escaped from the notice of the "practical man." It is in accordance
with the law of association that a flower, a word, a touch, a cool breeze,
or even the thought of a fishing rod or of a gun, is helpful.
On the contrary, all suggestions of despair or misfortune--
a corrugated brow, the gloomy silence of despair, or a doubtful word--
are equally depressing. In like manner, one could add many
illustrations of the symbolism that governs our daily lives.
Thus we see that through the laws of inheritance and noci-association,
we are able to read a new meaning into the clinical phenomena
of various diseases.


Observations on Patients whose Associational Centers are Dulled,
and on Diseases and Injuries of Regions not Endowed with Nociceptors


Reversing the order of our reasoning, let us now glance at the patient
who is unconscious and who, therefore, has lost much of the power
of association. His mouth is usually dry, the digestive processes
are at a low ebb, the aroma of food causes no secretion of saliva,
tickling the nose causes no sneezing; he catches no cold.
The laryngeal reflex is lost and food may be quietly inhaled;
the entire process of metabolism is low. The contrast between a man
whose associational centers are keen and a man in whom these centers
are dulled or lost is the contrast between life and death.

In accordance with the law of adaptation through natural selection,
phylogeny, and association, one would expect no pain in abscess
of the brain, in abscess of the liver, in pylephlebitis,
in infection of the hepatic vessels, in endocarditis.