No. I.—Referred to on p. 45.

CERTIFICATES IN FAVOUR OF DR SEWALL'S “ERRORS OF PHRENOLOGY EXPOSED.”

1. From Mr John Quincy Adams to Dr Sewall, dated Washington, 5th April 1839.

“I have read with great satisfaction your two lectures upon the science of Phrenology, which I have never been able to prevail upon myself to think of as a serious speculation. I have classed it with alchymy, with judicial astrology, with augury; and, as Cicero says that he wonders how two Roman Augurs could ever look each other in the face without laughing, I have felt something of the same surprise that two learned Phrenologists can meet without the same temptation.” Thus qualified to judge, Mr Adams congratulates Dr Sewall on the success of his work, and thanks him for “furnishing him with argument to meet the doctors who pack up the five senses in thirtyfive parcels of the brain!”

2. From the Honourable Daniel Webster, dated 8th March 1839.

“I read your Examination of Phrenology when first published. Of the accuracy of the physical and anatomical facts which you state, I am no competent judge; but if your premises be well founded, the argument is conclusive.” Mr Webster here candidly states his own inability to form any judgment through want of knowledge of the subject.

May 1. Ther. 61°. Judge Darlington.—The 29th of April was fixed for giving judgment in the action of quo warranto at the instance of Mr Johnson, the Attorney-General of Pennsylvania, against Judge Darlington, for the purpose of trying the validity of his renewed commission, mentioned on p. 177 of this volume; but he died on the 27th of April; and the action has dropped!

Rent and Taxes in New York.—A comfortable family-house, of about twenty-five feet in front, and from forty to forty-five feet in depth, consisting of kitchen, dining-room, drawing-room, and bed-room floors, in a medium situation, lets at $ 800, or L.160 of rent, and pays about $ 80 per annum of taxes.

The Erie Canal.—This Canal, which connects Lake Erie with New York, through the medium of the Hudson River, although only begun in 1817, has already proved too small for the extent of trade which passes through it, and a vivid discussion is proceeding in the Legislature about widening and deepening it, and constructing double sets of locks, so that the stream of boats may never be interrupted except by frost. This extraordinary increase of traffic has been caused by the rapid development of the population and resources of the western parts of the State of New York, consisting of a vast extent of rich alluvial soil now nearly all cleared and settled; and also by the rapid advance in wealth and population of the states which border on the great western Lakes.

Nov. 14. Ther. 41°. Mr Lalor's Prize Essay on Education has arrived in Boston, and I hear it very highly commended. It recognises the benefits which phrenologists have conferred on the cause, and I am told that, coming to America backed by the approval of the Central Society of Education in London, it will give additional weight to the views which this science unfolds in regard to teaching and training the young.

The Chartists.—A friend brought to me “The Western Messenger,” Vol. vii. No. 6., published in Cincinnati in October 1839, and requested me to read the first article, on “The Chartists,” and to give him my opinion whether it fairly represented their case. I have read it, and, while it shews a want of correct information on some important points, it contains a great deal of truth, and truth which, read here at a distance from the prejudices which obscure one's judgment at home, makes me blush for my country. It points out forcibly the unjust taxation of Britain, by which property is exempted and consumeable articles loaded with duties, throwing the chief burden on the poor, who by their numbers are the great consumers. It describes the ill-regulated condition of the jails, and the tyranny of the magistrates, who all belong to the aristocratic class, in committing the poor to these prisons for the most trifling offences, and also in exacting heavy bail from. James Lovett and Joseph Collins the chartist leaders.