NATURE 



381 



THURSDAY, AUGUST, 26, 1880 



DR. BASTIAN ON THE BRAIN 

 The Brain as an Organ of Mind. By H. Charlton 

 Bastian, M.A., M.D., F.R.S. International Scientific 

 Series. (London : Kegan Paul and Co., 18S0.) 



WITHOUT preface or other proposition than that 

 suggested by the title of his book, Dr. Bastian 

 commences to deal with his subject by an inquiry into the 

 Uses and Origin and the Structure of a Nervous System. 

 His motive, as expressed farther on, in giving such a 

 wide scope to himself in his method of exposition was to 

 ascertain whether the general similarity in structure of the 

 nervous system in the lower animals as compared with 

 that of man, " carried with it a general similarity in mode 

 of action." To all those who, like Dr. Bastian, look upon 

 mental phenomena from the evolutionary aspect — aiming 

 as they do at reducing psychology to a more or less 

 transcendental branch of physiology — this, if not a neces- 

 sary, seems at least to be a favourite plan. Such readers 

 as require to be initiated into the earliest mysteries of 

 zoology and physiology must find this method a useful 

 one, inasmuch as by submitting themselves to the 

 guidance of an accomplished and trustworthy guide such 

 as Dr. Bastian, they are led with ease and interest 

 through a field of attractive information to the considera- 

 tion of the main problem which the author keeps con- 

 tinually in view. To the author himself, however, the 

 method is one which is not free from disadvantages. It 

 leads him, for instance, at the very beginning of his task 

 into the most hypothetical region of evolutionism, namely, 

 that which has to do with the commencement of diver- 

 gences from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous in 

 structure and function ; and so affords to sceptics and 

 even to others who may have a stronger predisposition to 

 accept his views, an opportunity of assigning to his argu- 

 ment a weakness which is inherent not in the argument 

 itself but in the present state of a rapidly-progressing 

 branch of science, of which he has submitted a sketch for 

 the guidance of his readers. When Dr. Bastian, for 

 instance, discusses the method in which muscular tissue 

 may be produced by recurring contractions, his language 

 is necessarily so hypothetical that his readers may incline 

 to think that a work which commences in such a nebulous 

 form can scarcely end in the satisfactory exposition of a 

 new philosophy. It is a pity that false conclusions should 

 be suggested by sentences which have no direct or essential 

 connection with the author's argument. 



When, however, Dr. Bastian has disposed of the pre- 

 liminary parts of his work he enters with emphasis into 

 the statement of his views regarding the Scope of Mind. 

 He considers it a "legitimate inference " that the term 

 " ' Mind ' no more corresponds to a definite self-existing 

 principle than the word ' IMagnetism.' " He repeats the 

 demonstration of the fallacy which pervades every region 

 of introspective metaphysics (H) that, namely, of regarding 

 all mental phenomena as being limited or bounded by 

 the sphere of consciousness ; and, with admirable clear- 

 ness, e.xpands into a definition the title of his work. 



" In treating of ' The Brain as an Organ of Mind,' " he 

 says " it will be understood that we use the word ' organ ' 

 merely in the sense that it is a part whose molecular 

 VoL.nxxii. — No. 565 



changes and activities constitute the essential correlatives 

 (the italics are ours) of those phases of Consciousness 

 known as Sensations, Emotions, Thoughts, and Volitions, 

 as w^ell as of a considerable part of the sum total of those 

 other related nerve actions which are unattended by 

 Consciousness, and whose results form, in accordance 

 with the vie\ys above stated, so large a proportion of the 

 phenomena comprehended under the general abstract 

 word ' Mind.' " 



This sentence expresses admirably the position which 

 has been arrived at by all who have studied psychology 

 from the biological point of view, and it is difficult to 

 understand how such a moderate statement of the rela- 

 tionship of Mind to Brain should require in Dr. Bastian's 

 and other recent books to be supported by an imposing 

 presentation of facts relating to the comparative anatomy 

 and physiology of the nervous system. 



Dr. Bastian's volume is a valuable and opportune addi- 

 tion to the International Scientific Series. It will supply 

 a want which has been much felt by specialists as well as 

 by general readers who have been desirous of obtaining 

 a knowledge of the opinions held by exponents of this 

 line of thought — a class of writers whose style is apt to 

 be obscure, and whose writings are too frequently con- 

 tained in scattered and unattainable periodicals. The 

 writer of this work deserves to be complimented on the 

 success with which he has propounded his own special 

 views regarding brain functions without assigning to them 

 such an undue predominance as to rob his work of the 

 credit of being a fair and comprehensive statement of 

 what has been discovered and believed by other workers 

 in the same field. Dr. Bastian writes in all departments 

 of his subject with that ease and clearness which are 

 indicative of perfect knowledge. If in anything this 

 statement does not hold good the exception could be 

 made only with regard to an apparent tendency to do 

 some little injustice to the views of Hughlings-Jackson by 

 attaching a meaning to some of his terms which is too 

 bald and mechanical. Dr. Bastian himself excludes the 

 processes taking place in the Motor Centres of the Cere- 

 brum from "the cerebral substrata of Mind," and he 

 cannot consequently be expected to lavish much sympathy 

 on doctrines of an opposite tendency. 



"The Cerebral substrata of Mind," he says, "in no 

 way include, as the writer believes, the processes taking 

 place in the Motor Centres of the Cerebrum wheresoever 

 they may be situated. Mental operations, in other words, 

 can no longer be legitimately postulated as being in part 

 immediately due to the activity of Motor Centres. Nor 

 can ' ideal ' words be rightly described as ' motor pro- 

 cesses.' This is a point so fundamental that in regard to 

 it there should be no misunderstandings or ambiguities 

 other than those which may be inherent in the subject 

 itself." 



Similarly the author speaks of " Mind as comprising 

 the results of all nerve actions, other than those of out- 

 going currents." To us this exclusion of the motor 

 element from the constitution of mind and the range of 

 mental phenomena appears somewhat arbitrary, and, 

 from an evolutionary point of view, unnatural ; but the 

 opponents of Dr. Bastian's views will prefer to fight their 

 own battle, and the question is one which as yet has not 

 been sufficiently discussed to justify a critical judgment. 



