certainly, is his distinct opinion. He advocates, also, the important physiological principle, that, other things being equal, in proportion to the size of a compartment of the brain, is its proneness to action and the gratification which that action bestows on the individual. Thus, when the animal compartment predominates in size, the desire for a nmal indulgences is keen, the pleasure derived from them is intense, and the danger of lawless devotion to them is great. When the moral compartment surpasses the rest in size, a wish to comply with moral obligations constitutes the ruling passion of the person whose brain is thus organized, and his chief delight is to do his duty; to him every act of well-doing is its own reward: he follows virtue even for virtue's sake. Again, when a person has the intellectual department of the brain exceeding the rest in size, he is devoted to inquiry, if not to study: he delights in knowledge, deems it a valuable possession, and devises, as well as practices some mode of attaining it; and the kind of knowledge most agreeable to him is determined by the intellectual faculties and their organs which, in his brain, are most developed.

These views of Dr. C.'s are held forth by him as important and encouraging, as they relate to education and the improvement it produces: they point out a plain and easy process by which the condition of man may be ameliorated. Hence, he states, if the moral and intellectual compartments of the brain, in a child, be small, they may be enlarged by training; and, in proportion to their comparative increase of growth, will the young one's taste for knowledge and virtue concomitantly increase. By maturity in years, this taste will be confirmed; and, in organization (as the mind's instrument) and its effects, the amended condition of the adult will surpass not a little the promise of the child. By the law of inheritance, the children of this individual, resembling himself in his mature condition, will be better organized than he was in his childhood. Train them, says Dr. C., and their descendants as he was trained, until in time the highest perfection of their nature shall be attained: extend this treatment to the whole human race, and universal improvement in organization will be the issue: then will be completed, on grounds that cannot be shaken, the triumph of the intellectual and moral over the animal character of man.

To the question, In what way is the moral compartment of the brain to be cultivated, strengthened, and enlarged? the Doctor replies-by all sorts of moral excitement; inculcating moral precepts; presenting moral examples; eliciting moral sentiments; associating much with companions strictly moral; and by engaging early in the

moral practice of doing good. Reading the biographies of men remarkable for high and practical morality, and well-written works of moral fiction, contributes materially to the same end. This course, he affirms, when skilfully and inflexibly pursued, will infallibly strengthen and enlarge the moral organs, and confirm the persons subjected to its influence in habits of virtue. He represents the perfect physical education of the brain as consisting in the competent exercise of every part of it, so that each of its organs may possess due strength and activity and be itself healthy, and that there may exist between them the equilibrium necessary to the health and regulated action of the whole. If one or more organs or parts of the brain be exercised too much, they may become exhausted and debilitated, or excited to inflammation or a condition bordering on it, and not less truly morbid; while other parts, being exercised too little, or not at all, will be enfeebled by inaction; and thus must the health, not only of the brain, but of the whole system, suffer: for the brain being one of the ruling viscera of the animal economy, any derangement of it must injure the con dition of all the others. He adds the position that the cerebral organs are liable to become exhausted or inflamed, according to their character when small, phlegmatic, and feeble, they are easily prostrated by severe exercise; when large, high-toned, and vigorous, intense exercise inflames them, or produces in them such irritability and inordinate action as to derange the balance of the brain, induce mental irregularities, and lay the foundations of cerebral disease. This view of the subject shews the propriety and advantage of pupils pursuing several studies or modes of mental exercise at the same time, instead of being confined exclusively to one. It suggests, moreover, the reason of it; for by changing from one study to another successively in the same day, those who are cultivating science and letters not only learn much more than they could under confinement to a single study, but do so with less exhaustion and danger to health. By closely studying one branch of knowledge, in other words, by labouring all day with one cerebral organ, it becomes exhausted and dull; and, when thus worn out by toil, it is not merely unfit to continue its exercise with due effect, and to master its task, but its health is endangered, if not actually injured. On the contrary, when the pupil feels himself becoming unfit for one study and passes to another, he engages in the latter with fresh and active organs, and makes rapid progress in it until, beginning to be again fatigued and dull, he changes to a third, or returns to that which he had relinquished, and finds the exhausted organs re

invigorated by rest. A pupil should never be urged to an excessive exercise of feeble cerebral organs, it being both useless and dangerous. It is useless because he can in no way become respectable himself, or render high services to others, with such organs; and it is dangerous, because it may impair his intellect and destroy his health. For the same reason, a youth should neither be encouraged nor permitted to persevere to excess in the exercise of highly sensitive and vigorous organs: such practice would be like exposing an irritable or an inflamed eye to a glare of light, or assailing a phrenitic brain with piercing sounds. By a strict observance of these precepts in seats of education, it is Dr. C.'s opinion that much time might be saved which is now wasted, much evil prevented, and much good accomplished. The necessity of their enforcement is strengthened by the fact that children and youth of precocious and large developments, with unusually active and vigorous talents, generally possess delicate and sometimes feeble constitutions: their systems are, therefore, the more easily deranged, and should be guarded with the greatest care.

Dr. Caldwell's philosophy, and his practical instructions on the all-important subject of "Physical Education," are but very partially developed in the preceding selections, which aim at little beyond the offering of inducements to investigate his doctrines, and to apply them in the nursery, the school-room, and the wide theatre of social life, in its manifold and complicated relations. His principles and views are well-illustrated in many places, and improved in others, by the apposite and perspicuous notes engrafted upon his work by its British editor; and in this extended form the volume merits a high degree of consideration from every person-parent or teacher who is intrusted with the corporeal or mental superintendence of the young and the inexperienced.

J. K.

THE REPTILES AND AMPHIBIA OF BRITAIN,

SYSTEMATICALLY ARRANGED.

A SYSTEMATIC arrangement of the British Aves and Mammifera having already appeared in the Analyst, it occurred to me that a similar Catalogue of the remaining three Classes of British Vertebrata might prove acceptable to the zoological student. If the attempt be approved of, I may, probably, be induced to follow it' by catalogues of the British animals belonging to one or more of the Invertebrate Classes, particularly the Testaceous Mollusca, and the Zoophytes.

I cannot, perhaps, adduce more strong and unanswerable arguments for the distribution of the Amphibia into a distinct Class, than those which Dhéré has brought forward, on the authority of Blainville, in support and vindication of this view of the subject. I shall, therefore, take the liberty of almost literally transcribing the paragraph in which those arguments are exposed :—“ In separating the Amphibia from the Reptiles, we follow," says Dhéré, "the classification of M. de Blainville; who considers them as a distinct Class, connecting the Reptiles with the Fishes. In fact, the skeleton, of a more mucous and less calcareous nature than that of Reptiles, the articulation of the head by two condyles, the naked. and viscous condition of the skin, the absence of claws and of ribs, or the existence of the latter in a merely rudimentary form, the respiration at first branchial and afterwards pulmonary, the defect of an organe excitateur in the male, and fecundation without copulation, the peculiar envelope of the ova, and the metamorphoses which the animals in question exhibit in their progress from the ovum to the adult state, constitute characters sufficiently numerous and important to justify this separation; and, moreover, to prove that the Amphibia can never conform to the generalities exhibited/ by the Reptiles."+

In the construction of this Catalogue, I shall rely, with some few exceptions which my own observation and experience may seem to justify, on the works of Fleming and Jenyns, with respect to the Reptiles and Amphibia, and of Yarrell, as regards the Fishes, Nor is it my intention to attempt, in imitation of my very able and enterprizing predecessor, any sweeping plans of reform in the arrange-"

+ Dhéré, De la Nutrition dans la Série des Animaux, page 57,

身

face: sad, yet quietly proud, is the expression of her fine, yet some what care-touched features. Her eye gazes beyond the scene which other eyes discern; her thoughts are wandering to other times and by-gone scenes, and, it may be, to scenes whose very happiness is sad to think upon, when memory alone remains. Her fair boy stands beside her, in all childhood's bloom and beauty, and seems as if trying to look graver than his wont, because his mother is sad. She clasps his little hand convulsively in hers, as if in all her reveries he formed a part. But we are losing the picture in the beings it pourtrays and is not this the highest praise of art? Is not the acknowledgment of excellence we thus unwittingly yield, of more worth than all the technicalities and criticism in the world? generality of professed artistical critics would tell us of the mellow colouring, pearly tints, combinations of primary, secondary, and tertiary shades, and heaven knows how much more learned mechanism. But they cannot enjoy a glorious work like ourselves; when, fascinated by its reality, we thus become the slaves of its creator's genius. We shall consider this reality and romance by Vandyck the gem of the exhibition.

The

Christ contemplating the Cross, said to be by N. Poussin. We have an engraved portrait of that unhappy artist; it is far from amiable in expression, though, being painted by himself, he might have played the flatterer. But we tremble to imagine the terrific frown that would have darkened his "visnomy" could he have seen the unco queer productions which posterity would take his name in vain to dignify. This is a most amusing caricature, and that is all we can say of it.

The Holy Family, bearing the name of Da Vinci, is enough to arouse his wronged spirit in a most unholy rage. And its companions in mendacity on the same wall, attributed to Vandyck, ought to be swept out of the rooms, as rubbish unworthy the presence of better things.

The two large Sea View's, by Vernet, are grand pictures; true to the life, both in colour and effect. The hazy appearance of the distance, with the spectre-like vessels half-seen, half-lost; the rocky shore, and brilliant foreground, combine to render these splendid works most true transcripts of the particular aspect of nature which they represent.

Diana Hunting, by Rubens, in the same room, has all the faults of this painter, and none of his beauties. We greatly doubt both its authenticity and the correctness of the title; at any rate it is a very libellous portrait of the chaste, virgin goddess.

Vandyck's wondrous portrait of himself, in the same room with the above, is alike beautiful as a work of art, and interesting from its evident connection with an important event of his life. The rich and powerful colouring of the fine head, the spirited position, and general expression, rivet the gazer's eye on this superb portrait. A lovely picture of Frances, Countess of Dartmouth, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, clad in the garb of olden times, next engages us;

VOL. V.NO. XVII.

P