Before I explain this theory, I should point out that it is not my own. I happened to come across it when reading Tristram Shandy, if any of you know the book. In the book, Tristram Shandy's father is of the opinion that a person's soul resides "in, or near, the cerebellum,-- or rather, somewhere about the medulla oblongata, wherein...all the minute nerves from all the organs of the seven senses concentered, like streets and winding alleys, into a square." However, that is not the theory that this post is pertaining to but merely the introduction.
I would also like to point out that this book was written in 1759, so these ideas may or may not be outdated.
Shandy's father's theory in the book is that the intelligence or nature of a person is, in no small part, due to the conditions of which that person is born, specifically whether they are born head first, feet first, or by C-section. This theory is not without reasoning, either. When a child is born head first, it is explained that the force that a woman exerts upon the child when expelling it from her body is equal to the weight of "470 pounds avoirdupois (a weight system used in the British Imperial System) acting perpendicularly upon it," which resulted in the head being "compressed and molded into the shape of an oblong conical piece of dough." This force, therefore, pushed the cerebrum toward the cerebellum that was said to be the "immediate seat of understanding." In Shandy's father's mind, this led to the child having a low intelligence.
The same was thought would happen if the child were born feet first, although instead of the cerebrum being pushed toward the cerebellum, the opposite occurred and the cerebellum was pulled toward the cerebrum. Again, resulting in the low intelligence of the child being born.
However, by way of C-section, there is presumably no injury to the cerebellum whatsoever and the soul that is believed to reside in the medulla oblongata remains intact. There is no pressure to the head, nothing being pushed or pulled toward anything else, so the intelligence and nature of the child are kept unaltered.
Long story short: there's a good chance you're more intelligent if you were a C-section baby.
Given the reasoning behind it, I have to say I can see how this theory could be credible. I'm curious to know what others might think about it.
Felix had no way of anticipating what was going to happen at dinner, although he couldn't say he was surprised at all. What could you expect in an insane asylum, after all. He was only a little peeved at the fact that it always seemed to be the quiet ones, the ones that only minded their own business, that seemed to get picked on the most.
The fork to his eye hurt, of course, and yet he still showed no emotion as he was led to the infirmary, blood pouring down his face despite Sister Smith's attempt to slow the flow. "I'm going to miss that eye," he said flatly, his weird attempt at humor as he was fussed over. Felix felt very uncomfortable being in such close proximity with the nurses, however, and he just wanted it to be over.
Finally, Felix was helped back to his room but not before he managed to swipe a ballpoint pen from one of the nurse's desks as he walked past, slipping it deftly into his shirt sleeve.
Felix trailed silently behind the others as they left the ruins. He hadn't wanted to stop exploring yet, his curious mind was still thinking about what was left to discover, but it was getting late and no one wanted to find out what would happen if they were late for dinner.
Felix paid no attention to the conversation that was going on between Ruby and Reco. It didn't really pique an interest in him. In fact, none of the other patients sparked any interest in him. If he thought he could survive this asylum without assistance from anyone, he wouldn't even associate with anyone. But he knew that was impossible so he settled for just following for now.
Felix had chuckled internally once the message had been decoded. He didn't believe in monsters because humans could be scary enough, especially considering how some of them had winded up here in the first place. So Felix had just followed along silently as they all headed down the hallway.
When they reached the chamber, Felix decided to follow Dante's advice and look for traps or dangers of any sort. There was no telling what could be hiding in such an ancient room.
Felix barely registered Reco speaking as he was thoroughly invested in the coded message on the door in the ruins. Once he concentrated on something, it was very difficult for him to come back to reality.
Ruby had managed to decode a B, K, and P but it didn't do much to help with the rest of the message. After careful consideration, he managed to partially decipher one symbol but he couldn't figure out whether it was an O or a Q. Judging by the fact that the English language only had a very small amount of words with q's, educated guessing led him to believe it was probably an O. However, more letters would need to be deciphered to see if he was right.
"What?" Felix said after his period of intense focus, finally registering what Reco had said. "A helicopter? So a new patient may have arrived. Interesting."
"Hotels usually have better accommodations," Felix pointed out flatly. He didn't believe in seeing things in certain 'perspectives', he only observed what was right in front of him and from what he could see they were all prisoners here, with a bedtime and everything. There wasn't even a point in adding anything to Dante and Reco's topic of escape. It was out of the question in their present situations overall.
At Dante's mention of the forbidden areas, however, Felix paused momentarily. There was no denying that his curiosity was eating at him but after last night's events it didn't seem wise to go poking around where they shouldn't be. Everything had a time and a place to be done and here and now was not the best possible moment to make that kind of uneducated exploration.
Of course, Felix realized the irony in that statement as they walked further into the ruins but he just clutched his notebook and kept walking silently on.
"I'm not sure this is what would classify as a vacation," Felix stated. "We merely have the illusion of freedom. We're still trapped on an island." Still, he walked ahead of Ruby towards the hidden entrance that they had discovered, curiosity taking hold of him. "If you're scared, I guess I'll go first." Felix wasn't afraid of the wall crumbling on top of him as he passed over the entryway into the ruins, mostly because he didn't feel emotions like a normal human but he also viewed death as just another thing that happened. He found something intriguing about the thought of his body lying six feet under the ground, decaying slowly. Whether that would be happening to him sooner rather than later would be determined by just how sturdy the crumbling walls of the ruins were.
As Ruby rushed off to the ruins, it seemed that Felix had no choice but to follow her. Well, they were ruins so maybe it'd be a good place to let his curious mind run rampant. Lucky for him, he had his notebook to record any interesting finds. As he caught up with the rather energetic woman, he heard a shout behind them and turned to see one of the other patients, Reco by an educated process of elimination. Great, he thought. Two is company but any more than that is annoying. Felix just stayed silent as he and Ruby continued to make their way to the ruins. The other guy could just catch up.
Felix looked over at Ruby and blinked. He never did anything if there was no point to it and he didn't particularly see any point in going outside. He had never been one to crave the need for 'fresh air'. Plus, it's not like there were many places to explore on an island. But he also couldn't come up with a good enough excuse to refuse before he was being dragged into the sunshine, his notebook clutched to his chest. "Okay," he said flatly. "Where do you propose we go, then."
Felix hadn't slept a wink the previous night. He had never experienced something quite like the events that had unfolded, or hadn't unfolded but were still fresh in everyone else's mind as well by the looks on their faces. Unwilling to simply let it go lest Sister Smith or Dr. Burke use it against them, Felix had written everything down in his journal, treating the events as if they were another experiment of his that he needed to analyze. He'd brought the journal with him to the common room and was now examining it for any answers, keeping to himself away from the others.
Before I explain this theory, I should point out that it is not my own. I happened to come across it when reading Tristram Shandy, if any of you know the book. In the book, Tristram Shandy's father is of the opinion that a person's soul resides "in, or near, the cerebellum,-- or rather, somewhere about the medulla oblongata, wherein...all the minute nerves from all the organs of the seven senses concentered, like streets and winding alleys, into a square." However, that is not the theory that this post is pertaining to but merely the introduction.
I would also like to point out that this book was written in 1759, so these ideas may or may not be outdated.
Shandy's father's theory in the book is that the intelligence or nature of a person is, in no small part, due to the conditions of which that person is born, specifically whether they are born head first, feet first, or by C-section. This theory is not without reasoning, either. When a child is born head first, it is explained that the force that a woman exerts upon the child when expelling it from her body is equal to the weight of "470 pounds avoirdupois (a weight system used in the British Imperial System) acting perpendicularly upon it," which resulted in the head being "compressed and molded into the shape of an oblong conical piece of dough." This force, therefore, pushed the cerebrum toward the cerebellum that was said to be the "immediate seat of understanding." In Shandy's father's mind, this led to the child having a low intelligence.
The same was thought would happen if the child were born feet first, although instead of the cerebrum being pushed toward the cerebellum, the opposite occurred and the cerebellum was pulled toward the cerebrum. Again, resulting in the low intelligence of the child being born.
However, by way of C-section, there is presumably no injury to the cerebellum whatsoever and the soul that is believed to reside in the medulla oblongata remains intact. There is no pressure to the head, nothing being pushed or pulled toward anything else, so the intelligence and nature of the child are kept unaltered.
Long story short: there's a good chance you're more intelligent if you were a C-section baby.
Given the reasoning behind it, I have to say I can see how this theory could be credible. I'm curious to know what others might think about it.
As Felix walked down the hallway, he followed the sound of Harris's singing to find the man at the edge of a balcony of sorts. Noticing the baton, he wondered momentarily at how he had skipped over the fact that he could have picked up the weapon himself on the way past the dead guard. It only took him a few seconds to conclude that he preferred more subtle means of maiming. The capabilities of a pen in the right hands (or wrong hands, depending on which end of the sanity spectrum you resided in) were endless.
Felix walked cautiously down the hall of the second floor, intently listening for any sign of guards or Sister Smith or Dr. Burke. It would be a shame to be caught now and sent back to his cell, although now he knew of a secondary way of escaping if he so chose. Coming to a closed door on his left, he tried the handle to find that it was unlocked and poked his head in to see an empty office space. There were file cabinets lined up against the far wall and a desk was situated in the middle of the room with papers cluttered on it. Spying a pen, just the thing he needed, Felix entered the room and snatched it up, slipping the pen into his sleeve. He then exited the room, closing the door quietly behind himself, and made his way further down the corridor, just as cautious as before.
Felix nodded at Harris's response and sat down on the bed to weigh his options. It dawned on him in that moment that the pill he had taken earlier must have had an effect on him, after all, giving him a clearer mind to concentrate better (i.e. the blue pill gave him +1 intelligence). After a moment of thorough contemplation, turned his attention back to Harris to ask, "Seriez-vous au courant de l'emplacement exact de ces orifices?" The
The vents seemed to be the only plausible way of getting out of the room without any immediate consequences. Plus, it was a good means of getting around the asylum virtually undetected. If they were quiet enough, of course. However, Felix's question became unnecessary as the door to his cell was unlocked and Dante stood there in the doorway, confirming Felix's suspicions as to who exactly it had been that was shouting and giving Felix a smile that he couldn't quite gauge which was met with a blank stare before the other man was gone.
Felix looked back at Harris once more before carefully placing his notebooks in their place under the bed and making his way to the now open doorway of his cell. He didn't care one way or another if the other man decided to follow him or not but going off of his previous statement of "I'll follow your lead," Felix figured that Harris would be right behind him, assuming he wouldn't decide to navigate the asylum under the cover of the vents. Which actually seemed like a better, smarter idea. A glance down the hall told him all he needed to know about how Dante had managed to escape his own cell. That is if the dead guard had anything to do with it.
A glance down the hall told him all he needed to know about how Dante had managed to escape his own cell. That is if the dead guard had anything to do with it. Murder in order to get what he wanted. Maybe Felix and Dante weren't so different. Nevertheless, he knew from his own activities not to hang around anyone that had violent tendencies and didn't think twice about killing someone.
Knowing that the other guard would eventually return once Reco's little accident was taken care of, Felix wasn't stupid enough to stick around the cells any longer and decided to explore the rest of the facilities. He still needed a pen, anyway. Making his way down the hall in the opposite direction from wherever Dante was heading, he came across a stairwell that led to the 2nd floor of the asylum. His curiosity got the better of him and up he went.
Felix wasn't going to answer the voice just yet, whom he'd since been able to pinpoint as Dante from the earlier meeting. Unlike the other patients showing all of their cards too soon, he was going to weigh every single option and every single outcome before reaching a decision while still keeping his true thoughts unknown. If the time came for it, he'd be ready to make his own moves along the chessboard of this place. Turning back to Harris, he decided to gauge whether he had any opinion on it. "Quelles sont vos pensées sur ses plans?" he inquired of the Frenchman, pointing his thumb in the general direction of where Dante's voice was coming from. "Quoi qu'ils soient."
Lucky for Felix, he'd gone through a period in his late teens when he was interested in learning every language he possibly could besides his native English. Luckier still, one of the few languages he'd actually been able to master was French. If he'd had a sense of humor, he would have laughed at Harris's mild complaint about the cleanliness, or lack thereof, of the vents. "Je ne peux penser à aucune raison, pas ton," Felix responded to the other man, moving off of the bed to give Harris room to exit the vent shaft and going to the other side of the room to retrieve his journals that were still strewn about the floor. That's when he heard one of the other inmates shouting. He couldn't pinpoint exactly who it was, but whatever plan they were talking about he figured might be beneficial for him to be a part of.
Felix's tantrum was interrupted by a slight scuffling noise in the vents, his anger dissipating just as quickly as it had flamed. Did Burke Asylum have rats? If so, he could definitely use them for his...work. This place would be much less boring if he could conduct experiments here, which he had been unable to do at the last institution. The vent is placed towards the middle of the wall just under the ceiling, so Felix pushed his bed underneath in order to reach it. Removing the cover, which he found was easier than one would expect in an asylum filled with high-intellect patients, he looked into the vents to discover not a rat, but another human crawling towards him. "Oh," he stated simply, in a tone that would have been disappointed if he had the capabilities of feeling normal emotions.
Once Felix is secure in his room, he pulls his notebooks out from under his bed and sets them on the firm mattress. Leafing through his newest one, he turns to a blank sheet before examining the blue pill in his palm. It had been some time since he had performed any real experiments and he'd never actually conducted one on himself. However, for lack of things to do in a mental institution and a cloying need to gather information in any form, he'd decided to monitor the affects that this pill might have on him. After he'd taken the pill, however, it occurred to him that he did not have any form of writing tool to jot down his notes. Frustrated at his lack of foresight, something that he never overlooked, he shouted angrily and punched the wall before throwing his notebook across the room.
Felix made sure he was the last one of the patients to leave the meeting room, walking quietly and cooperatively with Sister Smith back to the room that he was going to be calling his home for the unforeseeable future. The 'medicine' he received turned out to be a small blue pill. He'd been given a lot of medication in the past that was supposed to 'fix' him but never actually managed to do anything but dumb him down and make him sluggish, just like the doctors in the previous institute liked them. Felix passively wondered what affect this pill would have, if any.
Felix had chosen a seat at the meeting that was far enough away from everyone to satisfy him but close enough so that Sister Smith wouldn't chastise him for not participating. She seemed like the type to do that. He had no plan in contributing to the conversation and was successfully ignoring everybody until the crash of William's chair startled him and he looked up. "Excuse me, but if you don't mind some of us are trying to ignore our surroundings. That's kind of hard to do when you're throwing chairs over there," he said with an air of mild annoyance.