PROCEEDINGS OP SOCIETIES. 101 



complied with the wishes of their respected chairman ; but that, as 

 they were too shj-, he would take the task upon himself. He then 

 proceeded to enumerate the heads of the lecture, in a manner which 

 elicited the enthusiastic applause of all present. That an individual 

 who had, perhaps, scarce heard the name of Botany before should be 

 able to give so correct a summary of Mr. L.'s lecture was certainly 

 encouraging, and it proved — what we never doubted — that at least 

 some of the members were fully competent to comprehend the lecture 

 of the preceding week. Mr. Wood then proceeded to give some ac- 

 count of the Penny Magazine, reading portions from the first num- 

 ber, and explaining them where necessary or desirable. The chair- 

 man's observations on drunkenness were particularly good, and the 

 whole discourse was suited in an admirable manner to the minds of 

 the auditors. The chairman was frequently applauded, and the cus- 

 tomary vote of thanks at the conclusion was warmly responded to. 



At the seventh and eighth meetings, on the 27th of July and the 

 2nd of August, familiar lectures were delivered on Phrenology, by 

 Mr. C. T. Wood, jun. The first of these was devoted to a brief 

 outline of the science, the second to a description of the uses and 

 abuses of the various organs, illustrated with drawings and anecdotes. 

 By some the very idea of lecturing on Phrenology to an audience of 

 labourers and farmers may be stigmatized as absurd. But surely it 

 is interesting and useful to every one to be acquainted with the com- 

 position and functions of his own mind ! Every one knows that the 

 lower classes take the greatest interest in Anatomy where the oppor- 

 tunity is offered to them ; and he who believes that the study of the 

 philosophy of the mind would prove less fascinating to them than 

 that of the body is himself no philosopher. Suffice it to say that such 

 was the interest excited by the lectures already delivered on 

 Phrenology that it will probably form the subject of many future 

 discourses. 



Hitherto the members have met together one evening in each week 

 to hear any lecture that may have been prepared for them, and at 

 each meeting books are distributed amongst the members. Those 

 who have witnessed the large and attentive audiences at these lectures 

 can easily anticipate the immense advantages which must necessarily 

 result from the establishment of similar societies in other parts of the 

 kingdom. To those who oppose the education of the lower classes al- 

 together, as detrimental to the interests of every party, our observa- 

 tions are not addressed. Such individuals are either too ignorant or 

 too bigoted to be worth notice. But the philosophic phrenologist 

 well knows that every man, except an idiot, has the same faculties, 

 that these differ only in relative size and quality ; he knows also that 

 these faculties can be cultivated to equal advantage, and with equal 

 pleasure, by individuals of all ranks in life, and he acts accordingly. 



We can only hope that the Campsall Society for the Acquisi- 

 tion of Knowledge will continue to exert the same zeal which has 

 hitherto actuated it, and that the influential inhabitants of other vil- 



