Such are the questions discussed by Gall; and it is sufficiently clear that, whatever side we take upon these questions, his doctrine assuredly would neither gain nor lose any thing.
Whether such or such a nerve ascends or descends; whether the white matter is produced by the gray; or whether, which is, to say the least, quite as probable, this be nonsense; whether this or that fibre goes out or comes in, diverges or converges, &c. &c. the doctrine of the plurality of brains, the doctrine of individual intelligences, will be neither more nor less true, more nor less doubtful.[88]
M. Cuvier, in his report, observed: “It is essential to repeat, were it merely for the information of the public, that the anatomical questions we have been considering, have no immediate and necessary connexion with the physiological doctrines taught by M. Gall, as to the functions and relative volume of different parts of the brain; and that all that we have inquired into as to the structure of the brain, might be either true or false, without affording the least conclusion in favour of or against the doctrine.”[89]
It is necessary not to make any mistake as to the real point of the question. Gall’s doctrine goes to establish one and only one thing, to wit, the plurality of intelligences and the plurality of brains.[90] That is what constitutes the special and peculiar doctrine; that is to say, different from the common doctrine, which admits but one understanding and a single brain. Whatever goes to prove the plurality of understandings and brains belongs to Gall’s doctrine; and whatever does not tend to prove the plurality of understandings and brains is in opposition to that doctrine.
Gall’s works then really contain two very distinct anatomies: one is a general anatomy, which has nothing in particular to do with his doctrine; the other is a special anatomy, which, supposing it to be true, would constitute the basis of his doctrine.
Now, a great deal has been said about Gall’s general anatomy; but as to his special anatomy, I know of no one who has spoken of it. Gall himself says as little as possible about it. In other matters he tells his opinions both very clearly and very positively: in this particular we are obliged to guess at them.
When Gall, in his psycology, substitutes the faculties for the understanding, he defines those faculties. He defines them, as we have already seen, to be individual intelligences. How happens it, then, that in his anatomy, when he substitutes the organs of the brain for the brain itself, he does not define these organs? How strange! Gall’s whole doctrine, all phrenology, rests upon the organs of the brain; for, without distinct cerebral organs, there can be no independent faculties; and without independent faculties there can be no phrenology: and Gall does not say, nor has any phrenologist said for him, what is the thing called a cerebral organ.
The truth is: Gall never had any settled opinion upon what he called the organs of the brain; he never saw those organs, and he imagined them for the use of his faculties. He did what so many others have done. He commenced with imagining a hypothesis, and then he imagined an anatomy to suit his hypothesis.
When the doctrine of animal spirits was believed, the brain was composed of pipes and tubes to convey these spirits.
“The cortical substance which is found in the hemispheres of the brain,” says Pourfour du Petit, “furnishes the whole of the medullary portion, which is a mere collection of an infinite number of pipes.”[91]