236 KEPORT— 1869. 



tliis peculiarity as an indication of progress towards perfection, or the reverse ? 

 Tke result of the author's observatious leads him to thiuk there can be little Jbubt 

 of the greater frequeucy of this occurrence iu civilized than in savage races. Minute 

 examination reveals gTeat differences in the proportion which the sizes of the con- 

 volutions bear to each other in brains of the same general size. In two foreheads 

 of the same breadth, for example in A, the conA-olutions seated in the mesial line 

 shall be much wider than in B, whilst iu B the lateral convolutions shall be much 

 wider than in A. 



As iu different families or races the features of the face bear very different pro- 

 portions in size to each other, a certain average proportion being characteristic of 

 each, so with the convolutions and groups of convolutions of the brain. The theory 

 proposed Ijy the author as an explanation of the protuberance of isolated cerebral con- 

 ■\-olutions is, that either exercise or the crossing of races by marriage has caused off- 

 springs to be born with a predisposition towards the more energetic manifestation of 

 a function than the extent of surface allotted to it by the brain type of its race will 

 furnish ; that this extent of surface not being susceptible of being widened without 

 subverting the general packing and an'augement, and the proportion of the convolu- 

 tions and the figm-e of the brain as a whole belonging to the type, Nature effects her 

 purpose of enlarging an isolated organ by thrusting the skull outwards. This theory 

 requires that the cerebral convolutions most frequently protuberant shall be those ap- 

 propriated to functions which the progress of civilization has a tendency to cultivate 

 and render more active than they are found in a ruder state of society ; and if the 

 author is right in belie-ving that the convolutions which, in the frequency with 

 which they occm- defined on the exterior of the head, sm'pass all others are those 

 of the organs of music and causality, he thinks it must be admitted that so far the 

 test does not fail. Gall especially described two different forms of development 

 presented by the organ of music. . In some of the most eminent composers, the 

 external corners of the forehead are enlarged and rounded towards the temples, 

 giving extent of superficies to the organ without defining its outline. In others 

 equally celebrated, the organ presents a well-defined prominence in the form of a 

 pyramid, the base of which rests above the eye, whilst the apex reaches halfway 

 up the forehead and terminates at its exterior edge. Gall gives the Mozarts, father 

 aud sou, IMiehael Haydn, Pacr, Dusselc, Crescentini, and several others, as examples 

 of the first conformation ; Beethoven, Joseph Haydn, J. J. Eousseau, Gluck, &c. 

 as examples of the second ; and the author adds to the list of gi-eat musicians pre- 

 senting the outline of the organ in a well-defined pyramidal form, the names of 

 Mendelssohn and Weber. He is acquainted with a lady who possessed from child- 

 hood an extraordinary genius for music, in whom the organ presents the first form. 

 The configiu'ation of the corners of the forehead is such as to provide a wide extent 

 of smface for the organ of music, but no defined outline is perceptible. This lady 

 married into a family singularly wanting in musical capacity. She has two 

 daughters, who, without equalling their mother in genius, inherit from her a 

 capacity for music much above the average. Their heads, however, follow in 

 general outline the type of their father's faniUy ; they lack the spacious temporal 

 region of their mother, and present the organ of music in the p^Tamidal form ; and this 

 form is beyond doubt that which is most commonly met with in England. On an 

 average the author has his attention arrested at least once in six montlis by seeing 

 a very conspicuous development of the organ of music in the pyramidal form in a 

 complete stranger; when circumstances permit he always endeavours to ascertain 

 whether the endowment with the faculty is commensurate with the development 

 of the organ, and he has never yet received a negative answer. 



On the Economical Condition and War/es of the Ar/ricultural Labourer in 

 England. By Professor Leone Lett, F.S.A., F.S.S. 



1. That the great causes of low wages in Agricidture, as compared with other 

 industi-ies, appear to be the prevalence of physical labour and the permanent and 

 general excess of labourers. 



2. That it being highly important for the welfare of the labourer to raise the 



