Evening star., 1941-04-26
Of Stars, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
By Thomas r. Henri.

| =" .SSNAS'ys aaSiA
And Study
By Thomas r. Henry.
There are nerve whirlpools in the
brain.
This theory is advanced by Drs.
Richard M. Brickner, Albert A. Rosner
and Ruth Monro of Columbia Univer-
sity to explain some of the queerest abb
normalities of human behavior, in a
report just made to the National Re-
search Council here.
1t explains, they claim, obsessions in
which persons do. say or think the same
things over and over again and seem
unable to restrain themselves. Simple
examples they cite are of folks who
make ritual of touching every fence
post.
Last year DR.. Brickner discovered an
area in the brain which was just such
|
anaesthesia was instructed to say the
alphabet. Then an electric current was
applied to this particular area. The
man repeated the letter he had on his
| tongue at this instant over and over
| again until the current was stopped. He
knew what he was doing, but was unable
to do otherwise.
| 1t now appears, the Columbia doctors
| say in their report, that this may be a
fairly common phenomenon The brain
| has closed chains of neurons. When
ever stimulation-it may be an electric
current, sight, sound or even a
thought--gets caught in one of these
chains it goes round and round.
Most of the examples they cite are
of epileptic patients, in whom the nerve
whirlpools finally are broken up by the
convulsions.
One woman, for example, heard just
before each seizure repetition, like an
hallucination, of whatever sounds or
words reached her ears at the moment.
For example. if she heard the phrase,
ITS cold today" she would hear it
repeated five or six times just before
losing consciousness.
A man who had undergone a very
severe brain operation, suffered convul-
sive attacks which came in conjunction
with forced flxation of his gaze. Once,
While sitting in his car, he found him.
self unable to avert his gaze from a traf-
f1c light. Despite efforts to the contrary,
ne continued to stare in this fashion for
about 30 seconds, and then lost con-
seriousness. In another instance, his
gaze became fixed on the eyes of young
woman, whereupon he found himself
unable to move his limbs and to con-
tlnue walking. While standing thus,
looking fixedly into her eyes, he lost
| consciousness
DR.. Brickner and his associates cite
other cases from their own experience
and from neurological literature. All
were characterized by the same prenom-
enon Of nerve stimulus whirling in a
circle. This is especially apt to happen,
they believe, after attacks of encepha-
litis.
The condition may explain to some
extent, they think. the behavior of per-
sons with obsessions.
y
Two families with natural earring
holes" in the lobes of their ears have
just been reported to the American
Genetic Association here
They were discovered by DR.. Henry
w. Edmonds and Clyde E. Keller of the
Wistar Institute of Philadelphia. The
curious holes through the lobes, some
times as perfect as though they actually
had been bored for earrings, are passed
from parents to children in some COM
plex hereditary manner, they believe.
1t is highly probable, they point out
In their report, that the anomaly has
been in the human race for countless
generations, but seldom gets a chance
to show itself.
A theory has been advanced, they say,
that this very deformity gave rise to
the practice of wearing earrings among
primitive people and especially to the
habit OF piercing the ears with needles
which began to disappear in the United
States only within the past generation.
Some aboriginal girl born with nat
ural ear holes took advantage of them
to decorate herself. She thus aroused
the envy of all the other girls who, not
to be outdone, proceeded to have holes
bored in their own ears. A few genera
tions ago in the United States practically
every little girl was subjected to this
torture in the first few years of life so
that she would be able to keep up with
the fashions when she was grown.
In the II cases which they found in
their two families, Edmonds and Keller
report, the majority had holes through
the left lobes only. This is in line, they
claim, with the preference for the left
side shown by other malformations,
such as hair lip, and may be explained
by the slightly slower rate of develop
| ment on that side.
The pitted ears, they claim, may be
fairly common before birth, but the
holes close completely before the child
comes into the world. In cases where
they persist there Is some arrest of
normal development, due to an heredi-
tary inhibition.
Praises Local Historian