The 3rd was an hypothesis, concerning the continuous connection between the cortical elements and the fibres of the cerebral medulla, by which an easy communication was established between those elements and the distributions of the nerves in the various parts of the body. In his conclusions from these premises Swedenborg had some guidance in preceding authors, who placed at least the sensory function in a certain connection with the cortical substance.
II. His second statements, his essential doctrine of localization, showed in many points a great agreement with that presented by Vieussens, but also contained important differences, which partly rested upon the conclusion to which Swedenborg had previously come, concerning the importance of the cortex for the psychic life, partly depended upon the new point of view concerning the correspondence of the cerebral regions to those of the body, to which he had arrived in his work supported by clinical results. The detailed doctrine of localizations seems to have been constructed with the assistance of Vieussens’ detailed statements concerning the connection of the nerves with the various regions of the cerebral medulla.
III. His third statement, his—so to speak, ›Cerebellular theory›, that the ›Cerebellula› were the units of which the brain was in reality composed, and that the function of the cortex was essentially the summing up of the activity of the ›Cerebellula›, and that the ›Cerebellula› were connected with one another into various kinds of groups, corresponding to the various kinds of perceptions and to the different movements of the body, etc., this was grounded in part upon the discoveries of Malpighi and others and their detailed descriptions of the structure and situation of the cortical elements and their connection with each other, in part upon Swedenborg’s clinical experiences and his own previously drawn conclusions, which be further followed up.
The first two statements have in our time been embraced with the liveliest interest and essentially corroborated. And as concerns the third, the same applies in part; but how great the validity of this statement is, it is for the future to decide.
Consequently Swedenborg arrived at almost the same result as that to which our own day has attained, although in a partly different manner. Our times have had the assistance of exact methods of investigation and of a most highly developed technique. In Swedenborg’s time the research method of microscopical anatomy and experimental physiology were yet in their cradle; and the two branches of science, medicine and pathology, which afterwards with the greatest interest have taken part in the investigation of the function of the cortex, had then hardly as yet turned their attention thither. As to how Swedenborg nevertheless succeeded in winning such rich and beautiful results in this field, and how well he employed the widely spread literature in question, I have attempted to show in this my presentation by tracing his path through the folios of the old authors and indicating the places where he gathered the material for his doctrinal structure and the premises for his conclusions. Finally, however, it should be emphasized that, when Swedenborg collected his facts from the many separated fields of literature, he found them not at all presented in the large works as important ›chief subjects›, or even as lying plainly at hand. No, he was often, so to say, obliged to dig out his material from a chaos of erroneous observations, false interpretations and curious conceptions; and afterwards he had to still further sift and elaborate it, before he could draw his conclusions out of it.
In view of all this one must say that it was in truth a work of genius to search out of such a chaos the guiding threads which were concealed within it, and that, in spite of their imperfection in many points, nevertheless to be able to find so much of the truth!