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ARTICLE II.

DISSECTION OF THE BRAIN.

An Examination of the Human Brain, by George Combe, Esq., in the Albany Medical College, on Saturday, 11 A. M., February 1st, 1840. Present, Drs. Hamilton, Boardman, Hoyt, Armsby, March, James M'Naughton, Professor Dean, Mr. Wm. Combe, Charles Olmstead, Esq., and David Cogswell, Esq. The two latter gentlemen, together with Dr. Hoyt, are residents of Syracuse.

Mr. Combe, while delivering a course of lectures on phrenology at Albany, N. Y., dissected a brain in accordance with the principles of the science, before the above named gentlemen. Several notices of this dissection have appeared in the Albany, Syracuse, and Utica papers, in some of which there were misstatements and remarks of a personal nature much to be regretted. We have collected the facts in the case, and present the following statement as a candid and correct account of the dissection.

The brain had been prepared by Dr. Hoyt, by having been kept in alcohol for some four or five months; and for the purpose of seeing for himself its true anatomical structure, as first shown by Drs. Gall and Spurzheim in their new mode of dissecting the brain, this gentleman had left home, and travelled one hundred and fifty miles to see Mr. Combe unfold the nervous tissues of the mental organs. Much praise is due to Dr. Hoyt for the pains he had taken in preparing a brain, and going the above distance to witness an examination of its structure, with particular reference to its functions. It should be remembered, that before the time of Drs. Gall and Spurzheim, the usual course of examining the brain was to cut it up into slices, like a ham or a cabbage-head, beginning the work of destruction upon the upper surface, and thus proceeding to the base; and this is the way pursued by the anti-phrenologists. To be consistent, they should dissect all parts of the body alike; that is to say, follow the tissues, and not cut them across, but unfold them as we would the parts of an orange-the same rule should be followed with the brain; and such was Drs. Gall and Spurzheim's method, and it is that of every phrenologist of the present day. We would here remark, that whenever a brain is placed in alcohol for dissection, it is highly important that the membranes be removed, in order that the spirit may have free access to all parts of the viscus, by means of which its fibrous structure will be rendered much more distinct in the dissection.

In the examination by Mr. Combe, the first thing exhibited was the decussating fibres at the roots of the pyramidal bodies, beautifully

interlacing each other. He remarked, that with this knowledge of said fibres, we could now account for the effects of accidents upon the brain, occasioning paralysis of the opposite side of the body.

The next thing shown by Mr. Combe, was the fibres connecting the two lateral portions of the cerebellum, or little brain. These being removed, he then proceeded to demonstrate the fibres, proceeding forward to the anterior portions of the brain, and composing the intellectual organs. These fibres were shown passing through the pons varolii to the entire satisfaction of all present. Every medical man, either by word or nod of head, confessed that he saw with his own eyes these said fibres. They are highly important, inasmuch as they show the connection between the intellectual organs and the nerves of voluntary motion, and enable us to understand how, and in what manner, these instruments of motion are subservient to the will.

Mr. Combe showed Mr. Solly's commissure lying above the corpus callosum, connecting the posterior with the anterior portions of the brain. The justly distinguished Dr. M'Clellan, of Philadelphia, said, that before Mr. Combe's arrival in that city, "he used to deride phrenology, mentioning in particular to his class, that no communication was found to exist between the anterior and posterior portions of the brain. He found, however, that he had been laughing in ignorance of the existence of the superior longitudinal commissure." But he had the

rare magnanimity to confess his ignorance to his class.

Mr. Combe then showed the corpus dentatum, and mentioned that the notable Dr. Gordon denied the existence of such a cerebral portion as that of the corpus dentatum.

Mr. Combe then proceeded to unfold the converging fibres. Here he said our opponents accuse us of making these fibres by scraping with the handle of the scalpel. He then scraped off a layer of these fibres from their bed, remarking at the time, that if these fibres be thus formed by mere scraping, it should be possible to produce the appearance of them in any direction; but he showed that when we try to do so, the result is quite different. He continued unfolding these fibres until he came even to the surface of the convolutions of the brain. Mr. Combe here explained how it happens, in cases of extreme distention of the brain from a collection of water within its folds, that a person will manifest no impairment of mental power. The water simply unfolds the convolutions. Most of the gentlemen present seemed very much delighted in having seen Gall and Spurzheim's method of dissecting the human brain. Some portions of it exhibited the fibrous structure more clearly than any plates or wax models could possibly do.

We present for serious consideration, the remarks of James Johnson, M. D., Physician Extraordinary to the late King of England, and editor of the Medico Chirurgical Review. "I have been long convinced," says he, "that the science of mind can only be understood and taught, properly, by those who have deeply studied the structure and functions of its material instrument, the brain. I am convinced, that in this world mind can be manifested only through the medium of matter, and that the metaphysician who studies mind independent of its corporeal organ, works in the dark, and with only half of his requisite tools."

ARTICLE III.

CASE OF MONOMANIA.

We copy from the London Medico-Chirurgical Review for April, 1831, the following fact:-"In a late clinical lecture at St. Thomas's Hospital, Dr. Elliotson alluded to a curious case of monomania, which we shall here notice. The patient was a female, thirty-one years of age, who had been admitted for a nervous affection, but who was soon found to be monomaniacal. The propensity was to injure some part or other of the body, by internal muscular efforts, and not by attempts at cutting or maiming. The part of the body that fell under the monomaniacal displeasure was never long the same, but varied from hour to hour-commencing in one part whenever it had ceased in another, so that she had no respite from this harassing propensity. Her judgment on all points was gone-she had no hallucination-and was conscious of the unnatural impulse which perpetually led to injure her own body. There was no reason to suspect a feigned disease. She had headach, drowsiness, sense of pressure on the head, as well as that of 'opening and shutting,' to use her own expression, behind the ears, and round the back part of the head. Dr. Elliotson considered this case as one illustrating the doctrines of phrenology-namely, that it was a case where the organ of Destructiveness was in an excited state, and consequently where the 'instinct carnassier,' as Gall would term it, was strongly called forth. Here, indeed, it was not a homicidal, but a suicidal, propensity that existed; yet the nature of both is the same. The peculiarity in the present case, which attracted attention, was the pain and throbbing just over each ear, and extending posteriorly round the head. Every gentleman who attended to the case, was witness of this phenomenon.

This (says Dr. Elliotson) is a very striking phrenological fact,' and he goes on to state his belief in the general doctrines of phrenology. 'I have examined (says he) the subject of phrenology most carefully and unremittingly, and have seldom allowed a day to pass without making some observations upon it; and, after thus examining it for twelve years, I am more and more satisfied of the general truth of what Dr Gall has announced.'

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RTICLE IV.

REMARKS ON PHYSICAL EDUCATION.

BY J. L. PEIRCE, M. D., PHILADELPHIA.
(Continued from page 298 of this Journal.)

Perhaps I should not let pass unnoticed the reasons which are offered in vindication of early education.

Two excuses, very plausible in their character, and therefore the more to be guarded against, are generally rendered for infringements of the laws, which control our corporeal frames: the one is ignorance of those laws on the part of the guardians of youth; and the second is the gratification experienced by teachers, in watching and promoting the developement of the intellectual faculties, and by parents in seeing their children manifest powers and acquirements superior to those belonging to their age. In reply to these excuses, we would remark, that under the civil government, ignorance of a law is never admitted as a palliation for an offence. If a man commits a wilful, deliberate murder, he suffers the punishment for his crime, notwithstanding his ignorance of the existence of a law upon the subject—and, in violating the organic laws in regard to the education of his children, the penalty is as sure to follow in the injury of their health as the ultimate sacrifice of their lives, by which means, however, THEY become the immediate sufferers instead of the parents, and the latter may not feel that moral guilt which is experienced by the criminal referred to.

Again: although the gratification may be great, on the part of parents and guardians, in witnessing the rapid advancement of their children in intellectual attainments, whereby some of them acquire a precocity of intellect, and become as prodigies in creation; yet, inasmuch as these acquirements are obtained at least at the risk, if not in every case the actual loss of the health of the children, it is unjustifiable, nay, it is actually criminal, on the part of parents and guardians of youth, to subject them to such a trying ordeal.

But, say teachers, we never witness the deleterious effects to which you allude. The children under our charge appear healthy and happy, and we endeavour to promote such a state by every means in our power. To such, we would repeat an observation we have already made, that in the laws which govern organic life, the effect does not always immediately succeed the cause which produces it. The progress of disease is slow in the outset, and the symptoms of cerebral irritation are at first scarcely discernable even to the most experienced eye; it cannot, therefore, be expected that they will be noticed by one whose attention has never been particularly directed to the subject. Again, children, at the early period to which we allude, seldom remain for many years at the same school, and after they change, the former teacher loses sight of them, and is unacquainted with their future fate. But with parents the case is different. They can observe the progress of disease from the first evidences of cerebral irritation, through the subsequent stages of inflammation and dropsy, or other unhappy and, mostly, fatal termination; but ignorance and prejudice prevent their tracing the effect to its proper cause.

That some great and powerful causes do prevail in destroying the health and lives of children, is fully apparent from our weekly bills of mortality, by which it appears that one half the deaths in our cities are of persons under seven years of age. How many of these are to be attributed to the causes to which we have referred, it is impossible for us to ascertain; but that a large proportion of them owe the origin of their diseases to improper physical treatment, commencing with the earliest periods of existence, is so often illustrated by cases daily met with in our practice that we feel convinced of its truth. Another fact worthy of notice is, that in thickly populated districts the proportion of deaths among children is much greater than it is in the country. For this we shall indirectly account before we close our observations. With these startling facts before us, we may truly exclaim, that "none are so blind as those who will not see."

The object of education is to promote the happiness of the individual, and to render him a more useful member of society. But if our efforts are so misdirected that we either shorten his life, or ruin his health, so that he becomes a burden to himself and to society, we frustrate our own designs, as well as militate against the institutions of our Creator.

Perhaps some may now be ready to inquire, how the evils of which we have spoken are to be guarded against? We answer: Bear in mind that the physical powers require to be educated as well as the intellectual, and, as the vigour of the intellectual faculties depends upon the strength, and perfection and healthy condition of the body,

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