he means ? Is it books written by men? Are not these the productions of the human sentiments and intellect? Who are the teachers he refers to, and whence do they derive the doctrines they teach? What faculties do they possess which we have not, and what higher claims have they than ourselves to pronounce definitively as to what is right in conduct?

Mr Combe refers to other means which the Creator has provided for the improvement of the human mind. To what means does he allude? All merely human means are included among the particulars already noticed. We feel ourselves, therefore, upon the principles stated by Mr Combe himself, shut up to the conclusion, that these means must be something more than human. We come just to the point to which the matter has been so often brought before, — we are compelled to resort to Revelation.

Unless Mr Combe is prepared to deny the authority of Revelation altogether, he must admit that it is one of those means by which the Creator has provided for the improvement of the human mind. And if he admits this, and, after all the circuitous route he has taken, his doctrine leads, in its ultimate result, to the conclusion, that the intellect and sentiments of man are insufficient of themselves to direct what is right in conduct, and that to fit them for this important purpose, they require to be illuminated by reflection and experience, and by that knowledge of moral and religious duty, which is to be obtained from the revealed will of God, we are henceforth agreed, and no objection, so far as I know, can be stated to his principle. According to this view, the moral sentiments and intellect are extremely useful in enabling us to obtain a view of our moral and religious duty, and in retaining us in the path of duty when so discovered; but what becomes of their supremacy?

produces respect to our superiors, and a supreme love and regard to the Creator,-and Benevolence, which leads to the love of our neighbour. When united and combined with these different feelings, it converts what was before simple inclination into binding duty: and thus it points. to three different classes of duties, the duties we owe to ourselves and our families, the duties we owe to God and to civil magistrates, and the duties we owe to our fellow-men and fellow-subjects. These it is the province of the moralist and the divine to point out, and to enforce with their proper sanctions.

The organ of Self-esteem, though placed behind these, as inferior in dignity, must still be considered of high importance, and is indispensable to the perfection of the human character. When properly directed by intellect and conscientiousness, it may undoubtedly be considered a moral feeling, and many cases occur where it materially aids in preserving us from mean and improper actions. It would, however, be apt to become excessive and pernicious, were it not accompanied on each side by the Love of approbation, which renders us amenable to the opinion of others; and had it not adjoining it the organs of the domestic and kindly affections, embracing those whose good opinion we would most wish to preserve; all tending to modify and soften down any overweening conceit of ourselves, and preserve it within the bounds of propriety.

Then, to give the character consistency and power, and to prevent our actions and purposes from being the sport of every passing emotion, there lies at the top of the head the organ of Firmness, giving, as we have seen, constancy to persevere in our undertakings, resolution to face danger and difficulty, patience to endure suffering ; which gives the power to resolve, supplies the determined will to do what is right, and converts what would

otherwise be mere feeling into steadfast moral principle. This is the faculty which binds together and gives solidity and consistency to the whole character, of which the other sentiments and faculties compose the separate parts. It is, therefore, one of the most important of the faculties, being, in fact, the keystone of the arch which keeps all the rest in their places.

I have hitherto taken no notice, in this arrangement, of the faculties of words and of Language. The organs appropriated to these faculties lie at the base of the brain in front, behind and above the orbits of the eyes, forming the inferior roof of that vault, the upper part of which is occupied by the organs of the intellectual faculties. As all conventional signs consist of some modification of sound or form, and as language consequently depends in the first instance on the faculties which perceive these qualities, its organ is naturally placed in contact with those of Form and Tune. But there is another reason for its being placed where it is, namely, that from this position it communicates with the organs of the observing, knowing, comparing, reasoning, and imaginative faculties, indicating distinctly the union of all the intellectual powers requisite to the perfection of that rarest and most splendid of human endowments, the gift of eloquence.

These are all the faculties generally recognized by phrenologists, and of which the organs have been discovered to lie in the exterior convolutions of the brain; but there seems to be something more necessary to afford a complete view of the mental system. Man possesses, besides these, Consciousness, by which he is enabled to perceive and reflect upon the feelings and operations, or states of mind produced by the activity of these organs, and by which also he is conscious that he remains the same individual from day to day and from year to year, notwithstanding all the changes that take place both in

his bodily organs and his mental capacities. Mr Combe alludes to this in his System of Phrenology,* and states that it is "extremely difficult to determine whether the consciousness of personal identity is connected with a particular organ, or is the result of the general action of the whole." It is impossible to discuss the point here fully, but the following is generally understood by Phrenologists to be the true explanation of the matter: That the living and conscious principle which we call Self, or let us say at once the Soul, is a simple and indivisible being, of which the brain is the organ during life; that what we call faculties are merely different states of this simple being; that the separate organs of the brain afford the means by which these states of mind are induced and manifested; that consciousness is not to be considered an attribute of each faculty, but only an attribute of the mind itself, of which the faculties are the different states. This view of the matter entirely relieves Phrenology from the imputation of its leading to Materialism, to which it is no more liable than any other system admitting the brain to be the organ of the mind. It is also a strong confirmation of this view, and of the soul being a simple and uncompounded substance, that Consciousness is always the same, and always single. Whatever faculties are active, we have the feeling that they belong to the mind, but are not the mind; that the living principle, Self, would remain the same, though one or more of our faculties were dormant or lost, or though we were to acquire new ones, just as we remain the same individual though we become blind or deaf, or though we acquire the gift of sight by the operation of couching for cataract. With this explanation, the system of faculties seems to account satisfactorily for all the mental phenomena.

System of Phrenology, by George Combe. Second edition, p. 402.

To return to our consideration of the position of the organs, I think it appears that, taking the system as we have it, the situation of every faculty is exactly that which is most proper and commodious, and that none of them could be changed or reversed without deranging what appears a very beautiful scheme. We have seen that they lie in regular order, advancing gradually from the lower to the higher, and thence to the highest of all. Each organ seems to lie adjacent to those of the other faculties with which it is most nearly allied; and in some instances the different groups are so connected with one another, and radiate through each other in such a way, as to make the whole hang together like the different parts of one elegant design. This harmonious junction and dovetailing of the different organs is exceedingly curious; and it is obvious that the coincidences are far too numerous and exact to have occurred by chance. As soon might we expect that a number of separate pieces of wood, brought casually together, should form a beautiful cabinet, as that the names of thirty-four or thirty-five faculties put down at random should compose a complete and well-combined system of the mental powers, as this appears to be. But it is well known that Gall and Spurzheim did not invent this system at once, but formed it piecemeal, by a gradual and patient examination of facts. The organs of the different faculties were discovered one after another, and in some of their earlier works many blanks appear in the scheme of the faculties, which then wore a bald and disjointed appearance, till these were filled up by subsequent discoveries.

It is indeed extremely unlikely that such a scheme should be devised by conjecture and hypothesis. It is so different from any that has been previously given to the world, that it is almost impossible it should have