SKETCHES
OF
BUCHANAN'S   DISCOVERIES
IN
NEUROLOGY
NATURA OB8ESSA STUDIOSIS, DETEGIT ARCANA.
         LOUISVILLE:
J. ELIOT & GO'S POWER PRESS.
           1842.
 
 
SKETCHES
OF
BUCHANAN'S   DISCOVERIES
IN
NEUROLOGY.
  "From the days of Aristotle to the present time, the most powerful intel-
lects have been directed with the most persevering industry to this depart-
ment of science, and system after system has flourished, fallen and been
forgotten in rapid and melancholy succession."—Combe.
  "Europe which  at present possesses libraries filled with philosophical
works, and which reckons up almost as many philosophers as writers; poor
in the midst of so much riches and uncertain, with the aid of all its guides,
which road it should follow—Europe, the centre and focus of all the lights
of the world, has  yet its philosophy only in expectation."—M. de Ronald.
          LOUISVILLLE:

J.  ELIOT  &  CO.'S PO,WEB P.RESS.

                1842. 
 4       SKETCHES  OP BUCHANAN's DISCOVERIES

 a new path, distinct from former  systems of mental cul-
 tivation; and the time is not far distant, when Phrenolo-
 gy  will become the  leading system, and the centre,, from
 which all investigations into the relation of matter  and
 mind, will take their rise.
    The discoveries of Dr. Buchanan, (as far as we can
 understand them,)  consist in so enlarging the limits of
 the science of Phrenology, as to render it applicable to
 more extended and beneficial  purposes.   Many whom
 the testimony has convinced of the claims of Phrenology
 to rank as a science, have been at a loss to discover the
 mode in which its truths could  be applied to useful ob-
jects, which,  in this utilitarian age, is every thing, so far
 as its success is concerned. If Dr. B. should succeed in
 accomplishing this end, he will  render  a valuable  ser-
 vice to the cause of science.   As a gentleman of learn-
 ing and intelligence, he ranks deservedly high,  and from
 what we have incidentally learned relative to his success-
 ful experiments in this city,  illustrative  of the matters
 stated in his article, he is (strange though it may seem)
 capable of producing the singular results which he de-
 scribes.

   BUCHANAN'S D1SC0IVERES IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
    For some months past I  have been engaged, during
 the intervals of professional engagements, in an experi-
 mental  investigation  of  the  functions of the  brain, in
 which I have  been  so singularly fortunate, that in the
 course of a single month, I have been able to  ascertain
 more of its true physiology than has heretofore been ac-
 quired by all the labors of all the Physiologists and Pa-
 thologists who have ever been engaged in observing and
 making experiments to ascertain the nature and locality
 of its various functions. 
IN  CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
5
   While the  ink is yet wet, with which I record  this
sentence, I cannot repress  the feeling of  strangeness
with which I view so comprehensive an assertion, when
placed in writing, although I know it to be but a naked
statement of a portion of the facts, which I have ascer-
tained by the testimony of my own senses, and which
have been witnessed by many others.  These facts, and
the experiments in which I have been engaged, have lost
a portion of their novelty  and wonder with me by fre-
quent repetition;  but to suppose that results of such mag-
nitude have been so speedily and correctly attained, and
that the-promulgation of such discoveries has devolved
upon one whom  neither years nor official honors  have
placed in so authoritative a  position, awakens many pe-
culiar emotions.
   Fortunately, it  requires neither rank nor title, nor per-
suasive eloquence, to secure the reception of these truths.
The experiments by which they  have been tested can
easily be repeated, and cannot leave  a doubt  upon the
mind of any, nor do they suggest any thing for debate.
Their reception must be instantaneous.
    I am thus prepared to teach the true  physiology of
the brain;  to correct the errors that have heretofore been
made, and to  give the function of its  smallest organs
with a precision which it would once have been deemed
chimerical to expect.   Yet every proposition which I ad-
vance shall be accompanied, on the spot, by experimen-
tal demonstration, as  palpable and satisfactory, even as
those of  chemistry.
    Yet how,  asks the wondering and incredulous meta-
physician, can this possibly be accomplished ?  How can
the sublime science of mind be degraded, into a  mere
subject of physiological experiment, and an hour's obser-
vation become the substitute for heavy folios of reasoning? 
6        SKETCHES OP Bl'CHANAN"'s DISCOVERIES

   By the simplest means imaginable.   It is  in  my
power to excite, in a  few moments, any portion of  the
brain, either large or small; to put that portion into  full
and vigorous action as an efficient portion of the character
of the person  upon whom I operate,  and then,  at will,
suspend its action, and excite the action of its antagonist
organ, or of any other organ, or group of organs, that I
choose to bring into play.
   The individual subjected to the experiment becomes
conscious of a sudden development of new traits in  his
character, by the increased strength of the emotions, pas-
sions, and intellectual faculties which are excited, or in
the sudden diminution of powers which he has  been ac-
customed to  exercise.  This being an actual change, as
efficient as if it had arisen from any other cause, or had
been a congenital condition, he is not only capable of de-
scribing the change which has  been produced, but shows
distinctly, in his countenance,  manner, and conversation,
the influence under which he is acting.  But if the curi-
ous enquirer  does not find himself satisfied in merely
witnessing the experiment, or hearing the subject report,
he may easily become the subject himself, and feel  his
various faculties modified at the will of the operator.  He
may feel  that his  power of vision is increased or dimin-
ished  ; that his muscular strength is  raised or depressed ;
that he hears acutely or feebly, and that  either  eye, at
the will of the operator,  becomes  more  vigorous than
the other, and  either hand morbidly sensitive or strange-
ly benumbed.   Matters of this kind are  obvious to the
dullest intellect.  Yet in  exciting the various  passions,
they shall be made no less obvious; for they go, at times
entirely beyond the control of volition.  Tears pour from
the eyes, or the fist is clenched in  anger.
   As all will  soon be able" to witness for  themselves, 
IN  CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.              <
it is needless to describe the results and task the reader's
faith with a story by far too improbable, until the demon-
stration and the rationale have been given.    Were I now
to relate all that I have witnessed, I do not believe it pos-
sible any where to find an assembly of men, sufficiently
enlightened, liberal, and philosophical, to give credence
to my statements with entire unanimity.   Indeed, but for
the fact that my experiments can be so easily repeated,
the knowledge which they have developed, would,  like
that of most new discoveries, exist only for the benefit of
posterity.
   Having progressed  sufficiently in  this matter to be
able to present my theory to  the public, accompanied
by illustrative experiments, I ventured, at Little  Rock,
to give two public lectures and demonstrations, on which
occasions I called forth gentlemen from the audience, and
after writing  on a  black board, in  view of the audience
alone, the effects that I intended to produce upon them,
in each  case, I  proceeded publicly to the experiment.
In consequence of the first occasion, the following article
was  published in the  Arkansas Times and Advocate,
and having been copied into other papers, may possibly
have met your eyes :
    " Important Discovery.—Last Friday, Dr. Buchanan
gave a lecture, explanatory  of a new discovery in  the
nervous system, by means of which he is able,  in  some
instances, to  control both the minds and bodies of his pa-
tients.   The gentlemen and ladies who  have been  the
subjects of his experiments, declare that they feel the cur-
rent of their thoughts  and feelings changing, from time
to time, without  the  power to prevent it.  At one time
they think of the past, at another time of the future. Their
ideas are sometimes clear, and sometimes confused, be-
yond the power  of collecting themselves.  At one time 
8        SKETCHES OF BUCHANAN?S DISCOVERIES
 they are lulled into gentleness  and good humor,  at an-
 other they are transported beyond all self-control, by feel-
 ings of a desperate and pugnacious character.
    " We have witnessed but few of the experiments our-
 selves, and consequently are rather  skeptical  as to the
 reality of the feelings produced.
    " At the public lecture three gentlemen  were experi-
 mented upon.   The first attempt was to produce drowsi-
 ness and sleep.  In a short time the drowsiness became
 apparent.   The eyelids  of the gentleman fell, and his
 head reclined.  His hands became  cold, clammy and
 benumbed.   They were agitated  by convulsive  trem-
 blings, of which he seemed to  be  unconscious, and he
 was unable to keep them still.   The effect produced be-
 ing considered rather too powerful,  Dr.  B., in a few mo-
 ments, revived him, without going  so far as to  produce
 sleep.
    "The principal experiment upon the second gentleman
 was, to cause the thoughts to wander, and excite memo-
 ry,  or reminiscences.  In this, the Doctor succeeded re-
 markably well.  At first, the gentleman  remarked, that
 his  thoughts were  scattering and confused;  then, that
 they were upon his past life; and finally, that he could
 think of nothing but his childish sports, and the days of
his  infancy.
    " The experiment upon the third gentleman  was, to
 excite his passions, and produce  impatience, anger, and
 resentment.   In this, also, the Doctor  was successful;
for  in a few moments his  feet and legs began to work in
 a violent manner,  and  he remarked that he would like
to stamp something.  In a moment more he sprang to
his  feet, with  a  stern  and determined expression of
 countenance, but shortly recovered  his self-possession."
   Surprising though these results may be, they have been 
               IN  CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.             9

attained by means so simple, so rational, and so obvious
that, while we lose our wonder at the discoveries,  we
wonder still more that they should have remained so long
unknown.   Had some  fortunate accident given the right
direction to Dr. Gall's labors, the science  which seemed
to require a century to mature it, might have burst upon
the world at once, in full orbed  splendor.
    The idea which led to these developments,  though
long impressed upon my mind, like many other plans to
which I hoped a consummation, has but lately been  car-
ried into effect.   Three years  since, I had made impor-
tant progress in craniological science, and traced  the
outlines of " the Pathognomic System of  Phrenology;"*
but discovering that, by the plan I was pursuing, a  life-
time would scarcely be sufficient to re-organize the  sci-
ence, and to test every proposition, I determined, if possi-
ble, to find some shorter road to the arcana of Cerebral
Physiology.   The  labor of theorizing, observation,  in-
duction, and philosophical combination, might  form a
system, indeed, of tolerable accuracy;  but the lifetime
expended in such  labors, I foresaw, would be poorly re-
warded,  as  the moral  and intellectual organs in ninety-
nine-hundreths of the human race, are too feeble to  per-
ceive, or to  appreciate, the truth of any new discovery.
The principles thus discovered, would have  to undergo
the tedious  ordeal of criticism  and  experiment,  by in-
competent as well as competent men, before they could
receive the proper credit.  I could not consent to spend
a life in the  labor of untying a Gordian knot for the ben-
efit of posterity, but determined to find the sword with
which I  could cleave it open at once, and bring the most
recondite truths palpably before the public eye.
  * I had printed a prospectus and obtained subscribers to this work, to be
issued in five YolumeB, embracing; the whole of the sciences of Phrenology
and Pathognomy.
8 
10       SKETCHES OF BUCHANAN'S DISCOVERIES
    In plainer terms, I determined to ascertain the func-
 tions of the brain in some simple and direct manner,
 which would place our knowledge of its functions upon
 a par with the other portions of experimental physiology.
 To do this, I determined to excite the different portions
 of the brain by a galvanic or galvanoid fluid, and  calling
 them separately into action, to watch the resultant phe-
 nomena;  or, by exciting them in myself, to enjoy at once,
 a perfect  consciousness of the nature of each faculty and
 its organ.   In this attempt, I have met with even  a more
 glorious success than I had ever  anticipated.*
    I have discovered the means  of exciting, at will, any
 portion of the  brain—any organ, or  any number of or-
 gans, and of retarding or suspending their action.   Even
 the  small perceptive convolutions,  on the super-orbitar
 plate, have proved to be  completely  under my control;
 and  I have many times excited  the  organ  of Form or
 Calculation, Color or Order, without allowing the excite-
 ment to extend beyond the organ which I wished to call
 into play.   In the most susceptible subjects, I  find that I
 have been able to assume  the  entire  control of their
 character, and operate upon their minds or bodies in the
 most fantastic manner that caprice could suggest.
   Exciting single organs, I urge their excitement to a
 pitch which  might well be termed monomania—a state
 of excitement entirely beyond the control of the subject,
 because it is a part of his existing character.  Thus I
 make my subjects alternately laugh and weep; reason pro-
 foundly of moral truths, and then,  without any reason,
 draw the fist to strike;  express the deepest humility, or
 self-sufficiency and levity;  sit for hours with the greatest

  * I say nothing of my mode of operation at present, as that will be dis-
 played hereafter publicly—and the experiments, unless conducted by per-
 sons who are well acquainted with Neurology, may be managed so as to in
jure, instead  of benefitting, the health. 
               IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.             11

 patience, or leap up with passionate restlessness; express
 the finest moral sentiments, or assume the manners and
 feelings of the miser  and thief; indulge  in eating, and
 drink strong liquor, or assume  a  moral dignity, despise
 sensuality and speak of food with loathing; feel the most
 exalted  moral and  religious  sentiments, or indulge in
 levity with  an inclination to  be vulgar; concentrate the
 thoughts, by an irresistible impulse, upon some  objects
 before  them, or  scatter  them  in utter  confusion and
 wandering;  extend their reminiscence back to their earli-
 est days, reviving the memory of almost forgotten cir-
 cumstances of infantile life, or recal them to the present,
 and reach on to the future, without the power of looking
 back to the  past; reason, moralize, inquire, or feel an
 utter vacuity of intellect, and  show an almost idiotic ex-
 pression of  countenance;  rise with a stern, piercing eye,
 in the attitude of angry defiance, loll in the most indo-
 lent good nature, or sink under an oppressive humility,
 with  eyes continually downcast;  obey with  reverence
 every request that I may make,  or become impatient,
 contradictory, and indignant,  without  any reason which
 did not exist during their humility; display a monomania
 of calculation, their whole attention  being engrossed in
 calculating every thing which  can be counted—the num-
 ber of their steps,  the stripes of  the carpet, the keys of
 the piano, or whatever attracts their attention; and, when
•the influence is changed,  suddenly suspend their count-
 ing and refuse to proceed,  however they may be entreat-
 ed.  The subject of this experiment, (Mrs.----,)  when
 excited in the musical organs, would feel an irresistible
 impulse to sing, and sing with a brilliance of execution
 which she could not display when left to herself.
   They break forth in the  most ungovernable merri-
 ment, or sit in dogged and ill-natured silence;  talk with 
12      SKETCHES  OF BUCHANAN's  DISCOVERIES
 surprising velocity, or struggle with almost ineffectual ex-
 ertion to command the organs of speech; fall into a  pro-
 found slumber in the midst of company,* or brighten in
 countenance and look  around, deprived of the  power of
 keeping the eyes closed, as before they were deprived of
 the power of keeping them open: but why need I prolong
 the catalogue?
    Fancy the human, brain a harp, and every string re-
 sponding to the touch,  singly  or in combination,  as we
 please, arid you have before you a  perfect picture of my
 experiments—a portion of which I have  recorded for
 publication .
   The question then naturally arises, since the functions
 of every organ have been ascertained with this precision,
 and Cerebral Physiology has become on a sudden a  sci-
 ence  of demonstrable  accuracy,  whether  the  existing
 science of Phrenology  is overturned or  established by
 the new discoveries.  The experienced and philosophic
 practical  Phrenologist will easily anticipate the answer.
 Knowing the unimpeachable  truth of the body of  the
 science, he knows too, that  it is  still an inaccurate or
 imperfect doctrine, when we survey the mass of its  de-
 tails.   He finds himself occasionally liable  to practical
 errors, for which he is at a loss to account, and of which
 he can dispose  only,  by using the  old phrase,  so  often
sophistically applied,  " exceptio probat regulum."
   As a practical Phrenologist, having wandered farther
 from the doctrines of  Gall and Spurzheim than any other
 zealous cultivator of  craniology, I had to  some extent
 abandoned  the use  of the  established  phrenological
nomenclature.   Believing  that the doctrines of !Phreno-

  •1 put the Sheriff of Little Rock to sleep in the midst of 'company  who
were talking away merrily, and threatening to rob hiin of hh executionTn.
 soon as he was fast asleep.          .        ' "    executions as 
tN  CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
13
logy would  be for some time a matter of debate, and
deeming it  rather premature  to determine  the precise
functions  of organs  by their  names, I used and  even
taught my students the anatomical nomenclature, deem-
ing it more convenient that the name should express the
fixed  anatomical position  of  the organ, than that it
should express the unfixed  and not very precise doctrine
of their functions.  Seeking the truth boldly, regardless
of all systems, I had become distrustful of the established
doctrine, and while  engaged  in making additions  to it,
was by no means backward in rejecting  every  thing
which did not stand the test of sound reasoning or of
craniological observation.
    When I found the means of testing all the principles
of Phrenology, by inspiring the organs to speak for them-
selves, I was of course eager to learn what was their de-
cision upon the doctrines of  Gall and Spurzheim, and
what was  to be the fate of my own craniological doc-
trines.
    The result has been singularly happy:  while the truth
of my own views in every  essential point has been well
 maintained, it has been done at as little expense as pos-
sible to the existing system. In some instances in which
my doctrine departed  materially from the doctrine of
Gall and  Spurzheim, decisive experiments have present-
ed a  compromise, sustaining as far as practicable the
truth  of  both;  showing  that the principles of  each,
though apparently contradictory,  were  really just and
harmonious,  but limited  views of the  same subject,
 which a more extensive survey combines into one pic-
 *         ******
 ture.      *      *
    In the greater portion  of the science, we are struck
 with the justness of their  views.  Greatly has my admi- 
 i4      SKETCHES OF BUCHANAN^  DISCOVERIES

 ration of their  genius  been enhanced by the accuracy
 with which they have ascertained, by imperfect and labo-
 rious methods,  the precise functions of organs, some of
 which are so small, as to make even an estimate of their
 size a difficult undertaking.
    In some instances, they may  have  mistaken the loca-
 tion, or the exact function; but that they have not fallen
 into more  gross and essential errors,  when  exploring a
 department of knowledge upon which their predecessors
 could not even enter, demonstrates a soundness of judg-
 ment, and an accuracy of observation,  which belong only
 to the gifted men who lead the march  of the sciences.
    Even in regard to the six small organs, lying upon the
 super-orbitar plate, there is but one inaccuracy, and that
 of no great moment in a practical point of view.
    The most important omission that  I have observed in
 the system of Gall and Spurzheim,  was the failure to
 give a definite location in  the brain to the organs of  the
 external  senses.  To  supply this defect,  I  had given a
 location  to  the senses  of sight, hearing, and feeling;
 and had suggested a separation of taste and smell, from
 hunger and thirst.  Each of these discoveries is now es-
tablished, and  the large organ of  feeling is subdivided
into the organs  of four distinct senses.
    At the  present stage  of  my investigations," having
 tested the previous system of Phrenology with my own
 additions, and having proceeded  to the discovery of new
 organs and analysis of the  old ones, I  am able to demon-
strate no less than ninety-one distinct  functions, exer-
 cised by independent organs in the brain.
    I present the following catalogue,  as containing  the
 most  definite  and well established of those which I
 recognise. 
IN  CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
15
   Of the senses, external and internal, I have  located
the organs of twelve:
       1 Sight,             7 Thirst,
       2 Hearing,           8 Hunger,
       3 Touch,            9 Common Feeling,
       4 Taste,            10 Thermal Sense,
       5 Flavor,           11 Electric Sense.*
       6 Smell,           12 Sense of Force.
   Proceeding  then  with the various  organs in their
order of juxtaposition, we enumerate :
   [To avoid repetition, we omit the catalogue.]
   The bearings of these discoveries upon the science of
mind, important as they are,  are of far less importance
than  their  medicinal  results.  The most important de-
velopments are yet to  be stated.
   I have been in  the habit of teaching the  phrenolo-
gical doctrine, that every portion of the  brain sustained
a particular relation to the body, by means  of  which the
circulation and all the  phenomena of life are modified
through the cerebral agency;  that the paramount influ-
ence of the brain gave to the  body its  peculiar growth,
form,  and temperament; that every portion of the body
had  a  specific  relation to some  part of the brain, upon
which it was dependent for innervation, and with which
it sympathized in health,  disease, and excitement.   I
had made some progress in tracing out the  laws of this
innervation,  and establishing the  relation that existed
between each  portion of the  body and each portion of
the brain—thus ascertaining to what classes  of disease
particular forms of the brain made  us liable,  or with
what  portion of the brain and what kind of cerebral ex-
  •Under the excitement of the Electric Sense, the human hand becomes
a most delicate galvanometer. Under its highest excitement, the ringers
repel each otheT, and stand apart, unable to endure contact. 
 1G      SKETCHES OF BUCHANAN'S DISCOVERIES

 citement each disease was connected—in  other  words,
 making a  phrenological classification of disease, and of
 all the phenomena of life.
    Having done this, it became my duty when I found
 the brain under my control, to proceed directly to testing
 its influences upon the body, and its power of modifying
 the phenomena of disease, in a curative or an injurious
 manner.   In this, my expectations have been fully and
 exactly realized.
    I have found it perfectly practicable  to operate upon
 the various  portions of the body, and stimulate or mod-
 ify their functions  by the appropriate action upon the
 cerebral sources of their innervation.  For instance,  in
 many persons I am able, in fifteen minutes, to excite the
 gastric action so as to  produce  an uncomfortable  degree
 of hunger.   When, on the other hand, hunger is  gnaw-
 ing, in  the same length of time, it may be effectually
 moved.   Mr. L. came into my  room, the other evening,
 under a strong feeling of thirst, to see if I could remove
 it.  In about ten or twelve minutes, it was so complete-
 ly removed, that he even felt averse to drinking.  Having
 done this, I proceeced to restore his thirst, and in about
 five minutes he rose to drink.
   As I do not now propose to furnish an essay upon the
 subject, or a description of my experiments,  (indeed my
 time does not permit,) I simply offer, in a dense form, a
 catalogue of the results which I have already produced,
 and  which may easily  be produced again.   I  am pre-
 paring to  visit your city, and may arrive nearly as soon
.as this manuscript will reach  you by mail.  When there
 I expect to proceed as soon as practicable, with a  public
.and a private demonstration of  these discoveries,  and  of
other collateral matters  to which I need  not vet allude 
              IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.             17

Catalogue  of effects which have  been produced  by direct
              operations upon the brain:
   1.  Increase and abridgement of the range  of dis-
tinct vision,  as  much as one  or two feet.  Increase of
vigor in either eye, with diminution  in  the other.   In-
vigoration  of either eye, to enable  it to open freely, and
bear a  strong light.   Increase of the power of perceiv-
ing by a dim light.  Increase of the power of bearing a
strong light,  and seeing in the  sunshine.   Relief  of ten-
derness and  inflammation in the eyes.  Restoration of
a moderate degree of vision, to a case of six  years total
blindness, accompanied by cataract.*  Restoration of
the power  of reading short sentences,  to a woman who
had  been for several years unable to read, accomplished
in twenty minutes.  Removal  of stiffness of the eyelids.
Wakefulness; openness of  the lids, with difficulty of
closing them.  Heaviness of the lids; drowsiness; pro-
found sleep.
   2.  The relief of partial deafness.   Increase, or dimi-
nution  of the faculty of  hearing  at  pleasure in either
ear, or in  both.
   3.   Increase  of the sense  of touch in either hand,
singly,  or in both; and diminution in either, or both.
This is very striking: to one hand, all objects are made
to feel smooth;  to the other, the finest textures  appear
coarse and rough.   The human hand feels as coarse as a
piece of hog-skin.
   4.   Increase and diminution of the general sensibil-
ity of the body;  causing one side to be comparatively
insensible to touch and pressure, while the other recoils
from the  lightest touch:  one  side being very ticklish,
and the other insensible to tickling.  (The distinction

   * I have a description of this case, from ten gentlemen of respectability,
who witnessed her blindness and her cure, 
18      SKETCHES  OF BUCHANAN'S  DISCOVERIES
of sensibility may be accurately traced along the  me-
dian  line.)  Increase of the  sensibility  to heat  and
cold in either hand.  Heat, and pricking sensations, in
either  hand:  numbness and weakness in the other, or
in both.
   5.   Increase of the electricity of the system, causing
the fingers  and toes to stand apart, like the filaments of
a feather, or the balls of an electrometer: touch, being
painful to them in this condition.   Increase of the elec-
tric sense, until the galvanism of the human  system  can
be distinctly appreciated.
   6.   Extreme excitability and nervousness, (produced
in a few minutes.)  The dissipation of this condition—
soothing and composing to sleep.
   7.   Increase of the sense of smell, in either nostril,
singly; and  increase of the power of taste, in  either
half of the tongue.
   8.   A free flow of saliva: propensity to chew,  and
a strong propensity to swallow.
   9.   The effectual removal of an ague in fifteen min-
utes : the removal of  a fever in three-fourths  of an hour.
   10.   The cure of all cases of tooth-ache  that  I have
met with, in a period varying from ten minutes, to three-
fourths of an hour.   The cure of all cases of head-ache,
in which this method  has been fairly tried, generally ac-
complished in three, five, ten, or fifteen minutes.  The
removal of all local pains that I have treated—not de-
pendent upon disorganization of structure, or a sympa-
thy with such disorganization.   (The treatment of these
cases,  although upon the same principles, was not exclu-
sively  confined to cerebral operations.)
   11.   Increase  of muscular strength; great debility,
and  even clumsiness.  Increase of the  strength  of the 
IN  CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
19
left half of the body, and diminution in the right half. *
Restoration of  the balance ;  strengthening the right, and
weakening the left, &c.
     12.    Great increase of heat, especially in  the  lower
extremities—becoming disagreeable in fifteen minutes—
reduction of temperature below the pleasant standard.


   * One of the  gentlemen upon whom I have made the mo3t interesting
experiments, having made mention of them in a letter, I here present a
copy. It is from Dr. J. Lowther, of Clarksville, Arkansas, a respectable
and experienced physician:
   " I have been the subject of a great many phrenological experiments by
Dr. Buchanan, who has been lecturing.

   "To detail to you all the operations, and their results,  would take per-
haps a week.        *       *       *        *       *        *
   " Suffice it to say, that by operating upon one portion of the brain, he
would make me  left handed, so that I would be as strong again in the left,
as the right—then he would  restore them to a  balance.  Then he could
make me at least one-third stronger in both—lifting heavy chairs above my
head, that I could not have lifted much above my knees.  He would cause
me to see much better out of one eye than the other—hear better with one
ear than the other.  He could make me a fighting rowdy at one time—then
a hero with very elevated sentiments of honor.. Then he could touch
another string on the instrument, and I would become as pusillanimous as
I had been brave before. He would cause another string to vibrate, and
hope, the sweetener of life, would respond to the touch—and then I was
enabled to  soar aloft in  the  regions of sublime fancy.   Then Teverence
would answer to the touch, and I would behold first the  Omnipotence of
God, and the nothingness of man—and so on with every faculty.  In  every
instance,  he could tell  me the results before he would make the experi-
ment, t
   " I am in great haste, and must conclude my narrative : but at  some
future period, I will write you more fully.
           " Yours, with respect,                 J.  LOWTHER."
   tThis is true, and I generally did so in the physiological experiments ;
but in  those strictly phrenological, I frequently left him to decide what
faculty, or faculties, had been brought into play, by his own consciousness
of the change in his  mind.   He generally gave a very good  idea of the
functions of the organ, by describing its effects upon  himself,  when I
placed it under excitement.  Being of a very suitable temperament for my
operations, I produced the desired effects upon him very,promptly.  Having
once carried him through a round of changes, he exclaimed—"why—you
make me a perfect chameleon." 
20       SKETCHES OF1  BUCHANAN^ DISCOVERIES

    13.   Modifications  of the  circulation.  Raising of
depressing the  pulse, as much as fifteen or twenty beats
a minute, in a vigorous, healthy constitution.  Producing
a small, wiry, or a small, soft pulse, and producing a full
and soft, or a full and  bounding pulse, in a short time.
Accelerating the  general circulation,  and directing it to
the head, chest, abdomen, heart, upper or lower extremi-
ties, frontal,  or posterior portion of the body;  produ-
cing, or relieving the congestion of any particular part.
(Dr. L., has successfully applied this discovery, in regu-
lating the pulse of his patients.)
    14.  Relief of dyspeptic pains, and  symptoms, in
twenty minutes: such as fulness,  oppression, and acidi-
ty of stomach.   Invigoration of the appetite, and sud-
den .removal of nausea.
    15.  Various  affections of the lungs.   A  congested
suffocating condition, produced in six or eight minutes,
and relieved in a shorter time.  A hurried breathing, and
asthmatic symptoms, produced in about fifteen minutes.
Free  and  pleasant  respiration, with  a relief of these
morbid symptoms.
   16.  Vigorous action of the liver, resulting  in co-
pious bilious discharges.  Prompt and effectual relief
of pains and  soreness in the region of the liver.
    17.  Urination, produced sometimes in three—some-
times in fifteen minutes.
    18.  Vigorous  action of the lower bowels;  in  one
case,  resulting in alvine evacuations,  after ten minutes
operation upon the brain.
    19.  Relief  of  mental  dullness,  and  lowness  of
spirits.
   20.   General invigoration,  and reanimatiori  of the
constitution.
    These  statements  being addressed to the medical
profession, no  commentary is  needed to illustrate  the 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
21
importance of the results which have been thus prompt-
ly developed.   You  perceive, that  an agent has been
added  to  our therapeutic list,  of extraordinary  and  as
yet incalculable power.
   Whatever may be my own opinion, as  to the extent
to which it may become a substitute for the existing sys-
tem of medication,  I leave each one to draw his own
inferences, from the naked statement of facts which I
have presented.   It shall be my purpose to demonstrate
practically, the immense power which has been acquired
for hygienic and medicinal purposes—for the treatment of
Insanity—for the purposes of Education—for promoting
the general social happiness, by a due regulation of the
passions—for the reformation of criminals,  and  for the
pKilosophical re-organization of the  science of medicine.
   In conclusion, I would offer a word in reference to the
wonderful " art, science, or imposture," which has made
so much noise, and excited so much credulity,  opposi-
tion,  debate,  and criticism, under  the title of  Animal
Magnetism.
    I have proven by experiment, that most of the phe-
nomena which  have been reported by the magnetists,
are real occurrences, and by no  means incompatible with
the  known  laws of Physiology, although  they derive
their explanation from principles which  Physiologists
have  not yet known,  and which the magnetists do not
appear to have properly sought.   Animal Magnetism has
been too much a display of wonderful results, and there
has  not been  a sufficient and efficient investigation of
the laws, by which  those  results have been produced.
To such  an investigation,  I have  directed my  efforts,
guided by an improved system of Cerebral Physiology,
and I  have found' no very formidable difficulty.   By
means of the Pathognomic laws and Phrenological prin- 
22       sketches of Buchanan's  discoveries

ciples, which I have established, I flatter myself that the
sunlight of science will  soon rest upon this mysterious
terra incognita, in  which the usual laws of Physiology
and Psychology, seem at present mingled, confounded.
and lost.
                          JOS. R.  BUCHANAN.
  August 25, 1841.
   Dr.  Buchanan's Lectures.*—It  affords  us much
pleasure  to  give  place to the following card,  furnished
by a  number  of  our fellow-citizens, to Dr. Joseph R.
Buchanan, in testimony of the high estimate they place
upon his eminent abilities as an  interesting and  instruc-
tive lecturer on Phrenology.   Dr. B. has just concluded
his first course of Phrenological  lectures  in this city ;
and it is but justice to him to say, that he has done more
in the way of making converts to that  science, than all
the  lecturers that have  preceded him.  His  claim  to
having made many important  discoveries in the science,
is also fully conceded by some  of the  most intelligent
men of our city.  Dr. B.  professes, for instance, to be
able to excite the different mental faculties,  by exciting
the particular portions of the brain, said to be the seat of
those faculties.   He has made a  great number of experi-
ments, to demonstrate this new theory,  wThich have been
pronounced  satisfactory,  by some of our most intelli-
gent citizens.
   [The resolutions of the class,  omitting what is merely
complimentary to Dr. B., are as  follows:]
   Resolved, That we believe  Dr. B. to have gone far in
establishing, by experiment, during the recent course of

  * From the LouisTille Journal, 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
23
lectures, the important principle, that the several organs
of the brain can be individually excited, so as to mani-
fest, distinctly, in an  increased degree,  their  respective
functions.
   Resolved, That we also believe Dr. B. to have made
very considerable advances in Phrenology, in  having as-
certained the functions of  certain portions  of the brain
hitherto undiscovered, some of which are especially im-
portant as controlling the external senses.
    Resolved, That the zeal and unwearied assiduity  with
which Dr.  B.  has prosecuted the  investigation  of the
science  of  Phrenology, reflect  the  highest credit upon
him, and entitle him to the thanks  of the scientific and
liberal throughout  our country.
NEUROLOGICAL  EXPERIMENTS,  RECENTLY PEEFOEMED IN THE
      CITY OF LOUISVILLE, BY DE. J. B.  BUCHANAN.*
   Neurology is  the only term  adequate to  convey an
idea of  that system  or mass  of science which I am at
present propagating.   Phrenology (meaning the science
of the mind) does not embrace the corporeal or physio-
logical effects and powers of the brain.   The functions
of the brain are equally important, in  a physiological
and  in a psychological point of  view.   The psychologi-
cal department of the science was created by Gall.  The
physiological portion, is  the recent discovery by which
I  have  doubled  the  mass  of  the science.  The  term
" Neurology," by signifying the  science of the nervous
system, is competent to embrace all its functions, as well
the mental as the corporeal, and is therefore  the proper
*  From the Louisville Journal. 
24
SKETCHES OF BUCHANAN'S DISCOVERIES
term for that comprehensive science, of which Craniolo-
gy, Phrenology, and Physiology, are constituent portions.

    As it is impossible, for obvious reasons, that the in-
cidents by which the science of Neurology has been illus-
trated in Louisville, should be generally known, or that
the experiments should  be performed in a very public
manner, I propose to give a brief statement of some of
the facts occurring within the last month in this city. In
doing this, I make no mention of the names of persons ;
but, should any respectable gentleman desire to look into
the matter further, he can, by calling upon me, learn the
names of  persons  concerned,  or whatever  else  he may
wish to know upon the subject.
    Before proceeding with the detail, I must remark,
that the object in my operations is, to excite some of the
cerebral organs, and interfere with, or interrupt, the ac-
tion of others, so as to cause a change in mind or body
that can be perceived;  some of our powers being increas-
and others diminished.
    Soon after my arrival in the city,  I attempted, in my
room at the Gait House,  to perform an experiment with
Mr-------» which made him perceive a difference in the
sensibility of his two hands.   This I mention because he
is a gentleman  of large  frame, and  one that we might
suppose by no means impressible.
    A few days afterwards, as I  was sitting in the office
of Dr-------> a lady came in,  (the Doctor's daughter,)
and after a little  conversation, I proposed to try an ex-
periment upon her. I operated  upon the head, while I
directed her to feel various objects with  her  hands,  and
ascertain their quality.  In doing  so, she presently re-
marked that there was a singular difference in her hands,
and that objects felt differently in each  hand;  yet this 
              IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.             25

surprised her so much that she could scarcely believe her
own senses.  To convince her more effectually, I held
my handkerchief behind her chair, and requested her to
examine (without seeing) the two handkerchiefs which I
held in my hand.  She put her hands behind her back to
feel them, and I gave her the same handkerchief in each
hand successively.  I had been stimulating (through the
brain) the touch of the left hand, so as to make it more
acute than that of the right.  When she felt my handker-
chief in this manner, she pronounced that there was a
very sensible difference between the two handkerchiefs ;
that the one in her  left hand felt much coarser than the
one in her right.  I then surprised her, by showing that
it was the  same  which  she felt with each hand.   This
experiment  proved very satisfactory to  her brother, who
witnessed it with all proper caution and scepticism.  A
few days afterwards, I made some more striking experi-
ments upon  the same lady.
    With Mr. H., I made such  an experiment as induced
him to give me the following testimonial:
    "By  operating upon  my head,  Dr. Buchanan  pro-
duced a singular difference  in my hands.  The left hand
became  remarkably sensitive, and possessed  of  very
acute  touch.  By rubbing  the hands  upon a piece  of
cloth, which felt smooth  to the right hand,  the left per-
ceived a much greater degree of friction; and, indeed,
could scarcely endure a degree  of friction, which did not
affect the right.  To the left hand, all objects felt coarse;
and, when I felt a handkerchief behind my back with
both hands,  the difference wras  so  great, that I supposed
it to be two handkerchiefs of very different quality.  Dr.
B. then made another operation upon my head, without
letting me know the object, which he communicated in a
whisper to  another  gentleman  present.  In a few min-
             D 
26      SKETCHES  OF BUCHANAN'S DISCOVERIES

utes, I felt a disposition to swallow;  and, as I did so,
they seemed to be amused, while Dr. B. requested me
not to swallow, as that would interfere with the experi-
ment.   I endeavored to abstain, but found that it was
impossible to do so;  and, seeing that the effect was pro-
duced in spite of my effort to prevent it,  they informed
me that the object  of the experiment was to compel me
to swallow.  These experiments were very striking and
satisfactory to me."
   A few  days previous to the experiment just men-
tioned, having made a visit on Sixth street,  the subject
of animal magnetism was spoken of; and I  mentioned
some anecdotes upon the subject.  As they expressed a
disbelief of the possibility of  one individual influencing
another, as the magnetists report,  I  undertook to show
them, without attempting the process  of animal magnet-
ism, that a very great influence could be exerted by ope-
rating upon the head.  The lady (her name is not  un-
known to fame) entirely disbelieved  that any influence
could be exerted upon her, and I endeavored to convince
her, by an experiment which was to have a soothing in-
fluence.  She admitted  that the effect was  produced;
but, eager to deny  what she could, she remarked, that
feeling her head, or any thing about her head, always
had that effect.  Then I informed her, that I would con-
tinue feeling about  her head, and yet prove to her that it
might have just the  opposite effect, if I chose.  I changed
my hands,  so as to operate upon the  organs of the bad
passions ;  and, after a while,  she found  that  the  influ-
ence was any thing but soothing: it was, in fact, quite
disagreeable, and  she was glad to have me  discontinue
the operation.
  Her brother-in-law, proved to be a pretty good subject
of experiment.  I told them, by way of a banter, that I 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
27
could make him swallow ; and, taking hold of his head,
the effect was very soon apparent.   He was swallowing
repeatedly; but said that, by an effort, he could refrain
from doing it.  I then took the organ of benevolence for
experiment, and excited it without telling him my object.
It evidently put him in a fine, good humor, and had also
a soothing, and rather soporific effect.  He was in a fine,
pleasant, drowsy, good-humored  state  of feeling, and he
recognized a very marked effect from the experiment.  I
asked  him whether it was  an  animal, moral, or intel-
lectual power that was excited.  He replied that it was
moral, entirely.  I then gave him the names of the moral
organs; asking him if it were like  reverence, firmness,
benevolence,  conscientiousness, hope,  or  marvellous-
ness.   He  replied, distinctly,  that benevolence was the
feeling which he had experienced  more than any other.
I then dissipated the excitement of  that organ, and en-
deavored to excite the very opposite; directing ihe stim-
ulus especially  to  combativeness  and destructiveness.
His countenance very quickly changed, and I asked him
many questions  as  to the state of his  feelings, which he
answered in such a manner, as to show that I had pro-
duced exactly the effect that I had wished.   He safd he
felt less  good-natured and amiable; that all his drowsi-
ness was dissipated; that he would be  much less liberal,
and much  more quarrelsome in  his present condition,
than in the one first excited;  that it was neither a moral
nor an intellectual faculty which  was excited, but purely
animal.  I then asked him  what he would call the fac-
ulty excited, if he should judge by his  predominant feel-
ings.   He replied that he would  call it revenge. This,
I informed him, was not a phrenological term; and I
wished to learn, which of the  phrenological  organs was
excited.  Naming the animal organs, usually recognized 
2ti       SKETCHES OF BUCHANAN's  DISCOVERIES
by Phrenologists, I inquired if he experienced the influ-
ence  of  secretiveness,  acquisitiveness,  cautiousness.,
combativeness,  destructiveness,  self-esteem, approba-
tiveness,  adhesiveness,  or  philoprogenitiveness ?   He
replied, that destructiveness  was  the  feeling  he had
chiefly experienced.  I asked if it were not rather com-
bativeness.  He replied, that it was either combative-
ness or destructiveness ;  but he could hardly say which
he felt most, as he could perceive  but little difference in
the nature of the two faculties.  I  cannot give  all  the
conversation that occurred between  us ;  but suffice it to
say, that he gave an excellent description of the organs
upon  which I had operated.   I stimulated the organ of
self-esteem, and he described correctly the feeling result-
ing; saying, that it was  a  calm feeling of self-satisfac-
tion:  but its manifestations were not so striking as those
of the other organs.
    On a fine morning, about the last of  September, I
made a visit to Mrs. ——,  on Market street, who had
shown some disposition to call me visionary, when she
heard of my discoveries.  I  determined to make her the
subject of some experiments, which might convince her,
that I was correct and  practical.  I operated upon  the
organs which  have a  soothing and soporific tendency.
She described the effects  as I expected them.  She  was
very calm, tranquil, amiable, inert,  and  disposed to be
drowsy.  I continued the operation: the drowsiness in-
creased.   She  leaned  back  'in her  chair,  and declared
that she felt exactly as  she  usually did from  taking
opium: her mind was active, but still a drowsy influence
was overcoming her, becoming  stronger and stronger.
Again,  and again,  she compared it to  that of  opium!
She closed her eyes, and appeared to be going to sleep,"
calm  and motionless.  After a time,  I  removed' mv 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
29
hands:  she  remained in the same attitude, as if unwil-
ling to move ;  and,  opening her  eyes, with  a slight
smile,  said,  in  a very low tone  of  voice, "I'm not
asleep."  Although not asleep,  she was evidently in a
condition  very similar to it; and I continued my opera-
tions a few minutes longer, to subdue  her more effect-
ually.   In  producing  sleep, I operate in such a manner,
as to stop or retard the activity of all the  vital organs.
In this case, I did not succeed in arresting the activity of
the mind, or of  the external senses, so much as of the
muscular  powers.   So effectually were these overcome,
that she declared she  had entirely lost  the power of her
arm.   I asked her to raise it.  She declared  that she
could not.  "Well, try to  raise it," said  I.   "I  can't
try,"  was  her reply.   Her arm remained  motionless.
We requested her to arise.  She attempted, and could
not.   Her son assisted her up ; and, after she  got upon
her feet, she was able,  by making  an  effort,  to stand;
but quickly sank back in her chair.   I now changed my
operations ;  revived her, and  in a short time,  gave her
great animation and vigor.   Her husband came in,  feel-
ing unwell,  and with  bad sensations in the liver, stom-
ach, and digestive viscera, for which he had taken some-
thing without any benefit.   I proposed to cure him with-
out physic, and operated upon  his head about twenty
minutes.  He declared that he experienced very decided
and considerable relief.   I  tried  an experiment upon his
son, and made him conscious of a  considerable change
in the  sensations of his arms  and hands.  This experi
ment was  so familiar, that I paid no particular attention
to the effects.
   Soon after the experiments mentioned in my last, as
occurring on Market  street, I visited a family on Fifth,
in company with  my friend  Dr. R.   There were  two 
30       SKETCHES OF BUCHANAN^  DISCOVERIES

ladies  in the house, whose constitutions were quite
favorable  to  neurological  operations.   With  one  of
these, I commenced some operations upon the head, the
effect of which was very considerable; and, indeed, so
much, that she became unwilling to continue them.  It
has frequently happened, that the best subjects of experi-
ment become alarmed at the great and sudden effects
which I produce upon them,  and  unwilling to undergo
any further operation.
   Mrs. P., a delicate and consumptive lady, expressed
her willingness to have an experiment  tried, and I pro-
ceeded  with  one which might at the same time exert a
beneficial influence upon her constitution, by strength-
ening the internal vital functions, and develope some
striking results for  observation.   In a few moments, she
felt the favorable internal influence : and, all at once,
surprised my friend,  by declaring that she had lost the
command over her  left arm, and could not raise it.  She
was  requested to  try her best to elevate  the arm.  She
made the effort; and, while the arm  remained  power-
less, we could perceive a trembling, convulsive move-
ment in the hand,  as long  as the effort  lasted.   My
friend, being her physician, felt a  little alarmed for his
delicate patient, as he had never before seen an operation
of the kind.  The effect, although beneficial, as I intend-
ed it, had exceeded my anticipations; as, not being aware
of the exact state of her health,  I had not anticipated so
much impressibility.  I suspended the operation  after
these effects had been produced, and before  our visit ter-
minated, they passed off.
   Early in October, I assembled  a party  of ladies  in
the parlor of the  Franklin House, and gave  them an ex-
planation of my doctrines, after which I proposed to try,
amongst all of them, what effect could be produced. 
IN  CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
31
   I began with Mrs.  L.,  who  seemed as favorable a
subject as any present.  I continued an operation upon
the moral organs, until she felt, distinctly, the soothing
and amiable influence.  When this was accomplished, I
reversed the operation, for the purpose of throwing her,
if  possible, into an  ill-humor.   In  a few minutes,  she
admitted  that there  was a change in her feelings; and
all the ladies present observed a sensible change in  her
countenance.  She  said  she felt  as if vexed or discon-
tented about something, and that the effect was quite un-
pleasant, while the former operation was very agreeable.
She  acknowledged  that  she felt an unamiable temper ;
and  the ladies around her observed  it so  distinctly, that
they were entirely satisfied with the degree of the effect
which was apparent, and requested me not to carry it any
further.    I reversed the operation, and in a few minutes
she  declared  herself restored to her pleasant state of
mind ; and all present perceived that her  countenance
had recovered its amiability.
   I made no  other experiment  of importance, except
upon Miss----.  I endeavored to excite her, and stim-
ulate combativeness.  She  was  certainly  considerably
excited, but, as she spoke of the effects in rather a play-
ful manner, I determined to change  them, and proceed-
ed to develope such as would show themselves, in a strik-
ing  manner, without depending upon her descriptive
powers.   I proceeded to put her to  sleep.  In six or
eight minutes the effect was apparent; her eyes closed,
and  her  hands dropped.  She  perceived that she was
nearly gone ;  and, having determined not  to be put to
sleep in company, she roused up by a vigorous effort  and
removed my hand from her head.   But the  sleepy influ-
ence was  upon her.   She seemed half unconscious,  and
I again  slipped my hand upon her head ;  in a few mo- 
32      SKETCHES OF BUCHANAN'S  DISCOVERIES

ments she perceived what I was doing, and again repell-
ed my hand, making a vigorous effort to shake  off  the
sleepy spell.   She straightened up ; again her head nod-
ded ; she raised her head,  elevated her brows,  and en-
deavored to open her  eyes ;  the lids  seemed hardly to
obey her will, and she assisted them by lifting them with
her hands'; but-as soon as she ceased  the effort, they fell
together.  She stretched her arms and  rose up, but seem-
ed scarcely able  to stand.   We supported her,  as she
moved, with half-closed eyes, to the sofa.   She sat down
upon it, and, seeming to give up the contest, fell back as
if asleep.   The company were all  gathered around her,
talking to  her, trying to rouse her, and scarcely believ-
ing what they saw.  She heeded  nothing,  and,  if she
spoke, it was in an almost inaudible voice :  indeed, her
whole appearance, her sallow complexion and thin vis-
age, her strange and feeble movements,  her absence of
mind, the  lifeless expression of her eyes when they were
half opened, and her evident desire to recover the posses-
sion  of  her faculties,  made,  altogether, such a picture,
that I could  compare  it to nothing  but  a  galvanized
corpse,  beginning to  recover  its vitality.   They talked
to her, threw water in her face, and endeavored to assist
her recovery; but, as I did not help them in the restora-
tion, it was* twenty minutes or half an hour before she
was fully restored to  her faculties.  The influence was
described by herself afterwards, as very strange; and she
said that she struggled  with all her  might against the
soporific influence which  I had exerted,  until she even
felt vexed  and  angry that she could not shake it off.   If
she had yielded  to the influence in the first instance, I
might have put her to sleep  more promptly, in  a very
pleasant manner, and waked her up in a few moments ;
but, as she resisted the operation,  I left her to her own 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
33
efforts.—A few days afterwards, a small party was as-
sembled at the house  of  Mr. K., on Jefferson street.  I
gave them a brief explanation  of the principles of Neu-
rology, and selected Miss------, a  young lady of ex-
tremely delicate appearance, as the best subject of ex-
periment.   I began by an operation upon the sense  of
hearing; but finding  her  more susceptible than  I had
supposed,  I discontinued this,  and proceeded to a more
striking experiment.  Without  letting  any of  the com-
pany know what was to be done, I proceeded  to put her
to sleep  by a method which is always pleasant to the
subjects.   By this method, (keeping  the moral faculties
active,) we give them a cheerful calmness and serenity,
accompanied by the most pleasant thoughts  and emo-
tions.
  As she sat upright in her chair, and  the co'mpany
around maintained  a sprightly conversation with her, it
is obvious that every thing was opposed to the soporific
influence which I attempted to exert, and that the cir-
cumstances were  well calculated to  defeat the  experi-
ment.  This, however, was a most fortunate concurrence
of circumstances, to enable me to display the power of
the Neurological influence in a situation in which no one
could refer any portion of the effect to imagination, or to
the surrounding circumstances.
  In a few moments the company were amused by hear-
ing her remark that she felt drowsy.   Her countenance
next began to show the effects, and she announced that
she was positively sleepy.  As this effect was not antici-
pated, no  one believed it to be any thing but a jest, until
they saw her eyes close, and witnessed every appearance
of sleep.   She was in fact sound asleep, in her chair, in
about five minutes from the commencement of  the opera-
           E 
              34      SKETCHES OF  BUCHANAN'S DISCOVERIES

              tion, of the ^fleets of which she  had not previously the
              slightest idea.
                 Her sister  approached, and, observing  something
              strange in her appearance, spoke to her, and endeavored
              to rouse her, but all in vain :   she took hold of her hand,
              and spoke to her more earnestly;  but obtained no sign of
              recognition—no evidence of consciousness.  The sleep-
              ing lady was entirely unconscious that any one had spoken
              to or touched her, until afterwards informed by the com-
              pany, when awake.
                 The fragile form of one so delicate in  health, made
              her an  object of anxious  care ;  and  to  see her  thus
              strangely entranced,  roused  the extreme  alarm of her
              sister.   She screamed aloud, and, trembling with appre-
              hension, commanded me to  " wake her up!  wake  her
              up! take it off! take off your spell!"  But  even  this
              was unheard by our sleeping  beauty.  She was in  the
              land of dreams, and her dreams were pleasant.   To re-
              lieve her sister's anxiety, I reversed the operation, chang-
              ing the position of my hands;  and, in half a minute, she
              woke up, and turned over upon the arm of Mrs. F., with
              the most charming expression of countenance that can
              be imagined.  The whole operation she  described as
              being the most soothing  and delightful: indeed, she did
              not thank us for waking  her up.   What was the subject
              of her dreams, she did not communicate to the company;
              but, I have no doubt,  that in this condition, those of so
              delicate susceptibility, might have their dreams directed,
              and considerably modified by the operator.


                 Neurology.*—The progress  of this science is  des-
>             tined to be  more rapid and triumphant than that of any
                * From the Louisville Journal of January 21st, 1842. 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
35
which has heretofore been presented to the world.  The
experiments by which the new  principles  in Physiology
are developed, are so satisfactory,  and so easily per-
formed, that hundreds of  demonstrators will soon be en-
gaged  in  illustrating the  science, and will carry convic-
tion throughout America  and Europe.
    My experiments have already been  successfully  re-
peated at the  East, by Messrs. Purkitt, and Pons, lec-
turers on  Phrenology, and can  be repeated  by any one
who will take the pains to seek an opportunity.  I would
remark, however, that, at first,  gentlemen who may en-
gage in illustrating Neurology, will be disappointed in
some of their experiments, because of the inaccuracy of
the existing  science  of  Phrenology.  One-third of the
organs  are  inaccurately  located; and a  large number
(about  two-thirds of my catalogue) are  not known or
described in any treatise  on the science.
    After  the  publication of my System  of Neurology,
and the illustrative bust,  experiments may be made with
perfect certainty as to the results.
    There will be failures, also, for another reason:  most
of the functions displayed  by the excitement of the dif-
ferent organs are compound.  The operations will there-
fore sometimes display a compound function, and some-
times a simple function.   The  results will thus become
contradictory, until the operators understand the laws of
antagonism and co-operation, which are almost entirely
unknown to Phrenologists at present.
    Those who attempt to repeat the experiments, should,
therefore, be cautious not to carry the excitement of any
organ too far, if they wish to display its  normal action,
and its usual effects.
                                  JOS.  K. BUCHANAN. 
36       sketches of Buchanan's discoveries

   Experiments in  Cerebral Physiology.*—Attracted
by a notice of Messrs. Purkitt and Pons, that they would,
on the evening of the 3d of December, repeat the experi-
ments  of Dr.  Buchanan,  of Louisville,  Kentucky,  in
Cerebral Physiology, I attended, with a large company,
at the appointed place, (the Universalist  Church,) and,
for the first time in  my life, beheld a person in what is
called a magnetic sleep.
   Mr. Purkitt, in a preliminary lecture,  contended, by
many strong arguments, convincing, I presume, to most
present, that the brain was the organ of the mind.  After
this, a large committee  of scientific  and literary gentle-
men was designated to oversee the experiments, and
guard, as far as practicable, against  fraud and collusion.
They were made on a lady from the city  of New York,
of perhaps  twenty or twenty-five years of  age, apparent-
ly intelligent, and obviously  blind.   She  was examined
by a medical  gentleman  of the committee,  and pro-
nounced entirely blind.   Before she was introduced, Mr.
Purkitt, in her absence, gave a brief history of her life
and education, from which it  appeared that she was a
worthy member of a Christian church; that she had re-
ceived a good  common education, and  had  been  in-
structed  in the  general division of the brain into three
portions; namely, the  anterior, the upper, and  the pos-
terior ;  and that these were respectively the regions of
the intellectual and  moral powers, and the propensities.
   It was confidently affirmed, by Mr. Purkitt,  that from
diligent and searching  inquiry of her friends, instructor,
and all others at all acquai«ted with her, among whom
were many well-known and respectable gentlemen of
New York, it was, to his mind, most satisfactorily proved
that her knowledge of  Phrenology extended no further ;
• From the Newark Daily Advertiser. 
in  cerebral physiology.
37
and that she did not know the names of any of the thir-
ty-six parts into which the head had been  divided, with
the exception of three—mirthfulness,  benevolence, and
veneration.   "And  now," said Mr. Purkitt, "how do
you know that we are honest?  Of course (said he, with
singular naivete) we are;   and besides,  we offer our-
selves, and are desirous, to be  put under oath in regard
to our knowledge of the girl, or any other  matter con-
nected with the experiments."  No one requested it; but
I am entirely convinced of the integrity of .Messrs. Pur-
kitt and Pons.  A black-board was  then  hung on the
wall, behind  the desk, and the girl placed with her back
to it, in front of the desk.   It was agreed,  that the com
mittee should cause to be written upon the board, such
experiments  as  they desired to see  performed,  under
which Mr. Purkitt was to write in advance the result that
would follow.
   The trial began by inscribing " Inhabitiveness" upon
the board ; under which Mr. Purkitt wrote—" She will
talk of her home and her reluctance to leave it."  Mr.
Peale, of New York, threw  her into  a magnetic  sleep,
and  placed her  in communication with Mr. Purkitt,  at
first;  but, objection being made, he placed her in com-
munication with a  distinguished physician of this city,
a member of the committee, who proceeded to interro-
gate her with questions having no relation to  the passion
indicated: such as—"What  are you thinking of, Mary?"
" What do you love most ?"  Answer :  " Myself."  Ques-
tion repeated.  Answer: " I don't want to go to Boston,
because I shall have to  leave my home.   Have  I got
to go  to  Boston?"  Question: "If I would give you
five thousand dollars, would you not go?"   "No, no,"
with much feeling.  "Would  you be  so cruel  as to
make me go?"'  Before the questions were  asked, and 
38       sketches of Buchanan's discoveries

as soon as the words were written on the black-board,
either Mr. Purkitt, or Mr. Pons, directed Mr. Peale, who
said he was, and  indeed appeared to be, unacquainted
with Phrenology, to excite that part of the brain which
is the organ of the faculty or feeling inscribed upon  the
board.   This  was done, by a smart friction  of it for a
short  time (probably not a minute) with the fingers.
This,  as  I have  said, was performed by Mr» Peale, so
that Messrs.  Purkitt and Pons, had no agency at all in
the experiments, except to point out the part of the head
to be excited, and to foretell the result.
   While the lady was thus oppressed with sadness, at
the thought of being carried from home, a sudden change
came over her dream;  for the committee had caused
" mirthfulness" to appear on the  black board : and, as
soon as that organ was excited by  Mr. Peale, she  broke
out into a hearty laugh, which lasted till the next experi-
ment,  notwithstanding the  numerous  questions  of  the
Doctor, in communication with her, as to her desire to
go to Boston.  Electricity seemed for a time to be added
to magnetism, for the whole company became convulsed
with laughter.   Being asked, she said she laughed " be-
cause Mr. Peale told her she need not leave her home
and go to Boston," &c.  The action of this  organ was
allayed, while that of inhabitiveness1 continued. " Com-
bativeness" then appeared upon the board; the organ of
which  was no sooner excited, than she became violent
in her action—raised her hands  to strike—said "she
would fight any body that would take her to Boston.  I
am so mad with  you, because you say I shall go to Bos-
ton."   And she, on some questions being put, expressed
the same attachment to home, as at first.
   All the organs are now allayed, and that of benevo-
lence was put into action, agreeably to the suggestion of 
              IN cerebral physiology.            39

the committee.   The effect was beautiful and striking.
Her voice assumed remarkable softness—her tones were
soothing—her manner kind.   She was asked why she
came out this evening.   Her answer was, " I came with
Mr. Peale.  I feel sorry for those poor people who were
so  cold; I would give them all I have to make them
comfortable."
    Upon the organ of destructiveness being excited, in
combination with the last, she tore and  bit her clothes,
exclaiming, " Oh poor people, I am sorry for them," &c.
The same  success attended the experiments  on the or-
gans  of numbers, locality, acquisitiveness, and others,
separately, and  in  conjunction; but neither time nor
space will allow me to be more particular.  But I must
not omit entirely the striking experiments on her organs
of time, and tune, and  veneration.   With respect to the
former, she said she wanted to hear the oratorio, and be-
gan to sing.  Suddenly she cried out, " Oh,  there is a
baby in the next door," and made the motion of trotting
it on her knee,  singing Old Hundred  by way  of a lulla-
by.  The excitement of this organ having subsided, and
that of  veneration being awakened, she talked of minis-
ters and the church, and clasped her hands.  " Is there
no church to-night?" she inquired ;  "I want to hear the
word of God."   Her voice was low, soft, and solemn ;
and she asked, "May I not go to church, Mr. Peale?"
    With  the exception  of  ideality,  the  organs were
promptly excited ; and that  was also successfully done,
after some fruitless attempts—finally proved  to be one
of  the most interesting experiments; for she  seemed to
dilate with pleasure, and spoke of "that beautiful book."
She also recited several verses of a piece of poetry, said
to be written by Mr. Hoffman,  beginning " The conflict
is over," &c.   She said  " she was very fond  of poetry, 
40       sketches of Buchanan's  discoveries

could recite all night, and she must read another work of
Hoffman."
    She was now relieved from the magnetic  influence ;
and Mr. Purkitt remarked, that he could perform experi-
ments, now she was  awake, similar to  those already ex-
hibited.  He accordingly repeated those  on  locality,
eventuality, and number, with similar results.
    These experiments were announced to  be  the first of
the  sort performed on this side of the Alleganies, and as
intended to verify those of Doctor Buchanan,  in illustra-
tion of the  principles of Phrenology.   *      *      *
   Dr. Buchanan's Letter.*—It affords us pleasure to
gratify Dr. Buchanan,  in  the  publication of his  letter,
which will be found on our first page.  If our readers
compare  this  letter, with the accounts in the last and pre-
vious numbers of our  paper, they will see at once the
great difference between his discovery, and those of our
own.  His, according  to his own account, are confined
to the nervous system ;  ours have to do with man's mag-
netic nature, and the laws by which it is  governed ; the
plurality of the pairs of organs; the magnetic poles; the
opposition of different organs, etc., and not merely to the
possibility of  exciting the organs, nor as to their precise
number; though, indeed, we have demonstrated,  as we
think, the existence of  a number not before discovered,
as stated in our last paper.

   It is a fact, to which we have before alluded, that the
organs were excited by the writer, and others  at his  sug-
gestion in this city, last July or August—some months
before any thing of the kind had ever been heard of in
" From the New York Watchman, 
              IN cerebral physiology.            41

this part of the country.  And it is equally remarkable,
that the same thing precisely seems to have been done in
England, without a knowledge of either Dr. Buchanan's
experiments,  or our own !  These coincidences certainly
demonstrate the truth of Phrenology.
   *******
   We never saw the papers to which Dr. B. refers, and
regret that he has never received those we sent him.
   *******
To the Editor of the New York Watchman:
   Dear Sir: A friend has  just placed in my  hands
the New York Watchman, of January 15th, in which is
contained, a description of experiments similar to those
in which I have been engaged for about twelve months
past.   As I  do  not  recollect to have seen any previous
account of  these experiments, there must be some mis-
take  between us, as  to the papers you speak of having
sent me, or some of  them must have  miscarried.   This,
however, is entirely  immaterial.   You will  see,  by the
documents which I send you  herewith, that I was giving
public lectures and experiments, last  April.  As  I hap-
pened to be  at Little Rock, when I  first determined on
presenting  the matter to a public  audience, my first lec-
ture upon this science, was given at  that place, on the
16th of April.  What  I had done previously,  it  is not
now  necessary to detail; though  I might, by so doing,
show  claims  of discovery more than two years earlier.
   My operations having been as yet remote from those
cities, in which notoriety and  fame are soonest acquired,
I find no difficulty in supposing  that the statement con-
cerning my lectures  may not  have reached your eye, ah
though it was copied into a  paper of so wide a circula-
tion as the Louisville Journal.
           F 
42      SKETCHES  OF BUCHANAN'S DISCOVERIES
    Very little of what  I  have done, has  been made
 known by the press.  Yet I could not read, without some
 surprise, your article of  the  15th;  as some account of
 my discoveries was  given  last  November in  the Globe,
 and in newspapers of Philadelphia, Boston,  &c,  one of
 which is now before  me, containing an editorial  article
 headed,  "Wonderful Revelation  concerning the  Func-
 tions  of the Brain,"  based  upon experiments which had
 been  made last spring.  These experiments occupied the
 whole ground  of Phrenology—more than doubled the
 number of distinct organs,  and established propositions
 in Physiology and Therapeutics, of  much  more import-
 ance than the Phrenological  doctrines  which had been
 thus established.
    When discoveries of such magnitude came into  my
 possession,  I felt eager to establish  them  immediately,
 by crossing  the  Atlantic and making  them  known in
 London and Paris.   The propriety,  however, of perfect-
 ing my discoveries, as far as possible, has induced  me to
 remain thus long quietly engaged  in their prosecution,
 and in  preparing for  the press  an exposition of what I
 have done.
   During  this time, some newspaper  notices have ap-
peared in reference to my experiments; but the greater
part of what I have been doing, is unknown  to the pub-
 lic.  I felt assured, that while thus remaining in compar-
ative obscurity, others would  undertake such operations
as I had been engaged in: but regarding the discovery of
cerebral excitability, as a trivial matter, compared with
the science arising from it,  I  felt  willing that  others
 should attract the  public mind to their own operations in
this way, if any should be  attempted, and directed  my
 efforts to improving,  instead of propagating the science.
   Hence,  it is not  yet known  to the  scientific world^ 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
43
that discoveries have been made, showing what are the
psychological, and what are the  physiological functions
of the brain, to such an extent, as to make it requisite to
substitute the term  Neurology (science of the nervous
substance) for Phrenology (science of the mind.) Were
the functions of the brain exclusively mental, Phrenology
would be sufficient:  but the corporeal are as important
as the mental functions which it manifests.   Neurology
is the only admissible name for  this  department of sci-
ence ; as Cephalology  and  Cerebrology,  beside  being
new and  uncouth names, would be incorrect;  because
the whole mass of nervous  matter, within and without
the cranium, is concerned in the manifestations of mind
and life.   Neurology, is, indeed, a comprehensive term ;
and,  in its fullest range of meaning, as applied to man,
is almost as comprehensive a word, as Anthropology.
    To this science, I have invited public attention, and
the investigation of the scientific.   Having given demon-
strations before the Board of Managers of  the Louisville
Medical Institute, that body, satisfied  of the reality of
the science, adopted a resolution  requesting three of the
professors, (occupying the chairs of Anatomy, the Insti-
tutes,  and the Theory and Practice,) to investigate the
facts of Neurology, as  taught by myself,  and report to
them upon the utility of the  Science in the  practice of
medicine.   One  of  the gentlemen, having been   too
closely engaged during  the session in the duties  of the
Anatomical department, to admit of his engaging in any
thing else whatever, the investigation has not yet com-
menced.
    What  Neurology is, will  soon be  illustrated by a
small  work which I am now preparing for the press ;
giving the outlines of the new science, and  especially
of its psychological portion.   The results of my labors, 
•14       SKETCHES OF BUCHANAN^ DISCOVERIES

while they elucidate Physiology, and  revolutionize  the
details of Phrenology, throw  a  brilliant light upon  the
phenomena of Animal Magnetism.
   To this subject, I must now  allude, in consequence
of the following paragraph in  your editorial article :
   " These accounts inform us, that Dr. B. and Mr.  P.,
declare themselves as having nothing to do with what is
called Mesmerism.   But they might just as well tell  us,
that  they have nothing to do with Phrenology,  or  the
brain. The truth is, they are  afraid of  the stigma which
has been cast upon this  name,  and  hence  their dis-
claimers."
   My name is here  associated  with that of Mr. P., of
whom I know nothing beyond the statement of the news-
paper, which represents him as  repeating my experi-
ments.   Answering for myself,  I  would remark, that I
have not  been engaged in making experiments upon sub-
jects  in  a magnetic or somnolent condition, but solely
upon persons in their natural  condition.
   Those who know me, will  not suspect me of thus  en-
deavoring to avoid any stigma, which  an unenlightened
and tyrannical  public sentiment may fix upon the vota-
ries of science, for  seeking  prohibited knowledge.   I
honor the cultivators of  Animal Magnetism,  as  the in-
trepid leaders  and benefactors of their race ; and had 1
not a peculiar line of investigation for myself at this
time,  I would  be actively engaged in the daily investi-
gation of that  subject.   But  let me beg to be held re-
sponsible for my own language alone, and  not for what
may be said about me.   Let me, then, say to you, what
I have been repeatedly compelled to say in " defining my
position."
   Disregarding the very meaning of the word Neurolo-
gy, and  probably  unacquainted  with its derivation, ig- 
IN  CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
45
norant scoffers would repeat that this science was noth-
ing more than the old story of Animal Magnetism, clair-
voyance, &c; others would assert that it was totally un-
like—both confounding the science of Neurology with the
experiments  by which  it was demonstrated.  Some, by
a  singular combination  of scepticism and credulity,
were  even led to adopt the laughable theory,  that I pro-
duced the wonderful results of my experiments by the
mere  power of my will,  controlling  every one whom I
approached !  and compelling them to feel such emotions
as I willed them to experience ! !
    Such notions being afloat, I have  been compelled to
express myself frequently, in  public and  in private, in
something like the following manner.
    Neurology is a comprehensive science, including all
the phenomena of mind  and  body.   The Animal Mag-
netists, are engaged in cultivating one department of this
science,  which is rich in wonders.  Their results,  al-
though they  seem incredible, are established by unan-
swerable  testimony; and,  therefore, must be received.
The experiments which I am  performing, are different,
as they are simply designed to illustrate the ordinary or
normal functions, and the pathology of  the human mind
and body.  My operations aim at utility, by explaining
the machinery of life,  and the powers of each organ :
those of Animal Magnetism, develope  extraordinary or
transcendental phenomena, by the joint influence of two
or  more individuals.   The phenomena thus developed
are mysterious and wonderful; and, indeed, we seem in
a fair way to realize through these operations, that " truth
is strange—stranger than fiction."
    The present may well  be called an important era.
About fifty years since, the revolution commenced which
is now in progress.   Instead  of the Mental Philosophy 
46       sketches of Buchanan's discoveries

of former days, which was  separated from Physiology,
and was therefore a crude, inaccurate and useless system,
Dr. Gall gave us the science of Phrenology, in which
Mental  Philosophy,  by connecting  itself with  the con-
genial science of Physiology,  became rational and use-
ful.  This  constitutes the  first  great  era of  Anthro-
pology.
   In the present day, Phrenology, blending into a per-
fect union with the whole of Physiology, and extending
its jurisdiction over the phenomena of Animal  Magnet-
ism, comes forth with a dignity, a demonstrable certain-
ty, and an importance which were before unknown, and
bids fair, under the title of Neurology, to originate great-
er blessings to mankind,  than were ever anticipated  by
its illustrious founder, Dr. Gall.
   To all who engage in  this  great work, I would say,
the field is ample enough for a million of laborers ; and
should our countrymen take the lead, and maintain it as
we have begun, we may make the amplest return for the
stores of medical and philosophic knowledge which we
have derived from the land of our ancestors.
                                Jos.  R. Buchanan.
  Louisville, Ky., Feb. 22, 1842.
   Dr.  Buchanan's  Experiments.*—What a  feast of
wonders  should we have  to  spread  before old  Cotton
Mather, of Witchcraft memory, could he, at this day, re-
visit this breathing world.  He would,  it is true, miss
his witches, his phantom-ships, his ghosts, and hobgob-
lins ;  but still, we think, he would be at no loss for  ma-
terials for another volume of his "Magnalia."  At least,

  • From the Louisville Journal of December 1,1841. 
in cerebral physiology.
47
if he  would  happen along this way about these times,
Dr. Buchanan could show him some things which would
throw  almost any  chapter of his book  of "wonderful
things" into the shade.  He would confess, on attending
one of the Doctor's lectures, and witnessing some of his
wonderful experiments in " Neurology," (as he styles
the science,) that there were  yet things in  heaven and
earth,  which had not been dreamt of even in  his phi-
losophy.
    We would not exactly class the Doctor's science with
witchcraft and hobgoblinism, though it seems to be quite
as marvellous as  either;  for the fact of his having made
converts of some of the most intelligent of our citizens,
would dispose us, aside from our own observations, to
believe there  is  something in the matter worthy, for its
novelty at least,  the  attention of the curious.  Having
several times witnessed his experiments, we are willing,
without pretending to account for their  results in any
way, to give Dr.  Buchanan the  benefit of our observa-
tions, by stating what we saw.
    We have seen Dr. Buchanan experiment on different
persons, and on  several different occasions; but by far
the most satisfactory of all we saw, were some experi-
ments made upon  Mrs. G., the  very intelligent lady of
one of our principal merchants.   We called on Mrs. G.,
with Dr. B., on two different occasions.  The first time,
the experiments were performed in the presence of sev-
eral witnesses  besides ourselves ; the second time, only
the husband of the lady and a female friend were  pres-
ent.  We will begin with the first evening.
    When we  entered the sitting-room, Mrs. G. was com-
plaining of a slight pain in the head, accompanied with
a feeling of great languor.  Her  countenance' also indi-
cated  this.  She remarked to Dr. B.,  "she feared that, 
48      sketches of  Buchanan's discoveries
in consequence of her  indisposition, he would find  her,
that evening, a very bad subject."   He replied, good-hu-
moredly,  that "he would  cure  her headache for her;"
and asked her in what  part of the head the pain was lo-
cated.   She replied, in her forehead; placing her hand
upon the  spot where the pain seemed to centre.   The
Doctor  then commenced  rubbing  her forehead lightly
with his hands, passing them rapidly from the middle
(where the pain  was) around the temples.   He had not
continued this more than half a minute, before the lady
declared that the pain had wholly ceased ; and it did not
return during the  evening.  The  Doctor then told us, in
writing, that he would attempt to rouse her spirits, which
still seemed very much depressed, by exciting the organs
of combativeness; and, accordingly, placed his fingers
upon those organs.  In five or six minutes, there was a
very perceptible  change in  her countenance.  The list-
less, languid air had entirely disappeared, and had given
place to an expression entirely its opposite.   Perceiving
so great an  apparent change, the company interrogated
her as to the occupation of her thoughts, and her present
frame of mind.   She said her mind was running  upon
marches and  martial music; that she could  dwell with
great interest upon battles, and should like, of all things,
to see one.  She seemed to feel a high degree  of cour-
age ; her voice and manner indicated boldness and de-
cision.  She  said  "she felt as if born to command;"
and she looked, as well  as a delicate  lady could, the feel-
ing.   When asked by Dr. B. if the influence she seemed
to be under was favorable  to obedience, she replied
" that it would produce  disobedience :"  upon which, her
husband, jocosely remarked to the Doctor, "that he must
stop that:  it was a fault he did not wish to see increased
in her."   Her child cried  a moment in  the adjoining 
in  cerebral physiology.
49
room.   She started as if to go to it; and, when asked
what she was going for, she said  "to whip the nurse."
She was asked if there were to be a mob in the street,
how she would  act.  "I would go out and see them,"
said she.  " Suppose they were about  to break into the
house," said the Doctor, " how then ?"  " I would lock
the door, stand  outside, and tell  them they could enter
only over my dead body:" and her voice, attitude, and
whole manner, were in unison with her words.
   Dr. Buchanan then told us, in writing, that he would
endeavor to excite the antagonist organ, benevolence ;
and immediately placed his hand upon that organ.  In a
few seconds,  the determined expression of her counten-
ance relaxed, and she settled back in her chair, apparent-
ly calm and subdued.   Dr. B.  asked her how she would
like to see a  battle, or be engaged in one ?   " Oh ! not
at all," said she, " I would rather go about and bind up
the wounded."   When asked how she would act in case
a mob was  breaking into the house, she said:  "I should
just let them  do  as they pleased, and  make no kind of
resistance."  Dr.  B., intimated  privately, to  her hus-
band, that  he was sure Mrs. G. would soon commence
thinking or  speaking  of  a certain charitable society,
about which she had been engaged during the day.  She
did so.   In a few moments, when interrogated as to the
subject of her thoughts, she spoke of the "Provident So-
ciety" and the " Episcopal Orphan Asylum ;"  for one of
which, she  had been endeavoring to obtain money that
day.
   One of the company, then requested  Doctor B., in
writing, to  excite  her organ of number, or calculation.
He placed his  hand  upon that organ; and very soon
asked her what were her thoughts.  She answered,  she
           G 
 50      SKETCHES OF BUCHANAN^ DISCOVERIES

 was counting over,  in  her mind, the amount of money
 she had collected that day for the " Orphans' Asylum."
 " I  don't know how many houses we went to, said she,
 but we collected only six dollars."   She said she felt a
 strong inclination to count, and added, she  should like
 to be  counting money.  Doctor Buchanan  gave  her a
 handful of small  change, which she counted over and
 over repeatedly, with seemingly a childish fondness for
 the employment.
    We intended to  notice also some other experiments
 performed by Dr.  Buchanan, the same evening; but shall
 be  compelled  to  defer to another  day, an  account of
 them, as  well as of the  experiments of the second even-
 ing, upon the same individual.   Meanwhile, we  subjoin
 a continuation of  the experiments reported by the Doc-
 tor himself.


    After  I had waked Miss----, Miss R. desired to un-
 dergo an  experiment, and  I attempted putting  her to
 sleep.  Although her vitality and wakefulness were pret-
ty well overcome, I do  not  believe that she was at any
 time entirely asleep.  She sat motionless, with her eyes
 closed, like  one with a partial  and dreamy conscious-
ness.  Some of the  company supposed  her asleep ; but
when I terminated the operation, she was, although much
 exhausted or debilitated,  still conscious, and capable of
speaking  in a low voice.  I  restored  her; but, for some
time, she  felt singular sensations, resulting from the pro-
 cess through which she  had  been conducted.
    A few days afterwards, Mr. M.,  of Maysville, called
 upon me  to see if I could produce upon him any of the
 effects which he had heard of my producing upon the la-
 dies.  I attempted the experiment for  producing sleep. 
in  cerebral physiology.
51
with such an effect, that he had no doubt it would, if
continued, frequently  produce sleep.  But  as  he had
been liable to apoplectic attacks, I discontinued the ope-
ration before it had gone  any great length—revived him,
and whispered  to  Mr.  F.,  who came with him,  that I
would  set Mr. M.  to swallowing.  In a short time the
swallowing occurred repeatedly; and he felt the influence
upon  his throat.  Some other unimportant operations
were performed; and he retired, well satisfied.
   A week or two after  this, a party was assembled at
the house of Mr. A., and I gave them  a short lecture
upon the subject;  after which, I proposed to try some
experiments. The company being rather large, the back-
wardness of the ladies  prevented my obtaining suitable
subjects  of experiment.  There were some suitable con-
stitutions present; but the persons could not  be per-
suaded  to  participate  in an experiment.  I endeavored
to introduce the matter,  by trying a young gentleman,
who, although not a good subject, might, I supposed, feel
a little effect.   I excited  the top, and then the  base of
the brain.  He described some of the effects in himself,
such as  usually result from  these operations; but they
were not very important.
   I then chose a  gentleman (Mr. H.) of sound,  vigor-
ous frame, in whom I  thought it  probable that  a  more
distinct effect would occur.  I operated upon those or-
gans of the  head,  which determine  excitements to  the
arms and hands. He had heard previously of my experi-
ment upon Mr.   A., and was probably prepared in  his
mind against any effect being produced on himself.  He
denied, for a while, that any effect was produced; then
admitted, that, if  there  was any difference, the  hand
which I had been trying to  excite, had a little more sen-
sibility.  I was a little  disappointed  in the result not be- 
52       sketches of Buchanan's discoveries

ing more marked ; but, the experiment being concluded,
in the course of  the  evening,  the  matter was again
brought to our notice  by Mr. H., who complained  con-
siderably of the feelings in his arms, which had been pro-
duced by my operations, and which lasted some hours.
Pain, is a very unequivocal matter, and much more easily
perceived than a slight difference in the sense of touch.
The arms, however, could not have been excited through
the brain to a painful extent, without modifying their
tactile  sensibility more than Mr. H. perceived or de-
scribed.
   I could  probably  have accomplished  nothing more
upon this occasion,  but for  the  laudable example of a
lady, well known  for her intellectual powers and conver-
sational talent, with whom I undertook the next experi-
ment.  I attempted,  as in  Mr.  H.,  to excite the two
hands in  a different  manner, increasing the sensibility
of the  left hand in touch.  The effect was displayed  by
her remark, that  to the left  hand things felt coarser or
thicker than to her right.  The  sensations of the arms
were also very marked.  The excitement  of the left be-
came oppressive  and painful; it felt sore ; as if it had
been bruised, or had been over-fatigued.  The right arm
experienced some loss of sensibility, and felt  as if the
flow of blood to  it was diminished; the left,  as if the
blood had accumulated in it.   I  remarked, then, to Pro-
fessor Y., in a whisper, that I  could change the condition
of the two arms ;  bringing them to a balance,  by with-
drawing the excitement and determination from the left,
and stimulating the right.  Mrs.  F., who did not know
what I was aiming at, soon remarked that the oppression
of the left  arm was diminished,  and the right arm was
changing its condition, or becoming excited like the left.
As soon as she pronounced them to be in the same con- 
               IN  CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.            53

dition, I discontinued the operation.  The left arm, hav-
ing been much longer under excitement than the right,
retained the effects or soreness much longer after I dis-
continued the operation ; and did not recover its natural
condition until the next morning.  During the night, the
same sensation of numbness, and a lingering effect of
the soreness, were distinctly perceived.
    The experiments just described, had been previously
performed  upon Mr.  A., at my room.   It was the first
time that I attempted to operate upon him ;  and, finding
that his organs of  feeling and  touch were very large, I
attempted, at the close of my lecture, to excite the facul-
ties in his left hand, while I diminished their activity  in
the right.  For some ten minutes, no sensible  effect oc-
curred,  Mr. A. being  a gentleman of  large, vigorous
frame.  I continued the operation ; and, presently, he an-
nounced that he could feel better  with his  left;  that
some things felt coarser to his left hand than to his right.
This, being distinctly perceived, showed that the sense of
touch was modified; and I then felt  sure that I had suc-
ceeded with all the manual senses :  to ascertain [which,
we first tried the thermal sense.   A  glass of water was
brought him; and by feeling its coldness  with each hand
in succession,, or by wetting his finger to feel the cold-
ness of  the water, he found that there was a very distinct
difference between the power of the two hands to per-
ceive cold.  The  left,  felt  the coldness  more sensibly.
I then tried the electric sense.   I set an electro-magnetic
machine in motion, and he  placed the thumb and fingers
of one hand  so near, as to have a current or succession
of shocks pass through the hand.   The left, could per-
ceive this current, much more distinctly than the right.
   At the  close of one of  my public lectures,  (to illus-
trate my doctrine,) I proposed  an experiment upon Mr. 
54      SKETCHES OF BUCHANAN'S  DISCOVERIES

F., for the purpose of influencing  his  hands.   F.  is  a
steamboat captain, of tolerably vigorous frame ; but, hav-
ing the organs of the different species of manual sensi-
bility largely developed,  I presumed that I might excite
them.  In  about  ten or fifteen  minutes,  he perceived
quite a difference  in their powers of feeling and touch.
Objects felt much coarser to pne  hand than to the other.
Afterwards, with my class, I repeated this operation upon
Mr. F. with success.
    For decisive and convincing*experiments, I prefer to
operate upon  some of the external senses, because  few
persons could be mistaken in reference "to them.   Opera-
tions upon the mind,  or feelings,  are  not always de-
scribed with sufficient precision, because few are accus-
tomed to scanning, with accuracy, their thoughts or emo-
tions; and  it is, therefore, necessary to produce a power-
ful effect,  before we can  get a good description.  It is
necessary, too, that we  should produce an effect suffi-
ciently strong, to change the expression of the  counten-
ance ; and, it is  desirable, that the subject  operated
upon, should not know what faculty we intend to excite.
    Under  these circumstances,  I  have recently made
some of the most satisfactory  experiments,  that we  can
possibly conceive.
   Dr.  Buchanan's Experiments—continued.__We re-
sume, to-day, our sketch of Dr. Buchanan's experiments
in Neurology, which we commenced in yesterday's paper.
We begin where we left off.
   After Dr. B. had gone through these experiments on
Mrs. G., the gentlemen, of whom there were four or five
present, insisted on his attempting some experiments on
them ; which the Doctor consented to do, premising that 
IN  CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
55
he might fail to succeed, as he had not yet ascertained
that any of them were good subjects.  The company de-
signated our friend, Capt. ----, for  the Doctor to begin
upon, and requested that he  would put him to  sleep.
The Doctor commenced upon Capt.----, by placing one
hand upon his forehead, and the other upon the front part
of the head, on the top.   In this  position,  the operator
kept his hands from three to five minutes.   He  then re-
moved them, and commenced  passing his fingers gently
from the forehead along the temples, and down each side
of the face, touching the hair all the time.  After a lapse
of five or  eight minutes, Capt----began to show signs
of drowsiness, and in ten or fifteen minutes, in  spite of
the utmost exertions to throw it off, in which he was not
a little aided by the rest of the company, who were con-
tinually talking to him,  and about him, he was  nodding
in his chair, perfectly unconscious of everything around
him.  We questioned him, repeatedly, after he began to
manifest signs of drowsiness,  as to his feelings;  and he
invariably answered that he felt an irresistible disposition
to go to sleep—that it seemed impossible for him to keep
awake, &c.  And all this, while he looked the perfect
picture of sleep.
    We believe that Dr. Buchanan does not pretend that
this was  the Mesmeric  sleep ; for we have never heard
that he has as  yet attempted anything in the line  of what
is strictly  known as Mesmerism, or Animal  Magnetism.
The sleep, into which he threw Capt.----, seemed to be
an  easy and  natural sleep, from  which any one might
readily have aroused him.  The Captain awoke, after a
few moments; but he still seemed much  disposed to
sleep.  The Doctor, therefore,  proposed, for the  purpose
of arousing him thoroughly, to excite the organ  of com-
bativeness ;  which he accordingly did.  The effect on 
56      SKETCHES  OF BUCHANAN'S DISCOVERIES

fjapt.----, was  remarkable.   His countenance, which
had  before been the very picture of languor, sleep, and
lethargy, now assumed a determined and resolute expres
sion; and, when interrogated as to the nature of  his feel-
ings, he said he  felt as though he wished to accomplish
some great object, though he did not know exactly what
—that  he felt  resolute for  some  achievement.  This
closed the experiments of the evening.
   We  will now give the  result of the observations of
our second visit  to Mrs.  G.,  with  Dr.  Buchanan.  We
first requested the Doctor to excite hunger and thirst.  It
was then about three o'clock, P. M.  The request was
made in writing.  The Doctor replied (also in writing)
that he would endeavor to do  so; at the same time, mis-
leading her imagination;  and while  he  placed  his hand
upon the requisite  organs, he endeavored to lead her to
suppose, by requesting us  to feel of her pulse, that he
was attempting to  change the tone of  her pulse.   In a
few moments,  she complained of thirst, and asked for a
glass of water ; which was, accordingly, brought her.
   The  Doctor then wrote, with a pencil, that he would
excite in her the love of country;  and placed his hand
upon the organ which, in his  system, is assigned to that
emotion.  Her countenance  almost immediately assum-
ed a very grave cast;  and, when questioned as to the na-
ture of her thoughts, she replied—They had  gone back
many,  many years; that she was thinking of England,
her scenery, her  institutions,  her  glory, and her  great-
ness.  We ascertained from her husband a fact, which
we did not know before, that she is a native of England^
We then made, in order to try her,  some disparaging re-
marks on England  ; and in doing so, came near making
her quite angry.
    Dr.  B. then  told  us. in  writing,  he would excite an 
IN  CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
57
organ which  he had himself recently discovered,  and
which he had named " playfulness!"  said he had never
attempted it on Mrs. G., but that, as he found the organ
large in  her head, he presumed he should be successful.
She had  heretofore been  quite grave ;  but now she be-
came lively and playful, and commenced laughing, though
we could not perceive at what.   When asked what she
was laughing at. she replied—at her  own feelings ;  that
she was thinking she should dearly  love to take a good
romp;  that she  should  like a romp with Mr. G., her
husband.
    The Doctor then wrote down  the names of several
organs, and told  us to  designate which we would have
excited.   We  pointed  to Philoprogenitiveness, (love  of
offspring.).  The Doctor wrote, that  the organ was  very
large in her, and that he could probably send her to look
after her child; and his hand had been on her head scarcely
half a minute, before she begged we would excuse her a
moment, while she went to look after her  child: and she
immediately went out of the room to look after her child
in the  next.
    We next requested the Doctor to excite the organ of
tune.  He placed his hand upon that  organ ;  and, in a
few moments, when asked what she was thinking of, she
replied that she was following the notes of a tune which
some one was playing in the room above,  and which we
could faintly hear.   Her husband then requested Dr. B.,
(these communications were always made in writing,)
to give a  martial turn to. the  music.   Presently she said
she was running over in her mind the Marseilles hymn.
Mr. G. then desired him to give a domestic  turn to the
music :  and  in  a moment  she said  she  was singing
"Home, sweet home." The Doctor then placed one hand
upon  the  organ  of philoprogenitiveness,  keeping  the
           G 
58      SKETCHES  OF BUCHANAN'S DISCOVERIES
other still  upon tune, and presently  she  said  she was
singing, " Hush, my dear, lie  still  and slumber."   In
fact, her head,  during all these experiments, seemed to
respond to the touch of the Doctor's hand as promptly
as the keys of a piano to the hand of a  skilful performer.
   In our account of these experiments we  have confined
ourselves to a mere  statement of what we ourselves saw;
without pretending to give any explanation of the facts.
    Neurology.—The article on Neurology, containing
the experiments of Dr. Buchanan  of  this city, deserves
attention.  We were present on  the occasion, saw the
effects,  and prepared an article  to  accompany the fol-
lowing copied from the Advertiser, but must omit it for
want of room.—Baptist Banner.

    The singular philosophical developments,  made in
the article published in the Advertiser by Dr. Buchanan,
a few days since,  upon  the  subject of his  discoveries
in Neurological  science, have  excited  much  attention
throughout the country.   The most respectable and in-
fluential of our eastern exchanges, have taken the subject
in hand ; and even those which  are most cautious  in be-
lieving any of the  thousand  new and  strange theories
with which this age  abounds, have paused  before ven-
turing to question the truth of this, substantiated as it is
by evidence of successful experiments,  in which  collu-
sion or deception were out of the question.  That the
discoveries which Dr. Buchanan professes to have made
are startling,  nay, bordering on the marvellous and im-
probable, is true ; but that he  has succeeded, in number-
less  instances, within the past few weeks, in producing
the results described, cannot be denied.  Men may com- 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
59
 bat  abstract theories and quibble about points in meta-
 physics, forever, and reasonably refuse to be convinced :
 but  actual experiments and clear results, brought home
 to the senses and the judgment, force conviction  upon
 skepticism itself.
    Having had but little leisure to attend Dr. Buchanan's
 Lectures and witness his experiments ; and being, with-
 al, not overstocked with 'marvellousness,'  we have re-
 frained from any very particular  account of his proceed-
 ings ;  and shall wait until we know much more of the
 matter, before we  surrender, or attempt  to  explain " the
 why and the wherefore"  of his 6mm-ological achieve-
 ments.   The only experiments we have witnessed, took
 place on Thursday evening at  the residence of Mr. E—,
 in the presence  of a company of intelligent ladies and
 gentlemen, most  of whom had  never witnessed an at-
 tempt of the kind, and were skeptical upon the subject.
 The first subject experimented upon, was a young  lady,
 in good health, but of a delicate constitution, who was
 also a stranger to Dr. Buchanan, and his art.   It will be
 necessary only to  notice those experiments attended by
 the most marked results.
   The  first operation produced drowsiness—a fullness
 of the head—heaviness of  the  eyelids—in a few minutes
 she complained of an inclination to sleep;  and in  spite
 of the raillery and efforts on the part of the company to
 keep her awake, she was nocKing in her chair, with her
 eyes closed, like  one incapable of being  roused.   Dr.
 B., subsequently,  wrote  on a piece of paper, which he
 handed  to the company, that he  would excite  the organs
 of "playfulness, mirth," &c.   In one  minute, she ex-
 pressed a  desire  to  dance, (though of a  religious  and
contemplative cast of mind.)  Doctor B. then tried the
organ of  "tune,"  (writing his intention  before  each
f 
60      SKETCHES OF BUCHANAN'S DISCOVERIES

change  of his hands;) when she preferred music with
her dancing, and  felt  like playing lively pieces.   The
Doctor then changed to martial music; when she instant-
ly expressed a preference for  that species of music over
all others—drums, fifes, marches, &c.  Another change
to the "sympathetic and kind," produced a  strong desire
to sing for the benefit of orphans—to soothe the afflicted,
&c.  Doctor B. produced thirst: then wrote on a  paper
that  he would cause her  to  prefer "toddy" to  all other
drinks.  In less than a minute, being questioned whether
she desired water, wine, hard-cider or brandy, she replied
neither, but thought a glass of toddy would suit  her best.
The success of this experiment was complete;  but what
sort of an organ, the Doctor found in the  head of a lady,
who is  both a te-totaller and a Whig, which  caused her to
prefer toddy to water or hard-cider, we leave unexplained.
   Doctor  B. now tried  similar experiments upon  an-
other lady, and by the  same course of pressure and fric-
tion upon such sections of the brain as he wished  to ex-
cite, produced like results.  Reverence was excited, and
she desired to read the  bible—-felt religious—thought
that  children, under  the influence  of such a  feeling,
would  be  mere  devout—would like to  go  to church.
Combativeness was excited ;  when she said she felt un-
pleasant—had no desire to go to church—would quarrel
with her children  and  beat  them.  Mirthfulness was
brought into action;  when she expressed a desire  to  be
in a ball-room, or to go to the theatre—felt " full of play
and fun"—had no disposition, either to flog the children
or go to church;  but preferred gay company.   Calcula-
tion, roused a desire to study geography, and arithmetic ;
would  like figures better than any thing else; thought of*
the time she learned the multiplication table,  and how
easy she could repeat it now.   Doctor B. changed his
* 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
61
hands  to  philoprogenitiveness.   She  was silent—spoke
not when  addressed, though the agony depicted in her
countenance,  plainly told that she  was the victim  of
powerful and painful  emotions.  The  experiment was
suspended—and after reviving,  she  stated that the recol-
lection of the death and funeral of some of her children,
and the sickness of others, some time since, had rushed
so suddenly and strongly upon  her  mind, as  to deprive
her of the  power of utterance,  and produce feelings of
distressing faintness.  Other  experiments were made,
plainly showing that the different  portions of the brain
can be, by friction and pressure, excited to increased ac-
tivity,  producing an unusual manifestation  of the pas-
sions or feelings of which they are, according to phreno-
logical dicta, the organs.  Such are a few of the facts.
Let physiologists, metaphysicians, wonder-workers and
believers in marvels, make the most of them.  We shall
recur to the subject, and  perhaps speak of the useful pur-
poses proposed to  be attained  by the cultivation of this
new branch of science.
   Neurology.*—The Cincinnati Republican enquired,
some days since,  what had  become of our Neurologist;
and other cotemporaries have  manifested a similar wag-
gish  curiosity  upon  the  subject.  We  can  enlighten
them.   Dr.  Buchanan is  still in this city, assiduously
engaged in  repeating his experiments—perfecting  the
science of Neurology, and  applying  it to its true pur-
poses—the treatment of disease.
   Some of our  brother editors,  as well  as many with
whom we have conversed, even  here, do  not  seem to
• From the Louisville Public Advertiser, December 10, 1841. 
62       SKETCHES OF BUCHANAN'S DISCOVERIES

know what  Neurology is.  No  longer  since  than Wed-
nesday evening, a medical student informed us  that he
had all along regarded it as none other than the veritable
science of Mesmerism, or Animal Magnetism;  and was
quite astonished on learning that Neurology was merely
the Physiology of the Nervous System;  and that the sin-
gular experiments in which Dr. B. has been engaged, are
designed to show the functions of every part of the ner-
vous mass contained  in the hea.d,  by exciting that part,
by external irritation, in such a  manner, as to  cause a
distinct manifestation of its peculiar properties, whether
mental or corporeal.
   Those who  recognize Phrenology as a true  science;
(and who  does not?) who  understand the  mysterious
operation of the mind, upon the whole nervous system,
through the medium of its organ, or mass of organs, the
brain;  and who are aware  how  readily the different or-
gans of the brain can be recognized, classified, and their
volume defined by exterior examination, can, with readi-
ness, comprehend the whole secret of Dr. Buchanan's
operations ; which consist merely,  in  exciting  any or-
gan, or combination of organs, to greater activity, by op-
erating with the fingers, upon that portion  of  the  skull
under which they are located.  Hunger, thirst, anger, be-
nevolence,  vision, muscular strength, hearing, &c, may
be readily  excited in this way.   Mesmerism,  with its
mysterious manipulations, its passes, its clairvoyant con-
ditions, its  magnetic states and transmissions of mental
power  and ubiquity,  all operating independent of con-
tact, no more resemble the science of Neurology, as de-
fined and exemplified by Dr. B., than the practice of the
faith doctors does the regular practice of medicine.
    When our neighbors come to give the matter a "sober
second thought," and witness a tithe of  the experiments 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
63
which Dr. B. has made in Louisville, in the presence of
hundreds, and upon all classes of subjects, we shall ex-
pect to find them more warm  in their commendations
than we have been.  We are a skeptical people in Lou-
isville,  in matters of this kind, and  yield to nothing
which is not sustained by unquestionable philosophical
demonstrations, heard and seen by ourselves.   On Tues-
day evening last, Dr. B. made a series of experiments, in
the presence of a large company, which produced striking
results.  Two  ladies, acquaintances and friends, were
seated  near each other, and in  great  good humor and
buoyancy  of  spirits,  awaited  the  operation.   Dr.  B.
placed  a hand  on the head of  each,  upon  the  organ,
called by the French phrenologists, "the love of power."
 In a few minutes, a scene was "got up,"  at once singu-
 lar and amusing.  Each bridled up with an air of dignity
 and self-conceit,  and Mrs.  H., when  asked by Dr. B.,
 " What are you thinking of now," replied, " Why, I am
 thinking that I feel very proud."   To the same question,
 Miss G., after a scornful silence, and its repetition, re-
 plied that she was astonished that Mrs. H. should talk of
 being  proud.  Mrs.  H. turned  with  a look of defiance
 and demanded, " Have not / as much to be proud of as
 you?"  A cutting retort followed—each asserted her su-
 perior  claim  to beauty, good temper,  refinement, obedi-
 ence, &c, with a spirit and bitterness of tone and car-
 riage,  which those who have witnessed such scenes in
 neighborhood squabbles, where faces are wont to be
 scratched, caps torn,  and tongues let loose, can  so well
 imagine.   Apprehending results of too striking a char-
 acter,  one of the company advised the Doctor to call a
 constable; but  he hastily dissipated the belligerent ex-
 citement, and  began to arouse  their  moral  sentiments.
 Their  angry glances  soon ceased—they became modest, 
64      SKETCHES OF  BUCHANAN'S DISCOVERIES
 complaisant, and humble; and on being reminded of the
 part they had acted, each began  to make apologies, and
 ask pardon of the other.  Each was animated in her ex-
 pressions of  regret, and  would accept no apology; in-
 sisting that she  only was in fault; and so affected was
 one of them, that  she burst into tears.  To counteract
 this effect, the excitement of the moral organs was slight-
 ly  diminished,  while mirthfulness, playfulness, social
 feeling were stimulated.  A striking change succeeded ;
 she became highly elated, laughed, and soon proposed a
 dance  with a gentleman present, (the husband of  Mrs.
 G.) springing upon her feet with infinite self-satisfaction.
    All this time, Mrs. G. sat  quiet, melancholy and de-
 jected ;  laboring under  the serious feelings  which had
 been called up to subdue her pride.   She seriously ob-
 jected to her husband  dancing—as very unbecoming—a
 vain and improper amusement—particularly, for one of
 his age.  Mrs. H., being in a fine humor, submitted to
 her disappointment with a  good  grace, and the dance
 was suspended,  while the  Doctor commenced exciting
 the same mirthful organs in Mrs. G.   It was amusing to
 witness  the  change of her  language and expression of
 countenance,  as the dancing spirit came upon her.  She
 began to  admit that dancing might  be proper  in some
 cases—thought it a very becoming amusement—particu-
 larly for old people—liked to see  people dance—would
 like to dance herself.  She  was reminded of her former
 objections, but was unwilling  to acknowledge them; as
 such were  not  her real sentiments.   She, with great
earnestness, urged  Mrs.  H.  to dance with her husband,
to convince Dr. B. how highly she approved of dancing.
 Other results  were  produced,  which will be noticed to-
morrow, as well as similar experiments on Wednesday
evening. 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
65
   Neurology.—We have but little space to devote to
this subject to-day ; but propose to occupy it with a brief
notice of the continuation  of  Dr. Buchanan's  experi-
ments, after  producing the  results described yesterday.
The attempt to excite hunger  was made upon Mrs. H.,
while her attention was led by conversation to other sub-
jects.  She very soon asked for food, which being  given
her, she began her repast with a fine relish ; but on the
organ of thirst and love of  strong drink being excited,
she  became  indifferent  to her  food, and asked  for
wine ; then for something stronger.  Strong whiskey was
brought, which she tasted, and  declared to be too  weak;
complaining  that it was mostly water.   This result was
more striking ; as in her ordinary condition, all kinds of
strong drink  are exceedingly repugnant to  her taste.
    Mrs.  G. had, during this experiment, joined the com-
pany in ridiculing and reproving Mrs. H., for her love of
strong drink.   Doctor B. threatened to produce the same
effect upon herself;  but she denied the  possibility of his
doing so, and declared that nothing on earth could induce
her to drink whiskey.   In a few minutes after the com-
mencement of the operation, .she desired drink:  water
being brought,  she  refused it—then wanted a glass of
lemonade—-then a lemonade with a little  brandy in it—
then more brandy—then pure brandy.  Finally, she con-
cluded that whiskey was quite a genteel drink, and very
proper for ladies.  A  wine  glass, perhaps half full of
proof whiskey, was  given her, when she complained of
its  weakness: but after some  hesitation,  on account of
her fear of ridicule, she watched her opportunity, and
when  she  thought herself  unobserved, swallowed  the
whole at a draught,  Hunger was excited, with similar
results.  A variety of other interesting experiments were
           H 
 66      SKETCHES OF  BUCHANAN'S DISCOVERIES

 tried upon the same lady; and it was amusing to witness
 the sudden transitions, "from grave to gay, from lively to
 severe," which took place in her manners, appearance
 and conversation, as her brain answered, like a well
 tuned piano, to the touches of the operator's fingers.
 Into whatever mood  she was thrown, frbm three  to ten
 minutes  were sufficient to change  the current of her
 thoughts and language  into another channel;  perhaps,
 ludicrously inconsistent with the former.  At one time
 she would abuse her husband like a termagant, claiming
 superiority, and treating him as if unworthy of her ;  and
 immediately after, express the deepest contrition for her
 conduct, and speak of him with affection,  as her supe-
 rior, &c.
   The organs of tune and  mirthfulness were operated
upon with  success—the tone of conversation and con-
duct, on the part of  the two  subjects, following the
changes of Dr.  B's hands from one organ to  another,
with remarkable precision and fidelity;  both being un-
conscious of the effects which he intended to produce.
Another fact is worthy of notice; which is, that after the
dissipation of the effects of most of the experiments,
particularly the most striking ones, they forgot and stren-
uously denied all they had said  or done; but an excite-
ment of  memory  restored the  facts to recollection.
Doctor B.  closed the experiments, by putting Mrs.  G.
into a sound sleep in five minutes; from which she was
with some difficulty awakened.
  So much again on the subject of Neurology.   That the
results described, were produced, cannot be denied : that
there has been collusion or any deception practised upon
the hundreds of intelligent witnesses, who have seen and
heard, will not  be  pretended.   We present the  facts,
leaving Doctors  of Physic and Doctors of Divinity, to 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
67
settle this new question concerning the mysterious rela-
tion between physical and intellectual being.
                     MEMORIAL
 To the Hon. Board of Managers of the Louisville Med-
      ical Institute—presented December 18, 1841,
   Gentlemen:  As the progress of Medical Science can-
 not be to you  a matter of indifference, but must excite
 your  lively interest, I am induced to lay before  you a
 statement of  those  philosophical discoveries which I
 have  recently been making; the result of which, will ere
 long, prove to be an important change, or re-organization
 of medical  science,  both in its philosophical  principles
 and in the treatment of disease.
    Having  commenced in your city the formal presenta-
 tion  of  the Science of Neurology, (influenced  by  the
 consideration that this is almost as my native spot,) I
 would wish before  going abroad, to secure  the favor-
 vorable notice of those whose official station may author-
 ize them to  notice and to decide upon matters of grave
 importance, that  concern, not  only the medical  profes-
 sion,  but the public welfare.
    The scope of my researches embraces the final settle-
 ment  of the most important propositions that Physiology
 needs, to make it  a  complete  and satisfactory Science.
 They  aim to develope the true laws of the human econo-
 my—a series of laws heretofore unknown.
   Amid the confusion  of theories  and contradictory
plans  of  practice; amid  the  controversies of medical
partizans, the  vagaries  of enthusiastic  advocates  for
particular theories, and the skepticism of the class who
doubt the certainty of  all medical principles, we still find
a distinct acknowledgment by all, of the fact, that their 
68       SKETCHES  OF BUCHANAN'S DISCOVERIES

science is full of mystery, and that its practice abounds
in uncertainty and contradiction.
    If interrogated, as to the reason of this, there are few
who will not candidly confess, that the true cause of their
confusion is the want of a satisfactory knowledge of the
physiology of man.   And, if interrogated again in what
respect their knowledge of  man's economy is most de-
fective, they will readily agree, that of all portions of our
science, they are most defective  in the physiology of the
nervous system.  Indeed, until  the discoveries of  Gall,
there was  an almost  total  ignorance of the functions of
the brain; and  the functions discovered by him,  being
entirely mental, threw little light upon the healing art,
except in reference to the treatment of Insanity.
    And yet the nervous system is  the seat of life, and
the controller of all the functions of the body.   The
whole Science of Physiology is simply an exposition of
those functions in the body, which  are put in play, and
carried  on, by  the nervous system.  The digestion of
food and formation of blood—its circulation  and distri-
bution to the various parts of the body: the growth  and
nourishment  of  every part; the removal  of effete  mat-
ter from the system,  by the various  excretions,  and the
performance of all the muscular, voluntary,  and  invol-
untary motions,  are all,  simply, the various  modes in
which  the  living power of the  nervous system sets in
play the various parts of the body.
    So long as the nervous system performs all its duties
with regularity, every organ  of the body has  its regular
and healthy action.   Whenever there is an injurious im-
pression upon it, the bodily functions are disordered and
various forms of disease ensue.   For it is recognized as
a principle in physiology, that disease begins with  an in- 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
69
jurious impression upon the nervous system, which inju-
jury works out its results in the corporeal organs.
    The conviction being general that the nervous system
is the "fons  el  origo" of all  the  morbid, as well as
healthy phenomena of man, reason would  have dictated
that its functions should undergo  the most rigid exami-
nation ; and yet it is a fact, that up to the date of my re-
searches, not a single one of  all the corporeal functions
had been traced to its cerebral source with  any degree of
certainty and accuracy.
    The extent of our ignorance in  this matter, may be
shown again, by alluding  to the  phenomena of disease.
Of these, we may say, that at least one half are  purely
sympathetic.   They are produced by means of that  in-
fluence which one part of the body exerts when diseased
in modifying the health of other parts.   This modifying
influence, or sympathy, is exerted through the nervous
system ; but, beyond that fact, our knowledge was  al-
most  nothing.   In what particular manner the sympathy
was effected, and why certain  parts had  a particular sym-
pathy with other parts, was unknown.
    Thus we see,  that the  very fundamentals of a com-
plete  system of Physiology were wanting, and that our
therapeutical  philosophy  was  both lame and  blind:
lame  in its ignorance of  the  nature  of  disease,  and
blind in its ignorance of the  mode  by which medicinal
agents made their impression.
    To supply such defects as these, is  the most exalted
object at which the ambition  of man can aim;  for, when
we develope the physiology of the nervous system,  we
know man thoroughly—his mind, his body, his health,
and his disease.
    Familiar as I am with the new truths  developed  by
my experiments, I am almost startled to record the na- 
70      sketches  of Buchanan's discoveries
ture and extent of those discoveries to which I would
call your attention.  In doing so, I must remark that all
I assert is easily demonstrable, when a proper opportuni-
ty is afforded; and that I wish to demonstrate each propo-
sition, before your  honorable body, at as early a period
as practicable, by satisfactory experiments.
    The essence of my discoveries consists in determin-
ing the seat of all the functions of  the nervous system,
whether  they relate to mind or body.   For instance, I
determine with  equal certainty the sources of the  pas-
sion of anger;  the sentiment of benevolence;  the facul-
ty of vision; the power of  secreting bile; the power of
secreting the gastric juice ; or the  power of using  the
muscles  in locomotion.
    Every passion or emotion that man can feel; every
intellectual faculty that he  can exercise, and every func-
tion that is performed in any part of his  body, has a le-
gitimate origin  in  some portion of his  nervous system.
The result of my investigations shows that all  of these
localities can be ascertained; and such has been my pro-
gress, that but few important principles have been  left
for future discovery.
    A beautiful  and boundless field of knowledge  has
thus been opened before us : but the useful  purposes to
which these discoveries may be applied, are  commensu-
rate with the magnitude of  the discoveries themselves.
    By knowing  the exact source of all the functions of
body or mind, we are enabled to control these  functions
for every purpose that may  be desired,  and  to act upon
mind or  body as we please.  There are many constitu-
tions which admit of these  impressions being produced,
with the  greatest suddenness and certainty,  by an influ-
ence apparently  trivial.  In such  persons, any local
pain, as head-ache, tooth-ache, nausea, &c, &c, can be 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
71
removed in a few minutes.  If dyspeptic, the stomach
can be made, in half an hour, to resume the discharge of
its  healthy  functions:  if the liver  is torpid,  it can be
urged in the same time to the  most vigorous  action: if
there is constipation, or an imperfect secretion of urine,
the  bowels and kidneys  can be compelled to act.  If
there is a fever, accompanied by excessive heat, the heat
can be promptly reduced, and the pulse regulated to any
condition that may be desired : or,  if there is a chill, the
constitution can be warmed,  the circulation  regulated,
and the functions of the abdominal organs rectified.  If
there is pulmonary disease and congestion of the lungs,
they may be relieved of that congestion,  and placed in
the  most favorable condition  for  healing.  If there is
any determination to the  brain, that determination may-
be checked, and the blood  distributed to other parts of
the system.  In short, the whole of the  circulation and
secretions are completely under our control; and for this
class of constitutions, our neurological operations  are a
perfect panacea.  They perform all  that medicine can
do, and they perform it with far more simplicity, certain-
ty, and precision, while they accomplish much to which
medicine does not aspire.
    As far as this class of persons  is concerned, the dis-
coveries of Neurology are worth far more than all the ex-
isting mass of medical science.  They enable  the prac-
titioner, while treating disease in the most prompt, sim-
ple and certain manner, to keep the mind of his patient
in any condition that he desires, and thus impart all the
calmness, fortitude, or cheerfulness, that may be neces-
sary to the  patient's condition.   If it  should be neces-
sary to perform a surgical operation, he  will be able to
blunt the  sensibility,  and increase the  firmness of the
patient, until  the most  painful operations can be  en- 
72      SKETCHES  OF BUCHANAN'S DISCOVERIES

dured: if the energies of the system are prostrated by
melancholy, he can easily restore cheerfulness, or even
gaiety. In some cases, we are aware, that the life of the
patient is lost  by the depressing influence of fear  and
melancholy: in  others, these depressing passions urge
their unfortunate victim to suicide, as the only relief.  In
all such cases, a proper change in the  state of the ner-
vous system will give relief,  by producing cheerfulness,
and  a capacity  for enjoying all the  pleasures  of life.
Whether  this change can be  produced readily,  in  all
cases, I am not prepared to say ; but as I know, by daily
experience, that in  the  most  effeminate constitutions
such a change can be produced in a few minutes; and the
laws of the human frame are the same in all  cases ;  we
may infer that  any impression  which can be produced
upon one individual,  may also be produced upon an-
other, by resorting to the more or less energetic means
that  suit the particular case, and occupying more or less
time in proportion to the facility with which the consti-
tution yields to the agent employed.  In other words, if
we find the agent  that can produce a particular impresr
sion upon the constitution,  that agent will produce the
same impression upon other constitutions, by graduating
the dose to suit the impressibility of each case.
   It would be tedious to enumerate the various impres-
sions which may be made  upon the faculties, passions,
and  appetites of patients for  medicinal  purposes.   The
power, which is  certain cases we may exercise, is entire-
ly unbounded by any definite limits that  can as yet be
perceived.  A few only of the  more obvious  and valua-
ble results will be alluded to.
   The want of appetite  and of digestive  power  is so
common a circumstance in disease,  that the power of re-
storing them whenever it may be necessary is an invalu- 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
73
able art.   It will give me pleasure to show you with
what facility we may control the gastric functions, and
produce  or destroy  appetite at will;  creating hunger,
thirst, or nausea, as  we wish.
   It is not more easy to remove the dyspeptic affections,
to which deficient or morbid action of the appetites and
digestive powers gives rise, than it is  to relieve those
which depend upon  an excessive action of Hunger and
Thirst.   The eager appetite of the convalescent invalid;
the raging  hunger of bulimia ; the gluttonous indulgence
of the gourmand, may all be brought in their bounds, by
diminishing the  activity of that  part of the brain from
which their appetites proceed.
    But there is an appetite of a more formidable nature
than that of the  gourmand—an appetite more pestilent
in its effects than the Asiatic cholera; because it is con-
tinually at  work, hurrying its thousands upon thousands
of  victims to  a dishonored  grave.  The  appetite  for
strong drink, even though it has enlisted against it nearly
the whole  moral force of our country,  is still,  as it al-
ways  has  been, a  desolating curse.   Medicinal skill
knows no efficient means of cure for this disease of the
appetite.   The nostrums designed to  create a disgust
against drinks, have  accomplished little, because they do
not affect the  real disease,  which consists in a craving
for stimulus.
    When  I cast  the mind's eye over  the thousands of
desolate  homes, and behold the many manly forms, the
many gifted minds  that have sunk  before trie power of
this curse, I rejoice for the welfare of mankind to believe,
that I have learned  the  true locality of this disease in
the. human  constitution, and established the possibility
of modifying this formidable  appetite.   Indeed, I will
           i 
74       SKETCHES OF BUCHANAN'S DISCOVERIES
stake my existence upon the fact,  that the drunkard's
thirst may be  as intelligibly and successfully managed,
as the affections of the liver, stomach, or heart.
   One of the most serious  calamities to professional
men, or, indeed, to any one, is the loss of the power of
fixing the attention.   Deprived of this,  all our attempts
at study are inefficient.  The disease may run on to in-
sanity, or it may exist in a milder form, unfitting its sub-
ject for the business of life.   Medicine knows no means
of operating  directly  upon this affection.  Neurology
recognizes it as one of the most simple  and manageable
forms of disease.
   Nostalgia,  or home sickness, melancholy, irritability,
abstraction,  ennui, erotomania,  timidity,  nervousness,
and a hundred forms of mental disorder, are made per-
fectly intelligible,  both in their nature  and their treat-
ment, by the Science of Neurology.
   In an essay, published a short time  since, I gave the
following catalogue of  effects which I had produced  by
means of neurological principles.   But I cannot close
this  communication, without  alluding to the  specific
power which we possess of operating upon and controll-
ing the  action of the heart.   I  wish to  demonstrate, be-
fore  you, that  excitement of the heart can be arrested or
reproduced at pleasure,  and that dangerous, apparently
fatal inflammations may be controlled with ease,
    To operate specifically upon any portion of the body
for the  restoration of  its  healthy functions, without  ad-
ministering any drastic or deleterious substance,  and in-
deed without  using a particle  of medicine, must bring
about a new and wonderful era in the healing art; a per-
fect system of therapeutics, based upon a perfect system
of physiology.
    These are  discoveries of no obscure or uncertain  na- 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.            75
ture.  The present generation will have them in full op-
eration ; and that medical Institution which will take the
lead in their introduction, and persevere with ability, will,
in a few years, stand the acknowledged head of medical
science.
      7F       flfc       W       7F       *       "Jr
    [For catalogue of effects, see page 17.1
      ******
  wSince  this publication, my experience has daily given
me new facts and principles.  To  avoid all further detail,
I would simply remark, that I have found the key to the
whole mechanism of man; and that I will undertake, un-
der proper circumstances, to execute any command that
you may see fit to lay upon me, for the purpose of modi-
fying the  state of either mind or  body;  proving  that we
may lay bare the deepest  mysteries of Nature, and that
we are now in the possession of knowledge which must
be of invaluable utility to the human race.
         With high respect,
                 your humble servant,
                                Jos. R.  Buchanan.


    The foregoing memorial having been  received and
read by the Board, the following resolution was adopted
by that body:
    •' Resolved, That the Board of Managers will meet Dr.
Buchanan at such time and place  as he may appoint."
   In pursuance  of this resolution, Dr. Buchanan  met the
Board on  several diflerent occasions, and made  a great
variety of  illustrative experiments.  It is much to be re-
gretted that, owing to the absence of the Secretary  from
most of these meetings, no account of the experiments was
preserved.  The various cerebral organs were successfully 
 76      sketches of Buchanan's  discoveries

 excited, and made to display their functions in a satisfac-
 tory manner, as proposed in the memorial.
    One of these experiments may be mentioned as it of-
 fers something more than the ordinary excitement of the
 organs.
    By exciting the sense of taste, I had found it practica-
 ble to extend its power so far as to enable the  subject to
 taste by the hand instead of the tongue.   A distinguished
 member of the Bar of Louisville had once been made Jjie
 subject of this experiment, in the presence of  a very in-
 telligent  company, and had succeeded so far as  to tell,
 with great accuracy, and certainty whatever metal was
 placed in his hand.
   In repeating this experiment before the Board, (upon
 Mrs. G.,) she succeeded in tasting, with great precision,
 every metallic or other substance which was placed in her
 hands for trial; and was able in the course ofa few min-
 utes to tell the name of the substance, wnich she would
 announce in the  most positive manner, as  soon as she
 distinctly perceived the taste.
   One of the gentlemen, desirous of having the most
 accurate test of her powers in this  new mode of tasting,
 took from his pocket an article, which he kept concealed
 from every one  present, and which he permitted her to
 touch with the left hand, while her head was turned in an
 opposite direction.  The substance was a piece of  solid
 rhubari, and  gave her in about one minute a pretty dis-
 tinct taste.  She proceeded to describe the taste and de-
scribed it with great accuracy, although she did not give
 the name.  As the taste became more and more distinct,
 it grew more  and more nauseous and unpleasant to her,
 until she became so very sick as to make it necessary for
 me to go promptly to her relief, change the  excitement 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY,
77
and dissipate, by a counter operation, her unpleasant sen-
sations.
   After a number of evenings had been spent in Neuro-
logical experiments, the following resolution was adopt-
ed by the Board -.
    " Resolved, That Professors Caldwell, Cook and Cobb
be requested to enquire  into the principles of the new
science of Neurology, as taught by Dr. Joseph R, Bucha-
nan, and to  report at their earliest convenience to this
Board the facts which may have been presented to them,
and their opinion of the utility of the science in its appli-
cation  to medicine."
        LETTER FROM DR. CALDWELL.
Extracts  from  the  Letter  of Dr. Caldwell  to  the
   Editor of the Edinburgh  Phrenological  Journal.
                          Louisville, April 5, 1842.
   My Dear Sir: The paper from the pen of Dr. Buchan-
an, which this letter accompanies, is transmitted to you
in the belief that it will so far experience from you a fa-
vorable reception, as  to  be  admitted to a place in the
Phrenological Journal which  you so ably conduct.  *  *
   If I mistake not its character, the paper contains in
itself an amount of curious,  interesting  and important
matter, abundantly  sufficient  to serve  as its ready and
welcome passport into any phrenological depository of
the day.
   In behalf of its solidity and merit, however, permit me
to observe, that I have myself witnessed experimental ver-
ifications of no inconsiderable number of the  striking po-
sitions and allegations which it contains.   I have also
performed in person a sufficient number of them to serve
me as an earnest of the truth of many others. 
78      SKETCHES OF  BUCHANAN'S DISCOVERIES
    This is true, more especially, as regards the Mesmer-
 ic excitement of the seperate organs of the brain, and the
 calling forth, in an  augmented degree, of their natural
 language and action.
    I apply to the excitement the term "Mesmeric," be-
 cause the mode of its production is analagous to, and its
 ruling principle no doubt identical with those of the pro-
 duction of common Mesmeric phenomena.  The follow-
 ing experiments I have  repeatedly performed, since my
 last return from Europe, without encountering a  single
 failure.
    Having thrown my subject into a complete Mesmeric
 condition, I have so excited the organs of Combativeness
 and Destructiveness, even in ladies of  delicacy and re-
.finement,  whose natural feelings toward   myself were
 friendly and kind, as  to induce them to give me blows, as
 severe as they could inflict.   I have then excited their
 Benevolence,  willing  into   their  presence  some ob-
ject of distress, and drawn from them an abundant effu-
 sion of tears—their Veneration, and they  have become
 immediately devout, reverential and adoring—their Hope,
 and their thoughts have  become buoyant, elastic and bril-
 liant, and all their  anticipations a foretaste of felicity to
 be afterwards enjoyed by them—their  Cautiousness, and
 they have sunk into victims of apprehension and gloom—
 their  Self-Esteem, and  so swollen was  their pride, that
 they would hardly  have  submitted to the companionship
 of an Empress—their Mirthfulness, and their thoughts
 were  cheering, sprightly and playful, and all their fancies
 bright and mirth-born—their Number, and their instinct
 of Calculation would become insatiable.   A lady, in that
 condition, counted several generations  of canary  birds
 which she  had reared, all the buttons on  my  coat and
 waistcoat, and on being willed into my drawing room, 
              IN CEREBRAL  PHYSIOLOGY.             79

all the chairs, tables  and pictures contained in the apart-
ment.   I  next excited her Order, whose development
was large, and in that state, willing her into my study,
she gave me an earnest rebuke on account of the disorder
and confusion which prevailed  in  it,  and was quite ex-
ceptionable to her.
  Thus  have I, on several occasions, run through a ma-
jority of the larger and more  powerful cerebral organs,
rousing them to strong action and expression, and in this
way settled, in my own opinion much more definitely and
indubitably, their positive locality, than can be effected by
any other mode of proceeding with which I am acquainted.
      *       *        *       *       *       *
   Among the experiments of  Dr. Buchanan, which  I
witnessed, a very interesting and important one consisted
in his augmentation or diminution at pleasure of muscu-
lar strength in any given part of the body.  In the case
of a youth, convalescent from severe disease, the  Doctor,
in the presence of several persons, I being one of them,
first augmented and then diminished the strength of the
arms, in a degree that was  obvious and even striking to
the spectators.   I have also been a witness, when he has,
by a similar process, changed very materially the condi-
tion of the digestive  organs.
    With  respect  to  Dr. Buchanan's  claim to priority in
the experiments  alluded to,  I possess  no  knowledge,
either definite or conclusive.   One fact, however, I well
remember, which may be made perhaps to shed on the
subject some little light.
    About eighteen months or two years  ago, I received
from Dr.  Buchanan a letter in which he alluded to certain
striking discoveries of great interest in Neurology, which
he had been so  fortunate as to make.  I have reason to
believe that his reference was to the discoveries announc- 
80       SKETCHES OF BUCHANAN'S DISCOVERIES

ed in the  article now before you, and I further believe
that at that period all other phrenologists and mesmerists
WERE STRANGERS to them.
Brief Account of the Science of Neurology—written for
  The Edinburgh Phrenological Journal,  by Dr. Jas. R.
  Buchanan.
    The rapid march of invention and discovery which
characterises the present age, renders it necessary that
those who discover new facts and principles in science,
should not delay too long their publication, if they would
secure to themselves the honor of discovery.   That field
of scientific research which has been entered by myself,
is one so rich in matter, so easily entered by others, and
so abundantly covered with a tempting harvest, that  I
deemi it necessary, even now, to make known  what por-
tion of the harvest has been gathered  by myself, and
what  portion remains for future discovery.
    The field  alluded to, is that of Cerebral Physiology;
and the peculiar  mode of cultivating it  which I have
adopted, is that of exciting by external  applications the
different portions of the  brain, and  stimulating or sus-
pending their physiological functions  for the  purpose of
discovering what those functions are.
    The effects of cerebral action, being (as has been de-
monstrated by experiment) both  mental and corporeal,
we  are able, by exciting different  portions of the brain,
separately or  conjointly, to bring about any condition of
mind or body at which we may aim.
    That any external means should be able to control
the  action of  the brain, and that the action of the mind
should  be  modified  by  this cerebral excitement: in
short, that we should be able thus to call forth any of its 
                iff CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.            8l

 Faculties or emotions, with almost as much certainty anc-
 facility, as when we elicit the different notes of a musi-
 cal instrument, is a proposition so startling, as to  be ut-
 terly incredible to those who have not previously learned
 that our mental faculties  have their distinct cerebral or-
 gans.   From phrenologists, whose minds have been ex-
 panded and liberalized by the contemplation of the great
 truths of  their science, we expect a cordial wfeicome for
 the discovery,  by which their science, while immensely
 expanded  and  improved,  is rendered a  matter of  de-
 monstrable certainty,  not only in its general principles,
 but in all its details.
   To a certain extent, the cerebral action of any indi-
 vidual, may  be modified by direct applications to the
head;  but those prompt and decided  inipressiorts,  by
 means of  which  any  particular mental faculty nlay be
made for the  time to control all the actions artd thoughts
of the  subject—to display itself irt every look artd every
expression—are  practicable only with persons of more
than the  average susceptibility.  The  number of such,
however,  is sufficient  for our purposes : every city con-
tains hundreds of persons of suitable constitution.
   In  those of the greatest irrtpressibility, I have found
no difficulty in exciting anger,  piety,  obstinacy,  impa-
 tience, love,  hatred, fear, mirth, sympathy, fancy,  rea-
son, generosity, avarice, pride, vanity, humility, &c, sd
 as to  compel them  to display  the passion  excited.  I
have made them laugri or weep ; walk or be still;  fight
or apologise  for quarrelling; talk or  be silent; steal of
surrender  stolen articles;  lie pertinaciously, or confess
sincerely every  thing that might  be  asked; believe in
Mormonism,  ghosts, and all absurd superstitions, or deny
every thing supernatural, and even the contents of the
           K 
82      SKETCHES  OF BUCHANAN^ DISCOVERIES
Bible; caress children and animals, or repulse them, as
if  horrified  by the thought of  touching  them;  abuse
their nearest friends or relatives, and  then  offer  to go
upon their knees and sue for the pardort  of any  whom
they may have offended:  in short, there is  no variety, no
extravagance of action, which I have not found it prac-
ticable to produce, in some of my subjects, in a few min-
utes, while they were,  in all other respects, in their natu-
ral condition of mind  and body, at home, in the midst of
their friends and  their ordinary avocation's or amuse
ments.
   The control which I have found practicable over the
corporeal functions, is riot less striking and extreme than
Over the mental.   The body may be heated or cooled ;
the pulse may be changed into any of the niany condi-
tions of fulness, teiision,  force,  or frequency,  that can
be discovered  by the  most delicate tact;  the  muscular
system may be supplied  with an extraordinary vigor, or
rendered powerless ; the heart accelerated  and increased
in the force  of its action, or reduced to an entire suspen-
sion of its movements; the stomach made  to digest, to
vomit,or to suspend either action; the liver to secrete,
6r to suspend the secretion of bile ; the whole of  the ab-
dominal viscera  to perform vigorously,  or to suspend
their functions.  The eye, ear, hand, nose,  tongue, throat,
or salivary glands, may be made in a few moments to
perform, to  a greater  or less extent, of to suspend their
several functions of seeing, hearing, touching and feel-
ing, smelling, tasting, swallowing  and salivation.  In-
deed, there is not a single function of the human' system,
which may not, by operating upon1 its cerebral source, be
modified, accelerated, retarded or suspended.
    Or, to express it otherwise, every portion of the vital
economy is  under the control of portions of the cerebral 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
83
mass; and these portions have been by my experiments
ascertained with  sufficient  precision; to enable me to
produce with certainty any effect that I may wish upon
the body,  through the  medium of the controlling  power
of the brain.
   The  subjects of these experiments have been persons
of various characters  and conditions—many of a high
order of intelligence.   They have been made upon phy-
sicians,  clergymen, lawyers,  &c,  some  of whpm are
among the most distinguished in our country; and many
upon ladies, whose fine mental cultivation has added to
the resources of a vigorous  and discriminating intellect.
The incidents occurring with such persons could not but
be  deeply interesting.  The  scenes arising from these
experiments, happening  sometimes  in  private,  some-
times in fashionable parties, possess that wonderful and
romantic  interest  which  belongs to no department of
science  so much as to the higher walks of Anthropology.
Not even  the physical immensities of Astronomy afford
so vast and mysterious a theme, as the workings of the hu-
man mind.   Nor does any  other science offer so great a
multiplicity and diversity of phenomena,  resulting from
a few simple, fundamental laws.
    It is obvious, that  the variety of  facts and principles,
which have  thus  been developed,  cannot  be  properly
comprehended  by the  term Phrenology, which signifies
merely the science of  the mind.  It  became necessary to
find some term  more  comprehensive.   Anthropology,
which is  sufficiently  comprehensive,  is not sufficiently
specific.  Cerebrology, which is sufficiently specific,  is
not quite  sufficiently comprehensive.  I have, therefore,
brought into  use a term which has been well received, in
this country, which is at once  sufficiently specific and
sufficiently comprehensive—Necrology.   This word, by 
 84      SKETCHES  OF BUCHANAN'S DISCOVERIES

 which we  mean  the  science of the entire mass of the
 nervous substance in the body, whether central or radial,
 answers our purposes with precision, and  prevents the
 necessity of coining any new term.
    Neurology, while it incorporates  the entire mass  of
 Physiology with Phrenology, makes a revolution in the
 latter science.  Although  the greater  portion of the  or-
 gans discovered by Gall and Spurzheim, have been cor-
 rectly  described,  in the main, experiment has  proved
 about  one-third of the  number to  have  been incor-
 rectly  understood.  Nor does  the  catalogue  of Gall,
 Spurzheim,  Combe,  or Vimont, embrace a sufficient
 number  of functions  to explain the diversified  pheno-
 mena of  human character. We have been compelled, by
 the results of experiment, to make very large additions to
 this catalogue.  The extent to which we have been com-
 pelled  to go, will probably not a little startle  those who
 prefer  in all things to keep  the world as it is, and who
 recognize the phenomena of nature only so far  as may
 suit their inclinations.
   That  so large  a number of cerebral functions should
 exist, is,  however, a fact entirely reasonable and plausi-
 ble in itself.   The structure of the  brain, pays no great
 respect to  the arbitrary lines  by which  phrenologists
 have been accustomed to divide its organs.  On the con-
 trary, we find that the fibres of adjacent organs,  said  to
possess very distinct functions, often lie together in such
 a manner, as to defy any definition of the boundary be-
 tween  them.   The similarity of structure and position,
 always appeared to  my mind a strong argument  against
 the existence of any very distinct functions in fibres so
 near and  parallel.  The fact, too, that from the sympathy
 of contiguity,  these neighboring fibres must  partake  of
 each other's excitement,  and be generally  brought into 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
85
action together, gave additional strength to the opinion,
that  they could  not be destined to  the  performance of
entirely  independent  and dissimilar  functions.  This
opinion, being,  according  to  the pathognomic laws, a
matter of absolute certainty,  I  had taught it for some
years in my courses of lectures;  and, having brought it
to the test of experiment, have found it confirmed.
   Regarding the  convolutions as composed of fibres,
the functions of which vary  by insensible  gradations
from  point  to point, I expected to find the neighboring
organs of each  convolution, harmonious  in  their func-
tions; those farther apart, materially different; and those
occupying an intermediate position, manifesting an in-
termediate function; the whole,  blending, like the colors
of the prismatic spectrum, in a regular manner and with
an appropriate gradation.   Thus, in my experiments, I
have found that if any two portions of the brain, lying
adjacent in  the  same  convolution, gave  two different
functions,  their  points of  contact when  excited  gave a
function of  an intermediate character, very nearly such
as would  result from the blending of  their  powers.
Whenever a particular function has resulted from the ex-
citement of any spot, a slight variation of the  locality,
in any direction, would change the character of the phe-
nomena developed : and a change, in an opposite direc-
tion, would generally vary the result in an opposite man-
ner.  Instead of finding any considerable portion acting
as a unit,  and  manifesting entirely the same function,
some of those portions  which have been laid down as
distinct, prove to  be possessed  of not less  than three,
four, or five, distinguishable functions, which are in
some cases, materially different from those heretofore
ascribed to them.
    It is very probable, that there may be certain divisions 
86       SKETCHES OF BUCHANAN^  DISCOVERIES

and arrangements of the cerebral organs, which are sanc-
tioned by nature;  but what these natural subdivisions
are, I am not yet prepared to say.   I have adopted, for
my Neurological bust, that which seems most convenient
and accordant with the mental relations to the external
world, and with the phenomena  of the human constitu-
tion ;  an arrangement which cannot be called exact, but
which is certainly, in most respects, a near approximation
to the proper arrangement.
   The number of independent functions, which  may
thus be demonstrated by experiment, with an adequately
susceptible person, amounts to 166; but, for convenience
of instruction, I demonstrate usually not more than one
hundred.  With a subject of large brain, well cultivated
mind, and high susceptibility, I have  no doubt that  even
as many as two hundred might be shown.
   It  will probably be asked, whether the  physiological
and psychological  phenomena manifested by the brain,
do not originate in distinct portions,  thus preserving a
broad line  of demarcation between the mental and cor-
poreal.   To this, it must be replied, that no such distinc-
tion exists ;  but that every portion of the brain is charged
with the  control equally of the mind and of the body.
Each  portion produces a particular mental, and also a
particular corporeal effect, whenever called into action ;
whence results the  great and beautiful law of Anthropol-
ogy, that a particular condition of the body, accompanies
every  particular condition of the mind.  Upon this  law
we base the practicability of Moral Medicine ;  or, affect-
ing the body in a beneficial manner by mental influences.
Carrying out the operations of this law, to its ultimate
results, we see how certain shapes and conditions of the
body are connected by the links of causation with cer- 
IN  CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
87
tain emotions and traits of character, and may, therefore,
in a rational system of physiognomy, be relied upon as
a sufficient indication.   In this way only, can Physiogno-
my be rendered  a Science;  and for some years, I have
been endeavoring to give it that character.
   To illustrate  the  law just announced,  Jet me here
mention a few  examples.   That  portion  of  the  brain
which produces  the love of habitation, or  desire to live
in a house, produces also an  easy, pleasant condition of
the lungs, in which the inspiratory, oxygenating functions
are arrested or retarded, and the demand for fresh or cool
air, is very limited  ; by which condition, we are fitted for
living in close apartments.   Man, it is thus  proved, is
designed by Nature to  live in a house, and not entirely
in the open air.   That organ, which, when excited,  pro-
duces a vigorous action of the lachrymal glands, and an
effusion of tears, produces  also the most intense emo-
tions of sympathy.  That which gives the most delicate
visual sensibility, gives for its mental function, the per-
ception of light, shade, and distance.   That which gives
to the character the trait of Firmness,  gives  also corpo-
 real hardihood and insensibility.   That which gives the
 propensity for observation, gives  the eye  the power of
 enduring laborious use, and  the glare  of  intense light.
 Through all  the  phenomena of mind and  body, there is
 an exact parallelism, and an indissoluble connexion of
 the several parts of one to the sevefal parts of the other.
    These double functions, i. e., equally mental and cor-
 poreal, are so arranged in the brain, as to have  by conti-
 guity, a most harmonious co-operation; and  by antago-
 nismof position, a most perfect antagonism of function:
 the antagonistic organs, generally working together, and
 thereby preserving the just balance of  the human organ-
 ism, mentally and corporeally. 
88       SKETCHES OF BUCHANAN'S  DISCOVERIES

    All these mental and physiological phenomena, are
the results  of a few  simple laws ;  the rudiments of
which were traced out by the  original  discoveries of
Gall.   The results of my own investigations had shown
me, before I undertook Neurological  experiments,  that
these laws were  simple and universal, when applied to
Anthropology, and furnished a complete key to the whole
science of man.   Their nature may be illustrated by the
following proposition, viz :
    All mental phenomena, resulting fr6m any particular
organ, when in action, and all  the corporeal effects of
that organ, are associated with a certain  particular line
of action, which is called  the pathognomic line of that
organ.   As far as the influence of  that organ extends, it
tends to throw every thing  in the direction of that line,
and in that line only can it act.  So far a!$ our actions,
or the phenomena of the humari body correspond with
that line, they are the effect of that organ.   So far* as the
phenomena of Nature correspond with that line, they are
grateful to the organ ; and, so far as they  depart from it,
they are  disagreeable.  By  these  pathognomic  lines,
every muscular movement may thus be analyzed, and1 re-
ferred to  its  true cerebral sources:  the various distribu-
tions of innervation, and of blood  throughout the body,
are  as easily referred to their different cerebral causes  ;
and the expressive  movements of  the countenance, are
also easily understood, as emanations of peculiar cerebral
influences, the sources of  which,  may be traced  with
precision.  In consequence of these pathognomic lines,
by which the study of mind and  of physiology is so ex-
tremely simplified,  we  are enabled  to  announce the
broad, and indeed universal proposition, that  the whole
science of the mind, and of the body, is subject to clear
t 
                IN  CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.             89


and comprehensive  Mathematical Laws,  and will  ere

long become a science of mathematical clearness.*

    Neurology, is then  an exposition  of  the  following

general laws :

    1.   The brain governs and sustains every corporeal,

and performs every mental function.

    2.   The cerebral organs  may be  influenced directly

by external means,  and the  phenomena of mind thus

brought under control for scientific study, or  for thera-

peutic benefits.

    3.   The body, being under the absolute control of  the

brain,  may be  effectually managed  by cerebral  influ-

ences ; and diseases  may be  successfully treated by ope-

rations upon the head alone.

    4.   Every physiological is  indissolubly united to its

corresponding psychological function.

    5.   The peculiar condition of the  body  may  be in-

ferred  from  that of the  mind: and this may be made  a

very important method of diagnosis in  disease.  The  pe-

culiar  character and action of the mind, may be inferred

with equal certainty from the appearance of the  body; in

which law,  we have the broadest  basis for  Physiogno-

my.!

    6.   Every function, or organ, is associated for its bal-

ance and control  with  an  antagonist function  or organ;


   * I have made an interesting application of the pathognomic lines to the
analysis of the movements of the hand in writing.  By means of this sci-
ence, or art, which I call Chirognomy, I have found it practicable to infer
the character and the cerebral developement from the band  writing.  In
Borne respects,  Chirognomy is not inferior to Cranioscopy as a guide to
character.  Of late, I nave not given so much attention to this subject; but
others have taken it up and prosecuted it with success.  The principles of
Chirognomy are simple—the practice is difficult—the results are wonderful.

   t Each portion of the body, being connected with some passion, emo-
tion or faculty, there is a rational foundation for the conception  that the
passions are located in the viscera—a  conception, much nearer the truth,
than Phrenologist* have been willing to believe.

            I, 
90      SKETCHES OF  BUCHANAN'S DISCOVERIES

and by means of these laws of antagonism, the whole
mass  of Cerebral Physiology assumes a wonderful and
beautiful simplicity.
   7.   The functions  of the brain are indefinitely sub-
divisible, and are arranged  harmoniously in accordance
with the laws of the " sympathy of contiguity," and the
laws of antagonism.
   8.   The  various sympathies of the viscera, and  the
various concatenations of morbid phenomena in disease,
may be explained by the positions and sympathies of the
various  cerebral  organs.    Physiological  sympathy is
chiefly the effect of the contiguity and the antagonism
of cerebral organs.
   9.   All the  physiological and  psychological pheno-
mena  of man, as well as the positions of the cerebral or-
gans,  and his whole anatomical structure, are in harmo-
ny with certain pathognomic lines,  and  governed by
strict  mathematical laws.
   10.  The nervous  or cerebral influence, or fluid, is
radiated from the brain in the pathognomic lines of the
organs, and  is also efficiently conducted by the human
hand.
   To demonstrate the independent existence and trans-
missibility of a nervous fluid, establishes an important
point  in Physiology.  I have often performed a very sim-
ple experiment, by which it may be clearly established.
By taking  hold of a metallic rod, (a knife, pair of scis-
sors, poker, or whatever happens to be convenient,) we
may transmit the nervous fluid t through this conducting
medium, and produce striking effects  upon the person
who holds it by the other extremity. The subject should
be of an impressible constitution, and should keep the
arms  relaxed, while the operator  grasps the rod firmly,
making some  muscular exertion.  In a few  minutes, 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
91
something like an electric aura is felt, passing up the
arm, and it becomes gradually benumbed from the hand
to the shoulder.   If continued, this influence is diffused
over the whole system.  I have mentioned this experi-
ment to others,  who have repeatedly performed it with
entire success.
    11.   This influence is susceptible of being transmit
ted from one person to another of the proper susceptibil-
ity;  and in some cases, the action of all the intellectual
and affective organs  may be thus transmitted, reproduc-
ing in the subject, the sensations, emotions, and thoughts
of the  operator.   This transmission may be made either
through the hand, or by direct radiation from the head.
    12.   The  phenomena of  Animal Magnetism, are
nothing more than peculiar displays of the cerebral func-
tions, and Of the laws  of the nervous fluid which are es-
tablished by  Neurology.
    13.   Every organ has certain relations to its1 class of
objects and phenomena in Nature;  and there is an exact
adaptation of all the inclinations and  powers of the dif-
ferent organs, to all the phenomena and objects irt the ex-
ternal  world.
    For instance, each organ prefers  a particular color
and a particular note  in music: it is, therefore, practi-
cable, to  determine  what style of coloring will be used
by a painter,,- with a given form Of head, and what style
of music will be the favorite of a certain composer;  or
to take a particular  piece of music, and determine from
its notes and measure, the exact effect that  it will have
upon the different organs of the brain.  What we say of
music and colors,  is  equally applicable to voices, lan-
guage,  scenery,  gestures, dress, &c.  In modifying the
cerebral action,  I have  succeeded  not only in changing
the inclinations for particular styles of music,,or for par- 
92      SKETCHES  OF BUCHABAn's DISCOVERIES

ticular notes and classes of notes, but have even changed
the pitch- of  the voice; and,  in one case, enlarged its
6ompass,  making  it reach two notes higher and three
notes lower than the lady had ever been able to attain
before.
    The predilections of the different organs for  colors,
are such as to lie  together in  the same order of arrange-.
ment,  which we observe  in the rainbow and  the  pris-
matic spectrum.   I  have painted two crania,  with the
colors  of the organs, and the display is as interesting as
beautiful.  The color of Destructiveness is a dark bloody
red, and many of  the other organs  are as appropriately
colored.   By operating upon the head of a  painter, and
requesting him, as I called up  various colors  to his mind,
to paint them upon the organ  excited, I obtained a very
accurate delineation.  In a similar  manner, I traced the
relation of the organs to musical  notes, and established
the relations  which the musical scale bears to the scale
of colors.  At  some future time, I propose to demon-
strate experimentally, that harmonific colors may be dis-
played by an appropriate  apparatus which I  have invent-
ed, in such a manner, as to constitute a  most brilliant
and pleasing species of music, to be enjoyed,  either in-
dependently, or in connexion with vocal  and instru-
mental music.
    14.   It is practicable, in many cases, by direct opera-
tions upon the brain, to revolutionize  the character and
constitution; to conduct education in a more successful
manner,  and to treat not only monomania, but many
vices and crimes, as curable diseases.

    To develope and illustrate  the foregoing propositions,
is my object  in the works which I am now preparing for
 the press.  It  is needless to  dwell upon the importance
 of these doctrines to science  and humanity.   A few re- 
IN  CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
03
marks, however, maybe offered by way of additional ex-
planation.  But it is not my purpose here to offer more
than the general propositions, which may show distinctly
the nature of my discoveries.  Some of the  more novel
and important points, relating to the functions of the or-
gans, will be mentioned.
    1.  Of the senses, we are  able to demonstrate the
localities of not less than twelve.
     Sight,     Odor,    Thirst,    Thermal Sense,
     Hearing,  Flavor,   Hunger,    Electric Sense,
     Touch,    Taste,    Feeling,    Sense of Touch.
    The number might be increased, by adding  others
which have a less definite claim to  be recognized as dis-
tinct senses.
    Of the  existence  of the Electric Sense, my experi-
ments give ample demonstration.   I have frequently ex-
cited it,  until the exalted sensibility became intensely
painful.  The sensations of my  subjects, they declared,
were almost  horrible.  In this state of excitement, even
the contact of their fingers  with each  other, was  more
than they could endure.  The  effects of an exalted  ex-
citement of the organs of the senses, afe almost incredi-
ble.  I am  induced  to believe, that with some  of my
subjects, it would not be  impossible to approximate the
sensibility,  which would "die of  a  rose  in  aromatic
pain."
    The organs of Force,  Touch, Heat, Electricity, and
Feeling, lie together, at the anterior extremity of the mid-
dle  lobe.   The frontal aspect of the middle lobe, thus
possesses an humble grade of intellectual power.   The
most intellectual of these organs,  the  Sense of  Force,
lies  most anteriorly, appearing to run  into the front
lobe.
    2.  There is an organ producing intrepidity, and an- 
 94      SKETCHES OF  BUCHANAN'S DISCOVERIES

 other producing physical insensibility, lying adjacent to
 each  other, nearly in  the  region assigned by  Gall to
 Firmness.
    By means of the latter organ,  I  have made ladies of
 the greatest delicacy of  constitution, capable of enduring
 severe blows, and even so insensible, as to pull out their
 own hair freely, without minding  it or feeling the  pain.
 In this condition of insensibility, they would strike their
 knuckles against any solid body, as hard as I would per-
 mit them, and feel no sensation of pain until I restored
 their  physical  sensibility.  Upon the restoration being
 made, they would complain of the pain  in the knuckles
 from the blow, or of the smarting  where the hair had
 been pulled from the  head;  and it would become neces-
 sary again to diminish their physical sensibility.
   3,  The antagonists of  Self-esteem,  and Vanity, lie
 upon the side head, in  the regions assigned to  Sublim-
 ity, Ideality,.&c, which originate  admiring and respect-
 ful sentiments.
   4.  The organs of Acquisitiveness and Secretive-
 ness, are in the occiput adjacent to Combativeness, and
their antagonists  are in the neighborhood of Benevo-
 lence.
   In exciting the different cerebral organs, I have some:
 times, unawares, excited  Secretiveness,  and found  that
 all of a sudden my intercourse with my subject was sus-
 pended.  She would answer no questions whatever, and
 seemed immoveable as a  statue,  by any appeal that I
 could  make.   Taking  my subject in company engaged
 in social intercourse,  the  excitement of  Secretiveness
 would promptly isolate her from surrounding influences,
 until  she  seemed unconscious of the existence of any
 person in the room ;  as she would  hold no intercourse
 with any  one,  and  gave no  symptom of recognition 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
95
when addressed.   The Gallian  system of Phrenology
is, however, not entirely untrue in reference to Secretive-
ness ; as secret and roguish dispositions are manifested
upon the side of  the head, in very nearly the  locality to
which they were referred by Gall and Spurzheim.  That
moral species of Secretiveness, which produces personal
reserve  and  modesty—which  restrains  licentiousness
and indecency—which suggests the ideas of clothing and
privacy, lies also very nearly as  phrenologists had  lo-
cated Secretiveness.
    The manifestations of  Acquisitiveness, going even so
far as to produce  theft, in addition to striking  displays of
Covetousness, left no room to entertain a doubt as to the
locality and functions of that organ.
    These cases are so striking, and perhaps unique, as to
deserve to  be briefly mentioned.    Mrs. A, and Mrs. B.,
as we will call the ladies,  were the subjects in the pres-
ence of their husbands and other company.   A. was sit-
ting  at the tea-table;  the meal having just  been taken,
when I undertook to  make her  steal.  When she  was
not observing me, I had placed  a few small pieces of
money upon  the table near her, that she might have
something to steal, whenever the disposition  came upon
her.  I began to excite Acquisitiveness;' and in a short
 time, her countenance showed that some impression was
 made.   She noticed the money which lay near her,  but
 made no  remark.   As soon as she observed  that no one
 was looking towards herself, she seized the money and
 put it in her lap under the table by a sudden movement;
 while her countenance showed  that peculiar roguish ex-
 pression,  which belongs to those  who  covet what is
 around them, but are unwilling to let it be known.  Her
 husband,  and others, who had noticed the act, began to
 enquire and look around  for the small change which was 
90       SKETCHES OF  BUCHANAN'S DISCOVERIES

missing.  She pretended to be entirely ignorant, and at
length denied that there had been any there at all, while
she kept it carefully hid under her apron.   The search
was given up, and the experiment continued, by placing
other  articles within her reach, and giving her an oppor-
tunity to take them.  These she  stole with more  bold-
ness than before,  as the covetous passion was  growing
stronger.  Whenever she got possession of an article by
any means, she would  not give  it up; and would very
soon hide it in her lap, and deny that she either had it or
had ever seen it.   If any thing was displayed before her,
she would  beg permission to handle it, to try  it  on, to
compare it with something else, or to borrow it for a few
minutes ; and when she obtained possession, she would
either claim it upon some  frivolous pretence, or conceal
it, and deny knowing any thing about  it.   After display-
ing her theft and falsehood  for about fifteen or 20 min-
utes, I reversed the operation, exciting a liberal commu-
nicative disposition.  Her character was reversed in five
or six minutes, and she found herself in possession of a
number of arricles carefully hid in her apron, for the pos-
session of which she could not account.  So quick and
complete was the revolution, that what had just hap-
pened,  escaped her as a dream which we forget  upon
waking.  She could not believe  that she had stolen  the
articles, but insisted that  they must have been put into
her lap without her knowledge, and proceeded to  en-
quire  into their ownership and restore them.  This sud-
den forgetfulness,  is a common feature of  those experi-
ments, in which very great revolutions are made in  the
feelings of the  subject.  Eventuality  must be  excited,
before they can recollect what they have done and said.
   Mrs. B. was  tried  after  Mrs. A.,  and in about  ten
minutes, stole a watch from  a gentleman who had left it 
              IN  CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.             97

upon the table; and, having hid it, denied the posses-
sion of it entirely.  Search was made about  the room,
and  as the examiner approached her, overcome  by the
fear  of detection, she ran out of the  room, but was in-
duced to slop in the passage.  Her usual  manners were
quite dignified and lady  like;  but on this occasion, her
manners  and expression of countenance were entirely
changed from what was natural.   By kind promises, I
induced her  to let me  approach her;  and, having re-
moved the  acquisitive influence, she gave up what she
had  taken.   Upon being asked what  was her  design
when she ran from the room, she replied, that it was to
hide the watch out of doors, or to throw  it away.
   Both  of the ladies showed some mortification at the
result of the experiment, and an unwillingness to believe
when we told them what they had done.   Similar  experi-
ments were subsequently repeated; and, urttil I became
familiar with the exact location of Acquisitiveness,  I
found  that it would become strongly excited at times,
before I discovered  that I had  touched the spot.  The
description which, when restored, they gave of their feel-
ings under the excitement, showed that they were urged
by an  irresistible impulse to take whatever they wished,
which made them blind to the nature and consequences
of the act.   On one occasion, Mrs. A. had been  excited
to stealing and lying, by Acquisitiveness and  Secretive-
ness ; after which,  I excited her sense of honor to the
 highest pitch.   She had entirely forgotten what had hap-
 pened in  the  former  condition; and   when accused.
 stoutly denied that  she had ever told  a  falsehood, or
 taken what did not belong to her.  I excited her Eventu-
 ality, and brought the incidents before her mind distinct-
 ly.  The effect was striking.  She sat for some minutes
            M 
 98      SKETCHES OF BUCHANAN'S DISCOVERIES

 silent and  motionless; as if overcome by  horror and
 shame, engrossed in painful thoughts.   I had never seen
 such a picture of agonized pride.   She said afterwards,
 that she felt as if she  wished she could sink into the
 earth to escape her shame.
    5.  The organ  of Fear lies at the anterior extremity
 of the region heretofore devoted to Secretiveness.
    This  being a very powerful and painful emotion, we
 cannot be mistaken in its excitement: nor have I, in lo-
 cating this organ, relied upon any slight or uncertain evi-
 dence.  I may remark of this, as of all the other organs
 of which I speak with positiveness,  that I have pushed
 their excitements as far  as my subjects would permit me
 to go ; or as far as was compatible with a due regard to
 their health; and,  indeed, sometimes to the extent of in-
 flicting  temporary injury by the exhausting displays of
passion.   This is  more  particularly true, in reference to
 terror, anger, and grief.
    6.  The  faculties of  Concentrativeness and Inhabit-
iveness have distinct cerebral locations;  yet  neither
 Combe,  Spurzheim, nor Vimont, has given their loca-
tions  correctly.  Inhabitiveness lies at the angle of the
parietal bone, (punctum ossificationis,) a spot  heretofore
assigned to  the organ of Cautiousness.   Patriotism  has
a distinct location between Inhabitiveness and Conscien-
tiousness.  The organ, heretofore  called Concentrative-
ness,  is a portion of the organ of Self-Esteem,  produc-
 ing the love of  rank and power.
    7.  The  intellectual  organs  cannot be  properly di-
vided into the perceptive and reflective.  They are all
reflective, and  equally so: reflection is  the essence of
their functions.  The power of  perception depends upon
 the co-operation of certain occipital  organs with the in-
 tellectual, by which  their action  is directed to external 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
99
 objects.   With this occipital co-operation, each intellect-
 ual organ takes cognizance of what is before it, observ-
 ing those things to which its function is adapted.  The
 perceptive, knowing, and reflective faculties, as they are
 at present styled, are, properly speaking, the powers of
 conceiving  physical objects,  action or change, and ab-
 stract principles.   The gradation of the intellectual or-
 gans,  from the physical  to the abstract, admits of six
 distinct sub-divisions.
    8.   The separations and sub-divisions of the affective
 functions, which have been demonstrated, are of some
 importance.
    Mirthfulness, or Humor, is distinguishable from Wit;
 Gaiety, or  Cheerfulness,  belongs to the organs which
 regulate the animal spirits; and Laughter, is produced by
 an organ in the base of the brain.  Expression, may be
 distinguished from Imitation; and Credulity, from Su-
 pernaturality.   Our kindly emotions have five distinct
 organs; three of them lying together: Liberality, Sym-
 pathy, and Benevolence;  one adjacent to Veneration and
 Hope, called Philanthropy; and one upon the parietal
 ridge,  which may be called Good Nature.   Physical
 Beauty, Grace, and Refined Sentiment, stand related to
 three adjacent  organs.  The same may be remarked of
 Physical Grandeur, Moral Greatness, and Grand Events,
 or Displays of Power.  Filial Piety proves to be a dis-
 tinct emotion from Veneration.   The  organ of the for-
 mer emotion is one inch from that of the latter, lying
 between Hope  and Marvelousness.  Wonder proves to
 be distinct from Supernaturality, and has a more intel-
 lectual location.  Our spirits are regulated, not by Hope
and Cautiousness alone, but by a series of organs, lying
around the head near a plane, which runs through the ears
and  bisects at right angles the median  plane, passing 
100      SKETCHES OF  BUCHANAN's DISCOVERIES

between the hemispheres.   Fancy, Romance,  Solitude,
Antiquity,  Tranquillity, Patience, Zeal, Sincerity,  Obe-
dience, &c, are sub-divisions of the moral organs, which
are easily demonstrable, and cannot properly be omitted.
   9.   The intellectual  organs admit  of an extremely
minute sub-division; but we refer only to that of Time,
Tune,  Language,  Combination,  System,  Eventuality,
Motion.  We  find the power  of perceiving special  pe-
riods, as the time of day, distinct from that of perceiving
the succession of events.   The power of  recollecting re-
mote events,  is  distinct  from that  of recollecting  the
recent.  The power of perceiving pitch, is  distinct from
that  of perceiving harmony.   The power of articulation,
is distinct  from that of perceiving vowel sounds.   The
power of construction, as  in  building, is distinct from
that  of combining moving objects in machinery or  tac-
tics : this again, is distinct from the more general power
of planning.   The power of systematizing, is  distinct
from that of producing order.   The power of perceiving
light and shade, belongs to  a  distinct organ from that of
color ;  lying between Form and Size.  (Form is  situated
a little more internally than was supposed.)    The power
of perceiving motion, belongs  to  anew organ, just below
Eventuality, which is sub-divisible into at least four dis-
tinct portions, perceptive of different kinds of motion.*
    10.  In reference  to  the  occipital organs, we have
 important  propositions to present.  Conjugal Attachment
 lies not exterior to Philoprogenitiveness, but just  above
 it on the median line.   The various forms of attachment
 produced by the occiput, need not now be detailed; but
 the  general remark may be  made, that  the moral and

   * My attention was first directed to these sub-divisions* of motion bv
 finding that an old blind woman, whose sight I had partially restored was
 able, under one operation, to perceive  the vertical portions of the  window
 sash  alone, and under another, the horizontal. 
IN WJBEBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
101
disinterested portion of any attachment is entirely inde-
pendent of the occiput.  Friendship, or love,  properly
speaking, cannot exist  independent of the coronal and
frontal organs.  The action of the  occipital alone, pro-
duces an attachment entirely of  a selfish and domineer-
ing character.  I have found some  difficulty in settling
upon the exact names to be applied to the occipital or-
gans ; nor have I yet decided  whether to use the names
expressive of the compound function which results from
the occipital organs acting in  conjunction with their an-
tagonists, or those which result from the occipital action
alone.   To illustrate these remarks, I would mention the
fact, that the organ which  has been called  Philoprogeni-
tiveness, but which really manifests only the animal half
of the Philoprogenitive functions, does,when excited alone
into predominant  action, become one of the  most mis-
chievous and malignant propensities, although when ope-
rating in conjunction with its moral associate,  it is one of
the most beneficial to humanity.  Having once carried this
excitement to a great extreme,  the feelings and expres-
sions of my subject became coarse, vindictive, and hor-
 rible.   They were too  revolting  to be detailed.  Al-
though this excitement was effectually removed,  at the
time, for  some days afterwards the same associations
would obtrude themselves upon  her memory, and she de-
clared her determination never to have any such feelings
revived by an operation upon her head.
    11.  The organ of  Amativeness lies in the internal
portion of the middle lobe, in the region containing also
urination,  defecation,  calorification,  respiration, &c,
 with which it is connected.   It  is immediately surround-
ed by several organs which originate the acts  and physi-
 cal conditions that are associated with the excitement of
 Amativeness.   The Cerebellum is not  the organ either 
  102     SKETCHEB  OF BUCHANAJBf's DISCOVERIES

  of Amativeness, muscular strength, or physical sensibil-
  ity.  Its function was  better  conceived by  the older
  physiologists, than by the more modern.   We cannot yet
  demonstrate the precise nature of the powers, but regard
  it as controlling the lymphatic and nutrient functions.
     12.  The various tissues and organs of the body, are
 under the control of the cerebral organs, which send or
 remove their supply of blood, and  of others which send
 or withhold their  supplies of innervation.  The locality
 of these organs can  be distinctly demonstrated by exper-
 iments, such as I have  often  performed, in which  the
 functions of any part of the  body may be excited, as far
 as is compatible with the safety and health of the sub-
 ject.  The range  of vision, the muscular strength,  or
 the  powers of hearing,  may be increased  tenfold:  the
 appetite made ravenous, or  changed  to a  loathing of
 food: any of the principal secreting and excreting organs
 may be put into action, and kept excited,  until the secre-
 tion or excretion will either make itself visible, or if  in-
 ternal, will be felt distinctly by the subject.  The Phy-
 siology and Therapeutics  based upon Neurological dis-
 coveries, I hope, in due time to  lay before  the public in a
 practical treatise.
   The  light  which  these discoveries  shed  upon  the
 subject of Physiological Sympathy, bids fair, not only to
 render it intelligible, but to reduce all its extremely com-
plicated phenomena,  to a few general laws of the most
perfect simplicity.   Portions  of the body, controlled by
contiguous portions of the brain, sympathise with each
other, in consequence of the direct sympathy of contiguity
in the brain, and antagonist  portions of the brain estab-
lish a reverse sympathy in the portions of the body which
they  control.   Thus we explain, by direct sympathy  of
contiguity,  sudden death by poison, and most of the inv 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
103
portant sympathies of the system with the stomach ;  the
effects of fear  upon  the heart,  stomach, and bowels ;
the trembling and shivering produced by cold ; the sud-
den alternations of heat and cold in uterine and  hemor-
rhoidal diseases ; the operations of malaria in producing
cholera, fever, ague, &c.; the timidity attendant upon
severe diseases of the heart;  the melancholy connected
with certain conditions of the hypocondriac viscera, and
the cheerful hope of the consumptive invalid who  is even
in the hands of death.  By the antagonistic sympathy we
explain,  for example, the cramps  and cold  sweats of
cholera ; the sudorific effects  of  certain medicines ; the
operation of heat  in producing perspiration, languor, de-
bility, and  epidemic diseases ; the prevalence of  hepatic
disease in warm climates ; the sympathy of the liver with
the shoulder and with the head; the  effects of blisters,
sinapisms to the back or the occiput  in ophthalmia and
cataract; the effects  of hepatic disease upon the  counte-
nance ;  the fortitude of the victims of  cholera;  the de-
pressing effects of hunger ;  the wholesome effects of dis-
agreeable medicines,  &c. &c.
   In  applying the principles  of Neurology, to the treat-
ment of  disease,  as  dyspepsia,  hypocondriasis,  nausea,
local pains connected various  affections,  rheumatism,
palpitation, ophthalmia, ophthalmodynia, blindness, in-
termittent  fever, partial  deafness, cutaneous eruptions,
pericarditis, constipation, coldness of  the feet,  general
debility, &c, I have found ample confirmation  of what
was developed in healthy subjects.  I have found, too, that
there is a  class of persons, over whom cerebral  excite-
ments exercise so prompt and powerful a control, that we
may  accomplish with them far more  than can be accom-
plished by medication, in a very prompt and precise man-
ner  When any particular symptom, or any peculiar form 
 104    SKETCHES OF BUCHANAN'S  DISCOVERIES

 of disease exists,  instead of administering through the al-
 imentary canal, articles  which may affect the whole con-
 stitution, producing other effects in addition to those we
 wish, and often  creating additional disease, we address
 our operations to the exact state of  the system and the lo-
 cality that is affected.   A most admirable illustration of
 this has recently occurred in a case of pericarditis, which
 was seen by Dr. Caldwell, in the stage of convalescence.
 That these discoveries, when fully carried out, will effect
 a revolution in Medical Science, is as certain as the regu-
 lar course of the  seasons.   How far  that revolution may
 go in changing the practice, I am not  yet prepared to say;
 but, in regard to  the Philosophy of Medicine, it may be
 affirmed  that now, for  the  first time, we may obtain a
 sufficient basis for that Philosophy.
   I have not yet undertaken the application of Neurolo-
gy to Monomania, in which  it must be  our  only proper
 guide.   It needs no great sagacity to foresee the benefits
 which it may confer  in the treatment of that disease.
A still greater benefit, I anticipate, will be conferred upon
humanity, by the successful treatment of an  infirmity
 which has ever been the source of a frightful mass of mis-
 ery,  disease and  death—the propensity for intoxicating
 drinks.   I hope, ere long, to show practically that this is
 strictly a medicable disease.  I  find in all my subjects
 that I can with ease produce a thirst for ardent spirits, or
 remove the appetite when created.  The most delicate
 females, who have never tasted any thing of the kind, and
 who cannot endure the stimulus of a single spoonful  in
 their natural condition, have been made not only to drink
 freely and with impunity of  strong brandy and whiskey,
 but to complain that it was not strong enough, expressing
 a suspicion  that  it had been mixed with water.   The
 love of stimulus  is thus  an essential part of our constitu- 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.           105
 tion, and one  that may be perfectly controlled.  Those
 to whom I gave so strong a thirst for ardent spirits, were
 as easily made to loathe the drink which they had just
 been craving.  This appetite, which is not artificial, and
 therefore cannot be destroyed by moral  influences and
 changes of the habits of society, but must remain through
 future time associated with human nature as a perpetual
 source of danger, can be adequately met  only by those
 means which control cerebral action more potently than
 eloquence, example, or persuasion.  These means are ap-
 plicable when  we learn the exact locality of the organ
 which gives rise to the love of stimulus.
    Finally, our System of Psychology and Physiology
 is completed by the discovery of the true law of co-ope-
 ration between cerebral organs, growing out of the mutu-
 al relations of the hemispheres of the brain, which may
 be expressed thus: Every organ has  another portion of
 the brain co-operative with its action when excited, serv-
 ing to sustain,  and indeed we  may even say, making a
part of, its function.   The mode in which this is effected,
 is as follows : whenever any portion  of a hemisphere is
excited, the circulation of its connected, or opposite half
of the body is materially modified by its controlling pow-
er, its entire circulation being under the  control of its
 governing hemisphere.  Thus, if any part of the left hem-
 isphere is excited, the circulation of the entire  right half
of the body,  including  the  right cerebral  hemisphere,
would be changed,  and the circulation would be urged
with greater impetus to and through  particular parts of
the  right half of the body and the  right  hemisphere ;
hence particular organs  of the right hemisphere would be
called into play, and others retarded by the influence em-
anating from the left. Each portion of the left modifies,
in a particular manner,  the circulation of the right henv 
106      SKETCHES OF BUCHANAN'S  DISCOVERIES

isphere, which, in turn, acts equally upon the left; so that
if any organ should be  excited in both hemispheres at
once, which is the usual  course of Nature, each hemis-
phere will have in action the co-operative organs excited
by the other.    The exact tendency of each organ of one
hemisphere in exciting the other, is determinable by the
Pathognomic laws, and is also shown by the harmony of
certain functions with each other.  Co-operative functions
are, therefore, so located, as to be able to co-operate with
each other by means of the reaction of the hemispheres,
in obedience  to the unvarying  Mathematical Laws of
Pathognomy.-
   The vast magnitude  and perfect  simplicity of  the
Psychologico-Physiological system, of which we  have
stated the principal features, would lead to the opinion
that it might be merely an ingeniously devised theory ;
but based as  it is upon experiments, which may easily be
repeated, that impression cannot exist long with investi-
gating minds.  It is characteristic of  all sciences, that,
as the  multitude  of their facts increases, we perceive
more  and  more  distinctly the general principles and
laws which  pervade them;  and the heterogeneous mass
which fatigued our comprehension, exhausted our inge-
nuity, and burdened our memory, becomes an orderly ar-
rangement—an  easily intelligible and  pleasing  study.
Most especially does this prove true of the most abstruse
of all studies, the "proper  study of mankind," which
began with Gall to assume the form of an exact science.
To this science, under the title of Neurology, the  atten-
tion of the cultivators of science  has been called;  and
if that call is met in the spirit of Philanthrophy, Justice
and Truth, the present generation will enjoy in plenitude,
the  blessings of an educational, moralizing and health-
 giving science.
    Louisville, Ky., April 2, 1842. 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
107
DESCRIPTION, GIVEN BY MESSRS. LYON AND MARTIN,
   OF THE EXPERIMENTS  WHICH WERE MADE UPON
   themselves.
                                 Thursday, May 5.
   Dear Sir :  The Neurological experiments in which we
have recently been engaged, were extremely interesting
and instructive to myself, and the more so, on account of
the extreme caution and scepticism with which you spoke
of the effects which were produced.   You seemed deter-
mined to admit nothing which was  not clear, distinct,
and positive: yet from the extreme impressibility of your
temperament, were enabled  in some cases to describe
phenomena as  distinct and satisfactory, as  I have  ob-
served in any other case.
   I  would like to have you state, in reply to this note,
what are your recollections of the experiments performed
upon   yourself, in what  manner you were affected, and
with  what degree  of vividness and  reality the  various
changes  presented themselves to your mind during the
experiments.
           With much respect, yours, &c,
                                Jos. R.  Buchanan.
   S.  S.  Lyon.
                          Louisville, May 6, 1842.
  Dear Sir: Your note requesting me to give you some
account of the experiments made last winter in Neurolo-
gy, of which I was the subject, has been received; and,
although I feel totally unable to  give it with that exact-
ness and order in the detail of the facts that may be  ne-
cessary for your purpose, I feel desirous as far as my re-
collection serves, to supply you with an account of all
the facts themselves, and of my feelings and observations
at the time. 
108     sketches  of  Buchanan's discoveries
    On  witnessing your' experiment on  Mr. Comstock,
sometime last winter, for the head ache, after the close of
one of the lectures delivered by you at  the time, I be-
came desirous of testing in my own person what then ap
peared  to me very extraordinary at least, if not totally
above the power of man;  and on the  night  alluded to,
at my request, you proposed and tried the experiment of
the metallic  bar.  You presented  to me a small bar of
iron or steel, seven or eight inches long and about three
eighths of an inch square, with a polished surface.  I was
directed to take one end of the bar, while you took hold
of the other end, which you appeared to grasp tightly, de-
siring me to hold the  end in my  hand loosely, or without
grasping.  I  was full  of  suspicion of imposition, and
was as watchful as I was capable of being, that I should
not be made  to deceive myself;  at  the same time  I was
as careful to note any unusual feeling  that I might have
at the time of the experiment.   Thus guarded, I must
say that to my great surprise I felt what  appeared to me
like the shocks from  the Magnetico-Electric  machine,
(which I had tried at Dr. Smith's sometime  previously,)
with this exception, that the tremulous motion appeared
to be  more rapid, and of much less power.  The experi-
ment  has been repeated often  since  in yours and the
hands of others, with  varied effect and force.  In the
hand of some, with sufficient  force  to benumb the arm;
in the hand of others, with no sensation  whatever.
    You will, no doubt, recollect that during the time of
the experiments before the committee  of the medical
class, that I was made the  subject of experiments of an-
other and different order.   You,  at that time, tried the ef-
fect you might be able  to produce in me, by exciting the
different portions of  the cerebral mass, by applying the
fingers to the surface of the head and face.  At the time 
               IN cerebral physiology.           109

of this experiment, I was not acquainted with your loca-
tion of the organs of the mind in the brain.  You will
probably recollect, that the effort you made to excite the
posterior portion  of the head, did not produce results so
striking as you had anticipated.   The  only effect of the
application of the fingers  to the back part of the head
was, if any, to dull the desire I might have had to  con-
tinue the experiment.  I did not care about any thing-
was not concerned—perfectly indifferent.  This was not
of very long duration,  however.   I observed a burning
sensation on  the  head  where your fingers were  placed,
and desired you to desist.
    I recollect you then  proposed to the committee to write
the effect you intended to produce, so that I might not be
able to know the effect intended.   Several experiments
then followed.  You were able to give the committee
satisfaction on many of them.  Two only,  as near as I
can recollect, failed to satisfy them.   The experiment
intended to modify the pulse, and the  one intended to di-
rect my thoughts  to the future.  I was perfectly satisfied
myself, of your most complete and entire success in the
latter.   That  my  tlioughts were irresistibly directed to
the future,  I am fully assured.  The committee supposed
that the questions of some one of themselves had given
that tone to my mind, and they did not consider it con-
clusive.  I will at this place note, that all the experi-
ments of this  character, of which I have been  the  sub-
ject, have  produced a burning sensation on the  scalp
where the fingers  have been placed.   The sensation pro-
duced  on any part of the top of  my head has  been of
such  a physically painful nature,  that I have not in all
cases  been able  to carefully note my mental feeling at
the time.
    One experiment I will note particularly.   At the time 
110    sketches of Buchanan's  discoveries

you were operating to direct my thoughts to the past, the
questions of the Committee led me to suppose you were
trying to  operate on the  part of the  head to induce
thoughts of the future: but I could not direct my thoughts
to the future, although I repeatedly tried  to do so.   They
immediately returned to the past, and were fixed on the
things of my earliest  boyhood—of friends who had long
since passed away;  and, with all my efforts, I was not
able to dwell on any event that had happened at a less
distant period than twenty years. I was  truly disappoint-
ed, when I found that you had been trying to  induce the
very order of feeling I had just passed through.
    The part of my head which you are kind enough to
say is in the most active operation, is easily affected.  I
am strongly affected by the experiments on the top and
frontof the head; less so on the side, and much less on
the back of the head.
    There were also performed by you a  series of experi-
ments, of which I was the subject, in which you proposed
to ascertain if  possible, if it was a fact that the different
organs when excited would direct  the mind to one  color
in preference to  other colors.  Under  the operation of
the excitement of most  of the different organs of the
brain, my mind most promptly directed itself, or was di-
rected, to various colors; differing according to the or-
gan operated upon (or the part of  the  head subjected to
the touch of the fingers.)   In almost all of  the experi
ments of this character, the choice for positive colors, or
a compound of colors, making a tint of  an intermediate
character, was  remarkably decided and  fixed during the
operation ; and any color not in harmony, or the opposite
color, was  offensive to the sight in a  positive degree.
The experiments  of this  character were continued, you
are aware, during the period of several days, with uni- 
               IN CEREBRAL  PHYSIOLOGY.           Ill

formly the same effect, but in different degrees.   Some
of the operations produced in my mind when the eyes
were closed a positive and vivid\j?erception of the most
vivid  color, which  was  by a change in the operation
promptly  changed,  and another color substituted in its
stead.   Some few experiments were made.in reference
to sounds ; but as they were not carried to any great ex-
tent, I am not capable  of judging as to the uniformity of
effect produced, or that in all cases the tone received any
very positive fixedness  in the mind.  Some of the tones
were definitely fixed, as A natural, D natural, F sharp.
You will excuse the  manner  of this statement; and
should any of the statements need explanation, I shall at
any time be most happy to afford any further explanation
that be required.
           Yours, very respectfully,
                                  Sidney S. Lyon.
   Dr. Jos. R.  Buchanan.
                          Louisville, May 5, 1842.
  Dear Sir: The experiments  upon the  cerebral func-
tions in which we have recently been engaged, were ex-
tremely interesting and instructive to myself as operator,
and I believe almost as much so to yourself as the sub-
ject.
   As you have been the subject, and felt the true char-
acter  and exact extent of these  operations,  much more
definitely than I could conceive  them, I would be much
gratified to have your views on the subject in full.
             Yours, with respect,
                                Jos. R. Buchanan.
   A. Martin,  Resident, Marine Hospital. 
112     SKETCHES  OF BUCHANANS DISCOVERIES
           Louisville Marine Hospital, May 6, 1842,
   Dear Sir:  Your note of the 5th instant is before me,
in which you request me to give my "views in full," in
relation to the experiments that were performed upon
me,  by yourself, and particularly my views  concerning
Neurology, previous to the time I was subjected to ex-
periment.
   I  do  not  know that I was ever ready  to  believe
in ghosts  and hobgoblins, or to take  any thing as
being true, without the most convincing  proof.  If my
memory  serves me  correctly,  I saw  you for the  first
time, sometime in the latter part of November, 1841.
I was informed that you  had been teaching a new sci-
ence, under the name of Neurology,  and  that you had
been  performing  miracles by placing your fingers or
hands upon certain  prominent points of the cranium,
and  performing various other  manipulations upon the
people's skulls  I said to  myself,  is it possible that a
man possessing ordinary sense,  will, in this enlightened
age, attempt to palm off so great an imposition upon the
public?   Will he, said I, come to Louisville and make us
believe that he  is an inspired man,  and that he has  only
to touch the surface of our scalps to take the control of
all our faculties?
   In about ten days from the time I first saw you, you
called at the Hospital to obtain a particular skull, (I was
absent,)  and left me a note enclosing a  ticket inviting
me to attend your lectures. I  came to the conclusion
that I would go, and if possible try to detect, if there was
any thing of a dishonest character connected with  your
proceedings.   I do not recollect whether any  experi-
ments were performed the  first night I  was there  or not;
but this  I do remember, that the first experiment I saw
performed, was with a view to  lessen  the sensibility of 
IN CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
113
one  arm and increase that of the other.  The name of
the  gentleman upon whom this  experiment was per-
formed, I do  not  remember; but he appeared to  be  a
man of much  respectability and intelligence.   Your
fingers were  placed upon either  side of the head, in the
temporal region.   After about ten minutes had elapsed,
your subject said he felt  a  numbness in one arm and an
increased sensibility in  the other.  You said to  him,
" are you  sure  that you feel a distinct influence  from
this?"  His  reply was,  that the  effect was  very dis-
tinct.  I thought the gentleman's imagination  had  great
effect in making him feel this influence.
    The next experiment was performed  on Dr. K., and
he,  not knowing what effect you  wished to produce,  I
thought you would fail.  But in a few minutes,  Dr. K.
said he felt as if he would  delight to engage in religious
exercises.   His countenance presented  a very grave ap-
pearance, and all his features showed that he was in an
unusually serious  mood.  Your fingers were then re-
moved  to  a different  part of the head, and  remained
there a few minutes, when  Dr. K's countenance became
greatly  altered.  Upon being asked if he still felt like
engaging  in religious exercises, he burst into a laugh,
and  said his religion had left him, and that his greatest
delight would be to make  a disturbance  or engage in  a
fight.
   Knowing that his disposition was a very kind and hos-
pitable one, I thought it very strange that he should be thus
affected from what I considered no cause at all.   I again
thought his imagination had materially influenced him in
feeling  these  traits  of character, which he  described.
But  when I reflected farther. I saw a great difficulty in
attributing this to his imagination,  as he had no previous
           N 
114      SKETCHES OF BVCHARAN's DISCOVERIES

knowledge of the effect which the experimenter intended
to produce.
   The  next experiments were performed upon two or
three  members of the class successively, and  among
others, I was made one of the subjects of experiment.
As I knew what effect you wished to produce in me, I
came to the conclusion that I would  resist it to the last,
and make sure that my imagination did not influence me
to feel at your pleasure.  Your  fingers  had not been
placed in their proper  position long,  before I felt a curi-
ous sensation about the tip of my tongue.  It is difficult
for me to describe my exact feelings at the  time, but I
felt vexed at being disappointed so far in the resolution I
had just formed;  and  when  you  asked me if I felt any
effect from the experiment, I hesitated to answer, for fear
1 would let you know that you had succeeded in accom-
plishing your purpose.  But as you had asked me a civil
question, I felt myself bound to give an answer, and ac-
cordingly replied  " No sir," with  a lisping sound.  The
members  of your class broke out into a hearty laugh,
when they heard me say I did not experience  any influ-
ence from your experiment,  seeing plainly that I could
not talk without lisping.
   This experiment forced me to pay some regard to the
doctrines which you were engaged in teaching.  I then
fancied that I had  a little inclination to lisp in my general
conversation;  and, consequently, that the influence which
you  had exercised over me, was explained upon  that
ground.  But it still appeared rather strange why I had
not before noticed it.  The following evening I went
again to your room, where I found a number of gentle-
men with whom  I was acquainted.   Among others,  I
saw one  whom I  knew to have  been long engaged in
teaching such doctrines as  would very materially favor 
in cerebral physiology.
115
Neurology.  Being assured that it would tend to strength-
en his views of a subject in which he had been so long
and ardently engaged, I had a strong desire to make him
feel that his notions, which he had so zealously and in-
dustriously propagated, were erroneous.
   Being fully under the influence of these feelings, I
summoned all my powers of  resistance, in order  that I
might prove to the old veteran that he for once was mis-
taken.  I did  not know what effect you wished to pro-
duce; but I  thought, with my efforts, I would prevent you
from producing any effect whatever.
   After placing myself in a chair, much elated with the
resolutions  I had just formed, your hands were placed
upon  the top of my head and forehead.  In the course of
fifteen or twenty minutes, I felt a sensation of stiffness in
my eyelids,  together with an inability to keep them open.
Up to that time, I had not found out what you  wished to
do ; but I soon became convinced that it was your  object
to produce sleep.  I then endeavored to think of things
of a laughable character, which I thought would more ef-
fectually prevent you from succeeding.  It was not long
before I found all my resistance vain.  Although perfect
sleep was not produced, I was in such a condition that I
could hear  but indistinctly when  I  was spoken  to.  I
thought I was  in my room, lying upon my bed, and my
room-mate was  asking me a great many unnecessary
questions, with a view to  agitate me and keep me from
sleeping.
   I felt after  I was aroused  from my sleep, very much
disappointed and confused, to think that I had been so
much overcome,* after  having been so perfectly certain
that I would be able to resist it, and thereby  make our
   * Mr M  was so overcome by sleep as to Blip from his  chair, arid was
aroused by 'finding himself falling to the floor.             J. R. B. 
116     sketches of Buchanan's  discoveries
friend (Professor----) doubt his favorite doctrines.  1
felt very keenly the same disappointment which I had
been anxious to give the friends of Neurology..  This ex-
periment convinced me that there was much truth in the
new science.  I knew very well that it would  be an un-
popular thing for me to say that your doctrines were cor-
rect ; but I hope always to have sufficient honesty to en-
able me to speak the truth, even if it be unpopular.
   In giving a  description of my feelings under the exer-
cise of the various cerebral organs, I would remark, that in
my case, the effects must have been independent of any
influence of the imagination, except when I endeavored
to imagine something different from  what I might sus-
pect to be your object.  It appears to me plain, that the
imagination cannot so far influence a  man of common
sense, as to induce him  to believe  that he is sick at
stomach, or has a violent pain in the head,  when he has
not in  reality.  So with regard to your mode of making
manifest the various  functions  of the cerebral organs.
But to  illustrate more fully  my point, I cannot see what
imagination would have to do with that of which a per-
son is  entirely ignorant.  Suppose your object was to
excite the organ of  Reverence in a  person  who was
wholly unacquainted with the location of that organ, the
technical meaning of the term, or both, what  influence
could the imagination then  have  in  producing a  feeling
of reverence ?
    I will now proceed to give as faithful an account as I
am able,  of the influence which your experiments had
upon me.  As you are aware, it is much easier for me to
feel these influences than to describe them; but perhaps
I may be able  to give you  some idea of them, if I tell
you the first ideas that were suggested to my mind when
the influence was  first felt.  When those  organs  were 
in cerebral physiology.           117
acted upon, which give the  mind exalted and thrilling
ideas of supernatural things, the first effect would  be to
cause me to think of such things as would prove the ex-
istence of a superior power  who created them.   It led
me to reflect upon the vastness of the universe, and the
supreme power which created it, and all things therein.
Indeed, I could not reflect for a moment upon these sub-
jects, without feeling an almost irresistible desire to talk
about them, and attempt to prove the existence of a God
by a reference  to  portions of creation, the formation of
which, required the agency of a power  superior to that
possessed by terrestrial beings.
    When those organs which preside over the abdominal
functions are brought into action by your  mode of  exper-
imenting, (for example, that portion of the  brain  which
controls the functions of the liver)  the  first  sensation
would be  a sense of fullness and weight,  or tightness
and constriction in the region of that viscus.   *  *   *
    When thirst is excited, (thirst for water,) it comes on
with a dryness in the  back part of the mouth, in the  re-
gion of the fauces, and is accompanied with a disposition
to be restless and dissatisfied.   When a thirst for  stimu-
lating drinks  is  produced,  the spirits  are  depressed,
making me fretful and dissatisfied  with  things around.
The mind is  disposed to go  from one thing to another,
and looks  with a  suspicious  feeling on  persons who be-
fore were not suspected.      *
    The ideas  which were presented to the  mind when
that part of the brain was called into action  which  in-
duces one to think of home, were the situation and ap-
pearance of things with which I was familiar in the days
of childhood.
    If hunger be  produced, I feel a desire to speak cross
when questions are asked, and  an unfriendly feeling to- 
118      sketches of Buchanan's discoveries

wards  animals.   Under  the  excitement of Patriotism,
the mind is directed  to the character of those who  sup-
ported and protected the institutions of our country—the
battles that were fought, and the insults offered by other
nations to our own country.   Playfulness presents to the
mind a variety of inclinations and feelings ; it causes us
to feel an increased delight in conversation;  a o^esire to
engage in active exercises ; to look at and talk upon  sub-
jects of an agreeable and exciting character.
   The organ of Destructiveness, when brought into ac-
tion, gives a feeling of delight in seeing things destroyed
and deranged.  It  is attended with a feeling  of shyness
and deceit; and, if indulged in, would  lead one to do his
neighbor some injury.  It gives  a delight in hearing the
fire bell  ring, and vexation if it proves  to  be a false
alarm.
   I well remember a circumstance that  took place re-
cently, which resulted in  a hostile meeting with a  resi-
dent of this city, in which  my feelirfgs were excited to
the highest  pitch  of  exasperation, and an impression
made upon  my mind which  kept the  scene  and all its
feelings continually present by day and by night.   I al-
ways feel, after such scenes, a great desire  to find some
means by which I can get redress for the  injury; and I
am constantly at work, contriving plans for the accom-
plishment of  that object.   This feeling  remains  with me
about eight or ten days, before I can control it, by any ef-
fort that I am able to make.
   In the afternoon of the same day on which this occur-
rence took place, you called at my room and attempted
to experiment upon me; but to your disappointment,
could not succeed  in  producing any effect, except upon
those organs which increased my ill-natured propensities.
The next day you called again,  and, much  to my gratifi- 
               in cerebral physiology.            119

cation, I was completely relieved  from my unpleasant
feelings.  This  you did by exciting the  moral  organs,
and thereby counteracting the strong action which  had
been set up in the less friendly ones.*
   I find  it possible for one, who has had some  instruc-
tion in matters of this kind, to influence his own mind
to some extent, by placing the fingers or hands on certain
parts of the cranium.   It is a practice frequently made
use of by persons who are  wholly unacquainted with
Neurology, or any science connected with it.  I have fre-
quently seen persons, while endeavoring to recollect the
name  of  some  particular person  or thing, place their
hand  upon their foreheads, and perhaps close their eyes
at the same time ; and in this condition, they would re-
main for several  minutes, and succeed in recollecting
names and places which  they had forgotten.  I do not
mean to say, that this can always be done, or that this is
a universal custom; but that it is practised by  many, no
one will deny who has taken any pains to observe it.
   Mechanics, who are in the  habit of using  tools  that
require to  be of  a certain temperature, can very  readily
judge of the  degree of heat,  by holding them near the
side of the head,  where the  organ of sensibility  to heat
is located.   It is true, they can, and frequently do  test the
degree of heat by other means; but experience has taught
them, that they can test the heat, with more exactness by
holding the tool near  the side of the head, than  by any
other ordinary means they may have at their command.
   Numerous are the facts that might be  mentioned in
my own  personal experience and experiments that I
have performed upon myself; but time will not allow me

  "I did not succeed in controlling the excitement, until I operated  upon
one of the moral organs which I call Tranquillity.  This restoredI him in
ten or fifteen minutes to his natural frame of mind, and banished tiie disa-
greeable recollection from his thoughts. 1 R. B. 
 120  sketches of Buchanan's discoveries, &c.

 to give a detail of them all.  I must, therefore, rest con-
 tented with the few facts I have enumerated, hoping that
 those who may feel interested in this  matter, will ex-
 amine for themselves.  My duties compel me to close
 this communication.
   I beg you to accept my grateful acknowledgments for
the valuable instruction which I have received, and for
the pleasure which I have derived from your Neurological
discoveries.
         I am sir, with respect,
                  your humble servant,
                                    Amzi Martin.
  Dr. Joseph R. Buchanan.
  To the Reader.—The documents which form this pam-
phlet, are extracted from the Appendix of the forthcom-
ing "Illustrations of Neurology;" in which the principles
of that Science will be illustrated by a series of original
experiments. 
 
1/
 
 
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