Discover how the brain is linked to head shape and the roots of our instincts, feelings, and social bonds.
This edition presents an early, systematic look at how the brain and skull relate, and how scholars of the time sought to identify the seat of our fundamental powers. It covers the idea that certain mental traits emerge from brain structure and cranial form, and it introduces methods for tracing those links through anatomy and observation. A central thread explores how instincts—such as propagation, attachment, and sociability—might be connected to specific brain regions and their external expression.
Readers will encounter both the historical context and specific examples, from the proposed role of the cerebellum in reproduction to how social tendency might be reflected in skull anatomy. The work outlines practical questions and approaches for linking mind and organ, while remaining grounded in careful description of anatomy and health, disease, and development.
- How the brain and cranium are thought to influence behavior and moral dispositions
- Descriptions of methods for locating the seats of faculties in the brain
- Discussions of instincts such as generation, love of offspring, and attachment
- Observations on how health, disease, and development may alter head form
Ideal for readers of the history of neuroscience, 19th-century physiology, and the early study of brain–behavior links.