MENTAL PHYSIOLOGY. 



705 



and that this dryness conferred upon them the greater power of resist- 

 ing heat which characterized seeds. Kay, further — 2. Although no 

 seeds could be shown to be able to resist the influence of boiling water, 

 Spallanzani assumed that these unknown seed-like germs might be 

 able to do so. Thus alone was he able to continue in the panspermat- 

 ist faith — on the strength of these assumptions only, could he refuse 

 assent to the probability of a germless origin of living matter, more or 

 less after the fashion suggested by Keedham and others. It will, 

 therefore, be interesting for us now to consider how far tlie progress 

 of science tends to confirm or reverse Spallanzani's assumptions. 



MEXTAL PHYSIOLOGY. 



By Dr. J. C. BUCKXILL. 



AK important work on the above subject, by a man so eminent 

 and so various in science as Dr. Carpenter, cannot fail to at- 

 tract the attention and to be worthy of the study of all those whose 

 work in life is to prevent or restore mind from its morbid conditions, 

 and who fully appreciate the necessity of building the edifice of Men- 

 tal Pathology upon the sure foundations of Physiological Science. 



The history of the work before us is told us by the author in his 

 preface. It has grown out of the interesting and suggestive chapters 

 on Psychology, w^hich formed part of the fourth and fifth editions of 

 his " Principles of Human Physiology." It is, however, more than a 

 physiological treatise. It is an attempt to reconcile the facts of sci- 

 ence with the reasonings of philosophy, to bridge over the abyss which 

 yawns between materialism and immaterialism, to find some stand- 

 point for free-will, morals, and responsibility, within touching dis- 

 tance of the brain-cells. Quoting from Charles Buxton's " Xotes on 

 Thought," the author says : 



" Irresistible, undeniable facts demonstrate that man is not a den wherein 

 two enemies are chained together ; but one leing — that sovl and 'body are one — 

 one and indivisible. "We had better face this great fact. 'Tis no good to blink 

 it. Our knowledge of physiology has come to a point where the old idea of 

 man's constitution must be thrown aside. To struggle against the overwhelm- 

 ing force of Science, under the notion of shielding Eeligion, is mere folly." — 

 {Preface^ p. xiii.) 



It is not always certain, when language like the above is used, 

 whether the writer intends to affirm that the body is the soul or the 

 soul is the body, for there is confusion in using two words for one 

 thing, and especially two words which through all the ages of thought 

 have been held to express such opposite meanings. In a work on 

 physiology, however, it is the body and its functions which have to be 



VOL. T. — 45 



