MODERN BIOLOGY 31I 



manifestations of life. He promulgated his ideas on the subject both in 

 writings and in public lectures; when these were prohibited as being "ma- 

 terialistic," he left Vienna (in 1805) and wandered about Germany for a 

 couple of years, accompanied by his friend and pupil Spurzheim, everywhere 

 demonstrating his ideas and wherever he went attracting the attention of the 

 public, which was occasionally flattering, but often quite the opposite. 

 Eventually he settled down in Paris, became naturalized, and lived on a 

 practice which had its peculiar features — for instance, he kept strictly 

 secret the composition of the medicines he prescribed — and which brought 

 him into strained relations with other doctors. He was also on bad terms 

 with scientific specialists; universities and academies closed their doors to 

 him. The public became all the more interested in his doctrines, which were 

 promulgated after his death by many, mostly dilettanti, who brought his 

 theories into utter discredit, so that ultimately they were entirely forgotten. 



Gall's theory of brain and nerves 

 Nevertheless, Gail has exercised an undeniable influence even upon serious 

 science. For he was without doubt one of the most brilliant brain-anatomists 

 of his age, and the ideas he produced on the subject have proved of great 

 significance for the development of that branch of science. In his exposition 

 of the nervous system he does not start from the brain, as his contemporaries 

 did, but from the simple nerve-fibre, which he considers to be the simplest 

 type of nerve; it is found even in worms, and out of it "nature has evolved" 

 all the higher nerve-forms: the ganglia as the junctions of several nerve-fibres, 

 and the spinal cord, which consists of a series of ganglia drawn through by 

 a mass of nerve-fibres and connected by means of cross-fibres. Through the 

 spinal cord the nerves lead up to the brain, where they end in the cortex- 

 substance which represents the brain's "ganglion"; in this latter are com- 

 bined the functions of the nervous system, particularly in the folds of the 

 cerebrum; this, indeed, is the reason why, the more highly the great brain is 

 developed, the greater is the intelligence. In the cortex of the brain are situ- 

 ated the different intellectual qualities of man; these qualities are due to he- 

 reditary tendencies and together form the soul, which is thus not confined to 

 any particular spot in the brain, as earlier anatomists had declared. What is 

 new and of value to the future in this nerve theory is, first of all, the emphasis 

 he lays on the significance of the nerve-tracts; further, and above all, the 

 placing of the soul-functions in the cortex of the great brain; and, finally, the 

 assumption of hereditary intellectual tendencies. In particular, the idea that 

 the cortex of the great brain is the organ of intelligence has been fully veri- 

 fied. It is not easy to determine how far Gall, who undoubtedly possessed a 

 thorough knowledge of the details of cerebral anatomy, himself established 

 this fact, or how much he borrowed from his predecessors. It is at any rate 

 peculiar to him that he cites among authorities on this subject even 



