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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



mary and fundamental object of inqui- 

 ry an organ, the properties of which 

 give limits and law to psychology. That 

 mind is conditioned and manifested by 

 the nervous, and especially the cerebral, 

 system, is now no longer intelligently 

 disputed ; and, in beginning the study 

 of mental phenomena here, we have the 

 advantage of light derived from the 

 physical and organic sciences, we get 

 free from the overwhelming bias of 

 metaphysical traditions, and become fa- 

 miliar with a wide range of facts that 

 are of immense value in the conduct of 

 every-day life. 



The important practical results that 

 must follow from this order of study, 

 by which the organic substratum of 

 mind receives the first attention, are 

 well illustrated in the admirable articles 

 of Dr. Beard, on " The Scientific Study 

 of Human Testimony," of which the 

 second is herewith published. Dr. 

 Beard indicated his point of view in the 

 first paper as follows: 



" Human testimony comes from the hu- 

 man brain; the scientific study of human 

 testimony is only possible through a knowl- 

 edge of the human brain in health and dis- 

 ease, and is therefore a department of cere- 

 bro-physiology and pathology. Only re- 

 cently have the laws of cerebro-physiology 

 and pathology been sufficiently understood, 

 even by the very few who cultivate that 

 specialty, to enable them to formulate prin- 

 ciples for the scientific study of that most 

 important product of the human brain hu- 

 man testimony. If, then, Bacon and Des- 

 cartes, Hume and Hamilton, Whewell and 

 Jevons, Greenleaf and Wharton, have failed 

 to adapt their analyses of the principles of 

 evidence to the needs of our time, their fail- 

 ure is due to the backwardness of physiology 

 and pathology, that must constitute the basis 

 of the study of evidence, and on which the 

 foundations for a reconstruction must be laid. 

 "We do not yet know all of the human brain, 

 either in health or disease; but our knowl- 

 edge of it is sufficiently advanced to make it 

 possible to see, with sufficient clearness, its 

 relation to testimony. If we do not know 

 just how the cerebral cells evolve thought, 

 we do know that thought is evolved by them 

 or through them, and that various diseases 

 of the brain and nervous system now pretty 



well understood, but of which, twenty years 

 ago, little or nothing was known may utter- 

 ly destroy the objective worth of thought 

 and render it, scientifically speaking, value- 

 less." 



Assuming these positions to be valid, 

 the study of mental physiology must 

 work a revolution in the theory of juris- 

 prudence and the practice of the legal 

 profession. 



The extreme importance of this 

 point of view is also further exemplified 

 in an article " On Brain-forcing," by Dr. 

 Clifford Allbutt, which we reprint in 

 the present number of the Monthly, 

 from the new quarterly. Taking their 

 cue from old metaphysical text-books, 

 our teachers are ever talking about 

 mind, while what they really have to 

 deal with is the brain. And not only 

 that, but they have control of it during 

 the period of its development. Educa- 

 tion is, in fact, a physiological art, and 

 all its methods and resources take effect 

 upon the plastic organism of the ner- 

 vous system. The development of in- 

 telligence, the discipline of emotions, 

 the establishment of habits, and the 

 formation of character, are all depend- 

 ent upon definite corporeal laws, of 

 which the study of mental philosophy, 

 as usually pursued, gives us but little 

 information. Dr. Allbutt shows very 

 impressively, not only how the varied 

 endowments of nerve-substance are at 

 the basis of all culture, but how easy it 

 is to mismanage the work of education, 

 and perpetrate grave and lasting mis- 

 chief, when these physiological condi- 

 tions are unheeded and unknown. Nor 

 is the ignorance of teachers upon the 

 subject the worst thing about it; they 

 have views and beliefs and opinions 

 which stand in the way of real knowl- 

 edge, and under which they work with 

 blind, dogmatic confidence, that pre- 

 vents all recognition of the injuries 

 their practice inflicts upon pupils under 

 their charge. 



A case in point has been recently 

 reported by the newspapers as occur- 

 ring in the management of the Jersey 



