The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1922-01-02

In Each Head, 2 Brains.
l Your Broca convolutions.
Big Head Not Always Best.
A Book Worth Reading.
by ARTHUR BRIsBANE-l
tcopyrisht. isas)
This Is about YOUR brain.
A rich boy inherits an automo-
bile. orders the chauffeur to
bring It around. takes little inter-
est in the machinery.
A man who has worked for the
money to buy an automobile tries
to know about tit interests
him.
Whatever Of you amounts to
anything is the mysterious power
working through the brain. What
actually does the work-SOUL. as
some tell you; WILL. as others
say; CHEMICAL REACTION. as
materialists believe. we cannot
NOW. But we can know about
Fhe machine that lives in the
lark inside the skull. receiving
Information of the outside world
through one set Of nerves. and
through another set issuing or
ders obeyed by muscles and
bones.
Read. among many good books
on the subject, Brain and Per-
sonality," by w. H. Thomson,
who understands his subject. 1t
Is published by Dodd. Mead & Co.
Aristotle decided that the brain
had nothing to do with thought:
that it was a refrigerating plant
to cool off the blood.
One man. Alcmaeon, who lived
before Plato or Aristotle. taught
that the mind was in the brain.
He based his belief on discovery
that total blindness was caused if
YOU cut the optic nerves. leading
from the eyes to the brain. Other
wise men secuted the theory until
the great Greek, Galen, physician
to Marcus Aurelius. revived and
proved it.
Broca, French scientist, died in
1881, was first to understand the
human thinking machine. The
part of your brain with which
you speak is called "Broca's con-
volution." He located speech in
the rear part Of the third frontal
convolution. Injury to that part
destroys speech absolutely.
When that Frenchman Sue
cessfully explored the brain and
taught how it worked, he did
more important exploring than a
thousand Pearys, Livingstones, or
Stanleys.
As you possess two eyes, two
ears, two hands, and two feet,
30 you possess TWO BRAINS.
Each brain is complete, separate,
and can, il necessary, do all
the work Of thinking, just as one
eye, If necessary, can do the
work Of seeing.
If you are right-handed, the
convolution in your LEFT brain
does the talking. If you are left
handed, it is the RIGHT-HAND-
ED convolution that talks. If
the talking part of the brain is
destroyed in a young child, the
other brain can be taught to
talk. In a man of fifty, injury
to "Broca's convolution" destroys
speech for life. The brain be-
comes hardened with age, and,
like an old dog, cannot be taught
new tricks.
When you put on another
mans hat and it falls over your
ears you are indignant. You
know the other man concludes
tnat ne Is your mental superior.
That does not follow.
A brain of normal size is usu-
ally better than the brain abnor-
mally small. Idiots and half
witted persons usually have
small heads and lighter brains
than normal human beings.
Helmholtz. one Of the worlds
most learned men. had a brain
weighing only forty-five ounces.
Thirteen men that died in an
English poorhouse had brains
weighing more than sixty ounces.
Webster's brain weighed a little
over fifty-five ounces
Dollinger. learned student and
expounder of theology. had brain
weighing thirty-seven ounces.
Among five races-Swedish,
Bavarian, Hessian. Bohemian and
English-the English are found
TO have the smallest average brain
weight, the Bohemian the highest.
Size Of head and weight of the
kro;x, 10 not oluouc on fnuofhar