150 THK XKHVois SYSTKM AND ITS < '< tXSKKVATH >\ 



ception of a "center" is merely thai it is a place where a 

 la rise number of paths related in function lie close together 

 in the cortex, \ve shall expect to find that none of the uses 

 of language can be cut off by local brain injury without 

 reducing to some extent the other powers. This has been 

 -aid to be observed, at least as a rule. 



The attempt has been made to ascertain whether the 

 apparent superiority of the left cortex can be demon- 

 strated with the microscope. Mellus, of Johns Hopkins, 

 ha< recently reported that sections made from the sup- 

 posed speech center in a human brain and from the corre- 

 sponding area on the opposite side have proved to be 

 markedly unlike. The cortical layer on the left side was 

 much thicker than that in the specimen used for com- 

 parison. The greater thickness seemed to denote a more 

 extensive development of dendritic processes in the part 

 held to have the special functions to fulfil. But then' 

 facts were not presented without a word of caution. The 

 same investigator compared sections of cortex from the 

 brain of a highly educated man and others from homol- 

 ogous localities in the brain of an ignorant Austrian 

 peasant. The drawings made showed a decidedly more 

 intricate organization in one case than in the other, but, 

 contrary to the expectation of every one, the more impos- 

 ing appearance was that of the uneducated brain! 



No modern advocate of cerebral localization has ap- 

 proached the old phrenologic precision in denotiim the 

 functions of all regions. Large portions remain without 

 designation other than that of "association areas." 

 Through them, by few or many relays, we suppose that 

 i he connections are made which determine the reactions 

 which shall occur under all circumstances. HiMologists 

 have made the general statement that only the areas 

 which are definitely classed as motor or sensory have 

 projection fibers mediating between them and lower 

 I'-vels of the nervous system. Beyond the boundaries 

 <f the areas immediately concerned with the delivery 

 or the reception of impulses traveling to or from the 



