Evening star., 1932-08-14
The Difference Be-
tzveeu the Scholar
and the A0erage
Man BNot, as So
Many7hmk, in the
Size or Weight of
the Brain, but mHs
Blood SUPPLY
BY JANE STAFFORD.

- CIENCE has discovered new secret of
greatness. 1t has found for the first
time a significant difference in physical
structure between the brain of the aver
age man and that of a scholar.
This difference is not matter OF the
size weight or convolutons of the brain, put OF
its blood supply. And this difference may very
well explain why the scholars brain functioned
more brilliantly than that of his less-gifted
brother which was just as large and heavy
The difference in blood supply to the scholars
brain and to that of the man in the street.
and its significance, have just been brought to
the attention of scientists by Prof. Henry H.
Donaldson of the Wistar Institute OF Anatomy
and Biology in Philadelphia.
Prof Donaldson has for many years been
examining the brains of distinguished scientists
and other scholars after their death, and also
brains Of patients dying in hospital wards
brains of average or less than average ability
and attainments.
Measuring and weighing and dssecting
these brains Prof Donaldson sought the elusive
something that differentiated them intellectual
ly while their owners were alive. He thinks he
has found it, or at least a clew to it, in the
structure scientists call by the Latin name OF
pia mater.
! tender mother-is very delicate membrane
that covers the brain like wrapper of cello
phane 1t is as thin as the finest tissue paper.
only much more piable. 1t follows tightly the
entire surface of the brain, dipping down into
the assures and carrying with 1t the chief
blood vessels of the brain.
II you have ever watched calves brains be-
ing cleaned and prepared for cooking, you have
probably noticed that the cook pulled off blood
-; hit cf1rf hat
clots were attached to. The thin stringy stuff
was the remains of the pal mater, and the blood
was that which had clotted in the veins and
arteries after the death of the animal
During his examination of the brains in his
laboratory Prof Donaldson carefully removed
this membrane, laying it aside for later con-
sideration while he first examined the brains
themselves. He did this because recent studies
have shown that the blood vessel arrangement
In the pia mater varies considerably in different
persons, and that its variations are significant.
This matter of the blood vessels seemed to
Prof Donaldson to be of considerable i'm
portance. Most of the early studies Of the
brain, he reflected, considered it only after
death, when it was an organ at rest without
any driving power. After all, it seemed only
natural that the driving power which kept the
brains at work should be more important than
their shape or size in respect to the quality Of
work they did.
Broadly speaking, this driving power which
puts the brain to work during life is the blood.
and the conditions determining the supply Of
blood are fundamental" he explained recently
when reporting his views and studies to the
American Psychiatrc Association.
The best of brains he pointed out, makes q
poor showing in a fainting individual. Faint
ing Is q condition in which most Of the blood
Is Withdrawn from the brain.
good indication of how well the brain was
supplied with blood might be found in the
blood vessels of the pia mater, he thought.
Another scientist Re remembered, B. Hindze,
made a special study Of these blood vessels in
both mentally superior and ordinary persons.
He found a positive correlation between the
complexity of the blood vessel arrangement and
the mental grade. The higher the mental
grade. the more elaborate the blood vessel ar
rangement in the pia mater.
While it Is not possible to tell about the
number of smaller blood vessels surrounding the
nerve cells of the brain from the complexity Of
the larger vessels of the pia mater, it is safe
to infer that when the pa mater contains
many vessels the nerve cells are also well
supplied.
THERE is no question" Prof Donaldson
stated that the brain, like muscle.
works better with an ample blood supply. SO,
at last. we have a partial reason why one brain
works better than another"
II brain functioning Is a matter OF nourish-
ment. then not only the quantity but the COM