The anatomical method, natural theology, and the functions of the brain / by William F. Bynum.
Abstract:
'In the main body of this paper I analyze how the ways in which Thomas Willis used the anatomical method to elaborate his own work are bound up with his general notions of the relationship of structure and function and with his inability to deal with any structureless function. In the next section I briefly show that the same kind of tensions are present in the natural theology of the period. In a brief conclusion I suggest some of the pathways whereby this set of queries was transmitted into the 19th century.'