Nugae literariae: prose and verse

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only, as a Wali to the enlarged ventricles, a layer of White matter, not thicher perhaps than the eighth-part of an inch, With a stratum os brown substanco superposed. Yet Hl thethinhing faculty Whatever, or Whereuer, it is, is unimpatredamid this devastation. In vain will it be said that thero is nodisorganigation, and that the fluid acts by so regular a force onthe convolutions of the ventricles, that their duplicatures areregularly unsolded. The faet is, the brain is converted into a

strably less; besides, the brain is incapable os suci, distensionwithout the injury of iis sinor vesseis. Sometimes the ventriclesare enlarged Without any enlargement of the superficiat brain. So destituto is this system, notWithstanding itS overWeening

pretensions, of Sound anatomical and physiological data lTo ait this, it is objected, that these injuries only assect ahais of tho brain, whicli is constituted of tWo series of organs;

can think with one of the two sections of the brain. ΝοW somediseases are generalty distributed through both. But th0so objectors appear to deseat them Selves by some other positions. They contend that the severat organs, though rising on thesuperscies of the cerebrat mass, reatly descend to the base of tho fhuli ; that each is Deehold through iis respective substratum as far as it may choose to penetrate; and that an actionWould lie against any Which Would presume to Undermine therest. Let the anatomist say how far this partition is traced phow low the falx reaches 8 The brain becomes common, unditie separation indistinguisti te, perhaps besere the mid-Waydescent. It may be compared to the Span os a bridge, thinnorat the cope and broader at the abutinents. Towards the floorany assection Will be generat. This, Ι must thinh, does aWaywith the main silist of the theory,-the duplex state of the organs. Yet this bipartite sortii of the brain is the cordialwhicli tho advocates of the theory quass in every disconis ture. Ιt quite intoxicates them. They see ali things double. Janusis thoir god. The natural division os cerebrum and cerebellum never occurs to them, because it is thought of by every other

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person besides. Lille the philosopher of Ferney, they have

The proportion of the human brain to the humari face and figure, is commonly urged as the cause of our intellectual superiority. But there are subjecis, whicli natural history and comparative anatomy discoVer to US, of equat and larger proportions. Tho bra in os a sest fix feet long is fully us large as a man s. Who Can any longer Wonder at the exploit of the Phoca in overthrowing Hector, and serambling oss with Monlibarii' sstieli Θ Tho brain os a canary-bird is sald to be tWice as large, in proportion to iis body, as mari s is to his. Can so much bowanting for iis one quality of Song, iis one organ of thine ΘWith this double store We micti expect it to be not only cantare par,'' but respondere parata. ' Tho Wengeis assirinthat tho human bra in has reached the perfection of iis paris and dimensions when the child is seven years old. Ιf so, shouldhe ρε creep like snail unWillingly to school ΘΠ But it may beansWered, that the greater mass of brain in some Unreasoninganimais is to be explained on the faci that their nervolas cord sare larger than in mari. I hail tho an swor i For it brings backthe truo idos and use of brain, that it is no seat and instrument of thought, but the matrix and pabulum of nervous fibre. And

Scale, Aheli, nor coaled hair,-may he not stand in Want of this cerebrat volume sor sentient purposes 8 Is there any proved connection belWeen ii and his mind, save as necessary for organicsensation and vital energy 8 The bra in is adducod with too much considen co in these questions. The living brain has, of course, never been dissected ; and though when portions of thocalvarium have been removed, the action os iis biood-vesseis has been perceptibie, yet iis appropriate functions have neverb0on brought to light. In an exanimaled brain, the Very organ-

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igation may be deranged: the modus operandi mu8t be fought

The principat argument employed to prove that tho brain is made up of many organs, is, the sense of relies We gain, after application to one subjeci, by attention to another. When Wearied by studying tangit e, We are stili refreshed by paint-ing and music. The mind can be continuoiasty occupied, butiis occupations must be Varied. There fore, though it is a conclusion per saltum, the brain mUSt consiSt of many paris,-whicli, liko the eyes of Argus, take it by turns to Wako and fleop. This statement goeS On the naked, Unprotected, assertion, that brain is the instrument of thought. It also attributes a muscular idea to mental fatigue, moSt gratuitouS, moSt uncon geniat. The fame εen8ible organ may be uninterruptedlyexerci sed, and yet be relieved by diverting that exercisse. Μyeye is ali along employed in gaZing Upon the most Vivid colours, and then iapon the green of earlli : but it is re est,ed by thochange, though there is no cessation of iis attention. And whymay not intellect require Vari ed excitement in conformity to iis own laws, and yet stad iis relies in iis change of employments Θ

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tho estimation of those Who could confound Sphinx horsolstIt is most true that Halter, Hunter, Blumenbach, Gordon, Bell, have discovered various distinci paris in the mass and haves definod them ; so that littie knowledge cara be required todeclaro their position, their order, their intereSting character, their generat resemblance. Ιf there be organs, they might beexpected to consist of the corpus callosum, the forniX, the ponSVarolii, the commiSSures, the pituitary and pineat glands. Theseare too Unimportant paris i Besides, every one knows about thom l It is the property of ali organs, Such aS eyes, noStritS, and ears, to be Unseen-theresere the instruments of thoughtshali lie on the sui face of tho brain, to put our confidelice in Gali and Spurghelm to the ordeal l Sense is not to be consultod i Faith is to be unhesitating l How much more properis it to speak of paris Which have never been Seen, instead

of those whicli at any time may l Ipsi dixerunt, and let allwith Pythagorean docility unmurmuringly submit lAs no science can haVe any chance of patron age in Our day, which does not Eulogise Bacon, and Shout Induction, We are informed by Craniologisis that their system is conducted on thomost rigid principies of scientisic inquiry. We never,'' says Spurghelm, με venture beyond eXperience; We never deny noramrm any thing that cannot be veris ed by experiment. We never make researches on the dead body alone, nor Upon thesout alone, but upon man us he appears in lin. ' Be it rememtabored that induction must have facts to collate: What are the facts of this investigation 8 It maintains that every brain has certain organs, and that these are expressed by the superficialskuli. And the facts are these. They can multiply busis at pleastare,-see the ideatity of Homer, the form of Phidias, thocausality of Aristoti et No rationat doubi can exist that eachis true to iis prototype l

Caput argutae praebeat historiae.

And it is very probable that they may have a hundred shulls

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The research must be most completet Who can resist thein renco that the brain has thirty-three divisions; and the externat cranium us much raised and in dented work as may correspond l Proud generaligation i Alan has certain dispositions ; is not in the brain, Where cari they be 8 There re theyare in the brain. But of What use can they be, is only in thebrain Θ There re they have an ostensibi e revelation. But is not ostensibiy reveHed on the cranium, Where else are they ΘTheresore they are revealed on the cranium. Triumphant induction i Nover had theorem a more victorious right to claim iis Quod erat demonstrandum; never had statute Stronger claim to iis B0 it onacted, and it is hereis enacted. To maintain that man has certain eminences on his skullis to litile purpose ; that is not litigated ; but tho craniologistis bound to inow that they are occasioned by the encephalon. For my own part I neither care Whether they be so or Dot, belleving the encephalon to have as much connection with miridand character, as the marroW of the leg-bone. But surelytho fhould demonstrate that the externat formation dependstipon an internat sculpture:' that, in stiori, the brain mouldstho skuli. I have handi ed many skulis, hut have alWays beenstruck with their disti greement in respect os interior and exterior formation. Every conveX potnt of the formation Without, oughtto bo marked by a concavity Within : so every outWard depression Ahould cause an inverted rotundity within. Tahe thointernat plate of the shuli; you Will find it channetod and Deiled with a variety of involutions. Suppose these be produced by the sulci of tho brain, though every one linoWS they are oWingto the meningeat Veins,-Was the eXternat bone ever thus found configured Θ There is osten as great a dissererice as belween theoulside and inside of a peach-stone, only just inverting the

arrangement. AS the cranium Con Sisis of an Upper and under

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tho orbiis of the eyes, Strictly correspond With the anterior ostromities of the iobes of the brain. ΝοW, What reatly arethoy Θ Μere processes of bone of the mastoid kind, required by the principes muscle of that region lSometimes the thicliness of one part of the skuli is nearly doubio that os another. Hence large protuberances arise Under the touch, but in reality the brain is equidistant hom them and tho levets of the skull.-That cellular attachment called thediploe is not unliappily named ; for it not only may be explainedio indicato a duplicity of the externat and vitreous plates, butilio deception of inferring the peculiarities of one froni theother. A renas rhable instance of the error committed by thoso Who suppose that a perfeci equality subsisis in theso platos is furnished by the frontal sinus. Here a Separation, eVen a chaSm, is producod. It is an absolute celi in most persons. It onlycloses up With age. NoW, bestireW it, this uiiseemly yawn is justiander tho organ of Loca w. But the entire system of Craniology depends upon Locality. It is this Whicli fixos the positionos ali tho developinenis. Is deceived in this, none can be trust-worthy. This is the unkindest cui os all. So Loca ty, towhich Hl the romainder are so much indebled, to Whicli th owe house and home, is pushed out froin the brain, is disclaimodby the diploe, and has no place for the sole of iis foot. What-QVer, too, are the inertions of the brain to round out thotemporal bones, they are most invidiotasty counteracted by a muscio whicli satiens them, SometimeS to a Semi-tranSParenCy. The reason Why the eye, the mirror of expression, that most pure spirit of Sense, ' Should be converted into a develop-ment of the organ os language, is not the least surprising partof the theory. The optio nerve passes through a deep foramen land no pressure of the brain on the orbitat plates seems likelyto assect a substanee Such as the eye. Surely iis oWn connec-

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Tho bone of the shuli, like ali bony substance, is subjectio disease. Eminences are somelimes found upon it froni thepeculiarity of the futures. Cornelius Celsus I note the quotation froni Gideon Harvsy, Vanities of Philosophy and Physic,)has test this passage. A suturis se deceptum esse Hippocrates memoriae tradidit, more scilicet magnorum virorum, et fiduciam magnarum rerum habentium.'' And in his recent lectures

Spurghelm treais this matter very lightly, though these ine- qualities, together With sonae bony processes, might lead theianinitiated into great mistat es. 'Ve are osten asked, ' he is pleased to say, by persons Who have not studied the subjeci, ab ut the impori of tho trising sprouis os bone on the skuli, and littio projections and depressions os bone. - They mean nothin g, they are irregularities of the bone only, We pay noattention to them, but to the greater devel opinent of difforent

paris in various directions. ' Alas, some of his organs are socrowded that there can only bo a litile sprout os bono; and he cannot be offended at iis When We say that ali ars nothingmoro than irregularities of the bone, that they mean nothing, that We pay no attention to them, for we Only apply to theyreat what he applies to the εmall. - Ι Will here propose two questions, Which may, perhaps, place the theory in a correctpoint of vieW. Would any craniologist stake tho credit of his System Upon a guess of the outer Dom the inner, or of the inner froin the outer, tables of the skult 8 Would ho stasio tho credit of his system Upon a guess of the peculiar Cranium, after tho closest inspectiori os the brain Whicli onco siled ii, but

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paronis: Spurghelm confines it. The former spealis of the Organ of good nature ; this, certes, cannot be the fame With the benevolence of the lalter. The master spealis of the organ ofrhetorical acute ess; the disciple styles it comparison. Thoambiguity has misted no sinali number of half-fledged orators. The founder spealis of the organ of learning things; the retianordescribes it as locality and space. Nor does the topography of

their charis alWays agree. Let the combatiVeness and destructive ess of the two be compared. Covetiveness is allowed agreater range by the One than the other. The confusion becomes rather embarrassing on the frontal bone. Fe things are more perplexing to a stranger than for the Same Street to pass under two disserent names ; though a native is Sometimes us muchbewildored by tho alteration of a Well known street, during his

uriance of fanm, thrist and imagination, are quite inseparabie. Bulldiv and music, though their noises are so distinguishabie,

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- Vacuumque cerebrodam pridem caput hoc ventoSa cucurbita quaerat ΘV

activity is to supply the place. This of ali principies is most

Interfeci the palaestra a8 you pleaSe, they compei the athletaeto a particular CoiarSe, and ere the race can be ruit, adjudgo tho

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barbarism rules over the African Continent. It is never remem

borod that iis hidnapped children are necessarily imbruted by avery. Their frontal depression, it seems, mu si brand them toendless ignorance and degradation. Then where stood EgyptWhose glories stili survive Θ Who was tho Hannibal that clinabod tho Alps and shook the Capitol Θ Who were Cyprian, Tertullian, Augustine, Whose venerable writings are stili eagerly periised Z That profite must havs consisted with Cleopatra's beauty; and may be traced in the Memnon's head , Whose dei-

But Wheri We speak of the Egyptians, that great and intellectuat people, We are reminded that they were a distinet race om the Negro: that theirs was not tho distortod Dot and the woolly head. ΝοW let iis consuli contemporary authorities Upon this potnt. Herodotus infers that the Colchi Wore identical With the Egyptians, hecause they were blach and had Woolly hair. Aristolle remarks that the Ethiopians and the EgyptianS Were Βλαιςοι,- deformed in their legs and Dei, probably With a species referetice to the elongated hees of tho Negro tribe. Ηe then enquires into the causes of this deformity. He supposes it may be heat. He expressty ascribes to each of them the woolly hair, and reasons that WhateVer produceSthe one, may HSo produce the other. In vain, then, does themodem craniologist endeavour to press his distinction. It is not only opposed to the best classical historians and naturali sis ;but to Whatever We retain, in monument and painting, of that

That sonae tribes have adopted singular methods of altering the natural shape of the head , is generalty admitted. Ithas been made to assume a flat, a s litare, a mitred appearance. The organs must have been crushed when their devel opinenis