Cranioscopy, Pathology, and Vivisection, their failures
recognized--Limitations of Craniology and its stationary
condition--Human Impressibility explained--Its prevalence in
different climates--Method of testing it.
In what manner shall we proceed to study the brain? All must admit the
necessity of a thorough study of its anatomy; yet, unless we learn
something of its functions, this anatomy is profitless and
uninteresting; hence cerebral anatomy was crude and erroneous until,
revolutionized by Gall and Spurzheim, it assumed a philosophical
character and became connected with a doctrine of the cerebral
functions.
For the study of these functions three principal methods have been
adopted by eminent scientists: 1st. The method of Cranioscopy,
practiced by Gall and his followers. 2d. The study of Pathological
Anatomy. 3d. The mutilation of the brains of living animals. But
neither Cranioscopy, Pathology, nor Vivisection has given satisfactory
demonstrations, nor does the whole scope of the alleged results of all
embrace more than half of the cerebral functions.
The results of Vivisection have been unsatisfactory. But it has shown
that slicing away the anterior and upper parts of the brain of an
animal produces a state of partial stupor--a loss of its intelligence
and mental characteristics, without producing any great detriment to
its muscular and physiological functions; while injuries inflicted
upon the basilar parts of the brain produce evident derangements of
muscular action, and are more dangerous to life. Vivisection has been
almost entirely fruitless for the discovery of psychic functions, but
in the hands of Prof. Ferrier and the continental vivisectors it has
thrown much light upon cerebral psychology, and as I shall hereafter
show, has confirmed my own discoveries.
Pathological Anatomy, too, has been extremely unprofitable. "The
results of Pathological Anatomy (says Muller) can, however, never have
more than a limited application to the physiology of the brain. We are
unacquainted with the laws according to which the different parts of
the organ participate in the functions of each other, and we can only,
in a general way, regard as certain that organic diseases in one part
of the brain may induce changes in the function of other parts; but
from these facts and the results of Pathological Anatomy, we cannot
always draw certain conclusions." Mr. Solly, after commenting on the
general failure of Vivisection, remarks, "From pathology we might
naturally expect surer evidence; but even here the physiologist who
carefully examines its records is doomed to disappointment. As will be
proved hereafter, no certain light has yet shone on physiology from
this source." Cerebral pathology will not continue to be so barren a
study when we have a true cerebral physiology to guide us. I find all
pathological cases instructive as confirmations and illustrations of
true cerebral science.
The method of Dr. Gall--studying the growth and development of the
different parts of the brain, as indicated by the cranium--is the most
simple, rational and successful of all the methods adopted up to the
present time. In his hands it has elicited a valuable and practical,
though rude, system of phrenology. But Craniology or skull-study
cannot perfect, nor can it positively demonstrate, the science.
The observations of the craniologist are continually liable to error.
The irregular thickness of the skull constitutes a great difficulty in
the way of exact observations. By great expertness and accuracy of
observation, he may overcome this difficulty in a great degree, but
whenever the brain is subject to any remarkable influence, increasing
or diminishing the activity and size of particular organs, the
external form fails to indicate the internal condition, because it can
change but slightly, and with slowness, after the skull is fully
developed and ossified. Were the skull composed of more pliable
materials, cranioscopy would be more accurate in its facts, but while
it preserves a uniform exterior, the interior often undergoes
remarkable changes. Convolutions that are frequently called into
action become better supplied with arterial blood, expand and grow,
while the adjacent portion of the inner plate of the skull becomes
absorbed, and presents a remarkable indentation. Convolutions that are
seldom in action shrink in size, and the adjacent bone grows in upon
them. Thus the skull becomes thinner at the site of every active
organ, and thicker over every convolution that is inactive. The
translucency or opacity of the different parts of the skull, when a
light is placed in its interior, generally indicates the active and
inactive organs. Hence, many skulls of fine exterior reveal, upon
interior examination, a degenerate character. Criminal heads generally
present remarkable opacity and thickness in the region of the moral
organs, with distinct digital impressions from the convolutions of the
lower organs.
Thus all craniological observations are liable to inaccuracy, even as
regards development, and much more in regard to functional power. The
activity, power and predominance of an organ may be essentially
changed, without making any perceptible impression upon the interior
of the skull, for an indefinite period. Changes in excitement and
circulation, that revolutionize the character, may leave but a slight
impression upon the interior, and none upon the exterior of the
cranium. The external configuration of the skull is therefore not a
true criterion of character when the influences of education, society,
food, drink and disease have greatly changed the natural bias,
although reliable in a strictly normal condition of brain and cranium.
Organs which easily expand laterally by encroachment upon their
neighbors, which is a common effect of local excitement, must be slow
to make any impression upon the superjacent bone of the cranium.
Cranioscopy, moreover, is incompetent to indicate the development of
small regions or portions of a convolution; it gives but a rude survey
of development. Being thus incapable of minuteness, accuracy and
certainty, it cannot be considered a proper and sufficient basis for
cerebral science. In the hands of Gall and Spurzheim, it had already
very nearly attained its limits as regards the subdivision of organs,
and the progress of their followers in discovery has been unimportant
or fallacious.
To what, then, can we resort, when the failures of Pathology and
Vivisection are admitted, and we perceive the limited extent of the
uncertain results of Craniology? Shall we not be compelled to resort
to the same methods of investigation in the brain, which have been so
successful in establishing the physiology of the nerves, viz.: direct
experiment in exciting and arresting the action of the various masses
of nervous fibre. Every sound physiologist must perceive that we are
compelled to resort to experiment, or else to rest contented in
ignorance of the true cerebral physiology. Muller, perceiving this,
remarks, "The principle for the advancement of the physiology of the
nerves then remains the same, viz.: experiment on the living nerves."
We therefore experiment on the living brain in that class of persons
who are susceptible of being thus influenced; hence arises the last
and most perfect method of cultivating Anthropology, by means of HUMAN
IMPRESSIBILITY.
Our system of Anthropology relies, for its demonstration, upon human
impressibility. Impressibility in its general sense, or the power of
being affected by external agents, is proportional to the development
of life. Inorganic matter is affected only mechanically or
chemically--vegetation is powerfully affected by causes which would
have no perceptible influence on stones or metals, and animals are
affected by remote objects, by sounds, by the voice, and by other
influences which do not affect vegetables. Animals of a higher grade
are affected by many moral influences which produce no effect on the
inferior classes, and man, having the fullest development of all, is
continually receiving a variety of influences from nature and society,
to which animals are wholly insensible. As man is superior to animals
in impressibility, so is the man of genius or the man of superior
moral sentiments more easily affected by everything that addresses the
intellect or the sentiments, than the ignorant and selfish classes of
society. Superior impressibility is then the result of a superior
development of the organs which feel the various impressions. In the
highest order of genius capacities exist which recognize a thousand
subtle influences and beauties in Nature of which common minds are
unconscious, and the psychic influence of a human being is instantly
and thoroughly recognized.
For the purpose of analytical experiments upon the human functions, we
require the development of a faculty which shall feel the influences
we use. We look to the various forms of Sensibility. The organ of
physical sensibility is situated in the temples, immediately over the
cheek bone. It feels the influences of the various objects which
affect the sense of feeling in all its modifications. Heat and cold,
moisture and dryness, sound, light, and all the imponderable fluids
produce their effects upon this region, and the more it is developed,
the more powerfully are we affected by such agencies.
The portion of Sensibility which feels the influences of the human
nervaura, is the highest portion of the organ, where it connects with
Modesty, Somnolence, and Ideality. This we regard as the special organ
of Nervauric Impressibility, because it renders the system so
sensitive to the nervaura, as to be strongly affected whenever it is
applied.
Mental impressibility is dependent upon intellectual organs, which
feel the influences of mind. The power of recognizing mental action is
dependent upon the internal part of the front lobe, located just above
the root of the nose. This organ gives physiognomical talent, and a
ready tact in appreciating the expression of mind through the eye,
countenance, and gestures. It is a channel of mental sympathy, as
displayed in the intercourse of society, and in the experiments of
animal magnetism. By means of this organ, a general relation is
established between the mind of the operator and that of the subject,
which may exist without the capacity for local impressions, which
would develop particular organs. It is devoted, however, to active
perception rather than to passive impression. The faculty of being
mentally impressed depends also upon the region of Spirituality and
Marvellousness.
Mental and nervous impressibility being dependent upon these organs,
it follows that a large development of the front lobe favors
Impressibility, and that the occipital organs tend to diminish it.
Impressibility lies in a group of organs which sustain it, and may be
expected to accompany its development. Sensibility, Somnolence,
Dreaming, Ideality, Modesty, Humility, Organic Sensibility,
Relaxation, etc., are its natural accompaniments; hence it will be
found most abundantly in those classes of society which are most
remarkable for refinement, sensitiveness, modesty, diffidence,
humility, or submissiveness, disease, languor, debility, and
intellectual excitement. Religious excitement, love, mirthfulness,
thoughtfulness, imagination, benevolence, sympathy, sincerity, faith,
philanthropy, hope, epicurism, intemperance, ardor, spirituality,
effeminacy, imitation, romance and, in short, all amiable, sensitive,
intellectual, refining, relaxing influences may be regarded as
promotive of impressibility, and their opposites as calculated to
destroy it.
It is fortunate that disease promotes impressibility, for it enables
the sick to be relieved by manipulation, and it causes medicines to
operate more efficiently upon morbid constitutions or organs, which
has been fully demonstrated by the Homoeopathic School of
therapeutics. But impressibility does not imply disease, although it
may make the system more accessible to slight morbific agencies. We
find individuals occasionally, of the highest tone of health and
bodily vigor, who are highly impressible. Nor does it imply mental
weakness, for it is highly congenial to intellectuality, and is
occasionally found among the strongest and most cultivated minds.
Nervous Impressibility is that condition in which the nervaura has a
powerful influence--in which the action of the brain and all the vital
functions of the constitution may be controlled and indefinitely
changed by the application of the hands of another individual--in
which we are susceptible of being totally revolutionized in character
by application of the fingers to the various organs, so as to become,
for the time being, miserable or gay, philosophical, felonious,
murderous, angry, stupid, insane, idiotic, drowsy, hot, cold,
credulous, sceptical, timid, courageous, vain, indolent, sensual,
hungry, diffident, haughty, avaricious, etc.; and in which the
muscular strength, secretions, circulation, pulse, respiration,
senses, and morbid or healthy conditions of the frame may be changed
or controlled by the nervaura emitted from the hand of the operator
acting upon the brain of the subject.
The number of individuals who can be thus affected is different in
different places. In southern climates they are more numerous than in
northern--in the pleasant weather of summer more than in winter--in
lecture rooms, ball rooms and places of fervid religious worship, more
than in the street and market place, where the intellectual and moral
faculties are less predominant. In the Southern States of the Union,
thirty or forty per cent. of the population will give at once distinct
evidence of impressibility. In the more northern, about ten per cent.
will give indications of an influence from the hand. A moderate degree
of impressibility which is almost universal in the South, belongs to
more than half in the North.
Impressible subjects may be selected by the development of the organs
of Impressibility, and the general predominance of the frontal and
coronal regions of the brain over the occipital. The qualities already
mentioned as favoring impressibility may be studied in the character,
or observed in the development, as they occupy the entire anterior
half of the head, giving _breadth to the temples_, with height and
projection to the forehead. An enlarged pupil of the eye will be one
of the best symptoms, and, in connection with a calm, spiritual,
gentle expression of countenance rarely fails to indicate
impressibility.
To test impressibility apply the fingers upon the organ of Somnolence,
an inch horizontally behind the brow, with a very gentle contact; your
subject, after a few minutes, will manifest a sensitiveness of the
eye, and will wink oftener than usual--his winking will be repeated
and prolonged, until his eyelids droop or remain closed--he is now
somnolent and dreamy; and this condition may be prolonged until it
becomes the Mesmeric Somnolence, or may be promptly removed by
brushing the excitement off with the fingers.
A very simple test of impressibility consists in passing the ends of
the fingers over the palm of the hand of the subject, within one or
more inches, and ascertaining whether he can recognize its passage by
any impression. If impressible he will perceive a cooling sensation as
the fingers pass. A more perfect demonstration is to let your subject
stand erect before you, and apply both hands gently over the forehead
and moral organs, or upon the temples; then very slowly withdraw them,
and continue this process until you perceive that as your hand is
withdrawn, the head seems inclined to follow it as if attracted; some
will move thus but an inch or two, others will be drawn forward and
compelled to follow you wherever you go, or may be drawn down and
prostrated upon the floor. You may accomplish the same upon the back
of the head or body--the hand or any other part which is free to move;
but the forehead is the best region, because the front lobe is the
seat of Impressibility, and the operation cultivates that quality, by
drawing excitement into the brain, and especially the front lobe, thus
debilitating the muscular system and power of resistance.
Apply the fingers upon the organ of Relaxation, below the cheek bone,
and your subject, if standing, will become enfeebled, unsteady in
attitude, and incapable of supporting as great weight as before in his
extended hand. This will be counteracted by touching the region of
Energy.
The most painful experiments may be made by placing the hands upon the
temples and face, so as to cover the regions of Sensibility, Disease,
Relaxation, and Irritability--the effect of which would be to produce
bodily weakness, sickness, pain, distress and general prostration; a
condition, which if not relieved, might result in severe disease, but
which may be counteracted by dispersing the excitement upward and
backward, and by stimulating Health, Energy and Hardihood.
By grasping a metallic rod firmly in the hand while the other end of
it rests in the relaxed hand of an impressible person, you may
transmit a current of nervaura, which he will recognize gradually
entering his arm at the hand, passing slowly up to the shoulder, and
then diffusing itself over the body.
One may test his own impressibility by placing the palm of the hand in
contact with any portion of the head or body of a vigorous
constitution for about twenty minutes, and observing the different
impressions imparted by different localities. If the hand be held in
contact with an individual suffering from some active form of disease,
resting upon the forehead or the pit of the stomach, the morbid
symptoms will be very perceptibly transferred to any one of an
impressible constitution; but I would not recommend the experiment to
any but those who are embarrassed by a constitutional scepticism,
which hinders their believing anything which is not impressed upon
their own senses.
An easy method of testing our susceptibility is by holding some active
medicinal substance between the hands while sitting at ease (without
knowing what the properties of the substance are), and holding other
active substances at different times, to compare the effects which
they produce upon the constitution. After such experiment, if the
effects should in any case be greater than we desire, the influence
should be removed by dispersive passes on the hands and down the arms.