6 MAN AN ADAPTIVE MECHANISM 



explanation of our accumulated data, but suggestions 

 for a further research, which has resulted in the 

 formulation of certain mechanistic conceptions of dis- 

 ease. 



Our studies showed that inhalation anesthesia does 

 not prevent the transmission of traumatic impulses 

 from the field of operation to the brain, and that shock 

 is the result of the combined effect of these traumatic 

 impulses and of pre-operative fear upon the brain. 

 We found also that as a result of shock or exhaustion 

 from any cause, certain histologic changes occur uni- 

 formly and constantly in certain organs notably 

 the brain, the liver and the adrenals, and we discovered 

 that both the clinical and the histologic phenomena of 

 shock could be eliminated by the prevention of pre- 

 operative fear and by " blocking" the nerve paths from 

 the field of operation to the brain by local anesthesia 

 used in addition to general anesthesia. These facts 

 having been established experimentally and clinically, 

 a Kinetic Theory of Shock was formulated. 



This theory accounts for shock as a natural phenom- 

 enon related to all other natural phenomena, and, 

 like them, a manifestation of a biologic law, the Law of 

 Phylogenetic Association. According to this law, ani- 

 mals are so constituted as to transform energy, at the 

 incidence of an adequate stimulus, in accordance with 

 the adaptation of the species to those factors in the 

 environment which through natural selection have 

 become adequate stimuli. Thus, when a barefoot 

 boy steps upon a sharp stone, there is an instant dis- 

 charge of energy in a motor act of self-preservation. 

 This act is neither a conscious reaction, nor one due to 



