Observations on Dr Barclay's objections to phrenology / by A. Combe.

Date:
1823
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on Dr Barclay's objections to phrenology / by A. Combe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    8/44 page 6
    tates a diseased limb performs an act of beneficence; while the hand which would cut off a sound leg would be the in- strument of atrocious cruelty; but, in either case, the ac- tion of moving the knife is precisely the same, and one set of muscles, acting in one way, is amply sufficient for im- pelling it in both operations. But, taking the other part of the parallel, will Dr B. himself venture to assert, that the feeling of the mind which impels the knife is in both cases precisely the same; and so completely so, that we are bound, by the mere force of analogy, to infer, that as one set of muscles serve to move the knife in both operations, so both emotions must be experienced by means of one and the same mental organ ? This length he is bound to go; for he feels so strong in the force of his analogies, that he reckons all direct inquiry into the fact superfluous. In this instance, however, the analogy is scarcely in his favour. I may observe, farther, that there is as gi'eat a difference betwixt the feeling of benevolence and that of cruelty, as betwixt a sound and a smell; and as we know, that, in the latter case, Nature has provided different organs for receiv- ing the different kinds of impressions, we are led to infer, that she may have followed the same course in regard to the different internal feelings. Even in the case of the hand, also, the analogy is in favour of this inference, and in opposition to that of Dr B. This organ, besides per- forming the function of voluntary motion, is also the instru- ment of touch. If Dr B.'s analogy hold good, both func- tions should be performed by means of the same corporeal parts, and the power of exercising the one function, should be always in proportion to that of performing the other. Recent experiments, however, have shewn, that volun- tary motion is performed by one set of nervous fibres, and that touch is exercised by another, although both are in- closed in a common sheath: and it is also an indisputable
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3