tion, as well as after the birth of their children. "Early attention to the physical development and moral training of all classes of children is of acknowledged importance, and the deaf and dumb do not, from their peculiar condition, form any exception to this law of nature; but, on the contrary, demand if possible a more careful attention in such particulars than others. On the parents of deaf and dumb children, then, this duty devolves, and it is of immense importance. For if it be neglected, no future education will be able to compensate for its loss." To such parents Dr Scott offers some excellent advice, which, however, we can only refer to. By every mother who desires to bestow a sound physical and moral education on her offspring, this part of the volume may be perused with the greatest advantage.

In concluding our imperfect notice of Dr Scott's useful and interesting treatise, we cannot help expressing the hope, that a phrenologist so favourably situated as he for studying the human mind in peculiar circumstances, will avail himself of every opportunity that may occur, of adding to our knowledge of mental philosophy.

II. The Duality of the Mind proved by the Structure, Functions, and Diseases of the Brain, and by the Phenomena of Mental Derangement; and shewn to be essential to Moral Responsibility. With an Appendix,-1. On the Influence of Religion on Insanity; 2. Conjectures on the Nature of the Mental Operations; 3. On the Management of Lunatic Asylums. By A. L. WIGAN, M.D. London: Longman & Co. 1844. 8vo.

Although Dr Wigan makes no pretension to the character of a man of science, and there is little that is absolutely new in his desultory but pleasant and ingenious volume, we heartily welcome it as the product of honest and long-continued observation and thought, in a field where additional light is far from being superfluous. In the course of a long medical practice he has evidently seen and studied many and various phases of human nature; and what he has seen he describes in lively and vigorous language. Though not a believer in Phrenology (which, indeed, he does not profess to have much acquaintance with), he labours, like ourselves, to elucidate the influence of bodily conditions upon the mind; and phrenologists will find in his work many hints and illustrations that may be turned to excellent account. He claims the credit of

originality in the conception of his leading theory, the duality of the brain; for, says he, though it might be maintained by preceding writers, "no suggestion reached me till more than twenty years after I had completely arranged the whole in my own mind. The previous hints may diminish the merit, but not the value, of my demonstration. If I can firmly fix the latter in the convictions of the public, it is all I desire to accomplish the originality may be denied without giving me the slightest pain." He adds, in anticipation and deprecation of critical censure, "that a man cannot well be accused of precipitation or presumption who waits till his sixtieth year to promulgate opinions he has held during half his life with daily increasing conviction; which he believes to be of the greatest importance in medicine, morals, and jurisprudence -in the management of the insane-in the treatment of criminals the education of youth—and, above all, in the discipline of imperfect, defective, and distorted minds."-Pp. vii. viii. Nevertheless, considering the close connexion of his subject with Phrenology, we cannot help thinking, that the author's neglect to make himself acquainted with the doctrines and evidences of that science, not only is unjustifiable in itself, but has greatly detracted from the consistency and value of his conclusions.

The word mind is employed in senses so different, that Dr Wigan rightly begins by telling in which of them it is used by himself. Conceiving that the employment of the words mind and soul as convertible terms is a serious obstacle to the freedom of investigation of mental phenomena, he thus gives notice to the reader: "When I speak of Mind, I wish to be understood to signify the aggregate of the mental powers and faculties, whether exercised by one brain or two; and when I have occasion to allude to the GREAT, IMMORTAL, IMMATERIAL PRINCIPLE, connected for a time with the material world by means of our physical organization-I shall call it by its proper name,—THE SOUL."-P. 6. It is only the former, he thinks, that the philosopher has to do with; the latter being regarded as exclusively within the domain of theology.-Pp. 6, 381, 438. He seems, however, to limit unduly the signification of the phrase "mental powers," by using it as synonymous with the intellectual faculties, exclusively of the affective or emotional. (See p. 18.)

His leading notion is, that instead of our having only one brain, divided into what are called the two hemispheres, these " are really and in fact two distinct and entire organs, and each respectively as complete (indeed more complete), and as fully perfect in all its parts, for the purposes it is intended to perform, as are the two eyes: it would

be just as reasonable to talk of the two lobes or globes of the eye, as of the two hemispheres of the brain."-P. 24. And the propositions which he undertakes to prove are the following:

1. That each cerebrum is a distinct and perfect whole, as an organ of thought.

2. That a separate and distinct process of thinking or ratiocination may be carried on in each cerebrum simultaneously.

3. That each cerebrum is capable of a distinct and separate volition, and that these are very often opposing volitions.

4. That, in the healthy brain, one of the cerebra is almost always superior in power to the other, and capable of exercising control over the volitions of its fellow, and of preventing them from passing into acts, or from being manifested to others.

5. That when one of these cerebra becomes the subject of functional disorder, or of positive change of structure, of such a kind as to vitiate mind or induce insanity, the healthy organ can still, up to a certain point, control the morbid volitions of its fellow.

6. That this point depends partly on the extent of the disease or disorder, and partly on the degree of cultivation of the general brain in the art of self-government.

7. That when the disease or disorder of one cerebrum becomes sufficiently aggravated to defy the control of the other, the case is then one of the commonest forms of mental derangement or insanity; and that a lesser degree of discrepancy between the functions of the two cerebra constitutes the state of conscious delusion.

8. That in the insane, it is almost always possible to trace the intermixture of two synchronous trains of thought, and that it is the irregularly alternate utterance of portions of these two trains of thought which constitutes incoherence.

9. That of the two distinct simultaneous trains of thought, one may be rational and the other irrational, or both may be irrational; but that, in either case, the effect is the same, to deprive the discourse of coherence or congruity. Even in furious mania, this double process may be generally perceived; often it takes the form of a colloquy between the diseased mind and the healthy one, and sometimes even resembles the steady continuous argument or narrative of a sane man, more or less frequently interrupted by a madman; but persevering with tenacity of purpose in the endeavour to overpower the intruder.

10. That when both cerebra are the subjects of disease, which is not of remittent periodicity, there are no lucid intervals, no attempt at selfcontrol, and no means of promoting the cure; and that a spontaneous cure is rarely to be expected in such cases.

11. That however, where such mental derangement depends on inflammation, fever, gout, impoverished or diseased blood, or manifest bodily disease, it may often be cured by curing the malady which gave rise to it.

12. That in cases of insanity not depending on structural injury, in which the patients retain the partial use of reason (from one of the cerebra remaining healthy or only slightly affected), the only mode in which the medical art can promote the cure beyond the means alluded to, is by presenting motives of encouragement to the sound brain to exercise and strengthen its control over the unsound brain.

13. That the power of the higher organs of the intellect to coerce the mere instincts and propensities, as well as the power of one cerebrum to control the volitions of the other, may be indefinitely increased by exercise

and moral cultivation; may be partially or wholly lost by dissuetude or neglect; or, from depraved habits and criminal indulgence in childhood, and a general vicious education in a polluted moral atmosphere, may never have been acquired.

14. That one cerebrum may be entirely destroyed by disease, cancer, softening, atrophy, or absorption; may be annihilated, and in its place a yawning chasm; yet the mind remain complete and capable of exercising its functions in the same manner and to the same extent that one eye is capable of exercising the faculty of vision when its fellow is injured or destroyed; although there are some exercises of the brain, as of the eye, which are better performed with two organs than one. In the case of vision, the power of measuring distances for example, and in the case of the brain, the power of concentrating the thoughts upon one subject, deep consideration, hard study; but in this latter case, it is difficult to decide how far the diminished power depends on diminution of general vigour from formidable and necessarily fatal disease.

15. That a lesion or injury of both cerebra is incompatible with such an exercise of the intellectual functions, as the common sense of mankind would designate sound mind.

16. That from the apparent division of each cerebrum into three lobes, it is a natural and reasonable presumption that the three portions have distinct offices, and highly probable that the three great divisions of the mental functions laid down by phrenologists, are founded in nature: whether these distinctions correspond with the natural divisions is a different question; but the fact of different portions of the brain executing different functions, is too well established to admit of denial from any physiologist.

17. That it is an error to suppose the two sides of the cranium to be always alike; that, on the contrary, it is rarely found that the two halves of the exterior surface exactly correspond; that indeed, in the insane, there is often a notable difference-still more frequent in idiots, and especially in congenital idiots.

18. That the object and effect of a well-managed education are to establish and confirm the power of concentrating the energies of both brains on the same subject at the same time; that is, to make both cerebra carry on the same train of thought together, as the object of moral discipline is to strengthen the power of self-control; not merely the power of both intellectual organs to govern the animal propensities and passions, but the intellectual antagonism of the two brains, each (so to speak) a sentinel and security for the other, while both are healthy and the healthy one to correct and control the erroneous judgments of its fellow when disordered.

19. That it is the exercise of this power of compelling the combined attention of both brains to the same object, till it becomes easy and habitual, that constitutes the great superiority of the disciplined scholar over the self-educated man; the latter may perhaps possess a greater stock of useful knowledge, but set him to study a new subject, and he is soon outstripped by the other, who has acquired the very difficult accomplishment of thinking of only one thing at a time; that is, of concentrating the action of both brains on the same subject.

20. That every man is, in his own person, conscious of two volitions, and very often conflicting volitions, quite distinct from the government of the passions by the intellect; a consciousness so universal, that it enters into all figurative language on the moral feelings and sentiments, has been enlisted into the service of every religion, and forms the basis of some of them, as the Manichæan.

The first proposition lies at the very foundation of Phrenology, and has no novelty whatever. From the beginning, Dr Gall taught that each mental faculty has two organs, one in each hemisphere; a doctrine which, of course, implied that each hemisphere is as complete an organ of the mind, as one eye is a complete external organ of sight. Dr Wigan quotes (p. 51) from Gall himself the case of a clergyman, whose right hemisphere was found by him entirely disorganised, although the patient, only three days before his death, had preached and been occupied in the instruction of youth, and had otherwise manifested the intellectual faculties in an astonishing manner. Gall's explanation of the case, which we extract from his work on the Functions of the Brain, is as follows:-" I have proved, in the first volume of my large work, that the nervous systems of the spinal marrow, of the organs of the senses, and of the brain, are double, or in pairs. We have two optic nerves, and two nerves of hearing, just as we have two eyes and two ears; and the brain is in like manner double, and all its integrant parts are in pairs. Now, just as when one of the optic nerves, or one of the eyes, is destroyed, we continue to see with the other eye; so when one of the hemispheres of the brain, or one of the brains, has become incapable of exercising its functions, the other hemisphere, or the other brain, may continue to perform without obstruction those belonging to itself; in other words, the functions may be disturbed or suspended on one side, and remain perfect on the other.' The same doctrine is repeated by Dr Spurzheim, Dr Andrew Combe,‡ Dr Caldwell,§ Mr Hood,|| Dr Elliotson, Mr Watson,** and other phrenologists. Dr Henry Holland, also, in an Essay "On the Brain as a Double Organ," published in his Medical Notes and Reflections, and analysed by Dr Wigan in Chapter X., only falls short of the ultimate deduction of the latter.

Perhaps Dr Wigan's book will induce some physiologists

* Gall sur les Fonctions du Cerveau, ii., 247. Dr Wigan must admit, that this is something more than a slight indication of a slight guess

at a slight portion of the theory."

† Phrenology, Sect. iii.; and Anatomy of the Brain, p. 178. "On the Effects of Injuries of the Brain upon the Manifestations of the Mind;" Trans. of the Phren. Soc., 1824, p. 192. See also ante, viii. 636.

Id. iii. 34.

¶ Id. v. 98.

§ Phren. Jour. ii. 117. **What is the Use of the Double Brain?"-Phren. Jour. ix., 608. The essential part of Mr Watson's theory is "the capability of independent activity of the two hemispheres.' The paper is commented on by Dr Wigan, in chap. xxviii., but its existence was unknown to him till his work was nearly ready for the press.