Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1913-11-08
THE HUMAN BRAIN
Its Crumpled Up Shape Is One Of
Natures Clever Devices.
CELLS OF THE GRAY MATTER.
Their Mass and Not the Size Nor
Weight Of the Brain Marks the Men
tality Of the Observation-Disclosures
mont Of the Brain Of an Infant.

The apparent crumpling up Of the
brain Ii one Of the most remarkable Of
natures devices for securing the great
est possible amount Of surface In the
given space. II you take page Of
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. II you crulnple up the paper
you can get the same amount OF sur
face BY following all the creases In
one-fourth to one-tenth OF the space
This is precisely what nature has done.
In the rabbit, for instance. the cere-
Drum .or great brain. with which most
OF the thinking Is done. is without q
crease. perfectly round and smooth.
and the rabbit Is about the stupidest
Of animals.
RI you study the brains Of animals
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-
buttons 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 II It were all
smooth. like the rabbits, and this Is
the way In which evolution has pro-.
vided for giving the brain Of man a
surface from four to ten times what It
would have been II 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 II
out when called upon to do SO This
has been proved by electrically stimu-
lating 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 coat Of varying thickness all over
the suface OF the brain. while the
white matter and nerves lie under 1t
and ramify into 1t.
A man may be said to be intellectual
in proportion to the amount Of gray
matter which he has In his brain. This
varies in individuals, one having more
gray mater at one spot. another q
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 half. but this does
not mean that woman Is necessarily
mans inferior intellectually Her brair
may have more gray matter in pro
portion or thicker layers at the part
most in demand by her life. Brains
weighing more than sixty ounces hav'
been found In idiots. and some OF thu
most brilliant men and women have
had very small brains when put upoi
the scale. But in all cases Of grea
intellectually the depth Of the con
| volutions at certain places In the braiI
il enormous. and the Eve lobes int
which each hemisphere Of the brazil
IL divided are very distinctly marked
affording space for much Of the gra!
matter.
| The infant has gray matter all owe
the surface Of its brain. and thanks t
the generations Of development tina
have preceded It the divisions int
lobes and the deep creases are alread,
there. But they are still in very sof
form and development follows In &C
cordance with the intellectual develor
ment OF the child. Its natural endow
ment at birth Is only an endowment
Of possibility, and the question Q
whether that infant will be an int
lectuai giant or a pigmy In brai
power is dependent almost altogetbe
upon the training which It receive
and the development Of the gray MAJ
ter In its brain.
The genius cannot be explained an
possibly never will be. but partial e.
PLANTATION Of his tremendous power J
some one direction Is offered BY tn
examination Of his brain after dealt
Only lately very eminent surgeon
Philadelphia died and when his brai
was examined It was found that fe
avlarge part II was like child's. but
those parts especially required BY b
profession It was developed far MOI
than Is usual. and the layers OF era
matter at these spots were inordinat'
" thick. II Ia never right to draw an
broad conclusion from a single u
stance. but science has generalize
from many Instances Of this kind unit
It IA ready now to say that though
power is proportionate to the gra
matter In the centers most used
needed. New York World.