Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 27.djvu/78

66 believe in their great practical value until national distress and panic legislation ensue. The love of money also, and the desire of acquiring it quickly without commensurate sacrifice, fostered by our having so easily obtained it by means of our coal and science, are so strong in this nation, that probably nothing but the actual loss of wealth in the form of diminished value of properties will induce capitalists and land-owners to perceive and examine the scientific basis of their incomes. When, however, the stern reality of gradually increasing scarcity of coal, and consequent inability to pay for our great supplies of foreign food by means of that coal, and of articles produced by its aid, comes upon us, perhaps the statesmen and wealthy classes of this country will see the indispensable necessity of new scientific knowledge, and be more ready to promote experimental research, with a conviction that its practical results are vast, though not always direct or immediate.—Nature.



Y former paper gave an outline account of the structure of the cerebro-spinal nervous system. The functions of this system were examined as far as to the cerebral hemispheres. It was said that we lacked evidence for the appearance of consciousness in connection with the activities of the spinal cord, the medulla oblongata, the pons Varolii, and the cerebellum. It was also affirmed that, if consciousness be associated with the activities of any organs below the cerebrum, this consciousness is of a general and vague kind, not the intelligence of clear perception.

The present paper is to state the functions of the cerebral hemispheres, as far as these functions are thought to be established by recent experiment and pathology.

We shall need to refresh our minds by a general view of the cerebrum. Looking at this organ from the side, we readily distinguish its so-called lobes or divisions. These are made by the fissures or furrows which dip down from the surface, penetrating, more or less deeply, the entire mass.

The prominent fissures are the fissure of Sylvius (S, Fig. 1) and the fissure of Rolando (R, Fig. 1). The fissure of Sylvius separates, in part, the temporo-sphenoidal lobe from the lobes above, and has two branches, a longer, horizontal branch (s), and a shorter, perpendicular branch (s'). If we push apart the brain-mass at the horizontal branch, we will see the nerve-matter called the Island of Reil. This is simply an additional fold of cell and fiber substance lying over the corpus 