Buchanan's Journal of Man, March 1887 / Volume 1, Number 2

by Unknown

There are four classes of pathognomic lines, as there are four aspects of the brain, which may be represented on a plane surface, and which are sufficient for this incomplete introductory statement—the anterior and posterior—the superior or upward, and the inferior or downward. The anterior and posterior tendencies may be separated by the vertical line through the ear. The superior and inferior, or upward and downward, may be separated by a nearly horizontal line from the forehead backward, which nearly coincides with the lateral ventricles that separate the superior and inferior convolutions. The lateral ventricles (cavities the walls of which are in contact,) are the central region of the brain around which the convolutions are formed. Dividing the brain thus into superior and inferior halves, we find that the major portion of the superior has an upward line which is fully expressed at the upper surface of the brain, while the lower half has downward lines which are most fully expressed on the basilar surface of the brain, which is covered by the face and neck.

Intermediate between these coronal and basilar surfaces are lateral organs which participate in the upward or downward tendency as they approach the highest and lowest surfaces.

The tendency of the coronal region is upward, that of the basilar downward. The latter operates downward upon the body, rousing the muscles and viscera to activity, but exhausting the brain and the spiritual life. Hence, while they vitalize the body, they are the source of all that is sensual, violent, beastly, and criminal,—all that degrades human nature,—when they become the controlling power, which is an abnormal condition.

The coronal organs tend upward; they withdraw excitement from the body, quiet the muscles, and diminish the energy of the appetites and passions, while they originate all noble and lofty impulses. Their tendency is toward heaven, toward the highest possible condition of humanity, the performance of every duty, the enjoyment of happiness and health, the perfection of love and fidelity. They make the life on earth resemble the life in heaven, and consequently bring us into sympathy with all holy influences. They make religion a reality, and produce a character which we cannot but admire and love. Their tendency is to draw life upward from the body to the head and the upper part of the chest, and thereby to energize the soul, which has its home in the brain, and which is the essential seat and source of life, and is in interior connection with the infinite source of life. Hence the coronal half of the brain is the home of spiritual life, the antagonist of disease, the promoter of longevity, by which the harmonious love of the upper world is realized on earth, and that divine quality of the soul which frees it from disease and death is to a limited extent imparted to the human body.

The excessive action of the basilar region exhausts the brain, degrades the soul, and thereby impairing the fountain of life and health, introduces disease and death. Gluttony, drunkenness, sensuality, passion, and violent exertion are the processes that exhaust the soul power. Excessive and prolonged muscular exertion without rest exhausts the brain. But the normal action of the basilar organs is essential to all the processes of life, and maintains the union of soul and body. Hence their good development is necessary to longevity.

On the other hand, excessive predominance of the coronal region, although it heightens the spiritual nature, withdraws life from the body, and culminates in trance, ending in death by the ascension of the soul from the body. But so long as the basilar organs have sufficient energy to maintain the connection of the soul with the body, the most powerful action of the coronal region increases the power of the brain, the brilliance of the mind, the perfection of the health, and the moral greatness and power of the person.

These statements are essentially different from the physiological and phrenological ideas heretofore current, but they are sustained by universal experience, which recognizes the power of heroism, hope, religion, and love to exalt our powers of endurance and achievement, whether intellectual or physical; and they are sustained by the records of pathology, which show that softening or ulceration of the superior regions of the brain impairs, paralyzes, or destroys all our powers. Moreover, all that I teach on these subjects is but an expression of the formulated results of many thousand experiments during the last forty-five years.

The simplicity and applicability of these pathognomic laws which pervade all psychic phenomena are such that they are easily mastered, and a single evening devoted to the subject enables my students to locate with approximate correctness nearly all the organs of the brain. The multiplicity of the cerebral organs is somewhat discouraging to a student at first, but all embarrassment is removed when the simplicity of the Divine plan is shown.

In illustrating these principles, we take up a number of faculties successively, and determine by their nature what should be their latitude and longitude upon the map. Thus, for example, if Modesty is mentioned, students would say it should be above the horizontal line, but not so high as the virtues, and that it should be not among the energies, but among the moderating faculties of the front half of the head. Hence they usually ascertain its true location. If Avarice or Acquisitiveness should be considered, they would recognize it as entitled to a place below the horizontal line, and also behind the vertical line, but neither the lowest nor the most posterior. If Firmness is mentioned, they recognize it as entitled to a high place, but behind the vertical line; and thus they seldom make any great error in determining the location of an organ.