210 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EXERCISE. 



the different functions of life, as those of sensation, of 

 intellect, of voluntary motion, and of the passions. But 

 aside from the more recent investigations of Phre- 

 nologists, and the light which that science has been sup- 

 posed to have thrown upon this most difficult of subjects, 

 it must be confessed that these attempts have not been 

 crowned with much success. All that experiments and 

 observations appear heretofore to have determined on 

 this point, is, that the hemispheres of the brain are the 

 instruments of the intellectual faculties ; the central 

 parts of the brain, and the medulla oblongata, are those 

 principally concerned in sensation, and that the cere- 

 bellum is the chief sensorial agent in voluntary motion. 



Phrenology wants more facts. With respect to the 

 foundation of Phrenology, as being based upon the ana- 

 tomical structure, and natural divisions of the brain, the 

 author of this work has nothing to offer, having had no 

 recent opportunities of examining that organ with such 

 views. Nor will he venture to affirm that this science 

 will not ultimately be, in one way, or another, of some 

 use to mankind. But he must be allowed to say, that 

 so far as the principles of this science have yet been 

 developed, its practical usefulness in directing parents 

 to educate, or employ their children according to their 

 different capacities, or inclinations ; or of enabling them 

 to counteract their evil propensities ; or even of point- 

 ing out with any degree of certainty the peculiar intel- 

 lectual powers of an adult, by an examination of the 

 cranium, Phrenology has not, at least, in this country 

 answered the former promises and expectations of its 

 advocates. It is true, that George Combe, Esq., of 

 Edinburgh, and others, have collected together many 

 facts on this subject, and from which it would appear 

 that this science might, with certain modifications be 

 ultimately placed on a permanent foundation. But a 

 multitude of facts, and severe critical observations, are 

 still wanting, to induce the great mass of well-educated 



What part of the brain is the instrument of the intellectual faculties 1 

 What part of the brain is chiefly concerned in sensation 7 What part is 

 the agent of voluntary motion? 



