The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-02-27
HOW N K IS DONE.
THE THEORY OF THE BR1IN,
METHOD OF WORKING.

AT last SCIENTISTS seem 10 DC on the noint -
finding out what happens in the brain whom :
person thinks. It has long been known that N.
brain is the thinking organ. but just how n.
making OF thought comes about has been a NM,
Gle. The celebrated Cabanis solved the matt.
ofhand by saying that the brain secroto.
thought as.the liver ~secretes bile. This ,ors.
saying passed into common use, but soon cam.
to DO recognized as n clever speech rather TN.
an explanation Of the mystery. Now. howeyer
tho most recent researches Of the microscon,s,,
arc making 1t appear that after all the .oyin,
Is not so far wrong, but that, correctly int,n
preted, It In some measure expresses the fncts
or course, thought, being intangible, is not pron.
erly to be compared with bile or any other rhrsi.
cal substance, but 1t appears that the proceS,.,
In the brain which produce thought, and with.
out which thinking 10 impossible, are compar.
able TO those changes in the liver and otbe,
organs which produce the tangible secrelions.
A committee Of British physicians, acting
Jointly, have been giving particular attention ia
this topic for some years, and their researches
though not yet altogether complete. already
show some very Interesting results, which,
taken together with those of investigators an
the Continent, let us see a long way into the in.
tricacics Of the brain. 1t is shown uneouiyo-
caily. for example. that a brain cell, which IA
the really important part Of the brain. actually
loses part of Its substance during action. The
brain cells Of persons and Of animals that have
died during a period Of great exhaustion from
ovcrcxertion are found to be greatly changed
from the condition of the normal cell during
times Of health and vigor. The cell of tho e1.
haustcd brain, instead Of being plump and full
of nervous matter. is found to be followed out
or "vacuolated." q cavity within its substance,
having formed and being filed with water.
This means that a part Of the cell substance ha,
been actually consumed during the time Of
brain activity, precisely as coal is consumed
when one gets heat from a furnace.
1t is found, further. that.if an animal whose
brain cells arc thus exhausted is permitted to
rest and to sleep Its cells rapidly recuperate, new
material being supplied from the blood until the
vacuolation has disappeared and the cell is prac.
TALLY as good as new again. This explains why
sleep is necessary to our existence. During wax.
ing hours our brains are literally worn away.
and sleep is the state during which the repair
shops Of the brain make good the damage Of the
waking hours. Thus the brain of q person who
suffers from insomnia is in the condition Of q
locomotive which Is run night and day without
going to the repair shops; disaster must ultl.
II is not sleep alone, however. that rests tho
brain ell, though sleep is absolutely essential to
ali parts Of the brain are II involved TinSdeii in ANU anu o nos
Kind Of mental effort, The blood supply Of the
brain Is so arranged that by expansion or con.
may be flushed with blood and other parts
damned daasm on. SO to speak. somewhat as The vaTi.
by the gardener. and as rapid flow Of Blood is
essential to great mental activity. this means
cuperating. Thus it is TIA. a : person. esens suffering nna ne,
out into 1sSt the fI,kG VIA VIZ a se soi f sns ae oE ON and ts go
h mE!nS 4iyo With 4. a 6iSyelsi and :I b. divsSrtins his
rest and recuperate. But It must not tn be- oy. 10
looked that such exercise involves other brain
fsaf' " %hit9Sh s' i in turn fdr be- become exhausted, and
brain as a whole. sleep is absolutely essential.
Axe Fsi ss S1sns no no. medicine ms line; no stimulant will
,leep when be makes the effort, is literally burn.
keep on Indefinitely in this way than a iocomo'
motive can run on indefinitely without getting
In this new view it appears that'each brain
cell Is . a .9rt OF storage battery. which can per:
te'% rec srsean ' TSis iik or wsFf 70 and q t saen must I
fnre t 81 t ssmP Pns;d ed,,! BY the fact that the p:
Of any ny t other erai bat aeirs w of the eon .ssdin IKE ou mat at
At least, along abres t6at NAV be likenedi {;
bodies. like many other kinds Of celts.. On the
properly. stained. little wire-Iike hires can be-
seen 'uttinG out from them in various direc.
come to the cell. and other messages are sent
1It, mnch as messages go and come from a
clepuOnc central once.
trail office is a comnarison that may be carried
to q remarkable length. Indeed. no other com.
tion Of the method Of brain actor. But until
fecentiy there was one phase Of the matter
Various messages that are surging through Tho
brain are directed to proper channels. among
the central office You give a certain number.
ana the operator conneGts your particular wire
ltlkllR InC operator breaks the CirCIit and Vnu
can no longer communicate along that line. But
as and there hrest, any t I similar e this making
Aastonisaing as It may seem. the answer is -.
I'm is precisely such a series Of changes in
operator with the telephone wires.
me manner OF II, is this. Recent studies Of
physiologist, Ramon Cajal. have shown
That many of the wires which lead out from a
ton in some other distant cell. as they we're
iiorm rhsing supposed to do. but instead terminate
toward other cells. but do not Reach Them M" such
hbre clearly cannot convey any. message, be.
aa aoes n NOT a le aed5e pnUWbs w,re thai Rnt heb has been Gp,;
of stimulation a very extraordinary
thing happens. The blind" fibre, under siin.
touches q fibre of n neighboring cell. and presto.
with such, contact. n circuit is completed and
such, coming together OF the blind" fbres IS
nIeciseiy comparable to the operators connect
The case Of the telephones. so in the case Of BE
cells. when the communication is completed
ne connection is broken. the hhres retrac' and
ease 10 touch one another. and no further mes
Sometimes the telephone girl does not under
stand your order. or reports that the number
your messaee. Similarly in the brain It seems
,ometimes as II certain circuits one wishcs 10
lse are engaged in other channels: for how
,ften does one puzzle his brains to recall a
&C. or Q name; which he feels that he knows
but which will not come at command.
md th,n how. Ierhaps hours aftegward. lie
,ansnEe name VIII Hash before, HIM. as II tho
clephone girl or his brain cell haG at last sue
,Gedsd In getting the right connection. When
me rellects that each OF these wonderful brain
Is microscopic in size. requiring. i%ndeed; a
ilRh power or the microscope to make It WIS., 'r,
thai there are billions OF them in a cubic
hch OF brain substance, one is led 10 wonder
such mistakes OF connection or failures 10
'ohilcct DO not occur oftener. As II j.. the tee
,hone office of the brain Is easily the most won.
lerlul structure of which we have any knOwl
'dge. The most delicate piece of mcchani-m
oer devised BY human hands is a crude thing
oinpnred with the marvellous brain cell.
~ tlIne OF war 1t often happens that an IN.
'aulhg army VIII cut the telegraph wires and
IcstrOy Instruments and bafIer.ps NJ the con.