expounded, remarked that there was a very wide difference in the intellectual and moral developement between one of her children and the others; and accounted for this difference by the fact, that, during pregnancy, she received intelligence that the crew of the ship, on board of which was her son, had mutinied—that when the ship arrived in the West Indies, some of the mutineers, and also her son, had been put in irons-and that they were all to be sent home for trial. This intelligence acted so strongly upon her, that she suffered a temporary alienation of judgment. The report turned out to be erroneous, but this did not avert the consequences of the agitated state of the mother's feelings upon the daughter she afterwards gave birth to. That daughter is now a woman, but she is, and will continue to be, a being of impulses, incapable of reflection, and in other respects greatly inferior to her sisters. The following is a melancholy instance of the operation of this principle, which was communicated to me by a respectable medical practitioner, and which I have since found, from inquiries in the neighbourhood, and from seeing the subject of it, to be substantially correct. In the summer of 1827, the practitioner alluded to was called upon to visit professionally a young woman in the immediate neighbourhood, who was safely delivered of a male child. As the parties appeared to be respectable, he made some inquiries regarding the absence of the child's father; when the old woman told him that her daughter was still unmarried, that the child's father belonged to a regiment then in Ireland, that last autumn he had obtained leave of absence to visit his relations in this part of the country, and that on the eve of his departure to join his regiment, an entertainment was given, at which her daughter attended; during the whole evening, she and the soldier danced and sang together; when heated by the toddy and the dance, they left the cottage, and after the lapse of an hour were found together in a glen, in a state of utter insensibility, from the effects of their former festivity; and the consequence of this interview was the birth of an idiot. He is now nearly six years of age, and his mother does not believe that he is able to recognise either herself or any other individual. He is quite incapable of making signs, whereby his wants can be made known-with this exception, that when hungry, he gives a wild shriek. This is a case upon which it would be painful to dwell; and I shall only remark, that the parents are both intelligent, and that the fatal result cannot be otherwise accounted for, than by the almost total prostration or eclipse of the intellect of both parties from intoxication. Numerous instances might be adduced, wherein the temporary activity of certain faculties not in general prominent in the parents, has caused strong endowments in the offspring, and nothing but the fear of giving offence induces me to forbear citing many that have come under my own observation. It is well known, that the first born children of very young parents have usually a larger animal and less moral and intellectual developement than the younger branches of the family. Sometimes this is not the case, and the converse happens; but this will be found to be the consequence of straitened circumstances, or other causes rousing the propensities of the parents into a state of unwonted activity, at the time of the production of the younger children. Marriage among near relations is also a breach of an organic law, and a fruitful source of evil; but unions of this class are seldom contracted by individuals of our order. We find this law principally infringed by royal families, and others of the higher and middle classes, who, anxious to keep up their wealth and their caste, intermarry amongst each other, until mental imbecility results. I now conclude with a few observations to the young of both sexes, founded on the foregoing views. To my fair hearers, I would take leave to say:-Persevere in the acquisition of orderly, cleanly, and industrious habits;-learn early to accommodate yourselves to the different dispositions of others with whom you may be associated;-strive to acquire a knowledge of your own dispositions, and endeavour, as much as possible, to render your manner habitually agreeable and engaging;-and when your estimable qualities, graces, accomplishments, attract the attention, or rivet the affections, of others, learn to be circumspect-act with great caution-be wary before you give encouragement. Consider that the happiness of yourselves, and the welfare of others, are dependent upon the choice you are about to make. Learn to know your own physical and mental constitution, and to judge of that of others aright. Remember that, if you contract an alliance with any one possessing an unhealthy constitution, that constitution will descend to your progeny, and, in all probability, consign them one by one to the grave, at the very time when they have become most endeared to you. Remember, also, that on the industry, honesty, sobriety, and affection, of him to whom you shall unite yourselves, depends your every temporal felicity. And remember that, unless your feelings, opinions, and sympathies, are in harmony with his, unhappiness will be your inevitable portion. "What," says Dr. Johnson, "can be expected but disappointment and repentance from a choice made in the immaturity of youth, in the ardour of desire, without judgment, without foresight, without inquiry after conformity of opinions, similarity of manners, rectitude of judgment, or purity of sentiment? Such is the common process of marriage. A youth and maiden meeting by chance, or brought together by artifice, exchange glances, reciprocate civilities, go home, and dream of one another. Having little to divert attention or diversify thought, they find themselves uneasy when they are apart, and therefore conclude that they shall be happy together. They marry, and discover what nothing but voluntary blindness before had concealed; they wear out life in altercations, and charge nature with cruelty." (Rasselas, chap. 29.) What, indeed, can be more productive of misery to a refined and educated woman, than the habitual society of a man addicted to grovelling pursuits, and who laughs at whatever she most highly esteems? Let not the countenance dressed up in smiles, nor the honeyed accents of a lover, enlist your affections in his favour before your judgment has been satisfied of his moral and intellectual worth. Regard not his behaviour towards yourself, but examine into his previous conduct as a son and a citizen. If you find that he has been regardless of the infirmities and wants of those to whom he owed his existence; that he could never brook parental restraint, or listen to the counsel dictated by affectionate regard; that he spends too much of his time in idleness, or that, though industrious, he spends too much of his money in the gin shop; that his associates are unintellectual, immoral, and dissipated;-shun him as you would a pestilence: but if you find that he has been dutiful to, and is esteemed by, his parents and the other members of the family; that he is industrious and sober; and that his associates are men of intelligence and moral worth, then will you have reason to believe that he may prove to you a faithful and affectionate husband, and fulfil all the duties of life with integrity and skill. To the youthful aspirant towards manly usefulness and honour, I would now address myself. Acquire a knowledge of the physical and moral sciences, to fit you for the proper discharge of the duties of active life. Learn to know yourself, both as regards your physical frame and your intellectual and moral constitution. Physiology will unfold the former, and phrenology the latter. Study the laws which the Creator has established for the government of organised beings, and train your faculties to render them a willing obedience. Learn to look around you in the world, and note the consequences to others of their infringement of these laws, and the benefits that follow observance. Become acquainted with the institutions and laws of your country, and with the principles that regulate the population of a state. Cultivate a love of truth, and the moral courage necessary to follow it; for, be assured, that it can never lead to danger. Cherish a kindly feeling towards the whole human family. Let no distinction of country or sect be made a pretext for indulging invidious feelings; but remember that it is not given us to be born where we please, and that "True religion is a boon, which heaven Neither let inferiority of mental endowments in others prompt you to "It is to lovely woman given To soothe our griefs, our woes allay, ARTICLE III. Lectures on Popular Education. BY GEORGE COMBE. Second American edition, corrected and enlarged. It is now beginning to be generally admitted, that whatever other merits phrenology may possess, it must have important bearings upon the subject of education. It might be expected, a priori, that a science which unfolds the primitive faculties of the animal, intellectual, and moral nature of man, and their true relations to the external world, would shed a vast amount of light on the education of these faculties, both in relation to the means to be employed, as well as the objects to be secured. The cause, which, of all others, has most retarded the progress of education, defeated most frequently its designs, and produced the greatest diversity of opinions on the subject, has originated from the fact, that the true nature of man has not been hitherto generally understood. This remark is more fully elucidated in the following quotation from the above work :— "Owing to the want of a philosophy of mind, education has hitherto been conducted empirically; and, instead of obtaining from it a correct view of the nature of man, and of the objects and duties of life, each individual has been left to form, upon these points, theories for himself, derived from the impressions made upon his own mind by the particular circumstances in which he has been placed. No reasonable person assumes himself to know the philosophy of astronomy, or of chemistry, or of physiology, without study, and without reaching clear, consistent, and certain principles; yet, in the philosophy of mind, the practice is quite different. Every professor, schoolmaster, author, editor, and pamphleteer-every member of parliament, counsellor, and judge-has a set of notions of his own, which, in his mind, hold the place of a system of the philosophy of man; and although he may not have methodised his ideas, or even acknowledged them, to himself, as a theory, yet they constitute a standard, to him, by which he practically judges of all questions in morals, politics, and religion. He advocates whatever views coincide with them, and condemns all that differ from them, with as little hesitation as a professed theorist himself, and without the least thought of trying his own principles by any standard whatever. In short, in the great mass, even of educated men, the mind, in judging of questions relating to morals, politics, and social institutions, acts on its merely instinctive impressions, and exhibits all the confliction and uncertainty of feeling, unguided either by principles of reason, or by facts ascertained by experience. Hence, public measures in general, whether relating to education, religion, trade, manufactures, provision for the poor, criminal law, or to any other of the dearest interests of society, instead of being treated as branches of one general system of economy, and adjusted on scientific principles, each in harmony with the others, are too often supported or opposed on narrow and empirical grounds; and discussions regarding them, occasionally call forth displays of igno |