Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-22
EDITH RILEY CASE
BATTLES SCIENCE
Controversy Among PsychoI-
ogistS Seen as Possible
Outcome.

CONTINUED From First Page.)
less eficient. That could be done only
by something that would decrease the
number or quality of the nerve cells
say an operation, a blow on the head
or the invasion of some germ which
eats or poisons them Once lost they
never could be restored.
Other School Disagrees.
The other school wouldn't quite agree
TO this. They would say that a good
deal Of a persons ability to see de-
in the cortical area, but the exercise
and training Of those neurons in the
art Of seeing. Most of us, of course, are
self-educated. They would hold the
same position for the ability to CO.
ordinate. Now, If one learns to see by
seeing things and to hear by hearing
things a child shut of for years from
seeing and hearing contacts, as this
little girl is alleged to have been,
wouldn't have much discriminatory
aquity In either sense. And If she
hasn't seen or heard, what chance has
she had to develop those areas equipped
for the coordination of seeing and
hearing?
If we don't like what we see or hear
we try to escape, in some way or other.
If q man Is nagged by his wife, for ex-
ample, he has various choices for get
ting away from the situation. He can
take the aggressive attitude and beat
her over the head. He can put on his
hat and walk out of the house, leaving
her talking. This is the retreat attitude.
But supposing she is too big to silence
with q club, and that the doors are
locked-how is he going to escape the
diSagreeable sound stimuli which are
impinging on the auditory area OF his
cerebral cortex and causing all sorts
of painful combinations elsewhere2
He has O way left which is always
open-one school Of psychologists holds
BY some physical or psychic mechanism,
. the nature of which is not understood,
he can cut the connection between the
hearing mechanism of his ear and the
temporal lobe of the cortex so that the
sounds either are not received or don't
start fresh impulses into the co-ordi-
mating areas. He can do the same for
smelling, seeing, tasting and feeling.
May Have Own Mental World.
The result is that the sensory i'm
pulses which are the basic material OF
/ the processes Of intelligence don't come
In. Only memories, and perhaps pat
terms self-developed in the nerve cells,
20 out into the co-ordinating areas.
Something Of that sort happens to all
of US in dreams. So the person doesn't
see what confronts the eye, but only
fantastic contortionS Of pleasant men,
ory, shot back from the co-ordinating
areas to the visual area. The outside
world ceases to have any reality. The
cortical processes can't be measured by
any measure constructed out OF the
world of sights and sounds outside the
brain itself. The only way to measure
them is to wait until the individual
voluntarily switches on the connection
again.
: is what has happened in the case OF
little Edith Riley. Mental tests are
made out Of things common In the
world of psychologists and Of ordinary
folks. They are not made, and can't
be made, out of the things In the
strange. immaterial world the little
girl may have created inside her own
head as o refuge from the sunerings
! Of the real world.
! Novelist Studied Similar Case.
IN one case It may be possible in q
cornparatively short time to tell q good
deal about her innate endowment OF
cortical nerve cells With which she
thinks.
In the other case it will be necessary
to wait, perhaps for long, long time,
until she voluntarily switches on the
connections again and gets practice in
handling the sensory impressions that
come from real objects.
Once o hapless little boy was picked
up by the police of the German city
OF Nuremberg and evidence accufnu-
| lated that he was an heir to the throne
twho had been confined in dark cell
| lar for 10 years by cruel stepmother.
{ Jacob wasserman, the German novelist,
has written q book, a rather profound
psychological study, on hapless Caspar
Hauser as he developed after his child
hood experience. Wasserman inclines
toward the functionalist viewpoint.
There are real likenesses between the
cases Of this poor little prince and the
child at Gallinger Hospital.
MRS. KLMORE'S STATEMENT.