370 LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC. 



majestic attitude which announces their superiority orer all the other inhabitants 

 of the globe. Man, whose more elevated nature is connected to surrounding objecU 

 by moral relations, who can pursue the chain of cause and effect, and embrace in 

 his mind the system of the universe, boldly regarding the heavens, he can direct 

 his sight even into the regions of the stars. The constrast, therefore, 80 finely 

 expressed by the poet, is quite correct in fact. 



Pronaque cum spectent animalia cactcra terram 

 Os homini sublime dedet ; ccelumque tueri, jussit 

 £t erectos ad sidcra toUere vultus. 



This was an extempore lecture, it should be observed, without even the usual 

 reference to notes, and at its close the certain testimonies of unmixed satisfaction 

 were manifested by the warm applause of the assembly. Dr. Maiden then pro- 

 posed, and O. J. Lloyd, Esq. seconded, the customary vote of thanks, which was 

 carried without the slightest dissent. 



WORCESTER LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION. 



LECTURE **0N THE NERVOUS SYSTEM OF MAN AND 



* 



ANIMALS." 



In our first number for August we called the attention of our readers to the 

 published lecture of Mr. Turley, on the Nervous System of Man and the Inferior 

 Animals, accompanied by quotations. This gentleman delivered a second lecture 

 on the same subject to an equally crowded assembly, at the Athenaeum, on the 

 10th ult. His first lecture Avas anatomical and general ; the second was a brief 

 recapitulation of such principles laid down in the first discourse as were necessary to the 

 further development of his subject on this occasion, and an outline of a philosophical 

 system of the functions of the brain. Unless we could present our readers with 

 copies of the very numerous and beautiful illustrations presented to his auditors, we 

 should not do justice to Mr. Turley's discourse, nor should we be enabled to put our 

 friends in possession of the impressive arguments and proofs advanced by the 

 lecturer. However, to supply this unavoidable omission, we shall endeavour to 

 offer such selections as may embody the most striking features of his impressive 

 discourse. 



"The nervous system, so intimately connected with the economy of every thing 

 that lives, and moves, and has a being, has not till of late years received that share of 

 attention from the anatomists of this country adequate to its predominant importance 

 in all the functions of animal life, and consequently the early metaphysical writers 

 on the nature of mind were the most obscure of authors. In the investiga- 

 tion of this, as in most other researches into the minute structure of the distinct 

 tissue of animal bodies, our continental Savans have had precedence. In the days of 

 Hippocrates (400 years before Christ), when human anatomy was considered a 

 profanation, it was not to be expected that any very accurate knowledge of the nervous 

 system could be entertained ; and indeed but very vague notions prevailed on this 

 subject even from the days of Galen up to the time of Berenger, the predecessor of 

 Vesalius, in the 15th century. The animal spirits were supposed to be secreted in the 

 belly of the brain, and these were conceived to be sent thence with the blood to 

 every part of the system. The soul was thought to reside in the pineal gland, and 

 the objects of the external senses were believed by Sylvius to be deposited in the 

 lateral ventricles. 



" Some were not contented with allowing to man one soul, but conceived that he 

 had many, placed in different parts of his body. In the interim of the 15th and 

 18th century, much was done in pointing out correctly the anatomy and functions of 

 many of the nerves; but it is to Dr. Gall's researches (in 1790) into the functions 

 of the brain, aided subsequently by the labours of Dr. Spurzheim (1800), both 

 German physicians, that we are indebted for, to say the least of it, a very plausible 

 account of the manifold operations of the brain. Certainly the simplicity of the 



