H YPO THESIS OF BRAIN A CTION. ! 2 9 



would be mistaken for real facts. Not a few pure rea- 

 soners who have been loud in their condemnation of 

 those physiologists who have imagined fictitious forces 

 and powers, have given their sanction to scientific delu- 

 sions of the most absurd character ; and hypotheses which 

 can only excite the ridicule of those who have any know- 

 ledge of the subject to which they relate, have been spoken 

 of with respect and seriously recommended as deserv- 

 ing the careful attention of the thoughtful. For example, 

 Mr. J. S. Mill has remarked, that for a long time " fictitious 

 entities continued to be imagined as a means of accounting 

 for the more mysterious phenomena; above all, in phy- 

 siology, where, under great varieties of phrase, mysterious 

 forces and principles were the explanation, or substitute for 

 explanation, of the phenomena of organized beings." And 

 yet one who sternly rebukes those who account for mys- 

 terious phenomena by mysterious forces, and fictitious en- 

 tities considers that the physical hypothesis "that the brain 

 is a voltaic pile, and that each of its pulsations is a discharge of 

 electricity through the system," is " well calculated to light 

 the path of scientific inquiry." Mr. Mill appears to think 

 that the following " fact " is almost conclusive in favour of 

 the truth of this very striking hypothesis concerning the 

 nature and action of the brain : "// has been remarked that 

 the sensation felt by the hand from the beating of a brain, bears 

 a strong resemblance to a voltaic shock"* The path of scien- 

 tific enquiry may have been sadly darkened in times past by 

 mysterious forces and imaginary entities, but what, I would 

 ask, has physiology gained and what is it likely to gain by, 

 hypotheses supported by such observation as the above? 

 * The italics are my own. 



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