The mind and its education / by George Herbert Betts . rm in receiving messages from thesenses and responding to them in directing the simplerreflex acts and movements which we learn to executewithout our consciousness being called upon, thusleaving the mind free from these petty things to busyitself in higher ways; the cellular matter of the cor-tex performs the highest functions of all, for throughits activity we have consciousness—thought, feeling,and will. The gray matter of the cerebellum, the me-dulla, and the cord may receive impressions from thesenses and respond to them with movements
The mind and its education / by George Herbert Betts . rm in receiving messages from thesenses and responding to them in directing the simplerreflex acts and movements which we learn to executewithout our consciousness being called upon, thusleaving the mind free from these petty things to busyitself in higher ways; the cellular matter of the cor-tex performs the highest functions of all, for throughits activity we have consciousness—thought, feeling,and will. The gray matter of the cerebellum, the me-dulla, and the cord may receive impressions from thesenses and respond to them with movements, but theirresponse is in all cases wholly automatic and uncon- 38 THE MIND AND ITS EDUCATION scious. A person whose hemispheres had been injuredin such a way as to interfere with the activity of thecortex might still continue to perform most if notall of the habitual movements of his life, but theywould be mechanical and not intelligent. He wouldlack all higher consciousness. It is through the activ- Li7i6 indicates fissuraof liolando itVontallobe. Occipitallobe Fissure ofSylvius Fig. 13.—Side view of left hemisphere of human brain^ showing theprincipal localized areas. Division oflabor inthe cortex. ity of this thin covering of cellular matter of thecerebrum that our minds operate; here are receivedstimuli from the different senses, and here sensationsare experienced. Here all our movements which areconsciously directed have their origin. And here allour thinking, feeling, and willing are done. Nor does the division of labor in the neivous sys-tem end with this assignment of work. The cortexitself probably works essentially as a unit, yet it isthrough a shifting of tensions from one area to an-other that it acts, now giving us a sensation, now di- THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM 39 recting a movement, and now thinking a thought orfeeling an emotion. Localization of function is therule here also. Certain areas of the cortex are de-voted chiefly to sensations, others to motor
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