New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-08-08
THE INTELLECT OF INSECTS
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION is coll
LECTING DATA ON THE SUBJECT.

LECTING DATA ON THE SUBJECT.
| From The Washington Post.
II you happen to catch any queer bugs this
summer. be sure TO preserve their brains the
Smithsonian Institution wants them.
ABSURD notion. you say? Not bit Of it. A
mosquito has brain just as much as you have.
lhere Is n specimen in the National Museum
that Is to say, model of Jersey mosquitoes
thinking machine. magnified about ten thousand
tines' eventually the models Of fys BRAIN a
cockrodchs brain, an ants BRAIN a bedbug's
brain, etc. will be added to the collection.
me collection referred to has been hewly ac-
CURED by the Smithsonian Institution for the
NATIONAL Museum. 1t is an assembage Of models
or Drains OF all sorts Of animals. Many Of them
are greatly magnifed, so as to afford oppor
tunlty Tor comparative study. For just at pres
eht an immense amount of interest is being man.
hesied IN the study of mind and the phenomena
eShiblted by the mind apparatus. Not only are
men or distinction contributing their brains to
science-Professor Cope, the great paleOntolo-
gist. who died the other day. actually throwing
In ms skeleton-but demands are being made for
the brains of creatures low down in the scale Of
mental development, for purposes of investisa-
ton.
1t is only within comparatively short time
tnat the existence OF an organ properly termed
brain in the lowest orders Of animals has been
recognized. OF course, very far down in the
scale Of creation one finds hardly more than a
system of nerves and gangla, with nothing spe-
cally recognizable representing brain. But
even clam may be said to have a sort Of brain,
though it is extremely small; it can be dssected
and properly identified the thinking centre or
principal gangliOn of the creature. This prnci-
pal nerve bunch or ganglon has direct control
over the so-called foot of the clam When it
comes to the higher mOusks such as the squid
nautilus. argonaut, and other cephaopods, it Is
found that they possess quite large and we'll
developed brains.
SOME INTELLECTUAL INSECTS.
Obviously it would be quite unfair to classify
mollusks, intellectually speaking, with insects.
which are. many Of them. extremely intelligent
animals Their brains. though minute, are
capable of mighty good thinking, and afford the
best possible illustration of the fact that quality
rat Their tnan size makes d high-grade mind ma
chine. The ant is famous for its cleverneSs. and
so, likewise. is the bee. There very few
smarter creatures than the everyday house
fly, which. while establishing itself as parasite
on man. knows enough from the start to regard
him as an enemy implacaby hostile. Entomolo-
gists say that the cockrOach is a wonderfully
brainy animal. and equal tribute is paid to
the bcdbug
The nervous system Of the fy is nerve cord
with series Of ganglia strung along it. ex-
tending the whole length of the body. This cord
corresponds to the spinal cord IN human being
or other vertebrate animal. The biggest of the
ganglia which is considered as the brain proper.
is situated in the upper part Of the head. and by
means of nerve filaments controls the eyes,