Have ice Two Brains ? by Dr. liroicn-St'quard. 



29 



HAVE WE TWO BRAINS'? 



A LKCTURE BY DR. BROWN-SEQUARD. 



INSTANCES WHERE PATIKNTS USED ONK HALF THE 

 15KAIN INDEPENDENTLY OF THE OTHER THE 

 LEFT HKAIN PRINCIPALLY THE ORGAN OF INTEL- 

 LIGENCE AND KXTERIOR RELATION; THE RIGHT, 

 OF ORGANIC FUNCTIONS AND NUTRITION THE 

 NEED AND MEANS OF DEVELOPING BOTH SIDES OF 

 THE BRAIN. 

 IFROM A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIRrNE.] 



WASHINGTON, April 22. The lecture delivered at 

 this date by Dr. Brown-Sdquard. which attracted a 

 crowded audience, was one of the- "Toner Lectures." 

 As mauy readers may not recall the circum- 

 stances under which that course of lectures was 

 established, a statement of the facts will probably 

 be of interest. Dr. J. M. Toner, believing that the 

 advancement of science that is, a knowledge of the 

 laws of Nature in any part of her domain, and par- 

 ticularly such discoveries as contribute to the ad- 

 vancement of medicine tends to ameliorate the 

 condition of mankind, determined in 1872 to convey 

 real and personal property worth about 3,000 to five 

 trustees; 90 per cent of tlie interest of which was to 

 be applied for at least two annual memoirs or essays 

 by different individuals, and, as the fund increases, 

 as many more as the interest of the trust and revenue 

 will, in the judgment of the trustees, justify. The 

 essays or memoirs must be relative to some branch 

 of medical science, and be read in the City of Wash- 

 ington under the name of the Toner Lectures. 

 Each of these memoirs or lectures is to contain some 

 new truth fully established by experiment or ob- 

 servation, and no such memoir or lecture is to be 

 given to the world under the name of the " Toner 

 Lectures" without having first been critically ex- 

 amined and approved by competent persons selected 

 by the trustees for that purpose. The trustees are 

 the Secretary or chief scientific officer of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution (for the time being, Prof. Joseph 

 Henry), the Surgeon-General of the United States 

 Army, the Surgeon-General of the United States 

 Navy, and the President of the Medical Society of 

 the District of C jluiubia. 



THE LECTURE. 

 LADIES AND GENTLEMEN : I have to-day to 



put forward views which, if they liavo tlio value that I 

 attach to them, deserve all your attention. I confess, 

 liowever, that although I have coine to a conviction my- 

 self, and I am. perhaps, rather difficult in that respect, 

 I do not accept easily as proved what is drawn from 

 facts. I confess, however, that I feel great embarrass- 

 ment, a8 not ouly are the facts I have to dwell upon 

 new, and iiot, perhaps, easily to bo accepted, hut 

 besides they require for their full understanding a Knowl- 

 edge of medicine, which probably docs not exist among 

 many of uiy hearers. However, I will try my best to 

 render the subject as clear as possible, even to persons 

 who know nothing about medicine. 



EVIDENCE THAT WE HAVE TWO BRAINS. 

 As you perhaps know, the subject is this, put tint; it in 

 an interrogative way, llave we two hraius or one 1 And 



if wo have two brains why do wo not educate both of 

 them 1 



As you will soo by these questions, if the, first is dc- 

 cidi-d negatively, of course there is no i C.IM.II for t hn 

 leeuiro. The very fact, therefore, tlmr , I urn in jour 



presence to speak about an hour on iii.it sui>j -et. implies 

 that I have come to the concliisicn tint v, < hav.- I . < 

 brains, perfectly distinct the one from the ot.ier. There 

 are views held in science in that n i , , altogether 

 different from mine. They consist in admitting t hu r the 

 leftside of the brain is the, only organ serving to t h". 

 movement and feeling of the right side or the bodv, :<ini 

 vice versa, the riarht side of the brain is admitted to be 

 the only organ serving to volition and to si-n-atiou for 

 the left side or the body. Tills view I will havo llr.st to 

 disprove. 



Beginning, however, by what relates to the noblest 

 functions or the, brain that is its aptitude to serve iu 

 mental phenomena I shall say at once that I am i:ot 

 the first to put forward the view that wn have two 

 brains. Long ago Sir Henry Olan, who died some time 

 ago, and Dr. Wigan, and a few others, insisted on the 

 fact that each side of the braiu is perfectly sufficient for 

 the full performance of the mental functions. But t'.iey 

 stopped there, and they have left to others, therefore, 

 to go further, if we have to go further. I snail say thar, 

 taking that view, that in reality we havo two brains 

 there is a conclusion which flows out from it, and winch 

 although I shall have to speak of i f , more at length by 

 and by I must now say a few words upon. It is 

 quite ccituin that if it is so, as we mak" use of only ouo 

 for most of our actions, we leave aside one-half of the 

 total mass of brain matter, and, therefore, wo leave 

 quite useless one-half of the most important of our 

 organs as regards manifestations of intelligence, will, 

 and perception of sensation. If this statement is right, 

 you will easily understand bow Important it is to come 

 to the point which I have in view in this lecture: that is 

 that we ought to give education to the two sides of the 

 brain, or, rather, to the two brains. 



As regards intelligence, it is hardly necessary to insist 

 after That has been said by the physiologists I havo 

 named, Sir Henry Olau and Dr. Wigan. Ttiov both 

 showed that there are a great many facts which conclu- 

 sively prove that either half of the brain may serve 

 equally intellectual functions. It may be. however, 

 that their proofs were not sufficient. One of the two, 

 Dr. Wigan. has insisted upon a feature of great interest, 

 which is that in insanity sometimes, and I may say very 

 frequently without any insanity, wo nave two different 

 views on the same subject. There aro a great many 

 people who labor through life under the difficulty 

 of making up their minds. It is because they have two 

 minds unfortunately. Better would it be for them to 

 have ouly one, and I hope you will not coiiL-lndo at ouce 

 that what I am to preach herothat is, that we are to 

 educate our two brains ought to be laid aside on nc- 

 count of the danger of leading men to have two minds, 

 and to be all the time hesitating between two views ;nnl 

 two conclusions and two opinions and two decisions. I 

 think I shall bo able to prove that the ta.ilt in those in- 

 dividuals who cannot make up their mind is, on the con- 

 trary, dependent in a measure on the fact that they 

 have not. developed sufficiently the power of their two 

 brains. 



INSTANCES OF THE SEPARATE USE OF THE HALVES 

 OK THE BUAIN. 



Anyhow, Dr. Wigan especially insisted upon those 

 facts which we observe in instnity.th.it a patient knows 

 ho is insane ; he kuows that ho has insane ideas ; he will 



