The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1868-08-05
influence of Civilization on the Brain.

lQQutuco VI OlNll4hdbAouo VI TIC oi ali.
Little is heard or read now Of Gall
and Spurzheim. and their systems Of
craniology and phrenology, at least, in the
terms in which they were presented. But
il can not be denied that much Of what
they taught OF the innateness aud divisions
of the mental faculties, and of the bearing
of this belief on education and criminal
jurisprudence. has insinuated itself into the
metaphysical and ethical teachings of other
and received schools of philosophy. 1t
crops out under a different language in
lighter literature, novels, essays, deserip-
tons and analyses OF character, and criti-
cisms of the drama. They who have dis
missed the entire subject from their minds,
and who. if they bring it up at all, ridicule
the skull-groping and bump-finding of era
niology as a means Of ascertaining the
size and relative proportions Of the differ
ent parts of the brain within, and Of the
power and activity Of the mind deduced
from such size, may learn that the main
positions laid down by Gall and Spur
proceed to show.
Mr.. Dunn, of the Royal College of Sur
geons. presented a paper to the British
Association for the Advancement of Sci
ence, on the Influence of Civilization
upon the Development of the Brain in the
different Races of Man. which he prefaced
by the following propositions as being
taken for granted:
l. That the brain is the material organ
of the mind.
2. That there exists close correspond
ence IN form and size between the cere-
brum, or brain proper, and its outward,
bony covering, the skull, SO that the vary
ing forms of the human Uranium, or skull,
indicate by outward and visible signs, with
certain well understood qualifications, cor
responding differences in shape and size of
the cerebral or brain substance within.
4. That man is one, and that all the
races of the great family Of man are en-
dowed with the same intuitions, sensa-
tional, perceptive and intellectual, the
same mental activities, however they may
differ in degree, and that they all have the
essential constituent elements in common
of moral, religious and intellectual rature-
Mr.. Dunn, without entering into the
question Of the single or plurality origin
Of mankind, asserts that from all historic
times there have existed, and do still ex-
ist. aboriginal and typical races of men,
who, differing from each other, are easily
dlstinguishable by well-marked physical
and psychical characteristics; such, for in
stance, as the-negroes of Africa, the mon
gols Of Asia, the red men of America,
and the white men of Europe. From time
immemorial, he says, there have always
existed, besides the savage hordes Of hunt
ers and fishers, two forms or phases of
civilization, the nomadic, or pastoral, and
the agricultural the former essentially
exchanging in its character, but the lat
ter strikingly and eminently progressive.
Among the purely nomadic races there is,
Mr.. Dunn observes, uniform sameness
and characteristic fxity in the shape of
the head, strikingly in contrast with what
is seen to prevail among the agricultural
races and cultivated Europeans. He con-
trasted the typical skulls Ct the negroes,
or Australian savages. and Mongolian no.
mads with the cultivated Caucasian stock,
and found in the relative size and develop
ment of the brain, as indicated by that of
the skull, distinctive characters of the de-
graduation of the former and elevation of
the latter. His own views and convictions
are that the anterior lobes of the brain
those behind the forehead are the seat
Of the intellectual. the middle lobes of the
personal or individual, and the posterior Of
the social and afeotioDal activities or at
tributes of the human mind.
In proof Of alterations Of the skull for
the better. from the influence of improved |
social conditions and higher intellectual |
activity. he directed attention to some /
casts taken at different periods from the |
same individuals. In each case, the inter- 4
walls were not periods of leisure, but OF
great mental activity, and the result in
each was seen in the decided enlargement 4
and development of the anterior part of /
the forehead. Mr.. Dunn looks forward to
The microseopieal examination Of the ulti-
mate structure of the gray matter of the
brain IN typical races of men as pregnant
with the most interesting and instructive
results. He refers TO DIR. Beale's and Mr..
LOckhart Clarks observations on this sub
ect. Reference is made to historical evi
ience of the conversion in time of one
ype OF humanity into that of another un-
Ter the influence of outward circumstances,
social state, and intellectual culture
Philadelphia Ledger.