Scientific phrenology : being a practical mental science and guide to human character / by Bernard Hollander.

  • Hollander, Bernard, 1864-1934.
Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Scientific phrenology : being a practical mental science and guide to human character / by Bernard Hollander. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    39/332
    memory of figures and power of calculation may dis- appear, leaving the other intellectual powers normal. These facts have not hitherto been observed sufficiently, but when they come to be so the localisation of mental functions will make rapid advance. Similarly it has been observed that irritation of the frontal cells is characterised by an acceleration of the intellectual processes of perception, association, and reproduction, giving rise to a rapid flow of ideas ; and that softening of the same part leads to dementia, whereas irritation of the parietal, occipital and temporal area affects chiefly the emotions and propensities, often leaving the intellect quite unclouded. That emotional display which is seen after injury or disease of the frontal lobe is merely the weakening of the intellectual control, which leaves the predominant bias of the individual free to exercise itself. In certain forms of poisoning, too, such as by Alcohol, the highest mental powers are paralysed first, thereby depriving a man of the controlling power over his natural tendencies. Hence some intoxicated men get dejected, others gay ; some talk foolishly, others are eloquent; some become effusively benevolent, others furiously maniacal, and so on. All these facts point to there being a congeries of centres in the cortex of the brain, not merely for the purely intellectual operations, but also for the emotions and propensities. Experiments made on the inferior animals by means of electricity can throw no light on the mental functions of the brain. It is only possible to observe