722u 



PHYSIOLOGY OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



caused giddiness, fainting, and convulsive 

 movements. The patient loses sight and hear- 

 ing of the right side, experiences acute pain 

 in the course of the dorsal spine, and tingling 

 in the testes, which in fifteen days were reduced 

 to the size, of a bean. The patient dies of 

 tetanus, with loss of the functions of sight, 

 hearing, and generation.* On dissection there 

 was great loss of substance at the occiput, the 

 medulla oblonguta and upper part of the spinal 

 cord were of dull white, of firmer consistence, 

 and reduced in size one-fourth. The nerves 

 arising from these parts were likewise wasted. 

 c. A chasseur received a sabre cut, which di- 

 vided the skin and external protuberance of the 

 occipital bone, and the extensor muscles of the 

 head us low down us the sixth vertebra. This 

 man gets well, but Larrey states that he de- 

 clares " that he has been deprived of his gene- 

 rative powers ever since that wound." 4. Gall 

 caused rabbits to be castrated, some on the 

 right side and others on the left. Having had 

 them killed six or eight months afterwards, he 

 iinds diminution of the cerebellar lobe oppo- 

 site the removed testicle, and flattening of the 

 corresponding occipital swelling. Vimont, 

 however, found no diminution of the opposite 

 lobe of the cerebellum in four rabbits on which 

 castration had been effected on one side, and 

 winch had been kept eight months; but in 

 four other rabbits, similarly treated, but kept 

 eighteen months, a very perceptible diminution 

 in the opposite lobe of the cerebellum was 

 found ,j- 



The results of mutilation of the generative 

 organs, as obtained by the researches of M. 

 Leuret, are far from being favourable to Gall's 

 theory. M. Leuret took the weight of the 

 cerebellum both absolutely, and, as compared 

 with that of the cerebrum, in ten stallions, 

 twelve mares, and twenty-one geldings. The 

 following table shows the results of the abso- 

 lute weights. 



Average. Highest. Lowest. 



Stallions. . 61 65 . . 56 



Mares.. 61 66 58 



Geldings. . 70 



64 



Thus the remarkable result is obtained, that 

 castration tends to augment the weight of the 

 cerebellum, and not to reduce it, as Gall and 

 his followers affirm. 



What is further very remarkable in these re- 

 searches is that the cerebrum in geldings is on 

 the average less in weight than that in stallions; 

 and the fact gives great confirmation to the 

 results of weighing the cerebella, rendering it 

 in the highest degree improbable that the excess 

 of weight in the cerebellum was accidental. 



The general expression of the facts obtained 

 by Leuret is this, that in horses, mutilated as 

 regards the principal generative organs, the 

 cerebellum is heavier than in horses and mares 

 not mutilated in the generative organ ; and he 

 compared twenty-one of the former with twenty- 

 two of the latter. 



* I apprehend the loss of the generative function 

 is not uncommon in tetanus! 



t Quoted from Mr. Noblo on the brain. 



Compare these observations with those above 

 quoted from Gall by Mr. Noble, a most ardent 

 phrenologist, and I think most unprejudiced 

 persons will admit that in the number of ob- 

 servations, in the exactness with which those 

 observations were conducted, and in their free- 

 dom from sources of fallacy, the researches of 

 M. Leuret have greatly the advantage over 

 those upon which Gall rests his conclusion. 



Yet Mr. Noble, while he unhesitatingly 

 accepts the few and very feeble instances 

 quoted and adopted by Gall, is at great pains 

 to depreciate these observations of Leuret; first, 

 because they are not sufficiently numerous ; 

 secondly, because Mr. Parchappe found that, 

 in comparing the cerebra and cerebella of a 

 certain number of mad men and women with 

 those of sane men and women, a very slight 

 advantage existed in favour of the former; and, 

 thirdly, because the author of the observations is 

 an opponent of phrenology. 



I must say, however, upon this point, that, 

 while I do not reckon myself among the op- 

 ponents to phrenology, but rather amoug those 

 who are anxiously looking for and desirous of 

 promoting a truly scientific phrenology,* I can- 

 not but regard the facts brought forward by 

 M. Leuret as of the greatest interest and im- 

 portance, and not to be affected by any such 

 arguments as those of Mr. Noble ; nor are they 

 to be met at all, save by similar weighings, in 

 the same, or still better, in double the number 

 of animals. 



The last point to be noticed with regard to 

 Gall's theory of the office of the cerebellum is 

 that it certainly derives no support from patho- 

 logical observations. The few cases quoted 

 by Gall, in which the injury in the neighbour- 

 hood of the cerebellum seemed to affect sexual 

 instinct are far from being conclusive, for they 

 might apply equally, if it were assumed that 

 the seat of the instinct were in the posterior 

 lobes of the cerebrum, in the medulla ob- 

 longata, or in the spinal cord. Indeed Baron 

 Larrey 's second case is much more favourable 

 to the localization of the generative impulse in 

 the centre of emotions, than in the cerebellum. 

 For the latter organ was free from disease, 

 whilst the medulla oblongata was indurated. 

 And, further, the assumed connection between 



* The following passage from Dr. Holland's valu- 

 able " Medical Notes and Reflections " expresses 

 so well the true position of phrenology, that I am 

 glad to quote it as an excellent expression of my 

 own creed relative to this point. " In the present 

 state of our knowledge of the brain," says Dr. Hol- 

 land, " and of its relation to the mental functions, 

 an impartial view of phrenology requires, not that 

 the doctrine should be put aside altogether, but 

 that great abatement should be made of its preten- 

 sions as a system. To say the least, it is chargeable 

 with what Lord Bacon has called an over-early 

 and peremptory reduction into acts and methods,' 

 and with the adoption of various conclusions not 

 warranted by any sufficient evidence. Hut on a 

 subject thus obscure in all its parts, and where our 

 actual knowledge is still limited to detached facts or 

 presumptions, there is enough to justify the opinion 

 being kept before us, as one of the outlines to 

 which future observations may apply ; not fettered, 

 as they now are, by the trammels of a premature 

 arrangement." P. 517. 



