/?^ 



Jak. 9, 1SS5.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



21 



^HAZiNEoFSCIENCE^ 



PLAlNLi WORDED-EXACTLYDESCRIBED 



LOXnOX: FRIDAY, JAX, 9, 18S5. 



Contents op No. 167. 



PAGS 

 Our Two Brains. Bv Hichard A. 



Proctor ' 21 



RamMeawith a Hammer. (lUna.) 



Bv VT. Jerome Harrison, K.G.S.. 22 

 Karth's Shape and Motions. {Hint.) 



By Richard A. Procior --4 



Dinosaars. {Illud.) 25 



Thoueht and Lan^age. I. By Ada 



S. BalUn 27 



Chapters on Modem Domestic Eco- 



Domr „ , 29 



First Star Lessons. With Map. By 



Riehard A. Proctor 30 



PAGB 



The Young Electrician. By W. 



Slinffo 31 



Editorial Gossip 33 



Reviews S3 



Miscellanea 35 



Our Inventors' ColiimD 3G 



Correspondence : The Origin of 

 Myth— Cromlt-ebs— AVh:it is an 

 Invention? — Self.Lif;htiiig Gas- 

 Burner — Matter — Carnivorous 



Parrot of New Zealand 37 



Our Whist Column 39 



Cor Chesa Column 40 



OUR TWO BUAIXS. 



By Richard A. Proctor. 



(Confinued from p. 523, Vol. VI.) 



rpiIE case of Sergeant F. (a few of the circumstances of 

 i ■which have been already mentioned) seems to corre- 

 spond with Dr. Wigan's theory, though that theory is far 

 from explaining all the circumstances. The man was 

 wounded by a bullet which fractured his left parietal bone, 

 and his right arm and leg were almost immediately para- 

 lysed. When he recovei'ed consciousness three weeks later 

 the riyht side of the body was completely paralysed, ar.d 

 remained so for a year. These circumstances indicate that 

 the cause of the mischief still existing lay in the shock 

 which the left side of the brain received when the man was 

 wounded. The right side may have learned, as it were, to 

 exercise the functions formerly belonging to the left side, 

 and thus the paralysis affecting the right side until this had 

 happened may have passed away. These points I have 

 already discussed, however. Others may now be noted 

 with advantage. I would specially note some which 

 render it doubtful whether in the abnormal condition the 

 man's brain acted at all, whether, in fact, his condition, so 

 far as consciousness was concerned, was not similar to that 

 of a frog deprived of its brain in a certain well-known 

 experiment. (This appears to be the opinion to which 

 Professor Huxley inclines, though, with proper scientific 

 caution, he seems disposed to suspend his judgment.) The 

 facts are very singular, whatever the explanation may be. 

 In the normal condition, the man is what he was before 

 he was wounded — an intelligent, kindly fellow, performing 

 satisfactorily the duties of a hospital attendant. The 

 abnormal state is ushered in by pains in the forehead, as if 

 caused by the constriction of a band of iron. In this state 

 the eyes are open and the pupils dilated. (The reader will 

 remember Charles Reade's description of David Dodd's 

 eyes, " like those of a seal.") The eyeballs work incessantly, 

 and the jaws maintain a chewing motion. If the man is 

 en pays de connaissance, he walks about as usual ; but in a 

 new place, or if obstacles are set in his way, he stumbles, 

 feels about with his hands, and so finds his way. He ofTers 

 no resistance to any forces which may act upon him, and 



shows no signs of pain if pins are thrust into his body by 

 kindly experimenter.'). No noise ad'ects him. Ho eats anil 

 drinks ajiparently without tasting or smelling his food, 

 accepting assafuuida or vinegar as readily as the finest 

 clant. He is sensible to light only under certain conditions. 

 But the sense of touch is strangely exalted (in all respects 

 ap|)aiently, except as to sensations of pain or pleasure), 

 taking, in fact, the place of all theolhersense.s. I say ihesense 

 of touch, but it is not clear whether there is any real sensa- 

 tion at all. The man appears in the abnormal condition to 

 be a more machine. Tiiis is strikingly exemplilicd in the 

 following case, which I translate directly from Dr. Mesnet's 

 account : — " He was walking in the garden under a group of 

 trees, and his stick, which he had dropped a few minutes 

 before, was placed in bis liands. Ho frels it, moves his 

 hand several times along thts bent handle of the stick, 

 becomes watchful, si ems to listen, suddenly he calls out, 

 " Henry ! " then, " There they arc ! there are at least a 

 score of them ! join us two, we shall manage it." And 

 then putting his hand behind his back as if to take a 

 cartridge, he goes through the movement of loading his 

 weapon, lays himself flat on the grass, his head concealed 

 by a tree, in the posture of a sharpshooter, and with 

 shouldered weipon follows all the movements of the enemy 

 whom he fancies he sees at a short distance." Tliis, how- 

 ever, is an assumption : the man cannot in this state fancy 

 he sees, unless he has at least a recollection of the sensation 

 of sight, and this would imply cerebral activity. Huxley, 

 more cautiou.*, says justly that the question arises "whether 

 the series of actions consdtuting this singular pantomime 

 was accompanied by the ordinary states of consciousness or 

 nof? Did the man dream that he was skirmishing? or 

 was he in the condition of one of Vaucanson's automata — 

 a mechanism worked by molecular changes in his nervous 

 system? The analogy of the frog shows that the latter 

 assumption is perfectly justifiable." 



The pantomimic actions ju.st related corresponded to 

 what probably happened a few moments before the man 

 was wounded ; Vuit this human automaton (.^o to call him, 

 without theorising as to his actual condition) goes through 

 other performances. He has a good voice, and was at one 

 time a singer in a cnf: " In one of his abnormal states 

 he was observed to begin humming a tune. He then went 

 to his room, dressed himself carefully, an<l took up some 

 parts of a periodical novel which lay on liis bed, as if he 

 were trying to find something. Dr. Mesnet, suspecting 

 that he was seeking his music, made up one of these into a 

 roll, and put it into hi.s hand. He appeareel oatisfied, took 

 up his cane, and went downstairs to the door. Here Dr. 

 Mesnet turned him round, and he walked quite con- 

 tentedly in the opposite direction, towards the room of the 

 concurge. The light of the sun shining through a window 

 now happened to fall upon him, and seemed to suggest the 

 footlights of the stage on which he was accustomed to 

 make his appearance. He stopped, opened his roll of 

 imaginary music, put himself into the attitude of a singer, 

 and sung, with perfect execution, three songs, one after the 

 other. After which he wiped his face with his handker- 

 chief, and drank, without a grimace, a tumbler of strong 

 vinegar and water which was put into bis hand." 



But the most remarkable part of the whole story is that 

 which follows. " Sitting at a table in one of his abnormal 

 states. Sergeant F. took up a pen, felt fur paper and ink, 

 and began to write a letter to his general, in which he 

 recommended himself for a medal on account of his good 

 conduct and courage." (Rather a strange thing, by the 

 way, for a mere automate)n to do.) " It occurred to Dr. 

 Mesnet to ascertain experimentally how far vision was con- 

 cerned in this act of writing. He therefore interposed a 



