Report of the Committee appointed to inspect the Crops of Turnips, under Article 7. of Class 3., for which three Claims were tendered to the Society for Premium. The first crop here noticed produced 34 tons and 8 cwt. per acre of Swedish turnips; the second was estimated at 40 tons per acre: these were raised by Mr. Kemp, of Bathford. On the second of these crops, the committee observes that the turnips all grew with very large necks, perhaps a foot high, resting on the surface, and seeming to lay hold only by their tap, here by a ludicrous error of the press printed top roots. The third crop, belonging to John Bennett, Esq. of Pit-house, near Shaftesbury, was estimated at no more than 26 tons and 8 cwt. per acre, being not equal to the weight required by the premium: but the excellent management induced the committee to confer on Mr. B. an honorary reward. The third claimant, Mr. Estcourt, spared the committee the trouble of inspecting his crop, having himself discovered that the weight fell short of the stipulated tonnage. To Mr. Kemp, therefore, the premium of ten guineas was awarded. For the account of the different soils on which the above-mentioned crops were grown, and the kind of preparation which they received, we must refer the agriculturist to the report. The general reader will be struck by observing the quantity of vegetable food which one acre is capable of producing.

Report of the Committee on the Ploughing-Match for the Year 1813. To the emulation excited by these ploughing matches we have already adverted, and it appears also to be the leading aim of the Society to discourage the application of unnecessary strength. It is therefore remarked, One very gratifying circumstance attended this day's exhibition. Although no conditions were prescribed as to the construction of ploughs, or quantum of force to be employed, all the ploughs brought in competition were drawn by two horses only, managed solely by the ploughmen with reins; affording an excellent example to the district; and corresponding with the constant endeavours of the Society to shame out of use the absurd and expensive practice of using four, six, and even more horses, where two are found sufficient.' Persuaded of the utility of these matches, the committee expressed a wish that their éclat might be increased, and that they might occur more frequently.

On the Treatment of a Merino and Merino-Cross Flock of Sheep. By Mr. Garrett. The object of this communication is to remove the prejudices which have been entertained, and are still circulated, against the Spanish breed. Mr. Garrett informs us that the farm which he occupies is principally hillland, on Salisbury Plain; and that his flock consists of 950, i. e. 500 of pure Merinos, purchased from his Majesty's stock;

He

g on

and 450 of cross-breed from Merinos and South-Downs. contends, from his own experience, that this breed is hardy enough to live on our cold hills in the winter; that, in proportion to their size, they carry equal manure to the fold with larger sheep; that the mutton is good; and that, excepting rich, deep, grazing land, the wool does not deteriorate. He is so sanguine on the subject of Merino mutton, that he hopes to see the day when Spanish mutton will sell for more than any other sort. At present, however, we believe that this is

not the case.

The first part of this volume ending with this paper, we shall also here suspend our report, and resume it in a following Number.

[To be continued.]

ART. V. The Physiognomical System of Drs. Gall and Spurzheim; founded on an Anatomical and Physiological Examination of the Nervous System in general, and of the Brain in particular; and indicating the Dispositions and Manifestations of the Mind. By J. G. Spurzheim, M. D. Second Edition, greatly improved. 8vo. Nineteen Copper-plates. l. 10s. Boards. Baldwin and Co. 1815.

THE lectures and publications of Dr. Gall, and his friend and

colleague, Dr. Spurzheim, have for some time been very general topics of conversation among the literati of the Continent, where his peculiar opinions respecting the nervous system have made a number of converts. In this country, however, we are disposed to regard such novelties with a more cautious and prudent eye, and little attention was paid to them: but, since the appearance of Dr. Spurzheim's English work, and his public demonstrations in London, the subject has been investigated with considerable eagerness; and, if he has not gained numerous proselytes, he has certainly obtained a degree of respectful notice from many of our distinguished anatomists and physiologists. In Germany, the science of cranioscopy was vehemently attacked, not as being false, but as being of a dangerous tendency; it was held up as leading to materialism, and in course to atheism; it was accused of sapping the foundation of all the bonds of religion and morality; and Dr. Gall was actually under the necessity of flying from Vienna, to escape the civil power. We were surprized and concerned to hear that something of this kind had occurred in our metropolis; so far, at least, that persons were to be found who were weak enough to conceive that our constitution, civil and ecclesiastical, could be overturned by a supposed anatomical

discovery respecting the structure of the nervous system. We believe, however, that this alarm has now subsided, and that the doctrine will be permitted to rest on its own merits; being received, or rejected, not at the pleasure of the Attorney-general, but according to the judgment that is formed of it by men of

science.

Dr. Gall had continued his lectures for some years, before he published on the subject of his new doctrines: but a splendid work at last appeared in Paris, the joint production of himself and Dr. Spurzheim; and the latter has now given to the English reader the volume before us, which, though less bulky and minute than the Paris publication, is sufficiently copious to enable us to form a correct idea of the hypothesis in all its parts. It consists of five divisions; 1st, an Account of the Structure of the Brain and Nerves; 2dly, of their Action; 3dly, of their Signs, Physiognomy, and Pathognomy; 4thly, of the Application of the Inquiries to Philosophy; and gthly, Observations on the Effect of the Inquiry on Society, the Arts, Education, Legislation, and Medicine. These five parts or divisions may be reduced to three distinct topics, viz. the anatomical investigations, the physiological hypothesis that is deduced from them, and the moral consequences which are supposed to follow from the adoption of this hypothesis.

On the first of these points, opinions are almost generally agreed. Although Dr. Gall has met with some opponents, who do not admit his alleged discoveries with respect to the brain, and the relation of the different portions of the nervous system to each other, yet for the most part it seems to be allowed, by those who are competent to decide, that he is a skilful dissector; that he has examined the brain in a new manner, and obtained some curious and important results; and that some at least of the ideas which he has advanced as original are founded in fact. The mode of examining the brain, which had been. adopted by all former anatomists, was to commence at one of its external surfaces, generally that which forms the vertex of the head d; and to cut off successive slices of the cerebral matter, observing, as the operators proceeded, the different cavities into which they penetrated, and the eminences and depressions which were gradually brought into view. Dr. Gall, on the contrary, always commenced his dissections at the base of the brain, tracing up the parts from the spinal marrow; and, instead of employing a knife, he used a blunt instrument, such as the handle of a scalpel, gently opening and dividing the parts, following their windings, and unravelling their convolutions. This plan of proceeding appears to be judicious, and such as might be supposed to throw more light on the

subject

subject than the usual method. As the author observes, what notion could we form of the structure of a muscle, were we to begin at the external surface, and cut it into thin slices; or what knowlege could we obtain of the nature of the body in general, were it to be examined in the way that has generally been adopted with respect to the brain?

The opinion which the present anatomists have formed concerning the structure of the brain is that it is not a pulp, merely inclosed by membranes, and traversed in different directions by blood vessels, but an assemblage of fibres arranged in the shape of membranes, which may be traced through it, and opened or unravelled, as it were, into a simple expansion. They infer this to be the case from the appearances occasionally observed in those instances of hydrocephalus internus in which the fluid is accumulated very gradually, so as not to destroy life. The cranium yields to the pressure, the head becomes enlarged, the interior part contains an enormous bulk of fluid, and the brain forms only a thin expansion round it; yet the intellectual faculties are but little impaired.

Another point, on which they lay much stress, is the connection between the encephalon and the spinal column. This part is generally said to be an elongation of the brain, or a kind of appendage to it: whereas these anatomists conceive that the brain and the spinal column are continued from one to the other, without interruption; and that the fibres proceed without any breach or separation of substance. The spinal column is found to consist of fibres, and, like the brain, is divided into two parts, corresponding to the cerebral hemispheres. They describe the spinal column and brain as connected with each other like the trunk and branches of a tree; and, though the resemblance is only an analogy, and not very direct, it may be noticed as in some measure illustrating their idea of the intimacy of their union. It is farther observed that the nerves are the origin and the brain the termination of the nervous system; and it is assumed as a matter of fact that, in the foetus, the nerves first come into existence, then the spinal column, and lastly the brain. The medullary matter is the essential part of the brain, and possesses the fibrous texture; while the cortical matter is composed of ganglia, is subservient to the former, and intended to nourish, strengthen, and connect its parts intimately together. As the fact of the fibrous struc ture of the brain is one of the most important anatomical points which Dr. S. endeavours to establish, we shall quote his observations respecting it, and shew the manner in which he answers the objections that have been urged against it:

The objection, which is opposed to the fibrous structure of the brain, is, that we do not see the fibres when we cut the mass. Sometimes, according to their expression, it seems fibrous; but this is, say they, the effect of drawing and pulling this coriaceous mass; and though filaments have been observed also by other processes, this happened, continue they, in consequence of chemical preparation, or of an alteration after death. Such assertions are quite unfounded. In the first place, it is quite impossible to discover the true and fibrous structure of an exceeding fine and soft mass by cutting it. Proceeding in this way, we fail to discover this structure even in those cerebral parts which are manifestly fibrous in the pyramidal' bundles, for instance, and in the great commissure. The fibrous structure may however be proved by other means. In dropsy of the brain, the fibres are very distinct. If, in the healthy brain, without any preparation, by means of a syringe we direct a stream of water on a convolution, and thereby separate its two layers one from another, we may see their fibres throughout their whole expansion. The same result follows if the convolutions of the brain be boiled in oil, or be macerated in nitric or muriatic acid diluted with alcohol. Moreover, when we merely scrape the white substance in the direction of the fibres, we can, with the naked eye, follow them into the grey substance of the convolutions; but when we scrape cross-ways, or side-ways, the fibres are pulled out of their natural direction, and they visibly break off. If then the fibres were the product of coagulation after death, how should it happen that agents so opposite as the water of the dropsy, alcohol, vinegar, mineral acids, boiling oil, and even intense cold, act in a uniform manner upon it. Why, in the convolutions, is the white substance coagulated in fibres, which run perpendicularly from the basis upward? Why, in other parts, is it in horizontal, circular, crossed, interwoven, or diverging fibres? Why do the fibres always possess the same form in the same parts? The only rational answer is, that the white substance is fibrous, and that these are its natural directions.'

The author then proceeds to offer his opinion respecting the nerves. He first divides them into two classes, the nerves of automatic life, or those which are situated in the abdomen and thorax, serving for the automatic or organic functions, and the nerves of animal life, or those which are concerned in the intellectual operations. The automatic nerves do not properly belong to the object of the work. The nerves of animal life are subdivided into four orders, those of involuntary motion, of the external senses, of the propensities and sentiments, and of the intellectual faculties. That a difference subsists between the nerves of motion and those of sensation, or rather that these two functions depend on different nerves, we have always considered to be highly probable: but it will be more proper for us to let the reader see how the author supports his hypothesis, than to enter into speculations of our own on the subject:

• I admit