, into faculties of knowledge and faculties of reflection, and their subdivisions, and how he assigns a particular organ for the production of each, we shall first enquire the reasons why he rejects the former divisions of philosophers, and why he does not investigate the seat of perception, memory, judgement, and imagination, or explore the source of the passions and affections.

He