MIND IN EVOLUTION 521 



are due to a slight asphyxia resulting from the withdrawal 

 of the maternal circulation. 



So when it comes to sucking, swallowing, digesting, and 

 the like, appropriate stimuli pull the trigger of pre-formed 

 adjustment, and one reflex process evokes another, and so 

 the creature gets on. 



We have an inherited set of triggers called ceptors, con- 

 tact-ceptors, chemical-ceptors, thermal-ceptors, and so on; 

 and these are connected with wires, nerves, or conductors, 

 which pass on the stimulus to the areas of muscular activity. 

 There may be threshold-resistances to be overcome so that 

 undue impetuosity of response is avoided ; there are arrange- 

 ments for the summation of stimuli, for laying down paths 

 so that action-patterns are formed ; and all has a phylogenetic 

 reference, that is to say, neuro-muscular pre-arrangements 

 work well to-day because all has been wrought out through 

 the ages in reference to frequently recurrent problems. It 

 is hardly possible to exaggerate the nicety of adaptiveness — 

 the brain is the storage battery, the muscles the seat of 

 motor activity, the liver makes fuel and helps to remove 

 ashes, the thyroid gland effects speed control, the adrenal 

 body has to do with counteracting the accumulation of acid 

 waste-products, and so on through the inter-dependent series 

 of organs which make up the kinetic system of the body. 

 What need is there for mind ? Is it more than a name for 

 ^ versatility of nervous response ' ? 



In an admirable exposition of Man as an Adaptive 

 Mechanism, Professor Crile shows how much the human 

 body is good for without any help from the human mind. 

 It is strange, however, that one of his notable advances in 

 surgery is associated with the recognition of the importance 

 of fear or anticipation before operations, and we cannot 



