Energies of the Organic World 91 



But a case which came minutely before the writer's attention 

 nearly twelve years ago furnished what seemed to be a key to 

 many of the nervous derangements described in man and the 

 higher animals. 



An extremely active, healthy, and intellectual married lady 

 received a sudden mental shock at a delicate period in her life. 

 The entire organism showed complete collapse, except that 

 the vegetative or biotic organs — the alimentary canal, the 

 heart, the glands, and the lungs — continued to perform their 

 work, as if in an otherwise dead inert subject. The eyes re- 

 mained closed, hearing and smell seemed gone, the voluntary 

 muscles were passive, for weeks. Biotic energy alone con- 

 tinued to flow fairly actively; the cognitic and cogitic centers 

 were practically passive. 



Under careful nursing, a time-stage was reached when very 

 slo^' but steady return of the cognitic capacity was indicated. 

 The eyes opened; the fingers and skin generally became re- 

 sponsive to pressure and temperature changes; sounds gradually 

 seemed to become correlated with slow movements of the 

 eyeballs; motion of the limbs became more and more marked. 



But the entire mental organism was still a tabula raza. No 

 movement of the lips or power of speech was shown; father, 

 mother, and all nearest friends were unrecognized; no facial 

 indication was given that even an elementary intellectual 

 impression was being framed or conveyed. This state con- 

 tinued for nearly nine months. Then a child-like cogitic 

 capacity began to reestablish itself. Some friends were rec- 

 ognized by active expressions of the eyes; others were only 

 imperfectly or not at all recognized. Eventually a fair general 

 recognition of them, and connection of them with past events, 

 as well as developing power of speech returned. 



Here protoplasmic activity and continued flow of biotic 

 energy were the only indications of life, in the most depressed 

 and inert stage. After months of such truly proto-biotic 

 existence, an active nucleo-plasmic and so cognitic state was 

 reestablished above and upon the last. Only after nine months 

 were the gray nerve cell material and the flow of cogitic energy 



