Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1885-03-17
THE BRAIN,
Bill Nye Enlits Some Interesting Ideas
Regarding Our Thought Manufacturer


Bill Nye Enilts Some Interesting ideas
Regarding Our usht-AIanufacturer
This article is designed more espe-
ciAlly for those vertebrates who are able
to keep and use their own brains 1t is
not intended for the perusal of thos1
who simply have ganglion or nerve
center which they are using temporary
ly until they can afford brain.
Man is more highly endowed with
brain than any other animal. Still,
nearly all animate creation has a trace
of this organ decreasing, of course, in
intensity downward, from man to the
lower mammals, birds, reptiles, batra-
CHA and fishes, till nearly all traces of
the brain disappear in the amphiorus
and dude.
The elephant has the heaviest brain
of any animal. 1t often weighs as high
as nine or ten pounds. The whale comes
next with a brain that weighs, per-
hapS, tve pounds. So, great mental
strength is the result of quality more
than. quantity. in the matter OF brain
tissue.
The brain of an adult man weighs
on an average, forty-eight ounces, while
that of the average adult woman weighs
forty-four ounces, and yet woman is
far superior 10 man mentally. have
obtained this information from lady
friend of mine who is thoroughly trust
worthy.
The brain is incloscd in bony sphere
called the skull. This bony envelope IS
air-tight The brain does not have to
be aired if it is in normal condition.
1t should be kept inside the skull COZ
stantly, and in as compact form rs pos
sible, for when it is otherwise great in
convenience may ensue.
The parts of the encaphalon, we are
told, are the cerebrunl, cerebe'lHhl, me-
dutta O6tongatG, pOnS Uar0lii, 06iigdtO,
pianiSSintO. Any one would think that
brain with all these things in it would
not feel well, but such is not the case.
The brain has been found, upon micro.
scopic investigation after death, to con-
tain not only the foreign microbes and
things named above, but also cineri-
tiou5 sub lance, cranial nerves, motor
o.1tlt, corpWS coliseum, corpora StyiItu,
hsafnli, tUberculG qaadregeplina, STAG.
cato, drbor rite, crura cerebri, and
other foreign substances, which must
have made life burden; and yet
death did not result for many years.
Nothing, however, is SO destructive
to brain tissue rs daylight Many have
died almost instantly after light and
fresh air have been admitted into the
brain. The brain is one of the most
useful of all our organs, and, therefore,
we should use every precaution to re-
tain it; for. like the self-cocking revolt
yer, man may struggle along for
years without having occasion to use it,
and yet when he does want to use it he
wants it very much. We might get
along in society long time without b.
ing called upon for any mental demon
strat,on, but some day, without any no.
tee whatever, we might be requested
by our host TO express an idea, and we
would feel very much cut up to adm I
that we had left our thinker at home on
the piano.
Physicians who have never had much
experience with the brain, never having
had a case of it in their own families,
nor studied its habits in other people,
frequently make an erroneous diagnosis
where patient is suffering from brain
trouble. / once knew young doctor,
who has since resigned his lucrative
practice in order TO accept highly re-
sponsible position as chambermaid in a
large livery-stable, to make mistake
of that kind. The patient was Ger
man, who was unconscious at the tine
the doctor was called. The latter felt
the pulse, examined the tongue, wro|e
out three prescriptions on different drug
stores for medicine TO encourage zeal
on the part OF the liver, and went away.
The coroner was no expert in cases Of
that kind, but he went at it on the
theory that the brain had been affected,
and traced up the symptoms till he
showed the jury that it was case OF
HfiSh Oh VIC Olhlu. N
seems that the patient had beon exposed
at a. saloon on A street, and this was
followed in quick succession by coma,
semi-colon and full stop.
We should take great care of our
brain if we intend to use it. 1t is q very
sensitive organ, and is easily affected
by external influences. Very little, after
all, Is known of the location Of various
chronological organs in the brain. The
relation between thought and the ma
ter al organ which we call the brain is
little misty yet 1t is not for poor,
short lived, and puny man to know
everything. The brain, however, is O
curious organ. 1t is good thing in its
place, but entirely useless when re-
moved from the party to whom it be-
longs. We should not overwork the
brain, or strain it In trying to think of
hard words that no one else knows the
meaning of. Neither should we try to
preserve our brain in alcohol during
office hours. Alcohol and gray matter
are always antagonistic. Let us take
good care of eur brains and not wear
them out trying to impart Information
TO those who do not seek it. Another
thing that we should remember is that
the brain weighs about twenty times as
much as the tongue, and, therefore,
there Is no physiological law which
will require us TO tell all we know
Blu Nye in The Aryonank