9/20 ULTRASTABILITY IN THE ORGANISM 



9/20. Such is the solution in outline. The reader, however, may 

 well feel that the amount of information given by the solution is 

 small. 



To some extent, the generality of the ultrastable system, the 

 degree to which it does not specify details, is correct. Adaptation 

 can be shown by systems far wider in extent than the mammalian 

 and cerebral, and any proposed solution would manifestly be 

 wrong if it stated that, say, myelin was necessary, when the 

 Homeostat obviously contains none. Thus the generality, or if 

 you will the vagueness, of the ultrastable system is, from that point 

 of view, as it should be. 



However, the attempt to apply this general formulation to the 

 real nervous system soon encounters major difficulties. What 

 these are, and how they are to be treated, will occupy the remainder 

 of the book. 



137 



