306 MENTAL FACULTIES. 



tain quality of fibre is also necessary to give full scope to the nervous 

 power. It is impossible to i determine what the peculiarity in quality is, 

 but some idea of the great influence which it may possess in the exer- 

 cise of the two great vital forces, the muscular and nervous, may be 

 gained from comparing the energy and action of a well-bred horse, with 

 one of those, which, in the language of the turf, shows little or no 

 breeding. The actual amount of muscular or nervous fibre may be the 

 same in both, or it may be less in the horse of good breeding than in 

 the other, yet the former does his work and endures fatigue better." 



The difference between the moral of the male and the female is sig- 

 nal ; and there is no less in the shape of the encephalon in the two sexes. 

 Observation, not only by anatomists but by sculptors and painters, 

 shows, that the superior and anterior parts of the brain are less deve- 

 loped in the female, whose forehead is, therefore, as a general rule, 

 smaller ; whilst the posterior are larger. In the system of Gall, the 

 anterior and superior parts are considered to be connected with the intel- 

 lectual manifestations, which are more active in man ; whilst the poste- 

 rior are concerned in the softer feelings, which predominate in the cha- 

 racter of the female. The mental and moral faculties vary also, in the 

 same individual, according to age, health, and disease ; and in the 

 waking and sleeping state. In all these conditions, we have reason to 

 believe the state of the encephalon is as various. The anatomist notices 

 a manifest difference between its organization in the infant and in the 

 adult or aged. Like the other organs of the body, it is gradually de- 

 veloped until the middle period of life ; after which it decays with the 

 rest of the frame. Our acquaintance with the minute organization of 

 the body does not enable us to say on what changes these differences 

 are dependent. We see them only in their results. By the minutest 

 examination of the special nerves of sense we are incapable of saying, 

 why one should appreciate the contact of sapid bodies, another that of 

 light, &c. During sleep, again, in which the functions of the brain are 

 more or less suspended, the condition of the organ is modified ; and 

 mania or delirium probably never occurs without the physical condition 

 of the brain having undergone some change, directly or indirectly. It 

 is true, that, on careful examination of the brains of the insane, it has 

 often happened, that no morbid appearance has presented itself; but 

 the same thing has been observed on inspecting those who have died of 

 apoplexy or paralysis, in which not a doubt is entertained that the cause 

 is seated in the encephalon, and that it consists in a physical alteration 

 of its tissue. These are a few of the cases which make us sensible of 

 the limited nature of our powers of observation. They by no means 

 encourage, in the most sceptical, the belief, that the tissue of the organ 

 is not implicated. The investigations of the morbid anatomist, conse- 

 quently, afford us few data on which to form our opinions on this sub- 

 ject. 



The effect of intoxicating substances is mainly exerted on the brain. 

 When taken in moderation, all the faculties are excited ; but if pushed 

 too far, the intellectual and moral manifestations become perverted. 

 This can only be through their action on the cerebral organ. We 

 can thus understand, how regimen may cause important modifications 



