Evening star., 1932-04-06
AUTUMN SADNESS
CALLED HERITAGE
Traced by Scientist to Mans
alternating Animal
Ancestors.
BY THOMAS r.. HENRY.

The melancholy of Autumn may be
deep-seated human heritage from hi
bernating animal ancestors.
This explanation is advanced by
Oliver L. Reiser, Pittsburgh University
professor, In the current issue of the
Psychoanalytical Review issued here.
The shortening of the days which
follows the autumnal equinox. DR..
Reiser points out. seems to be associated
with a depressed metaboliSm among
alternating animals which may be
physiological response to the dlmlnlsn-
ing light stimulation Of the organisms
This lowered metabollsm. in turn,
sets off the nervous mechanism when
causes the creatures to crawl into holes,
where they sleep" through the Winter
months, when they would be unable to
find sufficient food outside TO sustain
the metabolic level of active life. The
physiological processes that constitute
living are reduced to the minimum at
which they can persist, so that the AMI
NAL, expending almost no energy, Is
able to live for long time on its own
accumulated fat reserve.
While there is no evidence that the
metabolism of man varies with the sea-
n
was once so vital to the survival of the
organism hardly could have been elimi-
mated in the course of evolution with
out leaving some traces in the nervous
system. Reiser holds.
This he terms biological memory"
Of those distant days and considers
It the probable basis for the sadness
that comes over human beings in the
temperate zone with the yellowing
leaves and the harvest. Similarly
might be explained the elation OF
Spring, when the increasing metabolism
tended to drive the alternating crea-
lures out of their dens
This constitutes one phase of theory
developed by the Pittsburgh professor
that the religious impulses of man can
be traced back directly to the light
responses of the lower organisms-the
tendencies to approach or retreat from
a source of illumination that are known
as positive and negative helio-trop-
isms"
Evidence is accommodating, he points
out. that sunlight acting upon inorganic
materials played major part in the
original chemical synthesis of proto-
plasm and hence in the beginning of
life on earth.
IF light did function in the original
oJ AAbAACoAo VA PAO0OkAoSAhls AAO ooh@os 40
it too fantastic to suppose that living
systems have retained a biological men,
ory of cosmic environment with which
they aspire again to communicate? Let
us suppose that life has retained q
memory of the original energy which
gave it birth. 1t is also conceivable
that life has perceived an implicit de-
sire again to react in sympathy with the
form of radiant energy which Graded 1t. ]"
The mechanical light responses, it is
pointed out, among the lower forms OF
life were responses OF the whole or
ganiSm. Then, In the course of evolu-
ton, certain tissues became especially
sensitive to stimulation, and these grad
ually migrated to the inside of the body
and became the material out of which
the nervous system was built up. Fin
ally, as the croWning step, came the
brain and the cerebral cortex of verte-
brates and the appearance of con-
scious" behavior.
In this process a strange thing hap
pened. The animal tissue phylogene-
tically most intimately associated with
light was imprisoned in darkness. 1t
retained these biological memories,
Reiser holds. These impelled 1t to
struggle towards the light again. So
when the level of the brain was reach
ed the brain tissue pushed part OF
itself outwards into direct contact with
Ight-the eyes.
1t can be shown, he explains. that
these visual organs developed outwards
from the brain rather than from the
peripheral surface of the body inwardS.
At the same time, as the brain de-
veloped, came the great specialization
and enlargement of specific areas of
brain tissue-the visual lobes of the
cortex and the optic thalamus below
the cortex-for the reception and CO.
ordination of visual stimuli
But a light stimulus is not carried
directly to a higher center where 1t
becomes factor in conscious activity
1t must pass by a devious course
through nerve tissue in the sub-cortical
regions of the brain whose reactions
do not rise into consciousness. In
these regions the light stimulus causes
reactions which themselves initiate
stimuli to the brain cortex