374 



KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



was so powerful an encouragement, that I could 

 not but form the resolution to continue my 

 researches, until I had either attained my end, 

 or was convinced of the impossibility of reach- 

 ing it. 



This beautiful enterprise would not have been 

 difficult, if, entirely at liberty, I had been aban- 

 doned wholly to myself and to nature. But, it 

 too often happens, that the more scientific one 

 becomes, the further he departs from the simple 

 truth; and this was precisely what I expe- 

 rienced. My imperfectly established conviction 

 was shaken, in proportion as I gained new 

 information, or rather, as I heaped up errors 

 and prejudices. 



Philosophers assure us, said I to myself, that 

 all our faculties come from external sensations, 

 or, at least, that all men are born with equal 

 faculties, and that the differences between them 

 are owing either to education, or to accidental 

 circumstances. If it be so, there can be no ex- 

 ternal signs of any faculty; and, consequently, 

 the project of acquiring in this manner a know- 

 ledge of the functions of the brain and its parts, 

 is a mere chimera. 



But I always returned to my first observations. 

 I knew that my brothers and sisters, my com- 

 panions and school-fellows, had received nearly 

 the same education, or rather, that in general, 

 they had received none. All had grown up in 

 the midst of the same circumstances and analo- 

 gous impressions. I also saw that ordinarily 

 those whose education had been carefully 

 watched, to whom the instructors had given 

 lessons in private, were, in fact, behind others in 

 capacity. 



"We were often accused of aversion to study, 

 and of want of zeal; but many of our number 

 could not, with the best disposition, and the most 

 determined efforts, raise themselves in certain 

 points, even to mediocrity ; while in others, they 

 surpassed their school-mates without effort, and 

 almost, it might be said, without perceiving it. 

 In fact, our masters did not give much credit to 

 the system of the equality of the faculties, for 

 they thought proper to exact more of one scholar, 

 and less of another. It often happened to them 

 to speak to us of our natural gifts, of the gifts of 

 God; and they exhorted us in the words of the 

 gospel, telling us that each would render an 

 account in proportion to the talents which he 

 had received. 



Add to this, that I observed both in tame and 

 wild animals, of which I had always a consider- 

 able number about me, differences of faculties 

 and of character, as in men. One dog was 

 almost of himself skilful in the chase, while 

 another, of the same race and the same litter, 

 could be trained only with great difficulty ; one 

 was very cross, and quarrelled with all other 

 dogs, while another was very mild and peaceful ; 

 this one could not find his way back even from 

 a small distance; while that, on the contrary, 

 though very young, returned, after being lost, 

 from very distant places. Such a bird listened 

 with great attention to an air which was played 

 before him, and learned it with admirable faci- 

 lity ; another, of the same covey, and fed and 

 treated in the same manner, paid no attention 

 to it, and sang nothing but his own note. 



One pigeon was the faithful mate of his com- 

 panion, and in spite of repeated trials, could not 

 be made to couple with another female; while 

 another pigeon, on the contrary, stole into all the 

 dove-cotes, to gallant and carry off females that 

 were strangers to him. 



In all these cases, I could not suppose either 

 evil inclinations, the influence of education, or 

 different impressions on the external senses. I 

 was consequently obliged to conclude, that the 

 propensities and the faculties, both of men and 

 animals, were innate. 



But then arises this question : On what is this 

 innateness founded ? Does it belong to a pe- 

 culiar principle, a spiritual principle, the soul ? 

 and this soul, does it exercise its faculties freely 

 and independently of organisation; or, is the 

 exercise of its faculties subordinate to certain 

 material conditions ? or, in fine, are these facul- 

 ties the result of organisation itself ? 



If this principle, this soul, enjoys the exercise 

 of its faculties independently of organisation, it 

 is, together with all its functions, beyond the 

 sphere of the physiologist; the metaphysician and 

 the theologian alone will arrogate the power of 

 pronouncing on its nature. But I will submit 

 the following questions to those who pretend 

 that this principle is independent of organisation. 

 Is this principle the same in both sexes? Does 

 it change its nature in infancy, childhood, pu- 

 berty, manhood, old age, decrepitude ? Is it at 

 all modified according to the quantity and 

 quality of the aliments by which the body is 

 nourished— according as digestion is easy or 

 laborious? What becomes of this independence 

 in sleep, in drunkenness, in apoplexy, in acute 

 fevers, in effusions, excrescences, inflammations 

 and ulcers of the brain and its envelopes, in de- 

 rangements of the functions of the liver and 

 stomach ? Every one knows that such circum- 

 stances interrupt, suppress, exalt — alter, in a 

 thousand ways, the functions of the souL 



Ought not these facts then to lead us to the 

 conclusion, that the exercise of our propensities 

 and faculties, whatever the principle we adopt, 

 is subjected to the influence of organic condi- 

 tions? 



Who then will deny, that the propensities and 

 the faculties are within the domain of the physio- 

 logist? It is for him to examine these material 

 conditions, these organs of the soul ; it is for him 

 to determine whether the greater or less perfec- 

 tions of these organs, induces a .more or less 

 energetic manifestation of their functions ; it is 

 for him to seek to what point and under what 

 conditions, the most favorable development of the 

 cerebral organs impresses visible or palpable 

 signs on the external surface of the head. It is, 

 in fine, the task of the observing physiologist to 

 examine what are the parts of the brain affected 

 by a determined propensity, sentiment, talent. 



WILD FLOWERS. 



Alas ! how all things change as we 

 advance in life ! The swallow comes and 

 goes, and comes again, and finds no difference 

 in Ms summer haunts ; but it is not so with 

 man. We never find two summers alike, 



