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handed down to posterity as the enemies of the greatest and most important discovery ever communicated to mankind.

In this work the talents of several living characters are adverted to, and compared with the developement of their mental organs—which is a new feature in philosophical discussion, and might, without explanation, appear to some readers to be improper: but I have founded such observations on the printed works and published busts or casts of the individuals alluded to; and both of these being public property, there appeared no impropriety in adverting to them. In instances in which reference is made to the cerebral developement of persons whose busts or casts are not published, I have ascertained that the observations will not give offence.

1825.

ADVERTISEMENT TO THE FOURTH EDITION.

THE cause of Phrenology continues prosperously to advance, and I hail with pleasure the increase of its advocates. Since the third edition of this work was printed, Dr. Vimont, of Paris, Dr. Caldwell, of Lexington, and Mr. Macnish, of Glasgow, have contributed valuable additions to the philosophy or literature of the science. During the same interval the present work has been reprinted in America, and very ably translated into German by Dr. Hirschfeld, of Bremen ; while the "Elements of Phrenology" have been translated into French by Dr. Fossati. The study of the science thus appears to increase in all the enlightened countries of the globe.

Large additions have been made to the present edition; improved cuts have been used; and, in treating of topics of interest, I have added references to other phrenological works in which they are discussed or illustrated, so as to render this edition an index, as far as possible, to the general literature of the science. The appendix contains Testimonials in favour of the truth of Phrenology, and of its utility in the classification and treatment of criminals, presented in February, 1836, by Sir George S. Mackenzie, one of the earliest and most zealous advocates of the science, to Lord Glenelg, Secretary for the Colonies. His lordship transmitted the documents to Lord John Russell, Secretary for the Home Department, who promised to Sir George S. Mackenzie to bestow on them due consideration.

Dr. Spurzheim, in the American edition of his "Phrenology," published at Boston in 1832, has adopted a new arrangement of the organs, different from any which he had previously followed. It will be impossible, however, to arrive at a perfect classification and numeration of the organs until the whole of them shall have been discovered, and the primitive or elementary faculties shall have been ascertained. Any order, therefore, adopted in the meantime, must be to some extent arbitrary. Dr. Spurzheim has shown this to be the case by the frequent alterations which he has made in the numeration of the organs, without having added any corresponding discoveries to the science The difficulties attending a correct classification are stated in the Appendix, No. II., and for the present I retain the order followed in the third edition of this work as a matter of convenience.

EDINBURGH, 31st October, 1836.

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Chaucer, head, (1)

116, 425 Negro, skull,

433

244 Nerve, magnified, view of, (2)

65

Cingalese, skulls, 87, 135, 144, 194, 196 New Hollander, skull,

Dobson, William, head, (1)

116, 143 North American Indian, skull, 429

52, 176, 426

283 New Zealander, skull,

429

Esquimaux, skull,

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* The figures marked (1) are copied from engraved portraits, &c., in general circulation; the others, with the exception of those marked (2), are drawn from skulls, or casts from nature, in the collection of the Phrenological Society. These figures of skulls and casts are drawn as nearly as possible on the same scale, the dimensions being reduced to one-fifth of those of the real subjects, except in the case of the figures on pages 80 and 82.

The measurements in the Tables on pp. 94 and 436 are taken by inserting the point of the leg of a pair of callipers into the hole of the ear, and bringing the point of the other leg to the centre of the situation of the organ on the skull. The distance noted in the tables is the length of a straight line extending from one of these points to the other. In reducing the skulls to a flat surface in the drawings, the measurements could not be made to correspond exactly with those given in the tables, because the lines represented are different. The approximation, however, is as great as possible, and one principle is followed in all the drawings, so that relatively to each other they are

correct.

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