The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-11-08
PHOTOGRAPHS THE THOUGHT.
Experiments OF DR.. j. Atkinson Hodges,
Of Richmond Medical University
He Wants a Subject.

We take pleasure in publishing the
following article, taken from the New
York Herald. Dr. Hodges ia a native
| North CarOl.uan, VINO had attained
emineuce In North Carolina, before he
was called to 81 chair In the Richmond
Medical University. Since his re-
m0vnl to- Virginia he has acquired adj
ditional fame and is now one of the
leading specialists in nervous diseases
in the world:
The startling experiments OF DE
Baraduc in Paris, who succeeded IN
securing photographs Of Wlll power
sent through the nerves 81 the hand
and arm. and fingers and ahechng
aenstized film placed near the hngers'
| were first published IN the COZ uhiiS
nf this pa,uer. So also we're the IN
6ercstiug researches Of ooiohel oe
kochas of I'EcOle POlytcchnique, III
Paris, showing that TINS same "I, !,
| mower was II luminous efliuUum,
which could and would animate in
animate objects placed temporarily
within its sphere.
| nervous specialist, Of Richmond, Va,
now comes forward proposing to expose
the brain surface in a living person,
and not only examine, but also secure
| a permanent print of such molecular
changes as take place in one or more
| Of the brain cells in the intellectual
centre of that person while he is think
ing.
DR.. J. AlIinson Hodges is professor
of nervous diseases in the Richmond
| (NaD Medical University. Next to
| Victor HOrsley, of London, and DIR.
William w. Keen, of Philadelphia, he
has removed more arm, and elbow, and
wrist, and finger, and thumb centres
from the cortex (rind) of the brain
for the cure of attacks of epilepsy
which begin in the particular parts
of the body supplied by these CEN
tres-than any other surgeon in the
world.
1t should be promised, as an intro
direction to this statement OF
his experiments, that objects
in the outer world of sense, such as
colors and sounds and tastes and odors,
impnge upon the various ''end-or-
| cams" and sense in our bodies-such
as the retina of the eye, the organ
of corti in the inner ear, the taste buds
( of the tongue, and the hair cells OF
the mucous membrane Of the nose-ln
the 01IISt OF eTDeE waves
These ether waves produce certain
molecular changes in these end-organs,
and these changes are carried TO the
cells in the sight, hearing, taste and
small centres in the surface of the
brain by the nerves of special sense.
These nerves are nothing more or less
than the telegraph wires of the brain.
One set Of nerves carry messages of
sense from the end-Organs to the brain
cells, and another set carry messages
or orders out to muscles from other
brain centres. Still other sets of
nerves carry sensations from the cells
of the sense centres to the cells in
tn intellectual or thought centres of
the brain.
Alfred Binet, a French physicist,
contends with much plausibility of
facts and reasoning therefrom that
sensations from the outer world such
as colors and shapes assume the guise
of permanent pictures in the sense
centres (celIs) Of the brain, just as they
assumes the guise of temporary pic
ture in the visual purple of the retina
of the eye.
He compares the distinct and success
full lighting up of these pictures in the
cells of the sense centres and intel
Iectual centres of the brain, by repeat
ed messages over the optic nerve from
repeated pictures of the object in ques-
ton in the retina, to the electric light
; ed colored letters and words on black
walls, which are so often used in New
York at the present day for advertising
purposes.
VIII Photographic print of brain cells
, while thought is taking place in the
in those cells of the objects under con-
, sideration?
The instruments which Professor
Hodges employs are as follows: First,
a set of DR. Piles diamond drills for
trephining the skull. Second, lens to
concentrate sunbeams on the spot of
{ brain surface to be examined. Or he
@may employ the focused rays of a
calcium light, if artificial illumination
is necessary. Third, he magnities the
cell which he is examining and takes
an instantaneous picture of thus
magnified by using the photomicro-
graph recently invented by o. G. Mason,
secretary of the American Microscope
cal Association.
In using this photo-micrograph for
this direct purpose, the staging neces-
sary when slides are employed is all
removed. And the eye of the (objec-
tive) tube is placed right close to the
and brain surface is, of course, very
are used the distance between the tube
ey and brain surfac is, of course, very
slight.
So far, so good. But DIR. Hodges is
now casting about for some negro, or
some criminal, who will, for money,
allow his brain to be trephined for the
sake of scientific progress. And who
viii have the nerve, after coming out OF
the anaesthesia resulting from the
ether or chloroform employed, not only
to withstand the physical shock usually
induced by such an operation, but also
to do some original thinking, if even
of very low order?
BY taking photographs of the
thought centre cells before conscious
ness is restored, and again of them
when the patients mind has assumed
it's normal condition, this daring and
brilliant operator hopes to solve the