82 
assuming that a portion at least of my audience may be but 
imperfectly acquainted with the main divisions of the brain. 
The encephalon is a collective term, which signifies those 
parts of the nervous system which are contained in the cranium ; 
viz., the cerebrum, or brain proper, the cerebellum, and the 
medulla oblongata. The cerebrum is by far the largest portion 
of the encephalon, and consists of two lateral halves called 
hemispheres , each hemisphere being subdivided into three 
lobes , — anterior, middle, and posterior. The hemispheres pre- 
sent upon their surface numerous smooth and tortuous emi- 
nences called convolutions, which have received special names, 
those only which concern my subject being the frontal convo- 
lutions, which are known as first, second, and third frontal. 
Of the cerebellum I need say nothing, — it has no reference to 
the subject of my remarks. The medulla oblongata is that part 
of the encephalon which is placed immediately above the spinal 
cord, forming the bond of union between it and the brain. It 
is divided into two lateral columns, which are themselves sub- 
divided into three smaller cords, called the pyramidal, olivary, 
and restiform bodies. 
The ancients seem to have possessed the most crude notions 
of the functions of the brain, as evidenced by Hippocrates* 
assigning the seat of the mind to the left ventricle, and by 
Aristotle also placing the sensorium commune in the heart. 
In later times the brain has been universally considered to be 
the organ of thought and intelligence ; but opinions have been, 
and are still, divided as to whether it is to be regarded as a 
single organ, or as consisting of a series of distinct organs, each 
endowed with a special and independent function ; whether, in 
fact, the phenomena of intelligence are due to an action of the 
brain as a whole, or whether the different psychological ele- 
ments which constitute them are connected with isolated and 
circumscribed parts of the encephalon. Out of this last theory 
has arisen the principle of the localizatiou of the cerebral facul- 
ties, which was, in the early part of the 19th century, announced 
in a definite form by Gall, who divided the brain into organs 
endowed with primordial faculties, distinct the one from the 
other. Gall was the first to attempt to connect the seat of 
language with any definite portion of the cerebro-spinal centre, 
by asserting that there was a special organ for language, which, 
according to him, was placed in those convolutions of the ante- 
rior lobes of the brain, which rest upon the posterior part of 
the supra-orbital plates, or, in other words, upon the roof of 
the orbit. 
This is not the time or place to make more than a passing 
