f^ Short P^iew of the Cfanidgnomic Sji/leni 



in an evident manner with the general refults of the fyftelil 

 of Dr. Gall. 



Withnwt entering into an ^xaft detail of the laborious 

 route which this learned philofopheT purfued, to be enabled 

 to eftabiiih a certain balis \x^ a fcience hitherto hypotheticalj 

 we (hall examine briefly his fundamental principles. 



1. The Brain is the material Organ of the internal Faculties, 



Far from attempting, to decide the metaphvfical qucllions 

 on the nature of the foul, or what msy be fuppofed as the 

 occult caufe of the internal faculties, we are, hovl-eV^r, forced 

 to admit a material orgati for their action. 



But, as it is obferved that thefe faL'uIfies are found only 

 where the brain exilts; that they arc loft with it; that difeafe 

 and laefion of the brain have a fcniible influence on their de- 

 gree and their aftion ; that the volume of the brain increafes 

 in direft proportion to the faculties ot animals ; it is not ven- 

 turing too far to confidcr the brain as the material and inter- 

 mediate organ. 



[It niijiht be here objefted, that in feveral cafes individuals 

 have loft a confiderable portion of the fubftance of the brain 

 without the faculties being fenfibly diminiflied; but it is tcJ 

 be obferved that the greater part of the cerebral organs exift 

 double, and that the obfervations mentioned are not exatSl.] 



2. The Brain contains different Organs independent on each 



other for the different Faculties *. 



The internal faculties do not always exift in the fame pro- 

 portion to each other. There are fome men who have a great 

 deal of genius without having a memory, who have courage 

 without circymfpertion, and who pofl'efs a metaphyfical fpirit 

 without being good obfervers. 



Befldes, the phf&nomena of dreaming, of fomnambulifm, 

 of delirium, &c. prove tons that the internal faculties do not 

 always aft totrether; that there is often a very great aftivity 

 of one, while the reft are not fcniible. 



Thus in old age, and iometimcs in difeafe, fuch, for ex^ 

 ariiplc, as madneis, feveral faculties are loft, while others 

 fubiift : bcfides, a continued employment of the fame faculty 

 fenflblv dirninift)es its energy : if we employ another, we 

 find it has all the force of which it is fufceptible ; and if we 

 return to the former faculty, it is obferved that it has refumed 



* This idea of iiidepenf!er.ce apgljt riot to dcftroy that principle of ani- 

 mal orgaiiifm, th.it all the parts are in a reciprocal ratio : it ought to inark 

 only, that the action of one organ does not abfolutelj' imply the fame de- 

 gree in another. 



its 



