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EXTRACT FROM THE FOURTH BY-LAW RELATIVE TO TAKING

BOOKS FROM THE ATHENAEUM LIBRARY.

"If anj^ book shall be lost or injured.

the writing

of notes^ comments^ or other matter in a hook shall he

deemed an injury.

the

charo-ed shall replace

it

person to

whom

it

hj a new volume or

stands
set."

BODY AND MIND.

BODY AND MIND:

AN INQUIRY INTO

THEIR CONNECTION

AND MUTUAI

INFLUENCE, SPECIALLY IN REFERENCE TO

MENTAL DISORDERS

BEING THE

GULSTONIAN LECTURES FOR

1870,

DELIVERED BEFORE THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS.

WITH APPENDIX.

BY

HENRY MAUDSLEY,

M.D.

Lond.

FELLOW OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS

PROFESSOR OF MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE IN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON
PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE MEDICO-PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION
HONORARY MEMBER OF THE MEDICO-PSYCHOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PARIS,
OF THE IMPERIAL SOCIETY OF PHYSICIANS OF VIENNA, AND OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE
PROMOTION OF PSYCHIATRY AND FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY OF VIENNA.
FORMERLY RESIDENT PHYSICIAN OF THE MANCHESTER ROYAL LUNATIC HOSPITAL, ETC.
;

y
(^IV

ITcmboii

MACMILLAN AND

CO.

i8;a
"/'

\_The Right of Trandations

and Reproduction

is rcscrved.'\

R.

CLAY, SONS,

LONDON
AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS,

BREAD STREET

HILL.

PREFACE,
The

three lectures forming the

first

part of this

volume

were delivered before the Royal College of Physicians of

London,

to

which

had the honour of being appointed

Gulstonian Lecturer for this year

the latter part consists

of two articles which, having appeared elsewhere, are

reprinted here as presenting a completer view of
points that are only touched

upon

in the lectures

the general plan of the whole, as thus constituted,

some
;

and

may be

described as being to bring man, both in his physical and

mental

relations, as

much

as possible within the scope of

scientific inquiry.

The

first

lecture

Physiology of

devoted to a general survey of the

is

Mind

to

an exposition of the physical

conditions of mental function in health.

lecture

are

sketched

the

features

of

In the second

some forms of

PREFACE.

vi

degeneracy of mind, as exhibited in morbid varieties of

the

human

kind, with the purpose of bringing promi-

nently into notice the operation of physical causes from

generation to generation, and the relationship of mental

to other disorders of the nervous system.
lecture,

In the third

which contains a general survey of the pathology

of mind, are displayed the relations of morbid states of

the

body

to disordered

mental function.

would

fain

believe the general result to be a well-warranted conclu-

sion that, whatever

mind and the

expect,

and a

best

may be

theories

method of

study,

and pathological

faithful

inquiries into

is

vain to

account of physio-

phenomena.

its

" Limits

In the criticism of the

it

a stable fabric of

folly to attempt, to rear

mental science, without taking

logical

its

held concerning

of

Philosophical

Inquiry," which follows the lectures, will be found reasons

why no attempt
the views

sophy.
terms,

has been

to discuss the bearing of

broached in them on any system of philo-

Neither materialism nor spiritualism are

scientific

and one need have no concern with them

scientific inquiry,

to

made

which,

if it

be true to

have regard only to what

the truth of

its results.

It

lies

within

would seem

its spirit, is
its

to

in a

bound

powers and to

be

full

time that

vague and barren disputations concerning materialism and

spiritualism should end,

and

that, instead of

continuing

PREFACE.
such

and unprofitable

fruitless

vii

discussion,

men

should

apply themselves diligently to discover, by direct

rogation

of nature,

how much

inter-

matter can do without

Let each investigator pursue the method

spiritual help.

and

of research which most suits the bent of his genius,

here, as in other departments of science, let each system

be judged by

its fruits,

which cannot

be the best sponsors and

sureties for

physiological inquirer into

mind may,

fail

he care to do

justly protest against the easy confidence with

to

But the

its truth.
if

end

in the

so,

which some

metaphysical psychologists disdain physiological inquiry,

and ignore

its

results,

without ever having been at the

make themselves acquainted with what

pains to

results are,

and with the steps by which they have been

Let theory be w^hat

reached.

these

may, there can be no

it

just question of the duty of observing faithfully all the

which mental phenomena

instances
inquiry,

and of

offer for inductive

striving to realize the entirely

new

aspect

which an exact study of the physiology of the nervous

system gives to
reflection

pursued

many problems

cannot

fail

this study,

of mental science.

to occur forcibly to those

namely, that

it

One

who have

would have been well

could the physiological inquirer, after rising step by step

from the investigation of

its

highest

life

in

its

lowest forms to that of

and most complex manifestations, have entered

PREFACE.

viii

upon

his investigations of

by any philosophical

mind without being hampered

theories concerning

it.

The

very-

terms of metaphysical psychology have, instead of helping,

is

oppressed and hindered him to an extent which

impossible to measure

frighten

they have been hobgoblins to

him from entering on

path of inquiry, phan-

his

toms to lead him astray at every turn

upon

after

he has entered

him under the

deceivers lurking to betray

it,

it

Let him take

of seeming friends tendering help.

guise

the

all

pains in the world, he cannot express adequately and

exactly what he

would

neither

more nor

less

for

he

must use words which have already meanings of a metaphysical kind attached to them,
are therefore for

He

is

him more

and which, when used,

or less a misinterpretation.

thus forced into an apparent encroachment on

questions which he does not in the least degree wish to

meddle

with,

designing

it

been well
fitting

and so one cannot but think

he could have had

if

his

and provokes an antagonism without ever

facts^

and

free

his

from

it

would have

own words

the

exactly

vagueness

and

ambiguity of a former metaphysical use.

The article on the

in

1863,

is

alterations.

cussed in

it

now
The

'

Theory of Vitality," which appeared

reprinted, with a

aspect ot

few,

mainly verbal,

some of the questions

dis-

has been somewhat changed by the progress

PREFACE.

ix

of inquiry and thought since that time, but

Author

to the

appears

it

has been, there

that, great as discussion

are yet considerations respecting vitaHty that have not

Whether

been duly weighed.

originally,

matter,

or

living matter

was formed

now being formed, from

is

non-living

by the operation of physical causes and natural

and

laws, are questions which, notwithstanding the lively

handling which they have had, are

vigorous

to this dispute

the one conclusive experiment, indeed,

in proof of the origin of living

from dead matter,

Meanwhile, as the subject

life.

the region of discussion,

it

seem

potentially in, the

This

to

still

is

to warrant,

endeavour to indicate the direction of

ment which seems

will

in

permissible to set forth

is

the reflections which the facts

acquired.

from

Exact experiment can alone put an end

being settled.

be to make

far

scientific

and

develop-

be foretokened by, or to

exist

knowledge which we have thus

much may be

said

that

to

those

far

who

oppose the doctrine of so-called spontaneous generation,

not on the ground of the absence of conclusive evidence
of

its

occurrence, which they might justly do, but on the

ground of what they consider special characteristics of

living matter,

into the

would do well

phenomena of

more deeply what they

to look with

non-living nature,
see, in

more

insight

and to consider

order to discover whether

PREFACE.
the characteristic properties of

and exclusive
that,

as they imagine

they might go

their premisses

the

mode

on

them

are quite so special

to be.

Having done

to consider whether,

even

if

were granted, any conclusion regarding

of origin of

whether in

life

fact

it

life

would legitimately follow;

would not be

entirely gratuitous

and

unwarrantable to conclude thence the impossibility of

the origin of living matter from non-living matter.

The

etymological import of the words physics and physiology

is

notably the same

and

suggested, in the difference

hidden irony
is

Hanover Square, W.
November

may be

of their

the assumption

at

grounded.

9,

it

5,

1870.

that, as

has been

appHcation hes a

on which the

division

CONTENTS.
LECTURES.
PAGE
I.

ON THE PHYSICAL CONDITION OF MENTAL FUNCTION

IN

2.

HEALTH

ON CERTAIN FORMS OF DEGENERACY OF MIND, THEIR

CAUSATION,

AND

THEIR

RELATIONS

TO

OTHER

DISORDERS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

3.

40

ON THE RELATIONS OF MORBID BODILY STATES TO

DISORDERED MENTAL FUNCTIONS

77

APPENDIX.
1.

THE LIMITS OF PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY

II5

2.

THE THEORY OF VITALITY

I43

LECTURES.

1.

ON THE PHYSICAL CONDITION OF MENTAL

FUNCTION IN HEALTH.

2.

ON CERTAIN FORMS OF DEGENERACY OF MIND,

THEIR CAUSATION, AND THEIR RELATIONS
TO OTHER DISORDERS OF THE NERVOUS
SYSTEM.

3.

ON THE RELATIONS OF MORBID BODILY STATES

TO DISORDERED MENTAL FUNCTIONS.

BODY AND MIND:

AN INQUIRY INTO THEIR CONNECTION AND
MUTUAL INFLUENCE, SPECIALLY IN REFERENCE
TO MENTAL DISORDERS,

LECTURE

The

Gentlemen,

I.

mind and body

of

relations

in

health and in disease I have chosen as the subject of

these Lectures, not with the hope of doing
so complex

and

some time been

subject
tified in

an inquiry, but because

difficult

my

on which

should have

am how

No
little

felt

fluctuating.

we

think

has for

myself equally jus-

one can be more deeply

exact our knowledge

the bodily conditions of mental functions,

of that which

it

to

and there was no other

special work,

addressing you.

sensible than I

full justice

we know

is

is

of

and how much

vague, uncertain, and

But the time has com,e when the immediate

business which

lies

before anyone

who would advance our

knowledge of mind unquestionably

is

scrutiny of the bodily conditions of

a close and searching

its

manifestations in

BODY AND MIND.

health and disease.

most necessary now to make

It is

mind

use of the results of the study of

and guide our researches

in like

manner

into

in health to light

morbid phenomena, and

its

to bring the instructive instances presented

by unsound mind

upon the

to bear

interpretation of

The physiology and

healthy functions.

mind

[lect.

the pathology of

two branches of one science

are

one must,

studies the

he would work

if

My

study the other also.

aim mil be

and he who

and

^visely

to

embrace the occasion, whenever

it

well,

promote the

between them, and in doing so

reconciliation

its

shall

offers itself, to indicate

the principles which should guide our efforts for what

must always be the highest object of medical science

and

art,

mind

the

in a

sound body.

purpose

this

production and preservation of a sound

will

not

much of
may bring

Actually to accomplish
lie

in

my

power, but I

together fragmentary observations, point out the bearing

of them on one another and on received opinions, thus

unfold their meaning, and mark broadly the lines which

future research

must

take.

Within the memory of

such a special study, and
art,

that

it

men now
its

living insanity

was

treatment such a special

stood quite aloof from general medicine in

a mysterious and mischievous isolation; owing

little

or

nothing to the results of progress in other branches of

medicine, and contributing nothing

The

reason of

of viewing

this

mind

it is

as

to their

not hard to discover.

an intangible

progress.

The

habit

entity or incorporeal

essence, which science inherited from theology, prevented

men from

subjecting

its

phenomena

to the

same method

ORGAN AND FUNCTION.

'

I.]

of investigation as other natural phenomena

were thought to be an incomprehensible

its

disorders

affliction and,

accordance with the theological notion, due to the

in

presence of an evil

slavement of the soul by

true cause

bodily

the sufferer, or to the en-

spirit in

or to anything but their

sin,

Consequently, the treatment

disease.

of the insane was not in the hands of intelligent physicians,

who aimed

to apply the resources of medicine to the

alleviation or cure of bodily illness, but

was given up to

coarse and ignorant gaolers, whose savage cruelties will

for all

time to

come be a

great

and ugly

blot

upon the

enlightenment of the age which tolerated them.

On

Matters are happily changed now.

all

hands

it is

admitted that the manifestations of mind take place

through the nervous system

and

its

is all

amenable

investigation as other nervous diseases.

In-

become a

strictly

medical study,

treatment a branch of medical practice.

Still, it

we know much, and

too true that, notwithstanding

are day

derangements

same

sanity has accordingly

and

its

to the

are the result of nervous disease,

method of

that

by day learning more, of the physiology of the

nervous system, we are only on the threshold of the study

of

it

as

We

an instrument subserving mental function.

know little more positively than that it has such function

we know nothing whatever of the physics and of the
chemistry of thought.
The conception of mind as a

mysterious entity, different essentially from, and vastly

superior to, the

body which

earthly tenement, but from

it

inhabits

which

are thought to be to get free,

B 2

still

its

and uses

as

its

noblest aspirations

works openly or in a

BODY AND MIND.

4
latent

way

to obstruct the study of

methods of physical

its

which,

tinctly declare at the outset, is a question

cannot touch, and

progress towards a mental science

if

body not by disdaining

:

religious ascetics,

me

let

dis-

which science

we shall make no
we begin by depre-

it,

as metaphysicians^

and maniacs have done^ but by

labour-

ing in an earnest and inquiring spirit to understand

shall

we make any

comprehended
estimate

step forward

its

fitly this

at

do not dream of attempting to touch,

I do not shrink from saying that

ciating the

by the

functions

Without speculating

research.

concerning the nature of mind,

all

[lect.

functions,

and when we have

it,

fully

when we know how

to

most complex, and wonderful

highest,

achievement of organized

skill, it

will

be quite time,

down upon

there be then the inclination, to look

it

if

with

contempt.

The

truth

is

that in inquiries concerning mind, as

was

once the case in speculations concerning other natural

phenomena

or forces,

it

has been the practice to begin

where the inquiry should have ended.

of physical actions were evoked

human

and the

consciousness,

out

Just as the laws

of the depths of

relations of bodies to

one another attributed to sympathies and antipathies,

attractions

and abhorrences, instead of being acquired by

patient observation

and

careful generalization, so has a

fabric of mental philosophy

been reared on the

doubtfiil

revelations of self-consciousness, in entire disregard of

the

more tedious and

of

facts,

we put

less attractive

duty of observation

and induction from them.

Surely

seriously to ourselves the question

it

is

time

whether the

METHOD

I.]

OF INQUIRY.

method, which has proved

inductive

abundant

wherever

fruitfulness

it

worth by

its

has been

its

faithfully

applied, should not be as rigidly used in the investigation

of mind as in the investigation of other natural pheno-

mena.

we ought

If so,

certainly to begin our inquiry

with the observation of the simplest instances

with

its

physiological manifestations in animals, in children, in

idiots, in savages,

most recondite

mounting by degrees to the highest and

facts of consciousness, the interpretation

or the misinterpretation of which constitutes what has

The induction s
which we get by observing the simple may be used with
success to disentangle the phenomena of the complex

hitherto claimed to be mental philosophy.

but the endeavour to apply the complex and obscure to

the interpretation of the simple
fusion

and

error.

The

is

end

sure to

in con-

higher mental faculties are formed

by evolution from the more simple and elementary, just

as the more special and complex structure proceeds from

more simple and general

the

we

and

we would
development.
Not that

the other

order of

must,

if

in the

one case as

truly learn,
it is

within

in

follow the

my

present

purpose to trace the plan of development of our mental

faculties,

but the facts and arguments which I shall bring

forward will prove

rear a sound

how

fabric

vain and

of mental

futile

it

is

to strive to

on any other

science

foundation.

To
of

its

tific
it

begin the study of mind, then, with the observation

humblest bodily manifestations,

method.

is far

When we come

from easy to

fix

is

to inquire

strictly scien-

what these

are,

the point at which mental func-

BODY AND MIND.

[lect.

Without doubt most of the actions of man,

tion begins.

and many of those of the higher animals, do evince the

operation of mind, but whereabouts in the animal king-

dom

it first

appears,

and what part

it

has in the lower nerve

The

functions of man, are questions not easily answered.

more

closely the matter

appears that

it

we

is

looked

more

into, the

clearly

habitually embrace in our conception

of mind different nervous functions, some of which pro-

ceed from different nerve-centres, and the more necessary

it

becomes

to analyse these functions, to separate the

more

simple and elementary, and to discover in the concrete

as

much

as possible of the

meaning of the

mind

Is the brain the exclusive organ of

what category of functions

shall

we

abstraction.

If

it

be

so, to

refer the reflex acts

of the spinal cord, which take place independently of the

brain,

and which

seem

to display as intelligent

act of voHtion ?

nature

It

may

an aim, as any conscious

needs not to

and extent of

enough, but I

and

often achieve as definite an end,

reflex

illustrate in detail the

action,

select a striking

which

familiar

is

example in order to

serve as a text for the reflections which I wish to bring

forward.

One

simple

fact, rightly

interpreted, will teach as

much

as a

understood and truly

thousand

facts of the

same kind, but the thousand must have been previously

observed in order to understand truly the one
certainly

true that

common things, it
uncommon things.
this instance

to
is

apprehend the

full

for

meaning of

necessaiy to study a great

This, however, has been

by the distinguished

it is

many

done

physiologists

in

whose

labours have fixed on a tolerably firm basis the doctrine

REFLEX ACTION.

I.]

of reflex action

we may,

therefore, take as our starting-

point the accepted results of their labours.

known

It is well

has had

head cut

its

from the

that

be pinched,

off

The

irritation.

the hind foot of a frog that

if

it

withdrawn

is

stimulus to the afferent nerve

reaches the grey matter of the spinal cord, and sets free

a force which excites to action the corresponding motor

When

nerves of the same side.

strongly, the force liberated

the foot

is

pinched more

by the stimulus passes across

the cord to the motor nerves of the opposite side,

there
if

and

a wider

irra-

a simultaneous withdrawal of both limbs

is

the excitation be stronger

still,

there

is

and

diation of the effects of the stimulus in the grey matter,

and a movement of

all

four limbs follows, the frog

These movements of the decapitated

away.

frog,

it is

plain effect the definite purpose of getting

the

way

of harm,

that has

vomiting by which offending matter

what we

is

hurtful to

is

beneficial to

it,

will

of feeling

and

the

call

it

will,

inteUigent

and eschewing what

as well as of feeling

and ensuing what

it.

But the experiment on the frog

striking

to

ejected from the

is

an organism plainly has the power

it

or

Independently of consciousness and of

stomach.

or call

out ot

gone the wrong

from the human larynx,

expelled

is

it

which

believe to be analogous to the

by which food

violent coughing

way

we

jumping

instructive.

may be made more

Touch with

acetic acid the

thigh of a decapitated frog over the internal condyle,

and the animal rubs

foot of the

same

it

side

off with the dorsal surface of the

cut off the foot, and apply the

BODY AND MIND.

same

acid to the
it

again with
After

not.

trying
Pfliiger,

tries to get

but of course, having lost

fruitless

therefore,

efforts,

seems

way,

that

in

and the animal

spot,

its foot,

some

lect.

makes use of

the foot of the other leg,

in rubbing off the

up

gives

it

was seeking some other way; and

it

can-

it,

though,

as

restless,

at

says

at last

it

and succeeds

Notably we have here not

acid.

merely contractions of muscles, but combined and har-

monized contractions

due sequence

in

There are actions that have

purpose.

of being guided by intelligence and

in

all

a special

for

the appearance

instigated

by

will

an animal the recognized organ of whose intelligence

and

has been removed.

will

What

are

we

to say in explanation of

If they are mental,

are they only physical?

we must much

that

we must

essential to

its

very foundations of
tres.

mind

function,
its

Some eminent

is

plain

if

physical,

plain

it is

from mind functions that are

subtract
full

it

and modify our (inception

enlarge

of mind, and of the seat of

that

Are they mental, or

have such a look of adaptation?

that

movements

and properties

that are the

development in the higher cen-

physiologists

now

maintain, on the

strength of these experiments, that the accepted doctrine

of reflex action
is

really

is

quite untenable,

endowed with

and

that the spinal cord

sensation and volition

tainly these

adapted actions seem to give us

of being

and

felt

all

and

cer-

the signs

willed, except telling us that they are so.

Before' accepting, however, this explanation of the obscure

by something more obscure

distinctly

how dangerous

still,

it

a practice

were well to realize

it

usually

is

to apply

PURPOSIVE ACTS,

I.]

deductively to the interpretation of simple

ideas pertaining to the

more complex, and how

a principle of the method of induction

the order of evolution,

phenomena

and

it

is

essential

to follow

to ascend from the interpre-

The

tation of the simple to that of the complex.

and

planation savours of the old

done so much harm

we

that

it

feel to

go on in our minds

most of our actions take place

we can hardly help thinking

consciously and voluntarily,

that

tendency which has

in philosophy, the tendency to explain

the facts of nature by what

because we know

evil

ex-

must be the same

in the frog.

Might we

not,

however, as well suppose and hold that positive attracts

negative and repels positive electricity consciously
voluntarily, or that in the

double decomposition of che-

one acid chooses voluntarily the other base ?

mical

salts

It

most necessary

is

and

to

be on our guard against the

danger of misapplying ideas derived from internal observation of the functions of mind-centres to the interpretation of the functions of lower nerve-centres,

misinterpreting

them.

and so of

Assuredly we have sad expe-

rience enough to warn us against involving the latter in

the metaphysical haze which

still

hangs over the functions

of the supreme centres.

All the

conclusion which the facts warrant

is

that

actions for a definite end, having indeed the semblance

of predesigning consciousness and

unconscious and automatic

will,

that the

may be

movements of the

decapitated frog, adapted as they are to secure

being, are no
are the

more evidence of intelHgence and

movements of coughing,

quite

sneezing,

its

well-

will

than

and swallowing

BODY AND

lo

in

man.

MIND.

[lect.

In the constitution of the animal's spinal cord

movements

are implanted the faculties of such

preservation, which

and without which

it

it

has inherited as a part of

could hardly

and blindly; though

it

acts necessarily

it

endeavours vainly to act as

and only when the

irritation

movements which

its

nature,

accordingly

has lost

was

its foot,

still

there,

continues unaffected by

its

those further reflex

it,

are the physiological sequences of the

unsuccessful

movements

reflex actions

by another.^

movements

it

foot

if its

makes, in answer to

futile efforts

a day

live

for self-

it

supplements one

it

is

of

But although these purposive

are not evidence of intelligence

in the spinal cord,

series

and

volition

another question whether they

do not evince the same physiological properties and

the operation of the

same laws of evolution

as govern

the development of intelligence and will in the higher

*

centres.

have taken the experiment on the frog to exemplify

may be unconscious

the proposition that designed actions

and automatic, because the phenomena are more simple

in

it

than in man, and more easy therefore to be under-

stood
cord.

but the proposition

In

is

case, however,

its

equally true of his spinal

we have

by education
^

to

be organized,

have to be acquired

in fact, after birth.

Wisely or unwisely, as the case may be

which commonly

effect

',

for reflex

It

movements

a useful end may, under the changed circum-

stances of disease, do great mischief,

violent suffering

mind

same degree and

that faculties are not innate to the

extent as in the lower animals, but

to bear in

becoming even the occasion of

and of a most painful death.

S CONDAR Y A UTOMA TIC ACTS.

1. ]

it

can

functions as an organ of animal life;

and

must be taught,
perform
being

its

just as the brain must, before

much more under

the control of the

more

highly-

developed brain, feeling and volition commonly mingle

largely in

its

functions,

and

be so plainly exhibited.

its

independent action cannot

But when

motor centres

its

have been taught, when they have gained by education

the power of executing what are called secondary auto-

matic

acts, it is certain that

it

can and does habitually

execute them independently of consciousness and of

They become
reflex

as purely automatic as are the primitive

To

acts of the frog.

statement, then, that

the

actions bearing the semblance of design

scious

and automatic we have now

most weighty proposition

designed at

will.

first

may, by

and automatic, the

to

add a second and

namely, that
repetition,

faculties of

may be unconacts consciously

become unconscious

them being organized

in

the constitution of the nerve-centres, and they being then

performed as reflex
law,

an external stimulus.

effects of

by which the education of the

we

shall hereafter see, a

spinal cord takes

most important law

place,

is,

in the

development of the higher nerve-centres.

Let us

as

now go

The automatic

a step further.

This

acts,

whether primary or secondary, in the frog or in the man,

which are excited by the suitable external stimulus, may

also

be excited by an act of

downwards from the

will,

by an impulse coming

When

brain.

this

happens,

it

should be clearly apprehended tbat the immediate agency

of the movements

the

is

of the spinal cord

same

it is

in the

motor centres

the will does not and cannot act

BODY AND MIND.

upon the nerve

fibres of

[lect.

each muscle individually, but

simply gives the order which sets in motion the organized

machinery of the movements

This

is

motor

centres.

a consideration of the utmost importance, for

how

exhibits

great a part of our voluntary acts

the automatic

movements

action of the spinal

in the

in the other case to

mind

is

one case

to

which they are done.

it

really

answer to

in

an external stimulus,

an impulse of will

alike ignorant of the

is

The same

cord.

by the same agency

are effected

different stimuli

the

in the proper

and

in

both cases

immediate agency by

But while the automatic acts take

place independently of

the will

will,

is

absolutely depen-

dent on the organized experience in the cord for the

accomplishment of
impotent

to' do

its

acts

a voluntary

without this

act.

When

it

would be

therefore

we have

taken out of a voluntary act the large part which

to the automatic agency of the

appears that

we have

motor

centres,

it

is

due

clearly

subtracted no small proportion from

what we are in the habit of comprising vaguely under

We

mind.

and

perceive, indeed,

how

faithful observation of the

cord

is

indispensable an exact

functions of the spinal

to a true physiological inquiry into mind,

and

what an important means of analysis a knowledge of

them

yields us.

Carrying the knowledge so gained into

our examination of the functions of the higher nerve-

we observe how much of them it will serve to

interpret.
The result is that we find a great part of the
centres,

habitual functions of the higher centres to be similarly

automatic, and to admit of a similar physiological interpretation.

SENSORI-MOTOR ACTS.

I.]

13

There can be no doubt that the gangUonic nuclei of

the

senses

the

arrangement the

Most of the

who

instinctive acts of animals are of

the

most powerful,

when he comes

In man,

being innate in them.

actually

is

the

potentially

connected with

that

this kind, the faculties

however,

are

we have in such anatomical

agency of a number of reflex move-

motor nuclei; and

ments.

nuclei

sensorial

most
of

though

helpless,

ciated motor nuclei must be educated,

creatures

living

all

into the world, the sensory

and

asso-

just as the spinal

To illustrate this sensori-motor or instincwe may take the results of Flourens' well-

centres must.
tive action,

known experiment of removing

What happens ?
of a pigeon.
once

loses at

all

neous action.

It

thrown into the

struggles

on

to

The pigeon seemingly

intelligence

and

appears as

if it

air, it

its

the cerebral hemispheres

will

and
the

will

It will dress

its

on

its

be very

feathers

of a candle before

is fired off, it will

head, and then

open

fall

its

if

it

it

they are ruffled,

and,

eyes, stretch

back into

back,

bright, the eyes

sometimes follow with a movement of

movement

yet, if

the pupil of the eye con-

tracts to light, and, if the light

are shut.

were asleep

If laid

fly.

legs again

power of sponta-

all

its

its

when

its

head

a pistol

neck, raise

former attitude.

its

It is

quite evident from this experiment that general sensibility

and

special sensations are possible after the

the hemispheres
ideas.

The

removal of

but they are not then transformed into

impressions of sense reach and

aff"ect

the

sensory centres, but they are not intellectually /^/(T^/z'^^;

and the proper movements

are excited, but these are

BODY AND MIND.

14

There are no

reflex or automatic.

spontaneity

[lect.

ideas, there

no

is

true

and the animal would die of hunger before

a plateful of food, though

it

will

swallow

when pushed

it

come within the range of the

Here again, then, we have a
reflex acts of deglutition.
surprising variety of adapted actions of which the body is
far

enough

into

its

mouth

to

capable without the intervention of intelligence, emotion,

without,

and

will

any part in them.

invertebrata,

the

in fact,

mind

The pigeon

in

its

exact sense having

brought to the level of

is

which have no higher nerve-centres

than sensory ganglia, no centres of intelligence and

and which execute

all their

all their

is

is

good

hurtful to them, provide

for

perform, indeed,

the

the propagation of their kind

functions of a very active

through sensory

instinct,

They seek what

nuclei.

them, avoid what

for

varied and active movements,

wonderful displays of

and associated motor

will,

life

all

without knowing that they

are doing so, not otherwise than as our pupils contract

to light, or as our eyes
.

accommodate themselves

at different distances, without consciousness

The

by the ant and the bee

instinctive acts

show

to

their

what a degree of

tion sensori-motor action

part.

may be

wonderful

special perfec-

brought.^

do not say that the ant and the bee are entirely destitute of any

power of adaptation to new experiences in

fact,

on our

highest specializations of this kind of nerve-function

are displayed

to vision

their lives

that they

are, in

purely organized machines, acting always with unvarying regu-

would appear, indeed, from close observation, that these

creatures do sometimes discover in their actions traces of a sensibility
to strange experiences, and of corresponding adaptation of move-

larity

ments.

it

We

cannot, moreover, conceive

how

the i-emarkable in-

EDUCATION OF NERVE-CENTRES,

I.]

Unlike the bee and the

man must

ant,

15

slowly learn

the use of his senses and their respondent movements.

This he does by virtue of the fundamental property of

nerve-centres,

whereby they react

in a definite

way

to

suitable impressions, organically register their experience,

and so acquire by education

it

is

many

that

of the daily actions of our

directly follow impressions

life,

which

on the senses, take place

answer to sensations that are not perceived

to speak, instinctive ;

Thus

their special faculties.

in

become, so

some of them being not a whit

less

automatic than the instinctive acts of the bee, or the acts

When we

of the pigeon deprived of

its

move about

the objects in which

in a

quite familiar,

room with

we

hemispheres.

without being conscious what they are, or what

doing

we

see

move about
stincts

by

them, as we easily discover

in the

same way with our eyes

which they manifest can have been acquired

virtue of

we

are

direct our steps so as to avoid them,

some such power.

But the power

in

if

we

we

are

try to

shut, but

we

originally, except

them now

is

evi-

dently of a rudimentary kind, and must remain so while they have

not those higher nerve-centres in which the sensations are combined

into ideas,

and perceptions of the

relations of things are acquired.

Granting, however, that the bee or ant has these traces of adaptive
action,

it

which

in

must be allowed that they are

truly rudiments of functions,

we

designate as reason and

Such a confession might be a trouble to a metaphysical
physiologist, who would thereupon find it necessary to place a metaphysical entity behind the so-called instincts of the bee, but can be
no trouble to the inductive physiologist ; he simply recognizes an
illustration of a physiological diffusion of properties, and of the
physical conditions of primitive volition, and traces in the evolution
of mind and its organs, as in the evolution of other functions and their
organs, a progressive specialization and increasing complexity.
volition.

the supreme nerve-centres

BODY AND MIND.

do not perceive them, the mind being

some

[lect.

fully

occupied

"with

In like manner, when we go

train of thought.

through a series of familiar

acts, as in dressing or

un-

dressing ourselves, the operations are really automatic

once begun, we continue them in a mechanical order,

while the

mind

is

thinking of other things

upon what we have done,

afterwards reflect

and

in

if

we

order to

mind whether we did or did not omit something,

as for instance to wind up our watch, we cannot satisfy
ourselves except by trial, even though we had actually
call to

done what we were

in

doubt about.

It

is

evident,

indeed, that in a state of profound reverie or abstraction

a person may, as a somnambulist sometimes does, see

without knowing that he sees, hear without knowing that

he hears, and go through a

series of acts scarcely, if at

all,

conscious of them at the time, and not remember-

ing

them

For the most

afterwards.

sensori-motor action in man,

bral hemispheres,

intervene

much

centres, should

it is

distinct display of

necessary that his cere-

which are so largely developed, and

in

the

functions

be deeply engaged in

or that these should be suspended.

the

of

their

subordinate

own

functions,

This appears to be

the case in those brief attacks of epileptic unconsciousness

known

as the petit mal, in which a person will

sometimes go on with the work he was engaged in

at the

time of the attack, utterly unaware of the momentary

interruption

of his

consciousness.^

instances of this sort

^

For examples

may

There are many

on record, which

refer to

Pathology of Mind, 2nd Edition.

my work

cannot stop to

on The Physiology and

SUPREME NERVE-CEN2RES.

I.]

relate

now

how

they prove

large a part sensori-motor

which are the highest nerve functions of so

functions,

many

17

our daily actions.

animals, play in

apprehend the

clearly to

cord, so here, the

fact

We

as with the spinal

that,

movements which take place

may be

to the stimulus from without

ought

in

answer

by the

excited

stimulus of the will descending from the hemispheres,

and

when

that,

of them

they are so excited, the immediate agency

wardly manifest

are, as

appropriate motor
to

perform

corpus

its

write with his

it

these have been educated

Hence
is

left

work

is

it

that,

up by

broken

special

are out-

that

were, contained inwardly in the

nuclei

them.

striatum

cannot do

The movements

the same.

is

hand when

if

it

when

the

disease, the

could, a

his right

left

right

man might

hand was

dis-

abled by paralysis.

Thus much,

When we

then, concerning our sensori-motor acts.

have yielded up to the spinal cord

in our actions that properly belongs to

it,

the part

all

and

sensory ganglia and their connected motor nuclei

the

to
all

the

we have subtracted no inconphenomena which we are in the

part that belongs to them,

siderable part from the

habit of designating mental and including under mind.

But we

still

the nervous

leave untouched the highest functions

system

ganglia minister.

those

The

do

these

to

in

which the hemispherical

These are the functions of intelligence,

of emotion, and of will

functions.

to

of

they are the strictly mental

question at once arises whether

supreme

different properties

and

centres with

we have

fundamentally

different laws of evolution

from

BODY AND MIND.

those which belong

have to do with

different functions certainly;

the organic processes which take place in

tially different

is

there

but are

them

essen-

from, or are they identical with, those of

the lower nerve-ecntres

the same

We

lower nerve-centres.

the

to

[lect.

They appear

be essentially

a reception of impressions, and there

is

and there

impressions,

a reaction to

to

registration of the effects

the reactions to them.

an organic

is

both of the impressions and of

The

external stimuli do not,

it is

tme, ascend directly to the supreme centres as they do

and the sensory centres

to the spinal centres

they are

transmitted indirectly through the sensory ganglia

through the senses that we get our ideas.

accordance with

the

anatomical

that

This

observation

no sensory

it is

is

in

which,

fibres

go directly

through to the hemispheres, and no motor

fibres start

however,

directly

is

disputed

from them

ping at the corpora

fibres

both sensory and motor

striata

and thalami

alter the

made

to ideas;

The

impressions which

is

emotion

for I

hold emotion

the

registration of

them

is volition.

them

me7nory ; and the

is

Attention

is

the maintenance

of the tension of an idea or a group of ideas

it

this

the special sensibility of the vesicular neurine

reaction to

ing

But

there are the physiological conditions of ideas;

the feeling of the ideas

mean

and new

fundamental similarity of the organic

processes in the higher centres.

to

optici,

connecting these with the hemispheres.

does not

are

fibres stop-

before the mind; and

reflectiofi

is

the keep-

the successive

transference of energy from one to another of a series

of ideas.

We know

not,

and perhaps never

shall

know,

MEMORY.

I.]

what mind

is

but

we

19

bound

are nevertheless

in a scientific spirit, the laws of

tigate,

to inves-

functions,

its

and

to

exist

between them and the functions of lower nerve-

trace

which

resemblances

the

undoubtedly

centres.

Take, for example, the so-called faculty of memory, of

which metaphysicians have made so much

From

us the knowledge of personal identity.

in

which they usually

memory was

treat of

that

it

is

and

But a

of physical explanation.

way

the

one would suppose that

it,

peculiar to mind,

as affording

beyond the reach

far

little

reflection will

The acquired

nothing of the kind.

prove

functions

of the spinal cord, and of the sensory ganglia, obviously

imply the existence of memory, which

How

to their formation and exercise.

centres

The

be educated?

indispensable

is

could these

else

made upon

impressions

them, and the answering movements, both leav^ their

traces behind them,

which are capable of being revived

on the occasions of
centre,

similar impressions.

pable of being taught

in

is

its

memory, and not only

not forget

us,

manner

in

become

but there

so,

perpetuated, and grows as the

2

The

memory
virus

of

the consti-

it,

but

it

will

of an old man,

advancing age.

which the scar of a cut

forget

memory

faint with

is

mark on

its

We may

life.

though, like the

fade and

In every nerve-cell

of the body.

small-pox or of syphilis makes

tution for the rest of

idiotic centre, inca-

functions.

every organic element

may

ganglionic

whether of mind, sensation, or movement, which

was without memory, would be an

there

it

The

in a child's finger is

body grows,

evinces, as

BODY AND MIND.

20

Mr, Paget has pointed

the

part

Memory

remembers

recollect

is

change which

organization

the

impressions,

out, that the organic

the

organic registration

the

is

[lect

it

element of

has suffered.

of the

effects

of

and

to

experience,

of

to revive this experience

to call the organ-

ized residua into functional activity.

The

fact that

memory

is

accompanied by conscious-

ness in the supreme centres does not alter the funda-

mental nature of the

organic processes

that are

the

The more sure and perfect, indeed,

memory becomes, the more unconscious it becomes
and when an idea or mental state has been completely

condition of

organized,
its

it.

revived without consciousness, and takes

it is

part automatically in our mental operations, just as

a habitual

movement does

in

our bodily

activity.

We

perceive in operation here the same law of organization

of conscious acquisitions as unconscious power, which

we observed

in the functions of the lower nerve-centres.

child, while learning to

speak or read, has to remem-

ber the meaning of each word, must tediously exercise

memory but which of us finds it necessary to remember the meanings of the common words which we
are daily using, as we must do those of a foreign language with which we are not very familiar ? We do

its

remember them, of
memory.

In

pianoforte,

is

skilful player

remembrance
matic,

like

course, but

it is

by an unconscious

manner, a pupil, learning to play the

obliged to call to

mind each note

but the

goes through no such process of conscious

;

his ideas, like his

and both so rapid as

movements, are auto-

to surpass the rapidity of

VOLITION.

I.]

21

To my

succession of conscious ideas and movements.

mind, there are incontrovertible reasons to conclude that

the organic conditions of

memory

same

are the

in the

supreme centres of thought as they are in the lower

and of

centres of sensation
in a brain that

Accordingly,

reflex action.

not disorganized by injury or disease,

is

the organic registrations are never actually forgotten, but

endure while

life,

lasts

no wave of oblivion can

Consciousness,

their characters.

potent to recall them

but a

true,

it is

fever,

efface

may be

im-

a blow on the head,

a poison in the blood, a dream, the agony of drowning,

the hour of death, rending the veil between our present

consciousness and these ins(!riptions, will sometimes call

momentary

vividly back, in a

with

all

seemed

flash,

and

call

back too

the feelings of the original experience,

much

that

have vanished from the mind for

ever.

In

to

the deepest

and most

secret recesses of mind, there

nothing hidden from the individual

self,

or from

is

others,

which may not be thus some time accidentally revealed

so that

it

might well be

the opening of the

that, as

book

at the

De

Quincey surmised,

day of judgment

shall

be

the unfolding of the everlasting scroll of memory.^

As

it is

with

memory

so

is it

with volition, which

physiological function of the supreme centres,

like

the
^

is

and which,

memory, becomes more unconscious and automatic

more completely

An

it

is

organized by repeated practice.

apt illustration, most true to nature, of the recurrence of

early impressions in the delirium of dying,

who, as he expires in a London tavern

babbles of green

fields.

is

afforded

after a life of

by

Falstaff,

debauchery,

BODY AND MIND.

22

not man's function in

It is

in

is

modifying

intelligently,

nature passes through

only

feel

a part, he reacts upon nature

in a

it

action,

and

variety of

human nature

the spinal cord reacts to

motor

and

Receiving the impressions from

word or deed.

nature, of which he

As

to think

he must express or utter in action of some

his inner life

kind

life

[lect.

its

ways

thus

to a higher evolution.

impressions in excito-

as the sensory centres react to their

impressions in sensori-motor action, so, after the complex

interworking and com.bination of ideas in the hemispherical ganglia, there

in like

is,

manner, a reaction or desire

of determination of energy outwards, in accordance with

the fundamental property of organic structure to seek

what

and shun what

beneficial

is

this property of tissue that gives the

guided by intelligence, we

personify as

detemiining agent.

but reject the

but the

will

will, apart

we cannot know.
entity

It is

it.

impulse which, when

call volition,

and

it

is

the

from the particular volitions which meta-

abstraction

physicians

hurtful to

is

between

the will,

and regard

their

as

we cannot choose
we know, and will we know,

Physiologically,
volition

from particular acts of volition or

To

interpose

reflection

will,

such a metaphysical

and action thereupon, would

bring us logically to the necessity of interposing a similar

entity

between the stimulus

action.

to the spinal cord

and

its re-

Thus, instead of unravelling the complex by help

of the more simple,

speculations

we should obscure the simple by

concerning the complex. As physiologists

we have

to deal with volition as a function of the

centres,

following

reflection,

varying in

supreme

quantity and

MENTAL organization:

I.]

quality as

23

cause varies, strengthened by education and

its

exercise,

enfeebled by disuse, decaying with decay of

structure,

and always needing

for

its

outward expression

the educated agency of the subordinate motor centres.

We have to deal with

faculty unaffected

will,

not as a single undecomposable

by bodily conditions, but as a

result of

organic changes in the supreme centres, affected as certainly

and

seriously

faculties are

of will

is

by disorder of them as our motor

by disorder of

one of the

Loss of power

their centres.

and most

earliest

symptoms of mental derangement

characteristic

may

and, whatever

have been thought in times past, we know well now that

not the work of some unclean

the loss

is

laid

hands upon the

its

but the

will,

spirit that

direct

has

effect

of

physical disease.

But

must pass on now to other matters, without

stop-

ping to unfold at length the resemblances between the

properties of the supreme centres

nerve-centres.

We

see that

and those of the lower

the supreme

centres are

educated, as the other centres are, and the better they

are educated the better

do they perform

their functions of

The development

thinking and willing.

gradual process of organization in them.

are

mind

of

is

Ideas, as they

successively acquired through the gateways of the

senses,

are blended

and combined and grouped in a

complexity that defies analysis, the organic combinations

being the physiological conditions of our highest mental

operations

reflection,

leading ideas

we ought

reasoning,
to grasp

the complex and more recondite

and judgment.

and hold

fast

phenomena

of

first,

Two
that

mind are

BODY AND

24

MIND.

[lect.

formed out of the more simple and elementary by pro-

and integration

gressive specialization

by means of which

that the laws

and, secondly,

formation takes

this

place are not laws of association merely, but laws of

organic

and

combination

evolution.

The growth

of

mental power means an actual addition of structure to

the intimate constitution of the centres of
orga7iization in

them

mind

iiiental

and mental derangement means

disorder of them, primary or secondary, functional or

organic.

Although

have declared the hemispherical ganglia to

be pre-eminently the mind-centres, and although

disorder of their functions

it

is

in

in disordered intelligence, in

disordered emotion, and in disordered will

essentially consists,

it

that insanity

nevertheless impossible to limit

is

the study of our mental operations to the study of them.

They

receive impressions from every part of the body,

and, there

is

reason to believe, exert an influence on

every element of

it

there

sensible or insensible,

is

not an organic motion,

which does not, consciously or

unconsciously, affect them, and which they in turn do not

So intimate and

consciously or unconsciously affect.

essential

of which

may

the sympathy between

mind

is

justly say of

bodily
is

is

life

the
it,

all

the organic functions,

crown and consummation, that we

that

it

sums up and comprehends the

that everything which

is

displayed outwardly

contained secretly in the innermost.

We

cannot truly

understand mind functions without embracing in our

inquiry

all

the bodily functions

without exaggeration say,

all

and, I might

the bodily features.

perhaps

MOTOR

I.]

have already shown

by exhibiting how
will

25

this in respect of

entirely

dependent

motor functions,

for its expression

upon the organized mechanism of the motor

is

centres

INTUITIONS.

how,

movements,

in effecting voluntary

it

pre-

supposes the appropriate education of the motor centres.

Few

persons, perhaps, consider what

speech

or even

is,

acquire.

But

learn to speak

a cry

and

it

it

is

that

an

is

it

which we

art

actually costs us a great deal of pains to

all

remember

a wonderful art

the language which an infant has

only because

we begin

is

to learn to talk

when we are very young, and are constantly practising,

that we forget how specially we have had to educate our
motor centres of speech. Here, however, we come to
another pregnant consideration
the educated motor centre
in the

that

it

is

the acquired faculty of

not only a necessary agency

performance of a voluntary

act,

maintain

positively enters as a mental element into

composition of the definite volition

specific

but

motor

faculty not only acts

that,

in

fact,

the
the

downwards upon the

motor nerves, thus executing the movement, but also

acts

upwards upon the mind-centres, thereby giving to

consciousness the conception of the suitable

the appropriate

motor

intuition.

movement

It is certain that,

order to execute consciously a voluntary

act,

in

we must

have in the mind a conception of the aim or purpose of

the act.
it

The

will

cannot act upon the separate muscles,

can only determine the result desired

and thereupon

the combined contraction, in due force and rapidity, of

the separate muscles takes place in a

no consciousness

of,

way

we have
The
act.

that

and accomplishes the

BODY AND

26

infant directly

it

bom

is

sciously or voluntarily
it

MI.YD.

[i.ect.

can suck, certainly not con-

on the

first

occasion, at any rate,

can have no notion of the purpose of

but the

movements

effect of the action is to excite in the

motor

special

its

intuition,

special volition of

and

We

it.

mind

the

to lay the foundation of the

cannot do an act voluntarily

we know what we are going to do, and we cannot

know exactly what we are going to do until we have
unless

taught ourselves to do

aim of the

act,

it.

This exact knowledge of the

which we get by experience, the motor

intuition gives us.

The
as

is,

essential intervention of the

it

were, the

abstract of the

life, is

but

by no means peculiar

best illustrated

intuition,

movement,

which

in

our

by the movements of speech,

mental
is

motor

Each word

to them.

re-

presents a certain association and succession of muscular

acts,

and

sign or

is

itself

nothing more than a conventional

symbol to mark the particular muscular expression

The word has not independent

vitality
it differs in different languages
and those who
are deprived of the power of articulate speech must make
of a particular idea.
;

use of other muscular acts to express their ideas, speaking,

as

it

were, in a

earth, indeed,

dumb discourse. There is no

why a person might not learn

reason on
to express

every thought which he can utter in speech by move-

ments of

his

fingers,

language of gesture.

limbs,

and body

The movements

by

the

silent

of articulation

have not, then, a special kindoi connection with the mind,

though

their connection is a specially intimate

are simply the

most convenient

one

they

for the expression of our

GESTURE LANGUAGE.

1.]

mental

because they are so numerous, various,

states,

delicate,

27

and complex, and because,

in conjunction with

the muscles of the larynx and the respiratory muscles,

they modify sound, and thus

Having, on

this account,

make

audible language.

been always used

as the special

instruments of utterance, their connection with thought

most intimate

the Greeks, in fact, used the

is

word Xoyoc

mean both reason and speech. But this does not

make the relations of the movements of speech to mind
to

different fundamentally

movements

tary

much warranted

from the relations of other volun-

mindj and we should be

to

in assigning to the

mind a

quite as

special faculty

of writing, of walking, or of gesticulating, as in speaking

of a special faculty of speech in

What
mental

is

true of the relations of articulate

movements

they not only express the thought, but,

Speak the word, and the idea of which

the expression

is

mind previously;

aroused, though

w^as

not in the

the normal expression of

is

a certain mental state, and the latter

all

it

it

or put other muscles than those of

speech into an attitude which

not

to

otherwise put in action, they can excite the appro-

priate thought.
is

movements

states is true of the relations of other

to mental states

when

it.

men, when thinking, repeat

is

excited.

Most

if

internally, w^hisper to

were, what they are thinking about

themselves, as

it

and persons of

dull

and feeble

intelligence cannot

prehend what they read, or what

them, without calling the actual

and repeating the words

is

com-

sometimes said to

movement

in a whisper

speech has become the almost exclusive

to their aid,

or

mode

aloud.

As

of express-

BODY AND MIND.

28

many

ing our thoughts, there not being

[lect.

gestures of the

body which

are the habitual expressions of simple ideas,

we cannot

present striking examples of the powers of

movements

other

up the appropriate ideas

to call

yet

the delicate muscular adaptations which effect the accom-

modation of the eye to vision

mind

really to give to the

No

nitude.

its

at different distances

ideas of distance

seem

and mag-

one actually sees distance and magnitude

he sees only certain signs from which he has learned to

judge

intuitively

though he

is

of them

the

muscular adaptations,

unconscious of them, imparting the suitable

intuitions.

The

case

is

stronger, however, in regard to our emotions.

Visible muscular expression

is

to passion

or audible muscular expression

rightly, therefore,

is

what language

to thought.

Bacon

pointed out the advantage of a study of

the forms of expression.

" For," he says, " the lineaments

body do disclose the disposition and inclination of

mind in general but the motions of the countenance

of the

the

and

parts

present

do not only

humour and

so,

but do further disclose the

state of the

mind or

will."

The

muscles of the countenance are the chief exponents of

human

feehng,

much

of the variety of which

is

due

to the

action of the orbicular muscles with the system of elevating

and depressing muscles.

Animals cannot laugh, because,

besides being incapable of ludicrous ideas, they do not

possess in sufficient development the orbicular muscle of
the lips
It is

and the

straight muscles

which act upon them.

because of the superadded muscles and of their com-

bined actions

not combined contraction merely, but con-

MUSCULAR EXPRESSION.

I.]

29

sentaneous action, the relaxation of some accompanying

the contraction of others
is

capable

that

the

human countenance

of expressing a variety of more

complex
Those who would degrade

emotions than animals can.

the body, in order, as they imagine, to exalt the mind,

should consider more deeply than they do the importance

of our muscular expressions of feeling.

The manifold

shades and kinds of expression which the

lips

their gibes, gambols,

and

flashes of

language of a quivering nostril

ripples of beautiful emotion

merriment

present

the quick

the varied waves and

which play on the human

countenance, with the spasms of passion that disfigure

all

which we take such pains to embody

in

art,

it

are

simply effects of muscular action, and might be produced

by

apply

is

we could only

When

turned upwards in rapt devotion, in the ecstasy

of supplication,

upwards

it is

for the

same reason

in fainting, in sleep, in the

as

it

is

rolled

agony of death

it

an involuntary act of the oblique muscles, when the

straight muscles cease to act

in the study of

up

if

in suitable force to the proper muscles.

it

the eye

is

any other stimulus,

electricity or

to

upon

perceive, then,

heaven in prayer, and why he has placed there the

power "whence cometh

his help."

the body, as Sir C. Bell observes

in supplication takes

what

not acted upon by the will

tions

We

it.

muscular action the reason why man looks

of heaven,

is

the

its

simple property of
fact that the eye

natural position

has influenced

our religious

when

our concep-

observances,

and the

habitual expression of our highest feelings.

Whether each passion which

is

special in kind has

its

BODY AND MIND.

30

and what

special bodily expression,

each,
it

it

me

would take

[lect.

the expression of

is

too long to examine now. Suffice

to say that the special muscular action

is

not merely the

exponent of the passion, but truly an essential part of

it.

Fix the countenance in the pattern of a particular emotion

in

a look of anger, of wonder, or of scorn,

emotion whose appearance

And

be aroused.

to

do

when

fail

while the features are

shall find

it

call

up

in the

impossible to

This agrees with the experiments of Mr. Braid

on persons
for

we

quite different one,

so.

try,

one passion, to

fixed in the expression of

mind a

thus imitated will not

is

we

if

and the

whom

he had put into a state of hypnotism

the features or the limbs were

made by him

to

assume the expression of a particular emotion, thereupon

the emotion was actually
to act as

if

he was under

felt
its

by the

patient,

We

influence.

who began

perceive then

that the muscles are not alone the machinery

mind

the

acts

upon the world, but

essential elements in our

riority of the

essentially

human

by which

that their actions are

mental operations.

The

supe-

over the animal mind seems to be

connected with the greater variety of muscular

action of which

man

infinitely varied

is

capable

were he deprived of the

movements of hands, tongue,

which he

larynx,

so far ahead of the animals,

lips,

and

it is

probable that he would be no better than an

face, in

is

idiot,

notwithstanding he might have a normal development

of brain.

There may be no

truth, in the saying of

little tnith,

therefore,

Anaxagoras, that

by reason of his having hands.

man

though not the entire

is

the wisest of animals

organic functions.

l]

If these reflections are well grounded,

disorder of the motor centres

no

has,

little

derangement.

effect

may

obvious that

it is

have, as I believe

it

upon the phenomena of mental

some cases of

In

Ji

insanity

there

are

genuine muscular hallucinations, just as there are in

dreams sometimes, when the muscles are

and where the morbid

attitude

there

good reason

is

in a constrained

effects are

not so marked,

suppose that a searching inquiry

to

along this almost untrodden path will disclose the

generation of

many delusions

But we cannot
a

limit a

that

of

seem now inexplicable.

complete study of mind even by

knowledge of the functions of the nervous and

full

muscular systems.

an essential part
of mind.

The

organic system has most certainly

in the constitution

and the functions

In the great mental revolution caused by the

development of the sexual system

most

mode

striking

at

puberty we have the

example of the intimate and

essential sym-

pathy between the brain as a mental organ and other

organs of the body.
period

is

The change

of character at this

not by any means limited to the appearance of

the sexual feelings and their sympathetic ideas, but,

traced to

its

when

ultimate reach, will be found to extend to

the highest feelings of mankind, social, moral, and even

religious.
it is

In

its

lowest sphere, as a mere animal instinct,

feeling
feeling.
is

most

clear that the sexual appetite forces the

person out of the

of family

little

circle of self-feehng into a

selfish

wider

sympathy and a rudimentary moral

The consequence

is

that,

when an

sexually mutilated at an early age, he

morally as well as physically.

is

individual

emasculated

Eunuchs are

said to be

BODY AND MIND.

32

the most depraved creatures morally

envious,

utterly deceitful,

liars,

And

feeling.

there

by

insanity caused

is

and

[lect.

they are cowardly,

destitute of real social

certainly a characteristic variety of

which makes the patient

self-abuse,

very like a eunuch in character.

It

has been affirmed by some philosophers that there

no essential difference between the

that of a

man

and that

if

as a boy, she

same education

feelings, pursuits,

girl

were subjected to the

would resemble him in

and powers.

is

mind of a woman and

To my mind

it

tastes,

would not

be one whit more absurd to affirm that the antlers of the

human

stag, the

education

beard, and the cock's

comb

are effects of

by putting a girl to the same education

or that,

as a boy, the female generative organs might be trans-

formed into male organs. The physical and mental

differ-

ences between the sexes intimate themselves very early

in

life,

and declare themselves most

distinctly at puberty

they are connected with the influence of the organs ot

generation.

The forms and

proach those of

women

uterus remain from

inaction,

sarily

While

some cause

in a state of complete
It is

hermaphrodites the mental character,

woman

equally in

that of both

preserves her sex, she will neces-

be feebler than man, and, having her special bodily

and mental
her

ap-

and women whose ovaries and

like the physical, participates

sexes.

men

approach the forms and habits of men.

too, that in

said,

habits of mutilated

own

characters,

will

sphere of activity;

have

to

a certain extent

where she has become

thoroughly masculine in nature, or hermaphrodite in

mind,

when,

in fact, she has pretty well divested herself

SPECIFIC ORGANIC SYMPATHIES.

I.]

of her sex,

work

then she

may

33

take his ground, and do his

but she will have lost her feminine attractions, and

probably also her chief feminine functions.

Allowing that the generative organs have their specific

effect

upon the mind, the question occurs whether each

of the internal organs has not also a special

effect,

giving rise to particular feelings with their sympathetic

They

ideas.

so

are notably united in the closest sympathy,

although

that,

insensible

and respond more or

in a consent of functions,
sufferings

union,

conditions

of

sensible

is

member

of,

and

same opportunity of observing the

organs

for

we have

while

less to

of this physio-

affected

We

fellow-members.

its

other organs that

and there can be no question

that the brain, as the leading

logical

have

they

own, by virtue of which they agree

sensibility of their

one another's

touch,

to

by,

the

have not the

specific

effects

of

in the case of the generative

come
come

those

directly after birth, these

into

functional

action

into action abruptly at

a certain period, and thus exhibit their specific effects

a decided manner.

in

the

and

general uniformity

emotions

is

may well
among men
It

due to the

be, however, that

in

specific

their

passions

sympathies

of

organs, just as the uniformity of their ideas of external

nature

is

due to the uniform operation of the organs

of sense.
It

is

mental

probable
effects of

an exact observation

that

morbid

would help the inquiry

of the

mind which owe

of

the

states of the different organs

into the

feelings

and

desires

their origin to particular organs.

BODY AND MTND.

34

What

[lect.

the psychological features of disease of the

are

They

heart, disease of the lungs, disease of the liver?

The

are unquestionably different in each case.

which

never

has

without doubt, a

been

yet

seriously

inquiiy,

attempted,

one, but I believe that

difficult

is,

the

phenomena of dreams might, if carefully observed,

The ground-tone of feeling in a
afford some help.
dream, the background on which the phantoms move,
is

often determined by the state of an internal organ,

the

is

of the brain with which

part

that

activity

spring out of the feeling

and unite

How

coherent dream drama.

organs,

it

is

unnecessary to

dreams, they teach

which,

of

the

effects

of

other

largely useful in the interpretation, not

may be

of dreams

observation

the

to

less

happens in

concerning physiological sympathies

lesson

applied

specific

their

exciting

a more or

in

plainly this

the case of the generative organs

out

organ

the

sympathy; accordingly sympathetic ideas

in specific

point

some degree of

of which awakens into

irritation

only,

but of the phenomena of insanity.

Dreams

furnish a particularly fruitful field for the study

of

specific

the

effects

these effects are

declared
are

shut

when

more

of

distinctly felt

still

As the

visibly,

and more

stars are

may

distinctly

when

not

visible,

not be perceptible during the

walking state while consciousness

just as,

mind, because

shine, in the daytime, so the effects

of an internal organ

But

on

the impressions from the external senses

out by sleep.

although they

organs

is

actively engaged.

the sun goes down, the stars shine

which before were

invisible, veiled

by

his greater

SPECIFIC ORGANIC SYMPATHIES.

I.]

so

light,

when

active consciousness

35

suspended, organic

is

sympathies, which before were insensible, declare themthe

Perhaps

mind.

the

selves

in

of

sympathetic feeling and ideas by a disordered

its

may

organ during sleep that we

it

in

is

discover the explanation

of a fact which seems to be undoubted,

than accidental

namely,

dreamed prophetically
of

dream come
It

is

he consciously

felt

symptom

a
to

find

particular organ produces in the

when otherwise

passion which

mind

will

upon

excited, discharges itself specially

Notably

with the

this is the case

be that which,

sexual

When

organs and the passion to which they minister.

we

his

true.

natural to suppose that the

organ.

be more

to

would have a particular

and has been afterwards surprised

it,

that

and

that a person has sometimes

that he

internal disease, before

excitation

consider the effects which a joyful anticipation, or the

elation of a present excitement, has

upon the lungs

the

accelerated breathing and the general bodily exhilaration

which

it

occasions

we

the

and the sanguine expectations of

hopefulness

strange

cannot help thinking of

the consumptive patient, who, on the edge of the grave,

projects, without a

long

after

he

shadow of

will

have been

festering in his shroud."

heart,

and what anxious

pany some
ment,
its

distrust,

"green

fear

will

death

in

Observe how fear

do
and

strikes the

and apprehension accom-

affections of the heart.

and envy notably touch the

turn,

what he

Anger, disappointliver

which,

in

when deranged, engenders a gloomy tone of

mind through which

all

things have a malignant look,

BODY AND MIND.

36

and from which, when philosophy

The

relief

of

restoration

us, the

its

[lect.

not to free

avails

functions

will

yield

instant

internal organs are plainly not the agents

of their special functions only, but, by reason of the

intimate

consent or sympathy of functions,

mental

essential constituents of our

The time

my

yet at

life.

disposal will not allow

mention the

do more than

they are

of

effects

nutrition,

and

favour, hinder,

secretion.

or pervert

increase, lessen, or alter a secretion

doing which there

reason to think that

is

to

mental states

on the intimate processes of nutrition and

Emotion may undoubtedly

me

it

in

not

acts,

only by dilating or contracting the vessels through the

vaso-motor system, as we witness in the blush of shame

and the

pallor of fear, but also directly

on the organic

elements of the part through the nerves, which, as the

latest researches

seem

to show,

by continuity of substance.
difficult

to

conceive

how

end

If they

Be

do so end,

it

is

fail

to affect for a

or longer the functions of the organic elements.

this so or not,

first,

them sometimes

a strong emotion vibrating

to the ultimate fibrils of a nerve can

moment

in

that a lively

upon the bodily

but,

when

eye,

in

however, the familiar observations

hope or joy

life,

stronger,

the

quiet

exerts an enlivening effect

and equable when moderate,

evinced

in

the brilliancy

of the

quickened pulse and respiration, in

inclination to laugh

and sing; and, secondly,

an

that grief

or other depressing passion has an opposite effect, relaxing the arteries, enfeebling the heart,
dull,

making the eye

impeding digestion, and producing an inclination to

INFLUENCE OF MIND ON BODY.

I.]

and weep,

sigh

these

37

famiUar observations of opposite

which mental

effects indicate the large part

may

states

play, not in the causation of all sorts of disease alone,

but

aiding recovery from

in

mental shock may,

great

and perhaps

in the

them.

like a great

same way, paralyse

shock,

physical

for a time all the

bodily and mental functions, or cause

It

and

sudden

death.

instant

may, again, produce epilepsy, apoplexy, or insanity

a prolonged state of depression and anxiety

while

sometimes
chronic

Can

it

an important agent

disease,

such

be doubted,

as

in

the

diabetes

and

causation

that

bodily disorder will be cured by some apphance,

may

so

of

heart-disease.

too, that the strong belief

innocent of good or harm,

is

affect

itself

beneficially

the nutrition of the part as actually to effect a cure?

To me it seems not
mind may stamp its
the

individual

unreasonable to suppose that the

tone,

elements

not

if

of the

its

very features, on

body,

inspiring

with hope and energy, or infecting them with

and

feebleness.

that our

little

them

despair

separated portion of the body, so

naked eye can make nothing of

it,

the

spermatozoon of the male and the ovum of the female,

does at any rate contain, in a latent
characters of the

whom

it

mind and body of the

has proceeded

l)0w this mysterious effect

and

is

as

we

And

if

this

be

may be

so,

is

the essential

individual from

are utterly ignorant

accomplished,

not in a position to deny that what

tozoon and ovum

state,

we are

certainly

true of the sperma-

true of other organic elements.

then those

who

profess to discover

the character of the individual in the character of the

BODY AND MIND.

38

[lect.

nose, the hand, the features, or other part of the body,

may have

a foundation of truth for speculations which

and

are yet only vague, fanciful,

valueless.

Perhaps we do not, as physicians, consider

and

disease,
all

the

our

mental states in the production of

of

influence

the

sufficiently

importance as symptoms, or take

their

advantage which we might take of them in

to cure

efforts

got hold

which

a truth

of

legitimate

physician

medicine

fails

Assuredly the most

and use adequately.

to appreciate

successful

Quackery seems to have here

it.

he who, inspiring the greatest

is

confidence in his remedies, strengthens and exalts the

imagination

of his patient

of peppermint-water with

if

he orders a few drops

the confident air

the disease, will he not really do

who

patient than one

scientific

way,

recovery?

and the

treats

him

of curing

more sometimes
in the

for the

most approved

but without inspiring a conviction

of

Ceremonies, charms, gesticulations, amulets,

like,

have in

ages and

all

been greatly esteemed and

of disease

and

it

among

all

nations

largely used in the treatment

may be

speciously

presumed that

they have derived their power, not from any contract

with

the

supernatural,

but,

as

Bacon

observes,

strengthening and exalting the imagination of him

used them.

Entirely ignorant as

ever shall be, of the

for

the

laws

of

its

insensible

are,

who

and probably

nature of mind, groping feebly

operation,

venture to set bounds to

and

we

by

its

we

certainly

cannot

power over those intimate

molecular movements which are

basis of all our visible bodily functions,

the

any more than

influence of mind on body.

l]

we can

justly venture to set

bounds

to

the vast and ever-progressing evolution

which

all

macrocosm of
evolved

action

in

of nature,

of

its

our thoughts and works are but a

much we do know

that as,

nature,

it is

imperishable

is

39

This

part.

on the one hand,

in

the

certain that the true idea once

that

it

passes from individual

to individual, from nation to nation, from generation to

generation,

of
the

man;

becoming the eternal and exalting possession

so,

on the other hand,

body, which some

many more

things

in

in the

ignorantly
the

microcosm of

despise,

reciprocal

action

there

of

and organic element than are yet dreamt of

philosophy.

are

mind

in

our

LECTURE
Gentlemen,

In

my

last

II.

lecture

gave a general

survey of the physiology of our mental functions, showing

how

indissolubly they are

the

bodily

and how barren must of necessity be a study

functions,

of

bound up with

mind apart from body.

pointed out that the

higher mental operations were functions of the supreme

nerve-centres

but that, though of a higher and more

complex nature than the functions of the lower nervecentres,

they obeyed the

same physiological laws of

and could be best approached through a

knowledge of them. I now propose to show that the
phenomena of the derangement of mind bear out fully
evolution,

this

view of

its

nature

that

we have not

to deal with

disease of a metaphysical entity, which the

method of

inductive inquiry cannot reach, nor the resources of the

medical

art

touch,

but with disease of the nervous

system, disclosing itself by physical and mental sympI say advisedly physical

toms.
most,

if

not

all,

and mental, because

in

cases of insanity, at one period or other

of their course, there are, in addition to the prominent

LECT.

MENTAL DISORDERS.

II.]

mental

features,

41

symptoms of disordered

disordered

or

of

motility.

Neither in health nor in disease

mind
body; and when a

imprisoned in one corner of the

person

is

he

lunatic,

is,

disordered

of

secretion,

sensibility,

and

nutrition

the

is

as Dr. Bucknill has remarked,

lunatic to his fingers' ends.

Mental

disorders

are

neither

more nor

than

less

nervous diseases in which mental symptoms predominate,

and

their entire separation

from other nervous diseases

When

has been a sad hindrance to progress.

head has paralysed

the

sensibility

a blow on

and movement,

consequence of the disease in the brain which

initiated, the patient is sent to the hospital

has

it

when a

but

in

blow on the head has caused mental derangement,

consequence of the disease of brain which
tiated, the patient is sent to

man who

one

taenia,

ini-

In like manner,

an asylum.

cysticercus in the brain,

another

goes to an asylum.
its

has

has unluckily swallowed the eggs of a

and has got a

the hospital

it

in

arteries lands

who has been

may go

to

similarly unlucky

Syphihtic disease of the brain or

one person

in

an asylum with mental

symptoms predominant, another

in

an hospital with

The same

sensory and motor disorder predominant.

cause produces different symptoms, according to the part

of the brain which
right

that mental

it

particularly affects.

No

doubt

it is

derangements should have, as they

often require, the special appliances of an asylum, but

is

certainly not right that the separation

which

for treatment should reach to their pathology

method of its

study.

So long as

is

it

necessary

and

this is the case,

to the

we

shall

BODY AND MIND.

42

[lect.

labour in vain to get exact scientific ideas concerning

and

their causation, their pathology,

their treatment.

Clearing, then, the question as completely as possible

from the haze which metaphysics has

us ask

How

comes

beyond question

come

around

We may

it,

What

idiocy, or insanity?

meaning of them

scientific

cast

take

that they are not accidents

it

let

is

the

to

be

that they

to pass, as every other event in nature does,

by

They

are mysterious visitations only because

we understand not

the laws of their production, appear

natural law.

we

casualties only because

When

are ignorant of their causality.

a blow on the head or an inflammation of the

membranes of

the brain has produced derangement of

mind, we need not look farther for a cause

harm done

to structure

sufficient to

is

the actual

account for disorder

of function in the best-constituted and best-developed

brain.

But

it is

insanity that

only in a small proportion of cases of

we can discover such a

occasion of disease.

than
is

half, certainly,

In a great

and perhaps

many

direct

cases

physical
in

in five out of six

more

there

something in the nervous organization of the person,

some

native peculiarity, which, however w^e

disposes

him

to

an outbreak of

name

insanity.

it,

pre-

When

two

persons undergo a similar moral shock, or a similar

prolonged

anxiety,

and

one

of

them goes

mad

in

consequence, while the other goes to sleep and goes

to

work and recovers

all

the co-operating conditions have not been the same,

his equanimity,

that the entire cause has been different.

been the difference ?

it

is

plain that

What, then, has

In the former case there has been

IDIOCY.

II.]

43

present a most important element, which was happily

wanting in the

latter

there

has been a certain heredi-

an unknown and variable quantity in the

tary neurosis,

equation.

Perhaps of

the erroneous notions concerning

all

mind

which metaphysics has engendered or abetted, there

none more

is

than that which tacitly assumes or

false

men

explicitly declares that

are born with equal original

mental capacity, opportunities and education determining

the differences of subsequent development.

The opinion

What man can by

taking thought

is

as cruel as

false.

it is

add one cubit

either to

Multitudes of

stature?

his

mental or to

his

human bemgs come

bodily

into

the

world weighted with a destiny against which they have

neither the will nor the
step-children of nature,
all

tyrannies

the

to contend

they are the

and groan under the worst of

tyranny of a bad organization.

Men

fundamental characters of their

the

indeed, in

differ,

power

minds, as they do in the features of their countenances,

or in the habits of their bodies
are born with the

and between those who

potentiality of a full

and complete

mental development, under favourable circumstances, and

those

who

are born with an innate incapacity of mental

development, under any circumstances, there exists every

gradation.

What

idiot to the

common level

teaching could ever raise the congenital

of

human

intelligence ?

teaching could ever keep the inspired

of genius at that level

The

he

is

of the

man

congenital idiot

right; for

mind

What

is

deprived of his

human

birth-

born with such a defect of brain that he

BODY AND MIND.

44

[lect.

cannot display any, or can only display very feeble and

PVom no

imperfect mental functions.

is

of

he thus
all

but

fault of his

own

seeing that he must be held innocent

afflicted,

offence but the offence of his share of original sin

nowise so clear that

is

it

his parents.

not from some fault of

it is

too true that, in

It is all

many

cases, there

has observably been a neglect or disregard of the laws

which govern the progress of human development through

the

Idiocy

ages.

indeed,

is,

a manufactured article

and although we are not always able

manufactured,

still its

important causes are

Many cases

are within control.

are distinctly traceable to

parental intemperance and excess.

Howe found

Massachusetts, Dr.

offspring of intemperate parents

as
;

Out of 300

many as

idiots in

145 to be the

and there are numerous

observations which prove that chronic alco-

scattered

holism in the parent

may

directly occasion idiocy in the

child.

I think, too, that there is

of the

ill

their

how it is
known and

to tell

effects

tendency

is

no reasonable question

of marriages of consanguinity
to

produce degeneracy of the

not say that all the children of such marriages

other times
ing in

and

so7ne of

them

do

may

not

and

in is to

produce barrenness and

physical

development,

actual imbecility or idiocy.

may issue

quite healthy at

but the general and ultimate result of breed-

children of a low degree of viability

mental

and

race,

idiocy as the extremest form of such degeneracy.

sometimes be healthy, and

that

sterility,

and of imperfect
deaf-mutism,

and

Again, insanity in the parent

in idiocy in the offspring,

which

the natural term of mental degeneracy

is,

so to speak,

when

it

goes on

DEGENERATE

II.]

VARIETIES.

unchecked through generations.

with no httle confidence, that

if

45

may be

It

affirmed

the experiment of inter-

marrying insane persons for two or three generations were

tried, the result

the family.

would be

sterile idiocy

and extinction of

Certain unfavourable conditions of

life

tend

unquestionably to produce degeneracy of the individual

the morbid predisposition so generated

mitted to the next generation, and,

if

is

then trans-

the unfavourable

and thus

is

formed a morbid variety of the human kind, which

is

conditions

continue,

is

aggravated in

it;

incapable of being a link in the line of progress of

Nature puts

humanity.

it

under the ban of

sterility,

and

thus prevents the permanent degradation of the race.

Morel has traced through four generations the family

history of a youth

Rouen

who was admitted

in a state of stupidity

mary of which may

degeneracy when
First

it

generation

into the asylum at

and semi-idiocy

fitly illustrate

the sum-

the natural course of

goes on through generations.

:

Immorality,

depravity,

alcoholic

excess and moral degradation, in the great-grandfather,

who was

killed in a tavern brawl.

Second generation
cal attacks,

Hereditary drunkenness, mania-

ending in general paralysis, in the grandfather.

Third generation

Sobriety, but hypochondriacal ten-

dencies, delusions of persecutions, and homicidal tendencies in the father.

Fourth generation: Defective intelligence.

of mania at sixteen
idiocy.

stupidity,

and

First attack

transition to

complete

Furthermore probable extinction of the family;

for the generative functions

were as

little

developed as

BODY AND MIND.

46

[lect.

those of a child of twelve years of age.

He had two

who were both

and morally, and

defective physically

To

were classed as imbeciles.

sisters

complete the proof of

had

heredity in this case Morel adds, that the mother

a child while the father was confined in the asylum,

and

that

this

showed no

child

adulterous

signs

ot

degeneracy.

When

epilepsy in

often does,

we must

young children leads

to idiocy, as

it

generally look for the deep root of

the mischief in the family neurosis.

No

one can well dispute that

in the case of

extreme morbid variety as a congenital idiot

is,

such an

we have

to

do with a defective nervous organization. We are still,

however, without more than a very few exact descriptions of the brains of idiots.

Mr. Marshall has recently

examined and described the brains of

European descent.

He

found

idiots

t^vo

the' convolutions

to

of

be

fewer in number, individually less complex, broader and

smoother than in the apes: "in

"the

idiots' brains are

this respect,"

he

says,

even more simple than that of

the gibbon, and approach that of the baboon."

The

condition was the result neither of atrophy nor of mere

arrest of growth, but consisted essentially in

evolution of the

dependent on an

cerebral
arrest of

hemispheres or their parts,

We

The proportion

development.

of the weight of brain to that of

diminished.

an imperfect

body was

learn, then, that

when man

than

a brain no higher^indeed lower

extraordinarily
is

born with

that of an ape,

he may have the convolutions fewer in number, and

in-

dividually less complex, than they are in the brain of a

THEKOID DEGENERACY.

II.]

chimpanzee and an orang

or

to,
if

the

the theory of Darwin be true,

by evolution through the

human

simple defect.

by no means
deserves,

But there

is

is

a corresponding

sometimes more than a

curious and interesting fact, which has

yet received the consideration which

is that,

a class of idiots which

so like brutes are the

do sometimes appear or
traits

may

and

justly

members

men, such

so-called wild

of

be designated
it.

The

there,

theroid,

and the

in the

else they

idiots, w^ho

woods

could pick

were certainly exaggerated at the time.

degraded beings were evidently

is

old stories of

as Peter the wild boy,

on acorns and whatever

re-

There

instincts.

young savage of Aveyron, who ran wild

up

it

with the appearance of this animal type

appear remarkable animal

lived

revert

ages.

of brain in idiocy, there

and

may

has gradually ascended

it

With the defect of organ there

defect of function.

brain

development from which,

below, that type of

fall

47

These

exhibited

a somewhat striking aptitude and capacity for a wild

animal

an

Dr. Carpenter, however, quotes the case of

life.

idiot girl,

who was seduced by some

miscreant,

and

who, when she was delivered, gnawed through the umbilical

cord as some of the lower animals do.

And

Dr.

Crichton Browne, of the West Riding Asylum, records a

somewhat

young woman, not an

idiot

who had gone completely demented

after

similar case in a

naturally, but

She had been in the habit of escaping from

insanity.

home, and of

upon wild
cottage,

living in solitude in the

fruits

woods, feeding

or what she could occasionally beg at a

and sleeping

in the

brushwood.

She had

fre-

BODY AND

48

manner

quently lived in this

MIND.

[lect.

for a fortnight at a time.

During one of these absences she was delivered of twins

she had sought out a sheltered hollow, and there, reverting

gnawed through the umbihcal

to a primitive instinct,

The

twins were alive

when found two days

but the mother was in a very exhausted

no food or covering since her

Salpetriere," says

state,

after birth,

having had

"We

delivery.

Esquirol, ''an imbecile

cord.

have at

woman, who

used to earn a few sous by doing rough household work.

has happened on several occasions that as soon as

It

she got her sous she took them to a labourer, and gave
herself

up

to his brutality

but when she was pregnant

she went no more to him."

In the conformation and habits of other

most

careless

idiots

the

observer could not help seeing the ape.

striking instance

of this kind

described by Dr.

is

Lunacy

Mitchell,

Deputy Commissioner

"I have

never," he says, "seen a better illustration ot

in

It is not,

the ape-faced idiot than in this case.

the face alone that

is

ape-like.

for Scotland.

He

however,

grins, chatters,

and

screams like a monkey, never attempting a sound in any

way resembling a word.

He

puts

ape- like attitude in his hunts after

mouth

his

to his

and often brings

He

with an apish hold.

His thumbs are but

additional fingers.

He

He

has a leaping walk.

heavy eyebrows, and short hair on

is

lice,

grasps what he brings

to help his hands.

mouth

himself in the most

his

cheek or

muscular, active, and not dwarfish.

He

face.

sits

has

He

on the

floor in

ape fashion, with his genitals always exposed.

He

filthy habits of all kinds.

has

He may

be called an

THEROID IDIOCY.

II.]

of the lowest order; yet there

idiot

small,

its

is

not very

greatest circumference being twenty inches

but in shape

half,

a mischievous

is

His head

brute-like intelligence in his eye.

49

and

strongly exhibits the ape-form

it

of abnormality."

Pinel has recorded the case

something

like

her

mode

an

aversion

of

who was

of an idiot

a sheep, both in respect of her tastes,

life,

to

and the form of her head.

meat,

and

ate

She had

and

fruit

vegetables

Her demon-

greedily,

and drank nothing but water.

strations

of sensibility, joy, or trouble, were

repetition of

to the

the

ill-articulated

confined

words,

be,

ma,

She alternately bent and raised her head, and

bah.

rubbed herself against the belly of the

wanted

If she

her.

girl

who attended

to resist or express her discontent,

she tried to butt with the crown of her head

very passionate.

Her

back, her loins, and

she was

shoulders

were covered with flexible and blackish hairs one or

.

two inches long.

She never could be made

chair or bench, even

when

meals

at

on the

There

is

now under
girl

care, in the

She

West Riding Asylum,

who, in general appearance and

Browne, striking features of

habits, has, according to Dr.

resemblance to a goose

much

so

so,

that the nurses

received her described her as just like ' a plucked

goose."
sister
in.

floor.

was

floor in the posture of animals.

a deformed idiot

who

on a

sil;

as soon as she

placed in a sitting posture, she glided on the

slept

to

was

Her

father died in the asylum,

also a patient in

it

at

height, has a small head,

one time.

and her mother's

She

is 4ft.

and thin and scanty

2in.

hair,

BOD Y AND MIND,

50

so that the crown of the head

[lect.

The

partially bald.

is

eyes are large, round, prominent, and restless, and are

frequently covered by the eyelids, as

at winking.

effort

if

The lower jaw

more than one inch beyond

by a

movement

The neck

and

is

is

somewhat

capable of being bent backwards so as actually to

general over the body, but

The cutis

is

exactly as

if it

had been

freely

no

by cackling

prominently out, and

movements

of the arms have

like

a goose, and displeasure by hissing or

angry, she flaps her arms against her sides,

upon

When

the floor.

and beats her

She knows her own name, and

understands one or two short sentences, such as "

here" and "Put out your hand."
persons
agitated
herself,

who
if

The

articulate sounds, but expresses pleasure

screeching like a goose, or perhaps like a macaw.

feet

looks

The

appearance of rudimentary wings.

precisely the
utters

with the

it

just deprived of feathers

inferior angles of the scapulae stand

moving

anserina

most marked on the

back and dorsal aspects of the limbs, where

girl

bill-like

unusually long and flexible,

touch the back between the scapulae.

is

antero-posterior,

the whole configuration of

the lower part of the face having a

appearance.

projecting

the contracted upper jaw,

and possesses an extraordinary range of

as well as lateral,

slow, forcible

is large,

attend upon her and feed her, and

touched by a stranger.

but swallows voraciously

Come

She recognizes the

all

is

much

She cannot feed

that

is

put into

her mouth, showing no preference for one article of diet

over another.

She

is

dirty in her habits,

and no amount

of attention has improved her in this respect.

She

is

THEROID IDIOCY.

II.]

very fond of her bath, cackUng

and screeching when she

51

when she

taken out of

is

is

put

irito

it,

it.^

Whence come these animal

traits and instincts in man ?
Whence was derived the
instinct which taught the idiot wom.an to gnaw through
the umbihcal cord ? Was it really the reappearance of a
It is

a natural question.

primitive instinct of animal nature

faint

echo from a

The following account of an idiot in the Western Counties Idiot

Asylum has been communicated to me by Mr. Kenton, surgeon to
1

She

the Asylum.

head, but
little

or

no

intellect,

ing a few signs.

herself,
left

between 15 and 16 years

old,

has a very small

By

She has

not being able to speak, and barely understandcareful treatment she has

but there her education has reached

to herself,

When

is

well formed otherwise, and well nourished.

is

and watched with a view

been taught

its limit.

to observe her natural habits.

alone in the garden, she chooses a quiet spot

shrubs, and, sitting down, will

to feed

She has been

among

the

bend forward with her small head

between her thighs, and occupy herself in picking imaginary

insects

from the adjacent parts of her body, pretending to pick them and to

She will then wander about, and finding a suitable bough, will swing by her hands, and then double her legs over
the branch and swing with her head dovniwards.
She will steal
anything she fancies, and hide it away ; will suddenly spring upon
any child near and bite and scratch it, and then in a moment look
At certain times she will
as demure as if she had done nothing.
go under the shrubs, scratch a hole with her hands in the ground,
sit down upon it as a cat does, then turn round and carefully
cover the spot by scraping the earth over it with her hands.
She
tears her clothes up into strips, and hides the pieces.
Mr. Kenton
mentions another idiot under his care, who puts everything to his
throw them away.

nose before putting it into his mouth.

deliberately,

This he does, not

hastily,

but

examining each piece of food carefully by his sense of

He greatly dislikes butter, and will not eat pie-crust or any

cooked food which contains butter, and he detects its presence with
certainty by the sense of smell.
He will not kiss anyone till ho has

smell.

sniffed at the person

first.

E 2

BODY AND

52

AIIND.

[lect.

which man has

far distant past, testifying to a kinship

almost outgrown, or has grown too proud to acknow-

No

ledge?

extreme
call

doubt such animal

human

them so

degeneracy, but

come by
law can make them.

ing them by as abnormal,

as unnatural,

it

every

human

must

to
as

Instead of passstigmatizing

still,

behoves us to seek

interpretation which they

reflect that

worse

or,

and are

law,

degenerations

natural as natural

them

no explanation

is

it

marks of

are

traits

for the scientific

When we

certainly have.

brain does, in the course of

its

development, pass through the same stages as the brains

of other vertebrate animals, and that

transitional states

its

resemble the permanent forms of their brains; and when

we

in the

womb may

of

that the stages

reflect further,

its

development

be considered the abstract and brief

chronicle of a series of developments that have gone on

through countless ages in nature,

wonderful, as at the

when

first

blush

in a condition of arrested

display animal instincts.

stops short of

when

it

it

should,

development, sometimes
up, as

it

were, in

its

it

most primitive

am

man's

characteristic

and when the

is

latter

development as human

remains arrested at or below the level of an

orang's brain,

just

might do, that

Summing

truly a brute brain within the

does not seem so

the leading forms of the vertebrate type, there

itself

it

it

may be presumed

functions,

that

it

and no higher

will

manifest

its

functions.

not aware of any other considerations than those

adduced which. offer even the glimpse of an expla-

nation of the origin of these animal

need

traits in

man.

We

not, however, confine our attention to idiots only.

CEREBRAL DEVELOPMENT.

11.]

Whence come
tion, the

the savage snarl, the destiuctive disposL

obscene language, the wild howl, the offensive

by some of the insane

habits, displayed

nature within

more than

some

large asylums there

bolting his food rapidly, he retires afterat his leisure

he quietly brings

up again into the mouth and masticates

does.

should take up a long time

one,

is

demented person who

one, example of a

wards to a corner, where

it

should

do, unless he has the brute

him ? In most

truly ruminates

Why

deprived of his reason ever become so

human being

brutal in character as

or

S3

if

cow

as the

it

I were to enume-

rate the various brute-like characteristics that are at times

witnessed

among

the insane

enough

some

to say that

very strong facts and arguments in support of Mr. Darwin's views might

We

chology.

may, without

in civilization, as

and

in

be drawn from the

we can

much

morbid psy-

difficulty, trace

savagery

trace animalism in savagery

the degeneration of insanity, in the unkinding^

so to say, of the

human

kind, there are exhibited

denoting the elementary instincts of

It

field of

behoves

us,

composition.

as scientific inquirers, to realize dis-

tinctly the physical

intelligence

its

marks

meaning of the progress of human

What

from generation to generation.

tural differences in the brain are implied

by

it

struc-

That an

increasing purpose runs through the ages, and that " the

thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns,"

no one

will call in question

and

that this progress has

been accompanied by a progressive development of the

cerebral hemispheres, the convolutions of which have in-

creased in

size,

number, and complexity,

will hardly

now

BODY AND MIND.

54

[lect.

Whether the fragments of ancient human

be disputed.

crania which have been discovered in Europe do or

not

testify to the existence of

do

a barbarous race that dis-

appeared before historical time, they certainly mark a race

not higher than the lowest surviving

human

Dr.

variety.

Pritchard's comparison of the skulls of the same nation

him

at different periods of its history led

to the conclu-

sion that the present inhabitants of Britain, " either as the

many ages of great intellectual cultivation or from

some other cause, have much more capacious brain-cases

result of

than their forefathers."

Yet stronger

evidence of a

growth of brain with the growth of intelligence

by an examination of the brains of

Gratiolet

existing savages.

has figured and described the brain of the

Hottentot Venus, who was nowise an

striking

furnished

is

simplicity

convolution

idiot.

He

found a

and a regular arrangement of the

of the frontal lobes, which presented an

almost perfect symmetry in the two hemispheres, involuntarily recalling the regularity

and symmetry of the

cerebral convolutions in the lower animals.

was palpably

inferior to that of

The

brain

a normally developed

white woman, and could only be compared with the brain

of a white idiotic from arrest of cerebral development

Mr. Marshall has also recently examined the brain of a

Bushwoman, and has discovered

tural inferiority

still

evidence of struc-

the primary convolutions, although

present, were smaller

the European

like

and much

less

all

complicated than in

the external connecting convolutions were

more remarkably

defective

the secondary sulci and

convolutions were everywhere decidedly less developed

BRAIN-WEIGHTS.

II.]

55

there was a deficiency of transverse commissural fibres

and

in size,

inferiority,

manous

"

and every one of the

leaned, as

it

forms."

this brain

it

were, to the higher quadni-

The developmental

differences

and the brain of a European were

the same kind

as,

though

less in

degree than, those be-

Europeans the average weight of the brain

educated than in uneducated persons

from a

series

Dr.

is

its size

bearing a general

mental power of the individual.

between

in fact of

Among

tween the brain of an ape and that of man.

cumstances being equal

signs of comparative

other

cir-

relation to the

Thurnam

of carefully-compiled

greater in

tables,

concludes,
that

while

the average weight of the brain in ordinary Europeans

was 547 oz. in ten distinguished men ; and

Professor Wagner found a remarkably complex arrange-

is

49

oz.,

it

ment of the convolutions in the brains of five very eminent

men which he

examined.^ Thus, then, while

we

take

it

to

The following table is compiled from Dr. Thurnam's paper " On

Weight of the Human Brain" [Journal of Mental Science, April
1866):
BRAIN-WEIGHTS OF DISTINGUISHED MEN.
^

the

Ages.

Oz.

1.

Cuvier, Naturalist

2.

Abercrombie, Physician

64

63

3.

Spurzheim, Physician

56

55 'O^

4.

Dirichlet, Mathematician

5.

De Momy,

54
50

53 '6

6.

Daniel Webster, Statesmaji

70

53*5

7.

Campbell, Lord Chancellor

80

53*5

8.

Chalmers, celebrated Preacher

67

9.

Fuchs, Pathologist

52

53
52*9

Gauss, Mathematician

78

52*6

10.

Statesman and Courtier

Average of ten distinguished men

63

....

5^-70

64*5

55*6

54*7
[Brain-

BOD V AND MIND.

56

[lect.

be well established that the convolutions of the human

brain have undergone a considerable development through
the ages,

we may no

conclude that

less justly

larger,

its

more numerous, and complex convolutions reproduce the

higher and more varied mental activity to the progressive
evolution of which their progressive increase has answered

that

of function which has

they manifest the kind

The

determined the structure.

vesicular neurine has

increased in quantity and in quality, and the function of

the increased

and more highly-endowed

display that intelligence which

The

native Australian,

savages, has

who

is

it

structure

unconsciously embodies.

one of the lowest existing

in his language to express such

no words

exalted ideas as justice, love, virtue, mercy; he has

such ideas in his

The

no

mind, and cannot comprehend them.

vesicular neurine

constitution

to

is

which should embody them in

its

and manifest them in its function, has not been

developed in his convolutions

he

is

as incapable therefore

of the higher mental displays of abstract reasoning and

moral feeling as an idiot

is,

and

were we to imagine a person born in

Brain- weights of average European

men

Average brain-weight of male negroes

,,

,,

Indeed,

for a like reason.

this country, at this

Ages.

Oz.

cn-Yo

a7'I

...

44*3

14 congenital idiots (males)

8

,,

,,

(females).

Estimated brain-weight of Microcephalic idiocy (males)

42
41*2

37*5

(females)

32-5

It may be proper to add that the average weight of the adult male
100 90. The
brain is 10 per cent, greater than that of the female

brains of the Hottentot, Bushman,

observation goes, of less

and Australian

are,

weight than those of negroes.

so far as

THE MORAL SENSE.

II.]

time, with a brain of

57

no higher development than the

brain of an Australian savage or a Bushman,

certain that

And

he would be more or

it is

perfectly-

of an imbecile.

less

the only way, I suppose, in which beings of so low

an order of development could be raised to a

level

of feeling

and thought would be by

continued through several generations

civilized

cultivation

they would have

undergo a gradual process of humanization before

to

they could attain to the capacity of civilization.

Some who one moment own

all

freely the

broad truth that

mental manifestations take place through the brain go

on, nevertheless, to straightway

or moral sensibility can

But

if all

deny

that the conscience

be a function of organization.

mental operations are not in

this

world equally

know not what warrant we

be so. The solution of the

functions of organization, I

have

for declaring

any to

much-vexed question concerning the

sense seems to

Are

lie

origin of the

moral

in the considerations just adduced.

not, indeed, our

moral intuitions results of the opera-

tion of the fundamental law of nervous organization

which that which

is

by

consciously acquired becomes an

unconscious endowment, and

is

then transmitted as more

or less of an instinct to the next generation

They

are

examples of knowledge which has been hardly gained

through
being

the

now

suffering

and

experience

of

the

race,

inherited as a natural or instinctive sensibility

of the w^ll-constituted brain of the individual.

matter of our moral feelings

of the ages.
actions which

Take
it

we

are

most

the moral sense,

sanctions

In the

truly the heirs

and examine the

and those which

it

forbids,

and

BODY AND MIND.

58

thus analyse,
will

[lect.

were, decompose,

or, as it

be found that the actions which

its

and

nature,

sanctions are those

it

which may be proved by sober reason

to

be conducive to

the well-being and the progress of the race, and that

prohibitions
in,

would lead

back again

through

we could imagine

if

to

its earliest

its

mind and

its

stance, as

indulged

if freely

the

infancy

human

to

race to

go backwards

the scenes and experiences through which

all

has gone forward to

from

actions which,

its

to the degeneration, if not extinction, of

And

mankind.
live

upon the

fall

it

passed

it

was there before,

present height

and

character at each time

it,

exactly that which

it

to give

it

back

and circum-

gained when

it

should we not find the fragments and

exuviae of the moral sense lying here

and there along the

retrograde path, and a condition at the beginning which,

whether simian or human, was bare of

feehng

We

all true

moral

are daily witnesses

of,

and our

daily actions testify

the operation of that plastic law of nervous organi-

to,

zation

by which separate and successive

combined and so intimately blended

apparently a

observe
observe
the

way

in

in

as to

and undecomposable

in the formation of

it
it,

single

acquisitions are

a more simple and

faculty:

our volitions

we

and we

less disputable form, in

which combinations of movements that have

been slowly formed by practice are executed

constitute

Foster, in his

finally as

"Essay on Decision of Character," makes

this

conception of the individual character, almost in the words used

but the application of

of course not

his.

it

to the race,

and the conclusion drawn, are

THE MORAL SENSE.

II.]

were a single and simple movement.

easily as if they

the moral sense

59

which

is

derived, then,

has been acquired in the process of

through the ages

were

insomuch

If

as

it

human development

not more or less innate in the

well-born individual of this age,

if

he were obliged to go,

as the generations of his forefathers have gone, through

the elementary process of acquiring

much

in the position of a

it,

he would be very

person who, on each occasion

of writing his name, had to go through the elementary

steps of learning to

human brain
natural endowment
of the

ancestors
the

do
is

The

progressive evolution

a proof that we do inherit as a

laboured

the

added

the

so.

acquisitions

structure represents,

as

of our
it

were,

embodied experience and memories of the race and

j

there

is

no greater

beUeving that the moral

difficulty in

may have been so formed, than in believing, what

has long been known and is admitted on all hands, that
sense

the young fox or young dog inherits as an instinct the

special cunning

gone before

it

which the foxes and the dogs that have

have had to win by hard experience.

These remarks are not an unnecessary

will

they have been

made

digression.

Nor

in vain if they serve to fix in

our minds the conviction that the law of progessive evolution

and specialization of nerve-centres, which may be

traced generally from the

first

appearance of nerve tissue

in the lowest animals to the

complex structure of the

nervous system of man, and specially from the rudimentary appearance of cerebral

vertebrata to the

the

human

convolutions in the lower

numerous and complex convolutions of

brain, does not abruptly cease its action at

BODY AND MIND,

6o

[lect.

the vesicular neurine of the hemispheres, but continues

within

in force

Moreover, they are specially to the purpose,

organization.

seeing that they enable us to understand in

how

sense

is

as the latest

and most

of mental organization, the highest

the

that
is

be

first

exquisite product

bloom of

culture,

The wonder would,

we could

more than

discover such

it

Not

detect any structural change in such case

far too delicate for that.

if

moral

to testify to disorder of the mind-centres.

we can

sort

symptoms of mental

often one of the earliest

derangement

is

some

that a perversion or destruction of the

is

it

mental

the

of

intimate recesses

the

it

indeed,

m-icroscopical

changes with the instruments of research which we yet

possess.

We

might almost as well look to discover the

anatomy of a gnat with a

telescope.

I purposely selected for consideration

brain of the idiot, because

of structure, which
cestral influences.
reflect that

human

we

it

the defective

exhibits an undeniable fault

often plainly traceable to evil an-

is

When we

might,

if

we

duly consider

and

this,

chose, arrange a series of

brains which should present a regular gradation

from the brain of an ape to that of a well^developed

European, are we not

fully justified in

unfavourable ancestral influences

supposing that like

may

occasion defects

in the constitution or composition of the mind-centres

which we are yet quite unable to detect?

We know

nothing of the occult molecular movements which are

the physical conditions of our mental operations

know

little

we

or nothing of the chemical changes which

accompany them

cannot,

in fact, detect the difference

INSANE NEUROSIS.

II.]

6i

between the nerve-element of a brain exhausted by exercise

and incapable of
re-invigorated

function

further function,

by sleep and ready

for a

and we know nothing of the

of nerve-cells in the hemispheres.

there

may

effects,

and that of a brain

be,

unknown

intricate

connection

It is plain, then, that

to us save as guessed

from

their

the most important modifications in the molecular

activities

of nerve-element, changes in

position,

and

found

its

chemical com-

actual defects in the physical constitution of

the nerve-centres.
is

day of energetic

Wherefore, when no appreciable defect

in the brain of

disposition to insanity,

one who has had a strong pre-

and has ultimately died insane,

behoves us to forbear a hasty conclusion that

fectly well-constituted brain.

to our senses, there lies a

infinitely little,

the

Close to

a per-

us, yet inaccessible

domain of nature

operations in which

beyond our present ken as are those

it is

that of the

are as

much

that take place in

the remotest regions of space, to which the eye, with

its aids,

it

all

cannot yet reach, and of which the mind cannot

conceive.
certainly cannot

It

be disputed that when nothing

abnormal whatever may be discoverable

of persons

who have

in the brains

a strong hereditary tendency to

insanity, they often exhibit characteristic peculiarities in

their

manner of thought,

in their

feeling,

and conduct, carrying

physiognomy, bodily habit, and mental disposition

the sure marks of their evil heritage.

I believe,

and

the outward and visible

These marks
signs of

invisible peculiarity of cerebral organization.

indeed,

we broach

are,

an inward
Here,

a most important inquiry, which has

BODY AND MIND.

62

only lately attracted attention

and mental

the physical

human

kind.

the

inquiry, namely, into

signs of the degeneracy of the

do not mean

[lect.

whose parents or blood

to assert that all persons

have suffered from

relatives

nervous or mental disease exhibit mental and bodily

peculiarities

some may be

well formed bodily and of

superior natural intelligence, the hereditary disposition in

them not having assumed the character of

but

admits of no dispute that there

of race

may be

called an ijisane temperajnent or

it

is

it

marked by

peculiarities of

Morel,

formation.

done much

deterioration

who was

the

neii7'osis,

is

what

and that

mental and bodily confirst

to indicate,

and has

to prosecute, this line of inquiry, looks

upon

an individual so constituted as containing in himself the

germs of a morbid variety

summing up

the pathological

elements which have been manifested by his ancestors,

he represents the

happen

to

first

term of a

series which, if

nothing

check the transmission of degenerate elements

from generation to generation, ends in the extreme degeneracy of idiocy, and in extinction of the family.

What

are the bodily

temperament

and mental marks of the insane

That there are such

is

most

certain

for

although the varieties of this temperament cannot yet be

described with any precision, no one
self to

in

observe closely will

many

fail

instances, whether

to

who accustoms him-

be able to say

positively,

an insane person, and even a

sane person in some instances, comes of an insane family

or not.
the

An

head,

features,

irregular

and unsymmetrical conformation of

a want of regularity and harmony of the

and,

as

Morel holds, malformations of the

THE INSANE TEMPERAMENT.

II.]

external ear, are sometimes observed.

apt to occur in early

other spasmodic

life

and there are

tics,

there

signs of the

full

eyelids,

neurosis.

In

and prominent, have a vacillating

movement, and a vacantly-abstracted, or

and

face,

are peculiarities of the eyes, which,

though they may be

suspicious,

grimaces, or

Stammering and defects of pronun-

are also sometimes

other cases

Convulsions are

movements of muscles of

or lips afterwards.
ciation

63

half-fearful, half-

There may, indeed, be

distrustful look.

something in the eye wonderfully suggestive of the look

The walk and manner

of an animal.

are uncertain, and,

may be

though not easily described in words,

With these bodily

peculiar.

traits

are associated pecu-

liarities

of thought, feeling, and conduct.

insane,

a person

marked

is

persons.
to think

who has

Without being

the insane neurosis strongly

thought to be strange, queer, and not like other

He

apt to see things under novel aspects, or

is

about them under novel relations, which would

not have occurred to an ordinary mortal.

words

is,

distinctly

am

Punning on

inclined to think, sometimes an indication

of the temperament, and so also that higher kind of wit

which
sense

startles us

with the use of an idea in a double

of both which aptitudes no better example can be

given than that of Charles Lamb.

show

that the insane

and indeed
genius.

it

Even

His

temperament

is

ca^e, too,

may

compatible with,

not seldom coexists with, considerable

those

who have

it

in a

more marked form

often exhibit remarkable special talents

and

aptitudes,

such as an extraordinaiy talent for m.usic, or for

culation, or a prodigious

memory

for details,

cal-

when they

BODY AND MIND.

64

may be

little

indeed, a

is,

and do

upon

[lect.

better than imbecile in other things.

marked

There

instinctive character in all they think

they seem not to need or to be able to reflect

their

own mental

At one time miduly

states.

apparent cause,

elated, at another time depressed without

they are prone to do things differently from the rest of

the world; and

now and

then they do whimsical and

seemingly quite purposeless

ditions of excitement,

when

acts,

especially under con-

the impulses springing out of

the unconscious morbid nature surprise and overpower

Indeed, the mental balance

them.

altogether

by any

great moral shock, or

continued anxiety.
system, too, such as

change,

The

is

it

all,

and

strain of

change in

the

caused by the development of

is

state,

and the

on such persons are

I think

climacteric

it

in

some respects

much drunk

will

stability.

be found

as

mad

for

in most, if

cases of insanity caused by alcohol that there has

been a predisposition to
I

by the

physical

does not make them so

the time being

not

great

easily upset

not without danger to their mental

effects of alcohol

special

by the puerperal

puberty,

may be

it.

have sketched generally the features of the insane

temperament, but there are really several varieties of

which need

to

we meet with

be observed and

described.

it

In practice

individuals representing every gradation

from the mildest form of the insane temperament down

to actual idiocy.

These cases ought

groups according to their

we

shall

scientific

not

to

be arranged

affinities, for until this

make much

real progress

in

be done

towards exact

notions respecting the causation and pathology

MORAL DEFECTS.

II.]

One group might

of insanity.
beings,

ha\ang the

65

consist of those egotistic

who

insane neurosis,

peculiar morbid suspicion of everything

manifest

and everybody

they detect an interested or maUcious motive in the most

innocent actions of others, ahvays looking out for an evil

interpretation

and even events they regard as

Incapable of

conspiracy against them.

and true sympathies, they

tion

that

there

is

altruistic reflec-

morbid

between them and the world

nothing for

it

and

live a life of solitude

self-brooding, entrenched within their

until the discord

in a sort of

self-feeling,
is

so great

but to count them mad.

Another group might be made of those persons of unsound mental temperament who are born with an entire
absence of the moral sense, destitute of the possibility

even of moral feeling

moral relations of

life,

person colour-blind

is

without ear for music

Although there
moral

is

sensibility

happen

in

they are as truly insensible to the

as deficient in this regard, as a

to certain colours, or as
is

one who

is

to the finest harmonies of sound.

usually conjoined with this absence of

more

or less weakness of mind,

some instances

that

there

is

it

does

a remarkably

acute intellect of the cunning type.

The

observations of intelligent prison surgeons

are

tending more and more to prove that a considerable proportion of criminals

come

are

weak-minded or

epileptic,

of families in which insanity, epilepsy, or

neurosis exists.

or

some other

Mr. Thompson, surgeon to the General

Prison of Scotland, has gone so far recently as to express

his conviction that the principal business of prison sur-

geons must always be with mental defects or disease

F

66

BODY AND MIND.

that the diseases

and causes of death among prisoners

are chiefly of the nervous system

treatment of crime
that there

crhnmal

is

class,

and, in

fine, that

crime

relations of nature

that crime

is

hereditary in the

is

and descent

really fnorbid varieties,

degeneration

and that

a disorder of mind, having close

to epilepsy, dipsomania,

insanity, and other forms of degeneracy.

physical

holds

marked by peculiar low physical and

families of criminals belonging to this class

are

the

a distinct and incurable

criminals

mental characteristics

this hereditary

He

a branch of psychology.

among

is

[lect.

Siich criminals

and often exhibit marks of

spinal

deformities, stammering,

imperfect organs of speech, club-foot, cleft palate, harelip,

deafness, paralysis, epilepsy,

which

relates a striking case,

is

and

scrofula.

Moreau

of interest as indicating

the alliance between morbid or degenerate varieties,

which

Mrs.

an inn

may quote

-,

here.

aged thirty-two.

at the time of the great

Her

grandfather kept

French Revolution, and

during the Reign of Terror he had profited by the

situation in

and

critical

which many nobles of the department found

themselves to get them secretly into his house, where he

was believed
daughter,

to

have robbed and murdered them.

who was

His

in his secrets, having quarrelled with

him, denounced him to the authorities, but he escaped

conviction from want of proofs.

mitted suicide.

One of her

She subsequently com-

brothers had nearly murdered

her with a knife on one occasion, and another brother

hanged himself

Her

paroxysmally violent.

sister

Her

was

epileptic, imbecile,

and

daughter, the patient, after

PATHOLOGICAL KINSHIP.

II.]

6.7

swimming

in the head, noises in the ears, flashes before

the eyes,

became deranged, fancying

plotting against

and was

finally

crime, melancholia, epilepsy, suicide,

at

The moral element

it ?

a complete and sound character

put in an asylum.

members of

there were, in different

wonder

were

purchasing arms and barricading

her,

herself in her room,

Thus

that people

this family,

and mania. Need we

is

an essential part of

he who

destitute of

it,

being unquestionably to that extent a defective being,

is

on the road

therefore
is

not a matter of

when

to,

or marks, race degeneracy

much wonder

better influences

is

and

it

that his children should,

do not intervene

to

check the

morbid tendency, exhibit a further degree of degeneracy,

and be

who

varieties.

think that no one

has studied closely the causation of insanity will

mode

question this
I

morbid

actual

could not,

of production.

would, in the present state of know-

if I

ledge, describe accurately all the characteristics of the

insane neurosis, and group according to their affinities

the cases testifying to

now

with

its

morbid

its

influence.

The

chief concern

peculiarities is to point out,

first,

that

they mark some inherited fault of brain-organization

and, secondly, that the cause of such fault
alone, in the parent, but

such as hysteria,

may be

epilepsy,

is

not insanity

other nervous disease,

alcoholism,

paralysis,

and

Except in the case of suicidal

neuralgia of

all

insanity,

not usual for the parent to transmit to the

it is

kinds.

child the particular form of mental derangement

which he has suffered

epilepsy in the child,

insanity in the parent

and epilepsy
F 2

from

may be

in the parent insanity

BODY AND MIND.

68

in the child

and

families

hi

to insanity exists, one

epileptic, a third

may

fourth

may commit

which

affect the

seem

to

[lecT.

where a strong tendency

member may be

suffer

insane, another

from severe neuralgia, and a

suicide.

The morbid

conditions

motor- nerve-centres in one generation

concentrate themselves

sometimes upon the

In truth,

sensory or the ideational centres in another.

nervous disease

one form

is

a veritable Proteus, disappearing in

to reappear in another, and,

it

ously skipping one generation to fasten

The

different forms

children

do

are

may

be, caprici-

upon the next

of insanity that occur in young

as all forms of

it

except general paralysis

may

almost always traceable to nervous disease in

the preceding generation, a neuropathic condition being

really

the

element in their causation.

essential

cases of acute

mania

in children of a few

The

weeks or a few

years old which have been described might

more pro-

perly be classed as examples of idiocy with excitement

There can be no true mania

until there

is

some mind.

But we do meet sometimes in older children with a

genuine acute mania, occurring usually in connection with
chorea or epilepsy, and presenting the symptoms,

may

so express

it,

movements of these

diseases.

some

spasmodic and convulsive

More

or less dulness of

and apathy of movement, giving the seeming

of a degree of imbecility,
in

of a mental chorea or an epilepsy of

the mind, but without the

intelligence

if

cases there

is

is

common enough in chorea, and

violent delirium

but, besides these

cases, there are others in which, without choreic disorder

of movements, there

is

a choreic mania

it is

an active

TRANSITORY FURY.

II.]

delirium of ideas which

the counterpart of the usual

is

delirium of movements, and

its

69

marked incoherence are

automatic character and

its

enough

striking

to

an ordinary

Hallucinations of the special senses, and loss

observer.

accompany

or perversion of general sensibility, usually

the delirium, the disorder affecting the centres of special

arid general sensation, as well as the mind-centres.

Between

this choreic

mania and

epileptic

more or

less of the

hybrid forms

of a cata-

are intermediate conditions partaking

character of one or the other

leptic nature.

The

child will

its

while

impressions,

answers are given, or there

is

times

other

at

vague

a sudden bursting out into

wild shrieks or incoherent raving.

If this

be of a

reli-

apt to be thought by ignorant per-

gious kind, the child

is

sons to be inspired.

The

and are repeated

limbs rigid or fixed

There may be apparent insen-

in a strange posture.
to

for hours or days in a

lie

seeming ecstasy or trance, with

sibility

mania there

attacks are of variable duration,

On

at varying intervals.

they pass into attacks of chorea

the one

hand

and, on the other hand,

into true epileptic seizures, or alternate with them.

In children, as in

adults,

a brief attack of violent

mania, a genuine mania transitoria,

may

low, or take the place of an epileptic

case being a

masked

precede, or fol-

fit

in the latter

Children of three or

epilepsy.

four years of age are sometimes seized with attacks of

violent shrieking, desperate stubbornness, or furious rage,

when they
can

bite, tear, kick,

and do

all

the destruction they

these seizures, which are a sort of vicarious epilepsy,

come on

periodically,

and may

either pass in the course

BODY AND MIND.

70

'

[lect.

may

of a few months into regular epilepsy, or

with

Older children have perpetrated crimes of a

it.

savage

and determined nature

murder

under

incendiarism
by

not

or

It is of the

utmost importance to

which the

epileptic neurosis

character,

and

when

to

epileptic

great

deep

may have on

keep in mind the

effect

the moral

possibilit}^

of

its

ex-

a savage, apparently motiveless, and unac-

has been

known

hitherto gentle, amiable,

seen

can

it

fail to

and abrupt change

single epilep-

change entirely the moral

to

character, rendering a child rude, vicious,

who was
who has

convulsions.

realize the

countable crime has been committed.

tic seizure

and even

the influence of similar attacks of tran-

sitory fury, followed

istence

alternate

and

and perverse,

tractable.

No

one

have been struck with the

in

moral character which

takes place in the asylum epileptic immediately before

the recurrence of his

he

is

fits

in the intervals

often an amiable, obliging,

between them

and industrious being, but

when they impend he becomes sullen, m.orose, and most

dangerous to meddle with. Not an attendant but can
then

foretell that

he

is

going to have his

fits,

as

confi-

dently almost as he can foretell that the sun will rise next
day.
is

Morel has made the

interesting observation,

which

certainly well founded, that the epileptic neurosis

exist

for a

masked

may

considerable period in an undeveloped or

form, showing

itself,

not by convulsions, but by

periodic attacks of mania, or by manifestations of ex-

treme moral perversion, which are apt to be thought

wdlful viciousness.
will

touch them

But they are not

no moral influence

they depend upon a morbid physical

INSANE NEUROSIS.

II.]

71

condition, which can only have a physical cure

they get their explanation, and indeed justification,

when

wards,

The

epileptic neurosis

form, affecting the

form
is

and when

mind

for

made

exists in its

it

The

difficulty

inasmuch as epilepsy

greater,

engender the insane neurosis in the

in the parent the epileptic

the epileptic neurosis

is,

that

words

It is truly

of doing so

may

insanity

in the child.

common

with

that

when

it

develops

displays itself in deeds rather than

in

an insanity of action rather than of thought.

iieu7'osis

case which

is

Take, for example, a

spasvwdica.

one of a

class, that

of the late Alton mur-

who, taking a walk one fine afternoon, met some

derer,
little

it

from one

apt to burst out in a

it is
;

it

and

child,

neurosis

convulsive explosion of violence

into actual insanity

masked

in the parent

character which the insane neurosis has in

in

closely allied

some time before convulsions

the insane neurosis.

'of

most

certainly

is

hardly possible to distinguish

is

it

after-

actual epilepsy occurs.

to the insane neurosis

occur,

and

girls

at play,

enticed one of

them

into

a neigh-

bouring hop-garden, there murdered her and cut her

body

into fragments, which

quietly

home, openly washing

the way,
girl

it

he scattered about, returned

made an

was

fine

;"

in the river

" Killed a

At the

on

little

and when forthwith taken

custody, confessed what he

it.

hands

entry in his diary,

and hot

reason for doing

his

into

had done, and could give no

trial it

was proved that

his

had had an attack of acute mania, and that another

near relative was in confinement, suffering from homicidal

father

mania.

He

himself had been noted as peculiar; he had

BODY AND MIND.

72

been subject

to

of depression, been prone to

fits

without apparent reason,

caprices of conduct

watch him from

[lect.

and

fear that

weep

and had exhibited singular

it

had once been necessary

he might commit

He

suicide.

in the legal or the ordinary sense of the

was not insane

term, but he certainly had the insane neurosis, and

may be presumed
lived,

to

confidently that

it

he would, had he

have become insane.

Those who have

well that there

is

practical experience of insanity

know

a most distressing form of the disease,

commit

in which a desperate impulse to

suicide or homi-

The
terrible impulse is deplored sometimes by him who
suffers from it as deeply as by anyone who witnesses it
cide

overpowers and takes prisoner the reason.

it

of
is

causes
its

him unspeakable

nature,

no

and

further

distress

he

is fully

struggles in vain against

become

convulsive impulse.

his reason

than in having lost power to

affected

control, or having

it

conscious

the slave

may be

It

the morbid

of,

that this

and

form of derange-

ment does sometimes occur where there

is

no hereditary

predisposition to insanity, but there can be

no doubt

that in the great majority of cases of the kind there

such a neuropathic

state.

The impulse

vulsive idea, springing from a

element, and
convulsion.

it

is

How

strictly

of this class to death

for

morbid condition of nerve

comparable with an epileptic

which dooms an insane person

if

he knew what he was doing when

he committed a murder

man

truly a con-

grossly unjust, then, the judicial cri-

terion of responsibility

is

is

It

were as reasonable to hang

not stopping by an act of will a convul-

AURA EPILEPTICA.

ir.]

An

sion of which he was conscious.

73

interesting circum-

stance in connection with this morbid impulse

convulsive activity

is

is

that

its

sometimes preceded by a feeling

very like the aura epileptica

a strange morbid

sensation,

beginning in some part of the body, and rising gradually

to the brain.

The

patient

may

of the impending attack in

case was

some

calmed by having

together with a ribbon

accordingly give warning

when

instances,

and

in

thumbs loosely

his

one
tied

the forewarning occurred.

Dr. Skae records an instructive example in one of his

The

annual reports.

feeling

began

at

the

toes, rose

gradually to the chest, producing a sense of faintness

and

constriction,

momentary

and then

to the

then of the arms.

that

This aura was accom-

loss of consciousness.

panied by an involuntary jerking

the patient'

It
felt

head, producing a

first

of the legs,

and

was when these attacks came on

impelled to commit some act of

On

violence against others or himself.

one occasion he

attempted to commit suicide by throwing himself into

the water

He

more

often the im.pulse

was to attack

others.

deplored his condition, of which he spoke with great

intelligence, giving all the details of his past history

feehngs.

and

In other cases a feeling of vertigo, a trembling,

and a vague dread of something

fearful being

about to

happen, resembling the vertigo and momentary vague

despair of one variety of the epileptic aura, precede the
attack.

Indeed, whenever a murder has been committed

suddenly, without premeditation, without malice, without

motive, openly, and in a

way

in

way

quite diiferent from

the

which murders are commonly done, we ought to

BODY AND MIND.

74

[lect.

look carefully for evidence of previous epilepsy, and,

should there have been no epileptic

an

a7i7'a epileptica

It

for evidence of

fits,

and other symptoms

allied to epilepsy.

worth while observing that in other forms of

is

when we look

insanity,

closely into the symptoms, there

are not unfrequently complaints of strange, painful,

some

distressing sensations in

and

part of the body, which

appear to have a relation to the mental derangement not

unlike that which the epileptic aura has to the epileptic

Common

fit.

enough

the epigastrium

it is

a distressing sensation about

is

not a definite pain,

is

not compa-

rable strictly to a burning, or weight, or to any

sensation, but

is

an indescribable feeling of

which the mental troubles are

rises to

to

a pitch of anguish,
the

think, destroys

referred.

when

known

distress to

sometimes

It

abolishes the power

it

of identity, and causes

feeling

such unspeakable suffering and despair that suicide

attempted or accomplished.
tressing

and indescribable sensation

the head or
the
their

In other cases

pelvic

down

in the

is

the spine, and sometimes

organs.

In

all

mental trouble with

it,

it

crown of

it

from

arises

connect

cases the patients

regarding

is

the dis-

as the cause of

the painful confusion of thought, the utter inability of

and the paroxysm of

exertion,

the

despair.

Perhaps they exaggerate

there can be

distressing

little

ideas,

features,

have

to these

anomalous sensations.

them

importance

but

doubt that writers on mental disorders,

too exclusively occupied with

class

its

not hitherto given

as hypochondriacal,

prominent

the

sufficient

We
and

mental

attention

have been apt to

to pass

them over

TYRANNY OF ORGANIZATION.

II.]

no

as of

special significance

but I cannot help think-

may sometimes

ing that, properly studied, they

more of the

us

sanity

of

its

real nature of the particular

than

teach

form of

probable course, termination, and

treatment

suitable

75

many much more

in-

most

its

obtrusive

symptoms.
In bringing

this lecture to

an end,

may

fitly

point

how entirely thus far the observation of the phenomena of defective and disordered mind proves their
out

essential

dependence on defective and disordered

and how

closely they are related to

The

nervous functions.
inherits

in

neurosis to which

some other disordered

insane neurosis which the child

consequence of

surely a defect of

parent's

its

physical nature as
it is

brain,

insanity

the

is

so closely allied.

It is

is

as

epileptic

an

putable though extreme fact that certain

human

are born with such a native deficiency of

mind

indis-

beings
that

all

the training and education in the world will not raise

them

to the height of brutes

less true that, in

and

consequence of

I believe it to

be not

evil ancestral influences,

individuals are born with such a flaw or warp of nature

that all the care in the world will not prevent

them from

being vicious or criminal, or becoming insane.

may do much, and

may do much but we cannot

tion,
life

it

is true,

dations

on which the

tyranny of his organization

that

is

innate in

irresistibly

the circumstances of
forget that the foun-

acquisitions of education

are not acquired, but inherited.

Educa-

No

must

rest

one can escape the

no one can elude the destiny

him, and which unconsciously and
;

shapes his ends, even

when he

believes that

BODY AND MIND.

76

he

[lect.

determining them with consummate foresight and

is

skill.

well-grounded and comprehensive theory of

mind must recognize and embrace these

meet us every moment of our
if

we

lives,

facts

they

and cannot be ignored

are in earnest in our attempts to construct a mental

science; and

it

is

because metaphysical mental philo-

sophy has taken no notice whatever of them, because

is

bound by the

principle of

its

it,

it,

it

has borne no

fruits

as

that,

"not only what was asserted once

is

and. fed."

by

bestowed

Bacon

said of

asserted

but what were questions once are questions

instead of being resolved

it

existence as a philosophy

to ignore them, that, notwithstanding the labour

on

ii.

still,

still,

and,

discussion, are only fixed

LECTURE
Gentlemen,

In my

IIL

last lecture I

a part in the production of insanity

hereditary neurosis, and

more

scrutinizing

showed how

played by the

is

pointed out the necessity of

closely than has yet

been done the

features of the different forms of mental

that

own

its

large

Past

baneful influence.

all

derangement
question

it

is

the most important element in the causation of insanity.

It

cannot be in the normal order of events that a

healthy organism

mental

trials,

should be unable to bear ordinary

much

less

a natural physiological function

such as the evolution of puberty, the puerperal

the climacteric change.
grief or

the

root

instability of

a.n

of

all

outbreak of insanity,

of the

ill

in

nerve elem-ent

selves earnestly to

nation

therefore, the strain of

one of these physiological conditions becomes

the occasion of
for

When,

state, or

some

Not

we must look

natural
until

infirmity

we apply

or

our-

an exact observation and discrimi-

the mental and bodily conditions which

co-operate in the causation, and are m-anifested in the

symptoms, of the manifold

varieties

of insanity, shall

BODY AND MIAW.

78

we
of

render more precise and satisfactory our knowledge

its

causes,

unscientific
is

its

it

classification,

and

when we

appears,

No

be a

and

mad

one goes

man

reflect, to

predisposing

because he or she happens

certain ages, there occur

at

enumerate, as

its

woman, but because

or a

How

treatment.

its

commonly done, sex and age amongst

causes
to

[lect.

to

each sex,

physiological

special

changes, which are apt to run into pathological effects

How

in persons predisposed to nervous disorder.

it

happens that a moral cause of insanity

and

falsely

sought

is

found in a state of mind such as grief or

jealousy,

which

disease

Again,

often

really

is

an early symptom

how vague and

of

the

unsatisfactory

the

accepted psychological classification of insanity, under

which forms of disease

descriptions

obvious

that

account

of

are

learn

very

to claim separate

same

included in the

we
the

enough

distinct

little

of

class

It

value from an

mania generally

treatment of

is

when

there are included under the class diseases so different

as

puerperal mania,

syphilitic, epileptic,

the

and

mania of general

hysterical mania, each presenting

and requiring treatment

features

in

some degree

The hope and the way of advance

of mental disorders

lie

carefully

the

special.

knowledge

in our

in the exact observation of the

varieties of the insane diathesis,

bodily functions

paralysis,

and of the

and disorders upon these

effects

in

in tracing the relations of

of the

noting

bodily as well as mental symptoms that

characterize the several forms of derangement of

and

of

nervous system.

We

mind

mental to other disorders

must aim

to

distinguish

HYSTERICAL INSANITY.

III.]

well

if

we would teach

exhibit

them

special

in

well

and

features

79

to separate the cases that

and

relations,

arrange

to

groups or classes according to their affinities,

just as

we do

I did in

my

habitually with general paralysis,

last .lecture

Following

this plan,

and as

with epileptic mania.

we might

in like

manner make

An

of hysterical insanity a special variety.

attack

of

acute maniacal excitement, with great restlessness, rapid

and disconnected but not

sation,

entirely

incoherent conver-

sometimes tending to the erotic or obscene,

evidently without abolition of consciousness

still

may

more

or

less

coherent and seemingly

occur in connection with,

Or

usual hysterical convulsions.

symptoms may pass by degrees

Loss of power of
hysteria in all

sensations

its

into chronic

the

insanity.

symptom of

and disordered movemjcnts there

capriciously

of,

Protean forms, and with the perverted

fanciful

always

the patient loses

self-control,

about her health,

feigning strange diseases,

is

This increases until

perversion.

more and more of her energy and

becoming

imagining

or

and keeping up the delusion

imposture with a pertinacity that might seem

incredible,

advice

instead

wilful,

the ordinary hysterical

swallows up the other symptoms

or the

or

a characteristic

will is

some degree of moral

it

laughing,

and perverseness of conduct, which

singing, or rhyming,
is

getting

more and more impatient of the

and interference of

the interests

and

others,

and

duties of her position.

indifferent

to

Outbursts of

temper become almost outbreaks of mania, particularly

at

the

menstrual periods.

An

erotic

tinge

may be

BODY AND MIND.

8o

observable in her manner of behaviour

removed

in time

end

it

will

so

when

but

family,

if it

is

an

the patient be

if

and placed under good

be allowed

in dementia,

there

is

from the anxious but hurtful sympathies

and attentions of her

moral control

It

states.

form of derangement

curable

easily

and occasionally

quasi-ecstatic or cataleptic

are

there

[lect.

and

is

it

to

go on unchecked,

especially apt to

marked hereditary

do

predisposition.

In some instances we observe a curious connection

between insanity and neuralgia, not unlike that which,

existing

between epilepsy and a special form of neuralgia,

induced Trousseau to describe the

I

for

have under observation

a lady

who

some time from an intense neuralgia of the

of the face
to

now

latter as epileptiform.

be

after

the removal of a tooth

whom

on Insanity" Dr. Burrows

tells

In his

Griesinger

cases

of a very eloquent divine

Dr.

" Mrs.

in

pains in the
to that

site.

Brodie mentions two cases of a

one of them a

column alternated with

neuralgia

of

true insanity.

the

These

appear to be instances of the transference of

m.orbid
as

late Sir B.

kind

vertebral

his care,

" Commentaries

who was always maniacal when free from

spine, and sane when the pains returned
similar

but an

a double occipital neuralgia was followed by

a melancholic state of mind.

the

half

suspected

mentions, a similar case of a gentleman under

And

left

at the root of the mischief the pain ceased,

attack of melancholia immediately followed.

in

suffered

action from one nerve-centre to

another

Darwin formerly noticed and commented

,"

he

says,

such
on.

" was seized every day, about

TRANSFORMATION OF NEUROSES.

III.]

the

same hour, with

8i

violent pain in the right side

of

her bowels, about the situation of the lower edge of

the

without fever, which increased for an hour

liver,

or two,

it

till

screaming she

sometimes in

common

became

quite intolerable.

which terminated

into convulsions,

fell

fainting,

with

After violent

without stertor, as

or

in

epilepsy; at other times a temporary insanity

supervened, which continued about half an hour, and

the
that

ceased."

fit

It

seems not unreasonable to suppose

the morbid action in the

sensory centres, which

the violent neuralgia implied, w^as at one time transferred

to the

and

motor

centres, giving rise to convulsive

another time to the mind-centres, giving

at

There

to convulsive ideas.
is

is

rise

a form of neuralgia which

and there

the analogue of a convulsion,

which

movements,

a mania

is

the counterpart, in the highest nerve-centres,

is

of neuralgia and convulsions in their respective centres.

Perhaps

if

we had

insanity

to

induce

general convulsions

the power in
artificially

some cases of acute

a violent neuralgia,

to transfer the

or

morbid action from

the mind-centreswe might, for the time being at any

rate,

cure the insanity.

on now

pass

to

exhibit

the

sympathies in the causation of

effects

of

mental disorders,

rather the specific effects of particular organs

features

of

different

forms

of

lecture I pointed out that there

logical consent of functions

that the

brain,

eonseiit;

and tha

as

the

organic

insanity.
is

In

or

upon the

my

first

the closest physio-

between the

different organs

organ of mind, joins in

this

our ideas and feelings are obtained

BOD Y AND MIND.

82

[lect.

by the concurrence of impressions from the

organs

body and the

of the

The consequence

internal

organ, acting upon the

specific
all

testifies

brain,

may

engender,

The mental

effects

may be

general or

a general emotional depression through which

ideas

is

sympathy, morbid feelings and their

pathological

related ideas.

of the

that derangement of an

senses.

by

internal

external organs

loom gloomy, of which every one's experience

and a

special

morbid

feeling with

its

particular

sympathetic ideas, of which the phenomena of dreaming

and

insanity yield illustrations.

The

cannot venture to trace

most marked
of

we

shght shades of this kind of morbid influence

ovaries

effects.

or

uterus,

but

Take,

for

which

occasion of nymphomania

is

it

is

easy to recognize the

example, the

irritation

sometimes the direct

a disease by which the most

woman is transformed into a raging

Some observers have, without sufficient
fury of lust.
reason I think, made of nymphomania a special variety,

chaste and modest

under

grouping

the

prominent symptom.

term cases

But

it

in

which

it

was a

certainly occurs in forms

of mania that are quite distinct

in puerperal

mania, for

example, in epileptic mania, and in the mania sometimes

met with

in old

women

and the cases

in

which

it

does

occur have not such characteristic features as warrant

the formation of a definite group.

note and bear in mind

arise

feelings

insanity
in a

how

how

We

often

have, indeed, to

sexual

and display themselves

in

ideas
all

and

sorts

of

they connect themselves with ideas which

normal mental

state

have no known relation to

INSANITY OF PUBESCENCE.

III.]

them

so that

seems as inexplicable that a virtuous

it

person should ever have

she should manifest, so

Perhaps

feeling.

83

is

it

learnt, as

much

distressing that

is

it

obscenity of thought and

such

that

ideas

are

by unrelated

synipathetically in a morbidly active brain

other nervous

ideas, just as, in

from the seat of the primary

too,

what an important agent

the sexual feeling

is,

it

at the

naked intervention of

were, into

it

its

mind

of thought, feeling,

its

is

less

and

cause for wonder

simple impulses in the

co-ordination of function

abolished in the supreme centres, and the

as

Considering,

in the evolution of

remotely inspires, there

phenomena of mania, when

in parts distant

irritation.

how much

energy

sympathetic

disorders,

morbid sensations and movements occur

excited

mind

resolved,"

animal elements.

primitive

is

This

should teach us to take care not to attribute too hastily

the sexual feelings to a morbid irritation of the sexual
It is plain that

organs.

origin, just as the

in

may have

excitation of

proceed from the mind.

we must bear

they

mind

Here, in

them

a purely central
health

in

fact, as in

may

other cases,

the reciprocal influence of

mind

on organ, and of organ on mind.

The great mental revolution which occurs at puberty

may go beyond its physiological limits, in some instances,
and become pathological. The vague feelings, blind
longings,

mind

and obscure impulses which then

attest the

not at

first its

arise in the

awakening of an impulse which knows

aim or the means of

its

kind of vague and yearning melancholy

gratification; a
is

engendered,

which leads to an abandonment to poetry of a gloomy

G

BODY AND MIND.

84

[lect.

Byronic kind, or to indulgence in indefinite religious

and

feelings

object

to

fill

need of something

consequently, where there

the invisible
tion

there

is

no

is

a trying period for youth

and where

an inherited infirmity of nervous organization,

is

pass into actual destruction of

The form

is

properly treated

to be recurrent,

and

occurs especially in
there

periods

are

apparently

which

is

be not peculiar

weeping,

more

seem

alternating

are

no

with

of

times

the behaviour
wilful

is

the

be blunted or abolished, the

when

in health

delusions,

fixed

them

to

evinced to work, to rational

patient taking pleasure in distressing those

she would most consider

apt

especially at the menstrual

is

to

is

and paroxysms

and soon becomes perverse and

natural affections

when

The former

serious.

depression

of

a disinclination

capricious,

quasi-

not very serious

much more

girls, if it

causeless

is

amusement, to exertion of any kind

there

and

or an acute mania, which

of undue excitability,

periods

easily

it.

believe to be either a fanciful

life

may

of derangement connected with this period

hysterical melancholia,
it

worship

of this mental revolu-

the natural disturbance of the mental balance

of

the

adore

to

visible object of

The time

adored.

at best,

is,

some

a want of

is

the void in the feelings, to satisfy

yearning

undefined

There

aspirations.

there

whose

feelings

and, although

are

unfounded

suspicions or fears and changing morbid fancies.

The

anxious sympathies of those most dear are apt to foster

the morbid self-feeling which craves them, and thus to

aggravate the disease

what such patients need to learn

SEXUAL INSANITY.

III.]

is,

85

not the indulgence but a forgetfulness of their feeUngs,

not the observation but the renunciation of

not

self,

In some of these cases,

introspection but useful action.

where the disease has become chronic, delusions of

sexual

origin occur,

and the patient whose

intact imagines that she

The morbid
system

is

is

virginity

pregnant or has had a baby.

has

self-feeling that

its

root in the sexual

not unapt to take on a religious guise.

serve examples of this in certain

day

religious sects

and

love,

to

commingle

abound

especially

We

members of those

which profess

and which

is

in

ob-

latter-

religion

No

America.

physiologist can well doubt that the holy kiss of love in

such cases owes

ail its

warmth

to the sexual feeling

consciously or unconsciously inspires

mystical union of the sexes
is

nowise mystical, when

lies

it

lives of

or that

the

very close to a union that

does not lead to madness.

A similar intimate connection

exaltation

it,

which

between fanatical

and sexual excitement

is

such religious enthusiasts as

religious

exemplified by the
St.

Theresa and

St.

Catherine de Sienne, whose nightly trances and visions,

in

which they believed themselves received as veritable

bosom

and transported

into

an unspeakable ecstasy by the touch of His sacred

lips,

spouses into the

attested,

of Christ

though they knew

it

sexual organs on the mind.

not, the influence of excited

More extreme examples of

a like pathological action are afforded by those insane

women who

believe themselves to be visited

ravished by persecutors during the night.

cinations, betraying

by

lovers or

Sexual hallu-

an ovarian or uterine excitement,

might almost be described as the characteristic feature of

BODY AND MIND.

85

the insanity of old maids

[lect.

the false visions of unreal

indulgence being engendered probably in the same way

as visions of banquets occur in the

dreams of a starving

person, or as visions of cooling streams to one

perishing of

women

It

thirst.

seems

to

be the

fact that,

who

is

although

bear sexual excesses better than men, they suffer

more than men do from the

entire deprivation of sexual

intercourse.

The development

may

of puberty

lead indirectly to

nsanity by becoming the occasion of a vicious habit of

cases

men and it is not always easy to say in such

how much of the evil is due to pubescence and how

much

to self-abuse.

self-abuse in

But the form of mental derangement

directly traceable to self-abuse has certainly characteristic

features.

There are no acute symptoms, the onset of the

disease being most gradual.

sively egotistic

and

The

and impracticable

self-conceit

patient

he

becomes

is full

of self-feeling

insensible to the claims of others

him, and of his duties to them

offen-

interested

upon

only in

hypochondriacally watching his morbid sensations, and

attending to his morbid feelings.

His mental energy

is

sapped; and though he has extravagant pretensions, and

often speaks of great projects engendered

he never works systematically

an incredible
in indolent

he thinks

for

and spends

self-brooding.

hostile to him, because they

interest in his sufferings

he

is

His

his days
relatives

do not take the

which he craves, nor yield

ciently to his pretensions, but perhaps urge

kind of work

his conceit,

any aim, but exhibits

vacillation of conduct,

and suspicious

by

him

to

suffi-

some

utterly incapable of conceiving that

PERIODIC INSANITY.

III.]

As

he has duties to them.

87

matters get worse, the general

more

suspicion of the hostihty of people takes

form,

and delusions spring up

sively of him, or

what passes
electricity or

that persons speak offen-

watch him in the

in his mind, or

comment on
upon him by

or

street,

play tricks

mesmerism, or

definite

some other mysterious

in

His delusions are the objective explanation, by

way.

wrong imagination, of the perverted

may be
signals

Messages

feelings.

received from heaven by peculiar telegraphic

trances.

and
It

there

what exalted

strange

is

occasionally

are

quasi-cataleptic

feelings

moral and religious aims these patients

and high

will often declare

they have, who, incapable of reforming themselves, are

ready to reform the world.

one of moody or vacant

and worse stage

self-absorption,

They

loss of mental power.

later

and of extreme

are silent, or,

if

they con-

verse, they discover delusions of a suspicious or

character, the perverted sexual passion

colour to their thoughts.

the

last.

This

is

giving the

die miserable wrecks at

and

its

characteristic features

seldom,

nevertheless, I think

that

produces

the co-operation

it

still

obscene

a form of insanity which certainly has

special exciting cause

its

They

is

without

self-abuse

of the

if

ever,

insane

neurosis.

The monthly

activity of the ovaries

advent of puberty in
the

women

has a notable effect upon

mind and body; wherefore

portant cause

Most women
capricious,

which marks the

it

may become an

of mental and physical

at that

time are susceptible,

any cause of vexation

im-

derangement.
irritable,

affecting

and

them more

BOD Y AND MIND.

[lect.

and some who have the insane

neurosis exhibit a disturbance of mind which amounts
almost to disease. A sudden suppression of the menses

seriously than usual;

has produced a direct explosion of insanity

ring

its

causation.

It is

occur-

or,

may be an impormatter also of common

some time before an outbreak,

tant link in

it

experience in asylums, that exacerbations of insanity

often take place at the menstrual periods

there

but whether

a particular variety of mental derangement con-

is

nected with disordered menstruation, and,

its

special features,

There

positively.

we
is

its

what are

are not yet in a position to say

certainly a recurrent mania,

seems sometimes to have,

times of

if so,

in regard to its origin

which

and the

attacks, a relation to the menstrual function,

suppression or irregularity of which often accompanies

it

and

it is

an obvious presumption that the mania may

be a sympathetic morbid

may

excitement, and

mental

irritability

The

period.

and uterine

represent an exaggeration of the

which

patient

effect of the ovarian

natural to

is

becomes

women

at

that

elated, hilarious, talkative,

passing soon from that condition into a state of acute

and noisy mania, which may

or longer,

and then sinking

we

to calmness

flatter

covery

into a brief stage of

and clearness of mind.

ourselves with the hope

after

two or three weeks

more or

or confusion of mind, fro'm which she

less depression

awakens

last for

an

In vain

of a complete re-

interval of perfect lucidity, of varying

duration in different cases, the attack recurs, goes through

the same stages, and ends in the same way, only to be

followed by other attacks, until at

last,

the

mind being

RECURRENT INSANITY.

III.]

89

permanently weakened, there are no longer intervals of

Could we stop the

entire lucidity.

might

still

know no

much

fail

to touch them,

other form of insanity which, having so

the air of being curable, thus far defies

to stay
it

mental power; but we

regain by degrees

All the resources of our art

cannot.

and

attacks, the patient

its

We

course.

all efforts

should be apt to conclude that

was connected with the menstrual function, wxre

more

or less the law of

it

not

nervous

that periodicity

is

diseases, that its

attacks often recur at uncertain intervals,

and,

more

decisive

still,

that

not confined to women,

it is

Whether connected

but occurs perhaps as often in men.

or not, however, in any
it

all

way with the generative

functions,

certainly presents features of relationship to epilepsy,

and occurs where the insane neurosis

were to describe

it

in a

few words,

an epilepsy of the mind.

regularly

Its

and

exists;

if I

should designate

it

recurrence more or less

the uniformity of the prodromata and of the

symptoms of the

attack,

image of the other

its

each being almost an exact

comparatively brief duration

the mental torpor or confusion which follows

it,

and the

ignorance or denial sometimes on the part of the patient,

of his having had the attack

and the undoubted

is

fact that

it

the temporary recovery

often occurs where there

evidence of an insane neurosis produced by epilepsy,

or insanity, or both, in the family

support the opinion of

under

my

its

these

are facts
I

have

many

years

kinship to epilepsy.

care an unmarried lady

who

for

which

has been subject to these recurrent attacks of mania, and

whose

intelligence has

now been

destroyed by them

BODY AND MIND.

90

ultimately true epileptic

fits

[lect.

supervened, but they only

occur, at long intervals, usually not oftener than twice

a year, while the maniacal attacks recur regularly every

some

interest, in regard

three or four weeks.

It is

to the question of

nature, that the age of

frequent outbreak

its

is,

as

it is

of

with epilepsy, the years that

cover the development of puberty.

pression of menstruation
that

we

most

its

may

or

Irregularity or sup-

may not be

present, so

are not warranted in attributing the disease to

we

are the less warranted

insanity,

however caused, may

amenorrhoea or dysmenorrhoea
in doing so, as

any form of

occasion a suppression of the menses.

The

accompanied by a revolution

life is
is

natural cessation of menstruation at the change of

in the

economy which

often trying to the mental stability of those

a predisposition to insanity.

The

who have

age of pleasing

is

past,

but not always the desire, which, indeed, sometimes

grows then more exacting ; there are

all sorts

of anomalous

sensations of bodily distress, attesting the disturbance of

circulation

and of nerve functions

and

it is

now

that

an

insane jealousy and a propensity to stimulants are apt

to appear, especially

When

where there have been no

positive insanity breaks out,

it

children.

usually has the form

of profound melancholia, with vague delusions

extreme character, as that the world

it

is

is

in flames, that

turned upside down, that everything

or that

of an

is

changed,

some very dreadful but undefined calamity has

happened or

is

about to happen.

The countenance has

the expression of a vague terror and apprehension.

some

In

cases short and transient paroxysms of excitement

PUERPERAL INSANITY.

III.]

These usually occur

break the melancholy gloom.

may

menstrual periods, and

91

at the

continue to do so for some

time after the function has ceased.

It is

not an unfavour-

able form of insanity as regards probabiHty of recovery

under suitable treatment.

Continuing the consideration of the influence of the

come

generative organs in the production of insanity, I

now

Under

to puerperal insanity.

this

name

are some-

times confounded three distinct varieties of disease

that

which occurs during pregnancy, that which follows parturition

and

is

properly puerperal, and that which comes

on months afterwards during

pregnancy

is,

as a rule, of a

with suicidal tendency

The

lactation.^

insanity of

marked melancholic

type,

a degree of mental weakness

or apparent dementia being sometimes conjoined with

Other

cases, however, exhibit

much moral

it.

perversion,

perhaps an uncontrollable craving for stimulants, which

we may

regard as an exaggerated display of the fanciful

cravings from which

of pregnancy.

We

women

suffer in the earlier

can hardly

fail,

months

indeed, to recognize

a connection between the features of

this

form of insanity

and the strange longings, the capriciousness, and the

morbid

fears of the

The patient may

by removal from home but if the

pregnant woman.

be treated successfully

disease be allowed to go on, there

is

no good ground

to

expect that parturition will have a beneficial effect upon

it

on the

contrary, the probability

is

that

it

will

run into

a severe puerperal insanity, and from that into dementia.

^

"The

Insanity of Pregnancy, Puerperal Insanity, and Insanity of

Lactation."

By J.

Batty Tuke,

M.D.

BODY AND MIND.

92

[lect.

Puerperal insanity proper comes on within one month

of parturition

most often

and,

Hke the

in primiparae.

Asylum show

insanity of pregnancy, occurs

The

statistics

of the Edinburgh

that in all the cases occurring before the

sixteenth day after labour, as most cases do, the

were those of acute mania; but

symptoms

in all the cases

which

occurred after the sixteenth day they were those of melan-

In both forms, but especially in the

cholia.
is

latter,

there

sometimes a mixture of childishness and apparent

The mania

dementia.

is

more

likely than the

melanchoha

an acute and extremely incoherent

It is of

to get well.

character, a delirious rather than a systematized mania,

marked by noisy

restlessness,

clothes, hallucinations,

which

is

and

in

sleeplessness,

some cases by gi'eat

probably the direct mental

of the generative organs.

an excited, purposeless way.

tearing of

effect of the irritation

may be attempted

Suicide

The

salacity,

in

bodily symptoms, con-

tradicting the violence of the mental excitement, indicate

feebleness
cold,

the features are pinched

and clammy

irritable.

We may

and the pulse

is

the skin

is

pale,

quick, small,

and

safely say that recovery takes place

in three out of four cases of puerperal mania, usually in

a few weeks

the patient, after the acute

symptoms have

subsided, sinking into a temporary state of confusion

and

feebleness of mind, and then waking up as from a dream.

I

may add

the expression of a conviction that

but rather harm,

is

done by attempting

no good,

to stifle this or

any other form of acute insanity by the administration of

large doses of opium.

The

insanity of lactation does not

come under

the

SYMPATHETIC INSANITY.

III.]

scheme of

lecture

this

for

is

it

93

an asthenic

insanity,

produced by bodily exhaustion and the depression of

The time

mental worries.

show

of

that the longer the child

the liability to

and

it;

its

occurrence seems to
suckled the greater

is

in the majority of cases

it

is

has

the form of melancholia, often with determined suicidal

tendency.

So frequently

is

more or

hereditary predisposition

less

distinctly traceable in these three forms of insanity occur-

we

ring in connection with child-bearing, that

ranted in declaring

them
I

to be

have

quite exceptional for

it

met with where

now enumerated

it is

all

are war-

any one of

entirely absent.

the forms of insanity v/hich,

being specially connected with the generative organs, preIt is certain,

sent characteristic features.

disease of

them may

however, that

act as a powerful co-operating cause

in the production of insanity, without giving rise, so far

as

we know,

to a special

group of symptoms.

Thus, for

example, melancholia, distinguishable by no feature from

melancholia

otherwise

disease of the uterus.

the case of a

woman

from prolapsus

caused,

may be

the

and

in

whom

who

Flemming

relates

suffered

the melancholia dis-

appeared when the uterus was returned to

place.

of

Schroder van der Kolk mentions

profoundly melancholic

uteri,

effect

its

proper

two similar cases in which

melancholia was cured by the use of a pessary, the depression returning in one of

was removed

and

them whenever the pessary

have met with one case in which

profound melancholia of two years' standing disappeared

after the

removal of a prolapsus

uteri.

Other diseases

BODY AND MIND.

94

[lect.

and displacements of the uterus may

act in a similar

way.

me now say a few words concerning the abdomiorgans.

No one will call in question that the states

Let
nal

of their functions do exert a positive influence on our

mind

states of

but

it is

we

unfortunately too true that

cannot yet refer any special mental symptoms to the

fluence of the abdominal organs.

in-

have met with one

case of severe melancholia, of long standing, which was

distinctly

cured by the expulsion of a tapeworm

and

appears to be tolerably certain that hypochondriacal

sanity
by,

is

in

some instances connected

it

in-

with, if not caused

a perverted sensation proceeding from an internal

organ,

most often abdominal.

scious of the impressions

we

In health

are not con-

which these organs make upon

the brain, albeit they assuredly send their unperceived

contributions to the stream of energies of which consci-

ousness

is

the

sum and

the outcome

but when a

dis-

ordered organ sends a morbid impression to the brain,

it

no longer does

pression, but

things else

in silence

and

self-sup-

an unwonted affection of

The hypochondriac cannot withdraw

attention from the

all

work there

asserts itself in

consciousness.

tibly attracted,

its

morbid sensation

and which
is

it

to

which

aggravates

gradually quenched,

think and act freely in the relations of

step from this state to positive insanity

is

it is irresis-

his interest in

and
life

his

his ability to

sapped.

The

not a great one

the strange and distressing sensation, being so anomalous,

so unlike anything of which the patient has had experience, affecting

him so powerfully and so unaccountably,

III.]

HALLUCINATIONS OF THE ORGANIC SENSE.

gets at last an interpretation that seems suited to

traordinary character; and he then imagines

animal or

man

or devil has got inside

He

ing him.

now

has

sense which dominates

insane.

Not long

that he

had a man

rate efforts

since I

was then

surly,

is

thoughts, and he

some

torment-

truly

is

saw a patient who believed

in his belly

by vomiting

tliat

ex-

a hallucination of the organic

his

constipated, the delusion

him and

its

95

when

became

his

bowels were

he made despe-

active,

to get rid of his tormentor,

morose, and dangerous

but

when

and
his

bowels had been relieved, the delusion subsided into the

background, and he was good-tempered and industrious.
If a patient, instead of attributing his

sufferings to

an

absurdly impossible cause, ascribes them to a serious in-

which he certainly has not

ternal disease

be a

deciding whether he

difficulty in

is

got, there will

insane or not,

should he do injury to himself or others, as hypochondriacal melancholies

sometimes do.

It is

that in those cases of insanity in

a probable surmise

which there are such

delusions as that food will not enter the stomach, that

there
there

is
is

no

digestion, that the intestines are sealed up,

a cause in a morbid irritation ascending from the

viscera to the brain-

am

furthermore disposed to think

that a form of fearful melancholia in which the patient

evinces

an extreme morbid sensitiveness to

-thought, feeling,

and

act, in

which he

is,

as

it

his

every

were, hypo-

chondriacally distressed about whatever he thinks, feels,

and does, imagining

be a great

and

sin,

eternity,

it,

however

trivial

which has cost him

has

its

and innocent,

to

his happiness in time

foundation in certain morbid states

BODY AhW MIND.

96

of abdominal sensation.
sion
it

is

In cases of

[lect.

this sort, the delu-

not the cause of the feeling of despair, but

were, a condensation from

pretation of

the images

it.

The same

and events of a

it,

and an attempted

thing

is

is,

as

inter-

observed in dreams

distressing

dream are not the

causes of the feelings, but are caused by them

they un-

dergo strange and sudden metamorphoses without causing

much

the terror the

case

and they disappear together with

or any surprise,

if

moment we awake, which would not be

We perceive, indeed,

they really caused the terror.

in this generation of the

the

image out of the

feeling, the de-

monstration of the true nature of ghosts and apparitions

the nervous system being in an excited state of expectant

fear,

and the images being the

the feeling

effects

and exponents of

they give the vague terror form.

ingly, as Coleridge has

remarked, those

under such circumstances do not suffer

Accord-

who see a ghost

much in conse-

quence, though in telling the story they will perhaps say

on end, and

that their hair stood

agony of terror; whereas those who have been

frightened

by a

figure dressed

really

up as a ghost have often

suffered seriously from the shock, having fainted, or

fit,

or gone mad.

actually

an

that they were in

In like manner,

if

had

an insane person

saw the dreadful things which he imagines that

he sees sometimes, and really thought the

terrible thoughts

which he imagines he thinks, he would

suffer in health

more than he does^

I

come now

if

he did not actually die of them.

to the thoracic organs.

The

heart

and

the lungs are closely connected in their functions, so that

they mutually affect one another.

Some

diseases of the

TUBERCLE IN THE INSANE.

III.]

lungs greatly oppress and trouble the heart

97

yet there

is

reason to believe they have their special effects upon the

How,

mind.

indeed, can

we

patient with the anxious fear

some

among

afford

and apprehension exhibited

diseases of the heart

disease of the heart was

than

when we

sanguine confidence of the consumptive

contrast the

in

think otherwise

the sane

It

used to be said that

more frequent among the insane

but the latest observations do not

any support to the opinion, nor do they furnish

valid grounds to connect a particular variety of insanity

with heart-disease in those cases in which

we

All that

it

does

are thus far warranted in affirming

is,

exist.

that

if

there be a characteristic mental effect of such disease,

it

is

a great

anguish

fear,

mounting up

and perhaps

may

venture to add, that

be a variety of mental disorder

with heart-disease,
the patient

is

it is

at times to despairing

specifically

connected

that form of melancholia in which

is

not so

much

a definite delusion

as a dreadful fear of everything actual

is

sometimes described

2^5,

and

possible,

well founded, that tubercle of the lungs

the insane than

among

and

panphobia.

There has long been an opinion, which seems

among

there

overwhelmed with a vague and vast appre-

hension, where there

which

if

is

the sane.

to

be

more common
For although

the proportion of deaths in asylums attributed to phthisis

is

one-fourth,

which

is

the same proportion as that for

the sane population above fourteen years of age. Dr.

Clouston has shown, by careful scrutiny of -the records of

282 post-mortem examinations

made

in the

Edinburgh

Asylum, that phthisis was the assigned cause of death in

BODY AND- MIND.

98

only a

was tubercle
so

half of the cases in which there'

more than

little

The symptoms

in the body.

much masked
it

its

diagnosis

not always detected during

is

of phthisis are

in the insane, there being usually

cough and no expectoration, that

and

[lect.

life.

no

is difficult,

The

relation

and insanity has been noticed by

between

it

writers

Schroder van der Kolk was distinctly of opi-

several

nion that a hereditary predisposition to phthisis might

predispose

or develop into, insanity,

to,

on the

and,

other hand, that insanity predisposed to phthisis

and Dr.

Clouston found that hereditary predisposition to insanity

existed

in

per cent, more of the insane

tubercular than of the insane generally.

degeneration
frequently,

is far

When

family

gone, the two diseases appear to occur

and the

or phthisical, or

who were

last

both

member

is

likely to die insane

whether, therefore, they mutually

predispose to one another or not, they are often concomitant

effects in the

course of degeneration.

However,

in weighing the specific value of these observations,

must not forget

tion, the

its

independently of any special

rela-

enfeebled nutrition of tuberculosis will tend to

stimulate into
sanity;

that,

we

and

activity the latent predisposition

that, in like

melancholic forms,

ment of a predisposition

to in-

manner, insanity, especially in

will favour

the actual

develop-

to phthisis.

In the cases in which the development of phthisis and

insanity has

been nearly contemporaneous, which are

about one-fourth of the cases in which they coexist, the

mental symptoms are of so peculiar and uniform a character as to

have led to the inclusion of the cases in a

PHTHISICAL MANIA.

III.]

99

natural group under the designation of phthisical mania.

They have no

positively distinctive

symptom,

true

it is

they cannot be separated from other cases by a well-

Yet they do

defined line of demarcation.

Clouston believes, certain

ters

which

They

common and

exhibit, Dr.

uniform charac-

justify their description as a separate variety.

way by

often begin in an insidious

way-

irritability,

wardness, and capriciousness of conduct, and apparent

weakening of
ally

intellect

when he chooses

yet the patient converses ration-

to talk,

and shows

that

he

has

still

his intellect, albeit there is a great disinclination to exert

it.

To

matter.

sign a certificate of his insanity

would be no easy

Or they begin with an acutely maniacal

melancholic stage, which

is,

or

however, of very short dura-

soon passing into a half-maniacal, half-demented

tion,

If there

state.

be a single characteristic

feature,

is

it

monomania of suspicion. As the disease advances, the

symptoms of dementia predominate but there are occaj

sional

brief attacks

of irritable

flashes of intelligence.

And

excitement and

in these cases,

more

fitful

often

than in other cases, there occurs a momentary revival of

We

intelligence before death.

shall the

more

readily

admit the special features of phthisical mania when we

call to

mind

that there

peculiar mental state

rary

is

most phthisical patients a

in

and that

brief attacks of tempo-

mania or delirium sometimes occur

of phthisis.

The

phthisical patient

is

in the course

irritable, fanciful,

unstable of purpose, brilliant, and imaginative, but want-

ing in calmness and repose, quick of insight, but without

depth and comprehension;

everything
2

is

fitful

fitful

BODY AND MIND.

loo

energy,
hectic

fitful

is

projects,

fitful

in his thoughts

and imaginings of

his

[lect.

The

flashes of imagination.

and

The whims

in his actions.

mind become almost wanderings

at times, his fancies almost delusions.

I

have now said enough concerning the sympathetic

mental

efi"ects

not certainly to set

of disordered organs,

forth adequately their nature, but to

show the

To

importance of a careful study of them.

essential

complete the

on

exposition of the action of pathological sympathies

mind,

it

would be necessary to trace out the close

tions that there are

between the organic

different kinds of special sensibility,

and sense consciousness.

close

The

feelings

between

rela-

and the
systemic

digestive organs have a

sympathy with the sense of

taste, as

we observe

in

the bad taste accompanying indigestion, in the nausea

and vomiting which a nauseous

the avoidance

taste

may

cause,

and

of poisonous matter by animals.

respiratory organs

and the sense of smell

manner, sympathetically associated

in

The

are, in like

and there can be no

doubt that the sense of smell has special relations with

the sexual

The

feeling.

state of the

digestive organs

notably affects the general sensibility of the skin.

turbances of these physiological sympathies
the occasions of insane delusions.

ment, perverting the

the food

is

taste, will

poisoned.

Dis-

may become

Digestive derange-

engender a delusion that

Disease of the respiratory organs

appears sometimes to produce disagreeable smells, which

are then perhaps attributed to objective causes, such as

the presence of a corpse in the room, or to gases maliciously disseminated in

it

by fancied persecutors. In mania,

HALLUCINATIONS.

III.]

loi

smell and taste are often grossly perverted, for the patient

mth seeming

will devour,

relish

and

bage of the most offensive kind.

avidity, dirt

and

gar-

Increase, diminution,

or perversion of the sensibility of the skin, one or other

of which

not

is

uncommon among

the insane,

may

un-

We

doubtedly be the cause of extravagant delusions.

hardly, indeed, realize

how

dent upon the habit of

lost a

sensations.

depen-

is

The man who has

limb can hardly be persuaded that he has

so sensible
after

its

completely the mind

is

he has

he of the accustomed feelings in

lost

it

movements

motor

hallucinations.

in

it,

has,

years

both sensory and

may

understand

her body.

how

perplex and deceive the

A woman under Esquirol's

plete anaesthesia of the skin

off

in fact,

It is easy, then, to

greatly abnormal sensations

had carried

it,

he dreams of vivid sensations and of

active

unsound mind.

it

lost

care

had com-

she believed that the devil

soldier

who was wounded

at the battle of Austerlitz lost the sensibility of his skin,

and from

how

that time thought himself dead.

he was, he replied, " Lambert no

is

not Lambert,

who

sensibility

What you

but a badly imitated machine,"

which he always spoke of as

care,

asked

longer lives

cannon-ball carried him away at Austerlitz.

see

When

suffered from

//.

patient under m.y

general paralysis, and had lost

and voluntary power of one

side,

could never

be persuaded that another patient, a very harmless fellow,

had not got hold of him, and was keeping him down

and when convulsions occurred

in the paralysed side, as

they did from time to time, he swore terribly at his fancied

tormentor.

Were a sane person

to

wake up some morning

BODY AND MIND.

102

[lect.

or with

sensibiHty gone,

a large

with the

cutaneous

area of

sending up to the brain perverted and quite

it

unaccountable impressions,

might be a hard matter

it

perhaps for him to help going mad.

The mental
mising
it

effects of

perverted sensation afford a pro-

research

field for future

cannot be doubted that they

mena
fact,

It

better understood

many pheno-

will explain

mind

in the pathology of

explanation.

when

now

that

quite baffle

behoves us to clearly realize the broad

which has most wide-reaching consequences in

mental physiology and pathology, that

of the

all parts

body, the highest and the lowest, have a sympathy with

one another more

can

yet, or

intelligent than conscious intelligence

perhaps ever

will,

an organic motion, visible or

conceive

that there

purposes, which does not work

complex recesses of mind

not

invisible, sensible or insen-

ministrant to the noblest or to the most

sible,

is

its

appointed

humble

effect in

the

that the mind, as the crown-

ing achievement of organization, and the consummation

and outcome of
bodily
I

all its

energies, really

comprehends the

life.

had

originally set

down

within the purpose of these

Lectures the consideration, which I must

now

forego, of

the influence of the quantity and quality of the blood in

the production

blood

may

of insanity.

Poverty and vitiation of

certainly play a weighty part

in

producing

mental, as they do in producing other nervous disorders.

Lower the supply of blood

level,

will

to the brain

and the power of thinking

is

below a certain

abolished

the brain

then no more do mental work than a waterwheel will

DELIRIUM OF EXHAUSTION.

III.]

move

the machinery of the mill

so as not to touch

When

it.

when

103

the water

is

lowered

a strong emotion produces

a temporary loss of consciousness,

it is

be presumed

to

that a contraction of arteries takes place within the brain

similar to that

when

which causes the pallor of the face

the labouring heart

pumps hard

obstruction,

and the

may

and the patient die of

burst,

to

overcome the

walls of the vessels are weak, they

and we perceive the

the supply, as

it

of blood.

effusion

During sleep the supply of blood to the brain

naturally,

and

effects of the

is

lessened

lowering of

takes place, in the sort of incoherence

or mild delirium of ideas just before fahing off to sleep.

To

a like condition of things

we ought most probably

attribute the attacks of transitory

now and then

occur

in

mania or delirium

to

that

consequence of great physical

exhaustion, as from great and sudden loss of blood, or

just as convalescence
is

from fever or other acute disease

setting in, or in the prostration of phthisis,

glass of

wine opportunely given

in the

morning, which

is

The
when he

sometimes cure.

melancholic patient

distress of the

wakes

will

and which a

is

greatest

a time

when a watch

ought to be kept specially over the suicidal patient

the

reason lying probably in the effects of the diminished

cerebral circulation during sleep.
If the state of the

blood be vitiated by reason of some

poison bred in the body, or introduced into

out,

We

the

mental functions

may be

it

from with-

seriously deranged.

by means of the drugs at our comperform all sorts of experiments on the mind

are able, indeed,

mand,

to

we can suspend

its

action for a time

by

chloral or chloro-

BODY AND MIND.

I04

form, can exalt

its

functions

[lect.

by small doses of opium or

moderate doses of alcohol, can pervert them, producing

an artificial delirium, by the administration of large enough
doses of belladonna and Indian hemp.

We can positively

do more experimentally with the functions of the mindcentres than

the body.

we can do with those of any

When

other organ of

these are exalted in consequence of a

foreign substance introduced into the blood,

doubted that some physical

nerve-element, which
activity,

produced on the

the condition of the increased

not otherv/ise probably than as happens when a

fever makes, as

person, whose

it

certainly will

this

tions of light

sometimes do, a demented

mind seemed gone past

momentary recovery,
Perhaps

is

effect is

cannot be

it

hope of even

all

quite sensible for the time being.

should teach us that just as there are vibra-

which we cannot

see,

and vibrations of sound

which we cannot hear, so there are molecular movements

in the brain

which are incapable of producing thought

ordinarily, not sufficing to affect consciousness, but

may do
alted

so

when

by physical

Alcohol yields

the sensibility of the molecules

is

ex-

or chemical modification of them.

the abstract and

us, in its direct eff"ects,

brief chronicle of the course of mania.

is

which

an agreeable excitement, a

revival of old ideas

and

At

lively flow

feelings

first

of

there

ideas, a

which seemed to have

passed from the mind, a general increase of mental

activity

a condition very

like that

which often precedes

an attack of acute mania, when the patient

lively,

satirical,

makes jokes

or rhymes,

exhibits a brilliancy of fancy which he

is

and

is

witty,

certainly

capable of at

VITIATED BLOOD.

III.]

no other
its

time.

Then

105

there follows, in the next stage of

increasing action, as there does in mania, the auto-

matic excitation of ideas which

start

up and follow one

another without order, so that thought and speech are

more or

less incoherent, while passion is

easily excited.

some

After this stage has lasted for a time, in

in others shorter,

it

longer,

passes into one of depression and

maudlin melancholy, just as mania sometimes passes into

And

melaiKholia, or convulsion into paralysis.

stage of

all is

one of stupor and dementia.

of alcohol be continued for years,

may

it

the last

If the abuse

cause different

forms of mental derangement, in each of which the muscular are curiously like the mental

symptoms

delirium

tremens in one, an acute noisy and destructive mania in

another, chronic alcoholism in a third,

of mental weakness with loss of

and a condition

memory and

loss of

energy in a fourth.
Writers
entail

on gout agree

that a suppressed gout

mental derangement in some persons

may

and, on the

other hand, that insanity has sometimes disappeared with

the appearance of the usual gouty paroxysm.

Sydenham

noticed and described a species of mania supervening

on an epidemic of intermittent
contrary to

all

fever,

which, he remarks,

other kinds of madness, would not yield

to plentiful venesection

and purging.

Griesinger, again,

has directed attention to cases in which, instead of the

usual

symptoms of ague, the patient has had an

inter-

mittent insanity in regular tertian or quartan attacks, and

has been cured by quinine.

however, that ihtermittence

Vv^e

may be

must bear

in mind,

a feature of insanity

BODY AND MIND.

io6

[lect.

as of other nervous diseases, without ague having any-

do with

thing whatever to

any good whatever.

it,

Quinine

and without quinine doing

will

not cure the intermit-

tence of nervous diseases, though

it

may

which the symptoms are intermittent.

also pointed

cure ague in

Griesinger has

out that mental disorder has sometimes

occurred in the course of acute rheumatism, the swelling

of the joints meanwhile subsiding.
others which I cannot dwell
tant

an agency

in the

These

facts,

with

upon now, prove how impor-

production of insanity a perverted

may be. But it is a mode of causation

of which we know so little that I may justly declare we
know next to nothing. The observation and classification

state of the

blood

of mental disorders has been so exclusively psychological

that

we have not

trate the

sincerely realized the fact that they illus-

same pathological

are produced in the

in the

done

same

I see

spirit

principles as other diseases,

same way, and must be

of positive research.

no hope of improvement

in our

investigated

Until this be

knowledge of

them, and no use in multiplying books about them.

It is quite true that

of insanity which

them according

we can

to bodily causes,

all

the cases

and grouped

body and mental

remain cases which we cannot refer

any recognizable bodily cause or connect with any

definite bodily disease,

describe as idiopathic.

we

referred

to their characteristic

features, there will

to

when we have

shall

and which we must be content

The

to

explanation of these cases

probably discover ultimately in the influence of

the hereditary neurosis and in the peculiarities of indivi-

dual temperament.

It is evident that there are funda-

ID10PA THIC INSANITY.

III.]

mental differences of temperament, and

it is

07

furthermore

plain that different natures will be differently favoured in

the struggle of existence

tage over another, and

one person

will

have an advan-

by the operation of the law of

Natural Selection there will be a success of the

succeed.

tion to

with the development of mind in the

It is

conduct of
its

life

as

with every form of

it is

environment.

Life

is

that are always tending to destroy

may be
as

in

life

its rela-

surrounded by forces

and with which

it,

represented as in a continued warfare

it

so long

contends successfully with them, winning from them

it

and constraining them

flourishes

but when

it

succeed in winning from

it

fittest to

begins to decay and

circumstances of

its

further

to

its

can no longer
it

development,

and increasing

die.

So

existence

it

is

it

when they

strive,

at its expense,

with mind in the

the individual

who

can-

not use circumstances, or accommodate himself success-

them

further

by them
victim
will

his

development,

and one way

trials

and

in

will

which

be

which serve

strong nature break

react,

is

controlled

and used

being weak, he must be miserable, must be a

be manifest

mental

make

them, and in the one way or the other

fully to

his suffering

in insanity.
in the

end

Thus
to

and
it

failure

that

is

strengthen a

down a weak one which cannot

fitly

that the efficiency of a moral cause of insanity

betrays a conspiracy from within with the unfavourable

outward circumstances.
It

behoves us to bear distinctly in mind, when we take

the moral causes of insanity into consideration, that the

mental suffering or psychical pain of a sad emotion

testi-

BODY AND MI^D.

loS

fies

it

to the
it

some kind

What

change.
take

wear and tear of nerve-element, to disin-

to actual

tegration of

it is

the change

is

the exponent of a physical

we know not

but

we

may-

to be beyond question that, when a shock imparted

mind through the senses causes a violent emotion,

produces a real commotion in the molecules of the

brain.

It is

not that an intangible something flashes

inwards and mysteriously

sical entity
is

[lect.

affects

an intangible metaphy-

made on

but that an impression

the sense

conveyed along nervous paths of communication, and

produces a definite physical

tuted mind-centres

and

effect

in physically consti-

that the mental effect,

the exponent of the physical change,

ferred

by molecular motion

may be

which

is

then trans-

to the muscles, thus getting

muscular expression, or to the processes of nutrition and

secretion, getting expression in modifications of them.

When

there

is

a native infirmity or instability of nerve-

element, in consequence of bad ancestral influences, the

individual will be

more

liable

to,

and

will suffer

more

from, such violent mental commotions ; the disintegrating

change

in the nerve-element will

into a disorganization
repair,

which

rest

be more

and

likely to pass

nutrition cannot

not otherwise than as happens with the elements

of any other organ under like conditions of excessive

stimulation.

As

physicians,

we cannot

sight of the physical aspects of

truly

mental

comprehend the nature of mental

to treat

it

with success.

purposes of speculation,

evoke the laws of

its

afford to lose

states, if

we would

disease,

and learn

The metaphysician may, for the

separate mind from body, and

operation out of the depths of

self-

UNITY OF BODY AND MIND.

III.]

consciousness

but the physician

who has

to deal prac-

with the thoughts, feelings, and conduct of

tically

who

109

men

has to do with mind, not as an abstract entity con-

cerning which he

may be

content to speculate, but as a

force in nature, the operations of

which he must patiently

observe and anxiously labour to influence

how entirely the

on the

integrity of the

mental functions depends

integrity of the bodily organization

set forth this unity

must acknow-

body and mind.

ledge the essential unity of

To

must recognize

has been a chief aim in these

Lectures, because I entertain a most sincere conviction

that a just conception of

a real advance in

it

to

unduly the body

degrade the mind

tice of declaring the

I have, if possible,

to feel

skill

arguments which

body vile and

my mind

it

Sir

despicable, of looking

cannot

which

man

now summarize
;

dare venture
the facts and
I

must

memory of them when

appears a clear

diate the quotation

less desire

the energy

unscientific prac-

have brought forward

all

and most wonderful contrivance

to the indulgence of your

that to

and most

as something of

ashamed.

still

but I do protest with

the highest

of creative

the foundation of

have no wish whatever to

I dare use against the unjust

down upon

lie at

our knowledge both of the physiology

and pathology of mind.

exalt

must

from an old

scientific

writer,

trust

I declare

duty to repu-

which the

late

William Hamilton used to hang on the wall of his

lecture-room
'
'

On earth there is nothing great but man,

man there is nothing great but mind.

In

The aphorism, which,

like

most aphorisms, contains an

BODY AND MIND.

no

equal measure of truth and of untruth,

to the pure metaphysician, but

who

the scientific inquirer,

because of that which

it

On

earth

there

enough

suitable

most unsuitable

is

not true in

is

more because of the baneful

inspired.

is

bound

is

[lect.

spirit

to reject
it

to

not

it,

much

only, but

with which

it

is

assuredly other things

are

in

man

there are other things great besides mind, though

none

none greater; and

great besides man, though

And

greater.

whosoever, inspired with the

know

aphorism, thinks to

anything truly of

of the

spirit

man

without

studying most earnestly the things on earth that lead up

to

man, or

to

know anything

truly of

ing most earnestly the things in the

and
if

issue in mind, will enter

mind without

body

study-

up to

that lead

on a barren labour, which,

not a sorrow to himself, will assuredly be sorrow and

of

vexation

operations of
zation

to

is

creative

to

spirit

mind
exalt,

power and

to

others.

To reckon

highest

the

be functions of a mental organi-

not to degrade, our conception

For

skill.

if it

be lawful and

of

right

to burst into admiration of the wonderful contrivance in

nature by which noble and beautiful products are formed

out of base materials,
of contrivance
functions

to

it is

surely

much

stronger evidence

have developed the higher mental

by evolution from the

lower,

and

to

have used

forms of matter as the organic instruments of

know

not

why

the

properties should

all.

Power which created matter and

its

be thought not

to

have endowed

with the functions of reason, feeling, and

whether we discover
mystery

is

it

to

will,

it

seeing that

be so endowed or

not, the

equally incomprehensible to us, equally simple

SCIENCE

III.]

and easy

to the

perties.

To

AND POETRY.

in

Power which created matter and

its

pro-

a right-thinking and right-feeling mind the

beauty, the grandeur, the mystery of Nature are augmented,

new glimpse into the secret recesses

The sun going forth from its chamber

not lessened, by each

of her operations.

in the east to run its course is not less glorious in majesty

because we have discovered the law of gravitation, and

are able^by spectral analysis to detect the metals which

enter into

composition

its

because

it is

no longer Helios

driving his golden chariot through the pathless spaces of

The mountains

the heavens.
their

are not less imposing in

grandeur because the Oreads have deserted them,

nor the groves

less attractive, the

streams more desolafe,

because science has banished the Dryads and the Naiads.

No, science has not destroyed poetry, nor expelled the

Divine from nature, but has furnished the materials, and
given the presages, of a higher poetry and a mightier

philosophy than the world has yet seen.

each superstition which

birth.
it

may

stitions

And

if it

well be
shall

come
it

will

it

slays

is

to pass in

come

the
its

to pass

The

womb

grave of

of a better

onward march

that

as

other super-

be dethroned as the sun-god has been

step in

we may rest assured that this also will be a

human progress, and in the beneficent evolution

of the

Power which

dethroned,

ruleth alike the courses of the stars

and the ways of men.

APPENDIX.
1.

THE LIMITS OF PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY.

2.

THE THEORY OF VITALITY.

THE

LIMITS OF PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY.^

It

is

not

little

hard upon those

who now devote

by

themselves to the patient interrogation of nature,

means of observation and experiment,

that they should

will or not, ministers of the

be counted, whether they

so-called Positive Philosophy,

and

him who

disciples of

popularly considered the founder of that philosophy.

is

No

matter that positive investigation within the limits

which Comte prescribes' was pursued earnestly and

tematically before his advent,

sys-

and with an exactness of

m.ethod of which he had no conception

many

that

of

those distinguished since his time for their scientific researches

and generalizations have been unacquainted with

his writings
their

that others

who have

them withhold

adherence from his doctrines, or energetically

claim them.

These things are not considered

as a scientific inquirer pushes

1

studied

his

researches

Journal of Mental Science, No.

Philosophical Inquiry.

70.

dis-

so soon
into

The Limits

the
of

Address delivered to the Members of the

By
Edinburgh Philosophical Institution, November 6, 1868.
(Edmonston and Douglas,)
William, Lord Archbishop of York,
I

THE LIMITS OF

ii6

phenomena of life and mind, he

Thus

it

happens that there

mind

public

Considering

held to be a Comtist.

a growing tendency in the

modern

to identify

Philosophy.

is

is

science with the Positive

how much

mischief has often

been done by identifying the character of an epoch of

thought with the doctrines of some eminent man who
has lived and laboured and taken the lead in

making

and

his defects

hardened into formulas,

errors,

chains to fetter the free course of thought,

that scientific

men

as their lawgiver,

up

set

and

no wonder

Comte

to protest against such a king being

Not conscious of any

to reign over them.

he has misrepresented the

respects,

it is

should be anxious to disclaim

sonal obligation to his writings, conscious

some

and thus

it,

per-

how much,
and

spirit

in

pre-

tensions of science, they repudiate the allegiance which

his enthusiastic disciples

would force upon them, and

which popular opinion

fast

They do

one.

independence

is

too late to be done

be not done soon,

it

When we

well.

history of systems of religion

appalling to reflect

to think a natural

making a timely

well in thus
for if

coming

it

and philosophy,

how entirely one man

cally

he has constrained the

him

the

mind of mankind

soon be

look back at the

it is

almost

has appropriated

the intellectual development of his age, and

assertion of
will

how

despoti-

faith of generations after

is

absolutely oppressed by

the weight of his authority, and his errors and limitations

are

deemed not

less sacred

he has been the organ

the sound of whose
to

fall

down and

for

name

than the true ideas of which

a time he

the

human

is

made an

intellect is

idol, at

expected

worship, as the people, nations, and

PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY.

117

languages were expected, at what time they heard the

sound of the

flute,

of music, to

fall

harp, sackbut, dulcimer,

down and worship

which Nebuchadnezzar the king had

and

all

kinds

the golden image

set up.

Happily

it

not so easy to take captive the understanding now,

is

when thought

is

busy on so many subjects in such various

domains of nature, and when an army of investigators

where formerly a

often marches

sought his way, as

activity

few

it

were few and

solitary pioneer painfully

was when the

limited,

fields

of intellectual

and the labourers

in

them

also.

A lecture

delivered

by the Archbishop of York before

the Edinburgh Philosophical Institution, which has been

published as a pamphlet, contains a plain, earnest, and

on the whole temperate^ but not very

criticism,

modern

closely reasoned,

from his point of view, of the tendency of

scientific research, or rather of Positivism,

somewhat vague declaration of the

inquiry.

He

and a

limits of philosophical

perceives with sorroAv, but not with great

apprehension, that the prospects of philosophy are clouded

over in England, France, and Germany, and that a great

part of the thinking world
searches.

is

But he does not therefore despair

that Positivism indicates only a

by

occupied with physical

prostration

controversy,

and

temporary mood, produced

it

will after a

time pass away, and

be followed by a new era of speculative

scale the lofty

that

believing

lassitude after a period of unusual

and that

be presumed

re-

men, weary of

activity.

It

may

their fruitless efforts to

and seemingly barren heights of

true phi-

losophy, have taken the easy path of Positivism, which

THE LIMITS OF

ii8

does not lead upwards at

far

all,

but leads,

if it

The

enough, to quagmires of unbelief

be followed

on which

facts

the Archbishop bases his opinion, and the

reasoning by which he

able thus to couple a period of

is

speculative activity with a period of religious belief,

to declare

a system of positive

and
be

scientific research to

of unbelief, do

linked inseparably with a system

appear; they are

of

steps

not

sufficient to inspire strong conviction

in him, but they apparently lie too far

of his moral consciousness

to

sequence,

unfolded, in lucid

down

in the depths

be capable

to

the

of being

apprehension of

others.

To

the critical reader of the lecture

it

must

at

once

occur that a want of discrimination between things that

are widely different
if

is

the cause of no

In the

not recklessness, of assertion.

Archbishop

modern
and

identifies off-hand

insist

on

This

first

place, the

course and aim of

very much

as

if

Comte

any one should

the same character and the same aim

attributing

to persons

is

looseness,

with the Positivism of

scientific progress

his followers.

the

little

who were

travelling for a considerable distance

As

along the same road.

it

was Comte's great aim

to

organize an harmonious co-ordination and subordination

of the sciences, he assimilated and used for his purpose
the scientific knowledge which was available to him, and

systematized the observed method of scientific progress

from the more simple and general to the more special

and complex

studies

able to declare those

to

be committed to

but

who

it

assuredly

is

most unwarrant-

are engaged in physical research

his conclusions

and pretensions, and

PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY.
there can be

when

it

is

119

no question that a philosophy of

science,

from the so-called

written, will differ widely

Positive Philosophy.

In

the

second place, the

perpetrates a second

and

Archbishop

unwittingly

similarly reckless injustice in

assuming, as he does, that modern science must needs

accept what he describes as the sensational philosophy.

" Thus the business of science," he says, "is to gather up

the facts as they appear, without addition or perversion

As the senses are our only means of

knowledge, and we can only know things as they present
of the

senses.

themselves to the eye and

ledge

is

follows that our

it

know-

not absolute knowledge of the things, but a

knowledge of

raised,

their

relations

to

us,

that

is,

of

our

Passing by the question, which might well

sensations."

be

ear,

whether any one, even the founder of the

ever thus crudely asserted the

sensational philosophy,

senses to be

our only means of knowledge, and our

knowledge

be only a knowledge of our sensations

to

passing by, too, any

Archbishop means,

if

discussion

concerning what the

he means anything, by an absolute

knowledge of things as

distinct

things in their relations to us,

cerning the faculties which

from a knowledge of

and

finite

all

and

speculations con-

relative beings

who

are not archbishops have of apprehending and compre-

hending the absolute

the assumption that

it

is

necessary to protest against

science

is

committed to such a

representation of the sensational philosophy, or to the

sensational philosophy at

who have pushed

all.

Those modern

inquirers

farthest their physical researches into

THE LIMITS OF

120

mental functions and bodily organs, have notoriously-

been at great pains to discriminate between the nervous

centres which minister to sensation and those which
minister to reflection,

and have done much

to elucidate

and functional connections between them.

They have never been guilty of calling all knowledge a

the physical

knowledge only of sensations,

for they recognize

how

vague, barren, and unmeaning are the terms of the old

when an attempt is made

to apply them with precision to the phenomena revealed
by exact scientific observation. The sensorial centres
language of philosophical

strife,

with which the senses are in direct connection are quite

and subordinate

distinct from,

ideation or reflection
It is in these,

in

to,

the nervous centres of

the supreme hemispherical ganglia.

which are

far

more developed

any other animal, and more developed

in

man

in the higher

than in the lower races of men, that sensation

formed into knowledge, and that

has

The knowledge

its seat.

than

is

trans-

reflective consciousness

so acquired

is

not drained

from the outer w^orld through the senses, nor

is

it

compound of so much
much added by the mind

physical mixture or a chemical

received from without and so

or brain

it is

an organized

delicate process of

result of

development in the highest kind of

organic element in nature

a mental organization accom-

any other organization,

plished, like
definite laws.

We

a most complex and

in accordance with

have to do with laws of life and the

^

language used in the interpretation of phenomena must

accord with ideas derived from the study of organization

for assuredly

it

cannot

fail

to

produce confusion

if it

be

PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY.

121

the expression only of ideas derived from the laws of

physical phenomena, so far as these are at present

Now

to us.

known

the organization of a definite sensation

is

very different matter from, has no resemblance in nature

to,

the physical impression

sense,

made upon

and the organization of an idea

more complex

vital

is

process than the

the

organ of

a higher and

organization

of

a sensation; to call knowledge, therefore, a knowledge

only of sensation
in so far as

it

is

either a meaningless proposition, or,

has meaning,

it is

falser

than

it

would be

compound to be
Were they who pursue the
those of its constituents.
scientific study of mind not more thoughtful than the
Archbishop of York gives them credit for being, they
would have no reason to give why animals with as many
senses as man has, and with some of them more acute
to affirm the properties of a chemical

than

his,

have not long since attained,

understanding

of

the

benefits

of

like him, to

establishing

an

arch-

bishoprics.

must be understood that by the assertion of the

organic basis of mental function is not meant that the
It

mind imposes the laws of its own organization ; on the

contrary, it obeys them, knowing not whence they come
nor whither they tend.

Innate ideas, fundamental ideas,

categories of the understanding,

and

like metaphysical

expressions, are obscure intimations of the laws of action

of the internal organizing power under the conditions of

its

existence

new and

and exercise

and

it is

easy to perceive that

higher sense conferred on man, altering entirely

these conditions, would at once render necessary a

new

THE LIMITS OF

122

order of fundamental ideas or categories of the understanding.

That

denied, unless

our knowledge

all

in that wonderful

be maintained that

it

organizing power which cometh from afar there

that

which may be

as absolute

that the nature of the mysterious

and impels evolution may, by a

inspires

of intuitive consciousness, be made manifest to the

the process of

its

own development.

If nature

ing to a complete self-consciousness

from such an end as

might happen

this

hidden

lies

intuitively revealed to consciousness

knowledge

power which

cannot be

relative

is

it

seems to be,

and

if

man,

mind

be

in

attain-

away

far

conceivable that

it is

such a miraculous inspiration

were thus to reveal the unknown,

of the one primeval Power,
scientific research is

in

flash

would be a revelation

it

Clearly, however, as positive

powerless before a vast mystery,

the

whence, what, and whither of the mighty power which

gives the impulse to

evolution,

making any proposition regarding

may

rightly

limits of the
all

available

do

while keeping

knowable,

means of

it

its

This, however,

it.

critically,

and use

the claims and credentials

of any professed revelation of the mystery.

the pursuit of such inquiries that
satisfactory to

it

And

it is

would have been

some gleam of information

as to the

proper limits which he believes ouglit to be, observed.

is

may advance

At

the hitherto and no farther to which inquiry

in that direction ?

holy ground when

tific

in

have had from the Archbishop, as a high

priest of the mystery,

what point

it

inquiries within the

may examine

testing,

not justified in

is

it

it

Where do we reach

becomes necessary

shoes from off our feet

the

to put the scien-

There must assuredly be

PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY.
some

right

and duty of examination

revelations claiming to be Divine

how
is,

into the evidence of

for if

123

it

were not

could the intelligent Mussulman ever be,

persuaded to abandon the one

to accept

what must seem

to

God

if

so,

he ever

of his faith,

and

him the polytheism of the

Christian Trinity ?

Another

error, or rather set

Archbishop plunges,
to

be

he assumes positive science

and materialism

materialistic,

tion of

that

is

of errors, into which the

to involve the nega-

God, of immortality, and of

This im-

free will.

putation of materialism, which ought never to have been

so lightly made,
scientific

quite certain that the majority of

is

it

men would

materialist, as such,

earnestly disclaim.

Moreover, the

not under any logical constraint

is

whatever to deny either the existence of a God, or the

immortality of the soul, or free

tempted

first,

in the facility with

loses or dispenses with the links of his

reasoning; and, secondly, in his

perceive,

and

when looking

Whosoever

it fails

which he
chain of

inability

to

at all subtile,

which

marked.

If the

coarsely,

fine, if it

be not as blunt as a

seemingly to attract his attention.

believes sincerely in the doctrine of the resur-

rection of the body, as taught

all

evident

which are

and almost

edge of a distinction be
weaver's beam,

own

dis-

sincerely with all his might, real

essential distinctions

are not broadly,

almost

is

two things the Archbishop

to say that in

tances competition

One

will.

Christians profess to do,

by the Apostle

must

surely have

Paul, which

some

diffi-

culty in conceiving the immortality of the soul apart from

that of the

body ;

for if the Apostle's preaching

and the

THE LIMITS OF

124

be not

Christian's faith

vain,

and the body do

rise again,

may be presumed that the soul and it will share

a common immortality, as they have shared a common
then

it

So

mortality.

far,

then, from materialism being the ne-

gation of immortality, the greatest of the apostles, the

great Apostle of the Gentiles, earnestly preached material-

ism as essential to the

little

life

which

There

come.

to

is

is

as

or less justification for saying that materialism in-

volves of necessity the denial of free

which the doctrine of

free will

is

The

will.

on

facts

based are the same

facts

of observation, whether spiritualism or materialism be the

accepted

and the question of

faith,

their interpretation is

not essentially connected with the one or the other faith

the spiritualist

may

consistently deny,

consistently advocate, free will.

belief in the

God

existence of

and the

materialist

In like manner,
is

nowise inconsistent

with the most extreme materialism, for the belief

independent of the
is

The

founded.

facts

and reasons on which

spiritualist

may deny God

make matter

think, but the materialist

existence of

God because he

capable of thought.
that

mind

it is

born with

inseparable from

is

it,

the

body

quite

power

may be

logically believe

life

or death

that

grows, ripens, decays, and dies with

without disbelieving in a great and intelligent Power

has called
to rule the

man

into being,

day and the

meaning, and

It
is

and ordained the

it,

who

greater light

lesser light to rule the night.

What an unnecessary
materialism

to

need not deny the

may
in

is

that faith

holds that matter

Multitudes

the

horror hangs

over the word

has an ugly sound, and an indefinite

well suited, therefore, to be set

up

as a

PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY,
moral scarecrow

sort of
it

and

terrible,

be empty of any

to

mind

assertion that

no more

is

matter

be closely examined,

if it

be found to have the semblance of something

will

there

but

125

is

real harm.

In the

altogether a function of m.atter,

is

actual irreverence than in asserting that

the realization of

mind

the one and the other

proposition being equally meaningless so far as they pos-

a knowledge of anything more than phenomena.

tulate

Whether extension be
extension,

is

visible thought, or thought invisible

a question of a choice of words, and not of

a choice of conceptions.

To

who cannot conceive

those

any organization of matter, however complex, should

that

be capable of such exalted functions as those which are

mental,

called

is

it

really

more conceivable

that

any

organization of matter can be the mechanical instrument

of the complex manifestations of an immaterial

Is

it

not as

easy for

matter with mental functions as

it

is

Is

the Creator's

an im-

to create

material entity capable of accomplishing

matter?

them through

arm shortened, so

that

cannot endow matter with sensation and ideation

strangely overlooked
that the brain

is

mind?

an omnipotent power to endow

by many who write on

He
It is

this matter,

not a dead instrument, but a living

organ, with functions of a higher kind than those of

any other bodily organ, insomuch

and

structure

far

surpass

those

What, then, are those functions

No

one thinks

liver

for

it

functions.

of any other organ.

they are not mental

necessary to assume an immaterial

behind the hepatic

its

if

as its organic nature

structure, in order to

But so

far as

the nature

account
of nerve

THE LIMITS OF

126

and the complex

structure of the cerebral convolutions

exceed in dignity the hepatic elements and

structure,

so far must the material functions of the brain exceed

of the

those
to
is

Men

liver.

not sufficiently careful

are

ponder the wonderful operations of which matter

capable, or to reflect on the miracles effected by it

which are continually before

compound

perties of a chemical
tially

Are the pro-

their eyes.

less mysterious essen-

because of the familiarity with which we handle them?

Consider the seed dropped into the ground:

with germinating energy, bursts

its

it

swells

integuments, sends

upwards a delicate shoot, which grows into a stem, putting

forth in

due season

beautiful structure

its
is

matter;

And
for

it

yet
is

and

flowers, until finally a

formed, such as Solomon in

glory could not equal,

imitate.

leaves

all

and

all

the art of

all

his

mankind cannot

these processes are operations of

not thought necessary to assume an

immaterial or spiritual plant which effects

its

purposes

through the agency of the material structure which we

observe.

Surely there are here exhibited properties of

matter wonderful enough to satisfy any one of the powers

that

may be

inherent in

Are we, then,

it.

to believe that

the highest and most complex development of organic

structure

tions?

is

not capable of even more wonderful opera-

Would you have

microcosm containing

all

the

human body, which

the forms

is

and powers of matter

organized in the most delicate and complex manner, to

possess lower powers than those forms of matter exhibit
separately in nature ?

Trace the gradual development of

the nervous system through the animal series, from

its first

PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY.
germ

to

most complex evolution, and

its

what point

at

as

it

suddenly loses

of animals

class

be declared

inherent properties

all its

In what animal or in

instrument of a spiritual entity.

what

it

and becomes the mere mechanical

structure

living

let

127

does the immaterial principle

abruptly intervene and supersede the agency of matter,

becoming the

more

though

To

appeal

exalted, order of mental

the

to

entirely distinct cause of a similar,

phenomena ?

consciousness of every

him

power within
the body,

is

man

proof of a

for the

from any function of

totally distinct

not admissible as an argument, while

it is

admitted that consciousness can make no observation of

the bodily organ and

and

functions,

its

be proved that matter, even when

most complex organization,

Why may

functions.

it

is

the form

it

of the

incapable of certain mental

not, indeed,

sciousness, seeing that, whether

is

in

until therefore

it

be capable of con-

be or

not, the mystery

equally incomprehensible to us, and must be reckoned

equally simple and

matter and

its

easy to the

properties

every part of the body

is

When

Power which created

again

we

in a constant state of change,

that within a certain period every particle of

and yet

are told that

that amidst these changes a

man

it is

renewed,

feels that

he

remains essentially the same, we perceive nothing inconsistent with the idea of the action of a material organ

for

it is

not absurd to suppose that in the brain the

series of particles take the pattern of those

replace, as they

do

in other organs

and

new

which they

tissues

which are

continually changing their substance yet preserve their

identity.

Even

the scar of a

wound on

the finger

is

not

THE LIMITS OF

128

often effaced, but grows as the

body grows

why, then,

assume the necessity of an immaterial principle to prevent

the impression of an idea from being lost

The
lently

truth

that

is

men have

disputed vaguely and vio-

about matter and motion, and about the impos-

sibility

of matter affecting an immaterial mind, never

having been at the pains to

different kinds of matter

of kind in

motions.

its

made

and

all

upon the

reflect carefully

and the corresponding differences

All sorts of matter, diverse as

they are, were vaguely matter

tion

there was no

discrimina-

the manifold and special properties

of matter were comprised under the general term motion.

This was not, nor could

rises in dignity

it

lead

to,

good

and from chemical matter

;

for matter really

from physical matter in which physical

and chemical

properties exist to chemical matter

of force

and then

to living matter

and

its

forces,

modes

in the scale of life a continuing ascent

leads from the lowest kind of living matter with

force

its

or energy, through different kinds of physiological ele-

ments with

their special energies or functions,

to the

nerve

highest kind of living matter with

its

matter and nerve force

through the different

and,

lastly,

force

viz.,

kinds of nerve-cells and their energies to the most exalted

agents of mental function.

Obviously then simple ideas

derived from observation of mechanical

not

fitly

phenomena

can-

be applied to the explanation of the functions

of that most complex combination of elements and energies, physical

and chemical,

in a small space,

which we

have in living structure; to speak of mechanical vibration in nerves

and nerve-centres

is

to

convey

false ideas

PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY.

129

of their extremely delicate and complex energies, and

thus

seriously

to

hinder the formation of more just

conceptions.

In like manner,

much

barren discussion has been ow^ng

to the undiscriminating inclusion of all kinds of

mental

manifestations under the vague and general term

mind

most important

differences in the nature

and

dignity of so-called mental

phenomena, when they

are

for there are

Those who have not

properly observed and analysed.

been

at the pains to follow the order of

development of

mental phenomena and to make themselves acquainted

with the different kinds of functions that concur to form

what we

call

mental action, and

who have not

the differences of matter, are doing

ing the air

when they declaim

no

studied

better than beat-

By
made

against materialism.

rightly submitting the understanding to facts,

it

is

evident that, on the one hand, matter rises in dignity and

function until

its

energies

merge insensibly into functions

which are described as mental, and, on the other hand,

that there are gradations of mental function, the lowest

of which confessedly do not transcend the functions of

The burden

matter.

of proving that the

china of a spiritual entity intervenes

where

it

intervenes, clearly lies

assertion or

who need

somewhere, and

upon those who make the

the hypothesis.

tified in arbitrarily fabricating

Deus ex ma-

They

are not jus-

an hypothesis entirely

in-

consistent with experience of the orderly development of

nature,

which even postulates a domain of nature that

human

senses cannot take any cognizance

calling

upon those who

of,

and

in then

reject their assumption to disprove

THE LIMITS OF

I30

These have done enough

it.

no grounds

for

if

they show that there are

and no need of the hypothesis.

Here we might properly take leave of

address, were

and the way

the Archbishop's

not that the looseness of his statements

it

which

in

his understanding

is

governed by

the old phrases of philosophical disputes tempt further

criticism,

and make

a duty to expose aspects of the

it

subject of which he does not evince the least apprehen-

He

sion.

would,

we

imagine, be hard put to

it

to sup-

port the heavy indictment contained in the following

sentence which
forward

" A

he

flings

as

off

he

goes

heedlessly

system which pretends to dispense with

the ideas of God, of immortality, of free agency, of causation,

The
is

and of

design,

offer

few attractions."

question of the value of any system of philosophy

not,

may be observed

it

unattractive because
still

would seem to

less

because

whether

it

is

dispenses with received notions,

it

adversaries imagine

its

dispense with them

incidentally,

but

it is

whether

it

that

it

must

possesses that

degree of fundamental truth which will avail to enlarge

the knowledge, and to attract ultimately the belief of

mankind.

History does not record that the doctrines of

Christianity were found attractive

Greece or

Rome when

by the philosophers of

they were

first

does, indeed, record that Paul preaching

preached there

on Mars' Hill

at

Athens, the city of intellectual enlightenment, and declaring to the inhabitants the

ignorantly worshipped,

unknown God whom they

made no

impression, but found

it

prudent to depart thence to Corinth, nowise renowned at

that time as a virtuous city, renowned, indeed, in far other

PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY.

We

wise.

131

have not, however, quoted the foregoing sen-

tence in order to repudiate popular attractiveness as a

criterion of truth, but to take occasion to declare the

wide difference between the modest

inquiry

spirit

of scientific

and the confident dogmatism of the

Positive Philosophy.

of what

so-called

Science, recognizing the measure

can impart to be bounded by the existing

it

makes no proposition what-

limits of scientific inquiry,

ever concerning that which

lies

beyond these

limits

equally careful, on the one hand, to avoid a barren enunciation in

words of what

it

cannot apprehend in thought,

and, on the other hand, to refrain from a blind denial of

possibilities

transcending

means of

its

research.

acquiescence in ignorance until light comes

It

must be borne

is its

calm

attitude.

mind, however, that

clearly in

this

scrupulous care to abstain from presumptuous assertions

does not warrant the imposition of any arbitrary barrier

to the reach of

its

powers, but

is

quite consistent with

the conviction of the possibility of an invasion and sub-

jugation of the
tent,

unknown

to a practically unlimited ex-

and with the most strenuous

efforts

to lessen

its

domain.

and the more

considered the
seems that human intelligence should ever

The wonder
greater

it

is

it

is

have grown to the height either of affirming or of denying the existence of a God.

even

if

Certainly the denial implies,

the affirmation does not also, the assumption

of the attributes of a

God by him who makes

it.

Let

imagination travel unrestrained through the immeasureable heavens, past the myriads of orbs which, revolving

THE LIMITS OF

132

in

appointed paths, constitute our solar system,

their

through distances which words cannot express nor mind

conceive

definitely, to other suns

systems

beyond these glimmer

lights of

more

in the vast distance the

whose

solar systems,

the void, never reach our planet

end, for as thought in

its flight

and other planetary

rays, extinguished in
still

leaves

they are not the

them behind, and

they vanish in remote space, other suns appear,

until, as

the imagination strives to realize their immensity, the

heavens seem almost an

do the scattered
reflection take

Then let
remembering how

clusters of planets

up the

a space

infinite void, so small

tale,

and,

fill.

sober
small

a part of the heavenly hosts our solar system

is,

and how

small a part of our solar system the earth

is,

consider

how

entirely

beast,

and

plant,

upon the heat which

this

our planet

dependent man, and

every living thing

is

receives from the sun

its

inspiring influence,

how

and

vegetation flourishes through

and the vegetation of the past

in

long-buried forests gives up again the heat which ages

ago

it

received from the sun

by the
which
as the

how animal

of the vegetable kingdom,

life
is

received directly from the sun

crown of

living things,

and

life is

and by the heat

;

and how man,

his highest

energy, as the crown of his development,

that has

sustained

mental

depend on

gone before him in the evolution of nature

considering

all

these

things,

does not

living

all
:

nature

appear but a small and incidental by-play of the sun's

energies

aflBrm that
Is

it

Seems

man

is

it

not an unspeakable presumption to

the

main end and purpose of creation ?

not appalling to think that he should dare to speak

PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY.

133

of what so far surpasses the reach of his feeble senses,

and of the power which ordains and governs the order

of events impiously to deny the existence of a God,

The

or not less impiously to create one in his image?

man

portion of the universe with which

relation

by

brought into

is

but a fragment, and

his existing sentiency is

unknown by
very much as if the

to measure the possibilities of the infinite

knows

the standard of what he

oyster should judge

within

shell

its

all

nature by the experience gained

should deny the existence

a human being, because

its

or recognize

his nature

and transcending our ken

can

man

his works.
is

then, the "feeble

the firmament showeth

on earth of

intelligence cannot conceive

Encompassing us

a universe of energies

how

atom of an hour," presume

whose glory the heavens

affirm

is

declare,

to

whose handiwork

Certainly true science does not

so dogmatize.

Bacon, in a well-known and often-quoted passage,

has remarked

minds

" that a Httle philosophy inclineth men's

Atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth

to

men's minds about to religion

man

mind of

for while the

looketh upon second causes scattered,

times rest in them, and go no

further

may somebut when it

it

beholdeth the chain of them, confederate and linked

together,
It is

it

must needs

fly to

Providence and Deity."

not easy to perceive, indeed,

which makes

its

inductions

how modern

science,

concerning natural forces

from observation of their manifestations, and arrives at

generalizations of different forces, can, after observation

of nature,

avoid the generalization of

an

intelligent

THE LIMITS OF

134

mental

linked

force,

relations with

essential

them

constraining

to

and

harmonious association

in

other forces, but leading

higher aims

and

To

of evolution.

speak of such evolution as the course of nature

is

to

endow an undefined agency with the properties which

are commonly assigned to a god, whether it be called
God or not. The nature, aim and power of this supreme
everlasting to

man, a

finite

To

prehend.

be

working

force,

intelligent

and

so

as

far

we know from

plainly impossible

that

transient part of nature, should

com-

everlasting,

is

it

suppose him capable of doing so would

suppose him endowed with the very attributes

to

which, having only in part himself, he ascribes in the

whole

to Deity.

Whether the low savage has or has not the idea of a

God,

is

a question which seems hardly to deserve the

amount of

attention which

it

has received.

that he feels himself surrounded

the natures

and

that

as the

he

work of some being of

Indeed,

mation of

quite ignorant

more or

of,

less clearly,

like passions with himself,

whom

it is

his interest to pro-

would appear, so

it

forces

far as

the infor-

travellers enables us to judge, that the idea

entertained of
is

is

apt to interpret them,

but vastly more powerful,

pitiate.

and overruled by

and laws of which he

is

It is certain

God by

the savage

who has any such

idea

nearly allied to that which civilized people have or

have had of a devil

whose
that

delight

is

of a being

for

it is

the vague dread of a being

in bringing evil

who watches

upon him

rather than

over and protects him.

Being ignorant altogether of the order of nature, and of

PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY.

135

the fixed laws under which calamities and blessings alike

come, he frames a dim, vague, and

of the

of those effects which touch

causes

painfully.

embodiment

terrible

Will

it

him most

be believed, then, that the Archbishop

of York actually appeals to the instinct of the savage

to

rebuke the alleged atheism of science?

Let

be

it

granted, however, that the alleged instinct of the savage

points to a

must

God and

form has none

like

if

that can

it is

it

a dim, unde-

be called an idea which

having no relationship to the conception

God which

of a

In

be confessed that

in all fairness

fined, fearful idea

not to a devil ruling the world,

manner

is

cherished

among

civilized

as the idea of a devil has

people.

undergone a

remarkable development with the growth of intelligence

from age to age, until

some

in

quarters there

is

evinced

a disposition to improve him out of being, so the conception of a

God

has undergone an important develop-

ment through the

ages,

in

correspondence with

development of the human mind.

God

the

The conceptions of
and

affirmed

by

different revelations notably reflect,

are an index

of,

the intellectual and moral character of

the people to

whom

the

each revelation has been made, and

God of the same religion

does unquestionably advance

with the mental evolution of the people professing

it,

being differently conceived of at different stages of culture.

Art, in

learning

ing

it

its

its

steps,

early infancy,

when

it

is,

so to speak,

endeavours to copy nature, and, copy-

badly, exaggerates

and caricatures

it,

whence the

savage's crude notion of a

God

of the highest art

produce by ideahzation the

is

to

but the aim and work

THE LIMITS OF

136

whence a more exalted and

illusion of a higher reality,

conception of Deity.

spiritual

Notwithstanding the Archbishop's charge of atheism

against science, there

even one, eminent

is

hardly one,

if

scientific inquirer

the existence of God, while there

is

indeed there be

who

has

denied

notably more than

one who has evinced a childlike simplicity of

The utmost
to
to

claim of scientific scepticism

is

examine the evidence of a revelation

be Divine,

same searching way

in the

examine any other evidence

and

origin

of religious
violates

development,

faith.

the right

professing
as

it

would

endeavour to trace the

to

and

to

weigh

the

value,

conceptions as of other conceptions.

the fundamental habit of the scientific

the very principle of

its

nature, to

demand

of

It

mind,
it

the

unquestioning acceptance of any form of faith which

tradition

may hand down

as divinely revealed.

When

followers of a religion appeal, as the followers

the

every religion do, in proof of

miraculous events

it,

the

contrary to

present order of nature, there

to the

is

of

testimony of

experience

of the

a scientific fact not

contraiy to experience of the order of nature which they

overlook, but which
viz.

That

it

is

incumbent to bear in mind,

eager and enthusiastic disciples sometimes

.

have visions and dream dreams, and that they are apt
innocently
ordinary

or

to

imagine or purposely to invent

supernatural

extra-

events worthy the imagined

importance of the subject, and answering the burning

zeal

of

their

faith.

The calm

observer and sincere

interpreter of nature cannot set capricious or arbitrary

PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY.
bounds

to his inquiries at

any point where another may-

he ought to do so

assert that

I37

he cannot choose but

claim and maintain the right to search and try what

any man, Jew or Gentile, Mussulman or Brahmin, has

declared

and

sacred,

to

see

if

be

it

be not true to him, what matters

The

theologian

him

tells

it

where

of free

right

this

true

it

be?

it

concerned to

is

does begin, and to examine what

faith

sort of evidence the evidence of things

if

how

if

that the limits of philosophical

inquiry are where faith begins, but he

find out

And

true.

inquiry be

unseen

And

is.

denied him, then

is

denied him the right to doubt what any visionary or

fanatic, or

madman,

may choose

or impostor,

to proclaim

as a revelation from the spiritual world.

Towards the

close

of his

lecture

the

Archbishop,

breaking out into peroration, becomes violently contemptuous

of

sorted

and

" with

philosopher who,

the

tied

up and labelled

his

sensations

to the utmost, might,"

he thinks, " chance to find himself the most odious

and

creature

so

so wise, so

glib,

and persuading you that he

is

there

that

not very

caricature;

is

it

its

mystery and wonder,

the master of

its

secrets,

nothing but what he knows

difficult

but

is

of discourse, sitting

full

in the midst of creation with all

and

ridiculous being in all the multiform creation.

to

was

raise

!"

It

a laugh by drawing a

hardly,

perhaps,

worthy

the

on

lecturer,

the subject, and the audience, to exliibit

such an

occasion an archiepiscopal talent for drawing

caricatures.

sopher,

As we have aheady

" so gUb, so wise, so

full

intimated, this philo-

of discourse,"

does

THE LIMITS OF

[38

know

not profess to

nearly so

and wonder of creation

more

is

transcribe

or

but

ends,

criticise

it

same

lecturer to say that he

sort

it

quoted, however, as

one

to

near his conclusion when he

is

The

ecstasy.

before

only right to the

is

works himself up into this vituperative and

hysterical

There

would be unprofitable

and

it;

of the mystery

Archbishop does.

flourishing language of the

discourse

the

as the

much

may be

passage

following

instructive in

somewhat

more respects than

"The
many

world

offers just

now

the spectacle, humiliating to us in

ways, of millions of people clinging to their old idolatrous

religions,

to change them even for a higher form whilst

Europe thousands of the most cultivated class are begin-

and refusing

in Christian

ning to consider atheism a permissible or even a desirable thing.

The
in

very instincts of the savage rebuke

danger of losing

dangers of our
brain-gland,

he

is

all

loss.

where

an emperoi",

may come

the

us.

But

moment

world where thought

just

when we seem

of awakening to the

a secretion of the

is

dream of a madman that thinks

though naked and in chains, where God is not
free will is the

or at least not knowable, such

is

not the world as

we have

learnt

it,

on which great lives have been lived out, great self-sacrifices dared,
great piety and devotion have been bent on softening the sin, the
ignorance, and the misery.
It is a world from which the sun is
But this is not our world
withdrawn, and with it all light and life.
not
world
of
our
fathers.
To
live is to think and to
as it was,
the
will.

along

To
its

think

is

to see the chain of facts in creation,

golden links to find

the hand of God

and passing

at its beginning, as

we saw His handiwork in its course. And to will is to be able to

know good and evil ; and to will aright is to submit the will entirely
So that with God alone can we find true
to a will higher than ours.
knowledge and true

Was

rest,

the vaunted fruits of philosophy.

ever before such a terrible indictment against

Christianity

drawn by a Christian prelate ?

Its doctrines

PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY.
have now been preached

for nearly

139

two thousand years

they have had the aids of vast armies, of incalculable

wealth, of the greatest genius

and eloquence

they are

embodied

in the results of conquests, in the sublimest

works of

art,

the

oratory, in

some of

in

the

noblest

specimens of

modern

very organization of

society;

thousands upon thousands have died martyrs to their

them, and thousands more have been

in

faith

martyrs for want

carried

the

to

of faith

them

in

of

darkest places

made

they have been

the

earth

by

the

of commerce, have been proclaimed by the

vehicles

messengers and backed by the moral power of a higher

civilization

and

results

they are almost identified with the

of

modern

scientific

progress

all

spirit

these

advantages they have had, and yet the Archbishop can

do no more than point

to the spectacle of millions of

people clinging to their old idolatrous religions, and

to thousands of the

most cultivated

Europe who are beginning

missible
really

or

true

many

so

Christian

to consider atheism a

even a desirable thing

that

class in

of

the

Whether

cultivated

perit

class

be
in

Europe are gravitating towards atheism we cannot say

but

if

the allegation be true,

it

may

well be doubted

whether an appeal to the instincts of the savage who

persists in clinging to his idolatry will avail to

them of

their error.

Archbishop's part

to

It is

convince

not very consistent on the

make such an

appeal,

who

in

another paragraph of his lecture emphatically enjoins

on philosophy not

to banish

immortality from the field of

God, freedom, duty, and

its

inquiries, adjuring

it

THE LIMITS OF

E40

solemnly never to consent to abandon these highest

subjects of study.

Another comment on the passage above quoted which

suggests

itself

is

that

and death

sacrifices, sufferings,

as

firm

for

the

men have undergone

self-

a bad cause with

for

and cheerful a resolution as good men have

best

cause

die

to

whatever of the truth of

it,

for

no proof

is

it.

Atheism counts

Jordano Bruno, the

martyrs as well as Christianity.

friend of Sir Philip Sidney,

faith

nor by any means always the

man may render

best service which a

its

great

was condemned

for atheism,

sentenced to death, and, refusing to recant, burnt at

Vanini,

the stake.

might

have

execution

if

who

moment

been pardoned the

would have retracted

he

an

suffered death as

atheist,

before

his

doctrines

but he chose to be burnt to ashes rather than

To

these might be

much

his

retract.

added others who have gone through

persecution and grievous

suffering

for

a cause

which the Archbishop of York would count the worst

for

which a

man

could

suffer.

How many

Christians

of one sect have undergone lingering tortures and cruel

deaths at the hands of Christians of another sect for
the sake of small and non-essential points of doctrine in

which only they differed

for points at issue so

minute

as to " be scarcely visible to the nicest theological eye

Christianity has sometimes
it

terrible war-cry,

and

must be confessed that Christians have been good

persecutors.

been a

faith

When

the passions of

men have worked

into enthusiasm, they will suffer

inflict suffering

and death,

for

and

die,

and

any cause, good or bad.

PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY.
The appeal

to the

martyrdom of professors

141

is

therefore

of small worth as an argument for the truth of their

Pity

doctrine.

so, for if it

it is

were otherwise,

a cause would suffice to establish

self-sacrifice in

if

that

'tis

what a noble and powerful argument

it,

in support of the

Christian verities might archbishops and bishops offer,

sad times

these

in

many

of luxury and unbelief

so

are lapsing into atheism ?

But we must bring

are

when

some of those

that

to an

end these

reflections,

which

have been suggested by the perusal

of the archiepiscopal address on the Limits of Philosophical Inquiry.

modern

science,

than a bitter

Though heavy charges are laid against

they are made in a thoughtless rather

spirit,

while the absence of bigotry and the

may

general candour displayed

author

will,

on

reflection, perceive his opinions to require

further consideration,

discriminate

and

his statements to

and sweeping.

think, less reason to

from

a hope that the

justify

On

the whole there

apprehend harm to

this discharge of the

be too
is,

in-

we

scientific inquiry

Archbishop's feelings, than to

apprehend harm to those who are obstinately defending

the religious position against the attack which

imminent.

For he has used

his friends badly

exposed their entire flank to the enemy

distinctly

have philosophy concern

how

miserably

it

falls

short of

he has

itself

with the highest

so,

its

while he would

subjects^God, freedom, and immortality

philosophy which forbears to do

thought

is

despising

and pointing out

highest mission, he

warns philosophy in the same breath that there

point at which

its

teaching ends.

is

LIMITS OF PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY.

142

''Philosophy, whilst she

teaching morals and religion,

soon come to a point where her teaching >ends

will
.

is

She

and

send her scholars to seek in revelation

will

practical obedience the higher culture that she can

only commence."

The

pity of the matter

that

is,

we

are not furnished

with a word of guidance as to where the hitherto and no

farther point

With brave and

is.

words he

flourishing

launches the inquirer on a wide waste of waters, but

without a rudder to guide him, or a compass to steer by.
Is

he to go on so long as what he discovers

formity with
Articles,

but

down on

his

in con-

is

Gospel according to the Thirty-nine

the

furl to his sails,

knees the

cease his exertions, and go

moment

his discoveries clash with

the faith according to the Thirty-nine Articles?

guarantee have

we

that he will

be content to do so

What
In

withholding the Scriptures from the people, and shutting

off

philosophy entirely from the things that belong to

faith,

the

Church of

Rome

impregnable position
will

be no inquiry, and

be no doubt, and
disbelief.

if

occupies a strong and almost

be no reading there

for if there
if

there be

there be

no inquiry there

no doubt there

will

will

be no

But the union of philosophical inquiry and

rehgious faith

is

difficult to see

not a natural union of kinds

how

the product of

it

and

can be much

it

is

dif-

ferent from the hybrid products of other unnatural unions

of different kinds

not monstrous.

can be

other than

sterile,

when

it

is

THE THEORY OF VITALITY^

It has been the custom of certain disciples of the soextravagant

called Positive Philosophy to repudiate as

the well-known opinion of Protagoras, that

man

as

he

is

known

to himself

tions of self consciousness, there

reason for

its

rejection

an objective study,
tending to prove

it

sometimes deemed.

more and more

is

it

"we

be appHed

manifest that

Day by

revela-

unquestionably great

is

if it

by the

day, indeed,

clear that, as Sir T.

to

modern

by no means so absurd as

" parallels nature in the

in truth,

but

it

is it

him

science

as
is

has been

becoming

Browne has

it,

cosmography of himself;"

are that bold

the

be under-

If the proposition

measure of the universe.

stood of

man was

man
that,

and adventurous piece of

nature which he that studies wisely learns in a compen-

dium what
less

others labour at in a divided piece

and end-

The "heaven-descended yviZdi aeavTov''

new value as a maxim inculcating on man the

volume."^

acquires

objective study of himself.

1

British AND Foreign Medico-Chir. Review, No.

2

Religio Medici.

64.

1863.

THE THEORY

144

The earliest

Thales,

cultivators of Grecian philosophy

did

seek ob-

principle of things

common

Anaximenes, and Diogenes of Apollonia

jectively for the apx^l or

to

man and

first

This primitive kind of

the rest of nature.

induction was soon, however, abandoned for the easier

and speedier deduction from the subjective

consciousness

so that, as the

of

facts

German philosopher

is

done with the elephant, man constructed the

said to have

own

laws of an external world out of the depths of his

consciousness.

Because an individual was conscious of

certain passions

which influenced

his conduct,

he fancied

that natural bodies were affected in their relations to

one another by

Hence

like passions.

the

phenomena of

nature were explained by sympathies, antipathies, loves,

discords

vacuum

oil
;

had an antipathy

Love was the

to water; nature abhorred

produced

creative force which

development and harmony

Hate, the destructive force

which produced disorder and discord.

The method was

only a phase of the anthropomorphism by which the

Dryad was placed

in the tree, the

Naiad

in the fountain,

and the gods of mankind were created by man.

The

result of

such a method was inevitable.

a language there

is

ferent meanings, as

but one word for two or three

happens

cultivation of science
is

in

dif-

in all languages before the

when,

for example, the loadstone

said to attract iron, the earth to attract heavy bodies,

the plant to attract moisture,

and one mind

another, without further differentiation

is

When

an ambiguity about words

and the unavoidable

issue

is

to attract

there necessarily

disputes thereupon arise,

sophistry

and

sophists.

That

VITALITY.
was a

H5

which the ingenious and active mind of

result

Greece soon reached.

In

nomenclature

scientific

it

is

constantly becoming necessary to discard words which

are in

common

of precision

use, because of their vagueness

for as

with cognition or

with

it is

life

life

and

objectively,

subjectively, so

must

and want
as

be with the

it

language in which, the phenomena are expressed.

entific

it is

sci-

nomenclature must rightly present a progress from

the general to the special, must reflect in

speciahzation

increased

the

its

of

specialization

adaptation to external nature.

increasing

human

As might be expected,

Plato and Aristotle both recognized the evil in Greece,

and both

tried to

check

The

it.

metaphysics, analytics,

&c. of the latter have been described as a dictionary

of general terms, " the process throughout being

first

to

discover and establish definite meanings, and then to appropriate to each a several word."

But

it is

in vain to

attempt to establish words except as living outgrowths of

The method was a mistaken one

was not an intending of the mind to the realities of

actual facts in nature.

there

external nature,
*

fruits
1

and knowledge was barren, wanting those

and invented works

Coleridge's

upon

"

which Bacon pronounces

Literaiy Correspondence.

praiseworthy surely as far as

Aristotle in

marvel

some

It is

for

this

to

attempt,

went, that Bacon is unduly severe

Thus " And herein I cannot a little

it

parts.

at the philosopher Aristotle that did

of difference and contradiction towards

all

proceed in such a
antiquity,

spirit

undertaking

not only to form new words of science at pleasure, but to confound

and extinguish all ancient wisdom. " (De Augmentis Scientiarum.
Aristotle, as though he had been of the race of the
And again
Ottomans, thought he could not reign except the first thing he did he
'

'

killed all his brethren. "

(Ibid.

THE THEORY

146

be, as

it

were, "sponsors and sureties for the truth of

philosophy."

Much

the

same thing happened

in the earher part of

The mysticism and

the Middle Ages.

sophistry which

then prevailed, the endless and unprofitable but learned

and ingenious disputes concerning empty propositions

and words which had no

definite

to represent the wasted efforts

But as the

a blind giant.

and unavailing strength of

infant,

moved by an

unconsciously for

at first strives

impulse,

meanings, might be said

its

awakening thereby

to a consciousness of the

it,

human mind

so the

consciously the material of

until

it

chemist,

its

for a

his avarice

and the

astrologer,

in nature,

time gathered un-

to a full consciousness

bosom which was supplying

moved by

destiny governing

human

mother who

knowledge from nature,

was gradually awakened

of the fruitful

mother's

nourishment therefrom, gradually

breast and draws

supplies

its

internal

and the

The

it.

al-

instinct of a unity

moved by

the feeling of a

actions, both lighted

on

trea-

sures which, though not then appreciated, were yet not

lost

came astronomy, and from alchemy,

In Roger
time, was born chemistry.

for of astrology

in the fulness of

Bacon, who successfully interrogated nature in the

of the inductive method,
tively and, as

it

see the

human mind

were, unconsciously striving after the true

source of knowledge

who

we

spirit

instinc-

while in the Chancellor Bacon,

established the principles

of the inductive philosophy,

and systematized the

rules

we

to a

see

it

awakened

clear apprehension of the necessity of doing with design

and method

that

which

in

an imperfect manner

it

had

OF VITALITY.
for

some time been blindly aiming

the infant, so
sciousness,

prevailed,

it

was with humanity

and Bacon was the

and passing thence

it

is

action preceded con-

spirit

which

has

accordingly been

to external nature,

his investigations

he

is

man

begins with

the complex to

ascend step by step through pro-

Not

gressively increasing complications of the simple.

only
is

so,

but the necessity of studying himself objectively

recognized

fully

with

Instead of beginning with himself

nature and ends with himself;

which

as

it.

of investigation

completely reversed.

But

at.

efflux of

and not the creator of

The method

147

it

is

not the subjective feeling of

heat or cold in a feverish patient, but the figure at which

the thermometer stands, that

now appealed to
The

is

trustworthy index of the real temperature.

lopment of the senses,

specialty of

human

or, in

as the

deve-

other words, the increased

adaptation

to external

nature,

has

been, as the progress of science proves, the foundation

of intellectual advance; the understanding has been deve-

loped through the senses, and has in turn constructed

instruments for extending the action

of the

The

for enabling the

telescope has merely been a

means

senses.^

eye to penetrate into distant space, and to observe the

1

gi'eat

"

desideratum

Wir

is

a history of such development of the

Werke liber die Geschichte von

und Staatsformen, genaue Tagebiicher von Konigen und
fieissige Verzeichnisse von den Schopfungen der Dichter.
Aber den
wichtigsten Beitrag zu einer Bildungsgeschichte des Menschen in der
eingreifendsten Bedeutu.ng des Wortes hat noch Niemand geliefert.
senses

besitzen gar treffliche

Sclilachten

Unsfehlt eine Entwickelungsgeschichte der Sinne.''

Kreislaiif des Lebens.

Moleschott,

THE THEORY

148

motions of worlds which the unaided vision would never

have revealed

by the microscope the minute

and the history of the

of tissues

organic cell has been

made known

little

structure

world of the

the balance has de-

monstrated the indestructibility of matter, and has supplied to science the exactness of the numerical

method

and, in the electric stream, there has been found a

means

of investigating nerve action, like that which there

is

in

polarized light for ascertaining the internal condition of

Who

crystallized bodies.

dict

some time

since that

measure the speed

along the nerves
will

would have ventured to pre-

at

would ever be possible to

it

which an impulse of the

And who

will

will travels

venture to say that

it

not at a future time be possible to measure the velo-

Such an eminent physiologist as Miiller could venture to predict

" Vf ir werden
the impossibility thereof. In his Physiology he says
der NervenGeschv/indigkeit
gewinnen
die
auch wohl nie die Mittel
1

wirkung zu ennitteln da uns die Vergleich tjngeheurer Entfernung

felht aus der die Schnelligkeit einer dem Nerven in dieser Hinsicht
analogen Wirlvung des Liclrt berechnet werden kann." With which

compare Helmholtz
zu messen," &c.

'

''
:

Ueber

tions of the nerves to

it

Methoden

kleinste Zeittheilchen

1850.

As long as physiologists

principle,

die

tlie

considered

it

necessary to refer the opera-

extension of an imponderable or psychical

might well appear incredible that the rapidity of the

stream should be measurable within the limits of the animal body.

At present we know, from the investigations of Du Bois-Reymond

on the electro-motor properties of nerves, that the

the propagation of a stimulus

is

accomplished

is

activity

by which

closely connected

with an altered arrangement of their material molecules perhaps

even essentially determined by them. Accordingly, the process of
conduction in nerves may belong to the series of continuous molecular operations of ponderable bodies, in which, for example, the

conduction of sound in the

air,

or the combustion in a tube filled

OF VITALITY.
which one idea

city with

149

up another

calls

Biology must plainly of necessity be the

study, for

difficult

vital force

in the brain ?

and most

last

presupposes the other sciences as

it

supposes inferior forces

but

tendency of advancing knowledge to bring

more within the compass of

the evident

it is

life

more and

be sometimes made a reproach to science, as

if it

by Comte, that

may

it

And

scientific investigation.

has not discovered the laws of

it

was

life, it

well rest calm under the censure, pointing to the

history of the earth to

else, required

evolution of

In

show

done

that nature, having

a long period before

it

all

accomplished the

life.

spite, then,

of a desire on the part of

some persons

to separate biology from the other sciences,

and notwith-

standing the alarm occasionally displayed with regard

to the dignity of vitality,

it

is

the certain tendency of

advancing knowledge to bring a science of

and

life

indissoluble relations with other sciences,

into close

and thus

to establish in cognition, or to reflect in consciousness,

the unity which exists in nature.

life

was assigned to the

sinity

stars,

the

When,
air,

in ancient times,

the water, a sort of

was recognized, but recognized only by explaining

nature from a very imperfect knowledge of

the task

is

to explain

man on

knowledge of nature, and

unity of the whole.
less,

man

in that

way

to demonstrate the

the result?

indeed, than the reconciliation of the ideal

is

to

now

the basis of an increasing

What must be

with an explosive mixture,

be reckoned.

It is

Nothing

and the

not surprising,

therefore," he adds, "that the speed of conduction should be very

Hioderate-"

(Ueber die Methodeii, &c.)

THE THEORY

I50

of subjective and objective.

real, the identification

life is

As

a condition in which an intimate correlation exists

between the individual and nature,

it is

evident that whilst

Plato dealt only with ideas of the mind, his system must

remain comparatively unprofitable

that since

we have

it is

evident also

learnt to discover the laws or ideas

in nature of which ideas in the

becomes possible

but

mind

Once

for

may perhaps be

all, it

for granted that the ideas of genius never can

ingless

for

its

mental

of the unconscious
this

life is

life

been exemplified

form the

How

be mean-

excellently has

him who embodied

age

scientific spirit of this

characteristic of Goethe, as

La vater

give a poetical form to the real

It

in poetical

was the great

justly said of him, to

he proved, in

fact, that

science, in place of rendering poetry impossible,

a field for the highest poetry.

Wahlverswa7idschaffen) starts from the

chemical

of elements, and applies such

to

human

opened

His romance of the

Elective Affinities
affinities

taken

a reflection in consciousness

of nature.

in

ij;

an interpretation of

to find in nature

Plato's true ideas. ^

are correlates,

beings, therein exactly reversing the old

affinities

method

phenomena of self-consciousness,
of the human mind to the pheno-

which, starting from the

applied the passions

mena
^

of external nature.

"But

it

is

Of Goethe

it

may be

justly

manifest that Plato, in his opinion of ideas as one

had a wit of elevation situate as upon a cliff, did descry

that forms were the true object of knowledge,' but lost the real
fruit of his opinion by considering of forms as absolutely abstracted
from matter, and not confined and detennined by matter and so
turning his opinion on theology, wherewith all his natural philosophy
is infected."
De Aug. Scient.
that
*

OF VITALITY.
him the

said, that in

and the

ideal

blended; that he embodied the

age,

and yet was

that he

some

in

151

were happily

real

scientific

spirit

respects an advance

of the

upon

it

was a prophecy of that which must be a course

of development of the

human mind

if

it

be destined

to develop.

The

foregoing general sketch of the course and ten-

dency of knowledge

When

of science.

by the present aspect

is fully justified

nature was

first

examined objectively

the differences in matter appeared manifold, and

of energy or activity

On

also.

in fact,

that

is, its

forces

its

modes

appeared many

a more careful use of the senses, however,

by the application of the

products of combustion,

delicate balance to the

became evident

it

one

that

form of matter only disappeared to reappear in another

form

that

it

never perished, but only changed.

Ele-

mentary matter thus passes upwards into chemical and

organic compounds, and then downwards from organic to
chemical, and from chemical
condition.

compounds

Out of dust man

is

to

its

elementary

formed by an upward

transformation of matter, and to dust he returns by a

retrograde metamorphosis thereof

Corresponding with

the changes in the form of matter are changes in

its

modes of energy or its forces to different combinations

and arrangements of molecules correspond different
modes of energy. Force therefore is eternal, like matter,
;

and passes through a corresponding cycle of transformations.

The

correlation

and conservation of

have always been more or

necessities

of

human

less

forces,

which

clearly recognized

as

now accepted

as

thought, are

THE THEORY

152

axioms, and are daily receiving experimental

scientific

demonstration.^

Though
that there

it

is

may seem

avoid the conclusion

difficult to

fundamentally but one natural force which

manifests itself under different modes, yet such a suppo-

domain of

sition at present transcends the

a matter of fact

we

are compelled, in order to form a

and

satisfactory conception of matter

In

under a twofold aspect.

it

As

science.

its

forces, to regard

we

our conceptions

all

imply a sort of dualism of power in every body, though

we

are very apt to forget

it

The

in our generalizations.

hinges of gravitation, for example, keep worlds in their

by opposing a

orbits

otherwise

drive

them

centrifugal

The

space.

into

afloat

which would

force

smaller

hinges of molecular cohesion hold together the infinitely

we

smaller bodies which

call

molecules of matter, in

opposition to a repulsive force, which, on the application

of a

heat,

little

may

volatile substances
It

similar
^

Democritus,

Epicurus,

matter

liquids

character to

in

them

their

diffusion

Aristotle,

all

upheld the

" All things change, but nothing

physics, and holds in natural theology

common

an axiom

in

of matter neither diminishes nor increases, so

of Omnipotence to create or to annihilate."

follows

is

while

eternity

of

the quotations from Lucretius and Persius on that subject

not so

import

in

power

the volatility of solids

are well known, but the following passage from the

is

and

off into space,

does so drive them off without heat.

same with

the

is

drive

occur in
:

Bacon's writings.

" The ignorant

not exist in

its

Atigmentis

This

is

sum
work

for as the

equally the

Other passages of

And the Brahminical doctrine

like
is

as

assert that the universe in the beginning did

was created out of nothing. O ye,

how could something come out of nothing ? "

author, and that

whose hearts are pure,

it is

De

is lost.

it

OF VITALITY.

15;

"colloids" are volatile, "crystalloids" are comparatively

There

"fixed."

is

a relation of molecules to one another

which we are compelled to represent

in conception as

And

the result of a force of repulsion or tension.

some

sensible

image

is

necessary for the

mind

in

as

order

to the clearness of a conception of the invisible, physics

assumes between the ponderable molecules of a body

certain

ethereal particles which are in

tionary

oscillation,

the degree

body being supposed

to

a state of sta-

of temperature

depend upon the

of the

intensity of the

active force of these imponderable intermolecular parIf the

ticles.

body be suddenly and

greatly compressed,

these motions are communicated to the imponderable

ether outside the body, and tension force thus
"

free force in manifest radiation of heat.

in us," very justly said

matter

that

is

when

heat

thus vapours

is

the tension force

molecules get nearer to one another

greater

What

is

heat

Locke, "is in the heated body

When

nothing but motion."

becomes

become

liquids

withdrawn from

becomes

free, its

their cohesion

and

liquids

is

become

solids.

seems probable that the necessity of regarding

It

matter under this twofold aspect of attraction and repulsion

is

owing

to

man's

inability, as

being himself a part

of nature, to form a conception of nature as a whole.

He

must necessarily regard things

for as

he

exists only in relation to nature,

phase of consciousness
it is

in relation to himself;

is

an expression of

and

as every

this relation,

plain that one of the elements of the relation cannot

free itself,

and from an independent point of view watch

THE THEORY

154

unconcernedly things as they really

we speak

Thus, though

are.

of passivity and activity, they are really not

different kinds of action, but different relations of the

same kind of

Whatever be the cause, and

action.

however doubtful the philosophical

tinction,

we

are compelled to regard matter in this two-

One

fold relation.
passive,

statical,

attraction

validity of the dis-

aspect of the relation

cohesion,

the other

is

we

describe as

to use the generic term,

or,

active, dynamical, tension, or, to

use the generic term, repulsion.

Attraction plus repul-

sion of molecules constitutes our conception of matter

and

in observation of

its

modes of

energy, attraction

recognized in gravitation, cohesion, magnetism,

love, while repulsion

is

found

that attraction

chemical

affinity,

in. the centrifugal force, in

heat, in electricity, in antipathy

It is in rising to the

is

and

hate.

department of chemical compounds

found under a new and special phase as

is

affinity.

But when the chemical union of two

molecules into a single one takes place, a diminution of

the tension force surrounding each molecule must occur,

and, according to the law of the conservation of force,

an equivalent of another force must be

happens

in the production of heat

set free.

and

This

electricity; for,

as Faraday has shown, chemical action cannot take place

without the development of

The amount

electricity.

force liberated in a simple chemical combination will

the equivalent of the tension force

of carbon combines with one

lost.

When

of

be

one atom

atom of oxygen, a

definite

quantity of tension force surrounding each molecule disappears,

and a

definite quantity of heat

is

accordingly

OF VITALITY.

When

produced.

two molecules separate

make

decomposition, they necessarily

so

much

active force

so

much

chemical

in

passive or latent

heat becomes so

much

But furthermore, in a chemical decom-

tension force.
position

155

we have

and

the resolution of that very intense

special force, chemical affinity itself; so that the force

set free will,

becomes

latent as tension force

We know
combine

one would suppose,

not

far

exceed that which

around the molecules.

why two molecules should chemically

we accept

a fundamental law of

as

their

nature this high, special, and powerful form of attraction

but we do know
takes place a

little

when chemical decomposition

that

chemical force must be resolved into

a large display of inferior

force.

It

a fact authenti-

is

cated by Faraday, that one drop of water contains, and

may be made
different

lightning

much

to evolve, as

electricity as

under

modes of display would suffice to produce a

flash.
The decomposition of matter is the

resolution of force,

and

in such resolution

one equivalent

of chemical force will correspond to several equivalents

of inferior force.

Thus chemical

lated with the physical forces,

much

force,

may be

said to

be of a

higher order than they are.

In the

still

higher stage of matter in a state of

we meet with chemical combination

complex

character

Matter, which in

occupy some space,

of a

is

its

its

most

special

vitality,

much more

than occurs in inorganic

attraction appears under

form.

though corre-

matter

and complex

elementary condition might

so blended or

occupy a minimum of space

and

combined as

force

to

which, under

THE THEORY

156

a lower mode, might

heavens,

perhaps to illuminate the

suffice

here confined within the small compass of

is

an organic

cell or of a

We

speck of protoplasm.

have

to do, however, with organic matter under two forms

as

dead and as

living matter, as displaying energy of its

Dead

own, or as displaying no energy.

has ceased to act, and

mercy of the

forces

begin to effect

its

it is

now

which surround

dissolution.

organic matter

acted upon
it,

and immediately

Heat hastens decompo-

because in the separation of the constituents of

sition,

organic matter into the ultimate inorganic products,

bonic acid, ammonia, and water,

active force

car-

amount of

certain

must become

latent as the tension force of

and

heat supplies.

these molecules
is

at the

it is

this force the

also the force of the chemical affinity of the

There

oxygen of

the air for the oxidizable elements of the substance

the combination

is

and

necessarily attended with the produc-

The

tion of heat.

heating value of organic matter will

accordingly increase with the quantity of oxidizable ele-

ments
might

but the matter

at first sight

is

by no means so simple

as

it

Suppose the atom of

appear to be.

carbon with which an atom of oxygen combines was

previously in combination with, for example, an atom of

hydrogen

and the question

is,

whether the amount of

heat produced will be the same as though the atom of

carbon had been free

less,

In

reality

it

will

not

it

must be

because in the separation of the carbon atom and

the hydrogen atom so

tension force

become

that

latent

is,

and

much active force must become

so much heat must disappear or

that loss of heat will

necessarily

OF VITALITY.

157

counterbalance a part of the heat produced,

decrease of tension force which occurs,

or the

through the

combination of the atom of carbon with the atom of

oxygen.

It

is

consideration which

this

invaHdate some experiments

made and

appears

conclusions

to

come

to with regard to animal heat.

But there

is

another consideration.

In

this

mere

burning or decomposition of organic matter, or that

which represents the passive,

of

statical,

or attractive phase

the active force which results

vitality,

due partly

is

and not

solely to the liberation

of force latent in the matter.

External forces have,

to force from without,

as

it

been pulling

were,

it

What, then,

pieces.

to

on the principle of the conservation of

force,

of that intense chemical force which

implied in the

is

becomes

organic nature of the material, that power which holds

it

together as a specific material differing in properties

from

kinds of inorganic matter?

all

Though dead,

chemical composition of organic substance

when

alive

and

its

future destiny

on the circumstances

in

the

will

air,

it

is

true,

inorganic products

conditions of

life,

it

but

if it

which

it

is

the same as

entirely

may be

dependent

placed.

In

undergo decomposition into

if

it

be surrounded with the

be exposed

to the influence of

higher forces by being given as food to

it

is

the

some animal,

does not go downwards, but upwards, and somehow

takes

on

statical

life

force

again.

It

under the

is

plain what

becomes of the

latter circumstances.

the decomposition of organic matter in the

correlative resolution of force,

it is

air

But in

and the

not so evident what

THE THEORY

58

becomes
That

of

the

all

which must be

force

general nature

can admit of no

returns

to

but does

it

all

appear as heat ?

must necessarily do

so,

becoming

it

doubt

liberated.

part of

latent as the tension

force of the molecules of the ultimate products of

decomposition, and the rest

form or other,

liberated

is

its

under some

There

not entirely as heat.

if

it

is

some

reason to believe, however, that dead organic substance

does not always undergo the extreme retrograde meta-

morphosis of material and of

up again

in vital

kingdom.

It

being used

force^ before

compounds, even by the vegetable

has been shown that not only do pale

such as fungi, feed on organic matter, but that

plants,

humus

soluble

almost

all

is

up by the

regularly taken

plants.

Professor

Le

Conte has

roots

of

shown

it

be probable that the decomposition of the organic

to

matter supplies the force necessary for raising

other

The

force

matter from a lower to a higher stage.^

necessary for organization

which

results

has

life

in

relations with

its

it,

affinity

and

celestial bodies,

The

and development.

life

seems

its

to

by the force

death and destruc-

organic matter displays energy

As chemical
tion

thus furnished

from disorganization

tion are the conditions of

When

is

that

is,

when

it

surroundings are different.

hold the place of

to correspond

attrac-

amongst

to gravitation

cohesive force amongst molecules, and

Correlation of Physical, Chemical, and Vital Force, and

the Conservation of Force in Vital Phenomena.

By

J.

Le Conte,

Professor of Geology and Chemistry in South Carohna

(American Journal of Science and Arts, No. 28, 1859.)

College.

OF VITALITY.

159

magnetic force amongst polar molecules, so

or

the centrifugal force of heavenly bodies,

repulsion, to

and

the tension force of molecules,

The

statical

"waste," as

change, or
place

necessarily takes

called,

is

it

either in the nerve element itself or in

supplied to

The

from the blood.

it

met with

afford

With the function of a gan-

element.

nerve-cell, for example, a correlative molecular

glionic

are

electrical repulsion.

display of energy coincides with a molecular change

the

in

dynamical

seems to correspond to the force of

action

vital

its

of

is

substances which

in the so-called extractives of nerve-tissue

abundant evidence of a material

products

what

the

retrograde

v/aste

as

for

metamorphosis are found

lactic acid in considerable quantities, kreatin, uric acid,

probably also hypoxanthin, and representing the fatty

acids, formic

and

acetic

Reymond proved

to

And what Du

acid.^

happen

muscle,

in

observed to happen also with nerve

Bois-

Funke

has

while the contents

of nerve-tubes are neutral during rest in the living state,

they

become acid

activity
is

it

during

life.

known

well

after

death,

After

and

excessive

also

after

mental exercise,

that phosphates appear in the

in considerable quantities

and

it is

great

urine

only by supposing

an idea to be accompanied by a correlative change

the nerve-cells that

which
^

is

in

we can explain the bodily exhaustion

produced by mental labour, and the breaking

It is interesting to

remark how the products of chemical

trans-

formation resulting from nerve action agree with the products of de-

composition after muscular activity, and

how the

results coincide

with

what, a priori, might have been expected from the great vital activity
of nerve-structure.

THE THEORY

i6o

down

of the brain under prolonged intellectual efforts.

There

on

even

is

brain

the

in

at times a sensation of

and

in

something going

anomalous

such

insanity,

sometimes persistently complained

feelings are

the change or waste which accompanies energy

by

stored

during

nutrition

rest,

nutritive attraction

steadily reparing the waste of centrifugal function.

a time at

cell thus, for

least,

re-

is

and the conditions of

thus established

future energy are

But

of.

preserves

The

individuality

its

with the maintenance

and definiteness of energy,

individuality, are what is connoted by

In attempting to answer that question

special?

quite

vitality.

energy displayed by living matter something

the

Is

of

two considerations should be kept in view. In the first

place, an effect need not at all resemble in properties its
cause

the qualities of a chemical

different

from those of

compound

its

compound

constituents.

as organic matter really

is

are quite

Such a complex
ma)^

therefore, to exhibit peculiarj,properties in

be expected,

no way resem-

constituent elements or those of simple

bling those of

its

compounds.

In the second place, the arrangement or

grouping of the molecules in a substance, independently

of

its

ties

chemical composition,
there

is

may

greatly alter

its

proper-

a molecular as well as a chemical consti-

In that condition of bodies which

tution of matter.

is

described as Isomerism, there are atoms alike in number,

nature,
to

and

relative proportion, so

grouped as somehow

produce compounds having very different chemical

properties.

matter

may

Again,
exist

it

has been found that the same

under two very different conditions,

OF VITALITY.
and with very

And what
is

and

as colloidal

a gelatinous or in a crystalline

the chief difference

is

different properties,

crystalloidal, in

i6i

The

colloid exhibits energy

continued metastasis

and

state.

It is that the colloidal

a dynamical state of matter, the crystalloidal a

state.

its

statical

existence

may be looked upon,

it

as

is

says

Graham, "as the probable primary source of the force

appearing in the phenomena of

material of an organized mass."

tlie

in the colloidal state

aluminous

class, for

water, such as

flint,

And

yet minerals

and,

may

the hydrated peroxides of

silicic

Further-

acid deposited from

are found to have passed during the

ages from the colloidal into

geological

on the other hand,

blood-crystals of Funke, a soft

the

crystalline

the

in

so-called

and gelatinous albuminoid

"

seen to assume a crystalline contour.

is

in fact, " that

is,

example, are colloids.

more, the mineral forms of

condition

distinc-

between the material of a mineral and the

subsisting

exist

The

vitality."

tion between the two kinds of matter

Can any

facts,"

asks Graham, " more strikingly illustrate the maxim, that

in nature there are

no abrupt

transitions,

tinctions of class are never absolute ?"

all

further characteristic of colloids

is

and

that dis-

their singular inertness in

ordinary chemical relations, though they have a compensating

activity of their

own

in mass, as water

is,

in their penetrability, they are

by the more highly

permeable when

diffusive class of substances,

but they cut off entirely other colloidal substances that

solution.

It is evident that

undergo considerable modification.

Analysis.

By

T.

may be

in

our conception of solid matter must soon

(On Liquid Diffusion applied to

Graham, F.R.S. Philosophical Transactions,

1862.)

THE THEORY

i62

The

foregoing considerations render

it

evident that the

manifestation of organic energy by matter

trast to the

kind of energy which

is

not a con-

displayed by inor-

is

ganic matter, and so far justify the supposition that

may be

it

a question of chemical composition and intimate

molecular constitution.

special principle, but a result,

ultimately

would not then be a

Vitality

and would be explained

by the operation of the

so-called molecular

forces.

Coleridge's assertion, that the division of sub-

stances

into

necessary,

receive

and

living

though psychologically

dead,

was of doubtful philosophical

support v/hich

expected for

its

validity,

author could scarce have

it.

any conclusion,

Before granting

examine into that which

tute the specialty of

is

generally

Now

life.

it

it

is

is

desirable

a molecule or cell to the complex

may be made

be wide enough

to

comprise

to have any value;

will

to

if

life

to consti-

certain,

when we

forms,

life

it

will

If

life.

The problem

vestigate the conditions of the manifestation of

great fault in

many attempted

description of

life

it

be too vague

narrow enough to be exact,

exclude the most lowly forms.

of

of man, that valid

any definition of
all

to

deemed

consider the vast range of vitality from the simple

objections

would

definitions has

is

it

to in-

life.

been the

as a resistance or complete contrast to

the rest of nature, which was supposed to be continually

striving

to

destroy

it.

But the elements of organic

matter are not different from those of inorganic, whence

they are derived, and to which they return; and the

chemical and mechanical forces of these elements cannot

OF VITALITY.

163

What

be suspended or removed within the organism.

is

special

there

is

is

the

manner of composition of

Such union or grouping

way.

in a very

of combination which
is

met

v/ith in

to,

the kind

inorganic bodies.

not a contrast to non-living nature, but a further

development of

more

is

complex

however, only a further

is,

advance upon, and by no means a contrast

Life

plainly

The more knowledge

it.

is

it

shown

advances, the
physical and

that there are

Heat

chemical processes upon which

life

produced by combustion

organism as

it

is in

converted into sugar there, as

it

is

fire

a concurrence of manifold substances, and they

combined or grouped together

are

the elements

starch

is

in the

chemical laboratory; urea, which

is

depends.

the

in the

so constant a proartificially

by

in a nerve,

on

duct of the body's chemistry, can be formed

the chemist

is

and the process of excitation

the closure of a constant stream, appears to be analogous

to the process of electrolysis in which hydrogen

The

off at the negative pole.^

peculiarity of

is

given

life is

the

complexity of combination in so small a space, the

intimate operation of
in the

many

simultaneously acting forces

microcosm of the organic

cell.

Knowledge cannot

pass the life-boundary, because there are not at present

any means of following the intimate changes which take

place beyond
senses of

it

man

there

is

a world there into which the

cannot yet enter.

But as each great

advance of science has followed some invention by

which the operation of the senses has been extended,
1

A. von Bezold

Untersuchimgen

der Nerven und Muskeln.

iiber die electrische

Leipzig, 1861.

Erregung

THE THEORY

64

there can be

little

a true science of

doubt that the important step towards

be made with the discovery of

life will

a means of tracing the delicate processes of protoplasmic

activity.

Microscopic physics and microscopic chemistry,

nay physics and chemistry of a delicacy beyond the reach

So

of the powers of the highest microscope, are needed.

may well be that this generation and

come will have passed to their everlasting

that
to

it

a discovery of the secret of

vital activity is

Before dealing with that which

a second and great peculiarity of

plan,

will

it

be well

is

generations
rest before

made.

considered to mark

life,

namely,

its

aim or

to illustrate the foregoing remarks

from the phenomena of conscious

truth, with the lo^vest

form of

vitality as

lowest form of conscious vitality

stages of

It

vitality.
it

is,

in

with the

is

with the human mind

evolution.

self-conser-

in the

earliest

vative

impulse moves the most barbarous people to

its

regard the operation of the external forces of nature, and

means

to adopt rude

to preserve life

fort; the savage avoids

his frail

and

to obtain

the current which would drive

canoe on the hungry breakers, and shelters his

he

may

maintenance of

indi-

hut from the overwhelming fury of the storm

be said to war with nature

for the

vidual power, as the vital force of a cell

may be

war with the nature that immediately surrounds

it

is

obvious that

man

the physical forces

action,

com-

it is

it.

But

only struggles successfully with

by recognizing the laws of

and by accommodating

physical laws

said to

victory

their

his individual forces to

by obedience.

By conscious

obedience to the physical law, he appropriates, as

it

OF VITALITY.

i6s

were, the force thereof, in the increase of

the idea

in nature

in his mental progress nature is

By keeping

undergoing development through him.

this

analogy of the mental force the

be obviated, which there might seem

the organic

to

be in conceiving

as a result of physical

cell

and chemical
forces.

Every act of so-called resistance on the part of the

to the natural forces

phenomenon

really a

is

the development of them

its

life

is

life is

the

unconscious manifestations

And however

priation.

same
it is

not a contrast to

for its

The

it.

conscious and

individuation by appro-

necessary

it

may seem

to

individual, as a part of a

whole looking

represent

constant antagonism to

the vital

as in

cell

indicating

non-living nature, but a further complication of

fundamental law of

in

difficulty will

and yet as resisting the action of these

forces,

developed in his mind as the correlate of the

is

law or idea

mind

own power

Iiis

the

at the rest, to

the

physical, such a conception does not faithfully express

the condition of the whole regarded as a whole.

conception of nature as one harmonious whole

not antagonistic to the

may tend

spirit

to prove the

is

just

plainly

of any investigations which

dependence of

life

on physical

and chemical processes.

That

which

specialty of

plan

is

life

is

commonly

said

to

constitute

the maintenance of a certain definite

and accordingly Coleridge, following

defined

life

as

''

Schelling,

the principle of individuation."

Given

the different kinds of force and of matter, and how,

asked,

is

the pattern determined and worked out

every individual

is

the

in

life

weaving out some

it is

pattern "

As
on

THE THEORY

66

the roaring

time," though " what he weaves

loom of

weaver knows," so the lowest form

a definite energy, and

plan.

materials
" but

it

and the conditions of

to

its

if

suitable

growth were present,

has been provided that trees do not grow up

an aim, said

Life works according to

Admitting

Aristotle.

upon

said to accomplish a definite

go on increasing

would

crystal

heaven,"

into

is

all this,

we

are not therefore called

rest of nature.

admit a special contrast to the

Liebig compares the living body to a building which

constructed after a definite, pre-ordained plan

obvious that exactly

in

the

seeing that
is

it

it

it is

positive

constructed

it is

works out a certain pattern,

cannot overstep the laws of

the law of the matter

thing outside the matter, but

but

is

to a pre-ordained plan

and displays energy according

or even of the crystal, that

same sense might the

biologist say of the chemical atom, that

plan

no

of vitality manifests

form.

its

and the law

is

inherent in

it is

it.

The

not some-

Organic

matter, like the chemical element, has an activity given

to itself

true of

it

which

it

must display; the law of causality

as of inorganic matter

and the organic

the so-called accomplishment of the plan,

result of a certain molecular

is

effect,

is

the necessary

constitution

and certain

intimate combinations which exist in the organic molecule or cell or

monad, or whatever

name the ultimate unit

The direct denial of

of

liked,

we choose

to

life.

a special vital force has been the

natural reaction against that

vital principle that

else

was

dogmatism w^hich assumed a

self-generating,

and was not amenable

did anything

to investigation.

it

That any

OF VITALITY.

167

force should be self-generating in inexhaustible quantity

is

really

matter,

like

force,

If the

an inconceivable supposition.

axiom

that

not capable of annihilation, be

is

we find, as we do,
or somehow cause to

accepted, and

that organic bodies

incorporate,

disappear, inorganic

matter and force, and thereby themselves increase,

it

is

an unavoidable conclusion that the organic matter and

must represent the converted inorganic matter and

force

To

force.

would be

suppose that the

it

might not then be unreasonable to fear

the earth,

lest

was self-produced

to suppose a disturbance of the equilibrium of

and

nature,

vital force

by the increase of

its

repulsion force,

should break through the hinges of gravitation and float

space,

into

off

or burst into

between Mars and Jupiter

is

fragments, as

supposed

at

a planet

one time to

have done.^

When, however,
living

its

of

own

and thus develops new organic matter which

Science, in

development
vital

said that a minute portion

matter converts inorganic matter into

nature,

is

it

force

in

its

view of

life,

seems

unknown

be following the course of

In his earlier writings he defined

Humboldt's mind.

as the

to

cause which prevents

the elements

(Aphorism, ex doct.
from following their original attractive forces.
Phys. Chem. Plant.) " Reflection and prolonged study," he says, in
his

'Aspects of Nature,' "in the departments of physiology and

chemistry, have deeply .shaken

vital force."

the vital

depends

And

again

phenomena

my

"The

earlier belief in peculiar so-called

difficulty of satisfactorily referring

of organism to

physical and

chiefly (and almost in the sam^e

manner

chemical laws

as the prediction of

meteorological processes in the atmosphere) on the complication of

the phenomena, and on the great

number

of the simultaneously-

acting forces, as well as the conditions of their activity."

THE THEORY

68

has the power of doing likewise,

and pecuHar potentiaUty

great

it

evident that a

is

assumed

is

in the Hving

What power is it which transforms the matter

Some who have advocated the correlation

molecule.

and force?

seem not

of the vital force v/ith the physical forces

have given due attention to

laid

question

this

to

they have

such great stress on the external force as to have

fallen into

an error almost as great

site of, that

of the advocates of a self-generating vital force.

External

circumstances

are

the

though the oppo-

as,

necessary conditions

of inward activity, but the inward fact

condition
as

it

we know

mother

the

yet,

it

can only be derived from a like living

Nevertheless, even in that inherited

structure.

rest

electricity, or

the important

the determining condition, and, so far

is

potentiahty there
in

is

is

not a contrast to that which happens

When

of nature.

heat

is

converted into

any force into another, the change

self-determined

is

not

the determining force lies in the mole-

cules of the matter, in the so-called statical force, that

which Aristotle

in

material cause.

And

is

his

if it

names the

of causes

division

be objected that a

able to do such a great deal, the answer

thing happens in fermentation.

When

is

little

life

that a like

a certain organic

substance makes the inorganic matter in contact with

become

organic,

it

may be

infection or fermentation

of

its

that

it

it

does so by a kind of

by which the molecular

relations

smallest particles are transferred to the particles of

the inorganic, just as in the inorganic world forces pass

from matter to matter.

But there are further considerations.

Admitting that

0/ VITALITY.
the vital transforming matter
structure,

from

at first derived

is

vital

evident that the external force and matter

is

it

169

transformed does in turn become transforming force

that

And

vital

is.

that takes place after the vital

if

process has once commenced^

extravagant

might

is

suppose that a similar

to

some period have

at

may be

it

it,

may even now be doing

and development

life

so

transformation

co77imenced the process,

The

in favour of the

continually increasmg from a

is

upon

his opponent,

due regard

and

presumption that

And

so originated.

to the

and

fact that in groAvth

transformation of physical and chemical forces,

all

asked,

it

may

at first

the advocate of this view

and demand of him how

axiom that force

is

may

have
turn

he, with a

not self-generating,

to the fact that living matter does increase

size of a little cell to the

is after

from the

magnitude of a human body,

accounts for the continual production of transforming

power?

quantity

definite

only could

have

been

derived from the mother structure, and that must have

been exhausted

at

an early period of growth.

obvious refuge of the

now

impossible

vitalist is

evolve

to

life

to the facts that

artificially

combination of physical and chemical

such a transformation
conditions of

Thus

the

do believe

is

out

forces,

The
it

is

of any

and that

never witnessed save under the

vitality.

argument stands.
in

the

matter hope to

origination

succeed in

Meanwhile, those
of

life

artificially

v^'ho

from non-living
producing the

upward transformation, and may say reasonably enough

that

it

is

not to be expected that such transformation

THE THEORY

I70

should

now

take place as a regular process in nature,

except under conditions of

is

as unnecessary as

Such a supposition

vitality.

would be

it

to

assume that the

savage must continue to rub together his

has obtained the spark, in order to

What, only
spark of

necessary

is

once evolved, should

life,

and

suitable conditions,

The

the

that the spark of

is

it

will

be

it

fire

fire,

burn.

or the

placed under

then go on increasing.

minutest portion of living matter really

implicitly, as

he

sticks, after

make

now

contains

were in a microcosm, the complexity of

chemical and physical combinations and the conditions

which were necessary

the macrocosm,

and

for the first production of

it

in

supplies these as the conditions

of further vital transformations.

accomphshed a

life

In

fact,

nature having

does not need on

result,

each future

occasion to go through the preliminary steps by which

the result was

arrived

first

very interesting to observe

And in this relation it is

how much use is made of the
at.

supphed by the destruction of certain organic

force

matter in raising other matter to a higher stage.

supposed, for example, that urea

the

oxidation

of

an excess

of

is

partly

so-called

It is

produced by
albuminous

matters in the blood, without these having entered into

the formation of tissue

and the force thus supphed

in

the retrograde metamorphosis will be available, and pro-

bably
It

cell

is

used, for the exaltation of other elements.

needs but

little

cannot supply

consideration to see that the living

the force which

all

is

used in

in-

creasing and advancing

life

transformation of cells

heat and other external condi-

in

the multiplication

and

OF VITALITY.

ijt

tions are necessary, as being, so to speak, material for

It

transformation.

some

have

a mistake, however, to

is

that

said,

and external

heat

The

determine the rate of growth.

say,

as

conditions

rate of germination,

for example, certainly varies according to external conditions,

but the Hmits

are

of variation

The

inherent properties of the structure.

begonia taken from the same pod

will, as

by the

fixed

seeds of a

Mr. Paget has

pointed out, germinate, some in a day, some at the end

of a year, and some at various intermediate times, even

same external

when they

are

all

placed under the

conditions.

And

the

same author has pointed out other

indications

organisms.

of

self-dependent

There

in

are,

external conditions of growth,

more important,
conditions.
as

it

latter

for

is

for

well

as

internal

fact,

and the former

and

as

are the

determining

they are really the

It is with the organic cell

lower

the

in

time-rates

its

conditions

with the individual and his circumstances; the

may

greatly modify character,

development, but the essential

and are necessary

fact,

which determines

the limit of the modifying power of circumstances,

is

the

nature implanted in the individual.

It

is

how impossible it is,

to come to any positive

easy to perceive

present state of science,

in

conclu-

sion with regard to the nature of the vital force.

that can be said

more

is,

that advancing

clearly proves the

the

All

knowledge more and

dependence of

and chemical processes, and tends

to

life

on physical

show

that vital

action does not contrast with the kind of action exhibited

Living matter displays, in fact, the
inorganic nature.

by

THE THEORY

172

energy of colloidal and the plan of crystalloidal matter.

When

vital force

undergoes resolution into inferior force,

simultaneously with the decomposition of substance,

into heat, chemical force,
as

were, unfolded

it

it is

and

electricity that

we

it is

find

it,

a natural conjecture, therefore,

that the conditions of the artificial production of vitality

must be a high and complex chemistry

to represent the

and some mode of repulsion

statical correlative,

force, as

heat or electricity, or both, to represent the dynamical

correlative.

It is certainly

extremely unphilosophical in

the present condition of knowledge to refuse to accept

vitality as

a special

mode

of manifestation of force

phenomena demand

special character of

its

ever

may

real nature

its

the

what-

that,

be, vital force should for the

present be received as a distinct force on the same terms

as

chemical force or electrical force.

The

facts

of

observation, as well as a priori considerations, unques-

demand

tionablv

also

that

should be reararded as

it

subject to the laws of the correlation

and conservation

of force.

As then

vital force is plainly

in dignity, a small quantity of

to a

much

greater

by

it

fact, will

correspond in value

required to raise

matter from

to that condition in which

it

one

correspond to many-

An immense amount

equivalents of the lower forces.

is

will

quantity of an inferior force

equivalent of vital force, in

force

far the highest force

is

its

of

elementary state

described as organic;

and the upward transformation evidently only takes place

through the intermediate action of chemical force.
vital force surpasses

But

chemical force apparently in as great

OF VITALITY.

173

How
Who can

degree as chemical force surpasses physical force.

must be

great, then,

its

mechanical equivalent

measure the power of a great idea

vain against

it,

wonder

that

nature,

and that

forces

had

life

and nations yield

was the

been

furthermore,

it

to

its

fight in

What

sway.

and highest development of

last

long in

existence

after the inferior

!

AVhat ground,

might be asked, have we for supposing

destined to be the last development of force?

that

it is

Is

not possible that a

it

Armies

was produced only

it

!.

than that which

we

still

call vital

earth

The

may

ultimately result from

and conditions which are now

the complexity of forces

present on

higher manifestation of force

hypothesis

of Laplace

was,

primaeval times a large

quantity of nebulous

matter was spread through space.

This nebulous matter

in

that

was through gravitation aggregated into

Immense heat must have been

heat might then produce
as

it

does

now when

Electricity

light,

solid masses.

thus produced, and this

and develop

acting on the thermo-electric plates.

might appear again as heat or as

chemical force, as
voltaic battery.

electricity

it

The

light,

does in the decomposing

cell

correlation of these forces

able to trace now, and

it is

not

difficult to

or as

we

conceive

of a
are

how

they mutually excited and affected one another in the

times

primaeval

when

without form and void.

life

existed

on the

the

earth.

one force from another up

when we

earth was, as w^e

are told,

But there was a time when no

So that

as

we can now

to the point

where

life

obtain
begins,

are at fault, similarly considerable time elapsed

in nature before vital force followed

on the physical and

THE THEORY

t74

Science may, then, claim that in

chemical forces.

and delay

difficulty

its

only reflects a corresponding

it

difficulty in nature.

But there are other important considerations with

regard to

It

vitality.

nize a special vital manifestation that there

kind thereof;
degrees,

if

it is

not

we

does not follow because

in reality

different

is

recog^

but one

necessary to admit different

As with

of vitality.

kinds,

organic matter so with organic force,

we

trace an advance

from the most simple and general to the most complex

and

special.

The

tissue

of the

simple protozoon

uniform and exhibits no trace of structure

active

In the ascending scale of

relations are equally simple.

life

its

is

continuous differentiation of tissue corresponds with

increasing speciality
external, until in

and complexity

man we

of relation with the

observe the highest example of

a unity of organism proceeding from manifold varieties of

elements, and of unity of action from the co-ordination of

many forces.
is

And

as

it is

with the animal kingdom, so

with the elementary structures which form

scale of dignity, a hierarchy of tissues

first,

and are necessary steps

it

there

is

it

the lowest appear

for the evolution of the

All the force of nature could not develop a

highest.

nerve-cell directly out of inorganic matter

and the

cell

of the Protococcus nivalis, or the molecules of the Amoeba,

could not, under any possible circumstances, energize as

nerve force.
vitality

possible

Between the

of the fungus there

;

the former

most complex, and

is

vitality of
is

thought and the

scarcely

a comparison

dependent upon the widest and

at the

same time the most intense and

OF VITALITY.
relations with external nature, while

special

lations therewith.

Between the

and an epidermic

cell

much

the latter

and comparatively simple

exhibits only a few general

as

175

re-

relations of a nerv'e-cell

with their surroundings, there

difference as there

is

between the relations of

is

a Rhizopod and those of a Cephalopod with external

And

nature.

roundings

are,

the relations of a nerve-cell with

it

its

sur-

must be remembered, dependent on the

maintenance of the relations of

all

the inferior elements

of the body which intervene in the descending scale

between

and the

it

Whatever, then,
ment,

may be

the fact in animal develop-

certain that transformation of species takes

is

it

inorganic.

place in the structural elements.

material from the blood,

but

it

vv'ith

assimilates

it that

When

a tissue takes

does not merely aggregate,

it

is, it

makes

it

of the same kind

In development, a higher tissue constantly

itself

proceeds from a lower one, and demands the lower one

as a necessary antecedent to

its

production

as external conditions, not only those

has thus,

it

which are general,

but the intimate and special influences of the tissue which

is

before

it

supplied the
exaltation
all

In the

in the order of existence.

and

special

essential

and transpeciation of

exaltation of force

is,

as

it

force

latter are

conditions

and

for

material.

the

But

were, a concentration of

it

one equivalent of the higher force corresponds to many

equivalents of the inferior force which has been trans-

formed.
tissues

Hence

it

is

that

or parts in animals

the power
is

of reproducing

diminished

much more

by development than by growth; and the law which

THE THEORY

176

describes the reparative power in each species of animal

as being in
life,

an inverse

though not

ratio to its position in the scale of

proved,

strictly

yet true as a general

is

proposition.
If,

now, the degree of dignity of an element represents

a corresponding degree of
to speak of the

placing

its life

life

obviously right

vitality, it is

of the blood, without any design of

on the same

the decomposition of material

lution of force which

and the

take place

correlative reso-

when

liberated than w^hen

less

a nerve-cell undergoes

the

As a

retrograde metamorphosis.
force

needed

is

the blood-cell

be much

returns to the inorganic state, there will

force

to raise m^atter

great expenditure of

from the inorganic to the

organic state, so a further greater expenditure

to raise matter from a

The

condition.
parasite
if

the

low organic

nerve-cell

observed,

it

of

it

in

given back to nature in

The

its

to

life

is

required

highest organic

say,

the

highest

of the blood

and

decomposition were accurately

its

would be found that

been consumed by

to

so

is,

which thus sucks up the

process

In

level with that of nerve.

its

its

all

the force which had

upward transformation was

downward metamorphosis.

retrograde metamorphosis of organic elements

constantly taking place as a part of the history of

In the function of nerve-cell, a nerve-force

which excites muscular

force,

to external nature as motion

substance

is

and
;

is

is

is

life.

liberated

ultimately given back

the coincident "waste" of

received into the blood and ultimately also

passes back to nature.

It is

probable, however, that this

" waste" does not pass always directly out of the body,

OF VITALITY.
but that

may be

it

used as the nutriment of some

first

Thus, as there seemed reason to believe

lower element.

economy of

that, in the

177

nature, animal matter did not

undergo the extreme retrograde metamorphosis into

in-

organic matter before being used as food by vegetables,

so in the animal
at

body the higher elements do not appear

once to undergo the extreme retrograde metamorphosis,

but are

first

How

element.
in the

used as the nutriment of lower organic

body

admirably does nature thus economize

Just as on a larger scale the carbonic acid

exhaled by animals

is

taken up by vegetables, and

poison thus removed from the atmosphere in which the

animal

lives,

the blood

is

so

by one organic element of the body

purified from the waste matter of a higher

element which would be poisonous to

The

parts impaired

by

it.

activity, as all parts

must

repaired during rest in a condition of health.

be, are

And

it is

very interesting to observe, as Mr. Paget has pointed out,

that the organic processes of repair in each tissue are

adjusted to a certain time-rate, which

to,

but

is

time-rate

is

variable according

The

not determined by, external conditions.

is

determined by the implanted properties, and

" for each unit of nutrition might be reckoned a unit of

time."

The

periodicities of organic life appear to

be

prominent instances of the law; and the rhythmic motions

of the heart, or the motions of ciHa, are, Mr.
supposes, due " to a

method of

acting parts are, at certain

nutrition in

Paget

which the

periods, raised with

time-

regulated progress to a state of instability of composition

from which they then decline, and

in their decline

may

THE THEORY

178

change

their

move with a definite velocity, or

may discharge nerve-force."^ In

shape and

nervous centres)

(as

chronometry of organic processes,

this recognition of the

there

unquestionably great promise for the future

is

organic molecules

is

as certain

and

universal, if not as

Each

exact, as that in the motions of heavenly bodies.

organic process has

of

its

The

cells.

and

its

with

its life

known,

life

exercise of

its

energy

it

is

how soon the

The blood-cell may be

the manufacture of

it

its

cells.

blood-cell

It is

its

decomposition

more than once, and

it

and other

mxaterial for

may accomplish

live therefore for

some

example, the destruction of the nucleus in the

stomach and

blood-cell, the analogy of the cells of the

milk glands, and of the sebaceous and spermatic

and the great production of

positive

is

and ought

blood-cells

known, and the subject

is

cells,

but nothing

one which

awaits,

to receive, careful attention.

Such, then,

is

gically regarded.

On

not

Certain facts do, indeed, point to a short duration,

as, for

duty

its

ephemeral, and after

the colouring matters of the bile; or

time.

of the stomach,

material straightway perish, sup-

plying in the products of

function

the accomplish-

discharges

not so with other

for example,

cells die.

is

life-task of the gland-cell

but

cell

different for different kinds

existence ends therewith

;

and each

definite time-rate;

appointed period of

its

ment of the

its

for

plain that the observance of time in the motions of

it is

has

the general process of

But there

the Chronometry of Life.

is

life

physiolo-

nothing special in disease.

By

J.

Lecture before the Royal Society, 1857.)

Paget, F.R.S.

(Croonian

OF VITALITY.

179

Although the destructive cancerous mass seems

sight to

admit of no sort of comparison with the bene-

formation of a developing organ, yet the production

ficial
is

governed by laws of organic growth and

new forces nor new laws appear

in the

organism under the

natural to die as to be born," says Sir T.

we choose

"'Tis as

Browne

much

natural, as

as

and

to accept the doctrine of final cause,

must acknowledge that the disease which leads

is

No

activity.

circumstances which are described as disease.

if

at first

in the

we

to death

purpose of nature, as

the physiological processes which constitute health.

An

individual exists in certain relations with the external,

and the harmony which

these relations

from the maintenance of

results

health, while a disturbance of them,

is

whether from a cause in the organism or in the external

circumstances, or partly in one and partly in the other,
is

discord or disease.

may

The phenomena

when properly

therefore,

of morbid action

regarded, be serviceable

as experiments illustrating the character

and

relations

life,

and each

of vital action.

As each

cell

species of cell

many

cells

has
its

its

appointed period of

natural degree of

and many kinds of

is

it

than in an organism with

and

less

organism

and
cial,

more

the

sum of

the

life

human body,

easily initiated in

For the

of

superiority of vitality signifies

and complex

as there are

less differentiation of tissue,

complexity of structure.
is

and

cells in the

evident that disease will be

it

life,

its

life

individual parts,

more numerous,

relations with the external.

lowest organisms, where there

is

of the

spe-

In the

a similarity of structure,

THE THEORY

i8o

one part

is

independent of another, and dependent only

on the maintenance of
tions with

the

tively little
are,

certain general

external
to

liability

there

is,

disturbance.

however, unlike, and there

is

and simple

rela-

therefore,

compara-

When

the parts

a definite subordination

of them, so that the well-being of the highest structure

is

dependent on the well-being of

intei"vene in the

the structures which

descending scale between

ganic nature, there

plainly

is

abundant room

x\s in the state, so in the

ance.

all

and

it

inor-

for disturb-

organism, the vitality of

the government flows from, and rests upon, the well-being

of individuals.

When, from some

initiate disease,

body

is

of the

many

disturbing causes which

a particular elementary constituent of the

prevented from rising to the dignity of

constitution

and energy, there

will, if

its

specific

the disturbing cause

has not been so serious as to destroy the

life

of the part,

be a production of an element of a lower kind with a

lower energy; and that
if

is

a diseased product.

It is as

the substance of a polype were produced amongst the

higher physiological elements of the

human

went on increasing there without regard

surrounding elements of
^

tissue.

to relations with

There may be a pro-

Goethe, after saying that everything living

living

self-dependent

beings,

adds,

body, and

"Je

is

a collection of

unvolkommner

das

Gescliopf ist, desto mehr sind diese Theile einander gleich oder
ahnlich, und desto mehr gleichen sie dem Ganzen. Je volkommner

das Geschopf wird, desto unahnhcher werden die Theile einander.

Je ahnlicher die Theile einander sind, desto weniger sind sie einanDie Subordination der Theile deutet auf ein
der subordinirt.

volkommneres Geschopf.

OF VITALITY.

i8i

duction of foreign substance in larger quantity than that

which should

be formed of the natural

rightly

and a greater display of

force,

quality,

is lost in

and the

Inflammation in a part
ration of

intention," there

gained in quantity

is

vitality is intrinsically less.

is

really the result of a degene-

When

its vitaHty.

but both structure and

What

energy are of a lower order.

a w^ound heals by the "

direct adhesion of

is

tissue,

surfaces,

its

first

and

no inflammation,

for the natural vitality of the part

maintained, and

effects

flammation occurs, the

When

the repair.

vitality

slight

is

in-

of the part has undergone

a certain degeneration, and material of an inferior order

to the

proper element of the part

is

produced

substance binds the surfaces together, and

process

of

on

time,

complete

the

this

may

it

subsidence

of

inflammation, and under the favourable conditions

surrounding healthy tissue

even

the condition

rise to

be thrown out with any special beneficial design;

the simple result of a deterioration of energy,

less degree of a positive evil.

When

is

there

feeble,

material of a

still

is

a greater

poured

out,

and ceases

still

greater,

destruction

of

John Hunter,

the
life,

inflam-

of the

is

and

not even orga-

produced.

Pus

is

to appear with the restoration

of the proper vitality of the

is

is

vitality

it is

only a

degeneration,

lower kind, which

nizable under any circumstances^

is

greater

mation takes place, or when the natural

part

of

But the lymph does not appear

of the proper structure.

to

life,

in

tissue.

degeneration

If the inflammation

passes

and mortification

therefore, speaks, as

into

ensues.

actual

When

he does, of nature

THE THEORY

182

up the

calling

powers to produce suppuration, his

vital

notion of what really happens.

words convey a

false

The

damaged

injury has so

the parts that the vital action

cannot

rise to its specific elevation

action

is

alone possible, which

far beneficial as

only so

been

not

has

part

expected,

therefore,

is

kind of

inferior

of the

life

As might be

outright.

exhausting diseases that

in

How

inflammation most commonly and easily occurs.

incorrect, then,

is it

and

really disease,

is

proves that the

it

killed
it

an

to speak of inflammation as

if it

were

a process specially provided for restoring the healthy

of parts

When

adhesive inflammation

the suppuration of an abscess,

its

testifies

degeneration of vital force.

How

when

fixes

a result

is

to a less serious

hard

theories or wishes lead us

inflammation

said to limit

occurrence

of diminishing mischief, and

blind

is

life

it

not to be

is

When

adhesive

a piece of strangulated gut to the side

of the belly, so as happily to prevent the passage of

faecal

matter into the peritoneal cavity,

said to

it

is

sometimes

What,

be a wise and kindly provision of nature.

then, shall be said of inflammation

when

glues the

it

gut to a hernial cavity, or manufactures a fibrous band

which strangles the gut?

ficial

design

That

which

pain,

testify to

and bene-

inflammation

and

Is this also wise

is

is

and

true

of

the

material

necessarily true of

its

products

force

of

the heat

rigors, the forces as well as the material,

a degeneration of

vital

force.

The

sort

of

stormy rage and demonstrative activity which characterize inflammation,

though unquestionably an exhibition

OF VITALITY.

183

of force, are not really an increased display of the proper

The

vital force.

has undergone a transformation

latter

from the quiet self-contained

into

dissipation of a lower

the unrestrained

and, as regards the

monads

of

its

development

activity of

latter, it

matter,

equivalent only to one

might be said that several

or volumes

monad

of force of the former.

activity

of

its

are

force,

volume

of matter or one

Rigors, as the involuntary action

of voluntary muscle, are a degradation of action witnessing to a molecular deterioration of vital conditions.

Heat
the

is

a physical force which must have resulted from

retrograde

existence

of

metamorphosis

of

The

force.

vital

pain where rightly there should be

no

sensation, testifies to a molecular deterioration of statical

The

element and a correlative exhibition of force.

increased action of inflammation in a part

diminished

be

stated, as a

force
is

vital action.

is

in

law of

an inverse

Perhaps

produces great

therefore,

might once

vital action, that the dignity

for all

of the

ratio to its volumetrical display.

indeed with organic action as

The emotional man

it

is,

it is

with mental action.

displays considerable force,

effects in the

way

It

and

often

of destruction, but his

man who

has

developed emotional force into the higher form of

will-

power

force,

is

who

vastly inferior to

that of the

has co-ordinated the passions into the calm,

self-contained activity of definite productive aim.

creation always testifies to a

much

Surely

higher energy than

destruction.

The

foregoing considerations unavoidably flow from

a conception of vitality as correlate with other natural

THE THEORY

84

forces,

and

as subject to the law of the conservation of

They obtain additional weight, however, from

being in some accordance with the important generalizaforce.

tions

which one of the most philosophical physiologists

of the present time has

Virchow

products.

morbid

is

with regard to morbid

well known, referred all

structures to physiological types,

that there

by

made

has, as

no new

is

The

disease.

structure

produced in the organism

cancer-cell, the pus-cell,

disease-produced

have

cells,

The

healthy structure.

and maintains

and

all

other

their patterns in the cells of

cells

of tubercle correspond with

the corpuscles of the lymphatic glands

pus and colour-

cannot be distinguished except by

less blood- corpuscles

looking at the place whence they come; the cells of

cancer in bone " are the immediate descendants of the

in

cells

bone

and

"

certain colloid tumours have the

structure of the umbilical cord.

"

takes place, certain histological

must generally

also cease to exist

new formation
destroys

tissue,

common

morbid

is

"

therefore,

and every kind of

destructive,

with

its

and

The

equivalents, he describes as

stock of germs of the body; from them

structures

" Heterologous

there

really,

is

something of what previously existed.

connective
the

Where a new formation

elements of the body

proceed by continuous development.

tissues

have physiological types

no other kind of heterology

tures than the

in

morbid

abnormal manner in which they

to place (heterotopia), time (heterochronia),

(heterometria)."^
^

Cellular Pathology.

and
struc-

arise as

and quantity

OF VITALITY.
The

185

conclusions with regard to vital force, which a

consistent conception of

it

as a natural force seems to

necessitate, will find extensive application in the various

phenomena of

We

disease.

have seen that

the

if

resolution of the vitality of a single nerve-cell into a

of a lower kind be

vitality

supposed,

example, of polype substance,

monad, or molecule,

idle

it

is,

is

would necessarily

suf-

many

the vital equivalent of

then, to dispute, as

vital

action,

what

is

there

How

is

when

there exists

is

it

Does convulsion
vital action of

No

man ?

for that

of

one can deny that

the

is

convulsions

of

man

in

Is a

the real question.

When
it

tetanus of a muscle

pro-

is

might be, by putting a loop of

nerve and slowly and gradually tighten-

does the violent action of the muscle

increased

to

in a paralysed limb indicate increased

it?

its

as

clear conception

increased vital force?

Weber showed

thread round
it,

no

great display of force in

convulsions a strong

duced, as

some have done,

increased vital action or diminished

is

meant by the words

epilepsy, but

to

for

monads, or molecules of polype substance.

whether epilepsy

ing

that,

In other words, one nervous

a multitude of polypes.

units,

it

into

the production of a whole polype, or perhaps of

fice for

unit,

vitality?

If

it

really

does,

testify

then

the

mechanical tetanomotor of Heidenhain might, properly

used, suffice for the cure of every paralysis,

a complete renewal of

the

effect

life.

we may either consider

whole organism as individual, or we may consider
cell or organic monad as the individual.
If we

In speaking of
the

and

vital action,

THE THEORY

i86

when

regard the organism as individual, then

convulsions take place in
less

it

that

and aim-

violent

is,

general

movements completely withdrawn from the

of the

which should

will,

rightly co-ordinate

simply to

control

them

words

use

into

without

definite

action

meaning

to say that the vital action of the individual

is

There

increased.

and the

is

it

definition of vitality

individuality

unity

of

of the ego

expresses

w^hich

of

inferior

force.

a degeneration
in

convulsions

is

co-ordination

replaced by the con-

nor

Instead of that quiet

will-

neither

conscious unity,

or

that

un-

manifest

is

and incoherent exhibition

Increased action

of the proper vital

is

the result

action.

not strong, though

is

the

so-

subjective

is

the violent

is

manifestation of

organic action which

conscious unity of
in sleep, there

when

but

epilepsy, there

objective unity of action.

force

action;

not applicable to the

highest

of forces for a definite end

vulsions

individual

the consciousness of man, the

in

is

is

The

organism as a whole.

called

then,

not,

is

six

of

*'A man

men

cannot

hold him."

Like considerations apply when the single

regarded as individual.
constitution

and a
energy

of

co-ordination of
relations;

of the

certain definite arrangement of mole-

is

the

definite

result

That
of

special

a certain

chemical combinations and molecular

and these are connoted

cell.

is

In virtue of a certain chemical

cules, a cell exhibits energy as nerve force.

mode

cell

When, however,

in the

individuality

in place of the definite

process of statical attraction (nutrition) and dynamical

OF VITALITY.

display of force,

strative

sions, being

as

sum of

the

prove there must,

cells,

takes

(energy), there

repulsion

187

place a large demon-

general epileptic convul-

the action of the individual

is

it

impossible to pronounce

such force as of the same rank or kind as the proper

energy of the

It

cell.

an

is

kind of power, and

inferior

the certain indication of a degeneration of the statical

correlative.

It

the

is

duty of a

cell,

so

to

speak,

as of an individual, to live in certain relations with

surroundings

it

is,

indeed,

of specific character

cell

really

is

it

its

essence as an individual

and when

degenerating,

losing

it

is

not so living,

nature or

its

passing more or less quickly towards death.

kind,

Its action

is

certainly not increased functional action.

In

it

would be as

action

madness

just to call the extravagant

government increased functional

of

action,

say that the government was stronger for his

to

degenerate action.
ful,

truth,

an individual occupying a certain position

in

in a system of

and

its

would not even

state, again,

exist, if

would not be power-

each individual did as his

passions prompted, altogether regardless of his relations

to others

and

would

it

certainly

be a strange use of

language to say then that the functional action of that

individual was increased.

The phenomena
to
is

illustrate

the

of conscious vitality might be used

same

principles.

passionate

man

not strong-minded, nor do the ravings of insanity

reveal

mental vigour.

the true

completely-fashioned will

mark of a strong mind.

Novalis, "

is

"

a completely-fashioned

is

character," said

will."

As

in

the

THE THEORY
order of natural development there has been an ascent

from the physical and chemical forces to the aim-workmg

and thence from the lowest

force,

vital

the

vitality to

highest manifestation thereof, so in the course of mental

development

there

a progress through

is

sensation,

passion, emotion, reason, to the highest phase of mental

a well - fashioned

force,

mind, like the healthy

others

cell,

and

rightly

recognizes

self-feeling gives place to or

feeling,

The

will.

its

developed

relations

expands into moral

in the will all the phases of consciousness

Noise

are co-ordinated into calm, just, definite action.

and

fury surely indicate weakness

festation of inferior force

The

nothing.

to

the

strongest

they are the mani-

an

tale of

force

is

quiet

idiot signifying

and the

force,

ravings of insanity, which might not unjustly be

com-

pared to the convulsions of epilepsy, do not evince

mental power.

May we

not, then, already perceive,

must

knowledge

ever

mind of man blends

conscious

with the unconscious

of

nature

idealism

more

render

life

what advancing
clear,

in unity of

of nature

As

the

development

the revelation

proceeds in the progress of

of Plato

how

science,

and the realism of Bacon

will

the

be

found to harmonize as expressions of the same truths

the generalizations of
tions of

Humboldt and

the poetical intui-

Goethe may be looked upon as but

descriptions

of the same

facts.

different

Idealism and realism

blend and are extinguished in the intimate harmony

between the individual and nature.

How

the ignorance which fancies that poetry

great, then,

demands a rude

OF VITALITY.
age for
the

its

successful development

insight

add

How

After analysis

human

embodiment of

comfort, there

ugly;

and

works which

remains the sesthetical

Art has

science.

again,

an

comes synthesis

the practical realization of science in

to

little,

which would make of science

anatomy only

beyond

189

now opening

before

it

a field so wide that imagination cannot dare to limit

it,

for science

ment
to

its

in

attain to its highest develop-

the work of the future poet,

reality

path, but

must plainly

a beautiful form.

he who

shall

who

shall

give

Goethe indicated the

accomplish

it

will

be a greater

than Goethe.^
Perhaps the truest estimate of science, and the most remarkable

prophecy with regard

Goethe,

to

it,

"Das Mahrchen,"

is

to

be found in that wonderful

who
in

tale by-

a tale which has been described by one

has done most towards making Goethe known and understood

England, " as the deepest poem of its sort in existence as the only

true prophecy emitted for

who knows how many

THE END.

centuries,"

LONDON
R.

CLAY, SONS,

AND TAYLOR, PKINTERS,

BREAD STREET

HILL.

COUNT WAY LIBRARY OF MEDICINE

BF

161
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RARE BOOKS DEPARTMENT

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