ORIENTATION AND FUNCTION 169 



activity that our body arrives at that place. It is 

 possible tJiat the elements of the central nervous system 

 iv hie h become active in this way all have the same ori- 

 entation in each segment, and what we call an innerva- 

 tion may be a process in which tJic orientation of the 

 elements plays a role. The effect of the electric cur- 

 rent might be an example of such a process. This 

 problem of the physiology of coordinated movement 

 which we touch upon here has always seemed to me 

 the most mysterious in the whole physiology of the 

 central nervous system, and the way offered here of 

 reaching a simple solution seems to me worthy of 

 mention. The whole conception can easily be classified 

 under the segmental conception of the central nervous 

 system. Movements of the eyes, head, arms, and legs 

 depend upon as many different segmental ganglia. 

 Each of these ganglia has some features in common 

 with every other ganglion, for instance the orientation 

 and arrangement of the elements (neurons?). If a 

 process of such a nature that it can only stimulate 

 elements oriented in a certain way in each ganglion 

 spreads through the segmental ganglia, it must pro- 

 duce a movement in exactly the same direction in the 

 appendages of each segment. This does away with 

 the necessity of imagining artificial connections of the 

 neurons which would be able to produce such a series of 

 coordinated motions in different limbs and segments. 



If the question be raised, however, as to how it 

 happens that a simple relation exists between the 

 orientation of the motor nerve-elements and the 



