322 CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



note, whose authority and power were opposed to it, are undergoing 

 the lot of their race, while the disciples of Phrenology are becoming 

 their successors, and will assuredly train the rising, and raise up 

 the next, generation in the full and unprejudiced adoption of phre- 

 nological views : in thirty years hence, anti-phrenology will be a 

 subject for the historians of things that have ceased to exist. 



Section II. exhibits the present state of Phrenology, considered 

 as a branch of science or philosophy. Its contents are — a definition 

 of Phrenology, its leading principles, evidences and uses ; objections 

 to it stated and considered ; suggestions for the study of it, for dif- 

 fusing a knowledge of it, and for checking uncandid opposition to 

 its advancement ; and comments on Mr. W.'s private correspond- 

 ence. 



Section III is occupied with an outline of the local diffusion of 

 Phrenology, and includes a description of the steps taken to explain 

 its principles in upwards of eighty different places. The statements 

 in this part of the book are founded on replies to queries in a print- 

 ed circular, addressed by Mr. W. to several gentlemen whose 

 names are known in connexion with Phrenology. 



Section IV. is devoted to the literature of Phrenology, and em- 

 braces chronological lists of phrenological and anti-phrenological 

 works and writers ; a list of persons giving testimonials to Mr. 

 Combe and Lord Glenelg, in recommendation of the science ; and 

 observations on anti-phrenological opinions, the list of which Mr. W. 

 postpones " in pity to their authors.'' The two lists of testimoni- 

 als originated in the following circumstances : — Sir George Stewart 

 Mackenzie, Bart., having addressed a letter to Lord Glenelg, as Se- 

 cretary of State for the Colonies, representing that great advantages 

 could be derived from the use of Phrenology in classifying convicts, 

 and soliciting a practical trial of the skill of phrenologists in predi- 

 cating disposition from configuration of head ; but his lordship de- 

 clined the proposal, on the grounds of his having no funds (which 

 were not desired), and no faith in the science. Nearly at the same 

 time, the professorship of logic, in the University of Edinburgh, be- 

 came vacant, and Mr. Combe forthwith offered himself as a candi- 

 date for the appointment. The certificates and testimonials in sup- 

 port of Sir George's proposal and Mr. Combe's solicitation, were 

 published simultaneously ; and, in Mr. W.'s opinion, they contain 

 such a weight of personal evidence as must have greatly astonished 

 the opponents of Phrenology. 



Section V. is composed of statistical estimates and summaries, 

 relating to phrenological societies, works, authors, essayists, mu- 

 seums and lectures. According to Mr. W.'s computation in aggre- 

 gate numbers, there are twenty-four British Phrenological Societies 

 now in existence, nearly one hundred writers on Phrenology, and 

 one hundred thousand believers in the principles of that science. 

 His Supplement is brief, and comprehends additional miscellaneous 

 information obtained after his work was in the hands of the printer. 

 From this view of his Sections, it mav be inferred that Mr. W.'s 



