1881.]

UPHELD BY LAW.

267

the term uneducated in contradistinction tion which acquaints us with ourselves to the super-educated--that come our best, and teaches us to understand our fellowmost useful, most gifted men. It is from the country boys, from shops and coun- men is the best. ters, from common schools that come the men of mind and action. The world is governed and its battles fought, not by the pampered fledglings of the higher schools, nor by the sons of the wealthy,

UPHELD BY LAW!

ror by the inheritors of opportunities, ONE of the most conspicuous of

but by bare-footed boys, whose toes become prehensile in the scratch and scramble of their upward struggle.

There is a good deal of hard sense in this square-toed logic, friend Pixley. The men whose broad shoulders and strong, clear faculties maintain the current of progress for our nation have come up from the farm, the factory, the mill, the shop and the store. We are just reminded of a statistician's inquiry among the "solid" men of Providence, R. I., with reference to their early life, and his finding that over eighty per cent. of them had been farmers' boys, and had worked their way in life mainly by their own exertions.

Yet it must be confessed that Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and other universities have contributed many strong and able minds to our science, literature, and politics, and also to our industrial activities. The roll of American statesmanship does great honor to American educationfrom Jefferson to Garfield. To be sure, many of our prominent men who wear the laurels of scholarship upon their brows were born in humble circumstances and worked their way through school and college, their own resolution and courage bearing them triumphantly over the obstacles which poverty usually places in the avenues of higher education. Genuine success in life is dependent mainly upon high motives, earnest endeavor, and that practical knowledge of human nature which is obtained only in the highways and by-ways of society. The educa

anomalies in government, is that sys

tem which permits the broadcast sale and use of alcoholic liquors, and yet punishes the alcoholic criminal. The tendency and effect of liquor-drinking are known as well as any scientific data we have relating to human pathology; nevertheless legislators who were ostensibly chosen to provide for the welfare of the people and who openly profess to have the prosperity and happiness of the community at heart, utterly ignore the great evil which wastes hundreds of millions of treasure, destroys tens of thousands of lives, and converts hundreds of honest and industrious men and women into robbers, murderers, and profligates. The attitude of government, in view of the open and lawless work of alcohol, seems to us practically that of condoning vice and crime.

We might add a word with reference to tobacco, especially in the new phase of its use in the way of cigarette-smoking among our youth; but so much has been already said by newspaper and periodical declaratory of this practice as one fraught with great peril to health and morality, that at present we just mention it as a matter demanding the earnest and emphatic consideration of law-makers. Alcohol and tobacco indeed being twin in their pernicious ravages upon the community should together be embraced in statutory proscription. Oh, law-maker, awake to a sense of public need, and honestly and fearlessly do your plain duty!

A PHRENOLOGICAL CONVENTION.

A

ministers, have their annual conventions, and look upon such gatherings as very desirable to their individual and collective growth and influence. It is certainly time that phrenologists made an effort in a similar direction. They are numerous in America, and exercise not a little influence in every department of thought, and their expression of view as an assembly on the great question of social reform and progress would command general respect.

HIGHLY esteemed friend, a New England clergyman, suggests the celebration of the birth of Dr. Gall or the coming of Spurzheim to America. He thinks that there ought to be some anniversary occasions when the friends of Phrenology and mental science may come together and discuss important questions bearing upon their favorite studies. We think so too. Something of this sort would help to stimulate thought and We shall be glad to hear from our action among phrenologists, and would friends with regard to the expediency attract public attention to the importance of holding a convention, and the time of the phrenological work. Scientific and place which would be appropriate men, journalists, physicians, teachers, and convenient.

Our Mentorial Bureau.

To Our Correspondents.

QUESTIONS OF GENERAL INTEREST" ONLY will be answered in this department. But one question at a time, and that clearly stated, must be propounded, if a correspondent shall expect us to give him the benefit of an early consideration.

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TO OUR CONTRIBUTORS.-It will greatly aid the editor, and facilitate the work of the printer, if our contributors generally should observe the following rules when writing articles or communications intended for publication:

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they expect a reply, inclose the return postage, or what is better, a prepaid envelope, with their full address. Anonymous letters will not be considered.

GRAY MATTER AND LENGTH OF FIBER." Lecturer" is substantially right in his statement with regard to the constitution of the gray substance and fibers of the brain, but does not appear to appreciate the fact that the greater the depth and extent of the convolutions, the longer must be the fibers. Leading authorities in physiology are taking the ground that intellectual capacity is related to the size of the frontal lobes, and their comparative projection in front of the ear is a guide to estimating their development. The white fibers play a secondary part in the mental operations. True. Their function is annunciative and communicative; they are the instruments by which mind is expressed in the outward conduct. Longet, Dalton, and others think that the fibers which pass downward from the convolutions to the medulla oblongata, are reinforced by the great ganglia through which or over which they pass; that the optic-thalami, corpora quadrigemina, tuber annularo, etc., supply nervous force in some way. In this way, too, then, length of fiber has something to do with nervous energy. The character of the nervous tissue is dependent upon quality and temperament, but of this it is hardly necessary to remind "Lecturer."

1881.]

OUR MENTORIAL BUREAU.

269

Answer: The position in which we sleep is

LEFT-HANDEDNESS.—Question: I would like to know your opinion, through the JOUR-largely a matter of habit; some persous think NAL, why people are left-handed. J. M. B. Answer: The use of the left hand instead of the right for the common purposes of life may be due to inherited peculiarity, or to accident or habit which has led to its special training. Some persons are ambidexterous, i. e., can use both hands with equal facility, which goes far to show that what we call the better hand depends upon its exercise. There are physiologists who claim

that the left hemisphere has the predominant

influence in the mental life, and as its fibers cross to the right, and have a particular relation

to the right half of the body, therefore the right

hand and the right foot are more responsive to mental impulses and more susceptible to training.

O. S. F.-Question: Is O. S. Fowler still living? If so, please state whether he has been lecturing in Texas during the past winter or not, and oblige a subscriber.

C. E. V. M.

Answer: You are evidently the subject of functional trouble involving the liver, spleen, and other organs, which is becoming chronic or kept up by your mode of life. Should you order your habits with reference to your febrile tendency, you would doubtless find much relief. Personal cases like this may be communicated to the editor, who will advise the correspondent direct, this department being for the consideration of questions of general interest.

LOCATION OF ORGANS.-F. B.-The location of the organs in the bust is mainly approximative, and the divisions are not intended to be absolutely exact. This could not be. The bust is a guide to the regional distribution of the organs rather than an exact showing of their size and position. In life the variations from a standard is great, and dependent upon many peculiarities of brain-structure, hence the aim of those who prepared the bust was to indicate the center of an organ rather

than its extent.

that they sleep better lying on the back than in
any other attitude, and Dr. Trall and other phys-
iologists deem that the best. But some other
authorities claim that while lying on the back
the stomach and other viscera press upon the
large blood-vessels in the spinal region, and so
tend to produce congestion and cerebral dis-
turbances. Late and hearty suppers probably
have something to do with the nightmares and
unpleasant dreams people complain of as arising

from sleeping on the back. The position in bed

should be such as to allow free play to the action
that the horizontal, flat pose of the body is most
of the heart, lungs, etc., and it certainly appears
raise the head too much with pillows and hol-
We think that people usually
likely to do this
sters, and so interrupt the movement of the
blood between the heart and head.

FEATHER-WEIGHT.-Question: I have heard it said that if a pound of feathers, as usually weighed, were placed under a receiver and the air exhausted, that the feathers would be heavier than the pound-weight. Is this so, and what buoys up the feathers in the open air?

M. M. H.

Answer: In an exhausted receiver the feathers and pound-weight would balance. In the open air the feathers are sustained because of their peculiar structure; the hollowness of the quill and the light, spreading plumes, offer a striking contrast to the solid and dense pound-weight, and when thrown into the air the lightest breeze wafts them about, because their delicate filaments offer scarcely any resistance. Furthermore, it is the spread of the plume which prevents its rapid falling, just as an open um. slowly. If, however, you pack a quantity of brella dropped handle downward will fall, but feathers closely in a bag and let it fall from a height, it will descend rapidly.

That They Say.

Communications are invited on any topic of interest; the writer's personal views, and facts from his experience bearing on our subjects, being preferred.

FROM A LECTURE IN SCOTLAND.-A newspaper of Dumfries, Scotland, reports at considerable length a lecture delivered in that town not long since, by Mr. L. N. Fowler. The following are extracts from the report: "The world was made for man; man's body was made for his mind; and there was no other science by which we could learn so much of this the chief work of creation as we could learn by Phrenology. In order to read character we must understand organism, and must have some regard to its quantity and its quality, hereditary tendencies, and educational influences. Man existed by the union of body, soul, and spirit; there being a close affinity between the three, a gradual merging of the lower in the higher. Of the human mind we knew nothing, except through the medium of the brain. The lower brain was adapted to the physical wants of man; the frontal, to his intellectual pursuits; the superior, to his moral and spiritual nature. Some people were afraid that Phrenology led to materialism and infidelity. That was an entire misapprehension. Phrenology taught that man had a threefold nature-that he was a social being, that he was an intellectual being, and that he was a moral and religious being. It was because of the fact of his religious nature, fully recognized by Phrenology, that man had his churches and believed in his Saviour. Phrenology had its foundation in nature, and claimed to be as true as any other science. It could not be demonstrated as an exact science, but it was just as true as if it could be. There were few things that could be demonstrated that were accepted and dealt with as truths. We could not prove that medical science was exact, and yet we placed our health and lives in the hands of the doctors. Phrenology informed us more correctly of the component part of the mind than any system of mental philosophy that had yet been written. He was surprised at those people who accepted physiognomy as a guide to character and rejected Phrenology. There could be no physiognomy without Phrenology. The more of a fool a person was, the less physiognomy had he to show. In proportion as he had talent and character there would be a manifestation, an expression of talent in the features. A man's character revealed itself in various ways-in his voice, in his gesture, in his walk, in his physiognomy and, most of all, in the formation of his head, Phrenology, as a guide to character, could be applied to the youngest children; the others

the gesture, the voice, the walk, the physiognomy-did not come into operation until later. A child two or three months old would show in its head the strength and peculiarities of its mind; the phrenologist could tell you what that child would be, what sort of training would suit him best, and what the mental and moral capacities and dispositions he would afterward manifest. That the human race were sprung from a single pair would, he believed, be scientifically established in the end, for it was a fact that the composition of the blood of all the various tribes of men was fundamentally the same. The difference between us was not organic; it was a difference of quantity, quality, and environment a difference of hereditary bias, development, and discipline. Mr. Fowler proceeded to speak of the obligation there was on every one of us to work up his own nature to as near perfection as he could, and to show that though he could not examine the quality of a brain in a living person, yet a pretty correct estimate could be formed of it by seeing the quality of the skin, of the face, of the hair, etc., for the parts of a human being were not made separately, but grew up together, and if the hair and skin were coarse so would the brain be, and if these were fine then the brain would be finer and of better quality."

AN UNFORTUNATE STUDENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY.-An Arizona correspondent writes in a late letter: "How often I gazed with delight upon your collections of skulls and busts! But you don't know that twice in my wandering career I have made collections of skulls on the Pacific coast for the purpose of sending them to your house, but each time I was foiled through the superstition of the people. My first collection embraced skulls of the different tribes that inhabit both sides of the Gulf of Lower California, to which were added some skulls of Spaniards and cross or mixed breeds. These skulls were all robbed or taken from me by the people and soldiers of La Paz, and buried with the ceremonies of the Catholic Church, while I was looked upon as a sacrilegious heretic. My collection number two was made during the Frazer River mining excitement. It was from the tribes inhabiting the Gulf of Georgia and Vancouver's Island. The crania I had collected were left in my room under lock and key at Whitcomb, while I was away on a visit to Victoria. Upon my return I could not find my skulls; the boarders and other people insisted that the house had become haunted since the introduction of the skulls; that their original owners had taken possession and kept the people from sleeping, etc. Thus frustrated, I have made no further attempts at collecting, except once in tropical Mexico I attempted to capture alive, by magnet

PERSONAL-WISDOM.

POSTMASTER-GENERAL JAMES told the President, during a brief interview he had with the WITH the best impulses, the noblest aspiralatter recently, that he had saved the Government about a million and a half dollars in histions, and the purest motives, every man needs the grace of God to resist sin and lead a righteous life.