Evening star., 1934-07-22
BY THOMAS n. HENRY.

An electro-surgical technique by
which search can be made for the
fear. hate. love and other emotional
centers in the brain has just been
reported to the National Academy Of
Sciences here.
Such centers-if they exist--are
buried deep in the brains upper story,
the so-called cerebrum, where in the
past it has been impossible to reach
them in the living animal with any
thing like sufficiently delicate tech
nique to bring valid conclusions.
In an intact animal-especially a
human being-the emotions are nj
tered through the roof of the brain,
which is the organ Of intellectual life,
before they are given expression.
There they are inhibited. combined
and transmitted. Some might say,
in fact, that the process Of thinking
is baSically one of regulating the ex-
preston of emotions into an economic
pattern. Thoughts may be rational
lied feelings. Feelings and feeling
responses are natures fundamental
tools for preserving the life in the in
dividual and of the species.
The lower emotional levels of the
brain are wired up" with the eere-
bral cortex, or roof Of the brain, In
an extremely intricate fashion. The
only way to get at them has been to
remove 1t altogether, This has been
done successfully with dogs and cats
a few times. Little has been deter
mined. however, because one emotion
so dominated all others that they
could not be distinguished.
The method described by Drs. Clar-
ence w. Brown and Franklin M.
Henry of the University of California
in their communication to the Ma
tional Academy makes it possible,
they claim, to go through the cortex
and destroy very specific areas of the
underlying nuclei of the inner brain
and mid-brain without greatly affect
ing what lies above them. An cleo
trode is pushed through the cortex to
the underlying nucleus which the ex-
perimenters desire to destroy. This
electrode is a nickel silver wire ten
thousandth of an inch in diameter.
BY this means a high-frequency cur
rent of 100000 cycles is applied to
the limited area. Only that part Of
the cortex through which the wire
passes is destroyed and after the
operation the animals, the expert
menters say. recover rapidly to the
point where they are available for
experimental work.
Here, they point out. is a way of
reaching the great unknown region
of the brain where, there is reason to
believe, the lower, subconscious side
of human behavior is regulated.
Rage Denotes Weak
Controlling Mechanism.
When the top Of a dogs brain is
cut of everything makes the animal
mad. The response to every sort of
sensory stimulation Is one of rage
or self protection. Apparently the
creature has no other emotions than
these extremely primitive ones. essen
tial for the preservation of the in
diyidual
Milleniums of evolution in animal
behavior have been sliced away. The
dogs highest brain center is that
which directs rage response. 1t is
located somewhere in that part of
the brain known as the thalsmus
which is covered over, in intact ami
mails, by the cortex which contains
the neural apparatus for all higher
phases of mental activity.
When this cortex is intact it con-
trols the rage-dictating thalamus. 1t
only lets go the impulses of aggression
when they will be of actual service to
the animal, or when they are so strong
that it cannot hold them. A man who
loses his temper easily probably has
q weak controlling mechanism in the
cortex, or poor connections.
The operation of cutting of the
dogs cortex leaves little doubt but
that the rage response is centered in
the thalamuS. Whether it is a specific
center or an integration of a con-
siderable part of the organ is un-
known.
If rage Is centered in the lower
cerebral area why not the other emo
tions? They probably are, but no.
body knows just where. With the
cortical control cut away their mani
festations are buried in the rage re-
sponSe. In some cases LESSONS of basal
cerebral nuclei have been found upon
autopsy in persons who have shown
pathological emotional disturbances