Evening star., 1937-09-14
BRAIN RESEARCH
CENTER TOBE HERE
G. U. Institute to Study
Thousands of Samples
Already Assembled.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

BY THOMAS r. HENRY.
Establishment here of brain re-
search center with the most inclusive
collection of animal and human
brains in the world was announced
in connection with the graduate clinic
Of Georgetown University School of
Medicine today.
Georgetown's Brain Institute is pro-
jected to become a national head
quarters for research on the precise
mechanisms of human ana animal
brain specialists. Already several
thousand brains have been assembled
by DR.. Othmar Solnitsky, director CT
the institute, and Dr.. Francis j.
Warner, his associate.
DR.. Solnitsky is making co-opera-
tive arrangements with the Biological
Survey and the Bureau of Fisheries
to provide large supply If brains
of North American vertebrates, with
various hospitals throughout the
United States and abroad for both
normal and pathological human
brains and with the great Raffles
Museum in Singapore for Drains of
great apes, monkeys and lemurs. A
special treasure of the collection, he
said, is a single brain of a sphenoaon,
q very rare New Zealand reptile with
an eye on the top of its head, which
has not hitherto been studied. This
creature is the closest living relative
of the long-extinct dinosaurs, rep
resents a brain type much more
primitive than any other extant verte-
brate, and may be considered a cross
roads in the development of the
cerebral organs from the triassic rep
tiles to the great apes and man.
Has Five Objectives.
The Brain Institute will start out,
DR.. Solnitsky said, with five OBJ
iectives:
First, to unscramble the brain in
the light of its morphology and evo-
lutionary history Even the simplest
brain, he explained, is a great con-
elomeration of nervous and connective
tissues with cell areas of different
history and structure, and presumably
of different functions. This work will
be carried on according to new tech
nique developed by DR.. Solnitsky him.
self. He plans to use at least four
brains of every kind of animal studied.
These will be cross-sectioned from
various angles, treated with stains
bringing out the cell areas aud con-
nections and studied microscopicaliy
The brain, DR.. Solnitsky explained,
still is largely unmapped territory.
with specific functions known only
for large areas.
The second objective will be to find
how the brain has been built up from
the almost negligible cerebrum of the
snake to the very elaborate one of a
human being. Or. Warner at present
is making an intensive study of rat
tlesnake brains. The Biological Sur
vey is supplying many brains of
snakes and various animals killed by
its hunters-wolves. lynxes ferrets,
foxes, bears, bison. prairie dogs, birds
OF prey, etc. DR.. Solnitsky urged
that hunters all over the country CO.
operate with him in furnishing the
brains of the game they kill The
institute, he said, cannot have too
many brains for the work it plans.
The third purpose will be the study
Of the progress of the normal human
brain from the earliest stages in the
embryo in which it makes its ap-
pearance to adult life. He already
Is assembling large collection of
human embryos and will record the
changes which different parts of the
brain undergo as they progress toward
maturity. This involves especially
determination of the stages a. which
various connective tracts in the
nervous system begin to function.
Up to the present this is largely
euesswork, DR.. Solnitsky said
To Stimulate Brain Sections.
The fourth objective will be a very
minute determination of the actual
functions of minute areas in the
brain. For this study cats will be
used. The studies will be carried on
by means Of an elaborate mechanism
known as the Horsley-Clark instru-
nent 1t is a device by which a
very small brain area, perhaps con-
eisting of only few Thousand cells.
can be stimulated or DESTROYED pv
an electric needle inserted through
the skull. The instrument is so regu-
lated that the experimenters can
locate precisely where the current
has been applied. They Will study
the behavior of the animal with the
stimulation of different areas and, by
killing it few days later. the ex-
tent and nature of the degeneration
caused. There have been many
stddies. DR.. Solnitsky explained, of
the functions of various brain areas.
but these have never been precisely
delimited. Neurologists know only
that certain results are found when
quite generalized area is stimulated
or damaged
The nth objective will be the
study Of the functions and NOR.
phology of the so-called nuclea,
masses underneath the cerebral cor.
tex, which now constitute an almost
impenetrable jungle of cell mixtures
DR.. Solnitsky himself is investigating
especially the different parts of tht
thalamus. This is a great mass Of
nerve tissue which is covered ovel
by the cerebral cortex of the brain
but which in very ancient forms O
life formed the highest brain center
1t acts today as sort of accessory
brain and is generally considered tn,
seat of the emotions. Very closel,
connected with it, but morphologicall,
differentiated, are the hypothalanu