538 



DR BARCLAY 



in the country. It wants all the bones of the 

 cranium, excepting the bones and the parts of 

 bones which enter into the formation of the base. 

 Gn this base, there rests a soft substance, divided 

 into similar halves between right and left, but ex- 

 hibiting ho character of a brain, in its form, mag- 

 nitude, colour, or structure, only that the nerves, 

 which are regular in appearance, and which pass 

 through the usual foramina of the cranium, are 

 all connected with it. 



The object of the Doctor, is to explain how 

 this and other similar productions could have pos- 

 sibly been formed without a brain ; and in ma- 

 king the attempt, he inclines to adopt the opinion 

 of Haller, that at one time the several processes 

 of organization had been going on in the usual 

 manner, when, interrupted by some accident, a 

 disease had been induced, which occasioned the 

 destruction of the parts that are wanting. 



In corroboration of this opinion, he informs us, 

 that some of the mothers of such children, had dis-. 

 tinctly recollected particular injuries which they 

 had-received during their pregnancy ; and that in 

 cases where such were born at a twin-birth, the 

 other child was frequently complete in all its 

 parts. He adds, too, that it would be otherwise 

 difficult to conceive, how the nerves issuing 

 through the base of the cranium, and supposed by 

 him to originate in the brain, could exhibit the 

 healthy and natural appearance, or how the 



