Admitting, then, that the brain is the organ of mind—the instrument by which we are rendered cognisant of our own mental operations and conceptions—it must be evident that, for the purpose of making them known to others, of carrying them into effect, certain other parts become necessary, the conception requiring instruments for its execution. This important duty is intrusted to the care of the senses, and for this reason they have been correctly termed the hand-maidens of the intellect, as it is through their agency that the brain receives and transmits impressions. Hence the manifestations of mind are indicated and expressed by the outward form; for the senses can act only through the medium of physical organs, and with these latter the active phenomena of life must necessarily be in strict accordance. Thus, from the external configuration of the body, or of some of its parts, we can legitimately draw conclusions respecting the degree and kind of mental power. Let us examine this proposition a little more in detail. In his _Instauratio Magna_, Bacon relates that “when he was a young man at Poictiers in France, he conversed familiarly with a certain Frenchman, a witty young man, but something talkative, who afterwards grew to be a very eminent man. He was wont to inveigh against the manners of old men, and would say, that if their minds could be seen as their bodies are, they would appear no less deformed; he would also maintain that the vices of old men’s minds have some correspondence and were parallel to the putrefaction of their bodies. For the dryness of their skin, he would bring in impudence; for the hardness of their bowels, unmercifulness; for the lippitude of their eyes, an evil eye and envy; for the casting down of their eyes and bowing their bodies toward the earth, atheism (for, saith he, they look no more up to heaven as they were wont); for the trembling of their members, irresolution of their decrees and light inconstancy; for the bending of their fingers, as it were to catch, rapacity and covetousness; for the buckling of their knees, fearfulness; for their wrinkles, craftiness and obliquity.” Now, without hoping to attain to the nice discrimination of this ingenious young gentleman, we shall attempt to elucidate a few general facts connected with this part of our subject.