III. Mental Hygiene; or an Examination of the Intellect and Passions, designed to illustrate their Influence on Health and the Duration of Life. By WILLIAM SWEETSER, M.D., late Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic, and Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Reprinted from the American Edition. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co. London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. Royal 8vo., pp. 60. 1844.

The republication, at a low price, of this excellent work, renders it so accessible to all classes of readers, that we need not continue the analysis of its contents, which was begun in last number. The treatise deserves to be cordially recommended both to the general and the phrenological reader; for, although it does not appear whether or not Dr Sweetser is a disciple of Gall, his views concerning the influence of the body on the mind, and of the various mental states on the body, are generally sound and well expressed, and their practical importance is forcibly inculcated. His classification of the passions is susceptible of improvement; but, as he does not pretend to minute accuracy on this subject, and as, in the present state of mental philosophy, a perfect classification is unattainable, we refrain from entering into details. Another subject of remark, to which the author may find it worth while to attend in preparing a second edition, is, that he has sometimes introduced, in illustration (not, we presume, by way of proof) of the principles expounded, apocryphal anecdotes from Herodotus and other ancient writers. This is not quite judicious in a scientific work, especially as numerous authentic instances of the same kind, of which indeed Dr S. adduces many, may be found in the works of the moderns. We suggest, also, that the book may be improved by a less frequent use of the superlative degree.

In treating of the effects of fear on the body, Dr Sweetser says:" Partial tremors, as of the limbs, or a general shuddering and shaking, and chattering of the teeth, as under the effects of extreme cold, or in the first stage of a paroxysm of intermittent fever, are also common phenomena. It is worthy of remark here, that these same symptoms, when the result of morbid physical states, are apt to be associated with an unnatural degree of timidity or apprehension. Indeed, I feel well satisfied that we possess less courage when chilled and shivering under the influence of cold, than when the surface is warm and comfortable, and the blood circulates freely through its extreme vessel." In like manner, he notices that, just as grief and melancholy disturb the functions of the liver and stomach,

so do biliary and gastric derangements, in their turn, produce these disagreeable mental states. "That the condition of the biliary secretion has much to do with the mind's tranquillity— that unhealthy, redundant, or obstructed bile, at the same time that it gives its gloomy tint to the complexion, may imbue the moral feelings with an equally dismal shade-will, in our present state of knowledge, hardly be contested. Thus, the common expression, ' to look with a jaundiced eye,' means, as every one must know, to view things in their sombrous aspect. We readily conclude, then, that disordered or diseased states of the liver may be comprehended among the physical causes of despondency of the mind. Thus do they engender the same character of feelings of which they themselves are also begotten.' Again: "A morbid or unnaturally irritable state of the inner or mucous coat of the stomach will oftentimes transmit such an influence to the mind as to deaden all its susceptibilities of enjoyment, and oppress it with the severest despondency. Now, such an unhealthy character of this inner surface of the stomach being one of the necessary results of an habitual indulgence in exciting and inebriating drinks, the danger of a recourse to it, with a view to elevate the dejected spirits or drown the remembrance of sorrow, will easily be understood. If the mental depression arises from a physical cause, such injudicious stimulation will be sure to augment it, and if from a moral, a physical one will thus be speedily added to it. There is, indeed, no moral gloom more deep and oppressive than that suffered by the habitually intemperate whether in the use of distilled spirits, wine, or opium-in the intervals of their artificial excitement. In delirium tremens, a disease peculiar to the intemperate, the mind is always, even in its lightest forms, filled with the most dismal ideas, and a propensity to suicide is by no means unusual. The opiumeater, too, when not under his customary stimulus, generally experiences the most terrible mental sufferings." "Low, marshy, malarious situations, where intermittent fevers, or agues, as they are more familiarly named, abound, through some poisonous influence which they generate, so act on the physical constitution as to weigh down all the moral energies, and fill the mind with the darkest gloom. In observing the inhabitants of such unhealthy spots, even when they have become so seasoned to their infection as to resist the fevers, or acute effects which it produces in strangers, we cannot but be struck with their sallow, sickly, and emaciated appearance, and the deep melancholy of their countenances, a melancholy which the cheerful smile of more wholesome airs is rarely seen to relax. The nervous system, the liver, and other organs

engaged in the function of digestion, almost always, in such situations, labour under more or less obvious derangement. And here we have yet another illustration of the remark which I have before made, namely, that the like physical states which are generated under the operation of grief, will also, when arising from other causes, tend to awaken this painful passion. Thus, the same spare, nervous, and bilious condition that distinguishes the gloomy inhabitants of the unhealthy sites to which I have just referred, is also witnessed in those who have long suffered under severe mental afflictions."

These remarks illustrate the principle on which (as noticed in previous articles in this volume of our Journal, pp. 20, 266) Mr Braid endeavours to explain the phenomena of Phreno-Mesmerism.

In conclusion, we remark, that by the knowledge of such facts as those which abound in Dr Sweetser's work, an incalculable amount of misery and disease might be warded off. To those who have the care of children, the value of such a treatise can hardly be overrated.

IV. Brief Reports of Lectures delivered to the Working Classes of Edinburgh, on the Means in their Own Power of Improving their Character and Condition. By JAMES SIMPSON, Esq., Advocate. Edinburgh: John Johnstone. Glasgow: J. McLeod. Royal 8vo, pp. 60. 1844.

These Reports are stereotyped from the types of the Edinburgh Weekly Chronicle, in which they appeared during last winter. The chief purpose of the lectures was to explain and exemplify the uses and abuses of the mental faculties, and the good and evil results of these-a purpose which Mr Simpson executed with his usual felicity of style and amplitude of illustration, but, we regret to say, with so little direct reference to the organic conditions on which the mental operations depend, and so little open inculcation of Phrenology as the philosophy which he was in reality teaching, as considerably, in our opinion, to detract from their practical value. Nevertheless, much good may be done by the wide circulation of these cheap Reports among the working classes throughout the country; and readers of every rank will find in them many useful suggestions for the preservation of health, and the promotion of happiness. The following remarks, which accompanied the report of the first lecture in the Chronicle, are prefixed to the collection :

66

Eight years ago the columns of the Chronicle were enriched

with reports of popular lectures delivered by Messrs Combe, Simpson, and Drs Fyfe and Murray, to overflowing audiences, chiefly composed of working men. These lectures were much valued at the time, and we believe they have made a deep and salutary impression on all who heard them. The reports we were enabled to give of them, brief as they necessarily were, attracted a considerable degree of attention, and exercised, we have reason to know, a beneficial influence over the public mind. The time that has elapsed since then has produced many changes, and many grievous dissensions and misunderstandings between the different classes of society. Party spirit, in politics and religion, has raged with unremitting violence, and so divided man from man, and set one neighbour against another, that we had almost begun to fear that the love of philosophic truth, of social improvement, and of the kindly affections, was in danger of being extinguished among us. But if we required any proof of the groundlessness of such a fear, we should find it in the circumstance that the working men of Edinburgh retain so lively a sense of the value of the lectures we have referred to, and so strong a desire for mental culture and useful information, that three thousand of them have requested Mr Simpson again to step forward and enlighten them on the means of improving their character and condition. This is a most gratifying fact, and demonstrates strikingly the advancement that has already been made by so many of our industrious townsmen. Where the love of knowledge has been awakened, the ruder passions have ceased to reign, and the mind begins to develope the power of enjoying and diffusing real happiness.

"We need not say how deeply the public are indebted to Mr Simpson for his valuable instructions, especially when it is considered that they are given gratuitously. But he will not go unrewarded. No richer recompence can be received by the truly good man than evidence that his labours of love are productive of their natural fruits—the increase of virtue and happiness; and this reward we feel assured Mr Simpson will receive in full measure."

III. INTELLIGENCE, &c.

Dr Gall.-The portrait of Dr Gall which accompanies this Number was lithographed in Mannheim for the German Phrenological Journal, and copies were procured by us through the kind assistance of Mr Von Struve, the editor of that work. In order that good impressions might be furnished, the figure was redrawn on the stone after the copies for the German journal were thrown off. Dr Gall was twenty-eight years

of age when the portrait was painted, and the engraving from which that now presented to our readers is copied, was given to Mr Von Struve by Dr Michael Castle, now of Stuttgard, who, in a letter to that gentleman, with which we have been favoured with a copy, mentions that, upon the occasion of his delivering a discourse on the merits of Gall, he received it from Mr Schwarz, American consul at Vienna, to whom it had been given by a friend. "With regard to the correctness of the likeness itself," adds Dr Castle, "I have been told by persons who knew Gall in his youth, that the resemblance is remarkable. Farther than this I can give no information."

In his journal, Mr Von Struve makes the following appeal to his countrymen, to which we earnestly trust they will duly respond :—

"Gall is known to have carried on an extensive correspondence with the most distinguished men of his age. A collection of his letters would certainly be highly prized by the public. Unless, however, strenuous efforts be made towards accomplishing this object speedily, it is to be feared that, after the death of many of his correspondents, these valuable remains of our great countryman may be irretrievably lost. I therefore take the liberty to make the following requests:-1. That all those individuals who corresponded with F. J. Gall will have the kindness forthwith to inform me of the number and contents of his letters in their possession. 2. That persons who know of such letters being in the possession of the representatives of Gall's deceased correspondents, will inform me where they may be found. 3. That any one who may be in a condition to furnish a detailed catalogue of Gall's correspondence, will be so good as forward such to me.

"Gall spent the best years of life in his native country; for he was forty-nine years of age when he was compelled to leave it. He exchanged letters with Hufeland, Sommering, Walther, Prince Metternich, and others. The last two are still alive. I solicit them, as well as all the other friends and admirers of Gall, to communicate whatever they possess from his hand, and to permit its publication for the general benefit of Germany.

"The German press is solicited to give this request the widest possible circulation. G. v. STRUVE."

MANNHEIM, 30th October 1843."

Lectures on Phrenology.-On 18th April, Mr M. B. Sampson gave the first of a course of three lectures, at a new institution in the neighbourhood of Islington, to an audience of nearly 300 persons.-In May, four lectures were delivered by Mr E. T. Hicks, at Derby, to " numerous and highly respectable audiences," as we learn from the Derby Reporter. We are sorry to observe that the advertisement of Mr Hicks, in that paper, is headed in this quackish fashion-" Mesmerism Proved!! and Phrenology Demonstrated!" Such injudicious and unphilosophical pretensions, put forth in such a style, cannot fail to lower the advertiser in the estimation of rational men.-At Mansfield, Mr Thomas Beggs of Nottingham lately gave six lectures to about thirty intelligent working men, who, having formed themselves into a class for the study of Phrenology, invited him to deliver the course, to which strangers were admitted at a small charge. We learn that the results were very satisfactory, "several additions being made to the class, and a new impulse given to those already engaged in the study. Mr Beggs, who has already given two courses of lectures on Phrenology gratuitously in Nottingham, has been requested by a body of his fellow-citizens to deliver another course as early as possible."-Mr Donovan delivered six lectures at Alton, Hants, in April, and three at Basingstoke in May.

VOL. XVII. N. S. NO. XXVII.-JULY 1844.

U