[*] Address delivered before Sigma Xi, Case School
of Science, Cleveland, Ohio, May 27, 1913, and published
in _Science_, August 29, 1913.
Traditional religion, traditional medicine, and traditional psychology
have insisted upon the existence in man of a triune nature.
Three "ologies" have been developed for the study of each nature
as a separate entity--body, soul, and spirit--physiology, psychology,
theology; physician, psychologist, priest. To the great minds
of each class, from the days of Aristotle and Hippocrates on,
there have come glimmerings of the truth that the phenomena
studied under these divisions were interrelated. Always, however,
the conflict between votaries of these sciences has been sharp,
and the boundary lines between them have been constantly changing.
Since the great discoveries of Darwin, the zoologist, biologist,
and physiologist have joined hands, but still the soul-body-spirit
chaos has remained. The physician has endeavored to fight the gross
maladies which have been the result of disordered conduct;
the psychologist has reasoned and experimented to find the laws
governing conduct; and the priest has endeavored by appeals to an
unknown god to reform conduct.
The great impulse to a deeper and keener study of man's relation,
not only to man, but to the whole animal creation, which was given
by Darwin, has opened the way to the study of man on a different basis.
Psychologists, physicians, and priests are now joining hands as never
before in the great world-wide movement for the betterment of man.
The new science of sociology is combining the functions of all three,
for priest, physician, and psychologist have come to see that man
is in large measure the product of his environment.
My thesis to-night, however, will go beyond this common agreement,
for I shall maintain, not that man is in _*large measure_ the product
of his environment, but that environment has been the actual CREATOR
of man; that the old division between body, soul, and spirit
is non-existent; that man is a unified mechanism responding in every
part to the adequate stimuli given it from without by the environment
of the present and from within by the environment of the past,
the record of which is stored in part in cells throughout
the mechanism, but especially in its central battery--the brain.
I postulate further that the human body mechanism is equipped, first,
for such conflict with environment as will tend to the preservation
of the individual; and, second, for the propagation of the species,
both of these functions when most efficiently carried out tending
to the upbuilding and perfection of the race.
Through the long ages of evolution the human mechanism has been
slowly developed by the constant changes and growth of its parts
which have resulted from its continual adaptation to its environment.
In some animals the protection from too rough contact with
surroundings was secured by the development of an outside armor;
in others noxious secretions served the purposes of defense,
but such devices as these were not suitable for the higher animals
nor for the diverse and important functions of the human race.
The safety of the higher animals and of man had to be preserved
by some mechanism by means of which they could become adapted
to a much wider and more complex environment, the dominance over
which alone gives them their right to be called "superior beings."
The mechanism by the progressive development of which living
beings have been able to react more and more effectually to their
environment is the central nervous system, which is seen in one
of its simplest forms in motor plants, such as the sensitive
plant and the Venus fly-trap, and in its highest development only
in the sanest, healthiest, happiest, and most useful men.
The essential function of the nervous system was primarily to secure
some form of motor activity, first as a means of securing food,
and later as a means of escaping from enemies and to promote procreation.
Activities for the preservation of the individual and of the species
were and are the only purposes for which the body energy is expended.
The central nervous system hag accordingly been developed for the purpose
of securing such motor activities as will best adapt the individuals
of a species for their self-preservative conflict with environment.
It is easy to appreciate that the simplest expressions of nerve response--
the reflexes--are motor in character, but it is difficult to understand
how such intangible reactions as love, hate, poetic fancy, or moral
inhibition can be also the result of the adaptation to environment
of a distinctively motor mechanism. We expect, however, to prove
that so-called "psychic" states as well as the reflexes are products
of adaptation; that they occur automatically in response to adequate
stimuli in the environment; that, like the reflexes, they are
expressions of motor activity, which, although intangible and unseen,
in turn incite to activity the units of the motor mechanism of the body;
and finally, that any "psychic" condition results in a definite depletion
of the potential energy in the brain-cells which is proportionate
to the muscular exertion of which it is the representative.
That this nerve mechanism may effectively carry out its
twofold function, first, of self-adaptation to meet adequately
the increasingly complicated stimuli of environment; and second,
of adapting the motor mechanism to respond adequately to its demands,
there have been implanted in the body numerous nerve ceptors--
some for the transmission of stimuli harmful to the mechanism--
nociceptors some of a beneficial character--beneceptors; and still
others more highly specialized, which partake of the nature of both
bene- and nociceptors--the distance ceptors, or special senses.
A convincing proof that environment has been the creator
of man is seen in the absolute adaptation of the nociceptors
as manifested in their specific response to adequate stimuli,
and in their presence in only those parts of the body which throughout
the history of the race have been most exposed to harmful contacts.
We find they are most numerous in the face, the neck, the abdomen,
the hands, and the feet; while in the back they are few in number,
and within the bony cavities they are lacking.
Instances of the specific responses made by the nociceptors might be
multiplied indefinitely. Sneezing, for example, is a specific response
made by the motor mechanism to stimulation of nociceptors in the nose,
while stimulation of the larynx does not produce a sneeze, but a cough;
stimulation of the nociceptors of the stomach does not produce cough,
but vomiting; stimulation of the nociceptors of the intestine
does not produce vomiting, but increased peristaltic action.
There are no nociceptors misplaced; none wasted; none that do not
make an adequate response to adequate stimulation.
Another most significant proof that the environment of the past
has been the creator of the man of to-day is seen in the fact
that man has added to his environment certain factors to which
adaptation has not as yet been made. For example, heat is
a stimulus which has existed since the days of prehistoric man,
while the _x_-ray is a discovery of to-day; to heat, the nociceptors
produce an adequate response; to the _x_-ray there is no response.
There was no weapon in the prehistoric ages which could move at
the speed of a bullet from the modern rifle, therefore, while slow
penetration of the tissues produces great pain and muscular response,
there is no response to the swiftly moving bullet.
The response to contact stimuli then depends always on the presence
of nociceptors in the affected part of the body and to the type
of the contact. Powerful response is made to crushing injury by
environmental forces; to such injuring contacts as resemble the impacts
of fighting; to such tearing injuries as resemble those made by teeth
and claws (Fig. 9). On the other hand, the sharp division of tissue
by cutting produces no adaptive response; indeed, one might imagine
that the body could be cut to pieces by a superlatively sharp knife
applied at tremendous speed without material adaptive response.
These examples indicate how the history of the phylogenetic experiences
of the human race may be learned by a study of the position
and the action of the nociceptors, just as truly as the study
of the arrangement and variations in the strata of the earth's
crust discloses to us geologic history.
These adaptive responses to stimuli are the result of the action
of the brain-cells, which are thus continually played upon by
the stimuli of environment. The energy stored in the brain-cells
in turn activates the various organs and parts of the body.
If the environmental impacts are repeated with such frequency that
the brain-cells have no time for restoration between them, the energy
of the cells becomes exhausted and a condition of shock results.
Every action of the body may thus be analyzed into a stimulation
of ceptors, a consequent discharge of brain-cell energy,
and a final adaptive activation of the appropriate part.
Walking, running, and their modifications constitute an adaptation
of wonderful perfection, for, as Sherrington has shown,
the adaptation of locomotion consists of a series of reflexes--
ceptors in the joints, in the limb, and in the foot being stimulated
by variations in pressure.
As we have shown, the bene- and nociceptors orientate man to all
forms of physical contact--the former GUIDE HIM TO the acquisition
of food and to sexual contact; the latter DIRECT HIM FROM contacts
of a harmful nature. The distance ceptors, on the other hand,
adapt man to his distant environment by means of communication
through unseen forces--ethereal vibrations produce sight; air waves
produce sound; microscopic particles of matter produce smell.
The advantage of the distance ceptors is that they allow time
for orientation, and because of this great advantage the majority
of man's actions are responses to their adequate stimuli.
As Sherrington has stated, the greater part of the brain has been
developed by means of stimuli received through the special senses,
especially through the light ceptors, the optic nerves.
We have just stated that by means of the distance ceptors animals
and man orientate themselves to their distant environment.
As a result of the stimulation of the special senses chase and escape
are effected, fight is conducted, food is secured, and mates are found.
It is obvious, therefore, that the distance ceptors are the primary
cause of continuous and exhausting expenditures of energy.
On the other hand, stimuli applied to contact ceptors lead to short,
quick discharges of nervous energy. The child puts his hand
in the fire and there is an immediate and complete response
to the injuring contact; he sees a pot of jam on the pantry shelf
and a long train of continued activities are set in motion,
leading to the acquisition of the desired object.
The contact ceptors do not at all promote the expenditure of energy
in the chase or in fight, in the search for food or for mates.
Since the distance ceptors control these activities, one would expect to
find that they control also those organs whose function is the production
of energizing internal secretions. Over these organs--the thyroid,
the adrenals, the hypophysis--the contact ceptors have no control.
Prolonged laboratory experimentation seems to prove this postulate.
According to our observations, no amount of physical trauma inflicted upon
animals will cause hyperthyroidism or increased adrenalin in the blood,
while fear and rage do produce hyperthyroidism and increased adrenalin
(Fig. 44) (Cannon). This is a statement of far-reaching importance
and is the key to an explanation of many chronic diseases--
diseases which are associated with the intense stimulation of
the distance ceptors in human relations.
Stimuli of the contact ceptors differ from stimuli of the distance
ceptors in still another important particular. The adequacy of stimuli
of the contact ceptors depends upon their number and intensity,
while the adequacy of the stimuli of the distance ceptors depends
upon the EXPERIENCE of the species and of the individual.
That is, according to phylogeny and ontogeny this or that sound,
this or that smell, this or that sight, through association
recapitulates the experience of the species and of the individual--
awakens the phylogenetic and ontogenetic memory. In other words, sights,
sounds, and odors are symbols which awaken phylogenetic association.
If a species has become adapted to make a specific response to a
certain object, then that response will occur automatically in an
individual of that species when he hears, sees, or smells that object.
Suppose, for example, that the shadow of a hawk were to fall
simultaneously on the eyes of a bird, a rabbit, a cow, and a boy.
That shadow would at once activate the rabbit and the bird to an
endeavor to escape, each in a specific manner according to its
phylogenetic adaptation; the cow would be indifferent and neutral;
while the boy, according to his personal experience or ontogeny,
might remain neutral, might watch the flight of the hawk with interest
or might try to shoot it.
Each phylogenetic and each ontogenetic experience by an indirect
method develops its own mechanism of adaptation in the brain;
and the brain threshold is raised or lowered to stimuli by
the strength and frequency of repetition of the experience.
Thus through the innumerable symbols supplied by environment the distance
ceptors drive this or that animal according to the type of brain
pattern and the particular state of threshold which has been developed
in that animal by its phylogenetic and ontogenetic experiences.
The brain pattern depends upon his phylogeny, the state of threshold
upon his ontogeny. Each BRAIN PATTERN is created by some particular
element in the environment to which an adaptation has been made
for the good of the species. The _*state of threshold_ depends
upon the effect made upon the individual by his personal contacts
with that particular element in his environment. The presence
of that element produces in the individual an associative recall
of the adaptation of his species--that is, the brain pattern developed
by his phylogeny becomes energized to make a specific response.
The intensity of the response depends upon the state of threshold--
that is, upon the associative recall of the individual's
own experience--his ontogeny.
If the full history of the species and of the individual
could be known in every detail, then every detail of that
individual's conduct in health and disease could be predicted.
Reaction to environment is the basis of conduct, of moral standards,
of manners and conventions, of work and play, of love and hate,
of protection and murder, of governing and being governed, in fact,
of all the reactions between human beings--of the entire web of life.
To quote Sherrington once more: "Environment drives the brain,
the brain drives the various organs of the body."
By what means are these adaptations made? What is the mechanism through
which adequate responses are made to the stimuli received by the ceptors?
We postulate that in the brain there are innumerable patterns
each the mechanism for the performance of a single kind of action,
and that the brain-cells supply the energy--electric or otherwise--
by which the act is performed; that the energy stored in the brain-cells
is in some unknown manner released by the force which activates
the brain pattern; and that through an unknown property of these brain
patterns each stimulus causes such a change that the next stimulus
of the same kind passes with greater facility.
Each separate motor action presumably has its own mechanism--
brain pattern--which is activated by but one ceptor and by
that ceptor only when physical force of a certain intensity
and rate of motion is applied. This is true both of the visible
contacts affecting the nociceptors and of the invisible contacts
by those intangible forces which affect the distance ceptors.
For example, each variation in speed of the light-producing
waves of ether causes a specific reaction in the brain.
For one speed of ether waves the reaction is the perception
of the color blue; for another, yellow; for another, violet.
Changes in the speed of air waves meet with specific response
in the brain patterns tuned to receive impressions through the
aural nerves, and so we distinguish differences in sound pitch.
If we can realize the infinite delicacy of the mechanisms adapted
to these infinitesimal variations in the speed and intensity of
invisible and intangible stimuli, it will not be difficult to conceive
the variations of brain patterns which render possible the specific
responses to the coarser contacts of visible environment.
Each brain pattern is adapted for but one type of motion,
and so the specific stimuli of the innumerable ceptors play
each upon its own brain pattern only. In addition, each brain
pattern can react to stimuli applied only within certain limits.
Too bright a light blinds; too loud a sound deafens. No mechanism
is adapted for waves of light above or below a certain rate of speed,
although this range varies in different individuals and in different
species according to the training of the individual and the need
of the species.
We have already referred to the fact that there is no receptive
mechanism adapted to the stimuli from the _x_-ray, from the
high-speed bullet, from electricity. So, too, there are innumerable
forces in nature which can excite in man no adaptive response,
since there exist in man no brain patterns tuned to their waves,
as in the case of certain ethereal and radioactive forces.
On this mechanistic basis the emotions may be explained as activations
of the entire motor mechanism for fighting, for escaping, for copulating.
The sight of an enemy stimulates in the brain those patterns formed
by the previous experiences of the individual with that enemy, and also
the experiences of the race whenever an enemy had to be met and overcome.
Each of these many brain patterns in turn activates that part of
the body through which lies the path of its own adaptive response--
those parts including the special energizing or activating organs.
Laboratory experiments show that in an animal driven strongly
by emotion the following changes may be seen: (1) A mobilization
of the energy-giving compound in the brain-cells, evidenced by a
primary increase of the Nissl substance and a later disappearance
of this substance and the deterioration of the cells (Figs. 5 and 13);
(2) increased output of adrenalin (Cannon), of thyroid secretion,
of glycogen, and an increase of the power of oxidation in the muscles;
(3) accelerated circulation and respiration with increased
body temperature; (4) altered metabolism. All these are adaptations
to increase the motor efficiency of the mechanism. In addition,
we find an inhibition of the functions of every organ and tissue that
consumes energy, but does not contribute directly to motor efficiency.
The mouth becomes dry; the gastric and pancreatic secretions are
lessened or are completely inhibited; peristaltic action stops.
The obvious purpose of all these activations and inhibitions is
to mass every atom of energy upon the muscles that are conducting
the defense or attack.
So strong is the influence of phylogenetic experience that though
an enemy to-day may not be met by actual physical attack,
yet the decks are cleared for action, as it were, and the weapons
made ready, the body as a result being shaken and exhausted.
The type of emotion is plainly declared by the activation
of the muscles which would be used if the appropriate physical
action were consummated. In anger the teeth are set, the fists
are clenched, the posture is rigid; in fear the muscles collapse,
the joints tremble, and the running mechanism is activated
for flight; in sexual excitement the mimicry is as obvious.
The emotions, then, are the preparations for phylogenetic activities.
If the activities are consummated, the fuel--glycogen--and the activating
secretions from the thyroid, the adrenals, the hypophysis are consumed.
In the activation without action, these products must be eliminated
as waste products and so a heavy strain is put upon the organs
of elimination. It is obvious that the body under emotion might be
clarified by active muscular exercise, but the subject of the emotion
is so strongly integrated thereby that it is difficult for him
to engage in diverting, clarifying exertion. The person in anger
does not want to be saved from the ill effects of his own emotion;
he wants only to fight; the person in fear wants only to escape;
the person under sexual excitement wants only possession.
All the lesser emotions--worry, jealousy, envy, grief, disappointment,
expectation--all these influence the body in this manner, the consequences
depending upon the intensity of the emotion and its protraction.
Chronic emotional stimulation, therefore, may fatigue or exhaust
the brain and may cause cardiovascular disease, indigestion, Graves'
disease, diabetes, and insanity even.
The effect of the emotions upon the body mechanism may be compared
to that produced upon the mechanism of an automobile if its engines
are kept running at full speed while the machine is stationary.
The whole machine will be shaken and weakened, the batteries and weakest
parts being the first to become impaired and destroyed, the length
of usefulness of the automobile being correspondingly limited.
We have shown that the effects upon the body mechanism of the action
of the various ceptors is in relation to the response made by the brain
to the stimuli received. What is this power of response on the part
of the brain but CONSCIOUSNESS? If this is so, then consciousness
itself is a reaction to environment, and its intensity must vary
with the state of the brain and with the environmental stimuli.
If the brain-cells are in the state of highest efficiency, if their
energy has not been drawn upon, then consciousness is at its height;
if the brain is fatigued, that is, if the energy stored in the cells
has been exhausted to any degree, then the intensity of consciousness
is diminished. So degrees of consciousness vary from the height
maintained by cells in full vigor through the stages of fatigue
to sleep, to the deeper unconsciousness secured by the administration
of inhalation anesthetics, to that complete unconsciousness
of the environment which is secured by blocking the advent to
the brain of all impressions from both distance and contact ceptors,
by the use of both local and inhalation anesthetics--the state
of anoci-association (Fig. 14).
Animals and man may be so exhausted as to be only semi-conscious.
While a brain perfectly refreshed by a long sleep cannot immediately
sleep again, the exhausted brain and the refreshed brain when subjected
to equal stimuli will rise to unequal heights of consciousness.
The nature of the physical basis of consciousness has been
sought in experiments on rabbits which were kept awake from
one hundred to one hundred and nine hours. At the end of this
time they were in a state of extreme exhaustion and seemed
semi-conscious. If the wakefulness had been further prolonged,
this state of semi-consciousness would have steadily changed
until it culminated in the permanent unconsciousness of death.
An examination of the brain-cells of these animals showed physical
changes identical with those produced by exhaustion from other causes,
such as prolonged physical exertion or emotional strain (Figs. 45
and 46). After one hundred hours of wakefulness the rabbits were
allowed a long period of sleep. All the brain-cells were restored
except those that had been in a state of complete exhaustion.
A single seance of sleep served to restore some of the cells,
but those which had undergone extreme changes required prolonged rest.
These experiments give us a definite physical basis for explaining
the cost to the body mechanism of maintaining the conscious state.
We have stated that the brain-cell changes produced by prolonged
consciousness are identical with those produced by physical exertion
and by emotional strain. Rest, then, and especially sleep,
is needed to restore the physical state of the brain-cells which
have been impaired, and as the brain-cells constitute the central
battery of the body mechanism, their restoration is essential
for the maintenance of normal vitality.
In ordinary parlance, by consciousness we mean the activity
of that part of the brain in which associative memory resides,
but while associative memory is suspended the activities of the brain
as a whole are by no means suspended; the respiratory and circulatory
centers are active, as are those centers which maintain muscular tone.
This is shown by the muscular response to external stimuli made
by the normal person in sleep; by the occasional activation of motor
patterns which may break through into consciousness causing dreams;
and finally by the responses of the motor mechanism made to the injuring
stimuli of an operation on a patient under inhalation anesthesia only.
Direct proof of the mechanistic action of many of life's phenomena
is lacking, but the proof is definite and final of the part
that the brain-cells play in maintaining consciousness;
of the fact that the degree of consciousness and mental
efficiency depends upon the physical state of the brain-cells;
and finally that efficiency may be restored by sleep,
provided that exhaustion of the cells has not progressed too far.
In this greatest phenomenon of life, then, the mechanistic theory
is in harmony with the facts.
Perhaps no more convincing proof of our thesis that the body is
a mechanism developed and adapted to its purposes by environment
can be secured than by a study of that most constant manifestation
of consciousness--pain.
Like the other phenomena of life, pain was undoubtedly evolved
for a particular purpose--surely for the good of the individual.
Like fear and worry, it frequently is injurious. What then may
be its purpose?
We postulate that pain is a result of contact ceptor stimulation
for the purpose of securing protective muscular activity.
This postulate applies to all kinds of pain, whatever their cause--
whether physical injury, pyogenic infection, the obstruction
of hollow viscera, childbirth, etc.
All forms of pain are associated with muscular action, and as in every
other stimulation of the ceptors, each kind of pain is specific
to the causative stimuli. The child puts his hand in the fire;
physical injury pain results, and the appropriate muscular
response is elicited. If pressure is prolonged on some parts
of the body, anemia of the parts may result, with a corresponding
discomfort or pain, requiring muscular action for relief.
When the rays of the sun strike directly upon the retina, light pain
causes an immediate protective action, so too in the evacuation
of the intestine and the urinary bladder as normal acts, and in
overcoming obstruction of these tracts, discomfort or pain compel
the required muscular actions. This view of pain as a stimulation
to motor action explains why only certain types of infection are
associated with pain; namely, those types in which the infection
may be spread by muscular action or those in which the fixation
of parts by continued muscular rigidity is an advantage.
As a further remarkable proof of the marvelous adaptation
of the body mechanism to meet varying environmental conditions,
we find that just as nociceptors have been implanted in only those
parts of the body which have been subject to nocuous contacts,
so a type of infection which causes muscular action in one part
of the body may cause none when it attacks another.
This postulate gives us the key to the pain-muscular phenomena
of peritonitis, pleurisy, cystitis, cholecystitis, etc., as well as to
the pain-muscular phenomena in obstructions of the hollow viscera.
If pain is a part of a muscular response and occurs only
as a result of contact ceptor stimulation by physical injury,
infection, anemia, or obstruction, we may well inquire which part
of the nerve mechanism is the site of the phenomenon of pain.
Is it the nerve-ending, the nerve-trunk, or the brain? That is,
is pain associated with the physical contact with the nerve-ending,
or with the physical act of transmission along the nerve-trunk,
or with the change of brain-cell substance by means of which
the motor-producing energy is released?
We postulate that the pain is associated with the discharge of energy
from the brain-cells. If this be true, then if every nociceptor in
the body were equally stimulated in such a manner that all the stimuli
should reach the brain-cells simultaneously, then the cells would
find themselves in equilibrium and no motor act would be performed.
But if all the pain nerve ceptors but one were equally stimulated,
and this one more strongly stimulated than the rest, then this
one would gain possession of the final common path--would cause
a muscular action and the sensation of pain.
It is well known that when a greater pain or stimulus is thrown
into competition with a lesser one, the lesser is submerged.
Of this fact the school-boy makes use when he initiates
the novice into the mystery of the painless pulling of hair.
The simultaneous but severe application of the boot to the blindfolded
victim takes complete but exclusive possession of the final common
path and the hair is painlessly plucked as a result of the triumph
of the boot stimulus over the pull on the hair in the struggle
for the final common path.
Persons who have survived a sudden, complete exposure to superheated steam,
or whose bodies have been enwrapped in flame, testify that they
have felt no pain. As this absence of pain may be due to the fact
that the emotion of fear gained the final common path, to the exclusion
of all other stimuli, we are trying by experimentation to discover
the effects of simultaneous painful stimulation of all parts of the body.
The data already in hand, and the experiments now in progress,
in which anesthetized animals are subjected to powerful stimuli
applied to certain parts of the body only, or simultaneously to
all parts of the body, lead us to believe that in the former case
the brain-cells become stimulated or hyperchromatic, while in the latter
case no brain-cell changes occur. We believe that our experiments
will prove that an equal and simultaneous stimulation of all parts
of the body leaves the brain-cells in a state of equilibrium.
Our theory of pain will then be well sustained, not only by common
observation, but by experimental proof, and so the mechanistic view
will be found in complete harmony with another important reaction.
We have stated that when a number of contact stimuli act simultaneously,
the strongest stimulus will gain possession of the final common path--
the path of action. When, however, stimuli of the distance ceptors
compete with stimuli of the contact ceptors, the contact-ceptor
stimuli often secure the common path, not because they are stronger
or more important, but because they are immediate and urgent.
In many instances, however, the distance-ceptor stimuli are strong,
have the advantage of a lowered threshold, and therefore compete
successfully with the immediate and present stimuli of the
contact ceptors. In such cases we have the interesting phenomenon
of physical injury without resultant pain or muscular response.
The distance-ceptor stimuli which may thus triumph over even powerful
contact-ceptor stimuli are those causing strong emotions--as great
anger in fighting; great fear in a battle; intense sexual excitement.
Dr. Livingstone has testified to his complete unconsciousness
to pain during his struggle with a lion; although he was torn
by teeth and claws, his fear overcame all other impressions.
By frequently repeated stimulation the Dervish secures a low
threshold to the emotions caused by the thought of God or the devil,
and his emotional excitement is increased by the presence of others
under the same stimulation; emotion, therefore, secures the final
common path and he is unconscious of pain when he lashes, cuts,
and bruises his body. The phenomena of hysteria may be explained
on this basis, as may the unconsciousness of passing events
in a person in the midst of a great and overwhelming grief.
By constant practice the student may secure the final common path for
such impressions as are derived from the stimuli offered by the subject
of his study, and so he will be oblivious of his surroundings.
Concentration is but another name for a final common path secured
by the repetition and summation of certain stimuli.
If our premises are sustained, then we can recognize in man no will,
no ego, no possibility for spontaneous action, for every action must
be a response to the stimuli of contact or distance ceptors, or to their
recall through associative memory. Memory is awakened by symbols which
represent any of the objects or forces associated with the act recalled.
Spoken and written words, pictures, sounds, may stimulate the brain
patterns formed by previous stimulation of the distance ceptors;
while touch, pain, temperature, pressure, may recall previous
contact-ceptor stimuli. Memory depends in part upon the adequacy
of the symbol, and in part upon the state of the threshold.
If one has ever been attacked by a snake, the threshold to any
symbol which could recall that attack would be low; the later
recall of anything associated with the bite or its results would
produce in memory a recapitulation of the whole scene, while even
harmless snakes would thereafter be greeted with a shudder.
On the other hand, in a child the threshold is low to the desire
for the possession of any new and strange object; in a child,
therefore, to whom a snake is merely an unusual and fascinating object,
there is aroused only curiosity and the desire for the possession
of a new plaything.
If we are to attribute to man the possession of a governing
attribute not possessed by other parts of the animal creation,
where are we to draw the boundary line, and say "here the ego--
the will--the reason--emerges"? What attribute, after all, has man
which in its ultimate analysis is not possessed by the lowest
animals or by the vegetable creation, even? From the ameba,
on through all the stages of animal existence, every action is
but a response to an adequate stimulus; and as a result of adequate
stimuli each step has been taken toward the higher and more
intricate mechanisms which play the higher and more intricate parts
in the great scheme of nature.
The Venus fly-trap responds to as delicate a stimulus as do
any of the contact ceptors of animals, and the motor activity
resulting from the stimulus is as complex. To an insect-like touch
the plant responds; to a rough contact there is no response; that is,
the motor mechanism of the plant has become attuned to only such
stimuli as simulate the contact of those insects which form its diet.
It catches flies, eats and digests them, and ejects the refuse
(Fig. 47). The ameba does no less. The frog does no more,
excepting that in its place in creation a few more reactions are
required for its sustenance and for the propagation of its species.
Man does no more, excepting that in man's manifold relations
there are innumerable stimuli, for meeting which adequately,
innumerable mechanisms have been evolved. The motor mechanism
of the fly-trap is perfectly adapted to its purpose.
The motor mechanism of man is adapted to its manifold uses,
and as new environmental influences surround him, we must believe
that new adaptations of the mechanism will be evolved to meet
the new conditions.
Is not this conception of man's activities infinitely more wonderful,
and infinitely more comprehensible than is the conception that his
activities may be accounted for by the existence of an unknown,
unimaginable, and intangible force called "mind" or "soul"?
We have already shown how the nerve mechanism is so well adapted
to the innumerable stimuli of environment that it can accurately
transmit and distinguish between the infinite variations of speed
in the ether waves producing light, and the air waves producing sound.
Each rate of vibration energizes only the mechanism which has
been attuned to it. With marvelous accuracy the light and sound
waves gain access to the nerve tissue and are finally interpreted
in terms of motor responses, each by the brain pattern attuned
to that particular speed and intensity. So stimuli and resultant
actions multiplied by the total number of the motor patterns
in the brain of man give us the sum total of his life's activities--
they constitute his life.
As in evolutionary history the permanence of an adaptation of the body
mechanism depends upon its value in the preservation of the life
of the individual and upon its power to increase the value of
the individual to the race, so the importance and truth of these
postulates and theories may well be judged on the same basis.
The fundamental instincts of all living matter are self-preservation
and the propagation of the species. The instinct for self-preservation
causes a plant to turn away from cold and damaging winds toward
the life-giving sun; the inert mussel to withdraw within its shell;
the insect to take flight; the animal to fight or to flee; and man
to procure food that he may oppose starvation, to shelter himself
and to provide clothes that he may avoid the dangers of excessive
cold and heat, to combat death from disease by seeking medical aid,
to avoid destruction by man or brute by fight or by flight.
The instinct to propagate the species leads brute man by crude methods,
and cultured man by methods more refined, to put out of his way sex
rivals so that his own life may be continued through offspring.
The life of the species is further assured by the protective
action exercised over the young by the adults of the species.
As soon as the youngest offspring is able successfully to carry on his
own struggle with environment there is no longer need for the parent,
and the parent enters therefore the stage of disintegration.
The average length of life in any species is the sum of the years
of immaturity, plus the years of female fertility, plus the adolescent
years of the offspring.
The stimuli resulting from these two dominant instincts are now
so overpowering as compared with all other environmental stimuli
that the mere possession of adequate knowledge of the damaging effects
of certain actions as compared with the saving effects of others will
(other things being equal) lead the individual to choose the right,--
the self- and species-preservative course of action, instead of the wrong,--
the self- and species-destructive course of action.
The dissemination of the knowledge of the far-reaching
deleterious effects of protracted emotional strain, of overwork,
and of worry will automatically raise man's threshold to
the damaging activating stimuli causing the strong emotions,
and will cause him to avoid dangerous strains of every kind.
The individual thus protected will therefore rise to a plane
of poise and efficiency far above that of his uncontrolled fellows,
and by so much will his efficiency, health, and happiness be augmented.
A full acceptance of this theory cannot fail to produce in those
in whose charge rests the welfare of the young, an overwhelming
desire to surround children with those environmental stimuli only
which will tend to their highest ultimate welfare.
Such is the stimulating force of tradition that many who
have been educated under the tenets of traditional beliefs
will oppose these hypotheses--even violently, it may be.
So they have opposed them; so they opposed Darwin; so they
have opposed all new and apparently revolutionary doctrines.
Yet these persons themselves are by their very actions proving
the efficiency of the vital principles which we have enunciated.
What is the whole social welfare movement but a recognition
on the part of municipalities, educational boards, and religious
organizations of the fact that the future welfare of the race
depends upon the administration to the young of forceful
uplifting environmental stimuli?
There are now, as there were in Darwin's day, many who feel that man
is degraded from his high estate by the conception that he is not
a reasoning, willing being, the result of a special creation.
But one may wonder indeed what conception of the origin of man can
be more wonderful or more inspiring than the belief that he has
been slowly evolved through the ages, and that all creatures
have had a part in his development; that each form of life has
contributed and is contributing still to his present welfare
and to his future advancement.