The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-12-05

| and the Other viscera Do a Good Deal
| of thinking for Themselves-A Brain
! Behind the Stomach-How Turtle
Stays Alive After He Is Dead-The
| Darkest Place in All the World.
| Correspondence of the Boston Transcript
| Washington, Nov. 27.-'Do you think with
your liver?''
| ''That sounds liked humorous query"
said Dr. William A. Hammond, the famous
neurologist and ex-surgeon general of the
| army, yesterday, 'tbut in truth it touches
new scientific problem. The most eminent
psychologists of today answer it in the
Affirmative.
| ssThe ancients believed that various men
tai functions were located in the yiscera of
the human body. They placed anger in the
spleen and attributed the gentle emotions
to the heart. Their idea still survives to a
considerable extent. We speak ola good
heart and a flowing heart; ill-tempered
persons we call splenetic; coward is
white livered, and people resembling our
| selves are of our own 'lzidney'
'tStrange to say, science has come to in
dorse this notion, with limitations. There
is no possible doubt that every human be-
ing does good deal of thinking with his
heart, his liver, his kidneys and various
other organs.
'The point of the argument lies in the
fact, now undisputed, that the 'ganglia,'
which are scattered all through the body,
are nothing more nor less than little brains.
Along the sympathetic nerves they are
strung like beads, and, without the aid OF
the thinking which they do, not one OF us
could get along at all. They are largely
made up of the sort of gray matter that
composes the think ing part of the brain.
This gray tissue is the most wonderful sub
stance, so far as we know, in the whole uni
verse, surprising in its grandeur sun, moon
and stars and everything else of which we
have any knowledge. 1t is the substance
that makes man what he is-the head of
all animated nature. If 1 should ever be
disposed to make for myself god, would
select piece of it as the object of my ado
ration.
''Ihe system of sympathetic nerves ex-
tends throughout the body, and there are
ganglia even IN the fingers and toes. But,
if we examine the heart, we find there a
great collection of them. There is, in fact,
a lot Of gray mind stuff in the heart. That
organ is a secondary Drain. 1t is particular
ly an emotional centre, just as the ancients
believed. Joy makes it hutter, and
alarming noise will stop its beating altogeth-
er for q moment. The ganglia which II con-
tains are supposed to control its rhythmic
pulsations.
s'But the greatest collection of gray tissue
outside of the brain proper is behind the
stomach. Here is located an elaborate in
terlacement of sympathetic nerves which
is called the solar plexus. Owing to this
fact, a properly delivered blow upon II
mans stomach will kill him as quickly as
if his skull was smashed in. In old times,
when condemned persons were executed by
tying them to a wheel and breaking their
bones with a club, the merciful coup de
grace was usually given by stroke on the
stomach.
'tThe ganglia save us an immense amount
of trouble, attending to much of our uncon-
scious, but necessary thinking. For exam
pie, young lady has to give her mind to
learning new piece of music, but, after she
has become familiar with it, she can play it
and talk to her best young man at the same
time. Her spinal cord ard ganglia play the
piece, so that she is at liberty to use her
brain for conversational purposes. When
you go home from your office you do not
have to pay attention to the turning of the
proper corners; your spinal cord takes you
to your residence.
$50 you see that it is mistake to consid-
er the mind as shut up inside of the skull; it
extends through the length of the backbone
and ramifies all over the body The ganglia
are like so many little galvanic batteries;
they produce mind, and the white nerve
threads serve as wires for the transmission
of thought. 1t is the same way in the brain
proper; the thin rind of gray matter does
all the thinking, and the white interior has
only mechanical function. We have often
heard, by the way, of the wonderful per
ceptive powers developed by blind people
through the sense of touch. 1t is surmised
that this phenomenon is attributable to an
extraordinary education of the local gan
glia. Persons thus Athlete may actually
develop little brains in their finger tips.
eff turtle be killed and its meat cut into
small bits, you will observe that the pieces
of flesh CULVER as if alive for many hours.
1t is the same way with q snake or lizard,
and the reason is simply that the ganglia of
a reptile are more developed than those of
a human being and act more independently.
They continue to respond to stimuli long
after the destruction of the nerve system as
whole The tail OF tortoi Use will vibrate,
if pinched, several months after the head of
the animal has been removed and the entire
contents of the shell have been scooped out
and made into soup. have seen snake
crawl to its hole, distance of several feet
after its head had been cut off, showing
that the knowledge it acquired before mu
tilation was still present and available for
the object in view. in like manner de-
capitated frog will perform acts showing
the possession of perception, intellect and
WILL
Said Professor Elmer Gates, of the College |
of Mind Art, when asked about this sub
ject:
''Did you ever notice that great anxiety |
produces an uneasiness at the stomach? |
The ganglia in the great interlacement of |
sympathetic nerves behind that organ are
to the emotion. Ii you doubt |