THE CARE OF THE BRAIN. 387 



acquirement from the moment of birth, while others are not called 

 into play for many months afterward. 



I have known many a child to be crowded prematurely to a point 

 in mental development that has either arrested further growth of the 

 intellectual faculties or caused its death indirectly. 



Hardly a month passes in which I am not compelled to urge par- 

 ents (often against their inclinations) to modify or discontinue some 

 defective system of mental training of their children. Many cases of 

 idiocy, epilepsy, St. Vitus's dance, dropsy of the brain, and other nerv- 

 ous diseases of childhood encountered by physicians, might have been 

 prevented if the parents had been made intelligent respecting the 

 dangers that encompassed the child, and used proper precautions 

 against them. 



Within the past decade, the functions of different parts of the 

 brain have been determined with an approach to scientific precision. 

 We are now able to trace (by methods lately discovered) the course 

 and terminations of separate nerve-bundles which compose the bulk 

 of the brain. Pathology has helped us to verify, in the case of man, 

 the deductions drawn from experiments upon the brains of animals. 

 The microscope has enabled us, furthermore, to detect structural dif- 

 ferences between various groups of brain-cells, whose functions have 

 been shown to be totally distinct from each other. 



These and other discoveries (too numerous to mention here) have 

 a practical value as well as a scientific one. They afford us many 

 hints which may be applied during life. They aid us materially also 

 in preventing as well as relieving diseased conditions of the wonder- 

 fully constructed mechanism. 



These are the few physiological facts which I am particularly desir- 

 ous of impressing upon the reader, since they form a basis for my 

 conclusions. These may be summarized as follows : * 



1. Different areas of the surface of the brain have functions pe- 

 culiarly and exclusively their own. Thus the brain's surface may be 

 likened to a map with its various territories, each of which is at times 

 perfectly independent of the other in respect to its functions, but still 

 capable of concerted action with the rest when such action is required. 

 We recognize as distinctly defined those areas, for example, which pre- 

 side over motions, sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing, general sensi- 

 bility, and some others. 



2. Each of these areas of the brain-surface has to be separately 

 educated. The memories connected with past experiences are stored 

 within the cells of the area which appreciates the facts as they occur. 



3. Some parts of the brain develop more rapidly than others. 



4. The education of some parts of the organ consists chiefly of the 



* There are certain anatomical and physiological facts respecting the human brain to 

 which the attention of the reader could be directed with benefit before the practical part 

 of this subject is discussed. To those who are interested in this field, I would refer 



