60 



JOUENAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 



being largely increased. A small man can never beat a large one, 

 their powers being relatively equal. A large brain indicates a large 

 mind that has great force of character. A large brain may be 

 associated, however, with an indolent mind. Such a brain would 

 have more white and less grey matter than the average. It would 

 indicate an individual who had capabilities for great things, but who 

 from want of opportunities, laziness, or want of application, has 

 not used his power or developed his grey matter. Such a brain is 

 generally combined with the lymphatic temperament. The mind, 

 in its relation to the brain, is like a player upon an instrument. If 

 the instrument be bad, the tunes are harsh and discordant ; and 

 equally so if the player be not skilful ; while, if both be good, we 

 listen with pleasure to the full-toned harmony of a well-ordered 

 whole. 



Within the lifetime of all present the great gulf that stood 

 between the various great divisions of nature has been bridged 

 over, and they have been shown to fade imperceptibly one into the 

 other. By the microscope bodies have been discovered which 

 puzzle the best observers to say whether they are plants or 

 animals ; and in the laboratory the chemist can manufacture out of 

 inorganic substances products of the animal world. The physiolo- 

 gist, then, has to determine how the brain acts, the relation of the 

 nerve-cells to one another in their chemistry ; their nervous elec- 

 trical and psychological status ; to attempt, and I hope with 

 success, to bridge over the great gulf that at present stands 

 between those two widely separated, yet closely connected, ele- 

 ments — Mind and Matter. 



A. Taper will he read on the ^I^th February on 



PHILOSOPHY VERSUS MATERIALISM. 



By Rev. J. M. Charlton, m.a. 

 PROGRAMME. 



Two modes of contemplating the manifestations of conscious life ; 

 namely, through the bodily organism, and by means of self-con- 

 sciousness — The fallacies resulting from exclusive attention to 

 cither of these two kinds of manifestation — The tendency of 

 certain scientific men to materialism — Preliminary propositions : 



