22 HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY 



influences the eye to light, the nerve-endings in the skin 

 to pressure, etc. an effector is a structure capable of re- 

 action in some measurable fashion. The possible responses 

 of effectors include movement or its suspension, secretion 

 or its suppression, and more rarely other phenomena 

 such as the electric discharge of the torpedo or the flash 

 of the fire-fly. Care was taken to include in the foregoing 

 statement the negative types of reaction which should 

 never be ignored. The word inhibition is used to mean a 

 suspension of activity of effectors brought about by way 

 of the nerves. We shall find it a more important ele- 

 ment in our analysis than might be supposed. 



Coordination. A very little consideration of one of the 

 higher animals convinces us that, while there are many 

 parts or organs at work, the whole creature is more than 

 an aggregate, it is an individual. To say this is to imply 

 that in some way all the parts interact for the common 

 good. We say that their activities are coordinated. 

 Another term has come to be used to express the same 

 fact : we say that the local actions are integrated by various 

 means. To integrate, or confer integrity, is to bring the 

 associated systems into such relationship that wholeness, 

 unity, or individuality may characterize their union. A 

 profound lesson may be apprehended in Kipling's story 

 of "The Ship that Found Herself." The new freighter 

 went out from a British port upon her first voyage. 

 She encountered gales and head-seas which put her 

 structure and equipment to the severest test. As she 

 was racked in the storms every frame and plate, every 

 bolt and rivet, raised a separate voice of complaint and 

 recrimination against its mates. The discordant clamor 

 lasted through the tedious trip. At length, on the fine 

 morning when the ship glided into the harbor of New 

 York, there was a moment of silence and then a great 

 voice not heard before, the voice of the "Dimbula" 

 herself, took the place of all the jarring tones. The ship 

 was from that hour an organism and not merely an 

 aggregation of parts. 



