Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-07-30
MYSTERIES OF THE MIND
SOME INEXPLlcABLE PHENOMENA
CONNECTED WITH THE BRAIN.

| There is no subject so important for
all Of us to study as the constitution
, of our minds writes Garrett p. Ser
viss, in the New York Journal. Some
of the most remarkable and inexplic-
| able phenomena of the mind relate to
| the power of memory.
A very curious side light is thrown
| upon this matter by a sentence at the
| close of letter from the famous as
tronomer, Otto Suruve, to Mr.. w. J.
| Hussey, OF the Lick Observatory, pub
lished in the latest number Of the Pro-
ceedings Of that celebrated institution.
The letter was written in acknowl-
| edgment Of the receipt of copy Of
| Mr.. Hussey's volume Of observation
| on the double stars originally dis
covered by Struve. AT the close of
the letter the venerable astronomer
says:
Il must ask your pardon that in
answering your letter 1 make use Of
my mother tongue-the German.
Formerly it was very easy for me to
write English and to speak it, but now
1T would be severe task for man
standing in his eighty-third year"
This is in accord with the common
experience that people of great age
remember more clearly the events of
their youth than those Of later life.
But it might lie supposed that this
tendency would not hold good with the
requirements made by q mind of more
than ordinary power like that of
Struve, in its period of greatest actiy-
ity.
1t would be interesting to know
whether Is common experience with
those who have in the course of their
lives acquired the ability to write and
talk with ease in some other language
than their native speech.
OF course, disuse always weakens
ones hold upon language, and a per-
son may, in that manner, even forget
his mother tongue, but Struve says
nothing Of this, and ascribes his loss
OF command over English entirely to
his advanced age, averring that great
effort would now De required to write
a language which formerly he wrote
with ease.
May not the tendency of the memory
In the latest years of life to recur to
youthful scenes and expressions fur
nish sufficient explanation Of the
childishness Of old age? All of the
nobler faculties Of the mind must, In
a greater or less degree, be dependent
for their exercise upon the material
supplied by the memory.
A man without absolutely no men,
ory though in full possession of his
reasoning powers, would be unable
to manifest any intellectual strength,
and the general character Of our men
tai operations must always be largely,
If not mainly. governed by what men,
ory presents to the mind. So, in ex-
treme age, when the only pictures in
memorys gallery that remain clear and
distinct are those impressed in early
youth, the entire frame of the mind
becomes cast in corresponding mold.
In some instances the vagaries of the
memory may supply an explanation
Of apparently supernatural occur
rences. We find case of that kind in
a story related by the celebrated DR..
John Abercrombie:
A lady suffering from an incurable
disease was sent from London into the
country, but, feeling death approach,
she begged that her infant daughter
be brought from the city to see her.
The child was taken to her mothers
bedside, there was an affecting scene
of parting, and the two never met
again.
AS the child grew up she had no
recollection whatever of her mother.
When she had become a woman, one
day, be mere accident. she entered the
room where the parting had occurred
and was at once strangely agitated.
She said, by way of explanation: ~
have distinct impression of having
been in this room before, and that a
lady who lay In that corner, and
seemed very i'll, leaned over me and
wept."
The singular persistence and the
stimulating power of early memories
are well illustrated by another story
told by DR.. Benjamin Rush. the IA
nous physician who signed the De-
claration of Independence:
In his youth he had been acquainted
with little girl, a farmers daughter,
and the two had often watched an
eagles nest in the top of dead tree.
Many years afterward he was called
to attend his former playmate, now
q married woman, when she was dcs-
perately i'll at the lowest stage of ty-
plus fever.
Upon entering the rcom," he says,
III caught her eye and with 4 cheer
full tone said only. The eagles nestv
She seized my hand. without being
able to speak, and 1 discovered strong
emotions Of pleasure in her counte-
nance. From that time she began to re-
cover and she is now living"
So there is a power Of healing that
| resides in the mind and often it is
through the abiding memories OF child