Evening star., 1941-05-08
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
BIZ Thomas r. Henrv.

A baby Is about a month old before
the top OF its brain-the seat of intelli-
gence-be gins to work.
This is the finding reported to the
Society for Research in Child Develop
ment of the National Research Council
here by Dl. Myrtle B. McGraw of Col
umbia University.
She stuck rs babies with pins-2008
pin prlcks in all-from birth to the age
of four and recorded their changing
reaction; as the higher centers of the
brain came into action one after the
other.
For few days after birth some babies
make no protest at being pricked. This
may be due, DR.. McGraW thinks, to
one of three reasons-the pain nerve
endings are not developed, there is no
connection between them and the brain,
or there is no connection between the
pain centers in the brain and the centers
that initiate crying After the first week
the pin-pricked baby will toss its whole
body, cry loudly, and sometimes with
draw the stuck arm or leg.
This, she believes, is because the pain
impulses go into the brain only as far
as the thalamus, the "cld brain" of the
species, which acts automatically but
does not think. The response to pin
prick in the arm is exactly the same as
that to anything else which hurts or
frightens the baby. There is no specific
response to that particular stimulus such
as trying to draw the arm out OF the
way or push aside the pin.
At about the start Of the second month
strange thing happens. The tossing
movements of the body may disappear
altogether. Some babies cry violently,
but a few remain silent. This is the
stage, DR. McGraw holds, when they are
changing from automatic to celebrating
organisms The crude ancient means of
defense which the child brings into the
world-similar to that of much lower
forms of life-is being inhibited and
wiped out so that new ard far more
efficient one can be built up.
The top of The brain has begun to
work, but in a negative fashion. The
child knows 1t is being hurt, but it
doesn't know where or how.
This phase may continue for several
weeks before the top brain reactions
start. At first they are crude. but they
are deliberate. When an arm is pricked
the child tries to pull away that particu-
lar arm, rather than toss the whole
body aimlessly. Even before that the
eyes may be turned directly on the pin.
During the first stage, DR.. McGraw
says, the child does not look at the ap-
preaching pin. Maybe the sense of
sight is not sufficiently developed to
see it. In the second stage the eyes
turn towards the approaching pin but
there is nc protest. The brain has not
vet formed an association between the
object and the pain it causes In the
third stage the sight of the pin causes
crying for the nerve lines between the
sight center at the back of the brain, the
centers OF feeling In the middle, and
the crying centers in the front have
been completed.
Rituals and music of the midwinter
festival OF the Iroquois, the feast OF
fools" described in the 17th century
Jesuit Relations, nave Just been re-
corded by DR.. William N Fenton, Smith
sonian Institution ethnologist. who has
just returned from the Six Nations Res
ervation in Southern Ontario.
The nine-day rites constitute one of
the weirdest of aboriginal American
ceremonies. The meaning is deeply
rooted in Iroquois psychology. The en-
tire performance is dream fulfllment
ceremony deemed essential to retain the
favor of the supernatural figures, such
as the cosmic animals, which have a
central place in Iroquois mythology.
An Iroouois dreams of one of the
cosmic figures and IS required to make
come sacrifice annually to retain his
favor. The midwintel festival is the
occasion when these debts are paid,
since dream is supposed to establish
a contractual relation between the
dreamer and the thing dreamed. Nearly
every one in each tribe has some such
obligation to meet
All who have old dreams shall renew
them, ano all who have new dreams shall
fulfill them"
This is the recurrent theme of the
festival whose rites range from what
seems pure buf1oonery to something ap-
preaching the sublime.
1t might be, for example. that one
Indian is required to have a game of
lacrosse played annually to appease the
particular spirit of which he has dreamed.
There may be several hundred such OBJ
legations to fulfill. Naturally there is a
good deal of merrymaking, for once his
debt to the supernatural has been paid
an individual feels great load of anxiety
taken off his mind.
The climax of the symbolism comes on
the fifth Gay when-if the ancient for
mality can be carried out-a white dog
is strang.ed and burned with appropriate
rituals anc music.
The central idea, as the Iroquois ex-
planned it to DR.. Fenton, is that the tribe
is carrying out dream obligation of
the Creator himself Long ago he had
dream in which he was instructed to
sacrifice white dog each winter. The
Indians believe that they are fulfilling
this duty for him.
Actually white dog has not been
sacrificed for at least 20 years because
there are none left of the proper breed.
The animal sacrificed for the Creator
must be pure white and a physically
rorfocf White ie ofoL