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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    their lethargy—they must be taught to think and judge for them¬ selves—to put forth their giant power, the most distinguishing characteristic of their species. Look at the cerebral mass of a great character, and witness the astounding results of its action! Think of the cerebral mass of the famishing millions, and estimate, if you can, the results which might be obtained if each brain were trained, if each individual were placed in that situation and calling which nature intended. Estimate, if you can, after the lapse of a few generations, the acquirements, the position, the intellectual and moral grandeur of such a race. If, then, we have even now but a faint idea of man’s endowments—if they are now comparatively unknown and unexplored—if we are, after a lapse of so many ages, only commencing the study, what better guarantee can we have of the fact that humanity must ad¬ vance,—that, as years roll on, and one generation succeeds another, man will gradually remove all impediments to his happiness, and assume that position his organism fits him for ? Our race is in a transition state ; but the course is onward, and the boldest and most enthusiastic thinker does not possess data by which he can predict the attainments of any given period: this is a secret, a germ in the womb of Time, to be evolved by man himself: his destiny is to grow in the proportion he ascertains and obeys the laws governing his structure. Extravagant and speculative as it may appear, we triumph in the idea of such an approaching consummation. We hold no dispiriting views—we look on man as only just emerging from a degraded position, although the impression which a retrospect of his past existence conveys is humiliating in the extreme. We augur more favourably for his future progress, and dare picture in the distance his future destiny. Twelve months have elapsed since we were assembled in this room for the purpose of promulgating views considered to be of essential importance to the well-being of our species. How have we spent the intervening period ? What means have we taken to ensure their reception ? What steps shall we take to inculcate the neces¬ sity of educating the rising generation in our system of philosophy? What is the cause of so much doubt concerning a question so im¬ portant, so self-evident ? What prevents its reception ? It appears to us, that the very first axiom of our science is erroneous. “ The brain is the organ of the mind.” Mr. Combe states—cf We do not in this life know mind as one entity and body as another, but we are acquainted only with the