of a speedy victory was slipping away from him, and he came back again and again as swift as a flash to the attack, without being able to get past the passive defence of the trained fighting-man. It was at such a moment that ringcraft was needed, and luckily for Jim two masters of it were at his back. "Get your left on his mark, boy,' they shouted, 'then go to his head with the right.'

"Jim heard, and acted on the instant. Plunk! came his left just where his antagonist's ribs curved from his breast-bone. The force of the blow was half broken by Berks's elbow, but it served its purpose of bringing forward his head. Spank! went the right, with the clear crisp sound of two billiard balls clapping together, and Berks reeled, flung up his arms, spun round, and fell in a huge fleshy heap upon the floor. His seconds were on him instantly, and propped him up in a sitting position, his head rolling helplessly from one shoulder to the other, and finally toppling backwards with his chin pointed to the ceiling. Dutch Sam thrust the brandybladder between his teeth, while Mendoza shook him savagely and howled insults in his ear, but neither the spirits nor the sense of injury could break into that serene insensibility. Time!' was duly called; and the Jews, seeing that the affair was over, let their man's head fall back with a crack upon the floor; and there he lay, his huge arms and legs asprawl, whilst the Corinthians and fighting men crowded past him to shake the hand of his conqueror."

When the Head of a person is seen in profile, being devoid of hat, or cap, its proclivities of disposition may be known broadly by the predominance in size, and development of this or that cranial "region," as it is termed. Thus, if the Coronal region occupying the top of the Head is large (the so-called organ of "Veneration" being located there by Phrenologists) the person endowed in this way will have a considerable amount of faith in the unseen, and if studying religious matters, will become enthusiastic about them. The posterior, or hindermost, region of the head is supposed to confer social endowments when it is developed with special fullness. The person with a large back brain is found to be very fond of society and companionship; and is patriotic, being fond of home, and a good parent.

A human Skull! I bought it passing cheap

It might be dearer to its first employer;

I thought mortality did well to keep

Some mute memento of the Old Destroyer.

Time was, some may have prized its blooming skin;
Here lips were wooed perchance in transports tender;
Some may have chucked what was a dimpled chin,
And never had my doubt about its gender!

"Did she live yesterday, or ages back?

66

What colour were the eyes when bright and waking? And were your ringlets fair, or brown, or black,

Poor little Head! that long has done with aching?

'But this I surely knew before I closed

The bargain on the morning that I bought it;

It was not half so bad as some supposed,

Nor quite as good as many may have thought it."
Frederick Locker (1865).

In April, 1821, an attempt was made to play off a hoax upon Mr. George Combe. A doctor in

Edinburgh, with the help of a painter friend, modelled a turnip into the shape of a human Head. A cast was taken from this model, and forwarded to Combe (then becoming noted as a clever Phrenologist), with the request that he would favour the sender with his observations on the talents and dispositions which he judged to be indicated by the Head. It was added that the Skull was from a person of an uncommon character. Combe instantly detected the trick, and got his brother, Abram, who had some reputation in his private circle as a verse-maker, to compose a parody on "The Man of Thessaly." The verses were written out, and pasted on the brow of the cast, which was then returned to its sender. They ran as follows :

"There was a man in Edinburgh,

And he was wondrous wise;
He went into a turnip field,
And cast about his eyes;

"And when he cast his eyes about,

He saw the turnips fine;

How many Heads there are,' said he,
'Which likeness bear to mine.'

"So very like they are, indeed,

I'm sure no sage would know

This turnip Head, which I have on,
From those which here do grow.'

He pulled a turnip from the ground;
A cast from it was thrown ;
He sent it to a Spurzheimite,
And passed it for his own.

And so indeed it truly was

His own in every sense;

For cast and joke alike were made
At his conjoint expense."

The author of the hoax called on the following day, and assured George Combe that he had meant no offence, only a harmless jest. Combe replied that if the author was satisfied with his share of the wit, no feeling of uneasiness remained on the other side.

A phrenological expert has recently taught that "young ladies should avoid the small-Headed man, on account of his incompetence. The average adult Head has a circumference of fully twenty-two inches. The average adult hat is fully 63 size. The sizes of men's hats are 63 and 63 generally. Sevens' hats

are common in Aberdeen, and the professors of the Colleges there generally wear 7 to 8 sizes. Heads wearing hats of the sizes 63 and smaller, or being less than twenty-one inches in circumference, can never be powerful. Heads between nineteen and twenty inches in circumference, are invariably very weak; and no lady should think of marrying a man with a Head less than twenty inches in circumference. People with Heads under nineteen inches are mentally deficient, and with Heads under eighteen inches invariably idiotic."

As to our national configuration of Head throughout the three kingdoms, it varies more or less according to hereditary descent. This interesting fact has been proved by examination of the numerous Skulls discovered in Kent, at Folkestone and Hythe (which was the scene in 456 of a bloody battle fought between the Britons and the Saxons-the former being signally victorious). Two vast heaps of Skulls and bones have been found in the vaults beneath the

Parish Churches of Folkestone and Hythe, the large number making it evident that they were the remains of some great fight. They appear by their whiteness to have become bleached by lying for some time on the sea-shore. Several of the Skulls have deep cuts in them, as if made by some heavy weapon, most likely of the Saxons. Probably the Skulls originally at Folkestone were those of the Saxons; and the Skulls found at Hythe those of the Britons. But none now remain at Folkestone; whilst under the Church at Hythe there still may be seen a large heap thereof, which formerly made a pile twenty-eight feet in length, and eight in height as well as breadth. Among these very numerous Skulls two quite distinct forms are found to predominate. The one is a long narrow Skull, closely resembling the Celtic of the present day; the other a short broad Skull, greatly resembling the Gothic. It is aptly said that the Skull of the English bulldog scarcely differs more from that of the Italian greyhound than these two forms of Head do from each other. A competent authority declares there is no doubt in his mind but that the former Head was Celtic, or Ancient Briton; and the latter Gothic, Saxon, or Danish. At Folkestone where the farmers still dig for chalk, are found within the Castle Hill (or Cæsar's Camp) Skulls with red hair yet adhering to them, which hair was a striking characteristic of the Gothic nations. Here also have been found Skulls of a third type, fewer in number but far more capacious in size than either of the others: the same being assuredly those of the