ANATOMICAL AND PSYCHIC LOCALISATION 275 



It has been claimed that the intellect is the func- 

 tion of special parts of the brain. Hitzig and others 

 assumed that the frontal lobes of the cerebral hemi- 

 spheres are the organs of attention. I have repeat- 

 edly removed both frontal lobes in dogs (6). It was 

 impossible to notice the slightest difference in the 

 mental functions of the dog. There is perhaps no 

 operation which is so harmless for a dog as the re- 

 moval of the frontal lobes. Flechsig thinks that it is 

 not only the frontal lobe but the cortex of certain 

 other regions which is responsible for mental activity, 

 inasmuch as it is the seat of " centres of association." 

 I have removed the cortex of Flechsig's " centres of 

 association " in dogs without having noticed anything 

 that justifies Flechsig's hypothesis. The assumption 

 of " centres of association " is just as erroneous as the 

 assumption of a centre of coordination in the heart. 

 Association is, like coordination, a dynamical effect 

 determined by the conductivity of the protoplasm. 

 Associative processes occur everywhere in the hemi- 

 spheres (and possibly in other parts of the brain), just 

 as coordination occurs wherever the connection be- 

 tween two protoplasmic pieces is sufficient. It is just 

 as anthropomorphic to invent special centres of associ- 

 ation as it is to invent special centres of coordination. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



1. HITZIG, E. Untersuchungen iiber das Gehirn, Berlin, 1874 ; 

 and Reicherfs und Du Bois-Reymond's Archiv, 1870. 



2. GOLTZ, F. Ueber die Verrichtungen des Grosshirns. 



