ments, &c., which I resolved to avoid, I sent the Reporter's Manuscript to Dr. Knott, with a request that he would say whether any erroneous arguments were attributed to him, and, if so, that he would make such remarks as would enable me, in drawing up a fair copy of them for publication, to adhere strictly to what his objections to Phrenology really were.

Dr. Knott returned me the manuscript, with the following reply: —

MY DEAR SIR, I have looked through the Report of Lectures on Phrenology, &c., and find it so incorrect, as to commission and omission, &c., that correction would imply recomposition. As to your request of a statement of my objections, I may observe, I could not do justice to myself and the question, without considerable expenditure of time in transcribing, and exertion of memory. My notes are so contracted as to be useless to any one except myself; and being in rather a delicate state of health, with the task of 100 Lectures on "Theory and Practice of Medicine," in the Medical School, 4 days a week from 2d of next month, I find myself, however reluctant, unable to accommodate you; and it was to guard against any deficiency of candour on my part, should any members of the Phrenological Society desire to reply to my objections, that I informed you, as their Secretary, of my intention to deliver the Lectures.

Allow me to assure you that I regret my inability to meet your wishes. I am much obliged for the work on Infant Schools, which I had previously seen with great pleasure. Such a system of education is beginning at the right end.

I am, &c.

SAMUEL KNOTT.

NORTHUMBERLAND STREET, Saturday Evening.

The following reply was sent to Dr. Knott on the 17th September, 1837.

MY DEAR SIR, I am sorry to learn from you, that the nature of the Report of your Lectures on Phrenology presents an insurmountable objection to their being printed in a form perfectly authentic and recognised by you, along with my reply, duly reflected upon, and which I should have illustrated by drawings of individuals, both of this town and elsewhere, that the cogency of the arguments and facts I might advance should be able to be tested by all who attended at the Music Hall, the whole manuscript of which I should again have submitted to you previous to putting it into the hands of the printer.

For this purpose I had already entered into arrangements with Messrs. Currie and Bowman, as to the printing and engraving, and with the cast-taker of Mr. Robson of Market Street, for procuring impressions of the faces and heads of as many persons possessing any marked mental faculty, in this town, as would consent thereto. Without, however, having an authorised copy of your objections, this falls to the ground. I may here remark, that I did not for a moment contemplate putting you to the trouble of giving me a detailed statement of your objections to Phrenology, as you seem to consider, in my former note to you. I meant a statement of your objections to the Report, in any way, however rude, from which I should have been able, myself, to draw out a true copy of what your objections to Phrenology really are. I should, then, again have submitted this to your inspection. And I think you will allow that I have consented to take a very reasonable share of trouble in the matter, when you consider that I am actively, and I may say even harassingly, employed in my business, during about ten hours of every day in the week, with the exception of Sunday.

This, however, is scarcely to the point; but if you will allow me to allude to the remark contained in your note to me, "that you had informed me, the Secretary to the Phrenological Society, of your intention to deliver these Lectures, lest any member should wish to reply to your objections." I presume by this you meant it was sufficient to reply at the time? If so, the arrangements made of allowing only ten minutes, to reply to an hour's discourse, puts the possibility of an effectual reply, even if Dr. Gall himself were the defendant, utterly out of the question; the more so, as a reply necessarily requires a longer time than the attack; seeing that, to make it clear, the objections should be stated again by the person defending, along with his reply to them.

But whatever time may be allowed for replying, I disapprove in toto of the method of investigating any subject by public disputation. Experience proves that the subject of Phrenology involves the most serious considerations both in Physiology and Pathology, as well as in Ethics; and is only to be proved, or disproved, by the examination of a host of facts, to bring the whole of which clearly before the understanding would require many months of lecturing, as well as an enlightened, not a mixed, audience. Surely you will not suppose me unreasonable, if I conceive that a "disputation" before the Members of a Mechanics' Institute cannot be conclusive? Under these circumstances, therefore, and considering it the most satisfactory way the nature of the subject would admit, I hired a Reporter to take down your Lectures in short-hand, in the regular

manner, the manuscripts of which I submitted to you for your approval or correction in any way you might think fit. I then proposed to print your objections by themselves, and subjoin my reply to them; and I cannot help being of opinion that no fairer way of doing this could exist. I regret that the unexpectedly imperfect nature of the Report has rendered this impossible; and I have now only to say, that if at any future time your leisure or health (which I am sorry to hear so bad an account of) or inclination should induce you to write out your objections in a tangible form, I shall be ready to publish them, with my reply, in the manner I have mentioned; submitting the manuscript to you previous to printing, for the purpose of avoiding the possibility of my misapprehending or misrepresenting any of your arguments; a thing that too often happens in such questions, and occasions much unnecessary trouble.

I hope you will not accuse me of too great an activity of the organ of Self-Esteem in making this proposition, seeing that I am not a medical man; but that you will allow me to have some acquaintance with the subject of Phrenology, for I have studied it (impartially, I hope,) during several years, and have made my observations on it, in almost every civilised country in Europe, as well as among savages of different tribes on the coast of Africa, which have proved so satisfactory to my mind, as to lead me irresistibly to concur with all the arguments of phrenologists, as in Mr. Combe's books for instance.

I must beg of you to pardon my troubling you with so long a communication, which has insensibly extended to a degree I did not contemplate at the beginning, and believe me, &c.

18th September, 1837.

W. CARGILL.

To the above Letter Dr. Knott sent the following reply.

MY DEAR SIR,-I am extremely sorry that circumstances mentioned in my last note prevent me from being able to forward your views on the subject of Phrenology. I am a warm friend to the utmost stretch of liberal and candid investigation; of course the mode of proceeding must be a matter of opinion. During the Lectures I was obliged to explain as to the expenditure of an hour extra in Lecture, which did not yield to the opponent of Phrenology the advantage you suppose, as during that period on him devolved a description (of course general) of the Nervous System, and a sketch of Phrenology, &c. Although not an advocate of the system, still I have paid

much attention to the subject, as to reject as well as believe in it, a rational man should duly inform himself of the data for and against. As to my statements Anatomical, and Physiological, &c. I spoke under correction of Mr. Fife, and he did not impugn the accuracy of any of the merely descriptive facts stated by me. I trust, my dear Sir, you will give me credit for the most candid wish to do all in my power to elicit truth, and I need hardly assure you, if in my power, it would, and will afford me sincere pleasure to forward your efforts to obtain that object.

NORTHUMBERLAND STREET, 18th September, 1837.

I am, &c.

Samuel Knott.

I make no comment on this mode of avoiding an examination of the arguments. I leave every one to draw their own inferences. I am the last person to wish to interfere with the time or health of any professional gentleman, but I certainly did expect that in a discussion which was made public by means of advertisements in every Newspaper in the district, and placards plentifully distributed headed " DISPUTATIONS ON PHRENOLOGY," and every thing bearing the appearance of a general invitation to discuss the subject, "freely" and "liberally" (such were the words used in the placards), and I think I was justified in expecting that, when I took the only means that can be used for obtaining an account of public proceedings, I should be enabled to succeed in obtaining such an account recognised as authentic.

I hope the Chairman will allow me to make one remark more. It is, to allude to Dr. Knott's apparent attempt to transform this discussion which is a public one, into an affair of personal obligation which he appears to consider he would be conferring upon me by kindly permitting me to have authorised data, whereby I should be enabled to reply to arguments used in a discussion originated by himself, in the sole desire to elicit truth, as he says, and in which he invites any one to assist! He several times, in his notes, expresses "his regret that he is unable to accommodate me, to meet my wishes," &c. I beg distinctly to disavow any such obligation or accommodation on the contrary, if the Doctor chooses to enter upon a crusade to elicit and disseminate truth, on the subject of the " Square Inch," or any other system, I consider all attempts to assist him in such discovery and its dissemination, as a decided obligation conferred upon himself. With this view, therefore, if no other member give notice of an intention to read a paper at

the next meeting, I shall then claim your attention while I deal with the Doctor's "hard facts as well as I can from the Report and my own memory, for I attended the Lectures, and I hope to be able to illustrate many of my arguments by casts from the heads of gentlemen living in the town, and whose mental manifestations may be ascertained by you.

IX. An Exposure of the Blunders of the Popular Encyclopædia,' under the Article PHRENOLOGY;' in a Letter to the Editor of this Journal, from MR. CARGILL, Secretary to the Newcastle Phrenological Society.

is

MR. EDITOR. Great are the complaints from some of our philosophical writers, of the vast quantity of superficial stuff palmed off upon the public, and dignified by the name of "Literature;" which literature is as greedily devoured by the "reading public." Indeed, many go so far as to say, that nothing in the way of profound information would sell now-adays, except to a select few. One of the most complete exemplifications of this, I have seen for some time, —one to which I take the liberty of calling your attention for a moment, on the part of Messrs. Blackie and Sons of Glasgow, who are now publishing, and disseminating widely over the country, a work entitled the "Popular Encyclopædia, being a Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, &c. &c. reprinted from the American edition of the Conversations Lexicon, with corrections and additions, so as to render it suitable to this country!" This work is largely circulated in England. I do not know whether it may be the case in Scotland, but if you can find one in Edinburgh [The letter was addressed to the Editor of the former Series of this Journal], pray allow me to refer you to the last volume of it, which came out a few days ago, and contains an article on "Phrenology." From the nature of it, it is probable that the original publishers may have engaged one of their apprentices to write the article, and it may be that Messrs. Blackie and Son have themselves made "corrections and additions so as to render it suitable to this country." On perusing it, you will perceive that the writer, aware that he was contributing to a scientific periodical, and deeply conscious of the necessity of accuracy and minuteness in laying a philosophical subject before the public, has so thoroughly made himself master of the science, so profoundly examined the writings of phrenologists, that he has gravely penned such a sentence as the