The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-05-06
INVESTIGATING THE DRAIN.
The Higher Education Makes the
Brain Quicker in Action.


cadholicity of science that the Spanish
savant was honored by the invitation
to expound his discoveries before an
audience of the calfber which assem-
bled at the Croonian function.
Our nervous system is modelled on
the type of the telegraph. We have
batteries or nerve cells TO produce
the nerve force which sets our muscles
and other organs in action, and we
have wires" or nerve f1bers (compos-
ing the nerves. which carry or conduct
the messages Of the SYSTEM. 1t is the
nerve cells, therefore, which are the
important elements in our nervous sys-
tenn; for they are the makers and gen.
orators of the force which aniTnateS us,
and which in its highest manifestation
appears as Thought itself These
nerve cells are, of course, ultra-micro-
scOpic in size. Some of the smaller of
them measured about the five-t thou
sandth of an inch in diameter; and 1t
is impossible to form any adequate
idea of the millions of them which
must be packed away, for example, in
the folds of the grey matter which
forms the surface layer of the brain.
Now, a brain cell is composed of living
matter Cor protoplasm) and whatever
this cell accomplishes in our vital acts
is due to the action of its living sub
savant lead us a little nearer to the
mechanism of brain cells and their
work, although it goes without saying
that we are still in the dark respecting
the nature of thought and of many
minor nervous processes which are per-
petually occurring within our nervous
apparatus.
DR.. Ramon Cajal, directing atten-
ton to the brain cells, pointed out that
in o.
houses, to be distinguished from those
which are clearing -houses. In other
words, our brain workmen are Invisible
into those who deal with messages re-
ceived from the outer world and those
which dispatch messages thereto.
These cells are respectively what
psychologists call ''sensory" and mo
tor cells. The cells of the brain vary
in shape somewhat in different regions
of the organ; but they all give off deli
cate branching processes and ramifica-
tons of their substance, while at least
one process as a rule becomes con-
tinued to form a nerve fiber Thus the
nerve cell is like the cell of an cleo
/ trical battery; it generates its peculiar
force, and emits this force by means of
the conducting fiber DIR. Ramon Y
Cajal tells US that the delicate branch
ing processes of the cells are to be re-
garded as nutritive in their character
They absorb from the blood the where
withal necessary for their existence;
while these delicate ramifieations of
| the cells, he also belives, may likewise
serve to carry the nervous currents
| from cell to cell.
! We seem, through such researches.
( to be approaching fair understanding
/ of brain ways. Thus we may conceive
of our highest mental work, as we'll as
/ of lower brain duties. being all carried
out through the complex play of cur
rents betwixt the millions of cells
whereof the important parts of our
( brains are made up. This is matter of
although what DR.. Ramon Y Cajal has
added by way of practical deduction
from his studies is of novel interest.
4 Thus speaking of the 'fhigher educa-
/ ton of the brain, he tells us that we
can never effect this result by any in
crease in the number of cells in our
nerve centers; for, after the early
period of body-forma ton, nerve-ele-
ments lose their power of reproduction.
Indeed, it is an established fact that,
as we grow old we lose brain sub
stance. After we pass our fortieth
year, the brain-work declines and les
sens 1t is said. at the rate of one ounce
in ten years. The loss of memory and
/ failing powers of old age may therefore
3 De eAlJidiHeU OlI lHe pam pm SlCdl OASIS
that many of the recording cells have
disappeared, and that our store of ideas
diminishes pari pasSu with our vanish
ing brain-substance Be this as il
may, Dr. Ramon Y Cajal admits that
mental exercise has the effect, not OF
making new cells, it is true, but of
effecting a greater development OF the
1 delicate processes which branch out
| from the cells.
| la in ha &c
extension of business within premises
which are obviously of limited and non
ieXpansible nature. we have TO suppose
either that the bodies of the cells shrink
proportionately, or that something is
taken off parts not SO necessary for the
exercise Of our intelligence The good
yards of mental railway are thus uti-
lized for the greater development of the
passenger traffic. When we get high in
Itellectuality associated with brains of
small or moderate size CDR Ramon Y
jCajal quoted Gambetti's brain as an
ILLUSTRATION of the point in question: we
Iare to believe that while there are fewer
brain cells than exist in a bigger brain
(or at least. smaller cells. their ramifi-
lcations and connections would be inf
initely complex and numerous, admitting
lof free and uninterrupted service be-
tween them. Big head, little wit" as
tine prOVerb runs, would be Interpreted
lin the converse way-pleaty of cells. but
the cells possessing fewer connections
land being, therefore, less available fol
lactive work. Probably the slow-goine
human with a big head, as opposed tC
1.-The active small-brained man, derives
This peculiarities from a like state OF
things
The metaphor used by the Spanish sa.
want is so apt in this connection that il
may well be quoted. He compares the
brain cells in this way toa garden full
lof innumerable trees which, in re.
lsponse to intelligent cultivation. car
increase the number of their branches
lstrike their roots over wider area
land produce even more varied and more
Exquisite flowers and fruits" Finally we
lare led in looking at the anatomical
iconditon of thought" to see in the
bigger cells of the different brain struc.
lture from that found in the cells OF
Hover grades of nerve centers. 1t i:
Suggested that even in The inteilects OF
thigh order we get a more elaborate
structure of the cells than in minds OF
low degree. But the whole subject il
lwondrous in itself and Still more so ii
tits far reaching conclusions Its inves
litigation up to its present limits is {
Testimony to the high advance which
Iscience of late years has made in it.
methods of investigating the byways o.
Thought and mind.-Illustrated Londor
News.
Tree Spraying.
Several of the inspectors state thai
while the people generally are interested