MOVING PICTURES OF THE MIND.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 3222, 9 January 1917, Page 3

MOVING PICTURES OF THE MIND.

The perfect child is coming. Ever}scientist admits that every child may be developed infinitely beyond the average normal child of the present. How to secure that development is the great problem, of incalculable importance to all parents,and children.

Medical scientists are solving this problem. Professor llicai r.lo: an Rotch has devised a system -hereby the child's" internal gro\.th is measured by X-ray pictures. Ih'se sho .' whether the ends of the Ion; bon s v.hich are sc;arate in childh cd ur uniting at the proper age or not. U the child's bones show under-In- lo - ment, it means that his whole s - tern is weak, and he must ha e i - mediate rest and treatment or h . will become a mentally and physical, defective man.

In combination with tbissvs'en the wonderful invention by Profes or Max Baff, the distinguished scien s may be used. This machine, \h ci also utilises the X-rays, enablis thescientist to watch the neurons, r thinking cells of the brain, in active operation, and thus to tell not onl ■ what a person is thinking of, but to determine his moral character a'id intellectual capacity.

That changes do occur in the brain during the actions of the various parts of the body is definitely esta - lished. We know, says Prof. Bafi, in the course of his paper, that the front portion of the brain becomes congested at the time of the utilisation of some part of th? body. For instance, when we move our right leg there is an increase of th 1 b'o d •upply to the left front portion of t';e brain known as the leg area. 1 he same is true of ths movements of either lower or upper extremity or ~f the face. We know that the centre of motor Bpeech is located in the third frontal convolution of th: brain. Any pressure, as from a hemorrhage from a broken blood vessel in the brain, or from a depress-d fracture of the skull 0 n the motor area, will cause a paralysis of that part of the muscular system corresponding to that, part of the 1 rain compressed by the blood or l:one. The question that row arises is : What changes, if any, la' 3 iilro-* 1 in the human brain during the process of thought ? Does the Mood eoing to that area of the brain that goerns the mind ircre se in a i o*.mt during the process of th-ught ? Are there any changes that take place in the nerve cells and cerebral tissue 3urin.;r q mental act ? We know th a t in the body after ri'pMi the ncui'onj or nerve cells—and there are many varieties of them present—appear shrivelled and disintegrated in cases where the person suffered from any of the diseases of the brain. Bat this can at the present day be ascertaiucc' only after death. We also know that many of the brains of criminals appear normal as regards their size, weight, and c< ntour. It has likewise been discovered that the anatomical appearance of the ! rain offers us very little information as to its ability or disability to convey normal or abnormal rra on and intellect. The microscopic appearances of a diseased brain, on the contrary, disclose many lessons which of course, vary as to the causes of such disease conditions. Since the roicroncopic appearances of the brain in luaUh and disease a ie definite factors ! no n to science, Prof. Ban" thinks that with the aid of certain mechanical appliances we should be able to expose during life these same appearand s of th • normal or abnormal 1 rain. V. e then ought to be able to di3Clos> th? actual thoughts that ensue in the living brain by means of st the peculiar ground si!>.suviee oi the grey nervous biain i. att r, the n°rve cells of the brain ivlrch ar: most active during mental npcraUons. The aPki'iac s inch is used to make such to <li ions of the brain plainly \isible during life consists of a powerful coil, which is connected with th 1 direct current ; a speciallybuilt Crookes tube is utilised, thus enabling us to obtain a finer and less intense penetrating power of the Xrays. A combination pad is placed between the tube and the patient, which materially helps us still further to decrease the powerful rays so that the cerebrum itself remains visible and is n >t obliterated from view, as is the case in the ordinary X-ray examination of the brain. A camera attachn ent or hood is placed on the further side of the patient's head, enclosing one-half of the head. This hood is connected with a dark elongated compartment, which is in turn united with a "quinquemilliaaucroscope," which is a newly invented magnifying arrangement capable of increasing the dimensions of any object 5,000 diamett's. This magnificent mien scope is p'a<ed in a dark chamber v-b'h its focus attachme it regulated by the o.>. rater by means of a mirror. f'nly that section ■ f the brain which is foeussed on the lens of fiis 'i -antic microscope cm be observed at one time. The sra 'e covered by ths ma nification occupies a circle v.h .s • diameter approximately equals six feet and five inches. As the images pre thrown upon the lens of the microscope they are caught on an impro\is'.d magic la itern attachment. A revolting si of films per second and operated by an lectric motor thus records the act al images that are snapped by the camera. The duration of the recording of such a brain picture depends upon the rabidity of thought that is going on within the cerebrum of the patient. A slow, s-h»ggish, lazy or indolent individual with a slow mental activity will show a picture with

a few nerve cell changes. A person with the abolity to add figures or accomplish some mental act rapidly, would record a picture vastly different from our slug ishl.- nc* i 1; fri* nd.

Furthermore, we would also ta'ce moving pictures of the brain evils during the pass;i£; <.f thoughts involved in ordinal; conversation that the patients would have with an assistant to the operator of the machine. The patients would be given a list of questions to answer while the machine is in motion recording the position and changes that ensue in the living neurons during the seance.

Having completed a series of th n sc pictures relating to every condition or state of the brain of sane peoplemen, women, and children —it would then he onr aim to test the brains of the insane, the criminals, imbeciles.

Every person who shows symptoms of an abnormal condition of the mind or of any immoral act or thought could thus be pictured. A person who has committed a murder and who claims insanity could be pictured in this manner, and if evidences were obtained showing a diseased condition of his brain cells, such a person would he committed to an insane hospital instead of a jail, and in-. stead of being sentenced to be hanged. Prof. Baft has been asked to state whether or not this marvellous mechanism will be able to show by means of the X-ray motion pictures of the brain the sentiments that exist among lovers. Most assuredly, he says, this machine will aid in solving some of the thoughts that are forming in the minds of lovers. A young man or woman may then be able to have his or her brain photographed, and the pictures when cast upon a screen will enable the fond admirer,, with t' in aid of a scientific chart, to dis n ! se the real mental condition in relaMon to a love affair. —"Popular Science Sifting."