Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1895-05-31
81 THE ii: BRAIN

STUDYING THE BRAIN
MODERN SCIENCE KNOWS HOW WE
THINK, SEE, HEAR AND FEEL.
Locating Brain Diseases by Observing the
Action of Parts of tho Body-Curious
Things Brain Experts Have Discovered
From Experiments.
Definite knowledge has recently been
acquired regarding the anatomy Of the hui
man mind. 1t is now understood, with q
fair degree Of accuracy, where and how
ideas of various kinds originate in differ
emit parts of the SO called gray matter.
The organ Of thought has been divided
up into sections, as it were, which are sew
orally responsible for the creation Of ideas
and images Of many GLASSES. Certain areas
of brain surface are recognized as control
ling vision, hearing, taste, smell and vo-
cal speech, while others govern the muscu-
lar mechanism of the body. If you move
your big toe, you direct its motion by or
ders conveyed from q point Of the cerebral
cortex directly beneath the very middle of
the top Of the skull.
At the University Of Pennsylvania i'm
portant work in this line of scientific re-
search is being carried on under the direc-
ton Of DR.. Lightner Wilmer. He has a
laboratory fitted up with all sorts Of queer
looking machinery for finding out how
long it takes people to think, to see, to
hear, to feel, to distinguish colors and
other such things. There are models of
brains, which one may take apart and put
together again as if they were Chinese puz-
zles.
Most of the knowledge thus obtained
has been got by studying the brains of low
or animals, chiefly dogs and monkeys. It
does not always follow that what is true Of
a monkey is true of a man, and scientists
have been led into a good many errors by
assumptions of that kind. Unfortunately
it is not practicable to make experiments
upon living human brains, save in excep-
tionalcases where surgical operations nave
to be performed on them. But it Is very
easy to remove a portion Of the skull of q
monkey and to observe how the beasts, acts
when Observation-Disclosures is usually
employed for the purposes applied to one
portion or another of the surface.
Acquaintance with the SO called motor
areas has become so accurate that a disease
of a part Of the brain can usually be To-
Gated with exactness by observation Of the
muscles Of the body. An abnormal wiggle
of the big toe would lead the physician to
look for trouble in the middle Of the top
of the head. Maybe there would be no
cure for it, and then again perhaps some
thing might be done. If it were ascer-
tanned that the patient had received q blow
there, it might be imagined that a frac-
ture previously unsupported had occurred,
causing. pressure on the brain. In that
case relief would probably be obtained by
trephining.
An interesting instance on record is
that Of a girl who was suddenly seized
with paralysis of one side Of the face, &C
companied by loss Of power of speech.
Within three or four days the paralysis
passed downward from the arm to the
body and finally to the leg on the same
side. 1t was decided by the doctors that
the symptoms Indicated a brain hemor-
rhage up the assure of Rolando and involv-
ing the areas corresponding to the arm
and leg. The girl died, and a post NOR
tenn examination disclosed the fact that
this was exactly what had occurred.
The fssure of Rolando runs across the
top Of the head from side to side and al
most from ear to ear. In and about it are
located the most important motor areas
which govern the muscular movements of
the body. h highest point corresponds
to the toe. Following the fssure down the
side of the head toward the ear comes the
leg, next the arm and finally the face.
That portion which represents the face is
much more highly differentiated. e.,
split up into a great many smaller areas.
Thanks to this arrangement, one is able
to vary ones c0untenance with an almost
infinite play. of expression, every little
muscle being under ready control.
Close by and associated with the area
representing the face is that of vocal
speech. This latter area is so highly differ
entiated that each letter and nunera]
seems to possess it's own special tract.
There is q case on record Of a man who
forgot the letters B, p, @, Xand Y and the
numerals, 6, z and s. In other respects he
was all right. Butihe could not read be-
cause the letters mentioned were unknown
to him. Of course he could not write
either. He was unable to add 2 and 6 be-
cause 6 was unknown to him. When he
tried to write out the word "lsix," he
could only get as far as the first two let
ters, inasmuch as *" was forgotten.
People remember things in different
ways, according to the habit of the indi
vidual. For example, you ask n mar
when Columbus discovered America, anG
he will reply 1892 promptly, having a Wis
ual picture Of the figures forming thai
date in his mind. But another person will
recall the date not in that manner at all
but by sound. In the latter case it ma
be the centers Of hearing that furnish tn,
memory, but it is more likely to be thos
of vocal speech. The best spoilers are Wis
ualists. They see mental pictures o
words, spelling them BY reading them of
as if from a blackboard. Lots of folk
have no such pictures at all. Most Of then
seem to depend chiefly If not wholly, upol
the habit Of using the letters and syllable
in certain forms Of speaking.
The part of the brain belonging to AM
representing each sense-seeing, hearing
or what not-seems to be complete littl
brain in itself. A banker Of Frankfor
lost the use Of his visual brain for pur
poses Of memory and was obliged to begi1
like q child and train his auditory brain
The orator, whose words pour out in al
eloquent flood, as II self inspired, possesse
oenters Of vocal speech which are highl
deyalOped. constituting in themselves