1G8 



KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



and Queries," vol. vii., p. 496), at au ordi- 

 nary meeting of the guardians of the poor, an 

 application was made by the relieving officer 

 on behalf of a single woman residing in the 

 small village of Altarnun. The cause of 

 seeking relief was stated to be "grief;' 1 and 

 on asking for an explanation, the officer stated 

 that the applicant's inability to work was 

 owing to depressed spirits, produced by the 

 flight of a croaking raven over her dwelling 

 on the morning of his visit to the village. 

 The pauper was by this circumstance, in con- 

 nection with its well-known ominous cha- 

 racter, actually frightened into a state of 

 wretched, nervous depression, which induced 

 physical want. 



The poets have taken advantage of this 

 weakness of human nature ; and in their 

 hands the raven is a fit instrument of terror. 

 Shakspeare puts the following malediction 

 into the mouth of his Caliban : — 



As wicked dew as e'er my mother brush'd 

 "With raven's feathers from unwholesome fen, 

 Drop on you both ! 



The ferocious wife of Macbeth, on being ad- 

 vised of the approach of Duncan, thus 

 exclaims : — 



The raven himself is hoarse 



That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan 



Under my battlements. 



The Moor of Venice says : — 



It comes o'er my memory 

 As doth the raven o'er this infected house, 

 Boding evil to all. 



The last quotation alludes to the supposed 

 habit of this bird flying over those houses 

 which contain sick persons whose dissolu- 

 tion is at hand, and thereby announced. 

 Thus, Marlowe, in the "Jew of Malta," as 

 cited by Malone, says : — 



The sad presaging raven tolls 

 The sick man's passport in her hollow beak, 

 And in the shadow of the silent night 

 Doth shake contagion from her sooty wing. 



46. Welsh Legend of the Redbre'ast. 

 — Far, far, far away is a land of woe, dark- 

 ness, spirits of evil, and fire. Day by day 

 does the little bird bear in his bill a drop of 

 water to quench the flames. So near to the 

 burning stream does he fly, that his feathers 

 are scorched, and hence he is named Bron- 

 rhuddyn (breast-burnt). The robin returns 

 from the land of fire, and therefore he feels 

 the cold of winter more than other birds. Oh ! 

 then, in giatitude throw a few crumbs to 

 poor redbreast ! 



47. The Cockchafer. — In Somerset, 

 Devon, Cornwall, and other counties, this 

 common and injurious insect is known by the 

 vulgar name of oak- web. 



Middle Street, Taunioa, 

 March 15. 



PHRENOLOGY FOR THE MILLION. 

 No. LIIL— PHYSIOLOGY OF THE BRAIN. 



BY F. J. GALL, . M.D. 



(Continued from Page 102.^ 



We cannot deny that certain individuals 

 have hereditary propensities to crimes, and even 

 to those of tLe most atrocious character. Helve- 

 tius himself, the great antagonist of the innateness 

 of the qualities of the mind and soul, is obliged to 

 allow " that there are men so unfortunately 

 constituted as never to be happy but in doing 

 deeds which will send them to the gallows." 

 Cardinal Polignac, also, speaks of men " born 

 vicious ; for whom crime has actual charms, and 

 who are borne along by a furious passion, which 

 obstacles only irritate." 



Thus far, however, the propensities of which I 

 speak are not of the number of those which evince 

 an actual alienation. These propensities render 

 the most energetic measures necessary, and crimi- 

 nals of this description cannot be tolerated in 

 society. The greater part, according to the ex- 

 pression of M. de Sonnenfels, " ought to be slain, 

 as we slay wild beasts, to prevent their destroying 

 the human race." 



It has been objected to me, that these persons 

 ought not to be judged by their organisation. 

 It is not pretended that they should be. But it 

 is desirable to prove the reality of these facts, and 

 to explain them by this perverse organisation, 

 that people may cease to accuse the voluntary 

 perversity of these monsters. 



Let us quit this painful subject, to notice those 

 cases in which we may pronounce with confidence 

 on the absence of moral liberty ; and, conse- 

 quently, the impossibility of admitting moral 

 guilt, or any kind of responsibility. Such are 

 those cases, in which illegal actions may be con- 

 sidered as doue from imbecility of mind, mental 

 alienation, or certain derangements of the natural 

 state of health. 



It will, perhaps, be said that the acts of imbe- 

 cile or deranged persons are not subject to the 

 operation of criminal laws. But my researches on 

 this subject will throw great light on the preceding 

 discussion; and, on the other hand, it appears 

 to me essential to determine with the greatest 

 precision, the circumstances in which one of the 

 cases mentioned really occurs. I shall treat 

 separately of each of these subjects. 



Application of my Principles to illegal Acts 

 which result from a peculiar weakness of the 

 Mental Faculties. 



I here make use of the expression, peculiar 

 iveakness of the mental faculties, because I am 

 treating only of actions which are the consequence 

 of a greater or less inbecility of mind. I shall 

 not speak of acts which flow from complete and 

 general stupidity of intellect. These last acts 

 being purely involuntary or automatic, have not 

 even the appearance of moral liberty, and can 

 by no means form the subject of my present 

 researches. 



Among the young boys who were brought to 

 us in one of the prisons of Berlin (Stadt-Vogtey), 

 there was one who particularly attracted our 

 attention. We advised that he should not be set 



