100 THE GLANDS REGULATING PERSONALITY 



active energy. According to this conception the brain, the 

 adrenals, the liver, the thyroid and the muscles together con- 

 stitute a machine very much like an automobile. The self- 

 starter of the machine is the brain, with storage battery (com- 

 posed of stored past memories) and ignition combined. The 

 thing seen without, or the idea felt within, act as the initial 

 sparks, while the adrenals, as the carburetors, permit the freer 

 flow of fuel, sugar, from the liver. The thyroid works as the 

 accelerator, the original impulse finally landing upon muscles 

 keyed up and supplied with food to meet the situation, be it 

 that of removing a poison, removing an aggressor (attack) or 

 removing the individual himself (running away). When one is 

 exhausted by exertion and emotion, injury, intoxication or infec- 

 tion, it is these members of the kinetic system, the brain, the 

 adrenals, thyroid and liver, which are exhausted. Exhaustion 

 diminishes when the activity of the brain is diminished by 

 anesthetics, and cured when it is abolished by sleep. 



If the adrenal gland may be called the Gland of Emergency 

 energy, the Kinetic System is entitled to the name of Council of 

 Emergency Defense for the organism. The Kinetic Drive is the 

 name that has been given to the whole system at work. It is 

 one of the best examples we have of inter-glandular co-operations 

 and reactions in reply to the threat of danger or the hint of 

 pleasure. 



The Check and Drive System 



Another instance of the complexity of these inter-glandular 

 reactions is furnished by the thyroid and the adrenals. The 

 thyroid and the adrenals are mutually stimulating — when the 

 thyroid oversecretes, the adrenal dittos, and vice versa. Yet 

 they have directly opposed effects upon the economy — because 

 they act upon antagonistic portions of the involuntary or vege 

 tative nervous system, the system which is independent of the 

 will. Before proceeding further, it is worth while sketching this 

 division of the nervous system. 



In the construction of a motor car from the point of view oi 

 absolute control of it at every moment, the first thought of the" 

 mechanic is an adequate brake and an efficient regulator of speed 

 instruments antagonistic, but necessary to work simultaneously 

 or alternately. The involuntary or vegetative nervous system is! 

 built upon the same principle. It supplies every organ in the 



