SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

MIMEAL SCIENCE,

Mural Philosophy ; or the Duties of Man considered in his individual, social, and

domestic capacities. By George Combe Longman and CO.

ANTIQUITIES.

A Second Series of the Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians; including their Religion, Agriculture, &c. Derived from a comparison of the Paintings, Sculptures, and Monuments still existing, with the Accounts of Ancient Anthers.

By Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson. F.R.S., &c. &c. Author er General View of Egypt. and Topography of Thebes," &c. Two volumes and a volume of Plates.

TRAVELS, Murray. Pilgrimages to the Spas in Pursuit of Health and Recreation ; with an Inquiry into the comparative Meritsof different Mineral Waters, the Maladies to which they are applicable, and those in which they are in;urious. By James Johnson, M.D.,

Physician Extraordinary to the late King. Ilighley.

BIBLICAL LITERATURE,

The Hebrew and English Holy Bible. The Hebrew reprinted from the text of Heidenheim. The English version compared with the origival, sod carefully revised, by the late Solomon Bennett, Author of "The Mellen Sea,'• •• Tiro Temple of Ezekiel," &e. Edited by Francis Barham, Esq., Editor of Collier's

Ecclesiastical History." Part I Straher.

COMBE'S MORAL PHILOSOPHY. NOTWITHSTANDING the derision with which the doctrines of GALL and SPURZHEIM were received by the literary and scientific world on their first announcement, they arc now avowed by a numerous sect in Europe and America, who have not merely given complete- ness to their systematic form, but also made them the basis of a practical philosophy. In this country, in particular, they may be said to constitute the ethical opinions of a very large proportion of the shrewdest and best-informed of the middle and labouring classes throughout the manufacturing districts. The most active promoters of secular education, the leading directors and lecturers in the Mechanics Institutions, are either avowed phrenologists, or individuals who without assenting to the " organology " of the phrenologists, entertain similar views of practical morals. If in a manufacturing district you meet with an artisan whose sagacious conversation and tidy appearance convince you that he is one of the more favourable specimens of his class, enter his house, and it is ten to one but you find COMBE'S Constitution of Man lying there. The proselytizing zeal of the phrenologists in part accounts for this. We have called them a sect ; and, with all respect for many of them, we must affirm that the word has been deliberately selected. and is accurately descriptive. They cling together ; they under- value the intellects of all who dissent from their distinguish- ing tenet ; they are rigidly sectarian. In the senseless ri- dicule with which they were at the outset assailed on all sides, there is much to account for and palliate this feature in their character. But the practical turn of mind, earnestness, sincerity, and perseverance of their• most prominent apostle, Mr. GEORGE COMBE, has contributed still more. Mr. Comrse's natural disposition gives him a predilection for inquiries which can be turned to practical account ; his sincerity, earnestness, and benevolence, imbue him with the Paul-like spirit which made the apostle, when pleading as a prisoner, wish that all men were " not only almost but altogether such as he was—except these bonds"; and the depth and intensity of his emotional nature render his proselytizing turn of mind contagious. This character has enabled Mr. COMBE not only to diffuse and keep alive his peculiar views in the minds of those upon whom he has had opportunities of working by oral and written communication, or through the press, but to infuse a more vital and practical spirit into many who have derived a smattering of the technical language of phrenology from the sciolist lecturers who have of late swarmed in the country numerous as the frogs in the Egyptian plague. Phrenology has, it must be con- fessed, leaked in through chinks and crevices of public opinion in the most extraordinary way. The diffusers of useful knowledge, having the fear of the orthodox before their eyes, have, in their attempts to impart scientific knowledge to the people, sedulously eschewed moral and intellectual discussion, lest it should bring them in collision with the clergy : but the question, whether a man's character could be read by the conformation of his head, had so much of novelty, and the plaster-of-paris casts of heads mapped out into various regions looked so much like amusing toys, that no mechanics institution, however hermetically sealed against morals and politics, could refuse their scholars the relaxation of hearing one or two lectures about these strange crotchets. Somehow or other it happened, that such lectures rarely failed to lead to the institution of phrenological societies, which groped and bungled away, greatly to the satisfaction of their members. The avowal of an opinion which most people laughed at became a sort of masonic password among the true be- lievers ; and thus a body of inquirers was prepared to receive the body of practical morals based upon phrenology by Mr. COMBE, and to cooperate with Mr. SIMrs0N in his labours to improve edu- cation. No means of giving the new sect a status in society were neglected. Petitions were addressed to Government to accept of phrenological assistance in the distribution and management of convicts ; phrenological lore was recommended as a guide to all engaged in the care of the insane ; Mr. COMBE stood candidate for the Logic chair of Edinburgh University in his capacity of cham- pion of phrenology ; the sect made a lodgment in Chambers's. Journal; phrenological journals were published in London and Edinburgh; a claim was made to have a section allotted to the science at the meetings of the British Association ; and at one time a bold attempt was made to establish a phrenological news- paper in Edinburgh.

Be its doctrines true or false, phrenology has become an element of public opinion : it is the influential moral creed of a portion of

society, important on account both of its numbers and its intelli- gence. Men cannot help knowing something about it in .spite of themselves.

The name "phrenology "—tbe science of mind—is not calculated to convey a distinct knowledge of the peculiar character of the doc- trine. The systems of ARISTOTLE, BERKLEY, HUME, KANT, and REID, might all with equal correctness be called phrenology. Cra- niology, however objectionable, inasmuch as the brain and not its bony covering is the real object of observation, was nearer the mark than " phrenology." Since the name of this system fails to remind us of the peculiar tenet which contradistinguishes it from all other theories of mind, it is the more necessary to keep constantly in re- membrance, that the characteristic tenet of the phrenologists is— that every faculty of the mind has a local organ in the brain, and that we never find the mental faculty fully developed where the material organ is deficient. In any attempt to estimate the pro- bability or value of phrenological dogmas, it must be kept steadily in view that this is the distinctive tenet of phrenologists; for many observations are to be found in their writings which are true and useful even though this opinion should be false, and many disco- veries are claimed by phrenologists which have been adopted from men of science who did not hold this opinion, and arrived at their conclusions without its guiding light. And it may be observed in passing, as bearing upon this remark, that if on the one hand in- justice has been done to phrenology by the superciliousness of the literary and scientific class, more than justice has been done to it on the other, by its uneducated or half-educated converts attri- buting to it all the information which although familiar to others they were first made acquainted with through its means. But although the existence of local physical organs of the mind in the brain is the distinguishing opinion of phrenologists, it is only one of a very numerous body of opinions entertained by them. The system of the phrenologists, as developed in the writings of Mr. Comns—by far their ablest systematic expositor—in his " Principles of Phrenology," " Constitution of Man," and " Moral Philosophy," embraces the results of much more extended observa- tions in the fields of physiology and metaphysics. As Mr. COMAE and the great body of phrenologists, with whom the word " meta- physics " is only used as a term of mockery and reproach, will pro- bably be rather startled at this assertion, we most explain.

We use the word "metaphysics" in the popular sense of the present day, as it is employed to express observations of mental pbtenomena as contradistinguished from physical phrenomena, or reasonings upon the impressions of what is sometimes called con- sciousness as contradistinguished from reasonings upon impressions received through the medium of the external senses. Dr. GALL, if we have not misapprehended him, refused all aid from metaphysics. He ascei tained the conformation of men's heads, and he inquired regarding their habitual conduct. Finding, or believing that he found, a similar conformation of head in all who pursued the same habitual course of conduct, he after long observation ventured to map out the head into different organs. One, which he found in thieves, he called the organ of stealing, and so on. From the coincidence of a local protuberance of the skull in all who were addicted to a particular line of conduct, he inferred that the pro- tuberance indicated the existence of an organ which enabled and prompted men to commit the action. He did not pretend to ex- plain the modus operandi. SPURZHEIM saw the objection which was fatal to this line of argument, however plausible its appearance of rigid induction. The actions of men are equivocal indexes of the motives which prompt them. A man may be prompted to steal, to stab, to be benevolent, by many different motives. It is not sufficient to show (in the first instance) that a number of men committing a certain act have a similar local conformation of skull, in order to prove that the local conformation denotes the existence of an organ conferring the power and inclination to commit the act, unless it can be ascertained that the intention with which the act was committed was the same in all the cases. This reflec- tion made SPURZHEIM bestow more attention upon all the cir- cumstances of the actions of those who had a peculiar conforma- tion of head, with a view to ascertain the intention with which the action was committed. He began to analyze the intentions, the emotions of men ; and, as the result of a process of generalization, substituted for the concrete faculties—stealing, lying, and the like— of Gime, abstract faculties—such as acquisitiveness, sensitiveness, imitativeness, or the like. SPORZHEIM did not, like his teacher, proceed empirically to work, looking only to the outward forma- tion and the " overt act," as lawyers would call it : he took into consideration all the circumstances of the action, and spe- culated concerning the elementary emotions which by their com- bined excitement prompted its commission. In other words, SPURZHEIM based his system of faculties upon metaphysical in- quiry. Nor is this all. In an age of highly-developed literature and science, such as he lived in, no man's opinions can be the fruit of his own independent elaboration from his own observa- tions. Unconsciously we adopt many opinions, and even formula: of expression, from others. This is eminently the case with SPURZHEIM ; the germ of whose " faculties" may be found in., the " intellectual categories" of KANT ; and whose doctrine regrarding organs—that the combination of an intellectual principle with a physical body, the former dictating the form and mode of action, the latter being the indispensable condition of its realization—is a dogma adopted by German thinkers before his time, and which has given the tone and direction to their most important spe- culations in physiology, and even in language and geography, for the last half century. This remark is made, not for the purpose of undervaluing or dis- crediting the opinion entertained by phrenologists regarding the necessary connexion between mental faculties and local develop- ments of the brain, but for the purpose of ascertaining the real po- sitiOn and importance of this tenet, in the great body of physio- logical, metaphysical, and moral opinions, so ably propounded and advocated by Mr. Comae. So far from thinking this tenet either ludicrous or incredible, we readily admit that numerous observa- tions afford strong presumptions that in its general outline it is consistent with truth ; and if it is true, it is of the utmost conse- quence the subject should be investigated with rigid and patient scientific accuracy. But this has yet to be done. The superci- liousness of the learned has left this branch of inquiry, with few exceptions, in the hands of dilettanti. The evidence upon which many of the organs rest is in the last degree loose and inconclusive ; and with regard to the higher organs of intellect, taste, and imagina- tion, the evidence regarding them rests frequently upon judgments regarding the presence or absence of these faculties in individual cases, and even regarding the comparative amount of their presence, by persons quite incompetent to judge. In the present purely hypo- thetical state of this portion of the great body of phrenological doctrine, it is of use to point out its exact relation to the rest, and the basis on which it rests. The doctrine of local organs in the brain, necessary conditions to the development of mental propensi- ties and faculties, is a branch of physiology. It is an opinion re- garding the connexion existing between the phmnomena which we call mental and the phaenomena which we call physical. If as- certained to be correct, it will be a powerful engine wherewith to effect further discoveries. But it is as yet scarcely in a condition to be turned to this use. Mr. COMAE, and all the better intellects among the phrenologists, admit the mischief that may be done by sciolists, in the yet imperfect state of the science, presuming to describe the characters of individuals. Undue haste in deducing conclusions from similar unsatisfactory observations, although less teasing to individuals, must be more widely mischievous. Nor is it necessary. The analysis of the intellectual faculties adopted by phrenologists may be correct although the opinion of the depend- ence of their development on certain formations of the brain be ultimately found untenable. And the necessity of respecting the physical and organic as well as the mental and moral laws of nature, which the phrenologists so zealously inculcate, will be equally demonstrable although their views regarding the organism of the brain should be hereafter disproved. There is no necessary logical connexion between the intellectual analysis of phrenology and the doctrine of local organs in the brain: the physiological facts upon which rest the duties of cleanliness, temperance, in- dustry, moderation, are certain, and will remain so even though the phrenological views of the physiology of the brain should be disproved. It is unwise on the part of phrenologists to peril, as they too frequently do, the whole of the many valuable truths they have adopted and teach, upon the acceptance or rejection of a portion of their system, which may lead to valuable results if finally established, but which is not an essential or indispensable part of their system.

The system of practical morals developed by Mr. Coyne, in the work at present before us, is based upon the opinions, metaphysical and physiological, of the phrenologists ; and is characterized by the earnestness, faith, (we can find no other word to express this feature of his mind,) and practical shrewdness of its author. He sets out by propounding the doctrine, that "every faculty has a legitimate sphere of activity, and that happiness and duty consist in the proper application of them all." He illustrates successfully the necessity of cultivating our intellectual faculties for the pur- pose of enabling us to act in harmony with the physical, organic, and moral laws of the universe in which we exist. And having sketched this outline of the precepts by which man ought to regulate his conduct, he proceeds to explain in detail their appli- cation to the conduct of man, viewed in succession as an individual, as a member of a family, as a member of general society and the state, and as a being having relations to the Creator of all—a religious being. In the course of these discussions, he develops a full and sagacious code of precepts for the regulation of the conduct.

It would be too much to say that the " Moral Philosophy" of Mr. COMAE IS free from defects. Some seem to proceed from deficiencies in the original constitution of his mind ; others from his professional habits and peculiar position and oppor- tunities of information. We should incline, from the internal evidence of his works, to question Mr. COMBE'S sympathy with or power of appreciating high beauty and grandeur in art or literature. He is also deficient in subtilty of intellect and strict logical sequence in reasoning. These arc natural defects: those which we have hinted at as the result of his posi- tion are—a want of acquaintance with general literature, leading him at times to undervalue and depreciate works of which he is totally ignorant, in a manner calculated to excite prejudice against him among men of cultivated intellects ; vague and puerile notions regarding politics, the result of his provincial situation; and cer- tain conventional opinions in morals and religion, which stamp him inter Scotos Scotissimus, at the very moment that he fancies he is showing himself heroically superior to all conventionalities. We would be understood, however, to mean, that even these deficien- cies are only comparative, and that they are more than compen- sated by the high degree in which he possesses qualities to which we have again and again adverted as his most prominent champ

teristics—practical sagacity, and the three noblest attributes of man, " faith, hope, and charity."

We have left ourselves no room for quotations ; nor would it be easy to convey an adequate idea of Mr. COMBE'S merits by isolated passages. His valuable work on America, which we propose to review at our earliest convenience, affords more matter for striking and characteristic quotation. His earnest simplicity tells in the mass. His is the first systematic theory of morals that has addressed itself to the people. Other systems have been composed by literary men and for literary men, and have much of the unreal character of the mere book-man's reveries. The Church has discouraged scientific inquiries regarding morals ; and the friends of general education have avoided this debate- able territory. It is matter of congratulation that this hitherto uncultivated department of inquiry has been occupied for the first time with such a mass of really valuable materials. The con- troversy has been begun, and they who shrunk from originating it must join in the discussion. A theory of morals has been bestowed upon the people : much will require to be added, much to be modi- fied, but it also contains much that is available both in substance and form.