62 Physiology of the Brain. (January, 
to the origin of the motor nerves of the eyes, of the 
trijeminal nerves, of those of the sixth pair, &c. These 
discoveries alone would be sufficient to render the name of 
Gall immortal; they are the most important which have 
been made in anatomy since the discovery of the system of 
the absorbent vessels. The unfolding of the brain is an ex- 
cellent thing. What have we not to expect from it as well 
as from the ulterior discoveries to which it opens the way? 
I am ashamed and angry with myself for having, like the 
rest, during thirty years, sliced down hundreds of brains as 
we cut a cheese, and for having missed seeing the forest on 
account of the great number of trees it contained. But it serves 
no purpose to distress one’s self, and to be ashamed. The 
better way is to lend an ear to truth, and to learn what we 
do not know.’” 
Which latter piece of advice I commend to the notice of 
those little great men, the eminent compilers, who,—devoid 
of the original genius which, by perceiving relationships 
before unknown and unsuspected, confers new principles on 
science,—would fain set themselves up as physiological 
authorities on the strength of their book-making capacities. 
Not only were the great and important additions made by 
Gall and Spurzheim to the anatomy of the nervous system 
fully admitted by Cuvier, but their position as the highest 
authorities on the subject was so fully recognised in Paris, 
in 1813, that the article, ‘‘ Anatomie du Cerveau,” for the 
‘‘ Dictionnaire des Sciences Medicales,” was confided to 
their care.* All English anatomists, however, have not 
followed the suit of Dr. John Gordon and Sir Charles Bell, 
in recording at once their jealousy and their ignorance by 
absurd denunciation of Gall. Mr. Grainger, the greatest 
English authority of his day on the anatomy of the brain 
and spinal cord, writes, ‘“‘The true anatomy of the cerebrum 
was perfectly unknown till the researches of Gall, and it is 
due to the character of this eminent man and of his pupil, 
Spurzheim, to state that all our knowledge of the anatomy 
of both the brain and spinal cord has resulted from their 
inspections ;” and Joshua Brookes, in his lectures, and Mr. 
Solly, in his well-known work on the anatomy of the brain, 
have done full justice to the anatomical discoveries of Gall. 
* The necessary result of the old method of dissecting the brain is thus 
pithily described in this article:—‘‘On a mis en usage une méthode de dis- 
section trés-défe@tueuse; on ne fesait que des coupes horizontales, verticales, 
ou oblique, par en haut ou par en bas et on enlevait successivement des 
tranches de cet organe. De cet maniére, on commencait pay détruire les con- 
nexions des différens appareils et on procédait sans égard pour lordre dans 
lequel les parties se suivent naturallement.” 
