74 



ON THE MENTAL QUALITIES AND 



at, or, if there be any discrepancies, to consider them anew. 

 It is to Vim on t, then, that we are indebted for almost all 

 that has been done in comparative phrenology ; for it does 

 not appear, that in his own, or in any other country, has this 

 interesting branch of natural history been so successfully 

 investigated ; nor am I aware that any of his (original) 

 statements have been called in question, although this is 

 probably from the fact of naturalists not being sufficiently 

 aware of their importance. 



After this slight introductory and historical sketch, it 

 will be proper, before proceeding farther, to point out the 

 chief characteristics of the brain in birds. 



On inspecting the brain of a bird, it may be perceived 

 at first sight, to be composed of six principal parts | two 

 hemispheres, two optic thalami, a cerebellum, and a me- 

 dulla oblongata. The cerebrum is remarkable, on account 

 of the absence of convolutions on its surface ; and this cir- 

 cumstance, together with the extraordinary development of 

 the optic lobes, is sufficient to distinguish it at first sight 

 from that of a mammiferous animal. The cerebellum is 

 composed of a single lobe, corresponding to the middle lobe 

 in man and the other mammalia. The two bodies called the 

 optic lobes, or thalami, are generally considered as analogous 

 to the corpora quadrigemina of animals higher in the scale. 



The absence of convolutions on the brain naturally ap- 

 pears a startling objection to the doctrines of the phrenolo- 

 gists, since their science teaches us, that the different men- 

 tal faculties, feelings, and propensities, reside in different 

 convolutions of the brain, which Vimont professes to point 

 out in man and quadrupeds. The convolutions, it is true, 



