GLANDS AS AN INTERLOCKING DIRECTORATE 103 



simulation of death, when even breathing had to be inhibited. 

 Until finally there developed, for everyday use, a complete check 

 and drive nerve machinery for every organ, to be used according 

 to the exigencies of the moment, with the thyroid as the primary 

 stimulant and controller of the drive system and the adrenal 

 as the primary dictator over the check system. 



The Harmony of the Hormones 



All the glands, in fact, work in unison, with a distribution of 

 the balance of power that diplomatists might envy. In the co- 

 ordinating synchronism, the vegetative nervous system plays the 

 part of an agent that acts as well as is acted upon. The chemical 

 interaction of the internal secretions is not the only way in 

 which they influence each other. For, as the case of the thyroid 

 and the adrenal so well shows, secretions which, when directly 

 interacting, are mutually reinforcing, when affecting nerves, may 

 become clashing opponents. 



The Kinetic Chain is about as good a case as there is of the 

 glands of internal secretion co-operating. The Check and Drive 

 systems, with the adrenals and thyroid opposed, are one of the 

 best instances of their antagonisms. Besides, there are a number 

 of other relationships between them that might be cited. They 

 all bear with more or less pressure, positive or negative, upon 

 the sex glands which will be considered in its place. If one 

 wished to consider all the glands in their pro and anti relations, 

 a separate volume would be required. 



The Vegetative Apparatus 



The combination of the internal secretions and the vegetative 

 system has been spoken of as the vegetative or autonomic appa- 

 ratus. The vegetative apparatus is the oldest part of the nervous 

 system. And some acquaintance with its constitution is neces- 

 sary to any understanding of the possibilities of control of human 

 nature. 



For modern thought does not regard the brain as the organ of 

 mind at all, but as one unit of a complex synthesis, of which 

 mind is the product, and the vegetative apparatus is the major 

 component. That involves the blasting of the last current super- 

 stition of the traditional psychology, the dogma that the brain 

 is the exclusive seat of mind. 



