the instrumentality of the various organs now enumerated. In like manner, every act of vision involves a certain state of the optic nerve, and every act of hearing a certain state of the tympanum; yet of the existence and functions of these organs we obtain, by means of consciousness, no knowledge whatever. Now, I go one step farther in the same path, and state, that every act of the will, every flight of imagination, every glow of affection, and every effort of the understanding, in this life, is performed by means of cerebral organs unknown to us through consciousness, but the existence of which is capable of being demonstrated by experiment and observation; in other words, that the brain is the organ of the mind-the material condition without which no mental act is possible in the present world. The greatest physiologists admit this proposition without hesitation. The celebrated Dr. Cullen, of Edinburgh, states, that "the part of our body more immediately connected with the mind, and therefore more especially concerned in every affection of the intellectual functions, is the common origin of the nerves; which I shall, in what follows, speak of under the appellation of the Brain." Again, the same author says: "We cannot doubt that the operations of our intellect always depend upon certain motions taking place in the brain." The late Dr. James Gregory, when speaking of memory, imagination, and judgment, observes, that "Although at first sight these faculties appear to be so purely mental as to have no connexion with the body, yet certain diseases which obstruct them prove that a certain state of the brain is necessary to their proper exercise, and that the brain is the primary organ of the internal powers." The great physiologist of Germany, Blumenbach, says: "That the mind is closely connected with the brain, as the material condition of mental phenomena, is demonstrated by our consciousness, and by the mental disturbances which ensue upon affections of the brain." According to Magendie, a celebrated French physiologist, "the brain is the material instrument of thought this is proved by a multitude of experiments and facts." "I readily concur," says Mr. Abernethy, "in the proposition, that the brain of animals ought to be regarded as the organization by which the percipient principle becomes variously affected. First, because, in the senses of sight, hearing, &c., I see distinct organs for the production of each perception. Secondly, because the brain is larger and more complicated in proportion as the variety of the affections of the percipient principle is increased. Thirdly, because disease and injuries disturb and annul particular faculties and affections without impairing others. And, fourthly, because it seems more reasonable to me to suppose that whatever is perceptive may be variously affected by means of vital actions transmitted through a diversity of organization, than to suppose that such variety depends upon original differences in the nature of the percipient principle.' "If the mental processes," asks Mr. Lawrence, "be not the function of the brain, what is its office? In animals which possess only a small part of the human cerebral structure, sensation exists, and in many cases is more acute than in man. What employment shall we find for all that man possesses over and above this portion-for the large and prodigiouslydeveloped human hemisphere ? Are we to believe that these serve only to round the figure of the organ, or to fill the cranium?" And in another place he says: "In conformity with the views already explained respecting the mental part of our being, I refer the varieties of moral feeling, and of capacity for knowledge and reflection, to those diversities * Elliotson's translation of Blumenbach's Physiology, 4th edit., p. 196. + Lectures on Physiology, &c., Lect. 4. of cerebral organization which are indicated by, and correspond to, the differences in the shape of the skull.”* Dr. Mason Good, speaking of intellect, sensation, and muscular motion, says: "All these diversities of vital energy are now well known to be dependent on the organ of the brain, as the instrument of the intellectual powers, and the source of the sensific and motory; though, from the close connexion and synchronous action of various other organs with the brain, and especially the thoracic and abdominal viscera, such diversities were often referred to several of the latter in earlier ages, and before anatomy had traced them satisfactorily to the brain as their fountain-head. And of so high an antiquity is this erroneous hypothesis, that it has not only spread itself through every climate on the globe, but still keeps a hold on the colloquial language of every people; and hence the heart, the liver, the spleen, the reins, and the bowels generally are, among all nations, regarded, either literally or figuratively, as so many seats of mental faculties or moral feeling.... The study of anatomy, however, has corrected the loose and confused ideas of mankind upon this subject; and while it distinctly shows us that many of the organs popularly referred to as the seat of sensation, do, and must, from the peculiarity of their nervous connexion with the brain, necessarily participate in the feelings and faculties thus generally ascribed to them, it also demonstrates that the primary source of these attributes, the quarter in which they originate, or which chiefly influences them, is the brain itself."+ Dr. Neil Arnott, in his Elements of Physics, writes thus: "The laws of mind which man can discover by reason, are not laws of independent mind, but of mind in connexion with body, and influenced by the bodily condition. It has been believed by many that the nature of mind sepa rate from body, is to be at once all-knowing and intelligent. But mind connected with body can only acquire knowledge slowly, through the bodily organs of sense, and more or less perfectly according as these organs and the central brain are perfect. A human being born blind and deaf, and therefore remaining dumb, as in the noted case of the boy Mitchell, grows up closely to resemble an automaton; and an originally mis-shapen or deficient brain causes idiocy for life. Childhood, maturity, dotage, which have such differences of bodily powers, have corresponding differences of mental faculty and as no two bodies, so no two minds, in their external manifestation, are quite alike. Fever, or a blow on the head, will change the most gifted individual into a maniac, causing the lips of virgin innocence to utter the most revolting obscenity, and those of pure religion to speak the most horrible blasphemy: and most cases of madness and eccentricity can now be traced to a peculiar state of the brain." (Introduction, p. xxiii.) Let it be observed that most of these authors are nowise inclined to support Phrenology.‡ The fact that the mental phenomena of which we are conscious are the result of mind and brain acting together, is farther established by the effects of swooning, of compression of the brain, and of sleep. In profound sleep consciousness is entirely suspended: this fact is explicable on the principle of the organ of the mind being then in a state of repose; but it is altogether inconsistent with the idea of the immaterial principle, or the mind itself, being capable of acting independently of the brain-for if this were the case, thinking should never be interrupted by any material cause. In a swoon, blood is rapidly withdrawn from the brain, and consciousness is for the moment obliterated. So also, where part of the brain * Lectures on Physiology, sect. ii., ch. 8. + Good's Study of Medicine, 2d edit., iv. 3, 4. Additional authorities are cited by Mr. Wildsmith in his excellent Inquiry concerning the Relative Connexion which subsists between the Mind and the Brain. London, 1828. has been laid bare by an injury inflicted on the skull, it has been found that consciousness could be suspended at the pleasure of the surgeon, by merely pressing on the brain with his fingers, and that it could be restored by withdrawing the pressure. A few such cases may be cited: M. Richerand had a patient whose brain was exposed in consequence of disease of the skull. One day, in washing off the purulent matter, he chanced to press with more than usual force; and instantly the patient, who, the moment before, had answered his questions with perfect correctness, stopped short in the middle of a sentence, and became altogether insensible. As the pressure gave her no pain, it was repeated thrice, and always with the same result. She uniformly recovered her faculties the moment the pressure was taken off. M. Richerand mentions also the case of an individual who was trepanned for a fracture of the skull, and whose faculties and consciousness became weak in proportion as the pus so accumulated under the dressings as to occasion pressure of the brain.* A man at the battle of Waterloo had a small portion of his skull beaten in upon the brain, and became quite unconscious and almost lifeless; but Mr. Cooper having raised up the depressed portion of bone, the patient immediately arose, dressed himself, became perfectly rational, and recovered rapidly.† Professor Chapman, of Philadelphia, mentions in his Lectures, that he saw an individual with his skull perforated and the brain exposed, who used to submit himself to the same experiment of pressure as that performed on Richerand's patient, and who was exhibited by the late Professor Westar to his class. The man's intellect and moral faculties disappeared when pressure was applied to the brain: they were literally "held under the thumb," and could be restored at pleasure to their full activity. A still more remarkable case is that of a person named Jones, recorded by Sir Astley Cooper. This man was deprived of consciousness, by being wounded in the head while on board a vessel in the Mediterranean. In this state of insensibility he remained for several months at Gibraltar, whence he was transmitted to Deptford, and subsequently to St. Thomas's Hospital, London. Mr. Cline, the surgeon, found a portion of the skull depressed, trepanned him, and removed the depressed part of the bone. Three hours after this operation he sat up in bed, sensation and volition returned, and in four days he was able to get up and converse. The last circumstance he remembered was the capture of a prize in the Mediterranean thirteen months before. A young man at Hartford, in the United States of America, was rendered insensible by a fall, and had every appearance of being in a dying condition. Dr. Brigham removed more than a gill of clotted blood from beneath the skull; upon which "the man immediately spoke, soon recovered his mind entirely, and is now, six weeks after the accident, in good health both as to mind and body."§ PINEL relates a case which strikingly illustrates the connexion of the mind with the brain. "A man," says he, " engaged in a mechanical employment, and afterward confined in the Bicêtre, experiences at irregular intervals fits of madness characterized by the following symptoms: At first there is a sensation of burning heat in the abdominal viscera, with intense thirst, and a strong constipation; the heat gradually extends to the breast, neck, and face-producing a flush of the complexion; on reaching the temples, it becomes still greater, and is accompanied by very strong *Nouveaux Elémens de Physiologie, 7th edit., ii. 195–6. + Hennen's Principles of Military Surgery. Principles of Medicine, by Samuel Jackson, M.D. Remarks on the Influence of Mental Cultivation, &c., upon Health. By Amariah Brigham, M.D., 2d edit., p. 23. Boston, U. S., 1833. Several of the cases in the text have already been collected by this very intelligent writer. and frequent pulsations in the temporal arteries, which seem as if about to burst finally, the nervous affectation arrives at the brain; the patient is then seized with an irresistible propensity to shed blood; and if there be a sharp instrument within reach, he is apt to sacrifice to his fury the first person who presents himself."* The same writer speaks of another insane patient, whose manners were remarkably mild and reserved during his lucid intervals, but whose character was totally altered by the periodical morbid excitement of his brain; for, says Pinel, "on the return of the paroxysm, particularly when marked by a certain redness of the face, excessive heat in the head, and a violent thirst, his walk is precipitate, his look is full of audacity, and he experiences the most violent inclination to provoke those who approach him, and to fight with them furiously." Dr. Richy has recorded the case of a Madagascar negro, who had an attack of intensely destructive delirium, in consequence of a wound on the head near the lower part of the left parietal bone. When recovering he was calmer and less blood-thirsty; but an overpressure of his bandage on the wound brought back his furious paroxysms.‡ That the brain is the organ of the mind, is strongly confirmed by the phenomena observed when it is exposed to view, in consequence of the removal of a part of the skull. Sir Astley Cooper mentions the case of a young gentleman who was brought to him after losing a portion of his skull just above the eyebrow. "On examining the head," says Sir Astley, "I distinctly saw the pulsation of the brain; it was regular and slow; but, at this time, he was agitated by some opposition to his wishes, and directly the blood was sent with increased force to the brain, and the pulsation became frequent and violent. If, therefore," continues Sir Astley, you omit to keep the mind free from agitation, your other means (in the treatment of injuries of the brain) will be unavailing."◊ 66 In a case of a similar description, which fell under the notice of Blumenbach, that physiologist observed the brain to sink whenever the patient was asleep, and to swell again with blood the moment he awoke.l A third case is reported by Dr. Pierquin, as having been observed by him in one of the hospitals of Montpelier, in the year 1821. The patient was a female, who had lost a large portion of her scalp, skull, and dura mater, so that a corresponding portion of the brain was subject to inspection. When she was in a dreamless sleep, her brain was motionless, and lay within the cranium. When her sleep was imperfect, and she was agitated by dreams, her brain moved and protruded without the cranium, forming cerebral hernia. In vivid dreams, reported as such by herself, the protrusion was considerable; and when she was perfectly awake, especially if engaged in active thought or sprightly conversation, it was still greater. A writer in the Medico-Chirurgical Review, after alluding to this case, mentions that many years ago he had "frequent opportunities of witnessing similar phenomena in a robust young man, who lost a considerable portion of his skull by an accident which had almost proved mortal. When excited by pain, fear, or anger, his brain protruded greatly, so as sometimes to disturb the dressings, which were necessarily applied loosely; and it throbbed tumultuously, in accordance with the arterial pulsations."** The cause of these appearances obviously was, that the brain, like the muscles and other organs of the body, is more copiously supplied with blood when in a state of activity than while at rest; and that when the *Pinel, sur l'Alienation Mentale, p. 157, § 160. † Op. Cit., p. 101, § 116. Journal de la Société Phrénologique de Paris, No. 2, p. 171. Annals of Phrenology, No. 1. Boston, U. S., Oct. 1833, p. 37. ** Medico-Chirurgical Review, No. 46, p. 366, Oct. 1835. cerebral blood vessels were filled, the volume of the brain was augmented, and the protrusion above noticed took place.* Even in the Edinburgh Review, where the dependence of the mind upon the brain was formerly held to be exceedingly questionable,† the doctrine is now admitted in all its latitude. "Almost from the first casual inspection of animal bodies," says a writer in No. 94, "the brain was regarded as an organ of primary dignity, and, more particularly in the human subject, the seat of thought and feeling, the centre of all sensation, the messenger of intellect, the presiding organ of the bodily frame." "All this superiority (of man over the brutes,) all these faculties which elevate and dignify him, this reasoning power, this moral sense, these capacities of happiness, these high aspiring hopes, are felt, and enjoyed, and manifested, by means of his superior nervous system. Its injury weakens, its imperfection limits, its destruction (humanly speaking) ends them." Besides referring to these facts and authorities, I may remark, that consciousness localizes the mind in the head, and gives us a full conviction that it is situated there; but consciousness does not reveal what substance is in the interior of the skull. It does not tell whether the mind occupies an airy dome, a richly-furnished mansion, one apartment, or many; or in what state or condition resides in its appointed place. It is only on opening the head that we discover that the skull encloses the brain; and then, by an act of the understanding, we infer that the mind must have been connected with it in its operations. It is worthy of observation also, that the popular notions of the independence of the mind on the body are modern, and the offspring of philosophical theories that have sprung up chiefly since the days of Locke. In Shakspeare, and our older writers, the brain is frequently used as implying the mental functions; and, even in the present day, the language of the vulgar, which is less affected by philosophical theories than that of polite scholars, is more in accordance with nature. A stupid person is vulgarly called a numb-skull, a thick-head; or said to be addle-pated, badly furnished in the upper-story; while a clever person is said to be strong-headed or long-headed, to have plenty of brains; a madman is called wrong in the head, touched in the noddle, &c. When a catarrh chiefly affects the head, we complain of stupidity, because we have such a cold in the head."‡ The principle which I have so much insisted on, that we are not conscious of the existence and functions of the organs by which the mind acts, explains the source of the metaphysical notion which has affected modern language, that we know the mind as an entity by itself. The acts which really result from the combined action of the mind and its organs appear, previously to anatomical and pathological investigation, to be produced by the mind exclusively; and hence have arisen the neglect and contempt with which the organs have been treated, and the ridicule cast upon those who have endeavoured to speak of them as important in the philosophy of mind. After the explanations given above, the reader will appreciate the real value of the following statement by Lord Jeffrey, in his strictures on the second edition of this work, in the 88th number of the Edinburgh Review. His words are: "The truth, we do not scruple to say it, is, that there is not the smallest reason for supposing that the mind ever operates through the agency of any material organs, except in its perception of material objects, or in the spontaneous movements of the body which it inhabits." And, "There is not the least reason to suppose that any of our faculties, but those which connect us with external objects, or direct the movements of our bodies, act * Additional evidence that the brain is the organ of the mind will be found in the Appendix, No. 1. t See No. 48, Article 10; also No. 88, cited below. Elliotson's Blumenbach, p. 66. |