INTRODUCTION 



of response-times, and of discrimination, remains largely a program 

 for the future. Their laws are temporally microscopic, as opposed to 

 those of Part I, which are temporally macroscopic. It is therefore 

 to be hoped that the macroscopic laws can be deduced from the 

 microscopic ones as approximations valid at least for certain com- 

 monly occurring neural complexes, and some steps in this direction 

 are outlined in the concluding chapter. 



In general we have sought, within the available space, to sum- 

 marize and systematize the most important methods and results to 

 date. We have passed lightly over most of the results already reported 

 in Rashevsky's "Advances and Applications of Mathematical Biology," 

 and we have omitted all reference to Rashevsky's aesthetic theory. On 

 the other hand, many pages of Part I have been devoted to formal dis- 

 cussions making no immediate contact with experience. While those 

 whose interest lies only in the applications may wish to skip this ma- 

 terial, the theoretically minded will recognize in these pages the 

 groundwork for the further elaboration of what we hope will become 

 a comprehensive and unified theory of the operation of the central 

 nervous system. 



IX 



