S46 MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS. 



tained organs there enumerated, and have not yet had an opportunity of ob- 

 serving whether there are organs in this region hitherto unknown. — Phreno- 

 logicalJoumaU vol. x., p. 510-11. 



The Deans and Chapters of Cathedrals, and Cathedral Choirs. 

 — The shameful practices of the •* great functionaries," of the church in ap- 

 propriating to themselves all the " tomb money" and other sources of income 

 in the metropolitan cathedrals, to the almost total exclusion of the just claims 

 of the choir, have been well " shewn up" in several recent numbers of the 

 Musical World. These dignitaries, not content with immense incomes, must 

 needs deprive others of their due, with the view of further enriching them- 

 selves. This accounts for the low state of the choir in our cathedrals, more 

 particularly in the metropolis ; it accounts also for the very moderate salary 

 of the organist, and for his unwillingness to exert himself in the improve- 

 ment of the choristers — Eds. 



Reported Renunciation of Phrenology by Mr. G. Combe. — " To 

 George Combe, Esq. Sir, — A rumour having been prevalent here, dur- 

 ing the past week, that you had renounced the principles of Phrenology as 

 laid down in your System, which has now reached its fifth edition, I am re- 

 quested by a circle of friends (who have read your different works on that 

 science) to make the inquiry. I am induced to trouble you personally, as 

 a line from you would place it beyond a doubt — George Fourness, 28, 

 High-street, Birmingham." Answer — " Edinburgh, 23, Charlotte Square, 

 12th of January, 1837. Sir, — I am favoured with your letter without a 

 date, and hereby authorize you, not only to contradict the report which you 

 mention, that I have renounced the principles of Phrenology, but to add 

 that I have given up the profession of the law in order that, during the re- 

 mainder of my Ufe, I may be able to dedicate more time and exertion to the 

 cultivation and diffusion of that science. Yours, George Combe." — Phre- 

 nological Journal, No. 51. 



The Brake Nightingale (Philomela luscinia) Singing in November. 



« Two of these charming creatures were heard in Teignmouth, cheering 



the dulness of a November night with their melodious warblings, instead 

 of " wasting their sweetness on the desert air." 



The Fieldfare Thrush ( Turdus pilaris, Will.)." The caged Fieldfare 

 Thrush which I before mentioned to you continues well, and is a perfect 

 Garden Ouzel in his ways. He swallows about half his weight of haws 

 everv day, besides worms and bread and milk. It is a very handsome speci- 

 men. Edward Blyth, Tooting, December 21, 1836, in a Letter to Neville 



Wood, Esq. 



Tait's Edinburgh Magazine and Phrenology.— In the number of 

 this excellent and widely-circulated periodical for March, 1836, p. 191-2, fa- 

 vourable mention is made of the phrenologists and of the lectures of Mr. 

 Combe ; but in a later number, in a review of Watson's Statistics of Phreno- 

 logy, the science is ridiculed, and treated as if it had no more foundation in 

 truth than astrology. Surely the Editor must have been dozing when he 

 consented to mar his \n\ges by the admission of such a critique. 



The Prospects of Greek and Latin — We have admitted that-there 

 was a time when a knowledge of the ancient classics was essential to a libe- 

 ral education. But is that time to be interminable ? Is the minority of the 

 Knglish language never to have an end ? Is the period never to arrive 



