The Washington times., 1928-02-13
Growth Of Man
From One-CeN
Animal

old, 4 depression or trough APP
pears on the upper surface Of
the outer germ.layer. It deepens.
The upper edges come together,
forming the neural tube, so called
because from It will develop the
nervous system. In the third
month the tube expands at one
end into three sacs or veSicIes;
the first and third Of these divide
and there result five vesicles In
all. The walls Of these hollow
sacs will develop into the brain:
the sacs themselves will form the
ventricles 0ittle bellyl Of the.
brain.
The remainder OF the neural
tube. will become the spinal cord.
This. in the fourth-months' EN-
bryo, is as long as the vertebraI
column; thereafter the column
grows faster than the cord.
At birth, all the cells Of the
nervous system are present. The
newborn will develop no new
brain cells, but structural changes
will take place in the nerves
which are I'm control Of the motor
mechanism; otherwise the infant
would remain as helpless as when
born.
Sometimes the bones or the
skull grow together prematurely:
this prevents further growth of
the brain. Such q brain Is called
microcephalous and vaguely resenl-
bles the brain OF monkeys.
Monsters are sometimes de-
lvered In which the brain has
never developed beyond the first
month Of fetal hfe-the original
nerve plate remains spread out on
the surface at the back or the
head.
An English shepherd who died
at the age OF sixty was normal
except for his very small head.
He had q human countenance, but
a vacant stare He could count
his fingers, but not his sheep or
the days OF the week. He could
talk simple sentences. His brain
was one-third normal size and its
assures were like a fetal brain
OF seven months. but lower In
type than that Of a cl1impanzee.
The parts associated with speech
were of the size and form found
in anthropoid apes. 1T was the
type OF brain our ancestors had
millions Of years ago.
Mans brain is from two TO
three times larger than that or
the gorilla, but. apart from mere
size. man and ape brains are
more alike than are their big
toes.
Brain weights vary enormously.
The average for adult male EN-
ropeans is about 1875 grams, for
females about 1885. The brain
OF Turgueneff, the Russian novel;
list, weighed 2,O12 grams. It il
exceeded by that OF only two
others; one was an imbecile. Next
in weight come a laborer Q ,925
gramsl and q bricklayer Il, 300
grams). Gamhetta's brain weighed
only 1924 grams. The largest
woman's brain recorded is 1,742
grams; she was insane and died
Of consumption. The third larg-
est wornan'a brain recorded
weighed 1850 grams; she also
was insane.
(
Of brain Tor Of head is necessar-
lily connected with actual or pO-
tential intelligence. Usually,
large individuals have large
brains; men are larger than
women. Large brains have no
more units than small brains; the
units are large. A small brain is
no more necessarily handicapped
than q small hand or q small foot.
We do not use the brains we
have. Presumably, we no more
get the maximum service out OF
our brains than we do out OF our
motor mechanism. For every book
on how to train the brain there
are a dozen on how to train the
muscles. But not one man in
fifty who goes in for muscle
training expects to put his
muscles to work: he sees physical
culture as physical beauty.
Copyright. 1928, by George A. Dorsey.l
TONIORROW-The story of how
we get our gills-C Crocodile tears.
AN interesting observation on
the Asiatic's eye.