114 supplemental history of man. 



natural luxuriance in others will, in a great measure, 

 supersede the necessity of much cultivation. 



There are then two points which seem more par- 

 ticularly to demand the attention of the physiologist 

 in examining this wonderful organ, which connects 

 the visible with the invisible world — the material 

 with the immaterial creation. 1. Can we demonstrate 

 in any of the appearances exhibited by the human 

 brain, an adequate material cause to account for that 

 capability and power of education, by which the 

 human mind is so distinguished from that of all 

 other animals ; and, 2. Can the differences which 

 distinguish men among themselves, in regard to 

 mental powers, be attributed to any variety of con- 

 formation observable in the brain of each individual. 



These points are in some measure still in limine, 

 and it is not our province to pronounce a judgment 

 upon them, but lest we should be thought to deny 

 our creed by shrinking from the profession of it, we 

 shall not hesitate to express our opinion, that the 

 result of the endeavours to account for this measure- 

 less superiority of the human mind over that of all 

 other animals by means of the brain, is a total failure; 

 for although there are certainly some peculiarities in 

 the brain of man, which distinguish it from that of 

 brutes, still nothing material has been discovered, 

 as far as we can reasonably suppose, at all ade- 

 quate to produce the superiority in question. And 

 further, that materialism makes no amends for its 

 preposterous absurdity, but plunges us in greater 



