brain in men and animals. Such zeal, success, and
assiduity I did not believe could be expected. There might not be one
man in a century to undertake such a task (for all the centuries of
civilization had produced but one such man--the illustrious Gall), and
when he appeared his voice would not be decisive. I would, therefore,
appear not as presenting positive knowledge, but as contributing
another theory, which the medical profession, regardless of my labors,
would treat as a mere hypothesis.[1]

[1] I would mention that in the progress of my discoveries,
especially in 1838-39, I came into frequent and intimate
association with the late Prof. Wm. Byrd Powell, M. D., the
most brilliant, and original of all American students of the
brain, whose lectures always excited a profound interest in
his hearers, and, in comparing notes with him, I found my
own original observations well sustained by his. Though
erratic in some of his theories, he was a bold student of
nature, and the accidental destruction of his manuscript by
fire, when too late in his life to repair the loss, was a
destruction of much that would have been deeply
interesting.

It was absolutely necessary that the functions of the brain should be
demonstrated as positively as those of the spinal nerves had been
demonstrated by Majendie and Bell. Two methods appeared possible. The
two agents were galvanism and the aura of the nervous system, commonly
called animal magnetism. My first experiments in 1841, satisfied me
that both were available, but that the _nervaura_ was far more
available, efficient, and satisfactory. Upon this I have relied ever
since, though I sometimes experiment with galvanism, to demonstrate
its efficiency, and Dr. De la Rua, of Cuba, informed me over twenty
years ago that he found very delicate galvanic currents available for
this purpose in his practice.

Animal magnetism or mesmerism had been involved in mystery and
empiricism. There had never been any scientific or anatomical
explanation of the phenomena, and this mystery I desired to dispel. My
first step was to ascertain that for experiments on the nervous system
we did not need the somnambulic or hypnotic condition, and that it was
especially to be avoided as a source of confusion and error. Whenever
the organ of sensibility, or sensitiveness, was sufficiently developed
and predominant, the