for phrenology consists, not merely in the study of cerebral protuberances; phrenology is also a system of psychology; but in education we only consider the shape of the skull as an element to direct us in the choice of the means to be employed. Before we begin to teach a child, we should be acquainted with his degree of intellect, his propensities, and his aptitude. When these faculties are not inscribed on the skull, they will be revealed to us by the child's habits and manners. We shall have to consider the physical, hereditary, or acquired constitution, -the general conformation of the body, climate, age, sex, and social position, as well as the species of education he has received. We must also place before him different objects, and remark those which interest him most: a helmet and a shield recalled Achilles to a love of glory and betrayed him among a group of women.

Although in the education we have to give, the shape of the cerebral organization may not invariably shew that nature has or has not been bountiful, and that we cannot always read on the human skull, idiotcy or genius, the weakness or energy of sentiments and passions, we do not reject any light phrenology may afford in the question of education; but we are, nevertheless, compelled to say, that the system is not yet fairly judged, and that more facts in confirmation are requisite before it can be considered as an absolute and sufficient rule.

Had we to determine under what influence man degenerates or improves, phrenology would be far from useless; for it does not counsel to leave to destiny or chance the development of the benevolent qualities, the improvement of talents, nor the repression of vicious inclinations. "It teaches, on the contrary," says Lelut, "all the power of external agents, in causing the development of the faculties and of their immediate action; if certain aptitudes, certain talents, are developed without the concurrence of external circumstances, faculties of a lower order require this concurrence, and weak organizations still more so. For in how many persons have study and cultivation produced results which could never have been attained had nature been left to herself!

A child may perhaps only have negative qualities, either partial or general; in the first case there are various resources; in the second but few. But while the child has one or more senses which convey impressions to the brain, and that the brain is able to receive them, education can be effected. Man's intelligence is of such a nature that all the senses and all wants may reach it; if one sense be wanting another may be substituted. The seeds of the faculties are sown in our organization,-it is the province of education to develop them, guided by the knowledge of the organization itself, and that of the influence of external agents.

CHAP III.

Influence of the Body on the Mind.

THE influence of the body on the mind is so generally known, that we think it useless to enter into long details. Cabanis has left to science his excellent dissertations on the subject. It is not only the skull, which has so much influence on the mind by pressure on the brain, but also the general state of the body, the age, the sex,-the state of the heart, of the bowels, of all the parts of the organization; we cannot consequently confine our observations to the state of the head alone. To limit a question which of itself would suffice to fill volumes, we might look upon the head as the centre of the nervous system-on the brain as the seat of the mind; but although it may be said that every alteration of the form of the skull may have a direct influence on the functions of the brain, the exceptions are sufficiently numerous to render the form of the head of exclusive importance. We shall in the first place, have to consider the different degrees of mental deficiency, from mere imbecility to complete idiotcy,-then what may be done for ill organized beings, and apply an orthophrenic system, as we should apply orthopedy in deviations of the bones.

The able physician who gave the name of or

thophreny to the method he intended to apply to inferior as well as to eccentric intelligences, grounded his views principally on phrenology. We conceive we have, in the preceding chapter sufficiently shewn, that craniology is yet too hypothetic to serve as a sure guide in education. Children capable of receiving an education may be divided into three great series.

Those who require to be stimulated—from the imbecile to the idiot. Those who require to be moderated,-precocious children, with intelligence of a high order, and propensities too strongly developed. Children with ordinary abilities, for whom the general plans of education are well suited. We shall only give our attention to the two first series.

Between the thinking man and the idiot who does not even shew any instinct, the different degrees are very numerous. Hoffbauer endeavoured to describe all the variations of weak intellect, from the slightest appearance of inferiority to fatuity, or positive idiotcy. But these divisions, or subdivisions, would not suffice to account for the diversity in the various degrees of energy and weakness of the intellectual and moral faculties. Some, in fact, have little or no memory, others no judgment, some no reflection, and some want the power of concentration, which we denominate the faculty of attention; others, more unfortunate, are entirely devoid of intellect and

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feeling. These five divisions appeared minute to Esquirol, who, under the name of mental deficiency, merely established two degrees of idiotcy -imbecility and positive idiotcy; we shall in this instance follow Esquirol's plan, as beingcalculated to facilitate the study of children of the first series.

Imbecility. Weakness of Mind.

Imbecility may be congenital or acquired. With most imbeciles the organization is less perfect than with individuals normally developed. We acknowledge that the intellectual faculties are nearly always more or less connected with the state of the organization; yet we sometimes find in this category a regularity of the skull which does not account for the faculties wanting: thus, we may see imbeciles with ideas, memory, affections, propensities, and able consequently to receive a certain degree of education, but they seldom acquire extensive reason, or the information which their social position would have enabled them to attain, because some of the principal faculties are always wanting; and though they may learn music, reading, writing, and the exercise of a mechanical art, they do so imperfectly. There is no spontaneity in imbeciles, it seems as though they could not think alone; all is external, the sensations pass rapidly, and leave no useful traces, unless habits are contracted.

Imbeciles are generally timid, fearful, and obe