If we ever take a rose as our subject, we may have an opportunity of connecting the structure of Pomacea with that of Rosacea, and of the whole rosal alliance. At present we return to the hawthorn, to observe that the tree bears cutting remarkably well, and is only induced by it to throw out a fresh multitude of branches, which quality eminently fits it for its old English use in constructing hedges. Our modern agriculturists seem disposed to grudge the space and the nourishment required for them; but when they are well kept, the waste is not great, and it is abundantly overpaid by their beauty. The gratification of our taste for beauty and fragrance is a real good obtained, and it is a false estimate of utility which only counts the food and clothing which the country may be made to yield. Far distant be the day when our sweet hawthorn hedges, marking the picturesque forms of our old fields, breaking the dull uniformity which characterises an unenclosed country, and producing every returning spring a fresh harvest of delight to old and young, rich and poor, among the people, as well as feeding our feathered songsters during the severity of winter, and usefully marking the boundaries of land, and protecting enclosures-must give place to the inroads of a too-encroaching cultivation, and be superseded by dead partitions, which will occupy less space, and neither abstract nourishment from the soil, nor so much interrupt the passage of light and air to the produce of the field. A prosperous people is always willing and anxious to pay something for ornament; and if we lost our hawthorn hedges, we should find their value too late, and wish for them again at any price. Let us keep them, and value them as a part of the rural beauty of our country, to which we have a national attachment; and let those who would destroy them for the sake of a few feet of land be made sensible that they are hurting the feelings and forfeiting the good-will of their neighbors for a paltry gain. Our hawthorn hedges are a national taste; and as the fragrant bloom bursts out upon them in the sweet month of May, which gives to it a popular name, our whole population hastens to gather its portion for the bouquet or the garland, delighting to select amongst the clustered branches, and to breathe the perfumed air. The hawthorn is a part of our national conception of the loveliness of May; and it would be a sad change which should leave us to depend on what may still find a place in the park or the shrubbery, instead of meeting it everywhere, by the wayside and around the fields. W. HINCKS, F. L. S. DAISIES. BY ELIZA CRAVEN GREEN. Green leaves are on the Lilac tree, And May-buds on the briar; The daffodil and crocuses Light up their golden fire. Lift up their starry eyes The children gambol in the streets; This is just the time of year to test what material we are all made of; and if anything good be in us, however torpid, out it must come. The whole world is now full of beauty: Beauty, immortal and undying! thou Hast ever filled the living world-as now. The universal face of Nature seems Flushed with the glory of thy summer dreams; Headland and valley, tree, and herb, and flower, Feel evermore thy mastering, quickening power. The insect floating in the listless air; The monster crouching in his cruel lair; The scaly dweller of the fickle sea,All that has life owes life itself to thee. Beauty is love! each creature in its kind Sees fair proportion with its being twined; And pants for fellowship with what it sees, And yields to its o'ermastering sympathies. Where is not beauty? where not crowning love? Go, ask the eagle or the gentle dove: The one sails upward to his mountain nest; The other trembles to a trembling breast. Birds, flowers, beasts, insects,-one and all are loud in praise of their Creator; and now if ever, our harp is in tune to sing to the glory of the God of the whole earth: All the earth is gay; Land and sea Give themselves up to jollity; It is in May that strong contrasts oppose themselves. London is now full of eccentric Meetings; whilst Nature's children seek the quiet shade. It is now that the eloquent orator shines in our Modern Babylon, and that people rush from all parts in countless numbers to applaud him to the echo. Enthusiasm and excitement quite get the better of discretion; whilst the kernel is lost among the shells. Fiery zeal now crushes meekness under foot; gentleness is displaced by noisy egotism; bigotry rides rough-shod over childish simplicity; whilst superstition overlays innocence, and practical virtues are considered a blot. Verily, we "Protestants are a paradox.* We are always glad when the performances of May are over. The annual return of that army of pale-faced, misguided young men, in dirty-white expansive chokers, hurrying down the Strand to join the mixed multitude, liketh us not. Careworn are they, and half crazy. The mania, however (thank God), is not of long duration. Men, women, and children, regularly go mad for about a month; and "something new "then leads them forth to a more wholesome amusement. Man and his Maker! The sweet relationship,-how little understood! The But let us away into the fields. The cuckoo is here, singing merrily. swallows are here, skimming the air. The nightingales are here, full of love; and the joyous blackcaps are here. The two last were over on the second of April. Remarkably early, this. Other Spring visitors, too, are daily arriving; and the woods are becoming quite vocal. We listen to these well-known sounds with perfect rapture. We have had many a delightful walk during the past month, among birds, flowers, and insect life; and, in our rambles, not few have been our cogitations touching the future interests of OUR JOURNAL. About this, ere long, we shall have a word or two to say. The "machinery" by which it is worked, is beginning to wear out fast; and mental exertion cannot much longer keep * We would not be misunderstood. We love devotion to a good cause; and we also love those who labor in it righteously. It is cant that we hate. Fulsome adulation on the one hand, and loathsome self-glorification on the other, never can (so WE think) be an acceptable service to God. Whether these "Great Exhibitions " effect any present or permanent good, remains yet to be seen. The charms of MAY are perfectly indescribable in words. The lovely maiden is for ever blushing at the innocent consciousness of her own unrivalled beauty. To use the graceful language of Thomas Miller-she is the bud of the year that will soon burst into the sweet rose of June; and which, when it opens to the sun, can never become a bud again. What a pretty idea! pace with the increasingly heavy,turesque dress, his figure resting upon a grey alarmingly-heavy duties. We must have a background formed by the light-colored furlough. One head, and one pair of hands, stone jetty, from the interstices of which a have done "wonders" year after year. Now, green creeper here and there hangs down, like the human frame begins to totter. This by a dash of agreeable color. Far as the eye the way. can reach, a long train of sunshine, like a pathway of gold, runs trembling along the river, and seems at last to unite with, and be lost in the flood of glory that streams from the sky-the blaze of light that flashes from the unclouded face of Heaven. The swallows skim to and fro, and are ever laving their white breasts in the water; while somewhere near at hand there is a noise of rooks, and the sound of the cooing of ringdoves Others may from some adjoining copse. boast of the sunny skies of Italy, the grandeur of mountain scenery, the wide wild prairies of America, the citron and orange groves of the East; but nowhere can such a scene be found excepting in green old homely England." "The very winds visit her gently, whilst facing her maiden beauty; as if they felt that she was the embodied loveliness of the yearthe sweet nymph, whose zone the sun has not yet unbound, who is not yet too old to sport with the lambs, nor too young to sit alone by the brook that reflects her beauty, and dream of love. The cuckoo singing in the tree is enamored of her loveliness, and all his cry to her is "Come, come !" but she shakes her sweet head in token of refusal, and by the motion shakes down a shower of May-buds, which fall about her like a veil of flowers, and wholly conceal her charms. She sets down her thoughts in the cowslips, and they grow up into letters, which she alone can read, but which to us bear only the form of flowers scattered over hill and dale; though to her they have a meaning of their own. She knows every word the butterflies whisper into the hearts of the blossoms on which they alight with folded wings. The language which the bees murmur to the bells and buds, is as familiar to her ear as the love-notes of the birds; and when the long leaves talk to one another in the breeze, she hears all they say. She is seated in her trellised arbour, amid the long green leaves which ever wave and flicker, and throw a golden network on the rounded whiteness of her arms, and the peach-like bloom of her delicate cheeks. Beautiful does an English village now look, that stands beside a river, on the banks of which a long line of trees are planted-their shadows thrown upon the moving ripples below! Such a one now rises upon the picture chamber of the mind, with its range of hills in the distance, round the base of which the river sweeps like a belt of silver, partly crowned with a wood, whose trees in this sweet May-month are "musical with bees." On the opposite bank the lowing of oxen is heard, and the jingling of sheep-bells; which, mingling with the rippling of the river, give a voice to the landscape that falls soft and soothingly upon the air. Perchance at some bend of the river an angler takes his patient stand in a da k pic To enjoy all this, requires one to be possessed of a soul. Without geniality of feeling all objects become tame. Pleasure must be shared, to be thoroughly relished; and when two hearts, cast in the same mould, do come together, how great their happiness! May is termed the Queen of the Year. Such is she, truly. Hill, and wood, and vale, contribute to her lovely wardrobe. Behold her hair pranked with daisies; the pansy, "frecked with black," pressed into her bosom, where dwells, beneath, heartsease-in happy innocence. And see! her lap is full of yellow cowslips and pale primroses. And what a robe! It is of emeralds, sprinkled with the gold and silver spangles of the buttercup and daisy : Born in yon blaze of orient sky, Sweet May! thy radiant form unfold; And brighter blossoms gem the bower. And tip-toe joys their hands combine; And Love his sweet contagion breathes, And laughing, dances round thy shrine. Warm with new life, the glittering throng On quivering fin, and rustling wing, Delighted join their votive song, And hail thee "Goddess of the Spring! " Oh May! May! lovely May! the "sweet season," "the savorous time," the month of love and jollity, when everything grows gay, and the malicious cuckoo mocks married men' with his two ominous notes. What a hard-hearted muckworm must he be, who does not feel this delicious part of the year tingle along his nerves like sparkling champagne! So sings Eliza Cook; so sing WE. sion! The motley blossoms of the orchard-trees hang over us as we stroll along green lanes, between high hedges of the sweet hawthorn and the elegant wild briar,-whilst the sight of their banks, soft with thick young grass, and "cowslips wan, that hang the pensive head," invite us, with dumb but most potent eloquence, to take a roll. "To take a roll!" Yes; this is the best idea, after all, that we can give of the overwhelming beauty of the landscape. Yet only think of rolling under a hedge, like a little boy, or a cow! was only an ordinary man; but who, in his paroxysms, discoursed on the events of the revolution with all the force, dignity, and purity of language which could have been expected from the most accomplished scholar, and from the soundest judgment. The same author repeats, from Perfect, that a young person of very delicate constitution, and subject to nervous affections, had become insane; and that, in her ravings, she expressed herself with facility in very harmonious English verses, though she had never before shown any sort of disposition for poetry. Van Swieten relates that a woman, during her paroxysms of mania, showed a rare facility of versification, though, till then, she had been solely occupied in manual labor, and her understanding had never been improved by cultivation. The facts given, thus far, exhibit only a more Yet, alas! such there are, who know not what it is to offer up a fervent prayer in the face of Heaven, to Him whose beautiful works surround us; while the dews of the morning descend blandly, as if they were a visible answer, assuring us that the breathings of a sincere and simple heart are never rejected by the Great Father of all! What man or woman, of the least sensibility, would not feel reinvigorated-nay, created again anew, as it were, by the western breeze--the odoriferous breath of Spring blowing briskly in his or her face, clearing the eyes, and causing them to gulp down whole draughts of fresh-energetic manifestation of certain faculties for things, in themselves indifferent; but other ness, bracing and stimulating beyond expres- examples show that madmen may also experience a great degree of irritation in their mischievous qualities. M. Pinel repeatedly observed that men, who were very sober in the calm intervals of their periodical mania, gave themselves up to an irresistible propensity to drunkenness on a return of the paroxysms; that others, in the same circumstances, could not abstain from stealing and lucid intervals, they were cited as models of procommitting all sorts of roguery, whereas, in their bity; that mild and benevolent characters were changed in consequence of insanity, into turbulent spirits, quarrelsome, and sometimes wholly unsocial. He speaks of a man affected with very inveterate periodical mania. His paroxysms ordinarily continued from six to eight days of each month, and offered the most striking contrast to the natural state of the same individual. During his lucid intervals, his physiognomy is calm, his air mild and reserved, his answers are modest, and full of propriety: he shows urbanity in his manners, a severe probity, the desire of obliging others, and expresses an ardent desire of being cured of his malady; but at the return of the paroxysms, which is especially marked with a certain redness of the face, by an intense heat in the head, and by burning thirst, his gait is hasty, the tone of his voice bold and arrogant, his looks full of menace, and he experiences the most violent irritate them, and to contend with them to the last. propensity to provoke all who approach him, to Another madman, says M. Pinel, of a mild and peaceful character, seemed, during his paroxysms, to be inspired with the demon of malice. His mischievous activity had no rest; he shut up his companions in their cells, provoked and struck them, and, on all occasions, raised subjects for quarrels. Well, suppose we are caught in the act, -yet might we do worse than smother our face in a watery bed of cowslips, wet with May dews. Let us away then, at once! PHRENOLOGY FOR THE MILLION. BY F. J. GALL, M.D. (Continued from Page 170.) IN ORDER TO ENABLE MY READERS TO JUDGE of the cases in which a man, in relation to his illegal actions, ought to be regarded as really insane, I shall take into consideration first, intermittent alienations, during the paroxysms of which certain faculties manifest themselves with great energy; second, partial alienations; third, the alienations called reasoning ones; fourth, the alienations accompanied with visions; fifth, the alienations which lead their subjects to attempt the lives of their friends, of their children, or of other persons who have not offended them. Of Intermittent Alienations, during the access of which certain Faculties or certain Propensities manifest themselves with great energy. Some madmen, whose malady is intermittent, manifest, during their paroxysms, a peculiar energy in certain moral or intellectual faculties. This is proved by the following examples. M. Pinel speaks of a madman who, at all other periods, and in his long intervals of tranquillity, Of Partial Alienations. Nothing is more common in insane hospitals, than to see individuals insane with respect to a single idea, or a single propensity, and sensible in all other respects. One of these madmen so imposed on a magistrate who was visiting the hospital at Bicêtre, and succeeded so well in persuading him that he was a victim of the cupidity and cruelty of his relations, that the magistrate had serious thoughts of examining his complaints, and of set in the injured man at liberty. But, just as he was bidding the madman farewell, promising to return shortly with good tidings, "Your excellency," said he, "will always be welcome, except on Saturday; for, on that day, the Holy Virgin makes me a visit." A commissary came to Bicêtre to set at liberty those who were considered as cured. He questioned an old vine-dresser, who allowed no incoherent expression to escape him in his answers. The statement of his condition is prepared, and, according to custom, given him to sign. What was the surprise of the magistrate to find the madman give himself the title of Christ, and indulge all the fancies suggested by this idea. A goldsmith imagined that his head had been changed. He also thought he had discovered the perpetual motion. Tools were given him, and he went to work with the greatest activity. He did not discover the perpetual motion, but he made the most ingenious machines, implying profound reflection, and the most just combinations. We often see individuals, sensible in other respects, who believe themselves, one to be a general, another a minister or monarch, another God himself. All works on alienation contain a number of these examples. It is sufficient for me to remind my readers that there are partial alienations, with respect to malevolent propensities, which lead to illegal actions, as there are with respect to the other faculties. The evidence of this may be found in several of the examples which I have cited, and in others which I shall relate hereafter. Of the Reasoning Alienations. We give the name to those cases in which the insane individuals are really reasonable in all which does not concern their disease, and in which, even in regard to the alienation, they act in the most consistent manner, and with consciousness. A person whose intellectual faculties were generally sane, believed herself possessed of a demon; she yielded, however, to the urgency of her father, who entreated her to consult me as to her disease. She declared that she had consented to this only from filial duty, and added, with a smiling and confident air, that it was useless for me to give myself the trouble to ask her so many questions; that her disease could not be natural, since so many physicians who had promised to relieve her could not succeed. As she answered very pertinently to whatever was said to her, I tried by all sorts of reasoning to make her change her opinion. But she persisted in her mode of answering with the same consistency which she would have shown had her state not been imaginary. She expected absolutely nothing from the aid of men, and hal recourse only to prayer. In this reasoning madness, it is likewise possible that the propensities may become injurious by too great a degree of energy. Madmen of this species answer questions with precision and accuracy; we observe no disorder in their ideas; they employ themselves in reading and writing, and engage in conversation, as if their moral and intellectual faculties were perfectly sound. Yet, at the same time, they will tear in pieces their clothes and bed-linen, and they have their fixed ideas and desires. But, although such madmen act in as consistent a manner as if they were sane, and in all other respects are reasonable, they are not the less mad as respects the illegal act. Some examples will set this matter beyond doubt. At At Berlin, M. Mayer, surgeon of a regiment, showed us, in presence of M.M. Heim, Finney, Hufeland, Goergue, and others, a soldier in whom sorrow for the loss of a wife whom he tenderly loved, had greatly enfeebled the physical powers, and induced excessive irritability. At length he had every month an attack of violent convulsions. He was sensible of their approach, and as he felt by degrees a violent propensity to kill, in proportion as the paroxysm was on the point of commencing, he was earnest in his entreaties to be loaded with chains. At the end of some days the paroxysm and the fatal propensity diminished, and he himself fixed the period at which they might without danger set him at liberty. Haina we saw a man, who at certain periods felt an irresistible desire to injure others. He knew this unhappy propensity, and had himself kept in chains till he perceived that it was safe to liberate him. An individual of melancholic temperament was present at the execution of a criminal. The sight caused him such violent emotion, that he at once felt himself seized with an irresistible desire to kill; while at the same time he entertained the utmost horror at the commission of the crime. He depicted his deplorable state, weeping bitterly, and in extreme perplexity. He beat his head, wrung his hands, remonstrated with himself, begged his friends to save themselves, and thanked them for the resistance they made to him. M. Pinel has also observed, that in furious madmen there is often no disorder of the mental faculties. Hence he likewise declares himself against the definition which Locke has given of mental alienation. He speaks of an individual whose mania was periodical, and whose paroxysms were regularly renewed after an interval of several months. "Their attack was announced," says he, "by the sense of a burning heat in the interior of the abdomen, then in the chest, and finally in the face; then redness of the cheeks, an inflamed aspect, a strong distension of the veins and arteries of the head; then fury, which led him, with irresistible propensity, to seize some weapon, and kill the first person who came in his way, while, as he said, he constantly experienced an internal contest between the ferocious impulse of his destructive instinct, and the deep horror inspired by the fear of crime. There was no evidence of wildness in the memory, imagination, or judgment. He avowed to me, during his close confinement, that his propensity to commit murder was absolutely forced and involuntary; that his wife, notwithstanding his affection for her, had been on the point of becoming its victim, and that he had only had time to warn her to take to flight. All his lucid intervals brought back the same melancholy reflections, the same expression of remorse; and he had conceived such a disgust for life, that he had several times sought, by a final act, to terminate its course. What reason, said he, should I have to murder the superintendent of the hospital, who treats us with so much humanity? Yet in my moments of fury I think only of rushing on him, as well as the rest, and burying my dagger in his bosom. It is this unhappy and irresistible propensity which reduces me to de |