Monmouth weekly herald. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1854-1860, 1858-12-02
WOUNDS OF TIE BRAIN.

R~R%t&A 40 w buE dluHOStf
necessarily fatal character of wounds Of
the brain is an exaggerated one. PERI
haps, however, there is hardly an instance
on record Of q family of six people being
all so murderonsly struck through the
skull with q Ratchet into the very sub
stance OF the brain, and all remaining at
the end of a v eek alive, aud 80 manv Of
them IN a fair way Of recovery, as the
Gouldy family were at the end of that
period. Probably the very force, sudden
ness with which the blows were Inflicted,
aud the sharpness Of the instrument, have
contributed not Il little to shis. A round
ball though not making half 80 ugiy look
ing q wound. would almost certainly have
| produced a greater amount Of displace-
ment and confusion of the edges of the
wound, and hence q subsequent infamma-
ton and blows delivered with only half
the ferceness ard violence might have.
produced worst fractures Of the skull
hone, and q greater jar of the whole
brain, than the rapidly dealt nervous
strokes Of this young madman. 1t is thus
a pistol ball viii pass through a window
without cracking the edges around the
bole, while a spent ball or a stone coming
with half the force viii SILVER the glass
in every direction.
There is nothing in which nature seems
more capricious as to the effects which
she causes to ensue than in the wounds OF
the brain. Sometimes q slight fall or a
very trifing blow that does not break the
skin proves fatal in a short time and at
other times not only the skull be pierced
or fractured, but large pieces of the skull
bone be removed, as the ~trepanning, and
a very considerable portion of the cere-
bum or upper portion of the brain itself
be lost, and yet all the functions Of life
be carried on for years. Il, however the
cerebellum, that is the lower and back
part of the brain, be injured, it is a very
different matter. A slight wound there
produces immediate death. But a man
may in certain circumstances, lose a tea
cup full of brain without death or the
loss Of reason wen for an instant. Per
haps this may go far to show that the
brain is the organ through which the
mind acts, but nothing more. The mind
is a whole and entire thing, independent
OF its organ of operation.
A few years ago, a man in blasting ex-
ploded his charge too soon by ramming
it down with an iron bar OF drill. The
drill was driven up clear through the
roof OF his mouth, through the brain of
course, and through the top of his skull
high up into the air. The mar cody got
into a wagon standing Aear and drove
some distance home. No one supposed
he could live, bat he actually did survive
certainly for some months, with his SER
ses perfect, and we have not heard of his
death.
We know of q case of a barkeeper in
the South being shot through the fore
head. He took up pen and ink and pa
per wrote to his wife that he was shot,
and probably he died in twenty four
hours, the blood dropping on his paper.
A more remarkable case was that of a
well digger, who, while in a well, had his
skull broken in by the fall of a heavy
timber upon his head. He was taken out
insensible, and remained SO for ten days,
his death SO momentarily expected that
%trepanning was not ever tried until the
end of that time. By degrees he recov
cred his mind perfectly, and even his
strength, SO far as to be able to walk
about the room, after losing a very con.
siderable part of the brain itself. Al
though near sixty, a new bone began to
grow and this, at the end of about eigh-
teen months, proved his death, owing to
q small spike of the new bone, not half an
inch long, growing down into the brain,
producing irritation, pressure and death.
1t is then, not the loss Of the substance
of the brain that is so much to be feared
as the irritation and Inflammation which
ensues. Congestion of the brain may stu
pity, or the hemorrhage through the rup-
ture of the blood vessels, cause DEATH
But as we have said, quite a considerable
quantity Of the upper portion of the brain
itself may be distracted without necessar-
lily occasionirg death; and in some instan-
ces without sensibly impairing the sense
of mental powers. There is, however,
we suppose, 40 doubt a loss of nervous
force, especially Of the power of endur-
ance, in all such cases.
Still it is worth while to bear in mind
the distinction between the effect of the
loss of the brain and the least pressure
upon it. That if not fatal, seems always
to produce a disorded action, Whether
this pressure is produced by an external
wound, or by an internal determination
Of blood, whenever it becomes such that
a supply of pure and healthy blood does
not flow freely and continually through
all the vessels, the mental action instant
ly assumes a diserdered character. Re.
move the pressure, and sometimes the re
storation will be as sudden. The reno.
val of a portion Of the skull that had been
fractured and indented three years pre-,
Eviously, was known, in the case CT a sail
or, at once to restore him to a state of
sanity, although with a perfect Oblivion
of the whole intermediate time. Wheth-
er congestion Of particular portions of the
brain is not the true mode of accounting
for the occa sional idiosyncracies of many
men, and beyond what is ordinarily sup
posed, who shall say
Character.
A good character is worth more than
wea Ith to q vOnnU man. Ash him who lie