the latter subject to the French Academy, of which we are enabled, by the report upon it drawn up by MM. Bouillaud and Blandin, to furnish the following account. A more detailed analysis we shall hereafter give, when Dr. Foviile's work comes before us for review.

The principal part of the memoir appears to be occupied with an inquiry into the respective course of the two layers of fibres which Dr. Foville had demonstrated in 1825, and which have been since generally acknowledged to exist in the crura cerebri: the one, infe rior and anterior, continuous with the pyramids; the other, superior and posterior, and specially connected with the posterior part of the medulla oblongata. These two layers may be traced forwards into the optic thalami and corpora striata, and thence were supposed to radiate to the different parts of the hemispheres. Dr. Foville has since devoted himself to ascertain the course of the fibres proceeding from the several fasciculi contained in the medulla oblongata, with much greater minuteness. According to his present statement, the pyramidal fibres, after passing through the optic thalami and corpora striata, radiate in two planes, which are entirely distributed to the convolutions forming the external and convex portion of the hemispheres. The fibres proceeding from the posterior part of the medulla oblongata also divide into two planes, which encircle the others in a remarkable manner; of these, the superior makes its exit from the exterior of the corpus striatum and thalamus opticus, soon curves upwards and inwards, and constitutes the corpus callosum, the great commissure of the hemispheres. The inferior plane passes out, on the contrary, beneath the pyramidal tract, and gives origin to the optic and olfactory nerves, and then constitutes a white space, superior to the corpus striatum, interior to the fissure of Sylvius, posterior to the frontal lobe, and anterior and interior to the temporal lobe, which is perforated by a number of vascular foramina, symmetrically disposed. According to Dr. Foville, this place is a centre from which proceed, and in which terminate, several sets of arciform fibres, which form circles enveloping the pyramidal portion of the crus and terminating severally in the hemisphere. To this group belong the tænia semicircularis, and others hitherto undescribed. This part of the description is obscure in the report, from the brevity with which it is rendered; but the following may be regarded as the general results of M. Foville's investigations.

The cerebral convolutions form two distinct classes: one set crowning the summit of the fibres ascending from the anterior periods, and in relation, therefore, with the anterior roots of the spinal nerves; the others upon the course of the posterior fibres of the medulla, and also connected with the three cranial nerves of

special sense.

Hence, according to Dr. Foville, it is in the external and convex surfaces of the hemispheres that the motive influence is chiefly originated; whilst their plane surfaces, and the inferior part of the temporal lobe, minister to the sensory actions. It would also seem that the commissural fibres are entirely derived from the posterior fasciculi, and thus that the sensory nerves may maintain their connection with both hemispheres, when the motor being connected only with one, are paralysed by an injury to it; and thus loss of motion in hemiplegia is much more common than loss of sensation. He is fully convinced that the fibrous portion of the brain, like the tissue of the nervous trunks, is to be regarded only as a conductor; and that the cortical substance is the material substratum, by the intervention of which the will directs the movements.

The reporters advert to the researches of M. Gerdy on the same subject, published some time ago, as corresponding in many par ticulars with those of Dr. Foville. Both seem to have arrived at the same general conclusions; and they differ only in particulars. The former has investigated most carefully the annular disposition of the fibres already adverted to; the latter has devoted his chief attention to the substantiation of the fact, most curious, if true, that these fibrous circles proceed from, and terminate in, the posterior part of the medulla, and are thus a portion of the sensory tract; and that to this system of fibres the commissures belong.

We are disposed to feel much confidence in these statements, because we know Dr. Foville to be a most patient observer and excellent anatomist, as well as a philosopher in the most enlarged sense of the term. Moreover, they fall in rather curiously with some views we formerly propounded, as to the parallelism between the cortical structure of the brain and the granular matter surrounding the termination of the sensory nerves. (Vol. ix. p. 99.) We there contrasted motor nerves, originating in the vascular plexus of the cortical substance, and having no free terminations in the muscles, but returning by a series of loops, with the sensory nerves, which originate in the peripheral vascular plexus, and run towards the brain, where they were supposed to terminate. But the researches of Foville seem to show that they do not terminate there, but return by a series of loops in the cerebral substance, coming into relation with the cortical structure, on which they may be supposed to act, as the sensory fibres do with the muscular tissue.

The second part of Dr. Foville's memoir is occupied with some curious observations upon the relation between the osscous protuberances on the cranium and the retreating points of the brain beneath. Thus, he remarks, if we were to make an incision through the

frontal eminence, perpendicular to its surface, and pursue this to some depth, we should arrive at the anterior cornua of the ventricle. In the same manner, we should be conducted from the occipital protuberances to the posterior cornua; and from the parietal eminences to the large central cavity of the ventricles, in which the cornua meet; and that thus the form of the osseous covering is influenced by the condition of the ventricles to a great extent. He carries out this position in a very interesting manner; showing that where the convolutions are large, and the brain solid, the bony casing takes their form and impression; but that where the ventricles have been distended with fluid, as in chronic hydrocephalus, they exercise an influence on the bony casing far greater than the convolutions, and the frontal, parietal, and occipital eminences are very large, whilst the impressions of the convolutions are faint. This fact, which many of our readers have doubtless remarked, has an important bearing on the general question as to the influence of the condition and developement of the brain upon the size, form, &c. of the We shall look forward with much interest to the appear

cranium.

ance of Dr. Foville's memoir.

ARTICLE IV.

THE SUPERIORITY OF THE CAUCASIAN RACE.

[Extracted from a review of Morton's Crania Americana in the Western Journal of Medicine and Surgery, published at Louisville, Ky.]

Our author offers on the comparative size of the brains of the five races, the following interesting and important observations. The facts they embrace are the result of admeasurements; and, as far as they extend, they put at rest the question of the relative magnitude of the Caucasian brain. We feel persuaded that, as soon as they shall be made known to him, even Tiedemann himself, and his stubborn adherents, hostile as they are to the doctrines of phrenology, will cease to contend that the brain of the African is equal in size to that of the Caucasian. With equal truth may they contend for identity in the colour of the skin, the figure of the nose, and the entire character of the lips and hair of the two races. Never were the blindness and deceptiveness of professional prejudice more dog. gedly manifested. The following are the observations to which we allude:

"On the Internal Capacity of the Cranium in the different Races of Men. Having subjected the skulls in my possession, and such, also, as I could obtain from my friends, to the internal capacity measurement already described, I have obtained the following results. The mean of the American race (omitting a fraction) is repeated here merely to complete the table. The skulls of idiots, and of persons under age, were of course rejected.

"1. The Caucasians were, with a single exception, derived from the lowest and least educated class of society. It is proper, however, to mention that but three Hindoos are admitted in the whole number, because the skulls of these people are probably smaller than those of any other existing nation. For example, seventeen Hindoo heads give a mean of but seventy-five cubic inches."

The Caucasians are in all respects the masters of the world, though they do not, we believe, constitute a fifth part of its inhabitants, nor cover, perhaps, more than one-eighth or tenth part of its surface. It is curious, as well as instructive, in a special manner, to compare the diminutive size of Great Britain with the measureless dimensions of the nations and territories she has conquered and sways. She occupies on the map we have referred to, but little more than a mere speck of space, which those who know not its position have difficulty in finding; while her fleets cover every sea and ocean, her arms are almost uniformly and every where triumphant, and her power is felt in every corner of the peopled globe. Nor can even the inferior animals in the north, the tropics, or the south, and whether they wing the air, cleave the waters, or move on solid ground, escape either by flight, concealment, or resistance, the devices of her artfulness, the snares of her hand, or the unlimited sweep and mightiness of her arm. And what is the source of this power and influence? We reply unhesitatingly the functions of the brain-of the largest, best developed, and best conditioned brain belonging to man. And if this brain be accompanied by bodies of the best size and shape, and the most adroit and vigorous in action, let it not be forgotten that brain and nerves, being the master tissue of the system, have no little concern as well in the production of

those excellencies of quality and endowment, in other portions of the body, as in their superintendence, maintenance, and regulation when produced. For that the brain, when of the highest order and in the best condition, imparts to the other tissues and organs of the body somewhat of the tone and character of its own distinguished qualities, is as certain as that moisture and sunlight, warmth and atmospheric air, co-operating with each other in a well-adjusted union, contribute to the growth and excellence of vegetables.

In a word, Great Britain is peopled chiefly by Anglo-Saxons, the most highly endowed variety of the Caucasian race. Their brains are superior in size, and more perfect in figure, than the brains of any other variety; and, from temperament and exercise, they are in the best condition. In function, therefore, they are the most powerful at least, if not the most active. And hence the surpassing strength and grandeur at home, and the influence and sway over the others nations of the earth, of those who possess them. The vast and astonishing productions of art in Great Britain, her boundless resources of comfort and enjoyment in peace, and her unequalled means of defence and annoyance in war, are as literally the growth of the brains of her inhabitants, as her oaks, and elms, and ash trees are of her soil. We shall only add, that the inhabitants of the United States, being also of the best Caucasian stock, and youthful, elastic, and vigorous, as a nation, and enjoying the influence of other circumstances as favourable to the production and perfection of mental and corporeal excellencies as nature can frame, or imagination conceive-in the midst and under the immediate agency of such advantages, the people of the United States promise to be even more than the Britons of future ages.

ARTICLE V.

CHARACTER OF OLIVER CROMWELL.

The life of Oliver Cromwell has yet to be written, and a faithful and comprehensive view of the stirring scenes in which he moved,

yet to be drawn. Historians of kings and courts have burlesqued his character, blackened his memory, assailed and impugned his motives. Religious and political prejudices have conspired to make him odious to posterity. Novelists, borrowing their facts from those questionable sources, have supported falsehood and calumny by all