HOW THE GLANDS INFLUENCE THE MIND 177 



So in the coolest people, certain persons, objects, episodes, may- 

 send a wave along an old line of nerve cells and paths which 

 lead to the adrenal medulla, and so flood him with fear, terror 

 or even panic before his usual cortex response occurs. Impres- 

 sions during the early years of childhood, probing of the uncon- 

 scious by various methods, have been shown to be the most potent 

 in this respect. Sometimes the episode goes further back than 

 childhood, and one must assume an inherited conditioning of the 

 vegetative and endocrine systems. An animal leaping upon an 

 ancestor in a forest during the night might account for the 

 panic fear some people experience when alone in the dark, that 

 nothing of their childhood history may account for. 



In women, the adrenal medulla naturally tends to overtop 

 the cortex, because the latter makes for masculinity. Besides, 

 the recurring cycle in the ovary, making the corpus luteum, 

 evolves an additional stimulant to the medulla, through its irri- 

 tating influence upon the thyroid. Then the influence of the post- 

 pituitary is anti-adrenal cortex. So that, on the whole, a num- 

 ber of endocrines work to render woman naturally fearful, as we 

 say. 



Courage is so closely related to fear and anger that all are 

 always associated in any discussion. Courage is commonly 

 thought of as the emotion that is the opposite of fear. It would 

 follow that courage meant simply inhibition of the adrenal me- 

 dulla. As a matter of fact, the meehanism of courage is more 

 complex. One must distinguish animal courage and deliberate 

 courage. Animal courage is literally the courage of the beast. 

 As noted, animals with the largest amounts of adrenal cortex are 

 the pugnacious, aggressive, charging kings of the fields and 

 forests. The emotion experienced by them is probably anger with 

 a sort of blood-lust, and no consideration of the consequences. 

 The object attacked acted like the red rag waved at a bull — it 

 had stimulated a flow of the secretion of the adrenal cortex, and 

 the instinct of anger became sparked, as it were, by the new 

 condition of the blood. In courage, deliberate courage, there is 

 more than instinct. There is an act of volition, a display of 

 will. Admitting that without the adrenal cortex such courage 

 would be impossible, the chief credit for courage must be ascribed 

 to the ante-pituitary. It is the proper conjunction of its secre- 

 tion and that of the adrenal cortex that makes for true courage. 

 So it is we find that acts of courage have been recorded most 

 often of individuals of the ante-pituitary type. Photographs are 



