XUCE ETH.XOLOGICAE. 259 



lie. No man is entitled to the name of philosopher who tears to follow 

 the truth wherever it may lead him, even though, for the moment, his 

 path seems dark and dubious. Were this the place, it would give me 

 pleasure to enter into this subject and show, as I think it can readily be 

 shown, that the assertion made does by no means lead to materialism, 

 but leaves the question untouched, exactly where it was before. Woe 

 to the man that must look for his religion in the dissecting-room and the 

 laboratory for he is building on the sand. He will find much there to 

 interest him, much to instruct him, much to enlarge and elevate his 

 mind by the exhibitions of beauty and goodness ; but immortality and 

 infinity are not things to be kept under bell-glasses or set up in show- 

 cases of an anatomical museum. They are matters that the physiologist, 

 as such, does not presume to meddle with. He sees and knows that 

 which comes under his scalpel or his microscope, and nothing more. 

 They are the instruments of his knowledge of the sensible world, and 

 when he would learn aught of that which lies beyond sense, he shuts 

 his books and throws by his knife, if he is a wise man, and goes down 

 into the depth of his own soul to hold communion with that Inner Wit- 

 ness, which is "the light that enlighteneth every man that cometh into 

 the world." It is, therefore, without the remotest allusion to anv theo- 

 logical tenet, that I assert that the i)roper function of the brain is mind, 

 and that in proportion to the perfection of this organ, are the power and 

 extent of the function. 



Now, man possesses it in a degree of completeness far beyond any 

 other creature. Considerable confusion has occurred in the statement 

 of this fact, from the difliculty of specifying with precision the points 

 wherein the difference consists. Thus, it was at one time asserted that 

 the intellect was in direct proportion to the size of the mass of the brain. 

 But that of the elephant is more than twice as large as that of man. It 

 has also been laid down as a law, that the larger the brain is in propor- 

 tion to the body, the greater will be the intellectual development. But 

 the size and weight of the brain are constant, while those of tlie body 

 continually vary according to the quantity of fat, &c. Nor will the rule 

 bold good, even with this exception. If true, it would give the mouse 

 ten times the mind of tlie elephant and the ass double that of the horse. 

 The brain of the humming bird, moreover, is 1-llth of its entire weight, 

 while that of man is but l-35th. Another mode of comparison is be- 

 tween the brain and the rest of the nervous system. This rule also is 

 liable to numerous exceptions, and is too di/licult of application to be 

 relied on. Perhaps the best mode is to compare the size of the cranium 

 proper, which is the receptacle of the brain, and corresponds with it iii 



