The Brain the Organ of the Mind
307 REVIEWS AND BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. :Author: H. Charlton Bastian, M.A., M.D., F.E.S., &c. Vol. 29 of The International Scientific Series. London: C. Kegan Paul & Co, 1 Pater- noster Square. 1880.
In the absence of any prefatory remarks, we are at a loss to understand the motives which could have induced Dr Bastian to write, and Messrs. C. Kegan Paul & Co. to publish, a work so full, not only of fanciful but mischievous hypotheses. If Dr. Bastian had any new and positive facts to enumerate respecting ” the new phrenology,” all well and good; but, as this is not the case, why should he be so desirous to animalise and materialise the human mind, and to spread, for the enlightenment of the laity, doctrines about which the leading cerebral physiologists are not agreed ?
Dr Ferrier anticipated Dr Bastian in an article in The Princeton Review for July 1879, entitled The Organ of Mind. Both title and arguments are substantially the same as Dr. Bastian’s; they both assert that the intellectual and moral faculties can be located in the brain, whilst the facts which they adduce are insufficient even to determine the seats of motion and sensation. Is it, then, fair to the public that crude and dangerous theories, calculated to destroy all social happiness, should be blazed abroad as truth ?
In his first chapter, Dr Bastian attempts to explain the origin of the nervous system. After divesting his language of technicalities, his arguments make us acquainted with nothing more than we knew before?that the nervous system had an origin.^ As to its origin, we know no more than we do of any other of the mysteries of creation. The non-recognition of a First Cause inevitably leads to a hopeless entanglement of ideas.
In his chapter on the scope of mind he gives utterance to his materialistic proclivities as follows :?” It is customary to speak of the mind as though it were a something having an actual independent existence?an entity, that is, of a spiritual or uncorporeal nature. Consequently we find spread abroad in all directions definitions of mind, and descriptions of the powers of mind, which, to say the least, carry with them implications of a decidedly misleading character.” What, then, are we to say of those who hold the opposite opinion, and who would reduce the human mind to a -mm-entity, and who would have us believe that our thoughts are evolved by some inexplicable cerebral mechanism? When Dr Bastian can show us, by means of a microscopical cerebroscope, the ideas as they ” burst into birth ” from the cells of the brain, we will believe him. The author, in common with other physiological psycholo- gists, believes in unconscious cerebration, that extraordinary function of the brain, discovered by Dr Carpenter, by which the higher faculties of the mind can be exercised independently of the mind itself.
In his attempt to explain the nature of reason, imagination, and volition, on physiological principles, Dr Bastian gets into a complete fog. He says:?”We may, perhaps, safely conclude that, while many instinctive actions are more or less immediate products or resultants, consequent upon the undeviating regu- larity in the recurrence of visceral states and impressions, and of the sense-guided movements which they evoke; reason, imagination, and volition, on the other hand, as mere higher developments arising out of previous processes, have their seed time in all that is unfamiliar among the chance sensorial impressions which animals, whose experience is growing and whose nervous systems are developing, are accustomed at inter- vals to receive from the outer world.”
Dr Bastian does not derive much support for his theory by a comparison of the brains of different individuals. Whilst men of great intellect have been found to have had large brains, the heaviest on record was that of a native of Sussex, who had been a poacher. He could read and write, and had a good memory; but was not conspicuous for mental ability. We are, however, told that the potentialities were there ; but this is begging the question.
With regard to man’s moral faculties, he makes no original observations, but contents himself by quoting, as if it were gospel truth, the following pedantic and obscure remarks of the late Gr. H. Lewes, on whom he seems to have pinned his faith : ?” Man’s individual functions arise in relation to the Cosmos : his general functions arise in relation to the social medium; thence moral life emerges. All the animal impulses become blended with human emotions. In the process of evolution, starting from the merely animal appetite of sexuality, we arrive at the purest and most far-reaching tenderness; from the merely animal property of sensibility, we arrive at the noblest heights of speculation. The social instincts, which are the analogies of the individual instincts, tend more and more to make sociality dominate animality, and thus subordinate per- sonality to humanity Thus, the human intellect emerges from animal intelligence, and develops a vast indepen- dent creation, having the whole Cosmos and humanity for its material. Concurrently with this, the moral intelligence de- velops its system. Both intellect and conscience are products of the animal impulses and social impulses, acting and reacting. While the intellect is mainly occupied with the relations of the Cosmos and its history, having the ultimate aim of making these subservient to practical needs, the conscience, or moral intelligence, is mainly occupied with the relations of humanity ?human needs and human actions?having the ultimate aim of conforming our conduct to those relations, harmonising our impulses with the impulses of others, thus aiding others and gratifying ourselves.” This debasing view of human nature needs no comment.
Dr Bastian suggests the question whether, in the event of localisation being a reality, the several mental faculties ” are dependent upon separate areas of brain-substance, or whether the localisation is one characterised by mere distinctness of cells and fibres.” This, by Dr Bastian’s admission, settles the fundamental question at issue. Phrenology, neither the old nor the new, has yet discovered the seats of the intellectual faculties.
In our critical remarks of Dr Bastian’s psychological views, we have no desire to detract from his reputation as a patholo- gical anatomist. We cannot, however, refrain from expressing our regret that his position as a professor of medicine gives weight to materialistic and misleading notions relative to mental science, a study which does not lie within the scope of his speciality. J. M. Winn.
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