margin of this suture, being thick where they are thick, thin where they are thin, serrated where they are serrated, and harmonic where they assume this appearance. It exhibits no relation to the internal table, till, being again turned inwards along the roof of the orbit, it re-approaches and coincides with it to form the thin edge, which, like another squamous portion, is to ride upon the alæ minores of the sphenoid bone. The external table, then, of the frontal bone is in reality a bone of the face. Hence its development, or growth, depends entirely on the growth of the bones of the face; for it has never been seen narrower or broader than the distance from the external orbitar process of the one malar bone to the other, nor placed so close to the internal table and crista galli, that it was overlapped by the bones of the nose, or by the superior maxillary and malar bones. It follows, then, from what is said above, that the development of the internal table, and consequently of the frontal bone, follows the development of the brain; but the development of the external table of the frontal bone follows the development of the bones of the face. Now the brain, we have seen, arrives at its full size in the seventh year, which, therefore, is the period for completing the development of the internal table of the frontal bone; but the bones of the face continue growing to the twentyfirst year, and hence anatomists find the dimensions of the frontal sinus go on increasing to that year; and the same authors generally find the sinus commence at the seventh year, because that is the time at which the nutritious arteries cease to do more than support its vitality.'-p. 566. In conclusion, we may add, what has, indeed, been elsewhere stated, that this modern system of Cranioscopy is misnamed. It is not entitled to the appellation of Phrenology. Þęny signifies properly the membranes of the heart, but especially the diaphragm. The term has no relation whatever to the substance of the brain, or the skull which incloses it. The diaphragm was originally thought to be the seat of the mind, and the term, analogically, and not properly, came to be used to signify mind. With what propriety, therefore, is it adopted to distinguish a science of mind which expressly removes its seat from the heart to the brain? We will only mention one fact more. Dr. Gall was himself so deficient in the organs of Form and Locality, as not to recognize the persons who sat next to him at dinner, after they had risen from table, or the places which he had frequently visited. Yet he was the founder of a system which depends on the form and configuration of the brain, and the situation of its different convolutions. Thus the founder himself was all along a living exception to the doctrines which he travelled from land to land to promulgate and enforce. Never, surely, was there such another instance of self-delusion! ART. II. ART. II. Deutschland, oder Briefe eines in Deutschland reisenden Deutschen. (Germany, or Letters of a German travelling in Germany.) 4 Bände. 8vo. Stuttgart. 1826-29. T is a very general complaint among those who feel an interest in Germany, that there is still no book of travels, giving any thing approaching to a true picture of that country. There is indeed store of Tours' and Sketches before the public, in which you shall find 'views,' decided enough of the state of matters in Germany; yet truly conveying more real insight into the circumstances and minds of the authors themselves than into the subjects they treat of. It is at all times a difficult matter to form a thorough estimate of the character of any individual, however mean and simple he may be; and surely that of so great a people is not to be seen into in a moment, even by the acutest observer. Above all, in undertaking such a task, we should not set out armed at all points with prejudices; we should not travel post haste through the country, almost totally ignorant of its language, neither need we furnish ourselves with the antiquated popular sayings about Germany, which are still afloat amongst us; but let us feel that we have to do with a mighty people, whose opinions and inventions have changed the aspect of the whole world, and whose sons have spread themselves into all quarters of it, everywhere enriching it with their healthful spirit of honesty, simpleness, and energy -a people whom we ought to regard as brethren, for it is to our German ancestors that we owe many of our best qualities as a nation. It is not without regret that we recal the trivial unsatisfactory theories about Germany, which have hitherto found applause and welcome amongst us; yet we do not think its admirers need despair of its ultimately coming to occupy a fitting place in our estimation. The very interest which German art and literature have of late years excited in this country, and the numerous discussions to which they have given rise, are of themselves sufficient evidence that we are dissatisfied with our present stock of information. The peculiarities of that art and literature still remain a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to many of our countrymen; and we shall have no prospect of bringing our discussions to any satisfactory termination till we seek to understand whence these peculiarities originate, and what natural share the character or circumstances of the people have in them. Apart from all peculiarities, indeed, every piece of art, worthy of being so called, must have something universal in it—something which speaks not only to the country country that has produced it, but to all mankind; yet, in order to estimate and enjoy what is good and real, and to reject or tolerate what is extraneous or false, we must be enabled, in some measure, to transport ourselves into the situation of the authors; in some degree to feel as they felt, and see as they saw. The opinions at present, sometimes uttered in this country, regarding Germany, are more owing to our want of real knowledge than to our want of justice. England does not need to be unjust towards any nation. 6 It is with these feelings that we have ventured to recal the attention of our readers to the present work (hastily announced in a former Number), and to attempt making them more nearly acquainted with its contents; for we think it contains some characteristic traits, drawn with the practical accuracy of an experienced observer. The author, Dr. Weber, is known as a well-informed, social, good-humoured man-placed in circumstances which have enabled him to associate with all ranks of society, and to make his almost yearly tour in his native country, to roam,' as he says, 'across it, even to its remotest corners; in youth and in manhood, on foot and on horseback, by water and by land, with extra post, with six Holsteiners à petite journée.' He is by no means blind to the faults and failings of his countrymen, yet disposed to speak of them with lenity and forbearance, and to dwell more upon their good than upon their bad qualities. He accordingly tells us that he has suppressed an infinite deal of chroniques scandaleuses, which might have given popularity and currency to his work;' and has done his endeavour to tell us with all possible brevity, and in the pleasantest way he could, what in Germany is great, beautiful, and good-and yet sought in foreign lands by so many of his countrymen in vain.' The character and circumstances of the author may throw some light on the work he has produced. You might almost think the whole a sort of family affair with him he sets out with a laughing, good-natured, household familiarity, and proceeds with his task in the same pleasant mood. His vision does not extend to any great depth, but he is gifted with a kind of practical tact which enables him to perceive and delineate what is most striking and characteristic. He has given us no complete picture, but a series of sketches, sometimes loose and rambling enough, yet always, though in sprightly, half-evanescent colours, showing features of true life-touches, in which those who know any thing of Germany will recognize the hand of an artist. The author, truly, sometimes excites our insular impatience, by some of his bad habits. In the midst of an important important discussion, he will frisk out of his way to go a punning; he is ever struggling to be humorous and witty; his style is often conversational, negligent, tawdry, flippant; his remarks sometimes flighty and not very profound; his descriptions, in some cases, careless and incorrect. But we will not quarrel with him, nay, we regret that our duty forces us to speak in any way severely of him, for most of his faults and imper fections are of a venial and even somewhat amiable kind. The work begins with a general geographical outline of Germany. We do not think it necessary to trouble our readers with much of it. The following extract will give some idea of the grand geographical divisions of Germany, and, at the same time, serve as a specimen of the author's style and manner of description. We translate it without alteration, as it stands in the original. The Alps, which embrace Germany towards the south, lay the foundations of three modifications of its soil. These white mountains (Alb in Celtic, white), our true Riesengebirge (Giant mountains), proceed through Switzerland from Spain towards the land of the Germans, under the names of Noric, northern and southern Alps; their foregrounds cover the whole south as far as the Danube, and terminate in the Kahlenberg near Vienna. The middle of Germany is hilly country, mixed with plains, forests, vineyards, and fertile fields. The Deister hills near Hanover are the last heights; then commence the dreary flat lands of the north, where the eternal currents of air bring fog, rain, storms, and ceaseless vapour into the atmosphere. The winters are little severer than those of the south; but the summers much sultrier and more variable. Alpine, hilly, and flat country bear the same relation to each other as Ode, Idyll, and Prose. In the lofty Alpine world, the most attractive phenomenon of nature, unknown to millions of Germans, all is quite different from what it is in the flat country-air, earth, plants, animals, and men; speech, manners, and customs. Amid this lofty wild Alpine world, where, in a few hours, you can have all temperatures from Naples to Spitzbergen, woods of all sorts, mosses, snow, ice and glaciers, there are roads such as you look for in vain in the flat country. The Alps are the kingdom of the minerals, the store-houses of the waters, and the sun never melts their masses of ice and snow: these wax large, and thunder down, covering meadows, pastures, cottages, and whole valleys, and stemming the brooks into lakes. Mists hover round the peaks, and fall in cold rain into the valleys; regions green and charming suddenly change into snow fields; yet ravishing is the purple gleam of the Alpine peaks when the sun sinks down and night covers the valleys. 'But the middle of Germany, or the hilly country, is its proper garden,-Bohemia, Thuringia, Moravia, Franconia, Hessia, Swabia, Bavaria, the countries on the Rhine, Lahn, Wetter, &c., held toge ther ther to the sandy wastes of the north by three mountain ridges, the Fichtel, Rhön, and Harz mountains. This whole noble hilly country resembles the cultivated man, neither too high nor too low; neither under the snow-line of the too fashionable world, nor in the bogs of the populace; a friend of all that is good, useful, beautiful. There are nowhere mountain tops above five thousand feet in height; nowhere glaciers, or eternal snow; nowhere marshes, sand, or dead sea-bottom. These lovely champaigns might well be compared with upper and middle Italy; for the south properly begins only at Terracina. At the foot of the Weser mountains begins the dreary flat land, the Lybia of Germany. Sand is its nature, sand of which no end can be seen from the Weser, Harz, Erz, and Giant mountains, down to the ocean, and through Poland and Russia to Ural-nothing but sand and pines. What a difference between this north and our south; not less than between palm-trees and the tropical world of plants! Those tedious sand-wastes formed once the bottom of the ocean, over which time and human industry spread woods, turf, moor, and heath; nay, along the rivers, transformed the mud into fertile plains like the Nile valley in parched Egypt. Beneath the moors are found sea plants, and not unfrequently ancient implements, wrecks of boats, human skeletons, &c. The understanding of man has made out of these wastes a land of fruits, pasturages, wood, and turf, of wool, hemp, flax, and high industry; in which at least six millions of people live, with their whole appendage of animal world. In this flat country, truly, there are no flatheads to be found, as in America along the river Oregan; but one cannot take it amiss of any traveller, if he believes here that the earth is not round but flat. The native may be quite well pleased with it, but a South German will scarcely come a second time, barely from love of travelling. The air is not pure and dark blue, but dim and scarcely bluish; the forests only grey-green, or black; the earth grey-white, or covered with deep brown heath; and the hop takes the place of the vine. The heaths are, however, productive of dwarf honey forests, and pastures for the schnuken (little black sheep), full of berries of many sorts, not to speak of the tasteful eggs of the moor nightingales or lapwings. But what can this avail? The hay scents not here as in the south. Lovers in the grass are almost matter of caricature, as in Holland. Here no forest gives shade, no tree blossoms, no nightingale sings. How then can poets sing well in such a place? No silver brook purls here; the very rivers sneak phlegmatically over the dreary flatthe waters are brownish, have a moory taste, and, instead of fish, insects. The whole four elements are good for nothing! ' In these flat lands the fancy does not so easily get the mastery over the judgment; and the people seem happier, for they are contented with the imperfections here below. Sensuality seldomer triumphs over the mind; the brain is less frequently cloyed by feasting; everything is more refined among the cultivated classes. But the great mass, in eternal strife with step-dame nature, is, like that nature, |