444 Proceedings of the British Association. 



ous effects which result from the neglect of such culture. In con- 

 cluding these observations, Dr Abercrombie alluded briefly to the 

 moral phenomena of the human mind, and the impressions which 

 we derive from them, with a feeling of absolute certainty, respect- 

 ing the moral attributes of the Creator. 



Respecting the means of cultivating the Philosophy of Mind as 

 a science of rigid observation, Dr Abercrombie alluded to the study 

 of mental phenomena and mental habits in ourselves and in other 

 men ; and the whole phenomena of dreaming, insanity, and deli- 

 rium, and the mental conditions which occur in connection with 

 diseases and injuries of the brain. The subjects of dreaming and 

 insanity, which have hitherto been little cultivated with this view, 

 he considered as capable of being prosecuted on sound philosophi- 

 cal principles, and as likely to yield curious and important results 

 respecting the laws of association, and various other processes of 

 the mind. 



The practical purposes to which mental science may be applied, 

 Dr Abercrombie considered briefly under the following heads : — 

 (1.) The education of the young, and the cultivation of a sound 

 mental discipline at any period of life. In all other departments, 

 we distinctly recognise the truth, that every art must be founded 

 upon science, or on a correct knowledge of the uniform relations 

 and sequences of the essences to which the art refers ; and it can- 

 not be supposed that the only exception to this rule should be the 

 highest and most delicate of all human pursuits, the science and the 

 art of the mind. (2.) The intellectual and moral treatment of in- 

 sanity, presenting a subject of intellectual observation and experi- 

 ment, in which little comparatively has been done, but which seems 

 to promise results of the highest importance and interest, (3.) 

 The prevention of insanity in individuals in whom there exists the 

 hereditary predisposition to it. He gave his reasons for being 

 convinced that, in such cases, much might be done by a careful 

 mental culture, and that irremediable injury might arise from the 

 neglect of it. (4.) Dr Abercrombie alluded to the importance of 

 mental science as the basis of a Philosophical Logic, but did not en- 

 large on this part of the subject. He concluded his address by 

 some observations on the dignity and importance of medicine, as 

 one of the highest pursuits to which the human mind can be di- 

 rected ; as it combines with the culture of a liberal science, the 

 daily exercise of an extensive benevolence, and thus tends at once 

 to cultivate the highest powers of the understanding, and the best 

 feelings of the heart. 



