The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-02-06
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PHYSIOLOGY OF THE BRAIN.

F1echsigs Intellectual Link-Centers Of
Observation-Disclosures Discovery.
In the physiology of the brain stel
forward has lately been taken which
renders the problem of intellectual &C.
tivity considerably more Ineligible.
The Leipsic specialist for diseases of the
mind, Professor Flechsig, at present rec
tor of the university, has lately discov
cred that within the surface of the cere
brum four connected completes are de-
Enable, closely resembling one another,
but essentially differing from the other
parts of the cerebrum in anatomical
structure. These four centers lie in the
fore part of the frontal cerebrum, in the
temporal lobe, in the hinder parietal
lobe and in the lobuIe. The extraordi-
nary development of these centers essen
TALLY distinguishes the human brain
from that of the lower animals. Flech-
sig calls them intellectual centers, - or
"centers of association, because they
concentrate the activities of the organ
of sense into higher units.
These centers do not exist in new
born children. Not till months later,
when all the rest of the cerebral sub
stance has become modulated, do these
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think, develop. The ''centers of associa-
tom are connected by numerous sys-
TENS of fibers. Flechsig draws con-
trast between them and the ''centers Of
sense, :" the centers of sight, hearing,
smell, touch, ETC., which produce lower
units. They receive the perceptions
which are conveyed to the brain by the
external organs of sense. In the centers
of sense originates sensation. 1t is only
in oenters of association, however, with
which they are connected by innumer-
able nerve fbers, that their contents are
converted into thoughts. The activity Of
the centers of sense is directed outward
that is, they receive the impulse to
the exercise of their functions from
without. The centers of association, on
the other Ea2d, only establish the sim
tellectual link between the centers of
sense. They elaborate the impressions
of the senses, their activity is directed
wholly inward, they are the bearers of
all that we call experience, knowledge,
cognizance, principles and higher feel
ings, and also of language.
The Importance Of these centers ap-
pears very clearly if we follow their de-
velopment in newborn children. When
the inner development of the centers of
sense is completed after the third
month, the intellectual centers begin
gradually to form. and more and more
nerve fbers shoot forth from the center
of sense into those new regions, ending
close to one another in the cerebral cor
tex. Only about one-third of the cere-
bral cortex is directly connected with
those of the nerve fibers, on which con-
seriousness of sensory impressions de-
ponds. Two-thirds of the cerebal cortex
have nothing to do with this function,
but serve the higher purpose of the
''centers of association. " The organ of
the mind, says Flechsig, distinctly
shows a collegiate constitution. Its
counselors are grouped in two senates,
the members of one of which bear names
such as sight, hearing, etc., while those
of the others are called centers of asso-
citation.
The latter, however, are, like the
former, not of equal Importance. In
complicated intellectual work indeed
they probably work all four together,
but pathological experience shows rs
that one center may be intact while an
other is disturbed. The language, for
instance, may be confused, while the
apprehension of the outer world is not
yet perceptibly altered, or, on the other
hand, the language may seem correct,
whereas the conceptions combine to
form utterly senseless delusions. The
! power of expressing knowledge by lam
guage evidently depends upon another