The times., 1901-06-09

whether humanity is really a gaIner for
this intense activity, when the price pald
is counted.
themselves in various ways according to
the mental idiOsyncrasy Of the individual.
one man could not go to sleep at night
without counting the chimney tops visible
from his bedroom window. He cannot
tell YOU how he got into the habit, but
if il could be discovered. il would proba-
bly, be found that in the beginning he was
troubled over something suffering from
the effects of a stress and found reSttul-
ness in counting the ChimneyS, relief
discovered by accident. which the law
Of association of ideas taught him to re
peat when again disturbed, until the
chimney habit was formed as
a precedent to sleep.
Another and a common evidence of
brain weakness is the inability to retain
mental equilibrium when sColded or Sc
verely criticised. The man is said to be
ratified, and ratified he is. Under this
stress he lCses part OF his capacity for
accomplishment. He forgets something
or CVerluCkS an essential in his work and
does not realize his error until his en-
ployeT points it out to him in terms more
fOrcible than complimentary. This acts
as an additional stress and incapacitates
him still further, until his predicamenJ
is recognized by his friends and outsid-
ers, who say he is ratified
Another evidence of mental bias is
what is known as crack stepping Some
over flag pavement. The cracks be-
tween the flags are not always the same
distance apart and the crack stopper VIII
inStinctyely shorten or lengthen his step
to pass over a crack in the sidewalk. This
in such instances has become a fixed
habit and is the relic of Il former stress
of some kind, sufficiently profound to i'm
press the highest brain regions and to
leave its imprint upon them, although 1t
is highly probable that pavements have
had nothing whatever to do with the
initial stress.
1t is not necessary to cite other illustra-
tions to prove the effect of stress upon
the highest brain regions, which are the
regions which control conduct. Watch
your friends and YOU will see evidence
after evidence. There are some people
so constituted that some movement takes
place whenever they talk or think. Some
will take off their glasses and ges1culate
with them for a while and then put them
on again, repeating this motion again ana
again. Some cannot attempt conversation
without first going through certain move
ments, sitting down, arranging the dress
or hair, and, in short, preliminating their
conversation with set of motions when
have become familiar TO their friends. In
stances could be multiplied indefinitely,
all showing to the expert in nervous dis-
eases the instability of the highest CEN
tres which control conduct.
There are few people who are free from
such a condition, and the reason or cause
is to be found in the rapid pace of living
anu lne utLldnu Hldut upon liit pidliI III
the terrible struggle for existence which
Is growing year by year, more and more
intense. As has been stated. the highest
regions. which are the ones which control
conduct, and in which the seat of the
highest intelligence lies, are the most re-
Gently acquired by the human race, and
have not been possessed long enough 10
acquire the power to resist stresses as
those brain regions which lie lower. The
latter have taken ages TO develop to their
present status. and as a hardwood tree
takes longer to make its wood than a
softwood tree, ii acquires greater ca
pacity to resist disintegration and de
StructiOn than the latter. So IT is with
the different brain regions. Intelligence
may be entirely gone and the body be in
a state of health. the tissue nourishment
being perfect, for the lower regions con-
troll the vegetation functions.