o- 
PHYSIOLOGY OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
and which is certainly necessary to the validity 
of some of the premises upon which his doc- 
trine rests, is, I think, likewise open to strong 
objection. I cannot understand that great 
width of the occipital region and thickness of 
the back of the neck should necessarily indi- 
cate a great developement of the cerebellum. 
I do not mean to assert that a large cerebellum 
would not give rise to a large occipital region, 
but I do assert that great developement of the 
mesocephale may give rise to the very same 
external indications. This latter segment of the 
encephalon is of considerable size, and, as I have 
shown in a former part of this article, of com- 
plex anatomical structure, and contains all the 
elements of a distinct centre, while it possesses 
extensive connections with the cerebral hemi- 
spheres, the cerebellum, and the medulla ob- 
longata. The largest portion of it, however, is 
independent of the cerebellum, and it is this 
portion which contains the greatest abundance 
of vesicular matter, and which has most dis- 
tinctly the characters of a separate centre of 
nervous influence. Now the position of the 
mesochephale, in front of and between the 
hemispheres of the cerebellum, is such that a 
great developement of it would push the hemi- 
spheres to each side, and thus, notwithstanding 
a small size of the hemispheres themselves, the 
occipital region would become expanded. 
The great and pre-eminent size of the cere- 
bellum in the human subject would warrant 
the belief that the sexual instinct in man far 
exceeded that of other animals, if Gall’s doc- 
trine» were correct. Yet this seems by no 
means to be the case; for, although in man this 
instinct is more frequently in operation, it 
cannot be said to influence the whole system 
to the same extent as in many of the inferior 
animals. Surely this instinct is not more pow- 
erful in man than in the feline class, both male 
and female ;—the common cat, for instance, 
in which the lateral lobes of the cerebellum 
are very imperfectly developed! There are 
other animals, likewise, peculiarly distinguished 
by the strength of this instinct and the re- 
markable extent to which it influences their 
entire functions. I have already referred to 
the extraordinary state of polar tension to which 
the spinal cord of the male frog, or a portion 
of it, is liable during the state of sexual ex- 
citement. Yet in this animal the cerebellum 
is very small; nor does it at this period acquire 
of Dr. Combe, justify him in charging us with ig- 
norance in making this assertion. Mr. Noble like- 
‘wise dignifies our argument with the title of “« non- 
sense.” Iam content to repeat the argument and 
to leave it to persons of calmer judgment to decide 
whether it is of sufficient weight. Mr. Noble has 
been so courteous and so complimentary in his re- 
marks generally, that I cannot allow myself to be- 
lieve that he intended offence by the use of this term. 
IT hope, however, that he will excuse me for ob- 
Serving that it is much to be regretted that the ad- 
‘vocates of particular views should allow their zeal 
80 far to outrun their judgment as to lead them, in 
the sober seriousness of print, to make use of 
terms which they would hardly venture upon in the 
less premeditated colloquial argument,—See Noble 
on the Brain, p. 142. 
722T 
any increase of size; and, moreover, there is 
no appreciable difference between the cerebel- 
lum of the male frog and that of the female, 
which exhibits no indication of increased ex- 
citement at this period. In fishes the instinct 
is in all probability strong; and the generative 
impulse, unaided as it is by sexual commerce, 
would seem to be dependent, more than in 
cases where copulation occurs, on the change 
which may take place in the nervous centre in 
accordance with the manifestation of that in- 
stinct; yet the cerebellum is by no means large 
in these animals. Dr. Carpenter refers to the 
kangaroo as affording a good instance of dis-= 
proportionate developement of the cerebellum 
to the generative instinct. He says, “ a friend 
who kept some kangaroos in his garden, in- 
formed the author that they were the most 
salacious animals he ever saw, yet their cere- 
bellum is one of the smallest to be found in the 
class (Mammalia). Every one knows, again, 
the salacity of monkeys; there are many which 
are excited to violent demonstrations, by the 
sight even of a human female; and there are 
few which do not practise masturbation when 
kept in solitary confinement; yet in them the 
cerebellum is much smaller than in man, in 
whom the sexual impulse is much less violent.” 
According to Gall and most of his followers 
mutilation of the genital organs or their decay 
in the advance of age is attended by marked 
effects on the cerebellum. If one testicle be 
destroyed, a distinct diminution, according to 
Gall, takes place subsequently in the cere- 
bellar hemisphere of the opposite side. The 
kind of evidence upon which phrenologists 
rest their views of this matter will appear from 
the following specimens: 1. Dr. Gall relates 
that at Vienna he was consulted by two officers 
who had become impotent in consequence of 
blows from fire-arms, which had grazed the 
napes of theirnecks. 2. “ Baron Larrey,” says 
Gall, “sent to me a soldier who, in undergoing 
an operation for hernia, had lost the right tes- 
ticle. Several years afterwards his right eye 
became weak. He began to squint with the 
diseased ‘eye, and could scarcely any longer 
distinguish objects with this eye. I examin- 
ed the nape of his neck, in presence of the 
two physicians who had brought him, and 
I found the occipital swelling of the left side 
much less prominent than that of the right side. 
The difference was so perceptible that the two 
physicians were struck with it at first sight.” 
3. Baron Larrey’s cases:—a. An artilleryman 
received a wound from a musket-ball, which 
traversed from side to side the insertions of 
the extensor muscles of the head, grazing and 
dividing the two inferior occipital swellings 
which correspond to the hemispheres of the 
cerebellum. This individual experienced a 
diminution in the size of his testicles, which fell 
into a state of atrophy. 6. A light horseman, 
of very amorous disposition, received a sword- 
cut, which divided the skin and all the convex 
portion of the occipital bone through to the 
dura mater. The right lobe of the cerebellum 
was seen through the opening of the dura 
mater, and the slightest pressure upon this organ 
