2 BRAINS OF RATS AND MEN 



Aristotelian position have attained great popularity 

 in certain scientific circles. In a short excursion into 

 this very obscure and recondite field we shall examine 

 a few details of the structure and probable working 

 of the brain which may help us to put these functions 

 into their proper setting as a part of the general 

 process of living. This implies that we shall approach 

 the problem from the biological side, and that we 

 shall endeavor not to carry our speculations beyond 

 the realm of natural laws. 



Early in the scientific study of nerves it was found 

 that they are conductors of some sort. And today 

 there has been accumulated an enormous mass of 

 accurate information regarding the lines of transmis- 

 sion of nervous impulses within the brain and through- 

 out the body as a whole. 



The known complexity of the lines of nervous con- 

 duction within even so simple a brain as that of a 

 frog, if mapped out in detail, would make the wiring 

 chart of the largest electrically driven factory look 

 as simple as a county-road map. And if we turn to 

 the human brain it is no exaggeration to say that a 

 complete map of every circuit in all the telegraph and 

 telephone lines of the North American continent 

 would be incomparably simpler than such a chart of 

 the nervous circuits of which we already have some 

 knowledge. And the half of our nervous equipment 

 has never been told. 



Recently, in conversation with a mathematician. 



