Cerebral physiology and materialism, with the result of the application of animal magnetism to the cerebral organs, an address... / by W.C. Engledue ; with a letter from Dr. Elliotson, on mesmeric phrenology and materialism.

  • Engledue, W. C. (William Collins), 1814-1859.
Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cerebral physiology and materialism, with the result of the application of animal magnetism to the cerebral organs, an address... / by W.C. Engledue ; with a letter from Dr. Elliotson, on mesmeric phrenology and materialism. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Descent occupy ? Of how great value the preceding observations ? A boy with a malformed brain commits a crime—the law immediately punishes him; but till lately, and now only to a very limited extent, we have adopted no method of discipline at all calculated to remove the disposition to repeat the offence. How came the boy to possess this brain ? To the ignorance of how many generations is it to be attributed ? Did society take especial care to educate his parents ? Did they know that they possessed a peculiar conformation of the brain, which of necessity they must impart to their offspring ? No! They were allowed to remain ignorant; they were permitted to be¬ queath to society a being not only useless, but absolutely dangerous. Eagles never give birth to doves. The juvenile patient, then, with such an organism, and surrounded by certain external circumstances, is pushed on to the performance of certain actions called criminal, but which, we say, are symptoms of disease, and require appropriate treatment. The boy is sent to jail. What is done there ? Is any moral lesson taught ? Is any example presented by which he may regulate his future conduct ? No! He associates with others like himself, and perhaps a great deal worse. His propensities are roused, his moral powers untrained, his intellect unenlightened. He associates with those who laugh at the laws of society, who scorn virtuous re¬ solutions, whose whole energies are directed against morality and industry, and who feast on the reports of successful villany, and the practice of sensual indulgence. His period of confinement ex¬ pires, and what becomes of him ? He is ejected, seeks out his former companions, a greater adept than before in vice and every species of profligacy. Is the disease cured ? Has confinement diminished the natural tendency to the production of diseased mani¬ festation ? If Cerebral Physiology were properly understood, could this one, selected from many abuses, exist another year ? If you wished to cure a passionate child, would you allow it to associate with those of a like temper ? If you wished to check the progress of a contagious disease, would you commence your endeavours by allowing patients of all kinds to mix indiscriminately ? An ill- formed or diseased brain is a fountain pouring forth continued streams of impure produce. An individual possessing such a brain, if placed in a situation where the animal passions are allowed to run riot, will never be guided to virtue. The sapling, tended with care, may be made to grow straight, but the old tree, aged in its deformity, alters not. How different would be the effect if the boy, at the moment