No. XVI.] APPENDIX. 259 



As the nerve-fibres all terminate in the grey matter of the brain, these 

 terminations are taken to be the negative poles. In this way the entire 

 body is repeated in the brain, which organ again is supposed to be double, 

 and yet so constituted, that two impressions made at different parts of the 

 body convey but one idea to the mind. Under the head of Syndramics the 

 author shows that the large size of the brain, with its multiplicity of fibres 

 and vesicles, is necessary for the reception of the endless variety of 

 impressions made upon that organ. When it is remembered that twenty- 

 four changes can be rung on only four bells, we may form some conception 

 of the myriads of changes to be effected in the 2000 or 3000 elements from 

 each organ of sense. Mr. Smee considers that the brain " probably con- 

 tains room for all the most important, when pacied and arranged with the 

 absolute perfection manifested in all the operations of nature." 



Without following each step of the investigation, we may state that 

 each portion of the brain, as enumerated above, is severally treated of in a 

 somewhat similar process of reasoning. A few of the conclusions at which 

 the author arrives will serve to show the mode by which he builds up his 

 theory. " The faculty of desiring," he observes, " resolves itself into a 

 tendency to act, and is manifested when the central batteries are in a con- 

 dition of excitement. Desire is to mental operations similar in all respects 

 to tension in electric arrangements. When the desire is gratified, it ceases 

 for a time. This phenomenon is similar to an exhausted battery in which 

 arrangements exist for replenishing the exciting fluid; as in this case, 

 after a time, the battery would again become active, and exhibit tension." 

 Again — " I might dilate largely upon the mechanism by which 

 pleasure and pain may be regulated; but it will be sufficient to give a 

 single illustration of the most simple method in which, in the voltaic 

 circuit, a strong impression might stop action. If a very minute piece of 

 metal be placed in a glass of fluid as a positive pole, and a large current be 

 passed through it, the metal would instantly be dissolved, and the circuit 

 could not be completed by that road. What is true of solid poles is true 

 of Kquid poles, or intervening fluid; and where repair is constantly 

 necessary, as we know it is in the brain, a strong impression would more 

 than equal the ordinary supply, and thus action, through that combination, 

 woTild be stopped. The effect upon the brain by a painful impression 

 appears to amount to more than mere exhaustion, as the part seems , 

 damaged permanently, and the action through that road does not again 

 readily take place." 



Next in order we come to Electro-Psychology, or "properties of the 

 mind, deduced from the voltaic stmcture of the brain." This portion of 

 the subject involves many important considerations and metaphysical 

 speculations. Mr. Smee finds a process for every faculty, even up to the 

 idea of immortality. " We know," he says, " from the very organization 

 of our bodies, that we are immortal ; that God exists ; that there is vii-tue 

 and vice ; a heaven and a hell. Man, in every age, in every climate, is 

 compelled, by his very organization, to believe these first principles. . . . 

 Electro-Noemics," he also explains, " shoiild be the basis of jurisprudence. 

 It shows that crime and pain should be associated together at the same 

 time, because a stronger result would attend punishment inflicted the 

 moment the crime was about to commence. Such a course is suitable for 

 the lowest intellects, or persons of the lowest mental capacity. When, 



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