New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1916-02-09
ss"- MIND AND BRAIN
(Lecture BySDr. AndrewsJ

a brain as everyone in this building has.
The brain which you possess may be a
little smaller or it may be little larger,
but will guarantee that every division,
every convolution which is found in this
brain will be found in yours. The
human brain is a very delicate organ
and because of it's delicacy providence
has provided great protection for it. I
thought about bringing along skull but
it is of small consequence and / take it
that you all know what the human skull
is. It is a bony cavity with a double
plate, an inner and an outer table, and
within that, filling that cavity, the
Uranium or the skull, is found the brain.
l have found some people who have
thought that the brain is situated in the
it is also true that only a part is located
there. The brain of man fills up the
-oentire Uranium and is indeed very we'll
protected the way it is.
The brain has three coverings. If T
had thought about it l could have
brought along a brain with it's covers, but
| can explain that. Closely over the
brain is one of the coverings. This
covering consists largely of blood YES
sells, and outside of this is another
covering which is a double sack filled
with fluid. When for any reason the
fluid is absorbed great pain is caused.
Now over all those is thick covering,
fully as thick as this towel; so that we
have the protected brain. Going from
without inward; the skin and muscles
covering the Uranium, then the Uranium
itself, consisting of two tables, then with
in that the three membranes covering
the brain. So you see that it is very
well protected against injury, and it
takes a very hard rap to break an adult
skull, and if such is the case it is very
serious injury.
I won't 60 into the anatomy of the
brain at all, except to say that it con-
sists of four divisions. This part is
known as the cerebrum, this great mass
that I pass my hand over now and oc-
cupies the upper part of the skull and
extends even to the frontal bone. The
cerebellum is smaller and is located here
in the lower part of the brain and oc-
cupies the cavity in the back part of the
skull. Then we have the Pons Varolis,
pons meaning bridge and Varolis from
the man who discovered it, connecting
the two hemispheres and extending up
ward from the medulla oblongata. But
be careful how you deal with this little
thing, the medulla oblongata. Advan-
tage is taken of that vital spot in killing
of you have visited the stockyards in
Chicago and you have noticed how the
!. cattle are driven through the narrow
Shutes where man stands up above
them with a prod. He knows right
where to direct it and it strikes the
medulla oblongata. The animal quivers
a little and then drops and in few
minutes is dead. The hangman's knot
must be so arranged that when the
criminal drops the rope pulls in such a
way that the head is drawn back crush
ing the medulla oblongata. If I could
stick pin in the medulla oblongata of
anyone in the audience he would quit
breathing, his blood would stop circulat-
ing, his heart would stop beating and
would be dead. These are the four
principle divisions of the brain.
- Before leaving this l want to speak
something of the weight of the brain and
it's Importance. The average brain of
an American man and the European
weighs 40 IL ounces, mans brain under
stand. The average size OF Woman's
bra n is "A ounces. You will observe
that there is a difference Of 1-2 ounces
Now that isn't because the man is any
smarter or more educated, but his brain
is relatively larger. Take man weigh
ing $50 pounds and " oman of the same
weight equally developed physically and
the mans brain will be heavier than the
won ans. If that be true, is man smart.
er than woman? Is he more capable
intelle ctually? Not one bit of it. Don't
think for moment ladies that the
men on the opposite side of the room
simply because they weigh more. Now
then the question arises; is brain tissue
the amount of brain tissue, in proper.
ton to the intellect? Or, put it another
way; is man smarter, has he more intel
ligence in proportion to the size of the
brain? That has been taught. Ply
siology used to teach that. Further
scientific investigation proved it false
However, there seems to be some reason
for it. Daniel Webster's brain weighed
Sc ounces. Abercrcmbe's 63 ounces
But there is on record an idiots brair
that weighed 70 ounces. This fact is
true, that the brain of the idiot is much
smaller than the average brain. The
idiots brain weighs from % to 80 ounces
although there is that one exception OF
blaln on record that weighed 70 ounces
There is also on record the brain of an
idiotic woman 40 years old whose brain
weighed 10 ounces and grains. 1 could
mention men of great intelligence that
are renowned in history that had small
brains. Unfortunately we do not get
an opportunity to weigh the brains Of
great men, but enough have been weighed
\ and thousands of brains of the average
man have been weighed, and it has beer
found that the mechanic and the mar
without an education have brains as
heavy as those highly educated. I dc
not mean to say the mechanic is not edu.
Gated for he is an educated man in his
line.
Now another thing is taught in ply.
siology. That the tall men have the
greater brains. Tradition teaches US
tt at M oses as tall man and we know
that Abraham Lincoln was tall man
feet inches, and / am sure that yor
can think of many more. But now lei
us compare the smaller men, Roose
volt ic of NJ odirn sizo McK;plo11 woo .