524 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



we may suppose that the subconscious memory of that experi- 

 ence is capable of becoming from time to time strong enough to 

 disturb the coordination of the upper consciousness. Indeed, 

 most of these causes may produce chronic incoordination without 

 going so far as to destroy coordination altogether. Now, all these 

 cases may be generalized under one conception. In my first 

 article I compared the system of activities underlying conscious- 

 ness to the system of forces upon which the existence of the soap 

 bubble depends. We all know that the introduction of any new 

 and intense factor into that system, as when one pricks the bub- 

 ble with a dry pin, instantly destroys it. It would appear that 

 much the same is true of the system of cortical activities. 



The precise efi^ect of the nerve storm upon consciousness, how- 

 ever, varies with the region upon which its force is chiefly spent. 

 In the so-called masked epilepsies or periodic insanities con- 

 sciousness is directly affected, and with greater or less severity, 

 but the complex disturbances so produced can not be reduced to 

 definite classes. New elements are introduced, old elements are 

 destroyed, or weakened or intensified, as the case may be, and the 

 character temporarily modified. Whenever the disturbance is 

 very great, however, memory is more or less impaired, as our 

 theory would lead us to expect. In the true epilepsies the vio- 

 lence of the storm is expended upon the motor region, producing 

 movements, sometimes of a purposive character and sometimes 

 not. Whenever the storm is at all severe, consciousness is disor- 

 dinated and no memory remains. After the storm is over the 

 patient sinks into a state of true unconsciousness, and often he 

 recovers from it but slowly, passing through stages of automatism 

 as the elements of consciousness slowly find one another and are 

 built up into a system. If you question him after his recovery, 

 he says he was unconscious the whole time. But we have rea- 

 son for believing that during the period of convulsion mental 

 states such as muscular sensations, sensations of pain, and prob- 

 ably horrible dreams and nightmares really existed, while in 

 the comatose state there was nothing of the kind. The first was a 

 state of disordination ; the second, of true unconsciousness. 



The symptoms of incoordination are, as one would expect, 

 of infinite variety and incapable of classification. It is known 

 in medicine as hysteria, and I can say but little of it here. 



In its simpler forms there seems to be a general inability to 

 think of much at once. Consequently, what is in consciousness is 

 very much there, to use a colloquial phrase, and tends to work out 

 its own results. The patient is easily abstracted, fails to notice 

 things, .is narrow and prejudiced. In practical matters he has 

 bad judgment, for good judgment implies the ability to weigh 

 many considerations at once. It is difiicult to convince him of a 



