The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1913-10-24
CELLS OF THE GRAY MATTER.
Their Mass and Not the Size Nor
Weight Of the Brain Marks the Men
tally of the IndviduaI-Develop-
nnsnt of the Brain of an infant

n,snt of the Brain of an Infant.
The apparent crumpling up of the
brain Is one of the most remarkable of
natures devices for securing the great
est possible amount of surface In the
given space. If you take page of
newspaper and hold it by the edges.
blowing it up to form balloon. you
have the surface of the paper occupy
ing the largest possible amount of
space. If you crumple up the paper
you can get the same amount of sur
face by following all the creases In
tne-fourth to one-tenth of the space.
fhis is precisely what nature has done.
In the rabbit. for instance. the cere-
brum. or great brain. with which most
OF the thinking Is done. Is without a
crease. perfectly round and smooth.
and the rabbit is about the stupidest
Of animals
If you study the brains of animals q
little higher In intelligence than the
rabbit you will find that creases come
into the brain until in man the entire
brain is series of creases and convo-
lutions that puzzle you by their intri-
cacy. 1t is plain that the actual sur
face of this creased brain of man is
many times greater than if 1t were all
smooth. like the rabbits, and this is
the way In which evolution has pro-
yided for giving the brain of man
surface from four to ten times what it
would have been If smooth. so as to
give space for as much gray matter as
possible
No scientist has yet explained the
reason, but the fact is admitted that
thought and gray matter are in proper
ton. The cells of the gray matter
seem to store up thought and give it
out when called upon to do so. This
has been proved by electrically stimu-
iating the gray matter when exposed
by an accident or operation and noting
the result In the thoughts expressed by
the patient. This gray matter is spread
In q coat OF varying thickness all over
the suface of the brain. while the
white matter and nerves lie under it
and ramify into it.
A man may be said to be intellectual
in proportion TO the amount of gray
matter which be has in his brain. This
varies In individuals. one having more
gray mater at one spot. another a
thicker layer at another much Of this
being doubtless due to cultivation
though the laws of the multiplication
OF gray matter are still secrets which
science has not pierced
Nor can intellectually be measured
by the weight of the brain. The aver
age male brain weighs forty eight
ounces. and the average female brain
forty three and a half. but this does
not mean that woman is necessarily
mans inferior intellectually. Her brain
may have more gray matter in pro
portion or thicker layers at the parts
most In demand by her life. Brains
weighing more than sixty ounces have
been found In idiots. and some of the
most brilliant men and women have
had very small brains when put upon
the scale But In all cases of great
intellectually the depth of the con
volutions at certain places In the brain
which each hemisphere OF the brain
is divided are very distinctly marked,
affording space for much OF the gray
matter
The infant has gray matter all over
the surface of its brain. and thanks to
the generations of development that
have preceded ii the divisions into
lobes and the deep creases are already
there But they are still in a very soft
form and development follows in ac-
cordance with the intellectual develop
ment OF the child It's natural endow
ment at birth Is only an endowment
Of possibility. and the question OF
whether that infant will be an intel
iectnai giant or pigmy In brain
power is dependent almost altogether
upon the training which it receives
and the development of the gray mat
ter In It's brain.
The genius cannot be explained and
possibly never will be- but a partial ex-
planation of his tremendous power In
some one direction IS offered by the
examination OF his brain after death
Only lately u very eminent surgeon of
Philadelphia died and when his brain
was examined it was found that for
large part ii was like chiid's. but In
those parts especially required by his
profession 1t was developed far more
than Is usual. and the layers of gray
matter at these spots were inordinate-
ly thick 1t is never right TO draw any
broad conclusion from single in
stance. but science has generaized
from many instances of this kind until
II Is ready now to say that thought
power is proportionate to the gray
matter in the centers most used or
needed. New York World.