Panorama Literary Society of Paris. 333 



sides those we have named. It contains also many which are 

 execrably bad, as for instance Nos. 183, 195, 206, 288, 353, 354, 

 362, 364, &c. &c. There are some too which have appeared 

 elsewhere, and which we have on that account designedly abstained 

 from noticing. Some of them, as No. 36, by Uwins, and No. 120, 

 by Turner, are well worth attentive examination others, either from 

 the nature of the subject portrayed, or the indifferent execution, or 

 both causes combined, had better have been kept at home with their 

 faces to the wall or used to paint over as a ground for some more 

 successful composition. 



PANORAMA OF MONT BLANC, LEICESTER SQUARE. 



THE view is taken from the chalet of the Flegere, where is to be 

 found the most extensive prospect of the gigantic mountain. The 

 general features are well and accurately depicted, and on the whole 

 it gives a very exact idea of the stupendous mass. The glaciers 

 want that beautiful transparent hue which is so peculiarly their pro- 

 perty and which we believe to be inimitable by the painter's art. 

 But the clear sky, the strongly defined outlines and fleecy clouds tinged 

 with the rich sun-beams, are all very like nature. The Mer de Glace 

 is? the least successful part of the picture, nor were we very well 

 pleased with that portion of the valley which is given, with the 

 Arve flowing through it. There is a life and motion about those 

 rapid torrents even when seen from an elevation of four or five 

 thousand feet, which is poorly delineated in the muddy kennel of the 

 Panorama. On the whole much credit is due to Mr. Burford, and 

 those who have not had an opportunity of seeing the original should 

 hasten to enjoy his excellent copy, and those who have should go 

 and revive the pleasurable sensations they felt in the valley of 

 Chamonix. 



PHRENOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PARIS. 



On the opening of the present session, M. Dumoutier read a paper before 

 the society, for the purpose of showing that Buffon committed an error in 

 supposing that man owed the superiority of his intelligence solely to the 

 admirable perfection of his hand. 



At a very early period, Aristotle sustained the opinion, that the inventions 

 of art were referable to the workings of reason, and not to the hands, which 

 were merely instruments. Buffon's opinion is contradicted by a multitude 

 of facts, and particularly by the following case, which hardly admits of a 

 doubt of the aptitude for exercising the art resulting from the influence on 

 the mental manifestations. 



M. Duconet, the subject of this sketch, is a clever painter, but without 

 arms, and only three feet two inches high. His spine is much twisted, he 

 is humpbacked, he has no thighs, and his feet are very short and incomplete, 

 being furnished with only four toes. In spite of his deformity he is very 

 active, and by his own exertions provides very comfortably for his family. 

 He stands but little, and for two reasons, first, because that position is 

 fatiguing and painful, and, principally, lest he should injure his feet in their 

 application to the office of hands. 



