Evening Star Newspaper, January 25, 1931, Page 76

6 What Science Knows About Freak Brains W here Genius Leaves Of f and Insanity Begins Still Puzzles Specialists in Diseases of An outrageous fake of the days before the eighteenth century. This quack is making an incision in a woman’s head and pretending to remove a stone which he says is causing insanity. BY MORRIS FISHBEIN, M. D., Editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association. T is well known that in cases of irregular mental development one particular ability is sometimes developed to a phenomenal extent, though the mind in general is subnormal or even idiotic. attacking the ordinary problems of life, such patients often show remarkable 2 of one of the senses and R 1P ol ER li’!i E,g %l! Mozart. At 4 he had mastered the clavichord and composed eoncert performer and composer of . phonies. picture mdb&idanlw.&gdtk%d.flf&u.c[m the Mind, Even After Long Study “of Musical and Mathematical Prodigies and Wise 1diots. Every one is interested in lightning calcula- tors, and particularly in children who develop unusual gifts in the fields of memory or mathe- matics. The scientists who study eugenics, genetics and the relationship of heredity to the production of such geniuses have not been able to find quite satisfactory explanations for their appearance in most circumstances. Popenoe has recently described some of the prodigies of remarkable ability who have ap- peared in the United States. A 9-year-old boy from Vermont was able to answer in a minute the question as to the number of seconds in 1,813 years, 7 months and 27 days. His facility was first noted when he was 6 years of age, at which time he was able to answer immediately such questions as 13 times 97. With a minute’s thought he could raise the number eight to the sixteenth power. This boy lived about the time of Napoleon, became a teacher and Meth- odist preacher, and eventually professor of languages in the University of Vermont. His mental powers declined rapidly and he died at the age of 38 with only ordinary mental ability. This boy’s name was Zerah Colburn. MEMORY READING CENTER MEMORY-SENSOR' SPEECH CENTER Abnormal Isaac Watt, whose youthful thoughts led to discovery of the steam engine. Diagram of the brain, showing location of the association centers and the ages at which various sections normally develop. minuets. At 10 a i This pi Mozare explanation, however, that all lightning calculators are possessors of some systems for memory or mathematics is not sufficient to satisfly the majority of persons. Popenoe is convinced that such performances require not only a system, but also a gift. He relates the case of Simonides, who lived on the Island of fact that arrangement is the greatest aid to memory. Mathematical talent seems to be an heredi- Illmnylnnuweamtbemafiulmmm not freaks, although many listed by Tred- was 24; A. M. Ampere, the physicist, and men “who devoted their lives to mathematics, such as K. F. Gauss, L. Euler, Th. Joung and George Not long ago members of the department of psychology of Stanford University studied the life records of 300 eminent men and women in history, paying attention to their early be- havior and brightness while young, and energy, who in childhood had intelligence below the highest order. This is explained on the grounds that a high, but not the highest, intelligence combined with a good deal of persistence may lead to greatness. However, in the majority of instances the rare and striking personality of genius is emphasized even in early youth by behavior that differs from that of the average child so pronouncedly that the record of its appearance is preserved. Children who achieve eminence have in gen- eral parents above the average and many L 4 Continued on Twelfth Page