242 STUDIES IN LIFE AND SENSE. 



edition, 1886, p. 200) : " Every form of active muscular exertion 

 necessitates the simultaneous co-operation of an immense assem- 

 blage of synergic movements throughout the body to secure steadi- 

 ness and maintain the general equilibrium ; and on the hypothesis 

 that the cerebellum is the centre of these unconscious adjustments, 

 we should expect the cerebellum to be developed in proportion to the 

 variety and complexity of the motor activities of which the animal is 

 capable. The facts of comparative anatomy and development are 

 entirely in harmony with this hypothesis. In the reptilia and am- 

 phibia, whose movements are grovelling and sluggish, or of the sim- 

 plest combination, the cerebellum is of the most rudimentary cha- 

 racter ; while in mammals it is richly laminated, and the lateral lobes 

 highly developed in proportion to the motor capabilities represented 

 in the motor zone of the cerebral hemispheres. 



" If we compare the relative development of the cerebellum in 

 the several orders of the same class of animals, we find it highest in 

 those which have the most active and varied motor capacities, 

 irrespective of the grade of organisation otherwise ; and the cere- 

 bellum of the adult is, relatively to the cerebrum, much more highly 

 developed than that of the new-born , infant a relation which evi- 

 dently coincides with the growth and development of the muscular 

 system." 



If, however, the old phrenology has been displaced from the 

 cerebellum by the new, no less important is it to note that, regarding 

 the functions of the true brain, modem research has been equally 

 successful in deposing the old ideas of the " organs " and their atten- 

 dant faculties as exhibited on the phrenological charts and busts. 

 Experimentation on the brain of higher animals, quoad the brain 

 itself, is absolutely painless contrary to popular notions and ideas. 

 True there are certain parts of the brain (e.g. the medulla, fig. 23, M. o.) 

 which are exceedingly delicate, and in which the point of a needle 

 would inflict at once a fatal injury. But the brain-substance itself is 

 utterly non- sensitive, as every hospital-surgeon can tell us. Persons 

 may actually recover from serious injuries of the brain in which 

 several ounces of brain-substance may have been lost, and recover 

 with good effect, and in many cases without any perceptible alteration 

 of their mental peculiarity. 



The most notorious case of this kind is known as " the American 

 Crow-bar case." A bar of iron, accidentally shot off from a blast, 

 passed through the top of a young man's head at the left side of the 

 forehead, having traversed the front part of the left hemisphere or 

 side of the brain. The iron bar measured three feet in length, and 

 weighed fourteen pounds. After the accident he felt no pain, and 

 was able to walk without help in a few hours' time. The man made 

 a good recovery, and for twelve years made a livelihood by exhibiting 



