EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 



that supply the heart; but this simple explanation, 

 annulling the conception of a specific "life centre," 

 was not at once apparent. 



Other experiments of Flourens seemed to show that 

 the cerebellum is the seat of the centres that co-ordinate 

 muscular activities, and that the higher intellectual 

 faculties are relegated to the cerebrum. But beyond 

 this, as regards localization, experiment faltered. 

 Negative results, as regards specific faculties, were ob- 

 tained from all localized irritations of the cerebrum, 

 and Flourens was forced to conclude that the cerebral 

 lobe, while being undoubtedly the seat of higher in- 

 tellection, performs its functions with its entire struct- 

 ure. This conclusion, which incidentally gave a quie- 

 tus to phrenology, was accepted generally, and became 

 the stock doctrine of cerebral physiology for a genera- 

 tion. 



It will be seen, however, that these studies of Flourens 

 had a double bearing. They denied localization of 

 cerebral functions, but they demonstrated the localiza- 

 tion of certain nervous processes in other portions of 

 the brain. On the whole, then, they spoke positively 

 for the principle of localization of function in the brain, 

 for which a certain number of students contended; 

 while their evidence against cerebral localization was 

 only negative. There was here and there an observer 

 who felt that this negative testimony was not conclu- 

 sive. In particular, the German anatomist Meynert, 

 who had studied the disposition of nerve tracts in the 

 cerebrum, was led to believe that the anterior portions 

 of the cerebrum must have motor functions in pre- 

 ponderance ; the posterior positions, sensory functions. 



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