Re: Great, Squeaky!

I once read a whole article on hydroencephalitics, with pictures...was it in Life magazine? It said that the condition comes from a small valve in the head not closing properly, and that a doctor had designed a mechanical valve that could correct it...if caught early enough.

Apparently, in hydroencephalitis, the water pressure stops brain activity in the center, but, if the child survives, the peripheral brain cells then become active and take over, creating new pathways to run the child/adult...which seems to be what Dr. Doidge is saying.

Interestingly, the article I read noted that many of those folks become 'geniuses', with very high IQ's.

I don't know if it was the same article, or another, that said 'geniuses' may be very, very good in one area, but perhaps not in another...which is the same as the rest of us, isn't it?

We may grow up to be whizzes in math, or housework, or gardening, and be no good at all at conversation, maps, or knitting. And, we may like entirely different foods, colors, even temperatures, than the next person.


As for food, apparently the very sight of it, the anticipation of eating it, begins the digestive process...we salivate and the inner juices prepare to digest exactly the substances that are in it...whether or not we 'know' what those substances are!

I speculate that the digestive system 'likes' or 'dislikes' according to our preset ideas. A person may have the idea that this or that is 'good', or 'bad', and reacts as we have been preprogramed.

Someone once pointed out that some may throw up ONLY the pickle.

That speculation may account for anorexia, bulemia, etc., do you suppose?

Maybe I read too much.

I remember a study where toddlers were given an array of foods at each meal, and they may make a meal of beets, or boiled eggs, etc. But it was seen that they each consumed a 'balanced' diet over a week. Luckily, I read that before I raised my little guy!

The brain is wonderful, I agree, and explanations seem to be simpler than I ever guessed. Maybe that's why we become more childlike in our dotage...all the stuff we've struggled with for years is far less puzzling to us later.