New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1916-02-09

matter but the gray matter is greater in
quantity. How much gray matter is
there? If were to dissect it would
have sheet of gray matter that would
! cover this table consisting of r. square
feet. In other words feet wide and
feet long. That gives you the idea,
| liz to 1-8 of an inch thick. Now then
the gray matter of mans brain consists
OF sheet Sd feet, 1-12 to 1-8 of an inch
! thick. 1t is simply wonderful when you
contemplate that through this gray
matter man accomplishes so much.
Through this gray matter great ships are
made. Through this gray matter Zep-
pellns were invented. Through this
gray matter AZ centimeter guns are
built Through this gray matter the
Panama Canal was dug. I could men
ton so many things. say through this
gray matter. Don't think | mean this
gray matter. l want to tell you some
thing about the personality, your per-
sonality, your mind, your ego, that
something in you that makes man OF
you. 1t is as distinct from the brain
as this organ is distinct from the hand
that plays it, but it operates through
!! this gray matter as the organ makes
music through the one who plays it..
What is that something? That some
that something? That something is
That something is mans soul. That
something is the borderland between
the material and the immaterial, between
, the mortal and the immortal, between
the seen and the unseen. There are
great mysteries in life as great perhaps
,, as the mysteries St. Paul spoke of. We
know that not many weeks ago mind
possessed this gray matter but when
death took place / do not know where
the mind went, but I know that no
longer could mind operate through this
gray matter. And shall we think that
: that ego, that something in man that
makes man as great as he is, shall we
think that that died with the gray
matter of the brain? I want to repeat
that this sheet of gray matter is the
tissue and the only tissue in the entire
body through which mind can operate.
Mind cannot operate through the heart;
: mind cannot operate through the bones;
mind cannot operate through the white
matter of the brain. It can only operate
; through this small sheet of gray matter.
For convenience in studying l have
already divided the brain into four
equal parts and I want to say in ref
erence to the kinds of matter we are
speaking of that the white matter is
largely made up of fibers, but they are
so small that they can only be seen by
the miscroscope. It consists OF many
fbers running crosswise. The gray mat
ter is made up of cells and from these
! cells separate fibers run so as to connect
the cells one with another. A gray cell
, is something like spider, only spider
has more legs. The gray cell sends out,
three, four or five fbers. These CORE
spond to the legs of the spider and the
i legs or fibers connect cell with cell into
one gray mass. The cell itself CORE
spends to the body of the spider. Cell
: is not a good term because you would
! at once think it is some hollow thing.
/ 1t is not. 1t is little solid mass of
tissue with these fbers passing out from
! it.
The ancients; l am sure little bit OF
history will be of interest here-the
ancients considered the brain a hidden
mysterious organ. They had no con-
ception of the functions of the brain.
AS far back as 500 years B. C. Alcmaeon,
who was psychologist and an anatomist
made careful dissections of the brain
and he said that the brain was the seat
of the mind and that it received SEN
sations and sent out impulses. First
class teaching for the Goth century.
Alcmaeon was rather an obscure man
and he was little like Calico who dis
covered that the earth was round and
revolved, and you know how his ideas
were treated. Alcmaeon's theory didn't
make any advancement. It didn't get
anywhere Following him little later
was Plato and Aristotle. Plato taught
that the narrow of the bone was like the
brain and that the soul of man existed
in the marrow as we'll as in the brain,
and his theory and teachings were most
absurd. The great Aristotle taught
that the brain was cooling organ. That
it cooled the blood before it entered the
heart. Hippocrates, the father of medicine
taught that the blood was the seat of the
soul, and he tried to confirm his teaching
by abiding to the fact that when fever
existed the man was delirious, also that
when one loses considerable amount OF
blood he becomes delirious. The Baby
lonians taught that the liver was the seat
of the soul and their priests invented
many curious omens founded upon their
belief that the liver was the seat of the
soul. Then the Hebrews taught and
believed that the heart was the seat OF
the soul, and the kidneys the seat Of the
mind. They separated the mind and
the soul. It is rather hard for some
people today to get away from those
IDEAS Solomon said, "Give therefore
thy servant, an understanding heart
to judge thy people; that may discern
between good and bad David said
"Create within me clean heart, oh God
and renew right spirit within me. u
Christ said, BLESSED are the pure in
heart for they shall see God" No one
knew the function of the brain and Sc
we do not wonder that the Hebrews
located it in the heart and the Baby
lonians located it in the liver, and SO on
The Hebrews located tender mercies in
in the bowels. You know St. Pau
speaks of that somewhere. We have