Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-10-17
WHERE MYRIAD MEMORIES DWELL
Wonder Talk About the Brain and the
Pictures 10 Contains.
.snID IT EVER OCCUR TO YOU TO

Wonder Talk About the Brain and the
Pictures IL Contains.
ssnID IT EVER OCCUR TO YOU TO
IL think how many millions of millions Of
memories are stored away in your brain?''
asked q learned man OF STAR writer. MEM
ories are commonly thought of things pos
sessing neither form nor substance, but psyche
physical science today considers that each
memory is an actual thing with o shape and
structure of its own. Dwelling in the region
of the mind the memories are preserved and
constantly nourished by the oxygen Of the
blood which surrounds them in the delicate
capillary vessels.
THE places where the different kinds Of mem
cries are located are not distinct tracts separ-
ated from one another by definite boundaries.
From this notion sprang the delusion called
'phrenology.' They are scattered about all
over the couvoluted surface OF the brain. Yet
there are corners where memories of the same
kind are thickly crowded. Low down on each
side of the head above the ears are grouped i'm
ages OF sounds. There are all the old nursery
rhymes, college songs, sonatas and operas that
have delighted us. Near by are the words of
our mother tongue. They live deep in the folds
of a assure called 'Silvius in the third from tai
convolution. All the verses of our childhood,
Of which We have not thought for years and
years. arc tucre. luc IEOut COTuST VI tue bpue-
noidar lobe is the seat OF smell, perfumes and
odors, pleasant and disagreeable. The part of the
brain beneath the back of the skull low down 10
full Of images. and CLOVIS with colored pictures
of all kinds. There are dear old faces Of our
friends; there are the landscapes and all man
ner OF instantaneous photographs OF former
sights and experiences
Behind the bony wall Of the forehead
thoughts Of more abstract order are throb-
bling. There are philosophical reflections and
mathematical problems. On top OF the head,
where II rounds of toward the back, are to be
found the movements of our limbs in their
most complicated combinations. In like man.
ner all the memories and ideas are arranged
and distributed. The mind may be considered
as an immense empire OF innumerable spirits
that live together in the narrow space Of about
a quarter Of a cubic foot. Spirits they are, be-
cause they are psychical existences. Yet at the
same time they are material realities. having
living forms Of bodily presence, sustained by
the nourishing currents Of the blood.
This vast spiritual empire in the human
brain is exceliently provided with telegraph
lines for INSTRUMENTATION. Thus are
formed what we call associations of ideas. Ii
it happens that q certain number Of ideas ASSOC
ciate themselves together so as to form some.
thing new. like an invention or Q poem, the
discovery or inspiration IL ushered into our
consciousness as from without. IL il to be
wondered at that the poet, the artist, the
prophet are under the impression that they are
MERELY uhuub Oh u STc8tef
one than themselves?
voluntary motions Of the body depend
upon the memory pictures in the gray matter
OF the brain. When q frog has been deprived
of its cerebral hemispheres it will not make any
movement Of it's own accord; in fact, it can
not, because all its memory pictures have been
taken away. 1t enjoys good physical health.
IL turned on its back it will rise to its feet; if
irritated it will make two or three jumps with
view to escaping. When thrown into the
water it win swim until it touches the wall OF
the basin, then il will creep up on the edge
and remain there. All these motions are sim
ply retlexes produced by corresponding irrita-
tons. Without irritation there il no move
ment-no voluntary action whatever. A BRAIN
less frog left to itself will remain quietly On
the spot where it has been placed, as II asleep;
II will take no food, betrays no consciousness
of hunger or thirst, shows no sign of fear, and,
unless artifieially fed, will in time dry up like
a mummy. All this because its memory pic
lures have been taken away. The great novel;
list struck a wonderful truth in psychology
when he wrote the story OF the Haunted Man.
whose wish that he could be deprived OF recol-
lection was granted bv the Shadow"