A TWO-CYLINDER BRAIN

Otago Witness, Issue 3830, 9 August 1927, Page 6

A TWO-CYLINDER BRAIN

After working 10 hours and tiring one side of his brain Jack Borlase, of Salt Lake City, can work another 10 hours witli the other side. This he asserts in a pamphlet entitled “The Ultimate Philosophy” (Salt Lake City), which philosophy’, he explains, “will concern itself wholly with the question of a 100 per cent, utilisation of the potential power of the brain.” Mr Borlase is an expert in the production of “ mirrorwriting,” and an article on the subject quoted recently in these columns caused him to communicate with us. The assertion that habitual mirror-writing is symptomatic of disease he does not attempt to controvert; but he intimates that he himself must be very badly off indeed since he not only voluntarily writes mirror-wise half the time, but does half his reading and mathematical calculation in this way, thus, as he asserts, working the two hemispheres of his brain alternately, and resting one while the other toils. After telling of his early’ experiments in mirror-writing and reading he relates:

My first prolonged experiment of the kind mentioned was performed shortly before midnight, at a time when yawns become popular and the springs and the mattress and the covers begin to call. But after an hour’s left-handed exertion night seemed literally to turn into day, and the desire, the need for sleep, was out of the question. "So, Mr Brain," I said, "you have been fooling the world for ages; you have been rocking it to sleep when work, diligent work, might have been speeding it more swiftly toward its dreamed-of Utopia,”

Training himself to work alternately with both brain hemispheres, thinking first right and then left-handcdly, was no easy job, Mr Borlase admits. He details his experiences at length. But finally he has achieved what he calls a “ balanced brain.” He says:

During the first few weeks of the experiment I arranged my programme so that the work at the office could be done in the orthodox way, that is, with the right hand and the left cerebral hemisphere working in conjunction. I would remain right-handed each day until about half-past 4 in the afternoon. The next half-hour I would use

in shifting and in performing a few lefthanded exercises, in getting in trim, as it were. At 5 o’clock I was ready for another day’s work ; and 5 o’clock was quitting time. The new days averaged about 10 hours in length—that is, I retired at about 3 o'clock in the morning, having used the entire 10 hours in a left-handed mental condition. No left-handed books were in existence, so I used a mirror and a table lamp, and read in perfect left-handed bliss. Sleepiness did not overtake me until 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning. Then I would retire without shifting back to right-handedness. At halfpast G I would get up, but, presto, the right hand and the left cerebral hemisphere solved the sleepy problem, for the latter had had 10 hours of sleep, and was completely rested.

To use space in an attempt to prove his “ whole-brain ” theory would be to “ carry coals to Newcastle,” Mr Borlase says; so does not try to prove it. He goes on:

I do not mean to infer that the theory needs no proof, but that the proof or disproof of it lies in the experiment itself, just as the coals lie in the earth at Newcastle. To me it is a true theory and feasible, for the reasons which I have outlined. -And anyone who thinks it is false, not feasible, need only to perform the experiment to determine for himself whether or not his conclusion is a legitimate one. A few minutes of " mirror ” reading will suffice to prove to anyone that something out of the ordinary happens to the brain when the from-right-to-left reading takes place. It may take a few hours for the novice to persuade his left hand to manipulate the pencil lefthandedly—that is, from right to left, and so that the letters, words, or figures written will look " normal ” when viewed in a mirror. „ It the theory is true the putting of it into practise would, I think, be acceptable to the world at large, to civilisation, for it is unlikely that anyone would object to having six hours in every 24 added to his wakeful period if the resultant loss of sleep did not make him feel physically unlit.

The psychologists, however, do not seem to agree with Mr Borlase’s engaging theory. Proofs of the article were sent to several professors of psychology with a request for their comment. Professor E. L. Thorndike, of the Teachers’ College, Columbia University, writes:

It is extremely improbable that learning to use the two hands and to read by way of a mirror should have the beneficial effects attributed to them by Mr Borlase. The notion that a person ordinarily uses only one hemisphere of his cerebrum is. of course, nonsense. So also is the notion that by writing with the left hand and reading mirror-wise any large fraction of activity is transferred from one hemisphere of the brain to the other.

Professor Robert Sessions Woodworth, of Columbia, admits that Mr Borlase’s theory and experiments are “ certainly interesting.” But —

I don't believe he can so easily insure a transference of activity from the left to the right hemisphere. For example, I see no sufficient reason to believe that reading mirror-writing, or reading a book reversed by aid of a mirror, really shifts the activity from one hemisphere to the other. There is nothing in the shape of the letters that favours one hemisphere over the other. Those peoples that use a form of writing running from right to left are not lefthanded peoples. There are two reasons for reserving judg-

ment on the results of the experiment. First, the experiment has only been tried on its originator, and needs to be repeated on others, who would not have the strong personal interest that one always feels in the success of his own ideas. Second, Mr Borlase anpears to have been originally left-handed, so that the change to lefthanded work may be more of a relief to

him than to a right-handed person. As to hutting down the hours of sleep many have done that without this shift •to the left hand.

Associate Professor Albert T. Poffenberger, of Columbia, is politely disbelieving. His comment is: Naturally rather sceptical of this experiment —it is net an experiment in a scientific sense, as it lacks necessary controls.

Brain structure and function would hardly support the idea. As far as reading mirrorwriting is concerned, that is merely a matter of the interpretation of symbols, and there is no more reason why mirror-reading should involve the opposite side of the brain, any more than reading German or Chinese. The mirror-writing is not so clear, although that, too, is supposed to be done by way of the left hemisphere in right-handed, persons.

I ha.ve been able to do mirror-writing for many years—originally left-handed and now nearly ambidextrous. I should say that as far as I have done it it would give no particular rest. However, I have made no experiments. Of course, almost anything is possible today, and I would not deny the conclusions given unless the whole matter were carefully checked. Still, taking everything into account, I consider it quite improbable. Turning to Princeton we get this from Professor Howard Crosby Warren: It seems to me that the author is using a very valuable principle of nerve physiology, but that he has perhaps carried it much further than is justified. It is well known that the brain is rested by varying one’s occupation, using first one part of the body and then another. On the other hand, all the brain, or a large part of it, is active to . a certain extent in our mental processes. I do not believe the right hemisphere qf the brain is completely quiescent in any of our right-handed and right-sided actions. To that extent it. would seem that Mr Borlase is carrying his theory too far. Assistant Professor Henry Ckiy M'Comas, of Princeton University, remarks positively: There is no way to make one hemisphere of the brain function alone. There is a popular belief that all of the nerves running between the brain and tho various parts of the body cross in the medulla oblongata, so that centres controlling the right hand and receiving sensations from the right hand must all be in the left hemisphere. This is not true—only 85 per cent, of the nerves cross in the medulla. Then, too, each eye sends half of its optic nerve fibres to one side of the brain and half to the other side. You might read in any direction you pleased, but you would have to use both hemispheres. There is no way for the blood supply to nourish one side of the brain differently from the other, no matter how you worked your cerebrum. The only evidence that Mr Borlase uses one side ot' his brain appears in his theory. No man using two hemispheres could hold such a theory. ■ From Yale we have a similar state, ment by Professor Roswell Parker Ani gier, who replies:

There is no support in physiology, psychology, or psychopathology tor the theory that the right and left halves of the brain work dissociatedly. The brain works in thought as a whole. Relief and postponement of fatigue by changing methods of work , are well known, but the whole brain is still active; the relief effects are rather due to bringing slightly variant sense organs or motor processes into play. Grave doubt is also voiced by Assistant Professor Llewellyn Truman Spencer, of Yale, who observes: Little evidence exists that mental fatiguo is a cerebral phenomenon. Further, reading involves eye movements, fixation, etc., which fatigue the same muscles whether the direction of movement is right-left or the reverse. As a new means of stimulating nocturnal mental activity Mr Borlase’s scheme probably interests him sufficiently to ward off sleepiness. In so far as his alternation of control makes use of alternating muscle groups, his system is perhaps helpful. I should imagine the types of work for which this is possible are limited. Finally, we ..avc this short and sharp comment by Professor Raymond Dodge, of Yale: I regard the article as unsound scientifl- ■ call;-, nnil dangerous in its suggestions.