HIGHER FUNCTIONS: ANATOMICAL BASIS loi 



compose the physical basis of an animal's intelligence. 

 It is even possible to conceive a creature in which neo- 

 pallial development had reached its very lii^hest point, 

 in which channels of education were multiplied, and in 

 which cortical areas were elaborated and associated in a 

 bewildering complexity, culminating in the liighest 

 possible receptive, sorting, associating, and storincr 

 mechanism evidenced by a prodigy of intelligence or 

 intellect, but in which higher ideals of conduct were 

 absent. 



If, then, we can imagine what constitutes the anatonii- 

 cal basis of intelligence, what picture hav^e we of the 

 physical seat of "higher ideals of conduct"? There is 

 a well-known cortical area, which is situated at tlio 

 anterior end of the neopallium, that has yielded uj) no 

 secrets to the experimental investigator. It is called at 

 times the " silent area," since stimulation of it produces 

 no result in the ordinary methods of experiment ; from 

 its anatomical position, it is also named the " frontal '* 

 or " prefrontal " area. This portion of the brain is 

 already beginning to differentiate in the Tree Shrews; it 

 increases through the whole Primate stock, and is de- 

 veloped to its greatest extent in Man. We may regard 

 the neopallial cortex as a mantle in which are situated 

 receptive centres of different impressions, and we may 

 regard the elaboration of the neopallium as a growth of 

 "association areas" interposed between the areas 

 allotted to these different impressions. 



In " association areas " are blended impressions from 

 different receptive centres, and in them are formed, 

 sorted, and stored memories and experiences derived from 

 the several senses, the centres for which march with tluir 

 borders. This prefrontal region marches upon the 

 borders of only one such area — the so-called "nu)tor" 

 area. If this prefrontal area be— as it is generally 

 assumed to be — the seat of "memory, judgment, and 

 imagination " or of " higher mental faculties, of cu- 



