APPENDIX. 733 



more detail into the character of the evidence adduced in its behalf. The following objec- 

 tions may be urged upon this subject. The greater part of the observations upon which the 

 present system of Phrenology rests, have been made upon crania alone, or upon casts of 

 crania; not upon the cerebrum itself. In this method of observation there are many falla- 

 cies; especially those arising from the indisputable fact, that the cerebrum may be moulded 

 in such a manner as to undergo considerable alteration in form, without any change in its 

 internal structure or in the relative development of its several parts. And an extensive 

 comparison of the crania of different nations shows that their differences of form have in 

 many instances no relation whatever to their psychical character. That the form of the cra- 

 nium is to a certain extent independent of that of the brain, and may impress itself upon its 

 contents, appears further from a comparison between the cerebral and cranial conformations 

 of different species of animals. It is found that, even when closely-allied species are com- 

 pared together, similar projections of the cranium may cover different convolutions ; the 

 general form of the cranium being modified by its instrumentality in other functions, espe- 

 cially in mastication, and by its position upon the trunk and its mode of muscular connection 

 with it. There is a peculiar uncertainty attending all estimates of the comparative size of 

 the Cerebellum, from inspection of the exterior of the cranium ; for the observations of Prof. 

 Retzius upon the varieties of form which the cranium presents in different races, have in- 

 dicated this fact among others, that the position of the cerebellum may vary considerably, 

 being much more horizontal in one case and more vertical in another; so that cerebella of 

 the same size may exist in crania having very different amounts of occipital protuberance; 

 and vice vei-sa. Further, after dismissing the sources of error already mentioned, there yet 

 remain many, arising from want of precision in the cranioscopical observations, and want of 

 opportunity of forming a correct estimate of the characters of the individuals whose " deve- 

 lopments" have been examined. The difficulty of precisely estimating the relative sizes of 

 different organs by any system of measurement, which has been acknowledged and regretted 

 by candid phrenologists, often leads to the formation of very different inferences from the 

 same data, as the Author can vouch from his own knowledge. And when the estimate of 

 the character has been formed from craniological indications, there are many difficulties in 

 the way of a faithful comparison with the real character of the individual, of which the 

 manifestation in his ostensible conduct can generally reveal but a small part. Now there 

 can be little doubt, that the habit of attending-to and of recording coincidences between cere- 

 bral developments and psychical manifestations, without due regard to the cases in which 

 there is no coincidence, has been far too prevalent amongst professed phrenologists. Unless 

 the failures are duly chronicled with the successes, no value can be attached to any series 

 of observations, however numerous and satisfactory. Many such failures, upon points in. 

 regard to which there could be no misapprehension or evasion, have come under the Author's 

 knowledge; and have tended to prevent his reception of the present phrenological system; 

 but they find no place in formal treatises on Phrenology, which lead their readers to suppose 

 that the coincidences are invariable. The connection of the Sexual propensity with the 

 Cerebellum has been usually regarded by Phrenologists as one of the best-ascertained of its 

 whole series of dogmata ; and yet we have seen how little this determination can stand the 

 test of a careful scrutiny. 



Those who are desirous of studying the Phrenological system at present in vogue, as ex- 

 pounded by an intelligent and unfettered partisan, may be referred to Mr. Noble's recent 

 treatise, entitled "The Brain and its Physiology;" whilst the objections summed up in this 

 Appendix are Stated more at large in a critique on that work in the British and Foreign Me- 

 dical Review, forOctober, 1846. 



II._ON ARTIFICIAL SOMNAMBULISM AND MESMERISM. 



It appears to the Author that the time has now come, when a tolerably definite opinion 

 may be formed regarding a large number of the phenomena commonly included in the term 

 "Mesmerism." Notwithstanding the exposures of various pretenders, which have taken 

 place from time to time, there remains a considerable mass of phenomena, which cannot 

 be so readily disposed of, and which appear to him to have as just a title to the attention of 

 the scientific Physiologist, as that which is possessed by any other class of well-ascertained 

 facts. 



Passing over, for the present, the inquiry into the manner in which these effects may be 

 induced, the Author may briefly enumerate the principal phenomena which he regards as 

 having been veritably presented in a sufficient number of instances, to entitle them to be 

 considered as genuine and regular manifestations of the peculiar bodily and mental condition 

 under discussion. 



1. A state of complete Coma or perfect insensibility, analogous in its mode of access and 

 departure to that which is known as the "Hysteric Coma," and (like it) usually distin- 

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