Thought Not a Function of the Brain. A Reply to the Arguments for Materialism Advanced by Mr. Wm. Lawrence in his Lectures on Physiology (by John Frederick Courtenay).

Folio, (128)pp, title and introduction (4pp) and 31 numbered sheets watermarked 1823, each of 4pp, the first headed: 'Thought Not a Function of the Brain &c.'. At one time simply sewn, sewing no longer present. This is a remarkable, unpublished, critique of William Lawrence's controversial Lectures published in 1816 which, together with his Natural History of Man, 1819 created 'the first scientific issue that widely seized the public imagination in Britain, a premonition of the debate over Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection exactly forty years later'. William Lawrence, 1783-1867, had a long and distinguished career as a surgeon specialising in opthalmology after his initial five years as apprentice to John Abernethy, 1764-1831, and was knighted by Queen Victoria just before his death. Percy and Mary Shelley consulted him from 1814 - and it has been suggested that Lawrence's argument in favour of materialism against Abernethy's support for 'vitalism' may have inspired Frankenstein. For Lawrence, mental processes were a function of the brain, while Abernethy argued that thoughts were the product of 'vital acts of an immaterial kind'. His radicalism, which allied him in the public mind with Paine, Byron, Carlile and Hone, led to the Lord Chancellor ruling that Lawrence's Lectures contradicted the Bible and were therefore blasphemous; to avoid prosecution they were withdrawn by the author, and 'never again did he venture to express his views on the process of evolution'. He did later warn Thomas Huxley ('Darwin's Bulldog') not to publicly support the theory. Darwin, in his 1838 notebook, does refers to Lawrence's Lectures, but his role in the 'evolution of the theory of evolution' is little known, even though his ideas on heredity 'were many years ahead of their time' and he is credited with the first use of the word 'biology'. The manuscript offered here is a contemporary criticism of Lawrence; it is dated in the later hand of Albert Bonus as 1827, but it may be slightly earlier as it is written on paper watermarked 1823. Bonus adds his own notes at the end of the manuscript: 'This treatise was written by my maternal grandfather John Frederick Courtenay. he was born in 1792 or 1793, and died July 27, 1858. He had a wonderful memory, was acquainted with nine languages. He was an excellent musician. a silk merchant by occupation and often travelled in Italy on his business.' This 'important and valuable treatise. was given to me by my aunt, Mrs. H. Sowerby (maiden name Lizzie Courtenay) daughter of the above. He was one of the family of the Earls of Devon, his father having been Rector of Lee, Kent & of St. George's, Hanover Square, London'. Courtenay was married to Ann Pullen and worked in the Customs Office; he died at Ramsgate in 1858. His library was sold by Leigh, Sotheby & John in the same year.…