Phrenology, or the doctrine of the mind : and of the relations between its manifestations and the body.

  • Johann Spurzheim
Date:
1825
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Phrenology, or the doctrine of the mind : and of the relations between its manifestations and the body. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    world be spoken of and admitted;—if the greater number of metaphysicians maintain that the highest faculties of the understanding—reason and will, at least act independently of all organization;—if hydrocephalic persons be mentioned, who without brain have manifested moral sentiments and intellec¬ tual faculties ;—if the same be related of animals whose brain was ossified ;—if any of these assertions be admitted, and the brain be at the same time maintained the exclusive organ of the soul, the contradiction is evident. Now there is no author who has not advanced one or other of these supposi¬ tions ; and therefore it will not be superfluous to detail our ideas relative to the organ of the soul, and to inculcate our principle that the brain is the sole organ both of the feelings and of the intellectual faculties. tn support of this truth, I accordingly make the following observations :— Vegetative life requires neither the brain nor the cerebellum. The superior parts of both hemispheres, the great commissure, even more than half of the cerebellum may be wounded, de¬ stroyed by suppuration, or removed, without injury to the functions of the five external senses, or of vegetative life. Acephali, or monsters destitute of brain, are frequently born strong and fat, several of them even live some time after birth. Hence if the brain were not destined for superior functions, its existence would be useless. However, it is more than pro¬ bable that the largest and most curious and complicated of all the nervous systems, has functions corresponding to the per¬ fectness of its organization. Moreover all the parts of the body may be wounded or destroyed—even the nervous mass ol‘ the spine may be compressed or inj ured at a certain distance from the brain, without immediately destroying the feelings and intellectual faculties. In tetanus, produced by a cause remote from the brain, the other nervous systems are some¬ times attacked in the most violent manner, while the functions of the mind remain entire till death. On the contrary, if the
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