THE BACKGROUNDS OF PERSONALITY 191 



Differences were patched up, and the three returned together 

 to New York. There the medical examination of the three showed 

 that the four days in the wilderness had left its deepest effects 

 upon the physique and mind of B. In a few days he developed 

 an attack of tonsillitis, with fever, and a mental disturbance de- 

 scribed by the medical officer as exhaustion psychosis. He 

 believed this condition to be the result of severe exhaustion, pro- 

 longed anxiety, worry, and extreme exposure. Extreme restless- 

 ness and irritability, confusion of thought and an undefined per- 

 plexity, all the prominent symptoms of exhaustion psychosis, 

 making him hyperactive and inclined to acts of violence, were 

 in evidence. 



The physique, character and reactions of Lieut. B. are what 

 interest us in the case. The pictures of him published, and the 

 structure of his skull, face and teeth, his hair and other physical 

 traits point to his being an adrenal-centered type, of the unstable 

 variety, so far as his internal secretion make-up is concerned. As 

 we shall see in the next chapter on the different kinds of. en- 

 docrine personalities, the unstable adrenocentric (convenient 

 name for the class) is characterized by rapid exhaustibility be- 

 cause under conditions of stress and strain, the reserve of the 

 gland is consumed. The adrenal glands, we noted in a preceding 

 chapter, are concerned with the maintenance of muscle and nerve 

 tone in emergencies. They are the glands which, during crises 

 especially, control the production and supply of energy to the 

 various organs and tissues called upon to function to the utmost 

 in emergencies. When the adrenals fail, as they do readily in 

 these labile adrenocentrics, it is as if the adrenals were cut out 

 of the body. And it has been repeatedly shown that extirpation 

 of the adrenals is immediately followed by degeneration and 

 breakdown of the brain cells. 



These facts explain the reactions of Lieut. B. The acute call 

 upon his adrenals made by his dangerous situation probably soon 

 exhausted them of their content of reserve secretions. Over- 

 whelming fatigue with loss of muscle tone followed. The changes 

 in the brain caused him to talk as he did in the wilderness. 

 Returned to safety, the news that his reputation was under fire 

 because of C.'s letter brought out another adrenal characteristic: 

 the excessive instinct of pugnacity, easily stimulated, with its 

 emotion of anger and the tendency to violence. What is spoken 

 of as a quick temper is an adrenocentric trait. Returned to New 

 York, an infection, tonsillitis, attacked him. Infections in 



