holding intercourse with him. With a vigorous intellect were combined moral qualities of the highest order, and dispositions the most amiable; and it was impossible to know him, without blending with the admiration due to the profound philosopher, sincere esteem and the warmest affection for the man."

Phrenology in Germany.-Dresden.-On the 13th March 1844, Mr Gustav Von Struve commenced a course of eighteen lectures on Phrenology in Dresden. He was liberally supplied with the use of the large and valuable collection of phrenological casts, skulls, and preparations, belonging to the Royal Medical Academy (the property of the Saxon Government), to illustrate his subject; and received every other necessary assistance and accommodation for the effective exposition of his views. At the opening of the lectures, the number of hearers was about 70, which increased to upwards of 130; including many of the most intellectual men of the medical and legal professions. The Kölnische Zeitung of 21st April 1844, adverting to the lectures, observes that "Mr Von Struve expounded, in a very precise and striking manner, the practical utility of the science; which is the best mode of attracting public attention towards it. He shewed its importance to the teacher, to the physician for the insane, to the legislator and the judge, and to every private individual as furnishing him with the means of self-knowledge. He pointed out its utility to the lawyer, especially in relation to criminal legislation and prison discipline. He proposes to bring this last application of it under the notice of the great meeting of the lawyers of Germany, which will be held at Mayence this summer. In Dresden, his lectures have led to the formation of a phrenological society, of which Mr Noel is President. This society is occupied in researches, observations, and discussions on particular points of Phrenology, and its individual members are active in diffusing a knowledge of the science and its practical applications. Mr Von Struve rests Phrenology on the following grounds. (Here the well-known principles of the science are stated.) It will be obvious from this exposition, that the system goes much deeper than the 'Cranioscopy' of Dr Carus; that it is a science of experience, in other words, the science of human nature." The Prussian Stadts-Zeitung of 17th April also notices the lectures, and describes Mr Von Struve as "particularly well calculated for diffusing a knowledge of Phrenology, by that inspiration which a deep interest in his subject creates; by his exciting, free, clear, and impressive delivery; by his firm reliance on the indomitable truth of Phrenology; and by his confidence in its ultimate triumph, and its practical utility."

The prospectus of the Dresden Phrenological Society states, that "the objects of this Society are partly scientific and partly philanthropic. They will endeavour to advance Phrenology as a science, and to bring it into relation with other sciences and art. Proceeding from this point, they will aim at procuring for its established facts and results a due recognition and influence on education, legislation, and medicine." The Provisional Committee in Dresden are, Gustav Von Struve, Honorary President; R. R. Noel, President; Arthur Von Langenn, Gustav Blæde, Dr Herz, Marschall Von Biberstein, and Dr Behse, Members of Committee."

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While in Dresden, Mr Von Struve bestowed much of his attention in communicating to the Society a practical knowledge of the cerebral organs and of the temperaments, which excited great interest. The Provisional Committee drew up, and reported to the Society, which adopted with acclamation, and presented to him, a diploma or certificate in the

following terms:-" To Gustav Von Struve, the zealous inquirer in the fruitful field of Phrenology; the eloquent teacher of a refined humanity, and of a mild spirit of legislation; the worthy successor of Gall;—the members of the Phrenological Society, founded by him in Dresden, dedicate this public Testimonial of their gratitude and esteem." It is dated Dresden, 12th April 1844.

Berlin.-In the spring of 1844, Dr Hirschfeld of Bremen delivered a course of lectures on Phrenology in Berlin. Dr Hirschfeld himself in a private letter writes, " You will receive accounts of my proceedings in Berlin. I have every reason to be satisfied with the results, and shall endeavour to maintain the ground there won for our science." We regret, however, that no detailed accounts of this course have reached

us.

R. R. NOEL, Esq., besides lending efficient assistance in the formation and conducting of the business of the Dresden Phrenological Society, is preparing a second edition of his work on Phrenology.

Dr SCHEVE of Heidelberg, Doctor in Philosophy, proposes to deliver lectures on Phrenology in that city during this summer. He is one of the ablest assistants of Mr Von Struve in conducting the German Phrenological Journal. We are informed that he means to devote his whole time and attention to Teaching as a profession; and will receive boys into his house as boarders, whom he will prepare to enter any of the Universities. He will teach not only Greek, Latin, Arithmetic, Mathematics, and Geography, but the elements of natural science and the prac tice of the natural laws of health. His terms are L.40 sterling per annum, every charge included. We consider it proper to mention this school, as some of our readers may find it useful to know of its existence, and also because we have heard high recommendations of Dr Scheve's character, talents, and attainments. He is known personally to Mr George Combe, to whom reference may be made in regard to him. Mr Combe is now resident in Edinburgh.

Montreal Phrenological Society.-A Phrenological Society was established in Montreal about the end of 1843. One of the members, Mr W. B. Cumming, who had been commissioned by the Society to purchase books and casts in this country for their use, waited on us lately to give information about the Society, and request suggestions as to the best mode of conducting its proceedings, and the books which ought to be purchased. From what was stated by him, the Society seems likely to be useful and efficient.

London Ethnological Society.-The first anniversary of this Society took place on Saturday last, Mr G. B. Greenough in the chair. The council reported that the Society consisted of 157 members, that the donations had been very numerous, that a journal had been established, and that suitable apartments would at once be provided for the use of the members. Appended to the report was a list of the donations, with their respective donors, and an estimate for the year 1844, leaving a balance in hand of L.228. Owing to the severe indisposition of the President, RearAdmiral Sir Charles Malcolm, the anniversary address emanated from the Secretary. It commenced with an historical account of the remains of nations long since extinct, and of those since the historic age commenced. A description of the origin, design, incipient labours, and prospective efforts of the Society then followed, and lastly was given the progress of Ethnology during the past year, in the respective countries of Asia, Africa, America, West Indies, Australia, and the Islands of the Pacific and Indian Archipelago, &c. The officers elected by ballot were

President: Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Malcolm.-Vice Presidents: The Archbishop of Dublin, Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone, G. B. Greenough, Esq., J. C. Prichard, M.D.-Treasurer: Samuel Duckworth, Esq.Secretary: Richard King, M.D.-Councillors: William Aldam, Esq., M.P., Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, Bart., Sir James Clark, Bart., M.D., Thomas Hodgkin, M.D., Walter K. Kelly, Esq., W. Elphinstone Malcolm, Esq., Thomas May, Esq., Joseph Legg_Postlethwaite, Esq., Andrew Smith, M.D., James Augustus St John, Esq., Bayle St John, Esq., W. Holt Yates, M.D., Beriah Botfield, Esq., M.P., William Clift, Esq., Joseph Fletcher, Esq., Captain Grover, Major W. C. Harris, Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick, Anthony Todd Thomson, M.D., R. W. Rothman, M.D., James Whishaw, Esq.-Medical Times, June 1. 1844.

Prizes for Essays on Insanity.-The Lord Chancellor of Ireland has declared his intention to give ten guineas yearly, during the next ten years, for the best essay on a subject connected with the treatment of mental disease, to be selected alternately by the College of Physicians and College of Surgeons of Ireland, and the prize to be awarded by the council of the college by whom the subject was chosen. The first turn to belong to the College of Physicians.-Dublin Medical Press.

Proposed People's College at Nottingham.-To the Editor of the Phreno. logical Journal.-Sir, It will no doubt be interesting to your readers to know something of a scheme which has originated in this town, under the auspices of Mr George Gill, to provide a means of liberal and enlightened education for the people. Mr Gill having generously offered L.1000 towards the establishment of a People's College, several meetings of friends of education have taken place, and a committee has been formed to develope a plan, and prepare a prospectus. Prior to this, the Rev. R. S. Bayley of Sheffield, who has, at great personal sacrifice, established and conducted for a length of time a similar institution in that town, had been invited to give two lectures on education generally, and explanatory of his plan; and the delivery of these appears to have been attended with excellent results. The first lecture was given to a select number of friends in the Council Chamber; the second, after an interval of three weeks, in the Exchange Hall, to a large and highly respectable audience. He gave a lucid account of the People's College at Sheffield, and his method of teaching. The success has exceeded his expectations. The mode of instruction is generally excellent; and as he is indefatigable himself-being present every morning at half-past six, and in the evening at seven, besides discharging his pastoral duties-it stimulates his monitors to exertion and zeal. There are some defects in his mode of teaching-it is founded too much upon the system of emulation, and, for the class it aims to instruct, attaches too much importance to classical learning; but, as a whole, is a decided improvement upon our general plans of education. The lectures excited much interest, and seemed to direct the minds of the committee to the adoption of a similar plan on a more enlarged scale. The plan, as it now stands, comprehends physical, moral, and intellectual education-both as regards elementary and the higher branches of a good English education-on such terms as will bring its advantages within the reach of the humblest orders; conducted in such a manner, and established on such principles, as will enlist the confidence of the operative classes. It is contemplated to raise a building in one of the suburbs of the town, with a boy's school and a girl's school, and play-ground-a room for a lecture-hall, and several smaller rooms for a library and class-rooms, to be used in the day-time for

juvenile instruction, in the evening for adult education. The building is to be given over to the people in trust for ever, and, after the first outlay, is to be made a self-supporting institution; to be under the government of directors, composed of equal numbers of the middle and working classes, elected annually by the members. It proposes merely a secular instruction; teaching, in connection with the sciences and general literature and history, the principles of political economy, and man's public and private rights and duties. Mr John Rogers, the Rev. Mr Fernyhough, and myself, are now engaged in preparing a detailed plan for publication.-I am, &c. THOMAS BEGGS.

Nottingham, June 9, 1844.

Pauper Lunatics in Scotland.-The Report of the Commissioners on the Scottish Poor Law, just published, contains the following suggestions:"It is desirable that the accommodation for lunatics should be increased, either by the building of additional asylums, or (which we deem a preferable plan) by the enlargement of already existing establishments. We hold it to be a matter of considerable importance, that the parochial boards should take measures to send insane paupers to an asylum immediately on the nature of their disease being ascertained. The cost of board at an asylum being greater than that for which they might otherwise be maintained, affords a strong temptation to conceal their real condition; and it may be feared, that in any legislative measure which may be brought forward, unless a penalty be imposed for non-compliance, some difficulty may be found in enforcing obedience to the law.

"We recommend, that where an insane person is in the receipt of parochial relief, it shall be imperative on the managers of the poor to send such insane person forthwith to a lunatic asylum, unless authorised by the Board of Supervision to treat him otherwise."

Characters of the Egyptian and Negro Races.-Dr S. G. Morton (On the Form of the Head, and other Ethnographic Characters of the Ancient Egyptians; in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Nov. 1842), has made observations on one hundred crania of ancient Egyptians, obtained at seven sepulchral localities, from Memphis, in Lower Egypt, to Deboud in Nubia. He classes them as, 1. ArctoEgyptians, including the purer Caucasian nations, as seen in the Semitic tribes of Western Asia, and the Pelasgic of Southern Europe. 2. Austro-Egyptians, in which the cranium blends the characters of the Hindoo and Southern Arab; which people, the author thinks, were ingrafted on the original population of Ethiopia, and thus gave rise to the celebrated Meroite nations of antiquity. 3. Negroloid, in which the osteology of the crania corresponds to the Negro; but the hair, though harsh, is long and smooth, like the present Mulatto grades. 4. Negro.

The lines between these could not be exactly drawn. But in the one hundred skulls there might be reckoned fifty-six Arcto-Egyptians, twenty-eight Austro-Egyptians, six Semitic, seven Negroloid, one Negro, and two doubtful.

He deduces, therefore, 1. That Egypt was originally peopled by the Caucasian race. 2. That the great preponderance of heads like those of the purer Caucasians, suggests that the valley of the Nile derived its primitive inhabitants from one of these sources. 3. That the Austral

Egyptian or Meroite communities were in great measure derived from the Indo-Arabian stock; thus pointing to a triple Caucasian source for the origin of the Egyptians, when regarded as one people extending from

Meroe to the Delta. 4. That the Negro race exists in the catacombs in the mixed or Negroloid character: that even in this modified type their presence is comparatively unfrequent; and that if Negroes, as is more than probable, were numerous in Egypt, their social position was chiefly in ancient times what it now is (in America), that of plebeians, servants, and slaves.-Brit. and For. Med. Rev. No. 33.

Tendency to Insanity at Childbirth.-Parturition and delivery are not uncommon causes of temporary insanity. In accusation of infanticide against the mother, temporary insanity may therefore be pleaded in defence, and in some instances be a perfectly valid ground of exculpation; the more especially as infanticidal mania is one of the most common forms in which temporary insanity manifests itself in connection with delivery. Rabbits, cats, bitches, swine, and some birds, are peculiarly subject to have the maternal instinct to protect, converted into a furious passion to destroy, their offspring. (See Pierquin, "De la Folie des Animaux," tom. ii.) Even in natural labour, especially in first births, the mental faculties are frequently affected. Moral or physical causes, either singly or combined, convert this unsettled state of mind into actual mania; and both causes are peculiarly apt to be in operation in unmarried mothers, against whom charges of infanticide are most common.Dr J. R. Cormack.

Power of the Voice over Children.-It is usual to attempt the management of children either by corporal punishment, or by rewards addressed to the senses, or by words alone. There is one other means of government, the power and importance of which are seldom regarded. I refer to the human voice. A blow may be inflicted on a child, accompanied by words so uttered as to counteract entirely its intended effect; or the parent may use language in the correction of the child, not objectionable in itself, yet spoken in a tone which more than defeats its influence. Let any one endeavour to recal the image of a fond mother, long since at rest in heaven. Her sweet smile and ever clear countenance are brought vividly to recollection: and so also is her voice; and blessed is that parent who is endowed with a pleasing utterance. What is it which lulls the infant to repose? It is no array of mere words. There is no charm to the untaught one in letters, syllables, and sentences. It is the sound which strikes its little ear that soothes and composes it to sleep. A few notes, however unskilfully arranged, if uttered in a soft tone, are found to possess a magic influence. Think we that this influence is confined to the cradle? No, it is diffused over every age, and ceases not while the child remains under the parental roof. Is the boy growing rude in manner and boisterous in speech? I know of no instrument so sure to control these tendencies as the gentle tones of a mother. She who speaks to her son harshly, does but give to his conduct the sanction of her own example. She pours oil on the already raging flame. In the pressure of duty, we are liable to utter ourselves hastily to our children. Perhaps a threat is expressed in a loud and irritating tone; instead of allaying the passions of the child, it serves directly to increase them. Every fretful expression awakens in him the same spirit which produced it. So does a pleasant voice call up agreeable feelings. Whatever disposition, therefore, we would encourage in a child, the same we should manifest in the tone in which we address him. Church of England Magazine.

Insanity in the United States.-Political strife, religious vagaries, overtrading, debt, bankruptcy, sudden reverses, disappointed hopes, and the