rialism. He, therefore, considers the whole of what is taught about indistinct conceptions, whereby there is no apperception,' pure nonsense. Nevertheless, he cannot deny the free will with which I change one conception for another-one impression on my senses for another. This is the younòv of the ancient philosophers."

"All popular orators, &c., speak in fables, parables, proverbs; and Gall himself, whose lectures are a pattern of a true popular style, immediately has recourse to examples, comparisons, &c. It is a good remark, why comparisons and proverbs are so generally liked: owing to their absence of precision, each person interprets them in a manner directly flattering to his own understanding."

I have particular pleasure in communicating this last memorandum of Böttiger's, as it may assist in removing an erroneous impression of Gall's powers as a teacher, which seems to have been formed by certain persons in England; for one instance, see Phrenological Journal, July 1842, vol. xv. p. 287. Since I have resided in Germany, I have had opportunities of conversing with many persons who were acquainted with Gall, and had attended his lectures in Vienna or Paris. I will only enumerate Princes Metternich and Drietrichstein, Professors or Drs Froriep, Böttiger, Hammer, Seiler, Weigel, Herr Niklas, &c. From these persons I have never received but one, the most favourable, opinion of Gall's powers, both as regards his indefatigable search for facts, and his capacity to digest and arrange the knowledge which he acquired. Prince Metternich, in one of the numerous conversations I had with him in the winter 1834-5, on Gall and his doctrines, made the following remarks, which I noted at the time :-"Gall," he said, was the greatest observer and thinker he had ever known, a most indefatigable investigator, and true philosophic mind." On another occasion, he styled him “ a man of facts, and a lover of truthhater of all theories." "He (Gall) would never dispute with ideologians" (disciples of the transcendental schools). "His views were always to the purpose, but his manner of expressing them not always good. He was deficient in tact," and was often "warned by the Prince to be more prudent in this respect." The latter said it was Gall's want of tact (query, uncompromising love of truth?) which had drawn upon him the enmity of the priests in Vienna.

a

The following is one of the anecdotes which the Prince related to me, as shewing Gall's deficiency in tact:-The Prince was present one day in Gall's house at Paris, when he had collected a large party of savans to witness the dissection of the brain of a girl just executed. Gall continued a long time regarding the head on the table before him, and calling the

* We do not think that Böttiger's inference here is warranted by the premises. Gall, who in his works strongly disclaims materialism, must have meant simply that in perfect peep the action of the mind is suspended.-Editor.

attention of the company to the striking resemblance which he found between it and the features of Napoleon, although the physician of the latter was present. All the hints which the Prince gave him to put a stop to these remarks were in vain.

Spurzheim, whom Prince Metternich had likewise known, he considered very inferior to Gall, though he granted that Spurzheim had improved the nomenclature and classification of the faculties. Indeed, amongst the considerable number of distinguished Germans with whom I have conversed on both Gall and Spurzheim, with the exception of Herr Von K. (mentioned by Mr Combe in your Journal, vol. xvi. p. 351), who was acquainted with the latter in London, I have not met with one who had formed a favourable opinion of Spurzheim's powers, either for original investigation or logical thinking. On this account, and more particularly in consequence of having studied attentively nearly all the writings which were published on Gall's discoveries in Germany before the year 1807,-which have taught me how much Gall alone has done to establish the science of cerebral physiology,- -I must consider that the merits of Spurzheim have been much overrated in England and America. On this head, I think at some future day to make a fuller communication to your Journal; for I have collected several facts which ought to be put on record, in case a biography of Gall should ever be undertaken. I confess I cannot now look into Spurzheim's work, Phrenology, or the Doctrine of the Mind, or read his notes to Chenevix's article in the Foreign Quarterly Review, without the disagreeable impression being made upon me, that Spurzheim, to say the very least, was not forward in acknowledging the genius of Gall, whilst he was always careful-sometimes, I have reason to believe, unduly-in putting forward his own merits as one of the founders of Phrenology. In fact, where is there one passage in Spurzheim's writings expressive of a true and generous spirit of admiration of the genius and character of his great master? I trust you will not object to state the above anecdotes and this my mature opinion; for the exaggerated views of Mr Carmichael and others of Spurzheim's claims to rank high as a cerebral physiologist and psychologist, have been inserted in the Phrenological Journal.

To fill up the sheet, I add a translation of a passage from the text of Selpert's book on Gall's lectures, which the author affirms in the preface to be a faithful transcript of the words of Gall. On page 33, after valuable remarks on dreaming, somnambulency, clairvoyance, &c., is the following:

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Can it not easily be imagined, that if there be a peculiar magnetic or galvanic essence (stoff) which could be discharged as something dis

tinctly material on the separate organs of the brain, and could be so directed that one organ only at a time might be excited by it to the highest degree, whilst all the others remained in sleep,-persons thus excited would be able to discover things in nature (natürliche verhältnisse) otherwise unknown to us ?”

That Gall at this time (1805) did not disbelieve in Mesmerism or Animal Magnetism, clairvoyance, &c., Böttiger testifies in one of his notes. I am, &c.

R. R. NOEL.

Additional Anecdotes communicated by Mr GUSTAV VON STRUVE, Editor of the German Phrenological Journal.

MANNHEIM, 10th Feb. 1844.

At Tiefenbrunn, where one of Gall's brothers, and several nephews, grandnephews, and nieces are still living, they preserve some interesting memorials of their illustrious relation, such as medals presented to him in acknowledgment of cures which he effected, portraits, &c. The homely dwelling in which he was born still exists in its primeval state. I lately made a pilgrimage to the place, hoping to discover some letters of Gall to his parents and other relations, but all these precious papers seem to have been lost in the course of time. However, several little anecdotes that I heard from his relations rewarded me for the trouble I took in searching for memorials of our great discoverer. So early as at the age of six, he displayed a strong disposition to observe nature. He always wanted to see how things looked inside; and, to satisfy his curiosity, used to cut open every thing, and especially all animals, he could get hold of-cats, mice, toads, and so on. He was often scolded for soiling the house by these operations, and for spending his money in that way. His mother gave him, on this account, the name of Batzenschmelzer (spendthrift). When on his travels through Germany, he was offered a large sum by the inhabitants of Pforzheim, five miles distant from Tiefenbrunn, to lecture there; but he declined, saying that the Pforzheim people might come to his native town, where he delivered gratis a course of lectures in the Rath-hausSaal, or town-hall, to which auditors flocked from all the neighbouring towns. He seems to have been a very dutiful

son.

When his mother was dangerously ill, he was called for, and immediately came from Vienna. He preserved her life; for if the medical course which had been resorted to had been continued one or two days longer, he declared she could not have been saved. In the year 1809, when his father became

dangerously ill, he came from the metropolis of France to his little native town. He arrived, however, too late, and found only the corpse of his father.

V. On the Fallacies of Phreno-Magnetism. By
Mr T. S. PRIDEAUX, Southampton.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE PHRENOLOGICAL JOURNAL.

SIR,-Believing the so-called science of Mesmero-Phrenology to be altogether a delusion, I feel desirous of stating, as concisely as possible, the reasons which induce me to form such an opinion. Well aware, however, that the bigoted and obstinate scepticism exhibited by many towards the subject of Mesmerism, naturally occasions its supporters to look on the opposition of such parties as a matter of course, and unworthy of consideration, I beg to establish, on behalf of myself, as a firm believer from personal experiment in the marvels of Mesmerism (in the power of prophecy, for instance, which leaves all other wonders at an immeasurable distance behind), a claim to the possession of a fair portion of that proper credulity, which is ready to believe the incomprehensible upon evidence adequate to the occasion.

To prevent any misconception before entering into any argument on the subject, I am anxious to state, that I fully concurred in the propriety of the course adopted by my friend Dr Engledue in introducing the subject to the attention of phrenologists in his ever-memorable address: to have withheld such interesting facts from any pitiable notions of expediency, would have been high treason against science; to have supposed that such a course could be expedient, would have been an insult to the understanding of his auditors. Facts, however, once promulgated will present various aspects to individuals, according to the different points of view from which they are regarded; and, being impressed at the time with the belief, that never were any facts given to the world more calculated to lead on a superficial examination to erroneous deductions, I drew up a short paper for the purpose of shewing that the phenomena displayed afforded no evidence in support of the localities of the cerebral organs. Leaving town myself immediately after the delivery of the address, I entrusted my observations to the care of Dr Engledue, who read them at one of the meetings of the Association during the session; but as they have never appeared in any phrenological publication, and but very few phrenologists are still acquainted with them-moreover, what is of more importance, as the arguments adduced have never been

satisfactorily answered, and subsequent experience has only served more firmly to convince me of their cogency-I am induced to prefix them on the present occasion to the few additional observations which I am about to offer.

"Remarks on the Excitation of the Organs during Sleepwaking, by T. S. Prideaux; read before the Phrenological Association in the session of 1842.

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During my first successful experiment in Mesmerism, in October 1841, my attention was excited by observing that some passes, opposite the anterior part of the head, were followed by a fit of laughter; and in my notes made after the sitting, I inserted the two following queries:* Can individual cerebral organs be mesmerised? Did the laughter proceed from my mesmerising the head in the region of Hope, Ideality, and Wit; or was it the result of the laughter I had just been indulging in, from seeing the insensibility of the patient to pricking, &c. ?

"During two or three subsequent sittings, I made several attempts to excite individual organs, with but very partial success; on one occasion a fit of crying followed my operating upon Adhesiveness, the patient saying she was crying about her friends; but as, during the sitting, she had, in imagination, been present with her brother at sea, whom she had not seen for some years, I did not feel at all satisfied that the crying was the result of my operating on the organ.

"About this period, circumstances led me to form the conclusion, that the power of reading the thoughts of the operator is a faculty much more frequently developed in the mesmeric patient than is generally supposed; and, from this moment, I lost all confidence in any result I might produce by acting on the organs, considering it impossible to assure myself that the phenomena manifested, were not the result of a species of acting on the part of the patient; and I laid aside the inquiry as one which, though most worthy of investigation, could only be satisfactorily prosecuted by an operator and patient both ignorant of Phrenology, and having no preconceived ideas as to the phenomena to be manifested.

"The publication of the experiments of Mr Mansfield and Mr Gardiner in this country, and Dr Buchanan in America,

* I wrote Dr Engledue a full account of this sitting the same evening on which it occurred: The return of the post brought me a reply, containing the sentence, "Try and mesmerise individual organs.' I had previously, as above stated, inserted in my note-book the query, "Can individual cerebral organs be mesmerised?" The coincidence is singular, and clearly shews that the magnetisation of the individual cerebral organs is naturally amongst the first subjects for experiment which suggest themselves to an ardent phrenologist, become a magnetiser.