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_ NATURE 
457 
of the neck, the extensor and adductor muscles of the forearm, 
for the flexor and rotator muscles of the arm, the muscles of the 
foot, and those of the face. They, moreover, removed the por- 
tion of the convolution on the left side of the cerebrum, which 
they had ascertained to be the centre for the movements of the 
right forelimb, and they found that after the injury thus inflicted, 
the animal had only an imperfect control over the movements of 
the part of the limb in question. Recently, Dr. Hughlings 
Jackson, from the observation of various diseased conditions in 
which peculiar movements occur in distinct groups of muscles, 
has adduced evidence in support of the conclusion that in the 
cerebral convolutions are localised the centres for the production 
of various muscular movements. Within the last few months 
these observations have been greatly extended by the elaborate 
experiments of my able colleague in King’s College, Prof. 
Ferrier. 
Adopting the method of Fritsch and Hitzig—but instead of 
using galvanic he has employed Faradic electricity, with which, 
strange to say, the investigators just mentioned obtained no very 
definite results—he has explored the brain in the fish, frog, dog, 
cat, rabbit, and guinea-pig, and lately in the monkey. ‘The re- 
sults of this investigation are of great importance. He has ex- 
plored the convolutions of the cerebrum far more fully than the 
German experimenters, and has investigated the cerebellum, 
corpora’ quadrigemina, and several other portions of the brain 
not touched upon by them. There is, perhaps, no part of the 
brain whose function has been more obscure than the cere- 
bellum. Dr. Ferrier has discovered that this ganglion is a great 
centre for the movements of the muscles of the eyeballs. He 
has also very carefully mapped out in the dog, cat, &c., the 
yarious centres in the convolutions of the cerebrum, which are con- 
cerned in the production of movements in the muscles of the 
eyelids, face, mouth, tongue, ear, neck, fore and hind feet, and 
tail. He confirms the doctrine that the corpus striatum is con- 
cerned in motion, while the optic thalamus is probably con- 
cerned in sensation, as are also the hippocampus major and its 
neighbouring convolutions. He has also found that in the case 
of the higher brain of the monkey there is what is not found in 
the dog or cat—to wit, a portion in the front part of the brain, 
whose stimulation produces no muscular movement. What may 
be the function of this part, whether or not it specially ministers 
to intellectual operations, remains to be seen. These researches 
of Fritsch, Hitzig, Jackson, and Ferrier, mark the commence- 
ment of a new era in our knowledge of brain function. Of all 
the studies in comparative physiology there will be none more 
interesting, and few so important, as those in which the various 
“centres will be mapped out in the brains throughout the verte- 
brate series. A new, but this time a true, system of phrenology 
will be founded upon them ; by this, however, I do not mean 
that it will be possible to tell a man’s faculties by the configura- 
tion of his skull, but that the various mental faculties will be 
assigned to definite territories of the brain, as Gall and Spurz- 
heim long ago maintained, although their geography of the 
brain was erroneous. 
I have alluded to this subject, not only because it affords an 
illustration of the service which a study of diseased conditions 
has rendered to physiology, but also because these investigations 
constitute the most important work which has been accomplished 
in physiology for a very considerable time past. 
Revival of Physiologytin Englana 
We may, I think, term this the renaissance period of English 
physiology. It seems strange that the country of Harvey, John 
Hunter, Charles Bell, Marshall Hall, and John Reid, should 
not always have been in the front rank as regards physiology. 
The neglect of physics must be admitted as a cause of this ; it is 
also to be attributed to the, until a few years ago, almost entire 
absence of experimental teaching ; but it would be unjust not to 
attribute it in great measure to the limited appliances possessed 
by our physiologists. It is to be remembered that physiology 
could not be successfully cultivated without proper laboratories, 
with a supply of expensive apparatus. Without endowments 
from public or private resources, how can such institutions be 
properly fitted up and maintained by men who can, for the most 
part, only turn to physiological research in moments snatched 
from the busy toil of a profession so laborious as that of medicine. 
In defiance of these difficulties we are now striving to hold our 
place in the physiological world. A new system of physiological 
tuition is rapidly extending over the country. In the London 
schools, in Edinburgh, Cambridge, Manchester, and elsewhere, 
earnest efforts are being made to give a thoroughly practical 
aspect to the tuition of our science, and notwithstanding. the 
imperfect results which must necessarily ensue in the absence of 
suitable endowment, we can nevertheless point to the fact that 
the effect of these efforts has been to awaken a love for physio- 
logical research in the mind of many a student, and the results 
of this awakening are already apparent in the archives of Royal 
Societies, in the “Journal of Anatomy and Physiology,” and 
elsewhere. But physiological research is most expensive and 
laborious, and it is, moreover, unremunerative. The labours 
of the physiologist are entirely philanthropic ; all his researches 
do nothing but contribute to the increase of human happiness by 
the prevention of disease, and the amelioration of suffering ; and 
I would venture to suggest to those who are possessed of wealth 
and of a desire to apply it for the benefit of society, that in view 
of the wholly unselfish and philanthropic character of physiolo- 
gical labours, they could not do better than follow the admirable 
example set by Miss Brackenbury in endowing a physiological 
laboratory in connection with Owens College, in Manchester. 
The endowment of a dozen such laboratories throughout the 
country would immensely aid in the development of physiological 
research amongst us, 
We anticipate great benefit to the community not only from 
an advance of physiology, but from a diffusion of a knowledge 
of its leading facts amongst the people. This is now being car- 
ried out in our schools on a scale which is annually increasing. 
Thanks to the efforts of Huxley, the principles of physiology are 
now presented in a singularly palatable form to the minds of the 
young. The instruction communicated does not consist of tech- 
nical terms and numbers, but in the elucidation of the principal 
events which happen within our bodies, together with an expla- 
nation of the treatment which they must receive in order to be 
maintained in health. Considering how much may be accom- 
plished by these bodies of ours if they be properly attended to 
and rightly used, it seems to be a mest desirable thing that the 
possessor of the body should know something about its mecha- 
nism, not only because such knowledge affords him much mate- 
rial for suggestive thought—not only because it is excellent mental 
training’ to endeavour to understand the why and the wherefore 
of the bodily actions, but also because he may greatly profit from 
a knowledge of the conditions of health. A thorough adoption 
of hygienic measures—in other words, of measures which are 
necessary to preserve individuals in the highest state of health— 
cannot be hoped for until a knowledge of fundamental physio- 
logical principles finds its way into every family. This country 
has taken the lead in the attempt to diffuse a sound knowledge 
of physiological facts and principles among the people, and we 
may fairly anticipate that this will contribute not a little to 
enable her to maintain her high rank amongst nations ; for every 
step which is calculated to improve the physiological state of 
the individual must inevitably contribute to make the nation suc- 
cessful in the general struggle for existence. 
DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY 
OPENING ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT, JOHN BEDDOE, F.R.S. 
The position of Anthropology in the British Association, as a 
permanent department of the Section of Biology, being now fully 
assured, and its relations to the allied and contributory sciences 
beginning to be well understood and acknowledged, I have not 
thought it necessary, in opening the business of the department, 
to follow the examples of my predecessors, Prof. Turner and 
Colonel Lane Fox. The fcrmer of these gentlemen, at our 
Edinburgh Meeting, devoted his opening address to the defini- 
tion, history, and boundaries of our science; the latter, at 
Brighton, in the elaborate essay which many of you must have 
listened to, not only discussed its relations to other sciences, but 
gave an illustrative survey of a great portion of its field and of 
several of its problems. 
But while, on the one hand, I feel myself incompetent to 
follow these precedents with success, on the other hand I am 
encouraged to take a different line by the consideration that if, 
as we are fond of saying in this department, ‘‘the proper 
study of mankind is man’’—if, that is, anthropology ought to 
interest everybody, then assuredly the anthropology of York- 
shire ought to interest a Yorkshire audience. 
Large as the county is, and sharply marked oft into districts 
by striking diversities of geological structure, of climate and of 
surface, there is an approach to unity in its political and ethno- 
logical history which could scarcely have been looked for. 
