The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1900-11-10
OUR COMPLEX BRAIN.


perfect. Its diagnoses are more re
liable, and its method of treatment i
more rational
Although the brain is the chic
part of the animal man, yet there are
many things about the brains which
scientists have not yet fathomed.
But great strides have been made
in that knowledge which only within
recent years been discovered and
which reveals to us what the cranium
really contains. Shelving what has
gone before and what has been taught
as medical law, the following inter
esting data on how the brain works
are now what is accepted at the pres
ent time as the correct theory:
The cerebrum-front and tops
the chief part of the brain and the i'm
ton. The gray matter of the outer
surface is made up of layers of nerve
cells. These are the thinking CELL
tiers. Experiments have clearly de-
monstrated that each convolution has
a special function, and if destroyed it
cannot be replaced
1t has also been found that the left
side of the brain is more active than
the right.
How has that been found out !?
Well, if an epileptic commences fit
by twitching the right thumb or hand
one would find its cause in its nerve
center on tile left side of the brain.
1t is only within the past few years
that medical men are now able to
make map of the surface of the
brain according to the various func-
tions performed.
All impressions received from the
outer world, whether through the
medium of sight, smell, hearing, taste
or touch, or carried direct to the SUR
face of the brain cells of their re-
spective areas, while all movements
are the result of impulses from the
cells in the different motor areas.
Now, there are five large sensory
areas in the make up of the brain.
First, sight, which is the largest, at
the back of the brain. Smell, taste
and hearing have their positions at
the side of the head in the temporal
Ctemples) region and inner surface.
Touch has its domicile at the top of
the brain, while the large motor (giv-
ing motion) area takes up the bulk OF
the middle brain.
These are SO splendidly arranged
by nature that the motor cells of the
lips are in front, then those of the
hand, arm and so on to the foot. To
give you an example how the sensory
and motor nerves work: If you
touched anything hot or sharp, the
impression would be conveyed to the
sensory area along the nerves con-
nected with it. The sensory cell
which received the message would
Immediately communicate with the
Why IS it easier s:;le TO TO remember 'n an
object than. say, a mathematical for
mula or a poem? The reason of this
is that whereas the former has i'm
pressions stamped on several brain
centers, such as sight, touch, smell,
taste and the rest, the latter are
stamped on centers which are not
nearly so retentive as the former.
In repeating poetry, for instance,
it is the sound of the last line which
suggests the next line, but an object
presents itself to the brain centers
concerned Immediately. You know
an apple or an orange when you see
it because you are aided in distin-
tinguishing it by set of centers
which are not only more numerous,
but quicker in perception. Though
poetry is revived in the sight and
sound centers, it is not so well fixed
there as in the other case, because it
calls up fewer centers.
An apple, for instance, is stamped
twice in the optic center, once as a
green fruit and once as the printed
word. There is an optic word cen
ter and pictorial or Photographic
center. The poem is only stamped
in the former, as of course it is not
an object which can be pictorially
represented.
The brain is nothing less than big
album of photographs and other SEN
sorry impressions. The prefrontal re-
gion may be compared to a registry
office where certain records are kept.
In the brain that particular part is
the starting place for the memory.
If we start to recall a subject, the
stimulus must pass to the prefrontal
or registry Office of the brain, whence
the stimulus is sent to the brain cells
containing the sensations to be recall
ed. 1t is like signal box on a rail-
way.
Now, unless your blood be in good
order the active life of the brain will
be affected. Blood is the nourishing
agent, and if it be of poor kind the
work it does in the way of nourish'
ment will be of worthless character
practically. Poor blood is an enemy
of the brain, but happily it is not SC
disastrous a foe as worry. In that
you have the real enemy of the brain
Worry disorganizes the machinery o.
the brain and mind and is little infe
rior to shock, which usually paralyze'
both.
Worry causes irregular nerve &C
ton, and ifit be continuous it produce
a confusion of ideas. This depresse
the cells of the brain, and the usua
result is if there is no abatement ii
the worry complete failure of th'
brains action and consequent menta
disturbance.
Self control is the key to preserv
ing the equilibrium of the brain ant
to maintaining its natural health.
state.-PearSon' S Weekly.
IT IS said that the Rev. Sydne,
Smith could be gallant as we'll a
witty on occasion.
ooh, Mr.. Smith, 1 cannot brin
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