NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



CONVERSATION VI. 



Nervous system its progressive developement in the in- 

 ferior animals the spinal marrow nerves brain 

 functions of the nervous system sensation ^volition- 

 Mr. Bell's discoveries theories oj 'the nervous power 

 Dr. Wilson Philips' experiments phrenology com- 

 parison of the brain of man and those of the inferior 

 a nimals facial angle instinct reason . 



Dr. B. The functions of organic life those which 

 we have examined are all possessed to a certain degree 

 by vegetables, as well as animals. But the latter class 

 of beings, and particularly, he who stands at the head 

 of it man, enjoys a higher and nobler state of existence. 

 They are conscious of their own existence and of the 

 presence of things around them ; and they are affected 

 with pleasure or pain v according to the manner in which 

 these objects affect their constitution. For the enjoyment 

 of this function, they are indebted to a complex series of 

 organs called the Nervous System. With this alone 

 however, they would have remained imperfect beings, 

 enjoying an existence less enviable than that of the hum- 

 blest vegetable. Capable of receiving impressions from 

 the external world, the power of acting in consequence 

 of these impressions, of making their condition change as 

 the objects around them change, was obviously neces- 

 sary to complete the perfection of their organization, and 

 the harmony of relations existing between them and the 



