206 MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EXERCISE. 



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

 lect, of voluntary motion, and of the passions. But aside 

 from the more recent investigations of phrenologists, and 

 the light which that science has been supposed to have 

 thrown upon this most difficult of subjects, it must be con- 

 fessed that these attempts have not been crowned with 

 much success. All that experiments and observations ap- 

 pear 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 cerebellum is the chief sensorial 

 agent in voluntary motion. 



642. Phrenology ivants more Facts. With respect to 

 the foundation of phrenology, as being based upon the 

 anatomical 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 capaci- 

 ties or inclinations; or of enabling them to counteract 

 their evil propensities ; or even of pointing out with any 

 degree of certainty, the peculiar intellectual 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 to- 

 gether many facts on this subject, 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? 

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

 the agent of voluntary motion ? 



