an instrument which I have seen, though not in action; but which is described by those who have so seen it as a complete proof of phrenology. By a very simple piece of mechanism, when the operator places one finger on the portion of the head, where, say, "firmness" is located, and a finger of the other hand is placed on the machine; in proportion to the size and energy of the faculty, so will the pendulum of the machine vibrate, or oscillate across a series of circles drawn on a card, and tell its power; by continuing this process, with all the organs; the bent or character of the man is known. This instrument has been tried at the gaols on criminals, and the very crimes indicated by it were characteristic of those persons-for those very crimes were the prisoners there. Inclinations to unnatural crimes in the character, reverse the polarity of the instrument. This instrument illustrates two important truths— Mesmerine and Phrenology, even supposing no other mode for obtaining a knowledge of them was at our disposal. Each organ has a spherical form; therefore, the energy, like a ray of light, concentrates itself to a point. In a natural or normal state, the several faculties work in harmony, and wear out together; but if one be more in action than another from any prompting cause, the determination of the blood to that part of the head, and the increased action of the nerves there situated, cause more apparent cleverness to be manifested in the exercise of that faculty by the man so using it. If the strain is continued too long, other faculties not being brought into action, so as to allow rest to the extra excited one; one of two results follow: monomania, or idiocy-the first, leading to the last by a simple law. Determination of blood to any given spot, causes inflammation; inflammation, if not removed, causes congestion, or death to the pulp and nerves at that spot: this is often exemplified on "veneration." Thus, if by excessive religious exercise that faculty be unduly used; inflammation sets in, and developes itself in continued ejaculatory expressions, exercises, and actions; till congestion, destroying the nerves, the action f s, and the next most dominant organ comes into play, pro

ducing perhaps violence, with cursing and swearing. The organ of acquisitiveness operates in the same way, producing lunatics from the ranks of commerce and science.

The orator can, by stimulants, excite his organ of ideality, and surprise himself and his audience by the flashes of thought which stream in upon him, he knows not how. The engineer, by his exercise of weight and size, can create combinations under the use of powerful stimulants; or by concentrative thoughtfulness through these organs, form schemes which make his name famous; but let the organ by rest return to its normal state, and he finds that he forgets the bright ideas which seemed so clear; and if he has not committed them to paper, they are lost for ever: so far as he is concerned-they are to him as if they had not been.

may

Let us apply this knowledge to the organ of Memory, and the same physical result is produced.

MEMORY, I call the LEVER of the brain; if it gets inflamed and excites the other organs into action, it can, by an extended remembrance of the past, and by helping at the present, assist in the production in excess of all the mental powers, by the physical faculties man is possessed of; and if he at the time, or anyone present as an amanuensis, takes an account of the results then being produced, it will become a part of extra knowledge, obtained by an unnatural or abnormal state of the body; but on the return of the man to his natural state, the action of the nerves on memory is lowered; and in proportion to the degree of its lowness or want of nerve action, so will the remembrance of the incidents which transpired in that state be lost to him. As a familiar illustration, let us take Light. Light shows the landscape: in proportion as the light is withdrawn, so is the vividness of the scenery diminished, and the inability of the seer increased for perceiving the combination by which to fill up his description or paint his picture. We have the same fact in cases of brain fever-the rhapsodies, the muscular actions which caused perhaps the strait-waistcoat to be put on, is to the patient an idle tale; he has no remem

brance of the incidents. Take another case-men rescued from drowning have their memory so excited by the determination of blood to the head, that, as if in a moment of time, all the leading events of their lives, long forgotten, rush into their minds; and if you take their narrative from them before they return to their normal state-before the excess of blood has returned to its proper place, and the nerves have ceased to be excited-they will give you many of those details; but the power of remembrance dies as they recover.

The loss of Memory by clairvoyants relative to the events, oftentimes startling events, which take place while they are under artificial clairvoyance, is this law in action.

Memory is a faculty of degree; take three numbers, say units,. tens, hundreds; 1, 2, 3. When the brain is so excited as to reach the hundreds, memory can act, and remember all past events which transpired in units, tens, and hundreds; but lower the excitations to tens, and then it can only remember all which has transpired in units and tens; the hundreds memory has no knowledge of; reduce the excitement to units, and the upper numbers are as if they had never been.

I have, under the section Dreams, shown why dreams are so fugitive, so little remembered; it is because of the quietude of the nerves in the organ of Memory.

As Memory is the master weapon of the spirit, care should be used in its exercise; use, but do not abuse its powers.

The method by which nature produces the effect called Memory, will unveil a multitude of mysteries in connection with mental strength and weakness, as developed in the phenomena of the powers of Man.

SECTION IX.

NATURAL SLEEP.

SLEEP is a relative term; the clairvoyant, because his eyes. are closed, is said to be asleep; though his energies are in a more active state, more far-seeing, far-perceiving, than when open. Man is said to be asleep when his eyes are closed and he is unconscious of surrounding incidents; even when the muscles of his face, the motions of his body, and the words he occasionally gives utterance to; are evidences that he, the man, the spirit, the life, is not asleep. The pulse beats, the blood flows, the food digests; every action attests that the powers of the man are awake, yet there is a peculiarity, a repose of the voluntary powers, when the spirit, not requiring those powers, withdraws inwards; and that repose or cessation of external activity is called sleep. But does the spirit, does the man, really sleep? It appears to me, no; he is still active, busy, seeing, perceiving, and planning for the future; and possibilities, and probabilities, are arranged during the quiet of physical repose. Though memory be not fully in action, the process of thought and calculation, can go on; this is proved by the night dreams we are unable to remember distinctly. The necessarily continued action of the brain-nerves, as explained in the Section Dreams; suggests an interesting question; Are our future transactions in life sometimes arranged previously during sleep? If so, it explains the singular fact that on some particular event taking place, the scene and the very words seem as if they had before occurred, and that this was only a reproduction of the past. The incident has caused a "curious" feeling in us; we have wondered, we have not understood; and, while pondering, the next surge wave of business has rolled on, and floated us on its crest past the event.

For many years I was puzzled with the question why man should consume so much of his life in SLEEP? Take the ave

rage life of man at forty years, and that age is above the true one; analyze it, and about thirteen years and four months are consumed in sleep. Take childhood and boyhood, with their helplessness and playfulness, and eight years more come off; to which add the waste from idleness or repose, eating and drinking, say, four years, and there is left for mental receiving and giving, only fifteen years in a man's life.

While pondering on the brief period the practical part of man was in action, and how limited his time to take advantage of those opportunities; the problem arose why has the great Creator ordained that so much of a man's life should be passed in oblivion, in a kind of death-life called SLEEP. One day the solution seemed to flash on my mind, and the whole appeared as plain as many-as all developments of God's wisdom, knowledge, and power appear, when the key fits the wards and opens to our view the "Palace of angels and God." Since then, the brightness of the key has been dimmed by the rust of the every-day duties of life; but doubtless a little of the oil of thought applied by the reader to the rough idea thrown out, will enable him to try for himself the power of the instrument I wish to place in his hands.

We are now about to tread on new ground; to examine the evidences which can be produced, to prove that man will never die; that the chrysalis can be left to corruption, but that the vital, intelligent power which heretofore vitalized that chrysalis, has merely changed its mode of action; and that its life still continues. It behoves us to mark well our past knowledge of the physical and mental nature of man, what it can do in its compound or normal state, and what it cannot do; and, if possible, lay hold of the link which joins the one to the other, so that each may stand out clear. This is the more necessary, as the casual observer may, on the one hand, attribute all to the supernatural, while another, as careless an observer, may attribute all to the natural. The activity of man during the day, and the known activity of man during the night, leads to the conclusion that he is, during so called sleep, using his