The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-01-26
BRAINS MAY NOW BE BUILT.
COLLEGE FOR THE STUDY OF THE
MIND ART.

MIND ART.
Laboratories in which Monkeys and
other Animals VIII BE Educated.
How the Mental Powers of n Guinea
Pig May Be Developed ArtiHciaIIy.
Improving the Minds of Dogs and
Cause.-The Brain Structure of IA Dis
eased MicrObc, and How IL is
studied.
From the Hartford Times.
A new scientific institution is to be es-
tablished in Washington-a College of
Psychology and Mind Art. 1t will be I'M
der the direction of Prof. Elmer Gales,
who has earned reputation by his orig
inal researches in the line of brain-build-
ing. More than 200 applications have
been received already from persons who
desire to become students and to learn
about the latest OF the sciences. The es-
Establishment, for which the necessary
money has been subscribed, will be on
quite an extensive scale. Comprised in
it will he no fewer than six laboratories.
A sight will he selected just outside of
the city proper, so that their may be
room to spread
of surprising character An important
part of the work viii consist in the edu-
eating of monkeys, dogs, cats and other
animals Indeed, it might be said that
these creatures will be the pupils at the
College of Mind Art. A regular business
will be made of teaching them in kinder
garten fashion. with view to building
up and improving their mental powers.
Special attention will be devoted to mon
Keys, because they are capable of higher
training than any other beasts. one
monkey, which was under Prof. Gates's
tuition for quite a while, became able to
converse with his master actually. He
could distinguish sixty-eight words going
into another room and fetching thereffom
ball a hat a turnip a shoe, an apple,
or almost any other article that could pc
named. AT the same time, ne could make
twenty-five sounds which ms instructor
could understand,
prof Gates discoveries have contra
dicted the conclusions of Wessmann ana
other Neo-DarWinians, VINO assert thal
physical traits acquired by lndlNldual am
mails are not transmitted to their desceh-
dants For many centuries the Chlnese
women have deformed their feet, and yet
their children have feet that are entirely
normal. The same remark applies 70 the
practice of circumcision among the Jews.
Weissmann took the trouble TO cut on the
tails of monkeys for number or success
sive generations, but they showed no ten
dency to be born with defective cauual
annendages Prof Gates says that ac-
auired physical traits can only be trans,
mitted when they have to do with mental
nrocesses Improved brains, he declares,
NAV certainly be handed down from par
ent to offspring. This he proves by educ
eating animals, which in the. course of
five or six generations exhibit mdrheuly
superior intellectually.
Guinea pigs are VIGOROUSLY stupid ami
mails prof Gates takes an ordinary pair
nd in
through generation after generation, ne
produces guinea pigs that are intellectual
giants-for guinea pigs. In other words
Nv that time the improved brain structure
has become hereditary, certain parts or
the gray matter being much more deYel-
oped than in the generality OF guinea pigs
Those new structures represent new men
tai activities. Finally, the educated
guinea pig is killed, and its large brain IS
subjected to examination under the MI
croscope and otherwise.
At the College of Mind Art several
courses will be opened to guinea pigs. ono
of these will be devoted to cultlVatlnS
their minds through the sense of sight.
Guinea pigs in this class will be com
PEELED from birth-none of the courses are
electiye-to base their daily activities
upon their ability to distinguish ana DIS
criminate among colorS. Ihey VIII pc
Obliged to consider colors pretty nearly all
of the time during many hours each day.
until they become parents OF another
generation. The same work is followed
out with the second generation, ana so
on continuously, until after the fifth or
sixth generation guinea pigs are born
with the seeing areas of their brains al
normally developed. Viewed under the
microgcope these areas are found to con-
tain more brain cells and more compu-
Gated system of nerve hbers, the latter
being the Geographic wires, so TO speak,
by which intelligence is communicated
from the gray matter 80.
ing colors to the guinea pig is to place the
animals food under a number of small,
inverted pans. These pans are red, say,
Ru. they are scattered among blue, green
and yellow pans of the same size, which
have nothing under them. So the little
beast learns after while that there Is
food only be meath the red pans, and IL
does not taket the trouble to turn over
any of the other. Only trifiing quantity
of the food is placed under each red pan,
so that the guinea pig must turn over 100
or more to them to get a meal. After a
bit red having become sufficiently IA
and so on. Finally, the pans are made
all of one color-green, for instance-but
of different shades; and the guinea pig
is required to pick out the shades. Doing
this for six or eight hours a day furnishes
a lot of education in a few weeks.
More than forty different ways are
adonted for obliging animals to exercise
constantly various mental functions. For
example, a hallway is constructed with
q flooring of metal tiles OF different col
ors SO arranged that any of them may be
connected at will with galvanic battery.
The guinea pig is Obliged constantly to go
through this hallway, and ii soon learns
that II gets little shock every time that
it touches a tile that is not red. Conse-
0uently Ii adopts the practice of jump
ing from red tile to red tile. When it
has thus become well acquainted with the
red, the blue tiles are made the safe ones
bv an alteration of the electrical connec-
tions and the guinea pig is obliged to
gain a knowledge of that color; so also
with other colors, and finally with A diff
ferentiation of shades.
q This sort of education is carried to a sur
prising length. When a green dish
appears suddenly on the wall of the room
the properly trained guinea pig knows that