The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1891-12-11
WHERE MEMORY pwELLs.
Talk About the Brain and the Pictures II
Contains,

|
Talk About the Brain and the Pictures II
| Contains.
Ibid it ever occur to you to thinl
how many millions of millions of mem.
cries are stored away in your brain?'
asked learned man of Star writer
Memories are commonly thought of as
things possessing neither form nor sub
stance, but psychophysical science to
day considers that each memory is an
actual thing with shape and structure
of it's 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
1.-THE places where the different kinds
of memories are located are not distinct
tracts separated from one another by
definite boundaries. From this notion
sprang the delusion called 'phrenology.'
They are scattered about all over the
convoluted surface of the brain. Yet,
there are corners where memories of
the same kind are thicllly crowded.
Low down on each side of the head
above the ears are grouped images of
sounds. There are all the old nursery
rhymes, college songs, sonatas and
operas that have delighted u.s. Near by
are the words of our mother tongue.
They live deep in the folds of a assure,
called 'Silvius,' in the third frontal
convolution. All the verses of our
childhood, of which we have not thought
foryears and years, are there. The front
corner of the 'sphenoidar 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 is full of images, and glows
with colored pictures of all kinds There
are dear old faces of our friends; there
are the landscapes and all manner of
instantaneous photographs OF former
sights and experiences.
Behind the bony wall of the fore
head thoughts of more abstract order
are throbbing. There are philosophical
reflections and mathematical problems.
On top of the head, where it rounds off
toward the back, are to be found the
movements of our limbs in their most
complicated com binations. In like man
ner all the memories and ideas are ar
ranged and distributed. The mind may
be considered as an immense empire of
innumerable spirits that live together
in the narrow space of about quarter
of a cubic foot Spirits they are, be-
caese they are psychical eXistences. Yet
at the same time they are material
realities, having forms of bodily pres
ence, sustained by the nourishing cur
rents of the blood.
This vast spiritual empire in the
human brain is excellently provided
with telegraph lines for intercommuni-
cation. Thus are formed what we call
association of ideas If it happens that
certain number of ideas associate
themselves together SO as to form some
thing new, like an invention or a poem,
the discovery or inspiration is ushered
into our consciousness as if from with
out. Is it to be wondered at that the
poet, the artist, the prophet are under
the impression that they are instru-
ments merely in the hands Of a greater
one than themselves?
voluntary motions of the body de-
pend upon the memory pictures in the
gray lhjlICl III w iACl u llOS
has been deprived of it's cerebral hemi-
spheres it will not make any movement
of it's own accord; in fact, it can not,
because all it's memory pictures have
been taken away. 1t enjoys good ply.
steal health. If turned on its back it
will rise to its feet; if irritated it will
make two or three jumps with view
of escaping When thrown into the
water it will swim until it touches the
wall of the basin, then it will creep up
on the edge and remain there. All
these motions are simply retleXes pro-
duced by corresponding limitations.
Without irritation there is no move
ment--no voluntary action whatever.
A brainless frog left to itself will re.
main quietly on the spot where it has
been placed, as if asleep; it will take no
food, betrays no consciousness of hun
ger or thirst, shows no sign of fear, and,
unless artifcially fed, will in time dry
up like mummy-all this because its
memory pictures have been taken away.
The great novelist struck wonderful
truth il psychology when he wrote the
story of The Haunted Man, whose
wish that he could be deprived of recol-
lection was granted by the Shadow. -
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