CONJECTURAL INQUIRY 
INTO THE 
RELATIVE INFLUENCE 
OF 
THE MIND AND STOMACH: 
AN 
INAUGURAL DISSERTATION. 
BY ELIAS MARKS, 
OF CHARLESTON, SOUTH-CAROLINA. 
*• There Is such a reciprocal connexion and consent between the particular 
Thoughts and Affections of the Mind and the Body, that a change in one will 
always produce a change in the other ” Boirhaaye. 
NEW-YORK: 
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, BY VAN WINKLE & WILEY. 
1815. AN 
INAUGURAL DISSERTATION; 
BEING 
A CONJECTURAL INQUIRY INTO THE RELATIVE INFLUENCE 
OF 
THE MIND AND STOMACH: 
SUBMITTED 
TO THE PUBLIC EXAMINATION 
OF THE 
trustees of the college of physicians and surgeons. 
IN THE STATE OF NEW-TORN, 
SAMUEL BARD, M. D. PRESIDENT, 
< 
FOR 
The Degree of Doctor of Medicine, 
On the 2d <!»y of M»jr, 1815 PRELIMINARY. 
“Les conjectures,” (says a celebrated wri- 
ter,*) k‘bont le degre de certitude le plus elo g 16 
de i’evidence; mais ce n’est pas une raison pour 
les rejeter. C’est par elles que toutes les sciences 
et tous les arts ont commence: car nous entre- 
voyons la verite avant de la voir ; et l’evidence 
ne vient souvent, qu’ apres la tatonnement.” 
The best-attested systems of the day have had 
their origin in conjecture, which has been gradu- 
ally strengthened by observation, and confirmed by 
successive experiment. Yet, speculation has its 
limits, beyond which the mind wanders in the 
region of shades, conjuring up forms of its own 
creation, and giving “to empty nothings a local 
habitation and a name.” 
Science, so far from considering imagination 
as, within certain limitations, a needful auxiliar, 
has viewed her agency as ever prejudicial. She 
has been beheld, with fearful jealousy, as a Circe, 
tending only to lure the reason astray—an Ata- 
lanta, for ever strewing her golden fruit in the 
pathway of the pursuer. Yet, were the dawn of 
many well-attested systems observed, we should 
find them ushered in amidst that twilight of the 
mind, when the mists of fancy, as yet, hover 
around the presentations of reason. Thus arose 
the philosophy of a Newton, and the incipient 
reasonings of a Colon. The fall of a few vernal 
* Condillac de 1’Art de Raisonner, torn. iv. p. 184. blossoms led the way to the doctrines of gravita- 
tion, and some reeds, waited by the billows of the 
ocean, gave strength to the imaginings of the 
Genoese. 
Hypothesis, in mounting upwards, from effects, 
may deduce its conclusions from mere possibilities ; 
yet such deductions, as they cannot meet positive 
confutation, so will they ever remain stationary, 
without making nearer advances to truth. Such 
is the splendid geological driam of Darwin,* 
and such the doctrines of the vital principle. Com- 
parative reasoning, and that founded on rational 
inference, from probabilities, though far short of 
direct evidence, will yet claim a hold on our cre- 
dence, where they may either gain accessions, from 
progressive discovery or be disproved and reject- 
ed bv after experience. 
In conjectural inquiry, we are duly aware, 
eccentricity does not more imply talent, than ser- 
vile adherence to prescription implies reasoning— 
that original paradox may proceed from fallacy of 
judgment, as dull correctness from mental cow- 
ardice. Yet with the adventurer, essaying on 
subjects, void in many points, of collateral aidance, 
something, perhaps, is to be allowed; nor should 
it so much be sought wherein he has failed, as 
in what he has succeeded. Such a one will 
surely incur greater chance of failure, than the 
cautious scholiast, never adventuring beyond Ihe 
precincts of syllogism. The former dates his la- 
bours from that point at which the latter cautious- 
ly desists. While the one pushes his discoveries 
amidst unexplored regions, the other resigns him- 
* Vide Botanical Garden. 7 
self to the electing from their results ; and, through 
an assiduity unsolicited by the witcheries of ima- 
gination and feeling, arrives at a greater share of 
correctness. The contributions of the last, how- 
ever, are, at best, but those of a compiler, whilst 
the first may compensate for occasional trespasses 
against reason, by extending the domains of her 
empire. CONJECTURAL INQUIRY, <Xu. 
PART I. 
Sect. I. The moral faculty intimately connected with 
bodily sense. 
Ascending in the scale of inquiry, causes and 
their effects appear so enlinked, that the discove- 
ry of one series gives us but the effects of others, 
still stretching onward in progression, until they 
have terminated in principles, which, from their 
inexplicability, we term ultimate. Many, bewil- 
dered in the pursuits of these successive operative 
causes, have, in their despondency, condemned 
all attempts, having such a tendency. Yet when 
we revert to the knowledge deduced from them, 
and the access of pleasure, flwing in upon the 
feelings from their successful results, the condem- 
nation will appear premature. Science is pro- 
gressive: we may compare it to a ladder, in the 
ascending of which, we in succession rest on those 
points which, a few moments before, were beyond 
our reach. 
Physiologists have not been more opposed to each 
other, on the economy of animal life, than meta- 10 
physicians, on the operations of the human mind. 
Both appear to have, occasionally, erred, from not 
sufficiently adverting to the intimate connexion of 
mind and body. 
Metaphysics has busied herself, from the days 
of the Siugyrite, in attending, too much, to the 
mind in the abstract. Even the familiar biogra- 
pher, in portraying the moral and intellectual fea- 
tures of genius, and animadverting upon their 
combinations, has estimated the mind as exclu- 
sively her own, and not, like the monarchy of 
Sparta, holding another confederate in rule. Phi- 
losophy, mostly prone to extremes, has either be- 
wildered herself in the mazes of idealism,* or, de- 
scending to a groveling materialism, has rendered 
every thing incorporate with matter. 
The estimate, at various periods, given of the 
human mind has much varied. Locke and 
D’Alembert have made it a mere receptacle de- 
pendent on the senses ; while the German philoso- 
phers have considered it as possessing faculties part- 
ly intuitive. The Mallebranchistes, by rendering 
all its actions immediately referable to its creator, 
have rendered the human being an automaton ; and 
it has, again, been viewed as bearing the same re- 
lation to body as motion does to matter, f “ Tout 
croient juger d’apres ce qu’ils sentent: mais cette 
diversite d’opinions prouve qu’ils ne savent pas 
tous, interroger le sentiment.”! 
In the following brief inquiry, the human mind 
is considered as an essence, intrinsically immateri- 
al, but, relatively, material. 
* Vide Phil, of Berkley. 
f Mi*abaud, La Systeme de la Nature 
t Condillac. 11 
Its relative materiality consists in our being una- 
ble to perceive its existence, or estimate its powers, 
when abstracted from the operation of bodily «ense. 
Without giving it this relation, it would be that 
indefinable essence which has so oflen bewildered 
th( speculation, and eluded the mental grasp, of the 
theorist. It is, in fact, only as it is connected with 
the organs of bodily sense that mind does exist. 
Beyond this, if the expression be admissible, it 
may be said to become intangible. The pardoxi- 
cal Berkly base, deavoured to rest the existence of 
matter solely on the perception of mind. May not 
the reverse of this position be the truth, viz. that 
the perception of mind rests solely on the exist- 
ence of matter ? 
Nothing, perhaps, proves the inefficacy, and, in- 
deed. nullity of all boasted abstractions, than our 
incapacity of forming any idea of the Divine Es- 
sence, without assigning a form and substance. 
Sect. II. Whence does this connexion arise ? 
The brain is the origin of motion. The phe- 
nomena of thought, the exercise of the vital, 
natural, and animal functions, are referable to 
this source. Sensation, on the contrary, is sup- 
posed to proceed from the extremity of the nerve, 
and to have its termination in the sensorium. The 
senses appear the means whereby the mind is fur- 
nished with those ideas denominated sensible, as 
distinguished from innate. Through the medium 
of these, the nerves constitute the connecting link 
between external nature, and the sensorium. 12 
Haller has defined sensation to be a “ change of 
mind, produced by change of body.”* 
Is it the impression made on the mind, in 
consequence of nervous communication ? 
Is passion the immediate reaction of the mind, 
following sensation, which manifests itself in the 
vital, natural, and animal functions ? 
We feel duly aware, that the term passion, has 
been differently defined and applied. Bichat refers 
it as an exclusive attribute of organic life ; while 
he has made thought, characteristically designative 
of animal life. This apportioning the attributes 
of animal being to a sentient or a perc ipient facul- 
ty, may serve well enough the purpose of classifica- 
tion, and answer the intention of the systematizer; 
but a recourse to the phenomena of life will 
have a tendency to render the inquirer somewhat 
captious. He, again, defines passion to be the ef- 
fect of sensation. Now, how sensation shall operate, 
by exclusively exciting the passions, without the 
mind’s taking cognizance of the operation, does not 
appear. The impression, perception, sensation, 
and consequent reaction of the sensorium, are ac- 
tions consecutive of each other. 
Passion, then, so far from being a blind impulse, 
originating in mere organic life, is a provident re- 
action of the sensorium, whose end is, for the most 
part, preservative; entering intimately into our 
actions and relations with things around us. 
Thought, emanating from the same source, is the 
product of a more deliberate ratiocination. 
Should compassion, for instance, be defined a 
mere organic impulse of the blood ; or, does it not 
* Physiology, Chap. X. p. 174. 13 
rather, proceed from a prompt suggestion of mind, 
both conceiving and inferring, as it were, with one 
effort. The swain of Sterne, arrested at the sight 
of the bleeding lamb, is the motion of passion; but 
the suggestion, “ O had I come one moment soon- 
er !” is the result of reflection. 
Sect. III. This connexion exemplified, in the sympa- 
thy of the mind and alimentary functions. 
Anatomy has, progressively, developed the func- 
tions of the body ; and metaphysics, looking into 
the mirror of the mind, has caught and portray- 
ed her own features. Were we possessed of the 
intermediate link, uniting the sciences of moral 
and physical man, we should, perhaps, be enabled 
familiarly to account for phenomena, the most in- 
teresting to humanity. Melancholia, hypochondri- 
asis, mania, with the various motus abnormft of 
intellect, would, then, probably, be more success- 
fully subjected to a medicine, which should 
“ Minister to the mind diseased ; 
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow; 
Raze out the written troubles of the mind; 
And, with some sweet, oblivious antidote, 
Cleanse the stuff’d bosom of the perilous stuff, 
Which weighs upon the heart.” 
Such a discovery would be, indeed, imparting a 
body to intellect, and an understanding to matter! 
From the intimate connexion, existing between 
the functions of the body and the faculties of the 
mind, it will follow, that the healthy action of the 
one, is essential to that of the other ; that whatever 14 
tends to weaken this connexion, must, in a mea- 
sure, interrupt the association, and that, thus, new 
associations may be formed, either of a salutary 
or morbid tendency. 
“ L’union de l’esprit et du corps, est, en effet, 
si fort qu’on a de la peine a concevoir que l’un 
puisse agir, sans que l’autre ne se repetc, plus ou 
moins, de son action.’’* This law of the animal 
economy is strikingly illustrated in the con- 
nexion of the brain and alimentary canal; the for- 
mer, the source of motion ; the latter, the essential 
organ of nutrition. Their intimate union did not 
escape the ancients. Plato has assigned a trium- 
virate of souls, as it were, to the human being; 
the first resident in the brain, the second in the 
stomach, or diaphragm ; and the last equally dif- 
fused throughout the system. The Augustan age 
of Roman literature has not been more scientific 
on the subject. 
<vEst animus (says Cicero) in partes distribu- 
te duas, quarum una in appetitu posita est, qui 
hominem hue et illuc rapit; altera in ratione, quze 
docet et explanat quod faciendum, fugiendumve 
sit.f 
But, though, not equalling the moderns, in inge- 
nious hypothesis, the ancients have, practically,"at- 
tended to the bearings which the stomach and men- 
tal faculty have on each other; as also, to the in- 
strumentality of the former in modifying moral 
causes. Hence, we find die tics of so much" import- 
ance with them as to call forth the attention of le- 
gislators and rulers. They form the most promi- 
* Tissot, de la Sante de Gens de Lett res, 
+ Tusc. n. 47. 15 
nent features of their respective codes. Nay, to 
enforce what they would here enjoin, religion her- 
self was had recourse to, and rendered the power- 
ful instrument to compliance. 
Sect. IV. Sensation does not originate merehj in the 
organs of bodily sense. 
Among the faculties of sense, touch, or the 
tact of nerve with external matter, constitutes one 
of the fine orders. Yet, as in hearing and smell- 
ing, an evident tact does exist between the respect- 
ive organs, and the minute, though invisible parti- 
cles of matter, all the senses in the exercise of 
their several functions, may be considered as en- 
joying modifications of touch. 
The senses, however, furnish not the only ave- 
nues to sensation; nor are they, as Bichat would 
infer, the exclusive agents, communicating the 
cause of passion; for wherever nerve is excited, 
sensation will lie conveyed. Thus, in Incubus, 
Globus Hystericus, and Hypocondriasis, it is the 
natural functions which perceive, and communicate 
the cause of sensation to the sensorium. Pecu- 
liar affections of any of the functions will give rise 
to peculiar sensations, and consequent passion.* 
The various inotus abnormu of intellect, arising 
from uterine affections, are well known. The 
most violent, lively, and profound passions and 
* “ By sensibility is meant that faculty of living organs, 
which renders them capable of receiving from the contact of 
other hoilies, an impression, stronger or fainter, that alters 
file order of their motions, increases or diminishes then- 
activity 
Hicherand, Phys. emotions, proceed frequently from this source. 
Besides, in our dreams, whilst communication by 
the senses is suspended, the most vivid sensations 
are communicated, and every passion is, by turns, 
excited. In our waking moments, also, sensations 
will, at times, arise, which cannot be traced to any 
external source. This circumstance an excellent 
physician and great poet has noticed; 
“ Witness the sprightly joy, when aught unknown 
Strikes the quick sense, and wakes the lively soul 
To brisker measures.” AkCnside. 
Touch is co’extendent with nerve ; consequent- 
ly, wherever connexion exists between matter and 
the body, this principle is present. It will, there- 
fore, be a corollary, that parts which derive the 
greatest share of nerve, will be the best fitted for 
receiving sensation. 
Haller has observed that “all sensation arises 
from the impression of a sensible object on some 
nerve of the human body.”* If, by a sensible 
object, he alludes to what is cognizable by the 
nerve, the position is incontrovertible ; but he, 
certainly, cannot be understood to use the term 
in the common acceptation, of a thing subjected 
solely to the senses. 
V\ hether it be a fluid or not, by which the nerve 
is enabled to transmit impressions received, to the 
sensorium, will, at best, be the mere deduc- 
tion of probable reasonings. It is sufficient for 
us to premise, that as the nerves have one common 
origin, we cannot, either, a priori or a posteriori, 
infer, ihat any one set enjoy a specific excellence 
over the rest. The amount of sensation is, therefore, 
as the quantity of nerve ; consequently, those or- 
gans must derive the greatest portion of sensation 
* Phys. Aph. 366. 17 
from tact, which are possessed of the greatet ag- 
gregation of nerve. “ Those parts of the body 
which receive nerves, possess sensibility most 
acutely when they receive many.,,# 
Sect. V. The Stomach imparls sensation to, and re- 
ceives impression from, the Brain. 
If we consider the stomach in this, apparently, 
just point of view, our estimation of the sensibili- 
ty of which it is possessed, will only be inferior to 
that of the brain itself, the primum mobile of thought. 
The stomach, so wonderfully supplied with 
nerves, forming one close woven plexus, has been 
characterized as “ maxima gaudens sensibilitate ;”l 
and it was this centre of sympathy which Van Hel- 
mont chose for the residence of his Archeus. Con- 
tinually receiving impressions from, and impart- 
ing sensations to, the brain, it may be consider- 
ed as enjoying a tact more exquisite than any 
other of the senses ; but, with this essential differ- 
ence, that this interchange of agency particularly 
in a state of health, is not so much subjected to 
our consciousness. 
On the due performance of the gastric functions, 
depends a sanity of body and mind. And here it 
is, that the intimate connexion of the stomach 
with the mind, is least observable; for, from the 
proper exercise of the faculties of the latter, and 
functions of the former, and their consequent just 
re-action on each other, such an equilibrium is 
maintained, as to render us, in a measure, insensi- 
ble of their close alliance. Thus, the man in health 
will seldom revert to this well-maintained harmo- 
ny, as the source of that energy and animation, of 
* Haller, Phys. Aph. 364. 
(■ Liber. Prcelectiones Anntomicce, p. 314. which he feels conscious. But it is to the affections 
of the alimentary functions, that the valetudinarian 
can readily trace most of his sensations; and he 
becomes duly sensible of their nice relationship 
with the mind, from the morbid condition of each, 
importing a morbid consciousness and introverted 
attention. 
Quant a Paction” (says the celebrated Tissot) 
“ de l’ame sur l’est.omac, elle se demontre tous les 
jours, par des experiences que chacun peut veri- 
fier soi-meme. L’homme qui pense le plus, est 
celui qui digere le plus mal, toutes choses egales 
d’ailleurs : celui qui pense le moins, est celui que 
digere le raieux. On voit tres frequemment, des 
sots boire et manger beaucoup sans s’incommoder, 
quiconq’ils menent une vie sedentaire, et qu’ils ne 
soient pas d’une constitution plus robuste que 
d’autres. Combien ya-t-il, au contraire, de gens 
d’esprit dont les digestions sont penibles et labo- 
rieuses, quoiq’ils soient d’un bon temperament, et 
qu’ils fassent de l’exercise. Cette meme loi de 
l’organization du corps humain, qui fait que les 
vomissemens sont un des premiers symptomes de 
la lesion du cerveau, apres les coupes regues a la 
tete, se trouve dans toutes les irritations de cet 
organe.”* 
Sect. VI. What is the proximate cause communicating 
sensation to, and transmitting motion from, the 
Brain? 
That the nerves constitute the associating link 
between the sensorium and the organs of bodily 
sense, has been well established. The subject 
which next interested the physiologist, was the mo- 
* Sante tie Gens de Lettres. 19 
dus operandi which tends to this accomplishment. 
Accordingly, as hypothesis is ever attendant on the 
footsteps of suggestion, various doctrines were had 
recourse to; and analogy, ever fertile in similiiude, 
drew ample materials from the store-house of sci- 
ence. Yet, causes are not only perceived by means 
of events alone, but are perceived solely in the 
events. 
“ Itaque facienda est corporum seperatio et so- 
lutio; non per ignem certe, sed per rationem et 
inductionem veram cum experiments auxiliari- 
bus.”* 
From not attending to this important truism, 
whence the inquirer of truth should ever set out, 
have arisen the mechanical doctrines of Borelli 
and Pitcairn, and the nervous Jluid of Haller and 
Cullen. 
We request the reader’s patience, in reverting 
to this subject, as it will not be found irrelative 
to the inquiry proposed. Perhaps, from an ap- 
proach toward the proximate principle of nervous 
action, some few suggestions may arise on the 
reciprocity of the mind and stomach. 
If the existence of the subtile, ethereal fluid, 
proposed by Haller, be granted, still this will con- 
stitute but a means, and the modus operandi remains 
to be explained. When we attend to the phe- 
nomena which animal life offers, it will be some- 
what difficult for the observer to discriminate be- 
tween a nervous and muscular action. “ There 
is no muscular fibre, however minute, in which we 
are not obliged to admit the existence of a small 
nervous filament.” “ The animals which have no 
distinct nervous systems, possess, at once, in all 
* Bacon, Novum Orgarnm, p. 107. 20 
their parts, sensibility and contractibility.’’* Tlius, 
although the elementary fibre be considered dis- 
tinct from the nervous, yet, to account for the mo- 
tive nature of the one, it becomes necessary to sup- 
pose the presence of the other. 
Observe how Haller vacillates on this subject: 
“ Are these fibres hollow? Are they continuous 
with the arteries? Does the difference betwixt 
muscular and tendinous fibres consist in the lat- 
ter being rendered solid by being compressed, and 
having the fluids expelled ? That the blood is 
not concerned is proved by the slenderness of the 
fibres, which are smaller than the blood globules.”! 
What is, then, the vis insita of Haller? Is it a 
motive power, resident in the ultimate muscular 
fibre, independent of the sensorium ; or, does this 
fibre bear the same relation to the nerve, as the mi- 
nute fibriculi of the leaf do to the stem ? If so, are 
the vis insita and nervous power one and the same ? 
But, says Haller, the vis insita arises ‘‘ from the 
nervous liquor forcing the elementary particles of 
the muscular fibre to approach each other. 
Now, admitting the agency of this nervous li- 
quor in producing the vis insita, a transudation 
must take place ; a circumstance which he himself, 
in another place, has denied ever to supervene.§ 
According to his own position, wherever a nervous 
fluid exists, there must be a nerve. The thing 
resolves itself, then, in this ultimatum : a nervous 
agency being admitted as the principle of the vis 
insita, it must be resident in the nervous fibre of 
Richerand, accompanying the muscular fibre, or 
* Richerand, Phys. 
f Aph. 399. 
I Phy. Aph. 408. 
6 Aph. 379. 21 
this muscular fibre is no other than a continuation 
of the nerve. Nature ever accomplishing her pur- 
poses by the simplest means, the latter inference 
appears most rational. 
This, no doubt, will be thought a bold as- 
sumption, a Lilliputian spear hurled against doc- 
trine proofed in the armour of authority. It is in- 
deed so; but if truth speed the weapon, it may 
reach its mark. “ Philosophers” (says Horne 
Tooke) “have calculated the difference of velocity 
between sound and light, but who would attempt 
to calculate the difference between speech and 
thought ?” In like manner we would ask, who 
will attempt to calculate the velocity with which 
sensation is communicated from the sentient ex- 
tremities of the nerves, and the consequent reac- 
tion of the sensorium. From observing what is 
termed the irritability of muscle, and its seemingly 
instantaneous action, from stimuli applied, appa- 
rently without the interference of the brain, phy- 
siologists have been willing to render this action 
independent of its liege sovereign, the sensorium, 
giving it, as it were, a dynasty of its own. 
Sect. VII. Does this proximate cause consist in a prin- 
ciple of tension and relaxation of the ultimate fibre ? 
The animal economy presents this characteris- 
tic—that a tension of the alimentary fibre gives an 
increment, as its relaxation gives a decrement, of 
tone in the parts where either exists. As in the ap- 
plication of cold, which, by imparting a tension to 
the fibre, communicates an energy; and in that of 
heat, which, bv producing a relaxation, abstracts 22 
from that energy. But, as this ultimate fibre is 
subjected to the influence of the sensorium, we ob- 
serve the affections of the mind producing corres- 
pondent results. Whatever excites the former, 
imparts a similar excitation to the latter; as what- 
ever depresses the one prostrates the powers of the 
other. The maniac, propelled by some fantasy of 
the brain’s creation, 
“ finds each petty artery in his body, 
As hardy as the Nermean lion’s nerve.” 
While the dastard Dolon, as described by Homer, 
“ Against the trembling wood, 
The wretch stood propp’d, and quiver’d as he stood; 
A sudden palsy seized his turning head, 
£Iis loose teeth chatter’d, and his colour fled.” 
An inferrible evidence, also, of the identity 
of the muscular and nervous fibre, is their evin- 
cing, in some measure, a similarity of action. Dr. 
Darwin has shown that the retina, which is consi- 
dered a continuation of the optic nerve, manifests 
the character of a muscle in having its flexors and 
extensors, and being susceptible of fatigue and in- 
stauration.* 
That the brain, notwithstanding its medullarv 
and apparent inelastic nature, does possess many 
of the properties of muscularity, will be induced 
from a like observance. Like the nerves to which 
it gives origin, (if the medulla spinalis be admit- 
ted a continuation,) it appears possessed of a prin- 
ciple of tension and relaxation. 
Reasoning, then, from effects, instead of pro- 
* Vide Zoonomia, B. 1. 23 
cceding from principles, we discover it evincing 
deducible evidences of this property. “ Tandis 
que l’ame s’en occupe, les organs du cerveau sont 
dans une mouvement plus ou moins fort, dans 
line tension, plus ou moins grande; ces mouve- 
mens fatiguent la mo'elle nerveuse, cette sub- 
stance si tendre, se trouve apres une longue me- 
ditation aussi epuisec que l’est un corps ro- 
buste apres une exercise violente. Quiconque a 
pense fortement, une fois dans sa vie, a fait cette 
experience sur soi-meme ; et il n’y a point d’hom- 
me de lettres qui ne soit sorti plusieurs fois de 
son cabinet avec un violent mal de tete et beau- 
coup de chaleur dans cette partie, ce qui depend 
de l’etat de fatigue et d’echauffement dans lequel 
la mo'elle du cerveau se trouve; l’empreinte de 
cette fatigue se fait aussi appercevoir dans les yeux, 
et si l’on considere un homrne plonge dans la me- 
ditation, on voit que tous les muscles de son visage 
sont tendus, ils paraissent meme quelquefois.” * 
The brain, then, appears like a muscle; 
1st. Susceptible of excitement and exhaustion; 
of fatigue and instauration ; 
2d. It is liable to convulsive motion, as in deli- 
rium ; or, to spasmodic action, as in mania. 
3d. It appears possessed of flexors and exten- 
sors ; for when fatigued with one species of employ- 
ment, it is relieved, by having recourse to another. 
4th. Mechanical pressure affects it, producing 
paralysis; which affection, when taking place in the 
brain, from this or any other cause, is termed 
Coma. 
* La Sante de Gens dc Leltres. beet. VIII. Will this principle apply to the connexion 
of the brain and stomach ? 
If it be conceded, that the muscularity of the 
brain is at least deducible from probable reasoning, 
cannot the relative influence which the brain and 
stomach have over each other, be accounted for, on 
the principle of a tension and relaxation of the ele- 
mentary fibre ? Can this principle be more ge- 
nerally applied to the communication existing be- 
tween the sentient extremities and the cerebral 
organs ?* 
The brain chiefly distinguishes animal from sim- 
ple organic existence, and is the prime exciter. 
The nerves constitute the medium of communi- 
cation between it and the other functions. As 
the cerebral organ imparts motion and sensation to 
the rest, so it is, in turn, subject to the reaction of 
these; among which the alimentary organs, in which 
the nutrient principle of animal life resides, has the 
most wonderful ascendancy. 
Indeed, when the ancients assigned a soul, as re- 
sident in the nutrient organ, it was from perceiv- 
ing this close alliance and nice reaction. Most 
of the morbid affections of the mind, not arising 
from a moral cause, may, generally, be traced 
to some peculiar state of the primes vies; whilst 
* The reason assigned by Haller, in objection to the ex- 
istence of a principle of tension, in the nervous fibre, is its 
apparent softness. But has he not made use of the term 
soft in a relative, rather than a strictly logical sense? As sub- 
ject to our sensations, it may, indeed, be considered as such : 
yet can it be objected that the coherent particles of which 
it is composed, may not, as they respect each other, maintain 
a certain proximity and distance, constituting tension orrelax- 
ation ? the potent influence of the passions and emotions 
of the mind over the latter is but too evident. 
If the energy or prostration of the cerebral and 
alimentary functions be for the most part correla- 
tive, and proceed from a tension or relaxation of 
the elementary fibre, muscular energy is not so 
much the result of an aggregation of fibre, as of a 
modification of it, termed tension ; in like manner, 
debility is not the product of a paucity of fibre, but 
of a relaxation of it. This will appear, in attending 
to the animal economy, where we observe prostra- 
tion often existing with great muscular aggrega- 
tion ; and energy often combined with an apparent 
deficiency of solid. 
In the action of the brain and stomach on each 
other, that a tension or relaxation of fibre in the one 
exists, analogous to what takes place in the other, 
we would further deduce from the position, that no 
communication can take place betwen two things 
without some correspondent property in each. 
When wc see amaurosis proceeding from a sto- 
machic affection, we will naturally inter that some 
correspondent property does exist in relation to 
the stomach and retina. We observe in both an 
impairment of contractability and dilatability; 
and we hence infer a common morbid affection of 
the elastic elementary fibre. In like manner, when, 
from an untoned and vitiated condition of the 
prinue v'ue, a morbid affection of the mind occurs, 
we would conclude that the relaxation of the ulti- 
mate fibre, observable in the alimentary functions, 
extends to the organs of sense. 
The dejection, gloom, and mental aberrations 
produced from such affections were not unnoticed 
by the ancients. Observing the efficacy of purga- 
tives in removing the melancholic lowerings of 26 
the mind, and oppression of its faculties, they at- 
tributed these to the presence of an atrabilis, or 
black choler, in the alimentary organs. A high 
estimation was attached to the melamponium, in 
these affections, as acting specifically; and Mc- 
lampus, aGreek, (from whom it received its name,) 
cotemporary with the Argonautic expedition, is 
said, by its use, to have cured the daughter of 
Poetus, King of Argos, of an obstinate mental 
malady. 
Can the effect wrought be attributable to a 
recovery of tension in the muscular fibre ? 
An inquiry which has much interested physi- 
ologists, and involved much hypothesis, is that in- 
stituted into the modus operandi of the narcotic 
principle, on the faculties of the mind and functions 
of the body. There exists not, perhaps, a more 
apposite illustration of the prompt and intimate 
sympathy of the stomach and brain than that which 
here takes place. While some have ascribed the 
effects to a principle taken into the circulation, 
others have referred it to an impression made on 
the nerve. 
May the moral and physical phenomena here be 
attributed, in the first place, to a tension given the 
elementary fibre ; followed, secondly, by a propor- 
tionable relaxation ? Do those high exhilarations 
of mind, succeeded by languor and depression, act 
in the same manner ? 
Cold, to a certain degree, produces an increase, 
and, as it were, a concentration of sensorial power. 
Heat, beyond a certain extent, acts conversely, by 
enfeebling the cerebral force. Are these phenome- 
na ascribable to the causes assigned above ? If so, 
will not this account for the characteristic cerebral 
energy of the inhabitants of the temperate zone ? PART 11. 
Sect. I. Influence of the Mind on the Physical Fane 
tions. 
We can, perhaps, make no nearer advance to 
the knowledge of the motive principle, than in the 
probable supposition that there exists in the hu- 
man being a determinate proportion of sensorial 
power, (the excitability of Brown,) and that inas- 
much as it has a derivable tendency to the functions 
of the body, or the faculties of the mind, is their 
respective energy of action. By a parity of rea- 
soning we would infer, that from the close alliance 
of these, there is always a reciprocity of action in 
health and disease. 
Where the greatest equanimity of mind exists, 
the performance of the bodily functions is, for the 
most part, uniform ; nor is the animal economy 
subject to those morbid actions which constitute 
disease. The observation of cheerfulness and 
good nature being combined with obesity is, for 
the most part, correct; the latter is the result of the 
former. 
In nations, as in individuals, we observe a pe- 
culiar bodily temperament induced by peculiar 
conformation of mind. The Italians, possessed of 
much irritability and sensibility, with passions ar- 
dent and easily excited, have not that unmeaning 
rotundity of countenance assignable to the inhabi- 
tant of northern Europe. One has only to revert 
to the portraits of that people to be assured of this. 28 
To this cause may be attributed their excellence 
in the pictorial and sculptural arts, which find among 
them the most striking exemplars. In their mus- 
cular proportions they evince a point and angula- 
rity, the effects of repeated flexion of muscle and 
tension of fibre, produced by mental agitation. 
The German, a thinking, yet phlegmatic being, 
with amenity of disposition, and passions by no 
means easily excited, has a curvature and aggrega- 
tion of muscle, characteristic of his comparative 
moral inaction. 
The same effect wrought on the animal func- 
tions by the affections of the mind, may be sup- 
posed to take place in the natural functions. 
When an over-proportion of the nervous influ- 
ence is determined to any one order of functions, 
it will always be at the expense of the rest. In 
idiots, where the cerebral action is feeble, the other 
functions derive an increase of power. There is 
an increment of muscular quantity, as also of di- 
gestive power, in proportion to the decrement of 
cerebral action. 
The partial cessation of mind during sleep, will 
explain the restoration which the animal functions 
then undergo, and the sensible increase of die func- 
tions of digestion. The now undivided current 
of sensorial fluid flows almost exclusively to these. 
Nor is it less deducible, that as the sensorial 
power, when directed to many parts, must, by this 
division, necessarily become weakened ; so, when 
concentrated in a greater quantity than ordinary, 
in any particular organ, the function of that organ 
must acquire an increased energy. Hence the ab- 
scission of one sense, imparts a greater excellence 
to another. Most deaf people have a certain in- telligence in their eyes, truly characteristic. In 
blindness there is often a partial translation of the 
sensorial current to the organ of touch. Laertes 
recognises the Ithacan sage, in passing his lingers 
over his countenance. 
Where the organs of a sense are twofold, the ob- 
literation of one adds to the power of the other. 
By the annihilation of a sense, the sum of sensorial 
power is increased, in the expenditure being di- 
minished. The waste of sensorial power in the 
exercise of vision is greater than that of the rest of 
the senses combined. Hence, by the deprivation 
of sight, die amount of cerebral energy is augment- 
ed. The bard of antiquity thus speaks of the 
Minstrel Demodocus: 
“ The sacred master of celestial song : 
Dear to the Muse! who gave his days to flow 
With mighty blessings, mix’d with mighty wo ; 
With clouds of darkness quench’d his visual ray, 
But gave him skill to raise the lofty lay.” 
In perceiving how the various dispositions of 
mind and body consentaneously influence, and 
are influenced by each other, one cannot help 
observing the triple alliance between our material, 
moral, and intellectual natures ; and the necessity 
there is of preserving that due exercise of each, 
whose result constitutes that happiness which de- 
volves as the portion of humanity. 
“ Beatum dicamus hominem eum; qui fortunae 
muneribus utatur, non serviat. Hunc necesse est 
sequunter gauduum inconcussum et aequabile, per- 
petua tranquillitas et libertas, pax animi et magni- 
tudo.”* 
* Senec. De Beat. c. 24. Let it not be supposed here, that we would ren- 
der physical causes paramount in our being, and, 
by such a dangerous concession, adjudge all ac- 
tion as their necessary result. Our sole object is 
to evince, that the connexion to which we have al- 
luded, may subserve to, or retard, the furtherance 
of the governing motive, 
Indeed, while superficial observation points out 
peculiar dispositions, affections, actions, and even 
characters, resulting from organic tendencies, it will 
be vain that arguments, deduced from principles, 
are arrayed in opposition. Such reasonings, al- 
though rational, cannot look down facts. 
Sect. II. Influence of the Mind on the Digestion• 
But the limits of a Dissertation, like the present, 
will not permit us, were we even possessed of the 
requisites, to enter into all the important bearings 
which the subject would maintain. We shall, how- 
ever, revert to one, not only interesting in a patho- 
logical point of view, but as connected with a class 
of beings, whose posthumous honours are, for the 
most part, purchased by a life of bodily privations, 
and of mental sufferings. 
Were we possessed of a correct knowledge of 
the temperament of genius, there would be exhi- 
bited an apposite illustration of the sympathetic 
converse of the mind and stomach. The former, 
acting primarily on the latter, which, in turn, re- 
acting, maintains a morbid correspondence. 
Tissot, in his Essay Sur les Maladies de Gens de 
Lettres, has, indeed, upheld a portraiture gloomy 
enough to affright into quiescence all literary am- 
bition. 31 
Genius, which would deduce its origin from hea- 
ven, and ascribe its energies to nothing short of 
inspiration, must, nevertheless, in a measure, suc- 
cumb to physical influences, which can depress the 
most vigorous intellect, and enfeeble the spring of 
the most buoyant imagination. Having traced its 
genealogy to the skies, it would fain, as a spiritual 
emanation, deem itself superior to bodily influen- 
ces. Yet it appears a melancholy truth, that none 
hold more intimate communion with the physical 
evils of life than the beings allied to it. When 
we speak of physical causes, we would not only 
confine ourselves to those arising from a tempera- 
ment of body, original, or induced ; but would 
particularly advert to that peculiar morbid confor- 
mation of stomach assignable to constitution. 
The affections of the alimentary functions, 
resultingfrom a constitutional intenseness of feeling, 
have not only been attributed to the ascendancy 
which the operations of the mind have over the 
epigastiric centre, but to the sedentary nature of 
literary avocations. The latter circumstance has 
been too much dwelt upon.* “On voit’’ (says 
Tissot) “tres frequemment des sots boire et man- 
ger beaucoup, sans s’incommoder, quiconqu’ils 
menent une vie sedentaire, et qu’ils ne soient pas 
d’une constitution plus robuste que d’autres. Com- 
bien ya-t-il, au contraire, de gens d’esprit dont les 
digestions sont peniblcs et laborieuxquoiq’ils soient 
d’un bon temperament et qu’ils fassent de l’ex- 
ercise.” Dr. Darwin has also noticed and object- 
ed to this excess of importance attached to the 
necessity of exercise. When we observe those 
“ Molu? corporis non oinnes, omnibus conveniunt.” 
Sennprfus. Tnstit. Died, Lib. iv. p. 404r whose lives are, for the most part, sedentary, blit 
whose passions are feebly excited, and who are 
seldom solicited to mental exertion, enjoying an 
excellent health, with unimpaired digestive pow- 
ers, are wTe not led to conclude, that too little has 
been attributed to the influence which the mind 
excites over the nutrient organs, and too much to 
the agency of physical causes? 
The mechanical doctrines of Pitcairn, in ac- 
counting for the phenomena of digestion, as wrell 
as the doctrines of those who would ascribe it to 
attrition, agitation, or solution, have been long ex- 
ploded. Why, then, is agitation deemed so essen- 
tial to its performance ? Is it not rather necessary 
as tending to maintain the peristaltic motion, and 
aid dejection ? When the constitutional habits of 
persons having active occupations, are adduced 
as illustrative of the essentiality of exercise, it 
should be recollected that with these there is the 
least cerebral activity; whereas the lives of literary 
men are those of “ laborious ease.” 
“ Qui pense le plus, digere lc plus mal 
for that sensorial power is, in a measure, ex- 
pended in the operations of the mind, which 
should be distributed to the respective functions 
of the animal economy, in proportion to their indi- 
vidual exigence. 
“ It is in the region occupied by the semilu- 
nar ganglion,” (says Richerand,) “ in which the 
great sympathetic nerves unite, and which is to 
be considered as the centre of the system, form- 
ed by their union, that we refer all our agreea- 
ble sensations; there it is that we feel a sad- 
ness, a constriction, which is commonly refer- 
red to the heart. Hence, in the sad emotions 33 
of the soul, seem to originate those painful irra- 
diations which trouble and disorder the exercise 
of all the functions.”* 
Thus, those passions, for ever undulating (if 
the expression be admissible) through our feeble 
frame, during existence, urging us forward in our 
destined career, by constant irritations; or arousing 
our wearied and desponding being by livelier gusts; 
those passions have their termination, for the most 
part, in the natural functions; as their operations 
are also demonstrable in the superficies of the ani- 
mal solid. It was not, then, in the language of 
mere metaphor, that the first writers, who drew their 
ideas from the original source, referred their sen- 
sations of passion and emotion to the alimentary 
function. The “ bowels leaping with joy,” and 
“ yearning with commiseration,” were real sensa- 
tions. 
The morbid affection of stomach of the literary 
recluse, proceeding originally from a mental cause, 
reacts, in turn, on the mind. 
The association acquires such a preternatural 
nearness and sensible bearing, that their minutest 
actions are, as they respect each other, either effi- 
cient or consequential. 
So intimately blended are the respective condi- 
tions of the mind, stomach, and skin, that, as the 
affections of the cerebral and alimentary functions 
are most commonly indicative of each other, so 
the state of the cuticular excretion is assignable to 
both. A remission of the latter, is, for the most 
part, attended with a prostration or vacillation of 
the mental powers. 
* Phya. p. 57. From the combination of these physical causes, 
there arise those moral sufferings which so power- 
fully appeal to our sympathy. Amidst the sombre 
brood'mgs of mind, cloistered, as it were, from all 
which might otherwise impart enthusiasm, the 
most incongruous associations proceed. Imagina- 
tion, ever on the alert, like a timid out-scout, sees 
ambushed around nought but danger. Appre- 
hensions the most fantastic are conjured up, and 
the mind seems fertile in resources, tending to its 
own undoing. The dark catalogue of human 
miseries pass in gloomy procession, while fancy 
mimics the individual portraitures. 
“ A grizzly troop are seen, 
The painful family of death, 
More hideous than their queen. 
This racks the joints—this fires the vein, 
That every lab’ring sinew strain. 
Lo, poverty ! to fill the band, 
That numbs the soul with icy hand, 
And slow consuming age.” 
There is, indeed, a total surrender of self to the 
illusions of sensation, and the faculty is incapable 
of attending to aught, save that which holds it in 
durance ; either lost in a wild vacuity, or alert in 
detecting every passing feeling. 
Among the unhappy martyrs to this deranged 
state of the alimentary functions, and, perhaps, in 
no small degree, consequent affection of mind, none 
have more powerfully called forth emotions of the 
most deep-wrought and tender interest, than the 
virtuous and feeling Cowper. The melancholy 
wreck of such powers, the distortion imparted to 
the most amiable of feelings, the profound dejec- 
tion, which, like a blasting night-shade, withered 35 
every unfolding bud of happiness; render him, oi 
authors, the peculiar object of our sympathy. 
“During his residence in Norfolk,” (says his 
biographer,) “the process of digestion never pass- 
ed regularly in his frame.” This, inducing a ma- 
lignant alfection of skin, was no doubt the cause 
of much of his mental indisposition. 
Dr. Currie, of Liverpool, alike distinguished for 
his professional and literary talents, has, in his life 
of Rums, adverted to an alfection somewhat simi- 
lar. 
“ Though of an athletic form,” says that cele- 
brated physician, “ Burns had in his constitution, 
the peculiarities and the delicacies that belong to 
the temperament of genius. He was liable, from 
a very early period of life, to that interruption in 
the process of digestion which arises from deep 
and anxious thought, and which is sometimes the 
effect and sometimes the cause of depression of 
spirits. Connected with this disorder of the sto- 
mach, there was a disposition to head-ach, affecting 
more especially the temples and eye-balls, and 
frequently accompanied with irregular and violent 
movements of the heart. Endowed by nature with 
great sensibility of nerves, Burns was, in his corpo- 
real, as well as in his mental system, liable to in- 
ordinate impression ; to fever of body as well as 
of mind.” 
These symptoms were, no doubt, unhappily 
accelerated by those frequent excesses, proceeding, 
to use the poet’s own language, from that “ mad- 
dening play of pulse,” characteristic of such pe- 
culiar and original powers. But when it is recol- 
lected how many possessed of far weaker consti- 
tutions, indulge with impunity in greater extremes of dissipation, and nevertheless attain longevity; 
the decayed digestion which preceded the prema- 
ture fate of the bard, will not wholly be ascribed 
to adventitious circumstances. 
Sect. III. Influence of Diet on the Mind. 
In proceeding to an illustration of the mutual re- 
lations of the mind and stomach, were we to in- 
dulge ourselves in detail, exemplification would be 
far from scant. Literary history, and the general 
phenomena of life, present a copious resource. 
From the various occupations of men, their ha- 
bits, peculiarities of constitution, and diet, varying 
results take place, having a relation to the subject 
in question. Though we dare differ from the il- 
lustrious author of Zoonomia, in believing that it 
is not so much the quality as the quantity of the 
food indulged in, which affects most the constitu- 
tions of health and disease ; as, also, the operations 
of the mind ; yet, no doubt, the qualities of the 
various aliments taken into the stomach, have, at a 
definite point, their influence on the moral and in- 
tellectual character. From the watery aliments 
of the Dutch, the piquant ragouts and light wines 
of the French, the animal food and beer of the 
English, some correspondent effects may, perhaps, 
be traced in the mental characters of the different 
people. Yet, in nations, as in individuals, it is the 
quantity, rather than the qualities of diet, to which 
we must advert, in accounting for the agency 
which the stomach maintains on the mind. 
Plutarch has acquiesced to the imputation of stu- 
pidity, preferred against his countrymen, the Boeo- 
tians ; but he has, at the same time, assigned as a 37 
cause, their profuse indulgence in animal food, 
which he gravely tells us, tends to the defedation 
of intellect.* But this fanciful opinion in dietics 
has been too long indulged, and ought to give 
place to a more intimate acquaintance with the 
animal economy. The light viands of the Py- 
thagoreans, the “ cichorea lcvesque malvae” of 
the poet, furnish, indeed, a simple refection; 
but it will be doubtful whether they impart a 
more ethereal sustenance than an animal diet. 
Were even these indulged in an undue quan- 
tity, it will likewise be questionable whether the 
results would not be correlative with a less pas- 
toral cheer. 
Rather let us revert to what a more enlightened 
era in medicine offers to our notice. 1 he English, 
perhaps, use a greater quantity of animal food than 
any other European people, yet that country has 
produced a Bacon, Newton, and Locke, in philoso- 
phy ; and a Shakspeare and Milton in poesy ; and 
its inhabitants have been characterized as a thinking 
people. 
The East-Indians, and other oriental nations, 
who subsist, for the most part, on a vegetable ali- 
ment, are not remarkable for any moral or intel- 
lectual excellence. 
From what reasonings a priori, and a knowledge 
of the process of digestion and assimilation offer, 
it is not probable that a specific effect is produced 
by the use of any particular kind of food. Why, 
then, we would infer a peculiar mental character, 
from the use of a vegetable or animal diet, does not 
appear. Is it not more accordant with (he laws 
* Vide. Syjnposiac* 38 
which the general economy of the animal being 
exhibits, to ascribe the difference wrought by the 
use of either, to the degree of nutrition they re- 
spectively impart? 
Madame de Stael informs us that the inhabitants 
of Vienna pride themselves on the quantity of food 
brought into and consumed within the metropo- 
lis. Can a better cause be given for that paucity 
of intellectual effort attributable to the Vienneans ? 
As Erasistratus ascribed most diseases to excess, 
so might we impute it to many of those mental 
affections, referred, often wrongly, to moral causes. 
Dr. Moffet, a celebrated and learned English 
physician, who flourished about the middle of the 
sixteenth century, has both humorously and af- 
fectingly adverted to this subject. “ Would you 
see” (observes the doctor) “ the discommodities 
of excess ? Why then imagine you saw Polyphe- 
mus stript of wit and memory, Cleomenes, king 
of Lacedemonia, playing at cherry-pit with chil- 
dren ; and Timotheus, who having the night pre- 
ceding supped with Plato, exclaiming next morn- 
ing, ‘ IIow truly sweet are Plato’s suppers.’ ” 
A repletion in diet manifests itself on the intel- 
lect, in producing an obtusion and aberration 
of its powers ; as, also, on the moral faculty, in 
irregular and moody appetites, fatuity of feeling, 
and irritableness of passions. To this cause, also, 
with its occasional consequents, surfeit, indiges- 
tion, and interrupted perspiration, much of that 
gloom and periodical depression of spirits maybe 
attributed, which have been falsely ascribed to 
other sources, and which have been received under 
names, designative of causes which are, in the 
main, supposititious. 39 
Nature, in her wise economy, has so bountiful- 
ly disposed “ the form of things,” as everywhere 
with the useful to have combined the agreeable. 
Thus, in the physical, as in the moral man, she has 
rendered the j ust indulgence of his appetites, whose 
employment are essential to his existence, or well- 
being, a source of individual gratification; as 
pain and misery are ever consequent to their per- 
version. In this, as in all the operations of cre- 
ation, wisdom, and benevolence are allied. 
Accordingly, as the just precincts of rational re- 
fection are overstepped, the faculties of the mind, 
sympathizing with the physical functions, are op- 
pressed and interrupted; and it is eventually by 
such excesses that its energies become so blunted 
and enfeebled, and so benumbed for want of due 
action, that the soul may be said to blend itself 
and be incorporated with the body. 
Sect. IV. The peculiar Influence of the Stomach on the 
reasoning and imaginative faculties, and on morals. 
Beside the influence which diet has on the va- 
rious affections of the mind, through the agency 
of the stomach, it will be observed to have a more 
peculiar ascendency over some of its powers than 
others. 
As it regards the just exercise of the reasoning 
faculty, how necessary is it to those devoted to 
avocations, requiring sober and patient research, 
and mature deliberation, to be aware of this organic 
ascendency. In reverting to those ornaments of 
our species, who, by affixing the seal of their ge- 
nius to the records of humanity, have given vali- 
dity to our pretensions above the residue of ere- ation; we shall see them not disdaining those con- 
tinent observances so essential to the successful 
pursuance and attainment of knowledge. Such 
were those who have founded distinct epochs in sci- 
ence—a Pythagoras, a Newton, and a Franklin. 
Secondly—Of the powers of the mind, none are 
more susceptible to the action of the digestive 
1 unction than those of imagination, which, to have 
their free scope, must be as unfettered as possible 
by physical causes. Fancy imps her noblest da- 
rings in those moments when least restringed by 
the operations of bodily sense. 
The moral faculty, also, as subjected, in a mea- 
sure, to the influence of organic tendencies, is, in 
some degree, through the modifications of diet, 
acted upon by the alimentary functions. It was 
from attending to this important result, that dietics 
were made to oc cupy so prominent a situation in 
the legislative code of the ancients. 
The historians who have handed down to us the 
lives of a Vitellius, Domitian, and Caligula, had 
given us a sufficient estimate of their characters, 
had they merely recorded their gluttony. 
When Horace* informs us that the son of the ac- 
tor /Fsopus, dissolved a pearl worth one million 
of sesterces for a draught, and that the sons of 
Quintus Arrius dined ordinarily upon nightin- 
* “ Filius uEsopi detractam ex aure Metellee, 
Scilicet ut decies solidi'iin exsorberet, aceto 
Diiuit insignem baccam, qui sanior, ac si 
Illud idem in rapidum flumen jaceretve cloacam ? 
Quinti progenies Arri par nobile fratrum, 
JNeqnilia et nugis, r vorum et amore gemellum 
Luscinias soliti impenso praadere coemptas.” 
Sat. 3. Lib. 2. 41 
gales, at great expense, he has represented to us 
every thing. 
The conscientious physician, who is enabled to 
trace existing mental, as well as physical, affec- 
tions to such sources, has vet a remaining duty, 
the most delicate in the routine of his practice; 
to assume the character of moralist, and to attack 
those propensities which have gradually and deep- 
ly enrooted themselves in the habit. The perform- 
ance of this will, to such a one, present no difficul- 
ties with whom professional interest will ever yield 
to conscious duty. 
“ Pnecipium ergo quod medicus potest adferre, 
consistit in bono regimine affectuum, et de tali me- 
dico Hippocrates dixit, medicum philosophum 
Deo esse similem ; philosophi nomine non intelli- 
gens physicum et nos hodie, sed moderationem 
morem qui homines ex malo in bonum flectit, eos- 
que confirmat.”* 
* Boerhaave, de Morb. Nervorum, Tom. 2. p. 395 
Fisib. CONTENTS. 
Preliminary. 
PART I. 
Sect. I. The Moral Faculty intimately connected with 
Bodily Sense. 
Sect. II. Whence does this connexion arise ? 
Sect. III. This connexion exemplified in the sympathy 
of the mind and alimentary fun. lions. 
Sect. IV. Sensation does not originate merely in the 
organs of bodily sense. 
Sect. V. The Stomach imparts sensation to, and re- 
ceives impressions from, the Brain. 
Sect. VI. What is the proximate cause communicating 
sensation to, and transmitting motion from, the Brain? 
Sect. VII. Does it consist in a principle of tension 
and relaxation of the ultimate fibre ? 
Sect. VIII. Will this principle apply to the connexion 
of the Brain and Stomach ? 
PART if. 
Sect. I. Influence of the Mind on the Physical Functions. 
Sect. II. Influence of the Mind on the Digestion. 
Sect. III. Influence of Diet on the Mind. 
Sect. IV. The peculiar Influence of the Stomach on 
the reasoning and imaginative faculties, and on 
morals.