The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-04-17
YOUR BRhIN CELL I'm OCTOPUS.
Former Surgeon General Hammond Tells Why Drunken
Man Acts Queerly.

, erary man, perhaps. becomes afflicted
| with morbid ideas. Authorizations and de-
lusions.
Inc discovery of this tendency to with
draw from business on the part of the
brain cell under certain conditions has
thrown a flood of light upon a host of
mental Phenomena. A blow on the head
may deprive man of his education, TAX
Ing away from him all memory of his
past career SO that he has to- begin to
I'VE over again In a new world
The cause IS simply that the associa-
tioIls between certain groups of cells have
! peen broken up. Manifestations of vio-
tent mania are, due, in some cases at ali
events TO the withdrawal of the higher
| groups Of cells which dominate and con
troll the lower parts of the nervous sys-
| TEN. This the subconscious mind. which
ordinarily Is held In allegiance. lacks its
| normal control and advances to the fore.
ground. responding to any stimulus with
storm of excitement. '.a1
Brain cells OF the highest order are
intai u AZ .he upper brain. where the in
iiiteiiect proper Is supposed to be Jocat.
Gu. here, as DR.. Van Gieson saws the
associations OF the tiny octopuses are
| SuuparduVely loose, and their relations
change constantly. In fact. thew a "a
IA state of continual fux, and hence the
tay VI the mind. the infinite variey of
| tnought and reasoning
This condition of affairs ,ndaaa
eeNtiai TO the elevated type of inteIIJ
| seice. A stupid person does not no No
.iiis constant mind play, due to the r,oL
ing and breaking of relations be+waa,
oralh cells. OF course this is not The
IN lily reason Tor the mental superiority Of
tho oo+oT man. Inc brain octopuses, like
1no oclopuseS OF the ocean differ IN +ba;,.
qualltles, and thus we find varvine a.
siees OF talent in different indivjd,aIs
! haporary distinctions of the biehar
cehs are accountable for the nhe,onoar,a
VI absent 'm1ndedness. A man is so ~.
~ tSa oeu IN the consideration of one subiaot
aronnd UNCONSCIOUS of what is going on
r r,oono him. the tentacles of the octo-
puses being all turned one wav 49,
s speah. Being so loosely associated ~
sneI praln cells are first to act in Az.
oiuerly fashion when a person tales 80.
~ iiiuch 10 drink, SO that he behaves oI,a 80
self oiiiihe ms usual
The effect of the alcohol pains. e,,,.,
1 lne ceiis IN those patches of fbe 49,.
WHICH, control the muscular ron,,a,,, : -
are anected, and the man stageers ~,
iiaily' when the dose is very largo ~
octopuses give up work en- masse For IT,
..lne oeing' and the poison is taken tbs
unfortunate dies. 'N us
Ihere Is some relation as vet ,,,a,., =
covered, between extraordinary activity
VI mind and insanity; hence the->statec'
heht' unquestionably true, that "eraat
WI 70 madness nearly is Allied If car
mos oe denied that geniuses are ant r.
eAnipit symptoms of mental aliena tion
and their children are usually inferto .o,l,
| lntelngence to those of average ~. IL
Examples are easily furnished III. Ill
trate the proposition: - Illus
Martin Luther had hallucfnations
sanitsy a roe showed symptoms ne tn
TeIer me ne Great was an epileptfc
! Jpulds Saesar was an epiIentic
| mania was ainlcted with suicidal
/ Walter Scott had visions
a n asSao Ia cary youth was thrown int
PaSsi0n py the sight of water WI mo
self horse. Imagined him
GGesfartes =. was followed by spectre
Goetne, on at least one occasion
countered phantasm of hjmsaiP en-
cromwell was a hypochondriac ana
man. $" -tNieiancnoly mad
Jeanne dare had visions.
ce Medam m was an 1epileptic and re-
| SWedenborg fancied that ha ueytf
heaven on a white horse "eHl TO
Cbo aar, s dbeq nd OF cerebral hydropsy.
onered to another man the seat he NC sne
Of Nine the f de stae snd was fearful the cold
dead body be wrapped in fura mat nat her
Dean Swift Inherited insanity. and
was himself not little mads anu
Shelley. called by his friends ..Axos
Shelley" had halIucinations MAO
Charles Lamb went crazy. .-.e
The great johnson was a llypochon-
! driac and had Authorizations of he's rinar
/ Coleridge was morbid maniac. s'
Milton was OF morbid temperament
| nearly approaching insanity Modern
| ideas as to hell are formed on the de-
scriptions evolved by his diseasefui I'M
agination.
Byron was visited by ghosts
/ Certain kinds of dementia have come to
be associated with certain classes of neo.
pie. Paresis. almost unknown In women.
is the typical insanity of spectators.
Usually it seems to be due to overstrain
of the nervous system. attributable to the
excitement Of gambling, combined with