The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-08
INTELLECT OF INSECTS
HOW MOSQUITOES AND OTHER SMALL
CREATURES DO THEIR THINKING.
Smithsonian Institution Collecting
the Brains of Animals to study
Their InteIIects.
Washington Post.

Absurd notion, you say! Not a Dit or IL.
A mosquito has a brain just as much as
you have. There is a specimen in the Ma
tional Museum-that is to say, a model Of
a Jersey mosquitoes thinking machine,
magnifed about ten thousand times.
Eventually the models of a hy's brain, a
cockroach's brain, an ants brain, a bed
bugs brain, ETC., will be added to the col
lection.
The collection referred to has been newly
acquired by the Smithsonian Institution for
the National Museum. 1t is an assemblage
of models of brains of all sorts of animals.
Many of them are greatly magnified, so as
to afford opportunity for comparative
study. For just at present an immense
amount of interest is being manifested in
the study of mind and the phenomena ex-
hibited by the mind apparatus. Not only
are men of distinction contributing their
brains to science-Professor Cope, the great
paleontologist, who died the other day,
actually throwing in his skeieton-but de-
mands are being made for the brains of
creatures low down in the scale of mental
development for purposes of investigation.
1t is only within a comparatively short
time that the existence of an organ prop
erly termed a brain in the lowest orders Of
animals has been recognized. OF course,
very far down in the scale of creation one
hndS hardly more than a system of nerves
and ganglia, with nothing specially recog-
nlzable as representing a brain. But even
a clam may be said to have a sort of brain,
though it is extremely small; it can be dis
sected and properly identified as the think
ing center or principal ~ganglion of the
creature. This principal nerve bunch or
SanS1on has direct control over the So
called foot OF the clam. When it comes
To 1hn ha~ 1lrc pf1nl 90 FhA- -ntafl
natlus, arGonaut and other ~cephalopods,
it is found that they possess quite large
and well-developed brains.
SOME INTELLECTUAL INSECTS.
Obviously it would be quite unfair to
classify m~ollusks, intellectually speaking,
with insects, which are, many of them, ex-
tremely intelligent animals. Their brains,
though SO minute, are capable of mighty
good thinking, and afford the best possible
Illustration of the fact that quality rather
than size makes a high-grade mind ma
chine. The ant is famous for its c~leverness,
and so, likewise, is the bee. There are very
few smarter creatures than the everyday
house fly. which, while establishing itself
as a parasite on man, knows enough from
the start TO regard him as an enemy inn
placably hostile. Entomologists say that
the cockroach is a wonderfully brainy ami
mai, and an equal tribute is paid to the
bedbug.
The nervous system of the fly is a nerve
cord, With a series of ganglia strung along
it, extending the whole length of the body.
This cord corresponds to the spinal cord in
a human being or other vertebrate animal.
The biggest of the ~ganglia, which is con-
sldered as the brain proper, is situated in
the upper part of the head, and by means
of nerve filaments controls the eyes, mouth
and antennae. The legs, wings and other
parts of the body are connected directly
with the other ganglia. 1t is pretty much
the same way with a mosquito. Perhaps
some persons will assert that a mosquito
does not possess a high degree of cunning;
if so, it must certainly be that the persons
in question have had small experience with
the insect. Oh, no; the time has arrived
when 1t must be admitted that the lower
creatures generally nave minds of their
own, and that they do their thinking more
and know how to use them.
FISHES ARE RATHER STUPID.
Fishes are comparatively stupid animals.
but they have brains, too. The National
Museums collection includes quite a num-
Der of models of them. 1t is noticeable that
the so-called optic lobes," which comprise
the thought apparatus Immediately con-
nected with vision, are enormously deyel-
oped. This is because a fish depends upon
the sense of sight for getting food, while
not requiring much intelligence in a. gem
eral way for the transaction of it's business
in life. The brains in fish are small and
smooth, lacking convolutions. However.
the notion that complex cOnVolutiOns neceA-
sarily indicate high mental power was ex-
ploded some time ago. The brain Of q
whale is more deliberately convoIu I'd than
that of a man, and the same is true of the
porpoise and the elephant.
Poor Mr.. Frog, who is always getting
to have a very inferior sort of brain. His
only talent is for bug hunting, inasmuch as
he feeds on insects almost exclusively.
There does not seem to be much difference
between his think machine and that 0f a
s~alamander.
AS might be expected. the brains of tur-
ties and snakes are unimpressive. The
snakes of to-day, as Professor Cope once
said to a writer, are poor and diminutive
surVivals from ancient epOchs when it was
worth while to be a reptile. But. as is
proved by discovered fossils. the gigantic
reptiles of long ago had exceedingly small
brains in proportion to their size. Proba Div
an Atlantosaur lizard ninety feet long nos,
sessed a brain no bigger than that of a
modern cat. These facts are ascertained
skulls. A twelve-foOt alligator of TODAY
has a brain only about the size of ones
thumb.
The brains of animals have been steadily
growing ever since the first living creature
appeared on the earth. 1t is known that
the mammals o. the tertiary epoch, not
more than a million or so of years ago.
had brains very much smaller than the
mammals of to-day. Some of the gigantic
herbivores of that age possessed brains less
IN proportion TO their size than those of
the ancient reptiles. Science NOWADAYS Is
Interested in tracing the history of the de-
velOpment of brain in animals by following
the scale of creation up from the bottom.
dissecting and comparing. Thus If is
learned that the earliest form of brain must
have been a mere nerve cord. In a human
being that nerve cord, called the spinal
cord. has a lump at one end of it termed
a brain: The latter is merely an evolution
Of the former.
Prof. Theodore Gill said to the writer
that among vertebrate animals the IamDrev
stands almost at the very bottom in respect
to the development of its brain. Next
comes the shark, which is VIGOROUSLY a
very stupid fish. Above the shark in point
of mind is the salamander, and on the next
step is the alligator. To find the step next
above you must go to Australia, where
dwells the strange duck-billed ornithohyn-
chus. a webbed-footed animal that lays
eggs. Superior in brain power to the or
nithohynchus is the opossum. More in6elli-
gent than the opossum is the rat, and more
intellectual than the rat is the hedgehog.
Next is the lemur, followed by the monkey,
whose only superior is man. This gives a
rough notion of the ascent of the brain
from the bottom TO the top of the kingdom
of the vertebrates.
SIZE NOT IMPORTANT.
The biggest brain in existence is that of
the elephant, though not in proportion to
the size of the animal. But the matter of
proportion does not seem to be of absolute
Importance as an index of mentality. There
is a little South American monkey, which.
though not particularly intelligent, has a
brain bigger than a mans relatively to size.