The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1911-05-18
SCIENCE NEEDS
MEMS BRAINS.
Editors Urge That They 30
wi|Ied For Study Purposes.
As TO GENIUS ANO INsANI' !
No Particular Reason to Think Tina,
One Results From the Othsr-Future
ANTAGONISTS May Affect Profound,
Our Political System-Why the Ne
oro Is Slow to Rise.


| gro Is Slow to Rise.
Scientists Of today are declaring hi,
; the anatOmists Of the future are gn'E.
to exert profound influence on thf
political system Of the country. r,i>
change Is to be brought about. 1t is -
serted. by a more intimate knowi",!&.
of the structure and functions Of III
, human brain. of which less is know.
at present than of ajority of ,t.n Vi
/ tai organs. 49, 49,.
| An advocate Of this theory, the &c
itor Of American Medicine. urges II;
men Of intelligence to will their brni'.
to science for purposes Of study Then
he says. when additional knOwled-. =. d,
the brain Is gained we may find ;; VA,
to keep the ballot out Of the hands %,
those who are unfit to use it., a.. .-a.
Genius and insanity" saws thu. wri,
er. seem TO be linked together in TIN
popular mind. though no two things
could be more widely separated a
few men--Lombroso. for Instance
have made an extensive study of thu
psychic. and nervous characteristics Of
great men and have concluded that
genius is a ,neurosiS allied to epilepsy,
while the few men OF genius who have
developed insanity have given rise to a
widespread opinion that every genius
il insane.
Inheritance In Evidence.
1.-THE absurdity Of all these specula
lions arises from the failure to realize
that mental phenomena are the prod
ucts Of brain tissue and that when we
ind extraordinary mental endowments
1t Invariably means that the man has
been born with an extraordinarily de
veloped brain. There is almost always
some evidence of Inheritance Indeed.
study Of British great men long ago
showed that almost every one of them
appeared in family already noted for
achievements asa
Those born to mediocre families are
10 few in number as to have no weight
on this generalization. and even they
are generally of the type in which only
one brain center has been developed.
30 that the mental greatness is strictly
limited to very small sphere. AnatO
mists have been rarely able to secure
brains of great men to find out where
in they differ from the brains one finds
on the disSerting table. which are al
most invaria bly, types of men who have
so utterly failed in the struggle for
existence that their bodies are con
signed to the potter's field s..,
BESIDES. the brain is so difficult 10
preserve and study that it has beer
shamefully neglected in favor Of thos,
organs coming within the sphere Of
practical surgery and medicine. Wha'
little has been found out SO far leaves
no doubt whatever Of the material ba
sis Of intellectual greatness.
spitzka's Discovery.
"Spitzka has already proved tina,
such brains are endowed with yer!
highly developed system OF fbrOus con
,nectiOns. which coordinate the brain
cells. This is the main characteristic
which distinguishes the human brain
from all others. and we should expect II
to be most marked in the highest men
1.-THE nervous instability Of the Ill
usual man is an entirely different mat,
ter from the neuro>es. The highly de
velOprd white matter makes each brain
cell more efficient. and its activities
must he greater than in the ordinary
M h,,. t,il f..I,
sign Of his lower organization. The
instability Of the great is therefore
perfectly normal functioning of per
fectly healthy tissue and no more :,
sign OF disease than is the activity OF
a humInng bird rs compared with tie
slowncss Of Il buzzard.
''On thr other hand. delicate and III
tricate machinery is easily diSarranH
ed and this is the penalty of greatness
for such men nre annoyed or ever
disturbed by influences which are no,
even felt by the phlegmatic 1t may
be true. therefore. that Il slightly high
er percentage Of great men do become
neuraSthenic or insane. but II they
could have been saved from the iniur.
they would have remained healthy-a
rule which applies to the majority Of
Ill cases Of insanity.
Very Great Are Abnormal.
"The very great are very abnormal
that is they do not resemble the aver
7: age. and they must be expected to
! present unusual mental phenomena
which therefore are not signs of dis
ease, but Of unusual organization
Sometimes there is parental instabili
ity-perhaps always and there is some
evidence that this characteristic is the
reason why the brain has developed
so extraordinarily in the offspring.
Sometimes. too this instability Is
itself result Of adversely not neces
sarily normal variation. and hereiI
is the sad side Of greatness-a few
cases are abnormal because " injn
ries. such az toxemias.
! Recently Professor Wilder Of Cor.
nell has called attention to the fart
that the average negro brain is two
ounces lighter than the European. and
this two oul.res fully accounts for the
hility ~ negroes tn adtabee CIV