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attractive weapon, which has usually been wielded against it; and too often by those who have been ignorant both of its principles and details. It is not above twenty years since one of the most illustrious poets of Great Britain included in his satire the stability of the cow-pox, galvanism, and gas, along with that of the metallic tractors of Perkins

"The cow-pox, tractors, galvanism, and gas,
In turns appear to make the vulgar stare
Till the swoll'n bubble bursts, and all is air."

BYRON'S "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers."

Yet, how secure in its operation, how unrivalled in its results, has vaccination every where exhibited itself!

Indiscriminate divination from measurement of heads has been a sad detriment to phrenology as a branch of physiological science; and has been grievously deplored by enlightened phrenologists. "Highly as we estimate the discovery of Gall," says one of the ablest of these'"immense as we regard the advantages which may be ultimately derived from phrenology, we confess that we wish to see it less regarded, studied, and pursued as a separate science, and more as a branch of general physiology;" and he adds: "In reviewing the circumstances which have tended to lower phrenology in the estimation of scientific men, and, consequently, to retard both its progress as a science, and the general recognition of its leading truths, we should but very imperfectly perform our task, if we did not refer, in the strongest possible terms of reproof and condemnation, to the too prevalent proceeding of examining living heads in minute detail and indiscriminately, and supplying the owners with an account of the 'developement,' often on the receipt of a fee, varying in amount, as there is furnished or omitted a general deduction as to the character and probable conduct of the individual, with or without the 'philosophy,' according to the phraseology of practitioners of this art. We unhesitatingly maintain, that the science is not sufficiently advanced to supply evidence of its truth from every head, or from any one head, and consequently, that such practice, as a general one, is so much pure charlatanism. Where any strongly marked peculiarity of individual character exists, its outward sign, in appropriate subjects, will certainly be detected; but, from the very nature of the thing, these cases must constitute not the rule, but the exception. The practice we condemn, however, makes no distinction of instances. Injudicious zeal, the common ally of ignorance, a wish for effect, not unfrequently more sordid motives, stimulate the self-styled phrenologist in this empirical career; and, as a matter of course, the errors and mistakes perpetually made are constantly appealed to as indicative of the sandy foundations of the entire phrenological edifice. We write advisedly in this our unqualified reprobation of the popular custom of 'taking developements. We believe it to be an extension

of the practical application of phrenology much beyond its legitimate bounds; and we appeal to any one having acquaintance with its results, whether any thing like uniformity-the true test of accuracy-is obtained in the majority of cases, even when the most experienced and

'British and Foreign Medical Review, July, 1842.

xterous pronounce their judgment, if their explorations be conducted separately. We ourselves have even witnessed the greatest possible discrepancies. Nay, we have seen the same phrenologists furnish one character from the head, and a totally different one from the cast, whilst in ignorance of the original of this latter. This we have known to happen, not merely in the practice of one of your shilling-a-head itinerants, but in that of one not unknown to fame in the annals of the science." Such are the views of one, who, unlike the author, expects much from phrenology; and has done much to give it countenance. Yet men will still form their judgments in this manner; and a solitary coincidence, as in all analogous cases, will outweigh a dozen failures.1

The doctrine of Gall requires repeated unbiassed and careful experiments, which it is not easy for every one to institute; and this is one of the causes why the minds of individuals must long remain in doubt regarding the merits or demerits of the system. From mere metaphysicians, who have not attended to the organization and functions of the frame, especially of its encephalic portion, it has ever experienced the greatest hostility; although their conflicting views regarding the intellectual and moral faculties was one of the grounds for the division of the phrenologist. It is now, however, we believe, generally admitted by the liberal and scientific, that if we are to obtain a farther knowledge of the mental condition of man, it must be by a combination of sound psychological and physiological observation and deduction. It is time, indeed, that such a union should be effected, and that the undisguised and inveterate hostility, which exists between certain of the professors of these interesting departments of anthropology, should be abolished. "To fulfil, definitely, the object we had proposed to ourselves," says M. Broussais, "we must infer from all the facts and reasoning comprised in this work,-1st. That the explanations of psychologists are romances, which teach us nothing new. 2dly. That they have no means of affording the explanations they promise. 3dly. That they are the dupes of the words they employ in disserting on incomprehensible things. 4thly. That the physiologist alone can speak authoritatively on the origin of our ideas and knowledge; and 5thly. That men, who are strangers to the science of animal organization, should confine themselves to the study of the instinctive and intellectual phenomena in their relations with the different social states of existence."

This is neither the language nor the spirit that ought to prevail among the promoters of knowledge.

Lastly. Physiologists have inquired, whether there may not be some particular portion of the brain, which holds the rest in subservi ence; some part in which the mind exclusively resides;-for such was probably the meaning of the researches of the older physiologists into the seat of the soul. It is certain, that it is in the encephalon, but not in the whole of it; for the organ may be sliced away, to a

See, on these subjects, the author's Medical Student, second edit., p. 256, Philadelphia, 1844. 2 De l'Irritation et de la Folie, Paris, 1828; or Amer. edit. by Dr. T. Cooper, Columbia, S. C., 1831.

certain extent, with impunity. Gall, we have seen, does not admit any central part, which holds the others in subordination. He thinks, that each encephalic organ, in turn, directs the action of the others, according as it is, at the time, in a state of greater excitation. On the other hand, different physiologists admit of a central cerebral part, which they assert to be the seat of the vzn, moi or mind. They differ, however, regarding the precise situation of its domicile. At one time, the strange notion prevailed, that the seat of perception is not in the brain, but in its investing membranes. Des Cartes,' again, embraced the singular hypothesis, that the pineal gland is entitled to this pre-eminence. This gland is a small projection, seen in Fig. 9 (page 80), at the posterior part of the third ventricle; and, consequently, at the base of the brain. Being securely lodged, it was conjectured by that philosopher, that it must be inservient to some important purpose; and, upon little better grounds, he supposed, that the soul is resident there. The conjecture was considered to be confirmed by the circumstance, that, on examining the encephala of certain idiots, the gland was found to contain a quantity of sabulous matter. This was supposed to be an extraneous substance, which, owing to accident or disease, had lodged in the gland and impeded its functions; and the inference was drawn, that the part, in which such functions were impeded, was the seat of the soul. Nothing, however, is now better established than that the pineal gland of the adult always contains earthy matter. Others, again, as Bontekoe,3 La Peyronie, and Louis, placed the mind in the corpus callosum; Vieussens in the centrum ovale ; Digby' in the septum lucidum; Drelincourt in the cerebellum; Ackermann in the Sinnes hügel' (prominence or tubercle of the senses); Sömmering in the fluid of the ventricles; and the greater part of physiologists in the point where the sensations are received and volition sets out,-the two functions, which, together, form the sensorial power of Dr. Wilson Philip. Dr. Darwin10 had previously employed this term in a more extended sense, as including the power of muscular contraction; but in Dr. Philip's acceptation, it is restricted to those physiological changes in which the mind is immediately concerned."

9

The discrepancy among physiologists sufficiently demonstrates, that we have no positive knowledge on the subject.

'De Passion. Anim., Amst., 1664, and De Homine, p. 78, Lugd. Bat., 1664.

2 Sömmering, De Lapillis vel prope vel intra Glandulam Pinealem sitis, Mogunt, 1785.

3 Haller. Bibl. Anat., i. 673.

4 Mém. de l'Académ. des Sciences, Paris, 1741.

Of the Nature of Bodies and the Nature of Man's Soul, London, 1658.

6 Opera. Anat., Lugd. Bat., 1684.

7 This term he applies to the optic thalami and corpora striata; because, according to the then received opinion, the optic nerves originate in the optic thalami; and the olfactory nerves from the corpora striata.-Gall, Sur les Fonctions du Cerveau, ii. 57, Paris, 1825. 8 De Corp. Human. Fabric., iv. § 98.

• An Experimental Inquiry into the Laws of the Vital Functions, p. 186, London, 1817. 10 Zoonomia, 3d edit., ii. 103, Lond, 1801.

11 Dr. W. Philip, ibid.; and especially his paper on the Powers of Life, in the Lond. Med. Gazette for March 18 and 25, 1837; also, his Treatise on Protracted Indigestion, &c., Amer. edit., Philad., 1843.

CHAPTER II.

MUSCULAR MOTION, ESPECIALLY LOCOMOTILITY OR VOLUNTARY MOTION.

THE functions hitherto considered are preliminary to those that have now to attract attention. The former instruct us regarding the bodies that surround us; the latter enable us to act upon them; to execute all the partial movements, that are necessary for nutrition and reproduction; and to move about from place to place. All these last acts are of the same character; they are varieties of muscular contraction; so that sensibility and voluntary motion, or muscular contraction executed by the muscular system of animal life, comprise the whole of the life of relation. M. Magendie includes the voice and movements under the same head; but there is convenience in separating them; and in treating the functions of locomotility and expression distinctly, as has been done by M. Adelon.1

ANATOMY OF THE MOTORY APPARATUS.

The organs essentially concerned in this function are-the encephalon, spinal marrow, nerves, and muscles. The three first of these have been sufficiently described. The last, therefore, will alone engage us.

Muscles.

The muscles constitute the flesh of animals. They are distinguished by their peculiar structure and composition;-being formed of the elementary or primary fibrous tissue, already described. This tissue has the power of contracting, and thus of moving the parts into which it is inserted; hence, muscles have been termed active organs of locomotion, in contradistinction to bones, tendons, and ligaments, which are passive.

The elementary constituent of the whole muscular system is this primary, fibrous, or muscular tissue, the precise size and intimate texture of which have been the occasion of innumerable researches; and, as most of them have been of a microscopic character, they are highly discrepant, as a brief history will exhibit.

eye.

Leeuwenhoek2 asserts, that some thousands of the ultimate filaments are required to form the smallest fibre visible to the naked He describes these fibres as serpentine and cylindrical; and affirms, that they lie parallel to each other, and are of the same shape in all animals, but differ greatly in size. Their size, however, bears no proportion to that of the animal to which they belong. Muys affirmed, that every apparent fibre is composed of three kinds of fibrils, each progressively

'Physiologie de l'Homme, 2de édit., ii. 1 & 204, Paris, 1829.

2 Arcana Naturæ, p. 43.

3 Investigatio fabricæ quæ in partibus musculos componentibus exstat, p. 274, Lugd. Bat.,

smaller than the other; and that those of the medium size, although not larger than the ninth part of a very delicate hair, are composed of one hundred filaments. He supposed the ultimate filament to be always of the same size. Prochaska' says, that the ultimate fibre or filament is discernible, and that its thickness is about the th part of the diameter of the red globules of the blood; and MM. Prévost and Dumas,2 from the result of their microscopic observations, affirm, that 16,000 fibres may be contained in a cylindrical nerve, one millimeter or 0.039 of an inch, in diameter. The microscopic examinations of Mr. Skey,3 which have been confirmed and developed by subsequent observers, led him to infer, that there is a distinction between the muscular fibres of animal and organic life; the former having, in man, an average diameter of th of an inch. Each of these muscular fibres is divisible into bands or fibrillæ, and each of these is again subdivisible into about 100 tubular filaments, arranged parallel to each other: the diameter of each filament is Tooth part of an inch, or about a third part of that of a blood-globule. The muscles of organic life he found to be composed, not of fibres similar to those described, but of filaments only; these filaments being interwoven, and forming a kind of untraceable net-work. The fibres of the heart appeared to possess a somewhat compound character of texture: the muscles of the pharynx exhibited the character of those of animal life, whilst those of the oesophagus, stomach, intestines, and arterial system possessed the character of those of organic Fig. 144.

Fig. 145.

[graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small]

life. He was unable to determine the exact nature of the muscular fibres of the iris. At the present day, muscular tissue is universally

1 De Carne Musculari, p. 25, Vienn., 1778.

2 Annales de Chimie, tom. xviii.; Magendie's Journal de Physiologie, tom. iii.
3 Transactions of the Royal Society, for 1836.

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