Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1841,

By F. COOMBS,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

PREFACE.

IN presenting this little work to the public, the author has been impelled by a desire of furnishing some tangible and positive evidence of the truth of Phrenology, and the practicability of a mathematical demonstration of this beautiful science, of practical utility.

It has long been a desideratum to obtain some uniform and certain mode of ascertaining the exact amount of cerebral matter or brain in the several compartments of the skull, invariably assuming the point between the ears as the basis of the superstructure. This the author hopes he has successfully accomplished.

Amongst the tables of admeasurements, are those of nearly fifty remarkable or distinguished persons, contrasted with those of idiots, murderers, &c. There are also nearly as many remarkable and well-authenticated skulls of the various nations of the world.

He begs to express his obligations to those gentlemen who have so kindly permitted their names to be used for the advancement of science. To the ladies, also, he is much indebted; but, with that native modesty which is so characteristic of the American ladies, he could not obtain permission to give their names in full.

A great portion of the skulls may be seen in his own possession, and which he has been accumulating for some years.*

*To ship-masters and others he will give liberal prices for well-authenticated foreign skulls of any description, to add to his cabinet.