the ground of noci-association, the resulting strain from which,
upon the brain-cells, causes in them physical lesions.
If one were placed against a wall and were looking into the gun muzzles
of a squad of soldiers, and were told that there were nine chances
out of ten that he would not be killed outright when the volley
was fired, would it help him to be told that he must not be afraid?
Such an experience would be written indelibly on his brain.
This corresponds closely to the position in which some surgical patients
are placed. In railway wrecks, we can readily understand the striking
difference between the after-effects in the passengers who were conscious
at the time of the accident and those who were asleep or drunk.
In the latter the noci-perceptors and receptors were not aroused,
hence their immunity to the nervous shock. In the functional disturbances
of the pelvic organs, association and summation may play a large role.
On this hypothesis many cases of neurasthenia may well be explained.
From the behavior of the individual as a whole we may well conclude
that summation is but a scientific expression for "nagging."
Many other pathologic phenomena may be explained in a similar manner.
Thus we can understand the variations in the gastric analyses in a
timid patient alarmed over his condition and afraid of the hospital.
He is integrated by fear, and as fear takes precedence over all
other impulses, no organ functionates normally. For the same reason,
one sees animals in captivity pine away under the dominance of fear.
The exposure of a sensitive brain to the naked possibility of death from
a surgical operation may be compared to uncovering a photographic plate
in the bright sunlight to inspect it before putting it in the camera.
This principle explains, too, the physical influence of the physician
or surgeon, who, by his PERSONALITY, inspires, like a Kocher,
absolute confidence in his patient. The brain, through its power
of phylogenetic association, controls many processes that have wholly