SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 38, 13 August 1921, Page 2

SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE

EFFECT ON BRAIN STUUCTURB. , A new conception of education at) a physical force, applied to the human brain hde recently been unfolded by Sir Arbuthnot Lane (writes The Post's London correspondent). , He speaks as a surgeon whose originality Of inlnd in his own department is known to the whole . world. Education, he declares, exercises a mechanical offect on "the brain. Our brain cells aro affected T>y any niecrid routine" or habit of thought -exteailmg over a long period. Moreover, the development of a special sense often results in the loss of what is us'ially called common-sense—:by which Sir Arbuthnofc understands: '-'the capacity to arrive at a conclusion the trtita of which would appeal to a number of people engaged in a, variety of occupations." The fiaiheawr's backbone ]oses : its"normal curvet, 'he says, and is converted into a "long, straight rod, or shelf, on which the load rests." This effect,.useful as it it, iimits the coalheaver'a breathing. > Should he get somo lung trouble he is ► er'.otiely handicapped, and the chances of his -surviving are much less than those of an . \ individual with normal breathing capacity. The bTain obeys similar rules aid undergoes simila* changes. Sir Arbuthnot now asks how rarely does an eminent classic succeed in 'any scientific pursuit ? "How often," he continues, "does the fixation of the cells of the brain of the senior Wrangler during but a friction of his lifetime render him ill adapted to any subsequent career other than mathematical?" Knowledge, therefore, of a particular kind may be a cjirsa, to ,be\ forgotten as quickly as possible' in cer- . tain instances, and parents ought to fii.d out very, early in their childrsu s lives ■what combination the cells of the brafci can make most readily to secure to the child the greatest advantage. Heredity must be considered. Sir Arbuthnot says that while the father transmits .to ■ the daughter, the mother hands down her tendencies to the son. The mother is thus more important in this generation, the father in the next. It ia laid down ithat : "In order to determine tli« direction in which the brain of the son should be trained with the greawsst advantage, the tendencies of his mother and of her father . should be, tarefally studied. The father's tendencies «eem to me to be of comparatively little imiportance as regards his son." The education of women presents special problems. Women suffer .a handicap both in brain and body which cannot be overlooked, and the training of the mind may interfere with the troe mission of womanhood. !