The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1873-11-13
A WONDERFUL MACHINE.
THE BRAIN, AND WHAT THE NEW PsY~
GEOLOGY Is PROVING ABOUT
ITS FUNCTIONS.
Professor Youmans IN the Popular Science
Monthly. sd

WhaC are the essence or m1uQ ana the
essence of matter, and whether they are
at the bottom two things or one thing.
are beyond ascertsinment, and will
probably ever remain so. The nature of
union is mystery, just as the nature OF
the union betweep gravity and matter Is
a mystery in b 'th cases we investigate
only one OF the connections between two
systems of action, the first step toward
its solution must be to resolve these two
systems into their simplest elements. The
structural elements of the nervous sys
tenn are msrveIously simple; they con-
sisf of microscopic cells and flores, the
former being seats or centers OF lorcc, aud
the latter being the means OF transmit
ting it. 5
Cells and flores are tho Instruments of
mental action, aud exactly as we rlae ia
the scale of intelli &euce in animated
creatures, there is an increase In the MACS
of the nervous centers-lhat is, a multi
phcation ofths nerves and tibers which
constitute them. In man, the most intel
ligent of the animal series, the organ Of
intelligence is relatively very large, and
attains the hlgheS; degree Of compile kitty
PROBES or Balm represents the nervous
elements Of the human brain as fslIc As !:
The THU cake # gray substance sur
rounding the hem ispere of the brain. and
extended into many doublings by the
furrOwed or cOnvoluied structure, is
somewhat diff ult to measure. 1t has
been estimated at upward Of 800 squar
inches, or as nearly equal to squar
surface of eighteen inches in the side
its thickness is variable, but on an aver
age, it may be stated at one tenth of an
inch. 1t is the largest accumulation of
gray matter in the body. 1t is made up
OF several layers of substance, divided by
layers of white substance. The gray sub
stance is nearly a compact mass of corpus
Giles OF variable size. The large candate
nerve cells are mingled with very small
corpuscles, less than the thOusandth of 4
an inch III diameter. Allowing for in
terVa!s, we may suppose that linear row
OF 1000 cells occupies an inch, thus
giving $4,000 to the square inch for 500
inches. If one half the thickness of the
layer is made up of flores, the corpuscie>
or cells, taken by thems elves, would be a
mass one twentieth of an inch thick, saw
sixteen cells in depth. Multiplying
these number together, we should reach
a total of 100, 10000 cells in the gray
covering of the hemspheres. AS every
cell is united with at least tvs flores.
often many more, we may multiply this
number by four for the number of con- |
meeting fbres attached to the mass, which |
gives 4,8OO,OOO,OO0.
Now, IN saying that such a wonderful
organism az this is The seat and embodi.
lment of the mind, we require to give
dlStlnctuess to our conceptions, aud are
compelled to regard the connected cells
hbres as the ample instruments of sim
pie mental processcs,as the whole fabric is
an organ and measure of the whole mind
The corporal elements are cells and Fl
bres-what are the physical elements in
their lowest analysis The old division
OF the mind into faculties-as reason,
judgment, memory, and imaglnation-ls
insufficient for these are far from being
ultimate elementary processes, but are
rather the most complex actions OF the
complete forces of the intelligence in diff
terent modes of exercise. The latter
Psychology resolves all these so-ca,led
1uculties into few constituents which
IoEm' II we may SO speak, the conjecture
OF the intellect AS Prof Balm remarks.
we nave no power of memory in radical
separation from the power of reason or
the mower OF imagination. The classified
ton is tinted with the fault called IN
ogic, "cross DIVISION" The real fnnds
mental separation of the powers of the
intellect Is into three facts, called: First
Discrimination, the sense, feeling, or CON
seriousness of difference second, similar. :.
lty, the sense, feeling or consciousness OF
agreement ; and, third, retentiveness, O!
the power of memory, or acquisiti,
These three functions, however much