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July 12, 1851.] t&t>t &*&&**• 659
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ICiUtatntt.
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Cities are not the legislators, but the ...
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The readers of Black wood will hear with...
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Albert Smith's new periodical, which we ...
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We have received the first number of the...
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Micmelet is publishing in the Evencment ...
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Among the new works let us not forget to...
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SYSTEMS OF PSYCHOLOGY. . Elements of Cat...
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
July 12, 1851.] T&T>T &*&&**• 659
July 12 , 1851 . ] t & t > t &*&&**• 659
Iciutatntt.
ICiUtatntt .
Cities Are Not The Legislators, But The ...
Cities are not the legislators , but the mages and police C Jiiterature . They do not make laws—they interpret and t f y U S tSforce theL-Edinburgh Review .
The Readers Of Black Wood Will Hear With...
The readers of Black wood will hear with regret that one of the most constant and most favoured cont ributors , Delta , died this week , in the fiftythird year of his age . Associated as he had been with so many of the writers of our day , especially in Scotland , where he was greatly esteemed , Dr . Mom will be missed more perhaps than one more celebrated . "
Albert Smith's New Periodical, Which We ...
Albert Smith ' s new periodical , which we announced some weeks ago , is now before the world , and promises to be a very lively chat and quiz upon the fleeting follies of The Month , aided by the designs of the inimitable Leech . Pleasantry without personality runs through its pages . Beside this , the newest of our monthlies , lies on our table that oldest of the monthlies , the Gentleman ' s Magazine , which , among other papers of interest , contains Peter Cunningham ' s Story of Nell Gwynne .
Another new quarterly , The Architectural Quarterly Review , has just appeared . The articles are well chosen ; and , though of course mainly addressed to professional people and connoisseurs , it contains matter to attract even the general reader .
We Have Received The First Number Of The...
We have received the first number of the Leader , a paper published at New York ; but cannot say that we feel any pride in our follower . In the first place , it is a Protectionist organ , which makes the name singularly inappropriate ; in the next place , it has a feeble imitation of our " Open Council , " wherein , although the editor declares he will fetter no man in the expression of his opinion ,
it seems pretty evident that only opinions agreeable to the journal will . find expression there . Moreover , the proprietors declare that their paper is managed , edited , and produced in a style of literary and typographical execution commensurate with the grand ends of its institution and the advanced intelligencei ' of its reading community *' - — which , if true , says very little for that same advanced intelligence .
Micmelet Is Publishing In The Evencment ...
Micmelet is publishing in the Evencment his new work , LSgendes de to Democratic , which we sh ; ill notice fully on its completion . The preface will cause every Englishman to smile at its naivete . " This book , " he tfays , " is the true Legende d'Or ( golden legend)—free from all alloy , and where will be found nothing but the truth . " Nay more , every one who reads it will become a wiser and a better man—the author guarantees it . How a man of genius like Miciielet can be so deplorably deficient in taste , is mattei for comment 1
Emile dkGira itn / jKannounces a new pamphlet , the title of which sets one thinking , La Revolution It-gale , par la Prhidencc d ' un Ouvrier . Who is the workman Girahdin has in his eye ? The publishers of Guizot ' s last work have printed a cheap edition , for sale out of France , to combat the Belgian pirates ; and Lamahtine
seems lo have made arrangements for simultaneous publication of original and translation , so as not only to thwart the Belgians , but to forestall translators . What a disgraceful state of things , when nations cannot secure even a copyright with each other ! but tradesmen have to outwit tradesmen , find Ihe universal motto is not " Justice , " but " Sharp Practice . "
At the Thedlre Francois it is not the manager who accepts plays , it is the actors themselves ; a comiti de lecture is formed , and its decision is absolute . Of course , no committee of this kind can help falling into abuses ; but all the dramatic authors have submitted to it , hitherto , in spite of abuses . George Sand and Ponsard refuse . They decline submitting their pieces to the judgment of the comite " . If that is the only medium through which their pieces must pass to reach the Thi & tre Frangais , they will prefer keeping the pieces athome . George Sand has just issued a letter on this subject , addressed to her friend and publisher , Hetzel .
Among The New Works Let Us Not Forget To...
Among the new works let us not forget to notice (• 'KSAitK Cantu'h admirable historical compendium , S ' torie dt-y ( Unto Anni 17 G 0- —1 H 50 ; compiled with care , and written with great elegance . Our renders may jiot be sorry to learn that ( jdaltkiiio has at last produced his Iflthni Rivolyimcnti Ualiani ; and that Dumas has added a third volume to his amusing Ange Pitou .
Systems Of Psychology. . Elements Of Cat...
SYSTEMS OF PSYCHOLOGY . . Elements of Catholic Philosophy : or , Theory of the Natural System of the Human Mind . Longman and Co . Manual of the Anatomy and Physiology j > f the Human Mind . By the Reverend James Carlile , D . D . Arthur Hall , -Virtue , and Co . In England Psychology has-but two schools : that of Reid , Stewart , Brown , and Mill , commonly styled " the Scotch School ; " and that . of Phrenology . Both claim to be inductive , although the first is rather analytic than inductive . That the science of Mind should be in a very incomplete and unsatisfactory state will surprise no one acquainted with the hierarchy of the sciences—the superior complexity of the phenomena renders
their explanation more difficult than any other . If you reflect upon the intimate connection between psychology and physiology ( and whatever your views respecting the nature of mind may be , you cannot resist the overwhelming evidence of mind ' s dependence upon the condition of the brain ) , at once it will become clear that , rightly to understand the phenomena of mind ,- you must first understand the phenomena of organic matter ; and then again , before organic matter can be rightly considered , you must understand chemistry , organic and inorganic , no less than physics ; in short , the state of mental science will depend upon the condition of all the other sciences which lead up to and minister to it .
It were unwise , therefore , to pooh pooh all systems of psychology , because they are at present but rude outlines of a science . It is equally unwise to assume that either the Phrenological or the Scotch School has settled the great questions . They are no more to be accepted as the Science of Mind than the Chemistry of Lavoisier ' s day was to be accepted as the settlement of chemical questions . Before us are two recent works on Phrenology and Psychology , both written by thoughtful serious men , although not of equal value . The one has an ambitious aim , the other an aim of
modest usefulness . The Elements of Catholic Philosophy propounds a great " discovery "—the Manual professes to be no more than a record of the existing' state of the science . We ha \ e read the Elements of Catholic Philosophy with attention and with pleasure ; but we have not discovered the great novelty which its author claims for his system , nor do we distinctly see wherein lie believes that novelty to consist , unless it be in the modification he has given to the phrenological arrangement of the faculties . But he shall state his own position as regards the " discovery " announced in this work : —
" It was in the endeavour to sketch the outline of a scheme of education which , embracing in itH rudimentary teaching the humblest classes , should be gradually extended , as year after year i ould bo rescued , for the purpose of improving and furnishing the . mind , from the importunate claim of labour for daily bread , that it occurred to the writer of these pages to inquire , whether any light on ' the question of what successive cultivation of the different powers of the mind would be most in accordance with their
natural development , might he afforded by phrenology . A study of works on the subject produced tho conviction , that valuable information might bo derived from the observations of Dr . Gall and his disciples . To escape from the entanglement of an imperfect nomenclature , such Greek words ns appeared most accurately to express the piih of tho various observations , were substituted for tho names given by
the phrenologist * to euch : particular ' organ . ' The next step was , to lav down on paper the external map of tln > heiul , not ns the projection , but as . tho development of a spheroid , murking t ) ie Greek names in tho respective positions corresponding to the different orguiiH . "Thin done , tho remainder of tho tank Was of easy accomplishment . It was idle to think of constructing n system , when thut of nature herself w « w -uriveiled ; ttd it became evident that tho great Author of nature , yfhv i & all hia material worlui ha ? wrought by
number , by -weight , and by measure , in making man in his own image , stamped upon the outline , not only the sure indications of individual character , but also those of the unvarying system of the human mind . " It will occur to every man of thought , that the system thus arrived at is by no means such aa he would himself have drawn out , and does not , at the first glance , carry with it conviction of its certain and all-comprehending truth . On refleotion , he will find in this unexpected character of the theory a sure consequence of that truth . Had it been easy , or even possible , to anticipate the true system of the mind , or to arrive at its outline by any other method than by that of induction from observation , metaphysics would have long since taken the rank of a positive science . "
The oftener we read this the more impossible it becomes to get at the . precise meaning- of the writer . Are we to suppose that the substitution of Greek names for phrenological organs , and the laying down on paper of an external map of the head , were the triumphs of this Natural System , so that " this done , the remainder of the task was of easy accomplishment" ? The sente » ces which follow are so extremely vague that they perplex instead of enlightening us .
When we come to the laying out of this Natural System we find that it divides the Human Mind into three classes : — 1 . The Impulsive Faculties ( under which are ranged the senses of Taste , Smell , Touch , Hearing , and the Consciousness of life and sexual feeling—the Instincts of Destruction , Wrath , and Parental feeling—and the Volitional Faculties of Self-control , Perseverance , Concentration ); S . The Organic or Instrumental Faculties ( under which are ranged the . Powers of Physical Perception Geometrical and Chemical , the Powers of Mixed
Perception , the Powers of Intellectual Perception , the Practic Powers of Art , and the Ideal Powers ); and 3 . The Regulating or Directive Faculties ( under which are ranged the Political Faculties or Social Virtues , the Moral Faculties or Ethical Virtues , and the Religious Faculties or Theologic Virtues ) . There is ample novelty of arrangement and nomenclature in this scheme ; but we see therein no " discovery , " and certainly no 6 eminal germs of Catholic philosophy . But let us hear the author : —
" The human mind , according to the theory of the natural system , consists of forty-two distinct primary faculties , corresponding to as many divisions or features of the head , by the successive * operation of which faculties , all feeling , thought , and action are produced . While admitting arrangement in various groups , the t-implest and most natural distribution of these faculties is into throe classes . Each class coutains three orders , respectively composed of twelve , twenty-one , and nina distinct genera . The three classes are , ihe Appetites , the Powers , and the Sentiments , which correspond to the Orectic ,. the Dianoetic , and the Ethical part * of the mind , according to the division of Aiihtotlr . .
" In a division of the primary mental faculties into classes , orders , and genera , we must not expect to iind the boundaries of the approximating orders more distinctly limited than is the ease in the animal nnd vegetable kingdoms . Considerable difficulties m 6 occasionally encountered by the naturalist who sfeoUs to interpolate a new animal , or a new plant , in nny existing system . We thus find that the third order might be ranked under tho second claws , almost as appropriately as under the iirst , and that the aixth order , ranked undir the second , is very closely connected with thoHe of the third cIuhs .
" In regarding the classes as composed of appetites , powers , and sentiments , or as impulsive , instrumental , and regulating , it Must also be borne in mind , that we mention these- characteristic !! as leading and distinctive , hut not an exclusively peculiar . The pleasure experienced by the peipon who usib any instrument , is proportioned to the excellence of the instrument , itself , and to the facility with which he can handle it . The same remark applies to tho
exercise of . any intellectual power . ' 1 lie poet , the sculptor , the musician , rejoices in his work . The more perfect and subtle is any faculty of the mint ) , the more freely and pleasurnbl } ' will its pos . srj-sor call it into action . ' Thus , the possetsion of nny power produces an appetite ) for its exertion , and a sentiment regarding its object ; und each distinct primary faculty will comprehend appetite , power , aud sentiment , although one of the three modes of operation will appear to bo most characteristic .
" A classical diiftrenco in tho faculties of tha mind , of much importance , remains to be pointed out , in order to simplify the . explanation , of which WQtauHJ , refer , to tho law of aHHociution , * ' Obaei-vation informs uh , that , whoro two or Ktm faculties have been strongly and nimultaneously cxbltfed , a subsequent ftimilar excitement of one ih communicable U > the other . TJnm , if tho impression of heat be strongl y produced on tixe incvAty of toucfc , aimultwaeouejr wath the improaflioit of light on tho
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 12, 1851, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12071851/page/15/
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