Sovereigns. Born. Reign began. Reigned | Years Edward II.. 1284 1312 1366 1367 1389 1421 1442 1471 1442 1456 1492 1537 1516 1533 1566 1600 1630 1633 1662 1650 1665 1660 1683 1738 1762 July 7, 1307 1327 1377 1399 1413 1422 1461 1483 1483 1485 1509 1547 1553 1558 1603 1625 1649 1685 19 7 95 497 447 425 411 402 363 341 341 339 S15 277 271 266 221 199 175 139 135 129 122 110 97 1689 1702 64 4 Jesuits.-The Society of Jesus, commonly called Jesuits, was founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola, in the middle of the 16th century. The Jesuitesses were abolished by order of Urban VIII. See Butler's Lives, vol. vii. P. 401. Coelum.-During the clear frosty nights, which we may now begin to expect, the phenomenon of the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights is frequently seen in high latitudes, and occasionally in other climates. This splendid effect of light seems to be electrical; and it is a very curious circumstance that it has polarity, and that there seems to be some correspondence between the Pole of the Aurora and the Magnetic Pole. We mention this at present merely as a hint for Philosophers to work upon; very little being yet known about the cause of either phenomenon. The most elaborate and accurate Journals of the magnetic variation that we can safely recommend to the reader, are those kept by Colonel Beaufoy, and recorded in Thompson's Annals of Philosophy. Epistle from Tray to a Town Dog. I, happy as a Dog can be, December 31. St. Sylvester Pope and Confessor. St. Columba Virgin and Martyr. St. Melania the St. Silvester was Bishop of Rome, and succeeded Miltiades in the papacy, in 314. Silvester is accounted the author of several rites and ceremonies of the Romish church, as asylums, unctions, palls, corporals, mitres, &c. He died in 334. CHRONOLOGY. - Dr. Spurzheim the celebrated Phrenologist who first taught the minute anatomy and organology of the Brain in Britain, was born this day in 1776 at Longuich near Trêves on the Moselle. There is a sketch of his life, as colleague of Dr. Gall, the original founder of the System, in the Transactions of the Phrenological Society of Edinburgh, p. 11. In the same place will be found a few particulars of the life and early history of Dr. Gall, who was born on the 9th of March, 1757, at Tiefenbrun near Pfortzheim in Suabia. Dr. Gall.first gave lectures on the System by himself at Vienna as early ás 1796, and was joined in 1800 by Dr. Spurzheim. Afterwards they travelled to investigate the truth of the System, and successively gave public Lectures on it at Berlin, Potsdam, Leipzic, Dresden, Halle, Jena, Weimar, Göttingen, Copenhagen, Hamburgh, Frankfort, Carlsruhe, Manheim, Munich, Berne, and Basle; besides at many places of inferior note. Afterwards Dr. Gall settled at Paris, and opened public Courses there. In March 1814 Dr. Spurzheim came to England, and in 1815 commenced Lectures in London, in Rathbone Place, where he had a house, and where many persons, who had for some years been attached to Phrenology, became students, and who afterwards gave up a considerable portion of their time to the investigation of the truth of the System. Among the numerous scientific attendants on Dr. Spurzheim's Courses in London, were Mr. Abernethy, Mr. Laurence, and Dr. Powell. In the winter of the same year, Dr. Forster gave some lectures gratis at Cambridge on Phrenology, and nearly at the same time Dr. Gall opened a Course of Lectures gratis at Paris. Dr. Spurzheim then proceeded, in company of a friend, to North Wales, and afterwards lectured at Dublin. He also gave lectures at Bath, Bristol, and other English Towns. In 1816 Dr. Forster read a Paper on the subject of the Anatomy and Physiology of the Brain in Edinburgh, and soon afterwards Dr. Spurzheim opened a Course of Lectures in that renowned City. The new Doctrine met with considerable opposition at first, and divided the Scientific into two parties. Subsequent to this period the advocates of the doctrine continued to multiply and extend their observations, and to examine it in the course of tours in various parts of France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Germany, in the years 1815, 1819, 1822, and 1823; and Dr. Spurzheim has visited Ireland, Scotland, England, and France, and is now established and teaches it at Paris. Dr. Leach of the British Museum, whose knowledge of Zoology is well known in Europe, made many important observations on Phrenology, and its application to general Zoology, between the years 1815 and 1821; and several other scientific men have followed and pursued phrenological studies with the same result, and have arrived at conviction of its truth: among whom we may name Mr. Abernethy, who eulogized it in the Hunterian Oration, and who has since panegyrized the System in a small Pamphlet on the Researches of Drs. Gall and Spurzheim. The point we are now coming to is important; and to exhibit it in a prominent point of view, we have introduced the above Sketch of the history of the Science, namely — Among all the persons consisting of Anatomists, Metaphysicians, Divines, Lawyers accustomed to the examination of evidence, and general Students of Natural History or of Letters-among all, not one who had once embraced and thoroughly studied Phrenology, has receded, saying “ the Doctrine is false.” Among all the above teachers of the System, there exist slight differences of opinion as to the number and functions of particular and distinct organs; but in the main doctrine all agree, that the Brain is an assemblage of Organs, each having its proper functions, and being the material instruments of separate faculties. Notwithstanding all the above facts, the System appeared on the decline, and jokes and ridicule were employed by its enemies against it; and Dr. Spurzheim declared it would probably not be rendered permanent, unless a School of Phrenology was founded. On the 22d of February, 1820, this was achieved at Edinburgh, when a large and respectable Society was established, called the Phrenological Society, of which Sir George S. Mackensie was President: and the Transactions of this Society have redounded the greatest credit to the intelligence and prompt exertions of its members, and have shed a lustre on the long renowned and literary capital of Scotland. Of the numerous treatises on this Science we shall briefly refer to a few - Philosophisch Medicinische Untersuchungen über Natur und Kunst im gesunden und kranken Zustande des Menschen, by J. F. Gall, Wien, 1791; Anatomie et Physiologie du Cerveau, Paris, 4to. with splendid folio plates, a work still going on, by Dr. Gall; Physiognomical System, by G. F. Spurzheim, London, 1816; Sur l'Origine du Fonctions Morales, &c. par J. F. Gall, Paris, 1822; and the Transactions, above alluded to, of the Phrenological Society whose respectability is declared by the published names of its members.-H. O. ** The above account, though not communicated by any of the Authors of the System, agrees with published records in the public journals; and, as the parties mentioned are living, they can correct the statements if unfounded.-Edit. A New Year's ODE. Newspaper of 1784-5. 1824. 1825. 1824. But let me tell you, ere the clock strikes one, [The curtain rises, and discovers the world. 1825. Good Heavens — the World ! — and where's Mankind ? Is that a Man, there, with a tail behind, That chatters, prates, bows, cringes to the ground, Grins and takes snuff, and mimics all around. 1824. 1825. 1824. Let me observe my glass — No, not a Man, I fancy — that's an Ass. 1825. What's that which gruttles, grunts, and groans so yonder, Eats, sleeps, and drinks is that a Man, I wonder? 1824. Do you mean that that's wallowing in the bog? 1825. I do. 1824. 1825. 1824. O dear no have a care, 1825. 1824. No, that's a Goose. 1825. And tell me what's that trifler, I entreat, That hops so pretty on his hinder feet, |