The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1894-04-24
CELLS OF THE BRAIN
There Are 3.6i8.OOO,OOO OF Them
and They Are Used as
Pigeonholes.
Each One OF Them Win Hold a
Remembrance or "a
Thought
some suggestions on the Improvement OF
the Memory Ideas shoaid Bs
Busted Occasionally.

There have been persons who could with
difficulty remember anything-like HO-
/ garth. the painter-and persons who could
/ hardly forget III they would, as pope as
surcs MS was the case with Lord Boiling
( broke, but while such eases are notable as
extremes and opposites the true marvel is
i'm the mechanism of memory itself as pos
sessed in varying degrees OF power 10y as
/ all. There Is "a close relation between see
ing p thing and afterward recollecting it..
/ While gazing az the object, we have its
/ picture on the retina, and when afterward
we have vivid recollection of the object
and seem 10 see it. IL is just possible that
/ the image on the retina is family revived.
/ 1t is we'll known that every picture on the
retina remains there for a brief space Of
1 time, so that after gazing intently no an
object we continue TO see 10 for a moment
when we turn away.
The important part which the eye plays
in memory must not mislead us as 70 the
seat of the faculty. which is in the brain.
IL the eye were the actual seat of conscious
perception, vision would not be cut oil by
severing the optic nerve, which may be
likoued 70 telegraph wire laid down be
tween the eye and the brain. The brain is
the headquarters of the nervous system,
where the nerve lines from all the five
senses meet, and where the impressions Of
all kinds are stored up.
What is the brain like, in its capacity of
storehouse. and what should We see If we
could reduce our stature TO inhnitesimal
proportions and travel along the corridors
Of the hrainf Does il contain galleries Of
pictures2 Is IL furnished with shelves and
pigeonholes for the classiications and care
Of records and messages
It is impossible to conceive what kind Of
apparatus or fittings can at once be suita-
BE for storing up pictures and sounds
and all the varieties Of impressions receiv-
ed from all the senses. Nor can we discov-
er any curious machinery. even with the
microscope, for the structure Of the gray
matter Is so minute as 90 defy the powers
Of the lens, and all that we can detect is
an agglomeration of minute cells. A cal
culation has been made regarding the
number Of those brain cells.
IL is assumed that every thought or per
ception is separate lodger in the mind,
requiring an apartment Of the brain 10
itself, and the cells are the apartments. We
have 20 provide accommodations for all
the incidents Of our everyday life for all
that we read in newspapers, for all that
our schoolmasters examined into Us, ana all
that we have learned since. How is this
possible in one small skulls Our concep-
tion is assisted by photography, which can
print the Lords Prayer so small that it re-
quires q powerful microscope TO read IL.
Surely, then, minute portions Of the
brain may contain great deal. The cells
vary In diameter from one three-hun-
dredths Of an inch 10 one three-thou-
sandths, and this being known it is not
difficult to estimate the entire number Of
them in the brain. DR. Hooke, the mathe-
matician, said 3, 1855, 1f0, 600; but, accord
ing 10 Manyert's calculation the number
Of cerebral cells is only 600 600 geo. See
ing that the doctors differ, let us use the
slate and pencil ourselves. The thinking
power Of the brain IS believed to reside in
the gray matter Of the surface.
This is n sheet Of cellular nerve sub
stance, which is crumpled into convolu-
tons through being confined within the
narrow liIalts of the skull II IL were
spread ont Hat. IL would De found equal
to q layer an inch in thickness and ~ inch
- long hy n inches broader slightly
more-g giving "a total Of 134 cubic inches.
II an the cells were one three hundredths Of
an inch In diameter, there would DE room
for "a 900 600 of them in one cubic inch,
and therefore 9 .Gls GOO 900 of them in the
whole. but since many az the cells are
smaller the total number must be greater
Let us. however. be content with the
3,0is, 900, 900. What is "a Million The
Bihle-Old and New Tcstnmeufs together
--is said % contain about 2I0 900 of let
tiers. We should therefore have 10 pile mp
,ll3 copies of the Scriptures 90 get a heap
containing as many letters as the brain
contains cells. As each cell may accom-
MEDIATE one idea or thought. probably even
"a smaller storclouse would suffice for the
wants of an average human creature. ON
the other hand, when Rrent thinkers re-
0uire more accommodation. they may per
hars Dee able 90 grow more brain cells. and
Webster did tel great scholar that he
bad 10 change the size II his hat every few
years
There are hundred different varieties
II memory, and perhaps we cannot alto
1etlor choose which we will possess,
though every sort. when wc have the germs
~ DO, may De- cultivated. The most useful
memory b. one which makes "a discrimi-
Mating selection. wiunowiug ont the chan.
which stores mp Principle, typical facts
and illustrative cases which arrange. its
stores ga mcthodic1l order. and ia able to
fetch out the right thing without hcsita-
ton
As memory is tho revival of ideas. and
we can only revive what has been impress
ed wc must, in order To- remember first
Of AN observe and attend. looking earnest
F lv ut the new Thought or thing. and it- CON
uecfion with things that uc know already.
J. viii hook on or u-socinte. according Co
i IT, relations with previous requirements.
and appear n their company in future
I To learn anything hy heart. the best plan