324 DOCTRINE OF PHRENOLOGY. 



Rotary motions of the crura cerebelli is cut, the animal rolling upon its lon- 

 of animals. gitudinal axis for a long time and with great rapidity. 

 From such facts, it has therefore, been concluded that the function of the 

 cerebellum is neither for sensation nor intellection, nor is it the source of 

 voluntary movements, but that it is for the government or control of 

 combined muscular action. This is the view of M. Flourens. 



M. Foville supposes that the cerebellum is for the perception of the 

 Doctrine that sensations derived from the muscles, and enabling the mind 

 cerebellum is to exert a guiding action. The facts which support the pre- 



for the percep- .. . , ,, . -, ,, , . . 7, . 



tion of muscu- ceding view support this also, there being, moreover, in this 

 lar sensations. case? an additional argument derived from the connection 

 which the cerebellum has been shown to maintain with the sensory col- 

 umns of the cord, and the pain experienced on irritating the restiform 

 columns. It has likewise been pointed out that this hypothesis illus- 

 trates the connection between the cerebellum and the optic ganglia, as if 

 it were for the purpose of bringing the organs of sight to the aid of this 

 co-ordination of muscular motion. 



A third hypothesis, to which allusion has been made, is, that the cere- 

 Doctrine that k e ^ um * s t ^ ie or g an f sexual instinct, or of amativeness, as 

 it is the organ it is termed by phrenologists. The evidence of this, when 

 of amativeness. feidy . examine a, fe, however, ve ry far from affording a full 



proof; indeed, in many instances the facts are in direct opposition to 

 the doctrine. In castrated animals the cerebellum undergoes no dimi- 

 nution. There is no coincidence between the intensity of that instinct 

 in the different animal tribes and the degree of development of this or- 

 gan ; and where it has been in a diseased condition, there has not been a 

 necessary correspondence between the lesion and the loss of the instinct. 

 This view of the function of the cerebellum is connected with the doc- 

 trine of special localization, or phrenology, which may therefore bejiere 

 briefly considered ; the general expression of this doctrine being that par- 

 ticular regions of the brain are devoted to special functions, 

 ' and that by an inspection of the exterior of the cranium men- 

 tal peculiarities may be detected. Drs. Gall and Spurzheim considered 

 that this view is supported by the fact that the specialization of function 

 in the brain is agreeable to the general mechanism of the system, in 

 which particular organs are charged with particular duties ; that, in any 

 individual, the mental powers are not equally or proportionally developed, 

 but some at one and some at another period of life, and so likewise of their 

 decline, some remaining at their original strength, while others may have 

 Arguments in become seriously impaired. It does not appear how such 

 Foc^zationof 1 ^ acts can ^ e explained upon the hypothesis that the whole 

 functions. brain acts as a unit. They may be readily understood if it 

 be supposed to act by parts which are developed in succession. The 



