Lippincott'S Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science, Volume 26 December, 1880. by Various None (smart ebook reader .txt) 📕

So That One Half Of The Brain Thinks And Acts In Opposition To The Other

Half.

From What Has Already Been Said It Is Plain That Memory Is Entirely

Distinct From Consciousness,  And That It Is In a Certain Sense

Automatic,  Or At Least An Attribute Of All Nerve-Centres. If This Be So,

It Would Seem Probable,  _A Priori_,  That Other Intellectual Acts Are

Also Distinct From Consciousness. For Present Purposes The Activities Of

The Cerebrum May Be Divided Into The Emotional And The More

Strictly-Speaking Intellectual Acts. A Little Thought Will,  I Think,

Convince Any Of My Readers That Emotions Are As Purely Automatic As The

Movements Of The Frog'S Hind Leg. The Irishman Who Said That He Was

Really A Brave Man,  Although He Had A Cowardly Pair Of Legs Which Always

Ran Away With Him,  Was Far From Speaking Absurdly. It Is Plain That

Passion Is Something Entirely Beyond The Conscious Will,  Because It Is

Continually Excited From Without,  And Because We Are Unable To Produce

It By A Mere Effort Of The Will Without Some External Cause. The Common

Phrase,  "He Is Working Himself Up Into A Passion," Indicates A

Perception Of The Fact That Consciousness Sometimes Employs Memories,

Thoughts,  Associations,  Etc. To Arouse The Lower Nerve-Centres That Are

Connected With The Emotion Of Anger. It Is So Also With Various Other

Emotions. The Soldier Who Habitually Faces Death In The Foremost Rank Of

The Battle,  And Yet Shrinks In Mortal Fear Or Antipathy From A Mouse,  Is

Not An Unknown Spectacle. It Is Clear That His Fear Of The Little Animal

Is Based Not Upon Reason,  But Upon An Uncontrollable Sensitiveness In

His Nervous System Acquired By Inheritance Or Otherwise. It Does Not

Follow From This That Conscious Will Is Not Able To Affect Emotion. As

Already Pointed Out,  It Can Arouse Emotion By Using The Proper Means,

And It Undoubtedly Can,  To A Greater Or Less Extent,  Directly Subdue

Emotion. The Law Of Inhibition,  As It Is Called By The Physiologist,

Dominates The Whole Nervous System. Almost Every Nerve-Centre Has Above

It A Higher Centre Whose Function It Is Directly To Repress Or Subdue

The Activity Of The Lower Centre. A Familiar Instance Of This Is Seen In

The Action Of The Heart: There Are Certain Nerve-Centres Which When

Excited Lessen The Rate Of The Heart'S Beat,  And Are Even Able To Stop

It Altogether. The Relation Of The Will-Power To The Emotions Is

Directly Inhibitory. The Will Is Able To Repress The Activity Of Those

Centres Which Preside Over Anger. In The Man With Red Hair These Centres

May Be Very Active And The Will-Power Weak; Hence The Inhibitory

Influence Of The Will Is Slight And The Man Gets Angry Easily. In The

Phlegmatic Temperament The Anger-Centres Are Slow To Action,  The

Will-Power Strong,  And The Man Is Thrown Off His Balance With

Difficulty. It Is Well Known That Power Grows With Exercise,  And When We

Habitually Use The Will In controlling The Emotional Centres Its Power

Continually Increases. The Man Learning Self-Control Is Simply Drilling

The Lower Emotional Centres Into Obedience To The Repressive Action Of

The Higher Will. Without Further Demonstration,  It Is Clear That Emotion

Is Distinct From Conscious Will,  And Is Automatic In The Sense In Which

The Term Has Been Used In This Article.

Imagination Also Is Plainly Distinct From Consciousness. It Acts During

Sleep. Often,  Indeed,  It Runs Riot During The Slumbers Of The Night,  But

At Times It Works With An Automatic Regularity Exceeding Its Powers

During The Waking Moments. It Is Also True That Judgment Is Exercised In

Sleep,  And That Reason Sometimes Exerts Its Best Efforts In That State.

But Not Only Do The Intellectual Nets Go On Without Consciousness During

Sleep,  But Also While We Are Awake. Some Years Since I Was Engaged In

Working Upon A Book Requiring A Good Deal Of Thought. Very Frequently I

Would Be Unable To Solve Certain Problems,  But Leaving Them Would Find A

Day Or Two Afterward,  On Taking Pen In Hand,  That The Solution Traced

Itself Without Effort On The Paper Clearly And Logically. During The

Sleeping Hours,  Or During The Waking Hours Of A Busy Professional Life,

The Brain Had,  Without My Consciousness,  Been Solving The Difficulties.

This Experience Is By No Means A Peculiar One. Many Scientific Workers

Have Borne Testimony To A Similar Habit Of The Cerebrum. The Late Sir W.

Rowan Hamilton,  The Discoverer Of The Mathematical Method Known As That

Of The Quaternions,  States That His Mind Suddenly Solved That Problem

After Long Work When He Was Thinking Of Something Else. He Says In One

Place: "Tomorrow Will Be The Fifteenth Birthday Of The Quaternions. They

Started Into Life Or Light Full Grown On The 16Th Of October,  1843,  As I

Was Walking With Lady Hamilton To Dublin And Came Up To Brougham Bridge;

That Is To Say,  I Then And There Felt The Galvanic Circle Of Thought

Closed,  And The Sparks Which Fell From It Were The Fundamental Equations

Between _I,  F_ And _K_ Exactly As I Have Used Them Ever Since. I Felt

The Problem To Have Been At That Moment Solved--An Intellectual Want

Relieved Which Had Haunted Me For At Least Fifteen Years Before." Mr.

Appolo,  A Distinguished Scientific Inventor,  Stated In The Proceedings

Of The Royal Society That It Was His Habit To Get The Bearings And Facts

Of A Case During The Day And Go To Bed,  And Wake The Next Morning With

The Problem Solved. If The Problem Was A Difficult One He Always Passed

A Restless Night. Examples Might Be Multiplied. Sir Benjamin Brodie,

Speaking Of His Own Mental Action,  States That When He Was Unable To

Proceed Further In Some Investigation He Was Accustomed To Let The

Matter Drop. Then "After An Interval Of Time,  Without Any Addition To My

Stock Of Knowledge,  I Have Found The Obscurity And Confusion In Which

The Subject Was Originally Enveloped To Have Cleared Away. The Facts

Have Seemed All To Settle Themselves In Their Right Places,  And Their

Mutual Relations To Have Become Apparent,  Although I Have Not Been

Sensible Of Having Made Any Distinct Effort For That Purpose."

Not Only Is There Such A Thing,  Then,  As Unconscious Thought,  But It Is

Probable That The Best Thinking Is Rarely,  If Ever,  Done Under The

Influence Of Consciousness. The Poet Creates His Work When The

Inspiration Is On Him And He Is Forgetful Of Himself And The World.

Consciousness May Aid In Pruning And Polishing,  But In creating It Often

Interferes With,  Rather Than Helps,  The Cerebral Action. I Think Any One

Of My Readers Who Has Done Any Literary Or Scientific Writing Will Agree

That His Or Her Best Work Is Performed When Self And Surrounding Objects

Have Disappeared From Thought And Consciousness Scarcely Exists More

Than It Does In a Dream. Sometimes The Individual Is Conscious Of The

Flow Of An Undercurrent Of Mental Action,  Although This Does Not Rise To

The Level Of Distinct Recognition. Oliver Wendell Holmes Speaks Of A

Business-Man Of Boston Who,  Whilst Considering A Very Important

Question,  Was Conscious Of An Action Going On In His Brain So Unusual

And Painful As To Excite His Apprehension That He Was Threatened With

Palsy; But After Some Hours His Perplexity Was All At Once Cleared Up By

The Natural Solution Of The Problem Which Was Troubling Him,  Worked Out,

As He Believed,  In The Obscure And Restless Interval. "Jumping To A

Conclusion," A Process To Which The Female Sex Is Said To Be Especially

Prone,  Is Often Due To Unconscious Cerebration,  The Reasoning Being So

Rapid That The Consciousness Cannot Follow The Successive Steps. It Is

Related That Lord Mansfield Once Gave The Advice To A Younger Friend

Newly Appointed To A Colonial Judgeship,  "Never Give Reasons For Your

Decisions. Your Judgments Will Very Probably Be Right,  But Your Reasons

Will Almost Certainly Be Wrong." The Brain Of The Young Judge Evidently

Worked Unconsciously With Accuracy,  But Was Unable To Trace The Steps

Along Which It Really Travelled.

We Are Not Left To The Unaided Study Of Our Mental Processes For Proof

That The Human Brain Is A Mechanism. In The Laboratory Of Professor

Goltz In Strasburg I Saw A Terrier From Which He Had Removed,  By

Repeated Experiments,  All The Surface Of The Brain,  Thereby Reducing The

Animal To A Simple Automaton. Looked At While Lying In His Stall,  He

Seemed At First In No Wise Different From Other Dogs: He Took Food When

Offered To Him,  Was Fat,  Sleek And Very Quiet. When I Approached Him He

Took No Notice Of Me,  But When The Assistant Caught Him By The Tail He

Instantly Became The Embodiment Of Fury. He Had Not Sufficient

Perceptive Power To Recognize The Point Of Assault,  So That His Keeper,

Standing Behind Him,  Was Not In danger. With Flashing Eyes And Hair All

Erect The Dog Howled And Barked Furiously,  Incessantly Snapping And

Biting,  First On This Side And Then On That,  Tearing With His Fore Legs

And In every Way Manifesting Rage. When His Tail Was Dropped By The

Attendant And His Head Touched,  The Storm At Once Subsided,  The Fury Was

Turned Into Calm,  And The Animal,  A Few Seconds Before So Rageful,  Was

Purring Like A Cat And Stretching Out Its Head For Caresses. This

Curious Process Could Be Repeated Indefinitely. Take Hold Of His Tail,

And Instantly The Storm Broke Out Afresh: Pat His Head,  And All Was

Tenderness. It Was Possible To Play At Will With The Passions Of The

Animal By The Slightest Touches.

During The Franco-German Contest A French Soldier Was Struck In The Head

With A Bullet And Left On The Field For Dead,  But Subsequently Showed

Sufficient Life To Cause Him To Be Carried To The Hospital,  Where He

Finally Recovered His General Health,  But Remained In a Mental State

Very Similar To That Of Professor Goltz'S Dog. As He Walked About The

Rooms And Corridors Of The Soldiers' Home In Paris He Appeared To The

Stranger Like An Ordinary Man,  Unless It Were In His Apathetic Manner.

When His Comrades Were Called To The Dinner-Table He Followed,  Sat Down

With Them,  And,  The Food Being Placed Upon His Plate And A Knife And

Fork In His Hands,  Would Commence To Eat.