Evening star., 1932-04-15
SURGEON SAYS MAN
HAS TWO ''BRAINS'
Army Medical Corps Told of
Experiments With Victims
of "SheII- Shock"
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

A man has two brains
This startling conclusion has been
presented to surgeons of the Army
Medical Corps here by DR.. George w.
Grille, celebrated Cleveland surgeon and
physiologist, in explanation of some
cases Of soldiers heart" one of the
nervous conditions which during the
World War was included in the inclu-
sive popular classification of shell
shock"
1t also accounts under the hypothesis
presented the Army surgeons by DR..
cases of the dangerous thyroid gland
condition known as exothalmic goitre,
for diabetes mellitus, and number of
more obscure pathological conditions of
the nervous system.
DIR. Grille reached his conclusion from
experimental work with soldiers suf-
fering from this type of shell shock, "
and with victims of the other condi-
tions. All, he found, seemed most likely
to aff1ict persons of fairly high intel
ligence. This led directly to the two
brain" hypothesis which DR.. Grille be-
lieves he has verified from surgical op-
erationS.
Made Up of Glands.
One is the new brain" inside the
skull, with which man does his think
ing, seeing and hearing. The other.
according to DR.. Grille. is made up of
the two adrenal glands in the region
of the kidneys. His conclusion is that
they are the two halves of what was
the main brain at some far distant
stage in animal evolution.
DR.. Crile'S interest in the problem
was aroused during the war when, as
an Army surgeon in France. he was
called upon to treat some soldiers with
the type of spinal cord injury known
as a crossed lesion a practically
hopeless condition. In these men all
impulses from the lower viscera were
blocked off from the brain by destruc-
ton of nerve tissue in the spinal tracts.
He observed that the victims were prac-
tically destitute of emotion-at least
in so far as it could be detected by
their behavior.
Next he turned to the victims of
soldiers heart" notable Character
istic was the continued physical mani
festation OF the emotion of fear But
most of these men were of fairly high
intelligence.
He returned to the United States
and specialized on surgery of the thu
rold gland, upon which he became one
OF the worlds foremost experts Alb
normal activity of the thyroid results
in the highly nervous condition exo-
| thalmic goitre, which frequently ends
fatally. AS did the shell shock vic
tins, these persons also gave the physi-
| cal appearance of continual terror. al
| though they were not actually con-
scious of this emotion. Also they were
persons of fairly high intelligence. A
dumb" individual seldom appeared at
his clinic for treatment of this con-
dition.
Traced Nerve Fibers.
A prevalent surgical treatment was
to cut off the blood supply to the thy
rold in the expectation that. deprived
OF food and oxygen, the gland would
shrink
This often provided relief. BIT DR.
Grille was doubtful whether the relief
came from interference with the blood
supply or from unintentional cutting of
the nerve fibers which entered the thy
rold. He proceeded to trace these fibers
back through the sympathetic nervous
system to the neighborhood of the
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