Mat 21, 1909] 



iSGIENGE 



805 



into the blood, leads to disorder of cerebral 

 function ; that failure to function properly 

 on the part of the liver, kidney, spleen or 

 other organ, modifies the activity of the 

 brain ; and that, on the other hand, altered 

 function in the brain may disturb the func- 

 tions of these other organs. The medical 

 profession is fully aware of the fact that 

 man thinks not only with his brain, but in 

 a certain sense with every organ in his 

 body. In other words, we know that the 

 perfection of activity of the brain is modi- 

 fied and determined by the proper and 

 healthy activity of other organs of the 

 body, although we are ready to admit that 

 our knowledge along this line is by no 

 means complete. We have studied in 

 myxedema the effect of disordered function 

 in the thyroid upon the central activity. 

 We have learned that in chronic malaria, 

 the central activities, the ideals and the 

 philosophy not only of the individual but 

 of nations, may be debased; that in unci- 

 nariasis and other forms of parasitism like 

 results may follow. In short, medical ob- 

 servation and study have shown that 

 healthy cerebral function is to be found 

 only when the activity of the brain is prop- 

 erly influenced by normal function of all 

 the correlated organs. We know equally 

 well the influence of the brain on the other 

 organs of the body. We are fully aware 

 of the fact that impulses may be started in 

 the brain through any of the five senses 

 that may favorably or unfavorably influ- 

 ence the activities of correlated organs, and 

 for centuries the medical profession has 

 employed this physiological principle in the 

 treatment of disease. Savory dishes, pleas- 

 ingly garnished, through the sense of sight 

 and smell tempt the appetite and stimulate 

 the flow of the digestive juices. Cheer- 

 ful surroundings aid digestion. Cheering 

 words improve the circulation, iand hope is 

 often the best tonic that the physician can 



administer. As I have stated, the medical 

 profession has understood and has utilized 

 these physiological facts for centuries, and 

 there is nothing in them to justify the 

 founding of any new cult. That the brain 

 of one individual may be modified in its 

 activity by the sounds that fall from the 

 lips of another is as much of a physical fact 

 as that of the contraction of a muscle by 

 the passing of an electric current through 

 its nerve. There is nothing in this to 

 justify a dualistic doctrine involving the 

 existence of mind apart from and superior 

 to matter. Indeed, every step in the process 

 is in accord with the laws of physics and 

 chemistry. The vocal organs of the speaker 

 set in motion the sound waves that strike 

 upon the ear of the hearer, the auditory 

 nerves carry the impulse to the brain cen- 

 ter, and the brain molecules respond. 

 There is nothing in it that the most ma- 

 terialistic of philosophers might not en- 

 dorse. Sensibility, or the capability of 

 responding to stimuli, is, as Claude Ber- 

 nard said, to a certain extent the starting- 

 point of life; it is a primary phenomenon 

 and from it all others, physiological, intel- 

 lectual and moral, develop. Bechterew 

 holds that irritability or sensibility is due 

 to a motile cohesion in the biomoleeule, and 

 that psychical activity is the result of a 

 complex function of this molecule. Since 

 nothing comes from nothing, the basis of 

 psychical action must lie in the physico- 

 chemical elements of the organism. 



ViCTOE C. Vaughan 

 University of Michigan 



ETHNOLOGICAL EVIDENCE THAT THE 



CALIFORNIA CAVE SKELETONS ARE 



NOT RECENT 



SracE the discovery of the celebrated Calav- 

 eras skull, many human skulls and skeletons 

 have been found in caves along the west slope 

 of the middle Sierra.^ The presence of human 



' See Sinclair, Vniv. Calif. Puis., Am. Arch, 

 and Eth., Vol. 7, No. 2, 1908. 



