* o/" Dr. Gall, of Vienna. 8l 



meration of the different organs which he found, it is diffi- 

 cult to give an exaft and fatisfaftory defcription of them, 

 when ilkiftrated wiih the number of fafts and examples 

 which he employs to prove, in an evident manner, what he 

 advances; I Hiall however attempt the enumeration, being 

 perfuaded that it will contain feveral illuftrations of the au- 

 thor's manner of confidering the fubjeA, and give a true 

 idea of the method to be purfued to attain to his refults *, 



I. Organ of the Tenacity of Life. 



The firft organ which the author thinks he has found is 

 that of the tenacity of life {tenaciias vilts) : he confiders the 

 medulla oblongata as the feat of it ; and as the circum- 

 ference of the large occipital foramen is in the direft ratio of 

 the extent of the medulla oblongata, he employs the fize of 

 this hole to judge of the intenfity of the life of an animal. 



The obfervations which ferve to fupport this opinion are, 

 that this hole is generally larger in the crania of women 

 than thofe of men ; that it is conftantly large in the cat, the 

 otter, the beaver, the badger, &c., animats well known to 

 have a very tenacious life. BefideS;, there are no fpeedier 

 means of killing an animal than to cut the medulla ob- 

 longata. 



3. Organ of the Inflin6l of S cJ f -■prefer vation, 

 A little further forward in the medulla oblongata, at the 

 place where it leaves the brain, the author places the organ 

 of the love of Ife, or of the inJlinB of felf-prefervation. 



As animals furnifli no inftances of fuicide, it was only 

 from the human race he could procure examples in favour 

 of this pofition ; and feveral cafes of fuicide, in which this 

 part of the brain was difeafed, determined him to confider it 

 as the organ of that faculty : he does not, however, confider 

 it as an abfolute truth; he waits for further examples to 

 ferve as proofs. 



3. Organ for the Choice of Nourifhment. 

 The organs for the choice of nourifhment are found, accord- 

 ing to the author, in the quadrigemini tubercles; the ante- 

 rior of which are larger in carnivorous animals, the poilerior 

 more expanded in graminivorous, and which in omnivorous 

 are of equal fixe. 



4. Cerebral Organs of the external Senfes. 

 The middle part of the bafe of the brain is deftined to the 



* Compare the diifL-rent articles with the corrcfpondintr number!, in 

 thefi(;ure, PI. II. ' *" 



Vol. XIV. No. SZ- F fxttrnal 



