NERVES AND BRAIN.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 200, 24 August 1929, Page 7 (Supplement)

NERVES AND BRAIN.

'IN' AND 'OUT' MESSAGES.

THE COMMONSENSE SCHOOL,

(By PERITUS.)

With all respect to Sir Arthur Keith, who sees no motive power behind the brain, and fays that when the brain dies all is dead and ended. I venture to quote the saying that overmuch learning makes men mad, and prevents them from seeing simple, obvious things that refuse t 0 be " explained" or to respond to scientific analysis. For hundreds, posF ibly thousand?, of years men have been puzzled by the mystery of the brain, which, if the truth were known, is probablv no more mysterious than any other part of the body. There are living creatures which move- and feed themselves, and reproduce their kind, yet have no brain —unless it is that the jelly of which they are composed is itself brainlike in effect. It is in the higher forms of life that the directing and controlling agency i? centred in one distinct and separate organ of the body. I think we treat this organ with too much respect, and omit to recognise the fact that "there is an invisible something which, for lack of a better term we call "mind" or "soul" or "spirit," which uses the brain as means of registering thought and sensation and issuing orders to the body. An unused brain, like an unexercised muscle, loses (or never attains) normal power, whilst the fully trained or exercised brain —again like the muscle— gains strength and flexibility by use. The psychoanalyst is not a tester of the mind, which' for ever evades, deceives, and defeats him, but of the brain, which he approaches by way of the senses. The alienist who knows his work disregards the brain except as a channel of communication, and gives his attention to the mind beyond it. It is as if one doctor gave ihis whole skill to benefit a feeble heart, whilst another disregarded the heart and.devoted his knowledge to improving the blood supply on which the heart lives. Supposing the brain to be a sort of telegraphic office, the afferent and efferent nerves are wires forming a double system extending throughout the body. A finger placed upon a burning cigarette instantly issues a -warning, and sends, with speed ■beyond' description, a message of danger to the central office, and, with equal speed, an outward message is dispatched from the office, which causes muscles to contract, and the finger is instantly withdrawn. The instinctive dosing of the eyelids when the eye is threatened by a blundering midge is, if anything, a quicker exchange of messages between the central office and the threatened area.

Telegraphic System. The study of the nervous system is probably the most fascinating in medicine, and most wonderful work has been done with the microscope in this subject. There is an actual microscopic explosion, at the nerve terminals with every muscular action. Apart from diseases, the nerves appear to originate nothing; they are merely telegraphic wires. To assume that the mass of soft tissue of which the brain is composed is capable of originating anything must be assumption only, and only a gross materialist would refuse to credit the invisible mind behind or beyond it. The "mind diseased" of Shakespeare must be disease of the physical, tangible brain, which refuses to comply with orders from the mind. If this idea is once agreed to, and the power of the mind to influence the brain, and to work —albeit with difficulty—through a temporarily or permanently defective instrument, admitted, the secret of healing by iaith, by suggestion, and other " mental" methods is revealed.

Nervous Habits. Let us then consider the brain as if it were a muscle, and recognise that it may need exercise, rest, stimulation, or improved blood supply. Once years ego, in London, the life of an official •waa eaid to oe in danger, and a sentry Trae placed outside the house in which tfte official resided. In the course of fen* the official died, the building becune a warehouse, "but a sentry was tfoays on guard outside, because the «3er placing him there had never been countermanded. At last a curious person asked what the sentry Tvae supposed to be guarding, and subsequent inquiries 4lsoOTered the no-reason. It is much in f&e eame "way that nervous habits are formed, and remain long after the original cause is forgotten. I knew a yonng man who in early youth had suffered a ehock which had caused his Bands to tremble. For fifteen years $xe palsy continued, and he used both hands to lift a cup of tea to his mouth because of the tremulousness. At about 35 he fell in love, and the lady (probably) asked him "Why dost thou tremble so?" for in a few months he became quite restored to normal. Twenty copies of the "Star" would not contain more than a fraction of the literature Upon nervous disease, and yet there is less hope of cure in professional hands than one likes to think about. A "lesion in the brain" is more often a lack of mind control, and just here it is that the hypnotist and mental expert, as also the quack psychologist and faitli healer get their successful results. If, as I believe, the mind controls the brain, and the brain the body—arguments about unconsciousness, sleep, dreams, catalepsy and death, notwithstanding—when the brain is not diseased or mechanically injured, the physician's attention should be given to such power of will as the patient' may possess, and this should be directed to the nervous condition. '

More Amusing than Useful. Psycho-analysis is no more than an inquiry into svmptoms rather than causes, inasmuch as it is an examination of nervous manifestations. It is more amusing than useful. Its worst feature is that such examination tends to turn the patient back upon himself and fix his thoughts upon what were best forgotten. To return to where we started, the arguments against the belief that the instruments of life are Mo. itself are endless, and as we use electricitv without knowing what it is, so can we use the mind without unarguable proof of what it is. Success in mental treatment is based upon suggest on, and the influence of will upon will it only the patient fc able to liiecriiuinate between "Jo" and "don't."