Buchanans Journal of Man, February 1887 | Page 2

minds.
It was the singular good fortune of the editor, over forty-five years ago, to crown his long investigations of the constitution of man by the discovery and demonstration that all the powers of the soul were exercised by the brain in a multiform subdivision of its structure, every convolution and every group of fibres and cells having a function appreciably distinct from the functions of all neighboring parts, the vast multiformity and intricacy of its structure corresponding to the vast multiformity and intricacy of our psychic nature, which has never yet been thoroughly portrayed by either philosopher or poet.
The functions thus discovered are at once both psychic and physiological, for the brain is purely a psychic organ, when its influence is not transmitted to the body; but becomes a physiological organ, and in fact the controlling head and centre of physiological action, when its influence is transmitted, not merely in voluntary motion, but in the unconscious influence which sustains, modifies, or depresses every vital process.
These discoveries were not entirely new, for it was the fundamental doctrine of Gall, the founder of the true cerebral anatomy, that the brain consisted of different organs of psychic functions; but in announcing the discovery (published from 1809 to 1819) of twenty-seven distinct organs, he fell far short of the ultimate truth, as a necessary consequence of his imperfect and difficult method of discovery by comparative development. The word phrenology has become so identified with his incomplete discoveries, that it may be laid aside in the present stage of our progress. There is no monotonous repetition of function in nervous structures, and the possibility of subdivision of structure and function is limited only by our own intellectual capacities.
Moreover, Dr. Gall did not ascertain the functions of the basilar and internal regions of the brain, which were beyond the reach of his methods, and entirely overlooked the fact that the brain is the commanding centre of physiology, the seat of the external and internal senses, and of organs that control the circulation, the viscera, the secretions, and all their physiological and pathological phenomena, as demonstrated in my experiments, which reveal the entire physiological and the entire psychological life, with the anatomical apparatus of their intimate union.
The experiments on intelligent persons, by which these discoveries were made and demonstrated, have been repeated many thousand times. They have been officially presented during many years in medical colleges, and sanctioned by scientific faculties as well as by committees of investigation, none of which have ever made an unfavorable report. They have been tested and demonstrated so often that further repetition appeared needless, since the unquestioned demonstrations produced no result beyond a passive assent; for men's minds are generally so firmly held in the bondage of habit, fashion, and inherited opinion, as to be incapable of entering freely upon a new realm of intellectual life without pecuniary motive; and investigating committees accomplished little or nothing important, the reason having been, as assigned by a distinguished and learned secretary of a medical committee in Boston, that the subject was too profound, too difficult, and too far beyond the knowledge of the medical profession. In the presence of such unmanly apathy my demonstrations were discontinued, as I found that only a few high-toned and fearless seekers of scientific truth, such as the venerable Prof. Caldwell, President Wylie, Rev. John Pierpont, Robert Dale Owen, Prof. Gatchell, Dr. Forry, and a score or two of similarly independent men and women, have spoken to the public with proper emphasis of the immortality of the discovery and the greatness of the total revolution that it makes in science and philosophy,--a revolution so vast as to require many pages to give its mere outline, and several volumes to give its concise presentation. The subjects of these volumes would necessarily be Cerebral Psychology, Cerebral Physiology, Psychological Ethics or Religion, Pneumatology, Psychic Pathology, Sarcognomy, Psychometry, Education, and Pathognomy. A very concise epitome of the whole subject in 400 pages was published in 1854, as a "System of Anthropology." "The New Education" was published in 1882. "Therapeutic Sarcognomy"--the application of sarcognomy to medical practice--was published in 1884, and the "Manual of Psychometry" in 1885.
The discoveries constituting the new anthropology stand unimpeached to-day, sustained by every complete investigation, and not refuted or contradicted by the innumerable experiments of medical scientists. The labors of Ferrier, Fritsch, Hitzig and Charcot, become a part of the new system, as they lend corroboration; and the annals of pathology furnish numerous corroborative facts. These are not barren, abstract sciences, but bear upon all departments of human life--upon education, medical practice, hygiene, the study of character, the selection of public officers, of partners, friends, and conjugal companions,--upon religion and morals, the administration of justice and government, penal and reformatory law, the exploration of antiquity, the philosophy of