CEREBRUM AND THE LIFE OF THE INDIVIDUAL 15!) 



stamina. This was doubtless the case with Darwin, who 

 could not long pursue any single interest, but had to find 

 something to contrast with it after a short period of atten- 

 tion. The quantity and the quality of the work which he 

 produced in spite of this limitation convince us that he 

 must have had in equal measure the power to apply him- 

 self in the most concentrated fashion and to relax with the 

 same degree of success. The latter achievement is probably 

 found to coexist with the ability to go quickly to sleep. 



One who has cultivated the ability of turning resolutely 

 from one line of thought to another will find abundant 

 opportunity for the exercise of this power in effacing what 

 is disagreeable in favor of what is pleasant. This may be 

 true either of memories or of anticipations. The healthy 

 mind doubtless correlated with a healthy brain is 

 greatly aided by nature in banishing distressing recollec- 

 tions. Psychologists recognize that such an individual 

 retains in his thought much more of detail and of vivid- 

 ness when the experience reviewed is pleasant than when 

 it is the reverse. A normal person should be able to 

 reproduce with but little diminution the feelings which 

 attended joyous and uplifting moments, but he should 

 find that pains and mortifications recalled from his past 

 have atrophied to colorless abstractions. The opposite 

 condition is particularly deplorable and may characterize 

 the neurasthenic. 



In the voluntary control of thoughts regarding the future 

 we must recognize a matter of inestimable importance. 

 They are happy who can systematically magnify the ap- 

 proaching good and disregard the impending ill, consider- 

 ing it only to the extent that prudence and unselfishness 

 require. There are few examples more inspiring than those 

 which we owe to women who approach terrifying surgical 

 ordeals with their attention steadfastly fixed on other con- 

 cerns. We do right to pay tribute to their self-forgetful- 

 ness, but it may fairly be added that their splendid disci- 

 pline is the best thing possible for the conservation of 

 their own resources in the crisis. 



