Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-08
Specialist Was Pioneer in
Diagnosing Epidemic Form
of Sleeping Sickness.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.


Working on this clue, he says, he
finally has traced normal slumber TO
its source, a tiny area Of brain cells
in the floor of the thalamus. The ac-
tivitieS of the body during waking
hours, says the Vienna surgeon, re-
lease in the blood stream certain poi
sons, the nature of which is obscure
and which he terms "hypnotoXins.
When these poiSonS are in sufficient
concentration they arouse the cells in
the sleep-control center to action and
these are so constituted that they take
dominance over the areas in the cere-
bral cortex, the roof of the BRAIN which
is the seat of consciousness, and .pro-
duce the more or less complete sus-
pension of consciousness known as
sleep.
Center Intricate Device.
This sleep-control center, DR.. Won
Economic says, is an intricate device of
nature to keep the higher forms of life.
including men, from periShing through
repeated complete exhaustionS. The
phenomenon of sleep itself, he says. is
innate in all living things, including
plants, but in the lower and less ac-
tive forms it does not come until the
hypnotoxinS are in sufficient concen-
tration to affect all the cells and pro-
duce an exhaustion which is little diff
ferent from complete collapse. As the
nervous system becomes more compli-
Gated this would involve too great a
strain. So, in the course of brain evo-
luton. he says, nature set aside GER
tain group of cells as Sentries to protect
the others.
These are specially constituted to de-
tect the presence of hypnotoxinS. When
these begin to reach the concentration
where they are dangerous the sleep-con-
troll cells issue the order to the corteX
that all except the necessary activities
of life must be stopped. If this order is
obeyed the further production Of hyp-
notoXins is checked. If it is resisted
it is repeated more and more insistently
the subject becomes brewster and
brewster until he falls asleep in spite
of himself.
The organism responsible for en-
cephalitiS appears to have a special
affinity for this sleep-control center,
where 1t produces the same effect con-
tinuously as a high concentration OF
hypnotoxins in the blood stream and
the patient falls into a deep Slumber.
But the Inflammation spreads to other
nearby areas which are responsible for
the enduring effects of the disease after
the patient has wakened.
Experiments on Cats.
Following up his encephalitis dag
nosis, DR.. Won Economic said that ex-
periments suggested by him and per-
formed at the University of Zurich this
Summer showed that cats could be put
to sleep by stimulating the sleep con-
troll center with electricity, which acted
in the same manner as the obscure
hypnotoxins.
DR.. Won Economic also explained that
after years of intensive microscopic
study of the cerebral cortex he has
been able to dtfferentiate lot distinct
functional areas in the human being.
the interaction of which determines the
personality and behavior. Among
American psychiatrists the existence OF
distinct functional areas in the brain,
aside from those responsible for the
primary senses and motions of different
parts of the body, Is considered very
debatable.
The Vienna brain specialist does not
pretend to tie up a distinct function
with each of these areas because, he
says, even the simplest of human per-
sonality reactions probably are made
up of the interactionS of several of
them. He Is convinced Of the validity
of his brain map" because of detect
able microscopic differences in the
arrangement and layering of cells, vary
ing from those which can be detected
distinguish the recognized area of vision
in the occipital lobe in the rear of the
brain to those which are apparent only
with the highest powered microscopes.
Exist In Man Alone.
Each of these brain areas DR.. Won
Economic designateS as an organ"
with a specific function. Now intensive
comparative studies of the cerebral cor
tees of men and the higher animals
reveal that many of these organs exist
in man alone and are concentrated in
the frontal and parietal lobes. 1t Is
in these lobes also that modern man
differs from the prehistoric creatures
who are regarded by anthropologists
as transition forms between homo
sapiens and lower forms of life. This
has been aScertained by DR.. Won
Economic by comparative study OF
all the pre-human skull casts available.
Consequently he concludes that man,
in the process of evolution, Is adding
new brain organs" and that the road
on which he has started will carry linn
relentlessly into a weird and UMPIRE
dictable ALPHABETICALLY a new Heaven
and new earth.
The great changes In the future, he
says, will come as they have started in
the frontal and parietal lobes-the for
mer the seat of the patterns OF brain
organs responsible for intelligent action
and the latter the seat of receptive in
telligence, or understanding. Each new
organ will add the mans conception
of the universe in which he lives and
which even now differs enormously
from the universe of the higher ami
! mails.
Thus, he says, organs may be added
which will make comprehension OF the
fourth and fifth dimensions. now ex-
! istent only in higher mathematics and
| utterly beyond the human senses,
| commonplace. Or in this process OF
| organ" evolution man may develop
| a physical brain structure by which
! thought transference around the world
without any mechanical medium Will
| be as natural a process as seeing or
| hearing. Or the process, In some un-
practicable way, may end in ruin.
Two UnalterabIe Laws.
In any event, says DR.. Won Economic,
man has made his bed and must lie in
! it, for palentology has developed two
unalterable laws of nature. One is the
rule of Dolo, which states that when
an organism has started on a certain
road of development IT never can turn
| back even If the path leads to certain
extinction. The other is the rule of
| Osborne, which states that when a
line of development is started there
is a certain inertia which forces 1t to
BILE for its direction cease.
The progress toward the JSuperman"