Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-03-27
7 .'.-- NJ
the HUMAN BRAIN
It's CrumpIed Up Shape Is One Of
Natures Clever Devices.
CELLS OF THE GRAY MATTER.

CELLS OF THE GRAY MATTER.
Their Mass and Not tbs Size Nsr
Weight Of the Drain Marks the Men.
tality Gof the individual-osvslep.
nsrt 81 the Brain eftan infant,
9HETi iii'tiW a3al 90.
The apparent. el1lmpling 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. II you take page of
newspaper and hold it BY the edges,
blowing it UP to form a balloon. you
have the surface OF the paper occupy
ing the largest possible amount Of
space. Ii you crumple 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.
brum. or great brain. with which most
of the thinking IS done. is without a
crease. perfectly round and smooth.
and the rabbit ia about the stupidest
of animals.
II you study the brains of animals a
little higher in intelligence than the
rabbit you will find that creases come
into the brain until in man the entire
brain is a 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 1t were all
smooth. like the rabbits. and this 10
the. way in which ey9lntion has pro.
vided for giving the brain OF man q
surface from four to ten times what It
would have been II smooth, 80 AS to
give space for rs 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-
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 a coat OF varying thickness all over
the suface Of the brain, while the
white matter and nerves lie under it
and ramify into it. .T 2 ..s,
A man may lie said to be intellectual.
In proportion to the amount of gray
matter which he has In bis brain. This
varies in individuals. one having more
gray mate. 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 stu. secrets which
science has not pierced.
Nor can intellectually be measured
by the weight Of the brain. The aver.
age male brain weighs forty weight
ounces, and the average female brain
forty-three and. half. but this does
not mean that woman Ia 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 llfe Brains
weighing more than sixty ounces have
been found III idiots. and some of the
most brilliant men and women have
had very small brains when put upon
the scale. Put in all: cases of great
intellectually the depth OF the con-
volutions Mt certain places In the brain
is enormous. and the five lObes into
which each hemisphere of the brain
is divided are very distinctly marked.
atfording space for mnSN oti the gray
matter. gg4 Il
The infant has gray matter, all over
the surface Of it's brain. and thanks to
the generations Of development that
have preceded it the divisions into
lobes and The deep creases are already
there. But they are still in very soft
form and development follows In &c.
cordance with the intellectual. develop
uIcuL " TIE CuIu. w AuN1Iut CuuO"
Inent at birth Is only an endowment
of possibility. and the question Of
whether that infant win be an intel.
lectual giant or Il pigmy in brain
power is dependent almost altogether
upon the training which it receives
and the development of the gray mat
ter in its brain.
The genius cannot be explained and
possibly never will be-. but Il partial ex-
PLANTATION Of his tremendous power In
some one direction is offered by the
examination Of bis brain after death.
Only lately :, very eminent surgeon or
Philadelphia died and when bis brain
was examined it. was found that for
a large part it was like a child's. but In
those parts especially required by his
profession it was developed far more
than is usual. and the layers Of gray
matter at these spots were inordinate-
" thick ffisnever right to draw any
broads#so neilviiop from, AZ: single in
stance. But sc,enS has generalized
from many 6lstance$ 1t this kind until
it is; ready now to say that, thought
power is proportionate to the gray
matter in the centers most used or
Needed.--.>'ew York World.