The anatomy of the brain, with a general view of the nervous system / By J.G. Spurzheim. Translated from the unpublished French MS by R. Willis.
- Johann Spurzheim
- Date:
- [1836]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The anatomy of the brain, with a general view of the nervous system / By J.G. Spurzheim. Translated from the unpublished French MS by R. Willis. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![ted. Were this remark universally correct, it would serve as a positive proof of the brain’s being an as- semblage of organs. But, without reckoning the difficulty, not to say the impossibility of determin- ing, anatomically, even in birds and mammiferous animals, the constituent parts of the brain, and ad- mitting that as true which mechanical anatomy demonstrates, viz.—that the brain is made up of a greater or smaller number of bundles, it must still be observed that each particular bundle cannot, legitimately, be assumed as composing a peculiar organ. ‘There are several cerebral masses which, although more or less compound, do not, therefore, cease to be mere units. ‘Take the cerebellum as an example. This is extremely simple in fishes, and very complicated in man; nevertheless, it is but a single instrument in both. 'The same law apples to several other cerebral parts, which, although exceedingly complex, only compose the instrument of a single function. Thus the first fact showing the structure to be more or less complicated, is no satisfactory or conclusive evidence as to the plural- ity of the cerebral organs ; — this induction is still only problematical. Dr. Gall derives another anatomical] proof of the principle under discussion, from the analogy that subsists between the organization of the brain and that of the other nervous systems. This analogy, however, is very limited. The spinal cord affords no example of it. Although composed of many parts, or numerous pairs of nerves, its functions are but repetitions of two of different kinds, wz. sen-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b33094974_0132.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
