NEURAL METABOLISM AND FUNCTION INTRODUCTION 



'79' 



physiological knowledge taken in its widest sense and 

 its clinical effects, although problems such as that of 

 hunger, as well as 'crucially' that of mental activity, 

 still elude us. Again we want very much some way 

 of repairing brain damage by the growth of new 

 cells; but such ideas are indeed a commonplace. 



In appraising the present contributions to be found 

 in a modern Section on Neurophysiology, it is hard to 

 avoid some emphasis on the practical aspects of ad- 

 vances in the field. Yet in doing this it is wrong to 

 lose sight of the scientific interest and one might al- 

 most say privilege of being able to study that very 



organ associated with the intellect upon whose ac- 

 curate functioning these penetrations into the laws of 

 nature rest. Evolution has produced somehow a 

 tissue where the burden and excitement of thought 

 become interconnected. Whichever way we look at 

 it, whether we believe in dualism or not, thoughts 

 which ultimately find their expression in action, 

 muscular or otherwise, certainly impinge at one 

 stage on some brain cell in a way that generates the 

 response upon which intellectual and muscular effort 

 depend. The quest of knowledge here for its own 

 sake has some transcendental value. 



