Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/882

 846 PHRENOLOGY Anatomical Aspect of Phrenology. The phrenological controversy served the useful purpose of stimulating research into the anatomy of the brain ; but we owe very little of solid progress to the advocates of the system. Gall is the only writer of his creed in whose works original observations of value are to be found. Although the study of the surface of the cerebrum is of the essence of phreno logy, yet nowhere in the circle of phrenological literature are the convolutions of the brain accurately described ; our knowledge of their order and disposition comes from the morphologist, not from the phrenologist. The first real step towards their systematic description was made by Rolando, 1 who in 1830 described the fissure to which his name is attached, and very little advance was made until the publication in 1856 of Gratiolet s 2 and Huschke s 3 memoirs. These works for the first time placed the de scription of the surface of the brain, imperfectly attempted by Desmoulins in 1825, 4 on a satisfactory basis. Most of the anatomical details contained in the works on phreno logy relate to controversial matters of secondary importance, and presuppose the truth of the theory ; but even in con nexion with these they give us no statistical details of any value. It would be important, for instance, to have tabulated a sufficiently large number of measurements of the relative thicknesses of scalp and skull in different regions, of the variations in development of the diploe, of the varying range of the frontal sinus ; but of these we find no sufficient nor definite researches in the whole circle of books cited below. As under ANATOMY (vol. i. p. 874) a careful descrip tion of the brain has been given, we need only allude to such anatomical points involved in the examination of phrenology as are not included in that account. 1. An} r psychological theory which correlates brain-action and mental phenomena requires a correspondence between brain-size and mental power ; and, speaking generally, we find that the brains of those whose capacities are above the average are larger than those of the general run of their fellow-men. The details of brain-weights will be found at pp. 879, 880 of the article cited. 2. Direct measurements of the relative developments of different portions of brains are difficult and troublesome to make ; but their importance to phrenologists is so great that it is remarkable that no attempts to obtain any such were made by them. The series given by Wagner of the relative sizes of the cerebral lobes of four brains is almost the only record of importance in this direction, and is appended. s. il Lobe. 1 1 3 8 - Lobe (Per- ve Organs) 56 = 1. tal Lobe i rface =1. ng Surface urfacc=l.

1 3 o Surface. S .a- 7 & c .* i-i -- S Brain of = C eS

c^ 3 3 5^5 S ^&quot;S o lx* ft&amp;lt; Q o E 2 ^2 / ^ s- 7* gf S a

8 &quot;o J-aj o-S C3 S 11 =1 K K 1) &amp;lt;5 t OS S &amp;gt;2 S ~ . 2, -S W ^ 3 3s ^* 1^ S t &3 H GO ? e 1^ Fuchs, clinical teacher 143-4 69-5 59 67-5 419 203 340 110-7 231-3 342 1499 Gauss, mathe matician 139 70-6 59-4 68-4 407 207; -374 112-8228-2 341 1492 Workman 113-2 62-3 50-862 385 214. -:SSo 97-419U-G 291 1273 Woman 130 51 66-8 409 i;04 ^70 107-:, 20& -fl U7 4 1185 From this it appears that the woman exceeded Gauss in percep tive and reflective organs, exceeded Fuchs in sentiment, and fell below the workman in propensities. It must be said, however, that the phrenological divisions do not accurately coincide with the anatomical. Other series constructed along these lines are very 1 Delia Struttura degli Emisferi Cerebrali, Turin, 1830. Memnire sur les pits cerebraux de I homme et des miniates Paris, 1856. 3 SchadeT, Him, und Sede, Jena, 1856. much wanted, and it would furnish important physiological data if the brains of men distinguished for special qualities were examined in this or some comparable way. 3. It is important in relation to phrenology to ascertain the constancy of the convolutions. Many varieties in the detail of the surface-patterns have been recorded by Tenchini, Poggi, Gia- comini, Riidinger, and Sernow, 5 but the general plan is fairly uni form. A still more important question has been recently raised by Langley, viz., how far identical spots on identical convolutions in different brains consist of nerve-cells with precisely the same connexions. The convoluted arrangement results from growth of brain - surface under constraint, hence as the different tracts of surface undergo proportional overgrowth they fold along different lines. The occurrence of small differences in the rate of overgrowth, testified to by the varieties of the resulting pattern, will cause con siderable alteration in the place of definite territories of grey cells. Some method for the determination of the limits of these shiftings of place is much required. 4. The comparison of the rate of growth of brain with the development of mental faculties is important not only to the phrenologist but to the psychologist. No observations on this f oint were made by phrenological writers, and they simply refer to the first and rather crude observations of the earlier anatomists. We have, however, recently learned from the researches of Bischoff, Tuczec, and Exner 6 many particulars as to the rate and progress of brain-growth. At birth the brain weighs one-tenth of the weight of the body, and averages about 11 ounces. For the first year brain-growth and consequently expansion of the skull proceed with great rapidity, the growth during a large part of this period averag ing one cubic centimetre daily. This enormous increase is chiefly due to the rapid development of medullated nerve-fibres, which are deficient in the fetal brain. During the second and third years growth takes place more slowly, the occipital and parietal lobes increasing more than the frontal or temporo-sphenoidal. During these and the four succeeding years the base elongates commensurately with the increasing depth of the face. In the sixth and seventh years the frontal lobes grow faster than the parietals, and at seven the average brain has attained the weight of 1340 grammes, being to the weight of the body as 1 : 20. In the period between seven years and puberty growth is slight, but at puberty the whole brain grows actively, especially the frontal lobes. This activity lasts until about eighteen years of age, then diminishes ; but the average brain does not reach its maximum size until about thirty, from a little after which period the brain tends to diminish towards senility. 7 These measurements illustrate the relation between brain-growth and mental development, but are as easily explicable on any psychological theory of brain-action as on the phrenological. The relation supposed by Davaine to subsist between development of the brain and stature is not borne out by statistics. 8 5. The estimation of the relative development of grey and white matter in the several lobes is important to any theory of cerebral dynamics which allocates functions specifically diverse to each separate part of the brain-surface ; but no attempt has been made by the phrenologist to obtain precise results in this direction, nor even to determine the physical constants of the two forms of brain-matter. The recently - introduced method of Bourgoin and Danilewski, based upon the differing specific gravities of grey and white matter, promises to give definite information as to the relative amounts of these forms of brain-matter ; but further experiments are needed to perfect the method. 9 6. The relations, if any, between the alterations which take place in the shape and position of the head and alterations in brain-surface have been speculated on by the phrenologist. Broussais is reported to have said that his organ of causality had enlarged with increasing use, and a list of cases of similar alterations of head-shape is given by Deville (Fhren. Jour., xiv. 32), most of which are simply age- changes, of the kind described by Professor Cleland (Phil. Trans., 1870). There are no exact measurements recorded which indicate the occurrence of topical increases of a normal brain in special directions coincident with the cultivation of definite faculties. All the so-called cases are given vaguely, with no measurements, and the careful measurements of George Combe in such cases as were available to him showed no appreciable alterations in adult heads even at long intervals of time (see also Andrew Combe, Phren. Journ. x. 414). 5 Rivista Sperimentale di Freniatria, ii. 193 (1883) ; ibid. iv. 403 ; Archiv fiir Anthropoloyie, 1879, xi. 289. 6 Neurologisches Centralblatt, 1883, p. 457. 7 Weisbach, Med. Jahrbuch der k. Oesellsch. der Aerzte, Vienna, 1869, xvii. 133 ; Merkel, Beitr. z. post-e /nbryonale Entwickeluny des mcnsrhl. Schadel, Bonn, 1882 ; Calori, Mem. de I Accad. di Bologna, 1871, x. 35. 8 Lebon, Revue d Anthropologie, 1879, 15 ; Marshall, Proc. Roy. Soc., 1875, 564 ; Engel, Wiener ined. Wochenschrlft, 1863. 9 Centralblatt, 1880, No. 14 ; Beitrarjezur Bioloyie, Stuttgart, 1882.
 * I
 * Magendie and Desmoulins, Anat. du syst. nerveitx, Paris, 1825.