The Brain and the Voice in Speech and SongMott, F. W. (Frederick Walker)
Science
The Brain and the Voice in Speech and Song
Mott, F. W. (Frederick Walker)
Voice
frontal region, indicated by fine dots, we have Broca's convolution, which
is associated with motor speech; above at the base of the second middle
frontal convolution is the portion of cortex in which is localised the
function of writing. Taste and smell functions reside in brain cortex only
a small portion of which can be seen, viz. that at the tip of the temporal
lobe.]
Muscles and groups of muscles on the two sides of the body which invariably
act together may thus be innervated from either hemisphere, e.g. the
muscles of the larynx, the trunk, and upper part of the face.
Gall, the founder of the doctrine of Phrenology, wrecked his fame as a
scientist by associating mental faculties with conditions of the skull
instead of conditions of the brain beneath; nevertheless, he deserves the
highest credit for his discoveries and deductions, for he was the first to
point out that that part of the brain with which psychic processes are
connected must be the cerebral hemispheres. He said, if we compare man with
animals we find that the sensory functions of animals are much finer and
more highly developed than in man; in man, on the other hand, we find
intelligence much more highly developed than in animals. Upon comparing the
corresponding anatomical conditions, we see, he said, that in animals the
deeper situated parts of the brain are relatively more developed and the
hemispheres less developed than in man; in man, the hemispheres so surpass
in development those of animals that we can find no analogy. Gall therefore
argued that we must consider the cerebral hemispheres to be the seat of the
higher functions of the mind. We must moreover acknowledge that the
following deductions of Gall are quite sound: "The convolutions ought to be
recognised as the parts where the instincts, feelings, thoughts, talents,
the affective qualities in general, and the moral and intellectual forces
are exercised." The Paris Academy of Science appointed a commission of
inquiry, May, 1808, which declared the doctrine of Gall to be erroneous.
Gall moreover surmised that the faculty of language lay in the frontal
lobes, and Bouillaud supported Gall's proposition by citing cases in which
speech had been affected during life, and in which after death the frontal
lobes were found to be damaged by disease. A great controversy ensued in
France; popular imagination was stirred up especially in the republic by
the doctrine of Gall, which was an attempt to materialise and localise
psychic processes. Unfortunately Gall's imagination, encouraged by a
widespread wave of popular sympathy, overstepped his judgment and launched
him into speculative hypotheses unsupported by facts. His doctrine of
Phrenology was shown to be absolutely illogical; consequently it was
forgotten that he was the pioneer of cerebral localisation.
SPEECH AND RIGHT-HANDEDNESS
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