FUNCTIONS OF THE BRAIN. 27 



witli the general look of tlie facts as almost to impose itself 

 on our belief ; but it is anything but clear in detail. Tlie 

 brain-physiology of late years has with great effort sought 

 to work out the paths by which these couplings of sensa- 

 tions with movements take place, both in the hemispheres 

 and in the centres below. 



So we must next test our scheme by the facts discovered 

 in this direction. We shall conclude, I think, after taking 

 them all into account, that the scheme probably makes 

 the lower centres too machine-like and the hemispheres 

 not quite machine-like enough, and must consequently be 

 softened down a little. So much I may say in advance. 

 Meanwhile, before plunging into the details which await us, 

 it will somewhat clear our ideas if we contrast the modern 

 way of looking at the matter with the phrenological concep- 

 tion which but lately preceded it. 



THE PHRENOLOGICAL CONCEPTION. 



In a certain sense Gall was the first to seek to explain 

 in detail how the brain could subserve our mental ojjera- 

 tions. His way of proceeding was only too simple. He took 

 the faculty-psychology as his ultimatum on the mental side, 

 and he made no farther psychological analysis. Wherever 

 he found an individual -vith some strongly-marked trait 

 of character he examined his head ; and if he found the 

 latter prominent in a certain region, he said without more 

 ado that that region was the ' organ ' of the trait or 

 faculty in question. The traits were of very diverse ccn- 

 stitution, some being simple sensibilities like * weight ' 

 or ' color ; ' some being instinctive tendencies like ' alimen- 

 tiveness ' or ' amativeness ; ' and others, again, being com- 

 plex resultants like 'conscientiousness,' 'individuality.' 

 Phrenology fell promptly into disrepute among scientific 

 men because observation seemed to show that large facul- 



sensaticJns and movements natively coupled in the centres below, is due to 

 Th. jVIeyneit, the Austrian anatomist. For a popular account of his views, 

 see his pamphlet ' Zur Mechanik des Gehirnbaues,' Vienna, 1874. His 

 most recent development of them is embodied in his ' Psychiatry,' a 

 clinical treatise on diseases of the forebraiu, translated b}' B Sachs, New 

 York, 1885. 



