496 PAUL S. HENSHAW 



However, insight can be gained by comparing the information utilization 

 process of the nervous system with that of other systems. In a television 

 system, for example, information is transmitted along cables by free electrons 

 in pulses with varying frequency and amplitude, and in the receiving set 

 such pulses are sorted, transformed, and projected in such a way as to 

 yield shades of light contrast and precise organization for picture formation. 

 In a computer system, the features of information storage, reassociation, and 

 utilization have been added. Storage, in some cases, is accomplished merely 

 by orientation of iron molecules with respect to each other on a plastic tape 

 or disc, a process so accurate that it can preserve and return all the attributes 

 of beauty in a character portrait or in a complex orchestral rendition. Infor- 

 mation storage can be accomplished as well by a groove on a vinyl disc or 

 by a printed page on which the single medium used for transmitting details 

 of profound logic or poetic beauty is black characters. Information of great 

 complexity can be acquired, stored, and reassociated in an organized manner 

 by means of one or a few unit mechanisms. In the effort to determine how 

 mental functions take place in cellular systems, attention is being given to 

 the nature of information-storing molecules (polymers) contained in neu- 

 rons, the kinds of structures affected directly by ionizing radiation. It is of real 

 practical and scientific significance to determine whether radiation affects 

 memory the way a magnet affects information stored on a magnetic tape, 

 causing dulling or erasure. Surely it is to be expected that, in time, the 

 information storage and utilization processes of the nervous system will 

 be reasonably understood and that radiation may have an important role 

 in the development. 



Indirect Effects 



While direct action may be of greater interest from the standpoint of 

 information handling, equally important changes may result from indirect 

 action. Vascular damage may result in injury or failure of a local part or 

 of the entire nervous system. Recovery from vascular or traumatic injury 

 can result in scarification and, thereby, permanent impairment. Alteration 

 of membrane conditions and biochemical differentiations conceivably could 

 have more far-reaching effects in the nervous system than in other systems. 

 Before concluding that radiation is having effects directly on the nervous 

 system, indirect effects must be ruled out. 



Effects on the Intellect 



From both practical and scientific standpoints, there is also the mind to 

 be considered, the device by means of which one thinks and stores infor- 

 mation, and beyond this there is the aggregate or mass mind. The underlying 



