DR. VERITY ON THE CHANGES IN THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. PRODUCED
BY CIVILIZATION.
THE object of this essay is to show that civilization is an affair of physiology, and that the tissues of the human body change with the advancement of the human species. As the style of the writer is none of the clearest, we do not understand very distinctly whe- ther he considers a change in the corporeal nature to give rise to civilization, or whether the once-awakened habits of civilization, however slight, create a beneficial change in the nerves ; or whether each cause reciprocally contributes to form a third more potent than either. But, from the weight lie attaches to the emigration and amalgamation of peoples, we infer that he thinks blood and body has the most to do with the result.
When we consider how very little, physiologically speaking, is known of the nervous system,* and how lately, and after what minute microscopic experiments, that very little knowledge has been gained, it would require no small share of confidence to at- tempt deciding upon the influence which it has had upon the social character and public events of nations, from the rise of the Babylonian empire to the present day, even with the re- quisite subjects before one. But as even this preparatory mate- rial is wanting, the project of Dr. VERITY only seems a vain pur- suit after the unattainable. Even if his theory had the ap- pearance of truth, it must be dismissed as destitute of a particle of evidence : unless such well-known truisms are to be received for proof as—that barbarous nations are addicted to coarse and sensual pleasures, which, as refinement advances, are gradually superseded by intellectual ; or—that classes whose labours are rude and violent, are not so delicately constituted and finely formed as persons whose ancestors have done nothing.
Considered as a mere speculation, the Changes Produced in the Nervous System by Civilization is not without ingenuity, and is occasionally suggestive. As a composition, it is very de- fective,—cumbrous, cloudy, overladen with words, and disfigured by a scholastic style.
• Our knowledge of the nervous system must not be confounded with our anatomical knowledge of the nerves.
Previous page
