The Foundations of Personality by Abraham Myerson
page 16 of 422 (03%)
page 16 of 422 (03%)
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thesis, to wit, that mind and character are functions of the
organism and have their seat not only in the brain but in the entire organism. How do the endocrines prove this? As well as they prove that physical growth and the growth of the secondary sex characters are dependent on these glands. Take diseases of the thyroid gland as the first and shining example. The thyroid secretes a substance which substantially is an "iodized globulin,"--and which can be separated from the gland products. This secretion has the main effect of "activating metabolism" (Vassale and Generali); in ordinary phrase it acts to increase the discharge of energy of the cells of the body. In all living things there is a twofold process constantly going on: first the building up of energy by means of the foodstuffs, air and water taken in, and second a discharge of energy in the form of heat, motion and--in my belief --emotion and thought itself, though this would be denied by many psychologists. Yet how escape this conclusion from the following facts? There is a congenital disease called cretinism which essentially is due to a lack of thyroid secretion. This disease is particularly prevalent in Southern France, Spain, Upper Italy and Switzerland. It is characterized mainly by marked dwarfism and imbecility, so that the adult untreated cretin remains about as large as a three or four-year-old child and has the mental level about that of a child of the same age. But, this comparison as to intelligence is a gross injustice to the child, for it leaves out the difference in character between the child and the cretin. The |
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