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SECTION IV.

The Brain is indispensable to mental phenomena.

AFTER having seen what nature does in man, let us inquire into the means by which she effects it. Religious people commonly believe in a mere supernatural dispensation of gifts; but there cannot be a doubt of natural causes also contributing to produce the phenomena of mind.

I may follow the example of other natural philosophers, and confine myself to proving a relation between the body and the manifestations of the mind, or, I may endeavor to determine the special powers of the mind and the respective organs. This latter task has been accomplished by Phrenology. Here I shall only show, in a summary way, how reasoning coincides with observation. It is important duly to appreciate my expressions upon this subject: I do not say that the organization produces the affective and intellectual faculties of man's mind, as a tree brings forth fruit, or an animal procreates its kind; I only say that organic conditions are necessary to the manifestations of mind.

I never venture beyond experience; and therefore consider the faculties of the mind only in as far as they become apparent by the organization. Neither denying nor affirming any thing which cannot be verified by experiment, I make no researches on the lifeless body nor on the soul alone, but on man as a living agent. I never question what the affective and intellectual faculties may be in themselves, do not attempt to explain how the body and soul are united and exercise a mutual influence, nor examine what the soul can effect without the body. The soul may be united to the body at the moment of conception or afterwards; it may be different in every individual, or be of the same kind in all; it may be an emanation from God, or something else. Whatever metaphysicians and theologians may decide in regard to these various points, the position, that manifestation of the faculties of the mind depend, in this

life, on organization, cannot be shaken. Let us then consider the proofs which reasoning affords of this principle of Phrenology.

i. Difference of the Sexes.

The faculties of the mind are modified in the sexes: some are more energetic in men, others in women. Do then the souls of men and women differ, or is it more probable, that the faculties are modified because their organs or instruments vary? Phrenology shows that certain parts of the brain are more developed in men, others more in women; and thus renders the peculiarities in the mental manifestations of each, easily explicable. There are, however, many instances in which the intellectual faculties of women resemble those of men, and the contrary.

ii. Individuality of every Person.

The mental faculties are modified in every individual. Now, is it probable that the soul differs universally, or is it more likely, that as the whole human kind has descended from an original pair, all modifications of the faculties may be explained by differences in the organs on which each respectively depends? Like species of animals, and man also, have essentially the same corporeal structure; there is merely difference of proportion and developement in the various parts of which the body is composed; and these differences in the organs produce corresponding varieties in the functions attached to them.

iii. Ages.

Mental manifestations are modified by age. Either the soul, or its instruments, therefore, must produce these modified manifestations. It is ascertained that certain faculties appear early in life, or at a later period, according as the peculiar organs of each are developed.

The same law holds in both affective and intellectual faculties the manifestations of all are not simultaneous. Several of both orders appear in infancy, others not before maturer years; several, too, disappear earlier, whilst others endure till the end of life. Now as we know that manifestations of the mental powers always accord with certain organic conditions, it is impossible to overlook their dependence on organization.

iv. Influence of Physical Conditions.

All that disorders, weakens, or excites the organization of the nervous system, influences especially the manifestation of the mental faculties also. It is generally observed that organs are enfeebled if their growth be very rapid; their functions too, are, in consequence, less energetic. This is chiefly remarkable in the climacteric years, or periods of increase; a knowledge of which is so very important in practical medicine. Vegetables are known to increase particularly at two periods; in the spring, and in the middle of summer. The growth of the human body is also more rapid at certain times than at others. Now rapid growth weakens the organs, both of vegetative and animal life, and consequently the functions they perform respectively. Girls who grow too suddenly turn pale, chlorotic, and consumptive, &c. Individuals, therefore, during the periods of growth, are not fit for active business, and ought not to exercise their intellectual faculties much. Rest is necessary till the organs acquire maturity, when all the faculties of the mind and body will resume their energy. Organs of particular faculties are occasionally too soon developed, and are then apt to be exercised overmuch. Incurable exhaustion often results from this, and early genius is nipped in the bud.

Adult men and animals are still subjected to variable degrees of excitement from seasons, temperature, food, and especially from particular laws to which the organization is subjected. We see animals resume and abandon at different periods, their instinct to sing, to build, to gather provisions, to live solitarily or in society,

to migrate, &c.; and the faculties of man do not always act with the same degree of energy. Who can overlook the influence of such evacuations as the catameni, hemorrhoids, &c. ; or of pregnancy, digestion, fasting, and whatever exhausts the corporeal powers? Who can deny the effects of disease upon the manifestation of our faculties; or of external and internal excitements, as of agreeable impressions, fine weather, music, dancing, &c. ? Now all these act upon the organization only; manifestation of the mental faculties consequently depends on the organization.

Exceedingly defective mental powers have been known to grow very active when excited by external or internal causes. Haller relates the case of an idiot, who happening to be wounded on the head, manifested great understanding so long as the wound remained open, but who, as soon as this healed up, fell into his former stupidity. He speaks of another patient whose eye being inflamed, saw perfectly during the night whilst the inflammation lasted. Father Mabillan, in his infancy, gave little promise of superior abilities; but, having received a blow on his head, he, from that moment, displayed talents. I have heard of a boy who, at the age of fourteen, seemed incapable of improvement; having fallen down stairs one day, however, and got several wounds in his head, he afterwards began to excel in his studies. I have seen a girl, nine years old, whose right arm grew gradually weak and almost paralytic, in consequence of a blow on the same side of the head; her lower jaw trembled incessantly, and she was often convulsed; but her intellectual faculties had acquired great energy and perfection; her whole deportment indeed, was exceedingly imposing. I shall mention only one other case of this kind from the Edinburgh Review,* in an article upon the Retreat, an institution near York for insane persons of the Society of Friends: A young woman, who was employed as a domestic servant by the father of the relater when he was a boy, became insane, and, at length, sunk into a state of perfect idiocy. In this condition she remained for many years, when she was attacked by a typhus fever; and my friend,

*No. XLV. p. 197.

having then practised some time, attended her. He was surprised to observe, as the fever advanced, a developement of the mental powers. During that period of the fever when others are delirious, this patient was entirely rational. She recognised, in the face of her medical attendant, the son of her old master, whom she had known so many years before, and she related many circumstances respecting his family and others, which had happened to herself in her earlier days. But, alas! it was only the gleam of reason: as the fever abated, clouds again enveloped the mind; she sunk into her former deplorable state, and remained in it until her death, which happened a few years afterwards.' These facts are positive, and there can be no doubt of similar causes influencing the faculties of the mind surprisingly; yet they can only act immediately upon the organization. We must perforce conclude, that when physical and organic causes excite the most impudent lasciviousness, the most arrogant pride, despair which rejects all consolation, and so on, these various manifestations depend on the organization.

Sleeping and Dreaming.

The states of watching, sleeping, and dreaming, also prove the manifestations of the mind dependent on organization; for corporeal organs can alone be fatigued and exhausted. Now it is known that mental operations cannot be continued incessantly, that rest is indispensable, and that a regular recurrence of that inactive state of the mental faculties called sleep, is necessary to enable them to display their perfect energies.

If single organs be by any cause excited, and enter into action while the others are inactive, partial sensations and ideas, or dreams, arise. Dreams, then, are almost always the result of certain material causes, and are conformable to the age and organic constitution of the dreamer. Men and women of an irritable habit of body, find difficulties and endless impediments in their dreams, and generally suffer pain, and feel anxiety and alarm. This constant relation between dreams and bodily frame, which has been verified

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