CHAPTER II 



THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 



ONE of the most unfortunate heritages bequeathed 

 to man by the age-long conflict with brute creation is 

 an intellectual timidity, a reluctance to look upon 

 natural phenomena from the point of view that the 

 conditions of life itself are the impelling, determining 

 forces in evolution. Man is prone to deprecate natural 

 processes and appetites as base; to deplore the "utili- 

 tarian' 7 in life and in philosophy; and to account for 

 vital manifestations on the ground of an extraneous 

 supernatural will. Undoubtedly this tendency is a 

 relic of a long period of bodily persecution, of dread of 

 superior foes, during which, by superstitious worship, 

 by sacrifice and by pretending to despise life, men 

 sought to enlist the protection or to divert the interest 

 of unseen superiors. Gait on has shown that timidity 

 and lack of self-confidence are qualities common to 

 all animals of gregarious habits, in which, because of 

 their advantage to herd life, these characters have 

 been developed and perpetuated by natural selection. 

 He shows also that these same instincts in man, his 

 lack of independence, and his subservience to tradition, 

 authority and custom are the result of enforced 

 subjection to the will of the clan, during the long 

 period of adaptation through social coordination. 



With the acceptance of the theory of evolution, 

 however, has fallen the last barrier to an impersonal 



43 



