Observations on the structure of the brain, comprising an estimate of the claims of Drs. Gall and Spurzheim to discovery in the anatomy of that organ / By John Gordon.

  • Gordon, John, 1786-1818.
Date:
1817
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the structure of the brain, comprising an estimate of the claims of Drs. Gall and Spurzheim to discovery in the anatomy of that organ / By John Gordon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    a perfect idea of the claims which Drs. Gall and Spurzheim have brought forward. In this last respect I cannot refrain from remarking that I believe the Appendix to be particularly neces¬ sary ; for I am firmly persuaded, that the number of persons is exceedingly small, in this country at least, who have any conception either of the nature or the extent of the discoveries alleged to have been made by the authors of this new sys¬ tem. Their work in quarto*, of which the first volume was published at Paris in 1810, is too ex¬ pensive for extensive circulation, and much too tedious for general perusal, even were it more accessible ; while the abstract of their anatomy of the brain prefixed by Dr. Spurzheim to his English book on Physiognomy f, is in several es¬ sential points imperfect. In the year 1808, the Institute of France ap¬ pointed a Committee of its members^:, to exa¬ mine and report on a Memoir which had been pre- * Anatomie et Physiologie du Systeme Nerveux en Gene¬ ral, et du Cerveau en particulier, &c. Prem. Vol. 4to. Paris ; avec 17 planches folio. + The Physiognomical System of Drs. Gall and Spurz¬ heim, &c. by J. G. Spurzheim, M. D. 8vo. 2d edit. Lond. 1815, t The Committee consisted of Tenon, Portal, Sabatier, Pinel, and Cuvier.