ARMY MEDICAL  LIBRARY

          WASHINGTON

             Founded 1836
Section.
Number ..//JbJjJ^.
bpo  3—10543
Form 113c, W. D.. S. G. O.
 (Revised June 13, 1936) 
 
 

THE
ANATOMY OF  THE  BRAIN,
          A GENERAL VIEW OF THE


      NERVOUS   SYSTEM.


           By J.  G. SPURZHEIM, M. D.
                    IT*
Of the Universities of Vienna and Paris; Licentiate of the Royal Col. of Phys. in London.


TRANSLATED FROM THE UNPUBLISHED FRENCH  MS. BY R. WIL-
 LIS, MEMBER OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS, LONDON.


 WITH AN APPENDIX, AND EIGHTEEN PLATES.
 SECOND AMERICAN EDITION
               REVISED BY         sf
  CHARLES H. STEDMAN.M. D.
Physician and Surgeon to the United States Marine Hospital, Chelsea.
A^/I^n.
         BOSTON:
MARSH, CAPEN & LYON.
             1836. 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1834, by
               Marsh, Capen & Lyon,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
WL
Printed by William A. Hall & Co. 
CONTENTS.
                                                       PAGE.
Preface to the American Edition.............................v
Preface to the English Edition.............................xiii
Section I.—General Considerations...........................9
  Of the Existence of the Pulpy and Fibrous Substances......10
  Of the Structure of the Two Nervous Substances...........11
  Of the Use of the Pulpy Nervous Substance................14
  Of the Origin of the Nervous System.....................17
  Of the Mode of Formation of the Nervous System..........22
  Of the General Form of the Nervous System...............24
  Of the Structure and Use of Ganglions....................25
Section II.—Division of the Masses composing the Nervous
      System..............................................29
Section III.—Of the Nervous Masses of Voluntary Motion, and
      of the External Senses................................41
  Of the Nervous Mass of the Vertebral  Column.............54
  General Considerations on the Spinal Cord of Man and Ani-
    mals ..................................................54
  Particular Considerations in  regard to the Spinal Cord......64
  Of the Pretended Cerebral Nerves,  &c.....................70
  Of the Accessory Nerve.—Spinal, or Spinal Accessory of Wil-
    lis.—3d Branch of the 8th pair of J. Bell.—Superior  respiT
    ratory of C. Bell......................................73
  Of the Pneumogastric Nerve.—Par Vagum.—Middle Sympa-
    thetic.__Vocal.—Pulmonary 2d branch of the 8th pair.......74
  Of the Glossopharyngeal Nerve...........................75
  Of the Hypoglossal Nerve.—9th pair of Willis.—Gustatorious
    of Winslow.—Lingualis of Vic d'Azyr.—Sublingual.......75
  Of the Abductor Nerve of the Eye.—6th pair of Willis.—Ex-
    ternal Motor of Meckel.................................75 
IV
CONTENTS.
   Of the Facial Nerve.—Portio Dura of the 7th pair.—Nervicus
     Communicans faciei of J. Bell.........................• • 76
   Of the Motor Nerve of the Eye.—3d pair of Willis.—The Com-
     mon Motor of Meckel...................................76
   Of the Nerve of the Superior Oblique Muscle of the Eye.—4th
     pair or Patheticus of Willis.—Trochlearis.—Internal Motor
     of Meckel..............................................77
   Of the Trigeminal Nerve.—5th pair of Willis.—Trifacial of
     Meckel................................................77
   Of the Auditory Nerve.—Portio Mollis of the 7th pair.—Acous-
     tic Nerve..............................................79
   Of the Optic Nerve.—2d pair of Willis  ....................80
   Of the Q,uadrigeminal Bodies ...........................84
   Of the  Olfactory Nerve.—1st pair of  Willis.—Ethmoidal
     Nerve..................................................91
 Section  IV.—Of the Best Method of Dissecting the Brain.....95
 Section  V.—Of the Cerebellum............................105
 Section  VI.—Of the Brain.................................135
  Decussation of the Anterior Pyramids.....................140
  Two Portions of the Crura and Cerebral Masses...........145
  Comparative Anatomy of the  Brain.....................152
  Structure of the Convolutions___.........................155
 Section  VII.—Of the Commissures  of the Nervous  Appara-
      tuses...............................................167
 Section  VIII.—Of the Communications of the Nervous Appara-
      tuses ...............................................182
 Section  IX.—Of the Anatomico-Physiological Relations of the
      Nervous Apparatuses.................................190
  Explanation of the Plates and Figures.....................200
Appendix....................................*.....         221
  On the Brain, as an Aggregation  of Parts..................221
  The Parts  of the Human Brain in the  ordinary  State of
    Health are essentially the same, and only modified in Size
    and Quality..........................................223
  In certain Idiots, Individual Portions of the Brain are defect-
    ive, or even wanting...................................230
  The Brain  of the Ourang-Outang  does not contain all the
    Parts of the Human Brain..............................232
  Some Remarks on Mr. Charles Bell's Animadversions on
    Phrenology..................................         23« 
         PREFACE

TO  THE AMERICAN EDITION.
  In presenting to the public an American edition
of Spurzheim's Anatomy  of the Brain, the editor
feels that the opportunity now offering should not
be allowed to escape, without adding his feeble tes-
timony to the facts herein advanced, — facts which
have gone farther to establish, elucidate, and per-
fect the physiology of the brain, than any discov-
eries ever before made.  What Harvey, J. Hunter,
and Linnseus, in  their several researches into the
animal kingdom, have effected, the same have Gall
and Spurzheim accomplished;—the establishment
of a foundation, on which  will rest all subsequent
discoveries in their respective branches of science.
  But, alas!  all this good  acquired  and bestowed,
has not always met with that applause and cordi-
ality of reception which was its due.  Who  does
not know with what  indifference and neglect the
facts  observed and proclaimed  by  the immortal
Harvey, were treated — who lived to  see scarcely
a solitary convert to his opinions 1   The facts and
observations of Hunter and Jenner were subjected
                 B 
vi
PREFACE.
 to nearly similar contumely and incredulity.  So
 has it been with  Gall, and his no less  illustrious
 associate.  It  wruld have been  astonishing, had
 not their labors likewise been held up to the world
 as profitless  and vain.   How,  may it  be asked,
 could Gall and Spurzheim expect to escape censure,
 with the fate of Galileo, Harvey, and other philos-
 ophers, before their eyes 1   The history of science
 swells with the multiplied accounts of the persecu-
 tion and neglect of its successful devotees; so much
 so, that  in fact, the value of a discovery or inven-
 tion would seem to be in the ratio of the abuse and
 indignity heaped upon it.
   Though both Gall and Spurzheim lived through
 much reproach, yet long before death they enjoyed
 the  bright  satisfaction  of  witnessing  the rapid
 march of their  opinions.   Concessions to the truth
 of their observations poured in upon them from all
 quarters; slowly,  indeed, but with a steady  and
 increasing progress.  France has honored Gall, as
 she should, with that generous regret she always
 bestows upon the remains of those who have hon-
 ored her.  Great Britain and New-England, who
 knew Spurzheim well, have striven to do  justice
to his character and remains, by wiping away the
obloquy and reproach cast upon his successful la-
bors, and by bestowing  on  him  the highest  and
only honors the living can heap upon the  dead. 
PREFACE.
vii
  Already does Phrenology number among its ad-
vocates in Great Britain some of the most scientific
men of that country ; and its march has been such,
that the Reviews and Magazines, once so bitterly
opposed to ' German fancies,' to Spurzheim and his
doctrines, have joined themselves to his  friends,
and heartily repent of their former inveterate hos-
tility.
  Some  injudicious, though warm and talented
supporters of the new system of mental philosophy
have chosen to elevate the admirable Gall at the
expense of the character and invaluable services of
Spurzheim: but Time, who proves all things, will
judge  between these  eminent  co-workers in the
cause of truth.  Time will prove that the founda-
tion of the science of Phrenology was laid by Gall;
but, that without the aid of Spurzheim, the super-
structure had not been reared.
  As to the comparative merits of these two great
men, it may be proper to subjoin the following ex-
tract from  the Edinburgh Phrenological Journal,
No. 6,  page 189-90 :
  1 As Newton was the first to  establish on a firm
and  solid basis the connexion of physical  with
mathematical science, so Gall  has  been the first
to demonstrate on proper principles a connexion
between physical qualities and  the manifestations 
Vlll
PREFACE.
  of mind.   La Place verified, illustrated and per-
  fected the  discoveries of Newton ;  and Spurzheim
  has verified, illustrated, and brought  to a  state
  nearly as perfect, the discoveries of Gall.'  Again,
  as  to  the  respective  value  of  their writings: —
  c When we enter upon the perusal of Gall, we feel
  as if we were in a country abounding with objects
  of the most striking sublimity, and rich in all the
  dread magnificence of nature.  We wander untired
 through the boundless variety, and  we perceive in
 every new  scene something to excite our wonder
 and admiration.   In the works  of  Spurzheim, on
 the other hand, we feel as in a garden; where all
 is regular and orderly; where all the different pro-
 ductions of  nature are placed in an exact scientific
 arrangement; where we may study them leisurely
 and at  our  ease; and where  we may see brought
 together, in  a comparatively small space, the  pro-
 duct of every zone and of every  climate in  the
 known world.'
  Again, in  No. 9,  page 107:  < In his own [Gall's]
 science he never can have a rival......A man who
 is to be named only with the Harveys, and Galileos,
 and Newtons, has nothing to dread from any com-
petitor; and in his own department there  never
can be found any similis a,ut secundus.   The prox-
imos illi honores  have  certainly been occupied  by
Dr. Spurzheim; and as Dr. Johnson  has remarked 
PREFACE.
ix
of Milton in regard to epic poetry, so it may be said
of Dr. S., that he is  not the greatest of Phrenolo-
gists, only because he  is not the first.  His contri-
butions to the science betoken powers of the very
first order; and his services to Phrenology no pos-
sible circumstance can ever make us forget or un-
dervalue, nor will posterity ever forget or under-
value them.'
  It does not belong to us here, nor  is there space
to point out the particular share that Gall or Spurz-
heim had in the  anatomical portion  of this work.
The author has given Gall, as far as  practical util-
ity demanded, all the credit due him, and has taken
nothing  upon himself that was  not  rightfully his
own.
  No one will question the unparalleled skill, ease,
and perspicuity with which Spurzheim  laid open to
his anatomical classes the heretofore  hidden myste-
ries of the brain.  In Boston, where we had been
accustomed to the ancient method of exposing, or
rather keeping out of view the structure of the cer-
ebral masses by slicing the brain, each demonstra-
tion of Spurzheim seemed to his attentive audience
as a ray of light beaming through the mist, and
dispersing the bewildering haze  in which  the sub-
ject had before been enveloped.  We  had heard,
indeed, that something of the kind had been accom-
plished  by this same  Spurzheim  in Europe;  but 
x
PREFACE.
 the strength of our incredulity had not been put to
 the test.   The presence of  this genuine anatomist
 actually demonstrating the brain, and  displaying
 its organization, had not hitherto been granted us.
 At length, however, he  came, and taught, until,
 with most, if not all his auditors, unbelief and prej-
 udice began  to vanish by degrees, and the  con-
 sciousness  of truth to reign in their stead.   No one,
 then  present, can say in sincerity that he  was not
 instructed; but rather, with the exception  perhaps
 of two or three, all will pronounce themselves, not
 only  instructed, but converted.
   The proof of the extension of Spurzheim's views
 in this  country, may be found  in the sale of  his
 works,  and in the continued call for  further edi-
 tions.  This edition of his Anatomy of the Brain
 may be considered somewhat in the light of a sec-
 ond American edition; there having been 250 cop-
 ies ordered by himself from England, which  arrived
 after  his death, all of which have been sold. Not
 only,  professional men and anatomists,  are anxious
 to obtain the < Anatomy of the Brain,' but  the sci-
 entific lovers of truth not of the profession, likewise
 desire to examine the validity of the facts embraced
in the work.  So far as this  has been done,  convic-
tion as to the grand points, has followed.  For my
own part, being so situated as to enjoy frequent op-
portunities for dissecting the brain, I have carefully 
                    PREFACE.                   Xi
investigated the cerebral masses according to this
mode of examination.   By this method, (and there
seems to be no other systematic  course,) the true
structure of the brain, from its commencement  in
the medulla oblongata, to the termination of its di-
verging fibres in the pulpy substance, and the union
of its converging  fibres,  by which  all  parts are
brought into perfect connexion,  is discovered; to-
gether with the reinforcement of  these fibres, and
their successive additions, by means  of the gray
substance distributed  throughout all parts  of the
cerebrum and  cerebellum.   Thus  the fact of the
plurality of organs in  the brain, is established, to-
gether with their constant intercommunication.
  If, with the knowledge of this important anatom-
ical  disposition of the cerebral  organs, we now
connect the multiplied and multiplying facts derived
from the examination of the exterior of the crani-
um, and also the observations made upon the intel-
lectual and affective faculties of man, together with
the state of the brain and mental manifestations  in
disease of that organ,  we cannot easily avoid the
conclusions arrived at by Gall and Spurzheim, that
the faculties of the mind are innate, and that they
possess a habitation in the brain well characterized
and defined.
  The share the editor has assumed in the republi-
cation of this edition, is but small.   It evidently ap- 
xn
PREFACE.
pears,  from a  careful perusal, that the translation
and publication of the London edition was hurried ;
for this reason, some passages, the true meaning of
which  was somewhat ambiguous, owing perhaps to
the difficulty of translating literally, and at  the
same time correctly, from  the French manuscript,
have been altered, and their phraseology adapted to
the character of our own language.  Several typo-
graphical errors have likewise been corrected; and
a few almost unimportant notes added.
  Much more, unquestionably, could have been ef-
fected by way of  increasing the size of the book ;
but the editor has many doubts as to the real  value
which  might  result  from  such an undertaking.
Pages after pages might have been filled with spec-
ulations and unestablished opinions; by which, how-
ever, the real advancement of the knowledge of the
anatomy of the brain would not have been effected.
It has been preferred, therefore, to let the facts here
displayed stand as they are, — in the simplicity and
dignity with which they  have been clothed by  the
immortal Spurzheim.
  U. S. Marine Hospital,  )
   Jan. 13,  1834.       5 
PREFACE.
  The affective and intellectual  faculties of man,
both in their healthy and diseased condition, are un-
questionably dependent on the body; and, among
the various branches of anthropology,  anatomy is
the basis of all the others.  The organic apparatus-
es, which are indispensable to the mental manifes-
tations, consist of the brain, cerebellum, spinal cord,
and the nerves of the external senses and voluntary
motion.   To make known the  structure of these
parts, is the special object of this volume.
  History proves that the structure and destination
of the nerves were long  unknown.  Hippocrates
and Aristotle, for instance, confounded, under the
same general title, ligaments, tendons, nerves, and
even blood-vessels.  Hippocrates believed that the
nerves terminated in  muscles and bones, and pro-
duced voluntary motion.  Herophilus,  who  lived
nearly three centuries before the commencement of
the vulgar era, was the first who discovered the con-
             c 
xiV                 PREFACE.

nexion of the nerves with the brain, and who looked
on them as the instruments of sensation. Erasistra-
tus divided the nerves into  those of sensation and
those of motion; the first he derived from the brain,
the second from the membranes.   Galen held that
the. nerves of  sensation arose from  the brain, and
those of voluntary motion from the spinal cord.  In
the sixteenth and  succeeding centuries, the  brain
and nerves were subjects of much research; but it
is only in our own  times that  they have begun to
be understood, — that their true structure has been
discovered, and that new  and unthought-of  func-
tions have been proved to belong to  them.
  The nervous being the  most delicate tissues of
the body, necessarily required extremely careful and
often-repeated examination to be understood; and
this they could not receive during those ages  when
prejudice opposed insurmountable obstacles to  the
dissection of dead  bodies.  It is therefore easy to
conceive  why such slow progress was made in the
anatomical knowledge of the nervous system.
  Dr. Gall is the original author of a new physiolo-
gical doctrine of the brain.   The discovery of  the
ground-work of this is all his own; and he had even
gone very far in rearing the superstructure before
the year  1804, when I became his colleague. From
this period we continued laboring in common until
1813, when our connexion ceased, and each began 
PREFACE.
XV
to pursue  the subject for himself.   The works
which Dr. Gall has published in his own name, fix
the extent  of his phrenological  knowledge.   My
ideas are developed in my own publications :  histo-
ry will assign to each of us his share in the works
that have issued under our joint names.
  It was in the year 1800, that I attended for the
first time the private  course of lectures which Dr.
Gall had been in the habit of delivering occasion-
ally at his  house  for  four years.   At this  time he
spoke of the necessity of the brain to the manifesta-
tions of the mind, of the plurality of the mind's or-
gans, and of the possibility of discovering the devel-
opment of the brain  by the configuration of the
head.  He pointed out several particular organs of
different memories, and of several sentiments, but
he had not yet begun to  examine the structure of
the brain.*   Between 1800 and  1804, he modified
his physiological ideas, and brought them to the
state in which he professed them  at the commence-
ment of our travels, t
  Dr. Gall having met  with a  woman, fifty-four
years of age,  who from  her infancy had labored

  * Exposition de la Doctrine de M. Gall, par Froniep, 3me edit.
1802.
  f Bischoff Exposition de la Doctrine de M. Gall, sur le Cerau et
le Crane, Berlin, 1805; et Blcede, la Doctrine de Gall sur les Fonc-
tions du Cerveau, Dresden, 1805. 
XVI
preface.
 under dropsy of the brain, and who, nevertheless,
 was as active and intelligent  as the generality of
 females in her own rank of life, and being convinc-
 ed that the brain wras  the indispensable organ of
 the soul, expressed himself in terms similar to those
 which Tulpius had used before him, on observing
 a person afflicted with hydrocephalus, who exhibit-
 ed good intellectual faculties, viz., the structure of
 the brain must be different from what it is common-
 ly supposed to be.*   He now felt the necessity of
 examining the mind's organ anatomically.   As his
 medical practice occupied his  time, he  employed
 M. Niclas, a  student to dissect for him; but  the
 spirit of this  gentleman's researches was merely
 mechanical, as is allowed in our joint work, enti-
 tled 'Anatomie et Physiologie, du Systeme nerveux
 en general, et  du Cerveau en particulier.' t
  Having completed my studies in 1804, I became
 associated with Dr. Gall, and devoted myself espe-
 cially to anatomical inquiries.   At this period, Dr.
 Gall, in the Anatomy, spoke of  the decussation of
 the pyramidal bodies, of their passage through the
 pons Varolii, of  eleven  layers of longitudinal and
 transverse fibres in the pons, of the continuation of
 the optic nerve to  the anterior pair of the quadri-
geminal bodies, of the exterior bundles of the cru-
* Lancet, Vol. x. p. 244.
t Preface to the first vol. p. 16. 
preface.
xvii
ra of the brain diverging beneath the optic nerves
in the direction which Vieussens, Monro, Vicq d'
Azyr, and Reil,* had followed, the first, by means
of scraping, the others, by cutting the substance of
the brain.  Dr. Gall showed, further, the continua-
tion of the anterior commissure across the striated
bodies ;  he also spoke of the unfolding of the brain
that happens  in hydrocephalus.   The  notion  he
had conceived of this, however, was  not correct;
for he thought that the convolutions resulted from
the duplicature of a membrane, believing that the
cerebral crura entered the hemispheres on one side,
expanded there, and then  folded back on them-
selves by the juxtaposition of  the  convolutions.
The true structure of the  convolutions, and  their
connexion with the rest of the cerebral  mass, were
not described until our joint Memoir was presented
to the French Institute in 1808.
   The mechanical direction which the anatomical
investigations had taken, did not  appear to me sat-
isfactory.  Guiding myself in my inquiries by phys-
iological views, always  comparing structure with
function, I discovered the law of the successive ad-
ditions  to  the cerebral  parts;  the divergence in
every direction of  the crural bundles towards the
convolutions;  the difference between the diverging
fibres and those of union;  the generality of  com-
* Gren's Journal, 1795, i, p. 102. 
XVL11
PREFACE.
 missures; the true connexion of the  convolutions
 with the rest of the cerebral mass, and the peculiar
 structure which admits of the  convolutions being
 unfolded (an event that occurs in hydrocephalus of
 the  cavities,) whilst  the  mass  lying at their bot-
 toms, and belonging, for the  most part, to  the ap-
 paratus of union, or of the commissures, is pushed
 by the waters between the two layers  composing
 them: lastly, I demonstrated the structure of the
 nervous  mass of the  spine;  and I flatter myself
 with having arrived at the best method of dissect-
 ing the brain, and exposing its parts.
   What  is my object then in publishing this vol-
 ume ?  Our large work is too  expensive for the
 generality  of medical students; and, further, the
 method  pursued in the  discussions  there, is only
 calculated  for professed  anatomists — whilst  this
 book will be  both less costly, and it will be adapt-
 ed to the student as well as to the more advanced
 anatomist.  Moreover, many new ideas, possessing
 a great  share of interest, may now be added; for,
 since Dr. Gall  and I first published,  the study of
 the nervous system has engaged the  especial atten-
 tion of anatomists and physiologists.  I have, my-
self, continued inquiring, and conceive that I have
made several new discoveries.   I have, however
copied some passages  from the first  volume of the
large work already mentioned, and  also given re- 
PREFACE.
XIX
duced drawings of several of its plates;  because I
think I have acquired a right to this volume, by its
publication in  our joint names, by my discoveries,
that form its principal object, and by all I did in
furtherance  of its publication.  All the drawings
were executed under my superintendence from an-
atomical preparations, made and determined on by
me: the engraver worked by  my directions: no
plate was sent to press without my approval:  the
descriptions of the plates, and  anatomical  details
are mine; and I furnished the literary notices in
regard to the nerves of the abdomen and thorax, to
those of the spinal column, of the five senses, of the
cerebellum, and of the brain.
  Whoever  desires more copious  historical details
than this volume will be found to  contain,  I refer
to our  Memoir addressed to  the French Institute,
and  to  the first volume of our great  work, com-
menced in common, and continued by Dr. Gall
singly, after the middle of the second volume.
  The influence  our  labors have had  on the study
of the nervous  system is  incontestable.   To be
convinced of this, it is enough to examine the state
of knowledge in regard to the anatomy, physiology,
and  pathology of the brain and  spinal marrow,
when Dr. Gall and I developed our ideas on these
matters,  whether  it  was by teaching orally, by
dissecting publicly, or by means  of our writings. 
XX
PREFACE.
I confess  there  is great satisfaction in the con-
sciousness of having contributed to the important
reform that has been effected in  regard to the ner-
vous system.  I  am only sorry to  observe, that
many of our ideas are appropriated by the authors
of recent publications, without any mention of the
source whence they were derived, or of the individ-
uals who first struck them out, or reduced them to
a certainty by direct proofs.  We are commonly
enough mentioned, it is true, when such of our as-
sertions as appear weak are  the subjects  of criti-
cism ; but our names are kept in the back-ground,
when points of importance become the matter of
discussion.  The public, for instance, by referring
to the proper  place, may judge  whether Mr. J.
Cloquet, in his 'Anatomy of Man,' has  been suffi-
ciently explicit in stating that he has copied every
one of the plates of the human brain contained in
our large  work.   M. Serres, whose  Memoir was
deemed worthy  of its  prize by the  Academy of
Sciences of Paris, in the first volume of his work,
uses our names no fewer than fifteen times in con-
nexion with a single idea, which he fancies he can
refute; and  generally  along  with  every fact that
looks unfavorable to our opinion, he names us;  but
he always forgets  to  cite us in relation to very
many fundamental  conceptions which we  had an-
nounced at the same time.  They  who have writ- 
PREFACE.
XXI
ten to the following effect: —' M. Serres has proved
clearly the erroneousness of M. Gall's observations,
and replaced  them  by others,'  may  undeceive
themselves by attending to  the remark I have just
made.
   M. Serres's publication forces me likewise to re-
quest the reader to distinguish between a multitude
of words and facts on the one hand, and the corol-
laries  which result on  the other.  I agree with
those who, in works of science, pay especial regard
to truths demonstrable to others, to ideas available
in practical life, and to  clearness and simplicity of
style.   What purpose can the  following  passage
serve, which occurs in the preliminary discourse of
M. Serres, where, after having said that a  monster
may be a vegetation of its like, that it may have two
heads, two tails,  and six or eight  extremities, but
that it would remain strictly confined to the limits
of its class, he exclaims: —£ This wonderful phe-
nomenon is undoubtedly connected with  the general
harmony of creation.  What may be its cause ?  We
know it not, and in all likelihood ice shall remain ig-
norant of it forever.  It is one of the mysteries of cre-
 ation, whose  surface is meted by man, but whose
 depths are sounded and known to God alone.' *

   * < Cet etonnant phenomene est sans doute lie a l'harmonie generate
 de la creation,  auelle pent en etre la cause ? Nous l'ignorons et
                   D 
xxii
PREFACE.
   This phenomenon does not  appear to me more
extraordinary than that a kitten is not a puppy, or
that a crab-tree does not produce pears.   If the egg
of  a bird in its ordinary state  cannot  produce  a
mammiferous animal, why should the germ of  this
same egg, if it chance to be imperfectly developed,
produce a deformity like to one of the mammalia'?
Were the case  thus, there would be some cause for
amazement; but the universal fact of every animal
producing its kind, is not, in my eyes, more  aston-
ishing than any other natural event.
   Further;  the mass of  facts cited, the number of
dissections  made,  ought never to impose on  us,
nor  be made  a means  for concealing  the truth.
Many of the anatomists who have lived before us,
dissected some  hundreds of  brains, and they made
a boast of their doings in this  way;  but they did
not perceive that which I pledge myself to have
discovered before I had dissected a dozen;  for in-
stance, the  successive additions to the cerebral
parts, and the  two kinds  of fibres, to wit, the di-
verging, and the fibres of union.  Anatomists  and
physiologists had certainly looked upon heads with-
out number; but, before Dr. Gall's appearance,  had
failed to discover the seat of a single cerebral organ.

vraisemblablement nous l'ignorerous toujours.  C'estun desmyste-
rA8 de la creation, dont I'homme mesure la surface, mais dont  Dieu
seul sonde et connait la profondeur.' 
PREFACE.
xxiii
A solitary individual, a beggar, enabled him to de-
tect the organ of self-esteem, precisely as the fall
of a single apple revealed the law of gravitation to
Newton. Anatomists had seen many human brains
without  remarking  any differences  among them;
these, however, are, to say the least, as constant as
similarities.   The point  that essentially interests
science is, the discovery  of the truth,  and  this is
then confirmed and established by all ulterior ob-
servations.
  The anatomy of the peculiar system necessary
to the affective and  intellectual manifestations, as
well as anatomy in general, admits of consideration
in several ways.
  First, it is simply descriptive, that is, physical ap-
pearances alone are examined, such as the  form,
the size,  and color of parts, the tissues which com-
pose them and their connexions.
  The nomenclature of  the encephalon, of  itself,
suffices to show  that such views  had principally
guided anatomists in their study of its structure.
We still  speak of the brain, of the cerebellum, of
hemispheres, lobes, convolutions, and  anfractuosi-
ties; of a fornix, an infundibulum or funnel, of pisi-
form and striated, quadrigeminal  and pyramidal,
olivary and harrow-shaped bodies; of a pineal gland,
of a hippocampus's foot, of a writing-pen, and many
other parts, — some having very offensive  names. 
xxiv
PREFACE.
Such views are easily conceived to be of little use
in medicine.   This is the reason why the generality
of practitioners  are satisfied with  knowing  the
membranous envelopes of the encephalon, the large
blood-vessels, the  sinuses, the  great masses of the
brain and cerebellum, and the principal  cavities.
Of these views, however, I shall only take such no-
tice  as  may be necessary to  recognise the  parts
spoken  of in  my  physiological and pathological
considerations.
   M. Serres, in the  first page  of his work  on  the
Anatomy of the Brain, says,  ' Up to the  present
time, (1824,) no one has dreamt of uniting into a
body of doctrine all the knowledge acquired on the
anatomy, the physiology,  and the pathology of the
brain and nervous  system.   I shall attempt the
survey of this vast subject.' *  Dr. Gall's  and my
own works disprove this assertion, and they have
only to  be consulted, to prove that all  our inqui-
ries  were directed  into  this  very channel.   We
have  constantly insisted  on  the  importance of
studying the nervous system under all relations at
once.  From  the  year 1817 to 1823, I regularly
delivered ' a Course of Lectures on  the Anatomy,

  *'Jusqu'ace  jour (1824) personne n'a songe a reunir en corps
de doctrine les  connaissances acquises sur l'anatomie, physiologie
et la pathologie du systeme nerveux.  Je vais  essayer de parcourir
ce vaste sujet.' 
PREFACE.
XXV
Physiology, and Pathology of the Brain and Ex-
ternal Senses,7 twice a  year.  My course was al-
ways so  announced, according  to the custom  in
Paris, by public placards; and  my auditors must
recollect that in my introductory discourse, I uni-
formly insisted on the importance and necessity of
studying these branches in  connexion.  From the
above, it will be evident that M. Serres was mista-
ken wiien he published himself'  the first to attempt
the survey of (essayer de parcourir) this vast sub-
ject.  Nevertheless, I most willingly allow that the
principal consideration is not the having been the
first to examine the nervous system: the true merit
of  the inquirer  consists  in that which he has ef-
fected, that which he had discovered, and justice in
these particulars  will,  in  time,  be assuredly ren-
dered to all.  If, at any time, I seem more especial-
ly solicitous in  showing the  erroneousness of M.
Serres's  opinions,  it is only because  these have re-
ceived the sanction of the French Institute, whose
influence is great over the public mind.
  2. Anatomy is physiological, when  the structure
of  parts is studied in  relation  to their functions.
This kind of anatomical knowledge is essential to
practical medicine; for, without it, the seat of de-
ranged functions cannot be understood.  For this
reason,  therefore,  my  anatomical details will al-
ways be given  in  harmony with the physiological 
XXV1
PREFACE.
 ideas I entertain of the apparatus destined to the
 manifestation of the affective and intellectual fac-
 ulties.
   3. Anatomy is peculiarly human, or, it compre-
 hends  the other beings of  creation.  In the  latter
 event, it is entitled comparative  anatomy, and  this
 is a field that possesses much interest for the anat-
 omist,  physiologist, and practical physician; I shall,
 therefore, enter upon  it at frequent  intervals, al-
 ways with the view of advancing  the  knowledge
 of the affective and intellectual nature of man.
   4. Anatomy is  entitled pathological, when it
 treats of the organic changes undergone by parts
 whether examined in connexion with, or independ-
 ently of, their deranged functions.  Inquiries in this
 direction belong less to  the present volume, than
 to that I have published on Insanity.  To it, there-
 fore, I refer the reader  for details.
   The object of this compendium,  then, is to pre-
 sent the principal views that may be  taken of  the
 physiological and comparative anatomy of the  ap-
 paratus destined to  the  affective and intellectual
 manifestations.  It will be  found divided into nine
 sections: in the first, I make some general reflec-
tions on the nervous system; in the second, I speak
 of the division of the nervous apparatuses; in the
third, I  treat  of the nerves of  voluntary motion,
 and of the external senses;  in the fourth, I  discuss 
PREFACE.
XXV11
the best mode of examining the structure of the
brain ;  in the fifth, I describe  the cerebellum par-
ticularly ; in the  sixth, I do  the like in regard to
the brain;  in the seventh, I examine the commis-
sures;  in the  eighth, the communication of the
nervous parts with each other; and  in the ninth, I
go  into  some  anatomical  points  connected with
physiology.  The work will prove that I have ad-
hered rather to philosophical views and principles,
than to mere description of the physical qualities
belonging  to individual masses, although this last
be the most common, I might  almost say the only,
plan that is generally pursued. I have endeavored,
in an especial  manner, to class together the parts
that constitute particular apparatuses, a practice,
which, to our predecessors was entirely unknown,
as  is abundantly evident from their nomenclature
of the brain and its parts. 
 
ANATOMY OF THE  BRAIN.
                  Section I.

             General  Considerations.

  Nerves are whitish cords that pervade the bod-
ies of the most  perfect animals ; they are always
made up of many filaments, each of which, howev-
er minute, is a tube that holds  in its interior a pe-
culiar pulpy substance, constituting one among the
elements of organization.  It is to a  multitude of
such tubular filaments, enveloped  in  a common
sheath,  that the term nervous cord,  or nerve, is
usually  applied.  These  cords, as well as their
component filaments;  vary much  in thickness and
consistency.  The  last quality depends entirely on
the texture of the enveloping membrane.
  The nervous  system comprises two distinct sub-
stances ; the  one gelatinous or pulpy, and usually
of a grayish or brownish hue; the other fibrous,
and of a more or less perfect white  color.   They
are commonly spoken  of in books as the cineritious
and medullary substances.
           2 
10
     Of the Existence of the Pulpy and Fibrous
                   Substances.

  Comparative anatomists are not agreed upon the
constantly-conjoined  existence of the two nervous
substances.   Some admit the presence of the white
without that of the  gray, especially in the spinal
mass of many inferior animals, as reptiles and fish-
es.   The nervous ganglions of the asterice are also
said to  contain no gray matter.
  The above observation is evidently made in con-
sequence of more attention being given to the color,
than to the essential  nature of the pulpy substance.
Pulpiness, not color, is its distinguishing character.
There are  animals whose humors, or, as was for-
merly  said, whose  blood is white.   The essential
consideration  is evidently, in this  case, the exist-
ence, not the color, of the nutritious fluid.  Should
it not also be so in regard to the first or pulpy ner-
vous substance, which in the majority of animals
is of an ash-gray or brown color?  Undoubtedly it
should; for it is well known to vary in  complexion,
not only in different species of animals, but even in
individuals of  the  same  kind,  according to  their
state of bodily health.   The pulpy substance is
commonly  extremely pale in the brains of those
who die of dropsy or  pulmonary consumption.*

 * In the brain of a patient who died from anaemia supervening
upon scurvy, the editor found the pulpy substance of the same shade
of white as the fibrous possesses in the brain of those dying from
acute disease; and this latter substance of a clearer white than is
usually observed.  It may be remarked in connexion with this sub- 
11
  The pulpy substance is found in the ganglions,
and in the nervous masses of the head and spine of
vertebral animals.  In  the mammiferous classes
especially, it occurs on the surface  of all the con-
volutions of  the brain  and cerebellum, (a circum-
stance from  which it  derives  its title, cortical,) in
the masses called striated bodies, and  optic thala-
mi, in the interior of the crura of the brain, or the
annular protuberance, of the dentated body, of the
cerebellum of the medulla oblongata, of the spinal
cord through its entire length, and of all the gang-
lions  of the body.  It never of itself composes an
isolated unit or whole; it is always in connexion
with  the white or fibrous substance.  Occasionally
it lies in  masses of varying magnitude ;  and again
it occurs  in layers, or it runs along in slips, follow-
ing the nerves in their course.


  Of  the Structure of the two Nervous Substances.

  The first  nervous substance is pulpy or  gelati-
nous, and of a color varying from deep brown to a
pale  ash-gray or  white.   Its intimate  structure  is
unknown.  Ruysh, Vieussens, and  almost all the
contemporaries  of Haller, regarded it as a tissue of
very fine blood-vessels.   Ackermann of Heidelberg,
and Walter  of Berlin, in our own times, have held
it to consist  of an  extremely attenuated prolonga-
tion of vessels, in  the course of becoming still more

ject, that this patient, during his latter days, was of a very imbecile
frame of mind,  it being almost impossible to gather  from him a
correct history of his disease, or any profitable  detail of its symp-
toms. 
12
minute, and  ultimately composing the  white or
fibrous substance.   This is a very ancient idea:  it
may be traced as far back as  the age of Prax-
agoras, who  fancied that the  nerves  originated
where the arteries ended.   Albinus, and, at a later
period, Scemmerring,  have proved, by their injec-
tions, that besides very minute blood-vessels, there
also exists a peculiar  substance  in the  cineritious
nervous mass.  The first or pulpy substance, there-
fore, can only be said  to have an immense quantity
of blood-vessels distributed through it.
  Vicq d'Azyr believed that  he could trace fibres
in the pulpy substance;  but what  he saw was the
white or truly fibrous substance,  intermingled or
uniting with the gray.
  The second, or white, nervous substance, is es-
sentially fibrous, but it varies much in its degrees
of consistency.  Anatomists have differed extreme-
ly in their notions of its intimate structure.   Some
have maintained it to be solid, others  have said
that it was tubular.  Some have found it, like the
pulpy substance, composed of globules; and whilst
some have held that it possessed no blood-vessels,
others have argued for its entire composition of these.
  Lewenhceck, Vieussens,  and Steno, believed that
the white nervous substance was fibrous.  This  is
the opinion which  Dr. Gall and I have  espoused.
By  scraping it in the brain, according to  the direc-
tion of its fibres, these may be seen with the naked
eye; and if  the scraping  motion be  oblique or
transverse to their course,  they will be seen to be
drawn from their natural direction, or to be torn. 
13
If the brain be boiled in oil, or macerated in diluted
nitric or  muriatic  acid, or in vinegar, or alcohol,
or if it be frozen, the fibrous structure of its white
substance will be  rendered extremely apparent.
Some, however, say, that the  fibrousness  is then
the consequence of a  chemical  change.   As the
same result,  however, is  constantly obtained, and
as the fibres, whichever of the processes be employ-
ed, are regularly disposed in corresponding situa-
tions in a similar manner, the fibrous structure must
of necessity be recognised as natural and inherent.
  A few authors have attributed the fibrous appear-
ance of the white substance to the impressions  of
blood-vessels.  This mistake may be  detected  at
once, by comparing the course of the blood-vessels
with that of the cerebral  fibres.
   The reality of the fibrousness  of the white sub-
stance is  further opposed, by saying that when the
brain is cut, it does not appear, and that it is pro-
duced by the force  employed to tear the tough
cerebral masses asunder.
   To this I reply,  that it is impossible, by means
of a clean and smooth cut, to discover the structure
of any extremely delicate and soft part whatsoever.
Such a method is not even available in those cere-
bral  parts  that  are incontestably fibrous as the
pyramidal bodies,  the annual protuberance, the
peduncles of the brain, &c.
   M.  Bogros, of Paris, read a paper to the Acade-
my of Sciences, on the 25th May, 1825, in which
he maintained that every nervous fibre is  perfora-
ted  by a canal, from  its  origin to  its termination. 
14
The accuracy of  this statement is far^from being
ascertained.
  The white nervous substance is generally called
medullary.   This name, however,  ought to be dis-
continued for two reasons : in the first place, the
idea we form of marrow excludes the  conception
of fibrousness; and again, the functions of the ner-
vous fibres  are so superior to  those of the marrow,
that it  is a  pity to  designate  both  by the  same
word.   The  name is an evidence of  the error that
was anciently committed,  when every thing  con-
tained in  an osseous cavity  was  considered as
marrow.

    Of the  Use of the Pulpy JVervous  Substance.

  Different opinions have prevailed  ever since the
times of Vesalius and Piccoluomini, who directed
the attention of anatomists in a particular  manner
to this subject, respecting the use  and  destination
of the pulpy or gray substance.  It has frequently
been regarded as an organ of  secretion, either  of
vital spirits or of a nervous fluid.  Unity of senti-
ment, it is  probable, will  not  readily be obtained
upon this particular point:  but seeing  that  the ru-
diments of each new  shoot in  trees  are developed
in a deposition of mucilaginous-looking matter; that
the cartilages in  animal bodies are successively li-
quid, gelatinous, and cartilaginous, and that seve-
ral  turn into firm bone; that anatomists, in many
instances, have agreed in deriving the  nerves  from
ganglions;  that the brain, too, is at  first fluid, then 
15
gelatinous, and ultimately fibrous;  in fine, that the
pulpy nervous substance is always found where the
white fibres become more  numerous; that these are
implanted, so to say, into it, and that a great quan-
tity of blood-vessels are expanded on  it; Dr. Gall
and  I have said, that it  appears  to us to be the
source or nourisher of the white  fibres.  Let  us,
however, distinguish in this, as in every other place,
between facts and inferences.   Supposing that our
ideas concerning the inference were really inexact,
the peculiarities I  have mentioned, and the essen-
tial importance of the pulpy substance to the ner-
vous functions must ever be admitted.
   Having said that  a gray color is not unessential
in the character of the pulpy substance, no objec-
tion to our notions of its  uses can be  derived from
the fact of its supposed absence in the ganglions of
the  asterice.   A  gelatinous or pulpy matter does
certainly  enter into their constitution, and this is
sufficient.
   The white  substance is also said to be present
in the brain  and spinal cord before  the  pulpy or
gray appears.  If by this be understood the exist-
ence of the nervous  masses  that become white
prior to an evident separation into two substances,
and to the development of the convolutions, I agree;
but  if the rudiments of the brain, cerebellum, and
spinal cord, be said to be white, and not gray, in
the  first  instance, I positively deny the assertion.
The nervous  masses of  the  head and spine  are
pulpy or gelatinous, and decidedly grayish in color
before  they  are white.   Neither  Dr. Gall nor I 
16
have ever thought of saying, that the portion of
the completely-developed  nervous system, which
is pulpy and gray, gives birth to that which  is
white and fibrous.   We did but intend to announce
the fact of a gelatinous and grayish state of the
brain preceding its  fibrous and white  condition,
precisely as we should say of its entire mass, that
it is liquid before it becomes gelatinous.
  Our idea of the formation of the nervous system,
seems more especially plausible, as  it appears to
be perfectly analogous to what takes place in the
osseous system.   Bone begins by being gelatinous;
it is then cartilaginous, and ultimately solid  and
earthy.   I  repeat, however,  that no one can be
more impressed than myself  with  the difficulty of
drawing general conclusions : I am, therefore, very
far from being anxious to impose such as I do infer,
upon others.  I only insist on the necessity of ex-
actness in regard to the facts related.  Putting our
theory of the formation  out of the question, entire-
ly, Dr. Gall and I still assert our title to be consid-
ered as the first who discovered and made known
the general relation  that prevails in man and the
mammalia, between  the  pulpy and  fibrous sub-
stances of the brain  and its several parts.
  Messrs.  Foville and Pinel  Grandchamp have of
late inferred, from pathological  observations, that
the superficial cineritious  substance  of  the brain
presides over the intellectual  functions,  and its
white and deep-seated gray mass over locomotion.
  I am disposed to set much  store by pathological
observations; yet I do not see that we dare place 
17
unlimited confidence in them alone.  Truth is, I
conceive,  universally harmonious;  it consequently
cannot have been attained in any case until anat-
omy and physiology and pathology accord exact-
ly.   Now, who will maintain that the locomotive
powers of animals are great in proportion as their
brains contain  more of the white  nervous sub-
stance, and as the striated bodies and the supposed
origiris of the optic nerves (thalami) are large?
Or, who will say that the locomotive capacities of
inferior tribes^ in whose brains the gray substance
predominates, are less remarkable than their intel-
lectual endowments?   These positions are alike
untenable.  Dr.  Gall and I suppose that each ner-
vous apparatus is composed of  two  peculiar sub-
stances, the pulpy and the fibrous, and  that both
are necessary to  produce an  instrument adequate
to the performance of a particular function.


      Of the Origin of the JYervous System.

  The brain has very generally  been regarded  as
the sole and  common origin  of every part of the
nervous system.  Even the  old anatomists, who
classed the brain  with the viscera of the chest and
belly, and treated of its structure in  their chapter
of Splanchnology, mistook it, however strange the
error may seem,  for the  source of all the nerves.
In their eyes, the spinal cord was a prolongation
of the cerebral  mass, and the great sympathetic,
and the nerves of the thorax and  abdomen, were 
18
 continuations of the encephalon and  spinal cord.
 This erroneous view, as it was espoused, was es-
 pecially defended, by observing that the commands
 of the will issued from, and that all. consciousness
 resided in, the brain.   These facts,  however, in
 truth, prove no more than the communication of the
 nervous masses of the body with those of the head.
 The muscular  fibres,  we see, are  excited by  the
 nerves, but they are not, therefore, continuations of
 the nervous filaments.
   The notion, however, was so palpably erroneous,
 that anatomists were not long in calling its sound-
 ness in question, more  especially in regard to  the
 nerves of vegetative life.   Winslow,*  for instance,
 separated  the great sympathetic from the spinal
 cord and brain; he even regarded the bundles, that
 run between  its ganglions or masses, as simple
 branches of communication; and went so far  as to
 say, that all ganglions ought to be considered as
 peculiar origins of nerves, and,  consequently as so
 many little brains.
   Scemmerring likewise observes, that the sympa-
 thetic, having an independent existence, may rather
 be said to go to, than to come from, the  spinal  cord.
 He adds,  that it never forms a trunk in any wise
 proportionate to the number and size of its commu-
 nicating branches, and that it never loses itself
 among muscles, but follows the course of the blood-
vessels.!
  Bichat has expressed his opinion in the most pos-
* Anatomy.       f Him und Nevern. 
19
itive manner upon the subject.   c The ideas of anat-
omists,' says he,* ' upon this important nerve, seem
to me very little accordant with what nature pro-
claims to be just.   All agree in representing it as
a  medullary cord,  extending from the head to the
os sacrum, sending various branches, in its course,
to the  neck, the chest, and the abdomen; having
in short,  a distribution  analogous to the  spinal
nerve,  from which, or  from those of the neck, it is
said by some to derive its origin.  Whatever the
name  chosen  to designate  it may chance  to  be,
sympathetic, intercostal, or trisplanchnic, the mode
of considering  it will  still be found to remain un-
changed.
   ' This mode I regard as altogether erroneous.  In
fact, there exists no such nerve as these names are
used to signify.  That which is taken for a nerve
is, in truth, but a suit  of communications between
different nervous centres, situated at various dis-
tances from each other.
   ' These  centres  are the  ganglions,  scattered
through the different regions of the body.  They
have all an independent and isolated action.  Each
is a particular focus, sending a multitude of ramifi-
cations, to carry into the respective organs the irra-
diations of the centre whence they proceed.
   ' What anatomist,' he continues, ' has not been
struck by differences among the  nerves ?   Those
of the brain are larger, whiter, more dense, less
numerous, and offering few varieties; whilst  ex-
* Sur la Vie et la Mort. 
20
treme tenuity, great number, especially around the
plexuses, grayish color, peculiar  softness of tissue,
frequently  occurring  varieties, are, on  the other
hand, the  distinguishing characters of the nerves
that issue from the ganglions,  The only exception
in either case are in the branches of communication
between the cerebral nerves,  and in  a few of the
twigs that unite the  little nervous centres.'   Bi-
chat thought it essential to express these opinions
in the descriptive anatomy.  The view commonly
given is not calculated to convey an exact notion,
either of the nervous centres, or of the nerves that
emanate from them.
   Comparative anatomy, and acephalic monstrosi-
ties among the mammalia and man, furnish incon-
trovertible proofs of the brain not being the origin
of the nervous system at large,   To compare the
nervous systems of different tribes, is a  task attend-
ed with much difficulty ; but very many of the in-
ferior animals  have nerves,, although they  have
nothing that may be likened  to a brain,  Their
nervous system, consequently, cannot have the ori:
gin commonly assigned to it by authors.
   There are also many anatomical descriptions, to
be found  in books of acephalic monsters, among
the more  perfect animals, as well as the  human
kind, whose nervous system,  notwithstanding the
absence of brain, was quite perfect   That nerves
may exist without a brain, is therefore established
as a truth beyond the sphere of doubt.
   Some writers, however, relying upon the author-
ity of Morgagni, Haller,  and Sandifort, have main- 
21
tained that the brains of acephali exist  in the first
instance, but that dropsy of the cavities. destroys ,
the parts, which, at birth, are found wanting, along
with the membranes and bony covering.
  But no one ever saw, an acephalic child whose
brain and skull exhibited  traces of such destruc-
tion.  The integuments  of the  upper part of the
head, where the destructive process is principally
supposed, are  commonly entire and healthy.  Nei-
ther has any  one,  in  these  cases, discovered the
cicatrices of ulcers, traces  of erosion, or simply  of
absorption.  The bones that compose the  basis of
the skull, when they exist in acephali, are smooth
and round  at  the edges.   The whole inferior part
of the encephalio mass, as  well  as the optic, audi-
tory, olfactory, and other nerves, occasionally occur
in a perfectly sound and natural state.  Howx did
these nerves  and tender cerebral  parts resist the
action of a fluid that dissolved  or caused  the ab-
sorption of membranes and firm bone 1  It must
be allowed, then, that  the brain may be primitively
wanting, just as may the legs or arms, and that the
nervous apparatus  of  the  body does not  proceed
from the brain.
   The first  anatomical principle  in regard to the
nervous system therefore, is, that it is not an unit,
but consists of many essentially different parts, which
have their own individual origins, and are mutual in
communication.
   This principle Dr. Gall and I  regard as essential
to  our  physiological  researches  and deductions.
No anatomist before us was ever so much interest- 
22
ed in demonstrating its truth.  We conceive that
we have proved it satisfactorily in regard to the
brain, as Bichat had done before us, to the nerves
of the chest and belly.
  In addition to our first anatomical principle, there
are three subjects  that require to be taken into
consideration separately;  these are, — 1st.  The
mode in which the individual parts of the nervous
system are formed;  2d. The order of development
of these parts; and, 3d. Their reciprocal relations.
  Dr. Gall and I, in our publications  and  anatom-
ical demonstrations, have  always spoken of  the
mode and  order in which the  cerebral parts are
formed and developed; however, we never touched
upon these points but in a general way, our atten-
tion being more especially given to the considera-
tion of the  plurality of the nervous apparatuses, of
their communications, and of their mutual relations,
the whole  in harmony with our physiological and
philosophical inquiries.   Mr. Tiedemann, and, after
him, Mr. Serres, have treated in a particular man-
ner of the formation and successive development of
the several parts composing the nervous system.


Of the Mode of Formation of the Nervous System.

  I have no intention of entering into  any discus-
sion upon Encephalogeny.  My researches have not
been of  extent sufficient to qualify me either to ad-
mit or to reject  the opinions promulgated by M.
Serres upon this subject.  According to  this gen-
tleman,  the spinal  cord,  the cerebellum,  and  the 
23
brain, are  developed from  the  circumference  to-
wards the centre, and not, as anatomists had hith-
erto admitted, from the centre towards the circum-
ference.  He tells us, that there are many centres
of formation, and that each apparatus is composed
of several pieces, which are joined together,  the
extremities commencing, the  middles terminating,
the union.  According  to  him,  too,* the  arteries
exert a particular directing influence over the de-
velopment of the nervous system.   The spinal cord,
he conceives to be  formed under the guidance of
the intercostal, the cerebellum under that of  the
vertebral,  and the brain under that of the carotid
arteries.
   The vessels of the spinal cord, he says, appear
first, and the outline of this part  is soonest appa-
rent.  The common carotids appear next, and then
the internal vessels of that name, which are dis-
tributed to the crura  or legs of the brain, and to
the bodies called quadrigeminal, and these are now
 evolved.   The vertebral arteries reach the cranium
 last, and the cerebellum is the latest formed of all
 the nervous masses.
   1 The brain,' he states,  ' is developed from before
 backwards, and the cerebellum  from behind for-
 wards, according to the direction of the blood-ves-
 sels.  From this it comes that the callous body is
 evolved from behind forwards, as the arteria callo-
 sa gradually appears.'
    I intend in another place to  cite M. Serres's no-
* Tom. i. p. 568, et seq. 
24
 tions upon the formation of some particular appa-
 ratuses.  Here I only observe that he differs from
 M. Tiedemann upon a very principal point;  whilst
 M. Serres proclaims a successive development from
 the circumference  towards the centre, M.  Tiede-
 mann publishes the reverse of this as the truth.   I
 also  confess that a great number of M. Serres's
 opinions appear to me little probable.  Dr. Baron *
 lately showed the  body of an hydrocephalic child
 to the Academy of Medicine in Paris, and proved
 that though the carotid  arteries existed, the ante-
 rior cerebral lobes  were wanting.  M. Serres had
 made too hastily a  contrary report upon this very
 case to  the Philomathic Society the day before Dr.
 Baron made the dissection.
  In recognising the whole importance of enceph-
 alogeny, or the doctrine of cerebral formation, it
 still appears to me that its laws cannot be at vari-
 ance with those that may be demonstrated in the
 brain, when it has arrived  at maturity of growth.
 I farther opine, that conclusions  drawn from  the
 structure of the adult brain, are to be preferred to
 such as  are founded on it in its embryotic sjtate.   I
 shall, in  more places  than one, have occasion to
 refer to this argument, and especially when I come
 to treat  of  the anterior commissure  and^ callous
 body, to the end that I may rectify the erroneous
 opinions promulgated by M. Tiedemann.  My great
and  sole object is  to know the  structure of  the
brain, such as it may be demonstrated in harmony
with physiology and pathology.

     * Bulletin des Sciences Medicales, Juin, 1S25, p. 175. 
25
    Of the general Form of the Nervous System.

  The form of the  nervous  system, it may b? con-
ceived, varies  according  to the radiated, globular,
or elongated configuration of the  animal body, of
which it is  a constituent.  It cannot be alike in
the star-fish, worm, and caterpillar.  (PI. i. fig. 1.)
Generally, then, and even as its  particular  parts
are concerned, the nervous  system exhibits  the
greatest varieties of form.
  Its masses, too, occur aggregated, as in the  skull,
and spinal canal, or in the form of nerves properly
so called, or collected  into knots differing in form,
size,  consistency  and  color,  entitled  ganglions.
Nerves frequently emanate from distant and  oppo-
site sources  to unite, anastomose, or twine together,
and then to separate and run off in different  direc-
tions.   This is the particular arrangement to which
the term plexus is  applied.  Ganglions  and  plex-
uses often form an intricate tissue together.


      Of the Structure and Use of  Ganglions.

   Ganglions are  bodies  composed of the two ner-
vous substances: the white or fibrous, and  the
gelatinous or pulpy, into which the first is plunged.
The pulpy matter of  the ganglions is commonly of
a gray color, of different degrees of intensity;  some-
times, however, it has a yellowish, a reddish, or a
whitish cast: it is easily distinguishable from the
nervous filaments which it  surrounds.  The fibres
              4 
26
 of the white  substance, the  second element of the
 ganglions, anastomose repeatedly;  they also cross
 each other frequently; sometimes in every direc-
 tion, or in  their course parallel  with that of the
 nerve upon which the  ganglion is formed.   Gang-
 lions of this last kind are commonly oval  shaped,
 but those in which several nerves meet and inoscu-
 late, have for the most part very irregular forms.
  Anatomists have always entertained very differ-
 ent opinions upon the uses of the ganglions.   Some,
 with Willis, have ascribed to them the secretion of
 what they style vital spirits; others,  with Vieus-
 sens, conceive them destined to  separate and to
 strengthen  the nervous fibres: many of the mod-
 erns again, Bichat, Reil, and others,  think with
 Johnstone, that they serve to isolate from the influ-
 ence of the brain  the parts which receive their
 nerves from them.   The latter authors divide  the
 nervous systems into  two parts, a cerebral and a
 ganglionary.
  The theory of the vital spirits  is now forgotten.
 The ganglions are also proved  to  do more than
 merely separate or direct the nervous filaments, as
 Meckel  the elder, Zinn,  Scarpa,  and others, have
 supposed.  ' A  glance,' says Bichat,* ' enables us
 to discover the greatest differences  among them,
 (the  ganglions.)  There is evidently as great a dis-
tinction between the ganglions and the nerves that
issue from them, as  there is  between the cerebral
nerves and the  brain itself.   There is difference of
* Anatomie G6n6rale, T. 1. 
27
consistency and other outward qualities, and there
is difference of properties.  Were  the nerves that
come from the spinal cord merely unravelled in
their passage through the ganglions, this would be
but a  difference  of  form, and  not of nature, and
their properties, therefore, would remain the same.
Why has not nature  placed ganglions on the nerves
of the limbs, as  on  those of internal parts?  If
there be  only a resolution of nerves into finer fila-
ments  in ganglions, why is there no constant pro-
portion between the  fibres that enter on one side,
and  those  that  issue from  the other?  Did the
nerve that penetrates the superior cervical ganglion
from above expand in its interior, and having re-
united  its filaments form the cord that issues from
below, it ought evidently to be of precisely the
same size at  its exit as at its entrance.  Such a re-
lation,  indeed, between the nerves of the opposite
extremities of ganglions, ought to be quite general.
But a very cursory examination shows that a con-
trary disposition  almost  invariably obtains.  The
size of the ganglions should be relative to  that of
the nerves, whose expanded fibres  are said to com-
pose them.  Why then are the intercostal gangli-
ons so  small, and  the trunks which unite, or rather,
to use the common phrase, originate, and then
leave them, so large ?  And why, on the contrary,
is the superior cervical ganglion so voluminous, and
its nervous branches so minute?   How can the
frequent interruption  among  the  ganglions  in the
human kind,  which in a  host of animals are  quite
regular,  be  explained,  if  the nervous  filaments 
28
which enter be continuous with those wThich issue
from them ?  How comes it that the ganglions and
their nerves bear no exact  proportion to the cere-
bral nerves, if the latter give them birth or expand
in them ?   Why, in fine, has not the  pain, that is
transmitted by both kinds of nerves, the same char-
acter?'   Scemmerring has  made  reflections very
similar to these of Bichat.
   Notwithstanding all this, the opinion  in regard
to  the use of the  ganglions,  which Johnstone,
Bichat, and  Reil  entertained, and which  others
have  adopted from them, is by no means exact.
They do  not interrupt the reciprocal influence  of
the brain  and nerves of  the  spinal cord, nor of the
brain  and viscera of the  chest and belly, either  in
the healthy  or  pathological  state of  the body.
They  most certainly do  not  prevent impressions
made on parts supplied with nerves from  them,  or
diseased sensations of the viscera from being felt.
On the contrary, the ganglions would appear essen-
tial to the structure of the nerves of sensation.
They,  however,  abstract the  parts they  furnish
with nervous energy, from the influence of the will.
They  also originate nervous  fibres;  and serve,
farther, as points of communication between differ-
ent nerves.   Lastly, as  the  existence of a nervous
fluid is not impossible, nay, as in all likelihood such
a fluid does exist, the ganglions may probably aid
in its secretion or evolution,  and modify its circula-
tion or distribution. 
29
                   Section II.

   Division of the Masses composing the Nervous
                     System.

   We have  already seen, among  the general con-
siderations, that the nervous system is not a simple
unit, but an aggregation of parts, that originate and
may  exist separately, but which  are  in intimate
communication, as  was required on account of the
influence their  functions  mutually exert.   The
functions of the abdominal viscera, for instance, act
upon those of the brain, and those of the brain in-
fluence digestion, circulation, the  secretion of bile,
&c.   The  nervous system, therefore,  cannot be
compared to a  net, as is  sometimes done, if, by
this, similarity of nature in its constituent parts be
implied.  On the contrary, as differences are evi-
dent, divisions become indispensable.
   But the task of determining the instruments spe-
cially dedicated to  particular functions, is  one of
great difficulty.  The ordinary division of the ner-
vous masses is indisputably defective.  A true one
can  only rest on the  nature of the functions per-
formed.  These functions are naturally separated
into two grand classes : vegetative, or organic func-
tions, and phrenic,  or functions taking  place  with
consciousness.  The nervous masses belonging to
the first of  these are,  in common language, the 
30
 great  sympathetic nerve, and the ganglions and
 plexuses of the thorax and abdomen.   Bichat has
 divided them into a multitude of apparatuses, in-
 dividually necessary to the offices of the particular
 viscera.   This  division  is,  in  my  apprehension,
 founded in nature.  I regard the nervous masses of
 vegetative life as independent of those of phrenic
 life, in as far as their existence is  concerned.   I
 also incline  to  admit  as many different kinds of
 nerves as  different vegetative functions; I farther
 recognise their communications among themselves,
 and with the masses of the phrenic functions.
   The nervous  masses of vegetative life are very
 simple in the lower tribes of being; they are more
 numerous as we mount  in the scale, and as the func-
 tions of vegetative life become complicated.  Their
 general arrangement, as was to be expected, varies
 according to the form and disposition of the viscera
 in species  and individuals.   If visceral functions,
 locomotion, and  manifestations of sensibility be
 united, it is also conceivable that to separate the
 peculiar nerves of  these dissimilar operations from
 each other, would be next  to impossible.   This
 consideration  shows why  some anatomists  have
 compared the nerves of the caterpillar  and worm
to the great sympathetic; whilst others have liken-
 ed them to the intervertebral ganglions, or to the
 spinal  cord itself.
  In the vertebral classes of animals, and especially
in the mammalia, the nervous masses are distinctly
separated,  first, into those  of vegetative life, and,
second, into those  of phrenic functions.   Each of 
31
these may farther be  subdivided  into two parts:
the first into nerves of viscera, or, as M. de Blain-
ville* expresses himself, into a visceral portion, and
into nerves of communication ; that is, an  appara-
tus which establishes sympathy among the visceral
nerves, and between these and the nervous masses
of the external senses, and of the affective and in-
tellectual functions.
   The second, or nervous masses of phrenic life,
again, are commonly divided into the brain, prop-
erly so called, the cerebellum, medulla oblongata,
and spinal cord, together  with the nerves  of these
four parts.
   M. de  Blainville ranges the nervous  masses of
phrenic  life under two titles:  the one he  styles
Central,  the  other  Ganglionary.   ' The  first, or
central,'  says  he, | ' is susceptible of three degrees
of development;  is   always situated above the
intestinal  canal, begins  with the  oesophagus  or
pharynx, and is prolonged, more or less backward-
ly, so as  to correspond to  a greater or smaller num-
ber of rings of the body when they exist.
   ' The  second, or ganglionary, consists of a very
variable number of pairs of ganglions, disposed in
a slightly different manner on each side of the first.
   1 The  central portion is always composed of two
similar  halves, situated, the one  to  the right, the
other to  the left, and more or less intimately united,
or drawn together  by means of the peculiar ap-

   * Bulletin des  Sciences par la Societe Philomatique de Paris,
1821, Mars et Avril.
   t Op. cit. p. 44. 
32
paratus, styled commissure.  It is divided into two
rigorously  similar portions: a vertebral and a ce-
phalic, included, as their titles imply, the one in the
vertebral canal, the  other in the cranium.   Both
contain gray and white substance, and longitudinal
and transverse commissures.
   ' The cephalic portion consists, 1st, of an inferior
bundle called pyramidal, which  passes under the
annular protuberance, continues long  distinct from
the cerebral peduncles, and runs to  terminate in
the anterior, or olfactory lobe, of the brain.  2d.
Of a superior  bundle, which  continues, in the first
place,  under the name of prolongation of the quad-
rigeminal  bodies, to  the  cerebellum, and, running
on the outer sides of the internal geniculated bod-
ies, is lost on the hemispheres;  and, in the second
place,  of a deep bundle, which may be followed to
the mammillary bodies, and from thence  into the
optic thalami.   The bundles named  peduncles of
the pineal gland, which are expended on the optic
thalamus,  are  also to be regarded as belonging to
this cephalic portion.'
   The same author subdivides his second or gang-
lionary portion into ganglions without, and gang-
lions with, external apparatus.   Among  the  for-
mer he reckons the  olfactory masses, the hemis-
pheres properly so called, the quadrigeminal bodies,
and the cerebellum.  The olfactory nerve, accord-
ing to him, is a cerebral mass, in which his inferior
central bundle terminates.  The hemispheres, he
conceives,  form another ganglion, having no exter-
nal apparatus, but one  transverse,  (the callous 
33
 body,) and two longitudinal commissures (the pe-
 duncles of the brain and the fornix.)   It is to this
 ganglion that the convolutions belong.   He farther
 regards  the striated bodies as appertaining to the
 convolutions,  but remarks that, for certain,  their
 fibres  do not  originate there to go to the hemis-
 pheres.  The  quadrigeminal bodies are the third,
 and the cerebellum the fourth  ganglion, without
 external apparatus.
   The title, visceral part of the nervous system,  ap-
 pears to me well chosen, but I do not think that the
 division into central and ganglionary parts, or  the
 other subdivisions proposed, deserve the same  ap-
 proval.
   In the first place, I  cannot see that they  are
 based on anatomical observation: I do  not believe,
 for instance, that M. de Blainville can demonstrate
 the  continuation of the inferior bundle, or pyra-
 midal  body into  the olfactory nerve,  nor that he
 can trace what he calls the deep bundle (faisceau
profond) of his central portion into the mammillary
bodies.   Neither do I think  that his divisions  and
 subdivisions  of  the  nervous  mass pertaining to
 phrenic life, are consistent with physiological facts;
 but this in anatomical classification is  quite essen-
 tial ; it is even acknowledged by M. de Blainville
 himself as  its basis.  'We  ought,' says he,*   ' to
 consider the nervous system as subdivided into as
 many parts as there are grand functions performed
 by the animal body.'

                  * Op. cit. p. 40.
            5 
34
  According to the ideas of  M. Desmoulins, the
parts which constitute the complete cerebro-spinal
system of mammalia, are — 1st, the  spinal cord;
2d,  the  cerebellum, which  is itself composed of
three parts; 3d, the optic lobes, or quadrigeminal
bodies;  4th, the lobes of the brain ; 5th, the olfac-
tory lobes.  These  five  parts  are admitted by M.
Desmoulins not to be always complete in the other
classes of vertebral animals, and also to be  want-
ing, individually, without detriment  to  the rest.
The sturgeon, lamprey, frog, and some other crea-
tures, have, he says, no  cerebellum; the skate and
shark no cerebral lobes; many bony fishes no olfac-
tary lobes; in short, he concludes, that generally
speaking, the  notion concerning  the unity of the
nervous system is a chimera.
  In opposition to M. Desmoulins's views, Dr. Bailly
has maintained  that every vertebra, or  every seg-
ment, through the whole length of the animal body,
contains the same nervous elements; that, belong-
ing  to each of the vertebrae  of the head and spine,
there are nerves of sensation, of motion, of diges-
tion, and of an  intellectual  system, charged with
the  task of appreciating the impressions communi-
cated by the  others, and of  producing determi-
nations.
  In my apprehension, the cerebro-spinal system is
not  a simple unit, but a compound of many distinct
apparatusses, each of which has particular func-
tions,  which,  being taken   together,  constitute
phrenic  life.  The several instruments are  formed
after a general plan, but the physical  qualities, as 
35
the density, form, size, and color, of all, individually,
differ not only in the classes and in the species, but
also in the  members composing each kind; the
number of particular organs  is likewise greater or
smaller in the classes and species, according to the
amount of the primary functions or faculties; lastly,
each of the apparatuses is simple, or is compound.
  No  one, however, can be said to be perfectly
simple; each is, at least, double, or  one of a pair.
The organs  of motion and of touch are  evidently
multiplied.
  It is essential in dividing and subdividing the
parts of  which  the  cerebro-spinal  system is com-
posed, to keep  in harmony with  physiology and
pathology, and  to distinguish  between  wThat  is
common to  all,  and  what is peculiar to each of
them.  The  first grand division  must embrace the
instruments of  motion, and of the five  external
senses; the second comprise  the organs of the af-
fective and intellectual functions.
  I think they are wrong who confound the spinal
cord  with the cerebral masses, and designate both
by  a common title,  such as encephalon or brain.
It is long since Dr. Gall and I pointed out this error,
but  it is still very  generally sanctioned,  by the
French Academy of  Sciences, for instance, so late
as 1820, its prize having been accorded to the me-
moir of M. Serres under the following title. —' Don-
ner une description comparee du cerveau dans les
quatre classes des  animaux  vertebres, et particu-
lierement dans ceux  des  reptiles et  des poissons,
cherchant  a. determiner  l'analogie  des differentes 
36
 parties de cet organe, ou marquant soigneusement
 les changes des formes et des proportions eprouvees,
 et suivant aussi profondement que possible les ra-
 tines  des  nerfs cerebreaux.'   Here  evidently  the
 brain  and its nerves only are spoken of.  M. Serres,
 however, deemed it proper to consider the nervous
 mass of the spine as well as  that of the cranium,
 and he  has designated  these two systems by the
 same name without any objection being made by
 the Academy to this arrangement.
   Let us turn to the facts that prove the brain and
 the  spinal cord to  be perfectly distinct and inde-
 pendent of each other.  These facts are anatomical,
 physiological, and  pathological.  I here assume as
 an established point, that the functions of the spinal
 cord differ entirely from  those of  the brain.   The
 development and demonstration of this truth belong
 to physiology.  I have,  accordingly,  examined it
 particularly in  my  work on Phrenology.   Physio-
 logical experiments and pathological facts tend
 equally to show that the  brain and spinal  cord are
 masses possessed of distinct functions that cannot
 be confounded.   This volume being destined solely
 to the  discussion of anatomical views, I  shall, at
 present, confine myself to such evidence as anatomy
 affords of the mutual independence of each of the
 nervous masses mentioned.
  And, first — all that has been said, in a general
 way, upon the origin of the nerves, and their exist-
ence, independently of the brain, applies  particu-
larly in the case of the spinal cord.  The spinal
cord  sometimes  exists in  part, sometimes  entirely, 
37
when the brain is altogether wanting.  If, to this,
it be objected that the brain had been removed by
absorption, the  answer I have given to  the same
proposition, in reference  to the nerves in general,
must  be repeated here.  There is, also, one, and
but one, case on record, in which the brain existed,
without the spinal cord.*  It  occurred in  a child
whose head or heads are preserved in the Hunteri-
an Museum, in London;  this child was born with
one skull placed vertically upon another.  Each
of these contained a brain invested with its usual
membranes ;  the dura mater of each brain adhered
closely to that of the other, and both were supplied
by  blood-vessels issuing from common  trunks.
Parts, consequently, as  the  brain and spinal cord
that exist, or not,  independently of each  other,
cannot constitute one and the  same  apparatus.
  2. The nervous masses of  the spinal canal and
cranium bear no regular proportion to each other.
Man, with  his voluminous brain, has a smaller spi-
nal cord than  the  ox or horse, whose brain is so
much less.   Bartholin in former times, and Scem-
merring in our  own days, made this remark; nev-
ertheless, they both continued to speak of the spinal
cord as a process or continuation of the brain.
  3. The spinal cord is well known  not to decrease
in size as it descends in the vertebral canal, and as
it sends off nerves.  Its volume is even augmented,
where its nerves are largest and most numerous;
this  is  obvious,  especially towards  its sacral  end,

  * See Philosoph. Trans, for 1790, March 25th, and for 1798, Dec.
13th. 
38
 as may be seen by turning to PI. i. fig. 2, where this
 part of  the spinal  cord of  a fowl  is represented;
 and yet the spinal cord is commonly considered as
 a prolongation of the white substance of the brain
 and cerebellum!
   4.  The direction  of its nerves, especially in the
 mammalia,  proves  to  a certainty, that the spinal
 cord is not a  continuation of the nervous mass of
 the cranium.  Every pair of spinal  nerves is made
 up by several bundles: (PL i. fig. 3; a part of a
 spinal cord of a calf;)  some  of these issue from be-
 low, and run upward; others come from above, and
 proceed downward and  outward.   Now it would
 be absurd to suppose that these bundles were con-
 tinued, or derived either from the lower or upper
 extremity of the  spinal cord.   They undoubtedly
 originate  at  the place  whence  they  issue  indi-
 vidually.
   In  regard to the fifth, sixth, seventh, and other
 pairs of nerves, styled cerebral (PI. vi. fig. 1;) their
 direction also shows that they do not come either
 from  the  brain or  cerebellum.   Santorini,  when
 speaking of the course of the fifth  pair, remarks,
 that after descending from the brain, it turns back
 and runs  upwards;  and he adds — < if it  do not
probably come from below, entirely like the acces-
sory nerve.'
  The proofs, confirmatory of the mutual independ-
ence  of the spinal  cord and hemispheres  of the
brain and cerebellum, serve also to demonstrate
the propriety of separating the nerves, styled cere-
bral, from the  brain itself.  The evidence in  this, 
39
as in the other case, is  anatomical, physiological,
and pathological.   For the reasons already given,
I here rest on anatomical  testimony alone;  for in-
formation on the others, I refer to my physiological
and pathological treatises*
  To proceed,  then, we  see monsters, occasionally,
born without any of the proper  cerebral masses,
but with olfactory, optic, and acoustic nerves, either
severally or altogether perfect;  and on the contra-
ry, these  nerves individually, or generally, have
been found in a state of atrophy, whilst  the brain
was  sound  and  well  developed  in all  its parts.
There is  no proportion, whatever,  between the
cranial nerves and  the  true cerebral mass.   Many
animals have them much  larger in proportion to
their brain than man.
  I repeat,  therefore, that  I divide and  subdivide
the nervous masses according to their  offices: first,
into nerves of vegetative functions ; secondly, of ex-
ternal sense, and locomotion; lastly, of affective
and  intellectual  operations:  these  last  inhere in
parts, which I  style truly cerebral, superadded to
the nerves of the senses.
  We shall, afterwards,  see that the masses belong-
ing to the last named class of functions require sub-
dividing into instruments  of particular  functions,
after the manner of the external senses.
  This principle of the  plurality of the nervous ap-
paratuses is the  basis of these anatomical consid-
erations, and is indispensable to  the physiological

  * Phrenology ; or, the Doctrine of the Mind; Lond. 1825.  Ob-
servations on Insanity; Lond.  1816. 
40
researches in which  Dr. Gall and I  have so  long
been engaged.  It has been, and is still, contested,
and at the same time it is brought forward as new.
A reference,  however, to the date and matter of
our publications, will assign it  to those who  can
claim it by right.   The general  idea of a plurality
of organs, indeed, must be allowed to be very an-
cient, and not the discovery of any modern author;
before Dr.  Gall appeared, however, none of the
cerebral functions had been specified, and before
our combined investigations were made public, the
structure of no special apparatus had been demon-
strated ; for the parts of the encephalon that  bear
distinguishing titles, do not, by any means, consti-
tute particular organs.  The special determination,
as well anatomical as physiological, consequently,
belongs to Dr. Gall and myself. 
41
                  Section III.

Of the Nervous Masses of Voluntary Motion and of
               the External Senses.

  These masses include  the spinal cord, with its
nerves, and the nerves of the head, distinguished
by the title, cerebral nerves.  They may, therefore,
be divided and spoken of as spinal or vertebral, and
as cranial.   The former,  principally contained in
the canal of the vertebral column, are more consid-
erable in size,  and  are  entirely destined  to the
functions of feeling and voluntary motion;  the lat-
ter are less voluminous, but besides nerves of vol-
untary motion and of feeling, they include  nerves
of taste, hearing, sight, and smell.
  Anatomists  have,  at  all  times,  separated the
nerves of four of the senses, to  wit — smell, taste,
sight, and hearing, from those appropriated to feel-
ing; they have also regarded the third, fourth, and
sixth pairs of nerves as  especially  destined to mo-
tion ; but they have confounded all the other trunks
of the medulla oblongata  and spinal cord, and sup-
posed the whole to pertain to feeling.
  It  is long since I maintained the necessity of
subdividing these nerves, and of admitting separate
fibres for the functions of touch and of motion. My
opinion was founded on  facts, and anatomical,
physiological, and pathological reasonings.   It was
long ago remarked that feeling  and voluntary mo-
tion were  not  alwavs  impaired  or  annihilated
                  6 
42
simultaneously ;  sometimes  the one, sometimes the
other of these functions was  seen to be totally lost,
whilst the other  remained unimpaired.   The con-
clusion then followed, and  it  had  already been
seized by  Erasistratus  of  Alexandria,  and that
there were nerves of motion, and nerves  of feeling.
Pathological facts, therefore, first fixed the atten-
tion of physicians on this point, as  they  also gave
the first idea of a decussation  of nervous fibres  in
the brain, and of the peculiar structure of the con-
volutions.
  To the above some have replied that the admis-
sion of two sorts of nerves to  explain the isolated
lesion, whether of voluntary motion  or of feeling,
was unnecessary:  the loss  of motion, they say, is
consequent on a minor degree of cerebral affection,
the destruction of feeling  on disease of a graver
and more extensive description.
  This objection is purely speculative, and totally
unsupported by experience.   To  make it even
plausible, it should  surely be  capable of standing
the test  of physiological proofs  in  the healthy
state; that is to say, sensibility and volition should
be  shown  to be mere degrees of  the  same power,
volition being  the lower of the two :  but observa-
tion is very far from confirming such an opinion.
  Physiology,  and analogy, in reference to the oth-
er senses, appear to determine feeling as  a function
entirely  distinct from  voluntary  motion,  and  to
prove each of  these functions as manifested by the
medium  of a  special  organ or nerve.   The func-
tions of touch  are active and passive, like those of
the other  external senses.   The  muscles  being 
43
called into action, would the internal faculties em-
ploy any of the senses to  take cognizance of im-
pressions  from  without ?  They aid  touch in feel-
ing, as they assist sight in looking, hearing in listen-
ing,  and  the olfactory  nerves  in smelling.  The
nerves of voluntary motion, i. e. of its organs, the
muscles, cannot propagate impressions of touch, nor
the nerves of the  skin  those of motion.  The im-
pressions  propagated by the nerves of motion come
from within, as those transmitted by the nerves of
feeling  are derived  from without.  The  muscles,
alone, produce sensations of fatigue  or weariness,
and these have no relation to the nerves of feeling :
we may be excessively fatigued, and, at the same
time, have the  sense of touch extremely;vigorous.
   Physiological and pathological facts being strik-
ingly and  universally favorable to the idea of dis-
tinct nerves of feeling and motion, and four of the
senses being evidently provided with peculiar ner-
vous apparatuses,  I have always maintained the
probability of the  same law obtaining, in regard to
the fifth,  and  even invited anatomists to use their
endeavors to verify the  point, to  demonstrate  the
muscular as distinct from the cuticular nerves.
   To the above notion, it has been  objected, that
the nerves of feeling and of motion issue  together
from the spinal cord, and as a consequence of this,
that  the nature  of every fibre, of the same pair,
must be essentially the  same.  To  this I always
answered that the objection is neither valid on the
strength  of the fact, nor on that of the  inference
from it.  For  the spinal pairs are composed of two
roots, the one dorsal, the other abdominal;  and 
44
further, each root is, itself, composed of many bun-
dles.   I also stated that this structure was less con-
spicuous in the fifth cranial nerve than in the spinal
pairs; but that,  nevertheless, the difference of its
bundles,  and their dissimilar functions, were recog-
nized. One, all allow, is appropriated to taste,whilst
the rest belong to sensation in general.  In conform-
ity with  the above view, the glossopharyngeal has
always appeared to i.me destined to the third sort of
the lingual functions, that is, to general feeling.*
   The above ideas were  published in  my English
work, 'The Physiognomical  System,'!  in 1815;
and in 1818, in my French book, entitled  ' Phre-
nologie.' J   In  all the courses  of lectures  I have
delivered since these works issued from the press,
I  have  broached similar ideas,  and  encouraged
those of my auditors, whom opportunity favored,
to enter on  the inquiry, and to endeavor to trace
the nervous fibres from their peripheral  expansions
to their origin in  the spinal cord.
   The subject  has, indeed, been advanced  by the
labors of Messrs. C. Bell  and Magendie.  Mr. Bell
has recognised  a  difference  between  the nerves of
sensation in general  and those of respiration.^   He
admits, in the first instance, that every apparatus
performing a single function, is provided with  but
one  nerve; that parts which receive two nerves,

  * For the more important synonyms of the cerebral nerves so
called, see Chapter  II.
  f First and second edition, p. 23.     J Op. cit. p. 236.
  § On the nerves; giving an Account of some Experiments on
their Structure and Functions. Read before the Royal Society of
London, July 12, 1820. 
45
whose origins are different, perform two functions;
and that organs whose nerves are derived from sev-
eral sources, effect various, and not merely stronger,
functions of  one specific kind.   He regards as res-
piratory nerves the pneumogastric, with  its vocal
branch;  the glossopharyngeal;  the accessory of
Willis; * the facial; the hypoglossal, and the dia-
phragmatic (the phrenic!)
   Mr. Bell has further established a difference in
function between the facial nerve, (portio dura of
the seventh pair,) and the branches of the fifth pair.
He has proved, by his experiments, that the facial
gives no impression of pain when it is cut, but that
the effect of the operation is to abstract  the  parts
upon which it is ramified from  the influence of  the
respiratory  motions.  Lesions, on the  contrary, of
the  fifth' pair, produce pain, and the parts it sup-
plies become insensible, when its branches are  cut
across.   He still further  cites cases,  in which sensi-
bility remained unimpaired, although the side of the
face was  completely paralyzed in its  movements.
   Mr. Bell has given his  attention  more particu-
larly  to the influence exerted by the  facial nerve
on respiration, and  by the function of respiration
 on the parts that receive branches from this source.
 The facial he styles, in particular, nerve  of expres-
 sion.   Being a nerve of motion, however, it may,
 independently of  any additional  consideration, be

   * J. F. Meckel, in his Manual of Anatomy, translated by Doane,
 observes in a note, on the accessory nerve that it is wrongly called
 the accessory of Willis, as it had previously been figured by Eus-
 tachius, and described by Coiter.
   t See note on the page  preceding. 
46
entitled a nerve of expression.  That it may be in-
fluenced by respiration, no one will probably deny;
but  it may also unquestionably act independently
of this function.   Mr. Bell, indeed, has not in this
instance adhered rigorously to  his principle recog-
nized in theory, and mentioned  above, viz.  that no
nerve performs two functions—the facial, on his own
data, can only be a nerve of one kind of function.
  I chanced very  lately to  see a case where the
voluntary motion of the right side of the face was
lost, whilst its sensibility remained; both feeling
and  motion  on the  left side  were unimpaired;
movements of the tongue were  also natural;  but if
the person attempted to spit, the saliva was always
thrown to the right by the action of the left and
healthy half of the cheek and lips.
  M. Serres gives the case  of  a young man, who
was constitutionally epileptic, and troubled with a
slight ophthalmy in the right eye. The latter affec-
tion increased gradually, the cornea became opaque,
the sight decayed more and more, and was, in fine,
entirely destroyed ; the other organs of  sense and
motion  on the same  side were successively para-
lyzed; the  eye, eye-lid, nostril,  and  half of the
tongue, lost their powers, whilst on the left they
remained in a state of perfect integrity.  This pa-
tient died.  On dissection, there was found, first,
an organic change of the ganglion of the  fifth pair;
it was enlarged, of a yellow color, and vascular
below;  second, a conversion  of the nerve itself, at
its insertion into the annular protuberance, into a
yellow  gelatinous-looking matter,  similar to the
ganglion, and penetrating,  in little processes, the 
47
substance of  the  protuberances in the direction
of the nervous insertions.  The muscular branches
of the  nerve, however, were found  healthy on the
otherwise affected side; the process of mastication
therefore had never been  injured.
  The difference  in  the  functions of  the  facial
nerve and fifth pair, afford a new proof of the dis-
tinction between nerves  of feeling and nerves of
motion.
  M. Magendie* found that sensibility was destroy-
ed when the dorsal roots of the spinal nerves were
cut  through, and  that motion suffered when the
abdominal origins were the subjects of  his experi-
ments.  He also  observed that the abdominal side
of the spinal cord was  less sensible to pricking or
cutting than the dorsal; but that the introduction
of a probe along the axis  of the part did not  seem
to have  influence either upon motion or sensation.
The case of a man, who died in his sixty sixth year
at  Charenton, seems  to  corroborate these  ideas.
During the last seven years of his life his organs of
motion had been paralyzed, but those of sensation
remained uninjured; his intellectual faculties were
almost annihilated, and his excretions were all in-
voluntary.  Thus reduced, he died.  On opening
the  body, the pyramidal  and olivary bodies were
found  pulpy, and of a dirty gray color.  The same
change was observed along nearly the whole  of the
anterior surface of the spinal cord, and penetrating
through  almost the whole thickness of the fibrous
bundles  that compose it.   The abdominal roots of
the  spinal  nerves were still visible, but  their con-
  * Journal de Physiologie Experimental et Pathologique, torn. iii. 
48
 sistence was much diminished.   The dorsal surface
 of the cord, on the contrary, and its investing mem-
 branes, were  in a healthy condition.   I am,  how-
 ever, rather inclined to  question the  accuracy of
 the report in  reference to the brain  and cerebel-
 lum,  when they are  stated to have been in a nat-
 ural state; for I observe that the skull was  of an
 ivory hardness,  and three times thicker than com-
 mon.  Such changes of the cranium are, I believe,
 constantly accompanied by alterations in the ence-
 phalic masses.
   M. Magendie also  mentions a singular case, ob-
 served by M. Rullier, of a man who died at the
 age of forty-four.  Up to his last hour, this person
 possessed great moral energies, strong generative
 powers, free motion of his lower limbs, and perfect
 sensation in his upper extremities.  The arms, how-
 ever, were rigid,  their muscles being permanently
 contracted, and often painful.  They were rotated
 inwards, and pressed to the sides of the body, from
 which they could not be separated, but with  some
 considerable effort.  The fore-arms were in a state
 of uneasy pronation, the  hands flexed,  and all the
 fingers bent.   On dissecting the body, after death,
 ' the spinal cord, examined with care, appeared in
 its natural state, from its  upper end as low  down
 as the  exit of the fourth  pair of cervical nerves.
 The dorsal surface of its two lower thirds was also
 healthy;   but  between the  portions named,  and
 through a space corresponding to the branching of
eight  or nine pairs of nerves, (six  or seven inches
in extent,) there was a  very decided alteration.
 The spinal cord was there so extremely soft and 
49
diffluent, that the sheath formed by the dura mater
seemed  filled  with a  true  fluid,  which,  indeed,
flowed upwards or downwards,  as the  body was
inclined.   A  puncture  being made through the
sheath,  a considerable  quantity of  the fluid in-
stantly  escaped.'
  The  last passage of this report, in reference to
the puncture of the dura mater,  does not seem to
me very exact; because in a preceding sentence it
is stated, that ' below  the part of the  arachnoid,
which adhered to the spinal cord, its proper mem-
brane seemed  charged with a great number of ves-
sels, both arteries and veins, all loaded with blood.'
This description leads me to conceive that the  dura
mater was slit lengthwise, and separated from the
arachnoid and proper investing membrane of the
spinal cord.  If this were not  so, the dura mater
must then have  adhered to the two inner mem-
branes,  and the puncture, consequently, could not
have been  confined to the  first alone.   I am con-
firmed in this  opinion by what M. Magendie says,
when he adds, that the man had probably lost a
good third  of the nervous matter of the spinal cord,
that the communication between its cervical and
dorsal parts was, so to say, maintained by the mem-
brane only ; for there seemed to remain no more of
its entire thickness than a layer of white substance,
scarcely two  lines  broad, and probably altered in
its structure.
  The state of the nervous pairs, corresponding tq
the part of the spinal cord that  was destroyed,
ought also, in  my opinion, to have been mentioned.
               7 
                      50

Information on  the structure of the remaining thin
layer of nervous  substance would likewise have
been interesting:  was it composed of  longitudinal
fibres, serving as  a means  of communication be-
tween the upper and lower portions of  the spinal
cord ?   Is it at all probable,  that  this office  was
performed  by the sheath, as stated?  If it  was,
the sheath, most certainly,  was neither the arach-
noid nor the dura mater.  The neurilema, that en-
velopes  the pulpy nervous substance immediately,
could alone execute such an office.
  M. Boulay, jun., veterinary  surgeon  at Paris, re-
lates the case of a horse, whose hind legs were com-
pletely  paralyzed, whilst their sensibility was ex-
treme.   On opening his  body, the whole of the
lower part of the spinal cord was found soft  and
diffluent.  There  were no traces of change in the
superior portion.   The nervous substance of the
lumbar  and sacral pairs of nerves was  of little con-
sistence, and  their sheaths  were red and inflamed.
  The distinction of the nervous roots into dorsal
and abdominal, accords with the two sorts of  func-
tion performed by the spinal mass.  This subject,
however, still requires elucidation; for M. Magen-
die  remarks, that {when the posterior  roots, cov-
ered even with their sheath,  are irritated, signs of
extreme  suffering are manifested; and, what is
particularly deserving of notice,  contractions of
those muscles  that receive nerves from below the
place so irritated are  excited; these  contractions
too, only occur on the side of the body the nervous
fibres of which are pricked.'  According to the ob-
 servations of the  same author, the abdominal sur- 
51
face of the spinal cord is not altogether insensible
when irritated.  The communication  between the
spinal cord and the nerves of the vegetative func-
tions is also known to be established  by means of
fibres, which  communicate directly with the ab-
dominal  roots of  the spinal  nerves;  nevertheless,
the will has no influence over the functions of the
viscera.  Moreover,  the fibres of the dorsal roots
are evidently larger than those of the abdominal;
both are in  proportion to the volume of the parts
to which they are distributed, and both send  off
branches that run into muscles.  It is improbable,
therefore, that the dorsal roots are  solely destined
to general  sensation.  Neither does it seem to me
at all likely, that the spinal cord  and its  nerves
are mere conductors of sensation,  and of volition
in reference to motion.  I rather conceive that they
aid in maintaining  the powers of  those  parts to
which they are distributed; for  instance, that the
muscles, or instruments of motion, acquire their
power, in part, through the influence of their nerves,
whilst the will to  make the muscles act resides in
the brain.   Thus, I do not  believe that the only
office of  the spinal cord, with its nervous roots, is
to establish a communication between external im-
pressions and the brain, and between  the brain and
the instruments of motion—the muscles.  To me
it seems probable,  that a very small part of the
spinal cord suffices for these purposes;  the partic-
ular  portion, or  organ, however,  cannot,  in the
present state of our  knowledge, be specified. The
experiments of  M. Magendie prove the abdominal 
52
 roots to include the conductors of volition;  but as
 each of these is composed of two halves, the one
 superior, the other inferior, and in man, of two dis-
 tinct cords, it Avould be interesting to repeat and
 to extend the experiments.,  and, by cutting  the
 halves  separately,  to ascertain whether  both prop-
 agate the  dictates of the will; or, if this task is
 limited  to  one, to that, namely, which does not
 communicate  with the intercostal nerves.   The
 ganglions of the intercostal nerves, as well as those
 of the dorsal roots of the spinal cord, may possibly
 prevent the will influencing  the  functions of the
 parts, to which these nerves are distributed.
   The set of experiments instituted by Dr. Bellin-
 geri,  and  detailed in  a Memoir read before the
 Royal Academy of Sciences  at  Turin,  in Febru-
 ary, 1824, do not tend to throw any new light on
 this interesting subject.  They confirm the general
 idea upon the presence of separate nerves of  sen-
 sation and of motion in the spinal cord; but they
 farther  accord  motion to the nerves that  issue from
 the  dorsal roots.   Dr. Bellingeri  says, his experi-
 ments prove,  1st, that the posterior roots  of the
 lumbar  and sacral  nerves  produce the motions of
 extension in the  lower extremities;  2d, that the
 posterior roots alone preside  over sensation; 3d,
 that  the anterior  roots produce  the  motions of
 flexion in the sacral extremities, and do not aid in
 perceiving external  impressions ; 4th, that the pos-
 terior bundles of the spinal cord preside over the
 motions  of extension  of the  inferior  extremities,
and have no connexion with perceptions of touch; 
53
5th,  that the white substance of the spinal cord,
and the nervous fibres that arise from it, are appro-
priated to  motion;  and, 6thly, that the gray sub-
stance  of  the  cord and the  nervous fibres that
spring from it, belong to sensation.
  I have copied these statements from the ' Revue
Encyclopedique,' vol. xxi. p. 723.  The ' Bulletin
des  Sciences Medicales,' for June, 1825, also  re-
cords these experiments, the inferences from which
are in opposition to those deduced by M. Magendie
from his own.
   I  do not think, with Dr. Bellingeri, that the ver-
tebral nerves can be divided into those which come
from the wiiite, and those which issue  from the
gray substance of the spinal cord; because, on ex-
amining the structure of this part and its nerves, I
find that the origins of the latter invariably present
the  same  appearance:  they  are universally  im-
planted, as it were, into the  gray substance of the
cord.
   From all I have said, it must  be evident that I
do not doubt the presence of two distinct species of
nerves among  those that issue from the spinal cord
 in  particular,  one propagating  impressions from
 without, the other conveying the dictates of voli-
 tion, in regard to  motion, from within.  This sub-
ject, however, is obviously involved in much ob-
 scurity, and will require ulterior  and farther in-
 vestigation, to be rendered clear.
   Let us now examine the structure of the nervous
 mass  of the spine, known under  the  title of spinal
 cord,  or spinal marrow. 
54
                CHAPTER I.

  Of the Nervous Mass of the  Vertebral Column.

  The spinal cord is found in all vertebral animals,
whilst in the avertebralia, such as worms, insects,
the Crustacea, and moliusca, the nerves form mass-
es, which are separate and distinct in the ratio of
their functions.   The digestive powers of the aver-
tebralia commonly predominate over those of gen-
eral sensibility;  and the same ganglions that sup-
ply the viscera with  nerves, also  supply the mus-
cles.  In the vertebralia, on  the contrary,  where
sensation  and motion play principal parts, there
are particular nervous masses destined to each kind
of function.
  The spinal cord having always  the same func-
tions, may be conveniently  compared in the four
classes of vertebral animals.  In all, its structure
is essentially the same;  modifications only  are to
be observed.

  General  Considerations on the Spinal  Cord of
               Man and Animals.

  The nervous  mass of the spine is  composed of
two similar halves, one on each side of the  mesial
plane of the body.  They are parted to a certain
depth by two longitudinal clefts; the one, of course,
on the dorsal, (pi. i. fig. 5, 5 — 5) the other on  the
abdominal surface, (pi. i. fig. 4, 5 — 5) and  united 
55
between these fissures by a commissure, or appara-
tus of union, (pi. i. fig. 6 and 7. a — a.)  This com-
missure is pierced in its interior by a canal, which
is more or less distinct in different animals, (pi. i.
fig. 8 and 9,) and  is  especially visible  during the
earliest periods of life.
   The  canal of the  spinal cord has given rise to
much discussion, and nothing  certain is even now
concluded in regard to it, either as to the space  it
occupies, or to the mode  of its  formation.   Before
explaining my own views upon this point, I shall
quote  a passage, published in the first volume of
our large work on the ' Anatomy and  Physiology
of the Brain and Nervous System.'
   'M. Demangeon  and  Messrs. Devilliers, uncle
and nephew, afforded us the opportunity of examin-
ing a case of Spina bifida, conjoined with  consid-
erable hydrocephalus. From the  second  to the
fourth lumbar vertebra,  the  spinous processes of
which were wanting, there extended a membranous
pouch about two inches in diameter.  During the
eighteen days which the  child survived its birth, a
great quantity of fluid exuded  continually from this
pouch.  Having cut away some of the other verte-
brae,  we observed no swelling of the dura  materf
neither did any fluid escape when we slit open this
membrane lengthwise.  It was only between the
arachnoid and  the proper vascular  coat, that  a
small quantity had accumulated, and it communi-
cated with the pouch.
  ' The spinal  cord was of  its usual  form.  We
shook  the head, and  turned it  in every direction,
but could  perceive no communication between the 
56
 water collected in the ventricles of the cerebral
 hemispheres and the spinal cord or its membranes.
   ' To learn, positively, whether  or not any com-
 munication did exist between the pouch and inte-
 rior of the spinal cord, we cut this across in  the
 neck :  it appeared in the usual state; on blowing,
 however, through a pipe upon the transverse cut,
 each half of the cord presented an opening, about
 the magnitude of a middle-sized goose-quill.  The
 two canals were  separated  by  the  commissure.
 We could not  inflate the spinal  cord through its
 entire length at once.  We could only effect this
 partially.   Downwards, the air penetrated  freely
 for three  inches, but there the  canals were no
 farther pervious, so that no communication existed
 between them  and the pouch.  Neither could we
 perceive that there was any fluid in the canals.
 The pouch, itself, was  formed partly by the dura
 mater and tunica arachnoides.  Its superior edge
touched the lower  extremity of  the spinal cord.
Although we had blown into the two halves of the
spinal marrow  in so easy and uniform a manner,
we still could not determine whether the  canals
were to be considered as an effect  of disease or not.
We, therefore, examined the spines of children at
the period of birth, of others somewhat older, and
of adults;  in all we discovered a corresponding or-
ganization.  We, however, found  that the  canals
 did not expand before  the blow-pipe so readily in
children somewhat advanced, and in adults, as
they did in subjects in  the earliest infancy; we,
therefore,  to show the  fact, prefer  the bodies  ol 
57
newly-born  children.   In other respects, precisely
similar openings on each side are to be observed
in all;  the  interior  surfaces  too, being  always
smooth.  If the blowing into the canals  be con-
tinued from  below until as many as six or eight
lines are opened, and  only five or six lines are  cut
off in succession, so  that the opening  may  be
always  maintained,  the canals may be  followed
into the  medulla  oblongata,  the  tuber  annulare,
under the corpora quadrigemina, through the crura
cerebri, and even on to the supposed optic thalami
and the commencement of the corpora striata.   Al-
though no opening be observable into the fourth
ventricle, nor into  the aqueduct of Sylvius, nor into
any other of the cerebral cavities, this  structure,
nevertheless, would incline us to admit  the possi-
bility of a fluid being  secreted by the canals, and
producing a true dropsy of one or both cavities of
the spinal cord.
   ' Each half of the spinal cord, then, may be con-
sidered as a membrane doubled on itself, along the
middle line of which the gray substance, although
without  apparent division, may, by a slight blast,
be separated, so as to  form the sides of a canal.
   ' No violent  separation can here  be  supposed;
for, in the first place, it is  effected with  perfect
ease,  whilst in  other  situations, and even where
the gray substance is  much softer, no disjunction
can be effected without the greater difficulty. Sec-
ondly, where a separation of parts  is the conse-
quence of violence, the edges are ragged  and  un-
even ; whilst in the case cited, the surfaces are con-
              8 
58
 tinuous and smooth.  Thirdly, the openings in the
 situations mentioned, are always found in the same
 places, are perfectly equal, being sometimes quite
 round, sometimes oval-shaped, sometimes  slightly
 angular, and  running now horizontally, then ver-
 tically, obliquely, or in a  semicircular direction,
 according as the curves, of the medulla oblongata,
 of the pons Varolii, of the crura cerebri, of the optic
 thalami, or  the parts that  surround the canal de-
 termine.  If the air be propelled too  forcibly, the
 canal will  burst where the gray substance is  the
 most slightly  covered by nerves, as at the places
 where the nerves issue, although the tearing off of
 these does not, of itself, give any outlet to  the air.'
  Since the above was written, I have seen reason
 to change  my opinion, and I  now consider  the
 canals to be mere effects of the blowing.   I have
 produced them  in birds and fishes,  as well as in
 man.  They are not, however, I must here observe,
 to be confounded with the true canal of the spinal
 cord—the  canal that  exists in the interior of the
 commissure or  apparatus of union.  This  is quite
 uniform,  and is occasionally the seat  of  disease,
 getting filled with serum.  It is  more or less dis-
 tinct in animals of the inferior classes, and in  the
 embryos of those of superior tribes.  In the human
 foetus, it is  commonly visible during the first four
 or five months from conception.  After this date it
 is generally, though not  invariably,  obliterated.
 This explains how its  existence has been at one
time admitted, at another denied, and how, in ex-
traordinary cases, it has even been  found in ad- 
59
vanced  old age,  as Charles Etienne, Columbus,
Morgagni,  Senac,  Portal, and other authors have
observed.   The  canal of the spinal cord appears
to be analogous to the aqueduct of Sylvius.
  M. Serres  has  said that  the spinal marrow in
young embryos consists of two cords,, which unite
first in  front  and  compose a  gutter, but which
coming together, speedily get blended behind.  The
interior  of  the spinal marrow is then hollow, and
forms a  long canal, which is gradually filled up by
the deposition of successive layers of gray substance
secreted by the  pia mater, which  has insinuated
itself into the canal.
  This account does not appear to me correct and
conformable to nature.  I allow that the two cords
unite at the  bottoms of the clefts;  but  I likewise
maintain that each contains gray matter in its in-
terior, in the direction of the  two nervous roots
that are implanted.  But were  the spinal mass de-
veloped, and its  canal obliterated, as  M. Serres
would have us believe, by the  deposition of gray
substance in  successive layers, this  process ought,
evidently, to  go on in the interior  of each of the
cords composing it, and not in  the  canal between
the two similar halves.
   The corresponding parts of each half of the spinal
cord are voluminous in the ratio of their implanted
nerves.   This proposition is strikingly exemplified,
by comparing the spinal cord of  animals, whose
superior are  larger than their inferior extremities,
with that of  others, whose  inferior are of greater
size than their superior limbs.
mm 
60
   I have already said that there is a mass of gray
substance contained in the interior of each half of
the spinal cord, proportionate, in quantity,  to the
volume of the corresponding parts of the same, and
to the nervous roots that issue at the same place.
The gray substance is disposed in a crescent form on
each side of the apparatus of union, towards  which
its concave aspects are turned.  (PI. i. fig. 9 and 10.)
   The white fibres  of the spinal cord, on both the
abdominal and dorsal surfaces, follow the gray sub-
stance throughout its extent, so that there  are two
nervous roots in each half: one dorsal, another ab-
dominal. (PL i. fig. 9 and 10.) The dorsal roots gen-
erally, and the entire dorsal mass (pi. i. fig. 9 and 10,)
are more considerable than the abdominal roots and
corresponding half.  The dorsal roots communicate
with the intervertebral ganglions (pi. i. fig. 3,4, a—a,)
and the latter are proportionate to the former.
   No division of the spinal cord into dorsal and ab-
dominal portions is  effected by two such channels
as separate  it laterally into halves ;  it is, at most,
only marked by ligamentum dentatumby which the
cord, on each side  is attached to the dura mater.
(PI. i. fig. 3,4,5, and 6.) Neither is it proper to view
the lateral portions  of the spinal cord, as composed
of three bundles extending from one of its extremi-
ties to the other.  They are much rather to be con-
sidered^as nervous membranes folded on themselves,
and  forming a  tube,  containing gray  substance.
(PI. i. fig. 10.)
   The fissures on the abdominal and dorsal aspects
of the spinal cord, are quite constant.  The first is 
61
shallower,  but more conspicuous,  than the other.
(PI. i. fig. 10.)
  The abdominal  nervous roots of the spinal cord
communicate with the nerves of the thorax and ab-
domen ; those of the dorsal surface frequently in-
osculate, and filaments  from  one  pair  of nerves
often run to join  the fasciculi  composing another.
(PI. i. fig. 5.)
  Among the general considerations on the spinal
cord, the question respecting its uses still remains
for examination.
  Anatomists have been in the frequent habit  of
speaking of a central mass in  the nervous system,
from which they conceive all its other parts to arise.
The brain,  cerebellum, and spinal cord, have very
commonly been  so entitled.   M. de Blainville, how-
ever, separates the brain and cerebellum from the
central mass.  These he arranges, along with the
external senses and intervertebral ganglions, under
the general title, Ganglionary portion of the nervous
system; and  he confines the central  mass exclu-
sively to the  spinal cord and  medulla oblongata.
In his view, the ganglionary is only added to, and
not derived from, or produced  by, the central por-
tion.  The two  nervous roots of the spinal cord are,
he says, mere fibres of communication between the
central part of the nervous system and  the nerves
of sensation and voluntary motion which originate
in the intervertebral ganglions.
   To  me,  anatomical,  as well as  physiological,
facts, seem to militate against this opinion of M. de
Blainville.   In the first place, the intervertebral 
62
ganglions  belong to the dorsal roots  only of the
spinal  nerves.  Our author, consequently, forgets
to mention the  origin and use of the abdominal
roots entirely.  But is it not probable,  that  both
dorsal and abdominal roots arise in the same man-
ner ?  The filaments of the spinal roots,  too, are
in proportion to the corresponding  masses of the
cord whence  they issue.  Now, as the abdominal
roots have no intervertebral ganglions, and as they
are evidently detached from the spinal cord, ought
we not to conclude that the dorsal roots are  so in
like manner ?
  Another proof of  the erroneousness of M.  de
Blainville's opinion exists in the size of the nervous
filaments of the spinal cord. The apparatus of com-
munication is never so large as the parts that com-
municate : what a difference, for example, between
the volume  of the  nervous masses of vegetative
and of phrenic life, and their communicating fibres!
  Neither is M. de Blainville's opinion supported by
physiology.   The ganglionary portion, he conceives
to be sufficient for the performance of its own  func-
tions ; that is to say, adequate of itself to feel, and
to cause the execution of voluntary motion; what
then becomes of the  central portion ? what  is its
use?   Admitting it to establish communications
between the different parts of  the nervous system,
it cannot,  however, exist solely for such a purpose ;
its volume is  by much too  considerable to permit
such a supposition  to be  entertained.  Again,  it
most certainly is not destined  to the affective and
intellectual  operations, for there is no proportion 
63
between them and the development of the spinal
cord.   On the contrary, it  is  certain that  general
sensation and voluntary motion  are in direct rela-
tion  to the volume of the  nervous masses of the
vertebral column.  Animals, eminently endowed
with these two functions, have always a considera-
ble spinal cord, and its parts  are proportionate  to
the organs which receive their nerves from thence.
The several  parts of the spinal cord are also aug-
mented, as the apparatuses of sensation and of mo-
tion are increased in number or size.   Further, the
spinal cord is developed at a much earlier period of
life than the cerebral masses: it has acquired solid-
ity and firmness, while the brain is still  pulpy and
devoid of fibres; and, in  harmony  with this law,
children  display great muscular  activity, — their
love  of bodily exercise  is insatiable, before their
mental faculties appear in any degree of vigor.
   M. Serres, who  admits all the  organic systems,
 the nervous in particular,  to be developed from the
 circumference towards the centre,  maintains that
 the nerves  are  fully developed  when  the spinal
 cord and brain are  still in a fluid state.  In con-
 formity with this his hypothesis, he denies that the
 spinal cord  gives origin to its nerves.  These,  ac-
 cording to him, are only implanted in it.
   Dr.  Bailly conceives, as I have said, the same
 nervous elements to belong to every particular ver-
 tebra, i. e. nerves of sensation, of motion,  of diges-
 tion, and of the intellectual  functions.  He  speaks
 of eight cords that compose the intellectual  system
 of the vertebral column :  the superior median cord, 
64
continuous with the pyramidal eminence, and ter-
minating  anteriorly  in  the cerebral  hemisphere;
the lateral inferior cord, ending in the internal layer
of the corpora quadrigemina; the superior lateral
cord, which terminates in the cerebellum; and the
inferior median cord, ending in the lateral convo-
lutions of the medulla, — convolutions which are
most largely developed in cartilaginous fishes, and
which correspond to  the ribbon  of gray substance
of mammiferous animals. These eight longitudinal
cords, four on each side, according to this  author,
exercise functions analogous to those of the cerebral
hemispheres, the internal slip of the quadrigeminal
bodies, the cerebellum, and the lateral convolutions
of the fourth ventricle in fishes, or the  gray band in
the mammalia.  The medulla oblongata  in the
same  gentleman's  view,  presents  alternately an
intellectual cord and a nervous pair.
   These physiological suppositions will, I make no
doubt, share the fate of so many  others, that are
now forgotten.   In my opinion, the spinal  cord is,
1st, the origin of the nerves styled spinal; 2d, an
apparatus that  contributes to  muscular and sensi-
tive powers;  and 3d, a means of communication
between the cerebral operations, the sense of touch,
the power of motion in general, and the functions
of vegetative life collectively.

Particular Considerations in regard to the Spinal
                     Cord.

   Before the development of the extremities in the
embryo, in animals also that naturally have none, 
65
and in cases of monstrosity where they are wanting,
the spinal cord has no enlargements.  These appear
with, and are in proportion to, the extremities.
  In the lower animals the spinal cord extends far-
ther into its bony canal  than  in the human  kind.
Up to the fourth month of the human embryo's ex-
istence, it runs to the extremity of the coccyx; but
the peculiar structure, termed cauda equina, which
is more remarkable in man than in  any other ani-
mal, becomes more  and more apparent after this
period.   The  caudal appearance is produced by
the sacral and lumbar nerves.
  The spinal cord of the human  kind commonly
terminates by one  or two little knobs, (of which
the superior, when there are two, is the larger,) op-
posite to the second lumbar vertebra, and it is then
attached, by means of a tendinous slip, to the bot-
tom of the vertebral canal.
   The  spinal cord  is  commonly divided into four
portions: a cervical, dorsal,  lumbar,  and  sacral.
Each  of these detaches several pairs of nerves,
the number  of  which varies in different species of
animals; in man it amounts to thirty pairs, five be-
ing sacral, a like  number lumbar,  twelve  dorsal,
and seven cervical.
   The  spinal cord of man, as of animals, is enlarg-
ed, and contains a  larger quantity of gray sub-
stance at those places  where the great  nerves of
the  extremities are detached,  than at any other.
Although many anatomists,  M. Serres among the
rest, deny that the spinal cord of man and animals
is enlarged at, and contracted between, the origin
           9 
66
of each pair of nerves, I still adhere to the opinion
which, in conjunction  with Dr. Gall, I  published
long ago; and I again appeal to nature  for confir-
mation of its accuracy.  These alternate enlarge-
ments and contractions  are more or less conspicuous,
in the ratio of the volume of the nervous pairs; they
are, for instance, more apparent in the ox and horse
than in man.  If, however, the human spinal cord,
stripped of its dura mater and arachnoid covering,
be held profile-wise against the light, the undulated
line of its edges will be abundantly obvious. In the
large work on the ' Anatomy of the Brain and Nerv-
ous System,' we have given drawings of .this struc-
ture from the spinal  cord of the calf,  and of man.
PI. i. fig. 3, is a portion  of a spinal cord of a calf.
  Several anatomists  have spoken of  numerous
transverse folds to be observed, especially on the ab-
dominal surface  of the spinal  cord: these become
very distinct when the  cord is  taken  from out  its
bony canal,  and one end is  brought  towards the
other; they disappear entirely, however, when the
part is stretched.   Such folds, therefore, appear to
result from the  bending of the cord, and not to be-
long to any original peculiarity of organization.
  On either side, and at some  little distance from
the great median fissure, two superficial channels
may be observed on the  dorsal surface of the human
spinal cord (pi. i. fig. 5, a—-a.)   They extend as far
as,  or a little way beyond, the first dorsal vertebra.
The two bands between the median and these su-
perficial fissures, are developed at the earliest peri-
od ; their structure is even complete, when the rest 
67
of the spinal cord is still a grayish and pulpy mass.
The bands on the external edges  of the dorsal and
abdominal median fissures,  appear in general, to
attain maturity of structure before any of the lat-
eral masses.
  By opening the mesial  abdominal fissure,  and
stripping off the vascular tissue,  the nervous fibres
will be seen running lengthwise and parallel to the
lateral bands, (pi. i. fig. 6;) but in the dorsal cleft,
they will be found descending perpendicularly from
its surface towards its bottom.  (PI. i. fig. 7.)
  The structure of the apparatus of union has not
the same appearance at the bottom of both fissures.
If the edges of the one on the dorsal aspect be gent-
ly separated, two white bands will be discovered
running lengthwise  (pi. i.  fig. 7, a—a,) almost as
occurs in the middle line of the great cerebral com-
missure (raphe of the corpus callosum;) on the bot-
tom of the abdominal fissure, on the contrary, fila-
ments will be observed running  transversely from
the sides towards the median line.  These bundles
do not meet;  they rather interlace, each  terminat-
ing on either side between  the two that come from
the opposite side.  (PI. i. fig. 6, a—a.)
  Besides the peculiarities of its shortness compar-
ed with the vertebra] canal, and  of its termination
in the cauda  equina, the spinal  cord of man pre-
sents another striking peculiarity in the  direction
in which its nerves are detached.  The  direction
in which the spinal nerves are sent off, varies wide-
ly in different classes of animals.  In man, their
course is downwards and outwards:  this depends 
68
evidently on the vertical posture, by which man is
distinguished from the other mammalia, and on the
shortness of his spinal cord compared with its bony
canal. In the human kind, only the first pair of cer-
vical nervous roots on the dorsal surface (pi. i. fig.
5,) and the two first pairs upon the abdominal (pi.
i. fig. 4,)  have  one set  of bundles coming  from
above, downwards, and  another from below, up-
wards ; all the other pairs are detached  more and
more obliquely  downwards,  to gain the vertebral
holes by which they  issue, in  proportion as  they
arise nearer to the sacral extremity of the spinal
cord.   In  other animals, on the  contrary, whose
spinal nervous  masses occupy the entire length of
the vertebral canal, the nerves are sent off directly
opposite to the intervertebral  spaces at  which
they issue.   (PI. i. fig. 3.)
  I have still to speak of the superior extremity of
the spinal  cord.  By the words spinal marrow  or
cord, most  anatomists understand the nervous mass
that extends throughout the spinal canal up to the
occipital  hole;  others, Messrs.  Soemmerring  and
Chaussier  among the  number, say that it goes  as
far  as the annular protuberance.  They  conse-
quently include the pyramidal and olivary bodies,
the accessory, pneumogastric, glossopharyngeal and
hypoglossal nerves;  all  the mass, in  short,  com-
monly named  medulla oblongata.  They speak of
two portions—one cranial,  another spinal, of the
spinal cord ; the first being, of course,  contained in
the skull, the second in the canal  of the vertebral
column. 
69
  The organization of the spinal nervous mass can-
not be said to change entirely when it enters the
cranium :  several pairs of nerves are still detached
precisely in the same manner as they are in the
spine: the nerves too, in  both cases, perform sim-
ilar functions.  The proper spinal masses  are also
intimately connected with those of the medulla ob-
longata.  In this last part, however, the abdominal
fissure is interrupted by the decussating bundles of
the pyramidal bodies : the size of the mass is also
very sensibly increased here,  and there is  no regu-
lar proportion between the proper spinal  cord and
the mass that extends from the occipital hole to the
annular protuberance.  Moreover, the roots of sev-
eral cerebral nerves, as they  are styled, are found
in  this last mass, as  also   the rudimentary parts of
the brain and cerebellum.  Lastly, the word spinal
refers to a particular situation — the spine.  These
reasons may suffice to make us limit the title spinal
 cord to the mass included in the vertebral canal,
 and extending from the occipital hole, or commence-
 ment of the pyramidal decussation to the cauda
 equina or horse's tail. 
70
                 CHAPTER II.

 Of the pretended Cerebral Nerves; or, of the Cranial
  Nerves of the External  Senses and  Voluntary
  Motion.

  It is usual for anatomists to consider the nervous
mass lying between the occipital hole and annular
protuberance, as distinct and particular.  In former
times, this part was taken for a prolongation of the
brain and cerebellum, and, therefore, called medulla
oblongata.  In man it is  composed of parts, named
severally, pyramidal bodies, which are two in num-
ber, anterior (pi. vi. fig. 1.,  1—c.) and posterior (pi.
xi. in the middle line  ;) olivary bodies (pi. vi. fig. 1,
a.;) restiform bodies (pi.  xi. e. e.;) accessory nerves
(pi. i. fig. 3,  4,  and 5; pi.  vi. fig. 1,2—3;)  hypo-
glossal nerves (pi. vi.  4;) pneumogastric nerves (ib.
6;) glossopharyngeal nerves (ib. 7 ;) auditory nerves
(ib. 9;)  facial nerves  (ib. 11;) and abductor nerves
(ib. 10.)
  At the conclusion of the  last chapter, I remarked
that it was a mistake to confound the  part  called
medulla  oblongata and  the  spinal cord together.
I here subjoin that the medulla oblongata is not a
separate and particular nervous mass :  it gives or-
igin to the nerves above mentioned, and also to the
fifth pair; but there is yet one portion of each of its
halves which belongs, decidedly, to the cerebellum,
and another which pertains to the brain. 
71
  The volume of  the  medulla  oblongata varies
greatly in the different classes of animals:  its size
is determined by the nerves that arise from it, and
by the bundles that proceed to the cerebellum and
brain.   Its increase beyond the size of the spinal
cord, is more remarkable in reptiles than in fishes,
in birds than in reptiles, and is especially consider-
able in the mammalia, which, generally, have the
medulla oblongata as well as spinal cord  propor-
tionately larger than man, because the nerves de-
tached  from these parts are larger in them  than in
the human kind.
  At present, I mean only to speak of the supposed
cerebral nerves.  The pyramidal, olivary, and resti-
form bodies  will be examined with the cerebellum
and brain of which they are parts.
  The  opinions of authors upon  the origin of the
nerves of the head are very various.   In  general
they are derived from the brain—hence their name
cerebral.   But some writers limit the title brain to
the hemispheres,  and join  the striated bodies, the
optic thalami, the cerebral legs and annular protu-
berance to the medulla oblongata; or, otherwise,
they look on all these as  parts of the spinal cord,
and  then  say that no nerve whatever arises from
the  brain, that is, the  hemispheres, immediately.
By thus extending the limits of the medulla oblon-
gata and  spinal cord,  however, parts that belong
essentially to the brain are included. The princi-
ple we lay down, therefore, that no nerve originates
in the brain, and  that every nervous part  has its
own origin, so that the nerves can no more be de- 
72
rived from the brain than can the various nervous
pairs from each other,  cannot  possibly be con-
founded with any of the foregoing opinions of au-
thors.
  The proofs we adduce in support of our position,
as to the independent origin of the various nervous
parts, are constantly the same; all, therefore, that
has been said to demonstrate the spinal cord to be
no continuation  of the brain, applies to the nerves
of the head, and proves that they do not owe their
being to the brain, and that no one pair derives its
existence from any other.   In the first place, the
nerves of the head bear no proportion to the brain
in size; and then, these nerves exist in acephalous
monsters, whose brain never had being.  Moreover,
the course taken by the nerves towards the cranial
holes through which they pass, proves, in the most
positive manner, that they are not continuations of
the cerebral fibres.  In  examining  the individual
nerves, I shall speak of their several peculiarities,
as origin, structure, and connexion are  concerned.
  The nerves of the head, as of the spine, have been
long classed into pairs.   The number of pairs reck-
oned, however, varies considerably; sometimes they
are said to be seven, sometimes eight, or nine, or,
according to M.  Soemmerring's method of counting,
as many as twelve.  However, the mode of indica-
ting the several pairs of nerves numerically,  and
speaking of the first pair, the second pair, the third
pair, and so on, possesses no practical  advantages,
because,  besides the  number, the functions of each
pair must still be learned.   It is better, therefore, 
73
to designate each pair of the cranial nerves in suc-
cession from its functions or its destination.*
   Some authors have divided the nerves according
to their places  of detachment,  into  nerves of the
brain, of the cerebellum, of the  annular protuber-
ance, and of the medulla oblongata.   This attempt
at classification is necessarily very deficient, for it
is based upon an  error in regard to the origins of
the nerves; the actual  place of origin being con-
founded with that at which they issue immediately
from the general mass.


Of the Accessory Nerve.—Spinal, or Spinal Acces-
   sory of Willis.—3d Branch of the 8lh pair of J.
   Bell.—Superior Respiratory of C Bell.

   The accessory nerve  is  found in  man and the
other mammalia.   (PL i. fig. 3, 4, 5, and pi. vi. fig.
1, 2—3.)   It arises  from the cervico-spinal  mass
and  medulla oblongata.  Its filaments come from
the dorsal  surface of these parts, and  vary in num-
ber,  in thickness, and in length,  not only in differ-
ent individuals of different species, but even on the
two  sides of the same subject.   The first filaments
are detached at various  heights, sometimes higher,
sometimes lower,  in  the spinal  cord, issuing from
the level of the seventh cervical  pair in  one in-

  * In order to diminish somewhat of the confusion arising from a
perusal of the  various works on the brain and nervous system, each
possessing a  nomenclature different from the others, it has been
thought proper to add some of their synonyms to each of the cranial
nerves.                                        E.
              10 
74
stance, and from that of the fifth in another.   The
accessory recedes from the spinal cord and medul-
la oblongata, as  it approaches  the pneumogastric
nerve, along with which it escapes from the  crani-
um.  I have already said, that  Mr.  Charles Bell
arranges the accessory among the nerves of  respi-
ration.  In contributing to this  function, it produ-
ces motion, and  is influenced by the will: never-
theless, it is detached, as we have seen, from the
dorsal surface of the spinal cord.


Of the Pneumogastric Nerve.—Par vagum.—Mid-
  dle Sympathetic.— Vocal.—Pulmonary 2d branch
  of the 8th pair.

  The pneumogastric occurs in  all vertebral ani-
mals.  In man (pi. vi. fig. 1, 6,)  it issues  by numer-
ous filaments between  the olivary,  (ibid, a,) and
the restiform (e e)  bodies; nearer to   the latter,
however, than  to the former.   It unites with a
great number of other nerves, a circumstance that
has obtained for  it the  title vagus.   Its branches
run  to  the larynx and pharynx, to the thyroid
gland, the  vessels of the neck, and the  great con-
duits of the heart, to the lungs, the liver, spleen,
pancreas, stomach, and duodenum.  As  some of its
principal branches are distributed to the organs of
voice, and as its  lesions derange the functions of
these parts, it has also been called the vocal nerve.
The communications by its means established, and
its extensive distribution, explain the sympathies
that exist  between  the throat, lungs, stomach,
heart, &c. 
75
         Of the Glossopharyngeal Nerve.

   In the mammalia and man, (pi. vi. fig. 1, 7,) this
nerve comes off from the medulla oblongata,  just
before the pneumogastric,  by a  great many fila-
ments, which,  speedily uniting into one or more
bundles, compose a trunk that runs to supply the
pharynx and muscles of the tongue.  It appears to
be destined to general sensation.


Of the Hypoglossal Nerve.—9th  pair of Wiilis.—
   Gustatorius of Winsloiv.—Singualis of Vicq. oV
   Azyr.—Sublingual.

   The hypoglossal in man arises partly near the
olivary and  pyramidal bodies, and partly  lower
down, by several filaments  that are detached,  and
get united after the manner of the cervical nerves.
(PL vi. fig. 1,4.)  It supplies the tongue  with mo-
tive power, and acts in mastication,  deglutition,
speaking, singing, &c.


Of the Abductor Nerve of the Eye.—6th pair of
        Willis.—External Motor of Meckel.

   This nerve arises  in all  mammiferous animals,
from the abdominal surface of the medulla oblon-
gata.   (PL vi. fig. 1,  10.)   In some,  as the  horse,
ox, and deer,  it mounts all the way along with, and
by the side of, the pyramidal bodies, in the form of 
76
a band, which, on reaching  the annular protuber-
ance, divides into two.   In the human subject it is
generally covered by some transverse fibres of the
protuberance.  Its distribution, as its name implies,
is to the abductor muscle of the eye.*


Of the Facial Nerve.—Portio Dura of the 7th pair.
     —Nervicus communicans faciei of J. Bell.

  The facial  is detached from the  spinal cord in
the same manner as the nerves I have just discuss-
ed.   Its true origin is readily seen in the lower an-
imals; but in man,  (pi. vi. .fig. 1,11,)  it (or  some
of its filaments at least)  seems to come from the
annular protuberance.   This  happens  in  conse-
quence of its being  covered entirely, or partially,
by  the transverse fibres  of the parts  mentioned.
The distribution of this nerve is to the muscles of
the face; it also communicates freely with all the
three branches of the fifth pair.


Of the Motor  Nerve of the Eye.—3d pair of Willis.
          —The common Motor of Meckel.

  The filaments composing this nerve, (pi. vi. and
pi. x. fig. 1, 15,)  issue from the blackish body of

  * The origin of this nerve seems not to be confined to any par-
ticular spot. The editor has seen it arise at the pyramidal decus^
sation, in the brain of a negro, and pass over and by the sides of the
olivary bodies. In another brain, he has observed it arise from the
annular protuberance, about a line from the base of the pyramidal
bodies. 
77
the cerebral legs (pi. x. fig. 1, 30;) theselinite and
go to supply the superior, internal, inferior straight,
and inferior oblique, muscles of the eye, and the el-
evator of the upper eye-lid.   It is detached in  all
vertebral animals, from the cerebral crura behind
the tuber cinereum, or ash-colored tubercle, (pL vi.
17.,) which is situated immediately behind the junc-
tion of the optic nerves.


Of the Nerve of the Superior Oblique Muscle of the
  Eye. — Athpair or Patheticus of Willis. — Troch-
  learis. — Internal Motor of Meckel.

  This nerve, (pi. vi.  13,) springs by several fila-
ments behind the posterior pair of  quadrigeminal
bodies in the mammalia,  (pi. xi.  fig. 1, o,) and be-
hind the bigeminal bodies in  the other  classes of
animals.  It has no prerogative over the  other
nerves of motion in expressing the  affections and
passions; the  name  patheticus,  or  ogling nerve,
therefore, which it  has  obtained,  is  misapplied.
Although a nerve of motion, it arises from the dor-
sal surface of the nervous mass.


Of the Trigeminal Nerve.—5th pair of Willis.—Tri-
                facial of Meckel.

  The trigeminal (pi. vi. fig. 1, 12,)  arises from the
medulla oblongata.  Its place of origin is apparent
in those animals, as reptiles, birds, and fishes, which
have  no  annular protuberance,  and  also in  the 
78
mammalia which have it of small size; but in man,
the monkey, and other tribes, where this part is
very large, the trigeminal seems  to arise from it;
the nerve, however,  is, in fact,  only covered by
some of its transverse fibres, (pi. viii. fig. 1, i—k,)
and the origin of the nerve is, in  fact, the same in
all animals.   To show it in the human kind, the
fibres of the annular protuberance that cover  it,
must, of course, be dissected away.
  The trigeminal nerve is distributed to every part
of the  face, to the muscles of the forehead,  of the
eyelids, nose, lips, jaws, and ears; it communicates
with the organs  of all the five senses, and of volun-
tary motion, and brings these and the other parts
of the body,  the  face, neck, trunk, and extremities,
into mutual relationship.
  One branch of the trigeminal is ramified on the
tongue, and is regarded as the true gustatory nerve.
It is, therefore, destined to take  cognizance of an
impression of  a  specific kind, viz. taste.   If some
feel disposed to regard taste as a sort of touch, they
must, at least, admit the impossibility of  confound-
ing or  assimilating this species of perception with
sensation in  general.


Of the Auditory Nerve. —Portio Mollis of the 1th
             pair. — Acoustic Nerve.

  The auditory  (pi. vi. 9,) as well as the nerve last
discussed, must  exist in the avertebral  tribes, but
its origin and peripheral expansion only become 
79
distinct and complex  as we ascend in the scale of
beings.  The origin of the auditory nerve is in many
fishes confounded with that of the facial  and tri-
geminal : in some kinds, however, it is more dis-
tinct, and is the same as in reptiles and birds. The
auditory nerve always arises laterally and posteri-
orly to the cerebellum.  In the mammalia, it comes
from the fourth ventricle, and traverses in its course
a band of gray substance, lying between the  resti-
form body  and the  cerebellum.  In man certain
white lines may commonly be  seen  in  the fourth
ventricle, (pi. xi. fig.  1. t,) which Piccoluomini was
the first to consider  as the origins of the  auditory
nerve. These lines, or streaks, are almost impercep-
tible in some subjects, but  in others they  are very
numerous and distinct.  They are observed to vary
on each  side, being occasionally larger and  more
numerous on one than on the  other.   Sometimes
they occur disposed  in rays, sometimes  in  pencils,
and, again,  they run parallel, often lying higher on
one than on the other side. They at one time ap-
pear as little flattened bands, at another  as rounded
and salient  cords.  Piccoluomini's opinion  of their
use seems now to be very generally adopted; it is
certain, indeed, that some  of them do  unite with
the  auditory nerve, but others  run to the anterior
cerebellar lobes,  and others dip into the middle of
the  cerebellum.  Although many of the mammalia
have much  larger auditory nerves than man, these
white fibres are nevertheless  wanting in all.   In
them, there is a broad band on either side, extend-
ing from the one auditory nerve to the other, im- 
80
 mediately behind  the  annular protuberance, and
 above all the  ascending bundles, except the pyra-
 midal bodies.  (PL iv. fig. 2, c.)  This band appears
 to be an  apparatus of union or a commissure.  It
 does not give origin to the facial nerve,  as some
 anatomists have supposed.


      Of the Optic Nerve. — 2d pair of Willis.

   Since the days of Eustachius  and Varolius, the
 majority of anatomists have derived this nerve (pi.
 vi. fig. 1, 20,) from  certain masses,  which have, in
 consequence, been  entitled thalami of the  optic
 nerves.  (PL x. fig. 1. p.)  Others, however, fol-
 lowed some of its fibres backwards to the anterior
 of the  quadrigeminal bodies.  (PL xi. fig. 1, n.)
 And  it is easy in  the  mammalia to do this.  A
 broad slip issues from  the  anterior quadrigeminal
 body of either side, which turns  round upon the
 outer  edge of the thalamus, simply superimposed
 upon the cerebral crura, but attached to the neigh-
 boring masses along its  external edge, as far as its
junction with  its fellow of the opposite side.  (PL
 viii. fig. 1, w, id,  w.)  From  the tuber  cinereum,
 (pi. vi.  fig. 1,  17,) the optic  nerve  receives many
 additional fibres which join  it in  right lines,  and
 without decussating.  (PL  viii. fig. 2, 20.)
  It is the opinion of many anatomists, that the op-
tic nerves, at their junction, unite intimately with-
out decussating; many others,  on the contrary,
think that either nerve crosses to the side opposite
to that on which  it had arisen.  The numerous 
81
cases described by authors,  and the facts which
Dr. Gall and I have  collected, prove that atrophy
of one optic nerve is continued on the opposite side
after the junction of the two.
  We, therefore, agree  with those  who  recognise
a partial decussation of optic nerves in  man and
the mammalia.  The fibres  of  the outermost  por-
tions  appear to continue their  course  onwTards
without decussating.
  It was a great error to consider  the eminences
called optic  thalami, as  the sources of the optic
nerves.  There  is, in fact, no proportion  whatever
between these parts and the nerves  of vision.  In
the horse,  ox,  sheep, &c, the optic nerves are
as large  as in man, but the thalami,  in the human
kind, are much larger than in these  animals.
  A very cursory  examination of the structure of
the thalami  also shows a meres uperficial layer
attached to the  optic nerve and the whole of the
interior fibres proceeding  in a  divergent manner,
backwards, to be distributed to the cerebral convo-
lutions.  (PL x.  fig. I, p. P. P.)
  When the optic  nerve is affected with atrophy,
the corresponding thalamus is diminished  only in as
far  as  the nerve itself is lessened; the interior of
the thalamus suffers no change, but  the atrophy of
the nerve continues on to the anterior quadrigemi-
nal body which belongs to it.   I once found, in the
brain of a woman who had died insane, the  thala-
mus of the left  sid« half  converted  into pus; the
corpus striatum of the same side was also much
shrunk, but  the optic nerve  was  healthy,  and
                11 
82
resembled, in all respects, its fellow of the opposite
side, in the vicinity of which no organic change
could be  detected.  The interior pair of quadri-
geminal bodies were also in their natural state.
  The two thalami are rarely of equal size;  the
one on  the left side is commonly the smaller.  It,
therefore,  becomes necessary to guard against at-
tributing to atrophy of an optic nerve an appear-
ance that depends on natural conformation.
  Until Dr. Gall  and I showed the mistake, the op-
tic tubercles of birds and reptiles were confounded
with the thalami; these tubercles (pi. xi. fig.  2 and
3, n,) however, correspond to the anterior pair of
quadrigeminal  bodies.   The parts,  called  thalami
(pi. xi. fig.  2, p.,)  also  exist in the two classes of
creatures  mentioned, besides the true optic  gang-
lions, (ib. n.)
  It is a difficult  matter to say whether  the long
elevated bodies that occur immediately behind the
crossing of the optic nerves in fishes (pi. ii. fig. 4, 6,
8, 16,)  and correspond to the optic ganglions of
birds, that is to say, to the pair of ganglions (pi. iii.
fig. 5, 6, 7,10, and 11, n.) which comes immediately
after the cerebellum, or whether they ought  to be
likened to the bodies which are styled mammillary.
(PL vi. fig. 1, 16.)  The optic nerves of fishes seem
to arise from, at all events they communicate with,
these bodies.  By comparing pi. ii. fig. 4 and  6,  16,
with pi. iii. fig.  12, n., the optic ganglions  in  birds,
and  especially in  mammiferous animals,  will  be
seen to be  separated and pushed upwardly and lat-
erally by  the  medulla  oblongata,  cerebral  legs, 
83
and  annular  protuberance.  Moreover, the optic
nerves in fishes adhere to several other parts,  as
they do in the higher  classes of vertebral animals
and in man.  It is from this circumstance that a
great part of the other masses, especially those that
follow the cerebellum, arc called  optic ganglions;
but  these bear no proportion  to the optic nerves
(pi. ii. fig. 5, 7, and 10, n,) and to me, it seems more
reasonable  to allow, with Mr. Arsaky,* that the
complicated structure  of the  optic ganglions in
fishes, explains the functions of the derived nerves
which, in reptiles, birds, and the mammalia, are  ev-
idently aided  in their functions  by the other parts
with which they communicate.
   The implantation of the optic nerve of fishes into
the  inner edge of its  ganglion, which causes the
greatest part of this mass to appear  before  and
above it, bears a striking analogy to the adhesion
of the same nerve to the brain in other classes of
animals, and confirms the idea in question.  It is
rendered still more probable, as the same peculiar-
ity of structure is found in connexion with the ol-
factory nerves of fishes.   And  further, the oblong
bodies, which, in  fishes, lie behind the crossing of
the optic nerves, cannot possibly be supposed anal-
ogous to the mammillary bodies of mammiferous
tribes, because these last belong  to the fornix, and
this is a part which  fishes  have  not.  I may still
add that the-mammillary bodies bear no proportion
to the optic nerves, and that the  oblong bodies of
 fishes above mentioned  do, regularly.

   * Dissertatio de Piscium Cerebro et Medulla Spinali; Halae. 1813. 
84
  The oblong bodies of fishes, probably, correspond
to the gray tubercle, (tuber cinereum) of the mam-
malia.   This tubercle, in the higher classes  of be-
ings, always sends fibres to the optic nerves, which,
after this  accession, advance of increased size in
their course.  (PL viii. fig. 2.—17.)
  The connexion of the  optic nerve  with such a
number of cerebral parts, renders  its exact  origin
uncertain.  To appreciate  this  truth in  its  full
force, it will be necessary to reflect on what I have
still to say of the quadrigeminal bodies.
          Of the Quadrigeminal Bodies.

   The  title, corpora, or tubercula quadrigemina,
is applied to two pairs of round elevations, situated
behind the legs of the brain.   They are only found
in the mammalia and in man.   (PL xi. fig. 1, n, o.)
they are joined together by a transverse band (ib.
x,) and  they communicate with the  part  called
valve of Vieussens (ib. y,) with the bundles  that
proceed from the medulla oblongata, and with the
pretended  optic  thalami (ib. p.)  I have already
spoken  of the  large band  belonging to the optic
nerve, that  issues from the anterior pair of these
bodies.   Being in communication with  the bundles
which come from the posterior part of the medulla
oblongata, there  can  be no doubt but the quadri-
geminal bodies have their origin lower down in this
nervous mass; but as the optic nerves arise  from 
85
the anterior  pair  in the mammalia, and as these
nerves issue  in birds from a  couple of  ganglions,
separated from the general cerebral mass, (for, in
birds, they are only united to the bundles that pro-
ceed from the medulla oblongata) the analogy and
office of  these ganglions cannot be called in ques-
tion.  The destination of the posterior pair of quad-
rigeminal bodies is much less obvious.
  M. Serres* thinks  that the bigeminal  tubercles
of fishes, reptiles, and birds, and the quadrigeminal
bodies of mammiferous animals and  man, are the
same mass, destined,  in all, to originate  the  optic
nerves, and that the division into two  pairs hap-
pens merely  from  a transverse furrow, which, as it
runs more or less forwards or backwards, equalizes
them, or  causes in one case the anterior, in another
the posterior pair  to predominate.
  The posterior are intimately connected with the
anterior  tubercles, it is true;  but  there  is a white
band which  issues from the anterior pair,  joins a
small collection of gray substance, called corpus
geniculatum  externum (pi. viii. fig. 1, q.,) is thereby
increased in size, and then continues its course into
the optic nerve : in like manner there runs a  band
from the posterior pair, which unites with a mass
of gray substance, entitled corpus geniculatum  in-
ternum (pi. xi. fig. 1, r.,) and gaining, consequently,
in size, afterwards dips under the optic  nerve, and
is continued on towards the middle cerebral lobe.
This structure proves, at  the least, that the ante-

   * Anatomie du Cerveau; Preface.  Rapport de M. Cuvier. 
86
rior  and  posterior  pairs  of  the  quadrigeminal
bodies are no parts of one and the same nervous
mass.
  M. Serres also fancies that the corpora quadri-
gemina serve as a  basis, according to which the
other parts of the encephalon are determined (' les
tubercles quadrigeminaux servent de  base a la deter-
mination des autres parties de Vencephale ;') and he
investigates their relations with  many particular
cerebral parts.   His assumption  seems to me as
incorrect and untenable as the one I have just ex-
amined,  according  to  which  the  quadrigeminal
bodies are parts of one mass similar to the bigem-
inal tubercles of birds and reptiles.
  ' The quadrigeminal tubercles,' says M. Serres,
' are developed, in all the classes, and in every fam-
ily of each class, in a direct ratio, as are the optic
nerves  and the eyes.   Fishes have the  largest
quadrigeminal tubercles, and the most remarkable
eyes and optic nerves.  The very considerable size
of their quadrigeminal bodies, indeed, has led anat-
omists,  up  to the present time, into  the  error|of
supposing them to be the hemispheres of the brain.
After fishes come reptiles, then birds,  next, among
mammiferous animals, the rodentia, and in succes-
sion, the ruminantia, the  carnivora,  the quadru-
mana, and  man.'
  I have already shown, that  in  fishes generally,
the ganglions called optic,  are  disproportionate in
size to the nerves of vision ; and  I  have said that
part of these masses was, probably, destined to oth-
er functions.  The  optic nerve of the carp (pi. ii. 
87
fig. 4, 20) is  smaller  than that of the roach (pi.
ii. fig. 11,20;) but the  so styled optic  ganglions
(ib.n.) exist  in these fishes in  an inverse  propor-
tion.
  ' The  spinal marrow  and the corpora  quadri-
gemina,' says M. Serres in another place, c are  so
rigorously developed in the ratio of each other, that
the size of the first being  given in any class or  in
any of its families, the volume of the latter may  be
determined with precision.'
   But the bigeminal tubercles  in  the carp (pi. ii.
fig. 5, n.) are much larger, in proportion to the spi-
nal cord, than  in  the eel (pi.  ii. fig. 1) and the
roach (pi. ii. fig. 11.)  M.  Serres, himself, has giv-
en representations of the  optic apparatus in the
cassowary, ostrich, and  other birds,  much larger
in proportion to the spinal cord, than it is in the
many mammiferous animals  whose brains he has
figured; and the disproportion between  the devel-
opment  of the  quadrigeminal bodies and spinal
cord, is even greater in the dolphins and porpoises,
than in the ox, camel, and horse.
   The most  cursory glance over the physiology of
living beings also  shows the utter erroneousness of
M. Serres's position.  Powers of voluntary motion
and of touch never bear any direct  proportion  to
the faculty of vision.  The mole is, certainly,  far
more remarkable for  its  muscular strength  than
for its eyesight, and the owl for its powers of vision
than for its bodily vigor.
   I  shall discuss  the several relations  which  M.
Serres  believes he has  found between  the quad- 
88
 rigeminal bodies and other parts of the nervous
 system, as I treat of these in succession.
   M. Bailly, in  his Memoir  on the Comparative
 Anatomy of the Nervous System in the four classes
 of Vertebral Animals, maintains that the corpora
 quadrigemina  anteriora et posteriora, the corpora
 geniculata externa  et interna,  are  mere  parts  of
 the optic lobe of inferior classes.   He speaks of the
 unfolding of the quadrigeminal bodies in fishes, and
 of two systems of fibres  very different from each
 other;  the one exterior, and belonging to the optic
 nerves;  the other interior, and being the expansion
 of a  cord of the medulla  oblongata.   'In  fishes
 and reptiles,' says he,  ' the internal have a much
 greater relative development  than the  external fi-
 bres ; in mammiferous animals, the external fibres
 alone remain;  the internal exist as mere  rudi-
 ments.'
   Dr. Gall * also says he is ' convinced that the pos-
 terior pair of the corpora quadrigemina is a gangli-
 on, for the purpose of reinforcing or perfecting the
 optic  nerve.'   He adds —'The  modes in which
 these  two pairs assist  the function of vision must
 differ, for they occur in various proportions to each
 other, in the  different species of animals; in some,
 indeed, the posterior two are scarcely perceptible,
or are even  entirely wanting, although  vision be
perfect,  as happens in the  case of birds.'
  This diversity of opinion is to be accounted for,
by recalling to  mind the delicacy of the cerebral
organization, and the intimate  connexion of the
* Sur les Fonctions du Cerveau.—Ed. in 8vo.  Vol. 
89
parts with each other.  When  anatomists observe
one or two parts]connected together, they very com-
monly conceive the one to be derived from the oth-
er.   By-and-by I shall treat, in a separate section,
of the communications of the nervous masses, and
of the importance of this arrangement.   Meantime
I shall pass my opinions respecting the quadrigem-
inal bodies in review before my reader.
  The mammalia alone have quadrigeminal bodies.
Both pairs, however, have not, I conceive, similar
offices ;  for there is no proportion between them in-
discriminately, nor the bundles of fibres which issue
in  different  directions  from  each.   The fibres of
the  anterior  pair, as I have said, join the  optic
nerves, those of the posterior plunge under the optic
nerves, and  are  lost on the middle lobes of the
brain.  The  optic  nerve  communicates, by means
of  superficial bands, with the posterior pair of the
quadrigeminal bodies, with the internal and exter-
nal geniculated bodies, with the middle and anterior
cerebral  lobes,  and with the  mass called tuber
cinereum.
  Reptiles and birds have only one pair of rounded
tubercles, before and by the sides of the cerebellum.
(PL iii. fig. 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10 and 11, n.)   These are
readily seen, by throwing back the  cerebellum.
On examining their structure, they are found, in the
first place, to be hollow  (pi. iii. fig. 9, side  B. n,)
and to detach a superficial layer that communicates
with the  medulla oblongata  behind, and  with the
 optic nerve and base of the  brain  before; and,  in
 the second  place, to be connected  by their lower
                 12 
90
 parts with the optic nerves  and the cerebral crura
 or legs.  This structure  of  the optic ganglions in
 birds and  reptiles,  corresponds to that of the an-
 terior pair of the  quadrigeminal and external gen-
 iculated  bodies  in  mammiferous  animals,  as  in
 them the one and superficial layer of  the anterior
 pair is continued into  the optic nerve, whilst the
 other and  deeper is connected  with the crura of
 the brain.
   In fishes, the optic nerves always communicate
 with the basis of the pair of tubercles that succeeds
 the cerebellum, and this pair is connected with the
 medulla  oblongata; but  it  and the optic nerves
 have not,  mutually, any regular or fixed propor-
 tion, whilst the optic nerves and the rounded tu-
 bercles that lie  immediately behind their crossing,
 are constantly developed in the ratio of each other.
 The optic nerve, in fishes, moreover, communicates
 with the  basis  of the  cerebral masses that come
 after the cerebellum, precisely as it is connected in
 the mammalia with the anterior and middle lobes
 of the brain.
  In proportion, therefore, as the cerebral masses
 and fibrous bundles, or their successive additions,
 diminish in number through the four classes of ver-
 tebral animals,  the  primary optic  ganglions  ap-
 proach each other, and  lie between or among  such
 cerebral parts as still exist;  but as the brain gets
 complicated, and vision  exerts an important influ-
ence upon its functions, the primary optic ganglions
lie backwards, in order that the apparatus of vision 
91
may, conveniently, be brought into communication
with the cerebral parts whose function it especially
aids.


Of the Olfactory Nerve,—1st pair of Willis.—Eth-
                 moidal Nerve.

  Very different opinions have been and are still
entertained by anatomists in regard to the origin
of the nerve of smell.  Some of the moderns have
described it as arising from the masses called stri-
ated bodies;  but there is no proportion, whatever,
between them and the nerve; and, further, porpoises
and dolphins have the striated bodies, but no olfac-
tory nerves.   The  nerves  of smell also exist  in
many acephalous monsters, whose striated bodies
are, of course, wanting.
  The olfactory nerve, in the human kind, has three
roots ;  of these, the interior (pi. vi. 21) is the short-
est, but broadest, and  the exterior the longest (ib.
18,) for it  extends  to the bottom of the fissure of
Sylvius.   These different roots are, as it were, im-
pacted in the cerebral substance;  they approach,
by degrees, and having met, advance in the form
of a single nervous trunk.  In man, the nerve parts
from the anterior lobe at the place where the con-
volutions commence,  and  runs  along  the  cleft
formed between the innermost of the anterior and
inferior of these, accompanied throughout its whole
course by a  very distinct streak of cineritious sub-
stance.  Immediately  above  the cribriform plate
of the  ethmoid bone, it encounters a considerable 
92
 quantity of very soft gray substance, with which it
 forms a sort  of bulb.  (PL vi. fig. 1,  23.)   The
 nerve, here, gains a  mighty increase in size, and
 passing by numerous filaments through the cribri-
 form plate of  the ethmoid bone, it is lost upon the
 lining membrane of the nose.
   The olfactory nerve of monkies (pi. v. fig. 3,) and
 of seals, resembles that of man  very nearly.  In
 the class mammalia, generally (pi. iv. fig. 2) a great
 many nervous fibres may be seen arising from the
 anterior part of the middle cerebral  lobe:  these
 join the fibres that  spring from the inferior surface
 of the anterior convolutions, and compose a broad
 and rounded  band, which,  remaining attached to
 the anterior lobe, runs slightly inwards  until it ar-
 rives at the  ethmoid  bone, when precisely,  as in
 man, it meets a large mass of gray  substance (pi.
 iv. fig. 2, 3, and 4,  23,) and increases in size so
 much, that after its exit by the ethmoidal holes, it
 suffices  to  cover the  entire surfaces of the  large
 superior spongy bones.
 •  The bulb that is formed  over the ethmoid bone,
 if it be incised, or have a piece taken out, will be
 found to be hollow.  Its  internal white layer in
 the lower animals communicates immediately with
 the anterior cavity of the brain, so that by blowing
 into the  bulb  of the olfactory nerve, the  air will
penetrate and  inflate the lateral ventricles   Soem-
merring says, that the olfactory nerve of the human
embryo, at an early  period, is also hollow and
that air blown into it reaches the cavities of the
brain,  The same experiment  will,  occasionally 
93
though very rarely, succeed in the adult.   When
we observe the olfactory nerve so very large in the
mammalia, whilst the mass of anterior convolutions
is but inconsiderable, and, on  the other  hand, the
nerve in the human kind so small and surrounded
by the thick masses of the anterior lobe, we may
conceive why  the  experiment should succeed so
readily in animals, and be so rarely practicable in
man.
   The olfactory nerve, it maybe  almost unneces-
sary to state,  is proportionate in size  to the ex-
tent of external apparatus over  which it  is dis-
tributed.
   In birds, the nerve of smell is detached from the
anterior and inner  part of the front lobe, but its
fibres are distinct from those of the brain;  one  of
its bands, too, which may be compared with the
external  root  of the same nerve in  man, runs to-
wards the fissure of Sylvius and the middle lobe.
This band, however, is not equally apparent in all
birds.   It is still less distinct in reptiles.
   In fishes, the olfactory nerve arises by two very
distinct  roots; certain  fibres  of great delicacy
bring  it  into  communication with  the foremost
 cerebral ganglions, and others of a firmer texture
 and whiter color connect it with the longitudinal
band,  which, in these  animals, lies in  the  middle
 line between the various  ganglions, and communi-
 cates  with the medulla oblongata.  (PL ii. fig. 9
 and 13.)
   Some anatomists have considered the entire mass
 of the anterior cerebral  ganglion in the skate (pi. 
94
ii. fig. 3, 1, 2, 3,) and all the three  pairs of gangli-
ons in the eel (pi. ii. fig. 1, 1, 2, 3,) as destined to
originate the olfactory nerve.  But the error here
committed is proclaimed by the fact of the origins
being always in proportion to the nerves them-
selves, and there being none whatever between the
masses mentioned and the olfactory nerves of fish-
es.   In  regard to these ganglions, therefore, that
which has  been stated respecting  those  of vision
must be  repeated; the  olfactory nerve is in com-
munication with cerebral parts, destined to affec-
tive and intellectual  functions. 
95
                   Section IV.


    Oj the best Method of dissecting the Brain.

  Before Dr. Gall and I began our researches on
the structure of the brain, anatomists in  their dis-
sections  and descriptions, had  no other  object  in
view than to know the forms of the whole, or  of
its  particular masses,  the  color, connexion,  and
consistency, of its individual parts.   To attain their
end, they were  in  the habit  of cutting down the
brain by slices, and examining and noting the ap-
pearances presented  by each in  succession, until
they arrived at the base.  '  The most accredited
method,' says M. Cuvier,* ' of the schools,  and
usually recommended  in books of anatomy, is  to
take  away successive  slices of the organ  (the
brain,) and  to remark the appearances offered by
each.  This is the easiest in practice for the demon-
stration, but it is the most difficult for the imagina-
tion.  The  true relations of parts, which are al-
ways seen cut across, escape not the pupil alone,
but the master himself.'
  Willis t was the  first who  objected to the prac-

  * Rapport des Commissaires de l'Institute de France, on our
Memoir entitled ' Recherches sur le Systeme Nerveux en General,
et sur le Cerveau en Particulier.'
  t Cerebri Anatomia. 
96
tice of considering, as distinct parts, all the forms
accidentally produced by such a mode of dissection.
He himself viewed the cerebral parts in their con-
nexions.  He says, too, that the anatomical demon-
stration of the brain should be begun at the basis:
by basis, however, let  me observe, he  understood
the striated bodies and thalami.  Ascending from
these to the  superior parts,  and returning on  the
inferior in succession, his attention was confined to
the larger masses, which he designates by names
that  indicate physical  qualities only.  ' From the
striated bodies,' for example, he  says, ' the legs of
the medulla oblongata  are  prolonged: remaining
apart for a short way, they then  approach and get
blended into a common stalk, composed, as it  were,
of two peduncles or stems.'
   As the Committee of the French Institute have
conceived themselves authorized to assimilate  the
method of dissecting the brain, described in  our
Memoir,  with the  plan pursued  by Varolius and
Vieussens, and have  interpreted these authors in  a
way  which their language will not bear, I hope it
will not be found amiss, if I extract a few passages
from our Memoir, following them by some observa-
tions on the report.
   ' The brain,' say the  Committee,  ' is  attacked
from  below; the  medulla oblongata is pursued
across the bridge of Varolius, through the thalami
of the optic nerves, and the  striated  bodies, when
its fibres expand and  compose the  hemispheres.
The  hemispheres, also, if we choose, may, by tear-
ing their lateral  attachments to the crura cerebri, 
97
be unfolded, the medulla oblongata and cerebellum
be split longitudinally, and each half of the former
shown as a sort of stem implanted into  the hem-
isphere of its own side, like the stalk of a mushroom
into its  cap.'  They add,  ' It is probable that this
method would have had more vogue, were it not
expressed in a rude drawing by Varolius, and had
not the work of Vieussens  remained, it would  be
difficult  to  say wherefore,  in a sort of discredit,
which it by no means deserves.'
   In reply to this, we cite the  following passages
from  the works of the two authors mentioned
above *   ' The generality of anatomists,' says Va-
rolius, ' think the spinal marrow begins at the oc-
cipital hole only: I can bring proof to the contrary.
It arises on  the one hand below the ventricles of
the brain,  and on the other from the middle and
inferior part of the cerebral basis.  In the same
manner  as the brain, from out its substance, first
produces that considerable trunk, the spinal mar-
row, from which the ocular nerves soon  arise; in
the same manner the cerebellum pushes from itself
a considerable process, which I call bridge of the
cerebellum, out of  which the  auditory  nerves then
issue ' t  ' That the sense  of touch may inhere in
all parts, and that all parts may convey images of
objects,  cognized by touch, to  the  primary senso-
rium, there are four roots  issuing from the brain

  * Constanta Varolii Anatomic*,  sive  de Resolution Corporis
HumanTLibri Quatuor.  Frankforti, 1591; and V.eussemus, Neu-
rographia Universalis.
  t Varolius, p.  26.
  T             13 
98
and cerebellum to form a  considerable trunk, the
spinal marrow, from which nerves are sent off and
distributed to every part of the body.' *  ' For my
part, seeing that there were several cerebral organs
situated about the  base of  the head, and that the
brain by its weight (especially  in the dead)  com-
pressed these against the skull, I deemed the ordi-
nary mode of dissection liable to many inconve-
niences.  This is the reason why I am in the habit
of commencing the dissection at the opposite part
of the head;  that is to  say, at the basis of the
brain, and by so  doing, each of  its organs  is so
clearly exhibited, that it seems as if nothing further
could be desired.   This method,  however, which
differs  from the usual  one, is also very difficult.' t
Let any one read  Varolius's letter to Mercurialis,
and he  will be convinced, from his  entire descrip-
tion, that he confined himself to the  various forms
and appearances visible in the brain and cerebel-
lum ; that  he did no more than attack the brain
mechanically,  turning  and returning it without
order or method, going from the cerebellum to the
optic and olfactory nerves, and  from the optic and
olfactory nerves coming back  to the cerebellum.
Let me add, that Varolius himself says, that the
mass he calls spinal marrow is comprised between
the annular protuberance and the cerebral hemis-
pheres; and further, that he continually speaks of
the spinal cord as a production of the brain  What
the Committee of the French Institute make Varo-
* Varolius, p. 36.      f Ibid. p. HO. 
99
lius say, consequently,  is not  to be found  in his
works.
  Let  us now turn to and review the method of
dissection practised by  Vieussens, which, accord-
ing to the Committee of the French Institute, is
' the same that  Varolius employed, but with greater
order  and detail?  In his first thirteen plates  he
shows nothing but sections of the brain from above
downwards.  He  begins his demonstration with
the convex part of the hemispheres, and then  passes
to the corpus callosum.   The better to expose this,
he cuts off the entire superimposed hemispheres by
a horizontal sweep, and then, by properly trimming
the mass that is left,  he forms,  what  he  calls, the
centrum orale,  in which he concentrates all the
medullary fibres that, according to him, arise from
the cortical substance of the brain, and from which
he  makes nervous fibres descend to every part of
the body.  He then passes  on  to the transparent
partition (valvula Vieussenii,) that has since gone
by his name, to the fornix, to the choroid plexus, to
the nates, to the testes, &c. &c.
   ' We have,' he says, in one place expressly, ' ex-
plained in a clear and complete manner, all that
concerns the superior part of the brain and medulla
oblongata ;  we have  also examined the cerebellum
externally and  internally; we have only then, fol-
lowing the order of dissection which we have adopted,
to examine what is found without and within the
basis of the brain, properly so called, and the spinal
 marrow.'
   ' After the exact explanation,' he proceeds,' of 
100
 all that is to be seen on the upper part of the brain
 and spinal marrow, or that belongs to the cerebel-
 lum, in order to find with ease, and to describe with
 care that which is found at the basis of the brain,
 properly so called,  and of  the  spinal marrow, we
 take away the cerebellum  by cutting its peduncles
 transversely, and turn over the brain, freed from
 its convex parts by  partial sections, and then  we
 show the divided trunks of the anterior arteries of
 the base of  the brain — the ten pairs of nerves -^-
 the infundibulum — the two white prominences  sit-
 uated  near the infundibulum — the  two processes
 of the  cerebellum towards  the  medulla oblongata,
 which run into the  major annular protuberance of
 Willis — the pyramidal bodies — the olivary bodies
 —and the spinal nerves which join the par vagum.'
   It was always from his  oval  centre  that Vieus-
 sens began  his sections and descriptions of the
 brain.   His principles, indeed, did not permit him
 to follow any other method of demonstration.
   In our answer to the Committee of the Institute,
 Dr. Gall and I have gone more deeply into details;
 but the passages cited above will suffice to show
 that the methods of Varolius and Vieussens are  di-
 rectly  opposed  to our manner of dissecting and
 considering the brain and its parts.   Vieussens, in
 deriving all the nervous fibres from his oval centre,
 proves himself to have had no idea of the successive
 reinforcement of the cerebral masses.  I may, in-
deed, say generally,  that an examination of all'the
anatomical works published before  our time, and
 an  inquiry into the  various modes  in which the 
101
brain has  been dissected, whether  in public or in
private  schools, will  not  fail to  convince  every
candid mind that there is not even a  hint  at the
anatomico-physiological views which we have giv-
en to the world.  These views some modern anat-
omists  have  adopted, but we still  advance  our
claim of right  to be considered  as the discoverers
and introducers of a new method of dissecting the
brain — as the first demonstrators  of the anatomy
of its masses in harmony with their physiology.
  What,  then, is  our mode  of investigating the
structure of the various cerebral masses ?  I have
already shown (in the preceding section,) that we
consider the nerves commonly entitled cerebral, as
independent of each other, and that we  regard the
masses  of the  cerebellum, and brain,  properly so
called, as  added to the nerves of the five senses and
of voluntary motion.  This point of doctrine estab-
lished, we view the brain not as an  unit or single
organ, but as an assemblage  of particular appara-
tuses destined to special and determinate functions,
after the  manner of the nerves of the external
senses.
  To this it  may be  said, that several anatomists
have spoken of many peculiar parts; that they have
even designated these by appropriate names; conse-
quently, that our ideas on the  plurality of apparatus
are not new.
   There  is no doubt whatever, but that all anat-
omists have recognised distinct parts  in the brain,
and  given them names according to their physical
qualities.   They have found hemispheres, convolu- 
102
tions, cavities,  striated  bodies, pea-shaped bodies,
stalks or legs of the brain and cerebellum, writing
pens, rams'-horns, semicircular  tape-worms,  pyr-
amidal and olive-like bodies, &c. &c.   Now we, in
showing that  the individual masses, so named, do
by no means constitute special apparatuses,  per-
forming peculiar functions, differ from all the anat-
omists who  have gone  before us.  We were, also,
the first to prove the relative proportions that exist
between several of the cerebral masses, and to ex-
amine them in their mutual relations.   If I continue
to make use of the mechanical nomenclature,  to
speak of parts  in  particular, which can no longer
be considered as special apparatuses, it is only for
the sake of being more readily understood.  My
connected description will show what masses I
look upon as peculiar organs.
   Our physiological views do  not, it must be ev-
ident, allow us to go on cutting the brain  into
slices: this  procedure, indeed, ought  rather to be
entitled a destruction, than an  anatomical demon-
stration of the cerebral structure; it is precisely as
though one should pretend to  dissect a leg or an
arm, by slicing  down those members transversely,
or to show the  structure of the thoracic  and ab-
dominal viscera, by treating the trunk in a similar
manner, and giving names to the appearances ex-
posed after each successive slice.  We commence
our dissection at the place where the proper cere-
bral masses are added to the nervous parts already
described; we  trace them  in their continuations,
and in their mutual connexions, and in the connex- 
103
ions they maintain with the nerves of the five sen-
ses and of voluntary motion;  in short, we proceed
in the dissection of the brain in a manner precisely
analogous to that which is followed in the anatom-
ical demonstration of the other parts of the body.
   Besides the above  general anatomical principle
as regards procedure, it is important to know that
on account of their extremely delicate organiza-
tion, the structure of several cerebral parts may be
more easily  and  clearly exposed by  means of
scraping  than by cutting.  This is the reason why
I  frequently prefer the handle to the blade of the
scalpel, for removing parts that cover those whose
course I would show, — for instance, the passage
of the pyramidal bodies  across the annular pro-
tuberance—the continuation of the anterior com-
missure through the striated bodies into the middle
lobes of the brain, and of the anterior pillars of the
fornix, onwards to  the mammillary bodies and in-
terior of the thalami.
   The brain should be removed from the cranium,
care being taken not to tear the crura at the supe-
rior edge of the annular protuberance, (an accident
that is very apt to occur,) nor to injure the medulla
oblongata at the lower edge of the same part, and
to cut the spinal mass so low  down as  to obtain,
besides the  entire medulla  oblongata, the upper
part of the true spinal cord.  The brain thus freed
from the skull, is then to  be put into a plate, with
the basis uppermost.  The cerebellum and medulla
oblongata having lost the support of the bone, now
 fall backwards.   (PL vi. fig. 1.)  In this position, 
104
all the appearances presented  by the base  of the
brain are visible.   Having considered  the cranial
nerves in  the  manner described in  the preceding
section, the structure of the true cerebral masses is
to be examined, commencing with that of the cere-
bellum.   As  I treat of the several  parts, I shall
always indicate the procedure  that appears to me
the most convenient for exhibiting their anatomy.*

  * The method of dissecting the brain which M. Laurencet of
Lyons proposes, seems founded on imaginary notions, rather than
on the observance of nature and fact.  According to him, the ner-
vous system is like two trees reversed, the branches of the one be-
ing continuous with the  roots of the other, or after the manner of
the sanguiferous system.  The  spinal cord, he says, consists  of
four bundles, which, in the medulla oblongata, are the anterior and
posterior pyramids. The anterior, after their decussation, he sup-
poses  to continue across  the pons Varolii, the crura cerebri and
corpora striata, towards the corpus callosum and the convolutions,
from thence to the fornix, to the thalami, corpora quadrigemina,
cerebellum and posterior pyramids.  The number of nervous fibres
is  assumed to be every where the same ; there  are only bulgings
and contractions  in succession.  M. Laurencet cuts the parts, and
then tells us how they are formed. 
105
         •         Section V.

                Of the  Cerebellum.

  To avoid  all risk of confusion, I repeat once more
that I separate the nervous mass of the'spine and
the cranial nerves from the brain,  and confine this
last appellation  to the entire nervous mass, added
to the nerves of the external senses and of volun-
tary motion.  I also repeat that the  first  anatom-
ical principle of the nervous system, generally, ap-
plies to the  brain in particular; that is to  say, this
mass is not  a simple unit, but a collection of many
peculiar instruments. As this proposition is of great
importance, I shall examine it here at some length.
It is to be established by anatomy, physiology, and
pathology.   The  physiological and  pathological
proofs of its truth,  are contained in the second sec-
tion of my Work on Phrenology, wherein I treat of
the plurality of the organs.   In this  place, conse-
quently, I shall confine myself to illustrative ana-
tomical considerations.
   That the cerebral parts are more or less numer-
ous in different  tribes  of  animals, is a fact which
cannot be gainsayed. Many writers, among others,
Dr. Gall,*  say that the faculties of animals  arc
multiplied in proportion as their brains are  complka-

          * Anat. et. Phys. du Cerveau, t. iii. p. 364.
              11 
106
 ted. Were this remark universally correct, it would
 serve as a positive proof of the brain's being an as-
 semblage of organs.   But,  without reckoning the
 difficulty, not to say the impossibility of determin-
 ing, anatomically, even in birds and mammiferous
 animals, the constituent parts of the brain, and ad-
 mitting that as true which mechanical  anatomy
 demonstrates, viz.—that  the brain is made up of a
 greater or smaller number of bundles, it must still
 be observed that each particular bundle cannot,
 legitimately, be assumed as composing a peculiar
 organ.  There are several cerebral masses which,
 although  more or less compound, do not, therefore,
 cease to be mere units.  Take the cerebellum as
 an example.  This is extremely simple in fishes,
 and very complicated in man; nevertheless, it is but
 a single instrument in both.  The same law applies
 to several other cerebral parts, which, although
 exceedingly complex, only compose the instrument
 of a single function.  Thus the first fact showing
 the structure to be more or less complicated, is no
 satisfactory or conclusive evidence as to the plural-
 ity of the cerebral organs; — this induction is still
 only problematical.
   Dr. Gall derives another anatomical proof of the
 principle  under discussion, from the analogy that
 subsists between the organization of the brain and
 that of the other nervous  systems.  This analogy,
however, is very limited.  The  spinal cord  affords
 no example of it.  Although  composed of many
parts, or numerous pairs of nerves,  its functions are
but repetitions  of two of  different kinds, viz. sen- 
107
sation and motion.   But the particular  organs of
the brain must be as distinct as the acoustic, optic,
and olfactory nerves.
  A better anatomical illustration follows from the
fact of all parts of the brain not being developed
simultaneously,  and  of their  volumes  severally
bearing no regular proportion to each other.  The
size of the cerebellum, for instance, is not in any
direct ratio  to that of the brain, neither are the
three lobes of the cerebral hemispheres proportion-
ate to each other.   The same law applies in regard
to all the individual parts of these lobes.
   These proofs, founded on  the  non-simultaneous
development and disproportionate volume of the in-
dividual portions of  the encephalon, are  strength-
ened by facts, that show that  the cerebral parts
may severally be wanting.  M. Jadelot was so
kind as to  show Dr. Gall and me an hydrocephalic
child in the Hopital des Enfants Malades, at Paris,
many of the superior convolutions of both hemis-
pheres of whose brain were wanting, so that there
was a hole communicating on each side  with the
lateral ventricles.   The edges of these holes were
smooth, and  all the appearances bespoke  a congen-
ate or primary defect of organization.  The brain,
of which a drawing is given in pi. v. fig. 5, and 6,
belonged to  a girl,  who died, aged seventeen, and
was idiotic from birth.  She died in the  asylum at
Cork.   Dr. Abell, of that town,  and Dr. Cheyne,
of Dublin, had the goodness to  send me the natural
skull, and casts, in plaster, of  the brain and bust.
A comparison of this brain with one of  a healthy 
108
and well-constituted individual (pi. vi. fig. 1 and
2,) will show its anterior lobes to be exceedingly
deficient,  and  the   convolutions that  commonly
exist in the  upper  region of the forehead to  be
wanting altogether.  It  is even less  complicated,
and more poorly developed, especially anteriorly,
than the brain of the ourang-outang,  (PL v. fig. 3
and 4)  Mr. Stanley, of London, preserves a sim-
ilar idiotic brain in spirits.
   The anatomical evidence, from the want of pro-
portion among, and the non-simultaneous  develop-
ment and entire absence of, the cerebral parts, al-
though plausible, is not, however, decisive in prov-
ing  the plurality of the  organs.  The testimony
these facts supply  only becomes conclusive wThen
they are united to physiology.  Alone, they do not
prove that the functions of the parts, whose devel-
opment is neither simultaneous nor proportionate,
and which, individually,  may be wanting,  are dis-
similar.— The branches  of a tree shoot in succes-
sion, yet all bear the same  fruit,  But those cere-
bral parts are indubitably the same, however dis-
similar in physical appearance, if  like  functions
appear  with their  presence,  increase with their
growth, are vigorous in proportion to their masses,
and wanting with  their absence;  Cerebral parts,
on the other hand,  differ if like functions do not
appear with their development,  be not manifested
in vigor corresponding to their volume, and  exist
or not independently of their presence or absence.
  Certain it is, therefore, that how important soever
U may be to classify the cerebral organs, anatomy 
109
alone would never enable us to  attain such a con-
summation.   The aid of physiology is indispensably
requisite.   Now, Dr. Gall and I claim the merit of
having been the first to compare the relations be-
tween the development of different cerebral parts
and peculiar functions; and  our physiological anat-
omy of the brain proves, that the parts indicated
in books of descriptive anatomy as distinct masses,
such, for instance, as those  styled pons or bridge,
pyramidal and olive-like bodies, thalami, mammil-
lary bodies, callous or hard  body, &c. &c, do not
constitute particular organs.
   Some anatomists have expressed  doubts as to
the possibility of proving the presence or  absence
of individual parts in  the human  brain, especially
in the hemispheres and their convolutions; because,
say they, the physical appearance of these is not
invariable.   But,  provided  essentials  be  not  con-
founded with modifications, the very  reverse of the
above  assumption may  easily be  proved.  The
lobes are always to be distinguished from  one
another, and certain convolutions from others, with
the same certainty as the annular protuberance is
 to be  discriminated from  the  crura of the brain,
 the  quadrigeminal from  the mammillary, and the
 pyramidal from the restiform or olive-like bodies.
 The general form and direction of the convolutions,
 even of the human brain in its complication, are,
 in fact, remarkably regular.  Thus, the transverse
 convolutions of the  superior  lateral and middle
 parts of the hemispheres are never found running
 in any other direction; never longitudinally, for ex- 
110
 ample.  Those that lie  longitudinally again, as
 they do under  the  squamous suture,  behind the
 temporal bone, and on  either side of the olfactory
 nerve, are never met with disposed transversely.
   ' Show Gall,' says Dr. Rudolphi,* ' the organs of
 theft, of murder, and of the religious sentiment sep-
 arated from the cerebral mass, and be  sure he
 would  not know  them.'   Dr. Gall, t in his reply
 to  this, contents himself with saying, ' Show M.
 Rudolphi morsels of the spinal marrow or medulla
 oblongata, and be sure he would not know them;
 yet are the spinal marrow and medulla oblongata
 proved to be aggregates of different nerves.'   This
 answer of  Dr. Gall does  not  satisfy me.   In the
 first place, I have shown the brain to be composed
 of many parts, whose functions are essentially dif-
 ferent,  whilst all  the portions of the spinal  cord
 have similar offices.   Dr. Gall's reply, therefore, is
 simply  evasive. But, for  my part, I will accept
 M. Rudolphi's proposition directly; for I maintain
 that he who has studied the forms of the peripheral
 expansions of the cerebral organs,  will always be
 able to distinguish, in man, the organ  of  acquisi-
 tiveness from  that  of destructiveness, and that of
veneration from either, (the organs of theft, murder,
 and  the sentiment  of religion,  in  M.  Rudolphi's
nomenclature,) as easily as an ordinary observer
will the  olfactory  from  the  optic  nerve.  I  am
ready at any  time, personally, to verify the above
statement.
* Physiologie, ii. Band, Berlin, 1823.
t Sur les Fonctions du Cerveau, torn. vi. p. 138. 
Ill
  However, I still  admit, that the convolutions
forming parts of any particular apparatus, present
many modifications in reference to size and number
of anfractuosities.  Such  modifications  occur, not
only in the brains of different individuals, but even
in the two hemispheres of the same brain.  Varie-
ty, however, need not be confounded with essential
configuration.   I have remarked that  the  organs
which are best nourished, and most largely de-
veloped, have generally the smallest number of an-
fractuosities.
  The importance of classing the cerebral organs
is, as I have said, evident.  Researches to this end
interest the anatomist, the physiologist, and, above
all,  the  practical physician,  on  account  of the
brain's influence on the vegetative functions, on the
origin, duration, character, and cure of  a long list
of diseases, especially of such  as depend on moral
causes.   To render  such  inquiries complete, they
must be  extended  into comparative  anatomy,
always in the view of proving the brain to be an
assemblage of organs, destined to dissimilar func-
tions, mutually in relation, severally, liable to dis-
ease, and likewise to reciprocal derangement.
  To compare the spinal cord, and even the  cranial
nerves, in the different classes of vertebral animals,
is by no means a very arduous task.  But  to do
the like in regard to  the  brain is one of extreme
difficulty.   Anatomists commonly set out with the
human brain in  their eye  as a type of comparison;
this  they  consider as  an  unit  having two  hemis-
pheres, a corpus callosum, an anterior, middle, and 
112
posterior commissure, an infundibulum, fornix, feet
of a  hippocampus,  mammillary bodies, striated
bodies, optic thalami, a semicircular tenia or tape-
worm, quadrigeminal bodies, crura or legs, a valve
of Vieussens, a pons, bridge, or  annular  protuber-
ance, a  cerebellum, having also crura or legs, a
medulla  oblongata,  pyramidal,  olivary,  and resti-
form bodies, four ventricles, an aqueduct of Sylvius,
and several other parts; and then they proceed to
recognise or deny the existence  of parts according
to mere physical appearances, especially forms and
situations.
   Such a mode of proceeding, however, is quite in-
adequate to establish a  system of comparative cere-
bral anatomy.   The brain, in the first place, is not
an unit, but  an assemblage of  particular  appara-
tuses, that require severally to  be  specified; and
again, it is certain  that the isolated masses, such
as they are described in books of anatomy, do not
constitute peculiar organs, but that several of them,
indeed, sometimes go to the formation of one.  The
cerebellum is found, either with or without an an-
nular protuberance; the anterior pyramidal bodies
are not one  organ, but consist  of parts of many;
they are, in fact, the rudiments of the organs of the
intellectual  faculties.  And, further, the physical
appearance  of apparatuses which  are  known to
have analogous functions, is often exceedingly dif-
ferent.   Without knowing the functions  of the
cerebral  parts, it is,  therefore,  impossible to de-
monstrate either their identity  or their  difference.
What anatomist, unacquainted with the  function 
113
of smell, would ever have concluded that the olfac-
tory nerves of the skate, flounder, chicken, seal, ox,
and man, were analogous masses ?  Certainly, sim-
ilarity of appearance would never have led to the
conclusion ;  and differences in appearance among
the other cerebral  masses, are not less remarkable
than  in  the  olfactory nerve throughout the four
classes of vertebral animals.   Thus, I conceive that
the comparative anatomy of the brain can neither
be itself advanced, nor afford satisfactory conclu-
sions without the aid  of physiology.
  The common and  objectionable manner of ex-
amining  the structure of the encephalon, led anato-
mists to conclude thatthey had discovered the same
cerebral masses  in the mammalia as in man, and,
because  the forms  of the parts were  different, to
deny their existence in birds and the inferior classes
of animals.  In all the lower tribes of creation,
they supposed another and a different composition
of the encephalon.  I claim the merit of having
been the first to maintain that the analogy or dif-
ference of  the cerebral parts, in different  classes,
ought to be determined by the combined aid of
anatomy and physiology.  I have no hesitation in
saying that the relations of the  cerebral masses, as
they are indicated by  M. Serres in his prize memoir,
are  very far from  being satisfactory replies to the
question proposed by the Institute of France   I
also think it may not be out of place to state that
Baron Cuvier, perpetual secretary to the  physical
class of the French Institute, in his analysis of the
academy's labors for the year 1820, has mentioned
                15 
114
the name of Dr. Gall in reference to two points
only, on  which M. Serres differs with the Doctor,
whilst he reports several other important facts and
views, discovered by me, and  published conjointlv
with Dr. Gall, as forming part of the memoir of M.
Serres;  such, for instance, as the relation between
the annular protuberance and the  lateral parts of
the cerebellum, and  that between the  corpus cal-
losum and the cerebral hemispheres.
  In admitting as an anatomico-physiologlcal prin-
ciple, that the particular organs of the cerebral
functions bear no relative proportion, in the same
way as the instruments of the external senses are
in no direct ratio one to another, I deny generally,
as I have already done  particularly, in regard to
the spinal cord, the proposition of M.  Serres,  ac-
cording to which, ' the tubercula quadrigemina serve
as a basis of determination to  the other parts  of the
encephalon? * The quadrigeminal bodies do, in no-
wise, bear any direct proportion to the anterior,
middle,  and  posterior lobes of the brain.  These
masses exist independently  of each other, and be-
long to  apparatuses that are totally distinct.  The
quadrigeminal  tubercles are absolutely smaller in
man and the dog, than in  the horse and  ox; but
the brain of the animals last mentioned is  larger
than that of the dog, and smaller than that of man.
Each special apparatus must be determined by it-

  * Les tubercules quadrigeminaux servent de base de determi-
nation aux autres parties de l'Enoephale,' Rapport, &c, p. 67 ; and
Serres's Anatomie, &c. vol. 1. Preface. 
115
self,  and by comparison  with its particular func-
tion.
  In many fishes there are  portions of gray ner-
vous substance to be observed, forming ganglions
on the lateral edges of the medulla oblongata. (PL
ii. fig. 3, 5, 12,  13, e.)  By removing the cerebellum,
a ganglion may, in many species, be seen in the
middle line (pi. ii. fig. 13, 43;) this ganglion is, some-
times, naturally exposed.  (PL ii. fig. 5. 43.)   All
these masses pertain to the nerves that issue  from
them.
  The nervous mass immediately succeeding these
ganglia, is the first cerebral apparatus;  it is distin-
guished by the name of  cerebellum, and exists in
all vertebral animals lying on the dorsal surface of
the medulla oblongata.   Its name is derived  from
the anatomy of man,  in  whom the corresponding
mass is smaller than the brain, properly so called.
This example, among many others that might be
cited, proves how defective  that nomenclature of
the encephalon is, which  is founded on the physical
qualities of the human brain.   Is it not astonishing
that anatomists, who deny to fishes a cereberum or
brain, should still acknowledge them possessed of
a cerebellum  or little  brain?  Let me, therefore,
repeat, that a good nomenclature should have for
its basis the nature of the functions performed by
the  particular instruments.  My only reasons, as I
have said already, for continuing to use the old and
faulty names,  is to make myself  understood  more
readily.
   The cerebellum or organ of amativeness, is com- 
116
  plicated in different degrees in the four classes of
  vertebral  animals;  its form and its  volume vary
  exceedingly, but  it regularly communicates poste-
  riorly with the nervous mass of the spine on either
  side, and anteriorly  with the bigeminal or quadri-
  geminal bodies.
    * To acquire accurate notions of the cerebellum
  in the superior classes,' says M. Cuvier, ' according
  to M. Serres, they must,  in the first  instance,  be
  taken from fishes.   In these  animals, this organ is
  formed of two very distinct parts — a middle lobule
 deriving its roots from the ventricle of  the quadri-
 geminal tubercles, and two lateral portions coming
 from the restiform bodies;  the two parts are insu-
 lated and disjunct  in the whole of the  class pisces,
 a circumstance  that has  occasioned  them to be
 mistaken.' *
   Now this  fact is not, by any means, so general
 as M. Serres would  have us suppose.   What are
 his reasons, let me ask, in the first place, for class-
 ing the ganglion  I have just pointed out as  situated
 in the  fourth ventricle  (pi.  ii.  fig.  5 and  13, 43,)
 along with the cerebellum ? — He can have none.
 And again, in  the  eel  (pi. ii. fig. 1.)—in the cod

  * 'Pour avoir des notions exactes sur les cervelets des clashes su-
 peneures d'apres le Memoire de M. Serres, il faut d'abord les em-
 prunterauxpoissons.-Chez les poissons cet organe est forme  de
 deux pames tres distinctes: d'un lobule median, prenant ses racines
 dans le ventncule des tubercules quadrigeminaux, et de feuillets
 aterauxprovenantdu  corps restiforme: les deux parties sont Iso-
 ldes, disjomtes dans toute la classe des poissons ce qui les avait
 fait mtconnzitTe'-Eappon des Travaux de la Classe  Physique
pendant VAnnie 1820, p. 67.                        *y**?we 
117
(pi. ii. fig. 2) — in the flounder (pi. ii.  fig. 7) — in
the roach (ib. fig. 11,) and many others, the surface
of the  cerebellum is  quite smooth.  In the skate,
on the  contrary, it is evidently composed of several
ramifications.  (PL ii. fig. 3.)
  In fishes, generally, there is a bundle which, with
its fellow of the opposite side, forms a hollow mass
stretched above the fourth ventricle, and covered
on its peripheral surface with gray substance.  It
is, for the most part, loose at one extremity only;
it has either a  pointed,  a rounded, or  a flattened
form, and  is most  commonly turned towards the
back.  In  the  skate, however, it  has two loose
extremities, the one pointing forwards,  the other
backwards.
  Reptiles, in general, have a cerebellum, composed
of  two  parts,  which  are hollow, superficially
smooth, and in communication with each side of
the medulla oblongata.   In some of the class, it is
extremely small, as in the toad and frog (pi. iii. fig.
2,)  which, in this  respect, resemble the sturgeon
among fishes: in other reptiles,  however, and of
the number is the crocodile, the  cerebellum, as in
the skate and  shark, is furrowed  on  the surface,
and bears marks of a more complicated structure.
  The ramified and lamellar structure  of the cere-
bellum, (pi. iii. fig. 5, 6V 7, 9, 10, and 11,) and  its
division into median  and lateral  portions, become
very evident and regular in birds and mammiferous
animals.   In birds, (pi. iii. fig. 5, 7, 10, and 11,) the
middle or primary portion is large, compared with
the  lateral parts.   These, indeed, are  scarcely 
118
evolved in the class aves;  they, however, become
ever more remarkable in size and number of ram-
ifications, in proportion as we mount from the low-
est up to the highest of the mammiferous tribes, and
reach man.  In the foetus, the cerebellum, even of
those animals in which it afterwards  presents nu-
merous convolutions, is always quite smooth.  The
primary portion of the cerebellum, in  all birds, is
divided into several branches ;- the middle and up-
per one of these is the most remarkable.  Below
and  in  front of the fourth  ventricle,  in  the same
class, there occurs  a little  lobule, the volume of
which, like  that of the lateral parts, is much aug-
mented in the mammalia.   These peculiarities of
structure prove that oviparous animals, in general,
cannot be said to have a simple cerebellum.
  The cerebellum of fishes, of reptiles, and of birds
(pi. xi. fig. 3, 62,) is constantly hollow.  Its cavity
communicates  with the fourth ventricle (ib. m,) or
space between the cerebellum and medulla oblon-
gata.  The  cerebellum of the mammalia is, on the
other hand,  invariably solid; the fourth ventricle is
the only cavity in its vicinity.   (PL xi. fig.  1, m.)
  The anatomical principle laid down in regard to
the regularity of proportion, between  the cineri-
tious and white substances, and  to  the occurrence
of cineritious matter at the origins of nervous mass-
es, is confirmed by the structure of the cerebellum.
At the  place  of this organ's attachment to the
medulla oblongata, there is always an accumula-
tion  of  pulpy  substance to a greater  or  smaller
amount; that  is  to say,  the quantity is great, or 
119
small, relatively to  the volume of the  entire cere-
bellum.  In man it composes an irregularly-shaped
mass, toothed or serrated around the edges.   This
collection of cineritious  intermixed with  white
matter, is described in books of anatomy under va-
rious names, such as  corpus rhomboideum, corpus
dentatum zig-zag, and  kernel of the  cerebellum.
I  speak of it under  the title of ganglion of the
cerebellum.
   Vicq d'Azyr believed that  the ganglion of the
cerebellum was only to be found in  the human
kind.  But in 1808,  conjointly  with  Dr. Gall, I
showed that it exists  in the mammalia  generally; *
and I  now add, that  it is very  distinct in birds.
Whenever the cerebellum is somewhat considera-
ble, it may always be demonstrated.  Its  small
size and pale color were probably the causes of its
existence being  overlooked.   But it is matter of
prime  importance not to confound the forms as-
sumed, and the lighter  or  deeper shades  of color
possessed by the pulpy substance, with its  necessa-
ry existence.
   The quantity of cineritious substance at the ori-
gin of  the cerebellum is in the  direct ratio of the
entire  mass, and not merely of the lateral parts of
that organ.  It is very conspicuous in birds, although
the lateral parts of  their cerebella be but rudi-
mentary.  In man, too, a portion of the  ganglion
may easily be demonstrated  running towards the
vermiform process  (the primary part) of the cere-
bellum.
* Vid. Memoire sur l'Anatomie du Cerveau, &c. 
120
   From what I have said, it follows, that this gang-
 lion is not situated in the middle of the cerebellum,
 but commences where this mass is connected with
 the medulla  oblongata.  Vicq  d'Azyr commits a
 capital error in his plate xxxi. fig. 20, in represent-
 ing the  ganglion  of the  cerebellum  as placed so
 much externally,  so near to  the anterior edge of
 the organ to which it belongs, and  so far distant
 from the medulla oblongata.
   In forming the cerebellum, nature has, in all an-
 imals, pursued the  same plan.  Two bundles con-
 stantly bring it into connexion with the two sides
 of the medulla oblongata: these are of variable
 size; they meet a  greater or smaller quantity of
 gray substance, and proceed  strengthened in  pro-
 portion to the quantity of this substance encounter-
 ed ; they then regularly compose a primary portion,
 which in the lowest tribes is  smooth superficially,
 but which, as the scale is  mounted in, appears fur-
 rowed transversely, or  divided into  lamella?, and
 becomes  complicated by  the addition  of lateral
 masses, laminated  in like  manner.  This lamellar
 structure  is exposed by a  vertical cut through the
 cerebellum; it  bears the  name  of arbor vita?, on
 account of its supposed  resemblance  to the foliage
 of the thuya, or tree of life.   (PL viii. and ix. fig.
 1 and 2.)
  Although the human cerebellum be  very com-
plicated,  the elements of a precisely similar forma-
tion to that of the lower animals, may without diffi-
culty be traced.  One slip from the ganglion forms,
with its fellow of the opposite side, the vermiform 
121
process, or primary portion, which, by a cut carried
through the micldle  line,  may be  seen afterwards
dividing commonly into seven principal parts.   (PL
vii. fig. 2, and pi.  x. fig.  1,  and pi. xi. fig. 1, A.)
These divide  into  branches,  and these  again  into
leafets,  differing in  each case in number, length,
and volume generally.
  The other slips  or bundles that issue from the
ganglion proceed backwards, upwards, downwards,
and outwards, and expand into layers, which are
disposed horizontally.  Those that come from the
middle of the ganglion are the longest; the others
are successively  shorter, as they issue nearer to the
commencement of the ganglion.   (PL viii. fig. 1, pi.
ix.  1 and 2, and  pi. xi. fig. 1, B.)
  The peripheral  extremities of the bundles thus
disposed in lamella?, are, as well as when they ex-
pand arid form an  uninterruptedly smooth  surface,
covered with  a layer of cineritious substance.
  By a  section carried vertically through the mid-
dle of the ganglion  in the direction of its bundles,
eleven principal trunks or branches are commonly
exposed.  The nearer the cut runs to the middle, or
posterior edges,  of the cerebellar hemispheres, the
greater will be the number of branches discovered,
as their quantity will be fewer in proportion as it
passes nearer to the  mesial line of the body.  Two
branches  may frequently be seen intimately united
near the base of the  ganglion  (pi. ix. fig. 2, and pi.
xi.fig. 1,  B.,) and  forming, for some little way, a
common  stalk;  but  in other  cases they  proceed
quite distinctly from the very beginning.  Still 
122
greater varieties are to be detected in the interior
divisions and subdivisions, which are  unimportant,
and require no particular mention.
  The ganglion  of the cerebellum varies consider-
ably in form,  and this, not only in different species,
but even in different individuals of the same kind of
animals.   Its  appearance  also  changes according
to the mode in which it is  cut; horizontally incised,
it has the figure  expressed in  pi. viii. fig. 2,  B. s.;
obliquely, the form represented in pi. xi. fig. 1, B.
s. ; and vertically, the shape given  in pi. viii. fig.  1,
and pi. ix. fig. 1 and 2 s.   A horizontal cut  shows
it in its greatest extent.
   Although  the portions  or  ramifications of the
cerebellum be divided into parallel lamella?, they do
not  ultimately lie parallel with each other;  each
portion thus considered is placed obliquely.  Nei-
ther are the furrows on the outer surface  parallel.
(PL vi. fig. 1 and 2. PL viii. fig. 1,B.) Scemmerring
has remarked,  and  exposed  the  error generally
committed by anatomists in this  matter in their
drawings. It is also a mistake to suppose that the
furrows of the  cerebellum penetrate  deeply into
its substance.  They only do  so in the clefts that
mark its principal divisions.
   In the mammiferous class of animals  the cerebel-
lum is augmented by the addition of a mass, known
variously by the names pons Varolii, tuber annu-
lare, or mesolobe.  The  transverse  fibres of this
part evidently belong to the hemispheres or lateral
portions  of  the cerebellum, to which they bear a
marked and  regular proportion.   (PL viii.  fig. 2.) 
123
No one can deny to Dr. Gall and me the merit of
having  first detected the relations that  exist be-
tween the annular protuberance  and cerebellar
hemispheres.  M. Tiedemann^ says, that we err in
deriving the transverse  fibres of the annular protu-
berance from the cineritious substance covering the
leafets of the  cerebellum, because these transverse
fibres are visible before any division  into lamella?
can be recognised in the cerebellum.  This reason-
ing of M.  Tiedemann, however, does not seem very
conclusive,  since  the  annular protuberance and
cerebellum are developed at the same time.   It is,
on  the other hand, at least certain that M. Tiede-
mann is himself mistaken, in supposing the trans-
verse fibres of the annular  protuberance  to come
in part from the corpus dentatum (ganglion of the
cerebellum.)!  The annular protuberance  lies most
evidently anteriorly and quite externally  to the
ganglion  of the cerebellum;  its fibres, moreover,
may  easily be  demonstrated, as commencing  di-
rectly from the  lamella? of  the hemispheres.  (PL
viii. fig. 2.)
  I, for my part, insist rather on the progressive aug-
mentation of the cerebellum in the different classes
of  animals, than on the successive increase of  its
individual constituent  parts.  It appears certain,
that the several parts of the cerebellum are not sim-
ultaneously developed; that some of  these  are vis-
ible at an earlier period than others.   But  it still
remains a point of great difficulty to determine the

  * Anatomie du Cerveau dans le Foetus Humain, Nurnberg, 1816.
  t Op. cit. p. 107. 
124
part which serves as the centre of departure or
originator of the others.  Are the various portions
developed after the manner of the graft of a fruit-
tree, or, are there branches thrown off in succes-
sion, or, are the rudiments of the whole called into
being at once, and maturity of growth then  ac-
quired by each in succession ?  The first supposi-
tion, I confess, appears the most probable to myself.
It is not unreasonable also to presume, that the fibres
of  communication, and the fibres  of the commis-
sures,   or  apparatuses of union, appear together,
whilst the peculiar apparatus which is to perform
a special function acquires  the  form, volume, and
organic condition necessary to this duty by degrees.
  Although the cerebellum be ever more complica-
ted as we ascend in the scale of beings, it is a fact,
that animals do  not exhibit faculties in proportion
as this mass presents a larger number of lamella?,
or ramifications.   Neither is it found that the intel-
lectual and other general mental powers of individ-
uals of the human kind increase, or are active in
the ratio of the  cerebellar  lamella?, as was once
maintained by Malacarne.
  Many authors have said, that the cerebellum con-
tained, in proportion to its  bulk, more cineritious
substance than the brain; and, as a consequence of
this notion, it came to be regarded  as softer than
the brain.  Both  of these assumptions are incorrect.
The primary mistake was probably committed from
vertical sections having always  been employed to
expose the internal structure, i. e., the arbor vita? of
the cerebellum, whilst horizontal slicing was the 
125
method followed in regard to the brain.  But let
an opposite procedure be adopted; let the cerebel-
lum be divided horizontally, and the brain verti-
cally, and more cineritious substance certainly will
then appear  in the brain than in the  cerebellum.
The cerebral convolutions again, it is natural  to
think,  will, on  account of their  mere  thickness,
seem firmer than the cerebellar leafets; but careful
examination proves that in one case the brain, and
in  another the cerebellum, possesses  the greatest
degree of consistency.   Age and fortuitous circum-
stances, as disease, &c,  exert a particular influ-
ence in this respect.
   From what has been said when discussing the
nerves of the external senses and voluntary motion,
it may almost  be unnecessary here to state, that
none of them arises from the cerebellum.
   All  the parts of the cerebellum are double, or
exist in pairs:  its  primary portion or vermiform
process, is no  exception  to the law;  all its parts,
however, are not necessarily symmetrical; the ele-
ments composing each  side are alike, but the size
of the essential bundles, the length and thickness
of their branches,  the  number of subdivisions of
these,  and the  form and position  of  the  lamella?
vary extremely in different individuals; and often
on both sides  of the same  cerebellum, the  entire
mass of one side is not unfrequently more largely
developed than that of  the other.
   In their descriptions of the cerebellum, anato-
mists still make mention of  two soft and thin lay-
ers, the one of which unites  the upper part of the 
126
posterior pyramidal bodies with the  lower portion
of the vermiform process, (the primary or essential
mass,) whilst the other brings the cerebellum into
connexion with the quadrigeminal tubercles.   The
latter  is commonly  known  by the name of  the
valve of Vieussens, or by the singular title of pro-
cessus a cerebello ad testes.  (PL xi. fig. 1 and 3. y.)
Reil styles them the superior and inferior medulla-
ry veils.
  The valve of Vieussens, or layer of communica-
tion between the primary portion of the cerebellum
and quadrigeminal  tubercles,  may  be distinctly
traced through all the four classes of vertebral an-
imals.  It  increases in size in the ratio of the dis-
tance and nervous masses, between the cerebellum
and quadrigeminal tubercles.   The inferior veil, on
the contrary, is but just apparent in birds: in the
mammalia, however,  like the superior, it is conspic-
uous, although varying in size in the different  spe-
cies composing the class.
   The idea of a  determinate proportion between
the brain and cerebellum is one still very generally
entertained.  Authors on the comparative anatomy
of the brain have even drawn up tables of this sup-
posed proportion.  'It is easy,' says M. Cuvier,*
' to ascertain the proportionate weight of the brain
and cerebellum,  because no variation in health,
and no change in the bodily condition,  as to obesi-
ty or leanness, exert any influence on them.'   But
it is  long  since Dr. Gall  and I showed, that the
* Legon's d'Anatomie Comparee, vol. ii. p. 152. 
127
cerebellum has no regular proportion to the brain.
In the adult, a small cerebellum is often met con-
joined with a very large brain ;  and in other cases,
the cerebellum occurs of great size, while the brain
is particularly small.  M. Chaussier has also ob-
served, that the cerebellum composed at one time
the sixth, at another the seventh, and at another,
and more rarely, the tenth of the weight of the en-
cephalon.   In  newly-born infants, he found that it
was the thirteenth, the  fourteenth, the seventeenth,
and, in  one instance, no more than the thirtieth
part, by weight, of  the encephalon.  Whoever, in-
deed, will be at  the pains to compare the enceph-
 alon of children of two, four, six, and  ten, and  of
young people  up to their sixteenth year, will be
 convinced, that relatively to the brain the cerebel-
lum is at  these periods smaller than in adult age.
 If any exception to the  rule be found,  it must be
 regarded as an individual peculiarity of organiza-
 tion.   Moreover, the cerebellum is generally larger
 in men than in women, and in males than in females
 of the same kind of animal.
   Let us now examine some points of  M. Serres's
 Prize Memoir, in relation to the cerebellum.
    He says,* ' it may appear singular, that the cere-
 bellum" should not  be formed  till  after the quadri-
 geminal tubercles; nevertheless,  there is no  ex-
  ception to this fact in any class.'
    Now, this fact will not appear singular, but seem
 perfectly  natural to those who  are acquainted with
  the functions of the apparatus that arises from the
* Rapport de l'Institut, 1820, p. 68. 
128
 quadrigeminal bodies, and  with the office of the
 cerebellum.  As the optic  nerve has to act long
 before the cerebellum, its organization requires to
 be  complete long before that  of the cerebellum
 needs to be perfect.   Further, the brain is also de-
 veloped  at  a later period than  the  quadrigeminal
 bodies; the cerebellum consequently presents noth-
 ing whatever that is singular in this respect.
  ' The  vermiform process,' says M. Serres in an-
 other place,* ' comes from the quadrigeminal tuber-
 cles, whilst  the other  part, issuing from the resti-
 form  bodies, constitutes the  hemispheres  of the
 cerebellum.   The two elements of the cerebellum,
 (the vermiform process  and lateral parts,)  also,
 though united,  are still entirely independent  of
 each other.'
  These propositions do not to me seem founded
in nature.  Were we to admit the bigeminal bodies
of fishes and reptiles, and the quadrigeminal tuber-
cles of the mammalia, as the source of the vermi-
form process, or primary portion of the cerebellum,
we  should then expect some regular proportion in
the development of these parts to each  other.  But
M.  Serres himself excepts  reptiles.   ' In  all  the
classes, except that of reptiles,'  he says,! £ the me-
dian lobe of the cerebellum (processus  vermiculaire
superieur,) is developed in  the  direct ratio of the
quadrigeminal  bodies.'  Now, this exception is of
itself sufficient to refute M. Serres's entire assump-
tion.  However, let  the cerebellum be compared
with the optic tubercles in the sturgeon, in the eel

    * Rapport de l'Institut, 1820, p. 68.     f Ibid. p. 68. 
129
(pi. ii. fig. 1,) flounder (pi. ii. fig. 4,) skate (pi. ii. fig.
3,)  barbel (pi. ii. fig. 12,) pigeon, turkey, dog, and
other animals, to  procure data, by which to esti-
mate the  utter erroneousness of M. Serres's opin-
ions.  On dissecting the cerebellum of mammiferous
animals, the vermiform process, as well as the other
ramifications, generally, will be  seen communicat-
ing distinctly with  the dentated body, or ganglion
of this  organ.  Lastly, and still further, to expose
this error relative to the origin of the primary por-
tion of the cerebellum, let us recur  to pathological
anatomy, as well  to the cases produced accident-
ally or by disease, as to those created intentionally
or  by mutilations.   Atrophy  of the  optic  nerves,
caused  in any way, is well known to extend to the
anterior pair of quadrigeminal bodies; no one, how-
ever, has yet imagined that it was  continued on to
the median lobe, or primary portion of the cerebel-
lum.  The optic tubercles and the  vermiform pro-
cess, therefore,  exist  independently of each other;
they are connected,  only  that  they may  exert a
 mutual influence.
   It is not the  same in  regard  to  the median lobe
 and the lateral parts of the cerebellum.  True it is,
 that these  two masses are not  necessarily propor-
 tionate to each other; this fact, however, does not
 prove each  entirely independent of  the other, as
 M Serres has presumed.*  I take his own manner
 of viewing the matter in  illustration;  he  regards
 the bio-eminal tubercles of birds, reptiles, and fishes,
 and the quadrigeminal bodies of the mammalia  in
                 * Rapport, &c. p. 66.
                 17 
130
  man, as essentially analogous masses; the quadri-
  geminal appearance in mammiferous tribes, he con-
  ceives to arise from a transverse furrow, which, in
  the human  kind, commonly passes  across the mid-
  dle of the mass, which, in the carnivora, runs more
  anteriorly,  and  in  the ruminatia  and rodentia,
  passes more posteriorly, and thus makes the two
  pairs of tubercles  appear of nearly equal size,  or
  causes  the  front or  back pair to predominate.*
  The two pairs of  tubercles, therefore, vary in pro-
  portionate size in  the different  tribes of mammife-
  rous animals,  precisely as do the median and lat-
  eral lobes of the cerebellum.  Now, if, according
  to M. Serres, the dissimilar development of the dif-
  ferent pairs of the quadrigeminal bodies does not
 prove their  independence, I  do  not see  that it is
 reasonable to regard diversity  of development of
 the median  and lateral lobes of the cerebellum as
 any proof of their independence.
   M. Serres thinks  that the spinal cord, the median
 lobe  of  the  cerebellum, and the  quadrigeminal
 tubercles are developed in the direct ratio of each
 other, and the inverse ratio of the cerebellar hem-
 ispheres and  annular protuberance.
   I have said that M. Serres himself excepts the
 class of reptiles from this law, and I have added oth-
 er facts which refute his opinion  regarding the de-
 pendence of the median cerebellar lobe on the quad-
 rigeminal bodies.  I have also shown above, that
 the direct ratio of  development  which  M. Serres
recognises between  the spinal  cord, and the quad-
rigeminal tubercles has no  foundation in nature.
               * Rapport, &c. p. 68. 
131
An appeal to the same  authority also  proves that
M. Serres deceives himself when he fancies the spi-
nal cord, the median cerebellar lobe, and the quad-
rigeminal tubercles to be developed inversely as the
lateral parts of the cerebellum and annular protu-
berance.  For in fishes, reptiles, and  birds,  there
are no cerebellar hemispheres, and no annular pro-
tuberance.  The lateral  parts of  the cerebellum
and annular protuberance are, in fact, developed in
a greater or less degree in different tribes, but never
inversely as the optic tubercles and spinal cord are
concerned.  The flounder (pi. ii. fig. 7,)  and  carp
(pi. ii. fig. 5,) have  optic  tubercles of greater size
than the eel (pi. ii. fig. 1,) which of the three kinds,
however, has the most voluminous spinal cord.
  M.  Serres also notices several relations between
the annular protuberance and different other cere-
bral  parts.  Dr. Gall  and I were the  first  who
showed the development of the annular  protuber-
ance in the direct ratio of the cerebellar hemis-
pheres.  No other one of the relations, mentioned by
M. Serres, is constant; and, consequently, no other
can be laid down as  a law.  The annular protuber-
ance, for instance, is not regularly developed in the
inverse ratio of the cerebellar median lobe, of the
quadrigeminal  tubercles, and  spinal  cord, as M.
Serres  pretends*  The annular protuberance  in
general  is relatively less considerable  in women
than  in men ; but the spinal  cord is not  developed
in an inverse ratio in the two sexes.  1  shall expose
another of M.  Serres's errors in supposing the an-
nular protuberance to bear a directly proportionate
                 * Rapport, &c. p.  69. 
132
 development to the corpus callosum,* when I come
 to speak of the last-named cerebral mass.
   The advantage, it seems  to me, would be little
 commensurate with the labor of ascertaining all the
 modifications presented by the cerebella of different
 animals, and giving titles to every lobule superadded
 to the primary median portion.  Such inquiries ap-
 pear to me rather superfluous, as I  view the entire
 cerebellum in the light of a single organ or appara-
 tus, and as performing only one species of function.
   I have still to add, that the cerebellum, like every
 other organ, is not only more or less complex in the
 different kinds of animals, but also that its several
 constituent parts  are modified in the various individ-
 uals of the same species.  The organ, too, I may
 here observe,  is developed at rather a late  period
 of life, a fact which I have already had occasion to
 cite, in showing that there  was no irregularity of
 proportion between  the brain  and  cerebellum: I,
 however, call my readers' attention to the phenom-
 enon, at present,  in order that  he may understand
 the tardy appearance of the function  of the part
 (the sexual appetite.)  For the sake of physiology,
 I also  adduce in  this place, the fact of the larger
 size, generally, of the cerebellum in men and males,
 than in women and females of the several kinds.
  The cerebellum, then, is an apparatus of a struc-
ture more or less complicated in different species of
animals, having a greater or smaller development
in the two sexes, and in different individuals of the
same kind, and being  in a  direct communication
               * Rapport, &c. p. 72. 
133
with  the  medulla  oblongata and quadrigeminal
tubercles.
  To obtain as clear and comprehensive ideas of the
position and external and internal structure of the
cerebellum, as possible, I request my reader to turn
to, and peruse the plates in the order as follows:—
  For differences of form, of volume, and of super-
ficial structure, see pi. ii. figs, 1, 2, 5, 7, 10, 11, 12;
pi. iii. figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, and 11;  pi.  iv. figs. 1, 3,
5, and 6; pi. v. figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6; pi.  vi.  figs.  1
and  2.  For the appearances and  connexions in
the median line, examine pi. viii. fig. 2.
  In oviparous animals, the  cerebellum is hollow,
as is seen in pi. xi. fig. 3, 62.  In the mammalia
and  man  it is solid; in them,  there is nothing that
can  be likened to a cavity, except the separation
between its primary portion  and the  medulla ob-
longata, or rather the posterior part of the annular
protuberance; see pi. vii. fig.2, m; and pi. xi. fig.l,m.
  The disposition  of the cerebellar ramifications,
from birds up to man, is lamellar, as it is presented
in pi. iii.  fig. 1; pi. viii. fig. 1 and 2;  pi. ix. fig. 1
and  2; and pi. xi. figs. 1, 3.
  For the appearance and structure of the cerebel-
lar commissure (annular protuberance,) inspect pi.
iv. fig. 2; pi. v. figs. 3  and 5;  pi. vi. fig.  11, 2;  and
pi. viii. figs. 1 and 2.
  The ganglion of the cerebellum (dentated body)
is represented in pi. viii. figs. 1, 2; and  pi. xi. fig.
1, B. s.
  To demonstrate the connexion of the cerebellum
with a bundle of the restiform body, the medulla 
134
oblongata  must  be pushed  to  one side, and the
auditory nerve and a thin layer interposed between
the medulla and  the  cerebellum, scraped off with
the handle of the scalpel.   The second bundle of
the restiform body, reckoning from  the posterior
pyramid, will then be seen to plunge  into the cere-
bellum.  By entering the point of the knife at the
insertion of this bundle, and cutting the cerebellum
vertically, so that about two thirds of its substance
may be left externally,  and the other third remain
internally,  the communication of the  cerebellum
with the medulla  oblongata, its ganglion from the
entrance of the connecting bundle of the restiform
body to about its middle, the ramifications of the
white substance,  and the peripheral extremities of
the various branches universally covered with cin-
eritious matter, constituting the appearance denom-
inated arbor  vita?, and all will be exposed.   These
peculiarities are represented in pi. viii. fig. 1.
  To see these uniting fibres of the cerebellum,
composing  the annular protuberance or  commis-
sure, are distinct from those of the bundle that
connects it with  the medulla oblongata,  the last
named part must be turned  aside,  and the vocal,
glosso-pharyngeal, facial, and auditory nerves re-
moved with the handle of the scalpel; the fibres of
union will now be seen gathering themselves from
the peripheral parts, and  lying over the  bundle
that springs  from the  medulla  oblongata, and
plunges into the cerebellar ganglion.   Finally, eve-
ry cut  in the  direction  of  the  cerebellar lamella?
exhibits a  white surface, as is pictured in pi. viii.
% 2. 
135
                  Section VI.

                 Of the Brain.

  In the preceding section, I have shown anatomy,
physiology, and pathology, concurring to prove the
cerebellum a single and peculiar instrument.  In
this respect, it is the opposite of the mass properly
styled brain.  I have, already, exposed the anatom-
ical proofs of the brain's complexness, and for the
evidence which physiology and pathology afford,
referred my reader to the respective treatises upon
these subjects.*
  Conviction of the brain, properly so called, being
an assemblage of instruments, is readily obtained;
but to specify the limits of these instruments, indi-
vidually in  the  different species of animals,  is a
matter of extreme difficulty, if it be not, perhaps,
impossible.
  Let us follow the procedure of nature in this part
of our inquiry, and commencing with the most sim-
ple brains, pursue  them in their increasing  com-
plexness as we mount in the scale  of beings, until
we arrive at that of man, the most complicated of
all.  They who  have gone  into the  comparative
anatomy of the nervous masses, have constantly
assumed the  human brain as  their type of compari-

  * Phrenology, or the Doctrine of the Mind;  Lond. 1825, and Ob-
servations on Insanity; Lond. 1816. 
136
 son.  This  they have always viewed as a simple
 mass; and then the hemispheres, the three  lobes,
 the callous  body, the anterior, middle and posteri-
 or commissures, the infundibulum, the mamillary
 bodies,  the  fornix,  the septum  lucidum, the hyppo-
 campus's foot, the striated bodies, the optic  thala-
 mi, the semicircular ta?nia, the quadrigeminal tuber-
 cles, the aqueduct of Sylvius, the valve of Vieussens,
 peduncles of the brain, the annular protuberance,
 the medulla oblongata with its pyramidal, olivary,
 and restiform eminences, and lastly,  the ventricles
 and  their communications, have been their grand
 objects  of comparison.   The existence of parts, as
 this  specimen of the nomenclature,  in  use, suffi-
 ciently proves, appears, therefore, to  be admitted,
 or denied according to mere physical indications,
 the form and situation of the masses being especial
 guides to the conclusions formed.
  But this mode of studying the comparative anat-
 omy of  the  brain is insufficient.   In the first place,
 it is certain  that the mass, styled brain, consists of
 a multiplicity of instruments performing particular
 functions; again, it is undeniable that the cerebral
parts, as they are spoken of, in  systems of descrip-
 tive anatomy, do not  constitute entire and special
organs; that several of  them, indeed, occasionally
go to  compose a single  apparatus, a circumstance
which we have  observed in reference to the cere-
bellum,  when treating of that part.  Further, it  is
no less obvious that the identity of the individual
organs in the various classes of animals, ought  to
be determined by means of physiology, seeing that 
137
the forms of those which  are known to be analo-
gous often vary immensely.   I have already said,
that no anatomist, who, in ignorance of the sense
of smell, should examine the mere configuration of
the encephalic masses, would venture to maintain
that the olfactory nerves of the skate, flounder,
fowl, seal, and ox, were masses performing analo-
gous functions.  And the outward appearances of
the other cerebral instruments are not less diversi-
fied than  are those of the organ of smell.  It is,
consequently, in vain attempting to advance  the
comparative  anatomy of  the  brain,  without a
knowledge of the affective and intellectual facul-
ties of animals and of the functions performed by
the different cerebral organs.
  The brain being made  up of very many parts,
whose functions are entirely dissimilar, the connex-
ion of these with the nervous  masses of voluntary
motion, and of the five external senses, with the  spi-
nal cord in  particular, requires to  be examined.
The cerebral organs have several primary roots, or
bundles in the  medulla oblongata;  these bundles
have been particularized by the names anterior and
posterior pyramidal, and olivary, and restiform bod-
ies.   From what has been already said, however, it
is evident that the last-mentioned masses do not be-
long exclusively to the brain; we have seen that
they include  the roots of several nerves,  and  the
primary bundles of the cerebellum.  In the human
kind all the three portions of the medulla oblongata
are very distinct; but they severally become  less
and less evident as we descend in the scale of beings,
             18 
138
 and when we arrive at fishes we are almost tempted
 to doubt their existence altogether. Some, indeed, go
 so far as to deny these animals a brain. To me, how-
 ever, it appears that every  vertebral animal has a
 brain, in the strict and proper sense of the wTord; all
 have a nervous mass superadded to the nerves of the
 external  senses and voluntary motion; and fishes,
 which, besides a cerebellum, seem to have ganglions
 of nerves of sense only, may be proved to possess a
 true brain in  addition.   The proof lies in this, that
 ganglions in general are proportionate to the nerves
 arising from them; but the ganglions of the skate,
 and the  three pairs of ganglions which, in the eel,
 are regarded as the origins of the  olfactory nerves,
 and the optic ganglions of the carp, pike, and many
 others of the class, are much too large in proportion
 to the nerves which issue from them.  I, therefore,
 contend, that the olfactory and optic nerves of fish-
 es communicate with certain cerebral parts, destin-
 ed to peculiar functions, precisely as the same nerves
 do in birds  and the mammalia, with this difference
 only, that the masses  they communicate with, are
 of different sizes in these different species of animals.
 I repeat, then, that with M. Arsacky,* I conceive the
 complex  structure of the optic ganglions in fishes
 to explain the functions which, in reptiles, birds, and
 mammiferous  animals,  are obviously  performed by
 certain parts with which  the optic nerves communi-
 cate.  I apply the same idea to the ganglions of the
olfactory nerves.   In the  eel,  for example, I  only
give the anterior pair  to  these nerves; and in the
de Piscium Cerebro et Medulla Spinali, Halte, 1833. 
139
skate, no more than the outer parts of the ganglions
with which they communicate.
  M. Carus, in  his work on the brain,* broaches an
idea that deserves a passing notice:  it is to deter-
mine whether,  when the cerebral parts are sep-
arated from each other at their peripheral  extrem-
ities,  this is to  be regarded as a sign of  perfection
or of imperfection.  M. Carus himself considers the
brain to be perfect in proportion as  its masses ap-
proach unity.   The  brain of the eel is, according
to him, extremely imperfect, on account of  the sep-
aration of its constituent parts.
  This opinion seems to me too general,  and but
little satisfactory.  We know that the brain and the
cerebellum are  always separate from  each other.
In proportion too as the last is perfected in  the four
classes of vertebral animals, its different parts be-
come more numerous, more distinct,  and lie farther
from each other, especially towards their peripheral
extremities.  The brains of reptiles, of birds, and of
several mammiferous animals, consist of two smooth
hemispheres : in proportion, however, as the brain
in superior classes of beings has more numerous of-
fices to perform, that is, as it increases in perfection,
the  division into lobes becomes  distinct, and convo-
lutions appear.   The cerebral hemispheres of the
human foetus are at first smooth, but as the enceph-
alon is developed, the  separation of its peripheral
parts grows ever more conspicuous.
  I divide the functions of the brain into two class-
es :  viz., affective and intellectual;  and, in harmony
* Carus, Darstellung des Gehirns, Leipzig, 1814. 
140
 with this physiological division, I recognise two
 kinds of cerebral parts.   The  anterior pyramidal
 bodies I consider the rudiments of such as belong to
 the intellectual operations; and the other bundles of
 the medulla oblongata (in man they consist of the
 olivary and part of the restiform bodies) which run
 across the annular protuberance to communicate
 with many of the cerebral masses, as the roots of
 those that pertain to the affective manifestations.
   This separation into two systems of parts is very
 evident from the medulla oblongata upwards, as far
 as the pretended optic thalami and striated bodies in
 man and the mammalia. Let us then examine them,
 one after another, through their entire course, com-
 mencing with the bundles of the intellectual faculties.
   The  pyramidal bodies  are  scarcely to be de-
 monstrated in  birds,  and still  less  are they to be
 seen in reptiles and fishes; in the lowest mammif-
 erous tribes, however, they are abundantly evident.
 They differ in general as  to their size and length,
not only in the various species of animals, but also
in individuals of the same, especially of the human
kind.  In man they usually commence about twelve
or fifteen lines below the annular protuberance.
As they approach this mass, they increase grad-
ually in size, and it is in consequence of this struc-
ture that they have obtained their name.
  There is a striking peculiarity in the mode of ori-
gin of these bundles: the primary fibres of each do
not issue from the same side as  that on which they
lie, but uniting, in the first instance, into two, three,
or as many as five little cords,  they cross the mesial 
141
line of the body one above another, from below up-
wards : the bundles of the right  pyramidal body,
therefore, come from the left side, and those of the
left pyramidal body from the right side of the spinal
cord.   The  structure just described  is termed the
decussation of  the  pyramidal bodies.  It is a con-
stant peculiarity; but it is modified as the number
of decussating cords is concerned.  When they are
numerous,.the appearance that results very much
resembles plaited straw.  In  some very rare in-
stances, the two  pyramidal bodies cross, as entire
and undivided masses, from one side  to  the other.
  The decussation of the pyramidal bodies is a point
of much importance in a physiological and patho-
logical point of view.  It  is very  long since cases
of disease impressed the idea of a nervous decus-
sation on the minds of medical men.  Lesions on
one side of the head were often observed to occasion
so unfortunate a symptom  as palsy on the opposite
side of the  body.  Hippocrates himself mentions
the circumstance;  but Areta?us was the first who
attempted to explain it, by supposing a decussation
of the nerves at  their origin in  the brain.  Dion
Cassius is the next  who speaks of a decussation of
the cerebral nerves and spinal cord;  but with him
the subject dropt, and the  attention of the medical
world was only recalled to the fact in  1581, by Fa-
bricius Hildanus.  The true decussation of the pyra-
midal bodies, however, was first described by Mis-
tichelli, in  1709: it was  noticed by  Petit in the
year following, and at later periods  by Lieutaud,
Santorini, and Winslow.  The  same authors also 
142
speak of other decussations, but probably on mere
supposition.
   Modern  anatomists, before Dr. Gall and myself,
were divided in opinion upon the subject of decus-
sation.  Many admitted the fact, but no one pointed
out the place of its existence.  Vicq d'Azyr, for ex-
ample, confounds the simple transverse fibres be-
tween  the  two halves of the  spinal cord with  the
true decussation of the  pyramidal bodies.  Many
others, among the number Prochaska, Barthez,  Sa-
batier, Boyer, Dumas, Bichat, and Chaussier, have,
in the most positive terms, denied the decussation of
the pyramidal bundles altogether, as we have shown
in our reply to the report of the Committee of  the
French Institute upon our Anatomical Memoir.
   To demonstrate the decussation of the pyramidal
bundles, we do not require any such maceration as
Santorini believed necessary. It is sufficient to strip
off the pia mater to show the structure.  Let a
slight cut be made through the membrane in the me-
dian line, without implicating the cords beneath, the
edges then separated gently, and the decussation will
appear.  It will now be  easy to reckon the number
of bundles, and to take them away in succession
with the handle of the scalpel.  (PL viii. fig. 1—1.)
   The decussation at this place is  incontestable;
but whether there  be any similar peculiarity in
other situations, and whether that of the pyramidal
bodies  suffices to explain all pathological phenom-
ena, are points that  still remain undetermined.
   Some authors believe that the  bad symptoms
which attend lesions of the encephalon are always 
143
manifested on the side of the body opposite to that
on which the injury occurs.   Others again cite cases
where injuries of one cerebral hemisphere have caus-
ed pathological symptoms on the same side of the
body. ' Although the palsy of the body,' says Haller,*
' produced by injury done to the brain, be commonly
manifested on the opposite side, it often enough hap-
pens that derangements of the brain and cerebellum
affect the  same side (as that on which they hap-
pen.')  He quotes De Haen, Schlichting, Morgagni,
and others,  in illustration of the fact.  Prochaska
believed that when the opposite side of  the  body
suffers  from cerebral  affections, it  is principally
when the striated bodies are the seats of disease.
  Anatomy has as yet demonstrated no other decus-
sation in the medulla  oblongata  than that of the
pyramidal bundles.   No crossing  fibres has  ever
been found of the primary bundles of the cerebellum
nor of the posterior cerebral lobes, although physi-
ological experiments  and pathological facts  tend
alike  to prove that the influence of the cerebellar
hemispheres is propagated to the  opposite  side of
the body.   May not the cerebellum possibly act
only through the  medium  of the brain?  To such
an  hypothesis the inability to perceive any proper
lesion of the brain cannot be well opposed as an
objection; because it is not at all times possible to
determine precisely whether the cerebral fibres are
healthy or diseased.  The lesions maybe percepti-
ble in one and not in another part.  I conceive that
* Physiologia, t. iv. p. 333. 
144
 the cerebellum may be  evidently disordered, and
 that the brain may suffer, in consequence, without
 our being able to detect any traces of disease in its
 organization, whilst the opposite side of  the body
 exhibits pathological symptoms.  The connexions
 of the various parts, and the resulting influence  of
 each on the others reciprocally, render observations
 on these matters difficult, and  the  conclusions de-
 duced more or less suspicious.  Farther researches
 on the decussation of the nervous parts, not imme-
 diately  connected with the masses of the anterior
 pyramidal bundles, are  still wanted.   The optic
 nerves  decussate partially,  and this is the cause
 why the eye is frequently deranged on  the same
 side as  that on which the brain is diseased.
   Let us now follow the pyramidal bundles in their
 course towards the annular protuberance ; and first,
 let us remark the fibres which  are  detached from
 the pyramidal, towards and around the olivary bod-
 ies, the media of communication, probably, between
 these different bundles of the medulla oblongata.
 (PL  viii. fig. 2, 64.)  May not these connecting
 fibres explain the  influence  of the lateral cerebral
 parts upon the opposite sides of the  body ?
   The pyramidal bodies, just as they enter the an-
 nular protuberance, are  somewhat contracted  in
 their thickness (ib. c.) but they are, by no means,
 interrupted in their course. Immediately after hav-
 ing plunged into that mass, they separate into sev-
 eral bundles, and are mingled with cineritious sub-
 stance  (ib. /.)   Here many new fibres arise and
join the others; all advance, some of them disposed 
145
in layers, and some intersecting the bundles of the
annular protuberance.   The pyramidal bodies are
so much increased in their passage, that on emerg-
ing  from the annular protuberance, they compose
the anterior and outer two-third parts of the cere-
bral crura or legs (ib. g.)
  To see the structure of the annular protuberance
distinctly, that is to say, to see the transverse uniting
fibres of the cerebellar hemispheres, the longitudinal
fibres communicating with  the pyramidal bodies,
and the crura of the brain and the cineritious sub-
stance intermingled with each, an incision of about
a line in depth must be made across the transverse
fibres : if the cut be made deeper than this, it must
not be carried in a straight line, but in the slightly-
curved direction of the longitudinal bundles; the
transverse must  now be  separated from the longi-
tudinal layers with the  scalpel, by pushing  those
on  the outside,  towards the  hemispheres  of the
cerebellum, and those on the inside, towards the
mesial line of the annular protuberance.
  By this means, the mode in which the longitudi-
nal, or bundles of the pyramidal  bodies are aug-
mented in the annular protuberance, as it were in
a true ganglion,  is made evident.  (PL vii.  fig. 2,
88; and pi. ix. fig. 2,/.)
  If these longitudinal bundles only are to be ex-
amined,  it is sufficient, by pushing the handle of
the scalpel upwards from its  inferior  edge, to  re-
move the  transverse layer of the annular protu-
berance that covers them.
   Certain it is, therefore, that great errors are com-
                19 
146
mitted, when the two crura of the brain are de-
scribed as blended  together, and the annular pro-
tuberance is styled a compound of the medullary
or white substances of the brain and cerebellum.
   The great bundles called  crura of the brain, thus
appear to be, in part, at least, a continuation of the
pyramidal bodies increased in size and in perfection.
These crura, as  they advance, also contain cineri-
tious matter in their  interior, from  which, addi-
tional fibres are continually sent off, to  join and
strengthen those that have come from below.
   In mammiferous tribes, the cerebral crura are very
evidently divided into two parts, viz., an interior and
external, and a posterior and internal mass.  Two
superficial furrows  mark  their  limits respectively.
They bear no regular proportion to each other.   In
the human kind, the anterior and  external portion
composes,  as I  have already said,  two-thirds  at
least, of the entire crura;  but in the lower animals,
the posterior is, by  far,  the  more considerable por-
tion of the two.
   Before advancing further in our examination of
the longitudinal  bundles which we have  followed
from the pyramidal bodies across  the annular pro-
tuberance,  let us first consider  the origin  and pro-
gress of the bundles that compose the posterior and
inner portion of the cerebral crura.
  I have already had occasion to say that anato-
mists, besides the pyramidal, speak of the olivary and
restiform bodies of the medulla oblongata of man.
I have also shown that the restiform bodies contain
the origins of the primary bundles of the cerebellum,
and of the vocal, glossopharyngeal, facial, and trige- 
147
minal nerves.  The remaining fibres of these, and
the fasciculi  of the olivary bodies, mount behind
the ganglion of the pyramidal bundles in the annu-
lar protuberance, and, joining themselves with, aid
the completion of the  cerebral  crura.  In  their
course, they gain some increase in size, which, how-
ever, is inconsiderable, compared with  that of the
pyramidal bundles.  (PL vii. fig. 2, 87,  90 ;  and pi.
ix. fig. 2, a 70, 70.)
  The olivary bodies  are, themselves, true gangli-
ons, and present the general forms (pi. ix. fig. 2. a,)
and modifications observable  in  the ganglion or
dentated body of the cerebellum.  (PL  ix. fig. 2, s.)
Their size varies greatly in different  individuals.
The cineritious and white substances are observed
to be variously distributed throughout them.  The
modified appearances of the interior of the olivary
bodies depend, as in  other  cases, on the mode in
which they are incised for examination.
  The second, or posterior and inner portion of the
cerebral crura, is intimately connected with quad-
rigeminal  bodies.  In the mammalia,  it is much
more voluminous  than the anterior  mass; and as
we descend in the scale of beings, its relative pro-
portion increases  continually.
  These two portions of the cerebral crura contain,
so to say, the roots or primary bundles  of the hem-
ispheres of the brain,  properly so called.   They,
however, it is evident, must be immensely increased
in volume before they can form such a  mass as the
brain.  It is as the upper extremity of the anterior
portion, where the optic nerve winds over, and is
attached to  it by a  pulpy layer; that is to say, at 
148
the outer part of the striated bodies, that the great
augmentation takes  place.  After this, the fibres
advance  of unequal  lengths,  and, expanding  into
layers covered on their peripheral extremities with
cineritious substance, ultimately form the inferior,
anterior, and external convolutions of the front and
middle cerebral lobes.
  To show that the lower and inner convolutions of
the middle lobe are formed by the anterior and out-
er crural bundles, the middle lobe must be removed.
This is  easily effected, as it is  separated from the
anterior lobe by the fissure of Sylvius.  Besides the
depth and extent of the Sylvian fissure by this means
exposed, certain short convolutions  which  do not
reach the surface,  will also be brought into view.
These convolutions lie hidden between the middle
lobe and the  superior cerebral parts.   The bundles
which issue  from  under the  optic nerve will  also
now be seen to  belong to  the middle lobe, and to
the anterior  part of the posterior lobe.  (PL viii.
fig. 1, w, w.)
   If the entire outer part of  the striated bodies be
removed, the manner in which the convolutions,
situated along the  middle region of the hemispheres,
on a level with the temples, arise from the bundles in
continuation with the pyramidal bodies, will be made
apparent.  (PL ix. fig. 1.)  The pyramidal bodies,
their ganglions in  the annular protuberance, the an-
terior and outer portions of the cerebral crura, and
the convolutions in which their bundles terminate,
are always developed in the direct ratio of each other.
   Let us now trace the posterior and inner bundles
of the cerebral crura to their termination.  These 
149
plunge into a thick, massy, and firm ganglion, flat-
tened in the middle, and unequal above, and poste-
riorly ; this is generally known under the name of
optic  thalamus, it having been long regarded as the
origin of the visual nerve.  The error, here com-
mitted, I have exposed in speaking of the apparatus
of vision.
   These ganglions, commonly called thalami, are
developed in the direct ratio of the cerebral convolu-
tions  dependent on them.   The posterior and inner
portions of the cerebral crura being larger in  the
lower animals than the anterior and outer masses
of the same, it follows that the convolutions of the
upper and posterior parts of the hemispheres must
be more considerable  than those  of the anterior
and middle lobes.   The most  internal  part of the
thalamus is the largest in animals, consequently,
so is  the mass of convolutions that belongs to it.
   In  the interior of the cerebral ganglion we are
now  discussing (pi. ix. fig. 2, p,)  there  are a great
number of very fine nervous filaments ; these unite
at its superior edge into bundles, which then diverge
towards the convolutions in the manner of rays.
   The two portions of the ascending masses, called
 cerebral crura, which I  have just described,  may
 be separated  from each other either by the blow-
 pipe, or a stream of water.   At the place, however,
 where they issue from  the thalami to enter the
 striated bodies, their  fibres are all so intimately
 united by a transverse tissue, that any farther parti-
 tion  of the two portions becomes impossible.
    The anterior bundles of the thalamus traverse the
 striated bodies. These are so named, because, when 
150
cut in the usual mode, anatomists fancied they be-
held  alternate streaks of white, and of cineritious
substance.  But the gray matter is not disposed in
bundles; it is a mere mass  traversed  by white di-
verging fibres.   By  scraping  away to about the
middle, or to the place where the large white bun-
dles pass,  the cineritious substance will be seen
disposed in the  form of  streaks between  them; a
closer inspection, however, proves that it only lies
in the intervals between the fibrous bundles.
   The masses styled optic thalami and striated
bodies, therefore, are true ganglions, in which the
primary bundles of the brain are increased in their
progress to completion in the convolutions  of the
brain; for  the radiated diverging fasciculi expand
into layers, and, being covered with cineritious sub-
stance on their extremities, compose the  convolu-
tions.
   The faultiness of the ordinary method of examin-
ing the structure of the brain will now be, in some
degree, appreciated.  Instead of tracing the masses
from their  rudimentary state upwards to comple-
tion, anatomists have been in the habit of commenc-
ing the dissection by mutilating the  parts  when
already arrived at perfection.
   By  scraping the parts, Vieussens followed, and
has given a rude drawing of the nervous bundles in
connexion with the  pyramidal bodies.   These fasci-
culi, however, he derives from his oval centre: he
was altogether ignorant of their destination — the
formation of the convolutions.   He conceived them
all to  unite in the pyramidal bodies; he, therefore, 
151
 had no idea of the successive additions to, or of the
 augmentations of, the primary bundles.
   Vicq d'Azyr has attempted to imitate the prepa-
 ration of Vieussens, in his twenty-second and twen-
 ty-third plates ; but the mass of gray substance,
 and the nervous bundles which traverse, and partly
 arise from it lying obliquely, he could not possibly
 succeed by his horizontal incisions.  In the striated
 bodies, he  only saw alternate streaks of white and
 gray substance; these he also regarded as coming
 from above downwards, to pass united in a single
 bundle across the annular protuberance.  He has,
 moreover,  neglected several rudimentary bundles
 entirely ; he regarded the streaks of the superior as
 shorter than  those  of the inferior parts,  in conse-
 quence of having cut them first, and he was quite
 ignorant of their prolongation into the convolutions.
 He only makes them proceed forwards, overlooking
 their sideward and backward directions altogether.
 Vicq d'Azyr, therefore, has done nothing more than
 picture, and that in  a faulty manner too, mutilated
 pieces of the encephalon.
  I conceive it of importance further to remark, that
 the nervous fasciculi are less numerous but larger in
 the posterior and middle than in the anterior region.
 In the latter they are very numerous, but also very
 small.   (PL ix. fig. 2; and pi. x.  fig.  1, A. P. P.)
 This anatomical  fact corresponds with what we
know of the physiology of the brain, and explains
the reason why the organs situated in the forehead
are more numerous but smaller than those which
lie in the occipital region.
  Let us now glance over the comparative anatomy 
152
of the  cerebral  parts, the structure of which we
have examined particularly in man.
  The anterior pyramidal bodies are generally dis-
tinct in mammiferous tribes, but they are compara-
tively smaller than in the human kind.   The lateral
parts of the medulla oblongata are not formed like
the olivary and restiform  bodies with  which they
correspond in  man; their fibres, however, are cer-
tainly prolonged beneath and across the transverse
uniting fibres of the cerebellum.  At their exit from
this mass, the  anterior and  external parts of  the
cerebral crura are observed to be proportionately
smaller than  the  interior and posterior portions.
The relative size of the two portions of the crura,
indeed, are found to vary  exceedingly in the differ-
ent tribes  of  the  mammalia.  The anterior  and
outer bundles, or continuations of the pyramidal
bodies, extend under  the optic  nerves (which by
their external edges communicate with the cerebral
masses precisely as in man,) and  on the external
parts of the striated bodies gain an increase of size
in the direct ratio of the anterior convolutions of
the middle  lobes, of the outer convolutions of the
front lobes, and of those around the fissure of Syl-
vius.   The description of this external portion of
the striated bodies is entirely omitted in the work
of Tiedemann.  The posterior and internal parts
of the  cerebral crura are intimately connected with
the quadrigeminal  bodies; they then  plunge into
the pretended optic  thalami, and join themselves to
the striated bodies;  their structure,  in short, is
analogous to that of the same parts in man.
   In birds and the inferior classes, all traces of pyr- 
153
amidal bodies, visible in the mammiferous tribes,
disappear;  and all analogy, as regards form, with
the medulla oblongata of man is lost.  The medulla
oblongata,  however, of all vertebral animals is in-
variably  augmented downwardly and outwardly in
proportion  as nerves of greater or smaller size are
detached, or as the rudimentary  bundles  of the
proper cerebral masses are  thence derived.  The
mere  outward form, here as elsewhere, is not the
essential  consideration.   It  is quite certain that
several parts of the medulla oblongata proceed for-
wards, and  pass under the  optic nerve; and that
in birds  and reptiles there lies a  mass below the
posterior cerebral lobes,  and on the inner  side of
the crura, which resembles in every thing the sup-
posed optic thalamus; and, finally,  that in the two
classes mentioned, the advancing bundles encounter
true striated bodies.  (PL xi. fig. 2  and 3, I.  I.)
  The pretended optic thalami and striated  bodies,
or the two  principal ganglions of the cerebral hem-
ispheres,  consequently,  exist in birds and reptiles,
precisely as  they  do in  man  and  the mammalia.
M. Serres  must therefore  be mistaken  when he
denies the existence of striated bodies in the brains
of these animals.*
  Dr. Gall and I were unquestionably the first who
distinguished the true optic ganglions from the sup-
posed optic thalami, which are masses belonging to
the brain, and who demonstrated the relations be-
tween the two  cerebral ganglions  and the hemis-
pheres.
                * Rapport, &c. p. 70.
           20 
154
    Among fishes,  in  fine, certain cerebral  masses
 in the form of ganglions, and covered externally
 with cineritious substance, are always to be found.
 When treating of the optic and olfactory nerves. I
 proved that the entire encephalic mass could not be
 destined to originate them.  But it is a difficult task
 to compare analogous cerebral parts in different
 tribes and classes of animals.   In  fishes, the me-
 dulla  oblongata is evidently  continued  forwards,
 and from it are detached, in succession, the primary
 bundles of the cerebellum, and of the cerebral
 nerves; but M. Serres promulgates an error when
 he says, that the cerebral hemispheres of fishes are
 simple rounded bulbs, lying before the quadrigemi-
 nal tubercles,  in which  the crura  expand.   Two
 longitudinal bands we can  observe continued on-
 wards to the olfactory nerves, with which a larger
 or smaller  number of ganglions communicate; but
 whilst the  functions of these shall remain  undis-
 covered, they can only be designated according to
 their numerical number.   (PL ii.  fig. 1 and 13;  1,
 2, 3, 4.)  The  anatomists also  certainly  err, who
 speak  of the restiform bodies as simple bundles.
 The olivary bodies, as they  are not to be demon-
 strated in  the greater number of animals,  cannot
 belong to the quadrigeminal tubercles, as M. Tied-
 emann  supposes.
  In reptiles, birds, and the mammalia, the prolon-
 gation  of the two great cerebral ganglions compose
 the hemispheres, as they are styled, of the  brain.
The volume of  these varies extremely in  different
kinds, and even in different individuals of the same 
155
 species of animals, and this not only in their total-
 ity, but also as their various portions are concerned.
   The external surface of the cerebral hemispheres
 in reptiles, birds, and several mammalia is smooth.
 The division into three lobes, however, is always
 marked by slight furrows, and the individual parts
 are dissimilarly developed  in different situations.
 In the greater number of the mammalia, as in man,
 the hemispheres are convoluted, and furrowed to a
 greater or less depth.

 Of the Structure of  the  Convolutions, and of the
          possibility of unfolding them.

  The unfolding of the cerebral  convolutions has
 sometimes been considered as the essential point in
 the anatomical discoveries of Dr. Gall and myself.
 This is the reason why some have taken particular
pains in combating the possibility of this operation.
 The fact is in itself of great importance; it affords
several explanations that particularly interest both
physiology and pathology.   Many cases of disease
would be quite inexplicable without a knowledge
of the structure of  the cerebral convolutions; yet
not this,  but the demonstration of  the plurality of
the nervous instruments,  their independent exist-
ence, and their connexions with each other, consti-
tute the essentials of our anatomical inquiries.
  It has  often been, and is still said, that the vascu-
lar membrane, by plunging at  intervals among the
white substance, to convey the blood-vessels neces-
sary for its nourishment, is the cause of the  cerebral
convolutions and anfractuosities; but no part of 
156
the structure is thusmechanical.  The convolutions
internally consist of white fibres, which are covered
on  their extremities with  cineritious  substance.
These fibres, which  terminate the nervous bundles
of the cerebral crura, are not all of the same length.
Many, especially of those which are situated on the
outer sides of the convolutions, terminate immedi-
ately beyond the  exterior walls  of the cavities;
the others extend to distances progressively greater
as they run more centrally, those of the interior ex-
tending the farthest  of all.   It is in consequence of
this peculiar  structure that prolongations and de-
pressions are formed on the surface of  the  hemis-
pheres.  The cineritious substance follows  all the
forms  composed  by the white fibres, and  covers
every elevation and depression with a layer.
   The fibres of analogous bundles are not prolonged
in every individual to the same distance, not even in
the two hemispheres of the same brain.  I find that
the parts which are most largely developed have
the fewest inequalities on the surface of the  convo-
lutions, the fewest depressions, and even the smallest
number of anfractuosities.   They are simply volu-
minous, and their peripheries are regular and smooth.
   The convolutions  are for the most part inclined
slightly to the roof of the  ventricles; they rarely
stand up vertically.  Their peripheral edge is fre-
quently depressed, and this gives them an appear-
ance similar to that which a fold of paper  takes
when its edge is pressed lightly inwards.  (PL ix.
fig. 1 and 2.)
   When a convolution is cut across vertically, the
white substance will be observed of greater thick- 
                      157

ness at its bottom than  at its top.  This happens
from the nervous fibres losing themselves successive-
ly on either side in the cineritious enveloping layer,
whilst those of the centre only run to the extremity.
  A clean cut only shows the white substance of
the convolutions as a simple mass.   No line of sep-
aration can be perceived in any direction.   Never-
theless, it may be demonstrated to  consist of two
layers covered  externally by cineritious  matter.
These layers meet in the middle line of the convo-
lutions, and are slightly agglutinated by means of
a very delicate neurilema.
   On  this structure is  founded the possibility of
separating, without injuring, the fibrous layers, and
thus of extending or unfolding each convolution
into a simple sheet.
   Before citing any anatomical evidence in support
of the above fact, I shall give, as briefly as  possible,
the history of its  discovery.   Dr. Gall having had
several opportunities of dissecting  hydrocephalic
heads, found, as Morgagni had before him, the brain
distended like a large bladder, several convolutions
having entirely,  and others  in part, disappeared.
The internal  surface of the  enlarged cavities was
uniformly white;  and, generally, the nervous fibres
 and the blood-vessels that accompanied them were
 distinctly perceptible.   He also met with a female,
 fifty-four years of age, whose head was much en-
 larged, without doubt in consequence of considerable
 dropsy of the brain.  In person she was  thin, but
 she was as  active and intelligent as women usually
 are in her sphere of life.  Dr. Gall being convinced
 that the brain is indispensable to  the intellectual 
158
 manifestations, drew, as I have said in the preface,
 the same inference as Tulpius had done before, viz.
 that the encephalic mass cannot be disorganized or
 destroyed in those persons, who, being affected with
 hydrocephalus,  still preserve their understanding
 entire; and, farther, that the structure of the brain
 must be different from what is commonly supposed.
   The female, whose case is quoted above, happen-
 ing to die of an inflammation of the bowels, Dr. Gall
 found that the cerebral cavities contained about four
 pounds of pure and limpid water.   The convolutions
 of the upper part of the forehead, and of the superior
 region of the head, had disappeared entirely; lower
 down, however, they were distinct in different de-
 grees.  In the interior  of  the great  cavities,  the
 fibrous structure and the  blood-vessels  appeared
 very conspicuous.  I saw this head dissected at Dr.
 Gall's house, but neither of us at that time had any
 definite idea of the mode in which the cavities had
 been enlarged, the convolutions obliterated, and the
 cineritious substance made to appear spread  over
 the entire surface, like an envelope of nearly equal
 thickness.
  This case, however, gave a new impulse to our
 anatomical inquiries on the encephalon. We began
by attempting to imitate artificially the state of the
brain in hydrocephalus. Having stripped  off the
pia mater, we insinuated our fingers into the great
cavities; and by pressing, more particularly against
their posterior walls, we found, with pleasure, that
after  overcoming a slight resistance  at  the com-
mencement, the convolutions separated along their
interior, with all readiness, into two parts. Even 
159
this rude experiment made us conceive the possibil-
ity of the gradually increased and unremitting pres-
sure of the water, as it accumulated in hydrocepha-
lus, unfolding the hemispheres into a membranous
sheet, without destroying any of the nervous fibres.
   By degrees our anatomical  discoveries were in-
creased, and our ideas of the change effected on the
cerebral masses in hydrocephalus became exact.
   The imagination of Dr. Gall's auditors was some-
how more struck by the experiment above related,
than by the whole of our cerebral anatomy besides.
Our opponents, by the same reason, have conceived
themselves particularly  called upon to disprove its
practicability.  In their zeal, they have sometimes
put sentences into  our mouths which we never ut-
tered : we have been made to say, for instance, that
the entire brain could be unfolded into a membrane
without any laceration of fibres: our idea has also
been  travestied, by reporting that we regard each
separate convolution as  a sort of little purse.
   The question concerns the structure of the convo-
lutions only, and the  possibility of proving them
composed of two  distinct layers,  separable from
each other.  Let us, therefore,proceed to the inquiry.
   If a convolution be cut vertically across to its
base, a very gentle pressure  with the finger on the
cut surface will  suffice  to separate its two fibrous
layers.  The surfaces by which these were aggluti-
nated, will, even after this rude procedure, remain
perfectly smooth and equal.   At the base of the con-
volutions there is a mass  which prevents any further
disjunction of their component layers. Of the struc- 
160
ture of this mass I shall speak, when I treat of the
commissures, or uniting fibres of the cerebral parts.
  If a portion of the hemisphere, lying  above the
ventricles, be taken in one hand, and the ventricular
surface be lightly pressed on by the other, the mass
at the base of the convolutions, which has just been
mentioned, will be torn, and the two layers of the
several convolutions then yield readily, and may be
forced apart by the fingers. Whilstthis is doing, we
may always observe  a slight furrow along the line
of every separation, and the blood-vessels coursing
along the same.   Now, this could not happen, were
not the convolutions composed of two fibrous layers,
not united by transverse fibres, but simply agglutina-
ted by means of a fine and yielding cellular tissue.
  If the convolutions be cut off externally to the
cavities, they may be readily unfolded, and without
any tearing of parts.
  The convolutions, hardened in alcohol, in diluted
nitric or muriatic acid, or in oil by simple boiling,
may also be unfolded with perfect ease in  the mid-
dle line, and only in the middle line of their agglu-
tination.   No vestige of laceration will there be
perceived, but the fibrous expansions on either side
will become exceedingly distinct.
  It is objected that the fibres may be separated at
every point, and  by the side of the middle  line of
the convolutions.   Now, this is as it ought to be, be-
cause each layer is made up of many fibres, running
in one and the same direction.  The fibres of every
ligament and muscle may be parted in like manner ',
but this fact does not do away with the existence
of entire ligaments and muscles, distinct and easily 
161
separable from each other.   Moreover, the nervous
fibres on the outer surfaces of the layers, as they
are continually and  successively dipping into the
cineritious substance, may the more readily be sep-
arated from each other, the  more the bundles  lie
externally on which the attempt is made.
  To prove further that the convolutions consist of
two  fibrous  layers  but slightly agglutinated, the
following experiment may be tried: —
  Let a convolution be cut transversely,  and blown
upon at random through a pipe;  both the white and
the gray substance may, although with  some diffi-
culty, be destroyed; but no disjunction of fibres nor
of the two substances will be effected.   But let the
stream of air be directed on its middle  line, and
it will instantly be split from the apex to the base.
(PL ix.  fig.  1, 1—2.)   If  the same experiment be
made on a convolution that is slightly depressed at
its summit, it will  open at the base by a simple
cleft, but at the upper part this will branch off  to-
wards the two corners.  (PL ix. fig. 1, 1—2.)
  When, instead of air, water is thrown with a  sy-
ringe on a convolution  cut transversely, the separa-
tion  is effected in a similar manner; this fluid too,
may be pushed for three or four inches  along  the
middle line, between the layers; it will even follow
all the windings, and fill all  the subdivisions of  the
convolutions that occur in this space.  If after their
injection the superior edge of the convolutions be
cut away longitudinally, to the depth of about two
lines, they  will be found  divided  into  two equal
parts; and the manner in which the fibres penetrate
               21 
162
and lose themselves in the cineritious substance on
either side will also be distinctly seen.
   Water thrown with violence upon the outer sur-
face of a convolution will wash away the gray and
one half of the white substance;  as soon, however,
as it reaches the middle line, it will penetrate to
the right and left, and separate the  two layers to
the extent of an inch or two each way, as in  the
former experiment.   Here also, as in  the  former
case, the direction and distribution of the nervous
fibres will be rendered very apparent.
   All these demonstrations prove incontestably that
the convolutions consist of two fibrous layers agglu-
tinated  together, and surrounded by cineritious sub-
stance.   Nevertheless, authors  still continue  to
speak of the cerebral pulp, or  of  the medullary and
pulpy substance of the convolutions.   But the idea
of a mere  pulpy matter is in contradiction to  all
known  anatomical  and physiological phenomena.
Were the white substance pulpy, it would  be  de-
stroyed  or carried away by a stream of air or water
directed upon it.  It  would be  impossible, on the
supposition of a pulp, to account for the similar re-
sult of  the various experiments related, viz. the
regular   separation  of the convolutions into two
layers along the course of their middle line.
   In connexion with  the idea of a cerebral pulp,
that of  hydrocephalus, to any considerable extent,
becomes an impossibility,  because the slightest dis-
tention of any one portion of the brain would tear
the pulp, and the disease  could no longer proceed.
But many cerebral parts are often seen completely
unfolded, and still  resisting  the contained  fluid, 
163
 although theybestretchedintoa membrane scarce-
 ly two lines in thickness.   Similar changes, too, are
 frequently undergone by the  majority  of  the  con-
 volutions without any laceration or destruction of
 parts.
   Some anatomists appear to have felt this difficul-
 ty, and, to escape, have said that  the cineritious
 substance was very tenacious, even more so than
 the white, and this quality enabled it to resist lac-
 eration, and to suffer the expansion peculiar to  con-
 siderable hydrocephalus.
   But all good anatomists know full well that  the
 cineritious is much softer than the white substance;
 that the first is never seen disposed in layers, except
 where the  last occurs in distinct bundles; indeed,
 that in  the very places where the cineritious  sub-
 stance appears in layers,  it falls into pulp the  mo-
 ment the white fibres are taken away.
  In hydrocephalus, some anatomists have pretend-
 ed  to see nothing more, no other change than a
 mere extension  of the cerebral cavities.  But on
 this supposition, how may the entire disappearance
 of the convolutions be explained ?   Were  the cav-
 ities merely distended, the convolutions would only
 be  separated  more widely from each other; they
 would never be unfolded; their component  layers
 would not, from a naturally vertical, assume  a  hor-
 izontal position.
  The structure of the convolutions once familiar,
 however, we  readily conceive a capacity in   the
 hemispheres to undergo great changes without  the
 occurrence of any actual disorganization.  We even
perceive that when the cerebral fibres chance to be 
164
elongated, this does not necessarily imply derange-
ment  of intimate structure: vision  is well known
often to remain perfect when the optic nerve is very
much lengthened.
  Anatomy, consequently, shows how it comes that
individuals affected with  dropsy of  the  brain may
manifest all their intellectual  and affective  facul-
ties. We cannot now say with Walter, Ackermann,
and so many others, that in hydrocephalus there is
destruction  or absorption of the organization, and
that the mental functions are all  necessarily anni-
hilated.  The physiology of the brain being now
established, the existence of this mass of organs is
seen clearly to be indispensable, and its disorgani-
zation impossible  in  those hydrocephalic persons
who  exhibit  affective and intellectual faculties.
All this is made evident by our discoveries in anat-
omy and physiology.
   It still  remains for me to make  some inquiries
into the comparative anatomy of the cerebral hem-
ispheres.  To show  the  presence of the  brain  in
the lower  animals is not enough;  the  particular
organs that compose the hemispheres must be de-
termined in addition ; the resemblances to the three
cerebral lobes of the human kind, and to  the indi-
vidual portions of each  being also demonstrated.
Anatomists are not even agreed as to the existence
of the posterior lobes  in  all mammiferous  tribes.
Messrs. Cuvier, Tiedemann,  Serres, and others,
maintain that the  posterior  lobes of the brain are
only  found in man and  the quadrumana.   They
rest their opinion on the fact of  the cerebellum, in
all the other classes, being uncovered by the  brain. 
165
The conclusion  here, however, is faulty, and the
generally  horizontal posture of animals explains,
in the most  satisfactory manner, why the cerebel-
lum, instead of lying under, is situated behind the
posterior lobes.  Let me observe, once for all, that
no part whatsoever can be denied on account of
mere difference of configuration.   Were it thus, the
existence  of the front and middle lobes, in all the
lower animals, might also be disputed with perfect
propriety.  The bulb of the olfactory nerve is cov-
ered by  certain cerebral parts,  in man. monkeys,
and the phoca?;  but in the generality of mammifer-
ous animals and birds, it lies, altogether, anterior
to the  cerebral  hemispheres ; nevertheless, no one
concludes that they, therefore, want the front lobes.
On the other  hand, it  is a  great error to assume
with M. Serres,* as an axiom, that —' The enceph-
alon of all vertebral animals is constructed after
one uniform type, and with the same elements,' or
with M. Cuvier,! to say that —' The brains of  the
mammalia have the same parts as that of man.'
   In principle, I maintain that the cerebral hemis-
pheres of animals  are  composed of  a greater or
smaller number of parts, as different from each oth-
er as the optic from the auditory nerves.  The ex-
istence of the posterior lobes of animals is not to
be doubted, seeing that the ganglion, out of which
they proceed (thalamus,) is found in them, as well
as in man.  Moreover, the functions of the human
posterior cerebral lobes are also manifested by an-
* Anatomie du Cerveau.    t Anat. Compare, t. ii. 
166
imals.   To the  above, it is still necessary to add,
that variety in peripheral  expansions of individual
organs, indicates neither the absence nor presence
of any one in particular:  one  hemisphere that is
entirely smooth, and another that is furrowed in all
directions, may both of them contain the same ele-
mentary parts.   This  consideration it was which
induced me to say, that the comparative anatomy
of the brain could not be advanced without the
assistance of physiology.   With the aid of physiol-
ogy, however, discoveries  of great  interest might,
undoubtedly, be  made. The analogy that exists
between the brains of the  cat family (pi. iv. fig. 5,)
of the dog  tribes (pi. iv. fig. 6,) of the sheep, mon-
key, and other kinds, is as striking as the general
similarity of disposition and character of each.  The
same law holds in the case of man.  Individual or-
gans, however, are more or less developed in every
species of the same genus.   In  pi. v. fig. 1 and 2, I
have given representations of the brains of two spe-
cies  of monkey.   They are, evidently, much alike,
considered in general;  but  still, the anterior  lobes
in fig. 1, are smaller, comparatively, than in fig. 2.
The brain of the ourang-outang is figured in the
same plate, fig. 3, and 4, and the brain of an idiot
girl,  fig. 5 and 6.  There is a striking general re-
semblance between the two, yet the front lobes of
the ourang-outang are more considerable than  those
of the idiot.  In  a precisely similar manner are the
different constituent parts of the  healthy  human
brain dissimilarly developed, and their specification
is matter of especial interest in the study of man. 
167
                  Section VII.

      Of the Commissures or Fibres of Union.

   All the proper cerebral organs, like the other
instruments of phrenic life, occur in pairs, or are
double from the medulla oblongata up to their ex-
pansion in the convolutions.   This, probably, hap-
pens because of their importance, and to the end,
that the congenerate parts may supply each other's
places, should either chance to be injured.  But, in
addition to the parts already described, there are
others still that contribute to the formation of the
brain.  These have been long known by the name
of commissures.
   Anatomists speak of the great commissure or cor-
pus callosum, and of the anterior,  middle, and pos-
terior commissures of the brain.  Until Dr.  Gall
and I published, it was the custom to take merely
mechanical views of these, without attempting to
discover their  relations with  the  other  cerebral
parts, their derivations, or  the  causes of their  dis-
similarity  in different animals; and this too, al-
though Vicq d'Azyr had said * that  ' the commis-
sures seemed to exist for the purpose of establish-
ing sympathetic communications between  the dif-
ferent parts of the brain.'
  The successive additions made to the diverging
bundles, in their course from the medulla oblongata
to the convolutions, is  a point in  anatomy  that is
* Memoires de l'Acad. des Sciences de Paris, 1781. 
168
now generally admitted.  I conceive that I have
discovered another or second order of fibres, which,
with Dr. Gall, I distinguish by the title, converging
fibres, or apparatus of union.  This discovery, how-
ever, is disputed.  M. Tiedemann calls it a chime-
ra *   Dr. Gall, in the sixth volume of his work, in
8 vols., on the Functions  of the  Brain, replies  at
great length to M. Tiedemann, and  to those who
dispute the converging fibres.   For my part, I here
address the same reproach to M. Tiedemann, which
I have laid against him  in another place, and in a
general manner.  He has admitted  laws from re-
searches made on the brain of the embryo, which
are in contradiction with the structure demonstra-
ble in the adult.
  Nothing  can be  easier than, by  dissection,  to
prove the two orders of cerebral fibres: the diverg-
ing and the converging,  and to show  that the mass
or bundle called corpus callosum belongs to the
converging order.
  The corpus callosum extends anteriorly and pos-
teriorly beyond the striated bodies.   (PL x. fig. 1.)
Its thickness, at either extremity, is greater than at
its middle.   (PL vii. fig. 2, x, ^.)  The fibres which
compose the folds of the corpus  callosum, proceed
evidently from the  convolutions which form the
most anterior  and  posterior parts  of the hemis-
pheres,  and by no  means from  the thalami and
striated bodies.  (PL x. fig. 1, 39 and 40.)   Their
direction, consequently,  is entirely different  from
that of the bundles  constituting either of the two

   * Bildungs-geschichte des Gehirns, Nurnberg, 1816, p. 156. 
169
great cerebral ganglions.  If the fibres of the sup-
posed thalami be followed towards the posterior
lobes, by scraping the parts, the converging fibres
may readily be observed passing out betwixt them.
(PL x. fig. 1, P.)  Moreover, the two  folds (ib. 39
and 40) of the corpus callosum are always propor-
tionate in size to the fissures that part the hemis-
pheres before and behind, or otherwise, to the con-
volutions on either  side of the fissures, but by no
means to the diverging  fibres.   The corpus  callo-
sum is softer and much larger than the bundles of
the  striated bodies; the fibres of either of these
masses, consequently, cannot be mere continuations
of the other.
  But, in fact, the entire difference  of the two or-
ders of fibres cannot possibly be called in question,
saving at the middle of the corpus  callosum, or
place opposite the  striated bodies ;  and even here,
the analogy  that exists between the middle and the
extremities  of the mass, may be assumed a suffi-
cient index of an analogous formation.  The scalpel,
however, sets the matter completely at rest.  The
converging mass, I  must not forget to state, does in-
deed communicate with the great cerebral ganglions
by means of a superficial band or layer, which has
obtained the title of semicircular tape-worm.  On
examining the middle part of the corpus callosum at-
tentively, its edge, opposite the great cerebral gang-
lions, will be  seen  to consist  of this semicircular
band alone.   It is composed of its own fibres, so to
say, and increases in thickness as the middle line is
approached; for the fibres become gradually thick-
             22 
170
 er till they meet, in the same way as the folds  in-
 crease, as they advance on each side to their junc-
 tion.
   In  attempting to  imitate the naturally unfolded
 state of the  brain  in  hydrocephalus,  by pressing
 upon the roof of the  cavities with the fingers, a
 certain quantity of resistance is always experienc-
 ed at the bottoms of the convolutions.   This pro-
 ceeds from a tissue formed by the  interlacement of
 the two orders of cerebral fibres.  This tissue once
 torn,  the line  between the layers of the convolu-
 tions  is entered immediately, and they are then
 unfolded with perfect ease.
  Were the diverging fibres or bundles of the great
 cerebral ganglions prolonged  directly into the cor-
 pus callosum, it would be extremely difficult to un-
 derstand how they could be  elongated  to the de-
 gree occasionally observed  in hydrocephalus.  The
 disappearance of the convolutions too, would be al-
 together incomprehensible; the water  would act
 against the corpus callosum and the walls  of the
 cavities, but  there  would be  no reason for the un-
 folding of the convolutions.   With the true struc-
 ture in  view, however, all that happens in hydro-
 cephalus is easily  explained;  there is  neither ab-
 sorption nor  increase  of  the cerebral parts: the
 converging and diverging fibres have but to change
 positions; to  separate  at the  place  of their inter-
 section, at the bottoms of  the convolutions; the
 convolutions to split in the line of their component
 layers, and the change is completed.  I, for my own
part, feel inclined rather to recognise increase than
diminution of  the cerebral mass in hydrocephalus. 
171
 Why, indeed, should not that happen in regard to
 the brain which so plainly occurs as the investing
 membranes are concerned ?  How greatly is  not
 the arachnoid coat, the dura  mater, and even  the
 osseous  covering of the whole augmented?   All
 concurs, then, to prove the presence of the two or-
 ders of fibres in  the  brain as  well as in the cere-
 bellum.
   And now a question of much interest presents it-
 self; it is this: are the bundles styled corpus cal-
 losum an annular protuberance, true commissures,
 or  organs of union ?   It is quite  certain that  the
 annular protuberance belongs to the lateral parts
 of the cerebellum, and that it appears with, and is
 proportionate to, these.   It is also undeniable, that
 the corpus callosum is in relation  to the cerebral
 hemispheres, precisely as is the annular protuber-
 ance to the lateral  parts of the cerebellum.  We
 have seen, too, that both the brain and  the cerebel-
 lum are composed of two orders of fibres.  On  the
 other hand, the nervous apparatus of animal life is
 universally double, and united in the middle line by
 means of commissures.   I believe, indeed, that  the
 law of commissures is quite general; but I doubt
 of each congenerate pair of fibres having its own
 commissure, or bundle, uniting in  the  middle line.
 This, in the first place, cannot possibly be the case
 in the spinal cord  and medulla oblongata, because
 the apparatus of union is there much less consider-
 able than the several halves of these masses.  The
 same thing may be said  in regard  to the annular
protuberance and corpus callosum.  These bundles,
compared with the white masses of the cerebellar 
172
 and cerebral hemispheres, are much too inconsider-
 able.  It would seem, therefore, that  a small mass
 is sufficient  to  unite the two congenerate halves.
 Still, the mass that unites, and the mass that is unit-
 eel, not being of equal dimensions, does not gainsay
 the possibility of the commissures being proportion-
 ate to the congenerate parts that are joined.
   M. Serres, maintains,* that the corpus callosum
 is proportionate to the  annular protuberance, and
 that the  hemispheres of the brain are developed in
 the direct ratio  of those of the cerebellum.  It is
 easy to demonstrate this error.  The masses  men-
 tioned vary extremely, and are never developed di-
 rectly in the ratio of each other, neither in different
 kinds, nor in different individuals of the same kind
 of animals.   To be convinced of this truth, it is
 enough to glance over the  tables of the compara-
 tive sizes of the brain and cerebellum, which vari-
 ous  authors (among the number, M. Cuvier)  have
 drawn up.   The proportion between the brain and
 cerebellum even varies  in  the  same individual at
 different  periods of life.  The  cerebellum attains
 its  complete growth later than the  cerebral parts
 generally.
  As to the proportion between the  annular protu-
 berance  and cerebellar hemispheres,  and that be-
 tween the corpus callosum and hemispheres of the
 brain,  recognised  by M. Serres, these are  facts
 announced  by  Dr. Gall and  me, long before this
gentleman's publication  appeared.
  It still .remains  to be seen, whether or not the
* Rapport, &c, p. 72. 
173
annular protuberance and corpus callosum are true
commissures.  These parts are  only found in  man
and the mammalia: in birds, reptiles, and fishes,
they  are  wanting.  Birds and reptiles, however,
have  undoubtedly cerebral hemispheres, with two
great ganglions;  and, as in them, the other  com-
missures,  entitled anterior, middle, and posterior,
are of a size proportionate to the lateral masses,
and are situated as in  man and other superior
tribes, they cannot be assumed to supply the place
of the corpus callosum.  It follows, therefore,  ei-
ther that the union of the cerebral hemispheres of
birds is established according to another law than
that of the mammalia, or that the annular protuber-
ance  and  corpus callosum  are  not  true commis-
sures, in which event  they  would have to be con-
sidered as mere constituent parts of the cerebellar
and  cerebral apparatus.  Dr. Gall and I  commit-
ted an error in the first volume of our large work,
when we  treated of a part in birds, as analogous to
the corpus callosum of quadrupeds. In the succeed-
ing section of this book, I shall show that the mass
in question corresponds, not to the corpus callosum,
but to the fornix of mammiferous animals.  There,
too, I shall  prove that we  did wrong, in classing
the entire fornix among the commissures.
   My doubts of the propriety of regarding the an-
nular protuberance and corpus callosum as com-
missures, increase  in consequence of  the existence
of two longitudinal bands, running along the middle
line of the latter, forming what is called its raphe,
 (pi. x. fig. 1,) and of the layer of fibres between the
 raphe, and between the two halves of the annular 
174
  protuberance, similar to that which occurs between
  the peduncles of the brain.  (PL vii. fig. 2. x, /*, x.)
    Lastly, Reil relates a remarkable case* of a wo-
  man, above thirty years of age, whose intellectual
  faculties were very limited, and  whose corpus cal-
  losum was found split in the middle line through its
  entire length.
    Last year, (1825,) through the kindness of Messrs.
  Morgan and Keys, surgeons to Guy's Hospital, Lon-
  don, I had an opportunity of seeing a similar case.
  The name of the man in whom  it occurred  was
 James Cardinal, a portrait of whom I gave, in 1815,
 in my work, entitled ' The Physiognomical System,'
 which Dr. Gall  copied in  his continuation of our
 large work, and which I myself re-published  last
 year in my book on Phrenology.   I do not think
 that  any case more remarkable than James Cardi-
 nal's has ever been the subject of observation.   He
 had hydrocephalus to an  enormous amount, and
 manifested the affective and intellectual faculties.
 The  greater part  of the  water was accumulated
 between the brain and dura mater, but the lateral
 cavities were at the same  time  distended by about
 a pint of fluid, which communicated freely with the
 liquid collected without the brain, as the corpus
 callosum, with its extreme folds, was split through
 its entire length along the median  line.   Its masses
 on either side, together with the  lateral convolu-
tions, were quite distinct.  The union of the corpus
callosum from this would not appear essentially ne-
cessary to the unity of function of the two crebral
* Archiv fur die Physiologie, B. ii. S. 341. 
175
hemispheres.  Nevertheless,  I  regard the corpus
callosum, as well as the convolutions necessary to
produce an organization fitted for its peculiar func-
tions.  This structure, perhaps, has  some advan-
tages, as the vegetative functions of the parts are
concerned:  it may  possibly have the same end as
the cavities and anfractuosities,  of which I shall
speak more  particularly by-and-by.
  With the  exception of regarding the corpus cal-
losum as an apparatus  of  union, I see no reason to
alter any of the other ideas relative to  this mass,
published by Dr. Gall and me, in our Memoir to the
French Institute in 1808,  and in the first volume of
our large work : I still  maintain the proportions be-
tween its different parts and  diverse cerebral mas-
ses ;  the dissimilar course of the diverging and con-
verging fibres ;  the accumulation of fibres at its two
extremities,  in consequence  of the anterior  and
posterior fissures of the hemispheres.   The direc-
tion of the fibres forming  the raphe, will, perhaps,
be  better explained in   the  succeeding section,
which treats of the communication  of the nervous
apparatuses.  The structure of the raphe appears
to be more analogous to that of the fimbriated body,
or its slip communicating with the  fornix, and of the
semicircular tape-worm of Haller (tania semicircu-
lar is.)
  The idea  formed of the folds of the corpus cal-
losum,  depends on the  view  that is taken of the
mass lengthwise and from above.  Anatomists, con-
templating it in this way, have imagined that it was
folded down upon itself before  and behind, in con-
sequence of  the prolongation of the  cavities into 
176
 the anterior and posterior lobes between the supe-
 rior and inferior masses of convolutions.
   The  error of classing the fimbriated  body and
 the entire fornix among the apparatuses of union is
 evident.  To  be convinced of  the  mistake, it is
 enough to remember  the direction of the fibres
 composing these parts.   The  bundles of  neither
 ever cross the median  line; they always run into
 lateral masses, and are undoubtedly instruments of
 communication.
   In the mammalia there lies a band upon the me-
 dulla oblongata behind the  annular protuberance,
 which Dr. Gall and I have regarded as a commissure
 of the auditory nerves.   Our view, in this particu-
 lar, may be disputed, and I leave the point still un-
 determined.  The band, however, is certainly in
 connexion with the auditory nerves.
   Let us now treat of the undoubted fibres of union,
 or of the true  commissures.  And, first, the nervous
 masses of the  vertebral column  are  connected  in
 the median line by a peculiar order of fibres.  (PL
 i. fig. 6. a.)
   In the  fourth ventricle of fishes,  especially of
 those in which  the  lateral edges of this cavity re-
 semble ganglions, certain transverse fibres may  be
 distinctly seen behind and before the median gang-
 lion, and uniting the two cerebral halves.   (PL ii.
 fig. 14, e, e.)
  I am much inclined to  think that the nervous in-
 struments are principally connected at their origins.
 The two halves of the cerebellum  of all vertebral
 animals, for instance, are united by transverse fibres
running between the  two primary bundles  that 
177
 come from the sides of the medulla oblongata.  In
 the sturgeon, frog, (pi. iii.  fig. 2,) and other fishes,
 and reptiles, where the cerebellum is so small, there
 is a thin white slip which joins the  two sides  to-
 gether.  In other fishes (pi. ii. fig.  13,) and reptiles,
 whose cerebellum is larger, as also in birds, we may
 perceive a white layer  at  the bottom of  the cere-
 bellar ventricle, terminated in birds at its anterior
 edge by a small tubercle.  (PL iii. fig. 8, 43.)  A
 similar apparatus is found  in man, and in all mam-
 miferous animals.
   The  cerebellum  is at a greater or smaller dis-
 tance from the bigeminal or  quadrigeminal bodies.
 This accounts for the different lengths of the part
 styled valve of Vieussens, which consists  of a thin
 slip of fibres running transversely between the cer-
 ebellum, the edges of the primary bundles that ex-
 pand into the organs of the affective faculties, and
 the bigeminal  or quadrigeminal bodies.   (PL  xi.
 fig-1, y)
   To show the interior of the fourth ventricle, the
 union of the two cerebellar  hemispheres, and the
 Vieussenian valve in man and the mammalia, the
 brain must be laid on its superior surface (pi. vi. fig.
 1,) the annular protuberance and medulla oblon-
gata separated, and the two halves pushed aside.
   In fishes there is scarcely a part analogous to the
 valve of Vieussens.   This happens  from the vicinity
of the cerebellum and the other ganglions.  In birds,
 however, the part is very distinct.   (PL iii. fig. 6,
 and pi.  xi. fig. 3, y.)
   Behind the bigeminal bodies in birds (pi. xi. fig.
               23 
178
 3,) and the quadrigeminal bodies in the mammalia
 and man  (pi.  xi. fig. 1,)  at the point  where  the
 nerve of the superior oblique eye-muscles goes off
 (ibid.  13,)  there is a transverse uniting band.
   The bigeminal or quadrigeminal bodies are al-
 ways  united by commissures or transverse bands.
 (PL iii. fig. 6,  and pi. xi. fig. 1, 2, 3, x.)   The body
 called pineal gland is always found in animals pos-
 sessed of the  great inferior ganglion  of the brain
 (thalamus.)  I do not believe that it occurs among
 fishes. M.  Tiedemann entertains the same opinion;
 but M. Serres* declares, that the pineal gland is to
 be demonstrated in all the four classes of vertebral
 animals.  According to him, the body has two sets
 of peduncles, one issuing from the optic thalamus,
 another  from  the quadrigeminal tubercles.   He,
 however, is in evident  contradiction with himself
 when  he adds, that the  thalamus does not exist in
 fishes.
   Anatomists now-a-days are agreed as to the part
 in question being no gland,  but a nervous mass
 composed of white and  cineritious  substance.   Its
 form and size vary extremely in different classes of
 animals.  It always lies between the true optic and
the great inferior ganglions of  the  brain.  It has
four connecting slips, two on each side.   The pos-
terior pair running backwards and downwards, and
adhere to the proper ganglions of the optic nerves.
(PL vn. fig. 2, and pi. x.  fig. 1, B. e.)
  It is  at the fore-part of the pineal gland that the
* Rapport, &c. p. 69, 70. 
179
granular concretions which have attracted so much
notice  are principally  found.   Malacarne* says,
that he has seen them in the pineal gland of a goat,
and Soemmering,! that he has detected them in that
of a  fallow deer.
   Des Cartes is generally known to have considered
the pineal gland  as the seat of the soul.   At the
present day, it were useless to repeat the arguments
that StenoJ has employed against the Cartesians
in refutation of their  error.
   I only speak of the pineal gland in this place for
the sake of connexion,  for it appears to belong, at
least, as much to the instruments of communication
as to those of union.
   The part which, by anatomists, is entitled poste-
rior commissure, is  found lying  anteriorly to  the
proper optic ganglion, and at  the commencement
of the great inferior ganglion of the brain,  into
which it plunges  immediately.   (PL iii. fig. 9, pi.
vii. fig. 2. and  pi. xi.  fig. 1, v.)
   The transverse fibres, usually termed the soft or
middle commissure, may be readily seen extending
between the great inferior cerebral ganglions in the
mammalia.  (PL  xi. fig. 1,  46.)  Many  authors
have doubted the existence of this part in man.  It
 may unquestionably be demonstrated in the human
 brain; but its very delicate fibres are easily  torn,
 and care is required in  the attempt to point it out.

   * Encephalotomia di alcuni Q,uadrupedi, Mautua, 1795.
   | Vom Hirn und Ruckenmark, Maynz, 1788.
   X Discourse on the Anatomy of the Brain, inserted in Winslow's
 Anatomy. 
180
But it may be most  readily shown from below by
separating the  crura, the  annular protuberance,
and the medulla oblongata.
   I now come  to a commissure that is quite con-
stant in all vertebral animals.  In man, it is called
the anterior  commissure.  Its  regular occurrence,
like that of  the posterior  commissure and uniting
fibres of the quadrigeminal or  bigeminal bodies, is
an index of  its importance.  In the eel, (pi. ii. fig.
1,) and barbel, (ib. figs. 12 and 13,) it lies between
the second pair of ganglions, beginning the reckon-
ing from before (ib. fig. 13, 61;) in the flounder, (ib.
fig. 4,) the  roach, (ib. fig. 11,) and others,  it is sit-
uated between the olfactory ganglions.  In all the
animals possessed  of striated bodies, viz. reptiles,
birds, and the mammalia, it always lies anteriorly
to the junction  of the optic nerves.   It traverses
the striated bodies, and  is continued onwards be-
tween the anterior and middle lobes.  (PL iii. figs.
6 and 9; pi. viii. figs. 1 and 2, and pi. xi. figs. 1 and
2,61.)
   In all the mammalia, the anterior commissure is
composed of two parts :  the one of these communi-
cates with  the olfactory nerve,  the other,  as in
man,  is prolonged towards the fissure of  Sylvius
between the anterior  and middle lobes.  This dis-
covery I published in the spring of 1821, in a thesis,
entitled Encephalotomie*   The portion running to
the olfactory nerve forms an  arc, the convexity of
which is turned backwards, the concavity forwards.
(PL iv. fig.  4, 31.)
* Vide p. 23. 
181
  In man, the anterior  commissure traverses the
exterior half of  the striated bodies: it  communi-
cates first with the innermost  convolutions of the
anterior lobes;  then with those situated at the bot-
tom of the Sylvian fissure;  and lastly, with those
in the fore part of the middle lobe.  It thus forms
an arc, whose longest and concave edge is directed
backwards.   (PL viii. fig. 2, 61.)
  M. Chaussier * and M. Tiedemann,! regard the
anterior commissure as a continuation of the cere-
bral crura.  Anatomy exposes  this error.  Having
laid the brain on its superior surface, (pi. vi. fig. 1,
and pi. viii. fig. 2,) turn back the optic nerves and
separate the hemispheres  slightly, a  white  cord
about the thickness of a writing-pen will be brought
into view.  Remove the  superimposed parts with-
out implicating the anterior commissure itself, and
its passage across the striated bodies will be dis-
tinctly perceived.  Arrived at the  anterior extrem-
ity  of the middle  lobes, the anterior commissure
divides  into a  greater number of filaments that
communicate with the convolutions.   I shall bring
this section to a close, by proposing the following
question : — Is the anterior commissure proportion-
ate to the cerebral masses destined to the intellectu-
al faculties ?
* Anatomie du Cerveau, p. 71.      f Op. cit, p. 138. 
182
                 Section VIII.

Of the Communication of the Nervous Apparatuses.

  Thus far advanced, we have seen that the ner-
vous system is an aggregation of organs performing
special functions; that the instruments of phrenic
life exist in pairs, and  that there is a particular
structure, by which  congenerate parts are united.
Another essential consideration refers to  the com-
munication with each other of the peculiar nervous
apparatuses, an arrangement which is indispensable
to account for the mutual  influence, or, as it is
termed, the sympathies of the functions.
  The functions of the thoracic and abdominal vis-
cera are evidently mutually  influential, and  the
nerves of vegetative  life, generally, communicate
together.   Again, vegetative and  phrenic life  are
mutually related ; imperfect digestion, for example,
disturbs  the  intellectual energies, and  excessive
mental application, or moral  sadness, interrupts  the
process of digestion.   The communications between
the nerves  of the thorax and abdomen, and the an-
terior roots of the spinal and cranial nerves, espe-
cially the pneumogastric, the hypoglossal, the  ab-
ductor,  the facial, and  the trigeminal,  are well
known anatomical facts.
  Further, the spinal nerves  are intimately  con-
nected with  each other: there  are longitudinal
bands that run along the edges of the two fissures of
the spinal cord; these are, especially, evident on the 
183
dorsal aspect of the cervical portion (pi. i. fig. 5,)
and on each side, at the bottom of the dorsal fissure.
(PL i. fig. 7.)  The nerves of voluntary motion and
of sensation are also  most intimately connected.
  Moreover, the nerves of motion, of general sensa-
tion, and of the various special  sensations, taste,
smell, hearing, and sight, communicate with  each
other.
  The mutual influence of the organs of motion, of
the external senses, and of the affective and intellec-
tual faculties, equally require an organic communi-
cation.  The physiological experiments or mutila-
tions which have  been made in reference to this
subject, are not, by any means, satisfactory.  The
cerebellum, which, according to M. Rolando, gives
the locomotive power, and to M. Flourens, regulates
the motions, is in more intimate  connexion with the
dorsal than with the abdominal roots of the spinal
nerves ; yet M. Magendie has been led to conclude
that the dorsal roots of  these nerves preside over
sensation, whilst the abdominal are the special or-
gans of motion.  It is, however, certain  that the
external senses and the organs of motion, aid, to a
greater or less amount, the cerebral functions, prop-
erly so called.  It  is  to this end, consequently, that
the nervous masses of motion, and those of general
and special sensation, communicate with the organs
of the  affective  and intellectual  faculties.   This
communication is established by means of the me-
dulla oblongata,  the  decussation of some of whose
component bundles explains the effects of cerebral
injuries being frequently manifested  on the side of
the body opposite to that on which they occur. 
184
   The sense of taste is subservient to the functions
of digestion and nutrition ; and its instrument is a
branch of the trigeminal, a nerve of general sensa-
tion, supplying the organs of mastication, and arising
very nearly from the same place as the glossopha-
ryngeal, the pneumogastric, and the facial.
   The auditory nerve embraces  the primary bun-
dles of the organs of the affective powers, and these
it assists more generally, especially among animals,
than those of the intellectual faculties:  males and
females call on each other as the season of love
draws near; the cries of the young bring the mother
to their aid; the  barking of the dog, the  grunting
of the hog, the crying of the monkey, collect  other
individuals of their several kinds to render assist-
ance ; all  the  animals that plant sentinels, know
the sounds of alarm;  and the courage,* secretive-
ness, or circumspection ! of many species is excited
by peculiar tones, appreciated by the sense of hear-
ing.   The  cock taunts his adversary by crowing;
the sparrow, turkey, common fowl, and many other
kinds of birds advise their young of an enemy's ap-
proach, and by their cries admonish  them to keep
quiet, or to seek security by flight.
  The optic nerve aids almost all the affective and
intellectual faculties.  Instead of running directly
from its origin to the eye, it  therefore turns out-
wardly, and, in  its course, communicates  with  all
the parts  adjacent, from its ganglion, onwards,  to
the tuber cinereum ; so that in order to turn it back
in man, it must be torn away from a thin communi-
* Combativeness, of the new nomenclature.   f Caution. 
185
eating layer  all the way along the outer edge as
far as the external geniculated body.  Phrenology
shows that vision assists more immediately those
organs situated backwardly, laterally, and  anteri-
orly, than those in the middle line of the head, such
as veneration, (reverence,)  firmness, hope, justice,
conscientiousness,  &c.  In  all animals, the optic
nerve is evidently connected with  a great number
of cerebral masses.
  The nerve of smell always communicates with
the  anterior  cerebral lobes, and  in animals this
sense aids in  a very particular manner the faculties
that take cognizance of external objects, their qual-
ities, their relations, and the phenomena they pre-
sent.  Animals  examine their  food, their  friends,
their enemies,  their dwellings, &c. &c. by means
of smell.
  The olfactory nerve also communicates with the
anterior convolutions of the middle lobes, especially
with the part that corresponds to the hippocampus's
foot, or the amnions' horn.  If there be a cerebral
part presiding over the  functions of hunger and
thirst, it would appear to be situated in this neigh-
borhood.  I  am  confirmed  in this  supposition by
the vicinity of the organ of destructiveness.
   To conclude, — nature has taken great pains to
establish an  intimate connexion between the differ-
ent cerebral parts themselves.  Two longitudinal
bands, running at the bottom of the dorsal fissure
of  the  spinal cord,  are  continued into the  fourth
ventricle.  In fishes they run as far as the olfactory
ganglions.  (PL ii. fig. 13.)
              24 
186
  The cerebellum, as I have already shown, always
communicates with the medulla oblongata, and the
bigeminal or quadrigeminal bodies.
  The parts successively added to form the cerebral
hemispheres  are connected  together by transverse
bands or interlacing fibres.  A band of this nature
is sometimes seen below  the  olivary bodies.  (PL
viii. fig. 2, 64.)   Different other transverse inter-
lacements are visible in  every  human  brain that
is moderately consistent, 1st, at  the superior edge
of the annular protuberance  (pi. viii. fig. 1, 33;)
2dly,  in  the middle of the cerebral crura (pi. vi.
fig.  1, and pi. viii. fig. 1, 34;) 3dly, below the optic
nerve (ib. fig. 1, 35;) 4thly,  at the place where the
fibres issue to enter the superior convolutions of the
middle lobe  (pi. viii. fig. 1, 36;) 5thly, between the
two great cerebral ganglions (ibid. 37;) 6thly, at
the external edge of the striated  bodies (pi. viii. fig.
1, and pi. ix. fig.  1, 38.)  These interlacing bundles
do  not occur on the external surfaces only, they
also penetrate the interior of  the masses to which
they belong.
  The greater part of the fornix, that is to say, the
fimbriated bodies running from the hippocampus's
foot, the posterior and anterior pillars, and the lon-
gitudinal fibres between them, as also the mammil-
lary bodies  and  their  prolongations, are evidently
apparatuses  of communication.   (PL x. fig. 1 B.
57 — 62.)  The  anterior pillars of the fornix trav-
erse the tuber cinereum, and plunge into the mam-
millary bodies, from whence another bundle issues,
to be lost  in the great ganglion of the organs of the 
18?
 affective faculties (thalami.)   (PL x. fig. 1, 16.)
 In the mammalia  the fornix further communicates
 with the two longitudinal bands of the corpus cal-
 losum (raphe,) and with the septum lucidum, which
 last in  its  turn  communicates with the raphe, and
 with a  band lying before the  optic nerves.   (Ibid.
 57, 58, 59.)  The  raphe itself, and also the semi-
 circular tape-worm of Haller (pi. xi. fig. 1, A. 32,)
 appear to be instruments of communication, the first
 between the converging fibres themselves, the other
 between the great cerebral ganglions, and the con-
 verging fibres.
  These parts are strikingly  analogous in all the
 mammalia.  In birds and reptiles there are fibres,
 which, from the  middle lobes, the circumference of
 the posterior lobes, and from the median line, come
 together towards the base of the brain, and form a
 bundle that communicates with the cerebral crura
 behind  the  optic  nerves.  This fibrous layer, or
 bundle of birds, consequently, resembles the fornix
 and septum lucidum of mammalia.   (PL iii. fig. 6;
 and  pi. xi. fig. 3, B. 60.)
  In fishes, besides the two longitudinal bands that
 run  the  whole length of  the  encephalic masses,
 each ganglion sends  a slip of communication to  its
 neighbor, the cerebellum to the optic ganglion, this
 to the succeeding one, and so on successively, whilst
 the most anterior of all sends fibres to join the com-
 mon longitudinal  band  of the olfactory  nerves.
 (PL  ii. fig. 13.)
  The mass entitled infundibulum lies behind the
junction of the optic nerves.   It is evidently trav- 
188
ersed by white filaments,  and communicates with
the tuber cinereum.  (PL ii. fig. 4, 6, 8;  pi. iii. fig.
12; and pi. vi. fig. 1, 17.)
  The influence of the anterior pyramidal bodies,
on the propagation of the will towards the instru-
ments of motion, deserves some attention.  Accord-
ing to phrenological observations, the anterior lobes
of the brain  contain  the  organs of the perceptive
and reflective intellectual faculties, without which
there would be no will.*   Now these lobes are in-
timately connected with the pyramidal bodies, and
these last communicate directly with the abdominal
half of the spinal cord, whence, as  it appears, the
nerves especially  appropriated to  propagate the
will are detached.
   Lastly, in the animals whose brains are smooth
 on the surface, the peripheral connexion of the in-
 dividual organs is manifest; in  the  other  kinds,
 whose brains are convoluted, it is extremely inter-
 esting to trace the connexion of the different cere-
 bral masses composing special instruments.   These
 connexions explain the mutual influence of the fac-
 ulties.  The  organs  of analogous powers are reg-
 ularly in each other's vicinity;  the convolutions
 that compose them even run into  each other.   The
 organ of philoprogenitiveness communicates with
 that  of inhabitiveness, and  with that of courage
 (combativeness;)  the  organ of courage also com-
 municates with that of attachment (adhesiveness;)
 and with that of destructiveness  ; the organ of se-
 cretiveness communicates immediately with that of

   * See Philosophical Principles of Phrenology, Lond. 1825, p. 32 
189
destructiveness, and with that of circumspection
(caution ;) the organ of benevolence communicates
with the organ of veneration (reverence;) the organ
of firmness is in communication with those of all the
faculties around it — veneration,  justice, and self-
esteem ; the organ of justice  runs into that of the
love of acquiring (acquisitiveness) — this is connect-
ed with that of construction (constructiveness;) the
organsof the perceptive faculties  are all linked to-
gether, as are those of the reflective powers in like
manner; the organ of artificial language is placed
across the organs of the intellectual faculties gener-
ally.  Thus,  the  especial pains which nature has
taken to establish communications between the ce-
rebral parts cannot be overlooked; and, as I  have
already said, it is this arrangement that enables us
to understand the mutual influence of their respec-
tive functions. 
190
                 Section IX.

 Of the  Anatomico-Physiological Relations  of the
             Nervous Apparatuses.

   In Phrenology it is an admitted axiom, that struc-
 ture does not reveal function; still, it is certain that
 there is a relation between the organic structure
 of  an apparatus and its functions.  Many consid-
 erations bearing upon  this point are contained in
 the works which Dr. Gall and I  have published
 conjointly as well  as severally.  In this place it
 will be enough  merely to refresh the reader's
 memory.
   No affective  or intellectual function is ever mani-
 fested without  a brain; and these functions appear
 simultaneously with the brain ;  this organ is in the
 first instance pulpy; it increases in growth, becomes
 fibrous, and advances gradually to its maturity; but,
 after the meridian of life has been passed, it shrinks
 again, and the convolutions become  less plump,
 and seem less firmly packed than in youth and man-
 hood's prime.   The nerves also decrease in old age.
 The cerebral fibres in declining years acquire den-
 sity and firmness, but they lose in specific gravity.
 In conformity with these facts,  the mental faculties
 of  newly-born  children are  confined to voluntary
 motion, to the sensation of hunger, and to some ob-
 scure feelings of pain; by slow degrees the functions
 of the external senses become perfect; the child
begins to attend to outward objects, to act upon 
191
these, to manifest determinate desires and clear no-
tions :  it becomes, in succession, boy, youth, and
man, when the faculties show themselves in their ut-
most energy : little by little they now begin to lose
strength, and old age is at length marked by blunt-
ed sensibilities, and  enfeebled intellectual powers.
A defective development of the brain prevents  the
exhibition of affective and intellectual faculties, and
causes idiotism.   Men of great and general abilities
have  always a voluminous  brain.   Different cere-
bral parts are differently developed in the two sexes,
in different nations, and  in  different individuals of
the same  people.  The  cerebral  organization is
oftentimes  alike in  several  members of a  family.
In all these cases it is easy  to prove a relation be-
tween the  condition  of the brain and the affective
and intellectual  manifestations.
  The brains of different species of animals  vary in
density, in texture, and probably in their  general
organic constitution.  This is the reason why func-
tions essentially similar offer so many modifications,
and never correspond in degree of energy with that
of the development of their instruments: that is to
say, the affective and intellectual aptitudes  cannot
be  measured by the absolute size of their  organic
apparatuses.  Size, however, is one condition essen-
tial to energy;  and,  other conditions being equal,
the largest organs will show the greatest vigor.
  It would appear that, in conformity with the law
established in regard to electrical phenomena, the
energy of  nervous apparatuses  depends in  a great
measure on their quantity of surface ; more on this, 
192
perhaps, than on their component quantity of ner-
vous matter.   M. Desmoulins, in his Memoir to the
Academy of Sciences of Paris, attempts  to prove,
1st, that integrity of surface is the only constant
condition for the production of  nervous actions; 2d,
that the intensity and perfection of nervous actions
depend on the proportionate extent of nervous sur-
faces ;  and, 3d, that the nervous actions are per-
formed and transmitted by the surface.
   I do not mean to say that the quantity of a ner-
vous apparatus has no influence on the  energy of
its functions;  but the influence of  the peripheral
expansion  is  certainly great.   May it be, on  this
account, that the cerebral apparatuses are hollow
or lamellated?  In the inferior classes of animals,
the nervous masses are very commonly hollow.
   Cavities and anfractuosities unquestionably in-
crease the surface of organs. Have the annular pro-
tuberance  and corpus  callosum of man and  the
mammalia a like destination ?  The cavities  and
convolutions also facilitate the circulation  of  the
blood, and thus  appear to produce twofold good
effects.
   Let us turn, and then examine the cerebral cavi-
ties and their communications.  The common num-
ber of cavities reckoned is four.  The fourth is
formed by the separation between the cerebellum
and the medulla oblongata.   (PL ii. fig. 13;  pi. vii.
fig. 2; pi. x. fig. 1; pi. xi. figs.  1  and 3, m.)  The di-
mensions and development of the fourth ventricle,
says M. Desmoulins, coincides with the development
 of the eighth pair of nerves.  Now,  to me the fourth 
193
ventricle seems nothing in itself, and not at all pro-
portionate either to the cerebellum, or the  eighth
pair of nerves.  It, in fact, depends entirely for its
size on the united breadth of the medulla oblongata
and development  of the cerebellum.   Is the cer-
ebellum broad and the medulla oblongata narrow,
the fourth ventricle will be narrower than it would
have been, were the medulla and  cerebellum both
broad-  In the sturgeon, frog, toad, &c, the fourth
ventricle is of considerable magnitude, and the cer-
ebellum very small.
  The fourth ventricle runs between the>nnular
protuberance and valve of Vieussens on to the aque-
duct of Sylvius, or canal between the crura of the
brain and  the commissure  of  the quadrigeminal
bodies.  (PL vii.  fig. 2, <p; pi. x. fig.  1, «*>•)   This
canal (iter a quarto  ad tertium ventriculum) then
opens into the third cerebral ventricle,  or separation
between the great ganglions of the affective facul-
ties.  (PL xi. fig. 1, M.)
  The third ventricle communicates on both sides
of the median line  by the cleft  between the fornix
and the great ganglions of the affective powers (pi.
x. fig. 1,) with the lateral cavities which extend into
the anterior, posterior, and middle lobes.
  The communication between the lateral cavities
of the brain and the  third ventricle is thus  estab-
lished, and not by a natural opening, styled foramen
Monroi, nor by any supposed rupture of the septum
lucidum.
  Having placed the brain on its superior surface,
and cut through the optic nerves, the crura, the an-
               25 
194
nular protuberance, and medulla oblongata at their
junction in the median line, and separated the two
halves, an opening will be seen between the anterior
pillar of the fornix and the great inferior ganglion of
the brain.  This opening, just described, was called
a foramen, by Dr. Monro of Edinburgh, and anato-
mists have entitled it foramen Monroianum. It is, as
we have seen, no true foramen or hole,  but a mere
part of the great cleft that brings the third ventricle
into communication with the great lateral cavities.
   From this peculiar  structure of the cerebral cavi-
ties, it must appear evident that a great accumula-
tion of water can never be found in one hemisphere
only.  A small quantity may undoubtedly be  col-
lected in the lateral and posterior parts of one of
the  great ventricles; but, whenever it  becomes
considerable, it raises the fornix, flows into the third
ventricle, and from this immediately gains the cav-
ity of the opposite side. All the observations which
have been made are  consistent in  this particular.
The large hydrocephalic crania preserved in muse-
ums prove universally that both hemispheres have
been distended.
   Some anatomists speak of a fifth ventricle be-
tween the two layers of which the septum lucidum
consists;  but in this sense, every anfractuosity may
be called ventricle.
   M. Serres* is much mistaken when he maintains
that in fishes, reptiles and birds, there is no ventri-
cle,  and that the brain is a solid mass.  In fishes
each ganglion is hollow;  and in reptiles and birds
there is a cavity between the striated bodies (the
                * Rapport, p. 77. 
195
great cerebral ganglions) and the fibrous band, pre-
cisely as there is  one in  the  mammalia between
the two cerebral ganglions, the fornix and the sep-
tum lucidum.   (PL xi. figs. 2 and 3.)
  Here it will not be out of place to take a  general
and cursory view of what are entitled physiological
experiments; the means which, in the eyes of experi-
menters, ought to  establish and confirm the physi-
ology of the nervous system in general, and of the
brain and  its parts in particular.   Dr. Gall and I
have always  declared against such violent means
of obtaining  conclusions.  We prefer observing the
relations  between the  development  of  different
parts and the exhibition of particular functions, and
investigating pathological facts.  However, I do
not incline to neglect any means, whatever its na-
ture ; I conceive that it is a great mistake to con-
fine inquiries within any one particular channel.
Mr. Charles  Bell  regards anatomical research  as
the means the most favorable to  the progress  of
physiology;  Messrs. Magendie,  Flourens, and oth-
ers, on the contrary, prefer physiological experi-
ments, in  other words, mutilations; whilst  M. Lel-
lemand, again, seems to give the preference to pa-
thological observations.  Pathological cases appear
to have been more fertile hitherto in results both
anatomically and  physiologically,  than mutilations.
Observing, for example, that the effects of the lesion
of one side of the brain were manifested on the op-
posite side of the body, the decussation of the ante-
rior pyramidal bodies was sought  for and discover-
ed. Observing that great distension of the cerebral
hemispheres did not impede the affective and intel- 
196
 lectual manifestations, the structure of the convolu-
 tions was inquired into and demonstrated. Remark-
 ing that sensibility may be lost without the powers
 of motion suffering, and that the power of locomo-
 tion may be lost without that of  sensation being
 disturbed, researches  on the nerves  of these  two
 sorts of functions have been instituted, and so  on.
 Pathological  facts, however, cannot be interpreted
 in opposition  to physiological  observations.   Will
 anyone  say  with M.Foville,  that the superficial
 substance of the brain presides over the intellectual
 functions, and the white and deep-seated masses of
 gray substance over  locomotion,  because he  has
 observed that derangements of these two orders of
 function accompanied organic alterations of the su-
 perficies,  or internal part of the brain ?  Will  any
 one say again, with  Messrs. Foville and Serres,
 that the great ganglion of the affective  faculties
 (thalamus) and its white fibres are in relation to
 the motion of  the arm and the ganglion of the in-
 tellectual faculties (corpus striatum) and its radia-
 ting fibres to the motion of the leg ? Is it not neces-
 sary before such a proposition be received as cor-
 rect, to prove physiological observations in harmony
 with these pathological cases ?  This, however,  has
 not and cannot be done; hence there cannot possi-
 bly be any truth in the above surmises,
   Physiological experiments would tend to the es-
 tablishment of yet more extraordinary ideas.  M,
 Magendie pretends,  that without  the  trigeminal
 nerve (fifth pair,) we could neither hear, nor see, nor
 smell; that the cerebellum is necessary to precision
m  all movements forward, as every severe wound of 
197
the cerebellum renders motion  in this direction im-
possible ;  that the crura of the brain, the quadri-
geminal tubercles,.the pretended thalami, and the
striated bodies, have all functions relative to motion;
lastly, that the  nerves arising from the posterior
roots of the spinal cord belong to sensation, and those
of the anterior roots to motion, whilst M. Bellin-
geri * says, that his experiments lead him to conclude
that the function of the posterior roots is motion,
especially motion  of extension, and not sensation.
He thought he could  confidently advance, that when
feeling only was paralyzed, the seat of the disorder
was in the cineritious substance; that in palsy of
the locomotive powers without loss of feeling, the
disease was exclusively in the white substance; and
that in palsy of both functions, the two substances
were altered at the place where the  nerves distrib-
uted to the affected parts arise.  In  fine, if the loss
of motion  be a more frequent symptom than the
loss of feeling, this,  according  to our author, hap-
pens from the white substance being situated  on
the outside of the spinal cord, and consequently, in
his estimation, being more exposed than the gray
to the action of external agents.
   The cerebellum,  by the experiments of M. Ro-
lando, is made out an electrometer, or sort of vol-
taic pile, and the sole source of a fluid that excites
motion;  whilst  M.  Flourens,  by his experiments,
discovers that the cerebellum  is the  balancer, or
governor, or regulater of voluntary motion.

  * Mem. dell' Academia  delle Scienze di Torini, torn. 30.  The
reader may also find an account of these experiments in the Lancet. 
198
  In the opinion of some experimenters, the quad-
rigeminal tubercles are  the seat of vision;  but M.
Flourens is led to consider them as the simple con-
ductors of vision, which is not changed into percep-
tion, but in the brain itself, because he found that
on cutting away a lobe, he produced blindness of
the opposite eye.
  The medulla oblongata,  according to M. Flour-
ens, is the central magazine, the vital knot of the
nervous  system,  to  which  all  impressions must
come, to be appreciated; from which the commands
of the  will must emanate, to be executed ; to which
it is sufficient for parts to be attached, in order to
live, and from which to be detached, is sufficient
cause  of death.   But M. Fodera, from his  experi-
ments, believes that the medulla oblongata is the
seat of dozing and of sleep; he  even accords to
this part of the encephalon, some influence  on the
production of moral phenomena.
  Lastly, according  to  M. Flourens, the  brain in-
cludes sensibility and will: without  brain there is
no  sensation, nor will.  M. Rolando  observed that
dozing and stupidity supervened each time he cut
away the cerebral lobes.  He conceives the brain to
be, at once, the seat of the sensitive and intellectual
faculties, and the agent of the regulating and direct-
ing power of the cerebellum over the motions;  an
agent, however, which cannot influence the motions
without the cerebellum, their immediate cause.
  The reader must have felt the jarring and con-
tradictory nature, and insufficiency of the preceding
opinions.  They do not appear to me worthy of any 
199
detailed refutation.   Their contradictions bespeak
clearly enough their falsity.  I do  not deny the
facts, as they are reported by the experimenters, but
I think these gentlemen over-eager and too ready to
draw conclusions: I see them unapt to distinguish
between facts and their causes, between primary
and secondary causes, and to separate powers and
conditions of activity from actions.   I also  think
that they neglect the mutual influence of the several
instruments too much; and that they frequently at-
tribute to one condition, that which belongs to sev-
eral.  The trigeminal nerve aids the nerve of vision,
but the optic nerve is the instrument of sight; the
olfactory nerve is assisted in its office by the nerves
of inspiration, of the nostrils, but it alone possesses
the special sensation we entitle smell.
   These physiological experiments or mutilations,
would reduce the functions  of  the spino-cerebral
system to a very small compass; and it is but natu-
ral that I should declare for the physiological obser-
vations made in the state of health, by considering
the  relation between the development  of special
organs, and the energy of peculiar manifestations.
These observations are collected,  and their results
published in the volume entitled Phrenology.
   I  conclude this  treatise  by repeating, that the
anatomical knowledge of the nervous  system  in
general, and of the brain in particular, must be in
harmony with physiology and pathology; and that
any one of  these three departments must be modi-
fied whenever there is contradiction in reference to
 any of the others. 
          EXPLANATION

                      OF

THE  PLATES  AND  FIGURES.
                       Plate I.

   Fig. 1. Four ganglions, with their  branches of commu-
 nication, of the caudal extremity of a caterpillar.   This ar-
 rangement of the nervous system reigns  through the entire
 length of the body of caterpillars and worms.
   Fig. 2. The caudal extremity of the spinal marrow of a
 fowl, with the origin of the three  last pairs of dorsal nerves.
   Fig. 3. The three superior  cervical  pairs of nerves in a
 calf, seen on  the abdominal surface.  The dura mater and
 arachnoid are slit longitudinally and turned aside, so as to ex-
 pose the mode in which the nervous filaments come from the
 common mass, their different directions, and the  passage of
 the bundles through the dura mater.  The commencement
 of the intervertebral ganglions  (a) is covered by the reflected
 membranes.  Between the different pairs of nerves, the teeth
 of the ligamentum dentatum (6) are seen on each side of the
 nervous/;mass ; these ligaments separate the abdominal from
 the dorsal  roots,  and are attached  to the dura  mater  by
 means of slips, naturally different in size and position.  At
 the origin of each pair of nerves, a swelling is perceivable,
 varying in magnitude, in proportion to the volume of the is-
suing nerve.  The direction of the nervous fibres from be-
fore backwards, and from behind forwards, is evident.
J 
201
  2, 3. The accessory nerve.
  5.  Median abdominal fissure.
  Fig.  4.  The four superior cervical  pairs of nerves in
man, seen from before.
  Fig.  5.  The five superior cervical  pairs of nerves in
man, seen from behind.
  The membranes, ligamentum dentatum, accessory  nerve,
intervertebral  ganglions, bulgings and  contractions  of the
nervous mass, are, absolutely, the same as in Fig. 3.   On the
dorsal surface there are, frequently, fibres of communication
from one pair of nerves to the other;  for instance, between
the fourth and fifth pairs.
   Fig. 4.  5—5.  Median abdominal fissure.
   Fig. 5.  5 — 5.  Median dorsal fissure.
   a—a. Lateral dorsal channels.
   Fig. 6.  The edges  of the  two abdominal halves  separa-
 ted, permitting a view of the structure at the bottom of the
 abdominal fissure.
   /3 — (3.   Lateral cords.
   a__a.  Apparatus of union of the  two halves  situated at
 the bottom of the  abdominal fissure.
   Fig. 7. The edges of the two dorsal halves, separated,
 permitting a view of the structure at  the  bottom  of  the dor-
 sal  fissure.
   j3 — /3.  Lateral edges.
   a— a. Apparatus of union of the two halves  situated at
 the bottom of the dorsal fissure.
    Fig. 8. Transverse section  of the cervical nervous mass
  of a carp.
    Fig. 9. Transverse  section  of the cervical nervous mass
  of a fowl.
    Fig. 10. Transverse section of the cervical nervous mass
  of a man.
    In the three last figures  the general  type is the same :
  two halves of the spinal cord;  two median fissures, an ante-
  rior and a posterior.
                       26 
202
  <*. Exit of the abdominal roots of the nerves-,
  rj. Exit of the dorsal roots of the nerves.

             Plate II.—Brains of Fishes.

  Fig. t.  The brain of an eel seen from above.
  Fig. 2.  The brain of a cod  seen from above.
  Fig. 3.  The brain of a skate seen from above.
  Fig. 4.  The brain of a carp seen from below.
  Fig. 5.  The brain of a carp seen from above.
  Fig. 6.  The brain of a flounder seen from below.
  Fig. 7.  The brain of a flounder seen from above.
  Fig. 8, The brain of a cod seen from below.
  Fig. 9. The  optic nerves in the cod are thrown back, to
permit a view of the two roots of the olfactory nerves.
  Fig. 10, The brain of a pike, with the cavity of the optic
ganglion exposed.
  Fig. 11. The brain of a roach.
  Fig. 12, The brain of a barbel seen from above.
  Fig. 13. The interior of the brain of a barbel, prepared
to permit a view of the ganglions, their communications
and junctions.

      Plate III. — Brains of Reptiles and of Birds,

  Fig. 1. The spino-cerebral system  of a frog  seen from
below.
  Fig. 2. The brain of a frog seen from above.
  Fig. 3. From M. Carus's work. — The brain of a lizzard
(Iacerta iguana) seen from above.
  Fig. 4. From M. Carus's work. — The brain of a young
crocodile seen from above.
  Fig. 5. The brain of a common fowl seen from above.
  Fig. 6. The  brain of a fowl. — The two hemispheres
separated to show the cerebellum, the optic ganglions, their
commissure, the commencement of the supposed optic thala-
mi, and the part analogous to the fornix of the mammalia. 
203
  Fig. 7. The brain of a turkey seen from above.
  Fig. 8. The brain of a turkey with the cerebellum cleft
posteriorly, to show its lamellar structure.
  Fig. 9. The brain of a common  fowl, prepared to show
the  cavity of the  optic ganglion, the posterior commissure,
v.;  the beginning and continuation of the great cerebral
ganglions.
  Fig. 10. The brain of a duck seen from above.
  Fig. 11. The brain of a goose seen from above.
  Fig. 12. The brain  of a goose seen from below.

     Plate IV. — Brains of Mammiferous  Animals.

  Fig. 1. The brain of myrmesophaga didactyla seen from
above, copied from the work of Tiedemann.
  Fig. 2. The brain of a hare seen from below.
  Fig. 3. The brain of a hare seen from above.
  Fig. 4. The brain of a hare placed on its upper surface,
like Fig. 2; the mass below the crura cerebri is cut off; the
crura are separated and pushed sidewards, to see the under
surface of the posterior lobes ; the fornix, 60; the posterior
fold of the corpus callosum, 40; the anterior pillar  of the
fornix y ; the anterior  commissure, 61, and its two portions.
  Fig. 5.  The brain of a cat seen from above.
  Fig. 6. The brain of a dog seen  from above.  All parts
are reduced to the fourth of their natural size.

                        Plate V.

  [The brains and their parts, represented in this plate, and all preparations
of the human brain, in the following plates, are only a fourth of their natu-
ral size.]

  Fig. 1.  The brain of the monkey, simia sabcea, seen from
above.
  Fig. 2.  The brain of  the monkey, simia capucina, seen
from above.
  Fig. 3.  The brain of the  ourang-outang seen from below. 
204
  Fig. 4. The brain of the ourang-outang  seen  from the
right side.
  Fig. 5. The brain of an idiotic girl seen from below.
  Fig. 6. The same brain of the idiotic  girl seen from the
right side,

                      Plate  VI.

  Fig. 1. The basis of the human brain. — All the parts are
in pairs, but not quite symmetrical.  The  brain is  taken
from the skull, and turned on its upper surface ;  the cerebel-
lum and medulla oblongata have fallen backwards ; the dif-
ferent investing  membranes  are removed; the cerebral and
nervous masses alone are visible.
  To take the human brain from the skull, I make an incision
from one ear to the other, turn the integuments backwards and
forwards, and detach the temporal muscles from the bone.   If
it is requisite to preserve the skull, it  must be sawed about
three-quarters of an inch  above  the superciliary ridge, round
on  each side to  the middle of the occipital bone ;  if it be no
object to keep the skull entire. Bichat's plan, which is much
easier and more speedily accomplished, may be  followed; it
consists in using the sharp edge of a hammer along the course
indicated, and breaking instead of sawing the skull.   In this
way infinitely less risk is run of injuring the membranes and
cerebral convolutions than when the saw is employed.  There
then usually issues a greater quantity of fluid from between the
membranes, and from out of the vessels of the neck when they
are divided, in consequence of the shaking the parts have un-
dergone ; the cerebral mass also sinks to a greater extent, and
the dura mater  does  not look  so  tightly stretched over the
convolutions, but the internal organization suffers no change,
   When the skull-cap is removed, 1 cut the dura mater on
each side of the longitudinal sinus before and  behind, and
transversely between the ears ; I then turn down the flaps,
detaching the falciform process  of the dura mater in the fron-
tal region, and turn  it backwards,  I now bring back the head, 
205
so that the base becomes the superior part; I support it with
the left hand in the occipital region, and the brain then lies on
the palm of the hand.   Their own weight almost always suf-
fices to detach the anterior and middle lobes from their places,
—at the most, the slightest assistance from the fingers accom-
pli hes this.  The bulb of the olfactory nerve generally sep-
arates from  the ethmoid bone of itself, or  the handle of the
scalpel detaches it with ease.  The optic nerves, the infundi-
bulum, the oculo-motors,  the abductor nerves of the eye, the
nerves of the superior oblique, and the trigeminal pair, must
be cut in succession : I now depress the head upon the hand,
first on one, then on the other side, pushing at each time the
hemispheres from the tentorium, in  order  to cut this part
across.  After this, I  detach the nervous pairs and blood-
vessels situated near the medulla oblongata ; and lastly, I cut
the cervical nervous  mass below the occipital hole, as low
down  as possible, not to damage the decussating fibres.  I
raise the cerebellum with  the fingers of  the right hand, and
lift the entire cerebral mass from the cranium.  There is one
precaution that is very necessary to be taken ; it is, to sup-
port the hemispheres with  the  flat of the  hand properly, to
prevent the crura from being torn before the tentorium is cut,
and to guard against the same  accident, in  regard to the
medulla oblongata below the annular protuberance.
   A hammer or a saw, and two scalpels, the one to separate
 the integuments and the muscles, the other to cut the mem-
 branes and the nervous parts, suffice for this operation.   It is
 well to have the second scalpel long in the handle, to secure
 the cervical nervous  mass being easily divided low enough
 down.
   Fig. 2.  A skull sawed vertically through the middle of the
 forehead, the vertex and  the occiput, to  expose the exterior
 and lateral surface of the brain, cerebellum,annular protuber-
 ance, and medulla oblongata in their natural situations.  The
 bone  here  supports the  cerebellum and medulla oblongata,
 whilst in Fig. 1 they  had sunk downwards and backwards. 
206
                      Plate VII.

   Fig. 1. A skull sawed horizontally in a line from above the
eye-brows, by the  middle of the temples, and the upper part
of the occipital bone.   The  membranes and blood-vessels
are removed, and the two hemispheres are seen from above.
   Fig. 2.  The skull,  brain,  and cerebellum cut vertically
through the median line, and in their natural situations.   In
this preparation the various parts are retained in their proper
places, not without considerable difficulty.

                      Plate  VIII.

   Fig. 1. A preparation exhibiting various  parts  about  the
base of the brain.
   Side B. The hemisphere of the cerebellum entire;  its pri-
mary bundle is seen  to plunge between the facial  nerve, 11,
and the auditory nerve, 9.  The trigeminal nerve, 12, is en-
tirely covered by the transverse fibres of the cerebellum ;  the
olivary body, a, plunges through the transverse fibres of the
cerebellum ; a portion of the  transverse mass is removed to
exhibit the course of the pyramidal bundle, 1 — c,  which
begins to diverge and to be augmented. The optic nerve is
in its natural position;  on its outer edge  the expansion of
the nervous bundles, w, w, in the inferior convolutions of the
middle lobe is seen.
  Side A. A vertical section of the cerebellum guided through
the entrance of its primary bundle, and the middle of its gang-
lion, s, showing the augmentation of the primary  bundle in
the ganglion, and the ramifications and subdivisions  of the
nervous cords.   All the transverse fibres of the annular pro-
tuberance, which coverthe trigeminal nerve, and the prolonga-
tion of the pyramidal bundle,arecut away. The continuation
of the olivary body, a, is still covered by the  transverse bun-
dles.   The optic nerve is raised from  the crura, g, and cut 
207
across at q.  The pyramidal bundle is thus exposed from the
decussation, 1, to the transverse  interlacement beneath the
optic nerve.  The mass of gray substance seen on the oppo-
site side has been scraped off, in order to expose the two cords
of the mamillary bodies,  16, the one near the transverse in-
terlacement, 35, the other towards the fornix.  The nervous
fibres that expand in the convolutions, and contribute to their
formation,  are cut at h, h, between 35 and  37, on a level with
the anterior commissure, and the  middle lobe is removed
altogether. The mass of gray substance of the great superior
cerebral ganglion (striated body,)  and a part of the convolu-
tion slying at the bottom of the great fissure, D, between the
anterior and middle lobes, are incised in the  same direction.
The way in which this collection of gray substance is divided
by the nervous bundes, P, at its internal, /, and its external,
L, parts, the mode in which fine filaments traverse the exter-
nal part of the gray mass, the manner in which the convolu-
tions, 44—45,  are formed by the  posterior cords of the cere-
bral crura  placed before  q, and the  length and depth of the
great fissure, between the anterior and the middle lobes, are
all exposed in this preparation.  By the removal of the mid-
dle lobe, the side of the great lateral ventricle, N, has become
visible.  This  ventricle  is continued  backwards, inwards,
and forwards, below the crura of  the brain, g. Only a small
portion of the anterior  lobe is cut  off.
   Fig. 2.  The great commissure of the cerebellum (annular
protuberance,) b ; the anterior commissure, and the commis-
sure of the anterior lobe (the anterior fold of the corpus callo-
sum,) 39, are here represented.
   Side A.  The anterior edge of the cerebellum is removed by
a vertical cut  from within outwards, to expose the convey-
ance of the uniting fibres towards the median line ; the mid-
dle and anterior lobes of the brain are entire; the optic nerve
is turned back, to exhibit the  augmentation it has received
from the gray mass situated at its junction.   The communi-
cation of the white fibres, 63, before the optic nerve, and in 
208
front of the anterior  commissure, 61, together with the sep-
tum lucidum, and the connexion of the olfactory nerve with
the inferior convolutions of the anterior lobe are also to be seen.
  Side B.  The lower portion of the cerebellum is removed
by a horizontal incision, 65, which passes by the deep chan-
nel seen  on side A.
  To show the anterior commissure, I cut the optic nerves at
their junction,  reflect their two extremities, and from  the
middle of the  commissure I begin with the handle  of the
knife to remove all the parts that cover it,  taking care to in-
jure none of the fibres of  the commissure itself.  One part
of the convolutions, the interior of which is called  foot of
the hippocampus, 29, and the anterior internal  convolutions
of the middle lobes  are cut off.
   The brain has been left in the cranium, but as  this has been
cut away above the  cerebellum, and a part of  the posterior
cerebral lobes, these  masses have fallen out of their natural
situations ; and on the side B, the convolutions of the mid-
dle lobe  have been  pushed outwards, because  the  commis-
sure was prepared from within outwards.

                       Plate  IX.

   Fig. 1.  The cranium sawed on the right side;  the cut
passes vertically by  the middle of the cerebral and cerebellar
hemispheres,  and by the right  orbit.   The  great  union of
 the cerebellum b, is cut transversely behind the exit of the
trigeminal nerve, and the external part of the  cerebellum is
removed.  The cerebral parts which, in pi.  viii. fig. 1, were
situated between the transverse interlacement, 35,and the ner-
vous bundles, P, are taken away, so as to permit a view of
the divergence of the fibres in all directions.
   By comparing this figure with the first figure of pi. viii. the
different appearances of the same parts prepared in their  situ-
 ations, with  the support of the cranium,  and deprived  of
this by being taken  out of the skull, will be appreciated. 
209
  Fig. 2! The cranium sawed perpendicularly in the middle
line of the head.  All the parts which are seen in pi. vii. fig.
2, and even to the convolutions indicated by Roman letters,
are here removed by cutting or scraping, in order to  show
the passage of the pyramidal bodies,  1 — c, across the annu-
lar protuberance,/, the augmentation of the diverging bun-
dles  in the great inferior ganglion (optic thalamus) p, and
the course of the diverging bundles which issue from them.
  The course of the  bundles  which communicate directly
with the anterior pyramids, is  principally shown in fig. 1;
whilst the manner in which the internal and posterior con-
volutions of the hemispheres are formed by the nervous fibres
of the great inferior ganglion of the brain, (thalamus opticus,)
is seen in fig. 2.

                       Plate X.

  Fig. 1. The brain laid on its superior surface.  The side
B, exhibits the entire nervous mass of the brain and cerebel-
lum,  cleft in the median line from the  medulla  oblongata to
the fornix and laid on the side.  The gray mass behind the
junction of the optic nerves, and a small part of the pretended
thalami have been scraped away, to  expose the  two internal
cords of the mammillary bodies, 16, the one running towards
the transparent  septum, 57, 58, 59, the other plunging into
the interior of the great inferior ganglion, p, p. Side A.   The
medulla oblongata and  cerebellum are  cut  near the annular
protuberance.  At 30, a part of the median layer is removed.
to expose the  continuation of the oculo-motor nerve into the
black substance.   The posterior part  of  the great inferior
ganglion, the half of the pineal gland  with two cords, and the
quadrigeminal bodies, are as on the opposite side B ; the an-
terior p°art of the great inferior ganglion is cut on to show the
prolongation of the internal posterior cord of the mammillary
bodies,* with the transverse interlacement, 36,  pi. viii.; the
septum lucidum, the fornix, the internal portion of gray sub-
              27 
210
stance of the corpus striatum, and several internal convolu-
tions of the posterior and middle lobes, are removed to show
the great diverging bundles P, P, and the masses of union
known by the name of corpus callosum, in the great cerebral
cavities N, N.   The anterior, 39, and the posterior, 40, fold ;
and the raphe of this mass are perceived.  The direction of
the converging fibres from behind is forwards and inwards,
from before  backwards and  inwards, and from the middle
directly inwards.   Lastly, the interlacing of the  diverging
bundles with the fibres of union is presented.
   Fig. 2. The brain of a goose  laid on its  upper surface.
Side B.  The cerebellum and the hemisphere of the brain
entire ; the  medulla oblongata cleft along the median line,
and one of its halves put aside.
   Side A. The half of the medulla oblongata, its  adherence
to the cerebellum,  and its continuation towards the brain at
the crus are divided, to expose the communication between
the cerebellum and the optic ganglion, which is hollow, and
communicates from its anterior by means of a white layer
with the brain.
   Fig. 3. The brain of a goose laid on  its superior surface.
Side B.  The half of the brain and medulla oblongata, as in
B, fig. 2; but the inferior and posterior part of the cerebellum
is here cleft, to  exhibit its  lamellar structure.  The optic
ganglion and the optic nerve are taken  away, to show the
continuation of the anterior commissure, 61, and the en-
trance of the crus, p, into the hemisphere.


                       Plate XI.

   Fig. I. The human brain laid  on its base; the primary
part of the cerebellum and the corpus callosum are split along
the median line.   The posterior surface of the medulla ob-
longata, the posterior pyramidal bodies, the primary bundles
6f the cerebellum, and a third portion of the restiform bodies,
e — e ; the interior of the fourth ventricle, m, the communica- 
211
tion of the cerebellum y, with the quadrigeminal bodies, n, o,
and their union, x, the origin of the sympathetic nerve, 13, the
pineal gland E, with its two anterior cords; the posterior com-
missure, v, the soft commissure, 46, and the anterior commis-
sure, 61, cleft.  On the side A, only the fornix and the sep-
tum lucidum are removed to expose the striated bodies and
thalami lying beneath.  Side B.  The primary bundle of the
cerebellum and the parts, seen on the surface of side A, have
been removed by a horizontal cut from within outwards, and
from before backwards, on a level with the white fibres situa-
ted in the fourth ventricle, t.  The internal portion of the an-
terior part of the brain has also been cut away by a vertical
incision, in order to expose the division of the striated bodies
into two parts, I, L, by the passage of the great  bundles P.
   This vertical cut is not made to begin more posteriorly, for
fear of  injuring the commissures visible along the median
line.  To exhibit the passage of the bundles from the medulla
oblongata across the great  ganglions, and the augmentation
of the parts, the cut must be carried, pi. vi. fig. 1, through the
middle of the anterior pyramidal bodies, 1—c, through the
annular protuberance, b, the crura of the brain g, in the di-
rection of the organ IX.
   Fig. 2 and 3.  The  brains of geese laid on their inferior
surfaces.   Fig. 3. Side B.  The hemisphere of the brain put
aside, and the cerebellum cleft along the median line, to show
its lamellar structure and internal cavity, 62.   Side A. The
optic ganglion exposed, n ; a part of the crus and interior in-
ternal portion of the brain to the junction of the optic nerves
removed ; part of the crus and of the striated bodies seen in-
teriorly remaining.
   Fig. 2. The cerebellum cleft along its interior surface, and
spread out on each side ; the pretended optic thalami on both
sides, n, and the striated bodies, I, I, on side A, are in the  nat-
ural state;  whilst on side  B the radiated layer of cerebral
substance is  visible anteriorly, P ; the anterior commissure,
61, is perceived in its full length.  The posterior portion of
the hemisphere, 60, untouched. 
212
        Explanation of the Signs in the Figures.

   A and B. Sides of preparation.
   D. Convolutions at the bottom of the figure of Sylvius.
   E. Pineal gland.
   L. External portion of the great superior ganglion, (stria-
 ted body.)
   M. Third ventricle.
   N. Great lateral ventricles.
   P. The bundles of the striated bodies.
   a.  Olivary bodies.
   b. Annular protuberance.
   c. Entrance of the anterior pyramids under the annular
 protuberance.
   d.  Transverse band  below the pons Varolii in mammif-
 erous animals.
   e. Restiform bodies.
  /. Passage of the anterior pyramids through the annular
 protuberance.
   g.  Peduncles of the brain.
   h. Section of the bundles which go to  the middle lobe.
   i. Original  of the trigeminal nerve.
   k. Exit  of the trigeminal nerve.
   I. Internal part of the great superior ganglion (striated body.)
   m. Fourth  ventricle.
   n. Anterior pair of the quadrigeminal  bodies.
   o. Posterior pair of the quadrigeminal bodies.
  p. Great inferior ganglion (thalamus )
  q. Corpus geniculatum externum.
  r.  Corpus geniculatum internum.
  s.  Ganglion of the cerebellum (corpus  dentatum.)
  t. White fibres in the  fourth venticle.
  u. Junction of the optic nerves.
  v.  Posterior commissure.
  w.  Fibres in communication with the external edge of
the optic nerve.
  x. Commissure of the quadrigeminal bodies. 
213
  y.  Valve of Vieussens.
  a.  Lateral fissure of the spinal cord.
  (3.  Mesial edge of the spinal cord.
  y.  Anterior pillar of the fornix.
  8.  Abdominal root of the spinal nerves.
  *j.  Dorsal root of the spinal nerves.
  5.  Commissure of the spinal cord.
  X.  Extremity of the corpus callosum.
  ,u.  Middle part of the corpus callosum.
  cp.  Aqueduct of Sylvius.
  1.  Decussation of the anterior pyramids.
  2—3. Accessory nerve.
  4.  Hypoglossal nerve.
  5.  Mesial fissure of the spinal cord.
  6.  Pneumogastric nerve.
  7.  Glossopharyngeal nerve.
  8.  Ganglion of the auditory nerve.
  9.  Auditory nerve.
  10. Abductor nerve.
  11. Facial nerve.
  12. Trigeminal nerve.
  13. Superior oblique nerve.
  14. Section of the annular protuberance.
  15. Common oculo-moter  nerve.
  16. Mammillary body.
  17. Cineritious tubercle.
  18. External root of the olfactory nerve.
  19. Middle root of the olfactory nerve.
  20. Optic nerve.
  21. Internal root of the olfactory nerve.
  22. Infundibulum.
  23. Bulb or ganglion of the olfactory nerve.
  25—26. Anterior lobe of the brain.
  26—27. Middle lobe of the brain.
  27—28. Posterior lobe of  the brain.
  29. Convolutions,  which, viewed from  within, form  the
pes hippocampi. 
214
   30. Black substance in the peduncles of the brain.
   31. Commissure of the olfactory nerve in animals.
   32. Semicircular band or tape-worm of Haller.
   33. Transverse band at the upper edge of the  annular pro-
tuberance.
   34. Transverse band in the midst of the peduncles.
   35. Transverse band under the optic nerve.
   36. Transverse band of the bundles which go to the mid-
dle lobe.
   37.  Transverse band of the great superior ganglion.
   38. Place where the diverging and unitingfibres decussate.
   39. Anterior fold of the corpus callosum.
   40. Posterior fold of the corpus callosum.
   41. Upper surface of the primary part  of the cerebellum.
   42. Inferior surface of the primary part of the cerebellum.
   43. Tubercle of the fourth  ventricle in fishes.
   44—45. Cerebral convolutions behind  the great fissure of
Sylvius.
   46. Soft or middle commissure.
   47—48. Situation of the organ of amativeness.
   48—49. Situation of the organ of philoprogenitiveness.
   49—50. Situation of the organ of inhabitiveness.
   50—51. Situation of the organ of self-esteem.
   51—52. Situation of the organ of firmness.
   52—53. Situation of the organ of veneration.
   53—54. Situation of the organ of benevolence.
   54—55. Situation of the organ of comparison.
   55—56. Situation of the organ of eventuality.
   57, 58, and 59, Septum lucidum.
   60. Fornix.
   61. Anterior commissure.
   62. Interior of the nervous substance  of the cerebellum.
   63. White  fibres, which unite with the septum  lucidum.
   65. Horizontal section of the cerebellum.
   70. Nervous bundles of the  organs of the affective faculties.
   86, 87, 88, 90. Intermediate layers  of fibres between the
two halves of the cerebral masses. 
215
i. Organ	of Destructiveness.
n.	. Amativeness.
in.	. Philoprogenitiveness.
IV.	. Adhesiveness.
v.	. Inhabitiveness.
VI.	. Combativeness.
VII.	. Secretiveness.
VIII. .	. Acquisitiveness.
IX.	. Constructiveness.
X.	. Cautiousness.
XI.	. Approbativeness.
XII. .	. Self-esteem.
XIII. .	. Benevolence.
XIV. .	. Reverence.
XV.	. Firmness.
XVI. .	. Conscientiousness.
XVII. .	. Hope.
XVIII.	. Marvellousness.
XIX. .	. Ideality.
XX. .	. Mirthfulness.
XXI. .	. Imitation.
XXII.	. Organ of Individuality,
XXIII.	. Configuration.
XXIV.	. Size.
XXV. .	. Weight and resistance.
XXVI.	. Coloring.
XXVII.	. Locality.
XXVIII.	. Order.
XXIX.	. Calculation.
XXX. .	. Eventuality.
XXXI. .	. Time.
XXXII.	. Tune.
XXXIII.	. Language.
XXXIV.	. Comparison.
XXXV.	. Causality.
 
 
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APPENDIX
ANATOMY  OF  THE  BRAIN:
A PAPER READ BEFORE THE ROYAL SOCIETY
           ON THE 14TH OF MAY, 1829,


 AND SOME REMARKS ON MR. CHARLES BELL'S
      ANIMADVERSIONS ON PHRENOLOGY.
WITH SEVEN LITHOGRAPHIC PLATES.
By J. G. SPURZHEIM.
28 
 
PREFACE.
  Richard Chenevix, Esq., who died  too soon for
science and friendship, during his last stay in Eng-
land, desired me to  give him a Paper on any point
of Phrenology proper to be presented to the Royal
Society of London.   I complied with  his  wish, in
order to try the wisdom of that learned body, and
my lamented friend delivered  the following Paper
to one of the Secretaries, who read it to the Society
on the 14th of May,  1829, but declared that it could
not be printed in the Transactions of the Society,
because it did not contain any new matter.  I grant
that its general principles — the plurality of organs
— prevails in the joint publications  of Dr. Gall and
myself, as well as in my work on the Anatomy of
the Brain; but the specifications of the particular
cerebral portions, 1st, in  the  ordinary state of the
Human Brain — 2dly, in  the  Brain of an Idiot —
3dly, in the Brain of the Ourang-outang,  cannot be
found in  our wTorks, since Dr. Gall  died without
knowing those points, and I did not know them when
I published my work on the Anatomy of the Brain,
in 1825.   My former manner of marking the organs
on the external surface of the head (see the Phreno-
 logical Busts,) compared with the new delineation,
 is an evident proof  of this truth : formerly I indicat- 
220
PREFACE.
ed the situation of all, but the limits only of a few
organs,  whilst the actual delineation corresponds
not only with the situation of the organs, but also
with their limits and configuration.  This addition-
al discovery was desirable — nay, indispensable —
to our other anatomical discoveries and publications
in connexion with the Physiology and Pathology of
the Brain.
   On the other hand, the Transactions of the Royal
Society  contain many new illustrations of known
principles, whilst none  of  their volumes give the
views contained in my  Paper on the Brain in the
ordinary state, in the state of Idiotism, and on the
Brain of the Ourang-outang.  It is, however, con-
ceivable that the Secretary, who never ceased to be
hostile to Phrenology, found, as he said, that my
ideas require a great imagination to be admitted, and
objected to their being printed in the  Philosophical
Transactions.  My friend Chenevix, in order not to
have a formal  refusal, withdrew the Paper.  The
adversaries of Phrenology may not appreciate, per-
haps not even understand, the principles and ideas
of my Paper; but those who take interest in the
most important part of Anthropology will  appreci-
ate them,  as the  completion of the Phrenological
Anatomy of the Brain.  I publish the Paper with-
out the least alteration.  I profit of this opportunity
to make a few  remarks on Mr. Charles Bell's an-
imadversions on Phrenology, and  rely throughout
on truth and on the justice of public judgment.
                             J. G.  Spurzheim. 
APPENDIX.
    On the Brain, as an Aggregation of Parts.

  The slow progress of human understanding is per-
ceptible in all branches of knowledge, but it is par-
ticularly striking in the doctrine of the nervous sys-
tem.  It is not yet long ago that, however strange
it may appear, the brain was classed along with the
viscera of the abdomen and thorax, and its structure
treated of in the Splanchnologia, though at the same
time it was considered as the origin of the nerves of
the whole body.  The old error, too, that the ner-
vous system is composed of similar parts, and can be
compared with a net, prevailed till lately, though
it may be refuted by anatomical, physiological and
pathological facts, and though several ancient anat-
omists, particularly Erasistratus and Galenus, had
already perceived the light of truth.  It, however,
was reserved to modern  anatomists  to  establish
sounder  notions of the structure and functions of
the nervous system  in general, and of the brain in
particular.
  The brain and nervous apparatus are now placed
together in  one system.  Proofs, founded on com-
parative and human anatomy, are quoted to show
that the nervous masses are different, and that the 
222
APPENDIX.
brain, spinal cord, and nerves of the vegetative func-
tions, cannot be confounded with each other.   Not
only divisions, but even subdivisions of the individ-
ual portions, are admitted.   Winslow, Johnson, and
Bichat, not only separated  the  great sympathetic
from the spinal  cord and  brain, but considered it
also as an aggregation of nerves,  or as a suit of
communications between different nervous  centres,
situated at various distances from each other, and
destined to separate functions.   The physiological
experiments of Mr. Charles Bell and of M. Magen-
die leave no doubt of the nerves  of sensation and of
voluntary motion being different.  Mr. Charles Bell
speaks of peculiar nerves of respiration, and of  six
sorts of nerves in the organ  of sight.   Three sorts
of nerves go to the tongue, and the  difference of
the nerves of  the five external  senses is  generally
known.  Thus, the difference and necessary subdi-
vision of the nerves of  the thorax and abdomen, of
the spinal cord and of the external senses, is admit-
ted ; but the error, to consider the brain as a unity,
is  still pretty common, though   it  also may be re-
futed by anatomical, physiological and pathologic-
al facts,  and though it has already been  pointed
out by several intelligent authors. In order  to  bring
the doctrine of the brain in harmony  with  the rest
of the nervous system, the  following remarks  are
proposed for  consideration;  and this  object being
the foundation of the  most  important part of An-
thropology, deserves the attention  not only of  the
medical profession, but of all thinking classes.
  I cannot help beginning my remarks with stating 
APPENDIX.
223
the singular fact, that many physicians, and even
some anatomists, who beleve in the plurality of the
nervous apparatuses adapted to the various nervous
functions of the body, continue to contend for the
unity of the cerebral mass.   However, the plurality
of the nervous apparatuses of the abdomen, thorax,
spine, and external senses, might  invite  them to
think it probable that the brain too is an aggrega-
tion of parts, destined to different functions, and
brought into communication with each  other, par-
ticularly as the brain is simple in the lower animals,
and marked by additions and amplifications of parts
in proportion as the animal functions become com-
plicated, till in the human brain we find  parts of
which animals are destitute, in the same way as the
nervous apparatuses of the vegetative functions and
external senses become numerous and complicated
in proportion to the functions themselves.
   The close examination of this object, in order to
be satisfactory, is to be conducted with anatomical,
 physiological and pathological views, and by bring-
 ing these three sorts of observations into harmony.
 Anatomical investigations alone are not sufficient to
 show the difference of the nervous masses, and they
 alone cannot be relied on.   Physiology  and pathol-
 ogy must be called upon, as better means of deciding
 the question.   Anatomy alone, for instance, cannot
 decide which nerves are  destined to sensation, and
 which to voluntary motion; but  these two sorts of
 nerves are ascertained by physiology and pathology.
 The difference of the olfactory nerve, within the
 head of fishes, birds, carnivorous and  herbivorous 
224
APPENDIX.
 animals, and monkeys, is so great, that without the
 external apparatus and without the function of this
 nerve being known, it would not be  taken for the
 same nerve.   Thus, whether the nerves in their ap-
 pearance are similar  or dissimilar in  different ani-
 mals, they are considered as similar,  if their func-
 tions be  such, — and as dissimilar, if this be  the
 case with their functions.
   The brain has hitherto been treated, with respect
 to anatomy, physiology, and pathology, in a different
 way from  the rest of the nervous  system; and it
 has  the same  fate as to its  comparative anatomy,
 and  as to the plurality of its constituent parts.  The
 human  brain  is taken as the type of comparison;
 and, in different animals, individual cerebral  parts
 are admitted or denied, according to their similar or
 dissimilar appearances of form, situation, and con-
 nexion.   This proceeding, however, should not be
 relied on in the anatomy of the brain, any more than
 in that of the nervous system, and it will be changed
 as soon as the cerebral functions shall be known.
 In order not to extend this Paper too much, I shall
 confine  myself to  mere anatomical points, which
 may prepare such physiological and  pathological
 discussions as cannot be  indifferent to those who
 delight in philosophical inquiries.
  The human  brain is divided into cerebellum and
 brain proper, and the brain proper is subdivided into
 two halves called hemispheres, and each hemisphere
into  three  lobes—anterior, middle, and posterior.
This division and  subdivision may be admitted in
birds and mammiferous animals.  Some anatomists, 
APPENDIX.
225
however, fuse the posterior  lobes to the greater
number of mammiferous animals.  Their reason is,
because the cerebellum is not  covered by the brain,
as in man and monkeys.  But this manner of judg-
ing is evidently erroneous, even from mere anatom-
ical  considerations.  If the posterior lobes were
wanting whenever the cerebellum is  not  covered
by the brain, the anterior lobes might be said to be
wanting also each time the bulb of the olfactory
nerve is not covered by the brain in the way that
it is in monkeys and in man.  Various appearances
in the nervous system  are explained by the hor-
izontal position of animals and  the vertical station
of man.  The spinal nerves,  for  instance, of the
mammiferous animals go off from the spinal cord in
a horizontal direction, whilst  in man they run from
above downward before they pass  through the
dura mater.  The medulla oblongata has a hori-
zontal position in animals, and a vertical one in
man.   The great occipital hole, too, has a different
position in  animals and  man.  Now, if these and
various other modifications of  appearance be ac-
counted for by the different position of man and an-
imals, shall this cause not extend its influence over
the appearances of the cerebral parts ?  The eyes
are not wanting in birds, and  in the greater number
of the  mammiferous animals, because  they are
placed laterally in their heads, whilst in man and
monkeys they are situated in  the face: in the same
way the posterior lobes may exist, though they lie
before the cerebellum.
  The internal structure of the posterior lobes fur-
              29 
226
APPENDIX.
nishes a surer proof of their existence than their ex-
ternal appearance.  In man they are evidently com-
posed of bundles which come  from the pretended
optic thalami.  Now, these very ganglions exist in
the mammiferous animals as  well as in  man, and
bundles run out of them towards the posterior con-
volutions  of the brain.  This analogy of structure
allows us  to conclude upon similarity of parts, and
this conclusion is put beyond doubt by observing in-
stincts in  animals which resemble certain  feelings
in man, the manifestations of which take place by
the posterior lobes of his brain.
   It is a difficult matter  to decide about the exist-
ence or want of individual parts in the brains of man
and animals. What is of the greatest importance, is,
not to confound the essence or existence of a special
apparatus with its  more or less complicated state,
since a portion which  amplifies its structure may be
wanting in certain animals, which, however, possess
the apparatus of the special function, but in a more
simple state.  The intestinal canal, in different ani-
mals, is simple, or more or less complicated.  Pigs,
dogs, cats, etc., as  well as the ruminantia, have a
stomach — though in the former  it is simple, and in
the latter complicated.  Birds, as well as mammif-
erous animals, have a cerebellum and hemispheres
of brain; but the cerebellum of birds has no pons,
and their hemispheres no corpus  callosum.  It was
a great error to take the general type of brains in a
class of animals as the criterion  of the existence of
individual parts.  The corpus callosum, for instance,
the pons, etc., have been taken  as parts for them- 
APPENDIX.
227
selves, whilst they are mere complications of  indi-
vidual cerebral apparatuses.
  It is remarkable that the brains, though they are
more or less complicated, preserve a common type in
each class and in each genus of animals.  In various
animals, for instance, each  portion of their brains is
formed in a similar way, ends at the surface in one
or several convolutions, and has fibres which run to-
wards the middle line, and contribute to  make up
what is called corpus callosum ; but it was wrong to
take the corpus callosum as a part for itself, whilst it
 contains merely portions of as many apparatuses as
 the hemispheres  are composed of.   The corpus cal-
 losum, then, is a mere indication  that  the  special
 parts of the hemispheres of various animals are built
 according to a common type.  But the general type
 of brains may be analogous, though the special appa-
 ratuses destined to individual functions may vary in
 number and size. Various brains may present three
 lobes, convolutions, a corpus callosum, a fornix with
 its appendices,  four cavities — and yet the special
 parts which make up the  whole of their brains may
 be different in number, size and quality, whilst their
  general form of structure alone is similar.
  ' Thus the old error in question, committed by our
  contemporaries, as well  as predecessors,  must be
  abandoned,  and the comparative anatomy of the
  brain must be  treated as that of  all other systems
  of organization.                          .
     After these general remarks, I  shall exam.ne m
  particular-lst, Whether in the Human Bra.n indi-
  vidual parts destined to  special  funct.ons may be
  pointed out, though they are in the most  intimate 
228
APPENDIX.
 connexion with  each other—2dly, Whether it  can
 be shown that in Brains of Idiots certain parts are
 defective, or even wanting—and, 3dly, Whether the
 Brain of the ourang-outang and the human brain,
 which have the  greatest analogy with each other,
 are composed of the same parts.

 I.  The Parts of the  Human Brain  in the ordinary
   state of health are essentially the same, and only
   modified in size and quality.

   Let it be kept in mind that a true division of the
 nervous system in general, and of the brain in par-
 ticular, can be established only by the functions per-
 formed.   The general form, direction, and connex-
 ion of the convolutions, however, prove the regular-
 ity of the essential part of the human brain, and it is
 certain that individual portions may be pointed out.
   This anatomical regularity is evident and partic-
 ularly striking at the basis of the brain.   The pos-
 terior convolution, for instance, of the basis of the
 anterior lobes is always transverse ;— four cerebral
 portions meet at the external roots of the olfactory
 nerve; the convolutions in the middle are longitudi-
 nal.  A similar direction is perceptible in the convo-
 lutions of the middle lobe, etc.—As the appearance
 of the convolutions at the upper surface seems less
 regular, I give a drawing taken from a human brain,
 in order to exemplify my assertions, and to show the
 individual portions which may be seen in the ordinary
state, whilst their modifications concern their size
and their greater or smaller number of lateral inden-
 tations and depressions on the surface of the convo- 
APPENDIX.
229
lutions.   These modifications exist not only  in the
brains of different persons, but on both sides of the
same brain, as may be seen in the drawing before us
(PI. I.,) where the cerebral parts are reduced in size,
but where proportions and configurations are preserv-
ed.  Views of the brain, from its basis and in profile,
are easily found in various anatomical publications.
   The posterior extremity  of the hemispheres  is
composed of several convolutions running in the di-
rection towards the apex, a.   Now, this portion be-
tween a and b is always distinct and separated from
the following portion by a  deep anfractuosity at b.
   Between b and c is another portion, composed of
several convolutions distinguishable in every ordi-
nary brain.  No anatomist, for instance, can be
mistaken in looking for the convolution marked 10.
   Between c and d lie always two convolutions, 16
and 17, which  run laterally towards  the cerebral
portion 18, situated under the anterior inferior angle
of the parietal bone.   The convolution marked 16
was in this brain larger on the left than on the right
side; but its lateral appearance, though  modified
on both sides, is essentially the same.
   The portion 14, between  d and e,  is commonly,
 as in this case, separated from the lateral parts; but
 sometimes, on one or the other side, or on both sides,
 it is in connexion with the portion marked 18.
   Between e and  / is a longitudinal portion, 13,
 sometimes separated  from  the lateral convolution
 marked 21 on the right side, and sometimes con-
 nected with it, as on the left side
   Farther,  the portions marked 18 18, 4, 0, ii, L* 
 230                APPENDIX.

 12 12, and others deeper situated laterally and in
 the forehead, may be easily pointed out in the ordi-
 nary state ; and in  this way the idea of the regu-
 larity of the cerebral portions, as to their essential
 appearance, may be put at rest.
   If it be objected that the difference of their inter-
 nal organization cannot  be proved by anatomy, I
 repeat that which I have already stated  with re-
 spect to the parts of the spinal cord; or nerves of
 sensation and voluntary motion; viz. that their dif-
 ference, too, cannot be proved by anatomy, but that
 it is admitted from physiological proofs.   The same
 will be the case with the  cerebral portions.

 II. In certain Idiots, individual Portions of the Brain
          are defective, or even wanting.

   It is evident that a disorder in the internal organ-
 ization of the brain and its parts may prevent the
 manifestations of the  mind; but it is  also certain
 that sometimes individual portions of the brain are
 defective in the development, remain more or less in
 their embryonic state, or are entirely wanting.  Why
 should this not happen in  the cerebral portions, as
 well as in the  nervous apparatuses of the external
 senses ?  There are various cases of monsters on rec-
 ord,  who were deprived of the olfactory or optic
nerve; others are born with  imperfect brains.   In
the Zeitschrift fur Physiologie, published by Tiede-
 mann and Treviranus, several  defective brains of
 monsters are described and represented.   There is
one, whose  surface is smooth, without convolutions, 
APPENDIX.
231
as in the lower animals and in the embryo of man.
In my work on the Anatomy of the  Brain, I gave
the figure of the brain of an idiotic girl, who died at
Cork in Ireland, in comparison with the brain of
an ourang-outang, kept in alcohol in  the Garden of
Plants at Paris.   I lay here by the drawings of such
a brain in the possession of Mr. Stanley, by whose
kindness I was allowed  to take  them.   There is
one view from above, another in profile, and a third
from the basis.  The natural size  of the individual
parts is copied, but the parts are not in their nat-
ural position: the medulla oblongata, the cerebel-
lum and the posterior  lobes,  in particular, are
stretched out horizontally backward, because the
brain is taken out of the skull.
   PI. II. presents the upper  surface.   Being com-
 pared with the ordinary state (PI. I.,) the  portion
 between a and b, and that between  b and c are ev-
 idently defective  in their development.  The  third
 portion between c and d, is still more so.  The por-
 tions 14, 13, and  21 of the ordinary brain are not
 distinctly separated from each other, but are mixed
 together between d and/. The convolutions mark-
 ed 10 and 11 are more regular, whilst those marked
 4  12  and 18 are very defective and irregular.
   ' The same brain in a lateral view (PI. III.) shows
  a defect in all the lateral parts, but particularly m
  the anterior portion of the  middle lobe, h, and in
  the whole anterior lobe, between / and g.  The
  portions 4, 5, 12, 16, 17, are extremely defective,
  in comparison with the  ordinary state; 6, /, 8, 10,
  and 11 are more regular. 
232
APPENDIX.
   In the views from the basis (PI. IV.,) the individ-
 ual masses of the middle lobes are pretty natural;
 but in the anterior lobes, the most striking differ-
 ence is observed.  The longitudinal anfractuosity,
 in which commonly the olfactory nerve  runs, is
 scarcely indicated  by a very small depression, i;
 the oblique depression, k, corresponds to an anfrac-
 tuosity which, in the ordinary state, divides  the
 lower surface of  the  anterior lobes into three por-
 tions — posterior, internal, and external.  The com-
 mon subdivisions  of these three portions are scarce-
 ly perceptible, and their embryonic state is  evident.
 The cerebral mass, situated behind the superciliary
 ridge,  is extremely backward  in its development,
 and several convolutions which elevate the forehead
 of man are wanting.


 III.  The Brain of the Ourang-outang does not con-
      tain all the  Parts of the Human Brain.

  It  is often said, that the brains of mammiferous
 animals contain the same parts as those of men;
 while the  truth is, that their brains are more or less
 complicated, and that even the brain of the ourang-
outang— which,  among  all  other brains, has the
greatest analogy with the human brain in its healthy
state, and  a greater analogy than the brains of many
idiots — is yet  deprived of several parts.   Tyson,
 who gave  a very imperfect figure of the brain of the
ourang-outang, was mistaken  in finding it quite sim-
ilar to that of man.  M. Tiedemann (Zeitschrift fur 
APPENDIX.
233
Physiologie, 2  B.)  mentions the similarity  of the
brain of the ourang-outang with that of man as to
the cerebellum, medulla oblongata, pons, crura, cor-
pora quadrigemina, optic thalami, corpora striata,
corpora candicantia, fornix and its appendices, cor-
pus callosum, anterior and posterior commissures;
but he  adds, that the brain of the ourang-outang
essentially differs from that of  man—1st, by  its
whole mass being smaller, and, 2dly, by its smaller
number of convolutions and anfractuosities; yet he
had no idea of the  special portions being more de-
fective than in man, and of certain parts being want-
ing altogether.
   My friend Dr. Leach granted me the permission
 to make drawings from the brain of an ourang-ou-
 tang which belongs to him, and is now deposited in
 the College  of Surgeons at London.  The  three
 views, from  above, in profile, and from the basis,
 compared with the regular  brain of man and with
 that of the idiot, show  at  once the analogy, modi-
 fications and differences of certain parts, and the
 entire want of others.  The brain being taken out
 of the skull, its parts changed  their natural position,
 in the same way as the idiotic brain.
    PI  V is the view from above.  In comparing it
  with PI.' I. and with PI. II., the portions between a
  r b c, and c d, are very similar with PI. land more
  complete than in the idiot, PI. II. The portion mark-
  ed 14, between d and e, PI.  I., »  wanting in the
  ourang-outang; but the next portion, marked 13  PL
  Z between e and/, is quite similar in man and in
  the ourang-outang.  The parts 4, 5,  10, 11, 12, 16.
                30 
234
APPENDIX.
 and 17, correspond to similar parts in man;  but
 about 18, there are several convolutions in man,
 whilst in the ourang-outang there  is only a small
 cerebral portion, of which it is  impossible to say
 whether it is composed, or not, of different parts.
   PI. VI. exhibits the ourang-outang's brain in pro-
 file.  There is, again,  more analogy with the ordi-
 nary state of the human brain than with that of the
 idiot, PI. III.   The portions a b, 4, 5, 6, 7,  8 8 8,
 12, 16, and  17, correspond with distinct portions in
 man.  In the anterior lobes between/$•  there is
 more brain  than in the idiot, yet about /  there is
 great want of cerebral mass in comparison with the
 ordinary state of man: 21 seems  similar with man,
 but about 18 again the want of brain is  evident.
   PI. VII. represents the brain of the ourang-outang
 from the basis.  The medulla oblongata, cerebellum,
 pons, crura, vicinal nerves, and the  convolutions of
 the middle lobes, are quite analogous with those of
 man.  The  general division, by  the anfractuosity k,
 into three portions, posterior, internal  and external,
 of the basilar parts of the anterior lobes, is visible,
 as in man ; the internal portion is, proportionately
 to the others, the largest—the posterior and exter-
 nal are small.   The cerebral masses behind the su-
perciliary arch are less distinct,  and the whole fore-
head is much smaller than in the ordinary state of
man.
  The greatest analogy, then, between the brain of
man and that of the ourang-outang is in the cerebel-
lum, the middle and posterior lobes, and at the up-
per surface from behind forward to the two lateral 
APPENDIX.
235
convolutions  included.  The greatest difference is
evident about the portion of the head which corres-
ponds to the fontanel  in children, since the portion
marked 14 in man (PL I.) is entirely wanting; far-
ther, about the portion, marked 18, under the upper
lateral part of the frontal bone, and in the anterior
lobes, particularly along the superciliary ridge, and
in the upper  part of the forehead.

   From the  preceding anatomical remarks, it fol-
lows — 1st, that the brain cannot be considered as
a unity; — 2dly, that individual rubrics of cerebral
portions may be pointed out in man;—3dly, that
these individual portions may be more or less defec-
tive, or entirely wanting — 4thly, that the brain of
the ourang-outang, notwithstanding its great anal-
ogy with  the  hnman brain, is deprived of certain
parts   whilst others  are less developed than  in the
ordinary state of man;—5thly, that the comparative
 anatomy of the brain must be conducted in the same
 way as in every other system  of organisation,;--
 and finally, that  a true division of the cerebral
 masses can be established only by the assistance of
 Physiology and Pathology.  The importance of this
 object is evident  from the  delicacy of  cerebral or-
 ganization,  and it is proportionate to the eminent
 Lctions  attached to it.  I therefore hope my re-
  marks will meet the same attention  which  is com-
  monly bestowed on  investigations concerning other
  parts of our body, or even inanimate beings.
                          J. G. Spurzheim, M. D. 
SOME REMARKS
MR. CHARLES BELL'S ANIMADVERSIONS ON PHRENOLOGY,
  Charles Bell, Esq., in a  Paper on  the Nerves
of the Orbit, read before the Royal Society of Lon-
don, June  19, 1823, printed in the Philosophical
Transactions of the Society, vol. cviii. p.  306, at-
tacked Phrenology in expressions which the lover
of truth will know how to qualify.  I was aware of
them long ago, and knew that this mighty Professor
had reproduced them in 1824, in an octavo volume;
but I had hoped that he had changed his mind, after
all which has happened since 1825, in Great Britain
and Ireland, with respect to Phrenology.  But as he
has again published his accusations without any ad-
ditional note or explanation  in this very year, 1830,
in a quarto volume, entitled' The Nervous System
of the Human Body' (pp. 222,) I wish to bring his
high-sounding animosity against scientific importa-
tions from foreign countries before the court of pub-
lic justice.
  ' The most extravagant departure,' says the learn-
ed Professor,' from all the legitimate modes of rea-
soning, although still under the color of anatomical
observation, is the system of Dr. Gall.   It is suffi- 
APPENDIX.
237
cient to say, that without comprehending the grand
divisions of the nervous system, without  a notion of
the distinct  properties of the  individual nerves, or
having made any distinction of the columns of  the
spinal marrow ■—without even having ascertained
the difference of cerebrum or cerebellum, ■— Gall
proceeded  to describe the brain  as  composed of
many particular and independent organs, and to as-
sign to each the residence of some special faculty.
   ' When the popularity of those  doctrines is con-
sidered,' continues the Professor, ' it may easily be
conceived how  difficult  it has  been, during their
successive importations, to keep my pupils to  the
examples of our own great countrymen.  Surely it
is time  that the schools of this kingdom should be
distinguished from those of  other countries.   Let
us continue to build that structure which has been
 commenced on the labors of the Monros and Hunt-
 ers, and which the undeserved popularity  of the
 Continental system has  interrupted.'
   Professor Bell seems to take his ipse dixit as suffi-
 cient authority; but jurare in verba magistri is no
 longer the fashion — he is answerable for his asser-
 tions, and bound in j ustice to furnish proofs.  Mean-
 while, I tax him in the same terms which he applied
 (4to volume, p. 221) to Bichat: ' that  he paid too
 little regard to the opinions that prevailed, often
 assuming that  as a novelty which really was not,
 and doing injustice to those who had preceded him.'
    Professor  Bell is unjust  towards Gall, and to-
 wards  the  Continent in general. In my opinion,
 he beholds the mote that is in his brother's eye, and 
238
APPENDIX.
does not consider the beam that is in his own.  If
we consider Bichat's education, and his  death at
the age of thirty-one years, we shall easily excuse
his small proficiency in literature;  but must admire,
at the same time, the juvenile fire of his mind,  and
the vastness of his conceptions.  Had Mr. Charles
Bell  been carried off from the scene of life at that
age, it is probable that his name would never have
appeared in the annals of science.  Farther, since
he himself is  obliged to admit  that ' the best apol-
ogy for Bichat's conduct  was the condition  of his
country at the time he lived,' I ask Professor Bell,
whether he can make the same apology for his pro-
ceeding.  How can he maintain, in 1830, (4to  vol-
ume, p. 9,)  that ' nothing  more clearly evinced the
wrong methods  of study prevailing on the Conti-
nent, than  the acquiescence and approbation with
which this system (Bichat's ideas on the ganglions)
was received there?' Professor Bell must be aware
that many anatomists of the Continent are acquaint-
ed with the ganglions of nerves which belong to
what Bichat styled the animal life.  I confine  my-
self  to quotations  from our publications, since he
particularly attacks Gall's doctrine; and  our opin-
ions were published long before Professor Bell read
his animadversions before the Royal Society.
   Though Gall and myself considered Bichat as an
extraordinary genius, yet, in our work on the  Anat-
omy of the Nervous System in general, and of the
Brain in particular (Paris,  1810,) we contradicted
every one of his opinions with which we thought it
fit to find fault.  We declared ourselves in particular 
APPENDIX.
239
against the ideas which he entertained on the gang-
lions.
  Since Professor Bell complains of the popularity
of our doctrines and of their successive importations,
it may be sufficient for the general reader  to know
what I stated in my English work on the Anatomy
of the Brain, p. 22, viz.:  that the opinion in regard
of the ganglions which Johnstone, Bichat,  and Reil
entertained, is by no means exact; that the gang-
lions do  not interrupt the reciprocal  influence  of
the  brain and the nerves of the spinal cord, and
that they appear essential to the structure  of the
nerves of sensation.
  Farther,  since our  doctrines are  so popular in
Great Britain — since Professor Bell laments their
successive importations, how can he accuse Dr. Gall
of not comprehending the grand divisions  of the
nervous  system?  Are not divisions  and subdivi-
sions of the nervous masses, and the plurality of
their functions, the essence of our inquiries from
beginning to end?  It seems to me that the princi-
ple of division and subdivision of the nervous  system
is as  clearly expressed in our work as  Professor
Bell is able to do it, and, I may add, with more de-
tails than he has done  it.  In  the Preface of our
large work on the Anatomy  and Physiology of the
Nervous System  in  general, and of the Brain in
particular,  tome i. p.  xxii. (Paris, 1810,) we say —
 < Ce n'est que lorsque l'Anatomie et la Physiologie
 seront fondues l'une  dans l'autre, que la connais-
 sance du  systeme nerveux  aura atteint  son plus
 baut degri de perfection.'  In the Introduction, p. 
240
APPENDIX.
11,  we  state—'II est evident que le systSme ner-
veux  n'est pas unique et uniforme, mais qu'il doit
etre divise suivant les fonctions principales, et que
chaque  division principale doit  etre subdivisee sui-
vant les fonctions particulieres.'
  Among the Anatomical Corollaries (sect. ii.  p.
75,) the tenth states — ' Les syste i es nerveux dif-
ferent entre  eux dans leur origine,  Ieur structure,
leur couleur, et leur fermete.'
  The fifth  Section of the above work is entitled
' De la  Difference des Nerfs,' and in p. 128 is the
following passage: 'Tous  les nerfs  different entre
eux par la variete de leur configuration.   Ainsi les
nerfs  des sens ne se  ressemblent nullement dans
leur couleur, leur consistance,  leur  forme, et leur
texture.  Souvent les divers filamens du meme nerf
sont tresvisiblement dissemblables.  Non seulement
les differens systemes nerveux, mais aussi le filet du
meme nerf, sortent de  differens amas de substance
grise  placee  dans divers endroits...Toutes ces par-
ticularites restent les memes dans les memes nerfs;
elles doivent done avoir pour cause une difference
primitive dans la structure interieure, et etre d'une
necessite essentielle pour la diversite des fonctions.'
  In  our Memoir presented to the French Institute
in 1808, and in our large work above mentioned,
we make four principal divisions of the nervous sys-
tem, and treat of them in four separate sections.
  In my work,' The Physiognomical System of Drs.
Gall and Spurzheim,' there is a  chapter on the anat-
omy of the nervous system.  In the Second Edition
1815, p. 13, I say: ' We are of opinion that the 
APPENDIX.
241
nervous system must be divided and subdivided, and
that each part of these divisions and subdivisions
has its peculiar origin.'  I speak of the common di-
vision of the nervous system into four portions.—P.
23 :  I admit a difference between ' the nerves of mo-
tion and those of feeling.'   I treat of anatomic-
al, physiological and pathological proofs of my opin-
ion.   I positively state that ' the same nervous
fibres do not go to the muscles and to the skin ;' and
conclude (p. 25)  that  ' the spinal marrow consists
of nerves of motion and of feeling,  and that the
greater number of the pretended  cerebral jierves
belong to the nerves of motion or feeling.'
  In my English work on the Anatomy of the Brain,
with a General View of the Nervous System (Lon-
don, 1826,)  the second Section, p. 23,  is entitled
' Division of the Masses composing the Nervous Sys-
tem.'  I positively state that a true division of the
nervous system can only rest on the nature of the
functions performed.   In the same Section, I sepa-
rate the nervous masses of vegetative life from those
of phrenic life,  and admit as many kinds of nerves
 as different  offices of the particular viscera.  In the
 third Section, I contend for the difference between
 the  nerves of  voluntary motion  and sensation,  and
 found my opinion on anatomical, physiological  and
 pathological facts; and (p. 29) I refer the reader for
 similar ideas to my work,' The Physiognomical Sys-
 tem,' published in 1815, and to my French publica-
 tion on Phrenology, 1818.   I even state that ' in all
 my Courses of Lectures I have broached  similar
 ideas, and have  encouraged those of my auditors
              31 
242
APPENDIX.
whom opportunity favored to enter on the inquiry,
and to endeavor to trace the  nervous fibres from
their peripherical expansions to their origin in the
spinal cord.
  These few quotations from our works are an ev-
ident  refutation  of Professor Bell's inexact asser-
tions.  It is  quite ridiculous to hear  him say that
Gall  had not even ascertained the difference of ce-
rebrum  and  cerebellum.  Dr. Gall, in considering
the cerebellum as an organ of a special propensity,
could not confound it with the brain proper, or ce-
rebrum  ; and accordingly,  in all our anatomical
publications, the cerebellum is treated in a particu-
lar chapter.
   Thus  Mr.  Charles Bell's assertions  concerning
Gall  are incorrect: but supposing them to be cor-
rect,  his judgment appears still very weak  and  in-
conclusive.  Let us suppose, contrary to reality, that
Gall  and myself had confined ourselves to the brain
and its  subdivisions ;  might our observations not be
exact, though we were quite ignorant of the rest of
 the nervous masses ?  Professor Bell knows nothing
 of the brain, neither of its structure  nor of its func-
 tions ; but can I therefore maintain that his ideas on
 the nerves of voluntary motion and respiration are
 erroneous?  He finds it difficult (p. 38) to trace  the
 fifth  pair of nerves to  the corpus restiforme of  the
 medulla oblongata, which I find easy, and which has
 been published in our works on the Brain since 1808;
 but am I therefore entitled to say that he does  not
 know the functions of the same nerve ?   May  not
 the structure and functions of any part of the body 
APPENDIX.
243
be examined and known, wmilst those of other parts
are unknown ?   Nay, may not the structure or func-
tions of the same part be known  individually and
separately?  Accordingly, Gall might have discov-
ered the functions of cerebral portions,  without at-
tending to the nerves of the spine or the rest of the
body; in the same way as  Professor Bell has dis-
covered the functions of some nerves — for instance,
of  the  fifth pair—without knowing their origin,
and without attending to the brain.
   Professor Bell's self-conceit is evident; but truth
is no prerogative of any country, and the  republic
of letters and science is  acknowledged by all lib-
eral minds.  Since he is opposed to the  importation
of new  doctrines into Great Britain, will he also
 object  to his discoveries being  exported to foreign
 countries?   His animosity against Phrenology did
 not prevent me from mentioning his discoveries  in
 my work on the Anatomy of the Brain.
    It is my only object to show Professor Bell's er-
 roneous accusations and envious presumption, other-
 wise  it would be easy to criticise several of his
 anatomical  and physiological propositions.  What
 reason, for instance, has he to  reckon  the medulla
 oblongata with the spinal  cord ?  Is  it  true that
 'each lateral portion of the spinal marrow contains
 three tracts or  columns—one for  voluntary motion,
 one for sensation, and one for the act of respiration'
 — (4to volume, p. 23)— and that ' a fasciculus may
 be traced down the spinal marrow,  between the
 sulci, which give rise to the anterior and posterior
 roots' of the spinal nerves?' (Ibid. p.  129.)   I flat- 
244
APPENDIX.
ter myself that the doctrine of Phrenology is found-
ed on  more  solid demonstrations than  Professor
Bell's assertions concerning the respiratory column
in the  spinal marrow.  I conclude with Cicero's
well-known sentence —' Opinionum commenta de-
let dies, naturae judicia confirmat.'
                             J. G. Spurzheim. 
PI. J
 
 
Pl.lt
 
 
Tl.M.
 
 
PI. w
 
 
T'l  V.
 
 
PL. IT.
 
 
PI. VII
 
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