The Sun.
London, England, 1842-03-28 00:00:00

PHRENOLOGICAL SOCIETY

In answer to questions from Mr. Churchill, Mr.
Noden, and Mr. Kirby, who had been present at
many of the experiments related by Mr. A., confirmed
his statement in every particular.
Other cases were mentioned, of which the
Archbishop of York was a witness ; and two
gentlemen related the case of a lady in
Devonshire, who, from a fright, had incurred a
morbid nervous sensibility, and manifested a power
of clairvoyance similar to that of Mr. Atkinson's
patients, being able to read without the eyes ! Mr.
Bulteel, the son-in-law of Earl Grey, and two arch-
deacons (whose names escaped the reporter) had
witnessed and borne testimony to this lady's extraor-
dinary faculties.
MESMERO-PHRENOLOGY IN MANCHESTER.— The
Manchester papers of last week contain reports of
public experiments, by Mr. Brookes and Mr. Nilson,
in every respect corresponding with those related by.
Mr. Atkinson. But the detail is too long for our in-
sertion here. The most curious appear in the Man-
chester Advertiser of Thursday last, 24th inst., in
reports of public lectures in that town.

I A GOOD WORD AT SUPPOSED PARTING._ Lord
Hill is at lengtkibout to retire from the army, and it is
but justice to say, that he lays down his authority with
the respect and good will of all parties. No man hold-
' ing like him a station of great power and patronage for
so many years, and independent of all constitutional con-
trol, could have carried himself with more moderation or
less offence.—Dublin Monitor.
The other day, as sotne parties were sawing an oak
tree into planks, at Willington Wharf, they discovered a
knife-blade embedded in the solid wood, 9i- inches below
the bark. The tree grew on Needwood Forest, and, it is
supposed the knife-blade originally belonged to some
deer stealers, who had stuck it in the tree and forgotten
it.—Derby Reporter.
Five or six workmen, after drinking on Sunday at
a wine-shop in the Rue de Charonne until they became
riotous, called for more liquor in tones which induced
a well-conducted journeyman cabinet-maker to make
a sign to the master of the house not to give
them any. This being perceived by the drinkers,
they became enraged,, and raised a quarrel, in which
one of them. stabbed the wine-dealer in the shoulder
with a knifeeand the others, seizing the journeyman by
the arm, twisted it with such force, that the bone was
broken in a frightful manner. The guard was sent for,
but before it could arrive the workmen all made their
escape except one, on whom was found the knife with
which the host was wounded. This man was committed
to prison, and the journeyman carried to the hospital in
a lamentable condition. The wound of the wine-dealer '
is not serious.

An attempt tts escape from the prison of Blois was
made on the night of the 18th b y five men, whose cells
were adjoining. They contrived to get into the
corridor by sawing "through the lower part of
their doors, and. triecf in the same manner to cut
through a thick door at the end of the corridor,
but its strength resisted all their efforts. They then
heaped together close to it all the combustible matter
they could find, such as their wooden shoes, the straw of
their beds, and the pieces of the broken doors, and set
the heap on fire. The smoke not having sufficient issue
soon became intolerable, and they were forced to call for
help. When the keepers entered four of the men were
senseless, and the other scarcely able to move. Three
of them recovered, but the fourth, named Diguet, con-
demned to hard labour for life at the hulks, was beyond
human aid.
The loftiest mountain in Van Dieman's Land is Ben
Lomond, which is 5,002 feet above the level of the sea.
The source of the Nevi is 4,033 feet, the Great Lake is
3,822 feet, above the level. The highest inhabited sta-
tion is Government Hut, at the Traveller's River, 3,949
feet high ; and the loftiest-seated town is Marlborough,
which is elevated 2,838 feet above the level of the sea.

At the first meeting of the London Phrenological
Society, for the present month, the President, Dr.
Elliotson, in the Chair, Mr. Henry, a gentleman re-
cently returned from America, presented to the so-
ciety, on the part of Mr. Drew, a member, two casts of
sculls of the flat-headed Indians who inhabit the banks
of the Columbia river. The appearance which these
specimens presented was most remarkable. The
whole of the superior -anterior part of the skull was
flattened nearly to the level 'of the eyebrows,-
so that it would be supposed that all that part
of the brain which phrenologists consider
to be the seat of the intellectual faculties was
altogether wanting. But it was the opinion of
Mr. Henry (in which the meeting generally con-
curred) that the organs were displaced, or dislocated,
and not destroyed by the artificial pressure which
produces the deformity. For he had found those In-
dians as intelligent, or nearly so, as those of neigh-
bouring tribes, who did not use the same unnatural
custom. He said that the sculls were obtained with
difficulty and risk ; for the natives have great vene-
ration for the remains of the dead, which they watch
with so much jealousy, that eleven Englishmen have
been shot in attempting to obtain possession of speci-
mens. The thanks of the society were voted with
much applause to Mr. Drew, for this valuable contri-
bution.
MESMERO-PHRENOLOGY.-Mr. Atkinson read his
promised paper relating to experiments, from which
Mesmerism was supposed to establish, not only the
truth of the phrenological theory, but the exact and
precise correctness of the phrenological allocation and
momenclature of the several organs. From the last
report which we gave of the proceedings of this
Society, it was seen that simultaneously in America
and in the South of England, several gentlemen,
having na communication with each other, and no
knowledge of each other's proceedings, reported dis-
coveries of very wonderful phenomena in Mesmero-
phrenology. Mr. Atkinson states that his discoveries
were 'accidental, and that he supposed them to be
exclusively his, as, at the time the phenomena pre-
sented themselves to his observation, he knew no-
thing of the experiments of Dr. Collyer and, the other
physicians in America, or of Mr. Gardiner in Hamp-
shire. After some preliminary observations on the
reluctance of most persons to acknowledge new
truths, and the claims of Mesmerism to calm and
dispassionate examination, he explained the progress
of his own mind in relation to this mysterious
subject, from incredulity to convinced belief.
He had no love. of the marvellous, and what he was
going to relate was only what nature had revealed to
him in the presence of a number of intelligent per-
sons, some of whom were at the time opposed both to
phrenology and mesmerism. His first case was that
of a young lady, 18 years of age, of a sanguine, ner-
vous temperament, brain well developed—ldeality,
Wonder, and Time, very large, the perceptive facul-
ties moderate. After being thrown into the mesmeric
sleep, she appeared as if lost in the enjoyment of an
exquisite dream. Her countenance assumed an ex-
pression of intense happiness, and when spoken to, she
prayed not to be disturbed, " she was so happy," she.
turned her head round, and rubbed the organ of
Ideality against the cushion at the back of the chair.
After a time she put back her hair from over
Ideality, and began passing her fingers back-
wards and forwards over that organ. Her expression
continued a beautiful exhibition of the natural lan-
guage of ideality. Moving her fingers a little
higher, she exclaimed' "Oh ! Grand !" Her sister
then played some expressive music ; whereupon
she passed her fingers on to the organ of Tune. In
reply to a question from Mr. A., she said, " Oh, yes ;
I hear the music. It is beautiful. It is part of the
picture." On being awakened, she had no recollection
of what had passed, more than that she had slept a
long time, and had been very happy. The second
case was that of a lady subject to fainting fits and
hysteria. She was mesmerised in five minutes the
first time, and could not be awakened by ordinary, but
only by mesmeric means. The following day she was
mesmerised without being conscious that the process
was performed on her, the operator being behind her,
and, as she supposed, sketching at the window.
Her attention was, at the same time, confined to
her work, by a lady who sat beside her. Her
eyes became perfectly closed, and then a book was
held before her, from which she read, though with
difficulty and reluctance. But the size of the type
seemed to make no difference. The next case was
that of a young lady, who read some lines from a book
held over her forehead, so that she could not have seen
it if her eyes had been open ; but they were in fact
perfectly closed, and she had, not power to open them.
Mr. A. held the back of his watch (and it was a hunting-
watch) over the organ of Time, when she told the hour
correctly. A great many other experiments were made
upon her with the like success. On one occasion she
could not read when the book was held to her fore-
head, and she then said it was on account of the re-
cent leech-marks that were there. She could be mes-
merised in spite of strenuous efforts on her part to
resist the influence. The hands pressed firmly over
the eyes, and pressing down the lids, did not interrupt
the vision. By picturing different scenes, effects, and
feelings, the mesmeriser excited different organs at
pleasure, alternately inducing laughter, tears, joy, and
sorrow. He pictured to her the effects of battle, its plea-
sures and horrors, love, friendship, bright colours, music,
&c., and she followed him in the most excited
manner, passing her hands from organ to organ, in
rapid succession, and -in a manner which would be
impossible to the best phrenologist in his working
state. She used sometimes one, sometimes both hands,
pressing on one or several organs as on the keys 'of
a pianoforte. She stretched out her fingers to enter an
excited part ; and, if one hand could not reach it, the
other went to it, for she seemed to act with one side
of the brain only at a time. She pressed the different
organs the more firmly, the more they were excited,
covering one or several at once, as they were excited
singly or in combination. Her age was twenty—
frame firm—temparament bilious lymphatic—head
Ordinary size—intellect well balanced—perceptive
faculties predominant, but not deep. She was subject
to hysterical fits, shortness of breath, sleepless nights,
fatigue from little exertion, and want of appetite—of
all of which she had been relieved by mesmerism ; and
Mr. A. affirmed that he had cured others by those
simple means.