Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1857-05-07
Mind and Matter.
From the Scientific Ameriean.I

literature. What can be more interesting
to man than the study Of himsef' To day
we find him a helpless infantI in few
years more thought.ess boy, chasing the
butterfly as JOYOUS and free as the "wander-
ing wiuds;" then be becomes a man, and
builds houses, ships, machines, towers, pal
aces, and cities; leads armies to battle, atid
extorts the applause of senates by his slo-
quence; then he drops into the grave, and
soon becomes few handsfull OF dust. II
this being who leaves behind him such rec
ords of his existence and power-srecords
that endure for thousands of years after he
is dead-noihing more than dust anc ashes
"a mere piece Of matter, like stock or
stonet in answer TO such a question az
| this, Sir Benjamin Brodie saws:
"The properties OF mind are wholly diff
ferent from those of matter, the two are SO
completely asunder that they do not admit
even of the most distant comparison with
each other. | can easily imagine that mo-
ton, gravitation, heat, light, electricity.
magnetism, and chemical attraction have
something in common; that they are SO far
of the same essence as to be convertible
iuto each other; but it is to ne wholly in
conceivable that any exaltatiOn OF the
known properties of matter should produce
the conscious indivisible monGd which feel
myself to be-"
The nervous system is composed Of two
substances of different organization; ths
one, called the nsedullary, is of white
color, soft consistency, and composed of
6bres; the other is cellular in structure, Of
still softer consistency, more largely sup
piled with blood vessels, gray in color. and
not fbrous. This gray matter is smalletin
quantity than the medullary, and is disposed
in layers, in which the 6bres of the latter
seem to have their origin. Sir Benjamin
says:
"It is generally supposed that the func-
tion of the medullary substance is to con-
duct, direct, and make use of the nervous
force, the latter being generated in the gray
substance, and, in itself, always one and
the same, though converted to different puff
poses in different parts, much as the eiec-
tricity generated IN a yoltaic battery is
made by means of one apparatus to produce
chemical decomposition. and by means of
others 10 direct the needles of the telegraph;
or convert common iron into magnet.
We may carry the parallel between the
nervous and the electric force further still.
Although the gray matter of the nervous
system is necessary Tor the production {
the former, it is not, in itself, sufficient, any
more than the alternate plates of zinc and
for tho pro1xctsnn of
electricity.
This comparison of the brain to an elec-
trio battery is nearly similar to that of Ma
polean the Great. Just after Volta Tin
1900 had discovered the pile which bears
his hume, Napolean sent to Italy and invited
him TO visit Paris and exhibit his expert
ments before the sGsans of that city, that
they might hear from his own lips the mode
in which he pursued the subject. Volta
came, and spent three or four days in lee
turing to the French Institute upon the de-
tails of the subject. The effect produced
upon dead bodies by gavanic action-now
So well knuwn-wss there exhibited, and
excited universal astonishment. NopoleoI,
NuIc " 5SiHS luCoC uiuC0
to Corvisarr, his physician, and mentioned
the striking snalogy between the Phenom-
ena Of galvanism aid those OF life, and went
on to show how the vertebral colsmn (spinel
mGrrow) might act as yultaic pies
In 1890, Sir John Herschel made an Oh
servation in his preliminary discourse on
Philosophy" bearing striking analogy to
that of Napoleon, without any knowledge Gf
the above auecdote. He says: "lf the brain
be an electric pile constantly in action, it
may be conceived to discharge itself at reg
ular intervals along the nerves which COM
municate with the heart, and thus to excite
the pulsatIon of the organ" DIR. Arnott
published a work on physics, quite num-
of years since, in which precisely the sams
idea is suggested.
Sir Benjamin Brodie is very distinct an
clear in reference to the action of scarle
blood on the brain as the exciting liquid VI
the nervous system. "lf dark colored 'r
venous blood" he says, "be substituted 10
a:terial blood, and transmitted to the brain
by the arteries, insensibility is produced in
the individual. 1t acts as anarcotic poison"
Srangulation. drowning, and fts of appo-
plexy produce these results. The total sus-
pension Of the supply of arterial blood to
the brain for a very few minutes Is sufficient
to produce death. The infamous system of
garroting, or strangulation, which has of
late become notorious in New York and
other places in connection with robbery, is
as dangerous as it is wicked; and its perpe-
traitors, in every case, should be assigned q
place with murderers.
The necessity Of breathing pure air, in
connection with healthy condition and
proper action of the lungs, is, therefore, ap-
parent. in order to supply the brain with
red blood. Various substances taken into
the lungs in the state OF gas, or into the
stomach in the fern of liquids or solids
when taken in excess-produce the same
effect upon the brain as yenous or dark col
ored blood. By inhaling chloroform, ether,
or nitrous oxyd gas, according to the guam
tity partaken OF, the mind will be subject to
peculiar Authorizations, or will become Ut
tery unconscious. Alcoholic drinks stinu-
late the nervous system, and excite to mis-
chievous actions. The effect of Rarcotics.
such as opium, when taken into the stomach
is to soothe the nervous system. Sir Ben
jamin Brodie considers that the use Of opium
is less dangerous to Individuals and society
than gin desperate characters he states,
"prePare themselves for criminal rnGer,ak-
ings by libations oil ardent spirits; never By
opium. II is worthy Of notice that opium
is physically much less deleterious to the
individual than gin or brandy. Many opium
takers live to a great age, while dras,-d drink
ing induces disease of the liver, with its at
:endanl bodily suffering, iH-,emper, wretch
edness. and premature DEATH" These opin-
ions are contrary to those entertained BY
the public generally.
The Hindoo uses an intoxicating drug