62 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN. 



which is well recognized may be alluded to in this connection, — 

 while under the influence of alcohol, 1 or in cerebral disease, 2 

 lower and more egoistic impulses usually gain mastery of the in- 

 dividual ; and thus in some of their effects fatigue, cerebral dis- 

 ease, and intoxication seem closely related, explicable upon the 

 supposition that all three attack the highest levels in the brain 

 first and prevent, therefore, full and sure control of lower areas. 



Again, it has been emphasized by students of this particular 

 phase of fatigue, as Cowles, 3 Beard, 4 Dresslar, 5 and Mosso, 6 

 that fears which in the normal life are held in check are now apt 

 to assert themselves and color the emotional life. There rises up 

 in the early stages of fatigue a sense of dread of an indefinite 

 something which is about to happen; and, as depletion pro- 

 gresses, particular objects persist before the mind and fill the 

 individual's life with uncertainty and apprehension. In busi- 

 ness the neurasthenic is afraid to assume any responsibility. In 

 .the class-room the pupil is unduly self-conscious and lacks con- 

 fidence in his own ability ; he is timid in the presence of others, 

 and morbidly afraid of possible criticism. In short, the vigor 

 of what we may call personality denoting one's psychic ensemble, 

 as it were, is reduced, and this is revealed in the emotional 

 depths as quickly, perhaps more quickly, than in any of the other 

 .parts of the being. 



It would seem possible to explain these latter phenomena also 

 by the theory of recapitulation. One of the most important and 

 serviceable emotions in the development of the race has been 

 fear, manifested toward a multitude of objects incessantly 

 threatening danger to life and limb. These experiences have 

 left their trace in the nervous organism even of the human spe- 

 cies, and each individual must receive them as a heritage in the 



x See Wilson, Drunkenness, p. 29 et seq. 

 2 See Mercier, op cit., p. 308 et seq. 

 3 Loc. cit. 

 4 Loc. cit. 

 B Loc. cit. 

 6 Loc. cit. 



