HOW THE BRAIN WORKS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 203, 21 May 1908, Page 11

HOW THE BRAIN WORKS.

MOST MARVELLOUS MACHINE. i THE TELEPHONE "WITHIN THE BODY, i A vory.clever,-original, and vivid article in " Harper's- Magazine."'for April, by. Edward, A.'.Aycrs, A.M., H.D., Emeritus Professor at the, New York. Polytechnic • (Postgraduate).. Medical School and Hospital,' tells "How,tho Brain. ;AY6rlvs,'V anil : : shows \ffhat/an amazing telophoiie tho. body is. . ■ Tlie..human; brain is t-ho most marvellous . ciaohino in the world. It occupies less space in proportion '.;to its capabilities than any in'abhirie ; it,ever -invented/;- It sends a: special rien'e; to .everyfiil.tiraato. fibro' of; some 'five hundred:muscles,, to many'thousand branching to every piiiliead area ;. of' the '.numbrousj glands, which ..keep the machine:properly oiMj-:heated, -or. cooled; to some.sixteen square feet of skin,, which is the. . outpost guard. of its castle, with such com- . ple&ness that .the point of a pin cannot find!' an area unguarded. •'. ', . .. . Printing Machine and Magic Lantern. ' , It possosses special quarters for the Te- -. i feptioikand 'translation ot 'stream . ..of [vibrations Hl^at-'are;. the . product' of all" . thihgsvmovablo'. or still .in'the,-outer world. , • On tlio.'r.otina of every open eir.e is' a picture. /of .the outer view, a focussed imprint of everyray of light and colour; and in tho Visual Chamber of 'the,- Mental :'Palace ...stands a Vibrasobi|o, ! a magic lantern ;t-hat receives the : retinal .picture ;in; its billion'■'■speeding' series of: light waves,-and throws them upon its montar screen as a living moving, picture of light and shade and-colour.;'■■""■ In-the Chambor of Sound is a Vibraphono, : over whoso :activo wires passes every ■ wave- of--; sound,'' froriv'the dripping .'of the: '', dowiio ; :the;.orchestral from: the raucous screech of' tho locomotivo to tho sighing, of the wind .through; the' meadowgrass In tho chambers set apart for Scent and Taste and. Touch are tho - secret servico ~ guards to report.upon the;'aif-and food which,: give sustenance to the palace and - upon >tho - solid'- qualities:-of.. tho'-. tactile' world. And, . wonder., of ;'all;Jwonders;7this -. complex: human brain can think • in. all languages or m no ■ r language, and ov.cn'co'nc'oive it's' own physical ' mortality. A Most Perfect Switchboard. "The. lntinan' brain contains -a: network of . branching..cells';-; which'- number'son-ewhero in . -' tho:'--biljiond, ■. so perfectly- threaded to. ono ; another, that all its. accustomed acts are done : . . in:, Harmony.' ' 'It:; isytho: most intricate and •• perfect switchboard that has.yet been built, v.. ' A-', city "telephone company connccts over--200,000 . telephones with its; central switch-' r board;'-'and its possible combinations aro tho' ■ ? figure,'; thatexpresses, the sum of each . machine -'-beirfg"» connected Jin-:' turn;: with; : 199,000.;' others, plus'the 'number of, people' . possiblo' to", each ■'instrument. There'is an '■ average.of., sixteen■: square, .feet■ of -skin, cover- '. in'gcth'e. human body; with an;average of over ''lOjOOOylittlp- nerve telephones in-'each.-foot -, squaro,. or-Over 160,000 m. all. y '' ; . ;,'-Thb '.integumeht- 'is 'divided ;'ihto sub-star ■ tion.;areas;jas-is -the''telephone system," and .' v/rißna ' tactile corupscla —a skin telephone —rings ,-uj»-.central.- it •is answered-by a sub- ■ .- station • agent, a litt-lo' brain, - called a ganglion. This .clerk .attends ■ to.'; all. ordmary ; calls'; but -if one's ' foot happens to step'on a-ii. orahgblipeel,. or: one sits on -a-'misplaced. tack, •• , .tho' commotion is so great that tho bells in . the,-main ioffice-ring out;:. ''Th addition to the-telephon.es. in the skin .' are; those in every- organ of tho body. There is one-in- every dittld. twig.of an artery, .and ■ : when j;ou tell ma how many twigs there are ■ in a'.big trco you will not need to .ask how large".is thesnumbcr. of twigs in.the arterial.j . trM.'/' Hero. runs :a' scarlet stream, c-f: some:.' itwelfovpound3 of 'blood 'through a system of■ ' pipes, :hke\U cjty's:..'. wat-er-works,' with' its . centra! pump and its; thousands 'of., pipes— ' . only;'the . water, pipes;,are of iron and the ■ -, vascular; pipes aro like puro rubber hose, con-t-racting . here/' Cxpa-iiding .there';; to :'th'rbw:; : a ; : -jto ■.a '.'jjuiot >'district : ' and. a ' : larger to tho one jn action... Here ;is .afsbarlet. stream-.that completes-its circuit through tho . heart: twice, in. every'minute,. which !,teauires ; the pumping of 'some 34,000; pounds of 'blood , . in twenty-four, hours, ajid.it' is all .uridfer the.sonstaht regulation arid control 'of the '.vasoi motor ' telephones. ; ' .' .

; ; tliero •' aro. tho ;:(clepkoneß ; of the great, ; sub-station of tho organs -of special sense additional , to. .' touch,' the pride of tho expert'., mechanician?; : - They aro those for the-eye, ear, ;rioso',,ahd tongue.' ' . Tho Telephone's-Speed. . "The rate;of speed 'of. this telephone mes6age,;is;: greater—when' _once : ' it' gets - started— than is. that of . telephone.'; . If one's finger.asElammarion puts ,'it,.. oould be .strefch(^;,'out r - I t6,'-touc tho snh,-'93,000,000 miles' away, the - pain. would not be 'felt at ? j?, '; for-127 years •; «*hile a, cannon b.ill nialio tho trip in ten years, and light rays-in, eight' minuteo. and saveirU'en seconds. But while tho' wavo over .the sen-. sory,.;nervo' is. so ■ comparatively slow, and while a return-message-to a group of-muscles' to.removb tho burning finger takes"additional. time, r.yet -,tho... message,■ niust. travel; only' a - an 4 a hundred can bo despatclifid while-v/e toe*' getting;central ' by. the telephone. v * ■ '-■ -.'

.'- /By means of the.-.telautoscope..- a. man's' j features-can ba sketched iii London and bo nproduced - within',ten minute,si-in New. York, pe. human eye; can by a -similar U3O. of- ill- =, - ternipted and distributed vibrations send - a , draTOngiof.a man's'features to and; Send it'in" colour. 'This is a-1 compound felautoscope. '; By using both 'eyes j "•A' Picture;, becomes-.' stereoscopic,'. shows: a j : . liptlo/nioro than .the front ; half of,the face'or ... ;The. can send your subscription to .. relieve' distress in/ excellent j forgery.,over a thousand-miles in less thaii a minute. > V.'hat Moiacry Does. ' ' j. . The, human ;.brainvhas a special centre, ' or for written words, another for spoken _words,_ a .'central' for. each, aiid a centre .forßeproducing-; these 'words in writ■lng ant]: another in speech. Tho te-legraphc-no adds the virtues of tile phonograph (or rices ll you prefer); to the telephone, ■ and-can. re- • Oord. ajnesSage for. one.in his absence, which-' no on his ret.urii, ;or.,whoe'ver" gets there first •' • can,, have, spoken.;thrqugli tho. horn..-' II; has great.domestic possibilities. 'The mhchine is - ; superior totho. braiir, because -.i't nill out its imessago nii.,niatteV^"'•liow'-: 'late -your ■ roturn; while the,ear wilKrceeive a question ' for example,iwlien one's brain.isUiusy. (' Ccn-: ; -busy;;shall -'I '.call ' you? aiid our conscious self,, the final central,- 'ho able to pick .it, up -for a;few, seconds only- after it was received. ; Memory would bo tho analogue of the wire in tho telegraphone. but memory, connects with'tho "senses through the co, ! s .?. t . ous ' - CBn tro^an'tl'■:' ciriiot' r mation when .the v ego.'lis-busy.''- , .