The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-10-27
BRAIN ELECTRICITY

New proof of the materialistic
basis of consciousness was furnished
TO the recent meeting of the Clint
cal Congress Of the American Col
lege of Surgeons, by Professor
Walter B. Cannon of the Harvard
Medical School and several associ-
ates. Professor Cannon, who is one
Of the leading American physiolo-
gists, demonstrated the electrical
activity Of the human brain.
There is a constant stream Of
electricity going on in the gray mat
ter of the brain. In the cortex and
in the upper brain there are con-
slant rhythmic electrical changes,
even when there is no sensory
stimulation. 1t was further demon
strated in experiments on animals
that the brain produces electrical
currents while the subject is an I'M
conscious state from an anaesthetic.
The brain keeps sending out cleo
trical currents as long as the blood
supply to the cortex is not cut of,
These currents die out as soon as
the circulation Of the blood is
halted.
Professor Cannon carried out the
demonstration on a person lying
at ease in a dark room. Metal
electrodes were attached to the top
and back of the skull, and in turn
these were attached to a high
application apparatus, in another
par of the building. The amplifer
magnified the brain currents a mil
lion times. The amplified electrical
discharges could then be heard in
the auditorium of the congress.
AS the subject lay quietly with his
eyes shut, the apparatus recorded
ten to fifteen electrical oscillations
a second. When the eyes were sud-
denly opened, thus provided a visual
stimulus to the brain, the regular
signals were either seriously modi-
fed or cut off entirely. a hashlight
when brought in front Of the eyes
caused another alteration in the
pattern of the electrical signals.
These experiments have demon
s rated the electrical activity of the
brain on pretty definite basis. 1t
had been specialized on for num-
Der of years, but this was the first
experimental verif1cation on sat-
isfactory scale,
The same experiments were car
ried out on anaesthetized cats after
the top and back parts of their skull
had been removed. The electrodes
we're then attached directly to the
brain. Consequently only tenth
of the application was necessary
to record the brain signals.
These experiments seem to in
dictate thai the processes of think
ing have as their basis the electrical
activity of the brain. Despite the
denial of the idealists that the
human personality and the proc
esses of consciousness can be eX-
planned in materialistic terms, the
work of scientists like Pavlov, Sher-
rington and Cannon is an i'm
portant beginning towards our I'M
Outstanding of the materialistic
basis of the human consciousness.
AS practical application of their
work the Harvard scientists are at
tempting to determine the role
played by brain. electricity in the
process Of hearing. They hope to
discover means of res. oring the
hearing of the 100000 persons in
the United States who suffer from
deafness.
The human ear is a very complex
and sensitized organ. Leading from
the ear drum are bony structures
known as ossicles which vibrate
mechanically to the sound waves
that enter from the outside. These
mechanical sound waves are trans
formed into electrical currents in
the inner ear, which contains the
part called the organ Of corti. From
here the electrical currents travel
along a twisted band of fibres to
the mid-brain where the hearing
center is located. In the mid-brain
the electrical nerve impulses radiate
into the higher areas or cortex Of
the brain. The mechanism of hear
ing is then completed.
If any part of the ear is diseased
or injured, the mechanical sound
waves cannot be transformed into
electrical impulses. Consequently
no sounds can reach the hearing