Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1902-12-11
AN UNUSUAL. COLLECTION.
Professor Burt Green Wilder's Fine As.
sortment Of Human Brains,

SSIkIHeHI Oh Truman 0FdlnSs
| New York Mail and Express: Attention
has been drawn, by two or three recent
true statements in the newspapers, to a
/; collection which is being amasscd by
Cornell professor. OF course, all sorts of
things are gathered nowadays by men and
women who have the collecting instinct
Serious men collect not only rare prints,
ola book bindings, book plates pistols,
Knives, forks and spoons, but old shoes,
newspaper title headings postmarks and
such like tritling tings. 1T Is all dane in
a grave, scientific spirit. Mark Twain
told of a man once who was collecting
echoes. We have forgotten just how he
did 1t, but the distinct impression of the
mans serious. scientific spirit remains In
our recollection Everything is collected
1t would seem to be impossible To sur
prise the world with any sort Of eolec-
!, lon.
However. Professor Burt Green Wilder
| of Cornell university is making very
| important collection, the nature and OBJ
Ject of which certainly surprises one a lit
| tie, when one first hears of 1t. Professor
| Wilder is collecting human brains. He
\ is at the head of the department of neu-
rology and vertebrate zoology and physi-
| olosN at Cornell and he is Il recognized
authority on the physiology of the brain
i termine a question which certain other
persons somewhat in the public eye are
| treating enpirically- question wheth-
| er the bent of the human mind and char
acter can be sensbly determined by
| changes or development In the brain, pro-
| iuced by the training of the young. Can
men be given a cerebral development
| which is greatly in advance of their inher-
|ltance9 or are men merely the creatures
| Of their hcredity? Was Webster's power
| altogether born in him because he was
| endowed by nature with Il gigantic brain?
| Can we make Wehsters out of little
| Thomas, and Richard and Henry. by talk
llng them in time, and building up great
| brains In themf
| 10 answer such questions, man of
science must have brains in more senses
than one. That, at least, is Professor
Wilder's opinion. Hence his collection.
He endeavors by gentle persuasion to in
tuce as many gifted people as possible to
| give him their brains when they are quite
sure they are done with them 1t is I'M
derstood that the late Elizabeth Cady
| Stanton promised her brains to Professor
| Wilder, but her heart must have m,sgiven
| her at the last, for her will contained no
bequest of them. Professor Goodwin
Smith has promised his brains to Profess
sor Wilder, and so have several other per
sons of consequence In the world. The
professor already has a noteworthy coll
lection, but 1t is nothing to what it win
be when all these bequests fall in.
Meantime, the professor does not insist
| mat the specimens which he collects shall
come wholly from geniuses. great crimi-
nails and other really eminent persons.
The brains of quite commonplace people
may have a legitimate place In the coec-
lion, doubtless as illustrating the physi-
illogical conditions which produce the
commonplace. No brain, however humble,
will be despised. Professor Wilder is
| open to gifts