proceeding slowly. It may be thirty years before slavery shall be
entirely extinguished.
INVENTORS.--A correspondent remarks very justly that "Inventors have
rescued the race from primitive barbarism. They have transformed the
primeval curse into a blessing. True saviors they, whose every gift
has multiplied itself a thousand-fold by opening new fields of
industry, and scattering luxuries even among the poorest. To the
inventor, and not to the statesman, politician, or warrior, do we owe
our present prosperity."
IMPORTANT DISCOVERY.--"Tests were recently made at Louisville of a new
and not expensive process for hardening and tempering steel, by which
hardness and elasticity are carried forward in combination. A drill
made of the new steel penetrated in forty minutes a steel safe-plate
warranted to resist any burglar drill for twelve hours. A penknife
tempered by the process cut the stem of a steel key readily, and with
the same blade the inventor shaved the hairs on his arm. The inventor
is a young blacksmith. He has also a new process for converting iron
into steel."
SACCHARINE.--This new substance said to be 200 times as sweet as sugar
is manufactured from coal tar. It was discovered about six years ago
in the laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, by
Prof. Remsen and a student named Fahlberg, who has since taken out
patents upon it. It is greatly superior to sugar, as it is free from
fermentation and decomposition. A small quantity added to starch or
glucose will make a compound equal to sugar in sweetness. It is a
valuable antiseptic and has valuable medical properties.
SUGAR has been discovered to have great value as an addition to
mortar, as it has a solvent action on lime. An English builder wrote
an important letter to the authorities of Charleston, S. C., on this
subject, after that city had suffered from the earthquake.
ARTIFICIAL IVORY.--We shall no longer need the elephant for ivory.
Compounds of a celluloid character, made from cotton waste, can now be
made hard as ivory, or flexible or soft as we wish. White and
transparent, or brilliantly colored, it can be handled like wood cut
and carved, or applied as a varnish. An artificial ivory of creamy
whiteness and great hardness is now made from good potatoes washed in
diluted sulphuric acid, and then boiled in the same solution until
they become solid and dense. They are then washed free of the acid and
slowly dried. This ivory can be dyed and turned, and made useful in
many ways.
PAPER PIANOS.--Pianos have lately been made from paper in Germany,
instead of wood, with great improvement in the tone.
SOCIAL DEGENERACY OF THE WEALTHY.--The _Boston Herald_ says: "The
spirit of the age is censorious. There is no doubt of that, or that
with every new day the tendency toward pessimism increases. But even
taking these facts into consideration, there is no denying that the
young man about town of the nineteenth century is a blot upon our
boasted modern civilization. His is not a pleasant figure to
contemplate, though it is one that we all see very often and know very
well--clothed irreproachably in the most expensive raiment that London
tailors and unlimited credit can supply. He lives lazily and
luxuriously on his father's money and his wife's, and, being after his
natural term of days laid away in a tomb at Mt. Auburn, ends his
existence without making any more impression upon the world's history
than a falling rose leaf, or an August cricket's faintest chirp."
PREVENTION OF CRUELTY.--In Congress, Feb. 14, Mr. Collins, for the
judiciary committee, has given a favorable report on the bill and
memorial of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals, asking the passage of a law to protect dumb animals in the
various territories from unnecessary cruelty. In the report Mr.
Collins says: "This body occupies the foremost place among the
organizations of men and women who in our time have done so much to
repress and punish human cruelty, abuse, and neglect in dealing with
dumb animals. In all the States, we believe, laws now exist to prevent
and punish unnecessary exposure, neglect, or cruel treatment of beasts
of burden and other animals. To bring the federal legislation into
co-operation and harmony with the laws of the States on the subject,
and provide a uniform rule for the District of Columbia and the
Territories, your committee recommend the passage of the bill."
VALUE OF BIRDS.--Maurice Thompson contends that the failure of
orchards in this country is largely or mainly due to the war upon
birds. The mocking bird he considers the most valuable of all. "No
Scuppernong vine," he says, "should be without its mocking bird to
defend it." Let ladies think of this who patronize cruelty by wearing
birds' plumage on their bonnets.
HOUSE PLANTS.--Dr. J. M. Anders has decided after eight years'
investigation that house plants are very sanitary agents, and even
thinks that they help to ward off consumption and other diseases.
THE LARGEST TUNNEL IN THE WORLD has been completed at Schemnitz in
Hungary. It was begun in 1782, and is ten and a quarter miles long,
nine feet ten inches high, and five feet three inches wide, costing
nearly $5,000,000. Its purpose is to drain the water of the Schemnitz
mines, which is worth $75,000 a year.
"WESTWARD THE STAR OF EMPIRE," ETC.--"The Fall River (Mass.,) iron
works, which have been in operation for fifty years, have shut down
permanently and all the hands have been discharged. It was found
impossible to compete with western works that are situated near the
base of natural gas and iron supplies."
STRUCTURE OF THE BRAIN.
(_Continued from page 32._)
Nevertheless, in men and animals killed in full health there is very
little serum in any part of the brain, the blood requiring all the
space there is for fluids; and as the blood distends one part of the
brain more than another in consequence of local excitement, the other
portions of the brain, which are in a passive state, are compressed
and deprived of their full supply of blood, so that they are of less
nourished and their development declines.
Thus do we hold our destiny in our own hands. If we will cultivate the
faculties which are most in need of cultivation, their organs,
receiving more blood, will grow faster than any other portions of the
brain, while the organs that are kept in check and deprived of
activity will gradually decline in power and size, so that the
character will become essentially changed. It is in the power of every
individual who has the necessary determination to change essentially
his own nature for better or worse, as well as to modify and enlarge
his capacities, changing the structure of his brain; and this should
encourage every young man and woman to make for themselves a noble
destiny. Moreover, it is still more practicable to accomplish this by
means of education, with all proper appliances for the young; and this
should encourage philanthropists to struggle for that social
regeneration which is so clearly possible for all the world, as I have
shown in "The New Education." The study of the anatomy of the brain
and the innumerable experiments I have made on the brain, showing how
completely the brain of the impressible can be revolutionized in its
action in a few minutes, make it very apparent that society as a whole
is responsible for the continued existence of criminals, paupers, and
lunatics; for there should not be one, and would not be, if mankind
could be aroused from their criminal apathy and ignorance to the
performance of our duty in education. But alas! "the light shineth in
darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not."
The study of the brain continually leads us into grand philanthropic
conceptions by showing the splendid possibilities of humanity,--showing
how near we are to a nobler social state from which we are debarred by
ignorance, by moral apathy, by ignorant self sufficiency, by intolerant
bigotry, and by selfish animality,--qualities which, alas! pervade all
ranks to-day.
But returning from this digression to our study of the interior of the
brain: the great ventricles of which we have considered the position,
and which are called lateral ventricles, are interesting for another
reason, that they are the central region around which the cerebrum is
developed, as it folds over upon itself in its early growth, and
consequently must be borne in mind as its centre when we are studying
its comparative development in different heads. The basilar organs lie
below the ventricles and the coronal organs above.
If we have inserted a finger under the corpus callosum, the fibres of
which are above our finger, we may feel below, the structure which may
be called the bottom of the ventricle, and which is likewise the base
or trunk of the superincumbent parts from which they spring, as a tree
from its stump.
This structure is one mass, called anteriorly the corpus striatum, or
striated body, and posteriorly the optic thalamus or bed of the optic
nerve, though the optic nerve has its principal origin in another
part, called the optic lobes. The thalamus and corpus striatum are
called together, the _great inferior ganglion_ of the brain. They are
masses of gray substance, with white fibres from below passing through
them, and white fibres originating in them to ascend and spread, so
that their entire masses of fibres, ascending and spreading out like a
fan, constitute an extensive structure which folds together toward the
median line somewhat like a nervous sac, inclosing the cavity of the
ventricle and sending its representative fibres across the median
line,--which are called the corpus callosum. This will be more fully
explained when we consider the genesis of the brain as it grows in the
unborn infant.
As the reader now understands the principal parts around the
ventricles, let him look lower down to complete the survey and
understand the plan of the brain, though not its anatomical minutiae.
The optic thalamus is indicated in the engraving, but the corpus
striatum, being more exterior and anterior, does not appear.
Practically they may be regarded as one body.
Where the thalami come together and touch or unite on the median line,
the junction is called a commissure (commiss. med.) and the space
between them where they do not touch is called the third ventricle
(ventric. III), which, like the lateral ventricles, may also hold a
little serum. It is unnecessary to consider the small parts above the
thalami, the choroid plexus of blood vessels, the fornix or strip of
nerve membrane, and the septum lucidum or delicate fibres under the
corpus callosum.
Beginning at the bottom of the figure, we observe the medulla
oblongata rising from the spinal cord to reach the cerebrum. Behind
this we see the cerebellum divided on the median line, and thus
presenting where it is divided the appearance called _arbor vitae_,
from its resemblance to the leaf of that evergreen.
As the fibres of the medulla oblongata ascend they pass between the
cerebellum and the _pons Varolii_ (bridge of Varolius) mingling with
its substance. The pons or bridge (for if the brain were laid on its
upper surface the pons would appear like a bridge over the river
represented by the medulla oblongata) is the commissure or connecting
body of the cerebellum, as the corpus callosum is of the cerebrum.
When the head is held erect the fibres of the pons arch forward from
the interior of the cerebellum on one side across the median line to
the other side, so that a straight line through from the right to the
left ear would pierce its lower portion. It looks toward the front,
corresponding with the upper jaw, just below the nostrils, through
which region it may be reached for experiment.
My experiments upon the brain of man show that the pons on each side
of the median line is the commanding head of the respiratory impulse,
and in marking the organ of respiration on my busts, it is located
around the mouth from the nose to the chin. When this region
(especially its lower portion) is prominent it indicates active
respiration and a forcible voice. Hence there is a great contrast in
the vocal power of two such heads as are shown in the adjoining
figure. This discovery has been verified by the pathological
researches of Dr. J. B. Coste, published at Paris, 1857.
[Illustration]
Following the line of the ascending fibres, after passing through the
pons they continue expanding and plunge into the thalamus and corpus
striatum. Their first appearance above the pons (marked in the
engraving by the word _Pedunc._) is usually called the _crura_ or
thighs of the brain. The right crus, running through the thalamus,
expands by successive additions into the right hemisphere, and the
left crus into the left hemisphere, of the cerebrum, and the two
hemispheres unite together on the median line by the corpus callosum.
There is very little space for the crura (plural of crus) between the
pons and the thalamus, but if we look at the posterior surface of the
ascending fibres or crura we see a larger surface, on which we find a
quadruple elevation called the _corpora quadrigemina_ (the four
twins). This is an important intermediate structure between the
cerebrum and the cerebellum, and in fishes is the largest part of the
brain, but in man is the smallest portion, as will be explained
hereafter, and is the origin of the optic nerve, as well as a
commanding head for the spinal system, from which convulsions may be
produced.
The quadrigemina are distinguished also as the location of the pineal
gland, which rests upon them, to which we may ascribe important
psychic functions. The engraving shows the fibres connecting the
quadrigemina with the cerebellum, and a channel under them (aqueduct
of Sylvius) connecting the ventricles of the cerebrum with those of
the spinal cord. What is called the fourth ventricle is the small
space between the medulla oblongata and the cerebellum. At this spot
the posterior surface of the medulla oblongata, as it gives origin to
the pneumogastric nerve, which conveys the sensations of the lungs,
becomes the immediate source of the respiratory impulse on which
breathing depends, and hence is of the greatest importance to life. A
very slight injury at this spot with a lancet or point of a knife
would be fatal. It is recognized by converging fibres which look like
a pen, and are therefore called the _calamus scriptorius_, or writer's
pen.
If the reader has not fully mastered the intricacy of the brain
structure, he will find his difficulties removed by studying two more
skilful dissections. The following engraving presents the appearances
when we cut through the middle of the brain horizontally and reveal
the bottom of the ventricles, in which we see the great ganglion, or
optic thalamus and corpus striatum, and the three localities at which
the hemispheres are connected by fibres on the median line, called
anterior, middle, and posterior commissures. These commissures are of
no importance in our study; they assist the corpus callosum in
maintaining a close connection between the right and left hemispheres.
[Illustration]
Behind the thalami we see the quadrigemina, the posterior pair of
which is labelled _testes_, and resting upon them we have the pineal
gland, a centre of spiritual influx. Behind the thalami, the posterior
lobes are cut away that we may look down to the cerebellum, and the
middle of the cerebellum is also removed so that we may see the back
of the medulla oblongata and its fibres, called restiform bodies,
which give origin to the cerebellum. The fibres from the cerebellum to
the quadrigemina are shown, and the space at the back of the medulla,
called the fourth ventricle.
As the fibres of the medulla pass up through the pons to the great
inferior ganglion, and the fibres of the corpus striatum pass outward
and upward to form the cerebrum, this procession of the fibres is
shown in the annexed engraving, in which we see the restiform bodies
passing up to form the cerebellum, and the remainder of the medulla
fibres passing through the pons, and then, under the name crus cerebri
or thigh of the cerebrum, passing through the thalamus and striatum to
expand in the left hemisphere of the cerebrum. We see the quadrigemina
on the back of the ascending fibres and their connection by fibres
with the cerebellum behind, as they connect with the thalami in front.
This is as complete a statement of the structure of the brain as is
necessary, and further anatomical details would only embarrass the
memory.
[Illustration]
The engraving above represents not an actual dissection, but the plan
of the fibres as understood by the anatomist. The intricacy of the
cerebral structure is so great that it would require a vast number of
skilful dissections and engravings to make a correct portrait.
Fortunately, this is not necessary for the general reader, who
requires only to understand the position of the organs in the head,
and the direction of their growth, which is in all cases directly
outward from the central region or ventricles, so as to cause a
prominence of the cranium--not a "bump," but a general fulness of
contour. Bumps belong to the growth of bone--not that of the brain.
Let us next consider the genesis of the brain, which will give us a
more perfect understanding of its structure, by showing its origin,
the correct method of estimating its development.
CHAPTER III.--GENESIS OF THE BRAIN
Beginning of the brain--Its correspondence to the animal
kingdom and the law of evolution--Inadequacy of physical
causes in evolution--The Divine influence and its human
analogy--Probability of influx--Possible experimental
proof--Potentiality of the microscopic germinal element and
its invisible life--Is it a complete microcosm?--The cosmic
teaching of Sarcognomy--The fish form of the brain--The triple
form of the brain--Decline of the middle brain--Brains of the
codfish, flounder, and roach--Embryo of twelve weeks--Lowest
type of the brain--Measurement of the embryo brain--Structure
of the convolutions--Unfolding of the brain--Forms of
twenty-one weeks and seven months--Anatomy shows the central
region--Its importance--Neglect of prior authors--Errors of
the phrenological school explained--Misled by Mr. Combe into a
false system of measurement--How I was led to detect the
error--Form of the animal head and form of the noble
character--Line of the ventricles--Coronal and basilar
development--Its illustration in two heads and in the entire
animal kingdom---Dulness of human observers--Anatomy shows the
central region--Circular character of cerebral
development--Accuracy of a true cerebral science, and errors
of the Gallian system.
The brain begins in a human being in embryonic life, as it begins in
the animal kingdom, void of the convolutions which are seen in its
maturity,--beginning as a small outgrowth from the medulla oblongata,
which after the second month extends into three small sacs of nervous
membrane inclosing cavities, making a triple brain, such as exists in
fishes, which are the lowest type of vertebrated animals,--animals
that have a spinal column or backbone.
From this condition, the fishy condition of the nervous system of the
embryo human being at the end of the second month, there is a regular
growth which develops in the embryo the forms characteristic of higher
orders of animals in regular succession,--fishes, reptiles, birds, and
quadrupeds or mammalia, monkeys, and man.
This is the same order of succession which geologists assign to the
development of the animal kingdom, the higher species coming in after
the lower; and if every human being, instead of developing at once,
according to the human type, is compelled to pass through this regular
gradation of development, is it not apparent that the lower forms are
absolutely necessary as a basis for the higher, and that the higher
forms cannot arrive except by building up and giving additional
development to the lower? In other words, the present status of
humanity above the animal kingdom was attained not by a sudden burst
of creative power, making a distinct and isolated being, but by the
gradual and consecutive influx, which evolved new faculties and
organs,--a process called _evolution_. How slow or how rapid this
process may have been, science has not yet determined; but it would
require incalculable millions of years if nothing but the common
exciting effects of environment and necessity have been operative in
evolution; and science has utterly failed to discover any power which
could carry on development so effectively as to produce an entire
transformation of species, and overcome the vast differences between
the oyster and the bird, the fish and the elephant.
But as such transmutations of the nervous system do virtually occur in
man before birth, we cannot say that they are _impossible_, for that
which occurs in the womb under the influence of parental love may also
occur in the womb of nature under the influence of Divine love; for
love is the creative power, and as the maternal influx may determine
the noble development of humanity or the ignoble development of
monsters and animalized beings, it is obvious that the formative stage
of all beings is a plasmic condition in which the most subtle or
spiritual influences may totally change their destiny and development.
That such an influx may come to exalt or to modify the animal type is
by no means unreasonable, for human beings in vast numbers are liable
to such influences from the unseen, which exert a controlling
influence, and many animals are as accessible to invisible influences
as man, while their embryos are vastly more so than the parents. If
then we recognize the spiritual being in man, and the same spiritual
being disembodied as a potential existence,--if, moreover, we
recognize the illimitable and incomprehensible psychical power behind
the universe, of which man is one expression, we cannot fail to see
that the embryonic development of animals from a lower to a higher
form is entirely possible and probable; and in the absence of any
other practicable method of evolution to higher types we are compelled
to adopt this as the most rational.
What is difficult or utterly impossible when we rely on physical
causes alone, becomes facile enough when we introduce the spiritual,
and argue from what we see in the spiritual genesis of every human
being to the analogous processes of nature on the largest scale.
If a false and brutal superstition did not stand in the way, clothed
in pharisaical assumption and political power, experiments might be
made on human beings and animals sufficient to settle most positively
all doubt as to transmutation of species by the semi-creative power
from the invisible world, combined with visible agencies.
Indeed, the entire difficulty vanishes from the mind of a philosopher
when he refers to the fact that the potentiality of all being resides
in a microscopic germinal element containing within itself an
invisible spiritual energy, which determines for all time a continual
succession of animals of certain forms and characteristics which human
power has never been able to change.
Why is it that a simple speck of protoplasm void of visible
organization--a mere jelly to hold the invisible life power--carries
within itself in that invisible spiritual element the destiny of
myriads of animal beings, and according to the nature of that
invisible spiritual element it may develop into a Humboldt or an
oyster, an elephant, a humming-bird, or a serpent?
To the Readers of the Journal of Man.
The establishment of a new Journal is a hazardous and expensive
undertaking. Every reader of this volume receives what has cost more
than he pays for it, and in addition receives the product of months of
editorial, and many years of scientific, labor. May I not therefore
ask his aid in relieving me of this burden by increasing the
circulation of the Journal among his friends?