K\()\VLi:i)r.i:. 



Ski'temukr. 191 : 



lias bosses raised iijion a solid surface, it did in it 

 matter one jot for the theory, however irref,'ular. 



Unfortunately, the present writer's thcorv was 

 formed on less elastic lines, lielieving that the 

 familiar api)earances are not structure at all, hut onl\- 

 focal points of lifjht caught between parallel — more 

 or less — rows of fibrils of wavy outlines, the patchy 

 irregularities would not fit in, and they do not. Yet 

 they can be accounted for without destroving his 



theory, and the reason is apparent in the prints here 

 marked. As a rule, in Triccriitiiini the fibrils take 

 the usual zig-zag course, [)arallel to each other, 

 l)ut in places where they form leaf-like expansions, 

 take on eccentric shapes, and commit other vagaries 

 to puzzle a poor microscopist with new theories of 

 structure. These leaf-like expansions are further 

 shown in two places upon Figures 388 and J92. 

 (To be coiifimied.) 



A BRIEF AlArHKMATlCAL COXCKPTIOX O: 



TELEPATHY. 



l!y L. C. POCOCK, B.Sc. 



The operation of tlic luniian brain is more com- 

 pletely shrouded in mystery than is any other function 

 of our body. We have not even an elemcntarv 

 insight into the process by which our brain so 

 precisely stores a thought, recalls the past, or, travel- 

 ling further into the unknown, influences another 

 brain, producing " Telepath}." 



Telepathy is here defined as the action of one 

 brain upon another without any physical contact, 

 and includes Hypnotism w hen this is effected without 

 contact. When there is contact, there is always the 

 possibility of " muscle reading," or it may be that 

 the sensory nerves in the hand, though accustomed 

 only to reflex action impulses, can also transmit 

 thought impulses whicli reach them in some way 

 analogous to leakage or conduction from the true 

 brain. 



The basis of the present article is one single fact 

 which we do know about the brain. We know that 

 the brain requires nourishment to exercise its 

 functions, and that when called upon to perform 

 extra study, extra nourishment must be supplied. 

 From this it follows that the operation of storing a 

 thought or recalling one already stored is effected by 

 the absorption of a certain amount of energy. 



It is an interesting fact that "thinking" is not 

 a reversible process. In committing an idea to 

 memory, and in subsequently recalling it, cnergv is 

 absorbed, although the one process seems to be the 

 reverse of the other and to represent an opposite 

 function of the brain ; in one case we have the 

 reception of an incoming thought, in the other, the 

 formation and production of an outgoing thought. 

 We cannot deliberately forget : forgetfulness is onl\- 

 a slow process represented by the gradual " leakage " 

 or dissipation of that stored energy which was the 

 thought. 



We will now consider the possibility of a mathe- 

 matical expression for cerebral reception and pro- 

 duction. To commit to memory a fact we repeat it 

 mentally several times ; each repetition requires the 

 exiienditure of a certain amount of energy in the 

 brain and we may say the energy expended after n 

 repetitions amounts to 



1- + r-' + 1^ -f . . . /, terms. 



Sulisequently we recall the fact, the brain "produces" 

 it : then even if we consider this process as the 

 reverse of the other, the selection of the arbitrary 

 function as a square gives the change of energj- as 



which therefore represents energy added, or in other 

 words, the effort of recalling a fact strengthens the 

 memory of that fact, which agrees w ith our experience. 

 It is possible, however, that for each repetition, 

 tlie amount of deposit, transformation, or whatever 

 it is that occurs, is for that particular repetition less 

 than for the preceding one ; that is to say there is a 

 practical limit to the amount of effect that can be 

 produced. Instead of the series first given we might 

 have one such as 



vi_Lr 



■"if(n)) 

 where f(nl continuoush' increases. If, as seems 

 probable, it is impossible to learn a fact beyond a 

 certain limit equivalent to a saturation of the brain, 

 then this series is convergent. 



If we accept this theory and assume that the 

 amount of energv' fed to the brain for each term is 

 always the same, it follows that for each succeeding 

 term there is a greater amount of surplus energy 

 to lie accounted for. What then becomes of the 

 surjilus energy ? Energy cannot be destroyed, and 

 must in this case either be frittered away locallv, as 

 for example, heat, or it must be radiated directly. 

 Even if none is directly radiated, a part is possibly 

 transformed into radiant energ\- as a consequence of 

 the commutation of thought energy into (as supposed) 

 iieat. because energv transformations are rarelv 

 C(>m[)letely from one form to one other only, the 

 mechanism of the process usuall\' resulting in some 

 loss as regards the transformation, and the lost 

 energy is often radiated. If we assume that in com- 

 mitting a fact to memory, the energy expended, as 

 the fact becomes more familiar, diminishes in pro- 

 portion to the effect produced instead of remaining 

 constant — the last argument supports the {">ossibility 

 of radiation, since there is still an energy transfor- 

 mation — from the Potential Energy of nutriment to 

 the Potential Energ}- of Thought or Brain. 



