circulation is accelerated, the breathing more rapid. Curious things
take place in various glands throughout the body. One, the adrenal
gland, has been the object of special study and has been shown, upon
the arousal of these reserves of energy, to produce a secretion of the
utmost importance in providing for sudden emergencies. This little
gland is located above the kidney, and is aroused to intense activity
at times, pouring out into the blood a fluid that goes all over the
body. Some of its effects are to furnish the blood with chemicals that
act as fuel to the muscles, assisting them to contract more vigorously,
to make the lungs more active in introducing oxygen into the system, to
make the heart more active in distributing the blood throughout the
body. Such glandular activity is an important physiological condition
of these higher levels of energy. In neurological terms, the increase
in energy consists in the flow of more nervous energy into the brain,
particularly into those areas where it is needed for certain kinds of
controlled thought and action. An abundance of nervous energy is very
advantageous, for, as has been intimated in a former chapter, nervous
energy is diffused and spread over all the pathways that are easily
permeable to its distribution. This results in the use of considerable
areas of brain surface, and knits up many associations, so that one
idea calls up many other ideas. This leads us to recognize the
psychological conditions of increased energy, which are, first, the
presence of more ideas, second, the more facile flow of ideas; the
whole accompanied by a state of marked pleasurableness. Pleasure is a
notable effect of increased energy. When work progresses rapidly and
satisfactorily, it is accomplished with great zest and a feeling almost
akin to exaltation. These conditions describe to some degree the
conditions when we are doing efficient work.

Since we are endowed with the energy requisite for such efficient work,